Amy felt guilty, she knew she should be out thre, helping the next patient, not hiding in a bathroom like a coward while smoking a cigarette.
Still… It was just… She needed a break. Usually, she could work an entire shift without stopping, but having to treat Sarah's drug overdose for the third time in just as many months had affected her.
Most of the time, Amy didn't really care about such things, she had certainly seen enough similar cases to fill a book, but it was still so frustrating. Asking the girl's name the first time they met had been a mistake.
Turning her face upwards, she released the smoke towards the window above her head and sighed. The problem wasn't meeting the girl again, not really, it was the insidious voice in her mind, urging her to DO SOMETHING.
Whenever she healed an addict, Amy got rid of all of a drug's effects, which included the withdrawal, giving the person a chance to start again, that Sarah kept going back meant it was psychological.
Still… It would be easy, a minor change to her brain and she wouldn't even want drugs anymore… and Amy just knew she'd fuck it up, if she gave in, she wouldn't stop at minor changes.
Perhaps she shouldn't treat every symptom, just heal the overdose and leave, at least that way the girl would build some resistance to the substances, she was gonna keep using them anyway.
In the end, she'd just treated the girl and moved on, but the urges hadn't abated, her mind offering her suggestions to not only heal but improve every patient afterward, tougher bones for a guy who got beaten up, changing someone's immune system to better fight a disease... Sometimes, the ideas weren't even improvements, just her curiosity.
It was all so fucked up. She was so fucked up.
Sucking on the cigarette, Amy tried her best to put things out of her mind so she could go back to healing. There were no emergencies in the hospital —she had made sure of that before taking a break— but there were still a lot of people waiting for treatment.
Tired, Amy leaned her head back and briefly closed her eyes, then she heard a loud crack, followed by an unintelligible voice, almost a garble of sounds. Alarmed, her eyes snapped open to see a man floating a few feet in front of her, eyes glowing ominously red with inner light, the door to the bathroom nearly broken off its hinges.
"What the…!" On reflex, she tried to hide her cigarette, only then registering there was a damn shirtless, maskless cape floating in the female bathroom with her.
Ugh, that was just her luck, the one day Vicky said she'd be late and a maniac was gonna kidnap her.
"Please," the man, no, the boy begged, the light fading from his eyes as he took a second to lick his lips, then dropped to the floor and took a step closer. "Please, she needs help."
"Great, it's not a kidnapping, just another request, lucky me," Amy said with a deadpan voice. "I dont do reques…"
Finally, she registered the boy's state and sighed. He was carrying a woman in his arms, his shirt was wrapped around her naked body and she seemed to be covered in bruises, with signs of blood all over her body.
Fuck, she was dealing with a new trigger wasn't she?... Joy.
"Come on," she said, voice soft as she pushed away from the wall and put out her cigarette on the sink before throwing it in the trash. "Let me see her."
Usually, Amy would force him to go through the hospital, but new triggers were still dangerously unstable and she knew just how much damage an Alexandria package could do, she saw Vicky everyday after all.
Damn, she still remembered her own trigger, everyone deserves some sympathy after triggering, especially when he wasn't a villain. Plus, she didn't want to risk him doing anything stupid because he was panicking.
"I… I think she's fading," the boy said, a strange vulnerability in his voice.
With practiced movements, Amy grabbed the girl's leg, sensing the state of her body and hiding a wince. Fuck, she was only 15. After two years working in the Bay, Amy had seen worst —fucking ABB bastards— but that didn't mean things weren't bad.
Most worryingly, the girl had been hit in the head, a lot. Panacea could see she'd slipped into a coma and would need surgery to get rid of the swelling since she didn't dare act on the brain.
She could also see both a corona pollentia and an active gemma inside the girl's brain. It seems she too had triggered as a result of what had happened.
Still, the girl wasn't going to die in the next minute, probably not even the next hour.
"Don't worry, she's not in immediate danger. Do you know her name?"
"Taylor, Taylor Hebert."
"Have you called her parents? Do you have their number?" She asked, trying to keep him calm while guiding the boy away from the bathroom.
"They're dead," the boy said, seeming to gather himself and relax a little now that he knew she wasn't fading. "Mom's been gone for a few years and Dad tried to stop them before they…"
"... Any other relatives we can contact? What's your relationship with her?"
