Prentkos eyed Ray, “And what are we going to do if, upon seeing you, Magnus notices that you’re with the people he told you to kill and decides to end our lives? I don’t know all of the people down there, but the ones I do recognize are far from weak.”

  “Well,” Ray said, “that just means that I’ll have to be extremely persuasive. Look, we’re not going to be able to fight our way in or out, and this isn’t what I’d call a stealthy group.”

  He gestured toward my armor. “What we’ve got going for us, except for me, is speed, but we’re not faster than Power Burst. The way I see it, selfishly, is that our best shot is if we all go in together. Our next best is if I walk in alone and the two of you stay ready to rush in when I give the word. For that plan, it’d be nice if we all had a way to communicate, but the Rocket can listen from a distance, right?”

  As much as I didn’t want to give him any hints about my abilities, I also didn’t want to give him a League communicator. I could send a bot with him, though. “Pretty much. I can bug you.”

  Ray nodded, “Right, the little robots. As long as you’re listening in, that works for me.”

  I let a spybot out, had it circle his head, dive, and attach itself to the cuff of his pants behind his leg. It took him a moment, but when he noticed where it landed, he said, “Not bad.”

  “With that,” he said, “I think we can go with the plan where I walk in alone, but I want to get out. When I say, ‘or everything’s going to go to hell,’ I want the two of you to start attacking and make it loud. I’ll be able to take out Magnus. They won’t have any extra power to work with, and better, they won’t have anyone giving them directions.”

  He stopped and stared at me, “If you’ve got a way to take control of all this, that would be the time.”

  He gestured around us. “Because if they do get themselves together, they’re going to be on me all too quickly, and you need me to keep your past intact. So if you’ve got any super-secret backup powers, this would be the time to pull them out of your ass.”

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  We crouched on the balcony, out of view of the people below. I said, “Not powers, but I can provide backup. I have people here that I think I can pull in. Give me a second to arrange it, and we’ll have six more experienced fighters on our side.”

  Ray’s eyes narrowed, “It would have been nice to know that before we got here and even better to have planned with them.”

  All too conscious of the risk I was taking with the team’s past, I said, “I wasn’t sure I wanted to risk them until now. You’ll know why when you see them.”

  Ray stared straight at my helmet, “I don’t like surprises. Now might be a better time to mention it.”

  I felt like never might be a better time to mention it, but I said, “Sure. I can pull in the original Heroes’ League.”

  Ray nodded, “Well, shit. That’s worth a shot. Are you going to have them appear on the balcony?”

  “I'm thinking that I’ll wait until we’re out there and place them where they can do the most good—probably behind you and Magnus.”

  Continuing to nod, he said, “I like that. Magnus’ people will be looking at you, while the League will be close enough to help me, and they know how to fight. Bring them in. Make sure they know I’m friendly and be quick about it. Circumstances change too damn fast around here.”

  I nodded, saying, “On it,” and hoping that this would be worth the risk. Even if I used the sword, I doubted I’d be able to take out all of these people. I needed the help too.

  Using my connection to the device, I opened up a window in my mind to the sphere I’d recognized as theirs.

  The original team stood in a cave, standing in front of a glowing circle floating in the air. All of them in their thirties, they could have been part of a pictorial in Life magazine—except this picture wasn’t in black and white.

  Frozen in time, they moved as I felt contact begin. In that moment, they all turned away from the portal toward me.

  C, a blur in his purple costume, moved toward me first, touching me with his finger—except not. His finger poked into my chest without resistance. Though I was seeing through it, it was a projection that mirrored my appearance.

  C glanced over at Grandpa, asking, “You’re not making this happen?”

  Grandpa shook his head. “No. You don’t think Dr. Madness made it in here, do you? Because that’s a Rocket suit, but it’s not my design. If it’s real, I don’t recognize the materials it’s made of. Alternate universe, maybe?”

  Grandma looked me up and down, her hand close to the pistol on her hip.

  I didn’t like the look of that. Even if she didn’t know about the Cosmic Ghosts, she might have figured out how to pass something inconveniently deadly through the projection to me.

  “Hey,” I said. “I’m not from an alternate universe. I’m Nick Klein, your grandson. Joan’s my mom. I’m from the future. Grandpa taught me his technology, but I’ve developed some of my own.”