Hearing laughter again, Danny finished the document he'd been editing in his office, closed it, then got up to see what the two girls were doing now. He found that Taylor had brought her laptop down and had connected it to the TV, on which she was showing some of the more entertaining videos she'd recorded as Saurial and Raptaur. He entered the room and sat down, watching with amusement and mild horror, while Amy rolled around laughing herself sick.

"God, if you post these on PHO people will refuse to go out when it's dark entirely," the girl giggled, lifting her head to watch as Saurial went after some ABB in a shop, the stark terror on the faces of the gang members wondrous to behold when they looked up to see the lizard-girl only feet away grinning at them.

"I haven't seen this one before, Taylor," he said curiously as the clip finished. She glanced over at him, smiling.

"It was late on the night I stopped Hookwolf, when I was establishing some sort of alibi. On the way home I found these idiots ransacking a convenience store so I went in after them. They seemed surprised."

"Totally terrified, I'd say," he corrected her, making her snicker.

"One or the other, definitely. Or maybe both."

"I didn't know you wore the camera as Raptaur as well," Amy said, recovering a little and sitting up.

"I always wear it when I'm out, but when I'm Raptaur, it's pretty hard to see," Taylor replied. "It goes on my head between my eyes, with the shape of my head in that form it's about the only place it fits properly, and the harness we make for it is matched in color and texture to my scales. Not to mention that my scales are nearly black as well, the camera is black, and it's usually at night. About all you can see is the lens poking out if you look carefully."

She shrugged a little. "It wasn't a deliberate attempt to hide it, just make it discreet, but it worked better than we thought. No one seems to see it. You didn't even notice me putting it on."

"Did you record that ride home, then?" Amy asked curiously.

"Yep. Hold on..." His daughter poked around on the laptop for a moment, until she found the file she was after, then played it. He watched, laughing nearly as hard as Amy was, as they got a Taylor's-eye view of the most extraordinary charge through and over the city he'd ever seen.

"Look!" Amy pointed, grinning manically. "I knew I saw that Max Anders asshole looking out the window when we went up the side of the Medhall building."

Taylor rewound the file a little, pausing it on a frame that showed the CEO of Medhall Pharmaceuticals staring in shock as they went past, a glass of something half-way to his mouth, having apparently been surprised in looking out at the skyline. He seemed more than a little startled based on his expression. All three of them laughed.

"Sounds like you don't much like him, Amy," Danny noted, making the girl look at him, then back at the screen.

"I don't. I couldn't tell you why except that he's the smoothest talking bastard I've ever met and makes me want to stick my fist in his face. He gets on my nerves for some reason."

"I've never met him but that's not the first time I've heard something similar," he smiled. "You're in good company. The Mayor doesn't like him either."

Resuming playing the file, Taylor sat back and let it run. A little longer and Amy was snickering again. "Look at the expression on the face of that little kid in the car on the right," she said, pointing. "That was when you stopped for the red light. He looks like he's seen the best toy ever. If his eyes were any wider he'd need medical intervention."

Both Heberts laughed at the comment and the expression of the boy, who appeared to be about six, and was indeed staring in amazement and what looked like envy. Raptaur looked directly at him, the boy after a moment grinning widely while his mother, who was driving the car, looked over at some sound he must have made, followed his eyes, and flinched violently.

The lights changed, his daughter's alter ego waved to the boy, a large scaled hand coming into camera view, then looked forward as she accelerated away from the junction at high speed, easily outpacing any of the cars. Danny shook his head in wonder.

"You made his night, I think," he chuckled.

"And made sure his mother wouldn't sleep a wink," Amy added.

"Maybe we should run rides on the weekend at the Boardwalk," Taylor suggested with a look of glee. "Five dollars for a run around the block, twenty for a run over it..."

Amy started giggling again, while Danny sighed slightly, looking at them both with fond amusement. It seemed that the Dallon girl had relaxed a hell of a lot in the last few hours, which he was pleased about, but he had a terrible feeling that she wasn't actually going to affect his daughter's weird sense of humor and practical jokes.

After a moment, considering the idea, he reached a different conclusion. That wasn't exactly the right idea. It was more than likely that she would affect Taylor's sense of the absurd, probably by joining in given half a chance. The two girls were now discussing how many rides per hour Raptaur could run and whether Amy should give medical checkups first to make sure the customer didn't have a heart condition.

