“I’m sorry,” Amy said, “So sorry I didn’t help you sooner, that-”

Mark stopped her with a raised hand.  “Thank you.”

“It doesn’t matter how long it took. I’m just thankful you did it in the end. That’s all that’s important now.”

She didn’t deserve thanks.

I think she does. It took her a while, and unfortunately getting forced into it by a villain, but she got past her fears and helped him in the end. And while one might argue that she only did it because she was forced, she was intent on doing it right before that happened. Even if she does think she would’ve chickened out.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

She looked away.  Tears were welling out.  “No.”

Amy has a lot of thoughts that need venting right now. Hopefully she realizes that Mark is willing to let her vent to him without judgment.

At least I think he is. He seems like a good guy.

“That woman.  Can you help her?”  Mark’s voice sounded rough-edged.  It hadn’t been used in its full capacity for a long few weeks.

Hmm.

Help her reattach her limbs, sure.

Help her out of this dreadful state of being? Probably not without killing her, like with Pagoda.

“Her mind is gone, and not in a way I think I could fix,” her voice was hushed.

In this state, her mind being gone might be a good thing.

“Okay.”  Mark walked over to Murder Rat and adjusted her position against the wall until she was more horizontal, almost lying down.  He crossed her claws over her chest, and then formed an orb of light the size of a tennis ball.

Gonna blow her up? I suppose that’s as good a way as any to put her bodies out of their misery.

Just a little messy, but this place is already partly blown up and covered in lots of Hack Job dust and some blood anyway.

“Rest in peace, Mouse Protector,” he said.

I wonder if he knew her.

He placed the orb of light in the gap where two claws crossed one another, just over her heart, then stepped away.

Boom.

There was a small explosion and a spray of blood.

Rest in peace.

There was an extended silence.  Bonesaw and Hack Job were gone, leaving only Pagoda’s body and the limp Murder Rat.  Long seconds passed as the dust settled.

Yep.

See ya, Bonesaw! Nice meeting you! 🙂

Bonesaw had retreated into the hallway that led into the bedrooms at the back of the house, the basement and the kitchen at the side.

She was caught off-guard by Mark being a cape, wasn’t she? I mean, she didn’t know who he was, and even after Amy said he was her dad, Bonesaw quite likely didn’t know the family gimmick of New Wave. And before Amy healed him, he was acting nothing like a cape, but all of a sudden he’s up and running and kicking ass in all directions.

Mark threw an orb after her, obliterating the hallway, but Amy couldn’t see if he’d struck home, not with the clouds of dust that were exploding from Hack Job’s expired duplicates.

Just dust? No blood?

Also this place is gonna be in great condition when Glory Girl and Brandish get home.

Between the time it had taken to create the orb, throwing it and the lack of a scream after it had gone off, Amy knew Bonesaw would have gotten away.

Is that the end? Is she taking her leave from the chapter now?

More explosions ripped through their living room as Mark continued to open fire, hurling the orbs with a ferocity that surprised Amy.  When Hack Job tried to block the shots with his bodies, Mark bounced them between Hack Job’s legs, off walls and off the ceiling.

Huh, not bad.

But seriously, is there a reason Hack Job hasn’t turned off Flashbang’s power yet? Is he unable to because of the fusion causing his powers to not work as well? We’ve seen they do work, but maybe not having full power prevents him from turning powerful people’s powers off.

Almost as if he could predict what his enemy would do, he lobbed one orb onto the couch.  It exploded a half-second after one of Hack Job’s duplicates appeared there.

Sweet!

And unless Hack Job is really quick with his teleportations or the fusion caused a significant change to how the power works, any damage dealt very soon after a duplicate appears will stick.

More duplicates charged from either direction, and Mark dropped a concussive orb at his feet, blasting himself and one of the duplicates in opposite directions.  He quickly got his footing and resumed the attack, fending off one duplicate that turned his attention to Amy, then going after Bonesaw.

Flashbang is being awesome and I love it.

An orb of light grew in his hands.

An explosive light orb?

“It worked!  Yes!” Bonesaw crowed.

Mark flicked his eyes in one direction, offered the slightest of nods, his forehead rubbing against hers.

Gotta keep Bonesaw from seeing the light orb until it’s too late for two reasons. Element of surprise, and keeping her from calling Hack Job on Flashbang.

Amy flung herself to one side as Mark stood in one quick motion, flinging the glowing orb at the little girl.

Excellent work.

Hack Job flickered into existence just in time to have to orb bounce off his chest.

Damn.

It exploded violently, tearing a hole into his stomach and groin.  The villain flew backward, colliding with Bonesaw.

That looks like it hurts.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured.  “I’m so sorry.”  She wasn’t sure what she was apologizing for.  For taking so long to do it, maybe.

Sounds likely. Or maybe for messing with his brain, still affected by a sense that doing that was wrong?

Or for the fact that she would now have to leave.

I mean… you could not leave, though Bonesaw doesn’t seem to make it easy.

Or have you decided to accept the offer just so she’ll leave Mark alone?

His attention was on his hands.  She could feel it through her contact with him, the power he was just barely holding back.  And Bonesaw?  The little lunatic was somewhere behind her.

Oh yeah, that’s right, now that he’s mostly back to his old self, he’s a cape too. Flashbang’s back, baby. But what exactly could he do, especially with Hack Job around?

She drew Mark’s hands into his lap, between her body and his, where Bonesaw would be less likely to see.

It’s clear that whatever his power actually does, it involves his hands.

I would guess it causes flashes and bangs.

It wasn’t that she was afraid to get something wrong.  No.  Even as complicated as the mind was, she’d always known she could manage it.

That was the main reason she gave in Interlude 2. So what’s the real reason?

No, it was what came after that scared her more than anything.  Just like finding out about Marquis, it was the opening of a door she desperately wanted to keep shut.

The idea that it’s a bit like mind control, at least if she abuses it?

She restored his motor skills, penmanship, driving a car, even the little things, the little sequences of movements he used to turn the lock on the bathroom door as he closed it or turn a pencil around in one hand to use the eraser on the end.

Everything he’d lost, she returned to him.

Yay!

He moved fractionally.  She opened her eyes, and saw him staring into her eyes.  Something about the gaze told her he was better.

😀

Everything else in the world seemed to drop away.  She pressed her forehead to his.  Everything biological was shaped in some way by what it had grown from and what had come before.  Rebuilding the damaged parts was a matter of tracing everything backwards.

Like making a model of an ancient city based on its ruins.

Some of the brain was impossible to restore to what it had once been, in the most damaged areas or places where it was the newest growths that were gone, but she could check everything in the surrounding area, use process of elimination and context to figure out what the damaged areas had tied to.

Makes sense.

She felt tears in her eyes.  She had told herself she would heal him and then leave the Dallon household.  Actually doing this, fixing him, taking that plunge, she knew she would probably never have found the courage if she hadn’t been pushed into it.

She did seem a lot more willing in that moment than I would’ve expected her to. In a world where Bonesaw didn’t show up in her living room, Amy getting cold feet about it wouldn’t be all that surprising.