NOVEL WEB Chapter 436: 2
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Rating:
Explicit
Archive Warning:
Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category:
F/F
Fandom:
Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Relationships:
Other Relationship Tags to Be AddedAmy Dallon | Panacea | Red Queen/Original Female Character(s)
Characters:
Amy Dallon | Panacea | Red QueenVictoria Dallon | Glory Girl | AntaresOriginal Female Character(s)New Wave (Parahumans)Butcher (Parahumans)
Additional Tags:
TranshumanismCanon-Typical ViolenceNazi PunchingMental InstabilityPresentation!Eventual FluffThe slope is steep and well lubricatedTeenagersEventual Descent Into VillainyCanon-Typical Amy ProblemsShaper Pokes Amy With A StickThen Bludgeons Her Over The Head With ItRomanceHold My BeerFluff and AngstSlice of LifealmostLGBTQ ThemesBe gayDo Crime!Unreliable NarratorMagical Girls
Language:
English
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Published:2024-12-10Updated:2025-07-19Words:141,038Chapters:33/?Comments:132Kudos:451Bookmarks:159Hits:29,480
Amelia Fulminate
Kathrine_von_Gilkira_Magnolia
Chapter 2: Þ - Greetings 1.2
Chapter Text
{Test bip, italics, bold, ¹²³}
Þ - Greetings 1.2
ƸÏƷ1.2
(Sunday)
Fuck, her bed was comfy, and warm, and cozy. Amy would kiss whoever invented beds. Morning light streamed in through the window, a racoon skittered out of the backyard, and Amy woke up to the second day of her life.
She laid in bed, staring at the ceiling contentedly, for some time. Once she got bored of the ceiling paint, she started fiddling with her hair. Curls were caused by having follicles that had an ellipse shaped cross section, so by squashing or stretching the hair shafts, Amy could change how curly her hair was. She couldn't change how it would grow in, but she could permanently change the shape of all of her existing hair.
According to her phone, she'd had either 2c hair or 3a hair, but she lightened it to 2b hair, and then messed with the shape until it looked nice. She didn't even have to brush, which she knew was likely an issue for her past self, considering how her hair looked in several photos she'd been shown.
Reluctantly, Amy got out of her bed and made her way downstairs, being in no rush to change into something less comfortable than her pyjamas. It was a bit after ten o'clock, Dad was on the couch, and Mom was… somewhere. Amy found her sister finishing a bowl of cereal in the dining room.
"Hi, Vicky." she greeted, assembling a bowl of her own. Her Shaker ability could be used to feel out anything in its range, which let her not have to fail at looking through cabinets.
"Mornin', Ames. I like your hair." Vicky said as she rinsed her dish.
"Thanks, I like it too." Passively, she read the nutritional facts on the side of the cereal box. "Wow. Why is cereal advertised as breakfast food? Mathematically, it's a midday snack at best." she complained, and decided to make a smaller bowl later as dessert for an actually functional breakfast.
Pausing that, she reached over and poked Vicky. "Why?" the blonde in question asked.
"I was determining if you needed additional sustenance, and you do. Sit back down, I'll make breakfast." She then yelled towards the living room. "HEY DAD! HAVE YOU HAD BREAKFAST YET?"
Vicky spoke up from her chair. "I've had breakfast,"
"You're right, his definition might be equally flawed." Amy replied as she marched off to confront Mark.
He was still in the same chair he was in five minutes ago when Amy'd come downstairs, and the TV was on about some boring weather thing that he wasn't really paying attention to. She poked the back of his head from behind the couch. "Hi, Amy, I've-" he said.
"Dad, the only reason you're not a featherweight is because powers are bullshit. Now sit yourself at the table, or I will sit yourself at the table." she ordered. He dragged his feet a little, but ultimately joined Vicky at the table.
"You know, normally it's me making you breakfast on weekends." he complimented, as Amy used her Shaker field liberally in order to cook a lot faster than the limitations of pans and hands would allow.
