Thomas Calvert frowned as he put down the phone in his office at the PRT headquarters - He'd been called in to consult again due to a new independent hero that had rebuffed every effort to join the protectorate, his expertise on parahumans had been sought to find another angle and to examine his powerset as the young man refused to come in for testing.
He, not so surprisingly, had some anti-government prejudice. Considering said 'hero' was a young black man and fiercely independent - he gave him a week at most before Hookwolf solved the issue - permanently.
For all his known murders, the man had at least half a dozen parahuman deaths under his belt that the PRT didn't know about. That's not what had his mind racing however, a new independent showing up and dying was just another Tuesday in Brockton Bay.
What had his mind racing was something different. He'd received a call about a visitor, someone here for him, specifically. He steepled his fingers in front of his face as his mind rapidly processed how he could twist this surprise meeting into his own advantage. As he was thinking it through, as always, part of him was suspiciously pondering if this was possibly enemy action.
He kept himself loosely affiliated with the PRT to give himself a flexible schedule where his whereabouts couldn't be predicted, and gave him a good excuse to be in the building when he needed to. So why was anyone here to see him right on time for when he's actually present at the PRT for once. So… Could it be a possible attempt on him, or even something as simple as information gathering on his civilian persona?
Granted, the probability was almost nil, Panacea was not someone he'd suspect of any attempt on his life - she didn't have it in her. And precisely because he would not suspect her - Thomas, aka Coil, was suspicious.
Using someone no one would ever suspect as an avenue of attack was something he'd do after all.
No matter, his power would give him options either way, plus with how it worked with the booster Contessa had given him, he could peer further ahead separate from his baseline power of two timelines, and while it wasn't always entirely reliable - as he hadn't seen Panacea arriving today - it meant he felt safe.
So he was at no risk from Amy Dallon. It piqued his curiosity that she was here at all though. Why would the girl seek him out? A simple (hah) PRT consultant, albeit an expert in Parahumans to those in the know. Of which New Wave was markedly not in the know. Curious.
If he could get some strings on Panacea…. The options it opened up, his contacts with Accord and beyond had mentioned the Travelers for one, desperately seeking a healer for some reason. If Coil could get away with disappearing the girl, he'd gain a very strong set of minions for his plans with very little effort.
Not to mention the monetary benefit of having Panacea sell her abilities to the various billionaires of the world under the table. Which New Wave foolishly wasn't utilizing.
Heroes… The stupidity was strong in them.
Unfortunately, he lamented, actually disappearing her would eventually bring down the Triumvirate due to her usefulness in Endbringer fights, no cape could heal as successfully as her at the moment, or had her track record.
He'd have to find another way, he was well aware of her acrimonious relationship with Carol Dallon, perhaps there was an avenue there to get a working relationship going at least. She was, according to his previous sequences of information gathering around New Wave, although not aimed at her specifically - riddled with issues with both her family and the hero life, giving him options.
He'd never gone ahead with any plans in that regard, all timelines where he did so as a test, ended in the PRT and New Wave scouring Brockton Bay to the bedrock to find her. And if they didn't, When he used his secondary ability to peer farther into the future, the Triumvirate eventually came looking when it neared the time for the next Endbringer attack. At those kinds of costs, Panacea's utility simply wasn't cost effective.
But this was different. She was coming to him. Coil would find a way under her skin, find an angle to bend her his way. Even if solely as a paid contractor. If nothing else, using her love for her sister as a lever would achieve plenty.
And yes, it was entirely obvious, once he put a timeline or two into poking New Wave.
Thomas Calvert put on a mask of polite professionalism as Amy Dallon walked in without knocking, clad in her cape persona, the red cross standing out against the white all encompassing robe and hood, a look that was internationally recognizable even though she had been active for only two years.
The scarf covering her lower face was beyond pointless at this point, since they all went about unmasked. It was amusing that the girl was basically covered head to toe when her sister flaunted herself for all to see. Perhaps body issues? Could he offer her a professional makeover? Her powers didn't work on herself, but surely there were capes he could find and hire that could improve appearances, he'd have to look into it. For a teenage girl always at second best - appearances could mean a lot.
"Panacea, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Thomas asked pleasantly, sorting the papers on his desk, projecting the image of a pencil pusher trying to appear busy. He'd used the cape name for the girl as that's how she'd arrived and it was only proper to adhere to the game.
