Capricorn didn’t give a visible reaction to being called a shill. Something they’d talked about earlier? A joke?

“I think she’s nervous,” I said. “This whole thing is worse than we thought it would be, and we thought it would be awful.”

“She’s very nervous,” Vista said. “We’re all nervous. So much going on at the borders between worlds and we find out there’s something this rotten this close to home? Things are supposed to be getting better and these guys seem really fucking committed to taking things in the other direction.”

“She’s looking,” Capricorn said, as he turned his head toward his wall. “And we’re still talking.”

“Vista, can we talk?” I asked.

She followed me off to the side.

“I’m going to be cringing about this for the next five years,” Vista said. “I goofed and got distracted, and everything went splat in front of my team leader, my team, my old team leader, you, Capricorn… and I think my boss knew why.”

I had been able to tell what was going on when I was a hundred feet in the air.

“First off,” I started.

“Yes?”

“The bad moments? Never as bad as they are in your own head. You couldn’t predict that. Take it from the bystander and friend, don’t cringe for five years.”

She didn’t respond immediately, but then she nodded, sighing as she did it, like she was letting something free.

“Okay?”

“Okay. What’s second off?”

“Second… do you want it blunt or do you want it gentle?”

“Blunt,” Vista said. “I’m a fighter. I can take it.”

“You have a problem,” I told her, quiet. “You have a thing for unattainable guys in heavy armor.”

I saw her react, like she’d been punched in the gut, before she steeled herself. I could even work out the thought process, as she noted that others were in a position to see us and her. She couldn’t react too visibly.

“Dead son of a cunt, I might actually,” she said, under her breath. “Unattainable why?”

“Can’t say. He’ll tell you soon, I think. He thinks you’re cool.”

“They always do,” she said. “When things are calmer, you need to help me with this.”

“I can try, but before we talk about that—”

“We should talk about it another day.”

“Okay. But on this, just to clear things up in a way I can explain, he has a twin brother. The one in blue—”

“Oh. That’s what that was.”

“It’s not a secret, but it’s not something we tell the bad guys either.”

“Got it.”

“I won’t say go for it, because… messy.”

“We’re all messy.”

“Messy… in a way beyond the cape usual. I don’t think they can date, as it is. And a very different personality. Brace yourself for that.”

“Okay.”