Why had Vicky never told me how good it felt to be a proper hero?
It turned out that question did not actually keep me up all night, as I fell asleep the instant my head hit my pillow. Of course, getting back to the house at three in the morning when you had to be up at six didn't leave you with a lot of time to sleep. To say I did not want to get out of bed would be an understatement. Frankly, I was even more exhausted than I usually was after sneaking out to the hospital. Probably comes from beating people with sticks.
Of course, Vicky, wonderful ooooooh wonderful Vicky, noticed I wasn't up to use the shower after her. Oh I how looooooooved her when she came into my room and physically picked me up and out of the bed. Truly, the world's most wonderful individual… Dammit, I shouldn't have been so sarcastic about that, it's not her fault. She was just making sure I stayed on track and didn't get Carol mad at me. At least the shower woke me up a bit.
Breakfast didn't go as it usually did, mostly because of something I hadn't noticed between the adrenaline of last night and the exhaustion of waking up. As I was getting myself some coffee, Carol spoke up from her usual spot at the table. "Amy, what happened to your arm?"
A quick glance towards my arm revealed a large bruise, red with the edges just starting to turn blue. A moment of panic entered my mind as I tried to recall how that happened, and even more panic when I figured it out. The crowbar I blocked last night, it had hurt. A lot. Apparently for good damn reason, considering it did that much even through a shield! If that had hit me straight, it would have definitely broken my arm!
Dammit, I had to think of something to say. Vicky was out of her seat and standing next to me concerned, and Carol was giving me her suspicious look. The one she gave me any time she thought I'd done something wrong. "I… didn't exactly sleep well. Had a few bad dreams. I think I thrashed a bit at some point last night, probably accidentally hit it against the bed frame or something."
Surprisingly, that actually worked. Carol's face… softened, god that's weird, going from her usual suspicious look to something I couldn't figure out. After that she just nodded her head and returned to reading her paper. Better than expected! Vicky for her part acted like her usual self, rushing to the fridge to grab an ice pack for me. As I pressed the pack against the bruise and hissed as the pain actually became noticeable, I managed to give Vicky an appreciative smile.
After that, breakfast and the rest of the morning passed pretty normally. Except for having to deal with Vicky fussing over wrapping the bruise with a bandage. She dragged me to the bathroom, sitting me down on the toilet as she dug through the cabinet. "Come on, the first aid kit's gotta be in here somewhere…"
"... Vicky, the first aid kits above the sink. Behind the mirror." Blinking a bit, she slowly straightened up and closed the cabinet. Some giggling on my part drew a small glare from her. Grabbing the first aid kit, it didn't take her long to get the roll of bandages out. Reaching out to take them from her, she simply didn't let go as I tried to take them.
"Yeah, no, I'm putting this bandage on you. Sit still for a moment." With those words she just started wrapping my wound.
"You do realize I'm the one who spends all their time in the hospital, right? I know how to wrap a wound." Despite never really ever having to do so, I still knew how to do it. Vicky just looked up at me and gave me this unimpressed look.
"Yeah, sure, go ahead and show me the technique you use to wrap your own arm one handed." That just got a small grumble from me, even as she kept on bandaging it. To be frank I did know how to do that, but it would have been a pain to do… Having Vicky fussing over me was nice as well. Even if she made the bandage too tight the first go around.
After that little fiasco, Vicky and I headed off to school. Well, Vicky flew to school because of some stuff she did beforehand, and I took the bus. Rather than do anything productive, I just let my mind drift back to the events of last night, and that question I asked myself.
The feeling that came from fighting those guys, it was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I'd been in fights before; hell, life threatening situations were nothing new to me, but those didn't compare to what I felt back there. Wait, was the feeling from winning, or beating those guys with a stick? Was it from knowing I had helped someone, or had it been taking my anger out on some random people?
Well not random people, usually I felt guilty if I vented my frustrations at someone random. I really, really did not feel guilty about beating those thugs. Though maybe a bit about enjoying doing it. Okay, so, maybe I enjoyed it so much because I was taking my anger out on people who deserved it? That sounded… better, but not great. Besides, I definitely did feel something warm and fuzzy in my gut at the hug and thanks at the end.
So… the reason I felt the way I did was taking my anger out on people who deserved it. Along just actually helping someone and getting thanked for it. Wait, that didn't explain why I enjoyed helping them so much more than I enjoy helping people at the hospital? The major difference was violence, was I just a violent person? Was Carol right about me, that I just had bad blood or something? Because if I wasn't bad by nature, surely I would enjoy healing people just as much as I enjoyed saving those people? Or was it because it was difficult?
