The music stops.

Riley doesn't exactly deny it. "I was," she admits; one pair of arms crosses, fidgeting with her elbows, nerves playing over a half-dozen eyes. "I've changed a lot, but…"

Burning, wicked light dances in Carol's clenched fists. "They didn't tell us," she growls, staring at the little doctor, or maybe past her, anger raging in her eyes. "They sent us to a Slaughterhouse member and they told us nothing."

"Former Slaughterhouse member," Venus corrects, only for Jupiter to shush her, a hand over her lips.

"No, she's right. The PRT should have told them. We should have told them. You can't make a good decision if you don't have the facts." Jupiter shifted, uncomfortably pressing hands into herself. "We're lying to everyone, aren't we? Conveniently leaving out who Riley used to be…"

"And the truth would have gotten everyone hurt," Venus counters. "Kill orders and all that. Besides, the past only has as much power as you allow it to have, right? Remember that old woman who told us that beginnings are false? She was neat."

"She was neat," Jupiter agrees, idly running hands over her daughter's shoulders.

Slowly, Carol unclenches her fists, letting the force between her fingers dissipate. "Well. If you're keeping her out of trouble, and if the PRT is allowing this, I suppose I'll allow it as well. They know, don't they? They can't not know."

"They know," Venus says. "Submitting to examination was one of Director Piggot's requirements for… uh, not hitting us with the kill order, I guess."
Carol sighs. "Fine, then. As upset as I am, I'll let this stand for the moment. Don't make me regret it, Riley."

Amy stares at the woman who calls herself her mother.

Riley, not Bonesaw.

Her body frays at the seams, overfilled with bitterness.

"So promises are good enough for Bonesaw, but not for me, huh?"

Carol blinks, whirling around to face her. "What? I don't know what you're talking about, Amy-"

"You know damn well what I'm talking about, Carol. When we're out, it's always Panacea this, Panacea that. Never Amy. Victoria gets her name, Bonesaw gets her name, but me, no, I'm just fucking Panacea. You're only doing it now because of them!" she shouts, jabbing her finger wildly towards the devils.

A hundred eyes widen in unison. Venus sees where this is going. "Amy-"

"'Beginnings are false'," she cuts off. "What a nice fucking sentiment. Really sweet of you, taking care of a cute little mass murderer. Where the hell was that sentiment when I needed it, huh?!"

"Listen, I know things are fucked up, but lashing out doesn't-"

Amy steamrolls Jupiter's words into a fine paste. "Shut up! You don't get to talk! I can't stand you, you know that?! You go out there with your handholding and your mercy and you have no fucking idea what everyone else is going through! You haven't seen what's left of people when Hookwolf goes through them, and I bet you haven't seen the shit your precious Riley has gotten up to, either! All that kumbaya shit is really nice, but in the real world, flipping Nazis off gets people killed, for fuck's sake!"

"Amy, please, calm down-"

"Calm down?" she yells, turning to glare bloody murder at her 'mother' once again.

When she gestures, she leaves behind an extra arm, awkwardly twitching. There's an eye in her shoulder, and something growing out of her back.

She knows, just as the rest of them do, that something is horribly wrong.

She can't bring herself to care.

"I am so far beyond calm, you have no fucking idea. And why would you have any idea? You don't pay attention to me, you don't listen to me, you barely even use my name. You're supposed to be my fucking mother, would it kill you to act like it? But no! Everything nice you have, you give to Victoria. Every ounce of kindness in your body is for her. Never for me, not when I'm crying, not when I'm suffering, never. And you know what? You know what?! I've had it! I'm done!"

A needle slips into Amy's stomach. She blinks, looks down, feels the sedative trying to work its way through her body.

It makes her so fucking mad.

Amy yanks it out with her fifth hand and lets out a wordless, primal scream, feeling her body explode outwards, flesh spilling out of flesh and flooding the atrium.

"Amy-!"

She shoves Riley aside with the sheer force of her growth, a brief pulse of her power enough to paralyze the Biotinker for a moment as she rushes across the tile.

Carol backs up against the wall, burning sabers of light and force in her hands, warding off the flood of flesh, horror and fear dancing in her eyes. "Please, don't make me hurt-"

"You've already hurt me more than enough!" Amy screams, tears falling from a dozen lids. "Just shut up! Shut up and love me, damn it!"