“Sorry,” Cassie threw the picture from her implant onto the feed for screens in the jet.

I slowed the jet down further because now that we were no longer working at the speed of thought, we needed a second. I already had cloaking on. Hopefully, Rook hadn’t figured out a way to detect it.

He’d figured out how to block Cassie’s blade and Grandpa’s monomolecular tech before our last fight. The cloaking tech wasn’t on full display, so he might not realize we had it, but you never knew.

His fascination and admiration for Grandpa’s tech and even mine neared obsession as witnessed by creating his own version of the League jet in addition to his own Rook suits and weaponry.

I wasn’t sure whether it came from admiration or hatred. Maybe jealousy? All of those?

Rachel peered at the screen in front of her chair, “So… Rook? The Rocket wannabe?”

“Wow,” I thought about our past interactions with him, “I don’t think you were around either time we fought him.”

“I was,” Rachel frowned, “but I was out of town for an internship when you were at Higher Ground. The time Cap got captured, I flew along but with the nerve gas in his base, I didn’t come into the fight until the end. I don’t think I even saw him except maybe for a second.”

“It was probably for the best,” I stared ahead toward the flat disc, “Rook’s the kind of guy who’d have the equipment to prevent you from phasing out.”

“I’m looking forward to facing him then because that goes so well,” Rachel stretched out her right arm and grimaced from whatever pain or soreness remained.

Jaclyn’s suit absorbed her helmet, and she took a glance at the screen in front of her before saying, “Do we want to sneak in or fight? We could talk, but we don’t have the best talker with us.”

Cassie laughed, “Rook would talk to the Rocket. He might even talk to me. He was very interested in the Citizen’s Mark when he held me captive.”

Shaking her head, Jaclyn said, “Don’t take this wrong, but I don’t see either of you persuading Rook to do something. The Rocket might work as a distraction because of the whole techboy crush thing, but I don’t think the Rocket will convince him to let us walk around inside.”

Staring the jet in a wide circle around the Abominator red disc, I said, “Techboy crush is pushing it. I’m pretty sure he’s straight, but was impressed by Grandpa’s tech. Larry told me that he saw Rook get maced because he hit on a woman once.”

Rachel shook her head, “That was in the 80s. Hitting on women didn’t mean you were necessarily straight. It could mean that you didn’t want people to think you’re gay. Ok, sure. Maybe he liked Grandpa’s tech so much he patterned his whole life around recreating his own version, but is liking someone’s technology enough to do that?”

I thought about it as I let the jet slow. I’d be using the anti-grav to keep it in the air eventually. Eventually, I said, “It depends on how cool the technology is… I have a hard time seeing it as a sexual thing.”

From a couple of rows back, Marcus said, “I don’t know. If you look at Batman and the Joker, some people think it is at least on the Joker’s end. It doesn’t have to be creepy though. Think about Black Cat and Spider-man. For her, it’s all about the persona of Spider-man that she’s attracted to just like Joker is obsessed with Batman, but doesn’t care about Bruce Wayne.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jaclyn’s face twitch, “Unless we’re going to have the Rocket seduce Rook, I don’t see this as relevant.”

Cassie turned away from the weapons console, looking back at everyone else, grinning, “That sounds hot, but I have a better idea. It’s simple. We sneak in. We’ve got to land anyway. I’m not getting enough of a connection up here. If we go down on the far side, I can get a connection and open something or you can break in. Simple. Done.”

Raising an eyebrow, Jaclyn said, “It’s never that simple.”

Rachel laughed, “It isn’t, but let’s try it. I can float in, scout, and let you in, or at least suggest the best place to break through. I think that’s a good beginning.”

Giving her a nod, Jaclyn said, “I can work with that.”

“Good,” Cassie’s smile widened, “Now we can talk about the important questions. For example, what’s the next limb Rook loses going to be? The Rocket blew up his hand. I got a leg. What’s next?”

Marcus raised his hand, “Not a limb. It’s got to be an eye or ear. Then he can give himself a super sense.”

“Hey,” I said, “we’re on the far side from Rook’s ships. I’m taking this down. There’s an indentation that might be an entrance. We could start there.”