Interlude 2.a
February 4th, 2011
Frustration bubbled off of Amy, she couldn't for the life of her think of a new last name. Going back to Lavere would keep things simple, but that just brought up associations with her Father that she didn't want. She didn't want to change her first name back either for similar reasons. While the few memories she did have of her father were pleasant, he was anything but in his dealings with the Bay during his reign. Carol was right about that much at least, despite his rules he was still a true villain. Amy had no intention of trying to reconnect with where she came from.
When Insight said she would find out everything, she had meant it. Amy just hadn't been prepared for the amount of baggage that came with the knowledge. All it had cost her was one person helped at a later date, something Insight had cashed in on just a few days after making the deal. Amy wasn't given any details nor allowed to ask, just told to give them a new identity as thoroughly as possible. Seeing him at the sandwich shop had been a surprise, for both of them apparently. Amy couldn't blame him for running, given all she had done for him, she just wished she could figure out why Insight insisted on such a drastic method to hide him away.
When Insight had poked at her other issues Amy had soundly rejected her help, she hadn't been ready to confront anything else at the time. Smaller steps were the key, there was no point diving into the deep end of her pool of trauma. She could deal with her perfectly normal daddy issues first.
It still grated on her that Carol hadn't even once protested that she was essentially living away from home. She knew that an argument between Taylor and Carol had happened, but her gir- friend wouldn't give up what exactly had been said, just that things would be better this way. Given a few of the phone conversations that she had overheard through the years, it wasn't surprising that an argument had resulted if Taylor managed to push some of Carol's buttons.
Amy had found herself sleeping in Taylor's bed, which didn't mean as much since Taylor herself slept elsewhere and this wasn't her actual home. She wasn't even sure if Danny had noticed she was living there for the past two weeks, the man had crafted obliviousness into an art. He gave Mark a good run on that front.
That mess however wasn't what had her so frustrated today. No, that would be the sadistic training Genkai insisted upon. She had never done so much running and climbing in her life, and the weights Genkai insisted on were practically torture with how they never seemed to get easier to move in. The worst part was that she couldn't even do half of the training because for some reason her Spirit Energy was following her power's Striker only rule. She couldn't even urge the energy past her skin.
That aside, Amy was happy with her progress for the most part. Balancing on the spike was a bit painful since it had to break the skin of her finger before she could focus her energy on it and stay upright, but she could move and throw a punch almost as well as Aegis. It was invigorating just how much Spirit Energy could improve things.
The issue was that she had nothing she could use to attack at range. After sitting helplessly watching her friend get slashed to pieces by Oni Lee she'd decided she needed to be able to fight. She refused to be the healer on the sidelines helpless to do anything any longer. That desire didn't help her overcome her own limitations. She could still vividly remember blocking Taylor's Spirit gun and how it had burned her hand down to the raw flesh underneath before her Spirit Energy stopped it. Thankfully Spirit Energy could be used to accelerate one's own healing, but it had still taken the better part of the day.
Watching Taylor keep pace with Vicky, throwing around that kind of power effortlessly, it stung. Amy had gotten better, was still improving, but she couldn't tank those blows, or throw a punch that could break Vicky's shield. The first time Taylor had managed that without coating her fist in Spirit Energy had been amusing. Vicky's squawk of surprise had been adorable, Taylor's broken hand decidedly less so. She wanted to be the one sparring with Vicky. Amy pinched herself, those were the very thoughts she was trying to avoid.
Taylor was currently holding her own against both Vicky and Crystal, while fucking blindfolded. Her senses had continued to improve even after her unbelievable showdown with Oni Lee a week ago. Amy had spent more than one sleepless night replaying those memories of Taylor dancing around her, slapping down a foe determined to kill them both. How fierce Tay had looked, with her eyes unfocused but seeing everything in perfect clarity, the sweat rolling off her brow, the blood…
A paw slapped the back of Amy's head. With a squeak of surprise she gave a glare of protest, but was met by an even harsher one from the possessed feline. Genkai's mountain lion now wore a red handkerchief with blue trim tied around her neck much like her spirit form's clothes. Their staring contest was short lived when Amy blinked first and looked away.
"If only you were as focused on your own training as you seem to be on Taylor's." Genkai said. "Or am I wrong in my observations?"
Amy didn't blush, not that anyone would have been able to see in the dimming light of dusk. Although, given some of the enhancements Amy had completed on the cougar, its eyesight was probably better than everyone's present.
Still, better for Genkai to assume it was only Taylor that Amy was watching. It had been a damning revelation just days into her training when Amy had been focusing her energy, moving it through her body, then when she had focused it around her skull Vicky's ever present aura had just vanished. She had never once experienced being around her sister without her aura since the girl had triggered at that basketball game. Even when she thought it was off, it wasn't truly. It had just continued existing as a dull buzz in the background. It had been an enlightening experience to say the least, she couldn't help but recognize many of her own reactions and the damning conclusion she had arrived at.
Withdrawal. She was addicted to Vicky's aura and the chemical changes it encouraged in her brain. Without them, she was adrift and everything seemed wrong with the world. Amy had attempted to let the effects through in smaller doses, effectively wean herself off, but she liked how Vicky's aura made her feel. It was a euphoric rush each time the barrier crumbled, and was getting harder to resist each time she forced it back up. It wasn't getting easier like she had hoped, and now she was attempting to force the issue by keeping that wall up at all times.
It hurt to do so, to spend so much time away from Vicky, and so she had thrown herself at her training with renewed focus. Unfortunately her limitations thus far hadn't helped her in that pursuit.
"I'm just frustrated." Amy grumbled. "Watching them go at it. I can't do that, not with the limitations my powers are causing me."
Genkai's head cocked to the side. "You've figured out how to augment and enhance your own strength and agility, and improved that at a truly remarkable rate. Your past training in hand to hand combat is actually more extensive than Taylor's at this point. The only reason she beats you when you spar is because she can use her Spirit Energy far more liberally."
"What I want is to be able to shoot things. I'm not a frontline fighter. I'm tired of needing others to protect me, I'm tired of being the damsel to be saved. For whatever reason, my powers are touch based and my Spirit Energy seems to be following suit."
