“I know what you mean,” Capricorn said. “Branding, theme, style. If the team goes rugged then you, me, Ashley and Lookout are tough to fit in, while Chris and Rain are happy as clams. Sveta can adapt to that. If we go polished, preppy, hair done up… opposite.”

“Applies to other things too,” I said.

“And I don’t think I could adapt to polished,” Sveta said, cutting in before I could return to my thought.

Capricorn shrugged. “You’ve got the creative, artistic touch and a pretty face. You could change how you do your arms. I really think you could pull it off.”

“Except I don’t want to, and I’m uncomfortable,” she said. “Sorry, can we change the subject?”

“Sure,” Capricorn said. “But before we drop it—”

“Capricorn,” I interrupted, my voice a warning.

“What?”

“Boundaries,” I said.

“Really. It’s twice now in recent memory you’ve wanted to change the topic. This is just me adding to the discomfort for five seconds so I can avoid all of it in the future. Okay?”

“Okay,” Sveta replied, sighing like it was an extension of the word.

“Why uncomfortable?”

“Um. Saying I have a pretty face is a very nice thing to say—”

“No hetero,” he interrupted.

“—er, yes,” she said. She smiled despite herself. “But it reminds me that I’m just a face, pretty much. Sorry, I’ve been thinking a lot about… um, bodies, and my lack of one, because of stuff I brought up with you both.”

“Got it,” Tristan said. “Chat me up if you want to pick my brain again. Until then, no talk of bodies or boning.”

“Thank you,” she said the two words with finality. She looked at me, “There was always one person who didn’t fit in, when you tried to create a cohesive identity? Except maybe for the, uh, group.”

The therapy.

“Victoria wasn’t a part of that,” Capricorn said.

“I guess,” she replied.

“Thing is,” I said. “Standing here, thinking about how I didn’t even have to ask Capricorn if he was on board with seriously going after these guys—”

“Damn fucking straight,” Capricorn said it with enough force that a few heads turned our way.

“We’re tenacious,” I said. “Every last member of the group, we’ve been given every reason to give up and we pushed on.”

“For better or for worse. Poor Lookout,” Capricorn said.

“I can get behind the idea,” Sveta said. “Tenacious.”

I stood a little straighter, taking in the group of gathered heroes. I drew in a breath. “Then let’s go be stubborn. We’re not going to accept this loss.”

“Yeah,” Capricorn said.

I flew down from the roof of the concrete garage. I went straight from flying to striding forward. Capricorn hopped down, though it wasn’t a distance most would want to jump—twenty feet onto packed dirt, a heavy landing with the armor he wore. Just a little bit of enhanced physique could go a long way.