Chapter 8-Interlude

'Your sister's about to have a nervous breakdown, Glory Girl. We need to talk.'

Those words were haunting Victoria Dallon's mind. Normally, she wouldn't think too much of it. It wouldn't be the first time someone thought Amy was working too hard. Hell, Victoria herself was thinking the same thing, more often than not. She knew how her sister looked after another long day at the hospital: long face, downcast eyes, weak in the limbs…It just couldn't be healthy. Not that that ever stopped the great Panacea, though. No matter how tired she was, Amy would never miss an afternoon in the hospital. She really was the greatest hero ever.

And now some Thinker says she's about to go nuts.

Insight, AKA Tattletale. Yeah, Victoria knew who she was. Contrary to popular belief, New Wave's golden child wasn't a complete moron. It didn't take much to put two and two together, not with the hints that Dean had unwittingly been dropping. To say that New Wave was disappointed would be an understatement. While the Protectorate's never been picky with who they hire, the fact that they'd recruited an actual honest-to-God villain was a shock to everyone. That they actually put her in the Wards even more so. Just to rub salt in the wound, they were telling everyone that that cunt was a hero. A hero, just like her. Fuck that and fuck them.

Victoria wanted to give them a piece of her mind, but Mom and Aunt Sarah wouldn't let her. No, they had to play nice and abide by the rules. Exposing the two-faced bitch was out of the question. Didn't matter that Tattletale being out of prison pissed on everything a superhero stood for. You don't get to escape jail just because you've got a useful power. It doesn't work like that. It just shouldn't.

She shook her head and took flight. Insight, Tattletale, whatever, the bitch had information. If the cunt was just trying to screw with Victoria's head…well, she was sure Amy would forgive her for what she had to do. Again.

Within a few minutes, she arrived over the PRT's headquarters where the Wards were now based. Something about a major fuck-up with the Protectorate, or something. Not important. Insight was already out in front, waiting for her with that stupid smirk on her face. Yeah, Victoria was sure now: the girl was Tattletale with a different coat of paint.

Fuck, let's just get this over with.

Tattletale tried to speak, but Victoria wasn't about to let a villain take control of the conversation. "Let's talk somewhere private." Glory Girl said, before cranking up her aura, grabbing the bitch, and flying off into the sky. When they were about half a mile up, she continued: "Let me make this perfectly clear, Tattletale. I don't like you. You're a villain pretending to be a hero, and in my experience that never ends well. So, you're going to say your piece and if I get the idea that you're fucking with me, you'll regret it. Understood?"

The bitch wasn't smiling anymore. "Understood."

"Good. Now, what the fuck do you want?"

"Geez, calm down already. I just want to help."

"Uh-huh." Glory Girl didn't believe her. Why should she? Tattletale was a villain. Their help always came with a price. "What's your angle?"

"You mean aside from not wanting to see the city destroyed?"

Victoria sighed. The bitch was just being difficult. "Aside from that. Your kind always has an angle."

"I'm not a villain anymore, Glory Girl. I'm trying to be a good Samaritan here."

"Yeah, that's what they all say. After all, you have to get behind someone before you can stab them in the back. So really, what's your plan?"

The bitch took a deep breath and started talking. "Okay, I'll be blunt, then. You know that aura of yours, right? What do you think's going to happen when someone's exposed to that 24/7 like your sister is? How she might develop feelings for you…"

Victoria laughed. "What, you think Amy's got a crush on me? Her own sister?" Ridiculous, of course. Yes, Amy loved her, but not like that. Panacea was her sister; nothing more, nothing less. Oh, sure, there were problems, but nothing even remotely like she was suggesting.

"Well, yes, and it's…"

Before Tattletale could finish, Glory Girl dropped her. She waited a few seconds, before hurling herself at the screaming villainess and catching the bitch mid-air.

"Okay." Victoria said, as she ascended back to their original height. "Now that we know who's got the power here, I think it's time for you to stop bullshitting me."

