＊＊＊

Coil was growing beyond frustrated. No matter what tests he'd performed, he couldn't find anything wrong that said Panacea had done anything to possibly convert him.

He certainly didn't feel any loyalty to the girl, or any sudden wish to look out for her or assist her. He'd already gone through enumerate timelines where he tortured her to insanity, both to soothe his own anger at his mistake, and to punish her for the temerity to have lied to him.

But he couldn't ever get the confirmation.

Yet, he couldn't shake the feeling he had, that the whole situation had been a set up from the start. Coil wasn't used to the feeling of being on the other side of a con - he had gotten greedy, had taken risks he normally wouldn't take, had pushed his power too far, even though he knew it was unreliable at those points, and now he was at a crossroads.

Did he take another risk? Go on assuming she did nothing. No… Perhaps before, he could have assumed some manner of innocence in her actions. That the sullen, naive girl with no real life experience wouldn't pull something like that…

Not now, not after her sharply rising levels of competence, newfound international fame after Paris, the split from New Wave, recruiting Purity and Mouse Protector, gaining Uppercrusts support. These were not consistent with her previous behavior, nor were they the actions of a naive girl. The meeting with him had been staged. It must have been.

Which meant somehow, despite everything he'd done to obfuscate the connection - Panacea had known Thomas Calvert was Coil.

Of everyone in Brockton Bay. This girl had broken through the layers and figured out who he was, while the PRT and the Empire floundered, both dancing to his tune, unknowingly.

And if she knew that, then she was more dangerous than his previous risk assessment had accounted for. She still, under torture, refused to confirm that she'd done anything to him, which was as vexing as it was impressive. Even if he was now suspecting she'd done something to herself to prevent torture from being as effective as it usually was.

The timelines where he took her and their consequences were why he was stuck at a crossroads right now. Every time he kidnapped the girl, his base would, within hours sometimes - a day at the most - be assaulted by the new villain Poison Ivy.

It had taken several timelines to finally have a defense in place that defeated her if she attacked his base, plant control being surprisingly effective within the tight confines of his underground base.

Then… If he managed to defeat the villain in one of the timelines - the villain which he suspected Panacea had brainwashed to be slavishly loyal, to come to such a quick defense of her mistress - then… His timeline would end soon after, as Alexandria herself dropped by, not willing to allow him to control or kill Panacea.

Could Coil kill the girl? Yes, she was surprisingly crafty and dangerous with her bioshaping, but a couple of timelines had given him the perfected avenues to capture or kill the girl. But he couldn't guarantee her death would end any potential change she could have performed while she'd had access to his body and brain.

And he'd paid a lot of money to find out…

Hence the frustration.

It was becoming increasingly clear that to gain peace of mind, and ensure his mind was inviolate. He'd have to… Negotiate with the teenager.

Coil felt a visceral aversion to lowering himself to such an action. It felt too much like supplication to even think to go and deal with the slip of the girl like an equal, or worse… A superior.

In the end, he'd gone and spent a third of his liquid wealth on hiring one of the premier precogs in the world in a throwaway timeline. The confirmation in their sight had been the last straw, Coil would have to negotiate with the little bitch.

Because the African witch doctor cum warlord who was also a premier precog, had warned Coil that in the future she had peered through, Coil was alive in the one where he negotiated with Panacea.

And he wasn't in the one where he continued to try and gain leverage or torture secrets out of the girl.

Coil might detest the actions that would need to be taken, but he was ultimately a survivor. He could rebuild from anything. As long as he was alive to do so.

He split off the timelines as he sat in his base, in one case, he contacted the African precog again, spending a third of his wealth to ask her another set of questions.

The warlord's sight was annoyingly mercurial, jumping back and forth from seeing a day ahead to seeing seven months with not even her, herself, knowing at any given time which she would see, but Coil was able to confirm once again, as he had in dozens of timelines over the last few days…

That if he remained in Brockton Bay, he was not alive in any of the precogs' visions past a certain time. A distressingly short amount of time.

In the other timeline, he'd dialed a number, hatred boiling inside him, he could already picture the smugness and derision as his minion would begin to understand his situation.

The phone was picked up, the voice already irreverent and challenging from the get go, "Yeah boss? Having some performance issues?"

…She'd already investigated the situation herself then, must have picked up some clue from his previous call… He'd have to visit her in another timeline sometime soon to work out his frustrations at her disloyalty.

"Tattletale… I need you to do something for me…" Coil said coldly, already calculating the odds he would be able to keep her around after this once he left Brockton.

They weren't good.

…. He'd kill the girl one day for all of this. One day, at some point - she wouldn't have Alexandria coming to her rescue anymore…

This would not be the end of him.

＊＊＊

New York,

If this was a story, no doubt this fight would be a back and forth effort, where the protagonist held on by the skin of her teeth, bravely overcoming difficulties and outsmarting her opponents at the very last second to eke out victory while learning an important life lesson.

Fuck that noise!

Ivy did not want Legend to drop on her ass if this hullabaloo took too long. Ursa Aurora could do force fields, she didn't know how many, what kind of strength, what kind of variety she had in her usage, she didn't want to wait to find out if she could just box her in and wait for a PRT van to come foam her either.

For all she knew, the bitch could force field this entire damn street.

So as she sent a vine after Ravager, she also popped every seed on her body, threading her power through them, encouraging nothing but growth. She didn't know why plants came so easy for her, why she didn't need biomass to effect changes - but she was thankful for it, because now - it allowed her to create a veritable forest within the confines of the street they were fighting in.

Ravager and Ivy immediately disappeared amongst the brush as Ursa Aurora cursed and got out of the way, creating a forcefield in midair which she jumped on-top of, Ivy couldn't hear what she was saying, but with the way she was holding herself - she was calling it in. She needed to hurry.

