Cutscenes 7.4 - Amy

January 29, 2011, The Boat Graveyard - Brockton Bay, 3:17 PM

Amy didn't think her first experience of solo flight would be accompanied by a mental 'Oops!' as she flew along an almost horizontal arc. Her enhanced perception still allowed her to savour the half-second ballistic flight while ignoring the radiating pain in her ribs from the punch that had sent her flying. In fact ignoring the pain was literally as easy as hitting a mental mute button. Her mind was even kind enough to supply the information that the damage was would easily self-heal in 7-10 minutes or so.

Her ruminations came to an abrupt stop as she hit the broadside of an old rusty cargo ship, but that wasn't the end of it, because she just plain punched through the already crumbling hull. Well, that would take slightly longer to heal.

Her eyes instantly adjusted to the darkness inside and her hand shot out to grab a metal pole inside the cargo hold, it seemed like the only thing inside the rusting derelict that wouldn't just crumble on touch. She spun around the pole, bleeding momentum as she dropped down to the damp, tilted floor.

"Shit!"

Amy looked to the source of the utterance and saw her assailant enter the freshly made hole in the hull and look around for her. Right, to anyone else this place is pitch dark, especially someone who just came from the outside.

She wasted no time and leveraged the same pole, almost bending it to jump and tackle her opponent, the two collided mid-air with a startled "Oof!" being the only admission from the floating menace. Amy, being much denser, easily won out the momentum war and the two of them shot out of the ship, creating another hole and landed with a skid and roll onto the wet sand in a tangle of limbs.

"Dammit! -huff- How can -huff- you be so heavy, -huff- and still be faster than me?" The golden nemesis said between exhausted pants from under Amy, not trying to get out or disentangle her limbs, her aura bracelet pulsing a slow rhythm in sync with her breaths. Both of them were in their undersuits (gifts from Swarm, the fabric was ridiculously tough yet amazingly comfortable and thin), and Vicky's was wet with sweat from their almost all-out spar.

Amy was too busy soaking in the multispectral sight, the hyper-detailed feel and the pheromone laden smell of the sweaty expanse of skin under her, the beautiful curves, rising and falling, clean despite the sand. To be honest, were it a month ago, she'd leap away from this situation with a red face and mumbled apologies. But the last month had been one of profound changes and lessons; her neurotransmitters were currently toggled off, making her mostly immune to the effects of adrenaline, oxytocin, testosterone and serotonin – that is, immune to panic, libido, and Vicky's aura. Though there was definite enjoyment and appreciation of the scene in front of her, it was thankfully devoid of pangs of crushing lust, guilt and longing.

She'd already realised that her orientation had nothing to do with the aura addiction, she was indeed attracted to females. She'd also come to terms with the fact that she'd never be able to view Vicky purely as a sibling. But without the mind-whammies of aura blasts, Amy could treat her like the hot friend that you definitely enjoy as eye candy but have no crippling desire to date and ruin the friendship. It was not very comfortable, nor easy, but compared to the amount of self-control required to just stay in the same room as Vicky a few months ago, this was as easy as healing common cold.

"Stop with the smug leer, you won, okay? Fine! I need to improve my reflexes before you upgrade me, I get it." Vicky relaxed and suddenly bucked her hips, dislodging Amy and turning the tables on her, "But I'm still stronger!"

Amy could have prevented it if she weren't lost in thoughts, so she just shrugged and smiled, being the bottom was fun too (blame Lisa for cultivating her perverted side). She bit her lip, her skin too strong to be broken by her own teeth anymore. It was probably time that she told Vicky, who'd definitely started looking for another boy to set her up with. Thank god Aveek was taken, or it'd be a nightmare with Vicky trying to play matchmaker, on the other hand, she could pretend to go out to see Aveek and go see Taylor instead, that girl was hot!

So was Lisa, but she was taken too. Though no one flirted back as well as Lisa, Amy had never asked what her power was, but it was definitely a thinker power, probably something like the 'right thing to say' power. Oh well, she wouldn't speculate, Lisa had showed her a huge amount of trust and she wasn't going to betray it.

Vicky finally sat up, still straddling Amy, who finally spoke, "Sis, I have something to tell you…"

"VICKY! AMY? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" The faint but distinct and entirely improbable shouting voice of Carol Dallon interrupted them.

