“In addition to the concern about reckless action, we can’t know for sure how that experience affected her. Defiant debriefed them and Dragon reviewed limited video footage of the event. Post-traumatic stress is the least of our concerns on that front.”

“Is that the second issue?” my mother asked.

“It’s still the first. Issue two, overlapping with the other issues, is that Victoria came into contact with Amelia Lavere and cannot account for some of that time spent. She suggested master–stranger protocols on herself. Those protocols were never resolved. Now we’re dealing with Ms. Lavere in a confrontational respect.”

“These are her?” Crystal asked, aghast.

“Individuals curated by Amelia Lavere to pattern match to specific individuals, injected with drugs by the villain Cryptid also known as Lab Rat, bringing out the full capacity of those powers. They are now under the joint control of Amelia Lavere and the Shin government.”

“Her name is Amy Dallon,” my mother said.

I wanted to snap at her, to say something. Then I saw her expression. Stricken, shocked.

Was I the only one who wasn’t? I didn’t feel shocked so much as I felt impending doom, despair, disappointment.

Under master–stranger protocols, yet the only person in the room who got it?

“If I call her Panacea, will that work? It’s—”

My mother shook her head.

“The Red Queen. It’s the name she’s using most, now.”

My mom looked like she wanted to argue, to debate or lawyer her way to getting what she wanted, for the woman who had made those things to be Amy Dallon again.

But she couldn’t argue against the name Amy had taken for herself.

“Vista said the danger was this evening,” I said, to refocus the discussion.

“It was. It may be sooner. One of the creations is moving. It has our full attention, and the attention of the Dauntless Titan. We’re moving to intercept. For now, please sate my curiosity. Victoria Dallon, you were remanded to the custody of Crystal Pelham, pending Warden investigation.”

“I was.”

“Valkyrie told you to fetch Vista and take her to a meeting with two former teammates. Vista would take over custody of you. You were expected to go straight to Vista, with no detours or distractions.”

“I did,” I said.

“Capricorn, when quizzed about his whereabouts, indicated he had gone outside for an extended breath of fresh air. We checked cameras. He had not. Instead, a passerby says you and he talked, despite being told not to associate until we had finished investigating Breakthrough.”

My mom was giving me a curious look.