2/26/20211 - Late Morning - Amy

For once, Carol and Amy shared the same opinion, evident in their glares at Victor leaving the room the PRT gave for New Wave's use.

Now, normally, whenever Amy had to heal a Nazi, she healed just enough to make sure they didn't die during within police custody.

However, with the Endbringer Truce, in exchange for New Wave not attending the Endbringer fights, they offered to heal or give a touch-up to anyone that were willing to join the fight. Unfortunately, that extended to the racists as well, so long as they went to fight.

Amy really hated doing it, but for the sake of the Truce, she had to do it. Otherwise, Purity and Hookwolf would raise a fuss. Well, technically, only Hookwolf had a leg to stand on. From what she could tell, Purity's side of the Empire didn't send anyone over to help against the Endbringer.

"The Chosen abides by the truce and offers assistance as proof that we are the true inheritor of Kaiser's Empire," Victor said with a scoff when she asked why he was here.

Looks like it was official: Empire 88 truly broke into The Pure, led by Purity, and The Chosen, led by Hookwolf.

Amy shifted in her chair before asking, "Carol, can I-"

"The answer is no."

Amy sighed. She wanted to ask if she could go to the Endbringer fight, but Carol always said no. In all honesty, Amy wasn't sure if it was fine for her to stay in Brockton Bay during Endbringer fights instead of being on the field. She couldn't even go when the Endbringer finally left the area.

She could be out there, healing people. Instead, she was stuck here like some pottery in a Chinese shop.

She needed-

A knock came from the other side of the door.

"This is Dragon, bringing in Joker."

The door opened and Joker waved at Carol and her.

Amy remembered the video where he fought against Purity to Lung, then Gallant and Vista to protect the other villains. He seemed... bigger than life in that video. Strong. Mysterious. Playful. Honorable.

Heroic actions, yet he helped the villains. A Master, yet he targeted only gang members and villains.

She really didn't know how to feel about him.

What she can definitely say is he's a lot younger than she thought he was.

Amy stood up and asked, "Do I have your permission to heal you?"

"Right to it, huh? And yeah, please," he said with a friendly grin, similar to Clockblocker's without the innuendos.

He took off one of his red gloves and held it to her, which she took.

Information...

Information...

Information didn't flow into her head.

Whenever she touched a living organism, she'd have the information about it immediately. Sure, the healing might take time, but the knowledge and understanding is immediate.

If her power isn't feeding her information, then it meant her target had Trump powers. Dean did mention Joker managed to nullify the light on Purity's body, so he probably has some Trump aspect.

"Mind turning off your Trump power?" she asked. "I can't heal you if you have it on."

Joker tilted his head. "What do you mean? I'm not using any of my Pers- my projections. My Trump abilities are tied to my projections. If I'm not using them, then I'm not a Trump."

So, his power-negation is linked to his projections?

"Then what's stopping me from getting information about your body? I can't even try anything with you like this."

"I'm not sure..."

Amy released his hand, and he began flexing it.

"But you definitely..." he murmured.

"'I definitely,' what?" she asked.

"It's nothing, though I have an idea on what's going on."

He stepped back, away from Amy and Carol. One second, he was fine. The next, he erupted in blue flames.

Brandish brought out her swords and jumped in front of Panacea, but strangely, she didn't feel hot at all. The flames didn't seem to emit heat. As quick as the fire came, it dissipated.

Behind his mask, Joker had a sheepish grin. "Sorry about the sudden light show. I should have mentioned something beforehand, but I figured since the fire is just a visual thing, I didn't need to warn you."

Brandish lowered her swords but still kept them in a wary stance. "What did you do, exactly?"

"Turned off my powers," Joker replied. "It should let Panacea use her powers."

He held his hand out to her, and she took it.

Information flooded her mind. She could feel his heightened heartbeat. She could hear his calm breathing. His tightened muscles, controlling whatever bodily function he could. Places where wounds healed over.

She felt his height, his weight, and all other body measurements were familiar, but she couldn't figure out why. She let more information wash over her again, but nothing definite answer came.

Joker coughed, breaking her concentration. "Is everything okay?"

She grunted in confirmation. "You're in perfect health," Panacea said, letting go of his hand. "Did you even need this? Can you heal yourself?"

Joker shrugged. "My power doesn't really tell me precisely what's wrong with my body, but you can. I thought it would be better to have the professional between us check."

"Fine, fine. You're healthy, so get out of here."

"Will do!" Joker said with a wave. He lit up in flames again and left the room.

It wouldn't be long until Dragon came by and announced Strider arrived, and no other capes would need her help. With her duties at the PRT HQ finished, she gave Brockton General a call and asked if anyone needed healing.

"Nope! Joker came by and healed before leaving."

What.

"Yeah," the operator continued. "It looked like he was in a rush for some reason. Anyways, we're all good here, so go have a break!"

She called the other hospitals. The other hospitals responded in a similar way: either Joker healed him on his way here, or they weren't overburdened.

She wanted to scream.

-.-

Omake:

"Right to it, huh? And yeah, please," he said with a friendly grin, similar to Clockblocker's without the innuendos.

He took off one of his red gloves and held it to her, which she took.

Information flooded her mind.

He was...

He had...

"You're a girl?!"

"Huh?" "Huh?"

She was...

"Wow, you are short. How long are the heels in those boots of yours?"

"What are you talking about?"

Bright light appeared, but it wasn't enough to break Amy's concentration. "Joker, are you Mastering her right now?!"

"I swear I'm not doing anything right now! I'd never break the Truce!"

"Joker, stop moving so much. I'm trying to figure out if you need to heal."

"Don't you need to just touch me, and you'll heal me?!"

-.-

Author's Notes:

New chapter. Unfortunately, pretty short chapter. I wanted to do more, like actually have Canberra, but it seemed too big for this chapter, and I wanted to dedicate an entire chapter for it.

From my research with Panacea and EB fights, I didn't get any confirmation that Panacea went to one before Leviathan. I also don't think Brandish would let anyone from New Wave go, especially Panacea. At the same time, it would look really bad if Panacea isn't offering her powers to help in some way for an EB fight. Thus, we get Panacea giving a quick heal + check-up for those going to an EB fight.

Empire 88 is also dead, splitting into 2 groups. With reduced numbers and the actual firepower of the gang split, it's practically dead on its feet.

As for the ABB, Bakuda was recruited around March, which means it hasn't happened yet. I personally don't think Oni Lee can lead a gang, even if it's smaller than with Lung.

As for Joker's anti-Thinker powers, if it's not clear enough with Gallant, Coil, and Panacea, Joker's Phantom Thief form/outfit stops Thinker powers from working. For the most part, it just means they can't get information from him. I unfortunately have something else in mind later down the line for Joker's powers. The hint is in the omake.

I also changed Joker's initial PRT Mover rating from 1 to 5