I paused at one of the doors of the kitchen. I’d come in one door and there were two more. One led to a hallway with people standing stationary at the end. Another led to the main room, where everyone had been seated before this had begun.

Crystalclear hadn’t signaled me further, and I took that to mean I was supposed to pause or wait. People in the main room were moving around. I peered through a crack in the door to see if there was an opening, a break in the ranks I could use to slip through or get something done.

I saw the people Kingdom Come had controlled had settled in, most finding seats in the folding chairs that had been set up throughout the room. Some stood around the side or sat with their backs to the wall. Others stood at the windows, watching outside.

The majority of the crowd was at rest. The ones who weren’t had guns drawn. The police officers were among them.

The officer with the sad mustache was at the front of the room, face streaked with blood. He was talking, and I couldn’t see who he was talking to.

I listened to the conversation, two people talking against a faint background of a chorus of hums and music box sounds.

“You want me to negotiate with terrorists,” a woman said.

“We want you to do what is best for your community,” the police officer said, in a very different voice than he’d used earlier.

“By playing along?”

“This started with civilians, it involves cape on cape violence,” the officer said. “If you cooperate, we’ll pay for damage done, we’ll extend our protection over your community in a way that keeps capes out of sight and mostly out of mind.”

“A protection racket?”

“Not a racket. No money or expectations. We’ll take the woman and we’ll tell you what to do in order to smooth things over.”

“I don’t understand why. What does this serve? Fume Hood was upfront about her history. She wanted to serve her time in this way.”

“If we tell you why, will you cooperate?”

“I can’t promise that,” the woman said. I was assuming she was the District Rep. Why had she left the others?

“The City is like a pressure cooker. The pressure is mounting and has been for a while. Things inside are heating up and winter is fast approaching. A number of great thinkers seem to think we need to vent the—”

“Vent the pressure?” the District Rep asked.

“Yes,” the police officer said. “The—”

There was an explosion overhead. Another of Crystalclear’s shots. Two more, leading from one corner of the room and away.

I looked at the crowd, and I saw the person closest to me staring at me.

Kingdom Come knew, he’d seen.