Pepper could vaguely make out what Adam was saying, and it was not what she wanted to hear. He had the gaul to say that this was even partly her fault? How did that make sense? She wanted to yell at him, but even preparing to raise her voice made everything around her left shoulder flare up in sharp pain. She grit her teeth, refusing to admit to herself that she might feel a little ashamed for falling into the trap this whole fiasco had been.

And she felt weak and bested, and she felt very alone, and she felt her eyes burning though she wasn't sure why, but before she could get a handle on anything her vision fizzed out, blackened to a dark grey and everything was easy and quiet.