Goddamn Teenagers (Worm, AU/time travel)

[dc2008]

After confirming that it was, in fact, Missy at the door, and no one else, Amy let her guest in.

"Hey, Panacea, what's with all the cloak and dagger? And why did you tell Dean to tell me in person, and not tell anyone, and use the special phone number for the ride and stuff?"

Face serious, Amy sat the younger girl down and sat across from her. "This is a special secure apartment Dr. Weaver set up for me, separate from all the spies and bullshit at ENE. And I needed to talk to you about the healing I was called in for the other day."

"Oh. That."

"Yes, that." Amy looked directly at the younger girl, and took her hand. "I need you to answer me honestly. Are you in danger? Is anyone at home or at ENE or anywhere pressuring you to do anything or having you do anything or is anything happening anywhere anyhow for any reason that makes you uncomfortable?"

"No?" Missy sounded confused.

Amy sighed. "Armsmaster called me in the fix your foot, and specifically asked me to do it 'off-the-record'. I was told the injury occurred during power testing but your power, one, is Manton limited and b, has nothing to do with wounds of that type. Specifically, Missy, I know what a bullet wound looks like. Do you understand why this is incredibly suspicious and alarming?"

"But it was power testing! And it wasn't a bullet!"

"You're telling the truth," Amy said under her breath. She refocused on the younger girl. "Missy, Vista, what happened, exactly?"

"Well, you see, my power can't directly make things go faster but if things are already falling or are thrown, I can make it so they fall further, and I can shape space so they keep falling, and…"

When Missy finished, Amy stared blankly past her for a moment, and then got up and began bustling around the apartment.

"Amy?"

"Vicky was just here, I know I left it somewhere, there!" Amy turned around holding a small sheaf of papers and, to Missy's surprise and confusion, lightly bopped Missy on the head with them.

"Bad cape," said Amy with exaggerated patience. "No pointing at yourself or anyone you don't want to hurt a power-generated orbital drop weapon simulacrum, Christ." Bop. "No deliberately subverting safety protocols, even and especially if Armsmaster tells you to, what was he thinking." Bop. "And no trying to cover it up with 'off the books' healing, what were you thinking, what if Victor or a hostile thinker found out." Bop. "I expect this sort of thing from Vicky, not you, you know better!"

Missy appeared distinctly unamused.

---

Note:
It hasn't come up yet but Taylor pushed through some significant safeguards regarding Amy's healing. Stuff like medical ethics guidance, strict limits on her healing stuff that would otherwise heal easily with ordinary care (enforced by financial penalties on people who are not Amy), making sure that where patients can pay their insurance is billed (because if something is free it gets taken for granted), burnout precautions, ensuring she is never pressured to make a heal/no heal decision, etc.

Basically, Amy is a medical provider, and a cape, and a teenager, which are all major risk factors, and it's a goddamn miracle she holds it together as well as she does.

 

[dc2008]

"Danny, could I ask a favor?" Taylor asked her not!father.

"Sure," he replied.

"Do you have a picture of Annette you could spare? What with everything that happened, all of mine were lost a long time ago and oomph."

Taylor's request was interrupted by Danny's hug.

Elsewhere

"Hey, Crystal?" Eric asked after his cousin (finally) wandered out.

"Yo."

"Who is Dr. Weaver and why is Vicky so Vicky about her?"

"Heck if I know."

Earlier

Sarah Pelham set down the packet of papers, and looked at her niece. "Victoria, I do appreciate your enthusiasm, but before trying to implement," Sarah gestured at the paper, "all of this, maybe first talk to, Dr Weaver was it? The Protectorate doesn't do all of this for all of their capes? And, well, some of us aren't brutes and so weight is an issue?"

Sarah looked back at the packet. "It's also possible you've thought of something that hasn't occurred to them yet?"

"Thanks! That's a great idea, Aunt Sarah!"

That Morning

"Morning," mumbled Mark as he shuffled into the kitchen. He then paused, looked around, and asked his wife. "Where are the girls? It's awfully quiet this morning."

"Amy went running and then was going to brunch, and Victoria is at the PRT's testing facilities throwing things at old New Wave uniforms."

 

[dc2008]

"Aisha, have you seen my, wait, what are you reading?"

"Rude, I've known how to read for years."

Brian pinched his nose. "That's not…"

"It's a PRT Trooper thing on anti-thinker strategies. Don't worry, Dr. Weaver gave it to me."

That's not actually going to make me not worry, Brian didn't say. He'd quickly learned that while Dr. Weaver wasn't likely to give Aisha anything dangerous as Dr. Weaver understood the word. However he'd just as quickly learned that Dr. Weaver had a skewed sense of such things. Honestly, sometimes it was like the woman grew up in a containment zone.

He tried a different approach. "I'm glad to see you reading, but I'm curious what led you to choose that, specifically?"

"Lisa was being a petty little bitch. She's too obnoxious and punchable to be a real thinker, but if I can learn how to deal with real thinkers I can deal with whatever she is."

You know what, I'm OK with this.

 

[dc2008]

I will say, at a very high level and for purposes of the story, the following:

1) New Wave's current uniforms provide less than ideal protection.

2) in particular, they have not made any particular effort to game theory out adverse engagements. For example, the uniforms don't really consider power nullifiers, or matchups that otherwise are strong counters to New Wave's members.

3) The problems are actually particularly egregious for Victoria and Amy, For both girls, there was a false sense of security, Amy because she is a non-combatant and Victoria because she is "an Alexandria package".

