They had formed so each forcefield was a foot apart, and the stack of forcefields overlapped with the fluid armor brute, dividing him neatly into roughly eleven slices.

But the distraction had bought Seir time to make more doubles. With yellow eyes glowing, he evaded the moving forcefields and changed just before new forcefields could cut him in half.

Two more Fallen and one biker joined the skirmish, jumping onto the black portals, which served to send them flying into the next black portal. Each portal was a kind of teleportation gimmick, but they littered the area and were letting the Fallen maneuver with ease. I saw their eyes glow like Seir’s did, and their focus was mostly on me.

That focus was partially by design. My aura still blasted everyone nearby, and that drew their attention.

Still… fuck this.

“Narwhal!? Can I leave you!?” I called out.

“Go!”

I flew away from the scene. I looked back, saw Vista, and saw her give me the go-ahead.

Ahrima was my target. I knew her general location, and she was too dangerous as a force multiplier.

I heard a series of gunshots nearby, and changed direction. The first gunshots didn’t hit me, because Vista was altering trajectories, but as I spotted the shooter, I saw them firing recklessly, putting bullets in the air at random. By pure luck, the shooter was able to land one shot and hit the Wretch.

My change of direction made me harder to track. I flew back and down, touched the ground, and flew toward the sound of the gunfire, trying not to move in straight lines. I saw the cover they were hiding behind and flew around it.

Staying low to the ground, I felt the Wretch re-emerge. Limbs and digits dug into the ground, and tore up the earth below me. My aura roared, the dirt flew around me, and I was within the center, cold and angry.

The shooter had been peering over cover, but the sound of the Wretch carving its way through the ground drew their attention. They turned my way just in time for me to get in their face.

I swatted my hand through the air, and the Wretch followed suit. The difference was that my hand hit air, and the Wretch hit the shooter’s gun hand.

The gun was torn from their hand and sent flying into the dark, wet field behind the shooter, and several of their fingers were broken in the process.

I hated guns.

I changed course, flying out toward Ahrima again, rising higher as I did. I could see the rank and file Fallen soldiers, and I could see the Fallen with powers. There was a concentration that suggested they were defending a car.