“Perhaps. Are you here about errant tinkers?” Lord of Loss asked.

“We’re here because people may be using Earth N as a staging ground for their activities,” Capricorn said.

“That would be the nature of the arrangement,” Lord of Loss said. “We keep an eye out for anything that would bring too much trouble down on Earth N. We intervene in cases of serious weapons, intent to do harm to members of Earth N, kidnap victims being taken to one of the retreats for holding.”

“What about intent to do harm to anyone outside of Earth N?” I asked. “Would you catch that?”

“We have powers available to us that could see that kind of intent, if in the right time and place.”

“What about other times and places?” Capricorn asked. “How much of an eye are you keeping on them?”

“Very little,” Lord of Loss said. “I’m going to be honest, as part of Marquis’ open-ended request. We have other things we do. The retreats? They aren’t valuable, it’s not worth excessive time, it’s not worth excessive manpower, and being too careful would ruin the point of those retreats.”

“The fact that a hero team is knocking on our door and asking about things suggests it might be important,” Marquis said.

He looked so much like her. The eyes, the hair, the mouth. The shoulders.

“True,” Lord of Loss admitted. He seated his large armored form on the ground, one hand behind him to prop himself up. “It’s not an everyday thing.”

Sveta, Capricorn, Lookout and I exchanged looks. Cryptid was being very still and tense, his clothes occasionally moving a fraction when the wind blew strong.

I thought of the sports team. Was the woman’s inability to work because she was busy or was it something else? “These retreats, they have internet? Is there cell service?”

“It’s out more often than not. It’s easier to travel into the Norfair span and use facilities there than it is to rely on what the cabins offer. The service is up for one or two hours a day, and it’s restricted at those times.”

“It was better, but that was before,” Nursery said. “The attacks have been knocking out services. The city has had outages.”

“Amen,” Lookout said.

Cryptid nodded.

“You said attacks?” I asked. “These aren’t accidents or poorly laid groundwork breaking down?”

Sveta added, “Some people were suggesting the outages were malicious, but the people in charge have been quiet. If there are any arrests, they aren’t telling anyone about them.”

“It’s very malicious,” Nursery said. “Enemies of Gimel know they can’t pick a fight. Our population is small, but the number of capes scares them off. They know where Gimel is vulnerable.”

I had some idea, too. I’d thought about how much damage the outages, communication loss and disruption of both work and supply had done, especially with the timing.