She spotted another one. There was a crowd of a type she recognized. Back in Stafford, there had been Kidney Stan’s group. Useless fuckheads, stoners, imbeciles. They’d been the point of failure for one of her jobs. She had her suspicions that they were the ones responsible for tipping off the heroes about her trip to Boston. The cops at the station, Edict at the truck raid.

The group was surrounding the cape that had been in the company of Blasto and Rotten Apple the night before. The half-lizard, half-snake creation with the wooden head had climbed up him, and was perched on his shoulder.

“See that?” she asked.

“Geez. Out of the woodwork,” Bar said.

“The names are so disappointing,” Ashley said. “Blastgerm? Blasto? Rotten Apple? Woodwork would have been better, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes,” Bar said.

“I like Damsel of Distress,” Angel said.

“Sucking up?” Bar asked. “I’m joking.”

Jokes? Ashley wondered. Where did she draw the line in a subordinate testing her limits of authority?

“No. I like the name, is all,” Angel said.

“That’s because you have good taste,” Ashley said. “Clockwork Dogs? Why not the Cogs of War?”

“They have names that mean peace and cooperation,” Bar said.

Ashley snorted. Her eyes scanned the surrounding area for more. A few minutes passed. When she didn’t see more, she indicated for Bar to stop.

The other car caught up with them as they climbed out of the vehicle.

Ashley paced a little, thinking. She was annoyed. They were so small, and all they had to do was send a message online to get that many people? How was that right or fair?

“That’s a lot,” one of Bar’s friends said. “Too much?”

“No,” Ashley said, stopping. “No. I could handle that, given a chance. I’ll have to. I will take over this area.”

“Blasto’s a tinker, you know,” Bar said. “He’s working on something big. He keeps pulling in resources.”

“You hear about that sort of thing,” J said. “Tinker keeps a low profile for a while, keeping busy, and then they do something big. Building penthouse folds away to reveal the death laser with city-wide range.”

“The building mounted death laser only ever happened one time,” Bar said.

J snickered.

Ashley wasn’t laughing. “Talk to me about Detente’s group. He’s established?”

“Newly,” Bar said. “He and Accord have a bunch of people with powers. They’ve put up a good showing. Smart, efficient, rich.”

“Where is he from? Where is Accord from?”

Bar shrugged.

“They come out of nowhere and they’re this prepared? They have this much money to throw around?”

“That’s them having mastermind powers, maybe,” Bar said.

“They’re strong?”

Bar shrugged.

“They’re small fish,” J said.

“Nobody’s a small fish when they have powers,” Damsel said. “Everyone’s a threat. Everyone has to be dealt with.”

“Sure,” Bar said.

“What about Digger? The biker.”