"I've got the most powerful weapon of all" The monster purred. His mouth twisted in what Amy could barely recognize as a malicious grin. "Information".

"Let me tell you a little story. Correct me if I'm wrong on any of the details. Eleven years ago, just five years after capes really started showing up, there was a team operating hereabouts, calling themselves the Brockton Bay Brigade. Lady Photon, Manpower, Brandish, Flashbang, Fleur, and Lightstar. They wind up taking on a villain in his own home and it's a pretty decent fight. They beat him, and because he was a real bastard, he got sent straight to the Birdcage."

It was a horrendous beast, scarcely covered by silver fur, bleached by sickness and plague. The entire proportions of the monster were wrong: his arms too lanky to be human. His ribcage bursting outside his chest with crude sick lumps of red flesh and the head warped and twisted to the point that it looked as if it was being split right in the middle with white blank eyes, drunken with destruction and sheer bloodlust.

Vicky, please, save me.

"Oh, I haven't even gotten to the good part. See, they found a little girl hiding in the closet. His little girl, a toddler. Given the odds that someone with powers would have a kid with powers, and knowing how the little girl would never be able to have a normal life with word inevitably getting out about her past, they wound up taking her in."

If Amy could have described the monster with one word it would have been "sickness". Everything screamed of pestilence and plague. With every single word, the monster spewed phlegm and miasma that corrupted everything it touched. She could only watch powerless and pray. Pray that she will not corrupt Vicky. Her Vicky. She was the only thing. Vicky was everything.

"The point I'm getting at is that I know that one detail you don't. Or at least, I'm willing to look at all the little clues that you've got floating around your heads and figure out that one thing that you've gone out of your way to avoid knowing. Glory Hole's curious, but she avoids the subject because you, her sister, desperately wants her to, and you… Well, if I told you I suspect you'll do something very stupid."

She could feel it, inside the beast, she could feel the poison that threatened to destroy her Vicky, her life, her everything. Yes, the poison and, with it, countless myriads of bugs. Tiny little parasites bulging and squirming under the silverbeast's skin. The bugs and the monster were united in a common goal: a symbiotic relationship devoted to destroying everything she holds dear.

Please, Vicky. Where are you? Please, save me. Save me, like you always did. Oh, Vicky…

"It's not the man that would bother you so much. It's the knowing. Every hour of every day after hearing me say his name, you would wonder. You're terrified. You'll start second-guessing every part of yourself, wondering if you inherited it from him, or if you were that way out of an unconscious desire to not be him. Knowing as much as you do already keep you awake some nights, but knowing his name, knowing who he is and what he did? For the rest of her life, you would compare herself to him. Isn't that right, Amy?"

The monster licked his vertical lips as it was savoring his next words.

"So, Amy, you want to know who your daddy is?"

And then the dark sky split open in a thunderous light. Victoria descended in all her glory, like an angel. Not the ones who protect the meek or the innocents but the ones who seek out evil and smite it wherever it lurks. Her Victoria flew like a bullet, smashing the monster against the wall with all her power. Yes, Vicky came, she saved her…

But her relief was short-lived.

Because from the now dead corpse of the monster, the bugs started to pour down, thousands, and thousands of bugs. Cancerous worms tick as the arms of a full-grown man, together with massive humanoid flies with bright orange eyes. The swarm of aberrations enveloped Vicky, devouring her under tick cover of blackness. Her sister started to scream…

No, no, no, no… please.

She lounged towards her sister. She had to save her, to heal her. Yes, like she always did. She could use her power to… to… create, she didn't know… scramble bugs? Yes. YES. She wasn't a monster, she could still do good.

"NO DON'T GET ANY CLOSER!" Her sister shouted. Panacea froze in fear. What, Vicky, but why?

No.

"You filthy beast…"

No. No. No.

"It wasn't enough for you to have already destroyed my family. You want to corrupt me too?"

No. Please. No.

"Mom was always right about you, Amelia, you are a disgusting monster…"

Please.

"Dean told me… You sick whore…"

Pl-Please…

"How could you do this to me, Amy? Tell me? Why… why… you can't just throw yourself under a bus and disappear? Mom would be happy. Dad would surely be better. EVERYTHING WOULD BE BETTER WITHOUT YOU!"

PLEASE! STOP!

Amy opened her eyes and suddenly she woke up from the terrible nightmare, drenched in sweat.

The day had already started horribly for Amy. That horrible nightmare had cut her already dangerously a few hours of sleep. Even worse, she had to watch Vicky waking up. Usually, her beautiful, bright, jovial smile was the first thing that welcomed her in morning, helping her mind to wrestle against the body that craved the blessed bed after staying at the hospital until the late night. No, today she had to watch her sister slowly raising herself from the bed, her expression somber for the events of the previous day.

