Interlude 4. Amy
December 27, 2010, Dallon House - Brockton Bay, 2:10 PM
(After the first encounter with Aveek and Dev)
Amy returned home in a very pensive mood. Was that guy right? Was selflessly healing people in hospitals the wrong way to go about it? She'd often considered alternate uses of her power, but shut the thoughts down immediately when her power would suggest eldritch abominations to create. Which is why she'd actually lost track of what Aveek was saying after he mentioned retroviruses.
Her academic biology knowledge was at highschool AP levels, she hadn't learned much about retroviruses yet other than the definition. But the moment he used the word she understood what he meant - and a world of possibilities opened up. So many changes that could be brought at genetic levels, so many delivery methods. Of course there were a thousand and one ways to completely destroy a body using them, but there were also much subtler uses, and her power was actually suggesting different ways to combat a host of diseases. She'd started experimenting on the multiple microbes that resided on her skin, creating viruses that would die upon delivering their payload, or would die in a few seconds anyway.
The other thought that she was having the hardest time to try and not think was the addiction thing he mentioned. Was that it? Was her love towards Vicky a mere overblown addiction? She desperately wanted it to not be so, she also wanted it to be so, regardless, the words somehow rang true. It was also weird how her whole worldview changed upon hearing a few sentences from a stranger. She knew that these weren't words or ideas she had never encountered before. But if she'd not verified that he didn't have a corona, she could swear he had a 'trust me' aura as strong as Vicky's 'love me' aura. But there were no parahuman powers at play, she heard the right words at the right time and they just sort of stuck with her. The other thing was how informal and non-fanboyish he was, somehow he came off as a guy who was no stranger to the cape world (a hunch that would be later confirmed).
He later mailed her with many more ideas. Some of them were really out of the box enough that she'd never thought in those lines ever. She'd just gone out, bought a carton of orange juice and a few slices of ham, and started experimenting. Creating and destroying different microorganisms, different types of tissues that could replace regular human tissues but would work much better. She got so engrossed with the experiments that for three days she didn't even pull extra shifts at the hospital.
She'd expected to feel a massive load of guilt and self-loathing for not healing enough people, but it just didn't happen. She was unusually cheerful! And the prospect of healing and helping millions of people instead of the few hundred drove her ahead. She exchanged a few more idea mails with Aveek, who had nothing but encouraging words for her. She finally even sat down to think about the addiction thing. Taking his advice, she built the bracelet for Vicky, though making her use it would be a different ball game altogether...
January 1, 2011, Brockton Bay, 9:57 PM
She knocked and entered Vicky's room, they'd just had dinner. Vicky was sitting on her bed in her pyjamas, Amy's heart started the usual thumping but she resolutely ignored it. If it indeed was an addiction she'd know soon. She'd treated quite a few druggies to know that once the stimulant is removed from the system, the first symptom is withdrawal. So if she started to actually yearn for her more when bereft of her aura flares, counterintuitively, it would be proof of an addiction.
Vicky turned towards her, her face half illuminated by the dim lights in the room, gosh darned if she wasn't so heartrendingly beautiful... No! bad Amy! Don't indulge in the drug! The orb in the bracelet was glowing bright enough to shine through the cloth she was using to cover it. She cleared her throat, "uhm, hey Vicky."
"Hey sis, I thought you'd forgotten that I exist."
"What? No! It's nothing like that, I was busy making... this. I made something for you."
She lifted the cloth to show the bracelet, a delicate vine and leaf pattern in black to go around the wrist (which could actually photosynthesize much better than plant leaves), spiralling in towards an intricate white petaled flower (something needed to hold the mini-amygdala) whose centre pulsed with a white glow. She considered it a fine piece of craftsmanship, because despite looking delicate, it was pretty rugged in build, and would need maintenance only once a month or so.
"Woow! This is so pretty! You made this?" The delight was apparent in her eyes, Vicky quickly put it on and and pulled Amy into a hug that she almost melted into, the flower glowed all the more.
"Yep. Does it look good?" She pulled back from the hug.
"Good? This is amazing! I had no idea you had such design skills! How does it glow?"
"Well, that's the other thing it does, apart from look pretty that is. It measures your aura, you always keep complaining that you keep forgetting to dial it down out of combat situations."
"Wow, form and function! You made this in just three days holing up in your room?"
"Erm, yes. Yes, just three days." No, it took a couple hours, but she wasn't going to tell her that she was so busy experimenting with viruses and tissues that she actually forgot about her at times...
