Victor did not leave her side.
He sat with his back against broken concrete and kept Felicity cradled against his chest as if the act of holding her was the only thing preventing the world from trying again. Damien remained at her other side, fingers resting lightly against her pulse, monitoring every change in rhythm. Voss stood several feet in front of them, shield angled toward the street, posture steady and unyielding. No one told him to hold that position. He simply did.
The rest of the team moved quietly, reinforcing perimeter lines and clearing rooftops without the sharpness they had grown used to. Every movement felt heavier without her unconscious reinforcement. They noticed it in their timing, in the strain of spells that had once felt effortless, in the slight hesitation before impact.
She had not only strengthened them.
She had aligned them.
Now that alignment was gone.
