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Roman let go, and the sphere jumped in place. Huge dents distorted its shape, and Hector and Roman both scrambled to keep it suppressed.

‘You can’t smother an explosion like that,’ said Garovel. ‘You’ll have to try and redirect it.’

‘How?!’ asked Hector.

‘A funnel. Broadside up. Do it now.’

He wasn’t sure he could actually pull such a thing off, but there was no time to second guess himself. He did the best he could, twisting his hands between one another as his mind warped the metal sphere, adding crude walls around the top like a misshapen crown. It grew clumsily toward the ceiling, worrying him with its awkward form. But it reached. And that was all that mattered.

Hector annihilated the top of the sphere within the walls and nodded to Roman, who already seemed to understand the goal here.

The explosion was free to rip upward, back through the hole Desmond had dropped it from.

Hector annihilated the rest of the makeshift funnel, releasing a cloud of smoke and dust.

‘Wow, Roman,’ said Garovel. ‘I didn’t realize you could suppress explosions like that.’

Roman rolled his shoulders. “Honestly, I wasn’t too certain, either. Nice work with the--”

A second arm dropped through the hole, but Roman was ready this time. He stamped the floor, and the Corvette flew straight up through the ceiling, taking the arm with it. The explosion shook the building, making the walls crack and shift.

Roman grinned like a maniac. “Time to go, everyone.”

Hector mounted the bike, and everyone else gathered in the black truck with Lynnette at the wheel. She went first up the ramp and disappeared outside, and when Hector rode up the ramp himself and saw the truck again, it was flipped and skidding across the road.

The big man was there. As was Geoffrey.


Chapter Twenty: ‘Thine unyielding aegis...’
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He didn’t need time to process or question it. Hector barreled into Geoffrey with complete resolve.

Red tendrils sprung forth, wrapping around the motorcycle and Hector both, slowing them down, and as the force of the impact pushed Geoffrey back, the two young men came face to face.

Geoffrey’s eyes widened, and he grinned as their tangled mess eased to a stop, the bike’s front tire still grinding harmlessly against his red shield. “It’s you!”

“It’s me.” Hector ripped himself free of the shadow and grabbed Geoffrey’s face. Crimson immediately came between them, but Hector just covered the young man’s head with iron.

Geoffrey fell to the ground, scratching at his solid mask. Red poked through the metal, trying to break it apart but only meagerly succeeding.