“I was there when you first raised the idea of a gathering place.”

“Then you know what we’re doing.”

“I walked away halfway through your speech.”

“Ah,” Prancer said.

A car pulled out of the alley, turned a corner, and then drove through the neighborhood, not slowing as it passed the pair.

“Normally when one villain visits another’s territory, there’s a token show of respect.”

“Normally,” Ashley said, “the person holding the territory does something to earn the respect. Normally, when someone brings up respect, they’re prepared to back up their words. Are you going to back up your words and give me some evidence that you deserve even a token show of respect?”

Prancer didn’t immediately reply. The two stared each other down.

“You’re going to be one of the difficult ones, it seems,” Prancer said.

“If you’re relying on convention and expectation then yes, I am. If you show me you deserve my time and respect, I’ll give you it. If you think I’ll give it to you because you run this territory, you’ll be sadly disappointed. I might even supplant you.”

“That’s a dangerous game, Damsel of Distress. Making threats, forcing people to play their hands. You don’t know what cards someone has up their sleeves.”

“I have ideas. You appeared alone, no bodyguard, no backup. You appeared late. You can’t back up your reputation.”

“You might have the wrong ideas about the kind of territory this is.”

“Enlighten me,” Ashley said. It almost sounded like a threat.

“Come. Walk with me,” he said.

They started walking down the sidewalk, in a neighborhood where a third of the businesses were closed.

Prancer did the talking for the first leg of their walk. “Any community of capes will have its rules. Standards and things it does that benefit everyone in it. I’m not a warlord. I manage a very diverse group. If someone causes a problem, if someone tests us, I can and will give that diverse group direction or adjust the rules. I can and will point one of the many, many powers we have at our disposal here at that someone. Some are dangerous, some are devious, and some aren’t even parahuman kinds of powers.”

“Political.”

“Economic. Social,” Prancer said. “I might not be a warlord, I might not even be a warrior, but I have reach. A few words from me, and you might find it very hard to find work with a parahuman group. You might find that people won’t recruit you or do business with you.”