Wake could see vans full of PRT soldiers getting in to position around the motel. Alexandria told her they had been outfitted with ear protection that would block all noise and ensure Valefor could not command them with his power. With that out of the way, Eligos was more of a threat than Valefor. To deal with him, several members of the Brockton Bay Protectorate including Miss Militia and Triumph were hidden behind a wall across the street from the motel.
"They're in room 212, there on the second floor," Alexandria said, pointing to a door near the southwest corner. The rooms at this motel were all accessible from the outside, not through interior hallways like a fancier hotel. That fact was fortunate for law enforcement. "Everyone is in place."
Wake watched as Miss Militia stepped out from behind the wall carrying a grenade launcher. She dropped to a knee, took a second to aim, and fired a round through the window of motel room. Before the first shot had even hit she was reloading to fire again. The rounds were not explosive, however, but instead were filled with containment foam.
After Miss Militia's shots struck the room Wake saw the motel door burst open and Eligos came running out. One of his arms was covered in containment foam up to the shoulder, but his legs seemed clean and he was able to move freely. A team of PRT soldiers met him as he ran and he unleashed a wave of wind at them that bounced harmlessly against their riot shields as they continued advancing towards the villainous cape.
Eligos turned and ran the other way, apparently deciding to completely abandon his teammate who was still in the motel room covered in containment foam. He didn't get far, however, before he saw Dauntless and Velocity coming at him from the other direction. His eyes glanced back at the PRT soldiers for a moment before he seemed to come to a decision and threw himself over the railing and into the parking lot. Eligos stumbled as he landed, appearing to injure one of his feet, but he still tried to stumble away from the motel.
He only managed to make it a few steps before he saw another group of PRT soldiers in front of him. These were armed not only with guns and riot shields, but containment foam sprayers as well. Someone demanded that Eligos lay on the ground with his hands on his head over a megaphone. The Fallen member hesitated for a moment before finally deciding he had been beat and following instructions.
Wake checked her power and it confirmed that neither of the the two Fallen members would be able to threaten her in the near term. She breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the aftermath of the operation. Eligos was quickly handcuffed and placed in a nearby van. Valefor was led out of the motel room a few minutes later, in handcuffs but also blindfolded and with a gag in his mouth. He was taken to a separate van from Eligos. In all, Wake guessed that it had taken less than five minutes from when Miss Militia began the attack to when the two villains were hauled away.
"They're pretty good," Wake observed. She had never seen the PRT and Protectorate lead an attack like that.
"They are," Alexandria agreed, "I just wish people like that were the only threat they had to deal with."
"I guess that's the goal, isn't it?"
Alexandria nodded in agreement. It had been a productive day all around. The Triumvirate hero wasn't sure if it had been enough to convince Wake to join them, but it was an excellent start. Wake, for her part, had been impressed with what Cauldron was capable of but was still uncertain about how to react to the group.
The two heroes floated in the air a few minutes longer, each watching the activity below and wondering about the intentions of the other.
Pick your permanent upgrade
[][Power] Mid range danger sense. Taylor has a warning sense about any threat targeted at her within 100 meters.
[][Power] Close range combat thinker. Taylor can predict the attacks of anyone within 10 meters of her and respond accordingly.
Cauldron want you!
[][Cauldron] Become a full member. Reveal identity, take orders as given.
[][Cauldron] Become an ally. Don't reveal identity. Accept or reject requests from them on a case by case basis.
[][Cauldron] Distance yourself. On second thought you don't want anything to do with them.
The next day found Taylor struggling to pay attention in English class. She had started off the period strong, taking thorough and detailed notes as the teacher rambled on about the importance of foreshadowing and how King Laius really should have known he couldn't beat prophecy. But, as the hour wore on and the teacher attempted and often failed to recite long passages from Oedipus Rex by memory, Taylor's notes morphed into scribbles and then into doodles.
She was just putting the finishing touches on a picture of a lion pouncing on a man in toga when the sky outside began to darken. In the span of a few minutes, storm clouds heavy with rain filled the sky and blocked out the mid-morning sun. The downpour began not long after. Brockton Bay was no stranger to powerful storms, but from the looks of it this was going to be a bad one.
