She continued, “What happens if you diverge? Does that screw up the sync?”

“If we go our separate ways, then we go our separate ways,” Harbinger One said. “The coordination follows from other things, not from us. Understanding. A little bit of programming.”

“But we won’t go our separate ways,” Harbinger Two added. “Probably.”

“If one of you got a girlfriend…?” Chastity asked, “Hm?”

“Wouldn’t happen,” Harbinger Two said.

“Ah-ha. What a shame.”

“No,” Harbinger Two said. “We like girls. But it wouldn’t be one of us. We’d come as a set.”

“Yes,” Harbinger One said. “We get jealous.”

“Two boys who care about their appearance, in good standing with the Mayor, even. Lucky girl.”

“Five boys,” Harbinger One said.

Chastity made an amused sound. I just shook my head.

I heard the rustling that was Sveta tumbling into the area. I flicked the light switch off and on in the storage room.

I felt the jostling at the knob a second before the pull came, forceful enough to potentially tear the door from its hinges. I was ready for it, and held the door firm as Sveta pulled herself to the end of the hallway and the employee door.

“Hi,” she said, from the other side of the door. “Rai—Precipice passed out.”

“Alright. As expected.”

“Sorry that took a second. We had to wait until people got out of the way. I figured you had your forcefield. Or… a door.”

“Yeah,” I said.

“You wanted me?”

“Wondering if you feel up for this?” I asked. “Four people outside. Heavily armed. We need a silent takedown. We have Chastity here.”

“As well as Thing One and Thing Two,” one of the Harbingers said.

“I can try,” she said. “It really does help. Precipice’s power. It’s awful while it’s working, but… I feel like I did when I left with Weld. As ready as I’ll be. Scared, but part of that’s the fear you get when it could work out okay.”

Left the Asylum.

“Focus on arms and legs.”

“Yeah,” Sveta said, her voice soft. “I can do that, at least.”

If all of this goes wrong and she does end up hurting someone, it’s best it’s kept to serious damage to an arm or a leg.

“Can you get the door?”

“I think so. Be ready in case I toss anyone your way.”

“Got it. Whistle?”

“You know I suck at whistling. I’ll shout if I can’t do it.”

“Not too loud,” I told her.

I heard the door open. I felt the cold air pour into the station. Not that the station was warm.

“—wiped the asses and changed the diapers of cold-behind-the-eyes killers,” Chastity was murmuring. “Doesn’t scare me.”

“Chastity,” I said.

“Full-grown, or—?” Harbinger One asked.

“When they were babies. But they were screwed from the get-go. Heavy exposure to emotion powers before they had teeth.”