He’d slowed down, both because of the scare and because of the upsurge in traffic near here. Which was good. He slowed down more as the freezing rain resumed in its full intensity, the roads icy once again.

Past the breach in reality that was almost an oasis in this weather, into the thicker portions of the city.

It wasn’t far from here. If we hadn’t had to pause to find our way in an area that was too dark, with no street signs or landmarks, it would have taken four or five minutes.

I let the Wretch fall away, the ice that had collected in the crevices dropping down to pelt the car, which had slowed.

Two pink circles gave away Withdrawal’s location. The lenses of his mask glowed neon in the gloom, as did some of the oils of his costume. I raised a hand, and he raised his.

He was quick and silent as he approached, moving on three limbs while holding his giant syringe with the fourth. The syringe attachment looked more like a nozzle, today.

“I’ll let the others know you’re here,” he said, as I floated closer. Byron got out of the car behind me. His voice was muffled by his mask. Ice had crusted around the places in his mask where his breath filtered out.

“Alright,” I said.

“Can ya go easy on Finale?” he asked.

“Easy?”

“She thinks we did this wrong, and we can’t convince her different.”

I nodded. I was worried what ‘wrong’ constituted, when so much about tonight felt wrong, but I’d wait until I had information. With a possibly altered mental state, moving slow and carefully was critical. It was point one of the protocols.

Well, point one would have been to not attend, but sitting out was really not my thing.

The bright lenses of his mask left trails in my vision as he nodded back. He didn’t cross the street directly, instead hopping over to where the shadows were deeper, a narrow band of dark extending across the road where the pools of light from streetlights didn’t quite meet. He crossed that band, barely visible.

If he was being stealthier, I would be too. I dropped to ground, stepping close to the car.

“What do I need to know about these guys?” Byron asked. “I know the basics.”

“Inexperienced, but eager. That was Withdrawal, the tinker. Caryatid is their not-so-mobile breaker. Finale is a blaster that lacks confidence. Lots of potential across the team, but they never broke ground. This is one of their first outings. Too small a team to be on most people’s radars.”

Byron nodded. “Not Goddess’s radar, then.”

“Shouldn’t be.”

He nodded.