They left the bathroom and Amy saw one of the nurses walking by the corridor, so she motioned for her to come closer. Thankfully, the boy was no longer using any powers, so he was only unmasked to her.
"She's my sister and no, Grandfather passed away a few years ago and he was the last relative."
Great, no responsible adult and it would take hours to get someone from the government involved… You know what, fuck it, she'd deal with any problems later. "Do I have your permission to heal her?"
"Yes, please, yes."
Touching the girl again, Amy started fixing her wounds, getting rid of the swelling from the beating, fixing the broken bones and getting rid of the… seminal fluid still inside and around her legs.
"I know you're still worried, but she's gonna be fine now, don't use any power," she said before turning to the nurse as she arrived. "Get Dr. Hellen, and someone to register her in the hospital too."
A few minutes later, Amy was done healing the girl, releasing her arm and stepping back so the nurses could take her away. Someone had found them a hospital bed but, despite Amy's ability, they'd still have to do a tomography before Dr. Hellen could operate.
Still, she was probably going to make it.
The boy was sitting against the wall, eyes cold as he stared at his sister's body being carried away. They had gotten rid of the shirt he had wrapped around the girl, but someone had found him a spare blue one.
Now that he was no longer panicking, Amy could see just how imposing he was, and she could almost feel the anger radiating off him.
"Is she going to be alright?" He asked without taking his narrowed eyes off of his sister, voice steady once more.
"Yes. I can't do brains, but I can still somewhat sense what's wrong. There's a good chance she's gonna be fine… She may take a few days to wake up, but she's gonna survive."
Finally, the boy turned to her and Amy almost had to take a step back, somehow, she got the impression he had not believed her. For a second, it seemed like he was gonna call her out, scream at her to make his sister better like so many others had done.
This is why she hated interacting with their families.
Then he shook his head, hands squeezing into fists. "Taylor is the only family I've left, she has to make it."
For a full minute, the silence stretched between them. Amy had to get back to work, but he was a new trigger and she had no idea what to do, should she call Carol or the PRT?. Fuck, she wished Vicky was here, her sister may be a little insensitive at times, but she was much better at socializing.
"Did she trigger?" The younger boy finally spoke. "Is she a parahuman now?"
"You don't know?" Great, just great, even more moral questions Amy didn't have an answer for. Should she keep the girl's state from her only remaining brother?
"Nevermind, of course she triggered," the boy shook his head as if that was a foregone conclusion, a finger tapping against the arm of his chair in thought. "Call the PRT, tell them about what happened and to protect her."
"... Are you sure?"
"I don't know why the Empire did this," the boy said, getting up and adjusting his shirt. "I suspect it was because they found out about me, but I don't care anymore, I'll just make sure it can never happen again. Still, I need someone to look after her."
So he hadn't triggered because of what happened? But she hadn't heard of any other flying capes in the city… Widening her eyes, Amy realized the boy was going to make a mistake after all. Grabbing his arm, she yelled. "Wait!"
As always, she expected skin contact to allow her power to spread through his body, giving her a clear view of his biology. Instead, there seemed to be something blocking her.
No, it wasn't blocking her, Amy realized with surprise, it was simply that she couldn't understand what she was seeing… What?
Almost as if they had a will of their own, both her hands grabbed him and, for the first time in months, she actively used her power for something other than healing, she just couldn't help herself. What was he!?
For a couple of seconds, Amy actually lost track of what she was doing, fascinated by the feel of his body.
What was she doing?
Releasing his arm as if it had burned her, she stumbled away from him, eyes wide with fear at the realization of how much control she had lost, her power acting almost by itself.
Fuck, What was she doing!
"Tell them to take care of her, since she's a cape, they should at least pay some attention."
Before Amy could say anything else, he turned into a blur, moving as fast as Velocity, the wind blowing away her hood and forcing her to shield her eyes with a hand.
… Wonderful.
.
.
—---
.
.
Danny floated above the hospital, far enough that nobody could see him. Night had already fallen and it had started raining, dark clouds releasing a torrent of water down on the city, lightning striking at random intervals.
