As the adrenaline in my system faded, the pain had made itself known.

A deep aching soreness spread across the whole of my body. Even parts I didn't know could ache.

In any other situation, I would have just gone back home, taken too much Tylenol, and passed out.

I couldn't leave, though. Carol would be suspicious if I had been around the injured and didn't help. The PRT would be, too, if they got a report like that.

A hero wouldn't leave injured people behind when they could help anyway.

Being here helped assuage any guilt from not having healed them earlier. I still felt empty as I set to work.

The Paramedics hadn't expected to see me, but they wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

All it took was approaching the first injured person, a parent with a dog bite on their leg, for me to slip back into "hospital mode". The setting was different, but the actions were the same. Ask for permission to heal, get permission, assess the wounds, heal the wounds, and move on.

I ignored the thanks I got from each patient, focusing on efficiency. All the injuries were things I could deal with quickly.

Inspect the dog bites for any potentially infectious material, remove it, and then grow the injury back.

Locate all the burn-damaged cells, repair what could be repaired, or break down and recycle what could not.

Return the body to the proper temperature, excise any frozen tissue, and then do what I can to replace any lost tissue with excess mass.

The paramedics quickly organized a field treatment site around me at Babel and then began directing people there, so I had a stream of new patients coming in to replace the ones I'd already healed. Those whom I had already seen were escorted out. It gave me a good view of what kind of damage Uber and Leet had done.

There were roughly fourteen injured people. Luckily, most of them had gotten away with relatively minor injuries. At least one child had a dislocated shoulder alongside their dog bite, and there was a man who had gotten a bad electric shock from one of the power effects. The only thing I was unable to heal was a concussion one woman got. Thankfully, it wasn't too serious.

Trying to hide my exhaustion was itself, exhausting. I didn't give myself the chance to sit down. If I did, I wouldn't have been able to stand back up. I forced myself to keep moving. It was what a hero would do.

Normally, the thought of taking a break would have made me guilty, but I was too tired right now to beat myself up over it.

The emptiness remained.

Finishing up with the last injured civilian, I heard a commotion off to the side. A journalist with the local news had shown up. They were interviewing one of the victims; the man who had been electrocuted.

"I was standin' on top of one of the benches, a dog tryin' to bite my legs, when there was a loud bang! Explosion of sparks an' the dog flopped over twitchin. Guy walked up with a rifle an demanded I give him my wallet." He flipped his pockets out. "I tossed it at him an' ran. Almost got killed when I ran smack into a ball of lightnin'. Shocked me real bad."

"But you seem to have no visible injuries. Was it not as serious as you thought, or…?" The reporter gave him a look over, and the man jabbed his thumb in my direction.

"Panacea over there patched me up, right as rain! Miracle worker, she is." The reporter locked eyes with me.

"Thank you for your time. Panacea!" Giving the man a nod, she hurried over in my direction. She got stopped by a PRT Agent before she could get close.

In the back of my head, I noted she looked a bit like Victoria. If aged up by around five years, and a little taller. I walked over to the burgeoning argument.

"Ma'am, Panacea is busy helping with the wounded." The agent stayed between us, blocking the cameraman's view of me.

"It's fine." He looked back at me and blinked. "That was the last of them."

Part of being a hero was publicity. I usually just handled mine at the hospital. I should make the exhaustion worth it by making this worthwhile.

"Thank you, Panacea!" The reporter shifted into a position to stand beside me, letting us both look into the camera. "I assume you were one of the first responders to the scene, Panacea?"

"No." The lie came easily as I shook my head. "I only arrived here after the shockwave."

"Did you see the shockwave or only hear it from the troopers?"

"I saw it."

"In your experience as a hero, and your account as a first-hand witness, describe what it might have been?"

"Well…" I gave her an exhausted shrug. "Leet was responsible for the attack. Leet's inventions tend to explode. This is just a bigger and weirder explosion than usual."

I waved my hand over towards the nearest visible tree, which had one side coated in ice crystals, the other burned to charcoal.

"That must have been a dangerous invention! You said you were finished healing the victims. How many were there, and was anyone caught in that shockwave?"

