“Yeah,” Secondhand said, after assessing the others. “Let’s assume we’re good to go forward with this, but we won’t set anything in stone until my friends and I have had a conversation.

“Preliminary offer: we pay you fifteen thousand dollars, and we give you access to our tech for study,” Snag said. “You give us access to your tech, and you lend us a hand when the time comes.”

“For this job you’re planning?”

“If you want to discuss it, I can invite others who’ve pledged to help. We’ll discuss in one of Prancer’s venues.”

“Maybe. We’d have to talk it over. What timeline?”

“Soon,” Snag said. “Anything more should wait for the discussion.”

“How difficult?”

“Hard to say. I don’t want to tell you something and have it reach the wrong ears, and there are a lot of wrong ears.”

“Give us some idea.”

“Eight or nine young people with powers, is our best guess. Mostly teenagers. We don’t know who else, or what the exact number of adult capes, allies, or other resources they might have. Teenagers are easiest to track, because they move more.”

Someone spoke, and I had to view my phone to check who it was. Last Minute. “Hard to say? That sounds easy to say. A minimum of eight or nine people with powers is difficult.”

“With the recruitment we’re planning, we’ll outnumber them three to one,” Snag said, in his characteristic growl.

“You’re talking people with powers? Not mooks, not henchmen?”

“People with powers. All going well, we’ll have them outnumbered three to one even if they call in help.”

“Pulled from Cedar Point?”

“Pulled from many places. We have a thinker contact and that contact is calling in friends. This contact and their friends are capes with names you’ve heard of, that everyone has heard of. We have Lord of Loss committed to the job. We have one or two others of similar caliber who may or may not participate, but who will contribute meaningful resources if they don’t show up personally.”

“You don’t do things by half measures,” Secondhand said.

“We don’t believe in half measures,” Snag said. “In the bigger job, or in our deal with you. Tech for tech, fifteen thousand for the job, but I’d like the two things bundled together. We establish a working relationship and even a mutual dependency before the job starts.”

“Mutual dependency?”

“A reason for people to second-guess themselves before wondering if they can drop away at the last minute and they won’t be missed because the crowd is big enough. It was known to happen at events like Endbringer fights, before Gold Morning.”

“Speaking for myself, not having consulted the group…”

“Of course.”

“I don’t mind that approach. We’d have to discuss the money. Spread across a four person team, it doesn’t amount to that much.”