“In this third outcome, no notable heroes die. Less civilians die overall than in the other two options.”

“Meaning the drawback is that we potentially have to put up with Teacher for a little while.”

“There’s a ‘but’,” Ashley said. “There’s more.”

“Two members of Breakthrough are removed from the equation as a result. One endures some torment for… quite some time.”

What?

I looked back at my team.

Why were two of the options so awful for us?

Beat Teacher unequivocally, limit the damage, good heroes die en masse, including some of our team. Long-term damage and trouble for the city, with a moderate number of deaths as a casualty.

Let him pull the trigger, spare the heroes, massive civilian deaths and damage to the city. Potential long-term benefit.

Let him escape for later capture. Moderate hero deaths. Low civilian deaths. But half my fucking team would die.

“What about Undersiders?” Imp asked.

“No deaths.”

“Oh, shit,” Imp said. “Sorry, Breakthrough. I’m afraid that’s the option we’re going with.”

“One Heartbroken,” Contessa said.

“Fuck off. If it weren’t for me, we wouldn’t have come to rescue you. You owe me. Give me better futures!”

We were in the area that fed into the cells, white hallways and corridors all tinted red with the emergency lighting. Boxes and storage cases were inset into the wall.

“I can’t agree with the way you’re doing this,” Sveta said.

Contessa stopped walking.

“Reducing it down to these big, blunt abstracts. Option A, option B, option C. You’re slinging the trolley problem at us, and I can’t help but feel it’s Teacher having a laugh.”

“When you decide the outcome first and results are virtually assured, then it’s inevitable that it’s reduced to these kinds of decisions. Always maddeningly hard ones, both good, both bad. This is how Cauldron operates. Let me know when you’ve made your collective decision. For now, Sveta, would you climb into this box?”

Sveta gave the woman a dubious look.

“You’ll be fine. Excuse me for being abrupt, but the rest of us must go,” Contessa said, before turning and moving on.

I remained where I was, as the group moved on, staying close to Sveta. Love Lost and Colt were stragglers, and they were last to leave earshot.

“I hate her,” Sveta said. “I hate what she represents. ‘This is how Cauldron operates’. Fuck that.”

I nodded.

“I don’t like any of these options. Isn’t it better to have hope things will all be okay?”

“Yeah. Probably. But this might be what we have to do.”