​     Niki got a kick out of watching Trevor fight while he was invisible. The skillet flitted this way and that in empty air as if it had a will of its own. It banged a sailor over the head. It smacked another sailor's elbow. A cook held a long, thin knife. The skillet bounced off the cook's chin, causing him to howl and drop his utensil. The knife rose from the floor to seemingly drive itself into the cook's midsection.

​     Two replacers left, a sailor and a student-looking guy.

     Niki took the student.

​     Trevor took the sailor.

​     The student was thin with hair that rose from the top of his head like a houseplant. It distracted Niki because she tried for a second to figure out a way to get her hands on that hair to give it a good tug. The student took that second to punch her in the gut as hard as he could, which really wasn't that hard. Still, it knocked the wind out of Niki. It made her retreat, take a step back.

​     The student pressed the advantage, coming at her with both fists swinging, and that's when Niki saw her chance. She palm-slammed his jaw. His forward momentum met her forward thrust. Niki both heard and felt his jaw shatter. He went to scream, but his mouth didn't work anymore, so what came out was kind of a, "wa...wa...". Niki elbowed his larynx as she turned away. He choked. His eyes bulged. He dissolved.

     The sailor Trevor fought looked like Mr. Universe, although all that muscle didn't make much of a difference against someone who was invisible. The sailor's swings went nowhere near Trevor. The sailor tried to grab the handle of the skillet. Trevor twisted the guy's arm, throwing the sailor off balance​. Trevor brought the skillet up hard against the side of the guy's knee, causing it to buckle. As the guy went down, Trevor cracked his skull a good one with that iron skillet.

     Goo. Mist.

     "Okay, it looks like we got 'em all," Niki said.

     "The ones that stuck around."

     "Now what?"

​     "You're taking all of this like a fish to water," Trevor said.

     "You don't know my background."

     "In fact, I kind of do."

​     "Now what?"

     "Ready for a stroll?"

     "Sure. Where?"

     "We've only got to go a mile."

     "Any fighting along the way?"

     "There will be nothing but fighting along the way."

     "Against these..."

​     "Replacers? Yeah, for the most part. The Fours has a couple of hired guns here on Earth, the Silver Centipede and the Silver Scorpion. Very tough customers. I'd love it if they stayed out of town for the rest of the day. We're on our way to The Fours Inc., to the Diamond Tower."

​     "One of those replacers attacked me in the shower this morning. I don't even know how she got..."

​     "They're made of solidified energy from the dream universe of Domitika."

​     "I don't suppose we could slip into the kitchen here and grab a quick bite to eat, huh?"

​     "There's a Freeburgers on the way. I'm sure they still sell breakfast burgers."

​     "Yum-yum. Sounds horrible."

​     "You don't even want to know what I've been eating for breakfast for the last year. A breakfast burger sounds so good to me right now I feel like weeping."

     "Well then..."

     "This is not a safe place for us."

     "My name's Niki, by the way."

     "I know. Niki Creole, or at least that's the name you've given yourself. And I'm..."

​     "You're Trevor. Trevor Harper. You were the most famous criminal in Seatrailia last year for a day or two. Your face was everywhere, and then you disappeared off the face of the Earth."

​     "Literally."

     "It took me a few minutes to realize where I'd seen you before."

​     "We've really got to get going. We can talk on the way. Remember, once we get out on the sidewalk, things are going to get a lot more complicated and dangerous. We won't be able to tell the replacers from the regular citizens. Anybody, absolutely anybody, could attack us."

     "Cool," Niki said. 

​                                                 CONTINUE

​  

​