“And?” Bash asked.

“We’re trying to decide if it’s worth going after the jackasses,” Gaymon said.

“It’s more complicated than that. We can get better info, but it costs,” I said. “And I need the approval of my whole team on this, first. I want to make sure we have the other resources we need if we’re going to pay this cost or convince the rest of my team. If we can work with what we’ve got, though, that’d be ideal.”

“I’ll defer to Gilpatrick and Marcial,” Bash said. “You make the call, we’ll help, whatever happens.”

“Again,” I said, trying not to let the combination of Chris and Bash sidetrack things too much, “We have witnesses. They came armed and they fought hard. This wasn’t the prankster, pain in the ass, public nuisance Crowleys. This was something more vicious.”

“Because they were defending their home?” Marcial suggested.

“I trust her, Liz,” Gilpatrick said, speaking just a moment before I said something I would have regretted later. “If she says it was serious, I believe her.”

“This is your girl from the community center?”

I frowned.

“She is,” Gilpatrick said.

“The wrecking ball.”

Fuck me, was she trying to push me?

“She kept my people alive and safe. She protected civilians. Considering the fudge-cluster that was, I’m happy with how she handled it.”

“Disaster follows in your heroine’s wake, huh?” Marcial asked, still in that same dry tone.

I closed my eyes, then measured out my response, “It’s my feeling that when you have powers, it’s your responsibility to take action in the face of disaster. So yeah, you’re going to see me a lot on the scene of bad stuff going down.”

“Cluster fudge, bad stuff,” Chris said. “You don’t need to censor for my benefit. I promise you, I’ve heard worse. I’ve said worse.”

“Don’t interrupt,” Sveta told him.

“I understand that you’re defensive, Victoria. You put a lot on the line,” Marcial said.

“I’m not—” I started. I clenched my fist.

“It’s okay. This is how I function. Ask anyone who works under me. I’m asking the questions others are going to ask after we’re done. Why do this, are we sure, wasn’t there some indication it was a trap? Succeed or fail, they’re going to wonder, and I intend to have the right answers for them.”

“Okay,” I said, though I didn’t feel okay with it. The annoying thing with how she ‘functioned’ was that I had a hard time going back and finding the thread of the conversation again. Chris’s commentary didn’t help. “Defending their home, you said.”

“Mm hmm,” she said. She looked at Gaymon as he nudged her.

“The supporting images aren’t very clear,” Gaymon interrupted, holding up my phone. “Especially on a screen this small.”