How much of this self-loathing stemmed from her loathing of him?

“I don’t know what to say,” Tristan said. “Guns and maiming?”

“You don’t need to say anything,” Rain said.

“I feel like someone needs to say something,” Tristan said. He looked around the group, at Ashley, Chris, Rain. He looked back at Sveta and Kenzie. “Shit, out of the four of us, it’s supposed to be up to me to make the moral argument?”

“You don’t need to argue,” Rain said. “Really, I get it. It’s shitty, but I thought all day yesterday about this. I’ve got to do something.”

Tristan paced a little, then walked a short distance away. He muttered something under his breath.

It was Byron who walked the same short distance back.

“Hey,” Rain said.

“Hey,” Byron said. “I’m supposed to talk to you, I guess, since Tristan can’t figure out how to.”

“I’ve got to stay alive,” Rain said. “I can’t lie down and die, and the only way I can figure out how to get through this is to be a little more vicious. I’ve been in these guys heads for a year. They will kill. They hate me that much.”

Images of Everlyn flickered through Rain’s mind’s eye.

Byron was nodding.

“Kill or be killed,” Ashley said.

“Me being killed might be deserved,” Rain added.

“You don’t deserve to be tortured to death,” Erin said. “And I don’t believe in death for crimes committed either. Only in self defense, if there aren’t other options.”

“Death is a reality when powers come into play and people aren’t willing to play nice. It’s why so many of us have body counts. Other teams aren’t that different, I’m sure,” Ashley said. “A lot of powers don’t come with a ‘stun’ option. A lot of other powers don’t come as part and parcel with power-users who would or could use that option if they had it.”

Rain shook his head.

“I don’t think you deserve the torture and-or murder kind of end either,” Byron said. “I’m not going to say no to the traps, or to Erin’s gun. If it comes to staying alive, use them. Do whatever you have to that doesn’t put others in harm’s way.”

“Thank you,” Rain said.

“I’m going to say some other stuff, though,” Byron said. His expression was so different from Tristan’s. More serious by default than Tristan’s was when Tristan was being serious. His words had weight, even spoken more quietly. “I’m going to tick Tristan off, saying this, but I’m going to start off by saying I really don’t like the team idea.”

“That’s going to tick him off, yeah,” Chris said.