"What the fuck is your problem, bitch!" Ravager shouted, legs and arms tied up tightly by vines, her agility and speed no match when literally in the belly of a forest completely under Ivy's control. It took an idle thought to have her spread out before her, limbs pulled to their full extent - keeping her from being able to pull off any last minute surprises.

Ivy sauntered up to her, the jungle diverting as she walked to give her a straight path, while still keeping the canopy cover. Ravager went red, her mask slightly off from the brief struggle she'd had with the vines, she kept struggling harder in her bindings as Ivy approached, "Oh my god! I've seen this kind of shit online! Get the hell away from me with this tentacle shit!" She shouted, huskily..?

Ivy stumbled slightly, it did look like that, didn't it? "Like I'd touch you," She called out, sneering at the woman that would have sent the S9 against Mouse Protector, stalking forward quickly to make up the last bit of distance, "Anyone willing to deal with the Slaughterhouse Nine is repugnant!"

"What the fuck do you know!? Fucking plant whore! You're a villain too aintcha? No way you're a hero doing this shit!" Ravager shouted back, posture more relaxed now that Ivy had confirmed she wasn't there to do… That. She also looked somewhat disappointed, which… Ugh, and Ivy thought her and Vicky were weird. She'd never be able to look at her plants the same way again thanks to Ravager. No wonder she wasn't fighting the bindings very hard. Was every cape ever a weirdo?

She thought to the two hiding in an invisible car right now that she'd brought along… The answer was likely yes.

She also wondered apropos the subject matter - if that tentacle monster she'd accidentally created back when she'd been playing around with her power, was still alive in Brockton Bay's sewer… She shook her head, what was she even thinking? What did it matter, as long as it never came looking for her.

Right, time limit, she focused on Ravager, who seemed unconcerned with her situation now, likely thinking with a hero up above the worst she'd see is some time in jail. "I'm debating whether killing you is worth the heat." Ivy told her matter of factly, tapping her lip thoughtfully.

It wouldn't be her first murder, she probably should feel bad about those. Gosh, no wonder she was a villain.

Ravager cocked her head, looking remarkably cocksure for someone completely immobilized and spread eagle in the air. "Yeah, right." She scoffed, "Go ahead, I fucking dare you. Kill me in Legends backyard, you stupid cunt!"

Funny… Coming from the girl that invited the S9 into that same backyard.

"Yeah, that's the only thing making me reconsider growing a tree up your anus to let it bloom out of your filthy mouth." Ivy said casually. On one hand, she was a villain, so killing another villain wasn't the end of the world, although it would be upping her threat rating considerably.

On the other hand, if she just brainwashed Ravager… Would the heroes be able to figure it out? They'd take her, for sure, and no doubt run tests to see if Ivy did anything more than plants, was it worth the risk? Ivy was a plant controller specifically to be distanced from Panacea's healing and shaping power. Would the PRT think tank connect the two if Ivy showed any kind of ability to bioshape people.

Yes. They would, Ivy couldn't help but think. Panacea showing an expansion of her power at the same time a villain shows up using the same kind of power… If they hadn't been so impatient they'd have waited six months before creating Ivy.

"I've killed before, but while exploring my power or doing surgeries to learn new things - never quite like this." Ivy mused out loud.

Ravager's attitude seemed to do a 180 when she realized Ivy was seriously considering doing it. Ivy used a vine to cover her mouth before she could beg or curse or anything else to interrupt her thought process.

This was such a hassle, if Ursa Aurora hadn't interrupted her, she'd just have killed Ravager in a straight up brawl, walking away feeling good about preventing a tragedy, now that she was captive, it felt a little more icky. Even though she'd killed people before.

Maybe it was because she had a great body, was she that shallow? She didn't want to kill her because she looked hot?

Ivy took another look at Ravager, the woman now fully struggling in her bindings, screaming into the plant matter gagging her. Yeah she was hot, from what she could see anyway. Man, she had a problem… She probably needed therapy…

Or super weed again, that was awesome… Alright, no therapy, she'd craft some super weed again when she got home. Well Amy could do it sooner, so that worked too.

There her mind went again on a tangent, while on a time limit…

She didn't have time, she couldn't wait any longer. With a sigh she stepped up to the struggling woman, her decision made.

She put her hand on skin, the motorcycle helmet having been knocked off and the face mask having slipped a bit, giving her plenty of avenues for skin contact - changing only one thing, making the woman existentially terrified of the Slaughterhouse Nine, and the Butcher for good measure. After that she knocked her out, and started moving towards the car at a fast clip, her forest having sprouted around it, so she knew exactly where it was still.

Hopefully the PRT wouldn't notice any changes, she hadn't done much after all, could hardly even be called brainwashing. Her being terrified of the S9 and the Butcher was just common sense after all. Ivy thought it would be okay, she could have killed her, but she'd better save that card for when it was time to clean up some Nazis. Plus Ravager wasn't too bad really, except for the retarded plan to call the S9. And a filthy filthy mouth.

Okay… She needed to stop thinking about this.

She felt plant matter dying suddenly which worked well in switching her focus, her connection fading from parts of the forest. She gulped, hoping she still had time. She put on some extra speed as she practically flew through the last ten feet. It might not be Legend, necessarily, but someone was destroying a considerable amount of her creations, it was time to get the hell out.

"Drive!" She shrieked at Sherrel as she threw herself into the car's passenger seat.

There was enough of her forest cleared off that she could see Legend hanging in the air by Ursa Aurora, carefully cutting and burning away her forest to find her and Ravager. Because of course he'd arrive, why would she think differently, she'd grown a forest in the middle of New York, and Legend quite literally was the first responder in emergencies due to his speed. She'd just hoped he'd been at home in bed - or shacking it up with his hubby or something.

He'd have to be happy with just one prize today. Her abrasive personality should do the rest of the work for her, to cover her minor alteration. Ravager wouldn't be a cooperative captive, of that she was sure of.