"Girls, while it's very amusing, it might be best to start slowly," he put in, making them look at him, then each other.

"I was planning to, Dad, or they'd fall off," Taylor replied in a reasonable tone of voice. "If I just go for it I'd run right out from under them."

"That's not exactly what I mean and you well know it, dear," he sighed, shaking his head sadly and making her grin at him.

They watched some more SaurialVision episodes, until Amy sighed a little when the last one finished. "I'm actually jealous," she said, sitting up on the sofa from where she'd been comfortably lying and watching the TV. On the floor, Taylor turned around and looked at her, as did Danny. "You seem to have so much fun with your abilities. More fun than should be legal, actually. A lot of capes like using their powers but it's normally sort of destructive, like you mentioned, but even a lot of them don't seem to find the entire thing so entertaining as you obviously do. I can't do anything like that. My power is just scary in most ways. It's sort of depressing."

She looked at Taylor who was listening with a sympathetic expression. "I know you have some terrifying abilities as well, like being able to blow entire islands away, or probably eat anything that gets in the way, or even pick it up and throw it over the horizon, but you don't let that stop you from enjoying life like no one else I know." She sighed again. "I wish I could do something interesting."

"Why can't you?" Taylor asked. "Your power is amazingly versatile. Like you said, the healing is a tiny part of it. A very important part for other people, true, and as Dad said something you should be proud of, but you can do other things as well. Surely that gives some possibility of having fun."

"How?" Amy asked, shrugging helplessly. "The PRT would go fucking nuts if I starting making new life forms, that triggers their 'Oh, shit, Nilbog V2.0' detectors like you wouldn't believe. The restrictions on what Biotinkers can do are insane. It pretty much eliminates most of it. I'm not really a Biotinker, quite, but..."

"Nilbog really pissed in the pool as far as you're concerned, didn't he?" Taylor smiled.

Amy gave her an acid look. "Just a little."

"Want me to go and erase his entire town from existence for you? Would that cheer you up, Amy?" the other girl asked, getting up and sitting next to her friend then putting an arm over her shoulders. "I'll do it, if you want. Because it's you."

"You're an idiot, Taylor," Amy snickered after a sudden wide-eyed look. Taylor grinned.

"Better. Stay happy."

Releasing the other girl, she slid along the sofa to lean against one of the arms, her feet up on the seat and her tail wrapped around them with the end twitching back and forth. "I may have to do something about him one day, but I'm not planning on that right now. But back to you. We must be able to think of something you can do using your power that would be both fun and useful."

"The real problem is that I can't affect myself with it," Amy sighed despondently. "That would give so many possibilities. Not to mention make healing myself something I could do. Right now I'm just a squishy meatbag who could be crushed flat by any brute you can name, or even a normal person. It makes me feel a little vulnerable." She considered her own words, then added, "More than a little."

Inspecting Taylor on the other end of the sofa, she went on, "You're at the stupidly invulnerable end of the scale, true, but take Vicky for an example. You can hit her with basically anything and it will only knock her through the nearest wall. Eric, my cousin, can make force fields that are almost as tough, as can several of the family. The ones that can't can either do what Mom does, or something else that makes them hard to hurt without a lot of effort. I'm the least effective and the most easily damaged. No wonder they want me to stay back where it's safe. Safeish, anyway."

"Do you actually want to be in the middle of the action, Amy?" Danny asked after a moment.

She shook her head a little. "Not really, not like that," she sighed, "but it would be nice to know I could if I had to. Or even just didn't have to worry about ending up dead because of some idiot with a gun. Or a brick in a sock."

"As Panacea, I suspect if anyone actually tried that, they'd find every cape in the area avenging you on the spot," Taylor commented. "I know you've healed villains as well as heroes at Endbringer fights, and also that they respect you for that. Very few parahumans would ever think about hurting you deliberately even without the Rules."

"True, I guess," Amy replied after a thoughtful look at her friend. "But there are still lots of other stupid violent people out there who can't think things through. You know that, you keep terrifying them."

Taylor smirked, nodding. "My bread and butter, those idiots," she laughed. Growing more pensive, she inspected Amy for a few seconds. "Is your costume armored?" she asked slowly.

"No. It's just ordinary cloth."

Danny exchanged a glance with his daughter, who looked irritated. "For god's sake, that's stupid. Do you have it with you?"