Vicky took a long look at it, admiring its craftsmanship, but slowly her expression turned pensive, then stormy, "Ames, you believed that Vic guy didn't you? You actually think I'm mastering people?" The flower was pulsing violently. Amy just pointed at it. Vicky closed her eyes and took deep breaths, the glow mellowed again, "Okay, I admit I have problems controlling it. But it's classified as a shaker effect."
"His name is Aveek. You heard what he said, I've checked people when they're affected by your aura Vicky, their brains do flood with endorphins... Not unlike certain drugs." Amy's voice was sterner, she'd debated long about telling her this, but it needed to be told. She did check Crystal and Eric discreetly during New Year's dinner last night at the Pelhams', their endorphin levels did spike in direct correlation to her own pangs of affection towards Vicky.
Vicky was fuming, the flower was glowing again. "You really think I'm a master? You think I mind-control people?"
Okay, now she was just being bratty, Amy snapped at her, "Is booze or weed some kind of master? Does a pack of smokes mind-control me?"
"Huh? What? Why'd it be?... Oh." Vicky shrank into herself, "Is it that bad?"
Time to take the plunge, "Vicky, listen, I don't blame you, we didn't know. I've never told you this before, but your aura, it makes me lo... love you... which... which is... nice. But would you want me to love you just for your aura? It's... It's uncomfortable at times." She changed the context midway, no use telling her now, it'd complicate things beyond control.
Vicky shook her head, her eyes were starting to water, "Of course not Ames! We're sisters! I'll wear this, I'll keep the glow down. You'll see, you'll still love me." She started sobbing. Amy pulled her into a hug, "I'm sure I will sis, I'm sure I will." Amy hoped with all her heart that she would not cease loving her sister, other than ceasing to love her that way at least.
January 8, 2011, Dallon House - Brockton Bay, 6:27 PM
The last week had been weird, the first 3 days she just wanted to tell Vicky to stop controlling her Aura, she was almost too distracted by Vicky's lack of 'presence' to even continue her experiments. The itch had lessened over the next few days, but it was not gone. Overall Amy was much more confirmed that it indeed was an addiction and she was going through withdrawal. Vicky did get a bit crabby at times from keeping tight control, Amy just told her to fly out, go up and flare her aura as much as she wanted, worked like a charm. Her use of aura during patrols apparently also had sharpened from blasting whenever she was agitated to more controlled flares. When Amy asked about it, Vicky had sheepishly replied she'd never tried to control it that hard before because she didn't think it was a big deal... And that she liked how everyone was nice to her. Amy's facepalm was legendary.
She still loved Vicky dearly, and it was still more than sisterly, but the pangs were much tamer. She could actually think through and identify the natural bits from the parts formed of years of addiction, or it might just be her rationalizing, but she considered it progress. There was another experiment that had shown huge progress - taking Aveek's advice for mental patients, she had considered all the knowledge of Mark's brain that she had. She knew the things she could change to fix his depression, but her rule for brains was her pillar, violating it even once would be going down the slippery slope. But she could bring about a similar effect with a drug regimen, when she thought of it, it was ridiculously simple, a combination of over the counter antidepressants and stimulants, delivered in a strict dosage schedule (She had to test if the drugs had the right molecules, it was as simple as dissolving a pill in orange juice and dipping her finger into it). That had worked wonders, Mark had had a consistent string of five good days - a feat unheard of before. That evening, Carol confronted her about it.
Carol had just come home from office, and had seen Mark cooking dinner. She'd called Amy over to her study, Amy came over, "Yes?"
"Have you changed Mark's medicines?"
"Yes. How's he been?"
"He seems... better. What exactly did you do?" Somehow Carol managed to insert an accusatory tone even in a wholly positive statement.
"I've been researching medicines. A friend of mine had recently asked me why don't I make wonder-drugs, that had got me thinking."
"So you picked Mark to Experiment on?"
"What? No! His regimen is made of simple over-the-counter medicines, I've just created a dosage plan from my knowledge of his biology. You know I understand his biology better than any doctor in the world, right?" Amy had taken some lessons from chatting with Aveek, number one was to be non-confrontational. Her improved mood helped too.
Carol gave her best skeptical look, but couldn't find a flaw in that, "I See. Please don't try anything untested."
Okay, time to put the money where her mouth was, "Absolutely! umm... actually, I needed some help from you about that."
Carol had her best suspicious glare ready, "About what?"
"I've been thinking. I could actually create drugs that could cure many diseases."
