Interlude T1

I wiped the washcloth over Nancy's forehead as she shivered in my bed below me, the blankets curled around her like a cocoon. Her short blonde hair was plastered to her skull and her cheeks were sunken. The shadows under eyes were deep enough that you almost couldn't see her bottle-glass green eyes and the freckles on her pale skin stood out to an almost frightening degree. She was so thin…

Stepping back, I tried to slip out of the room as quietly as I could. Even looking down, I still couldn't avoid my gaze catching on the length of spider-silk rope that we had wrapped around her wrists and secured to the bed-frame. I really hadn't wanted to do that. I still wasn't sure how she had managed to talk me into it. She couldn't even speak. She visibly panicked every time she tried to talk. Hell, I had tried to get her a writing pad and her hands shook enough to break the pencil. How in the hell had she gotten me to tie her to my bed?!

Because you both want her to still be here when you get back. Stupid traitorous mind. I scowled at myself as I slipped on my backpack with my costume in it. That didn't make it right. If Nancy wanted to leave she should be able to leave. If she wanted to go to the bathroom she should be able to go to the bathroom.

But…If she had been fed Crystal Sand…she was probably going to try to leave and find more sooner or later. This was…not for the best. The best was me staying at home and helping her through this. Except I didn't know what the hell I was doing and the internet wasn't helping. She was getting worse and it was I was getting scared. It wasn't like I could ask Dad. He couldn't even take care of me or himself, let alone a sick girl who could barely communicate.

I hadn't just lost Mom, when she died. I'd lost them both.

"I won't be gone long," I muttered. It didn't make me feel any better.


Finding Panacea was stupidly easy. She was the best healer in the country. Supposedly the best healer on the continent. She should be protected, not walking around like a freaking zombie, smoking a cigarette on the roof of the hospital. Why did she even smoke? Those were horrible for you! Didn't she know that? Didn't she care?

This was such a bad idea.

She barely even glanced at me as I walked out from the edge of the roof. Getting up here from the floor below had been easy thanks to my spider-silk ropes. Working out had been good for a few things at least.

"You should know, if you kidnap me everyone in the city is going to be out for your head. Probably everyone on the East Coast too. There's a lot of medical tourism coming to Brockton Bay now. Millionaires have deep pockets to pay for revenge. Not that I help them specifically anyway, but you know, there's always the chance that I could."

"I'm not here to kidnap you," I mumbled. This was such a bad idea. I wrung my hands, the sweat itchy under my costume, the breath hot against the inside of the mask despite the cold. I moved beside her and laid my hands on the railing next to her. "I just…I need help…"

"I don't do requests."

"I know…"

"So what the fuck are you doing here? Besides pissing me off?"

"I don't…" I took a deep breath and let it out slow. I had to try to center myself and do this right. I had been running this conversation in my mind the entire trip here and I needed to get it right. Nancy's life could very well depend on it. "I'm new. I helped someone the other night. She was running away from one of the new gang leaders. The mercenary guy, Snake."

"Coil."

"What? I thought his name was - never mind, it's not important, she was running away, she got away. I helped her."

"And what? She's hurt bad? Take her to a hospital. If she's really bad they'll probably call for me anyway. If she's not, she'll get the help she needs."

"I can't. She's pretty convinced that he'll find her if I take her anywhere else. I'm not sure what to do. The only training I have is basic CPR from back at camp and what I can find online. My dad works at the union. He wouldn't know what to do."

"Go to the PRT."

"I…I don't trust them…"

She snorted, reaching down to snuff out her cigarette. "Sounds like you have problems."

"Please, I just, I just need some help. Or some advice. Or some…I'm messing this up. Do you know where there's an underground doctor? Somewhere that the villains go when they are hurt? Maybe Snake - I mean Coil - doesn't watch those."

Panacea turned to look at me, it was hard to see under her hood, but I thought she was probably gaping. I would have been in her shoes. "Did you seriously just ask me where to find a secret backroom doctor?"

"I can't ask the Protectorate, Parian and Circus would just go to a regular hospital, Bitch would probably let herself die before she let someone help her…I don't know who else to ask."

"Jesus Christ," Panacea muttered. She reached up to rub at her eyes and then lit another cigarette. Taking a moment to take a few puffs at the death stick, she kept glaring at me the whole time. Finally, she said, "What did he do to her?"

"I'm not entirely sure. A lot of it seems to be psychological since she keeps flinching at a lot of things and she's freaking out whenever it looks like she's trapped somewhere."

"I can't do anything with brains."

"I know."

"What else did he do to her?"

"He got her addicted to a tinker drug. She didn't know exactly which one it was, or if she did, she couldn't tell me. But I think it was Crystal Sand."

Panacea grunted. "Bad shit. I've seen a lot of people coming down off of that in the past few days. Merchants didn't know what they were getting into when they hit that shipment."

"She hasn't had a hit since she got away. I'm…I think she's dying…"

Panacea met my gaze, her eyes searching even as she barely moved. "You'd really take her to a backroom doctor instead of a real hospital?"

I bit off my first reply and squeezed my eyes shut. Remembering Mom being shunted to the side because someone else who was 'more likely to survive' had come in was…too painful. "I haven't had good experiences with hospitals personally. If she thinks that she would get kidnapped at a hospital, then I'm inclined to believe her."

"…How long have you been active, Insect Girl?"

"This is my second time wearing my costume. And I'm not Insect Girl. I - well actually I don't have a name yet."

Panacea shook her head. "Don't go out in costume without a name picked out. PRT will saddle you with a pathetic one. It's marketing. They try to shame you into joining them. Makes it easier to do their job."

"Oh." I squared my shoulders and licked my lips. "Are you going to tell me where I can find a doctor?"

She stubbed out her cigarette and sighed. "You're a naive idiot. You know that right? Do you have any idea what they charge at those types of places?"

"She's dying. I have to do something!"

"No one ever sticks with you like the first person you save…or fail to…" She ran her hand down her face, sighing. "I'm going to regret this…Where is she?"

I could only stare at Panacea for several moments as she crossed her arms and glared at me. Finally my brain rebooted and I sucked in a breath. I rattled off my address without pausing to think. Once it was out, I winced. Well, what was done was done. No helping it now.

Panacea nodded, took out her phone and tapped a few keys. "That's residential. You don't have a lair?" I shook my head. "Christ, you really are new. When do your parents get home?"

"Usually around 6:30 or 7."

"I'll be there at 3. Do you think your friend will be okay until then?"

I nodded. Panacea just nodded back once and stepped past me, heading to the roof's door. She had her hand on the doorknob before I got my voice back. "Why?" I shouted.

"Because," she paused as she glanced over her shoulder at me. "A long time ago I used to want to help people as much as you do right now. That's going to be beaten out of you really fast. For once, I don't really feel like being the one to do it. And, if you go to Doctor Mickael you're likely going to lose your house without a backer. Or you'll wind up in a gang to be able to pay for the fucking thing and then I'll have to clean up after you. Don't expect me to do this again for you Insect Girl."


AN: So funny story, the initial plan for this chapter was going to be Taylor almost blackmailing Panacea into helping her through use of an 'I saved your sister!' line. This didn't even make it into the initial partial write-up since Taylor immediately went for the current version with almost no input from myself. This works much better for the story and her character as a whole as well, so I thank Taylor for her input to this chapter!