Appearing startled, Amy nodded, looking around for a moment, then pointing across the room. "It's in my backpack over there."

"Get it."

The healer got up and retrieved the backpack, opening it and pulling out a neatly folded bundle of white cloth, which she laid out on the sofa to reveal the familiar Panacea costume. Taylor felt it between finger and thumb, scowling. "This is only cotton or something. Nicely made, but no protection at all."

She went into an inner discussion with the Varga, both Amy and Danny recognizing the expression and exchanging a glance. After a minute or so, she nodded. "OK, let's at least sort that out." Picking up the white robe she stood, shaking it out, then examining it closely. "Hmm." Putting it down on the floor she carefully straightened the garment out, flattening the wrinkles then staring at it for a while. Holding out her hands she was suddenly holding an apparent perfect duplicate of the thing, which was clearly not made of ordinary cloth by the way it hung from her hands.

"Too heavy," she mumbled, feeling the new robe. Amy stared at her friend, her eyebrows raised.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked, fascinated.

"Making you a costume that won't get you killed if something goes wrong," Taylor replied absently, studying her work. The thing disappeared again, being replaced with another attempt a few seconds later. "No, too stiff." She shook it, the cloth not bending in a very normal fashion. "She'll never be able to sit down with this on, you great reptilian idiot," the girl mumbled to herself, making the others smile.

The new one disappeared again. Walking around the original on the floor, she tapped her chin, apparently talking to the Varga again, before nodding. "That should work."

The third attempt appeared in her hands. This looked on the face of it identical to the one lying on the floor. Examining the costume, Taylor smiled. "Now this is more like it." She hefted the cloth, nodding to herself, then handed it to Amy, who took it gingerly. "See how this feels," she instructed.

"It's heavier than my normal one," Amy commented. "Not too much, but enough to notice."

"Yes, it's lined with a very thin layer of Vargastuff, which is really dense," Taylor pointed out. "It's like extremely fine chain mail. The material itself can't be bent, it's totally rigid, but making it into that form allows it to act like normal cloth. But there's no way any normal bullet or knife will ever penetrate it even at that thickness." She smiled a little. "It might not stand up to something like a naval gun or anything that sort of size, but the shock wave from the explosion would kill you first anyway, so who cares?"

"Very reassuring," Amy replied with a small smile, shaking her head. Detaching the removable hood she tried it on. "Fits perfectly," she added. A moment later she was wearing the rest of the costume over her clothes. "It feels a little heavier across my shoulders but nothing I can't handle."

Taylor walked around her, checking the fit, while Danny watched with amusement and a degree of pride. "That looks just like your normal one, no one will be able to tell the difference," she announced with a smile. "Great." She handed her friend the scarf which appeared in her hands, finishing the Panacea look. Amy took it and wrapped it around the lower part of her face, then held her arms out to her sides.

"How do I look?" she asked.

"Like Panacea," Taylor smirked. "Now, let's test it." Before Amy could react she was holding a long shiny knife which she proceeded to stab her friend in the center of the chest with quite hard, provoking a yelp followed by a string of obscenities that made Danny rather impressed. His daughter grinned.

"Seems to work," she commented. Amy glared at her.

"For fuck's sake, don't scare me like that!" she snarled.

"You're fine, Amy. Look at the knife!" Taylor held up a bent blade. "Not a mark on the costume. Or you."

"I felt the impact but it wasn't too bad," the other girl replied, taking the knife and looking at it with awe in her eyes. "I wouldn't have thought it was hard enough to do this." Experimentally heaving on the blade she looked impressed when it didn't bend back very much.

"The weave of the little segments of the armor cloth lock together under hard impact and spread the force over a larger area," Taylor explained, smiling. "It was Varga's idea and design. I'm glad it works so well. You should find that a handgun bullet is only like someone hitting you moderately hard and a rifle bullet should only knock you down at worst. The kinetic energy of even a fairly high speed bullet isn't much more than a really hard punch, it's all that force concentrated in a small area that does the damage."

"Very impressive, Taylor," Danny said with an approving nod. "Perhaps you should offer this sort of thing to other capes. Or even the police. It's better and lighter than normal body armor."

His daughter looked thoughtfully at him. "Good idea. Would the DWU be interested in a marketing opportunity?"

Laughing, he considered the idea for a moment. "I'll look into it. That might be a way to proceed. But you could save a lot of lives with something like this, I suspect. Especially considering that you can make it for nothing."

