“Five hundred words.” Zephyr said. “With that in mind, can you tell me what is wrong with this report in front of me?”

I stood stiffly with my costume’s hood down, but with my power still active. Zephyr was baiting me, but I wasn’t falling for it. I let her decide when to answer the question. Anything I said would have been wrong.

“At a glance, I can see two paragraphs covering this page.” Zephyr decided there had been enough silence. “Which is good. Reports should be detailed, and that takes a lot of words. The problem here, is that your handwriting is atrocious, large, and messy.”

Two of those things were essentially the same thing, but given the topic I decided against arguing english. So what if I had large and messy handwriting? I got the details down. My involvement in the incident had been minimal. Go to the place. Catch Rainbowfish. Flee the Racketeers. Fuck up on arresting Rainbowfish before getting the containment protocols.

I decided against including the little piece of communication Waterlad and I had done at the end of it.

Zephyr was still going. “So tell me, Lock, how a public incident involving a grand total of six villains from two seperate groups resulting in thousands of dollars of property damage can be summed up in two paragraphs?”

I didn’t think I could get away with not responding to that one. Zephyr’s long and pointed glare proved that suspicion correct, so I coughed to delay for time.

“I just wrote down what happened.” I said. “Not what I thought.”

“I’ll go back to what I just said.” Zephyr told me. “How can that be summed up in two paragraphs?”

I winced. “Not very well.”

“Not well!?” Zephyr basically shrieked. That had been a misstep. Now she had ammunition. “Are you trying to submit subpar work?”

I grimaced, deigning to fall back into silence.

“The Sentinels are an American organisation, Lock.” Zephyr was taking an angle I hadn’t expected. “But they can’t operate with the freedom they need without consent from the Regulation. Do you know what the Regulation is?”

I let myself nod my head once. It was a careful and slow nod. It was also ignored.

“They are a government entity operating across borders.” Zephyr held up a finger. “I’m going to stress that they are not American. They aren’t anything other than a system obeying a consensus of laws that several dozen lawyers from each country involved spent months hammering out on neutral grounds. Lawyers that are ten times smarter than you’ll ever be.”

The personal attack was a low blow that the explanation could have done without. I filed it away under reasons I didn’t like Zephyr. That folder was getting larger by the hour.

“That means that we, the Sentinels, and you, the Sentry, need to abide by the rules of the country we’re operating in. Namely, the forty nine United States of America. We have to obey and enforce the law of our country, specific to the state that we are in. That couldn’t be made any clearer, right?”

Once again I forced stillness on myself. I focused on the forces in my earring. Unfortunately my power picked up sound vibrations as well. Not well enough that I could listen through it, but the tempo matched what I could hear with my ears anyway, making Zephyr’s rant easier to follow.

“So that is one shackle us heroes wear when we go out to fulfil our duty. What is the other shackle, Lock?” She didn’t give me time to respond. “It’s the Regulation. To get their consent to operate, we also need to abide by their rules as well as our own. That further impedes our ability to act at all. And if any of us act out, the Regulation functions as a guillotine hanging over our heads as well. When that guillotine falls, Lock, it doesn’t just take one head. It takes them all.”

Zephyr slammed my report down on the table, releasing a blast of wind that sent many of the other pieces of discarded paper in her office into the air. “So tell me now, Lock.” Her voice was full of venom that dripped from my name. “How can an event involving six supervillains and thousands of dollars of property damage be accurately described in two paragraphs?”

The last of the paper found a new resting place before she accepted I wasn’t going to say anything.

“Insubordinate.” Zephyr said, testing me for a reaction.

I didn’t give her any dice. I was owning that one so long as Zephyr was the Sentinel in charge of me.

“Arrogant.”

I didn’t agree, but that way lay a philosophical discussion that was best done with our inside voices. And Zephyr’s voice was a hurricane.

“Forgetful.”

For what exactly? I thought, my face twitching. There wasn’t anything I had really forgotten. If she was talking about how I handled Rainbowfish, there was no way I could have forgotten the containment protocols because I hadn’t been informed of them in the first place.

“Incompetent.”

“I’m not incompetent.” I couldn’t let that one by. The whole reason for me being a Sentry was to have agency. Being incompetent and having agency were diametrically opposing ideals.

“Then why,” Zephyr demanded, smelling blood. “Are you incapable of writing a minimum of five hundred words?”

