Emily walked into her dorm that afternoon with the same energy some people would arrive with at a resort or a fancy hotel. It was the joy of finally being away from too many people, and finally being able to enjoy the privacy of her own solitude.

“Oh, hey, Boss, you’re back.”

Emily sighed as she slipped in and closed the door behind her. Almost solitary.

Teddy was sitting on her bed, legs crossed and back against the wall while Emily’s laptop sat open before her with its charging wire extended across the room, using Emily’s chair as a suspension point so that it could reach all the way.

A deep Ritish voice was coming from the laptop. “The most ferocious predator of the northern Rockies of Anada, the grizzly is a predator with a surprising soft spot.”

“You’re watching a documentary?” Emily asked.

“Yeah,” Teddy said.

“The male bear, when his mate seems interested, will mount—”

The laptop clacked shut. Teddy kept staring past where the screen had been.

“How was your day?” Teddy asked as she unfroze.

Emily eyed her suspiciously, especially the red tint on the girl’s cheeks. “It was okay,” she said. “Classes were a little boring, and the professor handed out a bit of homework due next week.”

“That’s cool,” Teddy said.

“Have you been here watching . . . nature documentaries all day?” Emily asked. She didn’t know if she really wanted an answer to that.

Teddy shook her head, then burst out from her pile of blankets. “I got you a costume, Boss.”

Emily’s mind took a moment to shut down, download some updates, then reboot. “You what?” she said at last.

By then Teddy had rushed across the room and come back with a pile of clothes squished between grubby hands. “Here, Boss.”

Emily took the clothes, then set them on the bed as she took off her backpack and tossed off her shoes. Unfolding the costume revealed a black outfit that looked like a suit at first, but the pinstripes on the pants and the little vest screamed “1920s gangster.” The suspenders and the little tie that matched them didn’t help any.

And the fedora that Teddy plopped next to the costume quashed any hopes that it was something else.

“There’s a mask, too,” Teddy said as she reached into a pocket and pulled out a large black domino mask.

Emily looked at the clothes, then at Teddy. “Where did you get all this?” she asked. She didn’t want to ask. She was terrified that the answer would be I mugged it. It was the kind of question where the answer might be a knock on her door as a pair of cops came over to ask some pointed questions.

“I found Alea Iacta,” Teddy said.

Emily rebooted her mind again; clearly the first time hadn’t been enough. “What do you mean you found him? How?” Had the Villain visited their dorm?