I inverted, flipping up, so my hands were down and my feet were up. His leverage was nil, and with my hands gripping his hands, I could come down hard, the flat of my forearm against the flat of his, driving down. Bone broke as I forced arm to ground, and nose broke as face followed.

“Are there others?” Foil asked.

“The one that drove us,” Rain pointed out.

“And these three,” Chastity said, looking down.

Rachel turned to the one that had ‘looked at her funny’. “Speak.”

“I don’t—” he started. He grimaced. “Fuck.”

“Speak.”

“We got a better offer. Money froze up when the Undersiders left New Brockton. The boss is being cagey. We talk, you know. About what happens next. This is a cushy gig, how does it end? And we collectively decided a year or two ago that if it ended it would look like this.”

“And you fuck us?” Rachel asked, gripping him by the collar.

I saw him set his jaw.

“May I?” I asked.

She didn’t let go or budge, staring him down.

“Rachel. We’re working on this together. Let me have a go.”

“Let’s cooperate,” Foil said.

Rachel dropped him. He slumped to the ground.

I glanced at Rain, gesturing slightly, indicating our prisoner. That got me a nod. For the actual interaction, though, I had to get close. I was glad for the armor at my knees as I knelt beside him.

I could feel Rain’s power. Subtle, but there.

“Tell us.”

No answer.

I pulsed out with my aura. Calculated, as I’d been doing as of late, to just extend a few feet. The others would barely notice it, if they noticed at all. A glance confirmed I was right. No changes in expression, no reactions, no anger or frustration with me.

“Tell us who paid you and what this operation entails.”

No answer again.

Again, I used my aura.

Rain was exerting a constant pressure, magnifying regret, shame, and guilt. My power was a slap across the face, a burst of emotion, a feeling plummeting to the pits of the stomach.

In the wake of my power, they’d rebound, reel. Some emotion control powers could be used like that, to create a long-term effect that extended past the power’s duration.

That lesson was being driven home by Rain’s power.

“Cradle,” the man said, his head bent. “Love Lost. March. They’ve met, they’re working together.”

“Kind of assumed,” I murmured. “Try harder.”

A slap of my power got a reaction from him.

“Last I heard, which was before we left for the restaurant, they beat your buddies. Both groups. Sliced and diced a bunch of them. If anyone asks…”