Coil felt some dark amusement at the thought that although New Wave had voluntarily unmasked and paid for it - in losing Fleur. And was now trying to step back from the game - Coil knew the identities of almost the entirety of the cape presence of Brockton Bay anyway, at least on the side of the angels - the whole game was pointless in the face of his power.
Amy Dallon had dark bags under her eyes and slouched shoulders as she frowned at him, she looked exhausted. Coil was already thinking of at least three possible avenues to turn the girl to his side, based simply on her exhaustion at her life. It was so much easier to lead young girls astray when they were already unhappy. And with a family life like hers, and the trauma from doing heavy duty hospital work since 14, seeing the trauma patients and worse. She'd be ripe for his influence.
Really, Coil would be doing them all a favor. Carol Dallon had practically primed the girl to become a supervillain. She'd do much better with some guidance and control.
She'd make a good pet…
"I was told to go to you because you're supposedly some sort of expert and could arrange tests." She grumbled, looking unimpressed with both him, and being sent there in the first place.
His contacts in the hospital Panacea frequented the most had reported this was a usual attitude of the girl.
Thomas raised an eyebrow, not having to fake confusion, "Tests? Of what exactly? And sent? By who?" New Wave, while somewhat cooperative with the PRT and the Protectorate, did not make it a habit of going to them for assistance outside of cape battles.
Nor should they have much information about him. If Director Piggot had met with, or talked to Panacea at all, he would already be aware through how deeply he'd penetrated the PRT's systems.
As it was, he regularly received PRT reports before Piggot did. The reports showing up in his system at the same time as they were being written, so deep was his penetration. As for 'losing' reports in the system, that was child's play.
Panacea made a dismissive motion with one hand, still looking dissatisfied with existence in general, "Some flunky at the desk sent me up when I asked for anyone that could help with testing a possible expansion of my usual powers."
Coil would have to make sure that particular flunky was silenced post haste. No one could know, this situation was his to control. He tapped a notepad with a pen, looking sufficiently intrigued, "What kind of expansion? Can you heal brains now?" He asked politely.
Going for the jugular to see her reaction.
Personally he'd never believed the girl when she said she couldn't, not that he blamed her, if he had those kinds of powers he wouldn't advertise it either. The PRT did not take kindly to those kinds of powers.
Perhaps he could leak something of that sort and then swoop in to solve her issues once the PRT got pushy - as they no doubt would - at the prospect of a potential master ability. Oh, they'd never birdcage Panacea, but strong armed into the wards or something similar was a possibility. And one where Coil could prosper if he came in from nowhere and solved the situation for the girl.
Yes. That was definitely a possibility he'd have to explore in a timeline soonest. What she could do with brains would be important to know.
There was a reason why most intelligent villains didn't seek out the girl for healing outside Endbringer fights after all. They were as wary as he was. The smart ones anyway.
Panacea made a face, looking like just another grumpy teenager, making Thomas twitch slightly with annoyance, such power in the hands of such a child. Honestly. To think he'd had to buy his, when children like this were handed power for nothing. "Not brains then?" He said, letting none of his annoyance show. Her being a silly child would make it easier for him, so really, he shouldn't complain.
"Not really, but kind of." Panacea said, glaring down at the floor. Not elaborating. Just silently trying to set his office on fire by sight alone.
Coil masterfully stopped himself from another twitch, children! "I think that statement needs further clarification." He pointed out dryly, peering at her with a practiced face of dry amusement.
Panacea shrugged carelessly, "I still can't figure out brains, not really, but I figured out a trick for cells that I think might make someone immortal kind of, and that does affect the cells of the brain." She said tonelessly. Like she hadn't just dropped potential immortality in his lap. Like that was just no big deal.
Powers were wasted on youth.
"Kind of immortal?" Coil parroted slowly, only his mastery of his mind prevented a stronger reaction from him to that bombshell. If it was true… "Want to explain that a bit further, Miss Dallon?" He asked sharply.
"I found a way to make cells regenerate completely and automatically, so that someone would, theoretically, never age." She admitted, lips turning downwards, like it was all simply a bother to her. Boohoo I solved entropy, woe is me…. Thomas wanted to rip her skin off and make her sew it back on. This ignorant child! Luckily he could actually solve his stress by eventually doing just that in a timeline when he wasn't busy with anything else.