The bitch's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. "I'm telling the truth, dammit! My power…" The cunt apparently needed another lesson. Victoria tossed her again and let her drop a little further before saving her.

"If I have to drop you again, I won't bother catching you." Glory Girl was bluffing, of course. She wasn't about to stoop down to murder, but the villain didn't need to know that.

"You will. You don't want a murder charge on your record." The little shit said, panting like a horse. She was right, though. "Look, you don't like me and that's fine, but your sister needs help or we're all fucked. When Panacea snaps, guess who's going to be her first victim?"

"Amy's a healer, you idiot." And a lot more than that, but Victoria knew Amy would never cross the line. She was a hero, after all. She helped people. She never wanted anything else.

"Wrong. She's a biokinetic. Healing is just her fixing people like a Tinker fixing a car. There's nothing stopping her from creating a doomsday virus if she's had a really bad day. Believe me, that's going to happen…"

"Shut up."

"Victoria…" The bitch sounded pleading.

"That's Glory Girl to you. I'm done letting you slander my sister. Yes, Amy could probably do something like that. Thing is, unlike you, she's actually a good person. She doesn't do things like hurt people or robbing banks. That's just not her."

"…Yet. You can't let her bottle this up. Get help and get it soon before…"

Victoria sighed. Some people just wouldn't listen to reason. "Look, I'm not going to argue with a villain. It's pointless. Instead, I'm going to be reasonable and drop you off where I picked you up."

"I'm just trying to…"

"Just stop." Glory Girl insisted, using her aura to punctuate her demand. At least it finally managed to shut her up. "I don't want to hear it. You're a villain. All you ever do is lie."

The bitch opened her mouth, but didn't say anything. She stayed silent for the rest of the flight. Thank God.

Victoria landed on the roof of the PRT building and dropped Tattletale like a sack of potatoes. As the villain got back on her feet, another Ward came by and helped her. Glory Girl recognized the costume from before. Banshee, if she remembered right. Victoria actually respected that one a little. Apparently, she's one scary badass, even if she does look like a freak.

"You alright?" Banshee asked the villain. "What did she do?"

Tattletale laughed mirthlessly in response. "Called it, didn't I? No good deed goes unpunished. Fucking psycho." She stumbled to the stairwell and disappeared inside.

"What did you do to her?" The hero asked her, sternly. She sounded almost like an angry Photon Mom. Calm, but still terrifying.

"Nothing. Just a little chat."

"Then would you mind telling me why her heart is about to explode? That generally doesn't happen unless you scared her halfway to death."

"I may have…tossed her around a little." Victoria answered somewhat apologetically. "She had it coming. Shit that bitch was saying about my sister…"

Suddenly, the background noise of the city disappeared. Before Glory Girl could get her bearings, Banshee stormed towards her. "'That bitch' was trying to help you. Your sister has a problem and she's trying to fix it. Least you can do is hear her out."

"Yeah, right. Like you can trust anything that comes out of a villain's mouth." Glory Girl replied. "You know she's a villain, right?"

"Of course I do. I'm the one who arrested her."

"Then you know that she's a lying scum…"

"She wasn't lying." Banshee interrupted, her voice never wavering. "I can hear some bodily functions. I can tell when people are lying or faking something. When Insight told me your sister has feelings for you and that your aura was the cause, she was telling the truth."

"Amy doesn't have feelings for me. That's crazy." It had to be. Someone falling in love with their own sister? Ridiculous!

"And if it isn't?"

"She's immune to my power, you idiot. She's also my sister. She can't fall in love with me, it's like impossible."

"Is it? How do you know?" Banshee just didn't know when to quit.

"Because my aura doesn't affect her when I use it. Duh."

"An alcoholic can drink a lot more than a normal person can. Doesn't mean that beer's suddenly good for them."

