Chapter Text
Amy brushed aside Dean’s high pitched scream and the way he pathetically covered his nipples. At that moment, she only had one thing in mind.
“Now, Victoria, I need to be in the docks RIGHT NOW” Amy shouted again, now with more desperation leaking into her voice.
“Okay… Calm down Amy” Victoria replied, failing to hide that she was annoyed, and failing even harder to look calm. “What’s happening?”
“There’s been explosions… and… and I think it’s Bakuda and… “ Amy was fighting to avoid an anxiety attack. Her head was a whirlwind of emotions and the only thing she could hold onto to keep herself steady was the knowledge that Taylor needed her.
“Well, and? The Protectorate will take care of it.” Victoria added, frowning “You never want to come on missions, and now you want to be a hero that badly?”
“NO, FUCK, IT’S NOT THAT” Amy spat.
Fuck
, she didn’t have time to play this game or to argue or anything of the sort “A FRIEND CALLED ME AND SHE’S IN TROUBLE AND
FUCK
”
“I don’t like getting into your business, but I think your sister’s right, it’d be better if we left that to the Protectorate” Dean added with such a condescending tone that Amy was beginning to see red. “You don’t know the situation, or if Bakuda’s still near, or how many bombs are still out there…”
Amy looked at Dean in such a way that, maybe because of that, maybe because of what he saw with his power, the young hero stopped turning his eyes away from her.
“VICTORIA, YOU OWE ME THIS ONE FUCKING THING”
“No, I’m not gonna get involved into that mess just because you say it, Amy”
“HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I GOT YOU OUT OF TROUBLE WHEN YOU WENT TOO FAR HURTING SOMEONE? YOU KNOW THAT IF IT WASN’T FOR ME YOU’D ALREADY HAVE PEOPLE CONSIDERING WHETHER YOU GO EAT SEEDS IN THE BIRDCAGE”
Victoria was getting angry, Amy knew and didn’t care, she didn’t care how angry she got, how much she screamed at her, or if she wanted to break every bone in Amy’s body to feel better afterwards. But she wasn’t going to accept a no, she refused to, no matter what.
“... I guess I don’t need you to come with me. I’ll go by myself. And what does it matter if I don’t come back, it’s not like anyone in this family has ever loved me”
Before Victoria could finish articulating the sentence Amy knew she was thinking, she quickly touched Dean’s foot.
“And, I don’t know… losing his sister-in-law could affect Dean
so
much, he might suffer from erectile dysfunction for the rest of his life…”
“AMY GO FUCK YOURS-”
“Calm down Vivi, calm down,” Dean rushed to say interrupting the blonde “I think a relationship between sisters is very important, and if Amy needs you to help is because it’s really matters to her, so just go”
“Are you sure?”
“Oh Vivi, I’m 100 fucking percent sure” Dean said with a cold tone.
“Okay” Victoria stood up and picked up her costume, entering the bathroom under Amy’s satisfied smile “at least give me two or three minutes, I’ve gotta be presentable”
“Eh… are you going to undo what you did to my… “ Dean asked Amy, very uncomfortable.
With a smug puff, Amy replied “I didn’t do anything, dumbass”
Amy frantically looked over every body she saw that even remotely looked like Taylor. She’d already made Vicky go down a few times for that purpose, though every time it’d just been a different person’s corpse.
That none of them were alive, made the sensation of her guts twisting and turning worse and worse.
Finally, in a more open area between the buildings and the flames, they saw another person on the floor, one whose hair reminded Amy so much of Taylor that she made Victoria land again. And once she saw them up close, the sensation in her guts stopped being a sensation, and started feeling like they were actually tangled up and trying to kill her.
Because Taylor was there, lying down face-down on the floor. Amy immediately ran towards her without thinking, and slowly and carefully she turned her around.
A rule for rescuing people in situations like these was to never move someone without knowing how hurt they were. One that she, one of the most powerful biomancers on the planet, could ignore without issue.
Taylor had a pulse and was breathing. That was good, very good,
incredibly
good. Her eardrums were burst, her corneas were damaged, and her right leg was full of third-degree burns, possibly even having reached the bone in some places.
Amy sighed in relief. Yes, she could work with that.
Noticing the darkness she willingly put in front of Taylor’s brain to avoid seeing it, she prayed that it was intact. She was never going to remove that darkness, she
promised
she never would.
B-but a macabre thought passed through her brain… What if the only way to save Taylor was by removing that darkness? that veil that protected the very own being of what she understood as “Amy”?
She shook her head.
Little by little, Amy. Right now, you’re Panacea in an emergency situation, you know exactly what to do. Step-by-step, first you have to get her out of here.