"Who knows about this?" He asked carefully, fingers twitching. Like his hands were eager to reach forward and grasp the opportunity that lay ahead of him.
"You and me, I went straight here after I tested it out." She said without care, "Oh, I guess the flunky who sent me up here knows I did something with my power but not what."
The death of the receptionist suddenly moved forward into his priority list by a vast magnitude.
Carefully, Coil thought things over, the potential bounty here was too big to not explore fully. He split the timeline. In one, he asked her to keep it to herself for now, and dismissed her.
In the other…
Coil smiled at the fool girl who had no idea what she had. "Can you test it on me then? So we can look it over and make sure it is what you say it is?" He asked.
Normally he wouldn't let Panacea touch him no matter what, but he could do months of testing in this timeline through his future sight to prove whether she did nothing to him other than make him immortal. So there were no risks anymore, his timeline would ensure it - as he could just pick his 'safe' timeline if anything happened.
It was good to be him. In the end he could just drop the timeline he'd have wasted so much time in and still seek out Panacea for the same treatment in the timeline he'd keep but use another way that protected him better.
He didn't feel a thing as the girl with raccoon eyes laid a hand on him, eventually simply saying "It's done." And backing away.
Coil, because at this point he could hardly call himself Thomas, ordered the girl to keep silent while the PRT investigated the matter. No sharing with New Wave or anyone else in the PRT for that matter, including the Protectorate and Wards. The girl easily acquisited to the request.
He'd check that later, nothing could be left to chance. This couldn't get out. He'd see how long she managed to keep her mouth shut, to observe at what point he'd need to step in and remove her from play. Luckily she had no friends.
Continuing down the timeline far further than he usually bothered, via his future sight, going into a trance as the most pertinent information as he requested was filtered into his brain, time slowed down to his perception, he 'divined' what the next few months should be like.
He got the best doctors money could buy to run every test on him that they could, hired the few other Parahumans healers around to check him over, he even commissioned a medical scanner made by tinkertech from Toybox. All to confirm what Panacea had said, and all to confirm that nothing had changed in his brain to indicate she'd mastered him in this timeline.
All tests showed the same thing. His cells were not aging. His organs were in a constant state of regeneration somehow, no one could understand where his body even got the energy to perform such. In regenerative parahumans it was their power behind it, but Coils power wasn't powering this effect.
He couldn't get sick now either, couldn't be poisoned, his cells simply returning to their ideal state immediately. It worked. And more importantly, there was no sign that Panacea had changed anything in his brain other than cellular regeneration.
By that time he was fairly far ahead in the timeline and results were always a bit complicated, so he envisioned contracting the travelers to abduct Victoria Dallon as well as Amy - using Panacea's healing abilities as a carrot for their cooperation, as a last ditch check on her truthfulness.
He went through his usual torture routine on both of them. No matter how far he went, mutilation, rape, amputation, the girl never changed her story. She could do it. She could really change someone's cells to renew automatically for eternity, never growing older, weaker, or sicker.
To his pleasure, Victoria as well had nothing to say, she had not been told anything. Amy Dallon kept the secret. Would keep the secret. For at least a few months in all likelihood if he could trust his future vision, which did tend to get unreliable a few months in unfortunately.
It would still give him plenty of time to find a way to keep her mouth shut. Blackmail or threats against her sister would likely do it, he'd have time to figure that part out. Endless timelines to test his approach in.
There wasn't any doubt he was keeping this timeline, dropping the safe one.
On his way out, he instructed his people to arrange an accident for the receptionist for right after work, a car accident would do. No need to arouse suspicion.
He felt a sense of smug superiority that the greatest healer in the world foolishly made him immortal without a single thought on how she could use it, profit from it. And the idiotic girl would even keep it silent on his say so. Carol Dallons dislike for the girl hadn't made her the sharpest tool in the box it seemed, the daughter of a lawyer should have been better than this.
Oh well, their loss, his gain.
This. This would put him above even those annoying Cauldron capes. He'd outlive them all, in the background, pulling strings at first, then in the spotlight, their benevolent dictator.
All because of a foolish child.
Everything was going just as planned.
＊＊＊
Amy left PRT headquarters, one hand pulling her hood down as she tried not to laugh maniacally. That would be bad. Carol would freak the fuck out if a video of Panacea laughing like a villain appeared on PHO.
