Eve was surprised to hear the singing of birds as she pushed open the doors of the Head Church and let the light in. The rising sun cast a pink glow over the torn-up gardens. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she noticed that the statue of the Headmaster was gone, replaced by a crumbled mass of stone. Strewn here and there were the bodies of Underground agents and black-shrouded Saints.

“Eve!” called Ana, running over to her. “Are you all right? You’re bleeding.”

She had nearly forgotten about her arm but the reminder made her feel all that pain again. Ana helped tear off Eve’s sleeve, revealing a dark red cut. With the freshly torn black fabric from Eve’s shirt, Ana tied a tourniquet around the wound.

“That should stop the bleeding. You probably don’t need to go to the hospital, but if you want to keep the arm you’re going to need to disinfect it as soon as possible.”

She wasn’t worried about that. “Has Seven come out yet?”

Ana took a step back. “I thought he was with you.”

Eve was about to bolt back inside when the Headmaster burst through the open gates and fell face-first into the dirt. His hands were tied behind his back and he writhed around the ground like an upturned insect. Seven appeared behind him wearing a half smile. Eve ran to him and let him sweep her into his arms.

Ana chuckled. “You two are going to help me move this jackass, right?” she asked, indicating the weeping Headmaster.

“Leave him for now,” said a voice Eve did not expect. “I called Danny and reinforcements should be here any minute.”

Shaan was alive. His clothing looked singed and his face was smeared with black, but otherwise he looked to be in good health. Eve realized to her chagrin that this was the second time she had been convinced that the former special-effects engineer was dead. This instance had not been a setup. She saw the eighteen-wheeler truck explode with her own eyes. There was nothing fake about that.

“I know what you’re thinking,” said Shaan, “but I saw that asshole with the rocket launcher a few seconds before he fired. I guess I got the hell out of that truck just in time. It’s a damned shame, though–we lost some good equipment.”

Ana ran over to hug him. “Hey, we’re just glad you’re okay,” she said.

He shrugged. “Just please tell me someone provided that idiot with a long and painful death.”

Eve considered Rodriguez’s fall from the top of the tower. “Oh, it was long.”

“Well, that does make me feel a little better,” he said. “Guess I’m glad we had you on our side.”

A distant hum grew into the roar of many engines as a line of Guard police cars and other vehicles pulled up to the Head Church. Seven’s blue roadster parked alongside the gardens not far from where they were standing. The door swung open and Haru stepped out.

“How long have you been in town?” exclaimed Ana. “We could have used your help!”

“You know I don’t have the balls for shit like this. I’m on the Council; Danny called all of us to headquarters last night. I drove Seven’s car over as a favor to Danny.”

He turned to Seven.

“It’s a super sweet ride, by the way. You must get all the girls.”

Seven grinned. “Just one.”

Eve felt herself turning red as he picked up her hand and led her to the vehicle.

Haru raised his eyebrows and clucked his tongue. “Very well, then. See you back at HQ, sometime? No hurry, yeah?”

As they sped away, Seven felt himself still buzzing from the night’s events. He knew he should be tired but he was going to try and maintain this high as long as possible. They had defeated the Headmaster and Danny Young’s victory in the election seemed all but assured. He was back with Eve and it felt right. There would be a lot of talking ahead for the two of them, but for now all he wanted to do was take her back to his place by the ocean.

He worried about the wound on Eve’s arm, wished he could have done something to stop her from getting hurt. But he was proud of her for facing up to Rodriguez, and he knew she could take the pain. Eve was a survivor.

Peripherally, he saw her looking at him. When he turned to catch her, Eve’s eyes floated back to the road. But she couldn’t hide the happiness on her face as she guiltily bit her bottom lip.

“We should probably listen to the news,” he suggested.

Eve turned on the radio.

“…new evidence that the tape of the Enemy was created out of whole cloth by the Headmaster and his closest followers. It’s just another stunning new development in our story. We are hearing now from Susan Levi’s camp that she plans to concede the election to Daniel Alexander Young. Levi is expected to make the announcement at a press conference starting within the hour. We expect Young to speak shortly after that. Unknown at this point is what the Headmaster’s response will be to the allegations against him…”

“I suppose they haven’t heard yet,” Eve said lightly.

“Guess not.”

She turned down the volume. When he looked over, her face had fallen into dark despair.

“Hey, you all right?”

“Seven…I love you, and you don’t know how happy it makes me to think we’re going to be together again, but I need you to be absolutely sure you want to be with me.”

“I’m sure,” he protested.

“That’s not what I mean. It’s just…I don’t think we can just fall back into our old patterns like nothing ever happened between us. I don’t think we should be planning a wedding. I don’t think we should even live together, at least not right way.”

“You mean you want to start over?”

She nodded. “I don’t want you to be Jon Wyle anymore, but I need to be sure I’m falling in love with Seven. This can’t work otherwise.”

He thought about what she said for a long time. If he was being honest with himself, Seven decided he couldn’t be sure whether he loved her because of Jon’s memories or his own. He felt attracted to her; there was no denying that. But maybe Eve was right that it would be a mistake to jump into anything.

“Well,” he said eventually, “would you maybe want to go out sometime?”

Eve’s features brightened. “Like on a date?”

“Yeah. Maybe some pizza and a show?”

He dropped his hand lightly to the platform between their seats. She reached out and held it. Her palm was soft and warm.

“I’d like that,” she said with a yawn. “But maybe…maybe we could have a nap first?”

She was asleep in seconds. Seven clicked off the radio and drove Eve home.