"Are you sure of that? I suspect your talents lie elsewhere, you just need to think outside the box a bit. Have you finished reviewing the Spirit World records yet?"
"We have." Amy confirmed, remembering the hours the two spent watching them on the cabin sofa in the warmth of the fireplace. Of popcorn shared, cuddled under the same blanket. Taylor dozing off against her shoulder. Pleasant memories drifted away as the memory of one particularly bloody fight from the archives came to mind and she bit her lip. "I think I know where you might be going with this."
Amy looked around for something to test her idea on. Most of the winter's snow had melted already, but the grass had yet to reclaim its vibrancy even with Brockton Bay's mild climate to help out. There simply wasn't enough biological matter for her to work with, not even an insect population to draw upon and shape to her will. Still, Amy had an image in mind and while most of it was dead, enough of it was pliable to her power for the task at hand. She drew deep upon her memories of the early days when she had been able to simply experiment with flowers, changing the colors of their leaves and tweaking every aspect she could. From that memory she shaped the mass into a seed.
Nothing about a seed was simple, they were packed with genetic information, the building blocks that would form the plant, and the base nutrition needed to push them through their initial growth. For something as complicated as this, her power had made simple work of the task.
Next came the tricky part, slowly she fed her Spirit Energy into her palm, directly under the seed. Much to her continued annoyance she still was unable to push anything into the seed itself. Annoyance grew into frustration as Amy willed her power to force the seed to germinate. A green stem burst from one section and tiny roots began to form from another. There wasn't enough there to fuel the growth much beyond that, but she could manipulate the biomatter itself. She took control of the roots and drove them through her skin. She winced in pain from the half dozen needle points that were stretching out into her flesh, but her Spirit Energy could now access the roots and so she gently prodded the root with energy. She jolted back at the veracity that the seed seemed to absorb her energy, but it was still under her complete control as though the plant was an extension of herself. With a wide grin she fed the seed eagerly.
The growth was explosive yet under her complete control, information flooded her senses as vines coiled up her arm, more roots spearing her flesh and drawing deep upon her Energy. What felt like seconds passed and she soon found her right arm coated in a densely packed mass of plant matter and life. The surface resembled the bark of a tree, but she knew each scale of that material to be stronger than steel, and teeming with her Spirit Energy. All the way from her shoulder to her finger tips, not a hint of her own skin was visible. Where the armored plating didn't cover, tightly packed vines made up the difference as though they were muscle fiber. It was an imposing look, and if she chose to cover her entire body, she knew nobody would recognize her.
The material was dense enough that she could employ her power without burning any Spirit Energy and still have options. Doing just that Amy formed a short blade of hardened bone from the mass. More ideas danced through her mind, from a biological dart launcher with a paralytic or poisoned payload, spores that would turn her target into a loyal… She shut that thought down hard, knowing full well that such a thing would end with a kill order.
Amy realised she was feeling euphoric and had shivers going down her spine. She had no idea where it was coming from, but the effects were disturbingly similar to exposure from Vicky's aura when she was really cranking it up. If this was how all capes felt when using their powers to their fullest capabilities, it was no wonder they fought so much. Powers may as well have been a drug. She found that thought sobering to say the least.
Slowly, Amy began to shape another idea that had come to her, a cluster of blue roses formed along one of the vines that stretched the length of her arm, as she forced them to produce pollen she finally realised that she hadn't been using biomass to fuel the growth, but her own Spirit Energy instead. For the first time since she started she realised how much that could help with healing if she could leverage Spirit Energy in regrowing organs or limbs.
"Those are gorgeous." Taylor said just beside her, causing Amy to startle.
"Taylor!" Amy said in her panic and shoved the flower coated arm behind her. A quick glance showed that Vicky and Crystal were once again giving the pair plenty of space, seemingly chatting away with Genkai. She could tell that Vicky was trying to push the two of them together, and even though the thought hurt her deeply, she knew it would have made sense to any other sister in Vicky's situation. Sadly Amy wasn't just any other sister thanks to Vicky's aura fucking with her head.
Taylor laughed at her reaction, and Amy couldn't help the blush that the sound provoked. Damn that aura and how it had complicated things. Taylor wasn't what she would consider traditionally attractive like Vicky was. Her lips were too wide, her eyes a bit too big. Amy could have changed that, slow adjustments over time and Taylor would barely notice.
No, she had to stop thinking of changing people on a whim, otherwise she might slip and do it by accident. The rest of the girl however, she could appreciate without any thoughts as to altering her appearance. Taylor was tall, almost a full head taller than Amy was, with toned, athletic legs that seemed to go on forever. It was a pity Taylor almost always wore those damned sweatpants that sat ever so loosely on her muscular frame. She wasn't curvy, but there wasn't a hint of flab left on her, which Taylor insisted had been there only a year prior before her tormentors had started teasing her for being frog shaped. Amy had a few creative ideas to implement if she ever met Emma or Sophia face to face. Madison had at least experienced some form of change of heart, so she would just get a bad case of acne, maybe an unfortunate rash to go with it.
"I think I figured a few things out." Amy said as she remembered she was supposed to be having a conversation and brought her arm back around to show Taylor. The girl reached out to touch the petals but Amy grabbed her by the wrist before she could. "I, uh, kinda made them poisonous to anyone but me."
"Beautiful, yet deadly. I like that combination." Taylor said with a wide grin.
Yeah, Taylor was definitely interested, but until Amy could honestly say she was free of Vicky's influence, how could she agree to anything in good conscience? At some point she would need to tell Taylor this last secret she had left, but that could wait for now. She didn't feel like ruining what little good remained of her life just yet. Taylor and Vicky were her only remaining rocks, and she feared losing them would mean losing herself to her own dark thoughts.
"I think I could use this to fight." Amy said, choosing to ignore Taylor's less than subtle flirting. "If I used it to cover my entire body with the stuff, I'm almost certain it would be more than bulletproof. I could have all kinds of weapons on demand, maybe even figure out some projectile system to solve my ranged issues. Add in my enhanced strength and speed when I draw on my Spirit Energy…"
"You would certainly have Brute and Mover ratings." Taylor agreed. "How about offensive capabilities? I'm getting serious Kurama vibes from this stuff and I'm guessing that's intentional?"
