Chapter Text
January 2011
Coffee.
Amy needed coffee. The poor girl stumbled through the crowded hallway in a tired daze. How long had she been here? A few hours at least. Barely awake, Amy bobbed and weaved past rushing doctors and nurses. Thankfully, most of them were more than happy to give the mythic 'Panacea' a wide berth as she made her way towards the vending machine.
Extra strength, black.
Amy clicked the appropriate buttons, hitting the final one more than a few times in the vain hope that it would actually deliver her a stronger brew. Her forehead rested on the machine as it hummed and whirled. Pouring out the dark liquid into a plain white cup.
She took it in both hands, enjoying the warmth. Even inside, the cold winter air was getting to her. Hospital coffee wasn't good, nor was it particularly warm. But Amy craved it all the same. She took a deep sip and sighed.
"Why the hell did I come here again?"
A question she regretted asking herself. Amy wasn't here for any official service. She'd already completed the 15-hour limit that Carol had set for her. Carol wasn't even aware that she was here. The hospital graciously accepted Amy's help, the girl who could heal any illness with a simple touch. Who spent all her free time healing the sick without ever asking for anything in return. Saint Amy, some might even call her.
Amy wasn't here out of the goodness of her heart. Nor was she here out of some 'moral obligation' to use her powers for the betterment of mankind. No, Amy was here for the simple reason that she needed a distraction. Vicky had invited Dean over for the day and the two of them wouldn't be able to keep their hands off each other. Using every and any excuse to swap spit. Even now, Amy knew that the boy probably had his dirty hands all over her sister, her Vicky.
Sure, they tried to keep quiet about it. Act sensible when Carol was around. But Amy knew, Amy heard, Amy saw. Victoria was embarrassed when the two of them were caught by Amy, she simply wanted them to turn the sound of their movie down, not knowing that it was masking an even worse noise.
Vicky tried to laugh it away. “Whoops. Please don’t tell Mom, Ames.” The image of Vicky’s naked body trying to cover herself in the bedsheets was burned into Amy’s brain.
It took all the willpower Amy could muster to not reach out. How easy it could've been. Placing a hand on Vicky's head and finally making her see exactly how Amy felt about her, make her feel the same way in return. Even give a spare hand to Dean and make sure he 'never' touched Vicky again.
Amy couldn't do that. She 'wouldn't' do that. She could control herself, even when it hurt. She refused to become the monster, no matter how good it would make her feel. Instead, she threw herself into her work. Curing the good people of Brockton Bay. Every moment spent here was one less moment thinking about her sister and the empty pit that was inside Amy right now.
"Amy? Amy Dallon?" A male voice asked out from behind the girl. Probably another doctor, or worse, a patient that wanted to 'thank her' for all the work she's done. Amy sighed as she finished her coffee, chucking it into the nearby bin before turning around.
The man in question was neither a doctor nor a patient. Instead, a well-dressed businessman in a full suit. He didn't look to be ill or emotional, Amy's next guess was hospital administration?
"Yes?" Amy said, considering getting a second coffee. She'd need the energy if this ended up becoming a long and boring conversation.
"Great, My name is Samuel Greene," The now overly energetic man said, extending a hand to Amy. She took it tentatively to shake. "I was hoping to take a moment of your time?"
Amy looked back towards the emergency department that she had come from. The never-ending influx of patients was once again building up. Brockton Bay was a busy city after all.
"I'm a little busy at the moment." Amy sighed, "And I don't exactly know who you are, Samuel."
"Apologies," The suited man said, pushing a hand into his jacket pocket. He eventually pulled out a laminated ID wallet, "Agent Greene, I'm with the PRT investigations divisions." His ID confirmed what he was saying. Amy relaxed, she was more accepting of PRT work over another businessman trying to buy her time… and powers. Agent Greene took Amy's relaxed state as confirmation and continued, "I'm here investigating a possible trigger event, but the patient isn't exactly in any state to question. So far, I haven't discovered anything conclusive and my caseload is piling up. Do you reckon you can take a quick look for me, tell me if we have a new parahuman on our hands?" Greene shot a grin at Amy.
"What the hell…" Amy agreed she could use the distraction -from her distraction.