"It wouldn't be much good against fire, though, it conducts heat so well it would be dangerous," she pointed out. "But I can certainly make it as normal clothing, that's easy if I have a pattern to copy. I was thinking about something like this a few days ago, I was going to make you a new coat that was armored." She smiled at him. "Your birthday is in a couple of weeks."

"Thank you, I'd like that," he replied, before turning to look at Amy, who was poking herself with the bent knife experimentally. "I can get a crowbar from the basement and hit you with it if it would help, Amy," he said, grinning.

The girl gave him a darkly amused look, handing the knife back to Taylor who made it go away. "You have such a nice way of handling guests in the Hebert household," she remarked with a sarcastic tone in her voice, making him chuckle. "No, thanks for the offer but I think I'll decline." Looking at Taylor who was now bouncing a baseball bat in one palm, she put her hands up defensively, stepping back. "I said no. You proved your point."

The inquisitive look his daughter was wearing turned sad, then she laughed.

"You're taking all the fun out of it now."

"You are a very strange person, Taylor Hebert," Amy laughed. "But thank you for the new costume."

"You're welcome, Amy," Taylor replied happily. "I wouldn't want to lose someone just after becoming friends with them." Amy smiled, taking the new costume off again and folding it up. "It'll last practically forever, the material is permanent," Taylor continued, watching the process. "You can wash it normally although I think dirt will have a hard time sticking to it." Amy nodded, putting the Varga created material away, then looking at her original costume on the floor, then her backpack. It clearly wouldn't fit.

"Here." Taylor offered her another backpack, a duplicate of the one she normally took to school. "Put it in this."

Shortly the old costume was packed away as well. "That should help, anyway," Taylor mused, studying her friend. "But you still need something else."

Danny watched Amy's face, the girl looking somewhat surprised by the current subject, yet also oddly grateful. He was thinking that it might actually be the first time anyone had ever looked into making her safer, which was a little worrying. "How about a collapsible baton like the one you gave me?" he suggested, thinking back to the small cylinder he always carried in his coat pocket these days. Taylor glanced at him, brightening up.

"That's probably better than a knife," she nodded. "OK." Holding out her hand she offered the baton that appeared on it, a duplicate of the one she'd given him, to Amy, who hesitantly picked it up and looked at it.

"I have no idea how to use one of these," the healer admitted.

"It's not too difficult, Amy," Danny said, getting up and going over to the two girls. He lifted the device out of her hand and showed her how to hold it. "Look, give it a sharp flick like this…," he did the relevant action, the extensible sections snapping out cleanly with a faint click, "and it's ready for use. You can just hit someone with it, obviously, or use it more elegantly." Motioning to Taylor, who obligingly came closer, the Dallon girl moving off to the side and watching closely, he demonstrated, knowing there was no way he could hurt his daughter. "Come at me with a knife," he told her. "Slowly, so Amy can watch."

"OK, Dad," she replied, looking curious herself. Raising a hand which now had a six inch knife in it, the blade obviously blunt, she slowly swung it at him. He snapped the baton out, tapping her wrist in a couple of spots in a manner that would have made a normal human instantly drop the weapon.

"See, this nerve cluster here, you hit it fairly hard and they're definitely going to lose the knife. Hit the elbow right here and the entire arm goes dead, it hurts like hell. Then, you stick the baton here, grab over here on the shoulder and twist, then..." He demonstrated, Taylor going along with it, to end up with her right arm twisted up behind her back with the baton pressed against the back of her neck. "It gives a surprising amount of control of the other person. Cops are taught how to do this and a lot more. I can show you quite a bit myself and there are people at the DWU who are experts in this sort of thing."

Amy nodded slowly, studying them as he repeated the action very slowly for her benefit, then showed her a couple more basic stick combat moves. "I'm not even close to an expert but I know a few useful tricks. Against someone who isn't expecting it, it's pretty effective."

"And if I can't do that, I just whack them with it until they fall over," she noted with a grin.

"That works," he nodded, smiling. "You are one of the few people who could probably get away with that, since you can fix most of what you break." That amused her quite a lot judging by her expression.