Eyes glowing red with barely contained rage, he watched Taylor's operation until he heard Armsmaster and Miss Militia reaching the hospital. He had trusted Panacea to call the PRT, but hadn't dared leave before they had arrived.
It had also given the Empire time to find out about what had happened, but Danny couldn't care less about that, maybe it would even make things easier if the capes all gathered to talk about it.
Handing Taylor over to the PRT was a risk, but he needed someone watching her while he dealt with the Empire and he was certain they could keep her safe for a day. Plus, he knew they couldn't stop him whenever he wanted to take her back.
Coil and the other gangs were still a threat, particularly because of how many spies they had inside the PRT, but Danny had enough of waiting, of hoping for the best… of letting them dictate terms and plan things from the shadows.
No, he wouldn't play their sick game of cops and robbers where the villains were always at an advantage. Instead, he'd eliminate them all before they could act again, make them regret even thinking about hurting his family, or anyone else for that matter, only then could he be certain Taylor would be safe.
Yes, even Coil wouldn't be capable of escaping his senses, not if he stayed in the city and the man's power was only dangerous if given time to plot.
As he told Panacea, Danny suspected the Empire had found out about him and decided to 'punish' the black super, but it was also possible the attack had nothing to do with him, perhaps his Father had defied them instead?
Heck, it could have even been the damn snake manipulating things from the shadows, the mastermind Villain was certainly the one most likely to benefit from pitting Danny against the Empire but, if that was the case, he'd come to regret it.
It did not matter, soon Danny would wipe them all out anyway… no matter who got in his way.
Turning away from the hospital, the Kryptonian accelerated his thoughts and moved, flying straight towards Medhall.
Despite knowing about Worm from his previous life, he hadn't even seen Max Anders until three years ago. The current CEO of Medhall corporation and Leader of the Empire was not a very public person.
Then he had met Theo at a mall and that had changed. Hearing the boy's name had been a coincidence, approaching him and trying to become friends later had been pure spite.
Unlike his father, Theo Anders wasn't a neo-nazi and, in fact, after getting to know him, was actually a great guy, far sharper than he looked too. They ended up getting along surprisingly well and, years later, Theo was probably his best friend.
Yes, Danny had only started interacting with Theo because it amused him to know Kaiser's son was friends with what he believed was an African American, but Theo only started interacting with him as a way of rebelling against his upbringing anyway, so it was fine.
Heck, Danny had even spent time with Aster when Theo was on babysitting duty… Not that Kaiser knew about it, Purity's conflicted look when she found out was amusing enough, there was no need to make things harder for Theo by rubbing it in his Father's face.
In hindsight, approaching the guy had been stupid, a completely unnecessary risk and maybe what had made the Empire act against him… but then why go after Danny Senior first?
A few miles from the Medhall building, Danny stopped and ran a hand through his wet hair, getting his dreadlocks out of his face. The rain was already starting to slow down, but the lightning strikes still happened, one even hitting the top of the building.
Activating his X-Ray vision, Danny looked through the walls to see into Kaiser's office. He wasn't there.
That was inconvenient, but not by much. Flying up so he could get a good look at the entire city, he briefly turned towards the warehouse he found Taylor in, but that too was empty.
"Found you," Danny whispered, a vicious smile on his face when he finally turned towards Kaiser's house.
After only a few seconds, he arrived above the luxurious villa, a large, two storey mansion with perfectly kept lawn. Kaiser was behind the desk in his home office, Krieg at his side with both Frenja and Menja sitting by themselves at a sofa, none of them were wearing their costumes.
"Any signs of Stormtiger's killer?" Asked the Neo-Nazi leader.
"No, Hookwolf and Victor are looking at things, but the murderer didn't seem to leave any clues," Krieg answered, checking for things on his phone.
"What about the girl? Could she have done it?"
"Unlikely," Krieg shook his head. "She could have triggered, but that would only disable Stormtiger, not the others in the warehouse, and Victor said the hole in the ceiling was from someone coming in, not leaving."
"Hmm, so she was rescued… Send someone to search the nearby hospitals," Kaiser tapped a finger against his desk, then pressed a button. "Send, her in."
Danny frowned, he had been so focused on Kaiser he hadn't bothered looking at the entire house. A second later, a brunette man opened the door and let Purity walk into the room.