Even if they asked her about what Ivy had said… She'd just say she'd never be that stupid now that she had an existential fear of them. Ivy didn't like how much of what she needed right now was based on loose things like - she hoped - or she thought - or they might. But it's what she had to work with.

Sherrel hit the gas, Ivy clearing out a path for them quite easily - as they were already at the edge on that side of the road, Legend having already burned some of the periphery down for them as well.

"Fuck!" Sherrel cried out, Ivy was tossed against the window as the car had accelerated rapidly before it swerved suddenly with screeching tires - and they still only barely managed to dodge a beam from Legend.

In retrospect, opening an obvious path in the forest might have made being invisible slightly pointless for a second there. Ivy wasn't feeling like a very clever villain right now, doing the villain thing and dreaming it up were two very different things it seemed.

Thankfully the supreme blaster and protector of New York couldn't follow them with his cheat beams like he usually would, Sherrel driving away onto a side road as soon as she could reach one, their invisibility holding up and putting some distance between them.

Legend was forced to choose between trying to follow an invisible car, or clear out the possibly still dangerous forest - which they weren't sure might still be holding Ravager or not. To ensure they wouldn't be followed, Ivy concentrated on the connection she still held with the forest, while she needed touch to kick-start her plants in the first place, she could still feel them and effect them to a certain level as long as she wasn't too far away - she concentrated and opened up the canopy just enough to show Ravager still in the forest.

Legend would focus on the hostage, big hero that he was. There. They were safe. Ivy let out a breath, feeling relieved, she hadn't dealt with that the best, she realized now out of the moment. Her and Amy's lack of experience in actual fights was showing.

They needed to get good fast, because their reputations were going to grow rapidly, in Amy's case it already had.

Now that they weren't driving in a panic, there would be no more screeching tires giving them away in case Legend had someone else surreptitiously flying around trying to look for them, they'd made it. By the skin of their teeth.

"I fucking hate New York." Ivy grumbled as she righted herself in the seat, from where her face had been smushed into the windshield.

It was time to go back to Brockton Bay, there was no need to feel any kind of conflicted feelings when fighting Nazi's.

No one even cared if you killed one, really. Well… No one important. Even if the PRT would make noises about escalation and the like, no one would be actually heartbroken about it.

"Can we stop for food, I'm hungry?" Came the cheery voice of Jason, aka Sandman from the back. No wonder he was cheerful, he hadn't had to do a single thing, Ivy thought, feeling exhausted. And slightly naked without any seeds on her person. It had been for the best either way. There was fuck all Jason would have been able to do to fight Legend off, they'd just get bogged down until more reinforcements came.

"No, boss lady wants us back, I can tell, so we're going straight back." Sherrel said, driving with one hand as she raised her other hand without looking and gave Jason the finger. Waving it back and forth an irreverent smirk on her face.

"Oh, suck my dick you bitch, I'm fucking starving here!" He complained, not looking at all bothered, making Ivy think he was picking a fight for the hell of it. Maybe leaving him in a car with Sherrel for so long had a bad effect on him, she thought in hindsight.

"I think he's talking to you." Sherrel stage whispered to Ivy, making a motion with her free hand, her cheek bulging out obscenely.

"Fuck you guys, why did I even recruit you…" Ivy groused, rubbing her face, It's going to be a long drive again…

＊＊＊

Next morning. Brockton Bay, Boardwalk.

"Vicky… Fuck you, why did I ever trust you, why? We're not wearing that!" Amy groused, nursing a cup of coffee, sitting on the patio of a locally owned coffee shop on the boardwalk, joined by Vicky and Mouse Protector - or Charlotte, as she was in her civvies. If you could call wearing all Mouse Protector merch clothing as civvies.

Vicky grinned cheekily, flashing her phone at Charlotte, showing off some of the uniform ideas she'd pitched to the LA based design company. She'd taken some creative liberties in interpreting Amy's wish for them to 'look good'.

Charlotte laughed freely, fanning her face with a hand, a wide, shit eating grin, blossoming into being, as she looked over the uniform as modeled by Victoria. "Is there a uniform hidden somewhere? There's not much room to hide anything?" She teased, seeing exactly what Amy had seen, but unlike Amy she probably approved. The thirsty old biddy.

Compared to them anyway - the hero was practically ancient. It was kind of depressing that heroes didn't tend to see middle age even, and people like Charlotte really were old.

"I don't know whether to classify it as a bathing suit or as lingerie, but it definitely does not pass as a public hero uniform." Amy said, sending a tired glare at her sister who flashed her a victory sign, totally unaffected by her grumpiness as usual. Amy's head was still aching from worrying about the consequences of Ivy's actions, she hadn't been able to sleep because she couldn't stop thinking, all the way back from New York in Ivy's case - and in her case, back in her bed - this one mind sharing two bodies thing becoming a bit of a hassle when she had something on her mind.

They were also beginning to have some separate thought streams she'd noticed, which worried her slightly, at the same time as it offered some relief. This whole clone thing wouldn't really work out if Ivy actually became another person…

"I mean… We'd rake in the cheese on merchandise sales, plus I bet any villain would be too busy drooling to actually fight, you know." Charlotte piped in, leaning her head into her hand as she critically examined Vicky's photos. "Or at least the fights might end in interesting ways…" She said saucily. "I've always wanted to tussle properly with a villain, you know just be a bad mouse for a day…"

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Vicky made a face, "Villains are not for playing with, they're for punching." She told Charlotte. "Besides, none of them are cute anyway."

Charlotte chuckled, "Oh, honey, with us supers, the non cute ones are really the exception." She said, giving out an appreciative hum, before scrunching her nose up, amending, "Except for Case-53s I suppose."

"I'm not prancing around naked." Amy put her foot down firmly, ignoring the rest of the byplay. "Do you really want that kind of reputation?" She asked Vicky, because she knew enough of Charlotte to know she'd emphatically say yes just because it messed with people's preconceptions. She'd totally be all for a wet dream squad, it would give her almost unlimited ways to mess with anyone she met. Especially from the PRT and Protectorate. They'd lose their shit, not to mention the youth guard…

Which almost made her want to do it…

Why did Amy put up with these people anyway?

