Shawn had never fired a weapon at another person. He’d never considered it a possibility in his life.

But the wolfman firing off a searing beam of fire in his general direction made it easier to justify breaking that restraint; the beam of deadly heat missed him by inches. He fired without flinching, catching the wolven humanoid in the chest, snapping the lever action back with instinctive muscle memory, and put a second round into his head, when he was staggered.

His eyes widened when his foe shook it off. The wolven was bleeding from a round that hit his forehead, but it must not have penetrated. “No effect on the target!” he called out. Garrett answered instantly.

“That’s a Vorhunde! Thick skulls and broad ribs, and they regen from wounds! Focus on massive systemic damage, or clustered shots through the head!” Garrett called out. The beast stalked forward, more fire in hand, and flung it at them. Other humanoid foes in blue and black uniforms charged in behind him.

He had to make a tactical decision. He needed to clear the crowd out first and deal with the big guy. He held the firearm with one hand, his free hand outstretched, and energy itched to his claw tips. Halsey, time to fire off some magic!

> Focus on the lessers, I don’t think they’ll be as tough to take down as that furry menace! Focus on your ability, it’ll feel like a burst of static in your chest, you’ll feel it ‘catch’ if you’ve done it right! Make sure to direct it outward, and mentally aim at your intended target!

The message was nearly instant. The connection between him and Halsey had vastly increased in speed, and he focused on a burning fury that surged from his core, down to his fingertips. His claws on his free hand glowed golden, then white hot, and his palm felt searing hot.

He hoped this gestalt wouldn’t cause him any self-damage, as he felt the heat reach a peak in his hand–he had to release it, or it might incinerate his whole arm!

He felt the energy release like someone pulled a hair trigger when he mentally willed himself to let go and felt that tether of energy coming from his core snap. His hand recoiled from the blast of fire in the shape of a dart-like projectile, no longer than a few inches that seared towards his first target. It was a human male, dressed in a red and black uniform that looked like it was choking him, his face contorted in rage.

Shawn could feel the projectile's flight, a connection to it at a distance. It felt like his fingers were still connected to the flame, and he could guide it toward his foes–all of these feelings of a new strange sensation, occurred in the blink of an eye.

The man at the front had raised a metallic crossbow to aim, once clear of the now-destroyed doorway. The fiery bolts streaked towards the man and drove into his chest, burning past his armor and dropping the man from the massive impact of flame. He caught fire, screaming.

He didn’t have time to appreciate the effectiveness of the attack, and fired off two more rifle rounds, striking home. The others at his back opened fire with their rifles, and Telga fired off an energy bolt. Three more attackers fell, with two additional foes on fire, but the Vorhunde pounced, flames in hand. Shawn tensed and waited for that split second when he’d committed, a pulsing fireball in his foe's hand. He did a risk calculation.

That projectile likely required focus, just as his magical abilities did. Which meant that he had one chance to pull off a surprise.

His aim snapped to the outstretched hand of the Vorhunde, the globule of fire gleaming with deadliness in his palm; Shawn had his target, and he fired.

The rifle round pierced the wolfman’s hand and the magical fireball, which prematurely detonated, flinging the wolfman off trajectory to the side. The out-of-control canine crashed into a bench, tumbling and coming to a stop by Claire.

“Shit, move!” he screamed out. The wolfman clawed at her leg, and she screamed–but rather than letting panic ensue, she leveled the rifle at the man’s eye socket and fired in a blaze of deadly accuracy. She reeled backward, shoving the lifeless foe aside with a vicious kick, and Regia grabbed her, while she fired off a stream of water with her one free hand, blasting the invaders backward.

“Get her and Telga out of here!” Garrett screamed out, beak gritted as his eyes gleamed with intensity, and a flash of green lit them up. Garrett fired several shots at an impossible speed–Shawn barely saw his hand movements, and two more foes staggered by Regia’s hydro blast keeled over, riddled with effective shots that bloomed blood. Garrett let out a gasp as he seemed to lurch forward, but it was only to grab more ammo from an ammo belt that had been knocked to the floor, loading the weapon with incredible speed.

Halsey also was trying to get his attention, too.