"I can show you some interesting close quarter combat moves if you want," Taylor offered when he'd released her and stepped back, collapsing the baton with a quick press of the lock and a push against his other hand, then handing it to the healer. "My system is really designed for someone with a tail, it's used in a lot of the moves either directly or for balance, but quite a lot of it should be easy enough to learn." She smiled at Amy. "You don't have a tail, you poor thing, but we'll work around that."

Chuckling, Amy sat down again, holding the baton in one hand and feeling the surface of it with her thumb. "I think I'd like that," she said after thinking it over. "Thanks. Again. No one has ever offered me training in fighting."

"You should know how to defend yourself if nothing else," Taylor replied firmly, also sitting. "You never know."

"True," Amy sighed. "Very true." Looking down at the baton she was holding, she tried the flick Danny had demonstrating, smiling when on the second try she managed to make the thing extend. "Cool."

"Press the button there on the end then push on it to close it," Danny pointed out, which she did. After flicking it open then closing it a few times, she put it in her pocket.

"I'd be pleased to learn anything you can teach me," she said, looking between them both. "I think it would be fun."

"So do I," Taylor smiled. After a moment, though, she frowned a little. "But we still need to work out how you can use your power for something interesting. Ideally without making the PRT nuke the city."

"That would be best," Amy replied deadpan. Both girls exchanged a look, then smiled.

Danny had been thinking for a while about what Amy had told them about how her power worked. Now he looked at her. "You say your power can't affect you, right? Only everyone else?"

"Except her, yes," Amy nodded, indicating Taylor who grinned. "And Alexandria, I know that, and probably a few other capes who don't register as organic any more. But basically any normal living thing, I can do all sorts of things with."

"I see." He studied her. "This may be too obvious, but can you make something that can affect you?"

The girl looked somewhat startled. "What do you mean?"

"Well, to take a simple example, a normal human can't fly. But humans can make machines which fly and use those to get the same effect. Can you make some sort of organism that can either… I don't know, reflect your power, maybe, or just has a built in ability to affect you? Could that be a workaround for your limitation?"

"No, that's..." Amy stopped, looking intrigued, while Taylor and Danny watched her. "Surely that wouldn't..." She trailed off again, clearly thinking hard. "Holy shit," she finally whispered, her eyes wide, after nearly a minute. "That's so crazy it might actually work."

Looking around the room, she quickly said, "I need something small and alive. A plant or something."

"Hold on," Taylor told her, getting up and disappearing into the kitchen, to reappear with an onion bulb, one that had been in the cupboard for a while and had suddenly made a bid for freedom a day or two ago, sprouting a long green leaf out of the top, probably triggered by the warming weather. "Will this do?"

"Yes. Do you have any more?" Amy requested, taking it from her and studying it. Shortly she had the rest of the bag of wrinkled and tired looking onions. Both Heberts watched as she held them all in her cupped hands, staring at them in a way that made it clear she wasn't paying any attention to the other people present.

A few seconds passed, then the onions… melted. There was no other word that really described what happened. Danny stared, glancing at Taylor who was watching with great interest. He suspected the Varga was as well.

The puddle of plant protoplasm in the healer's hands quivered a little, contracting into a ball, then slowly changing shape into a flat lozenge-shaped thing about three inches across by half that wide and maybe a quarter of an inch thick. The color fluctuated for a while, settling down to a dull gray-white, like horn or bone. Amy blinked, apparently coming back from wherever she'd been, then slowly smiled.

"Wow," she mumbled, holding the thing up and looking closely at it.

"What is it?" Danny asked, fascinated.

"If I did it right, it's a healing parasite," she replied absently, turning it over and inspecting the other side.

"A healing… parasite?" he asked with a certain amount of shock. "What the hell is that?"

The girl turned to him and grinned. "My first real bit of biotinkering, I hope," she laughed. "This is a little organism that attaches to a host then lives off it, but at the same time fixes anything that's wrong with it. It's more of a symbiote, really, it does what it can to keep the host in perfect condition, because it dies if the host does."

He stared, then looked at his daughter, who was looking very surprised and very pleased. "Really?" he asked with shock in his voice. The implications were staggering. "Does it have any limitations?"

"Oh, yes, lots of them," she replied, shrugging. "It's a first attempt. But I'm pretty sure it will work, my power agrees, and it should fix a lot of problems like broken bones, traumatic injury, infection, quite a few diseases, that sort of thing. I'm going to have to think about how to improve it. But your idea was brilliant. It opens up all sorts of possibilities."

