She’d done the head-knock out of frustration then too. I’d been so focused on trying to get movement out of my hands and translate that to the controls that I hadn’t been paying much attention to the game.

It was a bittersweet memory, which was about as good as things had gotten, then. Two or so weeks later, Weld had gone to see her. I could remember her anticipation leading up to the meeting. She’d been so upset over the Case Fifty-Threes defecting en-masse from the Protectorate and Wards, and Weld’s visit had turned that around.

It hadn’t gone well. I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened. Then Weld had come to see me. He’d treated me with more human decency than I’d had out of anyone but my therapists, patient advocate, or the other patients for months. He’d been patient, ignored my ramblings, he’d been gentle, asked what he could do for me. It couldn’t have been easy. I’d been a mess.

I’d convinced him to go back to her, with a renewed perspective. Later on, I’d given them my blessings. She’d walked away from the hospital with her hero and freedom. Weld had gotten my only real friend and one of my only unabashed, unpaid-for allies.

I drew in a deep breath and sighed.

Sveta spoke first. “There was a time I was with a team. Things came to a head, a climax. It turned out half of the team had one idea of what we wanted, and the other half had another. Blood was shed. People died. Really—really cool people. The deaths weren’t as bad as the betrayals. I don’t want this to be a repeat of that.”

“Neither do I.”

“So I want to ask, because I didn’t ask then. What the hell are we doing?” Sveta asked.

“Hugging. Trying to keep this situation from getting too out of control.”

Whatever reinforcements Kenzie had mentioned hadn’t caught up with us yet. The battle lines were separating, now. Advance Guard was now a group of seven people. I wasn’t sure where the eighth had gone. Spright was at Mayday’s side, talking in short sentences. Here and there, enemies lashed out.

“Those things are now,” Sveta said.

“I think… we know what it is to be powerless, and to be stuck like that, and not always having people able or willing to help. Just about every member of the team does.”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll help those people. Cedar Point is a group of those people.”

“Colt.”

“Colt included,” I said.

“Can we get in there?” Sveta asked.

I hesitated.

“This is our jurisdiction.”

I put the phone to my ear. “Looksee?”

“Heyo.”

“Where are those reinforcements?”

“Fighting in the ranks. They’re gathering themselves together. Eight more.”

“Okay. Is Capricorn there?”

“He’s on the phone. Talking to Foresight now.”