" Do you know what's funny? I didn't even realise they'd shot me until now... "

  “DIDN’T EVEN WHAT—?”

 His voice is casual,
 almost breathless,
    the fight pumping imaginary adrenaline–
 ( He didn’t need to be, but he was TIRED )
 It’s what weeks of straight work did to you.
 It’s what fight like THAT did to you–
   [ dead or not ]

  But her words–
 He initially brushed them off, didn’t absorb their meaning–
 and then he looked at her.

    [ SHOT ]

 “– Valkyrie–”

 Urgency.
 it slips into his tone,
  still ripe from the raw emotion of the fight alone,
   and he’s moving forward,
 gloved fingers reaching out,
   arms moving,
   concern surely written along bleached, emotionless skull.
  (   If she is WOUNDED— oh, how angry he will be  )