The Taxidermist lunged with his cane. I forced it up with my bayonet, and then squeezed off a few more rounds by his ears. He didn’t seem to be immune, or at least resistant to loud noise like most people are on Remnant. I could tell he was pissed at my exploitation of that fact.

“Would you stop already!”

His attacks became frantic, enraged even, as I continued to dodge and parry his strikes. There! I opened a portal-pair and his hand sunk in wrist-deep. I was flying before I could collapse it. I smashed into a wall and screamed as something broke. My head was hazy and everything blurred, but I leveled my rifle and fired as the blur of red-and-yellow approached. Bullets sparked off her aura. Mine worked on knitting bone back together.

Streamers of purple light connected with her, exploding into radiance on contact. Velvet tried to follow up, but Nixie’s counterattacks were charged with that same purple energy, forcing her to retreat as the twins rounded on The Taxidermist, who entrapped them with the carpet as he relished in the free attacks with high-pitched giggles. Dougal grabbed Velvet by the ankle, howled, and then smashed her into the wall. She fell limp.

I could feel my legs again, but it still hurt to move, and I spent energy trying to get away from Nixie as I emptied my magazine at her. She caught up regardless, and her sweeping kick lashed me with razor shrapnel before she lifted a heeled boot to stomp me into oblivion. I opened the portals and slammed them shut as her leg passed through.

That didn’t quite cut off her limb as I’d expected. Instead, the energies of my Semblance clashed with those of her aura and became jagged lightning, then an aurora of color before exploding outwards. Heat and light and force washed over me.

I woke up in a pile of broken desks and paperwork. My head spun and my body hurt. I could feel a dozen broken things snapping back into place and melding back together with a sensation not unlike ants crawling in my veins. I was sure I’d hurt like a bitch when the adrenalin wore off, but for now I was content to lay back in the nest of broken wood and crumpled paper I had made for myself as my vision grayed and faded to black.