Amy silently cursed herself for dropping her situational awareness, her senses were definitely sharp enough to detect someone approaching even over the general sound of the wind and the water if only she were paying attention. Vicky was trying her best to stammer out a reply while hastily getting up and dusting her undersuit, which was perfectly clean due to her forcefield anyway "M-Mom, what... What are you doing here?"

The costumed figure of Brandish approached them, she stood in front of them with hands on her hips, "I had an early day off from office and was driving home, expecting a nice home cooked lunch. Instead I hear on the police scanner that someone reported noises from the boat graveyard. I had to take a detour, change into costume and come over expecting some freshly triggered idiot - only to find my daughters scuffling? No, let me ask you, what are you two doing here?"


January 29, 2011, Dallon Household - Brockton Bay, 8:17 PM

Vicky's explanation about teaching Amy some basic self-defence hadn't convinced Carol at all. She'd been giving Amy suspicious glances since then. Amy could sympathize, growing teen she may be, but shooting up a couple inches, toning up and starting to look good (yes, she'd checked, she looked gooood!) within a matter of weeks would definitely warrant some suspicious glances – but with Carol, whose standard gaze itself was a suspicious glance, they were more scowling glares than anything else - it was grating on her nerves. She'd decided to come clean about everything to her family/team, but gathering up the courage for it was not an easy task. Asking Maker to be present for moral support was the best idea she'd had.

That stupid mind reading blue giant didn't accept her excuse about their next session at all and made her call everyone individually. She'd already spoken to Aveek and Taylor; both of whom had immediately caught on to her tone and asked if everything was alright, bloody bunch of psychics. Swarm was the sole gracious person who calmly accepted the invitation with her extra creepy buzzy voice. Only Lisa was left.

Lisa picked up in half a ring, "Hey there Doctor Dallon, how's tricks?"

"Hey Lisa, I'm doing well, and for your information, I'm a healer, not a doctor. Technica…"

"Noonono… You are a fully-fledged bona-fide doctor of medicine with degrees and shizzle now! Oh wait! They haven't told you yet!"

Amy smiled and shook her head despite her brow crinkling in confusion, this was a typical conversation with Lisa, "And who haven't told me what yet?"

Lisa giggled, "Oh this is so epic! They'll probably tell you in a few days, so since the patent for your miracle drug was published, more than a dozen high level research labs and independent professors have submitted research proposals and papers derived from the concepts of your medicine. Most of those papers are stuck at the peer-review stage, you have one guess as to why."

Amy facepalmed, "Because there's no one qualified enough in the field of genetics and medicine to review them?"

"Bingo! So they need an accredited expert in the field who at least has a Ph.D. in this field and has brains enough to understand how that drug works to be able to review those papers as a peer, and they're high profile and possibly game-changing papers! So, you, my dear healer, are a doctor now. MIT is going to award you an honorary Ph.D. in genetics, it's already being speculated in the academic circles, Brockton U doesn't want to lose face either, so they're going to award you an honorary M.D. too."

Amy gave an exaggerated sigh, but her grin didn't want to go away. Though it felt somewhat undeserved, this was a dream of hers fulfilled. Though she had no idea how Lisa even got to know these things. Thinker power, must be.

"Okay, now stop grinning and tell me how are you going to reward me for breaking the news to you?" Lisa prompted.

Ah, there was her cue, "Celebratory lunch? At my place?"

"Huh, sounds good, but what are you hiding?"

"Whaaaat?"

"... Amy."

"Agh! You're the same as your boyfriend and his cape friend, bloody mind-readers all of you, fine! Fine! I want moral support, I've decided to come clean to the team about the biomods, and maybe a few more things. I don't want to face the family without some friends at my side."

"Attagirl! See? So easy when you articulate, sure I'll be there. But Amy," Lisa sounded serious, "are you going to disclose the full range of your powers?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"No."

"What?"

"No. Just no, listen carefully Amy, firstly, your mother wouldn't take it well. Secondly, you live in the city whose PRT director is an Ellisburg survivor. Trust me Amy, you don't want to admit the full range of your powers to anyone within earshot of the Authorities."

Amy bristled, "Look, Lisa, I respect your opinion, but Vicky already knows, and there's no other way I can tell them about the augmentations. And how do you even know that Carol won't take it well? Is it a hunch or your power?" She couldn't help it.

