“Who are you with?” the guy standing to my left asked. He had a face plate, with the thick bold lines and angular edges that Advance Guard tended to have, and the ‘ears’ of the plate swept back to cover his ears, giving them a pointed, elfin cast. His bodysuit was designed to accent his slim frame, a two-piece jacket and legging combo, with a very pronounced zig-zag at the waist where the upper body met the lower body. There was a slight curl at the toes.

“I’m independent,” I said. “For now.”

“We’re Advance Guard,” he said. “I’m Spright.”

“I’m between names,” I said. “And between costumes. Don’t judge me too harshly.”

“Can I see the emblem?”

“Just a design, not an emblem,” I said, turning my back to him to show him the rush job we’d managed with the heat-transferred image, my sweatshirt lightly singed in places. It was a circle with lines intersecting it, almost like a sun, but with the lines running into the circle. The image was offset, so the lines were shorter to the left and top of the image. Crystal’s idea and design, and I’d had no objection.

“Between teams, between names, between costumes?”

“More or less sums it up,” I said. “If you need to call me anything, you can call me Victoria.”

“I’m honored, Victoria,” Spright said, bowing slightly. “I’m glad for the company. We might be here for a while.”

“We probably will,” I said.

“I see you’ve got the armband. You’ve been around for at least a few years. Do you have any war stories you can share?”

“Yes, a good few,” I said. And a lot I wouldn’t share.

“You’re experienced, huh?”

“A few years under my belt. A few years of semi-retirement.”

“I can tell you I’m very experienced,” he said, with a bit of humor in his voice.

I looked at him, one eyebrow arched.

“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” he said.

“Is that how we’re doing this?”

“Could be,” he said. “What I’m offering is long and thoroughly satisfying. Are you game?”

“Wow,” I said. I smiled despite myself, looking over the crowd instead of at Spright. “When they said Advance Guard rushes into things, they weren’t lying.”

“Once you get me going, I go all night. I might as well get started early.”

“With an audience, though?”

“I’ve got nothing to hide. I’d say they could join in, but I think that would get a little hectic.”

“It might just,” I said. “Would be nice to steer clear of hectic for a while.”

“I very much agree, Victoria Between-things,” Spright said. “You have to find a good fit, strike the right rhythm, the right pace. Once you’re comfortable, you might be able to vary it up some.”