“I like her,” Ashley said. “Good style. It’s going to be a shame to smash her face in.”

“If we engage her,” Sveta said. “If we even go that far.”

“Of course,” Ashley said.

“What’s she doing?” I asked, more to myself than to the group.

It took a few more seconds, but someone walked down the street. A woman with a purple hood and antlers.

Prancer’s partner.

“Love Lost saw her coming,” Tristan said.

“Sensed,” I corrected.

“The woman—Love Lost, she has the emotion aspect of the power,” Rain said. “Maybe it includes some emotion sense. Detecting people.”

“If so, I’m glad I didn’t just drop in nearby,” I said.

Velvet said something. The camera didn’t catch it.

“Sorry!” Kenzie said. “Sorry! I didn’t have the sound camera turned that way. It’s finnicky.”

“Don’t turn it toward those two, stay focused on Snag’s group,” Tristan said. “Velvet’s already walking away.”

“It was brief,” Rain said. “I think she’s just checking on things, making sure it’s all peaceful.”

Love Lost rejoined the group.

“What did the queen of Hollow Point want?” Secondhand asked.

Love Lost was silent.

“Right.”

“Are you done with my arm?” Snag asked.

“Oh, yes. Go ahead.”

“Mm.”

“I have a question, and it’s one I’d regret not asking,” Secondhand said. “Who are you with?”

“With?” Snag asked. “Ourselves.”

“I’ll elaborate. We’ve got a few cliques forming already. Bitter Pill in charge of the brains, watching, listening, planning the longer-term plays. Not necessarily here, mind you. Could be jobs elsewhere.”

“Mm hmm.”

“Beast of Burden in charge of the hostiles, the ex-cons, ex-Birdcage, ex-covert military, ex-cage fighters. The ones who are good or even eager when it comes to hurting people.”

Snag commented, “We’ve had conversations with a few of them already. Beast of Burden included. We’re looking for people who are good or even eager to deliver the hurt.”

“Great. We’ll keep that in mind. Final clique worth talking about, you’ve got Prancer in charge of the organization side of things. The diplomacy, recruitment, and a lot of the lower-key, ongoing business.”

“And?”

“And I don’t think we’re going to divide up into factions and end up fighting each other. I say clique because like attracts like and sooner or later, you’ll get pulled into one of the major groups. Each serving a role.”

“We’re our own group,” Snag said. “We don’t care what clique you belong to. You want access to our stuff to study and see what you can learn?”

“We’d have to talk about it among ourselves, but I think we’re leaning that way.”

I looked at the phone, as the Speedrunners exchanged looks.