Oh yeah… Because literally anything was better than living with Carol.

Vicky chuckled as she swiped her phone back from Charlotte, "Alright, now that Amy is done having a heart attack, here's the real uniforms." She said, winking at Amy with a satisfied smile, happy to have gotten one over her. In Amy's defense she hadn't slept for over 24 hours. Vicky spent a moment playing with her phone, before she slid it over to Amy.

"Can we still order the other ones?" Charlotte asked innocently, her face cradled in-between her hands, "For private purposes, as cheesy as it is - sometimes you wanna unwrap something nice before you squiggle in and just ~lap it all up~."

Vicky waggled her eyebrows at Amy, which she promptly ignored. She was beginning to think that something with how she adjusted brains was behind everyone being so…

Thirsty.

Then again high school wasn't that different, except most people didn't have the guts to outright say it all the time. Self confidence was the rarity there, not the norm.

Amy didn't even look Charlotte's way as she pointed a finger at her, and not the polite one, "Down girl, you aren't in costume, you got to be able to at least try to not make this weird." She muttered, swiping through the much more tasteful uniforms Vicky had modeled.

"I'll hook you up girlfriend!" Vicky whispered loudly to Charlotte, both of them wearing conspiratory smirks that all but confirmed to Amy that she'd find one of those skimpy slut uniforms within her wardrobe soon enough.

Whatever, she wasn't wearing one either way. Although she'd pay good money to have Vicky swing by Carol's place wearing it.

"I'm not paying for those ones." Amy said dryly, giving them a look, "These ones are fine though, you did good, sis." She allowed, sending her sister a small tired smile. Because she'd actually done really well, the uniforms were well done, looked like they actually had some armor, and they looked cool - which probably had been the major thing Vicky concentrated on, so it was good that she'd managed to squeeze in actual functionality as well.

"Praise for moi? I can die happy!" Vicky swooned dramatically, gaining a cackle from Charlotte, Amy couldn't help a short chuckle herself, Vicky in a good mood never seemed to fail at lifting her own spirits, at least when it wasn't aimed at teasing her.

"Black and gold though…" Amy said, wondering at Vicky's thought process. That was a statement…

Vicky smiled showing off her perfect pearly whites, her eyes glinting harshly as she pumped a fist in the air, "Right! Because it's like New Wave, only better - to shove it in their face!" She proclaimed proudly.

"You know you don't have to do that, they're still family, and even if I don't want to go back, you can still go see them anytime." Amy offered, Vicky being the only person she really felt any true guilt over messing with in any way, so she wanted to make sure she knew she could still talk to them, even if she'd never ever let her go back and leave her. She was too selfish to ever let Vicky go.

Vicky shook her head, the golden tresses of her hair shining in the morning sun as she did, "Nope, I won't talk to them until they apologize to you." She declared, making it sound like more of an oath. Her eyes were still harder than she was used to seeing from her ever cheerful and positive sister. "You're the most important thing in my life, Ames, you and me, that's what matters!"

"This would be so much hotter if you were twins - twincest is wincest." Charlotte said suddenly, letting out a big dramatic gust of a sigh, looking at them both with a leer.

Vicky went as red as a fire hydrant, spluttering at Charlotte as Amy glared her down, stabbing a finger forward, "Alright, I get it, you like stirring the pot! But seriously, calm your tits down or I can totally make you a barbie doll!" She warned, her own cheeks reddening. She knew Mouse Protector worked alone for a reason - but she'd thought it was all the campy one liners, not her humping anything with a pulse!

Vicky was markedly avoiding looking at Charlotte as she stuffed her face with a breakfast pastry to avoid having to talk or acknowledge anything said. Charlotte on the other hand just smirked, tilting her head as she studied Amy, "A barbie doll eh? Sounds pretty hot, why would I complain if you're going to make me the finest bite in town?"

"Barbie dolls have nothing between their legs." Amy hissed out, Charlotte finally blanching and backing off a bit, murmuring a quick apology. But still letting off a snigger right after, showing she wasn't overly worried.

"Now that distractions are over with… Seriously, I need to get a spray bottle or something…" Amy muttered, giving Charlotte a dirty look, the woman just grinning at her, albeit with a slightly pale face, no doubt thinking of her threat. "Uniforms are getting sorted, our building will get done within the week thanks to how much I'm paying for it… We need to decide who we're concentrating on, the ABB or the Empire. Because fighting both at the same time is just going to be pointless. Let the Protectorate deal with whoever we're not fighting."

"Empire." Vicky and Charlotte both said at the same time, Charlotte nodding at Vicky to go ahead, the peppy girl giving her a thankful smile, before focusing on Amy, "The Protectorate can't even handle the Empire anyway, let them concentrate on keeping Lung from taking advantage while we focus on whittling down some Nazis!" Her aura was practically visible, she was that excited at the prospect, no civilians were nearby so Amy didn't bother chastising her.

Besides, at Charlotte's dry look, Vicky turned it down anyway, looking sheepish, so Amy didn't have to do it, she had people to handle her sister now. It almost made Mouse Protector's shenanigans worth it, just to have someone else to rein in Vicky, whenever she wasn't egging her on instead.

Amy was so glad that the boardwalk was practically empty at this time, none of them were being particularly discreet after all. She hummed in thought as she took a long slow sip of coffee. "I get what you're saying, but we can't exactly outnumber the Empire either, and personally the whole sex slave thing the ABB got going on… Major ick."

She hadn't practiced a lot with viruses and the like due to her fear of accidentally depopulating the eastern seaboard, but if she could target only ABB somehow - she'd chemically castrate the lot of them.

She'd have her lab soon, and her other more hidden labs as well, she'd get to really get into drugs, viruses and the like then.