Those bastards had found a way around Vicky invincibility and all because of her. It was her fault. Vicky probably hated her now. Now, thanks to Tattletale and the Bug Bitch, Vicky will never love her again.

Carol offered her to skip school. After everything happened yesterday, she said that she could have used some rest. How ridiculous… No, she had to go to school. Surprisingly Carol didn't make the same offer to Vicky, probably as a way to punish her for all the collateral damage she made.

All the collateral damage she made because of her.

Of course, the school was just horrendous and tasteless as always. She always hated it, if it wasn't Vicky and Carol, she would have dropped already. And Dean, oh Dean, he still didn't realize how much she hated him, didn't he? Even after the conversation of yesterday at the PRT Headquarters, he still kept trying to approach her, subtlety so. He always offered his shoulder, during the lessons he stared at her, when consoling Vicky and talking about what happened during the robbery at the bank, he shouted that "everyone needs a hand in the time of need", clearly pointing at her. What a dumbass…

She hated him. She hated him and, at the same time, envied him so much; because with few precise words and gestures, he always managed to raise Victoria's spirit. To make her smile. To make her giggle, despite everything that happened the day before. Oh, what she would have done for having the same ability, to make Vicky laugh at command, but no she could not, no matter what she did...

Because while Dean, while Gallant, was the knight in shining armor, she was nothing more than a monster, daughter of another monster. She hated him, she envied him and she felt so guilty about it.

"Attention students: please, Amy Dallon, to report in the vice-principal Howell's office. Repeat: Amy Dallon to report in vice-principal Howell's office."

…

…

What?

"Ehi, Ames, what have you done?" Victoria asked quizzically even if they were in the middle of a lesson. Even Dean stopped paying attention to look at her.

"I-I have no idea…"

"Don't worry, I am sure that everything will be fine. Do you want me to follow you?"

"Oh, no, no… Please, sis, I don't want you to get into trouble cause of me…" She lowered her tone so that nobody could hear her "even more…"

"'Kay, good luck, sis!" Victoria saluted her with her trademark pristine smile.

Amy stepped out from the class and released a sigh of relief. She was actually happy to don't have to follow the lesson anymore. She just hoped that Howell didn't have called her, only to start a long tirade about how the school of Arcadia High was ready to support her with any means after the incident at the central bank. She didn't deserve any mercy.

She walked through the empty corridors, the students were in their respective classes. She stopped in front of the door of Howell's office.

"Miss Howell, I'm Amy Dallon. May I enter?"

"Y-yes, plea-please co-come in"

Almost mechanically Amy opened the door and stepped inside the office, closing the door behind her.

If only she had paid more attention, if only she had been less tired, maybe she would have noticed how scared the vice-principal Howell sounded.

A woman was sitting on the principal seat but she wasn't definitely Miss Howell, nor a member of the school staff for the matter. She was wearing a long frilled Victorian vest with a cape draped over her right shoulder. Her face was completely obscured by a large hat.

Also, she couldn't definitely be principal Howell because Howell's head was currently pinned against the desk in front of the seat by the intruder's right hand. The poor vice-principal was sobbing quietly, obviously scared for her own life.

The woman rose from the chair, slowly like a predator that just spotted his meal. His right claw released his grip, granting freedom at the poor principal. Howell didn't think it twice, instantly jumping away and making a dash toward the door. Amy was knocked down by a larger teacher as she ran away for her life, abandoning the student without care.

"Well, that was easy…" The woman commented with a chuckle, never leaving her eyes from Amy. The girl tried to take a better look at the woman face but it was covered by a large scarf, except for her piercing eyes. There was something in those eyes that was at the same time terrifying and strangely familiar.

She turned herself back to run. But before she could even made it to the door, she felt something grabbed her arm.

The woman had somehow moved from the chair to her in an instant as if she had just teleported. Not only that but her grip was strong as iron. There was no way that she could have freed herself as she did with the Bug Bitch.

"Oh, no, she's a cape. She's going to kidnap me." She thought. Memories of the day before started to flood her mind. She thought back at Skitter, at Tattletale poisoning her relationship with her sister. She wanted to scream, but the voice died in her throat.

Meanwhile, the woman stared at her almost transfixed, her eyes never leaving her face. She tried to seize the distraction by grabbing the arm, hoping that she could have used her power to free herself. Nothing. The cloth was to tick, she couldn't manipulate her biology, just like with Skitter yesterday.

