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Thomas Calvert frowned as he put down the phone in his office at the PRT headquarters - He'd been called in to consult again due to a new independent hero that had rebuffed every effort to join the protectorate, his expertise on parahumans had been sought to find another angle and to examine his powerset as the young man refused to come in for testing. Having not so surprisingly some anti government prejudice.

Considering said 'hero' was a young black man and fiercely independent - Coil gave him a week at most before Hookwolf solved the issue - permanently. For all his known murders, the man had at least half a dozen parahuman deaths under his belt that the PRT didn't know about. That's not what had his mind racing however, a new independent showing up and dying was just another Tuesday in Brockton Bay.

What had his mind racing was something different. He'd received a call about a visitor, someone here for him, specifically. He steepled his fingers in front of his face as his mind rapidly processed how he could twist this surprise meeting into his own advantage. As he was thinking it through, as always, part of him was suspiciously pondering if this was possibly enemy action. He kept himself loosely affiliated with the PRT to give himself a flexible schedule where his whereabouts couldn't be predicted, and gave him a good excuse to be in the building when he needed to. So why was anyone here to see him right on time for when he's actually present at the PRT for once. Well… Present in one timeline anyway. So it could be a possible attempt on him or even something as simple as information gathering on his civilian persona.

Granted, the probability was almost nil, Panacea was not someone he'd suspect of any attempt on his life - she didn't have it in her. And precisely because he would not suspect her - Thomas, aka Coil, was suspicious.

Using someone no one would ever suspect as an avenue of attack was something he'd do after all.

No matter, he'd already split the timeline before even appearing at PRT HQ, one timeline had him working in his lair, while one had him performing his consulting job presently. So he was at no risk from Amy Dallon. It piqued his curiosity that she was here at all. Why would the girl seek him out? A simple (hah) PRT consultant, albeit an expert in Parahumans to those in the know. Of which New Wave was markedly not in the know. Curious.

If he could get some strings on Panacea…. The options it opened up, his contacts with Accord and beyond had mentioned the Travelers for one, desperately seeking a healer for some reason. If Coil could get away with disappearing the girl, he'd gain a very strong set of minions for his plans with very little effort. Not to mention the monetary benefit of having Panacea sell her abilities to the various billionaires of the world under the table. Unfortunately, he lamented, actually disappearing her would eventually bring down the Triumvirate due to her usefulness in Endbringer fights, no cape could heal as successfully as her at the moment.

He'd have to find another way, he was well aware of her acrimonious relationship with Carol Dallon, perhaps there was an avenue there to get a working relationship going at least, she was, according to his previous sequences of information gathering around New Wave, although not aimed at her specifically - riddled with issues with both her family and the hero life, giving him options. He'd never gone ahead with any plans in that regard, all timelines where he did so as a test, ended in the PRT and New Wave scouring Brockton Bay to the bedrock to find her. And if they didn't, the Triumvirate eventually came looking when it neared the time for the next Endbringer attack. At those kinds of costs, Panacea's utility simply wasn't cost effective.

But this was different. She was coming to him. Coil would find a way under her skin, find an angle to bend her his way. Even if solely as a paid contractor. If nothing else, using her love for her sister as a lever would achieve plenty.

Thomas Calvert put on a mask of polite professionalism as Amy Dallon walked in without knocking, clad in her cape persona, the red cross standing out against the white all encompassing robe and hood, a look that was internationally recognizable even though she had been active for only two years. The scarf covering her lower face was beyond pointless at this point, since they all went about unmasked. It was amusing that the girl was basically covered head to toe when her sister flaunted herself for all to see. Perhaps body issues? Could he offer her a professional makeover? Her powers didn't work on herself, but surely there were capes he could find and hire that could improve appearances, he'd have to look into it. For a teenage girl always at second best - appearances could mean a lot.

"Panacea, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Thomas asked pleasantly, sorting the papers on his desk, projecting the image of a pencil pusher trying to appear busy. He'd used the cape name for the girl as that's how she'd arrived and it was only proper to adhere to the game. Coil felt some dark amusement at the thought that although New Wave had voluntarily unmasked and paid for it - in losing Fleur. And was now trying to step back from the game - Coil knew the identities of almost the entirety of the cape presence of Brockton Bay anyway, at least on the side of the angels - the whole game was pointless in the face of his power.

Amy Dallon had dark bags under her eyes and slouched shoulders as she frowned at him, she looked exhausted. Coil was already thinking of at least three possible avenues to turn the girl to his side, based simply on her exhaustion at her life. It was so much easier to lead young girls astray when they were already unhappy. And with a family life like hers, and the trauma from doing heavy duty hospital work since 14, seeing the trauma patients and worse. She'd be ripe for his influence.

Really, Coil would be doing them all a favor. Carol Dallon had practically primed the girl to become a supervillain. She'd do much better with some guidance and control.

"I was told to go to you because you're supposedly some sort of expert and could arrange tests." She grumbled, looking unimpressed with both him, and being sent there in the first place.

His contacts in the hospital Panacea frequented the most had reported this was a usual attitude of the girl.

Thomas raised an eyebrow, not having to fake confusion, "Tests? Of what exactly? And sent? By who?" New Wave, while somewhat cooperative with the PRT and the Protectorate, did not make it a habit of going to them for assistance outside of cape battles. Nor should they have much information about him. If Director Piggot had met with, or talked to Panacea at all, he would already be aware through how deeply he'd penetrated the PRT's systems.

As it was, he regularly received PRT reports before Piggot did. The reports showing up in his system at the same time as they were being written, so deep was his penetration.

Panacea made a dismissive motion with one hand, still looking dissatisfied with existence in general, "Some flunky at the desk sent me up when I asked for anyone that could help with testing a possible expansion of my usual powers."

Coil would have to make sure that particular flunky was silenced post haste. No one could know, this situation was his to control. He tapped a notepad with a pen, looking sufficiently intrigued, "What kind of expansion? Can you heal brains now?" He asked politely.

Personally he'd never believed the girl when she said she couldn't, not that he blamed her, if he had those kinds of powers he wouldn't advertise it either. The PRT did not take kindly to those kinds of powers. Perhaps he could leak something of that sort and then swoop in to solve her issues once the PRT got pushy - as they no doubt would - at the prospect of a potential master ability. Oh they'd never birdcage Panacea, but strong armed into the wards or something similar was a possibility. And one where Coil could prosper if he came in from nowhere and solved the situation for the girl.

Yes. That was definitely a possibility he'd have to explore in a timeline soonest. What she could do with brains would be important to know.

There was a reason why most intelligent villains didn't seek out the girl for healing outside Endbringer fights after all. They were as wary as he was. The smart ones anyway.

Panacea made a face, looking like just another grumpy teenager, making Thomas twitch slightly with annoyance, such power in the hands of such a child. Honestly. To think he'd had to buy his, when children like this were handed power for nothing. "Not brains then?" He said, letting none of his annoyance show. Her being a silly child would make it easier for him, so really, he shouldn't complain.

"Not really, but kind of." Panacea said, glaring down at the floor. Not elaborating. Just silently trying to set his office on fire by sight alone.

Coil masterfully stopped himself from another twitch, children! "I think that statement needs further clarification." He pointed out dryly, peering at her with a practiced face of dry amusement.

Panacea shrugged carelessly, "I still can't figure out brains, not really, but I figured out a trick for cells that I think might make someone immortal kind of, and that does affect the cells of the brain." She said tonelessly. Like she hadn't just dropped potential immortality in his lap. Like that was just no big deal.

Powers were wasted on youth.

"Kind of immortal?" Coil parroted slowly, only his mastery of his mind prevented a stronger reaction from him to that bombshell. If it was true… "Want to explain that a bit further, Miss Dallon?" He asked sharply.

"I found a way to make cells regenerate completely and automatically, so that someone would, theoretically, never age." She admitted, lips turning downwards, like it was all simply a bother to her. Boohoo I solved entropy, woe is me…. Thomas wanted to rip her skin off and make her sew it back on. This ignorant child! Luckily he could actually solve his stress by eventually doing just that in a timeline when he wasn't busy with anything else.

"Who knows about this?" He asked carefully, fingers twitching. Like his hands were eager to reach forward and grasp the opportunity that lay ahead of him.

"You and me, I went straight here after I tested it out." She said without care, "Oh, I guess the flunky who sent me up here knows I did something with my power but not what."

