“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.

Kenzie had her parents’ van, black, sleek, and sturdy enough to carry what she could bring from her workshop. Some of the components that we’d strapped into place were serving as desks, Rain and Sveta leaning over papers as they sketched out loose ideas. Ashley was in the back, sitting opposite me, while Kenzie sat next to her with her feet propped up on a case, laptop on her lap in a way that let them both see the screen. Here and there, the remnants of lunches and snacks from the fill-up station littered the area.

Byron drove, because he was just a bit more secure driving on ice than Tristan was. I had the passenger seat, though I was twisted around to watch the others. My own laptop sat closed on my lap, still warm from when I’d had it on. I didn’t have a power cable that plugged into the car, and that last twenty percent of battery was more valuable than having an easy way to fill the time.

Listening to the idle chatter was kind of nice on its own. Sveta and Rain collaborating.

“What kind of scale?”

“Um, I have to lift it with my own strength, right? Not that big. Not giant mech big.”

“Good. Because I don’t have the materials for a giant Svetamech.”

“Mecha-Sveta!” Kenzie chirped.

“I’m already mecha-Sveta.”

“Double size? Triple?” Rain asked.

“I had a friend who was larger than usual when I was with the Irregulars. The square cube law is a thing, isn’t it?”