“But you’re more scared than pissed,” I said.  She looked away.

“We should get going,” Trickster said, as Sundancer got in position behind him.  We were all seated and ready to head to the rescue.

Yeah, let’s go.

Not before a couple more lines between Taylor and Amy, though.

“One second,” I told him.  “Amy.  Listen.  It’s okay.  I’ve thought of another way you can help, and it doesn’t put you in any danger.”

Oh?

“What is it?”  She still didn’t meet my eyes.

“You’re going to cut loose with your power.  I can feed you the raw materials, you do what you can.  You know how my power works?”

Oh fuck. Amy-enhanced bugs.

“Pretty much.”

“Send the bugs my way when you’re done with them, then.”

fuck yes

“You’re a villain, you know.  You’re asking me to betray the family I grew up with if I’m helping you.”

Eh. She’s only a villain in name.

Though the others are a different story, perhaps.

I stared at her.  We were so similar in such different ways, but I couldn’t even begin to comprehend her train of thought.

Why were the people who clung so fiercely to the notions of right and wrong the very same individuals that had the worst grasp of what they meant?

Talking from experience, miss Black-and-White-morality-early-on?

Maybe I wasn’t one to talk.

You certainly weren’t, in the early days.

“I don’t think you’re one to talk about betraying family,” Tattletale spoke.

Lisa, shush. Don’t ruin this.

I could see all the color drain out of Amy’s face.

“Hey, Tattle,” I started.

“No.  Sorry, Skitter, but it’s my turn to talk now.  We’re short on time, and we really should leave now, but if we leave it like this, you’re going to be distracted.”

…fine.

I shut my mouth.

“Amy?  I know what you did.”

Of course you do. You don’t need to say it like this, though.

I signaled Tattletale to return.  “Thank you.”

She walked over to Bentley, giving Trickster a wary look as she walked by him.  I joined her, in part to give Bentley the reassurance that this angry stranger wasn’t so dangerous.

You are taking Amy somewhere safe, right?

“There,” Amy said.  “You’re going to save your friends?”

“And if we can, we’re going to put down the Nine.  We figured out Siberian’s weakness.”

Which is a pretty big thing to say in this world that’s been terrorized by them for what, twenty years? Honestly, you should probably tell someone about that, so the world may continue to know if you all die.

Her eyes widened slightly at that.  “What?”

“What did you think we meant when we were talking about her other self?”

“A secret identity?  I- I wasn’t really paying attention.”

That’s fair.

Tattletale climbed up onto Bentley’s back, studiously ignoring Amy.

“Kind of a secret identity.  She’s a projection,” I said.  “Like Crusader has with his duplicates.  Best case scenario, we can find her real body and put her down.”

“Just like that?  You’ll kill her?”

In this case, I think it’s justified.

“Ideal world,” I said.  Grue had climbed up onto Sirius’s back, and he offered me a hand up.  “Won’t know if we’re capable until it happens, but I’d like to think we have the courage.”

“But you’re risking your lives.”

Yep. And that’s what makes them heroes, despite their title.

Well, Taylor at least. It’s partially self-defense for all of them.

“Yeah.”  I got settled and wrapped my arms around Grue’s body.  He didn’t react or protest.  My head just inches from his back, I turned to look down at Amy, “See, it helps that we’re pissed.”

Hah!

“I’m pissed too,” Amy said.

I offered my hand to her, in case she wanted to climb up behind me and join us, but she stepped away.

“Join the club.”

“Ehh, I don’t want to go that far just yet.”

His bone-crusted tail lashed behind him in something approximating a wag.

D’aw!

Amy put out her hand again, and Sirius sniffed it.  Gingerly, she laid her hand on the length of his snout, running her fingers over calcified muscle, bone spurs and braided lengths of muscle and other tissue.

Because of Sirius’ size, this ends up somewhat reminiscent of meeting a horse instead.

Or a hippogriff. They skipped the bowing, though, which is bad news for Malfoy.

“The hell?” she muttered.  “Can’t wrap my head around this.”

Weird, isn’t it? You’ve got the actual dog inside, except the big outer hellhound is also the actual dog, sort of, grown and turned inside out aesthetically…

“You can’t make him bigger?”

“No, I don’t think I can.  Can’t make something from nothing.  But I think I can stall the shrinking.  Whatever I do might get undone the second he’s back in range of Hell- of Bitch.  It’s hard to describe.

Huh, neat.

I can see the aftermath of what she does, but not the process.  It’s like the tissue grows, then it dies as it gets pushed out of the core, but some of it stays functional… there’s a normal dog inside there?  Intact?”

Yeah, that part is super weird, given the gradual growth and, even more so, the shrinking.

“Yeah.”

“Okay.  Think I’ve got it.  He’s not going to shrink anytime soon.”

Excellent. Thank you!

“I know.  You don’t have to.  Let me think.  We can come up with another way for you to contribute.”

“Can you grow us wings?” Trickster asked, in a wry tone.

You know, I’m not sure I’d put it past her. Probably not ones big enough to actually fly with, though.

“I can’t generate flesh from nothing, and it’s slow to convert something into a part your body won’t reject.”

That seems like a fair limitation.

“Of course,” Trickster said, with a note of sarcasm.

Is Trickster not liking Amy or something? Maybe he’s a little peeved at her not being willing to do the thing with the dogs, which would’ve let them move over to where Siberian and co. are and help Ballistic.

