"You can make anything sound like no big deal if you say it the right way." Gemma Nixx knew that from very early on, and yet it still never ceased to bother her. You could say, "The Red Legion is wiping out innocent people all around the City," all matter-of-fact. But now, as she led maimed and hollow-eyed stragglers through ridges of junk and cratered earth, those words swelled and distorted until they were her entire reality. You could say, "You've lost your regenerative ability, but you're still able to fight." But saying it didn't get her new feelings across. The pressure of the rebar she grabbed to steady herself was not pain; yet, like every sensation now, it stung in her brain. "This way!" Gemma located a hatch and held it open, watching as the survivors filed in. Then she slammed it shut, and a few seconds later, the hidden transport the people had crawled into revved its engine and burst from a pile of debris. Gemma watched them go. She waved and saw a puff of smoke in a burnt-out building a quarter mile away. Then she saw a hole in her hand. And then nothing.