“Not just that,” Boone says. “They’re triggered by lots of things—race, gender, sexuality, you name it. If they can hate it, they will.”
“And they come to a liberal fucking city like Mistone?” Stealth says. “They’re asking for us to fuck ’em up.”
“Is there more, Boone?” Shadow asks, his jaw set tight, his fingers steepled over his empty plate.
“That’s all I know so far. I’m looking for hangouts and shit like that, but it might be a boots-on-the-ground thing to find out more.”
“I’m down for hunting these fuckers.” Stealth cracks his knuckles.
“Count me in,” Ghost says.
“Same,” Phantom adds.
“Keep us posted,” Shadow says. “Now, about tonight. You’ve got it all handled, Carn?”
He nods, glancing at me. “Anyone who can help, let me know in the group chat and we’ll organize from there.”
“I want to come,” I say.
Colson practically spits out his juice as he stares at me with wide eyes, then at Carnage.
“That’s not happening.” Carnage doesn’t even look at me.
“Why not?”
“You already know the answer to that. Not up for discussion.”
I crinkle my brow and gently shove his arm. “I’m not a child. You can’t just shut me down.”
“You’re not fucking going, Rue. You’re not. You think I’m doing all this so I can hand you to him on a fucking platter?”
“I want toseeit.” My tone is snappier than I intended, but oh well. “I deserve to see it. He made my life hell for five months and what he was gonna do to me is pure evil. He would’ve destroyed me. I want to see him die.”
Everyone’s silent while my words hang in the air. Carnage is staring down at his plate, and I can see his jaw ticking. He’s mad, but for some reason, I’m still not afraid of him.
“You can’t come,” Whisper says. “It’s far too dangerous for you, but we can make sure you see it.”
Carnage lifts his head.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Video exists. If it’s that important to you, we can make it happen.”
I sit with that for a second. I’d rather be there, listening to his groans, but I can already tell this is a fight I’m not going to win.
“Okay.”
Carnage exhales, nodding at Whisper. “You’ll be safe here with Colson.”
“I’ll be here too,” Pax says. “There’s a hockey documentary I’ve been meaning to catch.”
“That sounds fun,” Colson says enthusiastically, but something about it feels a little sarcastic.
Pax laughs. “You don’t have to watch it with me. I’m just letting you know I’ll be in the house.”
“I’ll go with the guys to video,” Boone says. “Maybe we can find out more about that shamrock gang too.”
“So we have a plan,” Carnage says, turning to me.