Fortunately, the sirens started to sound. Howell must have raised the alarm. Soon, the entire school would have been closed on a lockdown. Her kidnapper would have been trapped and Victoria would have come in her rescue.

"Oh, time to go…" The intruder snapped back from staring her in silence. She lit a tiny purple lantern at her waist, a strange silvery mist started to pour from it, enveloping the figure of the intruder.

Then the mist started to absorb Amy too.

At that point, panic overcame Amy. She tried to twist his arm free but the iron grip didn't flinch. She tried to look behind at the corridors. The sirens were still roaring. Soon the students would have to go out of the classes and started the evacuation protocols. But of Vicky, there was no trace.

Please, Vicky, save me.

She looked, until the last moment, at the corner of the corridors, hoping that her sister would have come flying at her rescue, maybe bursting through a wall, like yesterday at the bank.

But her help never came.

For she along her kidnapper had already disappeared away.

When Panacea opened her eyes, she didn't need long to realize that she wasn't at Arcadia anymore. and that she had absolutely no idea of where she was.

She had awakened in front of a small building that looked down a field of white alien flowers that she had never seen before. Around the building there was a series of tombstones, some smashed, some still standing. The very same grey mist that had snatched here away embraced the field and building, while a crude fence of iron pikes enclosed the setting. Her eyes rose to welcome the sight of the pale moon on the sky. It was beautiful, yet ethereal. The moonlight bathed the entire panorama giving it an… entrancing allure. Dark, yet welcoming. Gothic, yet relaxing. She stared beyond the fence, trying to understand where she was. She froze.

There was literally nothing beyond the fence.

Literally. Nothing. Only void and the silver mist.

Where the hell she was?

She wanted to understand. To try comprehending the impossible sight in front of her. Was it an illusion? The work of a powerful Shaker? She heard that Faultline's Crew had acquired a cape able to create pocket realms. But… this… this… felt… so real…

"Pretty sight, isn't it, Amelia? The first time I came I had the same dumbfounded expression… Well, welcome to the Hunter's Dream, dear."

The voice interrupted her train of thought. Amy turned back to see the interlocutor that had called her with that name. Her kidnapper was here at the top of the stairs, on the doorstep of the small building. She started to slowly descend the stairs, coming toward here. For the second time, she froze stunned at her sight.

The woman had removed her hat and the scarf that covered her face. Curly brown hair flowed ending at her shoulders. Her face… her face was so similar to hers. Her eyes were of a different color but the shape of her face, her nose, her brow, and , most of all, the freckles were identical. She was tall, a head taller than Amy. Her mouth opened in a smile that was so... reassuring…

"Welcome, Amelia…"

"W-Who are you?" Amy spat. Why she kept calling her Amelia. She was Amy! Amy Dallon! Could… Could she be…

"Amelia, don't you have noticed the similarities? The nose? The freckles? The hair… well… you have definitely taken your father's hair…" She giggled almost as if she was reminiscing a pleasant past memory. "…Well, Amelia, I am Emilia and I am your mother…"

…

…

…

What…

WHAT!?

"M-my m-m-mother?" Amy stuttered in disbelief.

"Yes , indeed, for I have returned from… oh for the fuck's sake.." Emilia muttered, cutting to the point, before dashing towards her daughter. Before Amy had even the time of processing what was happening, the Hunter had already enveloped her into a bone-crushing hug.

"Oh, don't worry my little lumenflower, mommy's here. Mommy's here. You don't have to worry about anything anymore. Mommy is going to fix everything. Oh, Amelia I missed you so much… The night had been so long… Oh, I read on the newspaper of your exploits. Oh, Amelia, iamsoproudofyouyouareincredibleyouarethebestdaughter
icouldeverhaveyoulooksocuteinyourcostumeisweariamgoingtomurderthatbugbitchforhurtingyou…*"

But Amy didn't listen as she tried desperately to free herself from her kidnapper's grip. Finally, she managed somehow to slip away and before Emilia could re-catch her up, she stopped her.

"STOP! Stay away." Emilia froze. "you really expect, me to believe you just because we look similar?" She spat venomously. "Please, and my name is not Amelia. It's Amy. Amy Dallon" The woman stiffened. Even if it didn't look like, it seemed that her words had somewhat hurt her even if so slightly.

"Oh, Amel-Amy. You can't just copy freckles beautiful like ours…" She rebuffed with a tone that reminded Amy of Vicky when she flaunted the glory of her luscious platinum hair.

Amy rolled her eyes at the sudden display of vanity but then an idea struck her. "If you say to be my biological mother, prove it!" She exclaimed offering her hand. "Let me touch your skin, I can read your DNA, if it matches with mine, then you are truly my mother".

