"I know what I'm doing, punching," Sparkle bitched, and threw another one at the pillow for good measure. "I broke Dave's tooth back in Toronto once because he stole my socks, you know. My yellow ones."

And there he was, breaking Dave's tooth in effigy all over again.

"And other shit, too," he complained. "When those psycho creeps were overrunning the island they killed Alec and I took them down, that was me, you know? I can do this, I can throw a fucking punch I can shoot an asshole if he's going to kill me I'm not--" And another punch. "I'm not helpless and..." Another punch. "I can't... can't afford to be anything but."

The punching slowed. His hands fell to his sides.

"I'm gonna have to be the victim again, Atton," he said, a little more quietly. "And I hate that."