“I wasn’t the only person who was blind at that point in time,” Contessa said. “Right now? To answer your question, I’m unable to see Teacher, but I know enough to simulate him. I can’t see the full cost or casualties of his endgame, but I can simulate those too.”

“Simulate,” Precipice said.

“Determine the outcome based on all known information and outside context.”

“So you could be wrong.”

“It is very rare, and even more rare that it matters enough to throw things into disarray. For right now, I have to tell you I can’t do as you ask.”

“You can’t beat Teacher?” I asked. “Because of the blind spot?”

“I can’t defeat him, spare as many of your allies’ lives as possible, and save the lives of people in the city. Not as I or my power understand circumstances, and my power understands everything outside of the blind spots that are Teacher, Valkyrie, the Simurgh, and two broken triggers that authorities aren’t aware happened.”

“The Simurgh? She’s here?” Rain asked.

“She’s still stationed in what used to be Brockton Bay, keeping company with the Titan.”

Imp groaned. “You’re making me look awful here. I promised these guys one hundred percent victory.”

“If you’d found me sooner, then I could have.”

“How do you know all of this if you were in a coma?” Sveta asked. “The Simurgh, who’s where, what Custodian is doing?”

“I’m finding it out as I explain it to you. I asked my power for the path to provide the explanation I need to give, that serves the purpose of filling me in on present circumstance. When you talk among yourselves, I’m asking my usual questions.”

“Like how you can avoid being fucked over by a stranger or master in the next day or whatever,” Imp said.

“Essentially.”

“What are our options?” I asked. “You said you can’t do all three?”

“First, I can stop Teacher directly. He thinks he is out of my reach, but there are options. He will pull the trigger on his plan, but I believe it can be mitigated. This comes at a cost. Your group here would split up and pull members away from Teacher’s retinue and into the field. The fighting will be hard, violent, and many heroes currently fighting in this facility will die. Because you’ll ask, one Undersider will die, two Heartbroken will, though there may be more casualties within the blind spot. I’ll warn you, one member of Breakthrough will not die, but will suffer for so long it may as well be indefinite. I would die. The casualties would be mostly among the other capes in this facility.”

“What the fuck?” Imp asked. “Who dies?”

“Telling you disrupts the end result. More would die as a consequence. Besides, you don’t want to know.”

Imp had asked it so quickly. Who dies?