“—Ignoring that the city gave them the seeds, machinery, and tools, built the roads, and provided material for the homes.” Tristan said.

“Sure,” Rain said. “Yeah, I guess so, didn’t hear that end of it, but it’d have to be the case, right?”

“It was,” Tristan said.

“Them deciding to hoard was a thing last spring, after the long winter. They holed up, everyone with a rifle, and city eventually said it wasn’t worth it. Then this summer, in the middle of a lot of the craziness, they blocked off a section of road, raided a truck, and took the stuff back to the Grower’s Court.”

“And?” I asked.

“And a month and a half later, the Shepherds got enough people behind them to deal with it,” Rain said.

“They’re civilians, but that’s a win that might go in the papers,” Tristan said. A smile crept across his face. “We could reach out to the papers. Promote what we’re doing.”

“Shepherd’s win, their choice what to do with it. But you could let them know.”

“Uh, Rain can. While Moonsong is in charge, I’m leaving the Shepherds alone,” Tristan said. “In the meantime, I’ll get changed, and we’ll plan to go after your nemesis, instead?”

“No on both counts,” I said.

“No?” Tristan asked, hefting his bag, stepping toward the bathroom. “There’s a sign on the door that says ‘death’, with really awesome drawing of a skull.”

I heard a shout of greeting from within the bathroom.

“Sveta’s in there,” I said. “She wanted to rinse off and clean her stuff. She’ll be out soon. Like I said, no on both counts. No changing, and no, we aren’t going after Tattletale.”

“You’re paying attention to her.”

“Damn fucking straight I am,” I said. “She’s not someone you ignore, but she’s not someone we pick a fight with either. That’s a whole two squads of trained soldiers that are trading off shifts to support and guard her team around the clock. She also has twice as many parahumans on her team as we have on the full Breakthrough roster, if we pretend Chris is still on the team and we include Damsel.”

“She’s not, you know,” Rain said. “Damsel won’t join.”

“She’s tertiary. If someone comes after Breakthrough as a whole, they’ll have to account for her.”

Rain seemed to consider that. “Yeah, sure.”

“We’re not going after Tattletale. The Undersiders held their own for years. We can’t pick a fight with that.”

“We can try,” Tristan said. “Get some people together.”

“Nah,” I said. I thought about it. “Fuck no. There are other ways.”

⊙

Kenzie was done with her classes. Ashley was through with her appointments. I felt bad that we’d dragged them straight from that into an extended road trip.