“I’ll be back in a minute,” I said, standing. Sveta unwrapped herself from me. “We should probably mobilize soon.”

“Alright,” Rain answered.

Sveta pulled herself together, then fixed her hair before sticking her tendrils into her gloves, and forming the hands within.

We walked. I stretched. My front was toasty but my back wasn’t. The core of me was a comfortable temperature, though, and that was what made the difference.

“Will that whole debate over the vantage point matter?” Sveta asked, as we walked. We’d passed through this area at some point during the raid on the Fallen camp, but I didn’t really have a sense of it. My focus had been on very different things back then.

“Might not,” I said. “But talking about it gets people thinking in the right directions, and it’s a good stress test for how we’ll communicate inter-team when things get hairy.”

“When, not if, hm?” Sveta asked, her hands in her pockets.

I nodded. “I’m worried.”

“You’re always worried.”

“I’m especially worried. Tristan isn’t doing so hot. Malfunctions aren’t doing so great. This fight is hard enough, but if they get an edge, form their networks, whatever else, then the cracking expands. We might not even have the settlements we put an hour outside the city. And people like Tristan or the Malfunctions…”

“Yeah,” Sveta said. “Giving us more things that are awfully close to being Endbringers, making it harder to gain ground. But how are you? Are you counting yourself in your risk assessment?”

“I’m… managing. I want to fight,” I told her. “I feel more in control than I have in a long time.”

“Armstrong sent me a message, asking me to keep an eye out.”

I blew air out my nose, and it became a puff of fog.

“Should he have?” she prodded.

“Jessica asked me to look after Breakthrough. If there’s any room to resist that happening, there’s no way I’m letting it happen while I have a member of Breakthrough to protect.”

“For Jessica?” Sveta asked.

“For me. I made it a commitment, I have to follow through.”

“You certainly sound better than Tristan, you seem better than the Malfunctions. But you also seem…”

She trailed off.

“Like I had to fight tooth and nail to be listened to, while being unable to do anything to keep my best friend alive?”

“I feel like it goes back to the dreams last night. Not that we talked after waking up but… I saw you. I heard your voice.”

“I’m me.”

“I believe you.”

We passed a group of Patrol officers who were sitting on a porch.

I thought of the dream. Sveta’s portion.

How to gracefully bring it up?

“A lot of us, I think, had to face parts of ourselves last night. I think that’s part of what that space is. Lays everything bare.”