Taylor glanced around the classroom and saw that she wasn't the only one choosing to focus on the weather rather than her still struggling English teacher. One of her classmates, a girl named Heather that was a distant part of Emma's social circle, stood up from her seat to get a better look out the window. The teacher continued on, finally giving up on his attempts at recital and just reading out of the book.
Taylor's attention lingered on Heather, or more precisely the shirt the other girl was wearing. It was a bright blue and on pasted on the back in large, golden lines was Bastet's symbol. Taylor had first seen people wearing the symbol several days before and it seemed as though the trend was gaining popularity. She wondered if Bastet knew this would happen, if this result was the one she had intended to happen all along.
A sudden flash of light brightened the room, immediately followed by a deafening boom of thunder.
"Fuck!" Heather screamed, jumping back from the window and nearly tripping over her desk. There was a round of laughter at the frightened girl's expense and she blushed from the attention before sitting back down. At the front of the room, the teacher frowned at the interruption but kept to the lesson.
Taylor turned her attention towards the clock. Still ten minutes to go until she could get out of here and eat lunch. At the beginning of the year she had started eating in different spots outside the cafeteria on most days to get away from the bullying, but since she came back from her suspension for fighting she sat in the cafeteria every single day. A small sign she wasn't going to take it any more to be sure, but an important act as well. Though recently Emma had started sitting across from her, prattling on about a million different things while Taylor said nothing. A strange, new normal had taken hold.
"Send it again, man," she heard a voice behind her whisper. Taylor turned her head slightly and saw two guys looking at their cell phones. It wasn't allowed, of course, and they risked getting their phones taken away but neither of them seemed to care about that.
"Can't. No bars," the other one explained. Taylor frowned and discreetly pulled out her own phone and found that she didn't have any service either. It wasn't really important to her at the moment, but it was still an annoyance. What if Contessa called? What if Alexandria called? She couldn't stop a grin from crossing her face at the knowledge Alexandria calling little old her was a very real possibility.
Taylor put her phone away and decided it was close enough to the end of class to begin putting her things away. She was in the process of zipping her backpack up when the power went off. The room went dark, though there was still enough light from outside to see what was going on. At the front of the room, the teacher let out a frustrated sigh.
"Well I guess you'll all just have to read the end in your textbooks," he said, snapping his own book closed. "Everyone stay here; I'm going to find out what the problem is with the lights. I'll be back before class ends."
The moment he left the classroom was filled with chatter as the students debated what had caused the lights to go off and whether or not they would be told to go home if the power didn't come back on. Taylor thought their hopes for an early end to the day were far too optimistic.
The end of class came and went, but their teacher did not return. Taylor pulled out her phone to check the time but it refused to turn on. It must have broken somehow, she assumed, because when she had last checked it she knew she remembered seeing that the battery was still mostly full.
"Hey," Taylor said, turning towards a girl sitting next to her, "What time is it?"
The girl looked down at her watch and frowned.
"Huh," she said, "Battery must have died. Hey Eric, what time is it?"
"11:54," the boy she had asked said after glancing at his watch, but Taylor knew that couldn't be right. Class would have ended at noon, and it must have been later than that. She looked back at Eric's watch and saw that it was an analog model, not a digital one. Taylor turned towards the wall clock and saw that its hands too had stopped at 11:54.
Others had picked up on the conversation and began to check their own watches and phones, but none of them worked anymore. This news resulted in loud shouts of anger and annoyance, but also a few quieter and more apprehensive questions.
"What do you think's happening?" Heather asked from her seat by the window. "How could something shut off everything?"
"It's got to be an EMP!" Greg Veder said excitedly, "That's the only thing that makes sense. Whoever set that off is going to be in
much trouble. I bet it was Leet!"
Taylor was vaguely aware of what an EMP was and from the sounds of things Greg could be right, but another part of her was certain he wasn't. An EMP wouldn't explain the sudden storm which she felt was somehow a part of this.