"Yes, and I can also give you an extremely painful cancer and refuse to heal until you will have freed me from this place, you kidnapping bitch," She thought.

"Oh, really? That's awesome! Can you do other things with your power?!" She exclaimed and Amy winched. How could she found her monstrous burden "awesome"? "Oh, sorry I am on it" She said removing her glove and offering her right hand. As two hands met, Panacea, thought her power explored the Hunter body.

"Yes, the DNA is here" She muttered as she took a closer look. "But there is something else." There was something in her body. Something ineffable. Something… eldritch. She tried to grasp that… thing… but no matter how she tried… she… she… couldn't.

No way.

For the first time in her entire life, Panacea found an organism that she could not completely understand.

Not just that: she didn't just found an organism that she could not understand but an organism she could not modify.

Y̵̪͙̫͓͢͟͝͝ͅO̺͕͖͔͍̫̥̙͠U̷̶̹̯̝̤̘̕͜ ̡̹̼̱̬̻̗̘̝̞̹̕͢Ǹ̶̶͎̙͈̫͢Ȩ̴̩̫̺̲̼̘̩̯̳̙͇̦̪̰̜̙͍̀ͅĘ̶̠̰̺̼̪̺̮͓̻͍̞͕̱̪̳̕͟ͅD̢͏҉̪͖͙̘͎͔̪̞̲̜̭͙̯͇̮̞̮͚ͅ ̴̘̟͚̮̳̪̻̩̞̹̞̹̬́͘ͅM̴̧̕͏͈̬͕̘̥͕̳̺̮̩̟̳̗̘̯̩̣O̵҉͟҉͖̗̮͇͕R̨͖̺͎͙̟̙͎͍̪̯̭͎̩͓͟͡͠ͅȨ̧͍̲̯̻͚͈̺̮͔̹ͅ ̷̡̯̹̭͙̱̻̕͘E̡̧͍̮̯͡Y̴̶̧̘̙̜̜͔̗̻͔͕̼̳͔͚̮̱̬͇͟͡E̢͚̜̫̦̪͍̤̮̠̖͉̪̯͍̯̗̫͔̯͠͡Ş̵̷̠̟̯̻̰͚̠̰͎͘ ̢҉҉͉̪̥͙̫͍̞̼̦̣͉̤͟ͅͅO͕̞̭̰̰̬̜̞̮̺̝͎͎͙͔͜͞N̵̛̤̜̫̬̣̪͔̯̣̥̣ ̴̶̤̱̯͇̱̤̝̯̫̤̹͎̩̝̱̯̫̰̦͘͟T̴̗͍̦̻̹͉͎̯͈͓͎̻̥̕͞H̵̡̻̹̯̖̘̣̙͉̱̳͓̥̭̪͓̜͘͢È̵̛͔̖̙̗̘̦͜͢ ̢̛̘̣̹̳͓͙̳͇͕Į̸̷͙͎̙̪̀͢ͅN̸̛̳̲͍̝̖̫̺̫̭̫̪̫͠S̵̛̙̻͇̞͈͡ͅI̢̺͖̪̠̝͈͈͎͜͠D̸̡̢̹̯͙̺̕E̸̷̡̡̤̣̖͈͖͠

WHAT?!

She severed her contact retreating her hand as if she had just been hit by an electrical shock.

"Something is wrong, Amy?" Emilia had a worried look on her face."WHAT HELL IS WRONG WITH YOUR BODY!" Panacea shouted, still in shock. Never before she met a human being (or any biological organism for that matter) that she could not completely rewrite at the first contact.

"Oh, that something… weeeell, it's a long story. I will explain anything later… Now, did the DNA match?"

Oh, right, the DNA. She had been so caught by whatever-was-so-fucking-wrong-with-her-body, that she had forgotten the DNA. The DNA… The DNA…

The DNA matched at 50%.

And there were clearly signs in her body that she had both a pregnancy and a childbirth. The age of those signs matches hers.

It was too natural to be the work of a Stranger.

Fuck.

She was really her biological mother.

Amy had no idea what to think.

"So?" Emilia asked getting closer.

"It-t is a per-perfect ma-match" She stuttered. "Ap-apparently you a-are r-really my b-biological m-mother"

"See. I told you so!" The Good Hunter exclaimed while getting ready to lounge at her with open arms for another round of hugging. Her smile was even brighter than the moon of the night's sky. Probably bigger too.

"Stop! Don't touch me!"

"But hugging…"

"No!"

