"Specifically in the place I got stabbed," Midnighter says, with more idle humor than annoyance. This is kind of funny, in a weird way. It's like the guy's trying to be polite and pretend like Midnighter's normal, but also kind of sucking at it.

"If something was extra special fucked up, I wouldn't be able to tell based on pain. I don't notice that crap." Once, a piece of shrapnel had wound its way under his skin, and he hadn't noticed until Andrew had gotten too close and the metal had begun to heat faster than skin. He'd spent the next hour picking it out with tweezers and a boning knife. Not his best afternoon.