The death of the receptionist suddenly moved forward into his priority list by a vast magnitude.

Carefully, Coil thought things over in his other timeline, sitting in his lair at his computer, the potential bounty here was too big to not explore fully. Normally his power worked in a manner where both timelines progressed evenly. But he'd recently discovered that he could push one timeline forward in a simulation, while time hardly moved in his other timeline. It did however force him to only be able to keep his safe timeline, so it was a risk in case something attacked his base, the simulated timeline not being in real time, but a precog simulation, preventing him from actually saving it.

It had its benefits and drawbacks, Coil could learn a lot of information due to this precog ability of his power… To a point. However, the drawback was how utterly unreliable and variable it got the further into the future he peered, especially other actors, the more he concentrated on his immediate surroundings and actions, the clearer the picture was.

The further he got, and the more other variables he focused on, the more the timeline went completely unreliable, not able to handle the future of so many actors.

He'd once tried to see what Brockton Bay would look like six months from now by rushing through a simulation - and his power had insisted on telling him Jack Slash had reformed and was leading Brockton Bay into an era of prosperity. Absolute nonsense.

So yes, it had limited utility if used for anything but the next few weeks. But, for testing one aspect. One tiny matter, for weeks or months ahead. It should not give him any issues. It was worth an attempt.

Coil smiled at the fool girl who had no idea what she had. "Can you test it on me then? So we can look it over and make sure it is what you say it is?"

Normally he wouldn't let Panacea touch him no matter what, but he could do months of testing in this timeline to prove whether she did nothing to him other than make him immortal. So there were no risks anymore, his simulated timeline would ensure it. It was good to be him. In the end, he could just use the simulated timeline, then drop it to create a proper set of two timelines, and seek out Panacea for the same treatment in the timeline he'd keep out of the two new ones.

He didn't feel a thing as the girl with raccoon eyes laid a hand on him, eventually simply saying "It's done." And backing away.

Coil, because at this point he could hardly call himself Thomas, ordered the girl to keep silent while the PRT investigated the matter. No sharing with New Wave or anyone else in the PRT for that matter, including the Protectorate and Wards. The girl easily acquisited to the request. He'd check that later, nothing could be left to chance. This couldn't get out. He'd see how long she managed to keep her mouth shut, to observe at what point he'd need to step in and remove her from play.

Continuing down the timeline far further than he usually bothered, due to its difficulty in parsing future events outside of his influence, he got the best doctors money could buy to run every test on him that they could, hired the few other Parahumans healers around to check him over, he even commissioned a medical scanner made by tinkertech from Toybox. All to confirm what Panacea had said, and all to confirm that nothing had changed in his brain to indicate she'd mastered him in this simulated timeline.

The him sitting at his desk in his lair in his first timeline keeping a watch as the simulated timeline streamed ahead, ready to drop the timeline if there was even the slightest hint he was acting out of character, he couldn't be sure whether even this timeline - that was simply a precog simulation, would affect him somehow when it came to a Master effect.

All tests showed the same thing. His cells were not aging. His organs were in a constant state of regeneration somehow, no one could understand where his body even got the energy to perform such. In regenerative parahumans it was their power behind it, but Coils power wasn't powering this effect. He couldn't get sick now either, couldn't be poisoned, his cells simply returning to their ideal state immediately. It worked. And more importantly, there was no sign that Panacea had changed anything in his brain other than cellular regeneration.

By that time he was fairly far ahead in the timeline, so he contracted the travelers to abduct Victoria Dallon as well as Amy - using Panacea's healing abilities as a carrot for their cooperation. He went through his usual torture routine on both of them, although it wasn't as fun in a simulated timeline as it always felt somewhat dull and fake to him compared to the usual usage of his power. No matter how far he went, mutilation, rape, amputation, the girl never changed her story. She could do it. She could really change someone's cells to renew automatically for eternity, never growing older, weaker, or sicker. To his pleasure, Victoria Dallon as well had nothing to say, she had not been told anything. Amy Dallon kept the secret. Would keep the secret. For at least a few months in all likelihood. It would give him plenty of time to find a way to keep her mouth shut. Blackmail or threats against her sister would likely do it, he'd have time to figure that part out. Endless timelines to test his approach in.

He dropped the simulated timeline at that point. Immediately opening a new proper set of timelines as he did. In one he rebuffed the girl,

In the other, He asked her further questions as he casually typed up a request for his mercenaries, instructing his people to arrange an accident for the receptionist for right after work, a car accident would do. No need to arouse suspicion.

The meeting played out like his simulated timeline, Coil barely able to hide his avarice as the girl approached him.

Ending exactly as it had in the simulation, with him holding his hand out to the teen, asking her to 'test' her abilities on him, and then go about her life, and he'd get back to her if the tests showed it worked. That it was the easiest way to deal with it, saving her the time of arranging tests or test subjects.

He felt a sense of smug superiority as the greatest healer in the world foolishly made him immortal without a single thought on how she could use it, profit from it. And the idiotic girl even would keep it silent on his say so. Carol Dallons dislike for the girl hadn't made her the sharpest tool in the box it seemed, the daughter of a lawyer should have been better than this.

Oh well, their loss, his gain.

This. This would put him above even those annoying Cauldron capes. He'd outlive them all, in the background, pulling strings at first, then in the spotlight, their benevolent dictator.

All because of a foolish child.

Everything is going just as planned.

＊＊＊

Amy left PRT headquarters, one hand pulling her hood down as she tried not to laugh maniacally. That would be bad. Carol would freak the fuck out if a video of Panacea laughing like a villain appeared on PHO.

… That just made her want to do it more.

She couldn't help the emotion however. She'd just fucking dealt with Coil. Bit over half a year until Canon, and she'd dealt with him. Go her!

It helped that she wasn't Amy. Not really. Being installed into the body of Amy Dallon aka Panacea after her trigger event a little over two years ago had been an unpleasant surprise to her. Exploring a fantastical world, having powers, etc, it was the ultimate fantasy. Except… There were very few world's that were worse to be dropped into than Worm of all places. Not so much an adventure when you know how shitty everything around you is.

And in Panacea of all people, the girl who hated her life and had the Slaughterhouse Nine come knocking… At least they were both lesbians. Although perhaps the original Amy was more of a Vickian? Is that a word? Yeah, she was more mind whammied than anything else. Although that was perhaps a poor excuse, because she hadn't raped her sister. She had more control then that.

Unfortunately she didn't wholly get away from being mind whammied as she'd been stuck with the same love aura washing over her, that her body and brain had enjoyed for most of her life pre-trigger and new her, after. So yeah, she was very attracted to Vicky. Difference was she knew why and could control herself better.

It wasn't love. Not that kind of love anyway. Just pure attraction. Which showed original Amy had other issues because the aura hadn't made this new her go crazy for cocoa puffs, just horny.

Lucky for her, her 'parents' sucked and her lovely sister was incredibly self absorbed at times when she wasn't pounding her head with love me auras. So Amy being a moody and grumpy teenager for the last two years plus didn't even merit comments ( Not that it overly contrasted from original Amy). With Mark's depression, Carols not so low-key distaste of her entire existence and Vicky more concerned with boys or punching things in the face - it left Amy with plenty of opportunities to change some things.

Of course she'd volunteered at the hospital, even if technically she'd been more like voluntold by Carol. The original Panacea had worn herself out, full of guilt and self loathing for not doing enough, not helped by constantly being pushed by Carol and mind whammied by her sister. Also probably hadn't helped having to you know… Deal with trauma patients and rape victims at fucking 14, all alone, because of course Carol couldn't be assed to be there for her, she didn't care how she was doing it or felt about it, as long as it kept New Wave looking good.

The new and improved Panacea saw something different with her 'job'. Unlimited test subjects. Oh, of course she couldn't do overly much, not at the beginning. She needed to build up her reputation before she could even dare to perform anything too invasive in an official setting - also she needed to strike home the whole Panacea doesn't do brains schtick. Because Canary would still be a thing and she definitely didn't want people to know she could basically master people with a touch - Carol would sell her out so quickly it would make the Endbringers heads spin. She'd snuck out instead, and offered homeless people free healing at night. Because no one double checked her work in those cases, it let her power loose to be creative.

And if anyone caught her. Well offering to heal the poor and destitute didn't exactly scream villain - also homeless people were weird to begin with, so no one really noticed it she messed up.