4) The younger generation doesn't go to A-Class or S-Class fights, with the possible exception of Crystal. Carol absolutely does not go, and has firmly stated when asked that so long as she has minor children she will refrain unless BB itself is attacked. I haven't decided if the other adults go, but as between Sarah and Neil at least one of them always stays home so as to ensure someone will survive for the kids.

This is part of the reason New Wave's uniforms are not better—dealing with high-lethality threats is not really something they prepare for.

 

[dc2008]

"I can't believe you would do this to me!" Lisa exclaimed, gesturing wildly. "Here I thought we had something, and you betray me!"

The older woman looked unimpressed. "I'd give that performance a six out of ten at best. You can do better."

Lisa did not pout. "It's not fair, you giving Aisha an advantage like this! Whatever happened to a level playing field!"

The older woman, if possible, looked even more unimpressed. "You are a parahuman. She is not. This was never a level playing field."

"But why!"

"Training. For you. Unlike many training exercises, both you and the opfor will be highly motivated to succeed."

The older woman took on a very earnest, innocent expression. "I have emphasized to Aisha just how very important this is to your future endeavors, and indeed your very safety. I am sure she will approach it with an appropriate level of dedication and gravitas."

"But! You! Hey! Arrrrrrgg!"

 

[dc2008]

A few things to consider in Taylor's approach here:

1) There are no losers. Lisa's win condition is "make it so Aisha can't use anti-thinker stuff to mess with me." Aisha's win condition is "annoy Lisa back as part of this game they're playing." Both will feel like they won.

2) I will point out that Lisa being a brat to Taylor is a sign of trust and comfort. Taylor is objectively terrifying, Power is very clear about that. However Power is also very clear that Taylor wants good things for Lisa, and Lisa's intuition agrees, even though Lisa knows Taylor can reliably fuck with Power.

3) This is a Big Fucking Deal for Aisha because she is being trusted with responsibility to teach Lisa. Aisha likes Lisa and wants good things for her, but it's also the matter of trust. Few people have ever trusted Aisha with anything. And Taylor has emphasized how important it is for Lisa to learn this stuff. Now, Taylor know that if this doesn't work there is time to switch to a different approach. Aisha likely realizes this sooner or later. But Taylor still went to Aisha first.

4) Lisa and Aisha are the kind of ridiculous that they will both put substantially more effort into this than is at all sane or rational. Lisa doesn't really care about some faceless PRT trainer telling her to do better, but Lisa is really motivated when Aisha scores some stupid petty point on her.

5) The entire experience is going to push Aisha to get better at learning and research, as she pushes herself to learn increasingly sophisticated anti-thinker measures. Who knew learning could be so fun?

 

[dc2008]

Brian opened the door and was immediately suspicious, as he he had learned to always be when Lisa brought him gifts.

"Coffee?" She said with a weak smile.

Brian looked at her skeptically. "Where is Aisha?"

"Getting 'camouflage master' clothes with the rest of the girl power junior division, and no I don't know what that means, she clearly wanted me to ask and I wasn't giving her the satisfaction."

Brian was pretty sure he did know, but would worry about that later. He sighed. "Lisa, you are here, with the coffee I like, and are being polite. Either this is a very ill-advised pick-up attempt or you want something."

Lisa laughed. "Yeah, I deserved that. But I did bring coffee?"

"What do you want?"

"So Aisha got this book and…"

Brian held up his hand. "I'm going to stop you there. I am not getting involved in whatever idiotic thing you have going on with Aisha."

"But Brian!" Lisa didn't whine. "We have been through so much together, you can't make me do this alone!"

Brian took the coffee, and shut the door. God, I'm too old for this shit.

 

[dc2008]

A big problem is that since Lisa got her powers she has very little experience interacting with peers. Generally, the people she interacts with are either hard trumped by her powers, or they hard trump her (due to powers or life experience). In particular, in canon Lisa's long-fought thinker battle with Coil had to have played a major role in her becoming the savvy operator she is by the time of Ward.

Put differently, Lisa has very little experience dealing with people in situations where it really matters how much wis she brings to the table, and so if anything her use of wis started to atrophy.

Also, teenager.

Aisha is a good match for early canon Lisa, because basic anti-thinker precautions are well within her abilities to learn (they are designed to be used by even marginally intelligent and trained junior troopers), and Lisa is currently just utter and complete garbage at dealing with even the most basic anti-thinker measures.

 

[dc2008]

"So how is this going to work? You gonna put me in a clown suit and parade me around town?" Alec asked, laconically.

"Absolutely not. First we will want to determine to extent of any lingering effects from your family. Compared to other victims, you are in remarkably good shape."

Alec rolled his eyes.

The older woman ignored him, and continued. "Still, the suits will want to be sure. Until such time, it would be appreciated if you could keep a low profile, and we will sadly have to limit the time you spend, as it were, 'in the office'. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your cooperation. Your remuneration, of course, will not be affected."

Alec stared at her, dumbfounded. "You really are going to pay me to sit in this apartment, eat take out, and play video games."

"Neither I nor anyone else with the white hats would ever express it in public or in writing in those terms."

 

[dc2008]

"Hey, bro, what's Alec like and why is Lisa telling me we should date?"

Brian's blood ran cold. First, second, and third, oh fuck no. But he knew better than to just tell Aisha no.

Deflect, deflect.

"He is the only person I've ever met who can make bacon cheese fries suck. Also, he kept trying to convince Lisa that all household tasks were women's work."

Aisha wrinkled her nose. "Man, fuck that, mothering Mom was bad enough."

Oh, thank God.

---

Note: Canadian bacon cheese fries here is poutine. It's an acquired taste.