On the street, Spright had escaped Prancer. He returned to the main street, saw Nailbiter and Love Lost close by, and broke into a run. The breaker effect was steadily fading.

Prancer’s power, I knew, was a breaker effect, to go by the PRT classifications. It was the most misunderstood classification in playground arguments and online debates, to the point where every power had probably been called a breaker power by someone. Where changers were powers that changed one’s form and were physical and mostly bound to the natural world, breaker powers were on-off, tied into enabling powers or powersets, and were ethereal or rule-breaking.

Prancer’s ‘on’ switch was a power-derived form that made him fast and nimble. Running and jumping around made the effect steadily ramp up. It made him fast and evasive.

It was good to think about the mechanical side of powers, to dwell in fact and things that made me think of reading cape magazines in bed and talking to Dean.

Sveta’s voice stirred me from my thoughts. “Positive side is I just found out I’m all instinct when I’m forced into attack mode. My body isn’t smart enough to figure out how to get out of the suit.”

“Good thing,” I said. I meant it as I said it, saw the fleeting smile on her face, but I was also kind of distracted.

“What’s going on over there? It helps if I focus on external things I can’t accidentally murder.”

“Spright’s running, I lost track of him. I’d go to him and ask what the fuck is going on, but he’s trying to be slippery and he’s good at it. I’d talk to Prancer, but it’s exactly the same thing. I don’t want to go after Love Lost and fuck up. I’m wondering if we should run, go back to the mob.”

Sveta nodded.

“I hate to leave Spright,” I said. “He might not know about the violence, or who’s after him, and this is a—in big fights, outright wars, it’s good to identify solutions. If I can get to Spright, I can stop this.”

“Love Lost is the biggest problem?”

I nodded.

“I think I can get her,” Sveta said. She shifted position and sat back. “I don’t want to hurt her, but I think I can get her.”

“You sure?”

“Reasonably sure.”

“Rule of thumb I’ve been thinking about? Seventy-five percent. No more than three-quarters of the hurt they’ve done to others. She made ReSound bleed a lot. You can make her bleed a little.”

Sveta winced.

“Or not at all,” I said. “But remember that she’s willing to hurt Rain. If she had a twisted ankle or something, it’d make a lot of things easier.”

Sveta nodded.

“You good?” I asked.

“I wanted to do this. Go get Spright.”