“Power produced materials don’t make good building materials or supplies. It was part of what slowed down the city rebuild. Why we couldn’t feed the masses with power-generated flesh. If the Machine Army tries to make or fuel anything with the meat, then that will degrade or suffer for it. It poisons their well. Keep your Gibborim Knight and Nursery away. If Dauntless is pursuing them, pull them back, bait him out of the city. You get your presence at the quarantine zone, Shin gets to be needed, we get both of the immediate threats resolved.”

“No,” Luis cut in.

I turned away from the screen. Ready to leave. The only reason I didn’t was that I met Jessica’s eyes.

“Yes!” Amy called out. “Yes. Pulling back the Gibborim Knight now. I’ll send the Mother of Mothers’s minions in shortly.”

I could hear the exchange of words. Luis was pissed.

“We’ll work it out,” Mark said. The call cut off. I could believe he was the one to do it, seizing the moment.

Maybe he’d pay for it. For shutting off the call, making things harder, not playing along like a little kind-of prisoner of Shin.

Nobody really commented, except for an exchange of words murmured between Cinereal and Narwhal. People focused on their work. Only Crystal, Vista, and my mom glanced at me. My mom was the only one who held that eye contact for more than a second or two.

The timer sat at two minutes, twelve seconds, and it began to increase. Not increasing as fast as it ticked down, but the time stretched out. Someone input something, and the clock updated. Seven more minutes remaining.

The Chevalier cloned agent was retreating.

“We have to direct it,” Narwhal said. “Send it out of the city and away from any refugee settlements. Get in touch with Shin ASAP.”

“Was that okay?” I asked, quiet, not taking my eyes off the screen. “I know it’s not how you would’ve wanted to do it, but—”

“It was,” Narwhal said. “We weren’t getting through. You did. We’ll take that for what it is.”

“You could really use my team on this,” I said, still quiet, subdued, like I was a lesser person in the aftermath of it all, despite my best efforts. “Holding them back doesn’t make sense. Lookout can keep an eye on Shin, and we really need one. Precipice has gotten past Mathers twice and he was the one who got her. Mathers is, I’m guessing, why the precogs aren’t on this.”

“Her and the Goddess clone. We can talk about that shortly. It may be best to stick to the schedule for the review by Warden Leadership. It’s slow but less complicated, and we could do with less complicated,” Narwhal said.

I nodded.