“Long story. We’ll talk later, but—not in polite company,” Foil said.

I nodded. The aborted conversations were rough, when I wanted any conversation at all that could take my mind off the pain.

Capricorn, not in my immediate field of view, reported, “Threw up some walls. Prancer’s not having a good day.”

“Stupid to attack like he did,” I said. I watched as Rachel Lindt emerged from the deeper woods, a mutant dog behind her.

Rachel Lindt was not my favorite person, but Vista raised a hand in a wave, and Rachel returned it, her expression dour. I could let this particular sleeping dog lie, if Rachel was willing to do the same.

“There’s more to the attack than it might seem,” Foil said. “The Fallen are growing too fast. Thinkers, Tattletale included, concluded they were about to connect with some other groups and lock up a bigger alliance. They would have been too big to take down.”

“They needed to communicate with the heroes,” I said. My expression twisted as the hole was pulled closed as part of the stitching. They hadn’t even taken the bullet out, as far as I could tell. I was aware that Rachel Lindt was staring me down with abject antipathy, and it bothered me that I was showing pain in front of her.

“They couldn’t communicate with the heroes. The Fallen apparently have allies hidden in the Wardens’ sub-teams,” Sveta said, her voice a whisper. “By the time thinkers rooted them out, others would have made moves. Or at least, that’s what the Undersiders are saying.”

“Yeah,” Foil said. “This is bad, but the alternatives were worse.”

“We didn’t expect it to be this messy,” Parian added, almost apologetic. Foil nodded.

“You did a good job letting us get Seir, Victoria,” Narwhal said. “Thank you.”

I nodded a bit, head bent in a nod, “That was Imp, mostly.”

Weird words to say.

“Maybe in part, but there were a lot of Fallen there that were focused on you, not us,” Narwhal said. In a tone that suggested she wasn’t going to accept any dissent, she repeated the former, “Thank you.”

I nodded my acknowledgement, because saying anything would’ve meant having to acknowledge it when it didn’t feel wholly appropriate. It was Narwhal being a leader and getting everyone in the right frame of thinking.

“Do we want to take the opportunity to walk away from this?” Capricorn asked.

“You want to run?” Bay asked.

“No,” Capricorn retorted, annoyed. “Retreat. We have outside resources, ones I won’t detail, not when we were just talking about potential Fallen assets in the Wardens, and you guys are Wardens. No offense.”

“None taken,” Narwhal said.

“We can go, hold the wider perimeter, figure out what we’re doing.”

A few people talked all at once. I was one of them.

The talking died down.