> I think you have more than one ability! That first one, I think was some kind of fire burst, for all your pyromaniac tendencies!

I’m not a pyromaniac! Even in this panic situation, being accused of pyromania wasn't a slight he was going to stand for.

> Every pyromaniac always puts out a forceful denial! It’s okay, I might have been one, too! Maybe that’s why I got thrown into that oblivion beforehand–wait–did I say that aloud?

Oh for Fate’s sake, Halsey, you better not be some nerfed, insane goddess living in my head now. Because I had too many issues already before you popped in here.

He had far bigger problems to deal with as he finished reloading, and more shouts of rage echoed down the hall.

Shawn turned to focus on the foes trying to stream past the blast of water, still being held back by the torrent of water hitting like a fire hose but Regia’s power seemed to be rapidly losing force. Shawn’s rifle bucked and he cycled the lever action, keeping count of the rounds fired. He had one left in the chamber before he caught a lull, and grabbed more of the alchemical cartridges off the bandolier on his vest.

“Reload!”

Garrett’s volley of fire was joined by others, forcing the foes to take cover–briefly. Now armored foes were coming through the door, the rounds pinging off of shimmering barriers that flowed like water around their bodies. Even the blast of water from Regia wasn’t enough to slow them down.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Fire ineffective!” Shawn barked out, still shoving rounds into the weapons feed tube, and ducked from incoming fire. Two crossbow bolts pierced through the thin metal, just above his head. Another shot nearly bounced into his skull from a ricochet, and he winced–that had been too close. He flicked out his palm, trying to snipe one off with several fiery bolts, but the barrage bounced off that shimmery barrier and slipped aside, bouncing into the ceiling or the walls. But the shimmering layer did seem to be flickering as if damaged by the assault.

“They’re using arcane barriers! Focus fire on one spot!” Garrett screamed out like he’d done this many times before. Shawn ducked to avoid the return fire of an electric crackle that sizzled and singed his feathers by his shoulder–a near miss. Garrett peered at him from his vantage point in cover. “Focus fire on my mark, then fall back down the hall!”

Shawn dared a glance back. Regia had put up a barrier of water that floated along with her, absorbing the impact of the bolts. The rounds would make a huge splash, slow, then clattered to the floor. But the barrier was shrinking with each impact, water soaking the floor while she helped Claire limp backward toward the portal room. Shawn saw the portal was building up a charge, with a shimmer of blue light now spinning on the floor.

He glanced back at Garrett, his face etched in focus, and he nodded grimly. “On your call!”

He held up three fingers with his free hand, and counted down silently. Shawn dared a peek and saw more of the men advancing. Garrett pulled a metal cylinder with small runes flickering angrily, and he pulled a metal pin with one claw. “Gonna be loud!” he shouted and tossed the canister around the corner. Shawn dove down, covered his ears, and counted off in his head.

It would have helped if he had ‘ears’ because they were more like tufts of feathers covering an opening. Covering them did little to dampen the deafening ringing sound he heard, and the intense flash of light. Garrett finished counting, and held a closed fist.

Now!

He focus-fired on the armored male, and fired at the same time as Garrett. The man was staggered from the blinding light and sound, and bullets pinged off in rapid succession at chest level, gleaming brighter until the barrier collapsed in a shower of gold sparks. Shawn lined up one last shot, eyes narrowed on his target, and ended the man with a shot to the throat, piercing through and leaving an arterial spray of blood.

He would have lamented the loss of life. But these men had made their choices, as he watched the man on the floor gurgling.

“Falling back! Shawn, go!” Garrett called out with a screech and rapidly reloaded while Shawn hesitated for a second. Halsey had a message out of the corner of his eye. He could feel a calming, icy feeling in his arm–like the Etteria was trying to hint at something!

> I think you have another type of gestalt, give it a try! Focus on that feeling of energy, push it out from your core, toward your arm! Like a spigot or a valve, you can control the flow!

Okay, gonna give it a try. He reached out for that feeling of ice in his veins intensified and clenched his hand closed. Hoar frost climbed along the tips of his talons, forming intricate fractal patterns like a rapidly growing snowflake. His hand felt chilly, and energy willing to be released, if he so chose.