"No, I don't know." Both Mark and Vicky winced. "All I know is that neither of you had a proper-" She grabbed a bottle of antidepressants from a cabinet, and lobbed them across the room to her dad. "Breakfast, and I intend to fix that." She trapped the hot air coming off of the stove, further speeding up her cooking speed. A potato was grabbed from a bag that was in the pantry, it was skinned and shredded in a matter of seconds, then sent to join the bacon and eggs in their bubble of continually heating air.
Vicky whispered to Mark as they both watched the spectacle. "That's gotta count as a power assisted level of multi tasking, right?" she asked their dad. Vicky had always been a power nerd, and getting her own set hadn't changed that.
Mark had a lot more practical experience with such things. "You'd be surprised what can be accomplished without one, but considering that she definitely couldn't do this before, I'd guess so." he answered.
Before they knew it plates were flying from their stacks and being layered with food, landing on the table with soft thuds as Amy sat down. She dug into her breakfast with gusto, finishing a little before the other two, despite them having slightly smaller portions. She needed the increased caloric intake if she was going to get into shape.
Amy was by no means unhealthy, but she was obviously the least fit member of New Wave. Not for long, though. After breakfast she went back to her room and began browsing the internet on the computer that was on her desk. There were a thousand different things she had to relearn, and most of them could be answered online. Her school schedule, then classroom numbers, an official map of Arcadia High, the staff directory, social media of all her teachers, and that was all just so that she wouldn't be horribly lost when she went to school on Monday.
At some point in the early afternoon there was a knock on her door. "Yes?" Amy answered, which prompted Vicky to open the door.
"You're still in your pyjamas?" the blonde asked. Amy shrugged, it was as good a time as any. So she stood from her desk and walked to the closet, throwing off her pyjamas into a hamper as she went. "Right. Well, I'm just here to say 'hi'. What've you been up to?"
"Internet," Amy said as she shimmied into a pair of grey pants one leg at a time. "Mostly basic stuff, but I did a few entertainment things as well. How about you?"
"I-" Vicky started.
"Wait, I'm an idiot." Amy said, giving up on using her hands to clasp on her bra. "Goodness, that's so convenient. Sorry, you were saying?" she asked, moving on to picking a shirt.
Vicky shook her head, amused by Amy's jubilation. "I went out for a patrol, but it was pretty uneventful." she answered.
"I would hope so." Amy looked between a white blouse and a plaid button up for a few seconds, before putting on the button up and returning the blouse to her closet. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to get back to my research. You can stay if you want," Amy said, beginning to walk back to her desk.
Vicky held up her phone and took a photo. Amy's steps halted for a moment, confused as to why Vicky would take a photo so randomly.
"Um, why?"
Vicky resisted the urge to snicker. "Oh, no reason. Bye, Ames!" She then left the room, and closed the door behind her.
"Huh, weird," Amy brushed off the feeling, returning to her work.
ƸÏƷ1.2
(Still Sunday)
About an hour after Vicky's visit, Amy left her room for a small and relatively late lunch. But aside from that — and restroom breaks — Amy wasn't interrupted again until late in the evening.
*knock knock knock*
Amy took off her headphones that she'd found earlier. "Yes?"
Her mom entered the room. "We-" And froze for half a second, momentarily confused about Amy's appearance. "Have dinner at the Pelham house soon. So start getting ready, I want to be out the door in ten minutes." She then closed the door, leaving Amy to do whatever it was that was needed to get ready.
Amy put on some boots that she assumed were intended for her costume, then swung by Vicky's room. "Hey, Vicky,"
"Sup, Ames," her sister greeted. "Need somethin'?"
"Yeah. Am I ready? Like physically. Or am I forgetting anything?"
Vicky looked her over. "Nah, but you might want to bring a coat. It'll be in the 50's." For some reason Amy felt like that was a big number, despite simultaneously feeling like it did indeed warrant a coat.
So she went back to her room, grabbed a maroon hoodie, tossed it unzipped over her body, and then returned to Vicky's room. Then, together, they went downstairs and waited by the door for their parents to be read. They didn't have to wait long. Carol was audibly fussing over Mark from across the house, but they managed to get out the door on schedule.
