I nodded.

“More pertinent to this… conversation? Confession? Is that she told me she saw herself in me. The exhaustion. The weariness, the imminent breakdown. She used her power on me—”

I whipped my head around, my eyes wide.

Jessica looked so weary, simultaneously alarmed at my alarm.

“Passively,” she said. “There’s no sign she did anything.”

I looked down, away, my heart hammering.

“Thank you for caring, though,” she said.

I swallowed hard.

“It was… a penetrating comment at a time I was undeniably overworked, overstressed, and trying to shoulder too much of a workload. It can happen, that the wrong comment at the worst time can devastate you. I’m sure you know, having dealt with Tattletale, who apparently has that as her power.”

I bit my lip, staring down at the space below the railing, the team rushing down a hallway.

“After that conversation, I cut down on my work. Delegated. I reached out, I found colleagues who were willing to help. I revisited an idea I’d had about having a guest speaker of sorts come in to talk to my therapy group. I’d brought it up with Weld before.”

“That was because of Amy?” I asked, tensing.

“In small part. I’m sorry.”

“What happened with Riley, Jessica?”

“How did you even hear about it?” she asked.

“When I visited the source of powers. I saw the… construction of Tattletale’s power. It let me see things if I asked. I asked about Amy a few times. Asked about you once.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re not you?” I asked, turning to face her, wounded. “Because something clearly happened, and you’re retiring?”

Jessica sighed. “What did you see?”

“Your hands around her throat. She hurt you in response. What happened with Riley?”

“After the portal incident, we were isolated. We were trapped in an alternate universe. I’d cut back on my workload prior, started to find my way back to who I used to be, old hobbies, old interests. I tried to hunt down people I knew, through the internet. The portal took me out of that frame of mind, and put me into a hostile place with exceptionally dangerous people who were, as long as everything was well, being good.”

“And it was your job to ensure it all went well?” I asked.

Jessica nodded. “I was second in command of our little group. Leader when Van—when the self-elected leader wasn’t around or when he was sleeping. There were other, more distant camps, and he’d visit them. The parahumans who had previously been prisoners or test subjects were in an isolated camp as well, about twenty minutes away from the main camp. I was in charge of that one. Making sure they were happy, keeping an eye out for danger.”

“Something happened?”