I didn’t look for my would-be nemesis; my focus was on Rain and on Scapegoat, making sure Rain was safe, as flickering images overlapped with him.

“You’ll need help too?” Scapegoat asked.

My gunshot wound. He’d seen the bloody bandages.

“No,” I said. “I’ll heal it naturally.”

He seemed to take that in a matter of fact way.

There were more things to handle. Tattletale wanted to cooperate to wrap this up in a better way, and I was not ready to forget or forgive her role in this. I didn’t want to engage in life and death calculus, as Sveta had put it.

I pressed a hand to my ear, so it was clearer that I was talking to someone.

“Looksee, I’m not sure if you can see—”

“I can’t. My cameras are down or repurposed.”

“I think he’s getting the help he needs, okay?”

“Okay.”

The minutes passed as the injuries disappeared. Ashley joined us, with Gilpatrick standing behind her. Her power sparked a few times, and Scapegoat said something. She moved to situate herself further back, in a place where she could still watch.

I wasn’t sure what to say or do—a smile felt wrong, I couldn’t think of what to say that wouldn’t be too casual, too personal, or too confrontational.

I raised a hand in a bit of a wave. She did the same with her good hand.

For now, I could put everything out of mind for the moment. At the very least, I’d stand watch over Rain like nobody watched over me.

“Looksee,” I said, hand at my ear.

“Yeah?”

“Tell Tattletale I’m willing to consider it, but I want something else on the table.”

“Yeah?”

“We’re going to need more explanations. I want to know what the hell is going on.”

Pitch 6.6

Narwhal faced down the Fallen, standing in the middle of the road. A crowd of Patrol block soldiers stood behind her, with the buses lined up.

The soldiers with guns were only slightly less intimidating than the array of forcefields she’d conjured up, arranged above and to either side of her with the blades pointing forward, each one slightly tilted in angle compared to the one next to it, so they all pointed at the one point ahead of us.

I floated above her.

“It’s over,” Narwhal called out. “The Crowleys are running, the Mathers leadership is gone. Half of your town was leveled and legitimate authorities are going to be staying there to make sure everything’s healthy as people move back in.”

And we’ll provide some resources to anyone that wants out for good, I thought. I hope that pans out.

“Healthy,” the Fallen woman in the lead said. “Healthy food is stuff you have to choke down. Healthy body means doing grueling work. That’s you saying it’s going to fucking suck.”