If this whole operation was meant to be a surgical strike, the surgery had gone wrong. The strike down the central thoroughfare of the facility had brought the team here, and the way behind had closed up, organized soldiers collapsing in. No way out but through. Our surgeon had worked deep enough to find the issue and get a grip on it—our ‘gallery’ here—but blood from the entry was filling the work area, blocking of view and the ability to get anything done. So long as that flow persisted, it would be impossible to truly get anything done.

Capricorn was drawing constellations in the air. Rocks thudded as they landed. Barriers to replace the concrete walls that were being broken down. At another decahedron, Stonewall was doing something similar, planting his shield in the ground, then manifesting another.

I could only see a little bit of the decahedron where Balk’s group had retreated. Only a bit of where the woman with something of a resemblance to my aunt was having a drink of water. I saw the empty container get tossed aside.

“I saw a cape,” I said, mostly to Sveta. “Crystal’s mom?”

“Didn’t she die?”

“In Gold Morning.”

“Shit,” Prong said.

“You know something?” I asked. “Because the formations she was using with Balk, I thought my cousin passed on things we learned as kids to get incorporated into the PRTCJ, Wardens, whatever, but…”

“Try not to worry about it,” Prong said.

“It’s kind of hard not to. You’re acting like there’s something weird here.”

“Valkyrie’s always tried to keep people from seeing what she does with anyone they might know.”

“What?”

“Focus,” Gong said.

“Wait,” I told him. Then to Prong, “What?”

“Fuck,” he said. “You know how Valkyrie works?”

“Vaguely.”

“Valkyrie copies powers and summons vague simulations of the people who had those powers.”

“Okay,” I said. “That was not just powers. That was not a vague simulation. That was someone who flies, who has the mannerisms, who fights like my aunt did. She gave me looks and the more I think about them the more I think she remembered me. She didn’t fight or fly like anyone who learned the formations from the PRTCJ. She fought and flew like the person who helped refine them. And as far as I know, Valkyrie isn’t here.”

Prong looked at Gong, then back to me. “Okay, fast explanation, no lies, but no follow-up questions either. If we take too long they’ll reinforce with turrets, one-way forcefields and robots.”

I grit my teeth for a second. I didn’t want a fast, shitty answer.

But I did recognize the need. I nodded.

“She’s been using power interactions. Forging bodies for them, so she can send them out. She started with a dozen, increased to twenty-five. Then a few died.”

“Some of us think she got rid of them,” Gong said. “If they went bad.”