… That just made her want to do it more.
She couldn't help the emotion however. She'd just fucking dealt with Coil. Bit over half a year until Canon, and she'd dealt with him. Go her!
It helped that she wasn't Amy. Not really. Being installed into the body of Amy Dallon aka Panacea after her trigger event a little over two years ago had been an unpleasant surprise to her. Exploring a fantastical world, having powers, etc, it was the ultimate fantasy. Except… There were very few world's that were worse to be dropped into than Worm of all places. Not so much an adventure when you know how shitty everything around you is.
And in Panacea of all people, the girl who hated her life and had the Slaughterhouse Nine come knocking… At least they were both lesbians. Although perhaps the original Amy was more of a Vickian? Was that a word? Yeah, she was more mind whammied than anything else. Although that was perhaps a poor excuse, because she hadn't raped her sister.
Unfortunately she didn't wholly get away from being mind whammied as she'd been stuck with the same love aura washing over her, that her body and brain had enjoyed for some time pre-trigger and the new her, after. So yeah, she was very attracted to Vicky. Difference was she knew why and could control herself better.
And the apologists saying the aura had no effect because no one else fell in love, were idiots. Compared to literally anyone else on the planet, who did Vicky spend time with?
It wasn't Crystal or Eric, certainly not daily, or for hours on end.
Mark was barely there, and Carol was always working.
Vicky spent time with two people above all else, outside of school, where she mostly controlled herself - Amy and Dean.
Who guess what? Loved her.
Yes, that aura almost 24/7 every day, in the middle of puberty had an effect. On her too.
It wasn't truly love. Not that kind of love anyway. Just pure attraction, a lot of It. Like sploosh everyday kind of attraction. Which showed original Amy had other issues too because the aura hadn't made this new her go crazy for cocoa puffs, just horny.
Which meant while the aura was truly part of it, people were still half right. Amy had also just been a bit nuts and obsessed on her own.
Lucky for this Amy, her 'parents' sucked and her lovely sister was incredibly self absorbed at times when she wasn't pounding her head with love me auras.
So Amy being a moody and grumpy, and most importantly horny teenager for the last two years plus, didn't even merit comments ( Not that it overly contrasted from original Amy.) With Mark's depression, Carols not so low-key distaste of her entire existence and Vicky more concerned with boys or punching things in the face - it left Amy with plenty of opportunities to change some things.
Of course she'd volunteered at the hospital, even if technically she'd been more like voluntold by Carol. The original Panacea had worn herself out, full of guilt and self loathing for not doing enough, not helped by constantly being pushed by Carol and mind whammied by her sister.
So it also probably hadn't helped having to you know… Deal with trauma patients and rape victims at fucking 14, all alone, because of course Carol couldn't be assed to be there for her - she didn't care how she was doing it or felt about it, as long as it kept New Wave looking good.
For free. Can't forget that part…
The new and improved Panacea saw something different with her 'job'. Unlimited test subjects. Oh, of course she couldn't do overly much, not at the beginning. She needed to build up her reputation before she could even dare to perform anything too invasive in an official setting - also she needed to strike home the whole Panacea doesn't do brains schtick.
Because Canary would still be a thing and she definitely didn't want people to know she could basically master people with a touch - Carol would sell her out so quickly it would make the Endbringers heads spin. She'd snuck out instead, and offered homeless people free healing at night. Because no one double checked her work in those cases, it let her power loose to be creative.
And if anyone caught her. Well offering to heal the poor and destitute didn't exactly scream villain - also homeless people were weird to begin with, so no one really noticed it she messed up.
Brains were hard in the beginning, even with how intuitive her power was. She could fix issues fairly easily, that wasn't a problem, changing things around to change their personality was way harder however. But eventually she'd managed. After… A few homeless people ended up kind of messed up.
She definitely warranted a Master rating now. She could slave people to her. Mess with their brains until they were addicted to her and her only. She'd had to put those people down, it became too obvious when they got to that slavishly devoted point. Those kinds of things got a girl killed via a kill order. Well… Maybe. Wasn't like anyone bothered to do anything about Heartbreaker.
Not like he could Master a cruise missile strike.
She really didn't need to be thought of in similar veins to Heartbreaker or Teacher though.