"I'd love to get my hands on even a few of the seeds he used." Amy said with a far off look. "Just imagine if I could trap Crawler in a Sinning Tree."
"Well, that would be one good use for that hell plant." Taylor said. "Wouldn't even lose any sleep over it either."
"If I turned Nilbog to take down anyone, the Slaughterhouse would be a fitting target." Amy agreed, resting her head on her knees. "I'm not comfortable with the idea, but against monsters like them, I imagine comfort is a luxury that would end with death or worse."
"Bonesaw." Taylor said, picking up on Amy's implication, that sadistic child was easily the most terrifying of the Nine. Death was preferable to winding up in her care, the creations the Biotinker could come up with were the stuff of nightmares from the worst horror movies. "I think, once I'm strong enough, I may end up hunting them down. Some of the other Class S threats as well."
Amy looked up in surprise. "You actually mean that? I thought you weren't keen on that whole savior complex that Spirit World has about you?"
"I was important, but my death erased the future where I stopped the end of the world." Taylor said with a far off look. "That hasn't changed, as I am now, even if I get stronger, the model still shows everything dying. The way I see it, if I can make a difference while I'm here, I may as well do so, make those last few months better for everyone."
"Most people wouldn't step up like that." Amy said, watching Taylor's expression intently. She was determined, her jaw was set. Clearly Taylor had been giving this some thought.
"Nobody else is going to step up. The Triumvirate either can't or worse, won't stop these threats. I'm only going to get stronger, eventually leveling mountains will be something I can do as easily as I level trees now."
"Or buildings." Amy said with a smirk. "That old factory collapsed shortly after you left."
"I read the report." Taylor grumbled. "They couldn't even let me blame Oni Lee for that. Damages caused by direct action on the part of Esprit. Fucking PRT."
Amy snorted, the memory of that day still fresh in her mind. Taylor, covered in deep cuts and stained with blood. There was a thought that had been stuck in the back of her mind since that fight, it was something she could do to help, but she wasn't sure if she should? It wasn't technically against her rules, it was just something she didn't do. The human body was a fascinating thing to behold, but it wasn't nearly as efficient as it could be. Amy could fix that, make a person more than human in some ways.
Amy's first thought was to worry about how slippery of a slope those thoughts put her on. Would this be the acceptable change that snowballed into her becoming the next threat to humanity? She had to take a step, she couldn't just ignore what she could do. She needed to stop fearing who she was, what she could do. She needed to embrace it.
Altering Taylor's form was more an issue about available biomass than whether it was possible. She couldn't draw on her own Spirit Energy as she had with her armor, which needed a name now that she thought of it. Unfortunately, Taylor simply didn't have much in the way of extra reserves between her training and the frequent need of healing that she seemed to attract.
What the girl did have was Spirit Energy to spare. Even now Amy could feel it recovering at an astounding rate from her earlier spar. Amy paused, was there actually a reason she couldn't use her own plants to fuel the improvements? Perhaps she could even siphon some of Taylor's Spirit Energy to help the growth along. Her new armor was already parasitic in nature, it wouldn't take much effort to adapt it to draw from a target rather than herself. Given how much it had drained her to create as much as she had, drawing from Taylor was the safer option.
The thought sent a chill through her, did she want to do this? It would be so easy to take it too far, simply keep syphoning until she was drained. She could probably even make vines that could ensnare an entire city with enough time, and drain an entire population. Why even stop at Spirit Energy? Just absorb all the biomass and form a single organism that could continue to grow uninterrupted until... She squashed the part of her that was excited by the possibility of such a large scale and frankly abhorrent project. It scared her that her thoughts were becoming dangerous, unbidden impulses. She could cause considerable, and possibly irrevocable harm if she changed the wrong thing for Taylor.
Genkai kept insisting she find new uses for her powers that weren't as dangerous, more importantly, didn't skirt the edge of what was acceptable like her modifications to that ABB rapist. She never did go back and remove them, he had been moved to a hospital that specialized in nerve issues while he awaited trial.
She needed things that were acceptable, didn't push boundaries but at the same time allowed her to experiment. She had been limiting herself so much with restricting herself to healing and now that she was willing to do more, it felt inevitable she would slip up and do something wrong.
Improving Taylor would definitely fit the mould of pushing boundaries. It would be something new, but not anything earth shattering, at least not yet given how Taylor seemed to continue to grow stronger by the day. More importantly, it would help keep Taylor safe, because if something happened to Taylor, she just knew that she would lose what little control she had left and give in to her urges.
Amy had spent many nights in the hospital daydreaming up things she could adjust and improve in the average person, ways to make them better, stronger, faster, healthier. Many animals were superior, hell, some of her ideas had come from insect and fish biology. Adapting them for human use had been amusing, but she had never put them into practice for fear of the extent of her powers being discovered, or being unable to stop once she started.
"Taylor." Amy started, all levity having fled her voice. "If that's what you want to do, if you truly want to fight the monsters of the world, there is a way I could help."
"You want to fight?" Taylor asked.
"Eventually, but not yet. At least not against those kinds of foes. I was more thinking of a few improvements I could make. To you."
"Biokinetic, right." Taylor said and leaned back, resting on her arms and looked to the sky. "How extensive?"
"I'd completely rebuild your musculature's structure. Humans are hardly efficient in that regard. I'd reconfigure your blood to carry more oxygen, your lungs to be more efficient. I would make your skin tougher, reactive reinforcement around vital organs, bones denser, joints, reflexes. Kill that curse upon womankind better known as a period. Everything short of your mind would get a tune up. Much as I'm willing to at least re-examine my rules, I'm not comfortable messing with a brain without more practice."
"That's fair, but I have to ask. Why now?" Taylor's voice dropped to almost a whisper. "Why me?"
"You've helped me in so many ways, Tay." Amy started. "Oni Lee was like ice water down my shirt, you were minutes from bleeding out, you would have died if I hadn't been there. If you were to get that hurt again, or outright killed and I hadn't done what I could to help you…"
"You're afraid you'll fall off the cliff." Taylor finished.