"Like tinkertech drugs?" Dammit Carol, could you stop being confrontational for once? But Amy knew her adoptive mother too well. She wasn't expecting her to be reasonable at all. Carol's motto was 'prepare for the worst, expect the worst, forget anything other than the worst' after all.
"No. I'm using my biological knowledge to create them, but the way they work is simple enough for an intern in a medical lab to understand. They work using real science." Yeah she was hamming it up, but it was Carol, subtlety would be utterly lost on her.
"how do they work?"
"You know they're doing some new experiments in trying to cure HIV using genetic therapy?"
Carol nodded.
Amy shrugged, "I got the idea from the same principles. It works just like their delivery method, only with my biological knowledge, I can tailor the drugs not just to target HIV, but a bunch of other diseases, like different types of cancers, lou gehrig's, thalassemia, and a lot more" Jargon jargon don't mention viruses!
Carol was stumped for a second time. "I see. You want me to contact the hospital for you to test them?"
"No, I want you to help me apply for patents. Once I release their designs, any pharma company could mass produce them, they're not tinkertech. I want to patent and sell the designs so they could go through proper drug trials and then reach the masses. I can guarantee they work, but why should people take my word? If I don't sell the designs with a proper contract and stuff, the companies would just hoard the designs or overprice the drugs and they would never reach the general public! I want your help in speeding up and leakproofing the paperwork, this could save millions of lives!" She mentally thanked Aveek again, his tactic was prudent, use the right words and overload the target with information! She'd been preparing this speech since last few nights.
Carol was rendered speechless. For the first time in Amy's life, she saw her adoptive mother give her a stare that looked like she was actually impressed. "I... I see... Definitely, I'll help with those. Can you write me a proposal for each of your drugs and what it does? I'll have the patent section of my office go through them. Don't bother writing in too much detail, just give the general mechanism of action and the salient parts of your designs..." Carol picked up speed when it came to the legalese. Amy nodded along with a sincere face, mentally whooping and cheering.
January 13, 2011, Dev's House - Brockton Bay, 11:15 AM
Meeting Aveek was a breath of fresh air again. When she'd asked Vicky to accompany her there was token resistance and grumbling, but she'd perked up at the mention of meeting a new cape.
Aveek's health was ridiculously good, even his skin biosphere didn't contain any harmful microbes. Amy was getting more and more interested to meet this Maker.
Taylor... wow, Taylor... Even in simple jeans and a top she looked like a supermodel. Vicky wouldn't have a taut physique like that even if she'd actually work out every day and not wait on Amy's tuneups. Sure she was a bit light up top but how could this girl have body image issues? Then she realized this was partly Maker's work too.
When she finally saw the cape in question... Okay, she'd seen the triumverate during endbringer battles, he had that level of sheer presence! The only cape she could recall with more presence was Narwhal. And his entry was another thing, appearing from a crack in the air like that? If her orientation hadn't been fudged by her addiction she'd probably fall for him just for that entry method.
And then he immediately took Vicky off saving some girl... Well, jumpy heroes gotta do what jumpy heroes gotta do. But the information she got from it was startling, he was not a solo cape, there was at least one more cape in his team, possibly some kind of a sensor type. No wonder Aveek didn't fanboy over her and Vicky. She asked Aveek about it, "So you know these guys for long?"
Aveek shrugged, "Quite long actually, they've only decided to come out in public as of now. He's a tinker y'know, if they come out without having enough stuff prepared, they'll just be abducted by some gang."
She nodded, "Who's the other cape."
Taylor piped in, "Her name is Swarm, she's a bit... reclusive. Case 53."
Amy made an 'ahh' face, "I see. If there's any way I can help her..."
Aveek shook his head sadly, "I don't think even you can, anyway, if you're lucky, you'll get to meet her, Taylor is the one that talks to her most of the time. Anyway, tea or coffee? I'll let you guys go on with the, ahem, enhancements. Do you need a separate room?"
Dev interjected, "Seems like a good cue for me to leave for work. Guys, give me a call if you need anything. And best of luck." He gave Taylor a thumbs up and took his leave.
Amy shook her head, "No, no need for a separate room, Taylor won't even need to take her top off... Unless she wants to...Ahem, coffee, I'll have coffee. I guess Vicky too. Also, if you can give me some uncooked fatty meat?"
Aveek nodded, "For biomass right?"