“Could you lift her up and wait for me on the first street of the docks?” Amy asked shaking the ashes from her robes, using all white was horrible, she had never felt like a “Healer saint” like Carol like to say, but instead like a poor dirty beggar. “I think I can return without problems”.
“For God’s sake Amy, people don’t call me Alexandria junior for marketing… Well they don’t only do it for marketing“ Vicky answered with pride, taking Taylor on her shoulder and grabbing Amy by the waist.
“W-wouldn’t she fall” Amy couldn’t hide the fear and worry in her voice, neither how much her hands were shaking from too much overthinking about Taylor.
“I haven’t dropped anyone in all my career” Vicky said with a roll of eyes, asking for a little more faith from her sister.
Amy had to confront once again her stepsisters’ frown after explaining to her why they couldn’t bring Taylor to a hospital.
“That’s stupid she’ll know that you are panacea no matter what”
“Yeah, I know, what I dont want is the Protectorate to know that she knows”
“Why? It isn’t like you try to hide your identity, fuck, you don’t even have a secret identity”
“It isn't for me, its for her, I don't want her to have to deal with all the bureaucracy and the fucking protocols you have to deal with being friends with a PTR cape”
The frown grew more until it ended breaking up in a sigh.
“Okay, we’ll do things your way… but it hurts and disappoints me… When I saw you so concerned I thought it was your boyfriend who was in danger” Vicky said with a comically exaggerated sad tone, trying to lift the spirits.
Amy stared at her sister deadpan… Some day she would have to realize it, no?
Amy ran to Taylor's house door and hitted the ringer until she could hear the springs of a sofa and someone breaking through the house to the door.
Amy couldn’t imagine herself what was happening inside Taylor's father's head when he opened the door and saw two members of New Wave, one of them with his daughter in her arms. She couldn’t imagine it, and she didn’t want to either.
“Eh… S-som…” God, Amy was so bad at this, in general she was so bad at being a cape it looked ridiculous.
“Sir, we are Panacea and Glory girl from New wave” Victoria stepped up with Taylor in her arms, she sure knew how to act in these cases, also having Vicky’s charisma, which Amy pathetically lacked, was a plus. “We need you to keep calm at every moment, your daughter is stable but she is going to need some emergency help from Panacea”.
Panacea nodded following Victoria to the living room where the blonde carefully left Taylor on the sofa.
“Do you have some food? if it is meat good and if that meat is minced much better” Amy said, rolling up her sleeves in front of Taylor and starting to fix the wounds that didn’t need extra tissue.
She always found it ironic, the best surgeon on the world would need an entire team of doctors and an entire hospital of resources to fix corneas and eardrums, plus having to stay hours and hours in the operating room. While a girl with a touch and a thought could transform part of Taylor’s nearly tissue into new structures totally healed.
The most complicated part was going to be the leg, Taylor had lost too many tissues, muscles, skin, nerves… Amy had to take some external biological matter and start transforming little by little on Taylor’s cells and then make the structures with those cells.
It wasn’t that hard, in the end, when you are one of the most powerful biomancers, this was reduced to a matter of simple will… But it was tedious and tiring, and Amy was already at the verge of a panic attack so she tried not to question if Taylor’s leg had enough time to wait for something tedious and tiring.
Taylor’s father fastly appeared with two minced meat trays, still with the plastic on.
Enough Amy thought with a calmed sigh.
“Need something more?” Danny's voice tried to show fortitude, like it wasn’t the voice of a father that could see his daughter’s bone poking out the charred flesh of her leg.
“If you can bring some cold water I’ll appreciate it” Vicky asked with that smile Amy knew she only used to the public, a small pearl of sweat slipping down the blonde’s face. “With all that fire, the docks became a furnace”.
“Of course! I’m right away”
“Thank you so much”
Amy had already evaded from that conversation as she worked on the minced meat, slowly transforming structures, tissues and genes into “generic stem cells” that she could then transform into Taylor’s cells.
Ugh Amy hated how technical her power was in moments like this, and how difficult it was to explain something that was like breathing for her, well not liking breathing it would be like a prodigy in math explaining how easy it was to resolve complicated equations.
“I don’t want to judge, especially given the fact you just saved my daughter, but… wouldn’t it be better to bring her to a hospital” Amy heard Danny talking with Vicky.
“The hospital is further away from the docks than your house, and I even consider it to be less equipped than me to treat her, and also, I’m sure Taylor would thank waking up in her bed instead of an unknown place” Amy said while she started to apply the tissues on Taylor’s burned skin.
“Did you look in her wallet to see where she live or how…” Danny started to suspect something as he asked that question.
“Oh no” Amy took off her hood and looked to Danny “I-I already have been here Mister Herbert… I’m s-sorry for hiding… W-well… This” Amy stuttered while circling a finger around her disguise.
