He shook his head.

“Spooky stuff,” she said, her voice soft.

“A bit. I don’t know what to do.”

“I know.”

“Can I go get the tech?” he asked.

“Tattletale would kill me if she woke up and heard I sent you out.”

“I know how to handle it, kind of. I knew about the screw holes. Because we’ve helped build stuff and she made stuff for my birds, once.”

“Kid—”

“I want to help but I always feel like a third wheel when I’m standing by someone’s bed. I never know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.”

“Please. It’s not too bad down there.”

“One team dropped a Titan down there, and another might be appearing out of nowhere to stop the teams that are preparing to blow up sections again.”

“I’ve already been down there once. Kind of.”

“Chicken…” Aisha shook her head.

“Please,” he said. “I want to help her and do something more. I feel like I have to, as leader of my team.”

“Tattletale would kill me.”

“I’ll take the blame.”

Aisha sighed. She looked back at Brian, who didn’t give her any indication one way or the other.

“Let’s see if we can open communications with Breakthrough. Fill them in, see if there’s any problems first.”

My brain is hoping they give us a bit of an excuse, while my heart is hoping you can do this for your teammate.

Aiden reached past her to hit keys on the keyboard, rotating windows and bringing up what looked like a webcam panel.

This entire thing looked more like magic than technology. Diagrams, loops, text running in every direction across a three-dimensional space.

“Bringing you online,” he said.

“Are you and Darlene connected to her right now?” Aisha asked.

“No,” Aiden said.

“Really?” she pressed him, leaning in closer.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Because if you’re actually going there, we can’t have you distracted.”

“I’m not connected.”

The kid was a terrible liar.

A box on the desk scanned them with a blue laser.

“Bringing you online, I think,” Aiden said.

A screen changed to show the Breakthrough group.

“And you’re on.”

“Whassup!” Imp greeted them.

“Hzz pt fffzohh,” Antares’s voice was reduced to gibberish.

It took a few exchanges before the voices clarified. The image distorted badly, and the Breakthrough group warped a few times, fingers and faces blurring and stretching out.

“Lemme…” Aiden leaned across, typing. “There.”

“Thanks, kid,” Imp said, giving him a nod. She faced the camera. “Oh, I thought you were giving me the finger.”

“What do you need?” Antares asked.

“Lookout is having a lie down…”

⊙

Brian was talking with Rachel, Chastity, Juliette, and Roman, crowded into the little coffee break room that they were using as a kitchen while they were parked here. Aisha, a bit overwhelmed, had retreated to use of her power.