Cap sat in the surgery waiting room, staring at the wall. Natsuki sat beside him doing the same, the sleeves of her toggle coat stained with Aquila’s blood.

    “We told them Aquila has a weak heart, right?” Cap said.

    Natsuki nodded. “We told them.”

    He looked to the door as Kasumi, Sayori, and Yukari stepped into the room. Cap stared at Kasumi helplessly.

    “It was a trap,” Cap said. “It was a perfectly laid trap. They knew she wouldn’t be vulnerable until she let her guard down, and she wouldn’t do that until after the fight was over. So they gave us a fight, and held one person back to take the shot.”

    Tears rolled down Natsuki’s cheeks. “I’m sorry, Kasumi. It’s all my fault! They used me as the bait to distract her...and I’m the one who told him that Aquila had sworn not to kill anybody, so he knew that the strategy would work. I’m so sorry!”

    Kasumi took a deep breath. “This isn’t the first time we’ve been out-manoeuvred like this. And when Daiki Yamato’s Devil King did it, the person who accidentally gave him the information he needed to take Aquila down was me. Don’t beat yourself up over it.”

    “I’m supposed to be some sort of genius,” Natsuki said. “How could I not see what was going to happen?”

    “Because it’s a different way of thinking than you’re used to,” Cap replied. “And we worked hard to prevent you from ever being exposed to it. I’m sorry we failed you.”

    “How long have they been in?” Kasumi asked.

    Cap closed his eyes. “About twenty minutes. No news yet.”

    He opened his eyes to see Sayori and Yukari huddling around Natsuki. “Are you okay?” Sayori asked.

    Natsuki opened her mouth to speak, and then just shook her head, tears streaming down her face.

    Yukari glanced at Kasumi, and then turned to Natsuki and said, “Let’s get you a cup of tea or coffee, or something to eat.”

    Natsuki looked up at her. “I saw...I saw...”

    “You’ll tell us over a hot drink,” Sayori said, helping Natsuki up. She turned to Kasumi and Cap as they left the waiting room. “Give us a call as soon as there’s any news.”

    Kasumi nodded, and then leaned back. For a few minutes, they sat in silence.

    “I don’t understand,” Cap finally said. “Why was Yuri there? She shouldn’t have been anywhere near that place.”

    Kasumi gave him a sad smile. “She was there to save you.”

    Cap stared at her. “But I’m bulletproof!”

    Kasumi sighed. “Of course you don’t understand – how could you? That helplessness you are feeling right now is what it is to love somebody with the powers of a god – like Aquila...or Captain Infinite. Knowing that every time they go out into danger, there is nothing you can do to help or protect them, because they are all-powerful and you’re not. It’s what Yuri felt as she watched Atria get you ready to go to that ambush...and what I felt too. All she knew was that if Balthazar got his hands on you, he could kill you...and maybe, just maybe, if she could get between the two of you and plead for your life, she could save you.” She closed her eyes. “I wish I’d had the courage to do the same thing. If I had...if I had then perhaps it would have been me on that operating table fighting for my life instead of Aquila.”

    Cap stared at her.

    “Did I ever tell you about our first week, after the miracle that brought me back?” Kasumi asked.

    Cap shook his head.

    Kasumi took a deep breath. “As soon as she brought me back, I started to fade. So, she spirited me off to the nearest story world, and then she created a world for us. It was pretty empty, like the one we fled to a few days ago. Shortly after we got there, the enormity of what she had done during her war hit her, and she fell into a depression. I spent that week on a suicide watch. Imagine that...your hero comes to life and saves you, and the first thing you have to do is make sure she doesn’t kill herself.”

    Cap stared at his hands. “I had no idea it had been that bad.”

    “Well, you wouldn’t,” Kasumi said. “Not unless one of us told you. I got her to tell me everything about her war, hoping that talking about it would help her cope, but it didn’t. She just stayed buried in her own storm clouds. She started getting her equilibrium back around the end of the week, and that was when I could stop worrying about her...well...you know. This is the third time I’ve felt that helpless. You were there for the second. But, I always feel that to some degree. After all, as she once put it, she’s got the powers of a god and I’m just a squishy creator.”