"Glad to help," he mumbled, still somewhat shocked at how quickly she'd implemented what was just a sudden wild idea.

"I need to test this," she said after a moment, turning the little creature in her hand over again. Taylor leaned forward, seeming worried.

"Is that a good idea?" she asked.

Amy sighed, shrugging. "If it doesn't work, it's programmed to self destruct without causing harm, so it should be safe enough. But I need to know."

Glancing at Danny, Taylor nodded a little. "OK, I guess," she replied after a moment. He wasn't sure himself but the girl seemed to believe in her own ability and she was the one who would know. After everything they'd talked about, and her clear wish to actually use her power for something other than hospital work, he could hardly suggest that she forget it.

Taking a deep breath, Amy put the underside of the small biological construct on the top of her right wrist, then pressed firmly. It emitted a faint squeak. A moment later so did she. "Ooh, that tingles," she muttered, staring at the thing. They watched as it seemed to slowly merge with her skin, taking on the same tone and coloration, until it was barely visible and then only if you looked for it. She shuddered all over, shaking her head. "Ick. What a weird feeling."

"What's it doing?" Taylor asked with some concern in her voice.

"Linking into my vascular and neural systems," Amy replied in a low voice, apparently only half-listening. "It's a bit painful. I'll need to work on that..." She trailed off, winced a couple of times, stiffened all over, then slowly relaxed. "Ow. Definitely need to work on that." Opening her eyes she smiled at them somewhat ruefully. "That hurt. But it's connected to me now."

"What next?" Taylor asked curiously.

"Got a knife?"

His daughter stared at her friend for a moment, then handed her a small, extremely sharp knife she hadn't been holding until that moment. "Sure."

"Thanks."

Taking the implement in her right hand, Amy raised the left one, looked at it, took a deep breath, then quickly cut the end of her index finger, the insanely sharp blade parting the skin effortlessly and blood immediately welling up.

"Owww, that stings!" the girl warbled, dropping the knife and grabbing her left wrist to hold her hand still, managing not to shake it. Taylor quickly put a Varga-provided towel under it to catch the blood which dropped from the abused digit.

All three of them stared at her bleeding finger expectantly. After a few seconds, Taylor suggested, "Maybe it doesn't work?"

"No, I can feel it doing something," Amy replied, not taking her eyes off her finger, although she was obviously suppressing a wince. Another five seconds passed, then she smiled broadly. "Look," she whispered.

They watched in amazement as the bleeding rapidly slowed then stopped, the wound sealing itself over a period of perhaps ten seconds or so. The sight was a bit eerie. When it finally disappeared, Amy picked up the towel and wiped her hand clean of blood, then held it up, grinning like an idiot. "It fucking works!" she yelled in triumph. "I don't believe it!"

"Very impressive indeed, Amy," Danny said with a sigh of relief. "You had me worried there."

She looked at him, then jumped up and rushed over to hug him. "Thank you, Danny, for your idea. I never thought of that," she laughed. "But the more I think about it the more ideas I have. It's amazing."

Releasing him she stepped back then blushed. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"Don't worry, Amy, I'm pleased you're pleased, and relieved you're all right." He smiled. "I would strongly suggest you take it very slowly, though. As you've already said, a mistake would be very bad. Don't risk yourself if you don't have to."

"I'll have to be very careful anyway," the girl replied, going back to the sofa. Taylor was watching her with a pleased look. "If the PRT finds out about even this sort of thing they're going to start asking all sorts of awkward questions I don't want to get involved in right now. But I'm going to think about this a lot. I can already see some very interesting possibilities." She smiled brilliantly. "This has been one of the best days I've ever had thanks to you two." Glancing at Taylor, she amended her statement. "Three, I mean."

"I am very glad you think so, Amy," the Varga spoke through Taylor, sounding pleased as well. "That was fascinating to watch. I feel you have some very interesting applications ahead of you for your abilities. Although as Danny has already said, I would advise caution and restraint, take it slowly and carefully."

"I intend to," she replied, still looking very pleased with herself.

"We should probably actually do some math tutoring," Taylor said after they'd been quiet for a little while, all of them busy with thoughts about what this new development could mean. "Just in case someone asks what we were doing all evening."

Shaking herself as she stopped thinking about whatever had caused the slightly unnerving grin she'd been wearing, Amy looked at her friend, then nodded. "Yes, good idea," she smiled.