She heard Lisa sigh over the phone, "Amy, my power would easily rate Thinker 8, it deduces information from minimum clues. I get to know all the uncomfortable truths, whether I want to or not. Trust me, you don't want to let Carol or the PRT know. Mark and Neil would possibly be fine with it, but Sarah would be scared - but accepting, as would the younger Pelhams. But Carol would go ballistic, she'd start thinking that you're following in your birth father's footsteps. And the PRT will panic their heads off and try their best to push you into the Wards and shackle you the best they can."

Amy was trembling… "Wh- What do you know about my father? And what do I tell everyone then? Do I go back to healing people piecemeal again and not use my powers for anything else? Do you even realize how stifling it is?"

"When I say I do realize, I mean it sweetie. Seriously, we're here for you okay? I'll tell you all I know about your birth parents and even help you research more. But first things first – here's what you could tell the others…"


February 11, 2011, Dallon Household - Brockton Bay, 10:08 AM

Eric and Crystal were the last of the Pelhams to arrive. Once everyone was seated in the living room, Lady Photon spoke first, "So, Panacea, (they were all in costume, as per tradition), congratulations on your first time calling for a team meeting, you have the floor."

Amy nodded and took a deep breath, Vicky squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. She kept quiet for a few moments, nodded once more and started to speak. "I've called for a team meeting because I have a number of announcements, some for the family and some for the team." Everybody made assenting/anticipatory movements, she continued, "Um, first one is for the family, especially Vicky, Crystal, and Eric – please stop trying to set me up with boys. I… I think I like girls."

There was a moment of befuddled silence, which Vicky broke, "Oh… Oh! Ohhh! So that's why…"

"Yes." Amy put a stop to that. Crystal was bobbing up and down in the typical excitement of someone having laid their hands on the juiciest piece of gossip and having no idea what to do about it. Eric gave Amy a wink and a thumbs up, he possibly knew, after all he was the one usually trying to dissuade the sisters from playing matchmaker after the first few failures. The parents had that look where they probably had something to say but no idea what it was.

"Ahem," Carol cleared her throat, then gave her most professional sniff, "I believe that's your prerogative, and as a family we will support you. Hopefully you have enough sense to stay within limits and keep your relationships low-key." She ended with a resolute nod. Amy was reminded that despite being a paranoid shrew and a terrible mother to her, Carol Dallon was a staunch social activist and extremely sensitive about these things. She nodded furiously as unexpected warmth stirred in her even from that backhanded approval. Mark gave her a 200 watt smile, "We're happy for you baby girl." Sarah and Neil just nodded and smiled along.

Amy finally understood why Lisa asked her to open with this one, however out of context it seemed. But that didn't mean she needed to dwell on it anymore, "Right, so that was that, on to the next agenda." She was more than eager to change the topic, "As you all would have known, Vicky and I have been associating with another group of independents."

Lady Photon perked up, "In Venatus, right?"

"Huh?" It was Amy's turn to be surprised.

"Maker and Swarm right? That's what they're calling themselves." Sarah helpfully provided.

Glory Girl nodded along, "Yeah, Gallant told me, how'd you know?"

Lady Photon raised an eyebrow, "Unlike you kids, I read the information packets that PRT shares with us. Anyway, they're rated pretty high."

"Yeah? What're the ratings?" Amy was curious.

"Let me see…" Sarah took out her cell phone, "Hmm… Tinker 8, with Brute/Mover 7, Striker 6, Blaster 3, and Trump 3 for Maker and for Swarm it's Master/Shaker 8, Thinker 3, Stranger 3, Breaker/Brute 2 and Striker 1."

There were surprised looks everywhere, Manpower let out a low whistle, while both Flashbang and Laserdream were making impressed noises. Shielder blurted out "Whoa… that's almost like our whole team combined." Carol's standard scowl intensified.

Amy couldn't help but snort, Vicky let out a guffaw. Carol frowned at them, "What?"

Amy shook her head, "Both must have been lowballing with the PRT, Maker's is close, but Swarm's is way low." Carol's scowl deepened further.

Amy continued, "So, yes, they're very powerful capes. I believe we would do good to have cordial relations with them as a team. Does everybody agree?"

There were nods across the room, Amy ploughed ahead, "So I have scheduled a meet and greet with them today, that's alright I hope."

Carol was definitely going to say something, but Mark was the one to respond, "This is your show and tell Panacea, as long as they're not hostile I believe we should have no problems with it." Almost everybody looked at Mark with no small amounts of surprise. Right, this was the first meeting after Mark's treatments were changed by Amy. He hadn't been this confident or verbose since before his injury. Carol seemed indecisive whether she should be put out or happy.