    “And that’s how Yuri felt all this time?” Cap asked, forcing back tears.

    Kasumi nodded. “And that’s why, if we all make it out of this, as soon as Aquila is well enough you are going to do what you should have done months ago, and ask her to give you your miracle, and give Yuri the life with you that you both deserve. You are going to give her the peace of mind that Aquila can never give me.”

    A man in surgical scrubs holding a clipboard knocked on the door and entered the waiting room. He spotted Kasumi and bowed. “Are you with Ms. Agawa?”

    Kasumi nodded. “I’m Aquila’s family, yes.”

    The man looked down at his clipboard. “I’m Doctor Sato. Your...sister?...has been stabilized. The bullet has been removed from her lung and the artery repaired. It’s going to be a bit longer, however. The bullet in her spine is in a very delicate place, and it has to be removed with the greatest of care to avoid paralysis.”

    Kasumi breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

    “We’ll let you know once she’s out of surgery,” Doctor Sato said.

    “Is there any news about Yuri...um...Ms. Nakano?” Cap asked.

    The doctor checked his clipboard. “I’m sorry, I don’t have any information on that patient. I’m only assisting in the OR with Ms. Agawa. As far as I know, Ms. Nakano is still in surgery.”

    “Thank you for looking,” Cap said.

    “What’s the recovery time likely to be?” Kasumi asked.

    “Probably around five days in the Intensive Care Unit, and another five days of observation in the ward,” Doctor Sato replied. “We’ll need to put a tube in her chest for drainage, but that is usually removed by the time the patient is out of the ICU.”

    “Thank you, doctor,” Kasumi said, wiping away a tear.

    Doctor Sato bowed. “You’re very welcome. I need to get back.”

    After he left, Cap and Kasumi sat for several minutes staring at the wall. Then Kasumi said, “We really need to stop getting into fights with people who are smarter than we are.”

    Despite himself, Cap laughed.

    Kasumi pulled out her smart phone and started typing into it. “I’d better message Sayori and let her know what’s going on.”

    Cap sighed and closed his eyes. “Kasumi, I’ve been...this...this superhero for so many decades, I don’t even know where to begin to be something else.”

    Kasumi shrugged. “If Yuri’s with you, it will be okay. Besides, as my high school English teacher once said, ‘We learn by doing’.”

    Cap looked at her. “Was he...she...any good?”

    Kasumi chuckled. “No. He could barely speak the language himself. Before Aquila learned that she could use the information stream linking us to put languages into my head, you wouldn’t believe how I thought English vowels were pronounced. However, he did get that saying right.”

    Cap checked his watch. Roughly an hour and a half had passed since Yuri and Aquila had been wheeled into emergency surgery.

    There was a knock at the door, and Doctor Sato stepped into the room, followed by a shorter man also wearing surgical scrubs.

    “Ms. Agawa, your sister is out of surgery and on her way to the ICU,” Doctor Sato said. “The surgery was successful, and there is little risk of paralysis. Would you like to join her?”

    Kasumi nodded, starting to cry. “Yes. Yes, please!”

    “Please follow me,” Doctor Sato said, and then looked at Cap. “Don’t worry – my colleague isn’t here to deliver bad news.”

    Kasumi rose, gave Cap’s shoulder a comforting squeeze, and followed Doctor Sato out.

    “Hello,” the new doctor said. “I’m Doctor Yamamoto. I’ve been working on Ms. Yuri Nakano. I understand that you are her fiancé, is that correct?”

    “Yes,” Cap said, his breath catching in his throat as he realized it was true.

    “We have stabilized your fiancee,” Doctor Yamamoto stated. “However, there was a lot of internal damage, including a bronchial rupture. She’s very lucky that we got to her when we did. We expect to be operating for at least another hour. But, the prognosis is good, and we expect she will make a full recovery. It will just take a while.”

    “Thank you, doctor,” Cap said, breathing a sigh of relief.

