I dug and destroyed until I found my way to what I needed. My bed, my costume laid out on the foot of it. I made sure I had everything.

Once I did, I bundled it up securely, and I raised my head, staring across the expanse of black. There wasn’t much light, but when there was, it revealed hints of red crystal in the depths of that abyss, edges and points.

But mostly, looking out with nothing stabbing up or out of that chasm, the view was unobstructed. A lake of black, so far across I couldn’t see the other side. The only buildings on the other side were so obscured with snowfall they looked like mirages. White snowfall pouring into a void, making no appreciable difference in the texture beneath.

I lifted up sections of wall, forming a rough pyramid around myself. Cover while I changed into my costume. Even while I did it, I was aware of every little detail and item, recognizing where it had come from. Trinkets, decorations, drawer handles.

We’re all cast out into the cold. It’s only fair.

When I was dressed, I thrust the walls away, sending some sliding out into the void, others flipping across the street.

I flew.

Briefing. Then we get to work.

No violence to my flying now, except where I experimentally opened the mouths in my forcefield and felt the air rush in through the apertures, pulling at my hood.

No, best to conserve my strength.

‘Work’ would be a war against creatures that, reportedly, no team had been able to deal with yet.

Some of whom had been our friends and allies.

My landing was feather-light as I reached the outside of the entrance to the Cauldron facility. I made my way to the entrance hall, with stairs reaching to upper floors on either side of a hallway so wide four buses could have driven along it.

The crowd was so thick I had to fly to get past it. There were fliers in my way too.

I landed next to Armstrong, at the far left edge of the line of people who were facing the crowd, a kind of middle ground between that line and the crowd. Legend was talking about the timeline and events.

Armstrong leaned in, murmuring, “We’ll have a laptop in front of us. We can trade off as necessary. You’ll address them with a summary of what the crystal landscape is like.”

I nodded, feeling a bit intimidated. “Sounds good.”

Tattletale, I noticed, was at the far other end of the line. In a similar, almost mirror position to my own.

Not quite part of the lineup, but adjunct. The Undersiders weren’t far from her. Rachel’s dogs were dog-sized. I could see the Heartbroken peering out past people.

Tattletale tilted her head to one side, her eyes moving. I followed her gaze.

My team. Everyone together, healthy. The Malfunctions were clustered near Rain.