Brains were hard in the beginning, even with how intuitive her power was. She could fix issues fairly easily, that wasn't a problem, changing things around to change their personality was way harder however. But eventually she'd managed. After… A few homeless people ended up kind of messed up. She definitely warranted a Master rating now. She could slave people to her. Mess with their brains until they were addicted to her and her only. She'd had to put those people down, it became too obvious when they got to that slavishly devoted point. Those kinds of things got a girl killed via a kill order. Well… Maybe. Wasn't like anyone bothered to do anything about Heartbreaker.

Not like he could Master a cruise missile strike.

She really didn't need to be thought of in similar veins to Heartbreaker or Teacher though.

Even if the face Carol would make would almost make it worth it. Until she'd start preaching about how she'd always known anyway. Bitch...

Eventually she'd been able to go more subtly through a person's brain. Tweak just what she needed. She'd even brought those people into the hospital and snuck an MRI scan onto them, no proof of anything wrong or changed, she'd made sure to take before and after pictures of course. Her influence was undetectable. As long as she wasn't stupid enough to make people look obviously mastered of course. Anyone running around slavishly obeying her every whim would be hard to explain away.

There was still a homeless man somewhere in Brockton Bay that broke into song about her feet whenever they crossed paths. Very embarrassing. Vicky would sometimes sing along to her mortification. She didn't even know how her feet had anything to do with whatever she'd tweaked in that guy's brain.

She'd have to find him alone at some point and give him a stroke or something. Or maybe a heart attack actually, she didn't want them cutting into his brain in case that revealed anything. Not that homeless people usually got autopsies, too many people died in Brockton Bay to worry about the homeless. But she couldn't afford to be sloppy, just in case. She'd also actually cut some people open to look at their brains, she'd healed them after, but she hadn't found any sign of her influence that way either. But she wasn't a brain surgeon for all that her power could do shit.

She'd gotten quite good at brains in the end, after over two year's practice.

Then had come her first Endbringer fight. Several dozens of capes under her hands. Of course she had hardly had time that first time to try anything. She'd been very busy after all. Her efforts had solidified her international reputation, saving so many capes made headlines everywhere… And once the fight was done, she'd been able to heal those less critical injuries, taking her time this time.

She wasn't stupid. She didn't twist them to her whim. She did… Tweak some things, making the capes under her ministrations more amenable to her, altering their brain chemistry just a tad. To give herself a greater chance to get some of them alone at some point in the future and do more invasive procedures.

She'd see what would come of it. If anything,

She'd done much the same to Vicky. It was only fair after all. The outgoing and beautiful girl that practically blasted her with love me aura everyday was impossible to dislike even with her very obvious flaws. Amy could definitely see how original Amy would have… Feelings, being subjected to that all the time. So to pay her back, she started subtly tweaking her sister, altering things just a little, shooting a spike of arousal and endorphins everytime she hugged her for example. Conditioning Vicky to become turned on at times when they were near each other and got physical (Hugging) - which was often. Her own little payback and homage to original Amy.

Not really fair because Vicky hadn't really been at fault for original Amy being a nutjob.

Amy found some of her greatest amusements over the last year and change, in those little games she was playing with the vaunted Glory Girl. Switching Canon on its head, making Vicky the one who now dealt with guilt and shame for wanting to bone her sister. And oh, how desperately she wanted it.

Amy was mean. And she owned it.

But if she had to deal with an artificial itch she couldn't scratch because, sisters. Then Vicky could suffer too. She'd mostly slowed down on that, not feeling as much of a need to mess with her, now that she'd settled in. Also she did actually love her sister. It was hard not to with how much Vicky loved her. So she couldn't get too mean.

She hadn't only practiced on the homeless of course, she was constantly practicing and stretching the muscles of her power. She'd take plants into school in her bag and mess around with them during breaks. She'd even gone so far as to have flowers and grass in her pockets so she could sit in class and mess around with it until they died, instead of paying attention to the teachers.

She'd hardly created any monstrosities at all. And hopefully if anything weird popped out of the sewers people would assume it was a new biotinker or something left over from Bonesaw. There had only been one tentacle monster okay, and she was almost sure it wouldn't hurt anyone.

All that practice had culminated in that meeting with Coil. If one wanted to really make a difference in the city, a gang was needed. Preferably to become the gang, you couldn't change anything without going the villain route, the PRT wouldn't allow positive change, they were so affixed to the status quo. Going after the ABB or the Empire was something that would take a lot of planning and effort, as well as many more minions then what she had currently, (Vicky counted as one). The Merchants wouldn't be too hard to knock off, but practically useless and would just invite attacks from the other gangs anyway. Coil was the perfect one to suborn. He had contacts with Cauldron, Accord, Toybox, Tattletale, and the Travelers, although maybe not the last two yet, she was unsure on the timeline there. He had a secret base that was actually very secret, some very skilled mercenaries just waiting for a better boss, and reams of information on every player in Brockton Bay, including their real identities. Not that she didn't have that same thing for the last one, future knowledge for the win.

That said, her memory wasn't exactly perfect. She knew Kaiser was Max Anders for example. But that didn't have her remembering Hookwolf or Crusaders identities. She was almost certain Krieg was James something, so Coil's information would still be useful to shore up what she couldn't remember perfectly.

The problem was his annoyingly hard to work around power of course. Amy couldn't just brainwash him, because he'd dump that timeline and go after her full throttle in the other one. She'd never be able to know for sure when he'd started the other timeline, so even when she'd been alone in the room with his civilian identity, she had no idea whether he had another timeline running elsewhere. Knowing him, probably.

It's what she would do too if she had that power.

So she'd prepared. She'd played with her power until she'd found the perfect hook. Cellular regeneration. She had no idea if it was for eternity - she seriously doubted it. But it would last long enough for Coil to test it out and come to the right conclusion , or so she believed from her tests so far. So she would play it off as immortality, whether that was true or not she couldn't really say, although she suspected if she died, anyone running on her power that way would lose that effect. Although with how bullshit powers could be she wouldn't discount it working eternally either. The minute she could touch him she'd be able to subtly twist his brain to her, planting a seed really, that would sit and wait for the right time. But that again would be a problem with those timelines if it went wrong.

If Coil saw himself suddenly beholden to Panacea he'd terminate the timeline and again, go full throttle at her. She'd be dead or thrown in a hole somewhere ala Dinah Alcott. She also had no doubt he'd devote a timeline to torture her or her family to ensure she wasn't full of shit. So she needed to suborn him slowly, to where no matter what he did in those two timelines after meeting her, he would pick the one where he was suborned.

She knew all this because she knew him, and because she'd totally do the same thing to make sure if she had that power. Torture was efficient in some ways, even if not always completely accurate.

She wasn't jealous of his power. Not really. Bio Tinkering at Panacea level was cool. But Coil had a pretty broken power and it was annoying to deal with.

So for starters she had to go so subtle with her power that it wouldn't kick in for months yet, like she'd thought of, planting a seed that would grow slowly over the months until he was hers. So that Coil would end the timeline where he tests himself and tortures her, before realizing he was already hers, she already knew it wouldn't show up on any tests he'd take, she'd already done those tests herself on people she'd healed. All this so Coil would be getting caught 'healed' in the timeline he chose to keep.

Because the second he kept it. She won.

Her secondary concern had been the torture, of course. She wasn't an idiot. Everybody had a breaking point. She'd end up blabbing, because no one could last forever under torture - especially as with the timeline shenanigans Coil could go even harder then normal torture since he didn't have to worry about consequences. If she could find a away to keep the information quiet through torture, Coil would be hooked completely. She'd own him. Because he was an arrogant tool, and he would never believe a little girl kept anything back from him for that long.

It had taken her months to finally figure out how to utilize even a sliver of her power on herself. She still couldn't heal herself properly. But she had managed to reach her goal because she'd done something that wasn't healing. Being able to deaden her nerves, using her power internally, she couldn't really heal herself, but she could alter some things temporarily - she was basically turning something off for a while, with the hope they'd turn back on, on their own, because she couldn't do it. Just hopefully it wouldn't go wrong, because she wouldn't be able to heal herself back up or fix it if the nerve issue weren't just temporary. But it was the best bet she had.

Months of hard work on herself and the best she could do was in lessening a part of herself.