Amy gave him a smile, it was so nice to deal with people who understood stuff, Aveek smirked, "I'll do you one better, wait." He went in and came back with a jug of some kind of sludge. She took it and dipped her finger into it... wow, this was ideal to build almost any kind of biology out of. She asked again, "Let me guess, Maker makes this?"
Aveek nodded, "I'll go make the beverages, I'll take my time, holler when you're done or need anything."
She got to working with Taylor, thankfully, the girl didn't want to be top heavy or anything, she asked Amy to stop when her assets were just noticeable, gotta give the girl credit, that much went really well with the rest of her figure.
Amy hollered at Aveek that they were done, Taylor just chuckled and said, "Heh, he'll come when he'll come, he's very particular about his brews."
Amy giggled, "Discerning gentleman is he?"
Their conversation soon devolved into girl talk. After a while Taylor took out her phone again, "one moment... Swarm just sent me the details, I should call the police." Amy gave her a worried look. She shook her head, "nothing bad." Then she called 911, "Gang activity near the steel factory at the edge of the docks, Glory Girl and another cape have neutralized the situation, you guys might want to come over and pick up the gangers." She hung up.
"You seem fairly used to this?" Amy asked.
Taylor shrugged, "Swarm avoids making calls, her voice sounds weird."
Amy nodded sympathetically, she'd met quite a few case 53s, worst thing was that their biology was enforced by their powers, even if she managed to fix anything, it reverted as soon as she let go. Taylor checked her phone again, "Okay, the girl who was attacked triggered with a stranger power and was badly injured, Maker can't heal it all by himself, he's stabilized her and is bringing her over for you. Maker can negate the stranger effect, but he'll have to be touching you for it to work."
Amy got into business mode and nodded sharply, "got it. Prep the couch please."
Taylor immediately went in, got a plastic sheet from somewhere and Aveek came in too, they spread the sheet on the couch while Amy put the cushions away.
Maker appeared in the middle of the room again through the telltale blue crack, was he a teleporter or something? What was he doing in the middle of the room? What was all the urgency about again? Amy had a lot of trouble focusing on him. He quickly came to Amy and touched her (over her sleeve, Amy noted).
He was carrying a black girl in his arms. He quickly put her down in the couch, then told Amy, still keeping his hand on her shoulder, "Multiple ruptured organs and leaked fluids in her system, I couldn't patch it all, can I scan while you heal?"
Amy nodded and got to work, Maker kept his other hand on the girl and she kept glowing blue, Amy did her usual commentary, this time with more of a teaching tone, "Clearing the toxins first... Done. Patch job is decent, but the tissues are not properly shaped and melded... fixed, increasing heart rate for more oxygenation. You've already taken care of cuts and bruises, but the subdermal cells have not been uniformly regrown in the heavier areas... here... and here... Finally, fixing the breaks in the ribs... All done. See how I left some adrenaline in the system? She'll wake up by herself in a short while." Maker kept nodding throughout the process. Then the girl stopped glowing once Amy was done.
Maker removed his hand from the girl, "Recorded all of that. Thanks."
Amy was curious, "You'll be able to do that from now onwards?"
He shook his head, "I'll have to go through the scan and understand the process before I can replicate it."
"So understanding it is not part of your power?"
"Not really, my power gives me increased understanding in general, but I have to study things first. Thankfully I can scan almost anything and then study the scans to learn more."
Amy nodded, "Now if you remove your hand from me, I'll not be able to notice the girl again?"
Maker nodded, "I think so, I think we should wait for her to wake up, she might be able to control the effect. Otherwise you'll be like them..." He pointed at Aveek and Taylor, who were casually chatting amongst themselves, Aveek turned at them, and said, "What? What are you doing huddling there?" Taylor had a confused expression too.
Amy couldn't help but snort, "Nothing, nothing, you guys continue, we'll let you know later." The two shrugged and went back to chatting.
The girl woke up in a minute or so, she sat bolt upright and screamed, "Cocksuckers! Get away from me!" Then she noticed her surroundings, then Maker and Amy, "Wh... Where am I? You! You're fucking Panacea!"
Maker nodded, "Yes she is, Glory girl got the thugs, we brought you here to be healed." He was articulating slowly and precisely.
The girl was still nervous, "Goo..Good. Serves them right, they got me pretty bad didn't they? Kicked the shit out of me when I mouthed off at them. And now I'm mouthing off at you."
Amy took her hand, "Relax, take a few deep breaths" the girl complied, "what's your name?"
"A..Ai..Aileen Bonnet"
"You know I can tell when people are lying? Don't be nervous, we mean you no harm. What's your name?"