The four of them buckled into the car, and drove off towards a different part of the suburbs. Amy looked out the window. The streets were both unfamiliar and well-known, she could recall their layout, recognise them on sight. But, simultaneously, she'd never seen them before, and couldn't recall where or when she learned what she knew of them. It was an unsettling dichotomy that didn't help with her existing anxiety.
It wasn't a long car ride. They pulled into a driveway that was more blank in Amy's memory than the ones surrounding it. The Pelhams' house was a little bit bigger than the Dallons' was, but still in the same range of upper-middle-class.
Carol knocked at the door but didn't wait for someone to open it, instead opening it herself and then announcing their arrival. Once they were inside, they were met with the Pelhams minus aunt Sarah, who was still in the kitchen. Mom and Dad talked with Amy's giant uncle Neil, while Amy and Vicky were beset by Crystal who was about a year older than them, and Eric who was three years younger.
Their immediate reaction was somewhat offensive. "Wow, Amy, when Mom said you had brain damage I didn't think it would be so visible." Eric said cheerfully, which got him an elbow to his side from Crystal.
"Eric, please be a little more tactful," Crystal said. "But, yeah, you're certainly different." In all honesty, Crystal found her cousin to be nearly unrecognisable. Her clothes and hair were both obviously different, but her body language and facial expressions were even more dissimilar to anything Crystal had seen from her before. It genuinely felt weird knowing that she was looking at Amy.
Amy raised her eyebrows. "Um, yeah, that's why we're having a meeting. It'll be better to catch everyone up to speed in person." she said.
"And we get to do some power testing together after dinner, so that'll be fun!" Vicky added. Speaking of dinner, aunt Sarah called out that it was read, which caused everyone to make their way to the dining room.
Dinner was some sort of butter chicken curry with flatbread that was eaten with the hands, and Amy was absolutely loving it. "Aunt Sarah, this is literally the best thing that I've ever eaten." Amy said, licking her fingers.
Sarah smiled nominally at the complement. The table made small talk until everybody was done eating, and then Carol spoke up. "Alright, let's start with the 'official' part of this meeting. As you all know, a little over a week ago Amy had a stroke whilst volunteering at Brockton Bay Central Hospital and was comatose until yesterday. What is new, and we will be discussing, is the fact that Amy has both manifested additional powers, as well as severe — yet oddly specific — amnesia." She then glanced at Amy.
Amy nodded. "With a few exceptions, I don't remember anything from before my coma. Specifically, I seem to remember more information the less personal it is, or was. So I can remember the layout of the city, but not the layout of Arcadia. Some of the few personal things that I remember are mostly self care routines and passwords." she explained seriously. "It's too weirdly specific to not be parahuman based, and the changes to my power suggest that I had a second trigger, but according to witnesses I just went limp when walking from one patent to the next, which really doesn't line up with or helpfully explain anything."
"Wait, so if you don't remember anything 'personal', does that mean that you don't remember any of us at all?" Crystal asked.
"Yep," Amy answered.
"So do we just feel like a bunch of strangers to you?" Crystal inquired. She found the idea disturbing, unable to imagine what it would be like to not recognise her own family.
Amy frowned. "Kinda? You aren't strangers, I just don't know much about you, though the internet helps. I know that you all see me as family, so my philosophy is to give you the benefit of the doubt and treat all of you the same."
Vicky smiled. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll all be thick as thieves soon enough." And everyone nodded or made an affirmative noise. Amy was thankful to have such a supportive family, even if she was handling everything remarkably well.
Sarah 'hmm'ed. "You mentioned that your power changed?" she asked.
"Yes there have been two noticeable changes. The first is that my biokinesis can be applied through clothes, but that might've just been me sandbagging. The second is that I now have a similar ability but for nonliving matter, in the form of a small Shaker field." She demonstrated the ability by lifting her spoon — the flatbread had been eaten with hands, but spoons had been used to apply curry to the flatbread — and then shaping it into a metallic butterfly. She then made it pretend to fly around, but made sure to not accidentally toss it out of her range. "It's less precise than my Striker ability, but it's still very accurate material manipulation and telekinesis." Amy reformed the abnormally large butterfly back into a spoon.
