“I know, and that’s good,” Defiant said. “We put her in area Z-X. Z-Y and Z-Z are being used for storage. But what do I need to know before bringing her out? Is she a concern?”

“She’s cooperated, played ball, and she has a pretty good sense of what’s going on.”

“She usually does. They’re discussing the situation inside. Some of the details are private. I’ll have to ask our guests here to wait while you two go in. I’ll open the door for Tattletale and fill her in on what we can.”

“That sounds perfect,” I said.

I felt a bit of trepidation at going inside. On my last visit, I’d found out that Jessica no longer believed in me, and that Dragon had been sitting on a very ugly perception of who I was as a person. False, but the kind of false that hewed close to reality.

He might have noticed me hanging back, because he said, “Once Dragon started believing you, she started investigating. We think her searches tripped a switch, which prompted the attack.”

“Tattletale said something similar,” I noted.

“Dragon is sorry,” Defiant said. “We all are, I think.”

That idea, ‘we all’, it suggested more than him and her. I wasn’t sure it included Jessica. I could imagine talks being had, about whether I was a problem.

“No need for apologies. Makes sense to do, right? Got to keep an eye on things. There’s no PRT keeping tabs on dangerous parahumans.”

“You can be sorry even when wholly justified in your actions,” he said.

“Can you?”

“I think so.”

Was he talking about his time as Armsmaster, and his retirement of the name and role after the Endbringer fight? I’d heard the rumors and reports from the other Wards, once upon a time. The statement didn’t quite line up with it.

It was Sveta’s hand on my arm that helped get me moving. I pulled off my mask and lowered my hood. To be more open, to be less threatening, to people I’d explicitly threatened.

Door locks clicked and let me in. Scattered members from various teams were present. It wasn’t even leadership, it was too soon for that. It looked like it was whoever had been closest. Dragon, Legend, and Valkyrie were at the head of the room. I saw Vista, Golem, and Cuff, Rescue, Effervescent, Houndstooth, Lark, and Mayday. Moonsong’s friend with a name I couldn’t recall was taking notes.

No Weld. I could see Sveta relax a fraction.

No non-parahuman staff, it seemed.

“Welcome,” Dragon greeted us, as we passed through the door. “Let it be known for transcripts that Antares, AKA Victoria Dallon, and Tress, aka Sveta, neither of whom have secret identities, have entered the room.”

Vista had a laptop with her. Carrying it in one hand, she brought it over, setting it down on the table. She paged up to show us what we’d missed.