Serenity felt it like a punch to the gut: Russ was in danger. Deadly danger.

He would realize later that the warning was from Moment of Prescience, but at the time he didn’t stop to think. He simply reacted, pushing Russ to the side and down. He landed roughly on top of his future father-in-law, but bruises were easier to heal. He didn’t know what the threat was or where it was coming from, but getting the target out of the way was usually the first step.

As he moved, he felt something hit him twice. He felt a massive draw on his mana and stamina as his runic tattoos flared to life, blocking the attacks then instantly dissipating. The last shot to his head was late enough that the protection from the tattoo only deflected it a little as the shield faded, making it graze against his skull.

He stayed on top of Russ, shielding him the only way he could - with his own mass. Serenity looked up, searching for the shooter as he continued to shield Russ. Two more shots hit Serenity in the chest, next to each other; they seemed to come from the top of a nearby building. Was someone on the roof?

Serenity tried to take a deep breath and couldn’t. His breathing wasn’t working quite right. He could breathe, but it was shallow.

There was screaming from everyone nearby and Serenity could already hear sirens in the distance. The shots seemed to have stopped. That was good.

Serenity looked at his future father-in-law. Russ seemed uninjured; not only that, he was glowing slightly and had his soulblade in one hand as he sprang to his feet. Was that glow a shield of some sort? Serenity was impressed to see it, even if he wasn’t about to bet on a low-Tier shield against bullets.

“I need to heal.” Serenity’s statement came out as a whisper. “Can you cover me for a moment?”

“I think it’s over.” Russ wasn’t looking at Serenity; instead, he was scanning the skyline for more threats. His soulblade vanished, but the glow protecting him didn’t. “Yeah, I’ve got this. Do what you need to.”

How did his healing even work now? In the past, it’d worked without his input, but his last evolution combined it with his shapeshifting. Serenity knew he wasn’t bleeding; his body had stopped that as quickly as it started. He looked down and saw that the pair of bullet holes were filled with black smoke, the same material as his Sovereign’s body. That wasn’t entirely unexpected; his Amorphous Healing had looked like that too.

Maybe he just needed to shapeshift? What should he shapeshift into? His chimera form was better for a battle, but staying human would be useful if there was only going to be interactions with other people.

Could he stay human? He’d never tried to shapeshift from one shape to itself. There wasn’t a reason to. He knew that anything he carried stayed with the form he shifted out of; would wounds do that too or could he shapeshift simply to close them?

Serenity didn’t hear any more shots. Human, then. It was worth trying.

Serenity concentrated on changing his human form into his human form. Nothing happened.

Despite his difficult breathing, Serenity didn’t feel like he was getting any weaker. A glance at his Status showed him that his Healing Available had dropped, but wasn’t continuing to change. That was strange; was it because he wasn’t intending to stay in his human form? Had it just patched him up enough to give him time to change?

Serenity’s mind went to the sword hilt at his waist. What good had it done him? None. Yes, it would be useful if he was otherwise unarmed, but it would take time to get out. Body armor would have been more useful, and it was another Form he had available. He’d thought of it as a way to protect another, since that’s what the Skill it came from was for, but there was no reason he couldn’t wear it himself.

Body armor required equally little internal control and had no more senses than a sword. He could use it as his second Form just as easily.

What if he changed his human form into body armor and his sword into a human shape? Would that heal him? The sword was uninjured. Even if the “body armor” was “injured”, how much would that matter?

Could he make the body armor appear on his human body as he shifted?

Serenity concentrated on that pair of options. It took a moment to concentrate through the pain, but the moment he started shifting, the pain disappeared.

When he was done, he took a deep breath and sat up. He could breathe normally again!

When he looked through the holes in his shirt, he saw a shifting darkness that he knew was his other self as body armor. It looked remarkably similar to his Sovereign form, only denser and shaped like the armor he’d worn as Vengeance, long after Earth fell. There were no fasteners or joints; he didn’t need them.

This could work.

Serenity levered himself to his feet. Everyone except Russ and him were gone; Serenity could see a number of them sheltering inside the museum building. Russ was standing on the steps, looking in the direction the shots came from. He was clearly making himself a target.

A police car pulled up in front of the building and Russ trotted down to meet them. Serenity followed, a bit slower. He wasn’t used to his new way of healing yet; he felt like he ought to feel some twinges or pain, but he didn’t. Even amorphous healing had taken time, time where he’d had a chance to adjust. This simply made the injury vanish.

His new method of healing was better in some ways; it seemed to take less out of him. At the same time, it made it clear that he was far less human than he had been. Worse, it seemed like he could only heal if he was able to command a full shapeshift.

Another glance at his Status told him the Healing Available line was gone. He hadn’t used it all; that had to mean that it simply wasn’t relevant anymore and the Voice had removed it. As he watched, the Condition line vanished, replaced by his Mana. Serenity wasn’t certain what that meant; perhaps Mana just moved over because there was room, but why did Condition vanish?

