Vaughn pointed at the lawn outside with its new hole, burned spots, and the damaged store window. “Sounds like a plan to me, but if you wipe his memory of the last few minutes, you’ll have to explain that—not to mention your clothes.”

Like Jody’s, Jaclyn’s and Izzy’s costumes had been spattered with dirt, grass, and gray mushroom bits that must have been leftover in the soil.

Daniel looked over the room, “Right. I’ll also have to explain why there are more of us in the room than before the fight. I’m thinking we did an impromptu training session after the meeting?”

Sean looked out the window and shook his head, “Sure, why not? I hope the guys at the pizza shop aren’t too pissed. We get lunch there a lot.”

“We’ll pay for the new window,” I said. “Our suits passed the whole fight over to HQ. For all I know, Control’s already on it. But that reminds me, if you’ve got footage from the fight, you’ve got to wipe it. We’ve got to tell anyone from our group that saw it to keep things quiet.”

Sean’s brow furrowed, “Do many people watch your camera feeds?”

I shook my head, “Mostly Control, but we keep them open for viewing in case we need backup and someone can get here. You want people to know what’s happening.”

Sean glanced over at Jody, “That makes sense with a big team. Can everyone keep it quiet?”

Camille answered before I could, “I don’t think anyone in the League talks to Jody for fun. I’ve known him since we were in Justice Fist, and I don’t talk to him at all if I can help it.”

That was as direct as I’d ever heard Camille comment on anyone. Publicly, she appeared to be positive about everyone and everything.  If she was bothered by something, I normally found it out from Haley because Camille had told Sydney, who’d told Haley, or told both of them together.

Julie laughed, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed, but he was a little creepy to the girls in the group. You know that Sean.”

If the last few words of the sentence had an extra “because I told you” intensity, it might be because Sean and Julie had dated during the first version of Justice Fist.

Sean’s facial twitch might have been in response, but it might have been random chance. He said, “I remember. Uh… Mystic, can we do anything else? Look, is there any way we can make Jody not trust Magnus? I know that’s a little messed up, but here’s the thing. I know you can’t remove what Magnus and the Dominators did, but they’re cheating. Can’t you cheat back? Just to avoid having them add more stuff to his head?”

That almost made sense. If we could make it harder to add more commands, it could only improve all of our lives. Unfortunately, the idea carried a significant ick factor with it.

Daniel shook his head, “I don’t want to add more conflicting commands to his head. That’s the kind of thing that would tell them that he’s been found out.”

“It is,” Julie interjected. “That’s how Dominators know a telepath worked on one of their… victims.”

“And if they did notice,” Daniel said, “he’d disappear and you’d never know why until he reappeared. Right now he’s only got one or two commands in him. He’d reappear with substantial changes in his head.”

“You’ve got to be able to do something,” Sean said.

He wasn’t shouting, but from the wetness at the corner of his eye, I felt that he might soon.

Daniel nodded along as Sean talked, his face neutral. He had to have caught more of Sean’s mental state than I had. Taking a breath, he said, “I can’t make a big change or they’ll notice, but I can increase Jody’s worry about being modified by the Dominators by a touch. Then I can center that anxiety on keeping a buzzer on himself at all times—maybe we can spare one of ours. Ours update every time the Rocket improves the design.”

Dayton glanced over at Daniel and then over to me. “You know, we could all use your buzzers. Ours work, but we get them through Futuremen’s contacts. I know they’re based on your design, but I don’t know how old they are.”

I studied his costume, trying to figure out if theirs were built-in or hanging off their belts, noticing telltale indentations that hinted at speakers around where his cowl hid his ears—a decent spot. Presumably, the buzzer created noise both inside and outside.

“I’d have to take apart your helmet,” I said.

Pulling out a ball on a chain from his pouch, he said, “This is my civilian buzzer. They’re both on the latest update.”

Holding it in my palm, I used the suit’s sensors to examine it, getting a three-dimensional view of the inside. Giving it back, I said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re both on my most recent software update, but I sometimes reconfigure ours physically, and physically they look about 6 months old. I can’t change your suits’ models without taking them apart, but if I give you new civilian versions, it’ll be better than nothing. Maybe I can replace your suits’ buzzers later. That might be something the Mystic can insert as a memory of the meeting?”

Through our connection, I felt anxiety from Daniel’s end. I wondered if I’d said something I shouldn’t, but Daniel thought, Something’s changed.

At almost the same time, Hal sent a message to my implant that showed up as text in my HUD.

[The Nine appear to have received a message about Jody. You are likely to be attacked.]