He sure as hell couldn't hit back. Then again, he'd never tried, now that she thought of it. It was just sort of known that Pepper was the member of the Them who did the fighting.

She beamed along with him. There was certainly a measure of delight that they would always attach to that. "Yeah, and whatever you hear about us from the Tadfield locals is... prob'ly true," she told John. "Best not to mention us, 'less you want to get an earful."