She had to stop reading there.  The paper had been on Carol’s bedside table, and Amy had found it while collecting a change of clothes for Mark a week ago.

Mark? Would that be Manpower?

Carol had probably been reading it to him late the previous night, and maybe forgot to put it away due to a mixture of exhaustion and the distractions that came with waking up each morning to a disabled husband and a ten-year career in jeopardy.

Sounds like it, provided I’m remembering the family tree correctly. So what exactly happened to him in the fight against Leviathan?

Also this is a very good reason for forgetting to do something.

Amy knew she shouldn’t have read it, but the header had caught her attention.  With her family’s fate uncertain, she had found herself reading, to see if they were joining the Guild, if something else had happened that could distract them from this.

Makes sense.

Amy sat on her bed, staring at the piece of paper in her hands.

Ooooh!

I know the “scaredy cat” stuff made me waver on this, but I’m still going to count it as a win!

So does that mean Amy is the scaredy cat after all?

The header at the top was stylized, a silhouette of a superhero with a cape flowing, with a script reading ‘The Guild’ extending to the right.

Ooh, are we finally going to find out what the Guild is all about? 

I mean, we know it’s a superhero organization and that Dragon, for all her work for the Protectorate, is primarily in the Guild, but beyond that they’re pretty much a complete mystery so far. (I think I speculated at some point that they specialized in tinkers, but if this paper has to do with Panacea getting into it, then that’s probably wrong.)

So did Amy apply for, or get invited to, the Guild as a result of the New Wave disbanding, instead of going for the Wards like her sister?

Or maybe this is a completely unrelated document. Maybe it isn’t even for Panacea, and the reason she’s staring at it is that she found out something about someone close to her through it? Or about her dad.

Mrs. Carol Dallon.  Brandish,

Alright, so it’s not for her. What’s this about, then? Did she just discover that her (adoptive) mom is joining the Guild?

Let me open by stating my condolences for the loss of your brother-in-law, nephew, and your husband’s injury.  I have heard New Wave is currently considering disbanding, and you have my best wishes, whatever route you end up taking.  We have too few heroes and heroines to lose them, and even fewer of the truly good heroes and heroines who set the standard for everyone else, parahuman and human alike.  If finances ever become a concern, know that all you need to do is ask, and we will find you employment among the Guild’s uncostumed staff.

Hm… did Dragon write this? It sounds like her.

Either way, I think I like whoever did, so far.

Knowing what you have been through as of late, it is with a heavy heart that I send you this message with further bad news.  Marquis, interred in the Baumann Parahuman Containment Center, confided to another inmate that he fears for his daughter’s life.

Ohhh.

Panacea didn’t know exactly who her father was, right? Wasn’t that part of the whole showdown with Tattletale in Agitation?

And now she’s found this letter to Brandish that states his name and makes it quite clear what his relation is, even if it doesn’t get more specific than this.

I have checked the facts to the best of my ability, and the details I have been able to dig up match with his story.  I must warn you that Allfather may have arranged for Amy Dallon to be murdered at some future date, in revenge for his own daughter’s death at Marquis’ hands.

And hey, finding out that a dead bigshot villain may have set you up to be murdered can be upsetting in its own right.

(Also, yes, this is definitely Dragon.)