Wildwing had never been so angry in her life. “Nosedive!” she yelled at her brother, who was walking away. “I am not finished talking to you, so get back here now!”

The ever obliging Nosedive whirled around to face his sister. Anger burned like blue fire in his eyes. “Why? So you can bawl me out some more?”

“After the stunt you pulled tonight, I have every right to bawl you out!” Wildwing pounded a gloved fist against the Plexiglas shielding that circled the Pond’s hockey rink. Thunder-like echoes bounced off of every wall. “Honestly, Nosedive. Sometimes I wonder if you even care if you get yourself killed. What in the world made you bolt headfirst after a guy with a loaded gun?!”

“Maybe it was the fact that he was about to get away and no one else was close enough to do anything!” Nosedive shot back.

“I could have come home an only child tonight, and do you care? No! Once, just once, I’d like to see you act as if you have some intelligence! Or did the fact that lead bullets can penetrate your skin just slip your mind for a moment?” As she knew it would, the remark made Nosedive instinctively put his left hand over his bleeding right arm. The bullet that the shooter had sent his way while trying to escape had skimmed the skin right off Nosedive’s arm, and Wildwing knew he had to be in more pain than he was letting on. “I guess you’re not as bullet-proof as you like to pretend.”

“Knock it off, Wing,” Nosedive said, angrily turning away.

“Hold it right there,” said Wildwing, turning from sarcasm back to seriousness. “I’m still not finished with you.”

“Please,” said Nosedive, rolling his eyes. “You’ve been dressing me down the entire trip home. Aren’t you tired yet?”

Wildwing put her hands on her hips and glared daggers at her brother. “You bet I’m tired. I’m tired of you acting like an idiot. Either you shape up that hot-dogging attitude of yours or the next time we get an alert, you stay on the bench.”

“And who’s going to keep me there, goalie-girl? You?”

“Don’t get smart with me, Nosedive. You wanted to be on this team and for better or worse you’re on it. Now, start acting like it!!”

Nosedive clenched his teeth and his face got a shade redder. “If anyone else had stopped that guy you wouldn’t be giving them half the grief you’re giving me!”

“Everyone else is not my baby brother!! Now, that’s all I’m going to say to you. Get down to your quarters and go to sleep!”

“You can’t order me around!”

“Watch me! You’re only here because Mom and Dad are dead and I’m the only one with enough patience to put up with you and I tell you, bro, you’re pushing that.”

“If I’m so much trouble, why didn’t you just leave me on Puckworld!?”

“From the way you’ve been acting, it looks like you might have been safer there!!”

Nosedive turned away and stormed to the elevator. Wildwing glared after him, her hands still on her hips, her back straight and shoulders back.

As soon as he disappeared into the locker room, she let the act drop. Sighing heavily, she sank into one of the front row seats of the Pond. “What am I going to do with him?” she wondered aloud.

“I don’t know, you could try letting him breathe a little,” said Duke, not unkindly.

Wildwing looked up. “Oh, I didn’t know you’d stayed.”

Duke shrugged. “I wanted to watch. Flashblade vs. Flashblade is not a common lineup around here.”

Wildwing looked away and said nothing.

Duke sat down next to his friend. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I mean, siblings argue a lot under normal circumstances, and look at what you have to go through. Between leading a group of diverse personalities, saving the world, and looking after a teenage boy, you’ve got your work cut out for you.”

Wildwing took the mask from her face and wiped away the thin layer of sweat that always formed there when she wore it. She turned at Duke and raised her eyebrow skeptically. “And just where did you come up with a phrase like ‘diverse personalities’?”

Duke grinned sheepishly. “Lizzy said that the other day. She really admires you.”

Wildwing rolled her eyes, looking not too unlike Nosedive. “I can’t imagine why. I can’t even keep my little brother from getting himself hurt.”

“Would your parents approve of the risks you’re taking?”

“The risks I take are calculated and necessary,” Wildwing replied. “Once the fact that there is no other way to solve a problem is established, approval becomes unimportant. I do not throw myself into danger recklessly and without assessing the situation.”

“But you’ll be the first to step into danger when it does become necessary.”

“That’s different,” Wildwing insisted. She gazed down at the mask in her hands. “Canard put me in charge. He put your lives and the fate of this planet in my hands. As such, the responsibilities of danger and the dangers of responsibility all fall on me.”

“Canard told you to lead us,” Duke said. “He didn’t tell you to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

Wildwing looked at Duke sadly. “That’s what he’d be doing,” she said softly.

Duke looked down. He didn’t have an answer to what he knew to be true.

Wildwing shook her head and sighed. “Sometimes... I don’t think I can do it. I wish... sometimes... I wish I’d been trapped in dimensional limbo instead of Canard.”

