Chapter 8-4

Monitor duty. Four hours of sitting behind a console, doing mostly nothing.

Okay, that might be a little uncharitable. I was doing something. I was coordinating the various Ward patrols, which is important, I suppose. Someone had to keep track of where everyone was, in case something happens. Unfortunately for me, there wasn't much that could happen. Wards didn't patrol in high-risk areas, especially since the new director decided we're all made of glass and needed to be coddled. As a result, monitor duty was even more boring than usual. Just hours of watching the clock go by, occasionally broken up by my teammates telling me how much fun they were having. I'm not even sure why I bothered with my armor for this.

Lisa came through the door and crashed in the seat next to me. She was rubbing her temples and looked outright miserable. "You alright?" I asked.

The former villainess groaned in response. "Fucking Thinker headache. Armsmaster and I have been busy. Panacea too, but, well, her power doesn't work on those stupid magic nanites so I'm pulling double duty. Anyway, how are you?"

"Bored. My turn to pay the piper, I guess." I said, gesturing towards the console. There were other things too, like my little foray with Sam, but I didn't feel like sharing that. "Still don't get why they don't just hire a guy to do this. There are better things a Ward could be doing than this."

"I'm sure there's a reason." She replied. "Or that they think they do. Probably something lame like 'character building'."

"Sounds like it. Wish they'd let us work with the Protectorate. At least they're doing something interesting." In my boredom, I may have been eavesdropping a little. My power couldn't reach the entire base, but I heard enough to know that the Protectorate was going to clear out Alad's little biolab tonight. "I wonder what the Boxheads were working on…"

"Corpus." Lisa corrected.

"Corpus?"

"That's what they call themselves. Corpus. Sounds better than 'Boxheads', don't you think?"

Corpus. Well, at least we can stop using the Merchants' naming conventions now. "It does. So, how was your day?"

She winced. "Helping Armsy prepare for tonight. He's working on some countermeasure for that crazy virus and has been bugging me into helping him. Apparently he had trouble figuring out how the virus works and hoped my power could fill in the blanks."

"That's good, right?"

The look on her face told me that it probably wasn't. "Have you ever seen Armsmaster in his lab? He never slows down, never takes breaks, and treats you like a brain on a stick. Honestly, I feel sorry for Kid Win. He has to deal with that loon all the time." She sighed. "Anyway, with me and Panacea's help he managed to cobble together some anti-virus gadgetty thing that's supposed to keep it from infecting people…in theory."

That didn't sound very hopeful. "You don't think it'll work?"

"In a laboratory? Kind off. In real life? I'd give it a 50-50. Panacea's a little more hopeful, but not by much." Whenever she mentioned Panacea, the girl bit her lip. I wonder what that's about…

"Okay, spit it out." I eventually said.

"Spit what out?"

"There's something about Panacea that's got you wound up." I said, slightly annoyed. "Do you have a thing for her?"

"What?!" Lisa squealed back. "No! God, she's a…I'm asexual, dammit! My power being what it is, everything I try to fuck someone, I get instant information overload."

After an awkward moment of silence, I added. "It disturbs me that you know that…"

Lisa sighed. "Look, I, uh… I need your advice on something."

I blinked. "You need advice? From me? Isn't knowing everything like your power?" It wasn't exactly polite to snark when someone's asking you for help, but with Lisa, it's too good to resist.

"Yeah, yeah, make fun of the Thinker." She rubbed her brow. "Look, you're right, it's about Panacea. I just need some good advice. Not love advice, just about…something else. Anyway, can we keep this between us? Seriously, it's important."

The look on her face told me it really was. "Okay. What do you need?"

She looked at me for a moment before deciding she could share the information. "Well…to put it simply, the Dallon family is fucked up. Like, seriously fucked up. Coming from me, that means a lot."

"Explain."

"First of all, Panacea's adopted and I'm about 90% sure her biological parents were supervillains. Now, normally, this wouldn't be a problem. She was really young at the time and probably doesn't remember much about her old family. Unfortunately, Carol Dallon is a world-class idiot who thinks evil is genetic and has been treating Amy like a time-bomb her entire life. As you can imagine, that hasn't been doing the girl's sanity any favors."

Wow. God, that's…horrible. I couldn't imagine Dad doing that to me, or what would happen if he did. "I'm guessing that's why she got into healing, isn't it?"

"Pretty much. She's trying to prove to the world that she isn't evil, except with Carol being her warden instead of her mother, she'll never succeed. Oh, but mommy issues aren't the worst part. It's her sister."

"Glory Girl? Last time I saw them, they looked pretty close." You'd think that someone like Glory Girl would have been the solution, not the problem.

"Oh, they are close. In fact, Glory Hole's pretty much the only one who gives a shit about Panacea, so naturally our lovely healer has been latching onto her for years. Then, Victoria triggered and got that stupid aura of hers. Now, just imagine what would happen if you were exposed to a 'love-me' aura every hour of every day for years, including through your puberty…"

I caught on with what Lisa was implying. "You don't mean… But they're… Lisa, is Amy Dallon in love with her sister?"

"Got it in one." She said with an awkward smirk. I shuddered in response. "Huh, so you can get grossed out by things. Guess all it took was lesbian incest…"

I punched her in the shoulder. "Just don't. Please, just… God." I'm going to have so much trouble sleeping tonight.

"And it gets better too! Amy doesn't have the guts to talk to anyone about this, so Glory Girl doesn't realize this is going on. Oh, sure, she'll know something is wrong with Amy, but this… Well, it's a problem, alright."