Not helping, I thought.  Amy was willing to do something.  It was useful.  We didn’t need to discourage that.

Very true.

Before I could finish my thought, I saw Amy walk up to Sirius and offer him one hand to sniff.

Ooh!

She flinched as he moved his head, pulling her arm away.

She’s understandably nervous, but she’s trying.

I joined her side, and put one hand on the side of Sirius’ neck, digging my fingertips into a meaty cord of muscle.  I scratched with enough force that I might have left tracks in normal skin.  “Hey, boy.  You’re a good dog, aren’t you?  Yes you are.”

This is adorable.

The mental image of Bonesaw cutting through my skull with her saw was so real I could almost feel the sensation of it.

Honestly it’s a wonder you’re willing to actually ask this of Amy so soon after that experience.

But we had to stop Siberian.

“I can’t affect brains.”

Oh yeah, that old lie! I forgot she used to say that.

Is Tattletale listening, trying to refrain from cutting in with a “that’s a lie”?

“You can’t-”  I sighed.  We all had our limitations and barriers.  I was simultaneously relieved and disappointed.  I didn’t argue the point.  “Fuck.  Okay.  The dogs.  Can you charge them up?  Figure out how Bitch’s power is affecting them, and either make them big again or keep them from getting any smaller?”

Ooh, another clever idea. Taylor is full of them.

She glanced at Sirius.  I’d gotten so used to them I’d nearly forgotten just how horrifying they were to look at.

Hehe.

“I’d have to touch them.”

“Yeah.  They’re not as bad as they look.  They’re regular dogs, it’s only appearances and size.”

“Regular dogs still bite people.”

Under given circumstances. I will admit it’s more likely to happen to you than anyone else here, though, since you’re a stranger trying to mess with their biology.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t want to lose more fingers.”

Ahaha

“Yeah.”

“Then tell me what to do.”  She didn’t meet my eyes.  “I don’t know anymore.  I’ve spent so long helping others, and I’m so scared, I feel numb.  My brain isn’t working.  Can’t think straight.  I-  I just don’t know anymore.  I’m not making any promises, I won’t fight, won’t face the Nine, don’t want to talk to Tattletale, but…” she trailed off, unable to finish her thought.

I’ve been having the thought “what if Amy became an Undersider” churning in the back of my head for some time now. I’ve fucked up in not mentioning it before now, but that’s beside the point. The point is that this is pretty damn close to that coming true, especially if it becomes a long-term thing.

And I’m so here for it.

I swallowed.  I couldn’t even manage with myself, and now she wanted me to guide her?

Heh.

Relatable, honestly.

“Okay,” I said.  My mind was going a mile a minute.  She was one of the most powerful parahumans native to Brockton Bay.  How was I supposed to use her?

First of all, fix your leg. You seem to be walking around fine for now, but I can’t imagine it didn’t take some damage that could come back to haunt you soon enough, when you have to run from some threat.

But seriously, it’s going to be incredibly good to have a healer around.

One idea crossed my mind, and I hated myself for thinking it, for the stark fear I felt at the thought.  “Okay.  I won’t ask you to face the Nine.  But you can give us the ability to go after them, to fight them.

Are you talking about something like what Bonesaw’s done to the squishies among the Nine, having the girl with biological mastery give you protections?

There’s this part of the brain that Bonesaw called the… Corona something.  Corona potential?  Can you access mine?

Ah shit, she’s asking Amy to mess with her brain. That won’t go over well considering how that ended last time.

Tweak my power, give me more range?  As much as you can.”

Seriously, though, this is a pretty awesome idea.

She spoke at a low enough volume that I doubted the words were reaching the others.  “I’ve had nightmares about her.  Not saying I take back how I shouted at her, but she brought up shit, and the fact that Victoria heard it, I couldn’t shake it.

Yeah, some of the stuff she threatened to reveal has turned out quite… housebreaking.

It affected the way I thought, the way I acted.  Victoria knew something was up, she respected my privacy, but she had suspicions.  If Tattletale hadn’t said anything, I could have dealt with Bonesaw coming to my house and fucking with me, getting me to break my code.  Or Bonesaw might not have come at all.  I don’t know.  Victoria would have listened to me, maybe.  Given me the benefit of the doubt.”

I don’t think that last thing would’ve happened. Victoria is a fairly rash person, and nothing about her behavior suggests to me that she would’ve reacted better if she hadn’t heard what Lisa said and seen Amy act differently because of it. If anything, I think she’d react worse, being totally unprepared for it.

“We didn’t expect you to be at the bank.  We were cornered, Tattletale used the power she was given to get us out of that spot.  I’m sorry it happened.”

I appreciate the honesty on both sides here. These two are connecting.

I actually don’t think Amy would admit what she just said to anyone except Taylor (and maybe Victoria, after a hypothetical reconciliation) at this point.

“She didn’t plan that.  It might have started that way, but she wasn’t the cause of everything that followed,” I said.  I wondered if I was trying to convince myself.

Exactly.

There’s a pretty sizable disconnect.

Amy glared down at the ground.  A quick glance showed that Grue, Trickster and Sundancer were all trying to avoid engaging in this conversation.

Hah!

I like that that’s being addressed, honestly. The reader isn’t left to think “why are only the two of them talking”, and the answer honestly makes for a funny mental image of the boys and Sunny awkwardly looking everywhere but at the two of them, striking the most clearly uninvolved poses they can manage.