Charlotte scrunched her nose up, wagging a hand in the air like a fifty fifty motion at Amy's words, "I agree with you somewhat big cheese, but if the ABB gets caught in a mouse trap too soon - the Empire just takes over everything - Lung at least only cares about the Asians, yeah?"

Mouse Protector hadn't been fully aware of just how shit Brockton Bay's situation was and had been annoyed Miss Militia hadn't even called her in to help when they were so outnumbered. When Amy had explained it, Charlotte had gone off to harass MM about it, which did give Amy somewhat of a strategy to fob her off when she was being too annoying.

Miss Militia was a big girl, she could take over babysitting once in a while.

Amy nodded mulling it over, "That's true, that's why I'm asking for your perspectives, to strategize a good way forward, I have a habit of just doing the first thing I set my mind on." She admitted. "Why do you want to hit the Empire, Vicky?" She asked her sister.

Vicky licked some strawberry jam off her upper lip, taking a minute to think it over, "Huh, I guess really I only picked them cuz no one will feel bad if I break a Nazi." She admitted shamelessly.

"She's not wrong." Charlotte said, smirking, "Beating up Nazi's is practically a civic duty."

Amy rubbed her aching head, thinking it over, finding a slight snag immediately, "Kayden might be a problem if we leave the ABB sex trade alone to go fight her old buddies." She admitted, not overly caring, because she'd have to eventually anyway, but it was one headache they'd have to deal with if they chose the Empire first.

"So why are you asking us and not Kayden?" Vicky asked, a teasing smirk on her face, "Afraid?" She mocked, giggling at her. Charlotte immediately jumped in, making clucking noises, a shit eating grin on her face. The only thing that saved America from a virulent plague in that moment was that she didn't do the chicken arms, Amy would not have survived the embarrassment - and neither would they.

Okay… Maybe sleep deprivation was a bad thing.

She had a fix for that anyway, two, actually. Ivy and drugs. Drugs were the solution to everything.

But she hadn't broken in a lab yet, so Ivy it was. She sent Vicky an admonishing look, before rising from the table, "Since you two are so chummy, you can both help Kayden in riding herd on the construction workers and manage the fans that won't stop hanging out outside our place." She put on a passive aggressive bitch face, "Kiss some babies, sign autographs, you know all that shit I have people to do for me now. You. You are the people. Do it."

"Aww, work! Amy you can't mean that, aren't I your favoritest sister in the world!?" Vicky pleaded, giving her pouty face number 4, Amy looked away immediately, she was very weak to number 4 and Vicky knew it, damn her.

"Just… Do something productive and don't cause me any problems." She hurried out, exiting the patio, leaving them with the bill, she felt it was only fair. What with Vicky using weapons of mass destruction so casually.

She texted Strider as she entered an alley a few minutes later, stopping just by the edge of where the boardwalk ended and Empire territory started. He would never stop being so utterly convenient, even if she felt slightly ridiculous using him as a taxi all the time. He was in the middle of a delivery but would get to her in five minutes. She sighed, leaning back against the alley wall as she fished in her pocket and pulled out a specially made blunt, seconds later she felt some of the tension leaving her as the genetically engineered super relaxation weed took effect.

She didn't have much of it, so she'd been using it sparingly, because she had only a limited amount of plants she could hide away without anyone finding and destroying them - or smoking them. With her lab(s) coming up, she'd finally be able to really tinker around with drugs and viruses. Improve the human genome perhaps, better healing, better respiratory system, whatever she really wanted at any given moment, she could probably find a way to make it.

It hit her at that moment, she could have just grown as many plants as she wanted with Ivy and been pleasantly buzzed this entire time! At least since she gave herself two bodies. She banged her head back against the wall, letting out a little huffing laughter, taking another drag of her guilty pleasure.

Ivy was immediately working at it right after they'd reached that epiphany, diverting from a card game with Sherrel and Jason, she'd been losing anyway, might as well do something useful and get them their weed. Although the locale of Skidmark's house left a lot to be desired. She'd have some of her special blend grown by the time Amy popped in - she was an old hand at crafting any kind of plant into this blend by now, she was curious what the effect would be on her mind if two of her bodies ingested it simultaneously.

She idly wrote off the rest of the day, because she'd likely not be very useful for much. If she hung out with Ivy's crew for the day it wouldn't be too big of a deal - they were mindfucked anyway, they wouldn't rat her out. She'd just have to make sure Vicky didn't come looking for her or anything - her sister had some sort of bloodhound in her, she could find her way too easily at times.

"Whatcha smoking small stuff? Gonna share?" A put upon, rough voice, interrupted her thoughts coming from the end of the alley. It was obviously put upon, because the voice even cracked embarrassingly - half way through the sentence.

Amy looked them over, her eyes half lidded with her complete disinterest as she breathed out a small smoke cloud. ABB were getting brazen if they were sneaking about this close to the boardwalk and the edges of Empire territory, early morning as well. Was Lung's band of morons going to make the choice for her?

Unlikely they'd piss her off that much, these guys were kind of… Virgin new.

The three ABB thugs, decked out fully in their gang colors, clean in a way that suggested they'd just bought the clothes, strolled through the alley, approaching her with the swaggering stride of the young and inexperienced acting tough. These were practically babies. No wonder they were here, it was probably a hazing, forcing them to experience an Empire beating, toughen them up.

There were probably some older ABB guy a block or two away having a good laugh right now…

All Amy cared about was the fact their stupid faces were ruining her buzz. "Keep walking, faggots." She drawled lazily, crossing her arms under her breasts, blunt hanging from her lips loosely.

The fact they didn't recognize her? With the news coverage lately? Her already low estimation of the general gangbangers intelligence lowered even further than her previous estimations.

"Hey, girl, you can't talk to us like that, pretty white girl like you, you'd make us a nice finder's fee if you get too mouthy." The lead thug said trying to sound tough, his chest all puffed out, he ended his statement by thumping his compatriots lightly, who both giggled at the threat.

