Up ahead was a Utopian battlement. Glacially moving Students were throwing down energy barriers, which Ali strained and pushed through. Our collective, numbering around sixty, I quickly counted, were unstoppable. Someone, a Professor, I thought, was standing on a rooftop. He raised up his hands, slowly, and there came a beam of heavenly light which failed to do more than brighten the field. Soon Ali had made a path through the Utopians, bending and crushing anything in our way.

Behind us, they were panicking as we marched down the road. I noticed that among our numbers, being pushed along with us were a few normal looking people. They seemed okay with all this.

I tapped on the shoulder of one of the guys pushing one along and asked.

"Hostages," he said. "Civilian volunteers that aren't supposed to be hurt."

"Hi," the hostage said, somewhat giddy.

The dude's having fun.

There was someone, nearly a boy in age, weaving through the mob, and checking over people as he went. He came up to me, and his eyes widened.

"You know you're walking on fractured bones right?" he asked.

I was good at ignoring pain, I guessed.

"Peripherally aware." Though I was limping, a little.

He pulled out a scroll and started reading in a foreign tongue. I was following along the meanings as he went, my sense of them. Attunement was stronger.

I jerked when he threw a sprinkling of water on me. Hadn't seen it coming, focusing so heavily on the information around me.

"There you go.... uh-oh..." For a moment, I thought he meant my health, but he had turned and stood on his toes. I was taller than most and only craned a touch to see over the crowd.

I chuckled. This is going to be fun.

The Bruiser, the one Odessa had sent flying, was in the road. He was walking in slow-mo straight towards our shield, utterly fearless. His gleaming helmet tilted down as he started barreling forward. We had seconds before contact.

He's too confident. He's untouched. He's subverting, not absorbing, he couldn't be. Feels disconnected like he's redirecting damage somewhere. Connections?

I quickly scanned the surroundings. I dug into the abstract and strained my mind for what his connection lead to. There, in the shadow of a building, was an ethereal wisp, half hidden behind a tree.

Got you.

"He's got a totem!" I cried, pointing, but I was drowned out when shouting erupted. The Bruiser had met the shield, and it was being moved. Ali was straining against his invisible wall, his feet skidding backward down the road.

I pushed through the mob, repeating my cry and keeping my hand out. I bellowed louder, angry, and a few people startled. The Bruiser's head darted between my outstretched hand and his totem. He jumped to the side, coming just barely between the Totem and a ball of energy which had been hurled. Again, he took the hit like a rag doll, taking to the stratosphere.

Ali had resumed the push, but we'd lost some of our minuscule lead, and the outside world was catching up. The Bruiser had gone into and out of a structure, and it was collapsing into a cloud of smoke.

We charged into the murk, picking up speed, and subsequently speeding up the world outside. We passed through, blind for a moment, and emerged.

Christopher.

"Wolves," someone said. In the road and on the skyline were students. Christopher, was among them, not far from the oldest among them, who I understood to be Wulff. The salt and pepper haired man, in grey formal, snapped his fingers.

The shield dropped, and so did Ali. Dead.

Wulff spread his arms, utterly dauntless. He knew he and his students, by themselves, could handle us. Nothing happened as he waited for us to make the first move, and none of us would. I quickly tried to look at each of them, gathering by everything from composure to expression what they did. It was too much. They were all too powerful.

A minute passed, and nothing happened.

Wulff moved a hand to his ear and put his back to us. Christopher changed his demeanor and watched him. All eyes were on the man.

Then, he disappeared. Gone. Teleported. Left. Why?

Somebody screamed, and an explosion marked the beginning of all hell breaking loose. Wulff's students ran for the most part, but some returned fire. An arrow flew at me. Suddenly everything went. Every bit of my senses fell away. I kept running, but I felt like a deaf person trying to speak, unsure if anything was happening.

I must have made it out of the area of effect, because when my senses returned I was crawling and writhing on the ground. I hadn't escaped, but it had stopped. There was an arrow piercing my foot and some of the asphalt, anchoring me. It hurt like a bitch.

People were running over me, some of them had been struck with arrows same as me, but had remained upright. Lying on the ground, I took a few pot shots at students on the skyline, my lightning bolts throwing off their aim. I had attracted attention.

I was one of a few turkeys either pinned, immobile or daft, still stuck in the open. There was a girl within touching distance which was missing a leg, crying out. A spear sailed and drove through her skull. It started to glow and rev.

Goddamn, this is more brutal than I'd thought.

I'm not dying. That's not who I am. I don't die.

Blotting out my pain, I screamed and pulled. The arrow snapped. Madly, I gained ground, staggering up into an unstable limp. I was going for a shop front, where other's had fled. In the open door was the kid healer, nervously holding the door for me.

Looking back, there was only one anarchist, standing among the dead, deflecting and dealing long distance damage with nunchucks. Christopher hadn't moved from where he'd been and was watching me flee, staring. He tore his eyes away and calmly started to walk towards that last survivor, who was holding his own.

Hobbling inside, my sight was obstructed. I had a feeling how it would go, though.

The healer was following beside me, chanting again. I was looking for Kendall. People were putting upwards, trying to secure the building. By their faces, though, it wasn't working. I was prepared this time when he threw water on me. My foot steadied to a baseline of pain, but still left me with a limp. Bleeding stopped.

"Some magus just arrived. Utopians are getting schlonged," Ash radioed.

"Updates are good," Kendall's voice came in.

"Where are you, Kendall?" I said.

"Doran? Odessa, Catherine, and I are with O'Reilly, going for the Statehouse."

"Where are you?"

"Moving fast. We're not waiting for you."

"Professors are leavin' the game," Ash added.

"Yeah, I noticed. It's good for us."

Somehow, I doubted that.

"I'm on my way," I said.

"Fine."