"Screw this," Taylor heard someone say, "I'm out of here."
The rest of the class seemed to agree with the sentiment and everyone began heading for the exit. Taylor shrugged, threw her backpack over her shoulder and followed the crowd out the door. The hallway didn't have windows to let in light like the classrooms and Taylor found it a bit difficult to see what was happening. She could see dozens of dark silhouettes wandering through the halls, but she couldn't make out any faces.
That was when the first scream echoed down the hallway. No one paid much attention to it, thinking it was just someone goofing off or afraid of the dark, but then other voices joined in. There was just enough light for Taylor to see people at the other end of the hallway towards her, pushing and shoving other people as they came. She could hear students crying out in pain as they were roughly thrown to the ground.
Curious what was going on, Taylor waded through the crowd and towards the screams. She turned a corner and saw a figure in bright and colorful clothes holding a machete advancing on a young girl who was curled up in ball on the ground crying. A pulse of magic washed over her and she had advanced enough in her mental defenses to realize that it was trying to make her afraid. It wanted her to be terrified.
She scowled, annoyed that someone was trying to mess with her head, and charged at the figure. She hit him with a shoulder tackle that sent him flying through the air. He bounced roughly off a wall of lockers and crashed to the ground. It was then that Taylor got her first good look at the attacker.
"What the hell?" she wondered aloud. The person, no thing she thought, was dressed up like a clown but its clothes were covered with blood and its mouth was full of sharp teeth that reminded her of a shark. An instant later the evil clown vanished as if it was never there, and Taylor felt the fear compulsion go with it.
"I fucking hate clowns," the still crying girl on the floor said between sobs. "Always have."
Taylor put a hand on the girl's shoulder in attempt to comfort her, but then she heard more screams. The creature, whatever it had really been, either wasn't gone or hadn't come here alone. She knew she had to help, but her armor and costume were still at home. She risked exposing herself if she did anything too obvious.
"Get the fuck out of my way!"
Taylor turned and looked down the hallway towards where her class had been and the yell came from. She knew that voice quite well. Sophia Hess. Shadow Stalker. It came as no surprise that Sophia wouldn't be willing to sit back and let something attack Winslow without a fight.
Taylor concentrated on the magic running wild through the school. If her guess was right, somewhere nearby a portal had been opened that only she could close. Her head swiveled to look towards the northeast corner where the gym was. The sense of magic was strongest in that direction.
The screams and cries for help continued to echo through her ears as Taylor decided what to do next. But then she heard another voice she recognized calling out for help. Emma. The cry came from the other direction, meaning Sophia probably hadn't heard it and wouldn't know her friend was in trouble.
A moment later, Taylor had made up her mind. She knew what she had to do.
What should Taylor do about her armor / costume?
[][Costume] Run home and get it
[][Costume] Cover your face with something, attempt to conceal your identity
[][Costume] Shift into your lion form, use that exclusively
[][Costume] It's dark, just try to not be obvious with the parahuman powers
Taylor ran down the hall and in to the nearest classroom she could find. She didn't have her costume with her but the thought of doing nothing was unacceptable, and so she would just have to improvise. After a quick check to confirm that the room was empty and no one was watching Taylor transformed into her lioness form.
Even this was a risk, she knew. Being seen in this form just seconds after an attack began would basically confirm to anyone wondering that Wake was a student at Winslow High. And unfortunately, it wasn't as if she could hide her presence either. A massive lion roaming the halls and fighting off nightmares wasn't something that would go unnoticed.
Taylor shook her head and pushed the door to the classroom open. A few of the students still running around saw her and screamed, not realizing that she was a hero and here to help. She looked down the hall towards where Sophia's voice had come from but didn't see her. It would have been nice to have Shadow Stalker's help, she thought, but she can take care of herself. Emma however, might not be able to.
Taylor ran down the hallway, nimbly avoiding panicked students as she did. She turned a corner and was faced with a massive wall of fire. On the other side nearly a dozen people were huddled together, desperately trying to distance themselves from the flames but trapped by a locked door. Emma was stuck in the middle of the group, a look of dread on her face.
