Amy Dallon clung to her sister more by force of habit than anything else as Victoria flew with her through the air. She'd been in a daze ever since she'd touched Starfield - or rather, the big, beautiful beast within her.
Amy found herself smiling as she thought about the creature, the being Starfield pretended was just her power. She remembered, vaguely, how she'd felt upon first seeing the odd cape. Her eyes had widened at the sight of the emerald green, tentacular flesh emerging from her face, studded with eyes and mouths and wrapped around her torso and limbs. She'd recoiled out of ill-conceived fear and disgust at the sight. The wings, tail, and claws, so black as to appear two-dimensional, had not helped matters one bit.. Were it not for those aspects, her costume of a shirt, jeans, and sneakers would have been absurd, even comical, not intimidating or off-putting.
Oh, how wrong she had been. One touch had been all that creature needed to show her how gorgeous it was. Any time she touched a living thing, be it plant, animal, human, whatever, she saw it in its entirety. Every organ, every tissue, every cell. And with that vision came the urge to make changes, edit them for whatever reasons came to mind, be they aesthetic, or editing real or perceived errors, or whatnot.
Naturally, she felt every microorganism that touched her skin. Towards the beginning of her days as a parahuman, she would occasionally neuter two or more bacteria, then modify them and pit them against one another in duels to the death. The winner received the grand prize of dying painlessly. The surviving losers received the same prize, naturally.
Over time, her microscopic battle royales grew more and more infrequent until they stopped entirely, and her power was increasingly used only for healing, but even then, the message her powers gave her was the same: biology was clay to be sculpted, be it into glorious works of art or merely to repair. Not that Amy let herself listen to that message, but still.
If there was one thing Amy had learned in art class, it was that every medium restricted the expression it could portray, and the same, her power insisted, held true for flesh. Every flesh, that is, except for that contained within Starfield. That creature, whatever it was, was possibility incarnate.
Oh, what she wouldn't do to gaze upon it once more, Sure, its image was practically burned into her mind, but still. What mattered was that, for the first time in what felt like forever, she actually wanted to use her power.
"Ames?"
With some effort, Amy managed to drag herself away from tracing perfection in her mind to focus on her darling sister's concerned face. "Yes, Vicky?" she asked, beaming up at her. She frowned internally as her sister's eyes widened, though it didn't reach her face.
"Amy, you're scaring me. Are you sure you're alright?"
Amy grinned and cupped Victoria's cheek. "Oh, no, I'm fine. Better than fine, actually!"
For some reason that didn't seem to reassure Vicky. In fact, she only looked more concerned and uncomfortable. "Okay, um. I'll just take us home so you can rest, okay?"
"Okay!" Amy chirped before letting her eyes unfocus again that her sight might be overtaken once more by her memories of that gorgeous flesh.
.o.o.o.
It wasn't long before they landed in front of their house. Amy found herself hustled inside, then lightly pushed towards the stairs. She turned to pout at her sister, who didn't seem at all amused by the display of childishness, only worried. "Fine," Amy said, drawing out the word as she went up the stairs to her room.
Closing the door, she leapt onto her bed, giggling as she bounced, then buried her face her pillow. She laid there for a while before coming up for air and rolling on her back. She sighed, her smile finally starting to fade.
She needed to find that creature, to touch it again, to hopefully get a chance to change it in some way. But even if she could somehow find Starfield, how could she convince her to… well.
It was probably too much to hope for, she thought despondently. She was doomed to never lay eye or hand on that beauty again.
With her smile completely gone, she let her eyes wander around her room. They passed over her books, her computer, the various posters on the wall that seemed so dull and uninteresting now, before finally coming to rest on the little, potted cactus in the window. Her cousin Eric had given it to her for her birthday once, and while she'd glowered at him for the joke he made about it suiting her, now…
Slowly, her smile returned.
.o.o.o.
Slowly, carefully, Amy snuck down the stairs, carefully skipping the squeaky step as she went.
"I, I don't know, Mom." She jumped at the sudden voice, her head whipping around to look at the source. Victoria was standing in the front hall, phone to her ear, body tense, and Amy breather a silent sigh of relief that her back was turned to the stairs. "She's just… look, she touched Starfield's tentacle, and… No… no, she just started acting weird, all smiling and upbeat." A pause. "God, why is it so weird for her to act happy?"
Amy reached the bottom of the stairs and slowly made her way down the hall. "She's up in her room, should I…?" Her steps hastened, and soon she was easing the kitchen door shut behind her.
Sighing, she smiled down at the adorable little bundle of green flesh wrapped around her wrist. A single eye stared up at her and a razor-toothed mouth whined hungrily. "Yes, yes," she murmured soothingly, feeling it relax slightly. "I'm getting you some food now."
She snagged a banana from the fruit bowl and started to peel it, only for a couple small tentacles to tug it towards the mouth. "Okay!" she said in fond exasperation, feeding the fruit into her baby's mouth. Its tooth-lined throat twisted and flexed, shredding the banana, peel and all. She could feel the delight that rippled through it from the act of eating, the sensation causing a warmth to bloom in her chest.
Soon, the banana was gone, quickly being broken down and converted into more flesh. A long, pink tongue licked at Amy's fingers, making her giggle. "Fine, I'll get you more. Calm down, sweetie." She looked around the kitchen, trying to decide what to feed it next, only to feel her little bundle of joy tugging her towards the open pantry. Following the tugs, she found herself led to a bag of potatoes. "Um, okay? If you want, I guess."
Crouching down, she opened the bag, only for tentacles to dart in and grab a spud. It lifted the tuber to its mouth, then paused before offering it to Amy. "You… want me to feed you?" she guessed, then smiled and took it.
.o.o.o.
"Amy?"
Victoria knocked on her sister's bedroom door. When Amy didn't respond, she continued, "So, uh, please don't be mad at me, but, well… Mom's coming home, and she's getting the PRT to come out here as well. We… I'm worried about you. We just want to make sure you're alright." She paused, shifting uncomfortably on her feet before giving in and hovering an inch above the floor.
The response she waited for never came.
"Ames?" Still no response. "I'm coming in, okay?" With no protest, she opened the door. "Amy, I..."
The room was empty. Amy was gone.
A spike of fear shot through Victoria. "Amy?" she called out. "Ames, where are you?"
A door closed elsewhere in the house, and she zipped down the stairs. But it hadn't been Mom coming in the front door, so it must've been elsewhere in the house.
She floated in the direction of the back door, pausing as she entered the kitchen. The fruit bowl was empty, an empty bag of some sort lay on the floor, and a drained milk jug sat on the counter. Concern grew in Victoria as she floated through and went out into the backyard.
Just as she was shielding her eyes from the afternoon sun, a loud crack made her spin to the side, ready to fight. But it wasn't an enemy, just her sister, still clad in her Panacea robes. The sight made Victoria almost go limp with relief.
But then she saw something that brought the tension back in force. Amy's right arm, almost to the elbow, was covered in a dark green, pulsating mass of flesh. Her fingertips poked out around the end, and where her palm would've been was a large eyeball, staring at a blackened, smoking patch on a nearby tree.
"Amy, what-?" The mousy girl jumped at the sound of Victoria's voice, turning to look guiltily at her. The green… thing, whatever it was, oozed off of her arm for her to cradle it to her chest.
"Um, h-hi, Vicky," she said, glancing down at the thing which was now watching Victoria with three new eyes. Almost like Starfield had… "Th-this is, um..."
"… What the hell is that thing?"
Amy scowled, then smiled hesitantly and held out the little abomination. "Uh, congratulations, you're an aunt?"