Where Victoria was at the time

Chris was standing on a ruined building.  He’d altered his form some, and looked ape-like.  The coat that had barely fit him before was now straining around his arms.  Smaller arms stuck out near his nipples, working with a syringe.

***

I floated closer to Chris, watching.  As the Ashen Titan ignited a tract of her ash once again, I put myself between her and Chris, so he could work in peace.

***

Heroes on the ground were trying to navigate the carpet of dead flesh.  Here and there, the flesh poked upward, as needles protruded from the ground beneath to stab it.  That flesh ulcerated, blistered, and formed tumorous lumps, discolored and constantly shifting.

The first of them began popping.  Smaller creatures crawled out.

***

I dove, and used my forcefield to punch through the crusty chitin exterior of the largest, spike-impaled insect I could see.

My strength didn’t feel any different.  My forcefield still broke after a heavy strike.

I used my aura.

It did produce a reaction.  They began struggling, fluttering furously.  Then they came after me.

- Infrared 19.6