Fire is a common fear, Taylor knew, but was it just coincidence that Emma was being threatened by it? She wasn't convinced. When Emma was five she and her older sister had attempted to cook dinner for their parents without telling them. The two girls managed to catch the kitchen on fire. Their screams got their dad's attention and he was able to use a fire extinguisher to stop the flames but even so the damage was extensive. Emma hadn't liked fire very much after that. Taylor wondered if any of the others cowering behind the wall of flames had similar stories.
Taylor paced in front of the fire, attempting to come up with a solution, when she noticed that the flames were not behaving normally. She could feel the heat and smell the smoke, but the fire wasn't actually burning anything. Pieces of paper posted on the walls appeared to burn and burn but never blackened and turned to ash. Was it all just an illusion?
She took a nervous step forward and the heat rolled over her. Taylor was not especially afraid of fire but here and now it was taking all of her willpower not to turn and run as fast as she could. After another moment's hesitation she took a step into the fire itself, ready to leap away if her guess was wrong. But the pain she was expecting never came, furthermore the fear she had been feeling vanished the moment she had forced herself to confront that fear.
Taylor stood in the middle of the fire and roared at the students in front of her, hoping to spur them into action. Luckily for her there appeared to be at least a few people in the group who were more afraid of being eaten alive by a lion than they were of fire. Half of them ran through the flames and, hopefully, to safety. The rest of the people were now looking back and forth from the inferno to the giant lion, paralyzed with fear.
Except Emma. She had a curious expression on her face, looking from where the others had run through the flames and then to Taylor who still stood in the middle of the fire completely unharmed.
"It'll be ok, I think," she said to the others. "We just have to walk out."
"No!" a quite large young man screamed, "We'll burn!"
"It's not real," Emma assured him, "Come on."
Emma and the other linked hands and faced the flames. Taylor nodded her head and urged them on, hoping they would understand her gestures. The stepped forward, slowly at first, and cringed as the heat they felt increased. Then, all at once, they broke into a sprint and dashed through the fire. Taylor gave a triumphant roar and turned towards the lone holdout.
Suddenly, the flames changed. Taylor yelped in pain and jumped out of the way from the now very real fire. The papers that had previously remained whole now began to truly burn and the heat she felt seemed to double. Not just an illusion then.
There wasn't time to convince the kid to run, Taylor knew she had to take immediate action. She ran towards the still terrified boy and grabbed onto his belt with her teeth and began to pull as fast as she could. He tried to fight and screamed for help, but Taylor didn't let go. She dragged him through the flames in a rush and then forced him to roll over a few times to put stop the fire that had latched on to his pants. Once he was safe, Taylor roared at him as threateningly as she could and he scrambled to his feet to escape.
With that done, Taylor knew she had to find the source of all this chaos and put an end to it. Before she transformed she had felt it coming from towards the gym, but now she could not feel any of the magic she had before.
She continued on through the dark halls, her feline senses better able to cope with the lack of light. She heard a skittering sound coming from up ahead, accompanied by the sound of someone running. An older student, one she recognized as being popular because of his spot on the basketball team, turned the corner and ran at full speed towards her. His eyes went wide in shock when he saw the giant lion in the hallway but he did not slow down at all, he simply cast a fearful look behind him and kept running.
The source of the strange noise appeared a moment later in the form of a giant spider, covered in dark hair and dripping venom from its fangs. Its head banged softly against the ceiling as it moved and when its many eyes fell on Taylor it hissed menacingly. Taylor growled, not at all impressed by the creature. She had seen one too many monstrous spiders in her time as a hero. She understood how common the fear was, but her experiences had left her numb to that particular one.
Taylor began her own charge towards the giant spider. Its fangs lashed out at her, but Taylor was too quick. She avoided the strike and bit through one of the beast's eight enormous legs. It made a strange noise which she assumed was pain and anger before turning for another strike. Fortunately, Taylor's parahumans powers still worked just fine in her lioness and form and Taylor could see exactly what her foe was attempting.
