“Not great. Went a little stir crazy, got in trouble a few times.”

He nodded, just taking it as that. “You see where we’re going?”

“H,” I said.

He pointed at the portal.

“Should we go?” I asked.

“Might as well,” he said.

We had company, I saw. The full assortment of the Undersiders. Deathchester. The Major Malfunctions followed behind.

My family was lingering close by.

This was either going to be really easy, where they put us as far out of the way as possible while still trying to make use of us, or it was going to be a situation where they were putting the hero team and the villains on the more troublesome task.

“How safe is it to talk?” Sveta asked.

“Safe,” Kenzie said.

“Doesn’t even matter,” I told them, stretching to relieve myself of some of the tension that had built up while on that stage. “We kind of got caught. I got lectured. They’re cracking down on Lookout, too.”

“Ugh,” Kenzie groaned.

“I’ve gotta lay down some rules and direction, Lookout,” I told her. “No spying, for one, you’ve gotta be clearer about what you’re building techwise, and what the scope of it is.”

“I don’t have a lot,” she said. “For tech, I mean.”

“It might be best if we have you get team members to sign off. Asking before you spy on someone, submitting a page of paperwork before you build something.”

“Uggggh,” she groaned. She paused. “That’s doable, I think.”

“My guidelines for the paperwork,” I said. “Project completion goals, intent, risks. I’ll draft something tonight in the way of a page with headings and questions you can fill out. Until then, talk to at least two of us before you do something.”

She nodded.

“Sorry,” I said. “Had to get that out of the way.”

“It’s okay,” she said. She didn’t smile, instead bobbing her head. I would have taken it for a nod, but it kept going. She looked over at the other kids, and a bunch of kids and teenagers in white masks looked over her way. Chicken, Syndicate, Decadent, Roman, Juliette, Chastity. Tattletale was doing the herding. Imp was talking to Deathchester. “I’m going to go to my other team, is that okay?”

“Okay,” I said.

“Lookout,” Tristan cut in. “Hold up.”

She was already moving, but she stopped in her tracks, the elaborate slim-fit dress she’d built into her costume swishing a bit at her thighs, which were covered in a pattern of interlocked gray eyes against a black background, black sequins at each pupil.

“Victoria’s guidelines, I’m making an amendment.”

Lookout fidgeted.

“The ‘team’ you ask for permission, it can’t be Decadent, Chicken Little, or Syndicate.”

Fuck, that was a loophole, all right.

“Aww, what? But what if you guys aren’t around?”