"Great!" Greene said, leading Amy away to the emergency department. "You are a lifesaver. I always feel bad writing these things off."
Amy was led up a few floors into a shared hospital room with several other patients. Each one gawked at Panacea, hoping to get a free treatment before she left. Amy sighed, she wouldn't normally bother with people who had such minor ailments, but it wouldn't look good to ignore them.
Agent Greene pointed to the curtain in the far corner. The two stepped in to find a girl lying on the bed. She was awake but she also wasn't. Amy looked towards the Agent for confirmation, he nodded, and Amy took the girl's hand.
"Well… she's catatonic. I don't think she's even aware that we're here." Amy said, diagnosing her with her powers. "I can't do anything about that. Can't touch brains. But I doubt it'll be long-term. She also has-"
"Thank you," Agent Greene cut her off. "But we're not here to diagnose. The doctors have her case well-handled. All I want to know is if she's triggered."
Amy took another look at the girl's brain. Her Corona Pollentia was active. "Yes, definitely a parahuman."
Agent Greene sighed, "Dammit, I almost wrote her off. Alright, thank you. Any chance you can tell me what she's likely to do when she wakes up?"
Amy shook her head. "Sorry, No idea. It's receiving information so maybe a thinker? But honestly don't quote me on that. It's beyond even my skill set."
The Agent started writing down into his notepad. "I see. Guess we'll keep a close eye on her. Perhaps move her to Arcadia. Who knows, maybe we'll have a new Ward in a couple of months."
Amy was already moving over to the other patients in the room, they all had their hands out waiting for the cape to heal them. "I hope so," Amy mumbled, not really caring one way or the other. "Brockton Bay could use more heroes."
After reaching the last patient, Amy left the room to find Agent Greene waiting outside on the phone. He collapsed the foldable phone as he saw her. "Ah, thank you again for your help." He held out his hand for another overly enthusiastic handshake. "HQ has already accepted my initial report. We'll be transferring her to Arcadia once she recovers. Even if she doesn't choose to become a hero, it'll be good to get her out of that environment." He thought for a moment as Amy tried to worm her hand free from his grip. "You go to the same school? Would you mind keeping an eye on the girl? Nothing serious, just let us know if she starts flying or shooting lasers or whatever." He chuckled as he handed Amy a card.
"Sure…" Amy said, accepting the card. She didn't want to look out for some random parahuman and she doubted that she'd ever really interact with this soon-to-be transfer student. Still, it didn't hurt to be polite. "What's her name?"
"Oh," Agent Greene said, thinking to himself before checking his notes. "It's uh… Taylor Hebert."
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Three months later.
Taylor held the knife close to Amy's neck. Glory Girl stood firmly on the other side of the room. A look of pure hatred at the supervillain.
"Don't come any closer." Taylor hissed, pressing the knife into Amy's skin. She hadn't drawn blood yet. That might have been the only reason Victoria hadn't lunged at her yet.
From the outside observer, it looked like the villain was cool, calm and in control. A spider lay on every single hostage, threatening to bite them with possibly deadly venom. Holding the 'great' Panacea at knifepoint in front of her own sister. Only Amy was aware of the little shakes and wavers in the masked cape's actions. The villain was way over her head and slowly being backed into a corner. If Amy could just make any kind of skin contact, this could all be over. Unfortunately, the Villain was dressed in a full-body suit, and Amy couldn't work through hair contact alone.
"I don't want to hurt you," Taylor whispered in Amy's ear. "I don't want to hurt anyone. Tell her to leave." The blade was still held to Amy's neck, she could feel the cold touch of metal.
"Vicky…" Amy said, careful not to make any sudden movements. "Just… take a step back." Glory Girl didn't break her gaze at the masked villain, but slowly did as her sister asked.
"What's going on here?" Asked another villain walking into the room. Spying on the situation before her. Tattletale wandered over to Taylor. "Oh damn, Panacea? Grue's gonna kill me for missing that one. You good Bug?"
"Yeah…" Taylor grumbled. "She tried to swing a fire extinguisher at me, but she missed. Managed to send a text to her sister though."
"Eh, you seem to have things under control, why not set your bugs on prom queen here?" Tattletale suggested.
"Because she's invincible and I'd rather not piss off the girl who can throw a school bus at us," Taylor growled, before looking back to Amy. "At least not any more than I already have."
