Alex's head burned as he held Garrett against the wall. He had already pushed himself a little too hard by pulling out the vault. His legs ached, and his arms were tight from hitting the two knights as hard as he could to take them out of the fight.

If his body were normal, he wouldn't be standing.

"You're a bastard," Garret's voice echoed from inside his armor as he struggled against the magnetic force holding him against the wall. "I always knew you were the worst human trash."

"You're holding one hell of a grudge for someone with barely any memories," Alex said, shaking his head. "What did I do to you?"

The visor made seeing the man's face impossible, but the helmet glowed bright red with light as Alex approached. He didn't get too close. From experience, he knew that a Hell Knight could shoot a plume of fire from the visor. It was a latch-ditch technique, but Garret was already compromised. With the hatred Alex knew he carried, the fire breath was an easy option.

"I—" Garrett paused. "I don't remember."

"Isn't that the problem we all have?" Alex asked, waving his free arm for emphasis. "No one on this island can remember anything beyond a day or two back, and they keep walking around like there's nothing wrong with that."

"You don't understand," Garret whispered, his helm drooping toward the ground. "I can still see her face in my mind, at least most of it. I know you're the one who did it, Ortega!"

Crack.

His head snapped up, and he tried to push himself off the wall. He only succeeded in burying himself deeper. Alex shook his head. Garrett wouldn't be easily freed from the haze, which meant he had one less option when the spiders inevitably came. He was surprised they weren't already there, considering how much damage he had done by slinging the knight around.

"Well, as fun as it is being accused of something I don't recall, we're going to have to end this conversation," Alex said.

To his right, Sayed stiffened. His eyes shot up to the rooftop of a nearby building, and Alex knew they had run out of time. In his senses, the electric signatures of hundreds of creatures filled the area around them in a circle. The spiders hid in the buildings, ready to strike. The only question was why they hadn't already charged down at the street.

He reached back, ready to hit Garrett as hard as he could in the head to knock the knight out.

"Wait!" Garrett yelled.

"You've got ten seconds," Alex said.

"Take off my helmet," Garrett said.

Alex raised an eyebrow but complied. He pulled the helmet toward him with a burst of force, unseating it from Garrett's head and drawing it beside his hand. He kept the visor pointed away from himself as he looked over Garret's face.

He had vague memories of the pale, freckled face before him. Garrett's blazing orange curls fell to his shoulders without his helmet. Cold blue eyes stared out from his long bangs as he stared Alex down.

"I don't know what is wrong with me, with my home," Garrett said. "But you must know that we cannot let your robbery stand. Even if you defeat all of us here, more knights will come from you. The other levels will act."

"Ah." Alex sighed, spinning the helmet like a ball as he lined up his shot. "I kind of hoped you were smarter than this, but you still haven't realized that this was all just a diversion."

Kong,

Alex threw the helmet forward like a wrecking ball before Garrett could fully process his words. Garret's head slammed back into the stone as the sound of the helmet hitting rang through the air, and Alex dropped him to the ground.

"Brother, I appreciate that you thought to try, but I feel it was a waste of time," Sayed said as he looked over the nearby rooftops. "We are surrounded."

"It would have been worth it to get them on our side," Alex said. "Would have helped a lot against the spiders."

"About that," Bolton drawled, even his eyes on the rooftops. "We might want to—"

Hiss. Skitter.

As he said it, the spiders descended from the rooftops. Some jumped down with webs behind them, while others crawled straight down the side of the walls. They were coming fast, like a wave crashing toward the shore. Alex grinned.

"Time for plan B," Alex said.

He reached out with his mind along the magnetic currents around him. He grabbed hold of the coins littering the street and drew them toward him, handfuls at a time. They glimmered in the air around him as blue sparks of electricity jumped between each coin.

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"Can you two handle any that make it through?"

"Yes, brother."

"I'll clean up your mess."

"Coin Shotgun."

Thoom. Thoom. Thoom.

With a hum of electromagnetic force, the coins shot up from Alex in bursts, piercing through the air directly at the coming waves of spiders. Alex didn't stop as the first coins slammed into the charging creatures, even as dozens fell to the shrapnel of his coin blasts.

However, that didn't change just how many spiders there were.

Bang.

Bolton fired off the first of his rounds as the spiders approached. While the shot wasn't necessary yet, he didn't manage to shatter the gemstone on the back of one of them. Alex threw more coins up into the spiders, creating a constant upward funnel of shrapnel firing off in all directions up the buildings. At the end of the street, people screamed as the realization of what was charging at them broke through the people's haze. A few people ran toward the center of the street while others ran away.

If Alex messed up, there would be many dead people on the street in the next few minutes. He didn't stop his assault. Even as blood poured down his mouth and tinged his mouth with a copper taste, he did not quit.

