Then she looked up at Rain, who was already watching her.

Her eyes found me.

As she’d done earlier, checking with me, checking with Defiant, checking with Rain.

Asking for permission. Permission to delve into stuff despite the warning from the top.

I didn’t say no.

From Within 16.2

“Listen up!”

Conversation throughout the dining area ceased. There were six teams present across thirty tables, with maybe another twenty capes and ten non-capes using the edges of the hall as passages to get from point A to point B. All stopped and turned to look.

Tristan, Kenzie, Rain and I looked as well. Vista had left to go to work.

Naphtha was a Warden, but not one of the major ones, likely standing somewhere between Vista’s tier and the rookie tier. He stood on a table, decked out head to toe in glossy black, with bold yellow decoration standing out as a kind of light armor. His power made everything within fifteen feet of him, teammates excepted, slick with what looked like crude oil that periodically produced bubbles. The effect looked like it was perfectly circular if looked down on from above.

“No obligation, but if you’re up for it, we could use the help. I’m going to list off some current problems we need to address. Put your hands up or let us know if you can contribute. We have a villain group with an aggressive hold on an isolated population of non-English speakers preventing evacuation from a part of the city we’re considering high risk. They had a protection racket going, a lot of power and control, and they don’t want to give it up. Teams have tried to be as firm as they could without upsetting the locals but it’s time to break their hold and get this settled.”

“Where?” someone called out.

“West of downtown. Three city blocks with two apartment buildings.”

“What kind of non-English speakers?”

“Does it matter?” Naphtha asked.

There was no answer from the guy who’d called out. Vessel, from the Shepherds. He was one of four who sat at the same table, three on one side, one on the other. Scribe sat two seats away from Vessel, her elbows on the table and her hands covering her mouth. Her costume still didn’t suit her. She hadn’t joined the Fallen like a lot of the racist shitheads had after Gold Morning, which counted for a bit of something, but I felt like I needed to see more from her before I could stop thinking of her as Rune from Empire Eighty-Eight.

And one of those things I needed to see was her speaking up instead of being silent when a question with that kind of undertone came from her corner.

“We doing any of this?” Tristan asked.

“Victoria’s sick,” Kenzie said, before I could answer.

“I could do something minor,” I said. “But—”

“Someone just took that one,” Rain cut in, pointing. A team had raised their hands. Naphtha’s teammate was briefing them now.