They dragged him by the arm, and they opened the door two cells over.

Sveta, stooped over the drain with water running out of the hose, drenching herself.

“Oh,” she said, covering herself up with a towel. “Mr. Armstrong!”

She didn’t quite cover up the three wounds she’d sustained, all a funny shape, but the guards weren’t looking hard enough to notice, it seemed. They were preoccupied, more than a little scared.

It was over. The charade broken. If they’d been looking to make parahumans look unruly by using tamed Shin parahumans to force the hand of foreign Gimel ones, that was over with.

If Yosef had indeed wanted this to be discreet, it wouldn’t be. The answers would come out. Answers had a way of doing just that. Crock had triggered from just that very reason. Even now, guards were looking to make sense of the situation, investigating.

“I was getting ready to leave, thought I’d rinse off,” Sveta said, getting dressed behind the divider by the shower stall.

The shower. The drains. She had slipped through, crossing over to the cell with the most commotion.

Control like she’d never had. A light of heroism and pride in herself that shone in her eyes, that she’d been chasing for so long.

Maybe the difference between himself and Ms. Natalie Matteson was that she hadn’t had the chance to see this light yet—only the darkness.

Dressed, Sveta crossed the room, wrapping him in the tightest of hugs.

“Let’s get you all out of here,” he told her. “Everyone’s waiting.”

Dying 15.a

Crystal

Where are you, Victoria?

Crystal resisted the urge to fidget. PRTCJ Oversight was stretched so thin that they weren’t taking calls or clarifying orders, and with only a brief text telling her to go here and handle things, she had no idea if she was here in an official or personal capacity. Whichever it was, she knew fidgeting wasn’t something she was supposed to do.

Officially, she placed herself on the sidewalk, as close to the armed personnel as she was comfortable getting, back straight, hands behind her back, wearing her PRTCJ jacket with her icon and her bodysuit. She projected calm and confidence, and remained ready to intervene with forcefield or lasers if anything happened between the armed guards at the building entrance and the gathered civilians on the street.

It was cold, but her costume was good quality and warm, made of a thicker material that softened the lines of her body somewhat. It was her nose and ears that got cold, even with earmuffs on and mostly hidden by her hair, her face turned away from the strident wind.

On any other day or circumstance she might have used her forcefield to block that wind, but the people at the building entrance were from Shin and they didn’t like powers.