Such a pity, Danny had hoped she wouldn't rejoin the Empire, after interacting with her a little, she seemed less prejudiced than in canon.
"Max," Purity nodded, then frowned as she looked at the twins. "Do they need to be here? I thought this was supposed to be a private talk?"
"Kayden, it's unfortunate but someone has just murdered Stormtiger and they ARE my bodyguards."
Murdered… Murdered! Danny had heard enough, taking a second to look through the house and make sure there weren't any surprises, he let himself drop, then accelerated, a sonic boom displacing the clouds for a mile around the place.
He hit the house like a hammer from God, passing through the first floor at nearly 1000 miles per hour, pulverizing the roof tiles and brick floor before hitting Menja knee first with such force he crushed her.
Almost in slow motion, Danny saw her legs cracking, the bones breaking through her skin, then her back hit the ground, spine breaking in several pieces and her ribs pressing against her chest until even the organs were crushed.
Blood flew out of her mouth, spraying for quite a few feet and hitting her sister before the damage caused her head to just… pop off. Then the shockwave hit, sending Fenja flying away and releasing a wave of destruction through the entire house.
Every parahuman lost their balance, the wave of broken floor and debris throwing them off their feet and towards the wall. Even midair, metal plates started wrapping around Kaiser's body, years of being a cape making him react in time to save him, he still got smashed through the wall, but without breaking any bones.
Purity too managed to activate her breaker state, glowing impossibly bright even as her body broke through a different wall, but both the man who opened the door for her and Fenja couldn't react on time, their bodies bouncing against the destroyed floor and flying through the building.
Only Krieg remained standing, and even he barely did so, stumbling more than ten steps back as his power desperately worked to disperse the kinetic energy coming his way, the space around him the only place in the house that wasn't completely destroyed.
Getting up, Danny flicked some blood off his hands and looked at the destruction around. Without holding back, every wall, every person felt like they were made from glass.
"So, you're the one who killed Stormtiger, you're gonna regret coming here," Krieg said with a controlled voice.
Grabbing a large piece of metal that was sticking out of the wall to his left, the Empire lieutenant swung the weapon around and released it, the heavy debris flying much faster than it should at Danny's head. At the same time, Krieg started retreating towards where Kaiser had flown, using the attack as a distraction to reach his master.
With a snort, Danny just batted the projectile aside with the back of his hand and started walking. Before he took his first step, countless steel blades and spears sprouted from every surface around him, an entire support beam growing from the ceiling, aimed straight for the top of his head.
The entire house seemed to come alive, a wave of sharp steel attempting to envelop him and crush his body from all sides. Danny ignored it, not even slowing down as the metal hit his body and failed to so much as scratch his hair.
With a torturous metallic scream, he walked through the solid, meter thick wave of metal as if it was air, the material just bending around his muscles.
"Menja!" came a loud voice from behind him, the surviving twin finally realizing what had happened. "I'll kill you!"
With another deafening crack, a hand larger than Danny's body broke through a wall and wrapped around him. He took another step, but actually found some resistance, Fenja's fingers growing far more resistant than even her size suggested.
Still, it only meant that, instead of breaking her hold, he dragged her entire body with him as he took a second step, her enlarged face pressing against the wall and breaking through, a large wooden splinter entering her eye.
The giantess screamed from pain, but she didn't release him, squeezing tighter until he could actually feel some pressure… a minimal amount, to be sure, but there was a reason that, at full size, the twins could survive blows from Leviathan in canon.
"Enough," Danny snarled, glowing red eyes intensifying before he released his heat vision, twin beams of fire burning through flesh and amputating her digits while he continued walking.
From the door, four spectral knights appeared, fading through the walls and debris before charging at him. So the man who had led Purity inside was Crusader… good to know.
He briefly glanced at the ghostly figures, considering trying to break them, but shard's were tricky and he didn't know if the projections could actually ignore his resistance like they did physical matter.
Instead, he just grabbed Fenja by the remains of her enlarged hand and threw her towards where he could see the cape coordinating his attack, her three storey tall body breaking through the walls with the speed of a racing car.
