“Mm. My neck and side hurt like fuck, did you think I need a pointed pain in my ass instead? You don’t have to.”

“Nah, hon. Just checking in. You did your ‘brute destroy, grr argh’ thing, you apparently forgot you’re supposed to be invincible, now your job is done. Mine is ongoing.”

“Gathering info.”

“I just told you I was a warlord. I’m still managing, administrating, moving key pieces around.”

“Rah rah,” I said.

“So I’ll get right to it,” she told me. “A lot of the pieces are running around very upset and concerned about something that apparently started with you.”

“Uh huh. That.”

“I want to play a little game, Vicky. If I say black, you say…”

“White?” I ventured.

“Yeah,” she said, like it was the most profound thing ever.

“Can I kick her out?” I asked Nurse Leah, who had just made her way inside, navigated around Tattletale, and who was now draping a weighted, warm blanket over my legs.

“You could.”

“Listen,” Tattletale said. “That’s the way it’s supposed to be. I say black, you say white, I say let’s literally nail Teacher’s ass to a wall, and you’re supposed to say that’s wrong, I’m a bad person for using cruel and unusual punishment.”

“Do you want her to leave?” the nurse asked me.

“I’m really tempted.”

“Except you went and came up with a punishment way worse than putting a tire around someone’s neck and setting it on fire.”

“You never did that.”

“Exactly my point! You’re making me look too good, with your indefinite, jury-less detention, and now I hear you were apparently planning on mass murder?”

The nurse gave me a look, and it wasn’t her checking if I wanted Tattletale to leave. One line from Tattletale, and the nurse was wary, not entirely on my side anymore.

“Can you give us a minute?” I asked.

The doctor and nurse made their exit.

In the background, I heard someone grunting and screaming. There was a clatter.

“It’s more than just that,” I told Tattletale. “Cryptid gave a pretty trite, one-line explanation. There were contingencies, plans, post-plans.”

“Oh I know,” Tattletale said. “Which is part of the reason I’m here, checking. You had teammates going along with it, including a goody-two-shoes like Sveta and a kid who’s got a lot to redeem himself over. The Wardens were entertaining it, despite the fact you’re not in their good books.”

“I’m okay in their good books, I think.”

“You’re not in their best books.”

“Conceded,” I grunted.

“So there’s more to it,” Tattletale said.

“It was a last-ditch effort. Riley, Bonesaw, thought it would work. So did Cryptid. We send capes to fight Endbringers knowing that a good proportion will die. We have to send a certain number or they win and we lose something fundamental.”

“Sure,” Tattletale said.