They’d all gathered out in the middle of an open space that could have been a plaza, a parking lot, or a market space in the summer months. Now it was covered in snow. It was cold and there had to be a dozen places across Sherwood Span where people could gather, but nobody wanted to be the one to wuss out, so they stood in the cold, ankle or calf deep in snow.

The wounds in her legs made her think of Bitter Pill. She looked for the woman and found her off to the side, talking to Bluestocking. Blue had been hurt in the Fallen raid. It looked like she was back in action.

Seeing Tattletale looking, Bluestocking gave her the finger, along with the dirtiest of dirty looks.

Few were quite as bold as that.

She leaned over to Snuff, and she bid for him to bend down. In his ear, she whispered, “Tell the others to scatter.”

“Scatter?”

“Our individual cells, sub-groups. Heartbroken in one group, our guys in another. Our mercs can hang out as their own group. Send Foil and Parian off on their own. Faultline should be close but not with us. We’re too big a mob and everyone’s staring.”

Snuff communicated the message. Where they’d been an army, her forces dissolved.

Everyone disconnects.

They’re more comfortable like this.

The interjection of her power was the kind of thing she was trying to be alert about. The times it chose to jump in, the things it said, and the idea, as old as Gold Morning, that the alien behind it was looking to shape and encourage certain behaviors.

It’s all so much easier when I’m out using my powers instead of working from my terminal. Less headaches, less interjections.

A steady, low level thing, that had ground her down for years now.

She was aware that sending her mercenaries away left her with very, very little. Men she was paying, who weren’t technically hers. Even the most loyal of them would leave when the pay stopped.

Snuff made his way to her side. She was paying him, but he had other motivations. He was after her, and not in the romantic sense. No, he knew her too well for that. She’d come to terms with the fact that her lack of interest in the romance or the physical stuff wasn’t because of one excuse or the other. She was pretty sure it wasn’t because her power preferred her this way. It was just her.

No, Snuff wanted her for the status. She had a place in the city and in the cape dynamic, and he was cementing a role as her enforcer and bodyguard.

She had him, but there would be no long chats, no exchange of birthday presents, ironic or otherwise. He was with her only in a sense.