I pulled off my glove, and, after some consideration, I wrote down my preference for the plan, the handwriting awkward because I couldn’t write on my injured hand, so I was forced to write on my right hand with my left, which had the armguard and buckler around it, and a squirmy dog under my arm.

Then I pulled my glove back on using my teeth, covering the letters. Rain put his hand out for the marker, and I gave it to him.

“1, 2, or 3?”

“I used ABC.”

“I’ll do the same then.”

Contessa was still at the computer. I closed my eyes, shutting out the rest of the world while I thought to myself. In the doing, accidentally opened the map from Lookout’s tech.

Lookout had a question:

what r the letters for?

I found another marker, and wrote on the whiteboard. Making a decision. Can you ask the others to vote too? Write it down for after?

sure thing!!

Swansong pulled her costume’s shoulder strap away from her shoulder, and she wrote something there, her back to us, before lifting the strap up to cover it.

“My power would erase anything I wrote on my palm.”

“Of course.”

Contessa, still at the computer. The Harbingers were gone.

Whatever she was doing was working. When I switched my view away from the map and to Kenzie’s diagram of the facility’s infrastructure, I could see that Kenzie was making headway. I could see some messages between her and the computer console Contessa was at.

I cannot work with tinkertech or tinker code but I can give you the boot passwords to the server terminals. Old data is still on the systems, heavily encrypted.

i reset & access old system archetecture in at boot lvl???

Yes.

d- ! _ ! d-

It felt like we should be going after Teacher, not waiting. The Custodian would be telling Teacher that Contessa was out, he would be making plans to pull the trigger, whatever the fuck that was supposed to mean.

“When do we reveal the letter we chose?” Swansong asked.

“Or letters. If you’re okay with multiple ones,” I said. “For a certain use of ‘okay’.”

“When?” she asked.

“After this supposed trap of Custodian’s.”

“We should ask others,” she was uncharacteristically quiet.

“If we get a chance,” I said.

“I feel like I’m getting more blood on my hands no matter what I choose. And it’s going to be people I know, no matter what I choose? People I barely know.”

I clenched my teeth, looking away.

“More blood—” Ashley started. She stopped as she felt it.

I expected a blast, a rumble. I expected Contessa to get off the computer in advance of the attack. Instead, the explosion was dull, like all the air was sucked out of the room. The room distorted, the floor dipping in one corner.