Time after time she narrowly evaded the spider's attacks before lashing out wish one of her own. The spider, though, was relentless. She sidestepped an attack, only to lose her footing in a pool of the creature's thick blood. Despite her speed and foresight, she was unable to dodge the monster's next attack. It's clawed leg came down on her, but right before it hit there was a flash of light and the leg was thrown backwards. Taylor sighed in relief, her barrier had protected her this time.
Taylor went back on the offensive, and in a matter of just a few seconds she had managed to cripple half of the thing's legs. Despite the injuries, it showed no signs of giving up. It only grew madder and more desperate.
Taylor rolled out of the way of spider leg swung towards her head and turned to put some distance between herself and the creature. But when she looked down the hall she found it wasn't empty as she had believed. Standing mere feet away from her was a very familiar figure staring at her with a look of pure hate and rage.
It was the same young man that she had seen in the mirror the day after killing Behemoth. She could see large chunks of flesh had been ripped from his body and dark blood oozed from the wounds. The hole in his head was still there, surrounded by what looked like teeth marks.
"Die!" the figure snarled at her. An instant later the spider, who Taylor had momentarily forgotten about, struck. Its fangs pierced the tough hide covering her shoulder and Taylor roared in pain. She pulled free of the bite and lashed out with her own attack. A handful of quick strikes left the spider unable to move and Taylor took advantage of the opportunity by biting large chunks out of the spots that seemed especially vulnerable to her. The spider hissed and howled as it died, but eventually it lay still and did not disappear.
Taylor turned to look at where the figure had appeared but found nothing. He was gone again, if he was ever really there in the first place. Her attention turned to her shoulder which ached as she moved on it. Specks of some white substance leaked out of the holes where the spider had bitten her and Taylor could not help but shudder as she wondered what the thing had done to her.
Despite her injury her mission was not complete, and so Taylor pushed herself onward towards the gym. When she finally nudged open the doors she saw that here, too, the lights were out. The large space was quiet, but she could hear and smell people hiding in the bleachers. And, in the far corner near one of the dressing rooms, was a small shape that glowed faintly in the darkness. The portal remained open, meaning that at least one of the creatures was still on this side. However, what Bastet had taught her about the portals led her to believe that unless someone on this side had summoned them they would not be able to maintain their existence once the portal was closed.
Taylor slowly approached the portal, wary of any threats lying in wait around it. Her senses didn't detect anything and she breathed a bit easier. Once in range Taylor concentrated and attempted to close the portal, as she had been taught to do.
Nothing happened.
She mentally cursed, realizing that ability too was not available to her in this form. To close the portal, she would have to transform back to her normal self, but doing so would expose her to those watching from the bleachers. There were probably two dozen of them watching her every move, and though it was dark she wondered if they would recognize her.
Taylor let out a frustrated growl and let go of the lioness transformation. Once back in her human form she dropped to the ground, the pain in her shoulder intensifying. She took a deep breath and focused on the task ahead of her. Now she could feel the magic flowing out from this one central point, fighting to maintain itself. She grasped hold of the magic within herself and launched it at the portal. For a tense moment she thought her strength would not be enough, but then the portal began to close.
As it did the doors to the gym burst open and a variety of nightmarish things rushed towards her. One was shaped like rabid Doberman, it's eyes glowing red as it barked angrily at her. Another was purely demonic, reminiscent of paintings of the devil with red skin, black legs, and hooves for feet. Taylor turned her head and attention back to the portal and strained to close it.
The sound of monsters rushing towards her echoed loudly in her ears and she closed her eyes, pushing with all of her will and force until finally the portal closed. The gym was silent. Taylor looked around and saw, instead of the nightmares threatening to attack her, small puddles of dark sludge where they should have been. She sighed in relief and began to slump to the ground before realizing she was still being watched. In an instant she changed back to her lioness form and spun towards the bleachers. Several of the students were now standing up and staring at her. Taylor was briefly thankful that magic had knocked out all of their cellphones, otherwise her image would probably be up on the internet by now. Choosing not to wait around and give them more of a show, Taylor ran out the door and away from the school.