A few centimeters before the ghostly knights would reach him, the Giantess' body hit Crusader, completely crushing him and continuing on through a second wall, then out of the house, digging a wide trench on the front lawn until it lost momentum.
As Crusader died, his projections immediately flickered out, disappearing forever from the planet.
Accelerated again, Danny blasted through Kaiser's office and into the adjacent TV room in a straight line towards Krieg. The cape's power tried to slow him down, and it did to a certain extent, but not enough to matter.
Not even a second later, his hand pierced through Krieg's bely and came out from his back, destroying his spine on the way. Lifting the man up by his wound, Danny stared with satisfaction at the face of pain, blood dripping through Kireg's clenched teeth.
Surprisingly, the parahuman still had enough fight left in him to grab Danny's arm and try to hold him in place, a metallic nail sprouting from his fancy shirt aimed straight at Danny's right eye.
Unfortunately, the tip of the blade only managed to make him blink, as if a speck of dust had gotten into his eyes, not a foot long weapon.
Throwing the cape aside, Danny left Krieg to agonize while bleeding out and turned towards Kaiser.
"Who are you?" The Empire leader gritted between his teeth, actually making Danny consider his answer.
"Hmmm… I suppose you can call me Overman," Danny answered, tilting his head sideways. "The literal translation for Übermensch. As someone with dark skin, I find it amusing to use your own ultimate goal as my name… No, actually, I don't think most of you idiots would even get the reference, just call me Superior Man, it will make things clearer."
Suddenly, two curved beams of energy almost as wide as he was tall blasted through a wall, hitting him in the forehead and hip with such strength he was actually forced to take a step back and even damaging his pants.
Lifting a hand, he blocked the beam aimed at his head and saw Kaiser had already turned around, taking the brief moment of distraction to flee, but he was only as fast as a normal human.
With another blast of heat vision, Danny melted the metallic armor on the man's legs, the molten slag clinging directly to his flesh. He tried to take another step, but his limbs lost all strength and he fell face first, screaming from the pain.
Purity came flying into the living room, her form glowing brightly like burning phosphorus, a hand lifted to blast him again. "... Danny?"
"Hello Kaiden," he answered while kneeling beside Kaiser. "A shame to see you back here, I had thought you had gotten better."
"What? I…" For a second, Purity seemed stunned at his presence, but then she managed to gather herself. "Danny, release him, you've done enough!"
"No."
With one hand, he grabbed Kaiser by the back of the armor and lifted the man, the melted steel still causing him tremendous pain.
Purity actually shot him again, a smaller blast this time, aimed straight at his arm holding Kaiser up. With lightning fast reflexes, Danny twisted his wrist, using Kaiser's own body to block the attack, his metal chest plate bending from the impact.
Then he flashed forward, free hand snatching Purity by the neck before she could react and squeezing. "Kayden, I won't kill you. Right now I want to, I really want to, but I owe Theo at least that much. Still, hit me again and I'll start breaking things."
Purity didn't answer, or better yet, she couldn't with his hand around her throat, but if he wasn't gonna kill her, he'd at least make sure she'd see exactly what the Empire did.
No more believing their cause just even if the means were unpleasant, no more turning a blind eye to the horrors the gang practiced, she'd learn the full extent of their depravity… Until she couldn't look at her daughter without feeling shame.
Squeezing a little harder, he forced the Villainess to pass out, then put her body over his shoulder and turned back to Kaiser. "As for you… You're gonna tell me exactly why you ordered Stormtiger to kill my Father and violate my Sister, then you're gonna die."
With a wide blast of heat vision, Danny set fire to the house, then flew up, making sure to grab the steel support beam Kaiser had tried to hit him with before flying out of the house.
Outside, the rain was nearly over, one last thunderbolt cracking in the sky and dispersing amongst the clouds. In the lawn, Fenja had just started to recover, shaking her head to regain her bearings after getting thrown with such strength.
Adjusting his hold, Danny threw the support beam with all his strength, the projectile piercing through the woman's heart and pinning her to the floor like a grotesque butterfly.
In the distance, he could hear the sound of police coming, as well as dozens of neighbors calling the PRT after seeing Fenja's body. With one last look at the burning house to make sure Krieg was still inside, he flew away, leaving the Nazi to burn alive in the remains.
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