She'd hopefully be able to be tortured, and when she felt she was reaching a breaking point, dull the nerves temporarily, make herself survive the breaking point, and hold on to the end, or so she'd hoped and it apparently had worked. Coil wouldn't have let her touch him otherwise. Not in any timeline she could perceive anyway. Either the nerve thing had worked, or she'd gone completely free from pain permanently - which also would have worked albeit not ideally, or just as likely, because she knew the timeline she was being tortured in was going to be temporary, she managed to hold on.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

She shivered as she walked down the street, sending a short wave to Vicky who was waiting for her impatiently, her sister practically bouncing in the air a few inches above the ground, despite being out of costume at the moment. It was very weird to know she'd just probably been horribly tortured in another timeline, simulated or not it was a kooky feeling.

Although she was surprised he'd decided so quickly. She'd expected him to run separate timelines for far longer than the time of a meeting. She wondered how he'd pulled off that surety so fast. Perhaps she couldn't remember his power accurately, but he'd still allowed himself to be healed, so she still won.

Coil would definitely die. And for her own sanity she'd never ask what exactly he'd done to the other her in another timeline. His power was useful, sure, but even brainwashed she couldn't make herself completely trust him. It was better if he died after she got any useful information out of him. Although she'd definitely ask him how he managed to get it done so quickly. Then he could die, she wouldn't take chances.

He was one slimy, tricky little shit after all.

But she'd won. Coil had chosen to be the 'test subject' for cellular regeneration and she could remember that. He chose to keep the timeline. In a few months at the latest he'd wake up one day, completely dependent on her. She couldn't wait for that call. Even if for whatever reason he decided to kidnap her before then… It was alright, because eventually he'd just let her go on her orders anyway. She could deal.

Coil was greedy. He wouldn't kill her. Not when he thought he could use her. So now it was just a waiting game.

Canon was still like a bit over six months plus away, she had time.

"I wasn't gone that long, you're like a puppy, I swear." Amy said with an amused quirk to her lips as she neared her sister.

If she did have a tail it would have absolutely been wagging at the moment.

"Ames, you took foooooorever!" Victoria disagreed, flying forward for the last few feet, glomping Amy into a full hug, almost throwing her off her feet. "You promised to go shopping with me!" She cried out gleefully. "Absolutely no take backs!"

Amy didn't often join in on shopping trips, so she understood her sister's excitement, not that it stopped her from using her power to spike her arousal as she held her tightly in a sisterly hug. She smirked slightly as Vicky broke away a red hue to her cheeks and a slightly guilty look to her face. "What's that look? You better not be taking me to buy anything weird, Vicky…" She teased her sister.

It was one of her few amusements in her everyday life, flustering her sister. The hospital was just… Sick people everywhere and she couldn't even really let loose. Not yet. It was just so much work, even though she felt it had its benefits as she was getting a lot stronger with the constant use of her powers and finding new ways to do things. The shaper shard was infinitely more happy here then in Canon she suspected. At least when she became a villain in her own right she'd have minions, get to order people around, instead of being constantly directed around.

Victoria huffed at her, but led her on towards the new dress shop she had blabbed about nonstop at school these last few days. Vicky really was angling for a fight if she thought she'd get Amy into a dress. At school she'd be lucky to get Amy into anything but jeans and a hoodie most days.

Amy was well aware of the difference in looks between the two of them, she'd not show up at school in a dress and try to compare to Glory Girl. Rule number one on her own evil overlord list - don't pick fights you can't possibly win.

Rule number two - Fuck you Carol. That was actually repeated a lot in her evil overlord list now that she thought about it.

But it needed saying.

No one at school would give her a second look standing next to Vicky. Not that she wanted them to anyway. She had better things to do than school drama. Really. She wasn't bitter.

School which was… Amy had already had another life going through school before even if she hadn't finished by the time she ended up here. So to say she was less than amused to be going through high school again was an understatement. All the New Wave nonsense and PR was also draining, considering New Wave barely bothered to actually do anything. Just as useless as the PRT and the Protectorate.

The Wards alone could clean up the Merchants in an afternoon. New Wave, the Wards and the Protectorate could wipe out the ABB (sans Lung) in half a day tops. But they never did anything like that. Fucking heroes. Yeah right.

Only a villain could actually improve Brockton Bay, they were the only one not so completely hamstrung in what they could do.

And the cherry on top of her current life was of course Cunt Dallon ( Sometimes called Carol for some reason). Dear old mom. She was even more of a cunt than Amy could have ever imagined, she pitied the original for going through it without the benefit of outside knowledge. The new her cared nothing for Carol's rules and attitude - instead of old Amy's general apathy and quiet struggle - her new attitude hardly made Carol an easier person to live with.

Although it was fun to see how red in the face Carol could get sometimes when Amy snarked back enough. Even if she invariably got grounded for it.

So many groundings…

Like groundings mattered when she'd still send her off to the hospital in the end.

Amy couldn't wait to become a villain. Knowing Carol would face the blame from literally everyone did add some extra delicious spice to the decision. She'd made sure to disseminate little comments here and there while doing her hospital work. Once she went bad, the entire hospital would point the finger to Carol. And it's not like Vicky or the rest of New Wave could really come out and say anything different, not really. Besides, Vicky would never move against her.

Ever.

Of course Amy had chosen to become a villain, albeit eventually. She needed some fun in her life. And honestly the power and infamy was pretty attractive too, being able to do whatever she wanted, choosing her own way forward. She was too useful for the PRT to come down too hard on her, as long as she played ball for Endbringer fights - and didn't make them scream Master. And in her backpocket she did have the information to fully stop them, for emergencies. Eidolon.

Perhaps once Brockton Bay was fully hers, she'd give that information out in exchange for the PRT to completely hand her the city in perpetuity.

Maybe if the world was exactly like Canon, she wouldn't be as gung ho about things. But she'd noticed a few differences. The major one being why she was so cavalier about her future villainhood and leveraging Endbringer attacks to keep herself from being ganked.

Scion was already dead. Possibly. She still suspected foul play because she was paranoid like that, but he seemingly had died.

When she'd realized that change she'd practically died from relief. No Khepri situation needed, no mass annihilation. Although she still wouldn't rest easy until the timeline got past golden morning.

All the details weren't publically available. Although she bet Cauldron knew it all, but not like those fuckers would share anyway.

Hero hadn't been killed by the Siberian, only wounded, and therefore he had lived longer than in Canon; that was the major change to the timeline. And eventually Hero had tried to talk Scion down or motivate him or something, not willing to commit to the evils that Cauldron planned as a necessity, or at least that's what she would guess was the reasoning. She had no idea why else he'd try it. Unless it was an actual assassination plot already but she doubted Cauldron would have signed off on that.

Alexandria for sure would have tried to stop him if it had been an 'official' attempt to solve the situation with Scion. They were way too busy scrambling around for any advantage to try something that overt so soon.

Hero must have been an absolute shit motivational speaker or so good that he went entirely in the opposite direction, because the media footage showed the two of them on hovering right above the ground talking with some random normal called Kalvin or something, then what appeared to be a portal appearing literally on Scion - which Hero disappeared into, then a blinding light, an explosion and that was it.

There was a big hole in the ground where York used to be in Britain… Which honestly, they were lucky it was only York disappearing and not the entire island considering what Scion could do.

The official story was that Scion had committed suicide and taken Hero down with him.

Amy was a bit more cynical, and wondered if Hero had used some tinkertech, what with being the best tinker ever, to force a portal open and then blew himself up to allow his friends to not go down too dark of a road with his sacrifice. Although how he got Scion to allow it is the question.

Because how did he get depressed enough to allow it without the convoluted situation in Canon?

She thought Hero was unbearably naive if he thought that would stop Cauldron, Alexandria and Doctor Mother wouldn't stop. She appreciated his sacrifice, as it made this less of a death world now that she wouldn't have to worry about total planetary annihilation. Only the partial annihilation ala Endbringers. She'd eat her uniform if Cauldron didn't just keep doing what they were doing anyway - this time to try and get enough power to take down the Endbringers.

Something which Amy could solve right now. But… She wouldn't.

Villain Amy would never see the Birdcage or a kill order as long as the Endbringers existed. As long as she didn't go full Bonesaw or Nilbog. Once she had amassed enough power to hold Brockton Bay, perhaps she'd be more comfortable. But now, no.