"I'm terrified." Amy said sarcastically, pulling in another hit of sweet sweet stress release, checking her wristwatch immediately after, Well, I'll need to handle this in three minutes or less I guess. "Can you get the dick measuring contest over with? I've got places to be?" She tilted her head, an unfriendly grin on her lips, "Considering your ABB, there's no one over 5 inches at the most anyway, right?"

"The fuck, Bitch, what the fuck is your problem?" The chubby Asian boy wearing a red and green baseball cap backwards said, a confused look on his face - like this wasn't how he expected things to work out. Amy gave him a disinterested stare, just continuing to smoke, not moving an inch, nor bothering to reply to the idiot kid cosplaying as a gangbanger.

"My home slice asked you a question you crazy bitch! You better answer him or we're going to have to get rough." The leader said, his other little butt buddy minion giving him an encouraging shove in the back, which had the leader stumbling within two feet of Amy, looking hesitant for a second, before he threw a look back at his buddies.

Peer pressure firmly behind him, he got a stubborn look on his face as he stepped forward the final steps to loom over Amy, his hand reaching out for her arms.

"You really don't want to do that, home slice." Amy said mockingly, giving a little snort at their ridiculous play acting at being gangers - blowing a puff of smoke into his face. At this point just wanting the confrontation so she could put them down.

She'd be gentle. It was their first time after all.

They all hesitated, her complete disregard for them starting to hit something in their hindbrains and giving them a clue they were heading for a bad end. Their leader didn't stop himself though, and grabbed Amy's arm, trying to give it a pull to pull her off the wall.

Amy sighed as she patted his cheek, where he stood absolutely frozen, paralyzed since the moment he touched her. "You're lucky, you know." She said languidly, lazily playing with the boy's hair, tousling it, as he stared at her with wide fearful eyes, locked inside his own body. "If you had arrived just a few minutes sooner, I would have given you a sex change, made you perfect little dolls, you would have enjoyed serving Lung, right? That's all you want out of life, hmm?" She said, continuing her languid tone, the other two new bangers frozen in shock and fear, staring at her and their captured leader.

Amy turned her gaze slightly to look them in the eyes, her blunt almost burnt out hanging from her lips, "If you start running, I might not make you go through that." She suggested, snorting with disgust as one of the boys fell over himself trying to run, the chubby one leaving them all behind as he showed a spectacular speed for someone his size.

"As for you…" Amy said, tapping her statue like captive on the nose, as the last member finally gained control of all his limbs and ran out of the alley, sobbing like a little bitch. Maybe they'll reconsider gang life? These pussies wouldn't survive it anyway. She thought, studying her teenage captive. "Do you go to Winslow, maybe, hmm?" She asked as a crack heralded Strider's arrival.

The sweetie didn't even blink an eye at the situation, as he took up a spot at the end of the alley, watching with an amused little smirk playing on his lips, tipping his cap at her when he saw her glancing at him.

Amy allowed her captive to speak, "Well, answer me, do you go to Winslow?"

"Y-yes…" The teenage ganger wannabe answered hesitantly, silent tears running down his face.

"Hmm." Amy said in thought, shutting off his ability to speak again, "Hmm." She added for good effort. Things were better in threes, so she threw an additional thoughtful, "Hmm." In there.

She hadn't really decided what she would do about Taylor. She really wasn't quite so cuntish as to allow the locker incident to happen. And she definitely didn't want Taylor pointed her direction as Skitter if she did trigger either. The girl lacked any kind of chill in her.

Without gold morning being necessary, Taylor didn't need to be a parahuman.

She needed a delicate touch here, didn't she? Or a sledgehammer. She wasn't sure which one would work the best right now. And maybe making decisions while high wasn't a good idea. More information it was! "Alright, I won't turn you into a little pretty doll if you do me a small favor, I want you and your little buddies to keep an eye on Sophia Hess, Emma Barnes and Madison Clement. Report to me everything they do, where they hang out and at what time, what is their routine like, who else do they spend time with." She patted him on the cheek patronizingly, "Think you can do that without fucking it up?"

Once she knew where they were likely to be at any given time, she could either show up and put a stop to the bullying by simple star power and influence - or she could fuck Sophia up.

One sounded much better than the other.

She took a moment to write down a phone number on a piece of paper she tore off a notepad she'd had in her jacket, placing it in his jacket pocket, the number belonged to one of the many phones Ivy had from Skidmark, "Text this number with all the details daily. Or you'll really know what being fucked feels like from the other side soon enough." She let his paralysis go, the brat running out of there like Lung himself was after him.

Please, she snorted, like Lung could harm you as well as I could. He was far too final.

"Sorry for the wait." She told Strider, "Punks gonna punk I guess." She used her powers to eradicate the last remains of her blunt, she didn't want to leave that kind of stuff around. Her luck, some kid was going to pick it up, it was way stronger then any regular strain.

Strider grinned, "No worries, it's fun to see you scare the crap out of some losers anyway boss lady, can I be there when you pull that paralysis routine on any of the Empire capes?"

Amy snorted, "They don't tend to just stand around, but sure, if I manage." She sighed, wondering if even interfering at all in Winslow was a good idea, but it was already done. "I wonder if they'll report all that." She mused out loud coming to stand right by Strider, ready to use him to save her a thirty minute walk or a bus ride.

Strider chuckled, "I'd be very surprised if Lung or Oni Lee even know they exist."

With a crack, they were off, leaving the alley behind for Skidmark's house.

＊＊＊

The Rig, Brockton Bay,

The atmosphere in the room was tense, not out of any real danger or threat approaching Brockton Bay for once, but due to the seething barely hidden anger in Director Piggot as she waited for their last arrival, glaring at the table like it had done her wrong.

Even Ethan was keeping his mouth shut, not wanting to direct Piggots attention towards him and earn himself punishment duty for a month or two.

He was still working off the last couple days of his last punishment duty.

