Amy looked away.

“We could get you a therapist.  I mean, Mom was setting aside money for Dad’s care, we could use that to give you someone to talk to.”

“I… a therapist wouldn’t be able to help.”

A lot of people say that. A lot of those are wrong.

“Geez, what’s going on?  Amy, we’ve been together for a decade.  I’ve stood by you.  I’d like to think we were best friends, not just sisters.  And you can’t tell me?”

They have their differences, but it’s always been clear that the two of them are close.

Even in Interlude 2, I think.

“I can’t.  Just let me leave.  Trust me when I say it’s better.”

“Fuck that!  I’m not about to let you walk away!”  Victoria floated closer, reaching out.

“And you can’t fly away like I can, either!”

“Don’t touch me,” Amy warned her sister.

Is that a threat?

Looking lost, Victoria stopped and spread her arms.  “Who are you, Amy?  I don’t even recognize this person I’m looking at.  You go berserk at the bank robbery over some secret I’ve totally not gotten on your case about.  You apparently say something to Skitter that causes this huge commotion in the hospital after the Endbringer attack.

Wait, what?

Hm… I suppose she did indirectly cause that. She’s the one who alerted Skitter to the fact that the big shots wanted to talk to her, which alarmed Skitter and caused her to go on the run, causing her to accidentally discover Shadow Stalker’s civilian identity, and so on.

You… I don’t even know what to say about your reaction to Gallant’s death, the way you distanced yourself from me at a time when I was hurting the most.”

…ouch.

Amy was close to Gallant too, wasn’t she? Not in quite the same way, but maybe she distanced herself from Victoria because seeing Victoria grieve was a painful reminder for her?

Victoria stopped midflight and hovered in the air, five feet above the ground and five or six paces in front of her.

Busted.

“I was just at the house.  I don’t even know what to say,” Victoria spoke.

Makes sense. There’s a lot around there to not know what to say to right now. Such as the exploded hallways, piles of white dust, and most importantly the goodbye note with no given reason.

A reasonable assumption for Victoria to make here, if she’s been filled in on the events of Bonesaw’s visit, would be that Amy left because she was afraid she’d make the others targets for the Slaughterhouse Nine by staying. There may be some truth to that, but it was not her main reason.

“Pretty self-explanatory.  One of the Nine came, house got trashed, I healed Mark.”

Heh.

That’s not what she was talking about, and you know it, Amy.

“Why?  Why heal dad now, when you couldn’t before?”

“I only did it because I had to.”

Not entirely true, but not entirely false either.

“That’s what I don’t get.  Why couldn’t you?  You’ve never explained.”

That doesn’t sound right. According to Interlude 2, they’d argued over brain healing repeatedly, and Amy gave a pretty solid reason – though one that was apparently not quite true – back then: That she was afraid of messing up.

“I can’t tell you.”

“So that’s it?  No explanations?  You just up and leave?” Victoria asked.

It’s that she’s afraid of mind controlling people, right? Something which would be seen as evil, put her closer to her biological father.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“You’re just gonna leave without giving me any explanation?” “Yes.” “Give me an explanation.”

■

What’s this? I was thinking “She just had to get away.” would be the final line. Are we getting a few paragraphs from Bonesaw’s perspective, perhaps?

Amy cursed the curfew as she saw the figure in the air above her.

Oh, I see, just skipping ahead a little.

Would this flying figure be Flashbang, having just noticed the note, or maybe Brandish or Glory Girl either in that position or returning from the Bitch encounter.

Either way, the curfew makes Amy easier to spot, since there aren’t a lot of other people running around.

When people weren’t allowed out on the streets after dark, it made those few who did venture out that much more visible.  Not what she’d wanted, not when she was trying to avoid this exact conversation.

Yeeah.

It was even more problematic when she walked at maybe three or four miles an hour, limited to following the paths the roads and alleys allowed her, when her sister could fly at fifty miles an hour.

The troubles of the landbound.

So it’s Glory Girl up in the sky, then. Excellent. I like their dynamic and Victoria is the one Amy felt closest to and whose rejection she took the hardest.

She should have hid, instead of trying to make some distance.

Okay, yeah, that seems like a pretty silly decision. 😛

Amy opened her bedroom window and climbed out, pulling the bag out behind her.

It would be better this way.  Maybe, after weeks or months, she could stop worrying, stop waiting for the other shoe to drop, for everything to fall apart in the worst way.  She’d already had to face finding out about Marquis.  She’d taken a life.  She’d broken one of her cardinal rules.

Um… didn’t the other shoe just drop, really?

Or do you mean more specifically about the family?

She wasn’t sure she could take any more.

She just had to get away.

😦

“Carol?  It’s me.”

Oh wait, we’re actually getting to hear this? I would’ve liked to hear Carol’s reaction too, but still, hell yes.

Her face burned with shame.  She made her way to her room and began packing her things into a gym bag.

Oh, never mind, guess it was just that line.

Clothes, toiletries, and other things, mementos.  A small scrapbook, a memory card filled with pictures of her, her cousins and her sister.  She found a pad of post-it notes and scribbled out a few words.

Are you still thinking about leaving the Dallons?

I’m sorry it took me so long to help Mark.

Good bye.  I love you all,

Amy.

She wouldn’t be coming back.

Aww.

“Listen.  Sit yourself down.  I’m going to call your mother and sister, make sure they’re all right after dealing with Hellhound, let them know what happened.  Then I’ll call the Protectorate.  Maybe they can help guard us, in case Bonesaw comes after you again.”

You’re going to need that. Bonesaw might not come after Amy again, but everyone else will, to test her.

“She will.  But I- I can’t sit.  I’m going to my room.  I’ll pack so we leave sooner.”

Seems reasonable enough. This doesn’t seem like a good place for the family to stay right now.

“You sure?”

She nodded.

“Shout if anything happens.”

“DAD! A pair of socks just fell on the floor!”

She nodded and turned to go, picking her way through the destroyed hallway.  The floorboards that looked like a giant-sized version of pick-up-sticks.  She was only halfway when she heard Mark on the phone.

“Hey, honey, are you okay? I heard your message on the answering machine.”

“Yes, we’re okay, but we ran into– wait, Mark?! You’re… you’re talking? In full sentences?”

“I am! Amy just healed me.”

“Finally! …I mean, that’s wonderful!”

“So who were you saying you ran into?”

“Oh yeah. We were fighting Hellhound and all of a sudden Siberian arrived! We fled the scene. I don’t know what happened to Hellhound after that.”

“You saw Siberian? Really? That’s quite a coincidence.”

“How so?”

“I guess you could say we had a visitor over here. Bonesaw.”

“WHAT?!”

“We kinda thrashed the place. Hopefully the Protectorate will have room for us somewhere.”

“That’s not what’s important right now, Mark!”

…and so on.

“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?