Not nice definitely, many would die. But well, she was a villain really. Besides most people, for all that they cried about destruction and deaths when it happened - didn't actually give a fuck or would lift a single finger to help, unless it was their own people or people they knew.

Ask any random American how many fucks they give about Sudan or something. Most probably wouldn't even care if an Endbringer suddenly wiped it out. People talked a good talk, but the amount of people in the world that actually lifted a finger to help people in other countries dealing with starvation or destruction was a very low percentage, the people that gave a shit was even lower.

Of course with Scion dead and not helping fight Endbringers, there had been a lot more deaths and destruction for a while as the PRT and militaries of the world adjusted to being solely responsible for driving them off now. A lot more deaths.

Well… If for a while counts, as there's still a lot more death and destruction going on.

"Amy, pay attention! Isn't this skirt just adorbs!?" Vicky shook her by the shoulders, wearing a white mini skirt that she'd definitely not be able to get past Cu- Carol.

Not to mention the fact she was a teenager and a famous superhero, wearing that miniscule skirt would get half of PHO banned for making dirty comments. It already happened enough due to Glory Girl being a flier wearing a skirt. And well for being a 10/10.

"I'll give you a hundred dollars if you wear that home." She said seriously, making Vicky bite her lip, eyes flickering with indecision.

"200." Amy coaxed, smiling when she saw the resolve set in her sister's eyes.

Not every villainous act needed to be a large one.

Besides,

Fuck Carol Dallon.

＊＊＊

School. What was even the point? Amy did her best to hide herself in her hoodie as she was frog marched through the halls by Vicky. Apparently she needed 'friends'. How annoying. She hadn't liked high school kids when she'd been in high school, a second go around didn't endear her further.

"You know this counts as kidnapping." She complained without any heat, there wasn't really much of a point in fighting Vicky on the small stuff. Like any Brute she just bullheadedly pushed forward anyway.

Vicky put her arm around her shoulder, a grin on her face as she kept pushing Amy forward with every step, "No jury would convict me!" She said with full confidence. She tossed her hair casually, ignoring all the looks they drew as they marched towards the cafeteria. Amy was forever thankful that she did not have any form of telepathy as a power - she did not want to know what all the little beasts were thinking about her sister. "Besides, you can't eat lunch on the roof! That's like totally for weirdos!"

"Vicky, I am a weirdo." She deadpanned.

She was mousey and weird, she blended into the background - if it weren't for her fame anyway, not unattractive just… Not anything special either. With her hoodie and baggy jeans she qualified for weirdo even without her personality mixed in.

Compared to amazon Vicky with her perfect heart shaped face, curvaceous body, platinum blonde hair and blue eyes… Well, there was a reason she tried to not compare herself often.

Vicky pouted, hugging her closer to her side as they entered through the cafeteria doors, "You're only a little weird." She flashed Amy a smile showing she was just playing along. Before she bounced forward, dragging Amy with her, happily shouting across the cafeteria, "Look what I found!" Without any effort she lifted Amy up and deposited her in short order in front of one of the lunch tables.

The one filled with the wards. They're all idiots. Amy couldn't help but think with exasperation. She should have pushed a burst of arousal through Vicky and rushed for the roof while her sister couldn't think clearly.

"Hello Amy." Dean said politely with a small smile, the smile widening as Vicky plopped down next to him and kissed him on the cheek.

"Drop dead with crotch rot." Amy answered back plainly, sitting down next to Vicky, already done with this whole socializing idea. Her sister was a cruel tyrant.

"Still a people person I see." Dennis joked, sitting across from her.

Amy slouched into her seat, her frown barely visible as she sunk back into her hoodie, "You're all idiots, I can handle normal people just fine." She said dismissively. Clockblocker and her did not mix well. He had a habit of making fun of her, she had a habit of making up plans to make a penis grow out of his forehead.

One day…

"Play nice, Amy." Vicky chided, although her twitching lips and the shine in her eyes told her that Vicky, as always, found her own amusement in siccing Amy on her friends.

"You're the biggest idiot." Amy grumbled. Pointing at Vicky. "Don't flutter your eyelashes at me, I'm immune!" She complained as Vicky tried a cutesy face.

Vicky laughed, leaning into Dean, "You're extra grumpy today, sis." She teased gently.

"I'm allergic to stupidity." Amy muttered, crossing her arms. It was a bit childish of her, but she was tired of people forcing her into things she didn't want. Even if Vicky had only good intentions, she was absolutely horrible at taking the word no without bulldozing over it.

"Who's being stupid this time?" Carlos asked buttering a roll, sighing as Dennis stole it suddenly, right out of his hand, "Really?"

"Well that question kind of answered itself, didn't it?" Chris snarked, stealing the roll back from Dennis and tossing it to Carlos. Amy didn't really like Kid Win and Aegis any better than Clockblocker, they were just too…

"C'mon, it's just a roll, I've totally done way dumber." Dennis bragged.

"What did I do to you to deserve this?" Amy asked plaintively of Vicky, who was watching the conversation with amusement while Dean ran a hand through her hair.

Their relationship was disgustingly new and they were all lovey dovey with each other. How she was supposed to eat lunch with that going on she couldn't understand. Gallant was such a stupid name too. She didn't dislike him for the same reason canon Amy did, she just thought he was so annoying.

"I think you might be exaggerating a tiny bit." Dean aka perfect Gallant, cut in with a chuckle, holding a hand up leaving just a tiny bit of space between two fingers.

"If you want her to stick around and gel with us, maybe cut her some slack and ease down on the teasing." Rory interjected calmly. "We're all the same here, no need to act out."

Amy made a face, hidden somewhat by her hoodie. Triumph as always tried to be the leader but mostly he came off as a tool regurgitating PRT talking points instead of anything worth listening to. He sounded like someone who'd been taught by Armsmaster on how to lead a team. Saying all the right things, but missing everything on whether he needed to say it at all, or when to do it.

"You're all just so… Dumb…" Way to go Amy. Alienate every ward in one sentence. At least she might get the privacy of her roof from now on…

"Ames!" Vicky groaned, although she had to quickly cover her mouth to prevent her snickering to be heard.

"I'm including you in that, Vicky." Amy said, staring her down, "I mean how does the gangs and the whole school not know all of your identities already?" She waved at Vicky, "You have Glory Girl coming and hanging out with you guys, the table of kids with a wide range of backgrounds and ages, who are still strangely tight knit. The group who randomly disappear from school at odd hours. Dragging me along to sit here just makes it even more obvious." Cape identities are supposed to be kept secret, but it was like no one at Arcadia was even trying.

"I don't see why you're worrying, you're unmasked anyway so what's the big deal to you?" Dennis said carelessly before shoving his face with hash browns.

"I'm surrounded by idiots." Amy groaned, "Someone should care. Am I the only one concerned with actual competence?"

"Amy, it's all working fine, don't stress about it." Vicky said, patting her hand, trying to soothe her irritation. Flashing her a brilliant smile, "Let's talk about something else. Like maybe who wants to take Amy for a date?" She chirped mischievously.

"Are you serious right now?" Came out of Amy's mouth at the same time as both Kid Win and Clockblocker said "Hard pass!"

Both Amy and Vicky zeroed in on the boys with harsh glares immediately. "What did you just say?" And "You can't say that to my sister like that!" Coming out of our respective mouths.

"Why don't we all calm down and eat." Rory tried, Dean jumping in at the same time to try and calm down Vicky, "They didn't mean it like that Vicky, they're just intimidated by her."

Yeah, intimidated by actual proof of intelligent life. She thought with some annoyance.

Amy sniffed imperiously, standing up, glaring down at the two idiot wards. "I'm a great catch, not that I want anything to do with you two, you better watch out, you'll definitely pay for that comment." She might have hammed it up a bit, but this was the perfect excuse to disengage and get away from the wards.

She stomped off to the sweet music of Vicky lambasting some stupid boys.

Could she just drop out when she became a Villain? That's possible, right? Supervillains didn't really need school. Although that depended on if she wanted to be a secret supervillain or not…

Ugh. At least with yet another disastrous meal in the bank it will be another week or two before Vicky tries to get her socializing with the wards again. No doubt they all thought she was a complete bitch. But she really just didn't want anything to do with them. They were so… Naive.

To honestly believe they were doing any good. Posing for photos and holding press conferences, patrolling the boardwalk. While they were doing that, women were being raped by the ABB, minorities murdered by the Empire 88, everyone having their lives destroyed by the Merchants and their drugs.