"Demon's Divide!"

Shing. Crack.

Sayed slashed through the coming wave with his blade, slicing through the air away from his sword and into the wall. Stone crumbled, and eight-legged bodies fell. The reality set in quickly.

There might be too many.

Alex spun, drawing the remaining coins into a maelstrom around them as the spiders closed in. There were less than twenty left, but at their range and speed, twenty was enough. The three of them went back to back as the coins whirled around.

"We just need one more good shot," Alex said.

"Give me the space, and I will take many, brother."

"I ain't got enough bullets for this."

The coins were all that was keeping them safe for the moment, but it was only a matter of time before the spiders put their webs to use. Alex watched them lean back and forth at the edge of the coin storm. His breath caught in his chest as they began to move.

He didn't know if he could make that opening for Sayed. Holding the coins in place was taking everything he had. His vision wobbled as the first spiders jumped. They were about to enter a melee brawl with the creatures.

"Ignis!"

Fwoosh.

Flames erupted from the side, cutting through the spiders on one half of the circle around them. Garret stood, helm placed over his head and visor glowing bright red. His arms were out at his sides, and he leaned over almost to the point of falling.

"Don't go harming the people," Garrett slurred.

In moments, he slammed face-first into the ground.

Thud.

"Demon's Twister!"

Shing.

Sayed charged into the remaining spiders, slicing through them in a wide circular slash. The remaining spiders fell into pieces, leaving the three outlaws as the last ones standing. Alex let go of his hold over the coins, letting them clatter to the ground around him and letting the euphoria of releasing that control surge through his mind.

He didn't like to control that many pieces of individual metal because it took a lot of focus and concentration. In general, the more metal he dealt with using his curse, the less he could control it. It was why he favored techniques with large pieces of metal few in number. There were exceptions, like when he was under the effects of an amplification device, like on Aherlow or the one in the Nighthawk. However, that didn't change that he still dealt with the restraints in most situations.

"Is it over?" Bolton tipped his black hat with the barrel of his gun as he looked over the corpses around him. "You think we can grab and sell their gems for a profit?"

Alex shook his head, walking over to check on Garrett. He noted that the knight was still alive as he knelt down and checked the man's pulse. Despite being knocked out and thrown about, it would take a lot more than what Alex had done to him to kill a Hell Knight.

"We have the spiders, but not the villains." Sayed stood up from his technique, resting his khopesh back on his shoulder as he surveyed the damage. "I do not think that this tale is over yet."

"Give them a minute." Alex nodded, standing up and looking around the square. "I imagine the spiders can move a lot faster than everyone else in the operation."

"Now, that would be an understatement."

Crack. Boom.

Alex had a flash of insight a second before the attack came. A flicker in his magnetic senses told him something was wrong with the ground around him. He acted without thinking.

He jumped away as the earth below him collapsed. A perfectly circular hole opened in the cobblestone street like it had been cut with a laser, the stones dropping into the darkness below.

Alex caught himself on his hands and feet as he landed close to the counting house's vault.

He hadn't spotted what caused the hole, but he recognized the voice as deep but feminine. His eyes roved the road, but aside from the few fleeing people on the edge of the street, there were only three out there. Bolton waved his gun back and forth, trying to catch the attacker, while Sayed kept one eye open but retained his relaxed stance.

"Come out, fiend!" Sayed's voice cracked across the walls. "Face us if you wish to test your might."

"Test my might?" she gave off a shrill laugh that shook through Alex's bones. "I like this one. Be careful, Cragg!"

"Twin Cross!"

Ting.

A shadow dropped from above on Sayed, somehow evading Alex's senses until the attack came. Sayed brought up his sword to block it. A large man, nearly the size and shape of a boulder, crashed down on the blade, swinging a large sword and hammer together.

Boom. Crack.

"I know you!" the man screamed as he brought down his weapons on Sayed.

"Gruh!" Sayed grunted under the weight of the attack. "That may be so, but I do not know you!"

He threw off the attack, sending the strangely shaped man crashing onto the ground. Alex shared a look with Bolton and Sayed as they backed toward the counting house. The enemy opposition had finally arrived. Now, they just needed to beat it down until everyone else had recovered the gems.

Snap. Snap.

"Well, what do we have here?" Alex recognized the voice that came from the rooftops. "I can't say I'm surprised. You were never the type just to play it cool, you hear?"

Alex looked up, his eyes locking on a man in a black and white pinstripe suit standing on the roof. Alex didn't need to search his memories to find out who the man was. He recognized that suit immediately. It was Mister Deadman, the Finger he had fought on the island in Death's Yard.

"I had to run last time, but this time, I think you'll find the situation stacked in my favor, Ortega. Why don't you surrender now, and I might let you live with a broken mind, you hear?"

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