“Uh…” Danny squinted at Amy until he realized who she was. “Ah Amy, you don’t need to apologize after what you are doing for Taylor… I’m glad she has found a good friend that has her back” He managed to say at the end.
“T-thank you… I’m trying to be” Amy felt a dagger in her heart when she realized Vicky was using her presence to calm Danny down, without her Amy was sure he would be screaming, like any good father.
Would my real father scream like that for me? Amy thought for a glimpse.
No Amy don’t go down that trail of thought, it never ends well, it's just going to make you more miserable Amy thought focusing on her job in Taylor's leg instead.
After a couple hours, Taylor looked like she had been the entire afternoon calmly sleeping and not nearly dying in a burning street.
Amy was sitting on the bedside drinking an orange juice from Danny’s courtesy, her head hurt and she was completely exhausted. Not by overusing her power, but by the filters she used to avoid looking, touch or manipulate brain matter
Which only frustrated her even more, it was like her power was designed to automatically do it and she was just trying to build weak walls and expecting them to contain the ocean.
Taylor’s vitals were stable and still Amy felt the anxiety eating through the back of her head, questioning whether Taylor’s head, and more important her brain was damaged.
And suddenly, Taylor started to wake up, making Amy’s chest bloom.
“W-what happened?” She asked trying to sit up in the bed, while holding her head and grunting “ugh my head”
“Sh, sh, lay still” Amy said making Taylor got back in the bed “I’m nearly sure you got a concussion, I can administer you some painkillers for that head but I still need you to not move much”
“W-what are you doing here?” Taylor's voice was full of dread, like she had seen a ghost.
Which in this situation could have been a ghost, after all Taylor had lost her consciousness in the streets and suddenly she woke up in her room with her friend like nothing had happened.
“O-okay I understand what is startling you… Just promise to lay still and don't freak out too much” Amy said slowly, “You got caught in an explosion and well, we are here” Amy said, looking to the ground, ashamed to look at her friend.
Ashamed for lying to her, ashamed to put Taylor’s, her friend, life at risk. Ashamed for what she was, a monster, a monster who dared to put on a cute facade to deceive Taylor’s good heart.
“W-well I guess I better leave” Amy said, fighting the urge to just run downstairs while she slowly got up towards the door.
When suddenly Amy felt a strong grasp on her hand and looked to see, eyewided from surprise, that it was Taylor’s hand.
“P-please stay… I don’t care about anything other than you staying” Taylor pleaded to her with begging eyes.
Amy realized that she couldn’t and wouldn’t say no to those eyes no matter what they asked for.
“Okay okay, I’m gonna stay” Amy said nervously sitting again, “See? I’m sitting, I’m gonna stay here as long as you want”
Amy felt weird, she wasn’t used to being the one caressing and comforting, even with Vicky she felt out of place trying to reconfort or cheer her.
Ironic, taking into account what her power was. Ironic, knowing what her power was.
“What happened?” Taylor said confused while holding her head, “I remember being with- I mean… where did you find me?”
“Near the docks, you called me, don't you remember?” Amy brought a water glass to Taylor, the dark haired drank it desperately.
“I hope I didn’t say anything really awkward in that call then” Taylor said thinking that maybe in her delirium, she confessed too much to Amy.
Being that too much that she was an undersider or how she felt around Amy, Taylor wasn’t sure what mattered most to her.
“No not at all hahaha, are you feeling good?” Amy said with the warmest of smiles.
Taylor wanted to say so hard, yes, now that you are here, yes, so much she had to clench her fist until she started to feel her nails dig into the flesh to avoid saying it.
“Well my head hurts a lot and I feel a little dizzy” Taylor answered surprised she survived a bomb to the face.
“Well, you took a good beating,” Amy said slowly, putting her hand on Taylor's forehead. “Are you well? you are getting red”
“N-nah is just the warmth in the sheets…” Taylor said trying to avoid the greatest gay panic in the century when thinking about the delicate touch from Amy’s hand.
“Ah okay… Well if you need anything just tell me okay?” Amy said. She knew she had to be honest, she knew she had to tell Taylor the truth but.. truthiness could wait until Taylor’s recovery.
After all, it was better to have her in her best health when dropping the bomb.
“Sorry for being clingy, but… I just want someone to hug now,” Taylor said, hidden on her sheets. She felt awful abusing Amy’s trust like that… Especially after what happened at the bank.
Taylor had no right to ask Amy for absolutely nothing, but a quick death, and still, Taylor was asking her to hold her together once more.
She truly was the worst of the scum.
