“I’m not saying I’ll say no, or that I’ll tell my team to say no,” I said, carefully. “But if our actions here aren’t going to fix things, is there a possibility we can look into other answers? Answers that don’t leave this as a fragile mess to handle tomorrow? More long-term answers to my sister or Cryptid or anything else?”

I shifted my footing. The signal I was thinking about Teacher. The operation to infiltrate his base of operations. I didn’t want Amy and the Shin situation hanging over our heads.

“You’re thinking of the prison.”

“I’m thinking of anything. If you trust me enough to have me, have us get involved, then I want to know you trust me enough to listen if I say that I know her and she’s too dangerous to be left alone.”

The door of the store opened. Ashley stepped away from our group to go greet Kenzie, as she pulled her helmet off. Kenzie hugged her friend as soon as her arms were free.

“The Wardens have been debating the subject ever since Goddess attacked the prison and Amelia Lavere went to Shin. We’ve been on the fence, and depending on how this goes, we may find ourselves unilaterally on one side or the other. If you have an opinion on the matter it will be taken under serious consideration.”

I nodded. “Then I’m fine with this if my team is.”

“I’m a little worried about you talking about permanent solutions for dealing with a sibling,” Tristan spoke up from behind me, prompting me to turn around.

“I’m not thinking of that kind of permanent,” I said. “And it’d be a group decision.”

“Still sounds uncomfortable.”

“Yeah,” I said.

“I’m always up for new places,” Sveta said. “And anything that unites the different worlds. Exploring what was out there was the happiest I’ve ever been and I want that happiness for everyone. I think this makes a lot of sense to do, especially if we can find out more about what the anti-parahumans as a whole are doing.”

“And Chris. He feels like he’s our responsibility,” Rain said, bringing up the elephant in the room.

“He’s his own responsibility,” Ashley said.

“But we should check on him, right?” Kenzie asked, gripping Ashley’s sleeve.

“Yeah.”

“I agree we should get what info we can on the anti-parahumans,” Tristan said. “Deal with Victoria’s family stuff. Check on Cryptid. I’m just worried this is going to blow up.”

He blurred.

“Yeah,” was Byron’s contribution to things.

“Do you have other obligations?” Miss Militia asked.