I was dragged out of that particular rabbit hole as we got to school, though frankly not for long. Between the lingering exhaustion and the question in my mind, it was frankly impossible to pay attention in class. It just kept drifting back to the front of my thoughts, the question circling around in my head. Frankly, I couldn't figure out a good answer. Or well, I knew what I wanted the answer to be, but I couldn't convince myself fully that was the answer.
Eventually the lunch bell rang, and I started heading towards the cafeteria. At least, that was until I saw Janice hurrying that way through the hallway. Okay what the hell is she doing at school? She went through a traumatic situation, she should be home recovering! Did she really come all the way here just to tell Vicky about what happened last night? Well there was no way in hell I could do what I usually did and enjoy lunch with Vicky. I didn't want to be around when the story got told. Ugh, dammit.
Grabbing my lunch box from my locker, I slammed the thing shut and stomped off. Cafeteria was off limits, there was no way I'd go unnoticed. Vicky would want to know why I ate alone, but that would at least be after lunch. It could be written off as wanting some quiet to work on homework. Honestly, that would probably be a good use of the time. Wait, I left all my work back at my locker… the odds of being able to focus were low anyway.
Stepping out into the brisk winter air of Arcadia's courtyard, it was times like this I was glad I dressed the way I did. There would be no way I could sit out here if I wasn't wearing a sweater. A gust of wind blew some leaves around as I walked over to a bench set up around an old tree, plopping down with a sigh. This was going to be a very, very quiet lunch. It was at that moment the bruise decided to act up, causing me to wince with pain as I unzipped my lunchbox. Dammit, crowbar guy deserved to get whacked more for what he did.
… Wait, that sort of vindictive thought process is exactly what I'm trying to avoid! Letting out a frustrated groan, my head thumped against the tree behind me as I stared up at the branches above me. Fishing out my sandwich, I took a bite and tried to enjoy the taste of turkey. It was kind of hard, what with the fact that now of all times my arm was starting to act up. Dammit, now you decide to hurt bruise, not when I was stuck in an existential spiral?
My shifted head a bit trying to get comfortable, and I almost choked as I suddenly got a blast of information from the tree behind me. Leaning forward and coughing up a bit of bread, my head swiveled around to glare at the tree behind me. It did not catch on fire or explode, and remained completely indifferent to my anger at it. A hand reached out, my fingers brushed over it and found a gap in its bark, and the flow of information began again. Honestly I was gonna give it the tree version of cancer out of pure spite, but stopped myself.
Dammit, Amy, get a grip! If you keep acting like a spiteful bitch, you're just proving Carol's right about you! Letting out another frustrated groan, the sandwich came back up to my mouth as I distracted myself with the tree's internal makeup. Honestly, why couldn't I be more like a tree? Solid, steady growth to improve myself. Set-backs were completely ignored if they didn't kill you, and I could just keep moving forward…
But no, I couldn't have that in common with a tree. There were other things I had in common with a tree, but not that. We both were made of the same basic materials, but they came out different. Where instead of like any kind of fauna, a tree used its carbon and sugars to form solid cell walls. Where instead of a normal functioning family, my family used its parts to create a dysfunctioning mess! Maybe a better comparison would be a weed among a bed of flowers. Unwelcome and unwanted among all the better plants around them.
A loud ringing sound dragged me away from my thoughts, and I glanced up and around at my surroundings. Lunch was completely eaten, and it only took a second to recognize what exactly was making that noise. The lunch bell. Glancing back down at my hand, I finally noticed I was holding something. In my palm was a ball of wood, about half the size of my palm, and excessively dense. Its coloration was a deep dark red, due to condensing so many of the Red Oak's cells together. A mental twinge was enough to make it start producing a protein on its surface, a smooth white shell forming across its exterior, protecting it from bacteria and the natural oils of my hand. Plus it looked less ominous.
Had I really lost track of time altering a damn chunk of wood? Wait, when did I even get this chunk of wood?! My eyes darted to the tree, my free hand reaching out to feel for any noticeable hollow. There wasn't one, I couldn't even tell that I had done anything to the damn thing. Letting out yet another frustrated groan, I shoved the ball of… it was still technically wood into my pocket, grabbing my lunch box and hurrying back inside. Class wasn't going to wait for my little crisis.