Even if the face Carol would make would almost make it worth it. Until she'd start preaching about how she'd always known anyway.
Eventually she'd been able to go more subtly through a person's brain. Tweak just what she needed. She'd even brought those people into the hospital and snuck an MRI scan onto them, no proof of anything wrong or changed, she'd made sure to take before and after pictures of course. Her influence was undetectable. As long as she wasn't stupid enough to make people look obviously mastered of course. Anyone running around slavishly obeying her every whim would be hard to explain away.
There was still a homeless man somewhere in Brockton Bay that broke into song about her feet whenever they crossed paths. Very embarrassing. Vicky would sometimes sing along to her mortification. She didn't even know how her feet had anything to do with whatever she'd tweaked in that guy's brain.
She'd have to find him alone at some point and give him a stroke or something. Or maybe a heart attack actually, she didn't want them cutting into his brain in case that revealed anything.
Not that homeless people usually got autopsies, too many people died in Brockton Bay to worry about the homeless. But she couldn't afford to be sloppy, just in case. She'd also actually cut some people open to look at their brains, she'd healed them after, but she hadn't found any sign of her influence that way either. But she wasn't a brain surgeon for all that her power could do shit.
She'd gotten quite good at brains in the end, after over two year's practice.
Then had come her first Endbringer fight. Several dozens of capes under her hands. Of course she had hardly had time that first time to try anything. She'd been very busy after all. Her efforts had solidified her international reputation, saving so many capes made headlines everywhere… And once the fight was done, she'd been able to heal those less critical injuries, taking her time this time.
She wasn't stupid. She didn't twist them to her whim. She did… Tweak some things, making the capes under her ministrations more amenable to her, altering their brain chemistry just a tad. To give herself a greater chance to get some of them alone at some point in the future and do more invasive procedures.
She'd see what would come of it. If anything,
She'd done much the same to Vicky. It was only fair after all. The outgoing and beautiful girl that practically blasted her with love me aura everyday was impossible to dislike even with her very obvious flaws.
Amy could definitely see how original Amy would have… Feelings, being subjected to that all the time. So to pay her back, she started subtly tweaking her sister, altering things just a little, shooting a spike of arousal and endorphins everytime she hugged her for example. Conditioning Vicky to become turned on at times when they were near each other and got physical (Hugging) - which was often. Her own little payback and homage to original Amy.
Not really fair because Vicky hadn't really been at fault for original Amy being a nutjob. Her aura had helped, but Amy would have gone nuts without it too - just with less you know… Sister rapage.
Amy found some of her greatest amusements over the last year and change, in those little games she was playing with the vaunted Glory Girl. Switching Canon on its head, making Vicky the one who now dealt with guilt and shame for wanting to bone her sister. And oh, how desperately she wanted it.
Amy was mean. And she owned it.
It was also insanely hot to see Vicky all needy and guilty like that.
If she had to deal with an artificial itch she couldn't scratch because, sisters. Then Vicky could suffer too. She'd mostly slowed down on that, not feeling as much of a need to mess with her, now that she'd settled in.
She hadn't only practiced on the homeless of course, she was constantly practicing and stretching the muscles of her power. She'd take plants into school in her bag and mess around with them during breaks. She'd even gone so far as to have flowers and grass in her pockets so she could sit in class and mess around with it until they died, instead of paying attention to the teachers.
She'd hardly created any monstrosities at all. And hopefully if anything weird popped out of the sewers people would assume it was a new biotinker or something left over from Bonesaw or Blasto. There had only been one tentacle monster okay, and she was almost sure it wouldn't hurt anyone.
There were enough Japanese in the city to keep it entertained - and those people liked that shit.
All that practice had culminated in that meeting with Coil. If one wanted to really make a difference in the city, a gang was needed. Preferably to become the gang, you couldn't change anything without going the villain route, the PRT wouldn't allow positive change, they were too affixed to the status quo.
Going after the ABB or the Empire was something that would take a lot of planning and effort, as well as many more minions then what she had currently, (Vicky counted as one.) The Merchants wouldn't be too hard to knock off, but practically useless and would just invite attacks from the other gangs anyway.
Coil was the perfect one to suborn. He had contacts with Cauldron, Accord, Toybox, Tattletale, and the Travelers, although maybe not the last two yet, she was unsure on the timeline there. He had a secret base that was actually very secret, some very skilled mercenaries just waiting for a better boss, and reams of information on every player in Brockton Bay, including their real identities. Not that she didn't have that same thing for the last one, future knowledge for the win.