I stared at her with my grey eyes.

Zephyr stared back at me through her mask.

“I’ll rewrite the report.” I said.

“No.” Zephyr said simply.

“No?” I was surprised, I couldn’t hide it.

“This is evidence of your incompetence, which I will be submitting for review by the Regulation.” Zephyr told me.

I felt anger rising inside. She had found another tender spot to bite, and her fangs were dripping with blood.

“If that is all-” I started turning to leave.

“Stay!” Zephyr interrupted me. “We still haven’t gone over your mission performance. This report doesn’t go into nearly enough detail on the incident, so I’ll have you dictate an account to me, and we’ll go over your missteps as they come up.”

I clenched my jaw and didn’t move. Focusing on the earring wasn’t helping.

“Lock.” Zephyr warned. I pulled my Vphone from my pocket and held it behind me as I turned to face the Sentinel, moving so Zephyr never saw it. I tapped some numbers into it, using my power to approximate where the right spots were on the screen. I hoped I got it right.

“Rosie, can you please record this?” I asked the room.

There was a pleasant ding.

“Rosie.” Zephyr said before I could move on. “Cut the recording and delete it. Disregard any requests from the Sentry Lock for the next week.”

There was a pleasant ding.

Zephyr sat down at her desk with a smug air about her. The sight was infuriating.

“You were about to dictate something to me.” She told me, her voice still hard.

I coughed into the hand that wasn’t holding the Vphone, then returned it to behind my back. “When I arrived-”

“When did you arrive?” Zephyr cut me off.

I simmered but continued. “After the fifth lightning strike.”

“What made you take so long to arrive?” Zephyr demanded. “Slingshot and I were engaged with the Racketeers by the time the second lightning strike occurred. You weren’t far behind us, were you?”

“I was behind because-”

“You were lagging behind?” Zephyr asked, stabbing at the soft spot.

I didn’t take it lying down. “You were pushing ahead. Not waiting for-”

“This is a report for your actions, not mine.” Zephyr cut me off again.

“You didn’t wait for me to even arrive at a checkpoint before moving on.”

“Why were you the last one to arrive at any checkpoint, Lock?”

“Because you fly, and I’m stuck on the ground.”

“And what does that make you?”

“Stuck on the ground, forced to navigate the streets while you go as the crow flies.”

“Why were you the last one to arrive at the checkpoints?”

“Because I can’t keep up with two fliers.”

“You’re avoiding the point, Lock.” Zephyr said flatly. “If you are lagging behind your teammates, what does that make you?”

I knew what she was trying to make me say. The way she danced around the word made it so very obvious. But it didn’t seem like she was letting me get around this one. “Slower.”

“That’s right.” Zephyr nodded. “But I think it goes a step further. Since, because you are slower than your teammates, who you should be watching out for, you can’t watch their backs. That makes you…”

“A liability.” I finished.

“That’s not the word I would have used, but it’s acceptable.” Zephyr said. “Next.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re asking for.” I snapped. “Are you asking for the next thing that happened, or the next opportunity to stab at my so called incompetence? Because it’s very hard to tell right now.”

“I said.” Zephyr paused for effect. “Next.”

I closed my eyes and focused on something. My costume this time. It was heavy enough that its weight alone would make Zephyr’s desk break, but my power arrested so much of it that I could wear it like clothes. A mental image of the costume blossomed in my mind’s eye and zoomed in on the dent the bullet left.

No. That wasn’t helping.

“When I arrived.” I repeated. It had taken so long to just finish saying three words without getting interrupted. “I quickly saw the situation was bad, and saw all six of the villains you have been repeatedly mentioning.”

“This report does not require personal attacks.” Zephyr said unironically. “Who were the villains you saw?”

“Channel first, who ran past me.”

“Stop there. Channel ran past you?”

“Yes.”

“And you did nothing?”

“There was nothing to do.” I responded.

“You let a known supervillain run past you without doing anything?” Zephyr was biting the soft spot again.

I grit my teeth. “Touching her would have electrified me. I would have been incapacitated and at the mercy of the Racketeers.”

“Did you even consider trying?” She asked.

“No, because I was more focused on getting Rainbowfish, who I was much more capable of arresting.”

“I see.” Zephyr said, leaning back. All she had taken away from that was that I had not even considered trying. I knew it, and she knew I knew it.