By the time she made it home the wound on her shoulder had stopped bleeding, but the skin around it had turned a deep purple. She staggered to her room and crashed on to her bed, delirious with pain and fever. Her eyes closed, and Taylor fell unconscious.
Spoiler: Author's Note
Taylor's next power is: Organic Weapons
Power level of: 9
Really? A 9 right after two 10's? Cheaters. I don't know how, but you are.
Taylor's body can produce any weapon she can imagine, even copying Tinker tech weapons she has seen and is familiar with. She can also shape her own body into different forms to allow her to be a more effective weapon as well as growing nearly indestructible armor. She can grow and shrink as she wishes, becoming as small as an insect or as large as a tall building.
Taylor awoke at sunrise as her new power filled her awareness. It didn't heal her or make the pain go away, but it did make her better able to cope with it. She peeled off her bloodied shirt and cringed when she saw the damage that had been done to her. The wound was beginning to turn black and it stank. She was no doctor but was fairly certain neither of those were good signs. Luckily, the poison did not seem to have spread to the rest of her body.
She needed help, that much was obvious. But who could she go to for something like this?
Bastet was the obvious choice. The wound, after all, was caused by a magical creature and if anyone knew what to do about it Bastet would. She didn't know exactly where Bastet was staying these days, but with her ability to sense magic she thought she might be able to find her. Of course, Bastet's help wouldn't come for free. Nothing with the goddess ever did.
Brockton Bay was famously the home of Panacea, the world's best healer. She could probably take care of the injury and shouldn't be too difficult to find. She and her sister would be at school for the first part of the day and she would probably head to one of the hospitals after that. Taylor had seen Panacea at the Behemoth fight but never talked to her, hopefully she would be willing to help out.
Panacea wasn't the only healer in town, though. She could call Cricket and have her get in touch with Othalla for her. She wasn't quite sure how Othalla's healing worked but it sounded like it was fairly capable. Of course they were both Empire 88 capes. Still, it was an option.
And of course she could always call Cauldron. They must have a healer of some sort on call, wouldn't they?
Taylor sat and wondered what to do.
Taylor's body was wracked with pain, but she pressed on. Fortunately, the power she had received was quite useful and she was able to avoid the painful process of struggling to put on her armor over her injured shoulder by simply growing the armor straight out of herself. She had expected it to be painful, but instead it felt like warm water being poured over her.
She took the time to get the armor right, making sure it looked like her normal set and contained enough carbon that she could still fly in it. After a bit of effort, she managed to create something as mobile as her previous set of armor and a bit tougher as well.
Her good mood was soured by a wave of nausea overcoming her. The feeling reminded her that though her new power was able to dull the pain that accompanied her injury it was not able to repair it. Taylor knew she would have to get help with her injury, and though she had several options she decided to try Panacea first.
A short while later Wake floated high in the air above a park across the street from Arcadia. Numerous people had stopped to take pictures and video of her but she had yet to see Panacea. Classes would be beginning in the next ten or fifteen minutes, she knew, and if this idea didn't work she might have to try something more direct.
That's when she saw Victoria Dallon, aka Glory Girl, rising into the air to meet her. Victoria was obviously dressed for school and not in costume, though she still managed to make her attire look impressive. Taylor felt a rush of emotion wash over her and she focused on clamping down her mental defenses. She wasn't sure if Victoria had done that on purpose or not but she certainly didn't appreciate it.
"You're making people nervous," Victoria said by way of greeting as she approached Wake. "We all know you're not a villain, but looming over a school is not OK."
"You're right, and I'm sorry," Wake replied, "But I'm hurt pretty bad and was hoping I could catch your sister before class started. I know it's asking a lot because I don't know either of you but- "
"Calm down," Victoria said, interrupting her, "You killed Behemoth, I think that earns you a free healing. Follow me, she's waiting around the corner."
