Sveta was on her feet, standing a good distance away from a cluster of Case Fifty-Threes. Her coat was still damp with ice on it, and her eye glowed teal in the gloom. I recognized most but not all of the cases standing opposite her. Weld stood closer to that group than Sveta did.

She smiled as she saw Tristan and me. A bit of a sad smile.

“Can we trust you?” Weld asked.

“Wow,” Sveta said, voice soft. “Really, Weld?”

I flew over to Sveta’s side and put down my gun. It crunched in the ice and snow. “What’s going on?”

“They want to go after Contessa. We know Chris, somewhat, and we interacted with Contessa so I suggested maybe we’d come.”

“Titan Fortuna,” Weld said.

“Have we confirmed that one hundred percent?” I asked.

“What?” he asked. “That she turned into a Titan taller than any human-made building we know of? Yeah.”

“That there’s nothing of Contessa in there. We made this mistake with Fume Hood. There might be a glimmer of Contessa in the middle of that Titan, trying to communicate in her own way.”

“That’s worse, if anything,” Engel said.

I winced at the sound of her voice, turning my body so the edge of my hood blocked off the worst of the light show.

“We’re going,” Weld said. “I’m coordinating with the Wardens. And the Wardens are saying they would like us to go with people they A-okay.”

“Breakthrough,” Sveta said.

“As a possibility.”

Sveta nodded.

“What’s your plan?” I asked.

“Stopping her,” Weld said. “She has a few weaknesses, we were talking before we deployed here for your mission. Some of those weaknesses may apply. Portals, blind spots, precogs. Her power was already so strong and unfiltered, we don’t think it’s fundamentally different. It’s just… attached to something that is.”

“And if it is different? The weak points paved over?” I asked.

“Then I think there might literally be no way to win,” he told me. “The Wardens are planning to act as if there is a way, because there’s no alternative. Ideal world, we’re getting everyone together who knows this particular enemy. Undersiders, Breakthrough, we’ve got one Number Boy, Faultline’s Crew, who are coming with part of this group anyhow. Legend is on his way. You’re not obligated, of course.”

I nodded.

“We leave in five. Titan Fortuna isn’t fast, but we’d like to get a head start so we can make any necessary preparations.”

“Thanks, Weld,” I said, glancing between him and Sveta. That earlier hostility.

He nodded once, then turned his attention to the Case Fifty-Threes. Slician stood at the edge of that group, and I was left to wonder if the non-Case Fifty-Three girl in the terminally tight bodysuit was okay. Did she have confidants?

Crystal flew over to Aunt Sarah, who had come back, probably to give her the down-low.