We were free, out from beneath that thumb. Maybe we were under the Titan Fortuna’s thumb now, because of it. I couldn’t rule out that the agent had influenced things in that direction before she took power.

I looked back down the stairs, at the scene we were retreating from. The crowd had gathered at the edge of one of our earlier battlefields. Capes who we’d just been trying to communicate with were gathered around Defiant, Dragon, and Chevalier. The Dragon and two knights. The simple act of Defiant offering me his hand and the fact Chevalier had been on board… it was helping people turn the corner.

I was okay with that. It was a role capes played. A handsome costume, a pretty mask, and a person with presence and personal power… it helped cut through the bullshit sometimes. A double-edged sword, obviously, when people like Scribe had used it for the wrong cause or interests. But it had also let Legend and Stonewall nudge things further along, faster.

The optimist in me hoped that we shut down the ugliest side of that, like we’d stomped out the worst of the Fallen, like how Empire Eighty-Eight’s back had broken. Meanwhile, the better causes had forked and thrived.

I really hoped that what we were doing today would have its positive forks, but my thoughts lingered on the worst possibilities. Fortuna, and what Fortuna was doing.

Our plan now was to get in between the point Fortuna completed her plan, and the point everything blew up. Valkyrie had brought us Riley, Riley had brought the formula. Now it was a question of getting people to take it. To fill that space with dreams and death.

“Where do we even begin?” Rain asked.

We were up near the third floor. I could see the marks left behind where powers had been used, where lasers had gouged walls, or fixtures had broken, a camouflaged cabinet for a stark white fire extinguisher hanging halfway out of the wall.

“A part of me hoped people would line up,” I admitted. “We don’t have a lot of time.”

“I’m reminded of an article I read about new parents,” Sveta said. “The mom gets pregnant, doesn’t realize for a bit, gets the test, tells her best friend, then tells her partner. He reacts badly, or is in shock. You have to remember, he hasn’t had the benefit of quietly getting used to it, getting counsel, whatever. Same when the baby hits. For the mom, she’s been living with the baby for nine months. For the dad, he starts living with the baby at birth.”

I made a bit of a face. “Not sure I like that. Gives too much of a pass.”

“But we’re living with it, we already wrapped our heads around it,” Sveta said. “They’re still coming to terms with the idea.”