Amy looked at the construct wrapped around her arm, how it was feeding off of her like a symbiote. "Pretty sure I already have." Taylor started to say something but Amy raised her armored hand. "I'm not spiraling out of control, I chose to do this. I'm controlling the descent, but there really isn't any way for me to just go back to being the white-mage anymore. I'm so much more than that and I'm through hiding it. You've helped me so much, and I just want to give you something back."
Taylor's smile was beaming as she pulled Amy into a hug. She hastily removed the poisonous effects of her flowers and flushed the toxins from Taylor's system as quickly as they were absorbed. "You don't owe me anything Amy. I'd say that I owe you instead but then we'd spend the next five minutes arguing over who owes each other more." Taylor took hold of Amy's armored hand, Amy's blush grew deeper. "Alright, let's do it. Supercharge me."
Amy failed to stifle a snort. "Not even going to ask if I've tested this stuff yet?"
Taylor laughed. "Amy, I'm not blind. I know you've been augmenting the cougar for Genkai since that night you found it in my room. I trust that you've worked out the issues and if not, you'll be here to fine tune things."
"If you're sure." Amy watched as Taylor nodded. "Alright. This will probably feel weird as shit, just don't break contact while I do this. You would be in bad shape if we stopped at the wrong step."
Amy willed her construct to pierce Taylor's skin, slowly spreading it while dulling the nerves that would cause pain. After a few moments she felt out through them for Taylor's well of power, it was hard to miss. She then set the plant to syphon and sparks shot up her arm, causing her to almost jerk away, but there was no pain. Taylor's gaze snapped onto Amy, her eyes focused in a way she had never seen before. Amy could feel her heart begin to hammer.
Taylor smiled and squeezed her hand. "Remember, I trust you Amy, do what you need to."
Amy nodded, knowing that even though Taylor was worried about what was happening, her words were honest and true. Amy took a deep breath and began to spur more cells to divide, growing the plant mass within Taylor further. Using Taylor's own energy as fuel, she began to convert it to usable biomass. First she enhanced her muscles and organs to an efficiency beyond anything evolution could manage. More biomass was co-opted to reinforce Taylor's skeletal structure and began to create a rudimentary reactive mesh to shield her organs; a second mesh was then laid under her skin to absorb shock. Her entire nervous system outside of her brain was tuned up to be faster, more efficient. With a moment's thought Amy adjusted her immune system, she would heal faster and should never get sick again barring a tinker plague.
She finished the last of Taylor's enhancements that she had planned as well as a few others. Taylor would heal faster on her own now even if Amy wasn't around, though it was more to benefit the gains she would make from her training. Her new muscles were much stronger than her old ones, but she had left them room to improve, to help her ease into it.
Amy converted the remaining plant mass still within Taylor into a layer of hyper dense biomass reserves that her body would maintain at a consistent level, giving Amy more to work with in the event Taylor ever needs healing… When Taylor needs healing again, it was good insurance in the event they were caught after a fight with their Spirit Energy too drained. She would have an appetite to rival a sumo wrestler's but Taylor would be ready. Finally Amy withdrew the last strands of her construct from Taylor and smoothed her skin back over.
"All done. Have I mentioned before how damn weird Spirit powers are?" Amy asked as Taylor flexed her now healed hand and hopped to her feet, which became a leap almost a dozen feet into the air. Amy couldn't help but laugh at Taylor's squawk of surprise. "Better do some exercises and get used to it, as well as how Spirit Energy can affect things. You'll continue to grow stronger over the next week or two. I figured you probably didn't want to break things just because you weren't aware of your new strength."
"Vicky told me some of her stories." Taylor said, now doing a one armed handstand which turned into a one thumb handstand. Then she started doing push ups. "Holy shit, I don't even need Spirit Energy to do these now."
Amy laughed further at Taylor's enthusiasm at her new abilities, she was happy her gift was appreciated. Amy hoped that it would help keep the girl safe, she didn't want to see Taylor as injured as she had been ever again.
"You're still wearing your weights as well." Amy pointed out, Taylor actually cackled at that as she pushed off the ground, landing with a heavy impact and took off into a sprint.
Amy watched as the girl bounced from one obscure exercise to another bizarre martial arts technique. Taylor was smiling the entire time as she pushed her newfound strength and speed to its current limits. Amy couldn't help but curse that she was still enthralled by her sister, Taylor was right there and there was no way Amy was reading the other girl wrong. That voice in the back of her head kept reminding her that such thoughts were a betrayal to the girl that had always been there for her. Amy pushed those thoughts down as hard as she could.
Taylor was interested. They both wanted… Taking a breath, Amy made her decision.
"Hey Taylor?" She called out. "Can we talk for a minute?"
Taylor had paused on a tree branch some thirty feet in the air. "Sure thing!" She yelled back and dropped to the ground beneath with a near deafening impact on the still frozen earth and hurried over. She wasn't even winded which boded well for the upgrades Amy had given her. "What's up?"
"Sit down, I need to-" She was cut off by her phone ringing. Scowling, Amy pulled it from her pocket and answered. As the voice on the other end spoke her face fell. "Fuck, we'll be right there." She ended the call. "Get Vicky and Crystal, we need to get to the PRT building immediately."
"What's going on?" Vicky asked, having clearly been eavesdropping if she had picked up on things already, Crystal was floating beside her. Of course they had been listening, they both wanted to set her up with Taylor after all and were none too subtle about it. No way Vicky would want to miss the potential start of a relationship, and just the thought of that was enough to pierce her heart to the core.
Amy stood, turning back towards the cabin where her Panacea robes awaited. It seemed she wasn't quite ready to hang them up for good after all. "New Wave's been asked to come in to assist, Lung's declared war on the Empire and is currently burning half of Downtown to the ground."
Author's Notes:
And now we get a look inside Amy's head, yikes she has issues. Unfortunately someone had to yell out "Look, a distraction!" just as she was about to open up fully to Taylor. Oh well, maybe after this latest crisis is resolved. Next time, Arc 3 kicks off!