"Fourteen injured so far, all healed now, and none were caught in the shockwave." Glancing back over to the park, I tried to imagine what would have happened to someone unprotected. Like Vista. "Thank God."

"They were lucky to have you so close by! Tell me do you think things would have been bad for the victims if you hadn't been here?"

"For the most part, no," I answered without a second thought. "The only injury that would have had lasting repercussions was the electrocuted man you interviewed. All the rest would have recovered, assuming no-"

"Panacea!" A shout tore through the air.

My head snapped up to the source, a pair of paramedics wheeling a gurney to us. It was covered in a sheet, with a large lump underneath.

"I got to go." The reporter didn't try to stop me as I ran over, exhaustion momentarily forgotten.

"Two. Adult woman and male child." The paramedic quickly explained as I came to a stop, staring down at the gurney. The smell of burnt flesh and hair was unmistakable. "They were caught in the shockwave. Managed to find cover, but it's not pretty. They're both unconscious."

"A single tree wouldn't have been enough." I held my breath as they pulled the sheet back.

The two were in the fetal position, the woman wrapped around the boy. His body bore alternating patches of burns and frostbite. His black hair shot out in static spikes.

The woman had it far worse; the back of her shirt had burned away, revealing a mess of zigzagging electrical scars. Most of her hair had burned off, with only one patch on her left side remaining, frozen into a single stiff block.

I found a patch of frostbitten skin on the boy and let his biology fill my mind. The breath I had been holding rushed out all at once.

Jerry. This was Jerry. That meant…

Everything else vanished as I stared down at them.

They hadn't gotten out…

"Panacea!" A yell from right next to me dragged me back to reality.

"Heart's out of rhythm, fixing that. His nervous system's damaged, doing what I can. Repairing the most immediate damage to the circulatory system. Forcing blood flow. "He's suffered an anoxic brain injury."

"He'll live." My hand left his still very injured body. He would. His Mom needed healing.

I put a hand on her leg.

"Forcing her lungs to work. Repairing the circulatory system and restoring blood flow. Cardiac arrest. Forcing the heart to restart. Repairing the nervous system and most immediate surface-level damage. The victim is suffering from anoxic brain injury. Worse than her son. She'll survive."

I pulled my hand back and returned it to Jerry. Pushing what I knew to be his mother's fate out of my head.

Slowly, as my power shifted through the damage done to Jerry, it was undone. Damaged cells were recycled, and what subdermal and visceral fat remained was transformed into muscle and flesh. There wasn't enough for all of it, and I had to cannibalize some of his musculature to ensure there wouldn't be any pain left.

Then I went back to his mother. The damage was worse, but she had more fat to work with. Frozen cells were excised, and fat stores were raided with a focus on repairing the skin and ensuring there wouldn't be any lingering pain. With what she would be going through, she didn't need anything else added to it.

By the time I was done, there were no signs left of the damage. They looked gaunt and malnourished, but they didn't look like a pair of corpses. The color was starting to return to their bodies. What remained was hidden.

"They're both going to need physical therapy." The paramedics nodded and hurried the gurney off towards the ambulances. I watched it go, keeping my eyes on the mother until she disappeared into the crowd. My eyes stared into the space where she had last been, seeing nothing.

The empty feeling yawned like a chasm.

"Hey." A voice at my side made me blink. Slowly turning my head, I found Velocity staring at me.

"Hey." I should have been worried about him connecting the dots. I couldn't bring myself to care.

"Were they people you knew?" His voice was gentle.

"Not really." It was the truth. "Met them at a party once. The park once. One conversation."

"Having a name to go with a face changes things." One of his hands found its way to my shoulder.

"I didn't know her name." It hadn't even occurred to me to ask. "I only knew the kid's name; Jerry."

"You did what you could." He was trying, but I knew he was wrong. There was more I could have done.

"Sure." Shrugging my shoulder, I turned to stare at him. He stepped back. "Do you need me for something?"

"No." His lips tightened into a thin line. "I did a run-through of the park. There was no one else anywhere. The Wards aren't showing any signs of serious injuries. You're free to go."

"Thank you." I turned and left without hesitation.