    “We don’t have your name for our records,” Doctor Yamamoto said, holding up a clipboard. “Might I get that from you now, so that we can ensure that you have full access while she’s in the ICU?”

    “Matthew Markham,” Cap stated, spelling it.

    “Thank you, Mr. Markham,” the doctor said, writing it down.

    “Just call me–” Cap began, and then paused. “Actually, don’t worry about it. ‘Mr. Markham’ is fine.”

    “I need to get back,” Doctor Yamamoto said, bowing. “I’m afraid this surgery is very delicate. I’ll be back to update you once it’s complete.”

    Cap leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed before a knock on the door roused him. He opened his eyes to see Atria standing by the doorway, her face ashen.

    “I made sure you were all registered properly, but I wasn’t sure about your actual name,” she said, her voice almost a mutter. Then she broke down. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! It was my fault that she was there!”

    Cap blinked. “What do you mean?”

    “She tried to sneak out after you and Aquila left,” Atria explained. “I stopped her, and she talked me into letting her go. I knew I shouldn’t have, but I let her go anyway. And...”

    “It’s okay,” Cap said. “Yuri’s persistent. It’s how she managed to catch me. I met her and her friends when she was sixteen years old. I think she decided she liked me all the way back then. Yuri and her friend Sayori spent the next two years teasing out information from me about at what age one is considered an adult in my country, and how we Americans go about dating and romance. The day after her eighteenth birthday, Yuri asked me out for a cup of coffee. She didn’t just meet me halfway – she romanced me like an American would. I don’t think I stood a chance.”

    A faint smile crossed Atria’s face. “So that’s how a former harem comedy high school girl catches a century-old superhero. I had wondered.”

    Cap sighed. “If you had turned her away, she just would have found another way to sneak out. It’s one of the things I...I love about her. You want to sit?”

    Atria nodded. “Very much so.” She sat down, staring at her hands.

    “It was a fair fight,” Cap mused. “Not my first...I think I lost that one too.”

    Atria looked at him. “What do you mean?”

    “There was no creator with their finger on the scale, tipping it in our favour,” Cap said. “Aquila got taken down the last time this happened, as well. That time was against a Devil King around four or five years ago. This time, we were up against somebody who had read our character descriptions, figured out how we would react and where our weaknesses and blind spots would be, and tailored his plan perfectly. We didn’t stand a chance. Nobody was watching over us...nobody was watching over Yuri.”

    “Well, that’s not true,” Atria mused.

    Cap blinked. “What?”

    “Yuri,” Atria said. “Somebody was watching over her – you. Most people in your situation when she got hit would have panicked, or frozen. The end result would have been the same – the call for help would have been delayed, maybe only by a minute or two, but that would have been long enough to make a difference. I got briefed on both of them when I got here about two and a half hours ago...I just couldn’t bring myself to face you until now. The only reason Yuri Nakano is still alive is because you reacted immediately and provided accurate information.  If you had taken a couple of minutes longer, she would have died.” Atria gave him a sad smile. “You saved her. Not the way either of us would have preferred, but you did save her.”

    “That’s my ranger training,” Cap said.

    “It served you well today,” Atria said. “A lot better than my training served me, or Yuri.”

    “I told you, she would have found another way out,” Cap stated.

    Atria nodded. “I know. But I still let her go. If I hadn’t, maybe she would have arrived too late to get wounded. It’s the worst mistake I’ve ever made – I knowingly let a civilian and a refugee go into harm’s way, and she got hurt as a result. I guess I can’t complain about that magical knight anymore.”

    “Got room on your staff?” Cap asked. “I don’t think we’re leaving anytime soon, and I’m going to need something to keep myself from going crazy while Yuri recovers.”

    Atria sighed. “I wish I could help you, but I’m pretty sure I’m done there. A mistake like this...well, that means I’m not fit to do my job. And, I need to take responsibility for this. So, when I get out of here, I’m going back to my office on the base to hand in my resignation.”

    “Before you do,” Cap said. “Could you please stay with me until Yuri’s out of surgery? I don’t want to have to wait alone.”

    Atria gave him a kind smile. “That I can definitely do.”