The team? I could manage the team, we’d figure something out. But that did nothing about the people who were still in various forms of trouble. We still hadn’t heard from the A-team, down in the access tunnels. Natalie was still in the custody of Goddess’s squad. Lookout was still in Monokeros’s grasp.

This was the trap. All of the puzzle pieces from Teacher’s riddle were coming together in this. The nonlethal weapons. The anti-air weapon he’d employed against me, they could well prevent Goddess from taking flight and making a break for it.

And the attacks she’d described—multiple fronts, multiple angles, multiple levels. We couldn’t ignore the access tunnels and the control of the bombs they promised. We couldn’t ignore the front door, or our rear, or the issue of basic needs, like needing to eat.

“Give me an answer, Antares,” Goddess said. “Can you figure this out, or are you going to get in my way?”

“I’ll work on figuring something out,” I said.

She nodded slowly, still staring into my eyes.

“Sorry to be so intense,” I said.

“Good,” she said. “Which buildings are the maximum security buildings?”

“The short, squat ones at the far north of the complex,” I said.

“He fed his drugs to the people there?”

“They get their food delivered, and the guards make sure they take their pills,” Seir said, behind Goddess. “I’m borderline. Max sec if I’ve been anything but good. So I know.”

Seir was staring at me. He seemed to be amused that I was facing down Goddess like this and I wasn’t coming out ahead. That, or he was just enjoying himself, and he looked like an asshole as a separate, distinct thing.

Asshole.

Goddess, for her part, seemed to be focusing on the horizon, where the shape of buildings was only barely visible against the backdrop of sky and distant trees. Many of the buildings didn’t have lights on.

I could feel her telekinesis like a harsh blast of wind right after a vehicle passed by. The force in the air was even more pronounced along the course of the blast, lines and fractal images briefly visible as air compressed, moisture condensed, and light bent.

In the distance, one of the buildings toppled.

“That’ll get them moving,” she said. “Seir, gather everyone you know. Deal with them, knock down buildings and render this place uninhabitable as you come back from doing that. We burn our bridges behind us.”

I saw the smile on Seir’s face. I looked away.

I took off, heading straight up to where I could hopefully get my bearings, and where I wouldn’t have to see a Fallen who reveled in being Fallen being happy with the status quo. It made it easier to think straight and set my mind to the task at hand.