And the wards believed they were heroes? Amy couldn't stand them.

Except maybe Vista. She'd at least do more if she wasn't completely drowned by PRT regulations.

Too bad she couldn't recruit her without brain scrambling. And she didn't really want to do that to the wards, they may be idiots but she had some standards.

No brainwashing heroes. Unless she really really wanted to. It was a decent policy, right?

Just another fun school day… She thought as she sat down on the roof, eating idly while one hand played with a flower in the pockets of her hoodie, poking and prodding it with her power.

Normality was overrated. This life was just boring like this.

Sometime soon she'd have to find an excuse to get to Winslow and deal with the trio of idiots. There was no need in getting Skitter running around this time around, she didn't want to choke to death on bugs, thank you very much.

...

Later that night

Amy snuck back through her window, having left it just slightly opened so that she could open it fully to get back in on her return. Her nightly return to the hospital to practice her powers more was taken with the usual lambasting by the doctors and nurses who were concerned for her well being.

She had her 'official' hours just after school, but like Canon Amy, she went back for more regularly. Like it probably was in Canon, most of the staff thought Carol was pushing her too hard. Unlike that poor girl, the new her was going back to constantly play with and evolve her powers. Compared to when she first started - she could now continue healing for hours on end without stopping and she could do it fast too, no more standing around for minutes, she could heal most things in literal seconds.

Healing to her, was about as interesting most days as watching paint dry.

"Please tell me you've been having a dirty rendezvous with a bad boy and didn't just go do more boring work." Vicky pleaded dramatically, as Amy dropped to the floor, the blonde laying on her bed, her head hanging off it, staring up at her with a cute frown on her face.

"I did technically have a rendezvous with an old man." Amy admitted, taking her sweaty hoodie off and tossing it over Vicky's face.

Vicky rolled over, discarding the hoodie to the floor in the process, her eyes flickering over Amy's body so quickly it would have been impossible to catch it Amy hadn't been looking for it already. "Unfortunately I know you, so I know that isn't as kinky as it sounded." Vicky pointed out with a smirk, resting her chin on her folded hands.

"It was Clockblocker's grandfather, he had cancer, I took care of it." Amy said nonchalantly, as she divested herself of the rest of what she was wearing, after all, they were sisters, no big deal. Muahahaha.

"Wait… Really?" Vicky asked, a blush blooming onto her face as she tried to play unaffected. "Why didn't he say something before today?"

Amy rolled her eyes, amused at the way Vicky's eyes followed her movements as she approached her bed. "Because he's an idiot, he didn't mention it at all."

"Then how did you…?" Vicky trailed off as Amy pushed her face back, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"I went over there and healed his grandfather to punish him of course." She said with a smirk, "For his stupid comment earlier today."

"Wait? You cured his grandfather of cancer as a punishment? You've lost me there." Vicky admitted distractedly, poking Amy in the midriff.

"Scoot, it's my bed." Amy said, before climbing in next to Vicky. Giving her a light nudge with her bare foot to move the girl enough that she could get under the covers. "And it's because now he'll feel super guilty for saying that when I went and healed his grandfather of course."

"God Ames, you can be such a bitch sometimes." Vicky laughed, a healthy flush to her and a bit of huskiness to her voice.

Amy patted her on the arm and made sure to flush a cocktail of endorphins and hormones through her body, spiking her arousal sky-high. "Yes I can be, now get out of my room."

"B-but…" Vicky stammered, pupils dilated and with her breathing coming in quick heavy breaths.

"We're too old to be sharing a bed." Amy said blandly, turning the light off and rolling over. Inwardly snickering.

The very keyed up Glory Girl left the room shortly thereafter.

Amy was definitely a bit of a bitch. She was okay with it though.

Besides, Vicky was a big girl, she could handle herself.

Amy was just about to sleep, when the sirens started blaring.

Endbringer.

Fucking of course.

＊＊＊

She was the last one it seemed when she arrived at PRT HQ. The Protectorate was all there standing outside already, there were no villains offering themselves up today it seemed. Nor were any wards present. And she was the only one from New Wave that would be going. Carol had almost even kept her back, but it would look bad on New Wave if none of them contributed nowadays, so here she was.

It was the Hero-killers turn. Behemoth. Idly she wondered how many of those standing in front of her were going to die today. One of the things that had changed lay behind the full roster showing today. Protectorate capes no longer had the option to say no to Endbringer fights.

"Panacea. Thank you for coming." Miss Militia said with a short nod, her power changing constantly between a large knife and some sort of handgun. Even veterans got nervous when it was Behemoth, Amy couldn't blame her, the death toll was bad before when fighting that particular Endbringer. Without Scion to drive it off, the death toll nowadays for Behemoth fights was around 70-80 percent of all combatants. That was not public information or no one would ever show up - but Amy knew due to being the healer™.

If it kept up like this she'd have to let loose her Endbringer data early just to have any heroes left to mess with. It just wasn't sustainable to keep losing so many. More people outside the Protectorate volunteered to fight the Simurgh and Leviathan rather than face Behemoth - and with Simurgh's capacity for fucking with brains… That said a lot.

Amy would have to see if she could do something about that, being able to catch Ziz-bombs or potentially healing them could net her some good money if she was mercenary about it. She'd have to be away from Carol first for that though. And hopefully keep it quiet. She didn't need the extra fame, it would just make her career switch more annoying.

Amy ran a hand through her sweaty hair, wishing she had a shower before bed at least. She felt way too grungy after so many hospital hours today, "Yeah, looking forward to it." She drawled sarcastically.

At least she'd trained her skin bacteria to destroy anything that would have left an odor so she wouldn't be the smelliest hero on site.

"This is not a joking matter." Armsmaster chided sternly as he fiddled with something on his halberd. "I can understand the need to make light of the situation, but your nerves would be better turned onto more productive things."

Amy scoffed, the leader of Brockton Bays protectorate had never liked her much after that one teeny tiny comment on PHO calling him Assmaster when he was tossed on his ass by Uber and Leet that one time. "I'd make another sarcastic comment but I just don't really think you're worth the effort." Amy turned away, dismissing Armsmaster from her mind.

She also never liked him much because she remembered well how much of an ass he could be from Canon, he wasn't totally bad, just really annoying at times. Definitely not as bad as she'd seen in some fics, this Armsmaster was pretty human, just very focused on himself.

"Some respect for the chain of command wouldn't go amiss." Miss Militia said quietly, eyes flickering over to Armsmaster for a moment, "He's a serious man, Panacea, he doesn't mean anything by it, and we're all on the same side here."

Amy had even less respect for Miss-might-as-well-be-a-nazi than she did for Armsmaster. At least he tried sometimes. She would follow PRT orders even if they said to sacrifice every kid in town. Pretty much what the PRT was doing on the daily here anyway.

Not like any girl out walking after dark could hope the PRT would save them - they never did, not enough to matter. She could ask the girls kidnapped and used in the ABB's brothels how much they felt the PRT cared, she had a feeling the answer would contain some foul language.

"I'm not a PRT stooge, I'm not in your chain of command." Amy said cooly, walking away from the top two and therefore the most useless members of the Protectorate. The two that would always without fail protect incompetence in the name of PR and orders. Who cared how many had to be killed and enslaved as long as the press conferences went well.

God, she hated this world. What was the point of Heroes when they were worse than the villains for the normal population?

Yeah, Jack Slash was bad, horrible even. But more people have died or suffered from PRT (Or Cauldron) inaction or actual purposeful actions - than the Slaughterhouse Nine had ever killed. Especially as Cauldron was actively letting the Nine rampage.

At least people calling themselves heroes should actually do something to live up to that name.

"One of these days someone's going to smack you down, girl." Battery said with visible amusement as Amy parked herself next to her and Assault. The two least objectionable members of the team in her opinion.

Which says a lot about the heroes, as Assault used to be a villain.

Also they sometimes dropped off a frappe to her when she was working - so she'd silently classified them as not objectionable.

"I can give your boyfriend a 3 inch dick." Amy threatened playfully, leaning against the walls of the PRT headquarters, hands hidden away within her robed cape uniform. The wait was always the worst about Endbringers. Once she was busy healing, time just flew away until it was over. The waiting allowed her to think too much.

