“Not quite that easy,” Faultline answered. “We’re on a job, we have clients to safeguard. But Gregor likes you, Sveta, and I trust Gregor with my life. We’re going to move, because being out in the open exposes us to danger. We walk with your team in single file. You’ll come with us, no fast movements, no tricks, no powers, and nothing finds its way to your hands. We’ll also need to search you.”

I glanced at Capricorn, only to see that the armor had a blue tint. Tristan had backed off for reasons unclear to me.

“Okay,” I said.

“Whippersnap, could you check them? Please stay still. Arms up, feet spread.”

I raised my arms, holding them apart.

Whippersnap was the literally broomstick-thin Case Fifty-Three with skin stretched too tight across a half-width skull, large, juicy eyes bulging out of eye sockets to either side, to the point that it looked like he could literally look backwards. The eyes were slow to move, scraping against the sockets, but they moved almost constantly.

He was at my side with an audible noise on arrival. With a disconcerting speed, his hands touched and lightly slapped me, starting at my collar and hood, then working down.

It felt more invasive than an ordinary strip search, because it was so fast and thorough I felt like I was being laid bare.

He was a speedster, but he looked and felt a damn sight like a bio-speedster. There were breaker speedsters like Velocity, who shifted into an alternate state to access reality on a different level, there were ones who had a great deal of propulsion, ones that manipulated the environment, and then there were the ones who just had biology that alien—usually through changer powers.

“Hi Whippersnap,” Sveta said, as I was left alone, the full search moving to Byron, for a full search of Byron’s armor.

With a sound like a whipcrack, Whippersnap moved faster, closing the distance between himself and Sveta. The sound had come from him extending an arm, pointing at her.

“I’d like to put all of the bad stuff behind us,” Sveta said.

“Tch.”

“Is this going to be a problem, Whipper?” Faultline asked.

“Neh,” Whippersnap replied.

He took only another twenty seconds to search the rest of the team before stopping at Sveta. “Can’t search her without dying.”

“I vouched for her,” Gregor said.

“You could cork her with a mucus plug,” Whippersnap said. “Seal that suit closed.”

“I will not do that, I’m sorry.”

“Real nice, Whipper,” Sveta said.

“I’m being nice,” Whippersnap said, his voice a hiss. I could see veins stand out through the too-tight skin. Cords and muscles bulged at the corners of his jaw. “I could have said no vouch, anti-vouch. You betrayed my team. But I am new, but out of respect for Brother Gregor and the boss, I’m quiet for now. I am a professional.”