Some people left the room. Others made the effort to squeeze themselves in. Presley was glad she had the chairs bordering her space, or people might have edged in or started walking on her sleeping spot.

“Thank you,” Mr. Kingston said, after the volume had dropped. “The hill that this boulder is rolling down is powers, to put it in the simplest terms I can. The damage we did last night was intended as an attack on that. We’ve executed a different plan in the last hour, and capes across Gimel and the associated territories have been drugged, with sixty percent compliance. We’re hoping that rises to seventy-three percent in the next few hours.”

This time, there were no real interruptions. Maybe a babble of questions.

“There are others we can’t reach because we don’t have access to those Earths, but an imprisoned villain named Teacher is providing some assistance in giving us access to those worlds and helping us find capes who are harder to reach. That may bring the number higher. While drugged, they will dream. The dreams will be unpleasant, but… the main purpose is to pollute the source of powers and then disconnect them.”

There were several questions. One voice was stronger and more confident than others, and he might have been one of the leaders in the building, because people quieted down on hearing him speak. “You’re taking away their powers?”

“No,” Eric said. “That’s not truly possible, not on the scale we needed. The drug, left in their system, will kill them.”

This time, Presley’s exclamation joined the voices across the room. Surprise, shock. In her own case, dismay.

No. It couldn’t be.

She reached for her bag, fumbling, digging for her phone.

“No,” Eric answered a question she hadn’t heard. “Listen. This—”

Presley hit the button to make the call before turning to look, phone to her ear. She heard the ring.

“—is a datafob, it contains what you need to reverse the effects. It’s not easy, and they made it difficult on purpose—excuse me!”

Again, stupid people talked over him.

The phone rang. No answer.

“They made it difficult and they spread themselves out across multiple settlements and places to further obfuscate the answer. The Titans want that ball to finish rolling downhill.”

The phone kept ringing.

“They want the Earth annihilated, it’s part of how they breed. Like viruses. We are holding what they want, the powers, the data, hostage. We knew if it was just the capes, that wouldn’t be enough. You, humanity, civilians, are the bigger, broader safety net… or the ones to carry on. It’s up to you in the end, to choose. Wardens felt it was important to give you that choice, or else this would be tyranny.”

“Choose what?” someone asked.

“You can save them or you can let them die.”