“Tinkers are the most complicated factor, in narrowing down who we’re after. Even if we recognize a power, we have to remember that tinkers can scan a parahuman power and adapt their tech to replicate or use an aspect of that power. They can share gear or steal ideas, which can functionally be like scanning. We have to be careful, second-guess ourselves. ‘A tinker emulated it’ is just one possibility.”

“It sounds like you’re walking back what you said when you wanted to get everyone on board,” Houndstooth said.

“Which part?” I asked.

“Being strong,” Houndstooth said. “Doing this in a decisive, organized way.”

“You talked about disappearing capes,” Moonsong added her voice to things.

I couldn’t deny it. “I did. Both things may be necessary. Strength and having a way to eliminate the worst offenders from the equation.”

“Now you’re quibbling. We can’t ever be sure because it might be a tinker, or it might be… what?”

“Frame job,” Swansong said.

Moonsong shook her head. “Not good enough. You said you wanted to limit this serious step to dealing with the worst of the worst.”

“Yes,” I said. “And we should.”

“Except this looks like the worst to me, and it feels like we’re getting a little wobbly when it comes to the follow-through. Making excuses before we even start hunting them.”

“If this is provocative, we can’t snap up the bait. If this is personal and done this smart at the same time, then we have to be smarter and cooler-headed.”

“They took some of our own to pieces,” Mayday said. “I’ve seen teammates die. I’ve seen what happens when heroes aren’t firm enough. We just set them running with our first day of organized hero work. They’re running to the same places.”

“They are meeting tonight. But if we come to a decision and coordinate in a calm, effective way, we can get out ahead of whatever they decide to do,” I said.

“The prisoner’s dilemma,” Brio said. “Isn’t it? If we play a soft hand and the villains go hard, more of us are going to end up like the Navigators. If we go hard and the villains play soft—”

“We’ve dealt with the problem,” Mayday cut in.

“We’ve eliminated the wrong people,” Brio said. “I’d rather end up like the Navigators than send an innocent man to… wherever we’re disposing of the worst people.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“You didn’t see how they were,” Danger Ranger said. “How bad it was.”

“We investigate this thoroughly,” Brio said. “That’s my vote. I trust my team to stand behind it.”

For a few moments, the retorts and the people trying to speak over one another made understanding any one person impossible. Team captains and leaders rose from their seats.

“Enough,” I said.