“Was that wrong?”

“In some of their eyes, you’re a monster,” Sveta said. “Anything you do is wrong, somehow. For others… it was their show. You threw your weight around, took over the discussion.”

“If we let them have the control, it was going to end in disaster.”

“Oh, for sure,” she said. “But you took over, and that’s what they’re afraid of, I think. They’re upset.”

I could see the message inboxes on Kenzie’s screen scrolling as new messages came in. White labels. No change in Byron or Rain’s expressions.

“You’re right,” I told Sveta. “I like that perspective.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I was still wearing my costume, the breastplate left off, and my phone sat against my belly. I was conscious of how alien my skin felt, and how unusual the clothes felt against my skin. On a low level, I didn’t feel quite like me. It had been a while since that had been the case.

If tonight continued along those lines, that dissonant feeling persisting, I’d probably need to find an excuse to get out, fly, and hit something.

“Are you going to answer?” Sveta asked.

It was my mom and dad.

I answered, putting the phone to my ear. Too much trouble to fish out the earbud and cord from my other pocket.

“Mom,” I said.

“And me,” my dad said. “Saw you on TV.”

“And?” I closed my eyes, listening to his voice. I did miss him, hurt feelings aside. It helped to hear a voice I’d known for all my life when I didn’t feel very me.

“And people are going to be mad. But in our corner, we’ve talked with this team we’ve been palling around with. Not everyone’s here, but… unless a strong voice comes out of nowhere tomorrow morning, you can count us in. Any negatives that came up are outweighed by the positives. You guys have backgrounds? Unresolved trials? That can be argued down. We’re doing the second chance thing, and people believe you when you say you want to share information and organize.”

“They’re in,” I said. I covered the phone with one hand, felt a twinge of pain in my upper arm where the bullet wound still wasn’t one hundred percent. “My mom and dad’s team are back on board.”

I saw the eyes of others light up. Sveta’s was among them.

They’d been a bit down too, awash in the sea of hostility.

“Yes, we’re in,” my mother was the one who answered. “Good job fighting for what you want. It didn’t look easy.”

“Thank you.”

My dad added, “Knowing your sister, she’s probably going to take the excuse to reach out.”

“It would be generous of you to at least not push her away too quickly, too violently,” my mother said.

“Mom.”