As if to illustrate how many people we had to work with, Cassie and Travis stepped out of one of the tunnel doors on the wall of the main room. They’d come through the forest entrance. Both of them were in civilian clothes, Travis, at least a foot taller than anyone in the room, had muscles to match. Somehow, he still managed to give the impression of an ambitious young businessman as opposed to a thug. It was probably the combination of his button-down shirt and short hair.

Cassie wore a Georgetown hoodie and jeans, her blond hair in a ponytail. I wasn’t sure what she did when she wasn’t at the League and I suspected that being a superhero was all she did.

I probably should have asked her at some point.

I didn’t then either. Even if I’d wanted to, Travis had already walked up and asked, “Has anything happened that hasn’t made it to the League chat?”

I started explaining to him everything since I’d left work. I barely managed to get to chasing the Cabal soldier and Prentkos before Vaughn walked up and asked, “Wait, I missed part of that. Could you start again?”

I did and by the time I started to describe the fight with Major Justice, I realized that Marcus was there and he said, “I missed where that started.”

I began to summarize to catch him up when Izzy and Jaclyn joined the group along with Kals, Katuk, Julie, and Amy. Jaclyn said, “I missed some of that.”

At that point, I had the sense to say, “Maybe we need to call a quick meeting for everyone here and anyone who wants to join online.”

After people agreed, I went through everything that had happened one more time, this time with everyone in HQ—including Haley, Chris, and Tara. Even Tiger had followed us over to the big table.

Amy chimed in at points and told the Major Justice fight from her perspective, but then we finished off the rest without interruption—including our visit to Ruthie Shaw.

Once we got everyone up to speed with what Amy found, we brought in Kayla—who’d flown spybots toward the spot from Amy’s ritual as we’d talked. On the big screen on the far wall, one spybot’s view showed a two-story house with brick and white siding. The lawn didn’t appear to have been mowed since summer with short plant stalks extending above the drooping grass. Scattered leaves had settled near the bottom of the overgrown shrubs around the house.

If there were other houses nearby, they were obscured by the trees on either side of the lawn with one exception. A small river ran behind the house and a gray house stood above the bank on the other side.

Kayla clicked the mouse and the spybot zoomed in, showing a man lying on the white couch in the living room. The red and white costume was open in the front, showing his chest, and the cowl was crumpled up under his head as a makeshift pillow.

Bits of goo from my goobots still stained the costume with dark, splotchy stripes, accompanied by dried blood and my wound spray. It was, without doubt, the same Prentkos I’d fought earlier, but where was the Cabal soldier who’d been with him? Deeper in the house, maybe? I wondered if I could fit more sensors in the spybots, but discarded that train of thought as Kayla said, “I haven’t seen anyone else, but I haven’t been watching very long.”

Travis frowned, “They might not be there. Is anyone watching the spybots near our parents' homes?”

“Hal,” I said. “He’ll tell us if there’s any hint of trouble.”

I used my implant to check with Hal, “I assume that there’s no sign of anyone unusual near anybody’s house or anyone watching?”

Hal’s response appeared in my mind.

[No sign of anyone suspicious. They may not have anyone else there or they may be staying in different places to avoid being captured all at once. You may want to leave people here and at your parents’ houses in case of a counterattack if you go in.]

I passed Hal’s advice on to the group.

Izzy waved her hand to get our attention as if we’d have a hard time noticing her. Wearing her Blue costume and standing more than six feet tall, she stood out.

“I’ll go,” she said. “Your parents are all here and in danger. Mine are safe and in LA. Go and take care of them.”

We all looked at each other. I said, “Are you sure? You’re tough, but alone is never a good idea.”

Jaclyn spoke before anyone else did, “I’ll go. As long as you’re watching my parents’ house, I can be back there if something goes wrong.”

I looked over at Daniel, “What do you think? Is it worth the risk?”

Even as I said it, I realized that part of the nervousness I felt was Daniel’s. He paused, but then said, “Something just changed. There’s a climbing risk no matter what we do right now, but the sooner we act, the better our chances.”