“W-well I guess I gotta be that one!” Amy said awkwardly. God, she didn’t know jackshit about being affectionate or how to snuggle with anyone, and maybe that was the problem, or one of the problems in Amy’s life.
Always wishing to be intimate with someone but with no idea of how.
“Then come here” Taylor said, still hidden on her sheets, the idea of just having to look at Amy too much to bear, was it because of shame or because of teenage excitement, that she couldn’t answer.
“Okay okay” Amy sighed capitulating and finally laying on the sheets, wrapping Taylor’s shoulder with her arm and letting her friend’s head rest on her chest.
“I think I am the most horrible person in this entire world” Amy heard Taylor muttering under her breath, the little sights that escape from her mouth caressing Amy’s neck, giving goosebumps to her entire body.
Amy chuckled “You're not even the worst person in this room” She said looking at Taylor’s head rhythmically moving from Amy’s own breathing, praying that Taylor couldn’t hear her heartbeat.
“Nah you must be joking, you are an angel” Taylor argued with her.
“The angel one is my sister with the flying and all” Amy said still chuckling, before an awkward silence that she also broke, she couldn’t keep lying to her friend, not anymore, Taylor was too important to her to keep hiding the horrible truth from her. “Okay Taylor, sorry if this caught you in a bad moment… But I’m Panacea… I mean, the cape you know? well… Of course you know it…”
Yeah Amy, with finesse and charisma. Well fucking done.
Amy hated how awkward she was in these types of moments.
“Oh…” Taylor suddenly stopped breathing peacefully and started to felt weird in Amy’s arms as the guilt of being the only one who wasn’t honest in this conversation started to crawl on her “I guess is understandable not wanting your nerd friend to know you are a cape” Taylor lied awkwardly, and praying that the weirdness was blamed to the commotion.
“I-it wasn’t that!!!” Amy shook her head, and started to mumble nervously
“I-it’s just that when you have a power like me… Y-you never stop being a c-cape, everyone sees you as a good person, everyone expects you to be a good person… Fuck, no fucking teenage cape is expected to go to a hospital to heal people and see horrible things but me…”
“I thought that teenage capes had the right to sleep and to avoid some missions,” Taylor said, barely remembering what she knew about the ward's program.
“Pffff” Amy drily chucked before ranting once again “My sister can say no to a dangerous mission, other cape would do it… Cockblock can say “no, I need to sleep” and they find a replacement… But how I’m supposed to say; no let those people die I prefer to be a normal teenager”
“It’s still too much pressure on just a girl… Amy God, they can’t expect you to be perfect!” Taylor said as she started to caress Amy’s hair, the clear brunette wavy locks felt so soft at the touch, it sent dangerous vibrations inside Taylor’s spine.
“That’s the thing, they are not expecting me to be perfect” Amy started to quietly sob into Taylor’s arms “They just want me to use my fucking power and I can’t even do that… You know how easy it would be to cure my foster father’s depression? And I can't even bring myself to do that for him…”
“Probably this isn’t any of my business but…” Taylor free hand started to toy with Amy’s fingers, she couldn't have enough of the brunette’s softness. “Why can't you do it if it is that easy?”
Amy sighed and Taylor could feel her voice tremble, like how a fortress would tremble before collapsing.
“Because if I realize how easy it is to do that… Then changing others moods, their opinion about me, creating sleeper agents… would be easy to do too” Amy chuckled ironically “A slippery slope of shit that’s what I mean”
“But Amy… helping your foster father is something you do for good! It’s not like the other things”
“But how much I can keep saying the same excuse Taylor? Everything I said could be justified for a good reason… for the common good… And then they’ll keep asking me to do more and more…” She sighed softly, kissing Taylor's hand, “I can’t justify the means with my end… I need to always follow these rules as strict as stupid they may look, they are the only thing keeping me sane”
“Oh God Amy I didn’t know you were in such pressure” Taylor felt the guilt gripping her heart and throat and as hipocrity as it was she had to just embrace Amy as hard as she could. “I don’t care who you are, be Panacea, a member of the slaughterhouse seven or the fucking Scion… You are still Amy, my friend”
Amy sighed, “Even when your friend could have easily killed your bullies? I don't deserve shit”
I could have gone and done that just as easily, Taylor thought.
“Amy… There's only one thing I will promise you and it is that whatever happens you always will deserve my friendship, okay cutie?“
She felt Amy whimper on her arms and whisper a muffled thank you.
Amy felt awful… Not because her friend forgave her for being an egoistic liar bitch who hid her whole cape persona, not because she was happy to hear that Taylor only cared about Amy and not Panacea… But because the twisted deepest part of her soul had finally won over her.
With whimpers between friendly arms, Amy admitted to loving Taylor and not only that, she admitted to wanting her only friend to love her too.