“No,” Riley said, through the computers. “I don’t want it. Not the inoculation, not that life… not with you. If I could keep myself from coming after you for letting the world fall into the Endbringer’s clutches, I’d eventually lose it and come after you at some other points.”

Chris glanced back over his shoulder. He shrugged, slow, languid, and deliberately. “Keeps things interesting.”

“I wouldn’t make it interesting, Lab Rat,” Riley said, her tone light. “I’d make it final. No chance, no deliberation, no conversation or warning beforehand. I’ve spent too long trying to find the me in between the normal and the monsters.”

“Fine,” Chris said. For a second or two, his eyes weren’t looking at anything in particular, as if he was visualizing something, or reconciling something. “I really don’t care that much.”

“The Simurgh is hurt, Chris,” I said. “She doesn’t win this one.”

“She’s hurt and she’s not stupid.”

“Stupid is the wrong word,” I told him. “She’s a force of nature.”

“You forget, I have the memories of someone who spent years in the Birdcage. Talking to some of the biggest monsters out there, talking about big things. The closest person I had to a friend was an expert in big. I get how these things work, how they move, what pushes them. I got the Birdcage, more than anyone else. I got Dragon and what she was. I was ready to bargain with solutions and weapons against Endbringers the moment the people beyond the Birdcage hit their limit and realized they had to ask us for help. I used some of it against Scion. Infinite flesh, when combined with the right powers.”

“You got caught, you got out by luck, and then you died,” Sveta said. “Chris… you’re not that clever or good.”

“I made the giants. Titan counterweapons that are still out there fighting. Not that it matters. What’s going to happen out there is all the capes that have been keeping the Machine Army and other Titans under control are going to go after the Simurgh. They’re going to hurt her. Whatever other measures you came up with, you’re going to try using them. You’re going to spend resources and you’re going to run out of time. She’ll recover, because she’s far stronger and far more powerful than we pretend she is.”

“She’s too hurt,” I said, shaking my head more than was necessary for a simple negation. “And we just sent the order for Dauntless and Fume Hood to link up with Fortuna. Past that point, Fortuna has to win.”

“You’ll rescind it. You’ll stall once you realize you don’t have a plan for endgame. While you’re doing that, the Simurgh will come out on top.”