“I don’t see any gargoyle-bats,” Tiff said. “Maybe it worked.”
The mountain man bent down and picked up the curtain rod. He bit down on the flattened end, tearing away excess metal.
The solid metal rod ended in a crude point.
“Brilliant,” Peter said. “You armed him.”
“He was supposed to slip,” Eva said. “S.O.P. against giants and brutes, take away their footing. But nooo, fuck physics, he gets to break the rules.”
The mountain man stabbed with the spear, and Eva parried. She resumed her previous position, body turned sideways, machete extended, nails held between her fingers in the hand behind her. The mountain man barely moved at all. He didn’t need a fighting posture. He was tall enough to hit his head on the ceiling if he jumped a little, and wide enough that he could touch both walls of the hallway without difficulty. It wasn’t a narrow hallway. When the family had met for the inheritance, everyone had been gathered in here, sometimes three across, without feeling like any personal space was being violated.
He stabbed again, a movement of the arm, without his body or footing changing. Eva threw herself to the side, forearm pressing against the blunt edge of the blade for a little extra leverage.
He brought the Hyena down. Almost face to face with him, she deflected the swing with her forearm and elbow, forcing the arm down to the side.
Even as a deflection rather than a block, the impact sent her down, off balance. She stopped herself from falling flat on the ground by stabbing the machete through his foot to the floor.
Still in a crouching position, machete-wielding arm extended in front of her, she punched the nails into the softer part of his stomach.
Unarmed, she threw herself back, accepting Ty’s offered hand in getting to her feet.
The mountain man stared down at his impaled foot. He raised it a half foot, sliding it up and down the machete’s blade. He raised it as high as it would go before reaching the handle, then angled his foot and brought it down. The metal snapped and broke underfoot. He scraped his foot back and forth, doing more damage in the process, until the metal fragments fell loose from his foot.
He faced down an unarmed Eva.
“Those tags-” she started.
“-Were supposed to do something by now,” Ty said. “Sorry.”
Eva turned her head and spat, shaking her arm, as if trying to relieve herself of pins and needles.
The big guy swung the Hyena. Eva leaned back out of the way, then shook her arm again.
She, and we collectively retreated. Odd as it was, even in the mirrorverse, I was limited to the more undisturbed reflections, and when everyone was packed into the hallway like this, I was just as pressed for space as they were.
I didn’t feel eager to jump into the fray and get cast down again. I’d pressed it too far earlier. I didn’t like the look of those twins.
The robot stood behind them. A man, prim and proper, with ken-doll hair all in one solid piece. Gears turned visibly at his joints.
I could see Eva open and close her fist.
“That scar earlier…” I said. “From the faceless woman.”
“Hurts like a motherfuck.”
“The nerves, though. You were moving your hand funny,” I commented.
“Still am. Like playing a fucking video game with all the buttons mapped wrong. You can do it, but it sucks. Instead of A, B, C, D, it’s A, Z, Q, F. You adapt.”
“Not that fast,” Alexis said.
“I adapt then,” Eva said, moving a little forward, then back, as if gauging the mountain man’s willingness to react. “Shut up and let me focus on the fighting?”
I scanned the area.
Green Eyes.
The door was ajar. Was she observing?
“Green, on three,” I said.
“Go fuck yourself. I’m doing this my way,” Eva said.
“Two,” I said.
The mountain man lunged, sticking the curtain rod out. Eva stepped aside. He simply moved his hand to the right, and swept her into the wall with enough force to make a thud.
I advanced. Through the reflection, out of the water to break the surface. “Three!”
I’d made sure to step out before I urged Green Eyes to come out. Her body disturbed the shallow pool of water even more. Before, I’d had seconds to act before I was shunted. Cast aside. Forcibly relocated. Now I was far less willing to be moved, because I knew I’d get moved down. Each time, a little deeper, a little slower to recover.
If I’d had four or five seconds before, I now had three and a half. That last half-second had to be dedicated to moving myself to the nearest reflection. I couldn’t take chances.
Going for the weapon type I was most familiar with, I grabbed the broken machete’s handle. I sliced the mountain man’s calf.
He turned to look for the attacker, and Eva struck out, kicking in the general area where the nails had embedded his stomach, retaking his attention.
I moved, putting myself between the automaton and the twins. The gangly little biters retreated from me, apparently content to let the big guys do the fighting.
The female twin looked my way. The male was focused on Green Eyes, who was on her belly, emerging from the bathroom, elbows bent, hands planted on the ground. The mountain man was tall enough to obscure the light, and the hallway was gloomy. Her eyes glowed faintly in the dimmer light.
Green Eyes lunged. Pouncing by virtue of her forearm strength alone, mouth yawning wider than it had a right to. I followed suit going after the female of the twins.
The male twin caught Green Eyes, staggering backward with her weight and momentum, and her teeth slammed shut an inch from his nose.
The female of the twins backed away a step. Almost casually, she drew a knife from each sleeve and stabbed Green Eyes twice, a one-two motion, once in the body, once at the face.
Green Eyes moved fast enough that the knife aimed at her face only grazed her temple, the cut disappearing into her pale hairline.
Already, the male twin was twisting. Moving to deal with me. I’d gone after his counterpart, and she’d retreated. Now he turned on me. I caught a glimpse of the broken bit of metal in his hand. A bit of the machete that had probably flown off.
I blocked the thrust as best as I could with my arm, but rather than try to stay and wrestle, risking losing my footing and falling, I turned to move to the nearest reflection, heading into the bathroom. He used the opportunity to land a grazing hit on actual flesh at my back.
I had so little to spare.
I returned to the hallway to see Green Eyes fighting the female twin, while the male defended his sister, striking at her. Not deep wounds, but a knife wound was a knife wound. I saw flesh part, already pulled tight against Green Eyes’ skeletal frame, and it was eager to separate. Blood flowed, dark, and bone gleamed, exposed so easily.
“Stop, Green!” I said.
She twisted around, tail swinging like a bludgeon. When it got caught between herself and the male twin, she thrust out. Pushing herself and him away. The female twin struck at the fan of her tail fin with the knife, cutting at the webbing.
The twins settled back in a fighting posture. For them, it was hands at their sides. The female twin faced me, her back to Green Eyes. The male twin faced Green Eyes, his back to me.
Their postures mirrored one another exactly.
Go for one, they only defend, or dodge, and their counterpart attacks.
Even working with Green Eyes, there was a fraction of a second’s difference in timing, and the twins could use that.