Anne watched through her drones as Agni strolled down the street.

The supervillainess hadn’t approached any of the other girls since Maria. That had been a surprise - and one Anne had almost missed.

She’d been so focused on the discussion with Andrew that she hadn’t paid attention to her nanobots. It had taken Maria mentioning her name to draw her attention. A sad state of affairs.

Truth was, monitoring the nanobot information feeds had been a lot easier when they numbered in the thousands. And were monitoring only a few locations at a time.

Currently, she was trying to track close to a thousand different locations and individuals city-wide. In spite of her ‘infinite multitasking’, there were only so many ways she could practically split her attention. Stuff slipped through the cracks.

She couldn’t afford to let it happen again. What if she slipped up in London? Missed an enemy counterattack?

She needed to get better, and as Andrew was fond of saying, the only way to do that was with practice.

Currently, she was practicing stalking Agni, via a hundred dedicated nanobots.

Perhaps it was her imagination, but the bots seemed to get better the longer she had them on a task. More responsive. She hardly needed to instruct them directly - just pushing her feelings onto them worked well enough, nowadays.

According to her Skills list, these were the benefits of Level Five in Swarm Command.

SWARM COMMAND LEVEL 5: YOU CAN IMPRESS UPON UNITS UNDER YOUR COMMAND YOUR GENERAL INTENT. IN ADDITION TO FOLLOWING YOUR DIRECT INSTRUCTIONS, UNITS WILL DISPLAY LIMITED INDEPENDENT DECISION-MAKING AND TAKE INITIATIVE TO EXECUTE THE INTENT.

The description certainly sounded impressive, even though the actual effects on the bots wasn’t much.

Not that they could do much more than follow people around so far, and send back audio and video feeds. And make glowy letters, which had turned out to be far more useful than she’d expected at first.

Currently, the same feeds showed Agni walking into a restroom. The supervillainess glanced around, as if to ensure no-one was present, and then stared at the mirror with a smile.

“Hello, Nanocloud.”

…. Oh crap.

“I know you’re watching me. Since I met Maria, right?”

Don’t respond, don’t respond, don’t respond….

“So I thought we’d have a little chat. Woman to woman. How’s that sound?” Agni smiled into the mirror. “This way is fine, although I can do face-to-face if you want.”

Steady. Don’t respond…

“I suppose you already know my secrets, and Belessar and I are going to be pretty closely tied for a while. Mr. Drake saw to that.”

Dammit!

The nanobots coalesced into letters across the mirror.

NO NAMES. EVER.

“Fine. Let’s just stick to codenames, shall we? I’m Agni, you’re Nanocloud. And I think we should talk.”

WHAT ABOUT?

“Many things. For starters, where you fit into this whole mix.”

I’M PART OF THE TEAM.

“It’s more than that, though, isn’t it? You’re part of the family. The daughter.”

YOU KNOW TOO MUCH FOR YOUR OWN GOOD.

“I like that temper. I’d test if you could back it up, but then I’d have to fight Belessar.” Agni smirked. “Not a pleasant match-up, honestly. Still, I did want to meet you. Get a sense of who you are, as a person.”

WHY?

“Your father and brother hid you when I came.”

I WAS AT SCHOOL.

“That’s… oddly sensible. Still, a young girl in an ultrahuman family, with only men around? That too, some very powerful ones?”

IS THERE A POINT TO THIS?

“I’m curious how you’re coping. Underage teen in a family of ultras? Do you even want to be fighting aliens?”

OF COURSE. I GO WHERE BELESSAR GOES.

“Can’t fault that. He’s your elder brother, right?”

YES.

“And I suppose he and your dad manage the money from the battles?”

NO, THE MONEY GOES INTO MY COLLEGE FUND. I CAN USE IT FOR WHATEVER I WANT.

“... I see. What do you spend it on, anyway?”

MOSTLY GROCERIES AND THINGS FOR THE HOUSE. WHY DO YOU CARE?

“Do you get to control how it’s spent or does your dad decide that?”

I DECIDE. WHAT’S WITH ALL THE MONEY QUESTIONS ANYWAY?

“Oh, nothing much. You feel safe at home?”

USED TO, UNTIL YOU SHOWED UP.

“Hah, sorry about that. So, do you have any friends you talk to about your powers? Kids your own age?”

YOU EXPECT ME TO BLURT OUT MY SECRET IDENTITY TO A BUNCH OF STRANGERS?

“Not really, it’s just that most ultras have a close friend who they can confide in. It really helps.”

I TALK TO MY BROTHER. AND MY DAD. THAT’S ALL THE SUPPORT I NEED.

“No female friends, huh?”

WHY EXACTLY ARE YOU SO INTERESTED?

“Because you’re a mystery, Nanocloud. Your power lets you watch the entire city. You stalk and follow people, write messages across the skies, and find hidden secrets. And still, you hide your name in Belessar’s shadow.” The supervillainess tapped on the mirror. “Which brings to mind a simple question - why aren’t you stepping up? Why do people speak of Belessar and not Nanocloud?”

THAT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.

“Oh, but it is. I’ve seen dozens of powerful women overshadowed by men. Even those they cared for.”

BELESSAR WOULD NEVER DO THAT.

“Not saying he would. Just - be careful, okay? Your name deserves a place of its own. Don’t let your loyalty to your family blind you to what is your right.”

THIS CONVERSATION IS OVER.

“So does this mean you’ll stop following me?”

IT MEANS I HAVE TO WATCH YOU EVEN CLOSER.

Agni smirked. “Then I guess we’ll have plenty of time to talk.”