"Hey, now! I didn't even do anything this time!?" Assault complained, both hands dramatically grasping nothing over his costume - where his heart would be.

Battery grinned irreverently, "Might be an improvement, a whole extra inch, puppy." She put both hands apart as if measuring something, it was not a flattering distance apart.

"Savage. I approve." Amy couldn't help but let a small smirk grow on her face as the two went into their usual routine of mocking and teasing each other. They were definitely her favorites.

Reminded her of Vicky and her just more… Adult. Ugh, she just compared herself and Vicky to a couple again. Stupid brainwashing.

Then Strider was there suddenly with a loud crack, cutting through any further conversation. The independent cape glancing over them all, everyone stepping closer without prompting. Everyone here had been to an Endbringer fight before.

"This everyone?" Strider asked more as a habit than wanting to wait on any latecomers. Armsmaster barely got his mouth open to reply when Strider saw Miss Militia's nod and went into action.

Between one blink and the next, with a loud crack, they all disappeared, just to reappear elsewhere. Amy hadn't even asked where they would be going, but she immediately recognized the skyline. Hard to miss the Eiffel Tower reaching into the sky.

"Really? Paris, the city of love? Romance is dead, thanks a lot Behemoth." She griped, getting another chagrined look from Armsmaster before he marched off, the rest of the Brockton Bay Protectorate following in his wake. "Tch, you're no fun." She mumbled to herself.

She knew it annoyed the man to no end that she was not under his authority when she'd mouth off. Partly why she did it in the first place.

A PRT agent materialized by her side, holding an armband out to her. "Panacea, if you'd follow me I'll take you to your station, please put on this armband an- "

She interrupted him, already closing the armband around her wrist. "Yeah, yeah, it will allow anyone to speak to everyone, all tracked and facilitated by Dragon, it keeps track of our vital signs etc etc and allows our people to locate and save downed heroes, it's not my first rodeo." She lifted her wrist up and pressed the button, "Panacea." She spoke clearly, the armband coming online.

She followed the agent, some tension visible in her frame. She didn't want to stop Endbringer attacks yet. They were too useful for her own future benefit. As much of a cold hearted cunt that made her. But this wasn't Canon anymore. Endbringer fights lasted longer without Scion, and were more lethal because of that.

There was no guarantee Behemoth wouldn't crush the medical area and end her today. She was a hundred times the healer than the original Panacea had been by the time Canon started. She'd constantly played with her power. Gone to lengths the original would have never touched. But she still couldn't heal herself or play around much with her own biology. Two years of effort had allowed her to deaden pain to some extent. That was it. That was the limit she'd hit.

She listened to Dragon as the timer counted down. Standing in the medical area set apart for the few who wouldn't just immediately die upon contact. Behemoth was almost here.

And then he was.

Amy could hear the almighty crash as Behemoth emerged, simply crushing his way through buildings, heroes no doubt firing everything they had to stop him.

Already names were dropping. She'd have work soon. At times like these she wished the PRT had the sense to threaten the shit out of the villains to get people like Othala to be here. Or fuck, bribe them. But that would break the silly little rules they had. Fucking idiots.

"Bastion down, Firecracker deceased, Strider down, Spade deceased, Carousel deceased, Velocity down -"

Amy ignored the broadcast, pressing the button on the armband, "Someone find Strider and get him to medical now!" She snapped. Someone was probably already working on that - but she held no confidence in PRT heroes intelligence.

Without Strider being able to teleport their capes around to save the downed capes, Behemoth would just run through them all in no time, mobility was the key, and the other capes capable of saving downed capes were not nearly as fast as Strider. They couldn't let the bastard wreck Paris. She'd never even had a cliche Parisian lovey dovey date with anyone yet. In either life.

For romance they must win… She could see Vicky actually saying something like that if she was here. Amy wasn't nearly ridiculous enough to say it out loud.

She received an affirmative from someone, and a minute later Strider was dumped on one of the beds by a yellow suited cape who immediately disappeared again in swirling mists saying something french in passing.

Amy laid her hands on the independent teleportation cape. He had more broken bones than whole ones - but he was alive still. She suffused his entire body with her power, taking the opportunity to tweak his brain enough that he'd come see her at some point for instructions later if they both lived, making him see her as his savior. The opportunity was just too great to pass up on. As he woke up once he was healed he immediately went into a teleport with just a short nod her way as a thanks, having realized he was whole again - Amy felt her power expand all of a sudden, a connection forming. It was the biggest trip of her life, and tinker made drugs had some huge trips.

So she heard…

Her mind was everywhere, her power teleporting around, reaching out, her power felt stretched like it was reaching out over everything. She fell back on the ground on her ass even as more capes were being brought in and the medical personnel around her panicked at her sudden collapse.

The two other capes in the medical area with some healing capabilities would have to deal with the influx; her mind was on everything right now.

"Armsmaster deceased, Aurelian deceased, Strider down, -" The armband continued and Amy twitched in annoyance. The bearded idiot had not suffered nearly enough to go now, and fucking Endbringers with no regard for her efforts, she just healed Strider. Hardly knowing what she was doing but just feeling that she could, her power reached out from the medical area to the people named by Dragon. An invisible touch reaching Armsmaster, his rib cage crushed, but he'd only been dead for 3 seconds, Amy healed him up good as new and restarted his heart, her power just regenerating the cape wholesale, she felt herself weakening from it but that was all the apparent drawback, her power teleporting along to Strider, both legs practically gone, crushed to paste, she twitched in annoyance back in medical, but grew the legs back which snapped him into wakefulness again and he was again on the move pretty quick, apparently not even stopping to wonder about his miracle healing.

She could only heal by touch normally, but in this case she wasn't even healing like she normally was. She was just pumping them full of her power and regenerating them. Even the recently dead.

She could only deal with living tissue, but someone dead for barely seconds was essentially still living as far as their cells and tissue mattered. She fixed them with an ease even stronger than her usual powerful healing.

Her eyes stared ahead unseeing as she continued her work. The doctors and nurses around her were gaping in shock as over and over again Dragon came over the comm channel with deceased and downed Heroes, only to just as promptly declare them alive and back in the fight again. Amy felt herself growing weaker but she refused to quit, exhilarating in the powerful feeling of stretching her power across Paris.

To the heroes credit, they didn't question any of it and just jumped back into the fight. There was no time for shock or gratitude.

On and on Amy fought, viciously refusing to let the big stupid thing undo her work. It would all be fine, it would all work out. STOP KILLING STRIDER! She screamed mentally as she healed Strider again. After putting him down for the count twice, alive but seriously injured - Behemoth seemed to have it out for him now. Killing Strider an additional three times already - no, four! FUCK OFF! She raged as she put him back together again, her power sliding over another Hero, one whose head was crushed, coolly she left him dead, she would not reveal she could work on brains.

It wasn't worth it. She was inherently selfish after all. She wasn't outing herself with that capability for some random cape.

On and on it went, until suddenly she wasn't feeling anyone dying anymore. Well not any heroes anyway, plenty of people in the city were dying. But only maybe a few thousand, not the hundreds of thousands at minimum that she'd expect from a Behemoth fight nowadays.

She blinked blearily, coming back to herself. What the fuck was that - how did her power pick up on Striders teleportation? Was it because she did reach into his brain, touched his Corona Pollentia? Had she somehow what? Biologically programmed her own power to add teleportation when it was inside him? Could she do it again? And why was she so woozy, she tasted iron too, she brought her hand up to her lips, then her nose, they came back fully stained red. Oh, that's why.

She hit the floor a second later.

＊＊＊

"This should be impossible."

It was a small group. They'd convened in the medical area put aside for the Heroes by the Parisian government. For once it was practically empty. Not something Alexandria would have ever believed if she'd been told before today. The only patient, resting in the bed in front of them. Amy Dallon, Panacea. The miracle worker as some were already proclaiming all over PHO.

She'd been unconscious the entire day, the best medical professionals in the country swearing up and down that she'd recover soon, that it was exhaustion more than anything behind it.

"I am living proof that it is in fact possible." Armsmaster retorted stiffly. His armor shattered across his torso, the tinker having had no time to fix it yet, and apparently unwilling to go without it. As Panacea was from his city, he'd been included in this meeting, insisted on it actually. Refusing to let her be alone without someone she'd recognize.

