4 --- 3

"First it was a head injury, then broken ribs and now it is a scorched arm."

Helen's warm hands buzzed over his arm. Nate could feel a slight pain as the dead cells began to regenerate and the charred skin was knitting together at an extraordinary speed.

"You are developing quite a rep." She continued. "One of these days, you are going to get hurt badly and won't be able to crawl back to me to heal you."

"Just trying to earn my keep." Nate replied. "And you have to admit you are enjoying my visits."

She scowled at him good naturedly. Nate had Helen bonded easily after more than a few visits for a checkup to see if she could yet bring back his memories. The formality quickly went out the window. Helen was an outcast in the team, just like him although she had it worse than him.

Everybody hardly talked to her well, except Minx, then again Minx talked to everybody. Members of the team treated her less like a person and more like a body repairing robot. Victor even hardly let her out of the building, in case of emergencies. Nate had provided the human contact she was starved of.

"Don't flatter yourself, Mr. Merlyn."

Nate flinched. "You have got to stop teasing me with that name."

She laughed. "I just can't help it, I mean on short notice and that is the best you could come up with?"

"What is wrong with it?"

"Oh, nothing it is just not you."Nate grunted. "All done." She announced.

Nate looked at his formally crisp burnt arm now pink with newly formed skin.

Victor strolled in along with a droning Minx.

"You should have seen me. I was awesome. I took out three of them like it was nothing." She brushed off her shoulders to dramatize how easy it was for her.

Victor nodded along but his face showed he was only half listening. Minx must have been narrating her heroics for a while. He was holding a manila envelope. He threw it into Nate's lap unceremoniously.

"Congratulations kid, you are officially a citizen of the United States of America."

Nate looked into the envelope and saw some basic identification requirements, ID card and passport and more. He closed the envelope.

"Thanks." He muttered. Victor's eyes narrowed briefly, he had probably expected more enthusiasm or appreciation.

"So when are we leaving?" Minx asked.

Nate's head shot up. "Leaving?"

Victor spoke up "We had a meeting while you were recuperating. We are hitting Charlie tonight."

"Tonight?" Helen asked. "Isn't that too soon? Nate and Minx just returned from their mission."

"Minx just narrated the mission report to me. She said she scared some humans away from the party. Any of them could be working for Charlie and report back."

"So do you know where this Devil's eye is?" Nate asked.

"Yeah, I have met King there a few times. It is a sort of resort for him, a place to lay low when things get heated. It was smart of Charlie to keep king there. It is always heavily guarded."

"And we should go in without a plan?"

Brief annoyance crossed through Victor's face. "I always have a plan."

"I get to go, right?" Minx cut in.

Victor looked at her face for a while and nodded. "Yes, we need all the help we can get."

Minx pumped the air in cheer. "Now I get to show you how awesome I was at the party."

"You know it's funny how you keep mentioning that, Minx." Helen said. "Two of you against three willers and Nate is the only one with evidence of a fight."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Minx asked with narrowed eyes. Nate knew from the look in her eyes that she was not going to allow Helen to spoil her moment of glory.

"To be fair, Minx was pretty awesome." Nate said. "I just took a few careless hits"

Minx's angry face broke into a smile. Nate felt okay knowing that he was not going to take the credit for killing three people, any way even though he knew he was partly guilty.

"Are you strong enough to fight tonight?" Victor asked.

Nate knew he had only wanted one answer to that question and he gave it to him "Yes, I am."

"Good, we go out in ten minutes and try to avoid any *careless hit.* "