Was he aware of the contradiction in what he’d said? That there were no vacancies, but there was nobody there?

Dido went on, taking on a tone that made me think she was in sales. “It might be a nowhere place right now, Mr. Giannone, but I promise you, Auzure can change that. The other heroes want to change it. Whatever happens, you’re going to get some stellar heroes in your neighborhood. Hopefully it’s us, and we can clear the way so that everyone that left can come back.”

Dido’s earnest, almost painful optimism toward the end was contrasted by the sputtering reply.

“You’ll make this place a warzone.”

“We’ll handle things in a good way. Trust us. Auzure is gentle but we get the job done.”

There was inarticulate sputtering on the other side for a few seconds. “I’m not the person to bother with this. Don’t call me again.”

Mr. Andre Giannone hung up the phone.

“Kenzie,” Tristan said, putting a hand on the back of Kenzie’s chair.

The camera shifted, focusing on a small house on the edge of the downtown strip. Tall windows and a realty sign, with the second floor having suggestions of an upstairs apartment.

“I feel bad,” Dido said, speaking to the dead air.

“Can we talk back to her?” Sveta asked.

“No, but—” Kenzie hit a few keys. The call ended, and then the phone rang.

“Here you are,” Dido said. “Beautiful. Was that what you needed?”

“We’re going to see,” Tristan said. “The man you called is going out for a walk.”

Mr. Giannone was dressed in a suit jacket over what might have been a thin sweater or long-sleeved shirt, with nice hair combed straight back from his face, but where he might have looked dashing, gray hair or no, he had bad posture that made him look older than he probably was. He walked with what I could only call alacrity.

“Patching in,” Kenzie said. “We’ll send you the video after, but for now it’s going to be audio only.”

“Lovely! I get to see and hear the rest?”

“It’s part of the deal,” Tristan said. “We’ll pass on info about villains and the greater villain network as we pull things together. We’re hoping you’ll keep from stepping on our toes in the meantime, as you put it. Houndstooth was saying you were better than some of your teammates about jumping into something like this without regard for us.”

“Hmm. I could see it if we were itching for something to do, but I don’t think it’s likely. Right now, I don’t think we could. Too much to do already.”

“The war?” I asked.

“That’s a big part of it.”

“How is it? How bad?” Sveta asked.