"Let me know when you want a ride home, Amy," Danny told her, standing up and heading for the door to leave them to it. "Taylor, I'll be in my office if you need me." He checked his watch, then turned at the doorway. "It's half past ten, so you only have about an hour and a half before Amy probably should head back."

"That's enough time, Dad. Thanks."

Smiling, he left the room and went back down the hall to his study, shaking his head a little. "Brockton Bay, watch out," he chuckled quietly. "I think things are going to get even weirder soon."


"Bye, Amy," Taylor called from the car, waving. Amy waved back from the door to her house, before opening it and going inside, still smiling a little to herself. Inside, she found Carol just coming down the stairs, Vicky floating down after her.

"Finally back then?" the older Dallon woman said somewhat abruptly, stopping and looking at her.

"Yes, thank you, Carol," Amy replied politely, not angry. This was basically normal after so many years, as much as she might wish otherwise. Having seen the relationship Taylor had with her father, she suppressed a sudden sorrow that neither of her adoptive parents acted like that to her, missing something she'd never had with a momentary intensity which shocked her.

Mark stuck his head out of the living room, smiled at her, then disappeared again without a word. She smiled back, thinking that he at least always made the effort to be nice when his depression let him.

"Did you have fun?" Vicky asked, as Carol went into the living room after her husband, apparently no longer interested in her adoptive daughter now that she was home safely. "What's Taylor's house like? And her father?"

"It's a nice house, not quite as big as this one," she replied, going up the stairs with her sister following behind her, listening. Entering her room she dropped her backpack on the floor with the one Taylor had given her next to it. Vicky looked a little puzzled at the two packs but didn't ask. Sitting on her bed Amy glanced at her sister, then looked out the window into the dark for a moment, before flopping backwards. "A little run down but they're working on it. Her father is really nice as well. Very smart and very calm. I like him a lot. He's got a good sense of humor as well. So does she. It was a lot of fun tonight."

She smiled in reminiscence. "Taylor's a good cook too, she made dinner which was a sort of stir-fry a friend of hers taught her how to make."

"So what did you guys do?" Vicky asked, lying down next to her and staring at the ceiling as well.

Amy laughed quietly. "Watched videos, swapped stories, talked to her father, talked about parahuman things because she's interested in it, things like that. She helped me with my calculus, she's amazingly good at math, really has a gift for it. She's much better than I will ever be." She shrugged a little. "Nothing really out of the ordinary for the Heberts, I think, but I had a very good evening." Rolling her head sideways she looked at her sister. "How was yours?"

"Pretty good, Dean and I went to a movie with Dennis and Chris, then went out to that Thai restaurant you and Saurial managed to put on the map. We had to wait nearly an hour for a table, thanks for that," the blonde replied with a grin. "You should ask for a commission, the place is amazingly busy all the time now."

Amy grinned. "I wonder what they'd say?"

"If you get Saurial to ask them, I think it would be 'Yes, certainly, please don't eat us'," Vicky snickered.

Shaking her head in amusement, Amy got up, heading for the bathroom. "I doubt she would eat anyone," she called over her shoulder, "She prefers eggs to people. As food, of course, not to talk to."

"Of course," her sister giggled. "Good night, Amy."

"Night, sis," she replied, closing the door. After a quick shower and change into pajamas, she was soon in bed under the covers, smiling into the dark. Feeling the slightly different texture where her little biological construct was attached discreetly to her wrist, the smile widened as she closed her eyes, plans and ideas filling her mind as she fell asleep.


"Fuck," Sophia muttered, a spasm of pain going up her arm along with a faint crackle of electricity. She shook her hand, flexing the fingers as they tingled, then picked up the small screwdriver she'd dropped from the floor and put it on her bed next to her. Lifting the wrist that had the tracking bracelet Armsmaster had put there weeks ago, she scowled at it. So far it was proving a worthy opponent. She'd lost count of the number of shocks she'd received from the fucking thing.

'Sooner or later, you're coming off,' she thought viciously. 'Then I'm out of here. There are some people I need to talk to.' Looking at the table where her crossbows were sitting, she smiled a little, in a very dark fashion. 'Enthusiastically.'

Moving the screwdriver to the table as well she got into bed, giving up on the bracelet for now. She'd have another attempt at it some other time, when she'd read up some more on the relevant technical books.

She was patient.

She could wait.

Predators were good at waiting.