Alone, I wasn’t sure where I stood. A few things figured out. That I couldn’t be just the Warrior Monk, or just the Scholar. But I wasn’t alone, and that was maybe the biggest difference. Not necessarily all for the better, but still a big difference. I had backup, and I had distractions. People I could dwell on instead of myself. We were all fueled by different things, and I was fueled by dwelling on others.

Yeah, not all for the better. Lookout was seriously hurt for the second time in a matter of days, an ambulance picking her up. I’d started all of this because I’d wanted to help Mrs. Yamada, and given that I’d been unable to reach her on my phone but I’d been successful in at least reaching her answering machine with a stranger’s, I was pretty sure she had blocked my number.

Capricorn emerged from the building, one hand on his helmet as he adjusted the fit. No cloth layer beneath like Tristan had switched to.

Rachel followed. Her dogs were small now. A chihuahua with bulging eyes and a spine malformation was in the lead, bouncing ahead, stopping as she whistled to rein it back. The other two were a jowly hunting hound, and a husky.

No, not a husky. Damn, that was spooky to see.

As they stepped outside, the dogs were made to sit. I saw the changes begin, with the chihuahua bouncing up excited as it started, Rachel making it sit again. With the intermittent darkness as the emergency lights flashed, it didn’t look like a gradual change, but one of fits and starts.

She more or less ignored Byron and I as she handled the dogs.

Probably for the best.

Rain emerged in the company of Chastity and Cassie, Rachel’s henchman. Rain was holding the destroyed whip segments, while Chastity held her arm out for him to poke at. She still wore the arm that Love Lost had made. Cassie observed from the side.

A mismatched set. Precipice was in costume, his mask and the mechanical right arm bearing the circuit board pattern in a glowing blue, his costume modified from a winter coat with a hood. Chastity was wearing nice clothes and a coat that looked like she’d had to go to Paris or New York to find a store upscale enough. Cassie in a bomber jacket with patches and badges on the sleeves, some looking like they were there to mend rips or tears. The hair that stuck out beneath the hat with earflaps was longer in the front than in the back, in a way that made me think her hair had gotten too long and she had just gathered it all up into a single ponytail and then cut it off.

It put Rachel’s comments to Candy about the long hair in another light. What was it like to even be Rachel’s henchperson?