Seconds passed, where the painful weight of the Wretch was lifted. The danger of the gunfire and powers around me paled in the face of the danger of the feeling. It was deceptively exhilarating to have the Wretch gone, no longer available at a heartbeat’s notice. I knew it was temporary and how temporary it was, but when everything else was so heavy, just that one deceptive moment caught me off guard.

I continued to go after Seir, chasing his real self in a mad, dangerous game of whack-a-mole, where the mole always won and the person with the hammer could be shot at any moment. The Wretch returned, and a well-timed punch from a shadow Seir destroyed it a moment later.

The yellow eyes weren’t there all of the time, or even ten percent of the time, but Seir was evasive, capable of creating doubles and swapping places with them constantly. He didn’t need danger sense to give us a one in twelve chance of hitting the real him.

Others were joining the fight now. A Fallen cape or one of the bikers was approaching, grown tall, his flesh alternating between something that seemed hard, like calcified armor plates, and flesh that seemed too soft and fluid. Another was approaching with arms raised above her head, and she seemed to be the source of pitch black circles that were now dotting the landscape and air around us.

I just needed to tag Seir at the same time the danger-sense cape was distracted. I needed to do it soon, before he had help.

Forcefields flew past me. Narwhal. The forcefields that didn’t hit Seir’s copies arrived between us and the Fallen capes, then stopped on the spot and rotated, forming a wall of crystal to bar their path.

I heard the impact as the big cape hit the crystals, and I saw the colors flare, brighter than they had when the bullets hit them. The portal cape was running around to try to get around the wall, and was stymied when the wall moved with them.

I destroyed two more shadow copies. A projectile I only barely saw destroyed another two with one shot.

We’d reduced it down to three Seirs. I went after one before more duplicates could spring into being, hit it, and reduced it to tufts of shadow.

The big guy battered through Narwhal’s shield. He broke into a run, long limbs stretching and heavy feet pounding against the ground, charging me.

A forcefield hurtled into him, but this forcefield had a passenger. Narwhal rode it, and she leaped off as the big guy caught the slice of crystal. She landed, and her hair was still settling around her when the forcefields sprung into being to her left.

I punched another two Seirs, well aware I was fighting an uphill battle.