“John and I were talking about this earlier.” Hamza’s voice was deep, and he was slower with his words, like he could somehow leave us less words and time in the process. “The Birdcage was emptied out on Gold Morning, so there would be more firepower out there. Your sister was among those released. Those are threats that are active in the city now. Do you feel safe, knowing this?”

It was hard to find words, because they were taking this angle. Tristan looked at me like he was checking to see that I was okay, ready to jump in.

I beat him to it. I didn’t want to look weak in front of an audience. I couldn’t afford for myself to see me as that weak. “I feel like I want to do everything I can to help others feel safe.”

“Amen,” Tristan said.

“People don’t feel safe,” Gary Nieves said. “If that’s your goal, you’re failing.”

“We’re still starting out,” Swansong said.

“But you’ve been heroes for some time, by your own admission,” Gary said.

“I can tell you I was out there in construction, helping to build shelters,” Tristan said. “Victoria was out there in the Patrol block, using what she knows about villains to keep people safe. Swansong was getting care because she wasn’t in one piece, but she was helping authorities with research on powers.”

“And then we have Lookout,” John Combs stated. There was weight to the sentence.

Tristan had walked into that one.

“Hi,” Lookout said. “Mostly school for me.”

“More than school, as the allegations go,” John said.

Hamza didn’t give us a chance to respond before adding his own commentary. “When we started looking into the story with Lookout’s family, you all told us you wanted to come onto the show, to argue your teammate’s side.”

“I hope it doesn’t come down to arguing, Mr. Kouri,” Capricorn said.

“When we decided on Breakthrough’s direction, the goal was to communicate, it’s why we’re here,” I said. “We just want to make sure everyone has as much information as possible.

Hamza was ready with an answer, voice angry. “And for our audience out there, let’s not lose sight of who ‘we’ is supposed to represent, when you talk about your group. Two murderers, sitting here.”

“That’s not right,” Lookout said.

“The information is out there. Team Reach. The junior member Capricorn was arrested on accusations of murder, by his own teammates, no less. We called one of them earlier tonight to corroborate the facts.”

“Hey,” Lookout said.

“Hamza,” I said, my voice firm. “If you’ll—”