Cassie shook her head, “Oh, fuck no.”

“We might want to consider it,” Daniel said, looking around the group.

I knew what that meant. His loose sense of possible futures included better ones if we allied with this guy. Of course, even knowing that, Daniel would admit that inevitably in an infinity of futures, Adam would betray us in an infinite number.

But a smaller infinity, Daniel thought at me, and the sense I’m getting is that even if he does we’ll be better off than if we never allied with him.

Crap, I thought back, undoubtedly sending Daniel a sense of my frustration at this turn of events. I think we’re going to want to discuss this without him here. Is there any chance that you can read his mind and see if the offer is genuine?

Daniel’s mental link sent back a feeling of step-by-step analytical thought followed by his reply, I think the shadowy form is a projection of some kind. There’s no brain in there that I can detect.

Kals stepped forward around Daniel, looking Adam’s form up and down, “Who is this guy?”

“We know him from school,” I said. “All that stuff Cap said about him loosing a dragon and an army of fairies on the school is true. He really did that.”

Kals looked over at me and opened an implant to implant channel, My implant says that dragons and fairies are Earth myths. It’s wrong?

I thought back, I think they are myths, but they’re real somewhere else and sometimes they visit here. Adam thought he could use them for his own ends, but lost control. He’s got a history of going too far. He literally went and killed people who he thought killed his girlfriend, but ironically, she’s not dead. I’ve met her. She told me that he’d been dropped by the good fairies and joined up with more questionable fairies. So now they could be warping him into who knows what.

Kals eyes widened for a moment, but then she turned toward Adam, asking, “Are you telling the truth? Do you have any plans to betray the League?”

My suit buzzed a counter to her Dominator-inflected vocal tones as the shadows creating Adam’s presence flickered. Even if he wasn’t here, he was hearing us somehow so it might work.

His hooded face turned in her direction, “That won’t work on me… Who are you?”

“Let’s keep that a mystery,” I said, “but she was trying to figure out something we’re all wondering. ‘Can we really trust you?’ It’s something that none of us are sure of.”

“I understand that,” he said. “Let’s go at this from another direction. I think you’ll find that you can trust me and I’ll tell you why. The fey are masters of trickery—“

“Not helping,” Cassie spoke over him.

“—which means that they can get into just about anywhere. I have information that you don’t have and I’ll share it with you to prove my goodwill.”

He stopped to meet everyone’s eyes and inside the shadowed hood, I thought I saw a smile.

“I know that you’re wondering if the four dupes that you saw just now are working for the Nine. They are, but only a little. My sources tell me that none of them report directly to the Nine, but Dominators have made small changes to their perspective, heightening their jealousy of your inheritances and the goodwill and influence that comes along with it. So, yes, they’ll make trouble for you, but not with a deliberate plan to help the Nine. They’re more of a distraction even if they can make trouble for you with other supers.

“No. The real threat comes from elsewhere. The Nine are sending their best, one of the Nine’s inner circle. Internally, he’s known as Eight, but in the news, he’s been known as Raze.”

Adam paused and I filled the void, “Raze? He’s not that well known. He’s a super, but less of a supervillain and more of a war criminal if I remember correctly. He’s worked for governments and rebels in the Middle East, Africa, and South and Central America—burned whole villages and worse. He’s been at it since the late 80s.”

A smile appeared in the shadow of Adam’s hood, “You know all that, but not the most crucial thing. He’s one of the Nine’s first Captain Commando clones.”

Cassie’s eyes narrowed, “What?”

“It gets better. Johnny Destruction works with him now,” Adam’s cloak didn’t show any part of his face, but I heard the amusement in his voice.

Daniel nodded, “That explains where Johnny Destruction has been. People hoped he was dead or retired. Instead, he’s been working for the Nine.”

Letting out a sigh, Haley looked up at Adam, “Who else does he have with him?”

Adam shook his head, “You need to make some decisions. Either I’m working with you and you get to hear about what I’ve discovered or I’m not. In that case, I’ll be keeping things to myself.”