“That’s each of the Beastmasters who were present. The Racketeers present were Zipline, Prism, Waterlad, and Junk Mail, who you were locked in a fight with.”

“Careful.” Zephyr warned.

I breathed through clenched teeth. “I got a hold on Rainbowfish and ran away with him in my grasp. Zipline saw me and recognised me from our previous encounter. So she shifted focus to chase me instead of Channel. Even with Prism running interference for Zipline, I was able to get away.”

“Lock, this is meant to be a detailed report.” Zephyr reminded me.

I pushed down the urge to snap at her and went backwards through the events in my head. “First I picked up Rainbowfish. Then Zipline saw me. Then I ran. Zipline managed to catch me with a wire, but I removed it before she could stop me. Then Prism made me-”

“How?” Zephyr interrupted.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

Zephyr specified. “How did you escape Zipline’s wire?”

“I pushed it off using my power. Is that acceptable?”

“It is. Continue.”

“Then Prism made me run into a wall. Then-”

“Stop. The wall. How?”

“He used his ability to make me think a turn was much closer than it actually was. I fell for the illusion.”

“So you are incapable of perceiving when Prism is attempting to fool you. That is good to know for the future.”

My grip tightened on the phone. “Then I kept running and got away. I handcuffed Rainbowfish and started asking about the containment protocols. While I was waiting for the protocols to come through, Rainbowfish talked.”

“You just let Rainbowfish talk?”

“He revealed the lie moments before I got the protocols.” I answered.

“You’re the only hero in Graceland who would make such an elementary error.” Zephyr commented.

“As I said, I didn’t know how to handle Rainbowfish until after he used his power.”

“So you have a good grasp on your own level of competence.” Zephyr nodded. “That’s good.”

Oh, I fucking seethed at that. The fact that I was holding the Vphone behind my back was the only reason I didn’t do something incredibly stupid right then. Instead I closed my eyes and focused on the phone for a moment. I didn’t tend to focus on electronics very much because they had so many interconnected bits and forces within them. This time I relished in the opportunity to lose myself in the matrix of the device before coming back calmer.

“So Rainbowfish escaped.” I said, voice strained. “And that’s it.”

“That’s it?” Zephyr challenged. I didn’t rise to the occasion.

Eventually Zephyr decided the silence had gone on long enough.

“This unpleasant event could have been avoided, had you simply said all that on your report.” She said.

“I did.” I replied against my better judgement, but that statement told me she hadn’t even bothered to read the damn thing. “One paragraph to go over everything we just did more succinctly. The other to explain Rainbowfish’s lie.”

Zephyr took a deep breath. When she spoke her voice was accompanied by a manifestation of her power. “I expect a minimum of 500 words to a report in the future, Lock.” She said. “Get. Out.”

I was out the door before she even finished telling me to go. Once outside I raised my Vphone to my ear and briskly walked away from Zephyr’s office.

“Can you make a recording of that?” I asked.

Orcus asked. “Why do you need a recording?”

He must have picked up after a few rings. “Zephyr told Rosie to disregard my requests for a week. I can’t get one off of her.”

There was a long silence, then a very long and heavy sigh came through the line. It was strange. I hadn’t heard Orcus sigh before. When he spoke, he almost sounded normal.

Orcus said. “I’ll send it to your Sentry email and some members high in the Regulation. I don’t approve of what I just heard. Not of Zephyr’s handling of the situation and certainly not how you recorded the meeting without permission. I’ll try and step in to see if I can adjust who you sidekick with.”

“But you can’t deny the way she treats me is irrational.” I said. “She orders Slingshot around like she’s a robot, but never gets on her case about anything. Then I trip on a step and I’m suddenly responsible for Hawaii.”

“She is good in the field. Otherwise the Regulation would not keep her around.”

“No.” I said.

Orcus said, “Lock.” He sounded tired.

“No.” I repeated. “She was the only flier in Graceland that wasn’t twelve before Slingshot signed up. Jagmikh has been around for what, four years? She was moved here after Salt Lake City, wasn’t she?”

“Let it lie, Lock.” Orcus told me.

“Who was before her?” I asked, suddenly interested. A long silence followed my question.