"But-"

"No hugs!" Amy exclaimed. "You may be my biological mother, maybe, but you are not my mom! My mom is Carol Dallon, the heroine Brandish of the New Wave! And I am a heroine too. You are a villain that kidnapped a cape of the New Wave! At her school, no less! I don't want anything to do with you!" Yes, she thought, she wasn't a monster like her or her father. It was their fault, is she was so messed up. If she was so wrong.

"Oh please, Amy, you can't kidnap your own daughter…"

"That's not true! And I am not your daughter, nor you are my mom!" She repeated again, her words dripping even more venom.

"I… Uhm... You…" The Good Hunter sighted. "You are right, Amy, sorry for having kidnapped you. It wasn't my brightest idea… it was just… I missed you so much… maybe… maybe I should have planned it better…"

"Yeah, just maybe…" Amy snarked while giving her the cold shoulder.

"Uhm, listen, why we don't bury the hatchet while doing some... mother-daughter activity together? I am sure that it will be a bonding experience." Emilia said with a pair so effective pair of sad puppy eyes that could have been classified as Master power. Even Amy was moment nearly taken aback.

"Uhm, what were you thinking about…" She relented. After all, she didn't want to piss off the psycho that kidnapped her, especially a massive blade strapped at her hip looming.

"Uh, nothing in particular… just starting with a simple blood transfusion… I mean we have all the time of the world… quite literally so, time doesn't actually flow in the Dream."

"A blood transfusion.," Amy repeated confused.

"Yes."

"Why?"

Emilia paused with an awkward smile painted on her face.

"…Yes."

Amy frowned. That didn't answer the question in the slightest. From one side, this woman wanted her to take inside her body her blood. She, she very same person that whose biology was a complete mystery, wanted to give her blood to Panacea. That was extremely suspect. On the other hand, she needed to buy time. She was sure that New Wave was already looking for her. Yes, there was no doubt that cooperating with the Protectorate they would have found her and rescued in no time.

That Vicky would have found her and rescued in no time.

Yes, Vicky is coming for me. I have to just to gain time.

Besides, she had to admit that a part of her was morbidly curious about her biology. Never before she had met such an enigma. A human being that she could not understand at first glance. She wanted to learn more. An itching on her head begged to learn more about it. To study her blood from close… No, she could not let her power control her, she had to control her power. To always suppressed it, lest she didn't want to become the monster. The monster she already was.

But, but if the study was just a secondary benefit? As she already pointed she needed to buy time for the New Wave…

Didn't she say something, time doesn't flow here? Nah, she probably imagined it.

…Besides, she was Panacea. She never gets sick, because her body automatically destroys any pathogen. With external biological fluid would just work the same. The blood enters, she studies it from close, and then she instantly destroys. Easy.

What's the worst that could happen?

For the second time of the day, Amy awoken covered in sweat, fresh from another terrible nightmare and gasping for air.

"Oh, you are finally awake…" Emilia welcomed with a bright smile. "I was starting to get worried, sweetheart…"

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" Amy screamed, still trying to grasp what she had just experienced…

"Let me guess… you found yourself strapped to an operating table, paralyzed, while a beast slowly emerged from a puddle of blood, completely drenched of it, and started to crawl towards you?"

Amy nodded.

"Then the blood-splattered beast, while it reaches out towards you with his massive open claw, suddenly is set on fire and dies on the spot?"

Amy nodded.

"And then small, malformed, pale beings start to crawl all over your body until you suddenly blackout and you hear a voice say "Ah you found yourself a hunter"?"

Amy NODDED.

"Well, congratulation Amy! That's means that now you are officially a hunter!" The Good Hunter chirped.

WHAT

"Now, why we don't go to celebrate and test your new hunter's abilities by delving inside the cursed tombs of eldritch gods, built by an ancient alien civilization, now defunct?"

THE HELL

-
*Translate from Mom-Tongue: I am so proud of you (Amy) you are incredible you are the best daughter i could ever have you look so cute in your costume i swear I am going to murder that bug bitch for hurting you

So I will explain how in story Shards and Old Ones are going to interact: basically for the shards the Power of the Great Old Ones is a complete blind spot. The shard simply doesn't comprehend jack-shit about the Old Ones: Contessa's Paths don't register it, Thinkers go full BSOD, Amy's Shaper Shard goes full Error 404: biology not found. It's simply to alien for them, just like a piece of tinkertech is too alien for a normal human. BUT there is a way: when the host gains eldrich knowledge and is made aware of the Truth of Cosmo, so does the Passenger. Which means that Amy has to grind Dungeons to juicy Insight points (and avoid the bane that is the Brainsucker) before she can church Victoria-Ludwig Hybrids or Orphan of Kos-Khepris (which are still a massive if)