“This isn’t helping anything,” Rain said, leaving Byron behind and standing between Chris and I. “Do you have ideas, Victoria?”

“I was asking him for ideas because he’s shooting us down whenever we try anything, and he’s not suggesting anything.”

“Because you’re being idiots. The problem we’re facing is centered around someone who’s always five steps ahead of us.”

“Stop,” Rain took a step to the side, to block me from being able to see Chris and vice-versa. “We need to stay focused. What’s your instinct, Victoria?”

I folded my arms, looking around us.

I did have ideas, half-formed in my head, but I couldn’t figure out any neat and tidy ways to fit them together.

“Just so it’s not me putting you on the spot,” Rain said. “Are there ways to change the dynamic? When Gilpatrick came to the dream room, he and the others got connected up. I detached them, they all got powers. Except for the two infiltrators.”

I winced, hearing that.

“What if we rigged the system? We’re fighting with a thousand, two thousand capes in decent fighting shape, able to stand against these monsters on the battlefield, rotating in and out? Is there a way to give every unpowered person out there powers?”

“That’d be a hell of a thing,” Byron said, quiet.

“I’m spitballing,” Rain said. “Kenz?”

Kenzie’s hologram was still. There was no response.

“A-F-K,” Chris said.

“I don’t know what that means,” Rain responded. “Would it make a difference?”

“It might make things worse,” I said. I glanced at Byron.

“How?” Chris prodded.

“I don’t—it’d be tricky to get into it.”

“Don’t hold back on my account,” Byron said. “Imagining Rain’s plan in action got my heart pounding. It’d be… really messed up, for a lot of reasons, but it would be firepower and reinforcements.”

“And it plays into the dynamic we’ve been leaning into pretty heavily,” I said. “We’re to the Titans as civilians are to us. Bringing civilians in… it would possibly shift the balance. We should be able to enforce rules of conduct. But it means adapting and we’re several steps behind. But it’s too risky.”

“Why?” Rain asked, again.

“Because every time one of us breaks down… they get one more Titan, and we move another step, leap, or bound toward the agents winning. Adding millions of new, vulnerable capes to the pool is asking for a huge increase to the number of Titans.”

Some people nodded at that.

“Now who’s shutting down ideas?” Chris asked.

“What about trying everyone into a cluster?” Rain asked. He had the second idea already at hand. “We’ve dealt with a few clusters now. Goddess, my cluster. We’ve seen how power gets redistributed, how bonds are established. Bleedthrough, kiss, kill. And bonds are what keep us from becoming Titan.”