Orcus ended the call. I would have to research that myself.

~~~

“Oh great, it’s you.” Unshaken’s disdain pierced any part of me that cared. Which was more of me than it would have been with anyone else because of fucking Collage.

“Yup.” I tried to hide the way I felt. “Me.”

Orcus had pulled through on meddling with my sidekick schedule. I had woken up the next morning with a message from Rosie informing me of the changes. Instead of another round of Zephyr, Slingshot, and my wonderfully grounded self, I was being added to Voidling’s patrol for the day. As far as Mondays went, this was a good one.

“Don’t look so down, Lock.” Lucidity told me. “You’re with the cool kids club now.”

“You’ll need to change the name if you include him.” Unshaken told Lucidity.

Ouch.

“Sentrys.” Voidling said without raising his voice. “We’ll be moving to complete our patrol quickly today, then set up guarding locations around commercial hotspots.” He had tactfully interrupted as Lucidity was gearing up to rebuke Unshaken, distracting her from escalating. The man sounded tired, not unlike Orcus had yesterday. “The Racketeers seem to have slowed down since the incident with the Beastmasters yesterday, there wasn’t any reports of an attack overnight. Be ready for another incident to break out today regardless.”

“Are we going as a group of four?” Unshaken asked. “It would be better to split into two groups of two.”

“That goes against what Theo told us.” Lucidity pointed out. “Three heroes at a minimum.”

Unshaken shrugged. “So we stay near each other. A block apart at most.”

“I was thinking something along those lines.” Voidling agreed. “I’ll take the tighter route with team A while Lucidity can make hoverboards for team B.”

“So you’re on team A with…?”

“Lock at first.” Voidling told her. “After a few checkpoints we can rotate members.”

“Sounds good to me.” Unshaken gave a half shrug. “Can we get some hoverboards, pipsqueak?”

“Coming right up.” Lucidity saluted, ignoring the demeaning title, then fell face flat on the ground. Vanished through the surface instead of hitting the floor like most people would. Moments later Lucidity fell through the ceiling with a hoverboard in hand and another under her feet.

“Woah.” She almost fumbled, but righted herself. Lucidity had come through the ceiling face first.

Unshaken took the hoverboard when it was dropped to her then turned to the group impatiently. “Can we go?”

Voidling didn’t answer, he just started moving. When we made it out of the SRT the two girls quickly flew away on their hoverboards, leaving Voidling and I to make our own way out of downtown. I was expecting Voidling to produce some kind of segue or something so he could move faster, but he just kept walking. I matched his pace, not sure if I should say anything about it.

After half an hour we met up with Lucidity and Unshaken, who were bickering relentlessly. It was a far cry from Voidling and myself, who had barely spoken to each other. But it was a somewhat comfortable silence and I appreciated that. Occasionally there was radio contact from Unshaken, which broke up the quiet every now and then. It was refreshing, taking it easy. Not having to jam my staff up my spine because Zephyr was picking at my every flaw.

“Lock.” Lucidity demanded, still perched atop a hoverboard. “Zanter. Is he a real hero? Yes or no?”

Zanter was an on screen character in the movie ‘Gift for the Holiday’ wherein a guy manifested superpowers around christmas. It was about the spirit of christmas, and took a light-hearted approach to a real person developing superpowers that let him deposit gifts under people’s trees. I recalled what trivia I knew about the film.

“Zanter isn’t a hero.” I decided. Unshaken folded her arms in satisfaction before I could continue. “On the other hand his actor, Christain Farlo, is.”

Christain Farlo was a well known face in Hollywood. He had the ability to make sub-solid illusions, so all the production houses loved him. Plus, he was actually a decent actor and I enjoyed his work. Gift for the Holiday was just one of the movies he had done.

“That’s dumb.” Lucidity pouted.

“See? Zanter isn’t real.” Unshaken said triumphantly. “Told you so.”

Lucidity crossed her arms with indignation. “Stop it.”

I rolled my eyes, not that anyone could see. I hadn’t realised I was taking part in such a petty argument.

“Shall we restructure the teams?” Voidling interrupted before things escalated. “Myself and Unshaken in team A, and Lock and Lucidity in team B.”

“Fine by me.” Unshaken descended and hopped off the hoverboard, leaving it behind.

“Fine.” Lucidity said much more pointedly.

“Yes.” Unshaken shot back.

“Follow Lucidity, she knows the way.” Voidling told me with a light grip on my shoulder. There was a flicker of force in my costume. I looked at his hand as he released me.

“What-” I started.

“Take your time, Lock.” Voidling said, already walking away.

“Come on, it’s much better up here.” Lucidity called as she was also moving, just up instead of across. “Cool kids club is in the sky!”

I watched Voidling striding away. That had been intentional. He had used his power on me, of that I was certain. But besides the initial impact, I couldn’t tell if anything was different. I shook my head and stepped onto the hoverboard Unshaken had left behind.

