She was sharp. Stupid, so very stupid when it came to some things. But sharp in some things.

“I’ll let you in on that secret, if you let me ask you a few questions after,” he said.

“I’m not in a mood for riddles, Lab Rat.”

“They think I’m fighting to keep my humanity, while changes wreak havoc on me.”

“They being Victoria?”

“Them.”

“What’s the truth?”

“I can’t be rid of it soon enough,” he said. “Every change pulls me further away from being this.”

“To become what?”

He reached into one of the pockets in the sash. He’d told the others that he needed to carry equipment and drugs with him, in case his body started going to pieces.

Not so.

“This,” he held up a syringe, “Is Brooding Anger. I scanned Nursery during the Fallen fight. It would be interesting.”

She put out a finger. He extruded a droplet, let it rest on her fingertip.

She shook it off, then wiped her finger on her clothes.

Fucking rude. Still… bigger things.

“Maybe another,” he said. He smiled. “Maybe they’ll all get a turn. I’ve collected a few, lurking near powerful capes.”

“What do you even want, Lab Rat? I’m kind of—I’m dealing with shit.”

“You had a face to face with her, finally? Despite everyone telling you that you shouldn’t?”

“I don’t understand it. Or—I understand, I think. I just don’t want to think about it at all.”

“I could give you something. You could be mindless for a while. Peaceful.”

She shook her head. “I should feel like shit. I just wish…”

Her face crumpled up. She looked away, burying her face in a sleeve that draped over one gloved hand.

He looked away too. Rainwater was streaming down, and it was cold.

He’d dealt with worse. Lab Rat hadn’t, but he had.

“I told you something I never told that team,” he said. “You said you’d answer my questions.”

“Lab Rat—”

“You thought you had an answer. You’d help Goddess, she’d take power, you’d keep her from being a despot somehow, and as for Victoria…”

“Don’t. No commentary.”

“You thought she’d be so glad to be rid of you that she’d forgive you?”

“Stop.”

“Goddess can’t lead. She’s too dangerous. She’s missing necessary tools because she never had to go through the hardship to acquire them. Survival. Having to work to get somewhere. Having to learn things the hard way.”

“That ship has sailed, Lab Rat,” Amelia said. “If she doesn’t take power, it’s going to be because someone worse beat her. Teacher is in the running.”

“You said you’d answer my questions,” he said.

“I didn’t say anything like that.”

He shifted position, irritated.

“What questions?” she asked. She looked tired and resigned, and even in the gloom her eyes were visibly red.