The team came back through the palace seals in a line of blood on the stone.
Healers took Anita first, then Rhazor's wing, then the worst of Francisca's burns. Lucifer allowed the rib wound to be closed again under a hard protest and only because Lucian refused to open the next planning block while the strike lead was still leaking through his coat. The recovery window was short by order, not by kindness. The orb had lost a spike, not the schedule.
By the time the immediate medical noise thinned the night had settled over the Origin Palace in a red wash of twin moonlight. The outer districts remained locked. The preparation floors continued under Damaris and Lilith with whoever could still stand. Lucifer was sent, not requested, to the upper private levels for enforced stillness.
He did not get stillness.