"All data point to nothing short of a miracle," Dragon interjected via video link. "Over 70 percent of the Heroes present today… Died," She said with a grave expression." Yet a majority of them were healed within seconds and brought back." Dragon hesitated for a moment, "Over thirty percent of the Heroes died at least three times."

None of them spoke of Strider who'd died four times and been brought down severely injured thrice. The teleporter had anxiously awaited news of Panacea's recovery, desperate to thank the young heroine. None of them could blame him for those feelings.

It certainly made Alexandria uncomfortable to imagine dying four times. Behemoth deaths were always brutally violent. She'd seen too many of them.

"70 percent is a normal number for Behemoth." Legend said sharing a commiserating look with Alexandria and Eidolon. It's why it was so hard to get anyone in the know to come fight Behemoth after all. Why they had been struggling to save any cities from the Endbringer.

"How many died in total?" Alexandria demanded of Dragon, "Permanently, I mean." She added when she realized that was a thing she had to ask now.

"11 Heroes are so far confirmed dead, and although the death count of civilians is far from completed yet, it looks likely it will not eclipse five thousand." Dragon said a note of wonder in her voice. "Radiation levels are nominal, Behemoth never had time to really get going with so many Heroes constantly on him, returning to fight no matter what he did."

He'd eventually been driven off by the amount of damage the Triumvirate had managed to inflict when the multitude of Heroes could pin him down to allow the three of them to focus fully on damaging it instead of holding actions.

It had left behind an arm, which Alexandria knew Cauldron would be happy to examine and see what they could make of it.

The Triumvirate and Armsmaster took the information from Dragon in with a shared sense of disbelief even though they'd already heard the number before briefly. Eleven dead Heroes was…

"There has never been a death toll that low." Armsmaster said, almost as if speaking to himself, staring down at the pale, raccoon eyed girl they were all staring transfixedly at, waiting for her to wake.

"The French government has already declared her a citizen, instituted a national Panacea holiday and is planning on showering her with medals. Their parliament and president are practically gushing on TV right now." Legend said, shaking his head in wonder, "She deserves all that and more, this is… Big."

"It's only been two hours since they were informed about the particulars, they work fast." Eidolon said quietly. Seemingly discombobulated by something. Alexandria glanced his way, brow furrowed. Eidolon didn't seem happy, despite their huge victory.

"It is not in the news yet, but there's talk in upper levels of government in the states to give her the presidential medal of freedom." Dragon piped in.

Eidolon twitched slightly, drawing Alexandria's attention again, but at that moment Legend clapped his hands together with a wide smile drawing all eyes on him, "Good, we should celebrate her achievement. This will bring hope, it will bring us all together."

"How did she do it?" Alexandria wondered out loud. Panacea's power was well documented with how much she used it to heal people in Brockton Bay. Admirable really, for such a young heroine to have that kind of dedication. Alexandria had never paid much attention to her existence, something that would have to change now.

"We will find out momentarily, she is waking." Armsmaster said, almost robotically. The man did not appear to take his death well.

It was a new world.

For the first time since Contessa disappeared and Hero died with Scion, with the Endbringers becoming almost unstoppable in the aftermath, Alexandria found a sliver of hope in her chest.

It wasn't a way to defeat them. But it was something.

And it was better than nothing.

Damn Hero for being a fool.

＊＊＊

"Ow." Amy moaned, as she found herself waking, a throbbing pain in her skull making itself immediately known, the bright lights didn't help her eyes any either. "What the fuck happened?" She swore, before remembering what she had been doing before she must have passed out. Her whole body was aching, her power was aching, it was like she had stretched every muscle in her body even the metaphysical ones.

"That's what we would like to know." A stern voice asked from her side.

Amy blinked, scooting up into a sitting position in her bed, blinking again as she figured the lights were messing with her vision. Or she was dreaming, because she was pretty sure she was seeing the Triumvirate in front of her. "I'd say this must be a dream… But none of my many naughty dreams involving the Triumvirate - had lord fuddy duddy there." She indicated Armsmaster with her chin. Of course she was joking anyway, she only dreamed of Alexandria.

She glanced quickly at the other heroine, taking her all in, yep, definitely some future dream material.

Armsmaster looked supremely uncomfortable at her opening gambit. Which pleased Amy to no end. At least Legend had a sense of humor, the sinfully attractive man was laughing brightly while his two colleagues just looked constipated. And when she said sinfully attractive, it was true, because she was gay and she still thought he was an absolute dish.

"At least someone appreciates me." Amy mumbled, wincing as her head ached just from the small movements she'd made.

"I think it's fair to say that there's not a lot of people in the world right now that doesn't appreciate your efforts Panacea." A voice came from nowhere.

Amy recognized the voice of course, she just couldn't see where she was speaking from, and she wasn't going to turn her head and make herself hurt worse for it. "What do you mean?" She asked, a suspicious frown on her face.

"Do you remember the fight with Behemoth?" Alexandria asked her, looking like she'd had a stroll down the Champs-Élysées instead of having duked it out with an Endbringer.

Fucking brutes.

Amy did remember… "Fuck!"

"You're… Upset?" Eidolon asked, a weird look on his face, the man wearing a domino mask instead of his usual get up.

Amy groaned as she rubbed her face gently, not wanting to set off her aches even more, "I love that I healed so many, don't get me wrong… But it's going to be a big deal isn't it?"

"Only eleven people died permanently. That's not even five percent casualties." Armsmaster helpfully offered.

Amy groaned louder, grabbing a pillow and screaming into it, even if it hurt her head she just needed to release it. How was she going to turn to villainy if she was the most well known and loved hero of them all. And if she could make a habit of reducing casualties like this in Endbringer fights then she would be, hands down the most popular hero. Hell, if she tried to turn villain the fucking Triumvirate would chase her down and force her back into heroism.

There's a very big difference between a healer able to help heal the injured in an Endbringer fight - and one able to heal everyone, even the recently dead.

Eleven dead, probably either brain injuries or people that died before her power got boosted. What a mess.

She would need to find a way forward. Like hell she was spending her life like a heal bot.

"Are you… Okay?" Legend asked, one hand on her shoulder, squeezing her gently.

Amy removed the pillow from her face, sighing deeply, "Yeah, no. Not really. The last thing I want is to become more famous. That's not why I do what I do." Well, kind of. Infamous would be fine.

She could practically feel approval of her 'heroic' attitude radiating from Legend and surprisingly from Alexandria too, maybe she wasn't as stone cold of a bitch as she was in Canon.

Armsmaster and Eidolon were practically both competing for gold in the competition of how constipated can you look - while trying to not look upset about such casual disregard for fame.

Fucking glory hounds.

Shit… Eidolon is totally by accident sending an Endbringer to Brockton Bay next for sure isn't he? Amy just kind of wanted to scream again. She didn't even want to be a hero!

"How did you do it? It is what I want to know." Alexandria asked, "Did you trigger again?" She asked bluntly.

"I don't… Think so?" Amy said hesitantly, could that be it? No? Why would she second trigger? She wasn't even in any danger at the time.

"You don't sound so sure?"

"I don't think that was it… I was healing Strider, and he needed intensive healing and it almost felt like my power latched onto his in a way." Amy explained, feeling more sure of herself the more she said, it would be bad to outright lie in front of Alexandria anyway, so she just… Didn't tell her everything." He teleported away before I completely released him and then I could just feel that my power could also move across space like that, so everytime a name got called out, I moved to them with my power."

"Can you still use his powers?" Dragon asked in the ensuing silence as everyone pondered what she'd said.

"I don't know. Everything just aches right now." Amy said, looking down at her hands. I honestly don't know… But I have a pretty good guess. Let them believe I don't. I can say no when I'm not standing in front of Alexandria. Hopefully the fact she literally wasn't entirely sure would hide anything else she was feeling. Once she was up and moving she could showcase some minor improvement if necessary. If like she thought, it worked.

Every adult around her started theorizing about how it could have all happened, Amy listening with half an ear as no one seemed inclined to include her. That suited her just fine.

The longer she could avoid going home right now the better, perhaps.

Vicky was going to murder her for getting hurt without Vicky there to protect her. Not that she could have done anything. But logic and facts were never a real hindrance for Glory Girl.

And of course Carol would milk her new fame for all that it's worth, funny how comfortable she was with that while pretending she didn't exist the rest of the time.

…. Maybe it was time to put Carol down a peg.

＊＊＊