"All of them," I said as my words echoed throughout the room. "Did you know that you'd reused a base that the original team already destroyed once? Dr. Madness used the same cave in Brazil. Did you choose it because the entrance looked like a skull, or is there some supervillain base rental service?"

Dr. Mind chuckled. "Syndicate L provides many services to supervillains, but you must know that. They didn't provide me with that cave. Dr. Madness tipped me off that it existed. He was a kind man in his way."

The original Captain Commando had been held captive and tortured on his way to the cave. He might have argued that point, but I only said, "His grandchildren seem nice."

They were. Mr. Madness wasn't a bad guy when he wasn't under the influence of Evil Beatnik. He'd sent the team a Christmas card and an apology. According to his sister, who was a Probationer like Dr. Transylvania, he'd recently finished his doctorate in chemical engineering.

That only worried me a little.

"Aren't they?" Dr. Mind replied, but continued, "You have my notes. Where are they?"

"They're not on me if that's what you're thinking, but I've read them and I could repeat them word for word right now if you wanted—which means you can't kill me, right? Now, who was Subject 2a? Maybe I can tell what you wrote."

Over the team channel, Cassie said, "Dad thought you'd have them."

"You could have asked," I shot back. "I'd have told you."

"Like I'm going to understand them," Cassie said, "but if you can get him to tell you who the X chromosome comes from, I'd love that. Meanwhile, I've got an idea for how to take him out. Sonics worked on Abominator force fields back on Hideaway. See if you can shatter them. Then Portal can teleport me next to him and I'll finish what Dad started."

From the wall we entered from, protected by several copies of Jenny, all of them firing paralysis rays at the guards. Brooke used her implant to say, "Tell me when."

Then she shot one of the Nine's guards with a gun that had formed out of her silver suit. The guard went down. That was new. She must have unlocked additional features of her Xiniti suit since I'd last seen her.

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"I'll tell you when," Tara said. She wasn't far from Brooke, aiming a stream from her goo gun at a group of guards.

"Fine with me," Cassie peered over the cubicle wall she'd been hiding behind. "Get me in close enough to use my sword."

All of that had taken place at the speed of thought. Dr. Mind couldn't have guessed how much we were talking behind his back. At least he shouldn't be able to. Given the glowing bit of Artificer power in his skull, I couldn't assume breaking into our conversation was impossible.

My implant assured me that it was nearly impossible. Xiniti implant encryption had never been broken, so far as they knew.

And Dr. Mind gave no sign that he had, turning as if scanning the area as I talked. "What is this fixation you have over a minor detail?"

"Curiosity," I said, raising my voice as if I were excited. "You're one of the greatest minds on Earth, aren't you? You've got to have a reason for choosing whoever that was. I mean, sure. I read the notes. You chose her because her X chromosome didn't include any damaging recessive genes that matched Cap's, but where'd you get the subject? Some random lab assistant? A captured superhero? Sample DNA that you happened to have around? Because I can tell you it worked out. She's been more effective than any of the Cap clones you've sent after us. She might be an improvement over the original."

I'd shown the notes to Dr. Nation when I was in the Stapledon program. I wasn't an expert in superhero genetics, but he was. That had been his observation.

It didn't change the fact that I was now flattering a dead Nazi who'd cloned his brain and placed it in a giant, floating, green skull, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

"Is she?" Dr. Mind's breathless reply reminded me of a new parent when you'd complimented their baby.

I doubted that he cared about her except that she reflected well on him, but I supposed there were parents like that, too.

"I made a good choice," he said. "You noticed how I avoided damaging recessive traits, but did you notice how I strengthened what she already had? The Abominators created the Dominators and used them to control their human slaves. Captain Commando had every trait except the commanding voice, but made up for it with increased strength and the ability to regenerate. I strengthened her genetic profile using an X chromosome from one of our Dominators—Colette. I believe she died in your custody."

Then he started laughing.

I flashed back to my memories of Colette, the Dominator who'd set up Jody's suicide command. We'd fought her in that factory the Nine created for powered armor, using my cousin Ana's talents to design it. She'd warped Armory from superhero to amoral armorer for anyone with money. She'd sunk commands into Bullet and used him to give the Nine access to the Coffeeshop Illuminati, who'd later been dispatched to help Major Justice destroy us.

She hadn't even gotten to see that last bit because after she'd told us too much, her own suicide command kicked in. She'd died in a Defenders' holding cell.

"Oh," Cassie's clipped tone interrupted my thoughts. "I guess we can kill him now."

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