Manpower clapped Mark's shoulder, "Absolutely, God knows we could use the help of more heroes, the climate doesn't look good after the gutting of the ABB." Laserdream added with a nod, "That's true, word is that Oni Lee has skipped town after breaking out, but that simply means the other Gangs are gearing up to rout the now headless ABB."

Everyone was looking at Crystal with wide eyes, she shrugged, "What? Just because I don't participate much doesn't mean I'm ignorant about the climate in the streets."

"Huh. Color me impressed sis. So when are they coming?" Shielder asked, turning back towards Amy.

Amy shrugged, "They're waiting for me to give them the okay. Shall we?" She took out her cellphone and sent a text.

"Wait, this meeting needs to be more discreet, our house is already monitored by cape geeks and paparazzi, even if they fly in it'll be a media circus!" Brandish objected. Lady photon shook her head, it was established... She really was the only one who read the PRT reports.

Glory Girl smirked and floated to the emptier side of the living room, Amy wasn't much for dramatics, but Vicky lived for these moments, "Good thinking Brandish, which is why they'll be using neither the door nor the roof… Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I present to you…" She swept her arm theatrically, "IN VENATUS!"

Everybody pretty much held their breaths.

A cricket chirped somewhere, Laserdream let out a snicker. Nothing else happened.

Vicky shook her fist, "Aw come onnnn…" that was when reality shattered into blue shards and they appeared.

The five of them were standing in a line, Maker in the centre, Taylor and Aveek at the extreme left and right. To Maker's left stood Swarm in all her creepy awesomeness, though she was using tamer insects today, lots of butterflies and stuff. It was the person to the right of Maker and left of Aveek was the one that gave Amy pause.

She was a brunette in a black and purple cat-suit, with purple streaks in her hair and a black domino mask with a glowing purple eye on the forehead, even her actual irises were purple… This was definitely a new cape.

But those ridiculously idealized proportions, that utterly smug grin, and the way she winked at Amy, and the obvious missing person in the group, that was Lisa! And the disguise seemed trivial in hindsight, of course Maker could change her hair and eye colours.

"Waaah!" As usual, Vicky yelped indignantly at the yet-again unexpected appearance and tried to playfully punch Maker – who dodged effortlessly. The rest of New Wave had half-shifted into combat stances at that exchange, but that tension was diffused when Vicky's immediate follow up was to glomp Taylor. When she disengaged, she looked around and saw Lisa for the first time. She blinked twice, frowned, and then widened her eyes as she got the same wink and possibly had the same realization as Amy did.

Though Glory Girl was often reluctant to use it, she was the owner of a decent intellect, a trait that Laserdream shared too. Probably because being very attractive females, they rarely had to use their intellect for most social exchanges.

Vicky pointed at Lisa and was definitely going to blurt something unnecessary, Amy put her hand on Vicky's mouth and hurried out an introduction, "New Wave, meet In Venatus, that's Maker, this is Swarm, and that is…" She pointed at Lisa, who immediately chipped in, "Call me Minerva, and these two bookends are our minions."

Aveek bopped Lisa on the head, "Minions sound too evil. We're more like your handlers."

Taylor piped in, "Ignore them please, that's Aveek and I'm Taylor, we're just here as friends of Amy."

"Well, first time she's invited friends home. Can't fault that." Mark responded jovially. Amy noticed that by now the bout of sudden levity and informality had lowered everyone's guards, everyone except for Carol that is. But yeah, Lisa's timing was impeccable.

They all took seats and the adults had a quick meeting accompanied with a light lunch (It somehow was simultaneously cute and terrifying to watch Swarm eat). It was all the usual cape stuff; sharing intel, contacts, extracting promises of mutual help and arrangements for a few joint patrols. Lisa had introduced herself as an analytics/combat thinker. Amy had surreptitiously checked while greeting everyone, Taylor, Lisa, even Aveek had been upgraded with some of her basic augments, she definitely kept quiet on the fact that even the 'handlers' of In Venatus were easily brute/mover 3.

Brandish was the only one who remained defensive throughout the meeting, but Lady Photon balanced her out. After the formalities were over and logistics hashed out, Amy took the opportunity during a lull in the post-lunch conversation to get back to agenda, "I also invited these guys here because they're relevant to my next announcement."

