I finished my water, then approached the sink to get more. Fume Hood turned around, leaning against the counter just beside me.

She said, “It was community focused. Serving the area, hometown heroes like the old days. I thought of it as community service, in more than one way.”

“I like that,” I said.

She shrugged. “I’m not sure if there’s anything to like about it.”

“It’s a good idea. It sounds positive. Maybe it’s worth trying again later.”

“It won’t come together again like this later. Tempera is pretty good at this whole thing, and she needs to do the cape stuff, so she’ll find a team to join. Crystalclear will get poached because decent thinker powers are in demand. Longscratch… I don’t know why he’s even here. Tempera suggested it to him, for some reason, he accepted for some reason. He’s upset it fell apart. Next time, he’ll just say no. He’ll steer clear so he doesn’t have reason to get upset again.”

“Mover psychology?” I asked.

“I don’t know about that stuff. I just know he’s a weird mix of wants and needs and he’s really cool when things are good and he’s impossible to understand when they aren’t. Which they aren’t.”

“Sorry,” I said.

“You wouldn’t be sorry if you knew,” she said. She stood taller, stretching a bit. She tossed the empty glass between her hands. “It’s my fault.”

“You orchestrated this?” I asked.

“I hurt a pregnant lady and she lost her child and I don’t even feel that bad about it,” Fume Hood said. “I turned myself in, but it was because people thought I’d become a PR problem for capes in general. I’d run out of friends and places to run to. It seemed like the only way to get things to cool down.”

The glass smacked against each of her hands as she tossed it back and forth.

I drank my water, still watching her.

“I’m pissed,” she said. “People are making such a big deal over this, and I can’t bring myself to see it their way. It was an accident. I told the civilians to sit and stay put, and this stupid—”

She stopped there, clenching her fist.

Fume Hood continued, “—stupid fucking woman. She ran right to where I was shooting out a display window, gets knocked on her ass, breathes in the gas.”

“I wonder what she was thinking,” I said.