Moose and Prancer. They’d wrangled three others. I didn’t recognize any of the three. Bluestocking was way off to the side, just barely in earshot. Almost half of Houndstooth’s group had turned around and were keeping an eye on Hookline and Kitchen Sink.

“What brings you here?” Prancer asked.

“Passing through,” Houndstooth said.

“To where? This is a peninsula. It’s why Hollow Point is a point.”

Houndstooth shrugged, radiating smug, a lack of concern.

“The Kings of the Hill. You’re a long way away from where you normally hang out.”

“Changing times. Some other people might be looking to take over the Hill.”

“That doesn’t explain why you’re here,” Prancer said.

“Maybe they want to be Kings of the Point,” Moose said.

“There’s nothing to be gained here,” Prancer said. “It’ll take you twice as long and five times as many fights to get half as far.”

Houndstooth laughed. One or two members of his group were almost simultaneous in laughing as well, but Houndstooth was louder, more confident, and probably the focus of the camera’s microphone, to boot.

The villains shifted their footing. There were no laughs. They didn’t seem impressed.

Houndstooth explained. “You’re aware you just described an uphill battle to a group called Kings of the Hill?”

“Then you should know all the better,” Prancer said. The force of the response was hampered a bit by the fact that Houndstooth’s group was chuckling again.

Points to Houndstooth, he was doing pretty well here. This wasn’t the first time I’d seen him interact with someone and not really have the presence or power to stand up to the people he was facing down.

“What a theme. The hunting hound, nipping at the fleeing deer’s heels,” Houndstooth said.

“If you’re going to nip, I’m going to gore,” Prancer said. “You’re not going to come out ahead in this.”

“Yeah?” Houndstooth asked. “Would you like to have a little skirmish right here? Your eight to our five. Or are you going to let us pass through?”

“You can’t pass through,” Prancer said, exasperated. “Its a peninsula. You can turn around and go back the way you came, though.”

Houndstooth chuckled. He put a hand on a teammate’s shoulder, and turned the guy around. The five members of his group turned to go.

“Faster response,” I said. I touched the button on the phone to unmute myself. “I’d like to keep a camera on Prancer’s group. I want to see their response.”

“That’s the plan,” Tristan’s voice came through.

A few seconds passed, as Houndstooth’s team headed back the way they’d come.

“I’m not a mom,” Sveta said.

“Okay,” I said.

There was conversation on the phone.

“I don’t want them in here,” Hookline said. “Fuck that.”

“We don’t know what they’re doing,” Prancer said. “It’s fine. Go easy.”