Tattletale scoffed, "You know she's not really invincible, right? That's just an idea she's put into everybody's head. One good whack and her forcefield goes down. Then she's as human as you or me. For example…" Tattletale pulled out a small handgun and pointed it directly at Glory Girl. Her eyes went wide with shock.
"Don't…" Taylor said, placing her free hand on Tattletale's gun. Then she looked back up to Glory Girl. "Look, you want your sister back. We want to get out of here. We still have several hostages. We will let them go as soon as we're in the clear. Nobody needs to get hurt here." Glory Girl looked at the other hostages in the room, perhaps noticing them for the first time.
Grue jogged into the room and froze upon seeing the situation. "Bug, T. Wards are down. We're leaving. Now."
"We're all good, G" Tattletale called out. "Be with you in a sec."
"Are we good?" Taylor asked again, the implied threat towards Glory Girl. Slowly moving the knife away from Amy's throat.
Glory Girl grit her teeth and nodded. Darkness shot out around Grue and encapsulated the two other heroes. Amy was shoved out of the smoke shortly after. Glory Girl moved to hover, but Amy held her arm and shook her head. Pointing towards the other hostages.
"I'm sorry." Amy said, "I tried to intervene. Maybe mess up with her powers but she was too fast."
Glory Girl shook her head and welcomed Amy in with a hug. "It's okay Ames. I'm just glad you're safe."
The Undersiders got away after robbing the bank. Glory Girl didn't try to give chase. Opting to calm the remaining hostages. A few of the Wards got roughed up, but overall, there were no serious injuries. The spiders all began to scurry away. True to the bug villain's word, none of them bit a single hostage, even as said hostages kicked and punched at the fleeing spiders.
Amy knelt down and inspected one of the spiders that had been stepped on in the ensuing chaos. She touched the creature, it wasn't dead. Not yet. After inspecting the spider, she touched another one and then another. After investigating the arachnids, Amy laughed.
"What's so funny?" Victoria asked, walking over to her sister.
"Oh, nothing," Amy said, prodding a dead spider. "Just realising that this new bug villain bluffed the hell out of us."
"What!?" Victoria groaned.
"The spiders… They have no venom. They couldn't hurt a baby, much less grown adults." Amy picked up one of the live spiders and watched as it walked over her hand. "It seems like she really didn't want to hurt anyone after all."
"That bitch…" Victoria huffed. A little creeped out by the spider in her sister's hand. Amy nodded along with her statement.
Brockton Bay had yet a new villain to its roster. One that Victoria was looking forward to facing again one day. This new bug villain could run back to whatever sewer she crawled out of, Glory Girl would catch her one day. On that, Victoria promised.
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Late January 2011
Victoria spotted a small crowd of students gathering in the hallway. Her first instinct is to see if something's wrong. No one seemed scared or angry, just a bunch of curious onlookers. The same kind of onlookers Victoria would get on days she flew into school.
"What's going on?" Victoria asked, sitting up straighter in her cafeteria chair to see better. She could hover, and get the full view from above, but she didn't want the attention that would bring.
Her friends all shrug. They have as much of an idea as Victoria does. The crowd isn't anything massive, but it is noticeable. Finally, Dean spoke up, his arm over Victoria's shoulder. "Oh, I think it's that new student?"
"What? Now?" Another person at the table asked, "How come I didn't hear about this?"
"Not our grade." Dean answered, "Year below us. I don't know. I overheard some teachers talking yesterday."
The crowd of students parted slightly, giving Victoria a view of the student in question. A tall and shy girl with long dark hair. She obviously didn't like the attention that she was receiving.
"Oh yeah…" Amy said, looking in the same direction. "I remember her."
The whole table turned to face Amy, waiting for her to elaborate.
"You know her, Ames?" Victoria asked, desperate for the gossip.
Amy shrugged. "Barely. Ran into her during a shift at the hospital. Couple of weeks ago now." She held back the part about her being a parahuman. Even if she wasn't a cape, it wasn't polite to reveal that fact to people.
"So?" Victoria asked, leaning closer to Amy. "What's her name?"
Amy paused for a good half minute then huffed with a shrug. "I forgot…"