The entire room seemed to let out a combined sigh as Armsmaster finally arrived, walking through the doors stiffly, a certain hitch to his shoulders telling Ethan they'd either interrupted tinker time - which to be honest was always. Or Dragon time - in which case Ethan felt bad for the Canadian woman.

To be able to draw Colin away from tinkering for a moment - only to be cockblocked by Director Piggot for your efforts. Being Canadian was truly suffering.

The woman needed to just push forward and grab Colin by the balls and growl mine. Autismmaster would get it at that point, Ethan was almost sure.

"Thank you for finally joining us, Colin." Director Piggot said snidely, glaring around the table as if looking for anyone that wasn't attentive enough.

Colin frowned minutely, but didn't answer, simply sitting down next to Hannah. Ethan silently applauded the man, that was the correct read of the room, no words would have soothed the beast at this time.

"In case some of you aren't aware, the scene in Brockton Bay has been altered irrevocably…" Director Piggot barked out, the projector bringing up a hologram of the new Starlight team as they were seen at their press conference.

"Teenagers… Rogues…" Director Piggot's lips thinned and she looked physically pained as she continued, "Mouse Protector." Hannah as well, seemingly uncomfortable at the addition as Ethan watched on, personally feeling that Mouse Protector was exactly what Brockton Bay needed.

Someone that didn't take themselves so damn seriously all the time.

Director Piggot lashed out at the last team member, eyes narrowed in anger, "And of course, the hero -" She spat out, sounding bitter, well more bitter than usual, bitterer?, "Purity."

Ethan raised a hand, almost without thinking, speaking up as Piggot directed a heavy stare in his direction. "I'm assuming from context that we're mad." He said genially, Jamie squeezing his hand in warning under the table, he plowed on undaunted, "But, isn't it good that Purity is not going to be blasting us anymore?" He asked.

Hannah, the ever loyal Miss Militia jumped in before the Director needed to, "One can not be forgiven for murder and just start being a hero like everything is forgiven, Ethan." She said reprovingly.

Ethan grinned, even as Jamie ground her foot down on him to get him to stop, sorry honey, but someone needs to say something else then yes, ma'am in this echo chamber… "Apparently one can." He replied, gesturing to where Purity was indeed part of a hero team. "She's got official sanction, she's a hero now, so… That's good for us, isn't it? That takes a lot of power away from the Empire, and gives the good guys someone that can help in containing Lung if he gets set off."

Before Hannah can do more then give him a hard disapproving look, Ethan got help from the most unlikely of allies.

"Assault is correct." Colin said clippedly.

Ethan just barely heard Robin mutter under his breath, "So this is what end times feel like…" Before Colin continued,

"If she wasn't sanctioned, then I agree that Purity can not simply call herself a hero and expect to avoid arrest, but she is sanctioned, so it is a moot point. For all purposes, until she does something that steps over a line, she is a hero."

"How likely is it that she will step over the line?" Jamie piped up softly beside him, before Ethan could interject again. He settled down in his seat, before he could risk facing the dreaded couch again for a week. Colin being on his side in this, kind of, was already doing his job for him, preventing this from being Piggots little echo chamber of yes men.

Piggot scoffed harshly, "She's a Nazi, she'll do something eventually."

Hannah nodded decisively, "We'll need to keep a close eye on her, so that when she slips up we're ready to handle it." She looked momentarily pleased, eyes crinkling, "She won't have Empire back up this time."

Piggot smiled, and it wasn't a pleasant one, "I'll leave it to you to follow her and ensure she faces justice then, Miss Militia."

Ethan didn't have to speak up this time either, Shawn doing it for him to his surprise.

"Are we really going to do this? Follow her around watching for a mistake? Won't this set us off against Starlight and Panacea? Is that worth it?" Shawn asked, sounding uncomfortable.

Ethan wasn't sure what had been in the food this morning, but it must have been something special - to have so many of the team actually speaking up against overreach this time. "What he said." He simply added, giving Dauntless a thumbs up of encouragement.

"Panacea is likely to take any overt or covert action towards her team badly." Colin added, Piggot was beginning to look ready to strangle them all with all these discussions that went past - yes ma'am, as you say ma'am. Ethan loved it.

"Purity is a murderer, Colin." Hannah said sternly, shaking her head, "There can't just be no consequence for that."

Colin frowned, "We must live in the world as it is, not how we wish it to be, Hannah." He said, impressing Ethan even further, "It is a fact that we let worse go all the time if it benefits the PRT."

As the discussion continued on, Ethan sat back and relaxed, for once not needing to be the voice of reason.

He didn't know what had pushed Colin into being reasonable, he'd seemed mostly the same after his death and resurrection after all, perhaps it was a delayed reaction.

Either way, it could only be good for the PRT ENE if Armsmaster wasn't just blindly doing whatever was good according to the word of Piggot.

＊＊＊

"You… Know Panacea." Sherrel said dumbfounded, staring at Ivy as she let Amy inside.

"Is that so odd?" Ivy said, a smirk on her face as Jason openly gaped at Amy's presence.

"Odd?" Sherrel giggled madly, "Is it odd!? That you, a villain? Is chummy with the Panacea? Savior of Paris? The hero Panacea?" Sherrel stepped back waving her hands, "No, boss not odd at all. Just one question?" She raised a hand looking completely weirded out, "Is it real? Or am I like… Completely imagining it?"

Amy just looked on in amusement, the slight buzz she still had making this more funny then annoying.

Ivy sighed, "Yes Sherrel it's real. But obviously I don't have to tell you either to keep it quiet, this can't be common knowledge, am I clear?"

Jason and Sherrel both nodded rapidly, eyes still wide. "Yes boss!" "Sure thing, boss lady!" Their responses snapped out immediately.

"Don't disturb us, we'll be upstairs in the guest room." Ivy said threateningly, leading Amy by hand up the stairs. The guest room was the only room not absolutely covered in filth, so it was the best place for them to have some time alone.

