Weld had reunited with the others, and the other Undersiders, March’s group, Narwhal’s squad with Vista included, and my team were all together, hunkered down by the wall. I landed, and I dropped to one knee when it turned out my legs had surprisingly little strength to them.

Sveta and Rain were talking to Narwhal. Sveta glanced at me, shot me a smile, and then returned to the conversation.

I was aware that March and Parian were talking, further away from the wall and the group.

Given where I’d landed, it was really Vista and Foil who noticed and approached me. Foil saw the blood, and dropped to my side, reaching to her belt for basic supplies.

“Thanks,” I managed.

She glanced back at Parian and March, then turned her full focus to my gunshot wound. The wound sucked at my fingers as I pulled them away from the bloody mess.

Vista waved somebody over. The wave got Sveta’s attention, and she hurried to a spot behind me, where she could support me from behind and look over my shoulder.

“Sorry,” I said. “I got reckless.”

“My fault,” Vista said. “I couldn’t get something up in time.”

“I didn’t leave enough of a gap between me and the people with guns. Nothing you could do,” I said.

The hero from Narwhal’s group had a first aid kit.

“That could have hit the artery,” the cape said. “This is something we can patch up, but you’re going to need more attention later.”

I nodded. “Thank you.”

“You’re leaving?” Rain asked, voice carrying. I followed his line of sight and saw March collecting a bag as her coterie gathered in a group just behind her.

She answered him, “It seems I’m not welcome here. I’m leaving these guys alone, but I’ll be around until this thing is done. We’ll talk.”

“Okay. We’ll talk.”

March saluted, made a sound like she was chuckling under her breath, and ducked beneath a branch as she headed further into the woods.

“Good riddance,” Foil hissed under her breath. In a different, softer tone, she said, “It’s been a long time, Victoria.”

“It has,” I said. I didn’t like how my voice sounded, but I couldn’t devote the focus to sounding more like a proper wounded superhero. “You doing alright these days?”

“Present mess and end of the world aside?”

I smiled when I probably shouldn’t have.

“Yeah. Surprisingly alright,” she said. “You?”

I turned to look at my injured arm.

“Present situation aside?” she asked.

“Others said you were invulnerable,” Bay said.

“Ran into a power dampener earlier,” I said. I turned my head to look over my shoulder at Sveta, who had her hands on my shoulders. “It might have played a role.”

“Probably did,” Sveta said.

I turned to Foil, looking to change the topic, “What’s the story with this March thing?”