Backlog status: Arc 4 is written, and the first Interlude has been completed. (Oh boy is it a long one too, both the arc and the Interlude)
Frustration bubbled off of Amy, she couldn't for the life of her think of a new last name. Going back to Lavere would keep things simple, but that just brought up associations with her Father that she didn't want. She didn't want to change her first name back either for similar reasons. While the few memories she did have of her father were pleasant, he was anything but in his dealings with the Bay during his reign. Carol was right about that much at least, despite his rules he was still a true villain. Amy had no intention of trying to reconnect with where she came from.
When Insight said she would find out everything, she had meant it. Amy just hadn't been prepared for the amount of baggage that came with the knowledge. All it had cost her was one person helped at a later date, something Insight had cashed in on just a few days after making the deal. Amy wasn't given any details nor allowed to ask, just told to give them a new identity as thoroughly as possible. Seeing him at the sandwich shop had been a surprise, for both of them apparently. Amy couldn't blame him for running, given all she had done for him, she just wished she could figure out why Insight insisted on such a drastic method to hide him away.
When Insight had poked at her other issues Amy had soundly rejected her help, she hadn't been ready to confront anything else at the time. Smaller steps were the key, there was no point diving into the deep end of her pool of trauma. She could deal with her perfectly normal daddy issues first.
It still grated on her that Carol hadn't even once protested that she was essentially living away from home. She knew that an argument between Taylor and Carol had happened, but her gir- friend wouldn't give up what exactly had been said, just that things would be better this way. Given a few of the phone conversations that she had overheard through the years, it wasn't surprising that an argument had resulted if Taylor managed to push some of Carol's buttons.
Amy had found herself sleeping in Taylor's bed, which didn't mean as much since Taylor herself slept elsewhere and this wasn't her actual home. She wasn't even sure if Danny had noticed she was living there for the past two weeks, the man had crafted obliviousness into an art. He gave Mark a good run on that front.
That mess however wasn't what had her so frustrated today. No, that would be the sadistic training Genkai insisted upon. She had never done so much running and climbing in her life, and the weights Genkai insisted on were practically torture with how they never seemed to get easier to move in. The worst part was that she couldn't even do half of the training because for some reason her Spirit Energy was following her power's Striker only rule. She couldn't even urge the energy past her skin.
That aside, Amy was happy with her progress for the most part. Balancing on the spike was a bit painful since it had to break the skin of her finger before she could focus her energy on it and stay upright, but she could move and throw a punch almost as well as Aegis. It was invigorating just how much Spirit Energy could improve things.
The issue was that she had nothing she could use to attack at range. After sitting helplessly watching her friend get slashed to pieces by Oni Lee she'd decided she needed to be able to fight. She refused to be the healer on the sidelines helpless to do anything any longer. That desire didn't help her overcome her own limitations. She could still vividly remember blocking Taylor's Spirit gun and how it had burned her hand down to the raw flesh underneath before her Spirit Energy stopped it. Thankfully Spirit Energy could be used to accelerate one's own healing, but it had still taken the better part of the day.
Watching Taylor keep pace with Vicky, throwing around that kind of power effortlessly, it stung. Amy had gotten better, was still improving, but she couldn't tank those blows, or throw a punch that could break Vicky's shield. The first time Taylor had managed that without coating her fist in Spirit Energy had been amusing. Vicky's squawk of surprise had been adorable, Taylor's broken hand decidedly less so. She wanted to be the one sparring with Vicky. Amy pinched herself, those were the very thoughts she was trying to avoid.
Taylor was currently holding her own against both Vicky and Crystal, while fucking blindfolded. Her senses had continued to improve even after her unbelievable showdown with Oni Lee a week ago. Amy had spent more than one sleepless night replaying those memories of Taylor dancing around her, slapping down a foe determined to kill them both. How fierce Tay had looked, with her eyes unfocused but seeing everything in perfect clarity, the sweat rolling off her brow, the blood…
A paw slapped the back of Amy's head. With a squeak of surprise she gave a glare of protest, but was met by an even harsher one from the possessed feline. Genkai's mountain lion now wore a red handkerchief with blue trim tied around her neck much like her spirit form's clothes. Their staring contest was short lived when Amy blinked first and looked away.
"If only you were as focused on your own training as you seem to be on Taylor's." Genkai said. "Or am I wrong in my observations?"
Amy didn't blush, not that anyone would have been able to see in the dimming light of dusk. Although, given some of the enhancements Amy had completed on the cougar, its eyesight was probably better than everyone's present.
Still, better for Genkai to assume it was only Taylor that Amy was watching. It had been a damning revelation just days into her training when Amy had been focusing her energy, moving it through her body, then when she had focused it around her skull Vicky's ever present aura had just vanished. She had never once experienced being around her sister without her aura since the girl had triggered at that basketball game. Even when she thought it was off, it wasn't truly. It had just continued existing as a dull buzz in the background. It had been an enlightening experience to say the least, she couldn't help but recognize many of her own reactions and the damning conclusion she had arrived at.
Withdrawal. She was addicted to Vicky's aura and the chemical changes it encouraged in her brain. Without them, she was adrift and everything seemed wrong with the world. Amy had attempted to let the effects through in smaller doses, effectively wean herself off, but she liked how Vicky's aura made her feel. It was a euphoric rush each time the barrier crumbled, and was getting harder to resist each time she forced it back up. It wasn't getting easier like she had hoped, and now she was attempting to force the issue by keeping that wall up at all times.
It hurt to do so, to spend so much time away from Vicky, and so she had thrown herself at her training with renewed focus. Unfortunately her limitations thus far hadn't helped her in that pursuit.
"I'm just frustrated." Amy grumbled. "Watching them go at it. I can't do that, not with the limitations my powers are causing me."
Genkai's head cocked to the side. "You've figured out how to augment and enhance your own strength and agility, and improved that at a truly remarkable rate. Your past training in hand to hand combat is actually more extensive than Taylor's at this point. The only reason she beats you when you spar is because she can use her Spirit Energy far more liberally."
"What I want is to be able to shoot things. I'm not a frontline fighter. I'm tired of needing others to protect me, I'm tired of being the damsel to be saved. For whatever reason, my powers are touch based and my Spirit Energy seems to be following suit."