They both froze at the top of the stairs as they could clearly hear Jason freaking out downstairs, saying to Sherrel in almost hysteria, "Our boss is fucking Panacea!!"

Sherrel hissed back lowly, sounding excited in exact opposite to her fellow villain, "That's so romantic! Hero and villain, sneaking around in secret, their love never able to be revealed due to the consequences."

"Oh, great…" Amy said drolly, before shaking her head, those two chucklefucks hardly mattered, who were they even going to tell anyway.

They entered the small bedroom shortly thereafter, Amy finding a somewhat clean spot on the bed to sit down on, Ivy standing before her, both of them practically vibrating in excitement.

It felt so odd. Amy thought, being the one who's body is being shaped, and also being the one looking into her own body, changing it for the better. Her clone using everything they'd learned to make Amy better.

She hadn't wanted to do it under Carol's thumb, but now she was a team leader in her own right, and her status would likely be revealed in the near future anyway - so she could finally get a few upgrades.

And if Ivy slightly improved things here and there… Smoothing out her legs a bit, a bit of firmness and size upgrade on her breasts, a toned stomach, clearer skin, tiny bit less freckles… Well, it's not like anyone was ever looking at her naked to be able to tell the difference anyway.

Once the cosmetics were done, Ivy dove into Amy to improve everything else, tweaking things here and there, improving muscles, strengthening bones, increased capabilities in her organs, making them practically bulletproof to boot, her skin getting the same treatment, making it harder to get at her insides.

She didn't need an appendix, so she molded it into something new, something better. An organ that would take all impurities left over from other organs work, (and any extraneous fat she didn't need) and transformed it into her own genetically engineered blood cells that would spread across her system, their purpose to gradually induce regeneration in every part of her body. Bit by bit the cells would infect the rest of her, slowly building up her body to handle Wolverine or Deadpool style regeneration.

She'd worked on this literally ever since she first came to in this world, a way to survive anything, but had lacked a good way to make it work for herself, had planned to utilize a retrovirus eventually if nothing else worked, once she had a lab and was out of the Dallon household.

With Ivy, she didn't need any of that. She hadn't given the organ to Ivy because both of them growing into almost perfect regeneration would be too obvious. She was a clone, even if her flesh body died, Amy could just make another. Ivy resurrecting no matter what an enemy did, it would certainly confound her enemies to have her pop back up no matter what.

Or she could make another person if she got bored of playing as Ivy at some point in the future, have her disappear and another villain take her place.

Once Brockton was hers, Panacea could stop playing hero anyway, so who knew what she'd decide to do then. Would Queen Ivy of Brockton be more fun than Queen Amy? It was essentially the same thing after all, but with very different expectations.

Amy shivered as her body changed bit by bit, she didn't actually feel much of anything, but as she literally felt every bit of her body through Ivy she imagined the feel of it anyway from her body's end.

She was definitely a decent brute rating now, and it would take more than a handgun or a dinky knife to pierce her skin, let alone her organs. She'd grown a sort of chitin armor around her most important organs like the heart and kidneys etc, so beyond the organs themselves being almost bulletproof, and beginning to have regenerative qualities - there was also now armor around them that would take a brute to punch through.

Anyone trying to kill her would find it very difficult soon enough. Amy humming in pleasure as Ivy continued to improve her, her eyesight improving to perfect night vision, her hearing attuned to be able to pick out a single breath from 50 feet away in a room full of people. On and on the improvements went.

When Amy was pondering whether to just transform her uterus into something more useful since she doubted she'd ever want kids, she decided to stop.

There was such a thing as too much.

Ivy disappeared from the room for a moment, returning soon after with her weed.

Well… They weren't fucking, as the chucklefucks believed.

But they were going to get absolutely fucking blasted right now.

Time to experiment, to see what it felt like to get high in two bodies, one mind taking the brunt of it.

She was very curious. And admittedly just very interested in getting really high and losing some stress.

….

No… Just smoking, that's it. That's enough stress relief.

＊＊＊

The night had been long and ultimately pleasant, Amy very relaxed, with two bodies on a pleasant high, having spent the night trying different combinations as they both amused themselves in altering the composition of their own weed plants, the effects of the two bodies getting high on different strains sending Amy on the best trip of her life.

The fact she could wipe away any exhaustion from lack of sleep by one touch had ensured she could just relax all night, for once not wasting any thoughts on her plans, on her future conquest of Brockton. Just… Chill and enjoy.

She'd ended up breaking into Skidmark's neighbors house to do so in the end however. Because there just wasn't any way to properly relax inside that filthy hellhole, even the guest room was in the end not up to her standards. She'd also needed the peace and quiet to honestly relax, Sherrel and Jason both snoring hard enough to rattle the walls at that point.

She definitely needed to find a better place to stay in her Ivy persona than Skidmark's house.

All night had been just sitting and relaxing, not having to do anything, just smoking and playing around with their biology, and now it was morning, and soon they would have to get going again. Amy would have school starting up again…

Showing up high to school would be a problem for a hero, wouldn't it? What a bother. She needed her chill if she was going to be dealing with the Wards or Vicky. Or Dean and Vicky. Or Vicky.

She sighed, Ivy smoothly rising from the couch she'd been laying on, ready to come cleanse Amy's system, to ensure she didn't show up at school visibly high.

Amy and Ivy were interrupted in the middle of it by a phone call, Amy pleased to find it wasn't her phone, it was Ivy's. It still ultimately was her problem, but it was slightly more removed when Ivy had to deal with it.

"Yes, what is it, Sherrel?" Ivy asked, even as Amy reached out and cleansed her body as well, since the altered state of mind would work on Amy from either body.

Both bodies became rigid at the same time as her mind went into overdrive at Sherrel's bitching report about a purple smug bitch at the door, asking for Amy.

What the fuck was Tattletale doing here!?

＊＊＊