Lucifer and Octavia cried out in pain. But so did Croatoan. Duke grit his teeth, tried not to wonder if the feeling behind his closed eyes was tears or troubles, and pressed forward, one hand over his face, the other outstretched, pressing more and more microwaves into the gremlin man.

"You -- insolent --" Croatoan growled, his skin smoking and blackening under the onslaught. He pinched his fingers together and pulled harder at the aether in Duke.

But Duke, eyes closed, focusing so hard on his control of Jody's trouble, was noticing something. He recognized the feeling of the aether inside him -- and recognized its double in Croatoan. It buzzed just as hard in the gremlin man, trying to get out, trying to --

To be unmade.

The aether was entropy. Forced into order by Mara and Croatoan and their kind. It wanted to break down, and they held it together by making it break everything else. But it wanted to dissolve.

And, Duke was realizing, he could let it.

He took his hand from his face, eyes still closed, and stood up straighter. He could feel it everywhere now. In Croatoan, in himself. In so many objects around them. In Octavia.

"I can end this," he said, soft and full of wonder.

Croatoan roared and lunged, determined to stop Duke with his bare hands if he had to. Duke didn't seem to notice.

"I can make all of it stop."