"Yeah, it is. So, what are you going to do about it?"

"There's the rub: I have no fucking idea. Normally when I stumble on a secret like this, I just write it down somewhere and use it when I need blackmail material or something."

"How wonderfully heroic of you." I deadpanned back.

She smirked. "You say the nicest things. Unfortunately, Panacea is a special case and I can't just sit on this. I mean, way things are going for her, she's gonna snap, probably in the next few months. I really, really don't want that to happen."

I nodded. She was being uncharacteristically selfless today. "I suppose losing our best healer would be problematic. With all the lives she saves every day…"

Lisa laughed mirthlessly. "Taylor, sweetie, if Panpan goes nuts, losing a healer is the least of our problems. She's not a healer, she's a bullshit-tier biokinetic. Total control of all living organic matter she can touch. Amy's massively holding back, like, even more than you are. If she stops doing that…"

"Worst case scenario?" I asked, already dreading the answer. My imagination was painting a pretty bleak picture.

"Worst case? She terraforms the planet into a flesh garden with one hand while engineering an unstoppable virus that turns us all into copies of her beloved Victoria with the other. Yeah, that bad. Would probably make Nilbog look like a fucking circus freak."

I couldn't help but wonder if Lisa was exaggerating. "If Panacea is that dangerous, why's she still independent?"

"Because New Wave knows the rules and the PRT won't risk losing a miracle healer because they tried to strong-arm her into the Wards. Besides, Panacea's never done anything wrong, so there's nothing to arrest her for. Hell, she barely experimented with her power since she got them. I'm guessing those suits you've talked her into making is the first time she's actually stepped out of her comfort zone." After a moment, she added. "It's a good thing you did, by the way. I think she really needed to flex her power's metaphorical muscles. However, it's just a stop-gap. Unless we can fix her actual problems, you've delayed the inevitable."

"I see. You think she will break and when she does, we're all fucked." Exaggeration or not, a mad cape is never a good thing. While the flesh garden thing seems a little far-fetched, a horribly lethal disease does not. I doubt society will survive a parahuman-derived plague. It won't improve things, that's for sure.

"Yes, and it scares the shit out of me. That girl is one psychotic break away from ruining everyone's day and I don't know what to do." She seemed legitimately afraid. With a Thinker of her caliber, that was never a good sign. "If I tell Meatshield, Armsie, or MM about this, they'll probably kick it up the chain and the decision will be in the hands of people who can't see the forest for all the trees. I'm not sure if I want to take that chance, Panpocalypse and all that."

"So…why me?"

"Like I said, you're rational. When you get scared, your brain goes into overdrive. You don't let your feelings get in the way. That, and…well, you're the best friend I have right now." She admitted. Either Lisa's standards were really low or she was vastly overestimating how much I trusted a semi-repentant supervillain. "I trust you."

Well, I had to help her now, didn't I? If not for her sake, then for Panacea's. I sat back in my chair, thinking. "Does Panacea know?"

"That I know everything? Probably not. I didn't tell her."

"You should." I finally said. "Tell her everything, I mean. I can't think another way. Besides, she looked really lonely, last time I saw her. Tired, too. Kind of like I did when I still went to Winslow, just taking the abuse without ever doing something about it. It didn't work for me and it won't work for her. Call her."

"Me?" She asked, looking a little flabbergasted.

"Why not? You already know all the details or can figure them out in seconds. Can't think of a better therapist."

"I'm not a nice person, Taylor. I don't think I'm the right girl for the job, being a former villain, and all that."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

She rubbed her brow. "People like the Dallons have a very black-and-white view of the hero-villain dynamic. Either you're a shining paragon of freedom and justice, or you're a monster. Me…I don't fit into that picture. She won't take it well if I start poking into her personal life."

"No one does, Lisa." A fact that our resident thinker needed to be reminded of far more than I'd like. "Never stopped you before. Just force her to confront her issues. Hell, call Glory Girl and set up an intervention."

"You want me to bring Glory Girl into this?" She asked, skeptically. "I'm not entirely sure that's a good idea, her being part of the problem, and all."

"Then make her part of the solution. Unless Panacea has friends I don't know about, her sister is probably the only one she'd really listen to. Besides, Victoria cares about Amy, right? If you can convince her Panacea's in trouble…"

"You want me to walk up to Glory Girl and tell her that her sister is in love with her and it's her fault?"

"Pretty much." I said with a shrug. "I'd phrase it a little better, but yeah, that's what you should do. You know Panacea's problems better than anyone and if you could keep your supervillain teammates under control, I'm sure you can handle Glory Girl."

"Assuming she doesn't punch me into orbit…"

"Well, I'm sure Panacea can fix you up afterwards."

Lisa whimpered a little. Cry baby. I mean, it's Glory Girl. Yes, she's a hothead, but she wasn't going to do any permanent damage. Not to someone who actually tried to help.

"This…This is such a bad idea."

"Look at the bright side: If this works, Panacea's going to be really grateful. Who knows, you might even win her heart and you two could ride off into the sunset together." I couldn't help but grin.

Apparently, Lisa didn't find it funny. "I'm not in love with her." Her glare bored into me, which didn't make this any less funny. "Hate you so very much." She grumbled and started making a phone call.

Well, crisis averted, right? I briefly wondered if I should go with her, but decided against it. One, I still had monitor duty, and two, I'm sure Lisa could handle it on her own. She's the Thinker, after all, and I wasn't a people person by any stretch of the imagination.

Yeah, she'd be fine.