Probably the same reason the healing did, idiot. You have two bodies now, at least. Is it going to show you the condition of each of them or your overall innate condition? That probably can’t be affected by most things; you can turn into a hunk of metal or smoke for goodness sake!

Serenity stopped scolding himself and looked back at the stairs, expecting to see a splash of blood where the bullets went through him. He could see a chip in the stairs, probably where the bullet hit, but there wasn’t any blood at all.

I may look human, but that just makes the point that I’m not.

He shivered to himself at the thought and continued toward Russ, who had just bent down to talk to the cop. Anything that would take his mind off this revelation was good right now. He’d talk to Rissa about it later.

The policeman rolled down his window after Russ held his wallet up to it, open to something. Probably a badge like the one he’d shown Rissa. Serenity couldn’t hear whatever the policeman said, but he could hear Russ. “It came from that building’s roof. Don’t know how many people there were, but I suspect only one. It was aimed fire, not meant to hit the crowd.”

Serenity wished Russ hadn’t said that. Admitting that it was aimed at them meant they’d have to answer questions; they weren’t just innocent bystanders. Of course, that cat was probably out of the bag the moment Russ identified himself.

Serenity wasn’t wrong. They spent the next two hours answering questions and talking to police.

Serenity let Russ do most of the talking. He was amazed at the way he managed to tell only the truth and yet lead the police to believe that Russ was the target and that it was probably related to the just-discovered theft at the museum. He even managed to tie in Frank’s warehouse based on a “confidential informant.” It was how Russ had known to have the museum check for theft.

In Russ’s story, Serenity was a bodyguard and his lack of apparent injury was because of the form-fitting advanced body armor he was so obviously wearing.

One of the officers took a long look at it, then went to the back and got a large white T-shirt, which he tossed at Serenity. “Please put that on. How the hell does that armor do that? It hurts to look at it.”

It didn’t hurt Serenity, and he didn’t think it hurt Russ, either. If it hurt mundanes, though, covering it was wise. “Active camouflage. It’s still in development.” It was the best explanation Serenity had, and “new tech” could explain almost anything.

Serenity didn’t realize it, but his general lack of reaction, tolerance for being ignored, and willingness to let Russ speak for both of them was perfect for the role he was playing. His purple hair wasn’t as good a fit, but once they had him pigeonholed as a “bodyguard”, most of the police stopped wondering who he was.

“How do you do that?” Serenity looked over at Russ in the next seat. He couldn’t resist the question, now that they were in private, in Janice’s rented SUV. “I never even had to show ID.”

“Practice and connections. I’m sure you’ll get there.” Russ shrugged, as though it were no big deal. “I’ve been doing this a long time and my ID answers a lot of questions, especially the big one of why someone would shoot at me. You’ll get there.”

Serenity shook his head. “I’m not so sure. Vengeance never did.”

That evening, Serenity called all of them together. Rissa, Russ, Ita, Katya, and Raz all met with him at Aki’s core. He deliberately left Phoebe out, and Janice bowed out on the grounds that strategy wasn’t her job.

“We have two problems. First, the invasions. There are a lot of individual places I could make a difference there, but most of it will have to be solved without me. I need to help other people fix them, not close them myself unless we’re stuck. Second, this mess with the vases and the whatever-it-is that was affecting parking lots. I can’t help but think they’re connected. Speaking of that, what happened to the help you were supposed to have, Russ? I know Red was here, and didn’t you have someone else coming in?” Serenity turned to Russ.

Russ shrugged. “Phoebe sent them home. She said they’d be needed more there than here. So far, she’s been correct. You don’t argue with a Seer about things like that.”

Serenity nodded. “That’s a third issue. Phoebe. Something’s wrong with what she’s seeing or remembering. I don’t know if it’s affecting her visions or just her memory, but it’s probably the curse affecting her somehow. Is there any way we can figure out who is cursed or where it comes from?”

Rissa was already shaking her head. “Someone tried to shoot you and Dad. Shouldn’t that be the top priority?”

Serenity shook his head. “I don’t know where to start. I felt a danger to Russ, but I don’t really know why he’s being targeted.”

“Could be any number of reasons. That’s the problem with being a problem-solver, sometimes people you’ve dealt with in the past decide you’re the problem. It’s not the first time, though I think it’s the most organized. Whoever it was got away clean; it was professional work. That limits the possibilities a lot, but it doesn’t help beyond that.” Russ sounded remarkably blase about being shot at.

Rissa stared at her father. “When were you going to tell me that?”

Russ shrugged and grinned sheepishly at Rissa. “The last time was when you were twelve. I didn’t want to tell you then and I haven’t really thought about it that much since then. Most of what I face is more likely to hit me with venomous claws than aim a gun at me.”

“Dad!”