"That's completely different." Glory Girl snapped back. She did not like the comparison.

"Is anyone else immune to your power?" Banshee immediately continued. "What about your parents? What about Gallant? They spend lots of time around you. Are they immune too?"

"Well, no, but…"

"So basically, your sister's mental health depends on her being the only person on the planet that's completely unaffected by your aura, for no reason other than because you two think she is. Are you willing to bet her life on that?"

"What the hell are you implying?" Victoria snarled. Hero or not, she was getting dangerously close to beating that little shit's head inside out. Nobody talked about her sister like that.

"Just the truth. Panacea is extremely dangerous. If she loses her mind, she has the potential of becoming a S-class threat. If that happens, we're all in serious danger. However, Insight still thinks we can prevent that from happening and I really want to believe her."

"Well, don't. She's a villain and…"

"She was recruited at gun point. She couldn't go to the Wards because they'd have to send her back to her abusive parents." Banshee sighed. Fuck, she really sounded like Photon Mom when she was angry. "The world isn't black and white, Glory Girl. Insight is not a monster and just because she's the one to tell you this, doesn't make it any less true."

"So, I'm just supposed to believe her, then?"

"Look at it this way." Banshee calmly stated. "If we're wrong, you and Panacea can have a big laugh about this. If we're not, you can save yourself and your sister a lot of grief further down the road. What do you have to lose?"

Victoria huffed. There's no point in even asking because she already knew the answer. At any rate, these two idiots weren't going to see reason. She simply flew off without a word and headed back home.

Seriously, Amy in love with her? What the hell were they thinking?

And yet, a traitorous part of her mind whispered, it would explain much. Amy Dallon wasn't a happy person by any stretch of the imagination. Victoria would never say it in public, but her sister did act weird around Dean. She'd always assumed that it was because Amy was jealous of her, but what if it was the other way around? It wasn't that far-fetched…

No. No, it was. Amy was her sister and nothing else.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to ask, right?

Victoria sighed. Banshee had a point there. Fuck it, she thought. She was going to ask Amy if she had an incestuous, lesbian crush on her sister. Amy would say 'no', and then Victoria could shove it into those two Wards' faces. Yeah, that's how it's going to be.

She flew over her house. Mom wasn't home from work yet and Dad was sitting outside, barely acknowledging her existence. One of the bad days, apparently. Still, it meant that she and Amy were more or less alone and that she wouldn't have to answer any embarrassing questions. Always a good thing.

Amy sat in her room, working on another suit. It's nice, seeing her use her power for something other than healing. As selfish as it was, Victoria knew she was burning herself up in that damn hospital. She needed a hobby and this one, while freaky, really helped her unwind.

"Hey Ames." Victoria said, as she flew through an open window.

"Doors, Vicky. They exist for a reason." Her sister sighed back. "Hey to you too."

"Long day?"

Amy just looked at her tiredly. "Armsmaster's a fucking slave-driver. Maybe I should slow down his metabolism, get him to mellow out a little."

"Meh, bad idea." Victoria replied. "Could get into all sorts of trouble, doing that."

"Yeah… Still tempting, though."

Glory Girl sat in silence, watching Amy work. She wondered if she should ask about the whole incest thing. It was just a simple question, really, and she already knew what the answer was going to be. Yet… Should she even ask? Would it do anything other than make things weird for the both of them? Show those two Wards that she actually considered their crack-pot theory? Really, what was the point?

Victoria made her decision. Fuck those two and their lesbian incest bullshit. They're probably just jealous. Fucking creeps.

"Hey, I'll be outside, Ames."

"Okay. Just be back for dinner. Carol said she would be home in fifteen minutes."

"Yes, mother." Victoria quipped back as she took off. See, perfectly normal. Nothing wrong at all. Just two Wards being stupid, that's all.

Oh, and a hundred foot stone wall just rose up around the city, but nothing to worry about.

Then her brain caught up. "Wait, what?"