Of course, that didn't mean I paid any more attention in class than I did before lunch. It was just that this time, when I started thinking about whether or not I was a piece of shit human being, I had a distraction — shoving my hand into my pocket, and fiddling with the wooden ball. It was easy to get lost in the cellular structures, messing around with the compounds found within, seeing what I could come up with. There were a few things that came up as useful, at least to me, and instead of taking notes, I mostly was recording these directly down on paper. As well as altering the ball so that the wood wouldn't just die without constant supervision.
It wasn't like this was a living, breathing thing. Well, technically it was living, and breathing, but it was just a hunk of wood at the end of the day. It couldn't reproduce, or really do anything beyond the basic cellular processes required to survive without me. It was as if a tree had a coma… okay that was dark, but the point still stood. It was more just a useful bit of information storage and something to mess around and test stuff with.
Test stuff with... Yeah, test stuff with. That crowbar hurt, and a bullet could kill me easily. If I was going to go out again, I was going to need actual proper armor. Not what essentially amounted to a bunch of wooden planks strapped to me. Especially because that previous armor was frankly put, stupid looking. It was easy to see in my mind's eye, and I did not want to be known as The Acorn. No no, I'd need to make the armor look good. Oh, and come up with a cool name.
There was no question as to whether or not I was going to go back out again. It was happening. Sorry Vicky, but I am sure as hell not gonna sit on the side lines any longer. Even if I was conflicted as to why I enjoyed it, it was just too tantalizing, the rush followed by the warm fuzzy feeling in my gut. Compared to the usual awful day to day, I frankly needed to feel that again. If Vicky found out, she'd insist on doing patrols together. That happens, eventually Carol finds out. Somehow. The last thing I wanted was Carol to find out.
The final bell eventually rang, snapping me out of my train of thought as everyone started to pack up. Glancing at my notes, the majority of the writing was chemical formulas and molecule chains, with a few actual notes mixed in. That might not be bad… if this was chemistry, not history. Letting out a small groan, I closed the notebook and shoved it in with the rest of my stuff. As long as I do my homework I should get whatever we went over.
Stopping quickly by my locker to grab my stuff, I was quickly out in the parking lot amid the rest of the horde of students. Victoria was already waiting for me, standing around talking to some of her friends. It took a moment to notice Janice among them. Dammit, please don't expect me to talk to her about last night. Just say goodbye and get on the bus with me. I want to get back to the house so I can try to take a nap.
Luckily she seemed to get my mental message; as soon as she spotted me she waved. She said a quick couple words to her friends, then split off from them. It was a walk we were familiar with. Vicky almost always walked me to the bus stop, either getting on with me or heading back to school if she had something going on. Today was one of the days she had nothing, so she'd be joining me on the bus.
We both climbed onto the bus, paid our dues and found a seat near the front. Surprisingly she didn't start talking right away. A quick glance her way revealed an expression I knew decently well. A 'I'm trying to figure out how to say something' expression, so this wasn't going to be fun. It was in a hesitant voice that she spoke after a few moments. "So… You weren't in the cafeteria at lunch. Everything alright?"
Okay that was simple to answer. Already had prepared one earlier. "Yeah, I was just doing some homework outside. Figured the quiet would be better for working."
I felt a little guilty as I watched her nod her head slowly in response. It felt like I was hiding a dirty little secret, but it didn't seem like Victoria was entirely buying it. There was still a bit of a concerned look in her eyes, and a few more moments passed before she spoke up again. "Well, okay… If you wanna talk about anything, you know can, right? We're sisters, we can share everything."
The sheer irony of her making that statement almost made me laugh. No, we could not share everything. If I shared everything with her right at that very moment, she'd probably throw me out the window. I'd deserve it too. Hell, I deserved it right now. Seeing her look so concerned in my general direction just made those feelings all the stronger in that moment. Letting out a sigh and looking away, I just nodded my head. "Yeah, I know."
An awkward silence was the only response. She knew I wasn't saying something, but I wasn't going to talk. Just give it some time, and Vicky will change the subject like she always does. Girl cannot handle awkward silences at all. "So… Want to hear something crazy that Janice told me?"
I couldn't help but tense up a bit as she said that, realizing what was coming. Forcing myself to relax, I glanced back up at her with a quirked eyebrow. Just gotta play it cool. "Sure, why not. What happened to Janice?"
