I twisted around, exerting force against the immobile obsidian statue, and she came to life, stumbling back, just as I saw the attacker behind me freeze.

One attacker, with two bodies. Whatever one wasn’t active was immobile and apparently invincible. Whichever one was active had enhanced speed and the strength that came with hitting things very fast.

The scholar in me wondered for a moment about just why so many Fallen were such massive pains in the ass, with such a solid crop of powers.

Conflict drive? Close associations with other powers? Careful selection and sharing of powers through breeding, insofar as powers were inherited that way?

Wretch out, I punched one woman—hit statue. I pulled the same arm back, elbowing the one behind me—only for her to become statue just in time. The one in front was already moving out of the way of any follow-up attack, the Wretch grazing her, making her stumble a little. She still moved too fast for me to give chase.

She attacked relentlessly, and with a speed sufficient that the Wretch only blocked one in three hits. I could use some basic fighting sense or flying away to protect myself against another one in three, but it still left a gap. One or two hits made me stumble. Another cracked me hard enough across the side of my head that I momentarily couldn’t make sense of what I could see.

I connected one hit, then followed up with a swing, Wretch active, hitting the ground hard enough to send a spray of stones, dirt clumps and mud at her. She went statue and attacked me from behind with her other self, but when I retaliated, the original self had to shake off the residual mud.

I heard Ashley use her power.

She sailed over the heads of Fallen, landing with a bit of a skid. Her hair was wet and slicked back, and her eyes were wide with the extent of their whites showing. No pupils.

I wasn’t sure what to say, so I stated the obvious. “You came.”

“R needs help.”

He did. That he’d run into trouble had been the window Mama Mathers had needed. I would have helped him already, but I could hardly leave my Patrol block.

Sveta had been with him, too.

The lizard-demon Fallen came after me. I fended her off, flying a bit away to position myself closer to Ashley.

“Is it alive?” I asked the Fallen. “Your other self.”

The lizard-demon Fallen charged after me again, in lieu of answer. I lashed out, and she became statue. It was like hitting something Clockblocker-affected, from my hometown’s old Wards team. No result, nothing got through.

“I’m giving you one chance to—”

Ashley’s power misfired. She stumbled.