At first there wasn’t much room for conversation. We were flying above houses and there was enough wind that our words were snatched away every time we opened our mouths. We could still use radio, but that would have included Unshaken and Voidling in the conversation. So the only form of communication we had between us was our movement. I tried to follow Lucidity as close as I could, but the young heroine had apparently made her hoverboard faster than mine. It turned into something of a game of tag that I was never going to win.

It was a refreshing fifteen minutes. Then we made it to the checkpoint and hung out in the sky while we waited for the walkers to arrive.

“How’s Slingshot?” I asked. While I might have been on sidekick duty with the same sentinel as her, I hadn’t exactly had much time to say ‘Hey Madeleine, how are you holding up after hearing about the death of the girl that punched your sunglasses in?’ Lucidity tended to spend more social time with her, so she probably had a better idea than me. There was more common ground there.

“Slingshot?” Lucidity thought for a bit. “Seemed fine when I passed her today.”

“That’s good.” I said. More to myself than Lucidity.

“Ew.” The twelve year old gagged. “You like her don’t you?”

I blinked. There were a hundred different ways to take that one. “That’s a very good question.”

“You don’t like her?”

I shook my head. “That’s not what I said.”

“So you do? Gross.”

I gave Lucidity a long look. She didn’t have a shit eating grin like Collage would have in this situation. On the contrary, everything about her expression and body language told me she was being genuine, both interested and disturbed. Oh, to be young and blunt.

“I’ll put it another way.” I decided. “The disrupters on the team all have the means and are therefore suspects.”

“For what?” Lucidity realised the answer before I could say it. “Oh.”

“So I was wondering how Slingshot was holding up in the wake of that.” I explained.

“Why don’t you like, ask her?” Lucidity asked bluntly.

“I haven’t had the chance.” I answered simply.

“But you…” She twisted her mouth, trying to think of what to say.

I chuckled to myself. Lucidity was quite the open book.

“Why don’t you get drinks with us?” She slowly asked, speeding up halfway through the question.

I saw a mental image of Slingshot and Lucidity in a bar. “When you say drinks, what do you mean?”

“Drinks, duh.” Lucidity responded, not clarifying anything. “We do it sometimes after day patrols. We go somewhere and buy a drink or two, still in costume. My Regulation handler really likes the idea because it’s like advertiseming or something.” She blended the words advertisement and advertising together.

“And where exactly do you go for a drink?” I questioned. This story was getting more ridickulous by the second. I wasn’t even allowed in bars at sixteen, there was no way Lucidity could enter one by herself or with Madeleine.

Lucidity pointed past me. “Greasy Pete’s.” I followed the direction of the finger and saw that the fast food chain had popped up here as well. “There’s another near the SRT. Slingshot buys me a burger as well sometimes.” A sheepish grin. “Most times.”

“You know, I never liked that name.” I commented. “Greasy Pete. I have no idea how it became so widespread. I just imagine the most typical moustache twirling villain you could think of whenever I see the name.”

“Uh, okay. But Slingshot and I go to Pete’s every now and then. You could come!”

“I appreciate the offer.”

I really did. This was the first time any of the Sentry had deigned to ask if I wanted to do something outside of patrol or training hours. To be honest, I hadn’t felt any kind of desire to get closer to the other guys on the team. Blinker was a cold and calculating machine with no capacity for humour or fun. Collage was all about fun and humour, but went too far along the opposite end of the scale. Finally, Satellite was a lone wolf. We’d spoken, sure, but he was off putting. I didn’t want him as a friend.

Snowflake was cold, but not as cold as Unshaken. What Collage had done ruined any chance of me approaching the latter relationship with a level head. That left a twelve year old and a girl somewhere around my age that I had artificial feelings for.

Of the Sentinels, Zephyr had pretty much declared herself my enemy. Orcus and Voidling were chronically neutral. And Sting, who had briefly been a mentor, was still missing and a primary suspect in a murder.

It was depressing to think about, so I stopped thinking about it.

“I’ll definitely consider it.” I told Lucidity.

“That puppy is so cute!” Lucidity gushed, already distracted.

I followed Lucidity’s eyeline and saw a dog that was most definitely not a puppy. It was a fully grown german shepard, straining at the reins to move faster, rather than get to any specific destination. The guy holding the leash was big and clearly had strength to match. The leash was taught, but the man was not giving any ground whatsoever.

“Go pet it, then.” I told her and she darted past me, nearly knocking me off the board as she brushed by. I let out a breath mixed with contentment and worry, then moved to follow and make sure things stayed amicable.