That said, her memory wasn't exactly perfect. She knew Kaiser was Max Anders for example. But that didn't have her remembering Hookwolf or Crusaders identities. She was almost certain Krieg was James something, so Coil's information would still be useful to shore up what she couldn't remember perfectly.
The problem was his annoyingly hard to work around power of course. Amy couldn't just brainwash him, because he'd dump that timeline and go after her full throttle afterwards.
She knew his civilian identity, she had people in the PRT (Dean through Vicky) to get their files on Coil, so she'd studied him. She'd already noticed this wasn't exactly canon - so she'd studied everything he'd done, in both persona's, and she was fairly certain his power was different.
The long term planning was more obvious when you looked at the bigger picture, instead of constant small moves made quickly. Even Calverts stock moves were made with months of planning, somehow bypassing the thinkers who usually guarded against that stuff.
There always seemed to be a few months cut off point though, like all the planning was done quarterly.
So she had planned for her hypothesis, that Coil would think himself safe if she left something that would take six months to dig its tendrils in.
Worst case, if his power was the Canon one, she could still get away, she knew where his base was, she could dump a plague in there, while sicking the PRT on his civilian persona. But she'd prefer mastering in this case.
So she'd prepared. She'd played with her power until she'd found the perfect hook. Cellular regeneration. She had no idea if it was for eternity - she seriously doubted it. But it would last long enough for a few months of simulation, or so she believed from her tests so far.
So she would play it off as immortality, whether that was true or not she couldn't really say, although she suspected if she died, anyone running on her power that way would lose that effect. Although with how bullshit powers could be she wouldn't discount it working eternally either.
The minute she could touch him she'd be able to subtly twist his brain to her, planting a seed really, that would sit and wait for the right time about six months from now.
She already knew it wouldn't show up on any tests he'd take, she'd already done those tests herself on people she'd 'healed'. All this so Coil would be getting caught 'healed' in the timeline he chose to keep.
Because the second he kept it. She won.
Her secondary concern had been the torture - even if it was for a simulated her, of course. She wasn't an idiot. Everybody had a breaking point. She'd end up blabbing, because no one could last forever under torture - especially as with the timeline shenanigans Coil could go even harder then normal torture since he didn't have to worry about consequences.
If she could find a away to keep the information quiet through torture, Coil would be hooked completely. She'd own him. Because he was an arrogant tool, and he would never believe a little girl kept anything back from him for that long.
It had taken her months to finally figure out how to utilize even a sliver of her power on herself without being obvious about it. She still couldn't heal herself properly. But she had managed to reach her goal because she'd done something that wasn't healing.
Being able to deaden her nerves through using her sweat. Using that to allow her power to slip in internally through the sweat glands. She couldn't really heal herself without a lot more work, but she could alter some things temporarily - she was basically turning something off for a while, with the hope they'd turn back on, on their own, because she couldn't do it yet.
Just hopefully it wouldn't go wrong, because she wouldn't be able to heal herself back up or fix it immediately if the nerve issue weren't just temporary. But it was the best bet she had.
It would be the simulated her anyway, because Coil wouldn't torture her in a timeline he'd keep.
Months of hard work on herself and the best she could do was in lessening a part of herself. She'd crack it soon, once she was free enough to really dig into every possibility, chemical compounds, drugs and gasses and the like.
With her little change, her simulated self would hopefully be able to be tortured in Coil's timeline, vision, simulation or whatever you'd call it, and when she felt she was reaching a breaking point, dull the nerves temporarily, make herself survive the breaking point, and hold on to the end.
Or so she'd hoped, and it apparently had worked.
Before Canon started, Coil would be her servant.
She shivered slightly as she walked down the street, sending a short wave to Vicky who was waiting for her impatiently, her sister practically bouncing in the air a few inches above the ground, despite being out of costume at the moment. It was very weird to know she'd just probably been horribly tortured in another timeline, simulated or not it was a kooky feeling.
Coil would definitely die after giving her everything he owned. And for her own sanity she'd never ask what exactly he'd done to the simulated her. His power was useful, sure, but even brainwashed she couldn't make herself completely trust him. It was better if he died after she got any useful information out of him.
