I’d seen Ashley write hers. C. Letting Teacher go, knowing two members of Breakthrough would die.

In the chat log, Lookout said she’d seen Rain write his. Rain had picked C.

Byron’s unfolded paper, before Sveta had covered it. C.

Lookout had broken from pattern. Her vote was in the chat log, visible through the eye tech she’d given me. A. Heroes die, city suffers later as a consequence. One member of Breakthrough suffers long term.

Maybe that was the problem solver’s mentality. Suffering wasn’t gone. Suffering could be fixed.

She’d listed the votes of her teammates. C, B, C. No idea who was which.

Love Lost had been angry, glaring at Colt, because Colt had extended two fingers for the second option, B. Love Lost had chosen C.

We’d fucking chosen. We’d made the call.

Why did that seem to bother me more than it bothered anyone else? I was the last one to leave the huddle, last to face this decision. I procrastinated, even, by checking the state of things.

I could see the light of flashlights. People halfway to us. The area was dark, but frequently illuminated by flashes from gunfire and passing projectiles, but capes and thralls had flashlights, and the light from those was ongoing, steady.

Let’s do it, I thought. A, B, or C?

I rounded the corner just in time to see Contessa standing beside Rain. He was doubled over, my teammate stiff, tense, or reaching. Contessa was stabbing herself in the heart.

Scattered gunfire passed the group, closely enough that Sveta reached out for Rain, pulling him back and toward cover.

He, for his part, reached for the pocket at his side, that had a hard case where belt flowed into legging.

Two syringes. We’d had three, and she had stabbed herself with one.

“She powered up?” I asked.

He shook his head.

Changed the variables? I thought. The dosage was supposed to keep the power the same, but adjust it, gain something, lose something.

“Based on the doses that are left, she took the power dampening one.”

“Nullifying, in my case,” Contessa said. “He was seconds away from temporarily disabling my power.”

“But you just disabled your power entirely for a while,” Rain said. “Can you even do anything now?”

“I have practice recalling what I plotted out earlier in the day. I just won’t have perfect execution. Harbingers?”

They were lingering in the fringes, using cover, and using slingshots. Both turned her way.

“I need one of you to go to Citrine. Tell her to go home, right away.”

“I’ll stay,” one said.

The other turned, running.

“What option is this?” I asked.

She didn’t answer. “Capricorn, that way. Find the stairs, defend them, stay there until everyone’s back. They’ll pass through once.”

She extended an arm, pointing. Pointing fucking through the mass of capes with flashlights, Teacher’s elite, and innumerable thralls.