"Are you sure of that? I suspect your talents lie elsewhere, you just need to think outside the box a bit. Have you finished reviewing the Spirit World records yet?"
"We have." Amy confirmed, remembering the hours the two spent watching them on the cabin sofa in the warmth of the fireplace. Of popcorn shared, cuddled under the same blanket. Taylor dozing off against her shoulder. Pleasant memories drifted away as the memory of one particularly bloody fight from the archives came to mind and she bit her lip. "I think I know where you might be going with this."
Amy looked around for something to test her idea on. Most of the winter's snow had melted already, but the grass had yet to reclaim its vibrancy even with Brockton Bay's mild climate to help out. There simply wasn't enough biological matter for her to work with, not even an insect population to draw upon and shape to her will. Still, Amy had an image in mind and while most of it was dead, enough of it was pliable to her power for the task at hand. She drew deep upon her memories of the early days when she had been able to simply experiment with flowers, changing the colors of their leaves and tweaking every aspect she could. From that memory she shaped the mass into a seed.
Nothing about a seed was simple, they were packed with genetic information, the building blocks that would form the plant, and the base nutrition needed to push them through their initial growth. For something as complicated as this, her power had made simple work of the task.
Next came the tricky part, slowly she fed her Spirit Energy into her palm, directly under the seed. Much to her continued annoyance she still was unable to push anything into the seed itself. Annoyance grew into frustration as Amy willed her power to force the seed to germinate. A green stem burst from one section and tiny roots began to form from another. There wasn't enough there to fuel the growth much beyond that, but she could manipulate the biomatter itself. She took control of the roots and drove them through her skin. She winced in pain from the half dozen needle points that were stretching out into her flesh, but her Spirit Energy could now access the roots and so she gently prodded the root with energy. She jolted back at the veracity that the seed seemed to absorb her energy, but it was still under her complete control as though the plant was an extension of herself. With a wide grin she fed the seed eagerly.
The growth was explosive yet under her complete control, information flooded her senses as vines coiled up her arm, more roots spearing her flesh and drawing deep upon her Energy. What felt like seconds passed and she soon found her right arm coated in a densely packed mass of plant matter and life. The surface resembled the bark of a tree, but she knew each scale of that material to be stronger than steel, and teeming with her Spirit Energy. All the way from her shoulder to her finger tips, not a hint of her own skin was visible. Where the armored plating didn't cover, tightly packed vines made up the difference as though they were muscle fiber. It was an imposing look, and if she chose to cover her entire body, she knew nobody would recognize her.
The material was dense enough that she could employ her power without burning any Spirit Energy and still have options. Doing just that Amy formed a short blade of hardened bone from the mass. More ideas danced through her mind, from a biological dart launcher with a paralytic or poisoned payload, spores that would turn her target into a loyal… She shut that thought down hard, knowing full well that such a thing would end with a kill order.
Amy realised she was feeling euphoric and had shivers going down her spine. She had no idea where it was coming from, but the effects were disturbingly similar to exposure from Vicky's aura when she was really cranking it up. If this was how all capes felt when using their powers to their fullest capabilities, it was no wonder they fought so much. Powers may as well have been a drug. She found that thought sobering to say the least.
Slowly, Amy began to shape another idea that had come to her, a cluster of blue roses formed along one of the vines that stretched the length of her arm, as she forced them to produce pollen she finally realised that she hadn't been using biomass to fuel the growth, but her own Spirit Energy instead. For the first time since she started she realised how much that could help with healing if she could leverage Spirit Energy in regrowing organs or limbs.
"Those are gorgeous." Taylor said just beside her, causing Amy to startle.
"Taylor!" Amy said in her panic and shoved the flower coated arm behind her. A quick glance showed that Vicky and Crystal were once again giving the pair plenty of space, seemingly chatting away with Genkai. She could tell that Vicky was trying to push the two of them together, and even though the thought hurt her deeply, she knew it would have made sense to any other sister in Vicky's situation. Sadly Amy wasn't just any other sister thanks to Vicky's aura fucking with her head.
Taylor laughed at her reaction, and Amy couldn't help the blush that the sound provoked. Damn that aura and how it had complicated things. Taylor wasn't what she would consider traditionally attractive like Vicky was. Her lips were too wide, her eyes a bit too big. Amy could have changed that, slow adjustments over time and Taylor would barely notice.
No, she had to stop thinking of changing people on a whim, otherwise she might slip and do it by accident. The rest of the girl however, she could appreciate without any thoughts as to altering her appearance. Taylor was tall, almost a full head taller than Amy was, with toned, athletic legs that seemed to go on forever. It was a pity Taylor almost always wore those damned sweatpants that sat ever so loosely on her muscular frame. She wasn't curvy, but there wasn't a hint of flab left on her, which Taylor insisted had been there only a year prior before her tormentors had started teasing her for being frog shaped. Amy had a few creative ideas to implement if she ever met Emma or Sophia face to face. Madison had at least experienced some form of change of heart, so she would just get a bad case of acne, maybe an unfortunate rash to go with it.
"I think I figured a few things out." Amy said as she remembered she was supposed to be having a conversation and brought her arm back around to show Taylor. The girl reached out to touch the petals but Amy grabbed her by the wrist before she could. "I, uh, kinda made them poisonous to anyone but me."
"Beautiful, yet deadly. I like that combination." Taylor said with a wide grin.
Yeah, Taylor was definitely interested, but until Amy could honestly say she was free of Vicky's influence, how could she agree to anything in good conscience? At some point she would need to tell Taylor this last secret she had left, but that could wait for now. She didn't feel like ruining what little good remained of her life just yet. Taylor and Vicky were her only remaining rocks, and she feared losing them would mean losing herself to her own dark thoughts.
"I think I could use this to fight." Amy said, choosing to ignore Taylor's less than subtle flirting. "If I used it to cover my entire body with the stuff, I'm almost certain it would be more than bulletproof. I could have all kinds of weapons on demand, maybe even figure out some projectile system to solve my ranged issues. Add in my enhanced strength and speed when I draw on my Spirit Energy…"
"You would certainly have Brute and Mover ratings." Taylor agreed. "How about offensive capabilities? I'm getting serious Kurama vibes from this stuff and I'm guessing that's intentional?"
