Chris’s old whiteboard was in the back corner, furthest from Kenzie’s workstation, across from the bathroom and by the technical front door of the headquarters that we never used, because we always came and went from the fire escape, if we weren’t using the building’s laundry unit or heading into the basement to flip the breakers if Kenzie didn’t stagger out the startup processes of her tech enough. It wasn’t Chris’s whiteboard anymore. Byron had taken it over.

Icons blinked on the screen. I could have gone to the computer and used the mouse to click one, or tried my hand at the voice recognition program and asked the computer nicely. One icon to bring up a map and show where in the city this was happening. Another to bring up pertinent details on each of the people—many ‘details’ were blank, filling in only as fast as people found time to spare. There would still be some misinformation.

I left it alone, my attention split three ways, between looking around the headquarters, watching the unchanging text on the screen, and hoping. It was nine in the morning, hardly prime time for villainy.

The text on the screen changed, so quickly it almost tricked my eyes. Two new lines. ‘Assist: Withdrawal (MjMf)’, ‘Assist: Finale (MjMf)’.

“Hey guys,” I whispered the words. I was alone in the headquarters, but saying it at full volume felt like it would have been an entirely different thing.

I hadn’t expected them. I hadn’t known if anyone at all would show up, but them least of all.

In a way, I almost felt like the Major Malfunctions wanted what I wanted more than anyone else. Breakthrough had their own diverse needs and wants. They had since the beginning. My parents and my mom in particular? Way off in left field there. The big teams had their ideological divides, with strong views on how everything should be handled, not just the cape stuff. Most of the little teams had their own individual focuses.

The Major Malfunctions wanted to help. They wanted to work with others. They wanted to get up to speed. That they were involved made just about every emotion I was feeling go up two notches on the dials. My hands gripped my upper arms.

“Come on,” I whispered.

Again, the screen change. I’d been staring at it for so long that the text lingered in my vision after the point it had disappeared.

Two man Advance Guard patrol against independent villain Bullhorn, Major Malfunctions assisting for goodwill. Capture and arrest, custody pending.

I punched the air. “Yes!”

Two weeks of lead-in for this. The fight hadn’t been a hard one. Gong might have been able to handle it on his own. Advance Guard might have intentionally gone out early to pick a fight they knew they could win, which skewed the results.