Duke put a hand on Wildwing’s shoulder. “I know. We all see how much you suffer without him.”

Wildwing blinked back the tears in her eyes. “Can you imagine how much I’d suffer without Nosedive?” she asked.

“No.”

She sighed. “Neither can I.” Wildwing shifted in her seat so she could face Duke full-on, ignoring the pain in her right side. “In many ways, Nosedive is all I have left in the universe. I really, really don’t want to fight with him, but...”

“But he doesn’t give you much choice,” Duke finished for her. “That kid’s got quite a mouth on him.”

“Oh, you noticed that, huh?” Wildwing said dryly. “It’d be nice if Dad were here. Nosedive never talked to Dad that way.”

“What kid talks to his sister the way he talks to his father?”

“You have a point,” Wildwing conceded, turning away. “But I’d take the way he talks to me if I could only get him to listen to me. Every time he does something foolish like this, all I can think about is that damned car accident.”

Duke looked confused. “What car accident?”

Wildwing closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. “It happened a long time ago,” she said, staring into space as if she was watching her story unfold before her. “I guess it was one or two years before the Saurians took over Puckworld--you know, back when life was relatively normal. I was standing in line with Canard and a few other friends outside of a movie theater when Nosedive appeared across the street. He was looking for me, I think he wanted to tell me something.” Wildwing took another deep breath and chose her words carefully. “Well, anyway, when he saw me he bolted into the street and got hit by an air-car. The driver was going too high and too fast, and Dive was smacked right in the head.”

Duke’s good eye widened. “Ouch!” he said. “What happened?”

“What happened? He nearly died right there, that’s what happened. In my mind I can still see him lying with his eyes closed on the ice-covered street, a pool of blood freezing near his head. And then, after they took him to the hospital, they told me he’d lost too much blood to live.”

“But he did live,” Duke pressed.

“Yes, thank goodness,” said Wildwing. “We turned out to be the same blood type, matched almost perfectly. I just let them take a pint and a half and waited out the in the hall for someone to tell me if he was alive or dead. I waited for nearly four hours, Duke. And all the time I kept thinking...” She fell silent.

“Go on,” Duke insisted. “You kept thinking...”

“... that it was all my fault,” Wildwing finished.

Duke wished he could say that surprised him, but it didn’t. “How could it have been your fault?”

“Duke, I told him to stay home while I went out to be with my pals. If I had just taken him with me...”

“Now, that kind of thinking will get you exactly nowhere,” Duke interrupted. “It was Nosedive’s carelessness that nearly got him killed and nothing else. You should be glad he was looking for you and not walking into a street halfway across town.”

“I guess.”

Duke could tell that Wildwing wasn’t convinced of her guiltlessness. “Well, I guess every good older sibling takes the blame for whatever happens to the younger ones, even if it’s only privately.” He stood up and reached out his hand to Wildwing. “Come on. Let’s get you down to the infirmary. You need to have Tanya look at that injury.”

Wildwing glanced down at the bloodstain just under the right side of her armor’s chestplate. “I totally forgot about that. It’s just a scratch.”

Duke rolled his eye. “Yeah, right. A scratch that would have signed your death-warrant if you’d been standing at Nosedive’s right instead of directly behind him. Come on, Wildwing, drop the act. You don’t have to pretend you’re invulnerable to impress me. You could do that just by accepting my help.”

Wildwing pushed the button on her belt that deactivated her protective but bulky armor. Yes, it was comfortable to have when she was in battle, but incredibly inconvenient at times like this; just like her hockey uniform and equipment was only good to wear at hockey games or practices. “Alright,” she said reluctantly. “I really don’t need it, though. I’m alright.”

“You’re not fooling anyone. You’re in pain and I know it.” To prove his point, Duke took Wildwing’s right arm and put it over his own shoulders so she could lean on him.

With her right arm around Duke’s shoulders and her mask in her left hand, Wildwing gratefully accepted Duke’s help down to the infirmary. “I don’t pretend I’m invulnerable,” she protested weakly. “I just have to be there for people who depend on me as though I am.”

“People like Nosedive,” Duke added. “Always looking up to his fearless, indestructible older sister.”

Nosedive paced all around his room. Every now and then he kicked something out of his way or picked up something to throw and then forced himself not to. The last thing he wanted was to attract more “attention” from his bossy, know-it-all older sister. What was her problem anyway? A dangerous man was in jail instead of on the streets. A dangerous man who could have hurt, even killed, innocent people who had no way of defending themselves. The wound on his arm would heal, regardless of how much it hurt now. Besides, wasn’t it worth any price to keep the people of the Earth safe from guys like that? The last thing he wanted to see was another disaster like Puckworld. And after losing both his parents and his five-year-old sister, he knew firsthand the pain he wanted to prevent others from experiencing.