Wake nodded and the two capes flew back towards the street. As they made a hard right around a building Wake saw Panacea, Amy Dallon, leaning against a wall looking as if she had been waiting nervously. She visibly sighed in relief when she saw that her sister was unharmed, though she didn't seem too happy see Wake trailing behind her.
"What's going on?" Amy asked, looking from her sister to Wake and back again. "Trouble?"
"Don't think so," Victoria replied, "But Endbringer-killer-girl here is a little banged up and hoped you'd be able to help out. I said you would."
"Thanks," Amy said, rolling her eyes in feigned annoyance. "Well then, come on over."
Wake took a step towards Panacea and mentally retracted the armor around her wound back inside her. Amy and Victoria both looked surprised by the action, but didn't say anything about it. They did, however, say something about her injured shoulder.
"Holy crap what happened?!" Victoria yelled. She stared at the black and dying flesh around the spider's bite mark in a mixture of horror and awe. "What could even do that?"
"It's a spider bite," Wake told her.
"One hell of a spider," Victoria replied, disbelief evident in her tone.
Amy reached out and placed her hand on Wake's exposed skin and closed her eyes to concentrate. After a few moments a look of pure confusion appeared on her face.
"I've seen spider bites before," Amy said, "This is something else."
"It was a big spider," Wake suggested. "Really big."
"Do I have permission to attempt to heal you?" Amy asked.
"Go ahead," Wake said with a nod.
Amy closed her eyes once more and Taylor could feel her shoulder changing. The dead and dying flesh began to fall off of her in clumps which left her arm small and pock marked. Wake grinned and used her power to create more body mass to replace what was lost which elicited a gasp of surprise from Amy. The healer kept working and after a few minutes the obvious signs of damage were gone, though her arm still looked pink and raw. Wake was relieved to find that the pain had mostly gone away, but there was still a dull ache from where the bite wound had been.
"I think I've done all I can," Amy said, pulling her hand back from Wake's shoulder. "I couldn't fix everything, whatever got you is resistant to my power. Something non-organic, maybe? It's weird."
"I was afraid of that," Wake replied, "So what's my outlook?"
"Your body is trying to heal itself and it should be able to do that quite a bit better now," Amy answered, "But honestly I'm not comfortable trying to predict something I don't even understand. Maybe it goes away completely, maybe it gets worse. I'm just guessing at this point."
"Well, thanks for the attempt," Wake said, "Let me know if I can do anything to repay you."
"Sure," Amy said, shrugging. Wake guessed she had probably heard that line hundreds of times from people she had healed, though in her case she actually meant it. Wake was thinking about saying her good-byes when a thoughtful expression crossed Amy's face. "Actually, you can tell me the truth about what happened to you and why you didn't think I'd be able to heal you."
"I didn't know you wouldn't be able to," Wake argued, "Just suspected. I suppose you've both heard about what happened at Winslow by now, right?"
"Yeah," Victoria said seriously, "Everyone's panicking trying to figure out who did it."
"No one is to blame, not really," Wake said, "The things that attacked the school weren't parahumans or the creations of parahumans. They were magical creatures that feed on fear and crossed over to this part of reality until I was able to close the portal they were coming through."
Amy and Victoria looked at each skeptically, neither seeming to believe what they were hearing.
"Don't look at me," Amy said, "I don't do brains."
"Think what you want," Wake replied, "But that's the truth. Weird stuff like that is going to keep happening, too. You'd both better get ready for it."
"If you say so," Victoria said. As she did, Wake heard the sound of a school bell ringing in the distance. "Damn, late again. It was nice meeting you, Wake."
"Yeah," Wake agreed, "Nice to meet both of you, too. Thanks again, Panacea."
"No problem," Amy said. She then took a step towards her sister and grabbed her wrist. "Come on, Victoria. We can't miss class again."
"Fine," the blonde superhero grumbled as she allowed herself to be led away. Wake watched them go and offered a small wave when they turned for a last look. Once they were gone she took the opportunity to move her arm around, testing the healing. It felt OK, for now, but between what Amy had said and her own intuition she was certain it would come back if not properly cared for.
With that done, she had the rest of the day to decide what to do with…