“Shawn, fall back now!” Garrett ducked behind cover as someone shot another series of crossbow bolts and more electrical bolts that arced and stung his skin, even with near misses. Shawn’s nostrils on his beak were filled with the uncomfortable smell of singed feathers–someone was gonna cook his goose? Not today.

> Okay, following along so far? You hold the energy primed in your body, but you mentally let go of it for it to take true form. It’ll feel like a metaphysical rubber band snapping. Blast them with the ice, and focus all your power away from your core, and outward!

Here’s hoping I don’t make myself an impromptu ice sculpture, then!

He replicated that feeling–that elastic snap as he mentally let go of the charge accumulated in his core. A blast of chill air nearly recoiled his hand upwards and away from his intended target, but he held his hand steady with the rifle frame, snap-freezing the standing water on the ground. It froze into a solid sheet of ice beneath the advancing foes’ feet, little icicles forming into a massive barrier closest to him, and quickly grew to immense size. He relaxed his clawed hand, grimacing–it felt like his hand was burning, and he glanced down. A layer of ice was wrapped around his hand, and he smacked it off against the bench, freeing it from the icy encasement.

“Falling back!” Shawn belted out before skidding out of cover, now that they had a temporary barrier of safety from incoming fire. Their foes struggled to move across the ice when he dared a glance back. He dove into cover by an open doorway, and fed more rounds into the rifle. Garrett peered at him, bewildered.

“You have two gestalts?” he gasped.

“Is that normal?” He didn’t have a response adequate for this one.

“No, Shawn, most people don’t get two completely different powers!” Garrett rapidly reloaded his rifle, and threw a cabinet into the hallway, intending to serve as more barricades. Shawn dared a glance toward safety, there were numerous people gathered around the shimmering ring of light, now spinning faster on the mechanical platform, a bright hum filling the air. Telga was directing people to stand in the middle, and he saw starlight outside a window, and a snippet of the world below.

This was some way to crash land into a new world–in a gunfight and magic-slinging fight of his life, in under a few hours. Halsey, do me a favor? Don’t keep a murder count of the people that are dead in that other room.

> It isn’t murder if they were planning on killing you first, Shawn. Or you know, everyone in the room.

He couldn’t help but feel that Halsey had just sassed him, and given him a fine point on the uncomfortable notion he was fighting for his life, in a battle not of his choosing. Whatever she was, she was not artificial.

> You know, I can still hear you thinking.

His eyes widened at this prospect. We need to have a serious talk about the bounds of privacy, Halsey. Because some stuff is better stuck in my head.

> Yeah, this might take some getting used to. Now you were on track for your glowing assessment of Regia, who must confess, is a gem of a--

Oh, no. We’re tabling this thought until after I’ve dealt with all the killers looking to end our existence. He peered back around the corner, looking for movement. “Telga, how much longer?!” He cawed out. Or called out? He was lucky he could say anything, considering his physiology still felt all off.

“I need two minutes!”

“We’re gonna be cooked chicken in two minutes!” He didn’t bother explaining what a chicken was, and was more concerned when he felt an electric buzz over his feathers. Halsey, is that you messing with cosmic powers inside my body? Because I don’t think I need any more surprises!

> Still figuring it out! Hmm, the Etteria pathways are configured quite strangely for this one…I’m not even sure I know what this one is. Energy... something...why can't I remember what this is?

Both their thoughts were interrupted by screeching metal, and intense heat emanating from the door. It was melting in real-time, and he stared, bewildered, at another Aveeran, red feathers seemingly alight, and he glared at them with golden eyes, intense flames emanating from his clawed hands.

Yeah, this one could be problematic.

He fired until he emptied the magazine tube, and Garrett fired off his rifle. Shawn swore he saw the rounds melting in mid-air as they approached the new foe, who was burning through their barricade like it was nothing, “Garrett, what is that power?!”

“Pyromancer gestalt, and a dangerous one! He’s melting our rounds, or there’s a force mage protecting him!”

Either way, this foe was making short work of their defenses. They weren’t going to survive twenty seconds, let alone two minutes unless Shawn did something desperate. He racked his brains for an idea–and inspiration struck him!

“Give me a grenade. I’ve got an idea!”