She sat on the edge of my bed. Still wearing the casual clothes she'd thrown on that morning. Her purple hair was loose and slightly damp from her own shower.
"Someone's been sending me messages," I admitted. "Anonymous. They knew about Helena Vasquez. Knew about the integration. They want to meet."
"It's a trap."
"Probably."
"And you're going anyway."
"They know too much to ignore. If there's someone out there with access to that level of intelligence, I need to know who they are and what they want."
Natalia was quiet for a moment.
"I'm coming with you."
"They specifically said to come alone."
"I don't care what they said."
"Nat."
"Don't 'Nat' me." Her violet eyes flashed dangerously. "I just spent two days sitting in an underground bunker waiting to find out if you were going to emerge as yourself or some cosmic puppet. I'm not letting you walk into another potentially fatal situation alone."
"Maki will be in my shadow."