"I'd love to get my hands on even a few of the seeds he used." Amy said with a far off look. "Just imagine if I could trap Crawler in a Sinning Tree."
"Well, that would be one good use for that hell plant." Taylor said. "Wouldn't even lose any sleep over it either."
"If I turned Nilbog to take down anyone, the Slaughterhouse would be a fitting target." Amy agreed, resting her head on her knees. "I'm not comfortable with the idea, but against monsters like them, I imagine comfort is a luxury that would end with death or worse."
"Bonesaw." Taylor said, picking up on Amy's implication, that sadistic child was easily the most terrifying of the Nine. Death was preferable to winding up in her care, the creations the Biotinker could come up with were the stuff of nightmares from the worst horror movies. "I think, once I'm strong enough, I may end up hunting them down. Some of the other Class S threats as well."
Amy looked up in surprise. "You actually mean that? I thought you weren't keen on that whole savior complex that Spirit World has about you?"
"I was important, but my death erased the future where I stopped the end of the world." Taylor said with a far off look. "That hasn't changed, as I am now, even if I get stronger, the model still shows everything dying. The way I see it, if I can make a difference while I'm here, I may as well do so, make those last few months better for everyone."
"Most people wouldn't step up like that." Amy said, watching Taylor's expression intently. She was determined, her jaw was set. Clearly Taylor had been giving this some thought.
"Nobody else is going to step up. The Triumvirate either can't or worse, won't stop these threats. I'm only going to get stronger, eventually leveling mountains will be something I can do as easily as I level trees now."
"Or buildings." Amy said with a smirk. "That old factory collapsed shortly after you left."
"I read the report." Taylor grumbled. "They couldn't even let me blame Oni Lee for that. Damages caused by direct action on the part of Esprit. Fucking PRT."
Amy snorted, the memory of that day still fresh in her mind. Taylor, covered in deep cuts and stained with blood. There was a thought that had been stuck in the back of her mind since that fight, it was something she could do to help, but she wasn't sure if she should? It wasn't technically against her rules, it was just something she didn't do. The human body was a fascinating thing to behold, but it wasn't nearly as efficient as it could be. Amy could fix that, make a person more than human in some ways.
Amy's first thought was to worry about how slippery of a slope those thoughts put her on. Would this be the acceptable change that snowballed into her becoming the next threat to humanity? She had to take a step, she couldn't just ignore what she could do. She needed to stop fearing who she was, what she could do. She needed to embrace it.
Altering Taylor's form was more an issue about available biomass than whether it was possible. She couldn't draw on her own Spirit Energy as she had with her armor, which needed a name now that she thought of it. Unfortunately, Taylor simply didn't have much in the way of extra reserves between her training and the frequent need of healing that she seemed to attract.
What the girl did have was Spirit Energy to spare. Even now Amy could feel it recovering at an astounding rate from her earlier spar. Amy paused, was there actually a reason she couldn't use her own plants to fuel the improvements? Perhaps she could even siphon some of Taylor's Spirit Energy to help the growth along. Her new armor was already parasitic in nature, it wouldn't take much effort to adapt it to draw from a target rather than herself. Given how much it had drained her to create as much as she had, drawing from Taylor was the safer option.
The thought sent a chill through her, did she want to do this? It would be so easy to take it too far, simply keep syphoning until she was drained. She could probably even make vines that could ensnare an entire city with enough time, and drain an entire population. Why even stop at Spirit Energy? Just absorb all the biomass and form a single organism that could continue to grow uninterrupted until... She squashed the part of her that was excited by the possibility of such a large scale and frankly abhorrent project. It scared her that her thoughts were becoming dangerous, unbidden impulses. She could cause considerable, and possibly irrevocable harm if she changed the wrong thing for Taylor.
Genkai kept insisting she find new uses for her powers that weren't as dangerous, more importantly, didn't skirt the edge of what was acceptable like her modifications to that ABB rapist. She never did go back and remove them, he had been moved to a hospital that specialized in nerve issues while he awaited trial.
She needed things that were acceptable, didn't push boundaries but at the same time allowed her to experiment. She had been limiting herself so much with restricting herself to healing and now that she was willing to do more, it felt inevitable she would slip up and do something wrong.
Improving Taylor would definitely fit the mould of pushing boundaries. It would be something new, but not anything earth shattering, at least not yet given how Taylor seemed to continue to grow stronger by the day. More importantly, it would help keep Taylor safe, because if something happened to Taylor, she just knew that she would lose what little control she had left and give in to her urges.
Amy had spent many nights in the hospital daydreaming up things she could adjust and improve in the average person, ways to make them better, stronger, faster, healthier. Many animals were superior, hell, some of her ideas had come from insect and fish biology. Adapting them for human use had been amusing, but she had never put them into practice for fear of the extent of her powers being discovered, or being unable to stop once she started.
"Taylor." Amy started, all levity having fled her voice. "If that's what you want to do, if you truly want to fight the monsters of the world, there is a way I could help."
"You want to fight?" Taylor asked.
"Eventually, but not yet. At least not against those kinds of foes. I was more thinking of a few improvements I could make. To you."
"Biokinetic, right." Taylor said and leaned back, resting on her arms and looked to the sky. "How extensive?"
"I'd completely rebuild your musculature's structure. Humans are hardly efficient in that regard. I'd reconfigure your blood to carry more oxygen, your lungs to be more efficient. I would make your skin tougher, reactive reinforcement around vital organs, bones denser, joints, reflexes. Kill that curse upon womankind better known as a period. Everything short of your mind would get a tune up. Much as I'm willing to at least re-examine my rules, I'm not comfortable messing with a brain without more practice."
"That's fair, but I have to ask. Why now?" Taylor's voice dropped to almost a whisper. "Why me?"
"You've helped me in so many ways, Tay." Amy started. "Oni Lee was like ice water down my shirt, you were minutes from bleeding out, you would have died if I hadn't been there. If you were to get that hurt again, or outright killed and I hadn't done what I could to help you…"
"You're afraid you'll fall off the cliff." Taylor finished.
