“Something that takes her off of the course she was on. Relative wrong, not moral wrong,” Five said, looking at her. “Sending one of my brothers to contact Citrine and the Number Man, not anticipating that her friend might be killed as a consequence, when there would have been other ways to distract Teacher.”

Sveta nodded.

“She has to ask questions to guard against strangers, masters, thinkers, and attacks against all corners. If she gets worn down, there is also a risk she forgets, or she gets ill.”

“Did that happen?” Sveta asked.

“Early on.”

She nodded.

“Do these weaknesses apply now?” Chris asked.

“Probably not,” Five said.

“The human component is gone,” Byron said.

“Buried,” I noted. “Fume Hood still has something in there. Rain…”

Rain looked over at me. Most of his attention was on Byron and Kenzie.

I’d trailed off, waiting to get his attention before I continued. Now I watched, looked at Kenzie being very still.

Byron reached down to put a hand out, like he was going to place it on her head. His hand passed through, and the image of her fritzed as the camera was pushed out of position.

She’d been checking, testing… and now she wasn’t there to pilot the camera or manage the eyehook. I could connect the dots.

“Take care of her, Chicken Tenders,” I said. My voice bounced off the walls.

This was too heavy for an eleven-year-old. Tristan and everything else.

“You were saying?” Rain asked, glancing at Byron before facing me. “Fume Hood and me?”

Keeping us on topic, keeping Byron’s focus off of Tristan.

“You got a message through to her. To… the person, not the power.”

“Yeah,” Rain said.

“But she doesn’t get tired, she doesn’t get weak, not anymore. She’s not in control,” Chris said.

“You’re right,” Five said.

“Wrong track then,” Chris said.

“Not necessarily,” Sveta said. “People beat Scion by using his personality against him.”

“Do you think that Titan won’t anticipate it?” Chris asked. “Where do you think we are? What do you think we’re doing? She sees the future, she sees us! Wake up!”

“Chill the fuck out, Chris,” I said, more snappish than I intended.

“If it worked like that, she would already be five steps ahead of us. Right?” Chris asked, turning to Number Five.

“The probability is high,” Number Five said.

“She may be five steps ahead of us no matter what,” I said. “Do you have suggestions on another route?”

“I had a few ideas about other routes,” he said. “Leaving Earth behind. Transcending humanity. Tapping into the same spaces the Titans come from, for similar effects. Then your side fucked it all up, with your old buddy Fume Hood cracking. You’ve got your sister locked up and getting therapy for her crazy when we need crazy.”

I tensed, ready to get angry.