Kid Win blithely continued, “She’s up to something, with Lab Rat. It looks like a play for control. We haven’t been briefed on the situation, but leadership looked worried.”

I didn’t want to think about it. On so many fucking levels, I didn’t want to think about it.

“Valkyrie is on the side of humanity,” Dennis said.

I hated to ask, but, “How sure are we? I know you’re biased, but…”

Kid Win answered me. “She had access to monsters like Bakuda and Eidolon. She hasn’t called them out, hasn’t given them bodies.”

“Only heroes. Only the people fighting for the right causes,” Vista picked up on the sentiment.

I nodded to myself.

Kid Win pulled his phone out of his pocket. He showed me. A list of letter and symbol codes, each with three lights marked beside them. Green lights most of the way down. A few yellows. Mostly consistent. A number of lights had black circles in the middle.

Amy was orange.

“Is this tinker data, because I can’t—”

“It’s not,” Vista said. She showed me her phone. The same display. “Contessa, Dinah Alcott, and other thinkers are updating with their best guesses about threat levels.”

“Green is good, I hope.”

“Green is good. Green is saying the threat level is negligible. Icons suggest if a team is currently handling or suppressing them. Can you see the distinction between green and lime?”

I had to tilt the phone to view the shades in more nuance, given the ambient light. “Sort of.”

“Suppressed or temporarily handled. It’s working,” Vista said. “What the Wardens are doing is working.”

Kid Win explained, “Smaller threats like Little Midas and the Machine Army are out there and not handled, but they’re yellow. Your sister is the one big threat we haven’t fully dealt with, and the danger she poses is getting worse over time.”

“Holy shit,” Vista said. She glanced at me. “When?”

“Last half hour,” Kid Win said.

I was tense.

What the fuck, Amy?

“They might want you to help,” Kid Win told me, his voice quiet. “If they can trust you.”

I stared down at the phone.

When so many things seemed okay or manageable, when I finally felt like I had control, I might have to deal with the one person who could so easily make me feel like I’d never have control again?

The notion made me feel vaguely nauseous.

“They sent refugees to her,” I said.

Kid Win nodded. “And something happened in the last half hour that destroyed all trust we had in her. Classified, apparently.”

I was silent, digesting, interpreting.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I almost jumped clean out of my skin.

I pulled it free. Vista peeked.

Narwhal.

“That would be it,” Vista said. “Speak of the devil.”

The devil is right, I thought. This would be about Amy.