“We’ll get back to you with more information and direction, then,” I said. Kenzie nodded. “You guys are okay?”

“As okay as I could be,” Rain said. “The talk at the tribunal helped a bit. They’re letting me have some basic tools, Ashley can come, and I get a chance to work on her hands.”

“I appreciate it,” Ashley said.

“Four of us live in my building,” Rain said. “We each have exits on a different face of the building, so we don’t cross paths as much, but walls are thin and people are bored. There’s a lot of talk.”

“I have a roommate,” Ashley said. “You could call her family. Having her around helps some, but it also hurts some.”

“That’s family,” I said.

“Yup,” Kenzie said.

“I suppose so,” Rain added.

“If these updates to my hands work at all, I shouldn’t be so reliant on her,” Ashley said. “Patience has a way of wearing thin.”

“Yours or hers?” I asked.

“Same thing,” she said.

“Uh, right,” Rain said. “Hey, if we’re helping out, what is it we’re doing?”

“Watch out for anything suspicious,” I said. “Anyone who seems to show too much interest in the way things work.”

“That could be anyone,” Rain said. “Us, even. It’s an odd setup, everyone wants to know more as soon as they’re here.”

“Odd how?” I asked.

“That would be us, right now,” Rain said. “It’s a town, almost. Every building is its own set of cells. Wide roads separating things, longer walks between facilities that matter.”

Ashley added, “They spread us out so that if one person blows something up or uses a power, they can’t affect more than a building or two at a time. Eight parahumans at most.”

“And they have the countermeasures. The ankle attachment,” I said.

“Yeah,” Rain said. “A lot of security is offsite. Everything is scheduled, so we don’t have too many of us in one place at one time. Officers have guns, remotes for the bombs we’re wearing and access to security cameras stationed at irregular intervals with irregular schedules.”

“I hear security cameras and my imagination goes wild,” Kenzie said.

“Be careful about fooling around,” Ashley’s voice was almost that of a parent. Warning, guiding. “If you make a mistake, it reflects on us.”

“Yeah,” Kenzie said. Her expression was serious. “I don’t want that. I want you out of there already. Both of you.”

“It will take time. You can call in the meantime,” Ashley said.

Kenzie smiled.

“Any thoughts, Victoria?” Rain asked.

“What I’m hearing,” I spoke slowly as I thought things through mid-sentence, “is that for any dangerous person or group to influence the prison population, it would be hard to reach enough people.”

“They would have to be staff,” Rain said.