She had everybody's attention again, she pointed at Aveek, "As I've mentioned, Aveek was the one who originally suggested the idea for the Panacea Pill (that's what they're branding it as). And as you also know, I'm donating 30% of my patent royalty from that to New Wave."

Everybody nodded enthusiastically, the projected 30% was actually a huge amount, almost four times what they currently made from donations. Brandish grimaced, she'd suggested donating it all to New Wave, but Dev had actually stepped in and mentioned that it would be unethical to do so until Amy was 18 and able to decide that for herself.

"Following some more suggestions from Aveek, I experimented a bit and discovered a new aspect of my power. It appears that my healing doesn't stop at bringing people back to normal health. Apparently, whatever improves someone's capability is also considered healing by my power."

"What does that exactly mean?" Of course Carol was the one to push the question.

"It means she can improve someone beyond human limits, right?" Asked Manpower.

Amy nodded, "Yes, and to experiment, I planned out some augmentations which my power still considered as healing. Then, as repayment for my teaching Maker about healing and biology, he agreed to apply some of my augmentations on me. Of course I couldn't have chosen anyone else to be the guinea pig."

"What. Have. You. Done?!" Carol was standing, visibly trying to control her anger.

Amy was taken aback at the venom on her voice. "Well, it wasn't as if I enjoyed being the squishiest member of the team. So yes, when you caught us last week, I was testing out my augments sparring with Glory Girl. I'm glad to mention that I'd easily rate a Brute/Mover 5, thinker 2, blaster 2 - apart from my original striker 9." Panacea finished to collective oohs and aahs.

"No! Absolutely not. You'll not go into combat, violence is not your path!" Carol was indeed trying to calm down, but her words were still unnecessarily forceful, "You're the team healer, everybody respects you for that, it's our job to keep you out of danger. You're not a combat cape. Maker, I'll trust you to bring Panacea back to normal, and Amy, you'll stop further research in this line - you have no idea how bad the fallout for this can be!"

Maker shrugged, "With all due respect Brandish, that decision is Panacea's to make."

"Mom, calm down. If Amy wants to fight…" Vicky implored.

Carol cut her down, "Amy doesn't need to fight. No, no, violence doesn't become her!" She turned to Maker, "And the decision is indeed mine, as her mother and guardian I implore you…"

Amy couldn't take it anymore, the sneer on her face was completely involuntary "So now you're my mother? For all these years I toil away healing people and you don't bother even patting my back! And the first time I find something I want to do - your action as my mother is to put a stop to it? And even if you want me to avoid fighting, why on earth would you want me to get rid of something that protects me, do you wish me harm? Mother?"

Carol was sputtering in fury, she began pacing and rambling, completely unmindful of the others, "No, no, you're not to fight! You shouldn't have combat powers! You... you'll become like him… No, you just can't be trusted with an ability like that…"

"What?!" Amy almost screeched and was about to get up and shout at Carol, but Lisa put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head, Amy hadn't even sensed her approach. She felt two more hands on her and looked around to see Aveek and Taylor flanking her too. They gave her reassuring nods. She felt just a tad bit better.

Carol continued muttering, "This will not do. You can't turn out like him. I won't let you become a villain! I'm your mother, if required I'll take legal measures... Don't tempt..."

"Brandish." Swarm was the one who spoke up, her voice was unsettling enough for Carol to shut up and listen, "Please refrain from such measures. I have already located Amy's birth records in City Hall, your forgery of her adoption papers will not be taken well by the bar."

"HOW DARE YOU!" Carol's face turned vicious and she almost lunged at Swarm, who was absolutely unperturbed. Mark stood up and stopped Carol by her shoulders, "Brandish! You're out of line!" Never had Amy heard Mark take up such a tone of command, Carol reeled as if slapped! Mark calmly added, "Please go and have a drink of water and let's all cool down. Okay?"

"What? Mark! Y-You know what I'm talking about." Carol seemed almost panicked.

Sarah got up and grabbed her sister by the elbow. "Come on Carol, let's go get a drink." She dragged her towards the kitchen.

Mark turned towards Amy, "I'm so sorry for that, cupcake. Please don't judge her too harshly for that. She's just reacting to some bad memories…"

Amy just sighed and shook her head, "Mar… Dad… I can't go on like this. I've been trying so hard…"

Lisa, no, Minerva interrupted, "No, it's not Amy's fault, and as far as my power says, it's not even Mrs. Dallon's fault. Flashbang, you realize that wasn't just a random bout of irrationality? That was a full blown panic attack. Though she handled it quite well, but she's definitely suffering from paranoid personality disorder. Maker?"