He was one slimy, tricky little shit after all.
But she'd won. Coil had chosen to be the 'test subject' for cellular regeneration and she could remember that. He chose to keep the timeline. In a few months at the latest he'd wake up one day, completely dependent on her. She couldn't wait for that call. Even if for whatever reason he decided to kidnap her before then… It was alright, because eventually he'd just let her go on her orders anyway. She could deal.
Coil was greedy. He wouldn't kill her. Not when he thought he could use her. So now it was just a waiting game.
Canon was still like a bit over six months plus away, she had time.
"I wasn't gone that long, you're like a puppy, I swear." Amy said with an amused quirk to her lips as she neared her sister.
If she did have a tail it would have absolutely been wagging at the moment. Note to self: Cat girl or puppy girl Victoria - valid research.
"Ames, you took foooooorever!" Victoria disagreed, flying forward for the last few feet, glomping Amy into a full hug, almost throwing her off her feet. "You promised to go shopping with me!" She cried out gleefully. "Absolutely no take backs!"
Amy didn't often join in on shopping trips, so she understood her sister's excitement, not that it stopped her from using her power to spike her arousal as she held her tightly in a sisterly hug, flushing her with yummy endorphins.
She smirked slightly as Vicky broke away a red hue to her cheeks and a slightly guilty look to her face. "What's that look? You better not be taking me to buy anything weird, Vicky…" She teased her sister.
It was one of her few amusements in her everyday life, flustering her sister. The hospital was just… Sick people everywhere and she couldn't even really let loose. Not yet. It was just so much work, even though she felt it had its benefits as she was getting a lot stronger with the constant use of her powers and finding new ways to do things.
The shaper shard was infinitely more happy here then in Canon she suspected. At least when she became a villain in her own right she'd have minions, get to order people around, instead of being constantly directed around.
Victoria huffed at her, but led her on towards the new dress shop she had blabbed about nonstop at school these last few days. Vicky really was angling for a fight if she thought she'd get Amy into a dress. At school she'd be lucky to get Amy into anything but jeans and a hoodie most days.
Amy was well aware of the difference in looks between the two of them, she'd not show up at school in a dress and try to compare to Glory Girl. Rule number one on her own evil overlord list - don't pick fights you can't possibly win.
Rule number two - Fuck you Carol. That was actually repeated a lot in her evil overlord list now that she thought about it.
But it needed saying.
No one at school would give her a second look standing next to Vicky. Not that she wanted them to anyway. She had better things to do than school drama. Really. She wasn't bitter.
School which was… Amy had already had another life going through school before. So to say she was less than amused to be going through high school again was an understatement. All the New Wave nonsense and PR was also draining, considering New Wave barely bothered to actually do anything. Just as useless as the PRT and the Protectorate.
The Wards alone could clean up the Merchants in an afternoon. New Wave, the Wards and the Protectorate could wipe out the ABB in half a day tops if they went serious. But they never did anything like that. Fucking heroes. Yeah right.
Only a villain could actually improve Brockton Bay, they were the only one not so completely hamstrung in what they could do.
And the cherry on top of her current life was of course Cunt Dallon ( Sometimes called Carol for some reason.) Dear old mom. She was even more of a cunt than Amy could have ever imagined, she pitied the original for going through it without the benefit of outside knowledge. The new her cared nothing for Carol's rules and attitude - instead of old Amy's general apathy and quiet struggle - her new attitude hardly made Carol an easier person to live with.
Although it was fun to see how red in the face Carol could get sometimes when Amy snarked back enough. Even if she invariably got grounded for it.
So many groundings…
Like grounding mattered when she'd still send her off to the hospital in the end.
Amy couldn't wait to become a villain. Knowing Carol would face the blame from literally everyone did add some extra delicious spice to the decision. She'd made sure to disseminate little comments here and there while doing her hospital work. Once she went bad, the entire hospital would point the finger to Carol. And it's not like Vicky or the rest of New Wave could really come out and say anything different, not really. Besides, Vicky would never move against her.
Ever.
Of course Amy had chosen to become a villain, albeit eventually, as her only career choice. She needed some fun in her life. And honestly the power and infamy was pretty attractive too, being able to do whatever she wanted, choosing her own way forward.