Amy looked at the construct wrapped around her arm, how it was feeding off of her like a symbiote. "Pretty sure I already have." Taylor started to say something but Amy raised her armored hand. "I'm not spiraling out of control, I chose to do this. I'm controlling the descent, but there really isn't any way for me to just go back to being the white-mage anymore. I'm so much more than that and I'm through hiding it. You've helped me so much, and I just want to give you something back."
Taylor's smile was beaming as she pulled Amy into a hug. She hastily removed the poisonous effects of her flowers and flushed the toxins from Taylor's system as quickly as they were absorbed. "You don't owe me anything Amy. I'd say that I owe you instead but then we'd spend the next five minutes arguing over who owes each other more." Taylor took hold of Amy's armored hand, Amy's blush grew deeper. "Alright, let's do it. Supercharge me."
Amy failed to stifle a snort. "Not even going to ask if I've tested this stuff yet?"
Taylor laughed. "Amy, I'm not blind. I know you've been augmenting the cougar for Genkai since that night you found it in my room. I trust that you've worked out the issues and if not, you'll be here to fine tune things."
"If you're sure." Amy watched as Taylor nodded. "Alright. This will probably feel weird as shit, just don't break contact while I do this. You would be in bad shape if we stopped at the wrong step."
Amy willed her construct to pierce Taylor's skin, slowly spreading it while dulling the nerves that would cause pain. After a few moments she felt out through them for Taylor's well of power, it was hard to miss. She then set the plant to syphon and sparks shot up her arm, causing her to almost jerk away, but there was no pain. Taylor's gaze snapped onto Amy, her eyes focused in a way she had never seen before. Amy could feel her heart begin to hammer.
Taylor smiled and squeezed her hand. "Remember, I trust you Amy, do what you need to."
Amy nodded, knowing that even though Taylor was worried about what was happening, her words were honest and true. Amy took a deep breath and began to spur more cells to divide, growing the plant mass within Taylor further. Using Taylor's own energy as fuel, she began to convert it to usable biomass. First she enhanced her muscles and organs to an efficiency beyond anything evolution could manage. More biomass was co-opted to reinforce Taylor's skeletal structure and began to create a rudimentary reactive mesh to shield her organs; a second mesh was then laid under her skin to absorb shock. Her entire nervous system outside of her brain was tuned up to be faster, more efficient. With a moment's thought Amy adjusted her immune system, she would heal faster and should never get sick again barring a tinker plague.
She finished the last of Taylor's enhancements that she had planned as well as a few others. Taylor would heal faster on her own now even if Amy wasn't around, though it was more to benefit the gains she would make from her training. Her new muscles were much stronger than her old ones, but she had left them room to improve, to help her ease into it.
Amy converted the remaining plant mass still within Taylor into a layer of hyper dense biomass reserves that her body would maintain at a consistent level, giving Amy more to work with in the event Taylor ever needs healing… When Taylor needs healing again, it was good insurance in the event they were caught after a fight with their Spirit Energy too drained. She would have an appetite to rival a sumo wrestler's but Taylor would be ready. Finally Amy withdrew the last strands of her construct from Taylor and smoothed her skin back over.
"All done. Have I mentioned before how damn weird Spirit powers are?" Amy asked as Taylor flexed her now healed hand and hopped to her feet, which became a leap almost a dozen feet into the air. Amy couldn't help but laugh at Taylor's squawk of surprise. "Better do some exercises and get used to it, as well as how Spirit Energy can affect things. You'll continue to grow stronger over the next week or two. I figured you probably didn't want to break things just because you weren't aware of your new strength."
"Vicky told me some of her stories." Taylor said, now doing a one armed handstand which turned into a one thumb handstand. Then she started doing push ups. "Holy shit, I don't even need Spirit Energy to do these now."
Amy laughed further at Taylor's enthusiasm at her new abilities, she was happy her gift was appreciated. Amy hoped that it would help keep the girl safe, she didn't want to see Taylor as injured as she had been ever again.
"You're still wearing your weights as well." Amy pointed out, Taylor actually cackled at that as she pushed off the ground, landing with a heavy impact and took off into a sprint.
Amy watched as the girl bounced from one obscure exercise to another bizarre martial arts technique. Taylor was smiling the entire time as she pushed her newfound strength and speed to its current limits. Amy couldn't help but curse that she was still enthralled by her sister, Taylor was right there and there was no way Amy was reading the other girl wrong. That voice in the back of her head kept reminding her that such thoughts were a betrayal to the girl that had always been there for her. Amy pushed those thoughts down as hard as she could.
Taylor was interested. They both wanted… Taking a breath, Amy made her decision.
"Hey Taylor?" She called out. "Can we talk for a minute?"
Taylor had paused on a tree branch some thirty feet in the air. "Sure thing!" She yelled back and dropped to the ground beneath with a near deafening impact on the still frozen earth and hurried over. She wasn't even winded which boded well for the upgrades Amy had given her. "What's up?"
"Sit down, I need to-" She was cut off by her phone ringing. Scowling, Amy pulled it from her pocket and answered. As the voice on the other end spoke her face fell. "Fuck, we'll be right there." She ended the call. "Get Vicky and Crystal, we need to get to the PRT building immediately."
"What's going on?" Vicky asked, having clearly been eavesdropping if she had picked up on things already, Crystal was floating beside her. Of course they had been listening, they both wanted to set her up with Taylor after all and were none too subtle about it. No way Vicky would want to miss the potential start of a relationship, and just the thought of that was enough to pierce her heart to the core.
Amy stood, turning back towards the cabin where her Panacea robes awaited. It seemed she wasn't quite ready to hang them up for good after all. "New Wave's been asked to come in to assist, Lung's declared war on the Empire and is currently burning half of Downtown to the ground."
Author's Notes:
And now we get a look inside Amy's head, yikes she has issues. Unfortunately someone had to yell out "Look, a distraction!" just as she was about to open up fully to Taylor. Oh well, maybe after this latest crisis is resolved. Next time, Arc 3 kicks off!
Backlog status: Arc 4 is written, and the first Interlude has been completed. (Oh boy is it a long one too, both the arc and the Interlude)