The girl gulped, "Aisha, Aisha Laborn"
"Very good, Aisha, you triggered due to the traumatic experience. You're a parahuman now. Can you feel your power?"
"Fuck! Fucking Scion's balls! I'm a cape! Powers! Yes! Yes, I can feel it! It's like a lever in my head that I can crank up. What's it do?"
Maker took over, "Is it completely at the bottom now?"
She nodded, "Should I try pushing it up?"
Maker nodded, "Slowly."
She had a concentrating expression in her face, soon Taylor turned at them with a bewildered expression, "There's someone else there!"
In another few seconds, Aveek, who had followed Taylor's lead and was looking too, piped up. "It's a kid."
Aisha snapped, "I'm not a kid, I'm twelve!" Amy snorted again, "ignore them Aisha, keep cranking it up."
Taylor piped in again, "Hey, you're the one who Maker brought in. Are you all right? What's your name?" Aveek nodded, "Yeah, that's her."
Aisha was confused this time, "I told you guys, it's Aisha. Weren't you listening the first time?"
Maker shook his head, "Aisha, your power is a stranger power, when the lever is low, people don't know you exist, they can't see you, they find it hard even to look where you are. And when the lever is up, everything's back to normal." He finally let go of Amy's shoulder, she nodded too.
Aisha still looked confused, "But, it's... it's still not fully up yet! It's about halfway! How could you guys speak to me earlier then?" Then she looked at Maker, "What's your power? Who are you?"
Maker replied, "I'm Maker, a new tinker, I have anti-master-stranger tech on me. I could see you, and when I was touching Panacea she could see you."
Aisha nodded blankly again, "So should I crank it fully up?"
Amy nodded, "Again, slowly."
Aisha had the concentrating expression again, "by the way, what's the time?"
Maker replied, "Not late, less than an hour since you were attacked."
Amy waited in rapt attention for what Aisha would reply, what an interesting person!
Aisha gave a wide grin, "There! Fully up!"
Amy hung on to each word of hers, she took in all of the girl, her face, hair, clothes, it seemed like she could stare at her for ages, and she'd never forget anything Aisha did or said.
Taylor and Aveek also watched with amazing intensity. A few bugs came from nowhere and sat on her head and shoulders. Everyone kept watching the spectacle. Maker chuckled, "Well, now you've got everyone's attention. So Aisha, your lever cranks up from 'don't notice me' to 'notice only me', keep it cranked up, now tell Panacea to count from one to ten."
Aisha shrugged and told Amy, "Panacea, count from one to ten."
Panacea nodded, eyes wide, "Sure, but why?"
Maker sighed with relief, "Good, it's not a master power. No mind control there. You can bring it back down midway Aisha."
Aisha nodded, everyone other than maker shook themselves as they snapped out of the daze, Taylor asked, "So at the opposite end you become the most interesting thing ever?"
Aisha shrugged, "Guess so. Cool power. I can be a badass spy or a kickass celebrity, like Canary. Or a fucking awesome celebrity spy! Hey! What the fuck?! If I let go of the lever it starts slowly cranking down!"
Amy nodded, that was much like Vicky's aura, needed constant focus to suppress. "Yes, you'll need to practice keeping it midway all the time, or else you'll out yourself in no time."
Aisha frowned, "How? If I slip won't they just forget?"
Amy shook her head, "When you crank it back up, they'll remember that they forgot." Both Taylor and Aveek nodded at that.
Aisha gulped, "I see, hey, You... You're the good guys right? You won't out me right? Like there are rules... Right?"
Maker nodded, "There are rules, but I have simpler rules, whatever kind of cape you be, if you cause damage to civilians knowingly, I'll out you immediately and come after you. You see, I'm not a bad guy, but I'm not a good guy either." His face had a very feral grin.
Amy frowned, there was no need to frighten the child like that, but then again, if that speech is given to every fresh cape, there'd be lesser villains.
Aisha chuckled nervously, "Heh, you're kidding, no you're not kidding. Uh, Why'd I damage civilians anyway? It's not like I'm going to be a villain or something, right?"
Maker shrugged, "good question. Now, you better take my number. You're a parahuman now, and gangs will come wanting you in their roster. If anyone bothers you who you can't take by yourself, or you want to do something with your powers to help people and want advice, call me. I've friends who can help. Some very nice and some very scary friends." A blue flash and there was a card with a number on it, and a spiral symbol same as on Maker's chest.