Maker nodded and opened some blue panes in front of him, "My scanner has an excellent passive scan for psychological issues, let me see. Yes, yes, moderate paranoia, turned severe when Panacea mentioned combat augmentations. As far as my scans say, even Lady Photon suffers from a much milder version of the same. Very mild, but she'd do well with some psychiatric attention too. Do know where this is coming from?" He asked Mark and Neil.

Flashbang shared a glance with Manpower, "Unfortunately we do. We just didn't realize it was this bad."

Sarah came back with Carol in a few minutes, the latter looking visibly unsettled, her eyes red and puffy. She generally prided herself on her composure, this must have been a blow to her. She turned to Swarm first and stiffly said, "My apologies." Swarm just nodded regally.

Carol took a few shaky breaths and turned to Amy, "I… I'm sorry, I got carried away and said something I didn't mean. No I absolutely don't wish you harm. And... and no need to change anything now, we'll talk about your powers later and decide..."

Amy shook her head, "Actually, no, we will not. Carol, you need therapy, and we can't continue like this." Carol looked outraged for a moment but then one look from Sarah and she sighed and collapsed into a couch, shrinking into herself, eyes distant. Amy sighed too, "I'd have done it next year for college anyway." She steeled herself and turned to Mark, "Dad, I'm sorry, I know you've been trying hard, but I'll be moving out in a few days." Mark just gave a resigned nod.

"But what about us? What will happen to New Wave?" Vicky wailed.

"Don't be a drama queen Vicky, I'm not quitting the team! I will of course offer to augment you guys too to begin with. I'll even start joining on patrols at times. And as for moving out, well, Eric moved out last year, Crystal will move out this fall, it's not that big a deal."

Lisa smiled like a chess master making a move and leaned in towards her conspiratorially, "Hey Amy, you know my apartment is too big for me, help a girl out and move in with me for now?"

Amy gave a grateful nod, even Vicky perked up, she remembered the apartment from when the four of them had spent a girl's-night-in a few weeks ago, and it was a huge apartment indeed.

Lady Photon nodded, "I'd have suggested moving in with us for a while, we really wouldn't want you to be by yourself, but I guess a friend works too." She gestured at Lisa, "She is a friend of yours, I'm assuming."

Amy and Lisa both smiled and nodded at that. Sarah Pelham sighed and murmured almost to herself, "Always wondered if it'd be better had I taken you in instead of Carol." Lisa shook her head, "You'd never know, maybe the other two would've alienated her." Sarah looked up at Lisa, who simply tapped her temple and mouthed the word 'thinker'.

The situation wound down from there, the cousins expressed their solidarity, uncle Neil asked to spar with her later, Mark lamented not being there for her, post which she agreed to have at least a few meals a week with him. He shouldn't suffer for Carol's failings.

Lisa asked Amy if she'd like to visit the apartment once and figure things out. She gladly accepted, anything to get out of that awkward situation. Vicky wanted to join them, and Maker agreed to give them a lift.

Amy glanced one last time at Carol before leaving, she was still sitting there, her head in her hands. Amy thought of saying something conciliatory before leaving, but discarded the thought from fear of setting her off again. Carol really needed to deal with her issues before they could even have a meaningful conversation.

Maker created a door-sized blue glowing box/portal thingy and gestured at it. Swarm nodded, got up from her seat, said her goodbyes, walked into the box and didn't walk out the other side, Minerva, Taylor and Aveek followed.

Vicky circled around the box, "This one's new, we just go in?"

Maker nodded, "You won't feel a thing, just walk through. You can fly too but that makes it more difficult for me."

Vicky shrugged, then stopped floating and walked through.

Finally, Amy said her goodbyes, promised her cousins that she'd call them to help with the moving, then approached the box, Maker gave her an 'in-you-go' head tilt, and she walked into the glowing blue box/door/portal thingy. It was a very bright blue inside.

She walked out the other side just fine, but she looked around, and realized she wasn't home anymore…

They were in one of the two spare bedrooms in Lisa's apartment, but her friends and sister were there, welcoming her.

Amy smiled and looked around, and realized she was home after all.


A/N: Sorry for the delay. I have no excuses.