Wildwing knew it too.

It’s not like she would have done any different. The only reason I’m in trouble is because she still sees me as her baby brother: totally helpless.

At the sound of his door opening, Nosedive looked up. Thankfully, it wasn’t Wildwing. It was Tanya, holding a first-aid kit in her hand.

“Uh, in case you’ve forgotten,” she said, “that gunshot wound is still bleeding.”

Nosedive shrugged casually and ignored the fiery pain that the movement provoked. “It’s not that bad,” he lied.

“Sit down,” she told him.

Nosedive shrugged again and did as he was told. He rolled up the sleeve of his T-shirt and for the first time got a good look at his injury. Suddenly, it seemed to hurt even more than ever. “Hey, if all you wanted was to patch me up, I could have gone down to the infirmary.”

“Wildwing ordered me up here,” Tanya told him. “I think she thinks you don’t want to see her right now.”

“Could you repeat that a little...” Nosedive froze in mid-sentence as Tanya’s words sank in. “Wait a minute. Did you say Wildwing was in the infirmary?”

“Uh-huh. She should be okay, though. She told me to come take a look at you first.” Tanya quickly disinfected Nosedive’s wound and fished out a small role of special self-binding bandage. With this, she covered the wound, and the fabric sealed itself together seamlessly.

“What happened?” Nosedive asked. “To Wing, I mean. Did she pull a muscle or something?”

“No. One of the bullets that went passed you struck Wildwing in the side. She should be okay.”

Nosedive stood up, his face pale. “You mean the guy that shot at me hit Wildwing?” he asked in horror. “And Wing didn’t say anything the whole trip home?”

Tanya shrugged. “Well, you know how she is. I’d better get back to her. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Nosedive echoed numbly. He sat back down on his couch, barely noticing the sound of his door closing. He had never, never intended for Wildwing--for anybody, but most especially Wildwing--to get hurt because of him. The move that had seemed courageous and daring at the time now seemed foolish and irresponsible. If Wing had been standing next to him...

Nosedive blinked the image out of his mind. Then, pocketing his pride, he got up and made a beeline for the infirmary to apologize to his sister.

Wildwing winced and fought down a yelp of pain. “What is that thing?” she asked.

“Oh, for goodness’ sake,” said Tanya, fighting a smile and losing. “It’s just a piece of fabric medicated to prevent infections.”

“The medicine stings, the fabric is rough and irritating, and I’m in a pretty foul mood, no pun intended. Now, back that thing off before I get really ugly.”

Tanya shook her head, still wrestling with that smile; which had called in a laugh for backup. “Sorry, Wildwing. As the closest thing to a doctor we have around here, I’m absolved from any orders that might be contrary to your well-being.”

“Ignoring my orders might be contrary to your well-being,” Wildwing told her.

Tanya’s shoulders shook. She was going to crack up any minute.

“Go ‘head, you can laugh if you want to.”

Tanya took advantage of the permission and laughed loudly. When she was finished, she disposed of the used, bloodstained pad and pulled out another one. She pressed it firmly against Wildwing’s injury. “Try to relax,” she said.

“Relax? That thing is cold, rough, and it hurts!”

“It’ll hurt a lot more if I don’t use it. Hold still.”

Wildwing lay back on the infirmary's sinfully uncomfortable platform and forced herself not to react. By the time Tanya succeeded in stopping the bleeding Wildwing was cold, dizzy, in a lot of pain and in one hell of a bad temper. The stinging medicine and rough fabric was grating mercilessly on her few remaining nerves.

There was a knock on the doorframe. “Wing?” said Nosedive’s voice behind her. “Can I come in?”

Wildwing rolled her eyes. Just what she needed. “Why not?” she muttered. “I don’t have nearly enough aggravation in my life.” Tanya gave her a tiny shove. “Ouch!”

Nosedive winced. Wildwing had probably not intended for him to hear her last comment, but it hurt just the same. “Hey, look,” he said softly. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d been hurt too.”

“Maybe if you hadn’t been acting so childishly, you would have noticed,” Wildwing snapped. Tanya gazed at her, amazed.

“Hey,” Nosedive said, his anger returning. “I’m just trying to apologize.”

As Wildwing twisted around to face him, her wound began to bleed again. Nosedive realized the full extent of the pain he’d caused her. “You know,” Wildwing said, irritated, “I’ve been hearing an awful lot of apologies from you lately. For once I’d like to see you actually get your act together.”

“Fine! Forget I said anything. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Nosedive stormed out.