Amy wondered if Aveek's manner of speech was somehow a more pacifist version of Maker's. Maybe one of them did influence the other.
Aisha gulped again, "Thanks man. Look, I'll owe you guys one, I gotta go home now. Um... Can I?"
Maker nodded, "Sure, can you find your way back? You're about 3 blocks away from where you were attacked."
Aisha hurriedly nodded again, "Yea sure, I'm not a kid."
She left soon after. Vicky came in a few minutes after Aisha left, "Hey guys, I saw the girl leave, what did I miss?"
Taylor asked first, "You remembered her?"
Vicky nodded, "At first I didn't, but after Maker left with her, the memories slowly came back, by the time the police were leaving I remembered her completely... I guess in about 10-15 minutes or so. I didn't mention her though." She added, looking at Maker, "And thanks for the heal man, first time being healed by someone other than Ames here."
Amy's expression immediately turned worried, "What happened to you?"
Vicky waved her hand, "Don't worry, I'd passed out from the kid triggering and was too woozy to dodge..."
"You passed out?"
"You know how it works Amy, triggers always make nearby capes pass out. Anyway, I was too woozy, and the guy double tapped me."
"You got shot?!" Amy quickly grabbed her hand, "Oh... ah, Thanks Maker, again, decent patch job. But there would remain some internal micro-scarring. You want to learn how to fix it?"
Maker nodded, and held out a hand towards Vicky, "May I?"
Vicky shrugged and smirked, "Go ahead, let my body be your shrine."
Amy blushed a deep crimson, Maker just chuckled and kneeled holding Vicky's other hand, then turned to Amy, "Teach me Sensei!" Vicky started glowing blue, she just looked at herself and said, "Oooh!"
Amy snorted, Aveek meanwhile had come out with Tea, Coffee and some kind of fritters. He and Taylor were just enjoying the show.
Amy let go, "All done, you got that?"
Maker nodded, standing up, "Yep, aligning the cell walls and melding them, and fixing the capillaries. Got it. Will have to study it later properly."
Amy smiled, "By the way, Vicky passed out, you didn't? Same anti master/stranger tech? What is your tinker speciality actually? If you don't mind me asking?"
Maker shrugged, "Not at all, my speciality is actually dimensional effects. The thing is, most parahuman powers depend on some kind of dimensional effect. One of my first projects was to protect myself from them. Only the pure dimensional bits though, A punch from Glory Girl or a blast from Lady Photon would still damage me normally, because even though they're caused by dimensional effects..."
"The force is physical. Makes sense." Vicky completed the sentence. Maker nodded, "Precisely, sadly I can't still make the tech work without proximity to me. Anyway, let's have our refreshments, then I'd like to repay Sensei for her lessons."
They all got around the table, the snacks vanished quickly, Aveek went in and got some more, Vicky really liked the mint and pepper sauce he served it with, "Hey man, these are great, you made these?"
Aveek nodded, "Indian recipe. They're called pakoras."
Amy cut in, "So how're you planning to repay me?" She asked Maker.
Maker grinned, "What would you give to make some modifications to yourself?"
Amy gaped, "A. Lot. I'll teach you tons of other things... I'll show you how to..."
Maker grinned and held out his hand, "Deal!"
Amy was still blabbering as she took his hand, the moment she took it, she flashed blue, and she felt cleaner and fresher than she ever had. "Wow, what was that?"
Maker smirked again, "I cleaned you of dirt, dust and fatigue, then scanned you. These are some of the basic things I've learned and can do in a jiffy."
Amy nodded, "You also cleaned the nonessential bacteria from my skin. Pretty neat. I wondered how Aveek and Taylor had such healthy skin. Now I know."
Maker nodded, everyone was done with the snacks, Maker swiped a hand at the couch, "Join me, O great sensei, to the next step of upgrading yourself."
Amy chuckled and followed him. Maker lifted the sheet from the couch and waved it like a magician, there was a blue flash behind the sheet, when he put it back on the couch, it was distinctly covering a body. He reached in and pulled out a hand from the couch, and gestured to Amy, "All yours."
Amy took a hold of the hand and... Holy fuck! That was her! She could feel herself with her power! The brain was slightly off though, it was comatose. She understood the reason, of course he would not create a fully conscious clone. "Wo...Wow... Wow. So I just change whatever I want and you'll apply the same changes to me?" He nodded.
"Give me a big jug of that bio-sludge of yours, and record the changes carefully." She went wild.
