I looked at Kenzie, and saw her jiggling her leg, burning off nervous, excited energy, despite the fact she wasn’t quite here. Happy to be around us, maybe. Or guilty of selectively editing this conversation.

Which… it didn’t feel fair or right. Natalie was a member of this team. And if we didn’t have that check on ourselves, then what did we have? We needed to get her voice in this.

I opened my mouth at the same time Tristan did. We stopped before talking.

So as to not assume the mantle of leadership, and out of consideration for the stresses he was under, I indicated him. “You go first.”

“It’s grim,” he said. “It’s ugly. But I have to ask. Let’s say we all consider ourselves good to move on, join this fight.”

“Which we are, aren’t we?” Chris asked, his voice given an ironic, sarcastic kind of edge. The only person who wanted to be a Titan. “We’re fine.”

“Sure,” Tristan said. “If any of us happen to be wrong, maybe we should agree to take a bullet before we can fully turn Titan. It has to be better, doesn’t it? I don’t think you can come back from that.”

Slowly, reluctantly, there were nods. From everyone but Chris.

“No sentimentality. Faster is better.”

More nods, again from everyone but Chris.

“What did you want to say, Victoria?” Tristan asked me.

I shook my head. “I think you covered that base.”

He pressed his lips together behind the lower portion of his helmet, where everything below the nose was visible. It made it hard to tell smiles from frowns, but I could see that resolution.

“You realize we’re all doing everything exactly to her plan, right?” Chris asked. He looked back at me, as if to reinforce the argument.

There were moments I could tolerate him, and even wanted to see him find a way to work with this group again. And there were times I could imagine myself taking his head off.

“Fuck off with the negativity, Chris,” Sveta said. She rubbed at her arm.

He’d betrayed me. He was holding onto that ammunition. And I didn’t want to be shot at. I didn’t want to hear it.

“I’m sorta confident,” Rain said. “Or… not unconfident.”

“You said you sent a message,” Sveta said.

He nodded. “One word with a million million facets to it.”

“To who?”

Rain pointed, the smaller arm he’d attached to his arm mimicking the gesture.

“And you think she listened?” Chris asked, almost derisive.

“I’m—everything might be counting on it.”

Infrared 19.6

The cracks are still spreading. I could hear the dull cracking, with sounds at the edges of those cracking noises like Swansong and Damsel’s power produced.