She kicked up a lot of sand when her feet left the ground, but I didn't pay much attention to it. I was too busy watching where she'd land.

That would likely be low on any list of "Smart Things to Do When You're Being Chased."

Here's why: If I would have run, I'd have likely made it partway across the street, possibly all the way across, and into the forest.

As it was, she landed within arm's reach of me.

I adjusted my stance, wondering what she'd try.

She pulled her right arm back, telegraphing her punch, giving me a chance to think about what I'd do.

I'd learned a lot of holds from Gunther, but most holds assume normal human strength, and don't take into account the possibility that the held person could kick the ground and launch both of you twenty feet into the air.

I didn't even consider a hold.

Assuming you did it correctly, some throws worked well even against extremely strong people.

Gina could generate tons of force, but I'd practiced against people just as strong.

Stepping a little to the right, I pulled down on the punching arm with my right hand, and pushed forward on her back with my left arm, redirecting her momentum.

It wouldn't have worked as well without her strength or the stealth suit's, but she flew forward, smacking her whole body into the street.

Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Ray running down the dune. Checking the other direction, I noticed that Gina was already getting up.

The road left bloody scrapes on her face, and arms, but they didn't slow her at all. One knit itself together as I watched.

If I didn't move, they'd be able to go after me from two sides at once.

I jumped.

Landing twenty feet down the road, I started running.

The house we'd all been held in couldn't have been more than a couple hundred feet ahead. I could see Haley's Stingray, the color currently white, parked near the driveway.

I checked behind me. Gina had just started running, but Ray was catching up. Either he'd gotten the hang of running, or he'd had a hard time with sand earlier, but he couldn't have been more than a car length behind me.

I was so screwed.

In the back of my mind, I thought about everything I'd heard about fighting regenerators. The results didn't inspire me. Basically you had to trap them someplace their other powers couldn't get them out of, or inflict such massive damage that they couldn't heal immediately.

I didn't have any traps available. As for massive damage... The car might or might not be out of missiles. The guitar was inside the house, and I might not make it that far.

What else?

I passed a wooden utility pole.

Power lines could inflict massive damage, and not just to him, also to me. The stealth suit was resistant to electricity, but unlike the regular suit, it didn't double as a Faraday cage.

Still, it was something.

I tried to think of a way to survive hitting Ray and Gina with a downed power line.

As I did, I noticed someone in the air above the house.

Sean.

I supposed that the situation could get worse, but I couldn't think how.

A shot rang out, and then another.

I checked behind myself again.

Gina had stopped, and pointed the rifle at Sean.

I couldn't see if she'd hit because I'd noticed Ray jumping toward me.

I dove into a somersault, coming up to find Ray had landed past me on the side of the road.

He turned. He'd catch me in two steps. We both knew it, and he didn't say a word about it.

I didn't get any hints from his movements of how he planned to attack, and I had a bad feeling he'd be more than a match for me in hand to hand combat.

I pointed the sonics at him, delivering a normal blast at maximum power from both hands.

I aimed it toward his head.

Sonics at full blast hurt. The mask over my head gave some protection, but even with it, I wanted to curl up in a ball, and wait until the noise stopped.

Ray gritted his teeth as the sound hit, and nearly fell over, hitting my left arm with a glancing blow.

Well, a glancing blow for him. With Gina's strength.

The suit protected me from the worst of it, but I took three stumbling steps before I had control of myself. Worse, I'd stopped firing due to the arm wrenching pain.

Then I turned back toward him, the next step of my plan in mind.

Fortunately for me, Ray didn't seem to be all there. He'd put his hand to his right ear, and it came away glistening with blood.

Seeing me, his hands turned into fists, and he stepped toward me, but something didn't seem quite right.

He wobbled a little.

I punched him in the face, and he fell on his back. For all his strength, he still had the mass of a normal person.

I grabbed his legs, swung him around, and let go, aiming him toward the crossbar where the utility pole and the power lines touched.