Past the reporter, who was hurrying towards Velocity. Past the PRT agents, who were setting up a cordon. Past the paramedics, who were packing up. Past the relieved families, who tried to thank me.

Babel's bell chimed as I pushed my way inside. Everyone had cleared out, leaving just the anxious worker behind the counter. She stared at me for a few moments before looking away.

The cocoa that had brought me here was still where I had left it. My hand wrapped around the handle, and I raised it to my lips. In one smooth motion, I drank it, the room-temperature liquid sliding down my throat with greedy gulps.

The empty feeling remained.

Wiping the excess off my lips, I stared out the front window. A figure descended from the sky and landed in front of the cafe. It was Victoria, in full costume.

She looked around before spotting me through the window. The bell chimed again as she hurried inside.

"Amy! Mom said you were over here healing people. Said you didn't respond to her texts." I blinked at that and pulled my phone out. Unlocking it, a single text message stood out clearly.

Carol: (5:53)

Uber and Leet were there? Is the situation safe?

Staring down at it for a few moments, I shrugged. She would be mad, but I couldn't care right now. Vicky watched me turn off my phone and put it away.

"I got distracted with healing. She sent you over?" Her expression grew even more worried and she nodded.

"I was patrolling along the coast. Are you alright?" She took another step towards me, looking me over.

"I'm just tired." The lie came as easy as breathing. "Can we go home?"

"Okay…" It was obvious that she didn't believe me. Concern was written all over her face, but she stepped back.

I sat the mug back down on the counter and followed her out. A small crowd watched as she scooped me up, and then we were off, the ground receding rapidly. The cold winter air stung my face as we flew.

Instead of cuddling up to Victoria, she pulled me closer. I glanced up. Her expression was an odd mixture of concern and determination. I looked away. The city passed in a blur underneath us. In the distance, the sky was turning red with the early winter sunset.

It didn't take us long to reach the house; Vicky didn't hold back speed-wise. We bled that off slowly as we grew closer until she touched down gently in the front yard. She set me down in the driveway, and I didn't hesitate to walk inside. Or, I tried to.

"Wait." Her hand found my wrist and brought me to a stop. Turning back, her expression hadn't changed.

"What?" She must have seen something in mine, as hers only got more determined.

"I… If I mess up again, tell Carol." It took a few moments to realize what exactly she meant. "If I don't tell her myself. I don't want you to let me hide it."

"I'm too tired for this, Vicky." Turning on a heel I started towards the house. "We'll talk about it later."

I could hear her footsteps behind me. I didn't look back.

Carol was waiting for us when we stepped inside, arms crossed and a look of annoyance on her face. It faded somewhat as she saw me.

"You didn't respond to my text." There wasn't any accusation in her tone, just a statement of fact.

"There were people who needed healing. I got distracted." My tone was empty as I walked past her, heading for the stairs.

"What are you doing?" There was something in her tone I didn't recognize. Turning back to look at her, her brow was furrowed, like she was trying to piece something together. Vicky was staring at me with a concerned expression.

"I'm tired, and going to take a nap. Is that fine?" There was no emotion in my tone as I looked at her. A moment passed, and then she nodded.

Without another word, I turned again. Climbing the stairs, I could feel exhaustion pulling me into that empty chasm.

I managed to get to my room. Opened the door and half stumbled through. Closed it behind me. A couple of long steps carried me to my bed. I collapsed forward.

I landed with a thump on the mattress and lay there for a while. Eventually, I managed to gather the energy to roll over. I struggled with my shoes briefly before kicking them off.

I curled up on my bed and closed my eyes tight. The exhaustion didn't stop everything from replaying in my head.

The dam finally broke.

The panic of fighting for my life. The fear of getting discovered. The pride in saving people. The guilt of not saving them all. The anger at what the villains had done. That aching soreness across my entire body.

The fact that I hadn't saved Jerry or his mom from so much pain, past or future.

How close I had come to actually dying.

Everything that I had shoved aside to be Panacea rolled back in.

I bit my lip hard, to keep Carol or Vicky from hearing as I started sobbing.

It was a relief when the exhaustion finally dragged me to sleep.