Dean made an incoherent sound, and started running over. Vista, meanwhile, had a very short distance to drop, as she’d warped the space between her and the ground, by raising the ground up in a kind of pedestal. On landing, she sat, her feet dangling just a bit over people’s heads, as they ringed around her.

Dean reached the rooftop’s edge, my side. He relaxed as he saw her safe and sound. She adjusted her feet, sitting cross legged on top, and began answering questions.

I watched him turn his helmet my way. He gave me a long, serious look, before his gauntlet reached up and over, between my hood and my hair. Touching my head.

“I like her,” I said, aware there was a possibility she could hear me. “I spend a lot of time trying to get you to crack and show me the real you that’s behind the mask, and it looks like she’s already got it nailed.”

“I can’t see what you’re feeling,” he said.

“I thought maybe,” I said, a fragmented, incomplete sentence. I felt like we were on our first date all over again. “You should move your hand. People might see us. The, um, whole thing about me dating Dean Stansfield, it could complicate things if you’re—we should figure out what we’re doing about our relationship.”

He dropped his hand.

“Right now I want to know if you’re okay. I was watching when it happened. I blacked out, I didn’t see what happened, then I had my shift, you weren’t answering your calls… I thought I’d go on patrol, they said it was okay if I needed to leave any time.”

“Thus the Challenger–Gallant double babysitter for Vista.”

“I hope she doesn’t come barging up here,” he said, looking to the door, then down at Vista.

“We went straight from the gym to the hospital. My mom wanted to make sure I was okay. My phone’s still in my locker.”

“You didn’t answer me before. Are you okay?”

I wanted to answer him, but I didn’t want to lie and I didn’t want to give him the real answer.

“Come here,” he said. “I’m not getting any bad vibes from the crowd. Vista’s safe.”

He pulled me a few feet away. Until we weren’t in sight of the people on the street. I wasn’t a huge fan of being pulled, but…

But he was wrapping his arms around me in a hug.

I hugged his armored body and wished he wasn’t wearing that armor.

“I think I got what Crystal meant,” I said.

“What are you talking about?”

“She said… it was like every time she flew, she felt like she was running away from the people who chased her, the day she triggered. You don’t repeat that, by the way.”