Ronan lost the duplicate.
It happened forty metres away and James only caught the end of it. The copy had been going at Ronan for four minutes and had got nothing, and it changed its mind — it broke off mid-exchange, turned ninety degrees, and went for Maeve, who was standing on her own in the middle of the floor with nothing between her and it.
Ronan got in the route.
He did it the only way available, which was to run into it, and for about a second it worked.
Then it set its shoulders and put a wave straight down the line of him at eight metres.
He got the shield up and got most of himself behind it and it still took him off his feet and slid him eleven metres north on his back, and the route to Maeve was open.
Maeve did not wait for anybody.