She was too useful for the PRT to come down too hard on her, as long as she played ball for Endbringer fights - and didn't make them scream Master. And in her backpocket she did have the information to fully stop them, for emergencies. Eidolon.
Perhaps once Brockton Bay was fully hers, she'd give that information out in exchange for the PRT to completely hand her the city in perpetuity.
Maybe if the world was exactly like Canon, she wouldn't be as gung ho about things. But she'd noticed a few differences. The major one being why she was so cavalier about her future villainhood and leveraging Endbringer attacks to keep herself from being ganked.
Scion was already dead. Possibly. She still suspected foul play because she was paranoid like that, but he seemingly had died.
When she'd realized that change she'd practically died from relief. No Khepri situation needed, no mass annihilation. Although she still wouldn't rest easy until the timeline got past golden morning.
All the details weren't publically available. Although she bet Cauldron knew it all, but not like those fuckers would share anyway.
Hero hadn't been killed by the Siberian, only wounded, and therefore he had lived longer than in Canon; that was the major change to the timeline. And eventually Hero had tried to talk Scion down or motivate him or something, not willing to commit to the evils that Cauldron planned as a necessity, or at least that's what she would guess was the reasoning. She had no idea why else he'd try it. Unless it was an actual assassination plot already but she doubted Cauldron would have signed off on that.
Alexandria for sure would have tried to stop him if it had been an 'official' attempt to solve the situation with Scion. They were way too busy scrambling around for any advantage to try something that overt so soon.
Hero must have been an absolute shit motivational speaker or so good that he went entirely in the opposite direction, because the media footage showed the two of them hovering right above the ground talking with some random normal called Kalvin or something, then what appeared to be a portal appearing literally on Scion - which Hero disappeared into, then a blinding light, an explosion and that was it.
There was a big hole in the ground where York used to be in Britain… Which honestly, they were lucky it was only York disappearing and not the entire island considering what Scion could do.
The official story was that Scion had committed suicide and taken Hero down with him.
Amy was a bit more cynical, and wondered if Hero had used some tinkertech, what with being the best tinker ever, to force a portal open and then blew himself up to allow his friends to not go down too dark of a road with his sacrifice. Although how he got Scion to allow it is the question.
Because how did he get depressed enough to allow it without the convoluted situation in Canon?
She thought he was unbearably naive if he thought that would stop Cauldron. Alexandria and Doctor Mother wouldn't stop. She appreciated his sacrifice, as it made this less of a death world now that she wouldn't have to worry about total planetary annihilation. Only the partial annihilation ala Endbringers. She'd eat her uniform if Cauldron didn't just keep doing what they were doing anyway - this time to try and get enough power to take down the Endbringers.
Something which Amy could probably solve right now. But… She wouldn't.
Villain Amy would never see the Birdcage or a kill order as long as the Endbringers existed. As long as she didn't go full Bonesaw or Nilbog. Once she had amassed enough power to hold Brockton Bay, perhaps she'd be more comfortable. But now, no.
Not nice definitely, many would die. But well, she was a villain really. Besides most people, for all that they cried about destruction and deaths when it happened - didn't actually give a fuck or would lift a single finger to help, unless it was their own people or people they knew.
Ask any random American how many fucks they give about Sudan or something. Most probably wouldn't even care if an Endbringer suddenly wiped it out. People talked a good talk, but the amount of people in the world that actually lifted a finger to help people in other countries dealing with starvation or destruction was a very low percentage, the people that gave a shit was even lower.
Of course with Scion dead and not helping fight Endbringers, there had been a lot more deaths and destruction for a while as the PRT and militaries of the world adjusted to being solely responsible for driving them off now. A lot more deaths.
Well… If for a while counts, as there's still a lot more death and destruction going on.
"Amy, pay attention! Isn't this skirt just adorbs!?" Vicky shook her by the shoulders, wearing a white mini skirt that she'd definitely not be able to get past Cu- Carol.
Not to mention the fact she was a teenager and a famous superhero, wearing that miniscule skirt would get half of PHO banned for making dirty comments. It already happened enough due to Glory Girl being a flier wearing a skirt.
"I'll give you a hundred dollars if you wear that home." She said seriously, making Vicky bite her lip, eyes flickering with indecision.
"200." Amy coaxed, smiling when she saw the resolve set in her sister's eyes.
Not every villainous act needed to be a large one.
Besides,
Fuck Carol Dallon