She didn’t specify what the behavior was, even with the time constraint. I knew, but that she wasn’t outlining it changed this from the kind of conversation a teacher might have with a student to the kind of conversation a cop had with a potential suspect. A teacher wanted to outline the right path. A police officer wanted to see if the suspect talked their way into trouble.

“First thing this morning, Defiant interviewed us. I told him I was under the impression that this would happen, potentially with Teacher at the helm. Things got out of control then, but my intention was to be as equipped as possible to handle this… Titan thing.”

“You knew it would be Titans?”

“No. No… but I knew it had to be something. My team lost Swansong, and having precogs tell you your friend is going to die, then seeing them die? Seeing a little girl lose her favorite person? Kind of forces you to confront that hey, this is all for fucking real.”

She didn’t respond, just staring at me with bottle-glass green eyes.

I continued, “And I wasn’t exactly wearing kid gloves or operating under any happy-go-lucky delusions about how serious things were when I went to Shin as a favor to the Wardens, or brought my team into the fight to take this compound and stop Teacher. And we lost Swansong because of it.”

“I am sorry for your loss.”

“Fume Hood was a friend and she’s one of the Titans now, apparently. I keep seeing people fall by the wayside.”

“I can sympathize,” Miss Militia said. “Cinereal is also a Titan, now. Whatever that means in the long run. She was hard to work with but she and I found common ground. Losing her is hard.”

“We put everything on the line for what we do, Miss Militia. This has been my life, from the start to now. I was serious before this kicked off, I’m more serious now.”

Miss Militia nodded, leaning over the railing that looked down over lower floors. “I don’t get the impression you’re drunk with power. I’ve seen parahumans who lost the kernel of their self after a shift in their power, learning a new technique, or after an injury to mind or body. For what it’s worth, I don’t think you’re there…”

I nodded, a bit concerned at this line of discussion. “But?”

“But you’ve flouted rules. Dragon knows about Lookout’s activities earlier.”

I glanced at her, raising an eyebrow, saying nothing.

Miss Militia smiled a bit. “How do I say this? Lookout is very good at what she does. In nearly any situation, she might have gotten away with helping you and communicating with you. To all appearances, you and she both were being good and focusing on your own work. You had a few periods of quiet introspection, but that’s pretty understandable, everything considered. Except Lookout ‘being good’ and focusing on her own work and socializing with her friends is outside her norm.”