"So, Janice and Henry, you know Henry right, her boyfriend? Anyway, Janice and Henry had snuck out last night to 'hang out' as she put it. Henry was escorting her back to her house because it was super late, and they got mugged. One of the three idiots who did it broke Henry's jaw with a baseball bat. Honestly it's a good thing they're in jail…" She trailed off at that, and I could tell just what she was thinking by the expression on her face. Those three got off lucky with me being there, not Vicky.
"Yeesh… Considering we're not on our way to the hospital, I assume something happened?" Don't let her stew, and keep the conversation rolling. Just act natural. It was enough to get her back on track, blinking and nodding.
"Yeah. The three started arguing about how the guy shouldn't have broken his jaw. While they were doing that, a new cape showed up. According to Janice the costume wasn't the greatest, looked like something a newbie would wear. Smooth wooden armor, kinda looked like she was wearing chunks of an acorn. Had a shield and a spiked baton, came out and kicked their asses. Kind of sounds like a tinker of some kind, one that works with wood would be really interesting." The excitement in her voice was evident, and I couldn't help but smile a bit.
"That doesn't explain why I don't have to fix a jaw, Vicky." The comment got her attention and she rapidly nodded her head, a big grin forming on her face.
"Oh, that's arguably the coolest part. After getting the guys restrained, she came over to help Henry. Used some kind of weird wood paste on his jaw, it healed it up completely! Except for his teeth, but better a few false teeth than a wired jaw. Another healer in Brockton Bay besides Othala, one that's hero aligned! Maybe they'll start working at the hospital, lighten your load a bit?"
That comment just got a sigh out of me. If only, Vicky, if only. "Considering they were out running around in armor, I doubt they'll be that interested in spending their days healing."
"I guess… but hey, they'll at least heal some people while stopping crime. Always can use more people on the side of good, and it lightens your load a bit!" Snorting a bit, I nodded my head along with her comment.
"Yeah, definitely good. As long as they don't wind up creating more work for me." It was kind of funny, watching Vicky flinch and glance away guiltily. She knew exactly what she had done wrong, and in this particular case I did NOT feel guilty about bringing it up. Though, considering the events of last night, I understood where she came from better than before. The big difference was I took my anger out in a non-lethal method, where she tended to break people.
"Ahahahaha, yeah, hopefully they don't wind up creating more work for you…" It was hard not to laugh at that response, so I just laughed. She pouted down at me, which just set me off laughing even more. Shaking her head, she stood up, and I noticed the bus wasn't moving. Oh, we were home. Guess I was distracted.
Getting up and following after her, I watched as Victoria flashed the bus driver a smile before getting off. I didn't like the way he grinned back at her after that. His face didn't keep the grin as I fixed him with my dirtiest glare, before stepping off the bus. It was actually a really quick walk back to the house from there, but Vicky stopped on the porch. Meeting her eyes, I saw an apologetic look to them, along with a determined set of her mouth. Oh what now?
"Amy, just… I'm sorry about that double date, I didn't realize how poorly it actually went until Dean literally explained it to my face after lunch. I shouldn't have been pushing so hard. Forgive me?" That was not what I had been expecting. Some stuff suddenly became a lot clearer. Of course she'd make the connections she did, without the whole story. Dean, you are both very helpful and very infuriating at the same time.
Letting out a slightly exasperated sigh, I considered informing her that I wasn't really that upset over the double date… Wait, no, no, I actually kind of was still a bit annoyed about that whole thing. Now that she brought it up again. So I just nodded my head along, stepping forward to wrap my arms around her in a hug. "Yeah, I forgive you. Just cool it with the double dates for a while okay? You know I don't like them."
"I know, I just… I let you, you'd sit in your room literally all day every day when not at school or in the hospital." I grumbled a bit at that, even as she returned the hug. Vicky gave great hugs. "You know it's true, I know it's true, don't try to pretend otherwise. You gotta get out more, live your life a little!"
Letting out a sigh, I nodded my head a bit before breaking off from the hug. "Yeah yeah, I know Vicky, I know. Gotta make friends, can't stay cooped up in my room all the time, we've had this discussion a thousand times before."
"Because you never actually listen or follow through. You nod your head without actually making a committal answer, and only come out if I convince you to go shopping with me or something." I just nodded my head along and started walking towards the door. A groan of frustration followed after me. The funniest thing was, I was going to start going out more often. Just not at the times or in the way she'd ever expected.
Well, once I had a proper costume designed that is.