~~~

“I don’t quite understand it.” Voidling suddenly said.

I glanced over. Voidling and I were standing at the mall Zephyr and I had been guarding the day before. Difference was we were standing further inside and Voidling had decided to stay near me instead of sending me away just far enough that they could keep an eye on me.

I waited for him to keep going. This was the first time Voidling had initiated one on one conversation with me since the care package.

“Why are you with us today?” He asked.

“Um, a scheduling shuffle?” I answered with a question. I wasn’t sure what answer he was looking for.

Voidling gave a shake of his head. “No, I spoke with Orcus. I knew it was happening. What I’m wondering about now is why.”

I looked away to the crowd and let myself be briefly distracted by a boy a year or two older than I was giving me an impressively vile glare. I nodded at him and got the most disgusted reaction as he stalked off. Some people. Then I considered how much I should say of Zephyr’s inconceivable problem with me.

“I fucked up, I guess.” I said when there weren’t any shoppers close by. “I didn’t know how to handle Rainbowfish and he pulled a fast one on me while I was talking to the Regulation trying to figure that one out.”

“Rainbowfish is a tricky one.” Voidling agreed softly.

I gave a one shoulder shrug. “Might have been that, might have been how I’m slower than her even though she flies. When I was patrolling with Zephyr, she had a habit of flying past checkpoints I hadn’t reached yet and leaving Slingshot behind to give me directions.”

Voidling nodded once and let the matter lie.

“Thanks for the care package, by the way.” I told him. “I don’t know if I said that already or not.”

“You did.” He said, leaving me frowning underneath my mask. Did he mean when I received the USB, or sometime between then and now? I couldn’t remember.

A few minutes later someone ran up to us.

“You guys are heroes, right?” The man asked through panted breath.

“What is it?” Voidling stepped towards him.

“There’s a-” He took a breath. “Cloud-” Another breath. “in the food court.”

“Cloud.” Voidling repeated with his hand going to his transmitter, which was apparently under his collar. “Sentrys, converge on the food court. I have a witness saying Cloud has appeared there.” He glanced back at me and gestured for me to follow.

“On my way.” Unshaken responded through the channel.

I made to follow, but stopped when I noticed eight new forces on my boot. I looked down to see a yellow furred spider clinging to me. I swore and stepped away, swiping near the spider with my staff. The swing was too wide, and the spider clung to my costume, staring at me. That’s when I realised it was heavier than it should have been. There was a Vphone strapped to it. I glanced over to see the civilian that warned us of the cloud staring at me and the spider on my leg.

“You should leave.” I told him as I otherwise stood completely still.

He swallowed, nodded, and started moving away at a brisk pace. Slower than how he approached us, but a more manageable speed. He was joined by several other shoppers that were getting away from the situation in the food court.

All too aware of the spiders capabilities, I slowly crouched down and used the back of my forearm to push the spider off. The yellow thing climbed onto my arm as I tried to push it and it stayed there.

I wasn’t going to get anywhere with this thing on me. The fact that it wasn’t doing anything only put me more on edge. Slowly, and very carefully, I reached out and touched the Vphone. The fur on the spider bristled on contact. Then, using my power, I slowly pulled the phone out and caught it once it no longer had any support.

A switch seemed to flip in the spider once the phone was in my hands, thankfully not the electric kind. It climbed up my arm and down my side, and jumped off when it reached my knees. It darted underneath a trash can and out of sight.

With that nightmare fuel apparently done, I checked the Vphone. It had no lock, and one notification. A message saying ’call this number’. Maybe Waterlad had meant ‘I’ll give you the phone’.

I fully intended to call, but first I needed to deal with the cloud in the food court. I slipped the Vphone into my pocket and started following Voidling.