“Give us a second?” I asked. “We have to confer.”

Bluestocking jumped in, asking, “Leave us standing in the cold, too, why don’t you?”

A bit irritable.

“Can we win this?” Byron asked.

“Birdbrain is a massive threat, Pill has tricks up her sleeve, Foggy can distract and stupefy with his gas, and Bluestocking is a thinker of some kind.”

In the background, I saw Birdbrain nod to herself.

Was she aware she did that?

“The last couple of days have been back to back crisis management,” Byron said. “Yes, this is important. Keeping the bad guys locked up in jail, especially ones we locked up? All for that. But what does it mean tonight, when there’s another issue and we’re all hurt or out of gas?”

I could see Rain nodding. Better to say that I could see Precipice nodding. His mask hid his expression, but his added hands allowed for more gestures, which hinted at the emotions in play. Fidgety, one hand raising, then dropping.

Sveta wasn’t moving nearly as much. Even her tendrils weren’t that lively. She stared at the brains of Hollow Point, her expression hard.

They were exhausted.

“We give them what they want?” I asked.

“You sure?” Rain asked.

“They want two capes, fine. But we can negotiate.”

In the background, Birdbrain nodded again, said something. Reporting on what we were saying.

“What do you think, Mr. Harris?” Byron asked.

Mr. Harris stared at the villains much as Sveta did. In a way, it was like standing at the foot of a mountain and seeing just how daunting the ascent was going to be. There was such a gap to be closed, and getting there was going to be so hard.

Worse, this ‘mountain’ had no interest in making the process any easier. It was going to do whatever the fuck it wanted.

“I won’t stop you,” he said. “If I get asked why I let it happen, I’ll tell them it was the right thing to do. The way that gun moves unnerves me.”

“If we say no to this, we need to take a few hours off,” Sveta said. “Otherwise I feel like it’s going to end up the same way next time.”

I nodded. I wasn’t super happy about her mentioning that we were tired or taking a break to people who might pass that on to our enemies, but I wasn’t going to get on her case about it.

“Can we talk!?” I called out.

After they consulted, it was Bluestocking who approached, stepping over rubble. She had nice boots. Her approach made the creatures back off.

I floated closer.

What would happen if I decked her and knocked her out right now? If I took a hostage, and played as ugly and as dirty as they were playing right now?

Bitter Pill approached too, maybe because she wanted to say something. I looked back and met Harris’s eyes. Best to connect to the real authorities where possible.