"I assume that's what you plan on testing? Range, weight, volume, speed, flexibility, etcetera?" uncle Neil listed off, to which Amy nodded.
"Exactly," Amy confirmed.
Eric stood up from the table. "I'll help bring weights outside," he offered, and received a nod from Sarah. His forcefields could move a large number of weights easily if he made a bowl, it didn't have the same weight capacity as Victoria or his dad, but his ability to shape the forcefields meant he could carry more without moving the whole rack.
"Do any of you have, like, some old shoes that are too small now? I need something complex like that to test my ability to reform stuff. Maybe an old phone as well," Amy added to the list of power testing supplies.
It took a dozen minutes but in the end they were all gathered in the backyard with a pile of stuff. The adults were on the porch doing whatever it was that they did when Amy wasn't paying attention, and Crystal was helping Vicky with a tape measure.
"Still six feet and seven inches," Vicky said. They were testing if the radius was different depending on the weight of an object, but so far it was seeming like Ames' power didn't care about 'objects' at all.
Earlier, Amy'd described it as, "— an uncountable number of tiny hands, each with equal reach and power." And that appeared to be a pretty good way of describing what she could do, at least in her own head. The other three had disagreed.
So, in a radius of 79 inches from any point of her body, she could grab and manipulate nonliving matter with extreme precision. She could disassemble a shoelace into its component fibres, tear and then mend said fibres, and then reassemble the shoelace. Amy could also flawlessly cold weld metal, which meant that her power worked on a smaller scale than she currently could manage manually.
When testing her precision on electronics, she found that she could manipulate the circuitry on some devices, but that unlike biology, she was not granted a magical understanding of how an old flip phone worked. She was, however, able to restore its battery and realign some bits in its charging port, so that was interesting.
Her weight limit was approximately 200 pounds, but it was a soft cap that she could stretch if she exerted herself. Once they finished all of the benchmark tests, they moved onto the part that the Dallon sister's had been anticipating the most. The sun was setting, some birds were chirping a few houses down, and the neighbourhood was relaxed as dusk approached.
"Alright, was that the last of them?" Vicky asked once they finished up.
"Uh-huh," Crystal replied.
"Great! Now we get to do the fun part!" Vicky cheered, much to her cousins' confusion. Hadn't they just done the power testing?
Amy grinned. Now that she was more practised with her powers, her grip around herself came much more easily. With a gust of wind for dramatic effect, Amy slowly elevated herself into the air. "Flight practice," Amy said. "It's not real flight like all of you have, but still, flying is flying." she intoned eagerly, doing a controlled twirl as she floated.
Crystal stepped closer, looking her up and down. "Nifty! How does it work?" She was happy that Amy figured out some way to fly. Amy was one of the hardest working capes Crystal knew, it wasn't right that she couldn't relax in the sky like the rest of them.
Amy set her feet back down on the ground. "It works a little bit like Stormtiger's flight, I think. I'm holding the air together in a way that gives it a consistency on the lower end of peanutbutter, and then lifting myself by moving that." she explained.
"Do it again," Eric said. Amy lifted herself again, and then he tried to poke her. "Okay, yeah, weird invisible peanut butter. Can you make your whole area li-" He was cut off as Amy turned the air around them into soft jelly. Which they couldn't breathe through.
Crystal and Eric both struggled to move their arms and both were about to fly their way out of the effect, but Vicky just held her throat in front of Amy, causing her to release the field. "That was a lot more dangerous than I thought it would be. Bet it would make you a pain in the ass to fight." Vicky said, having dealt with Krieg up close before.
Amy shrugged. "Eh, maybe, but it took a lot of focus, so I'd need a lot of training before it's useful. Even the flying would be more efficient if I did large leaps instead. It's a cool trick though."
"Never again will you struggle to reach the top shelf!" Crystal joked, and they all laughed. Amy spent a little bit more time practising her jump idea, but it was getting late and they had school tomorrow.
There was a short discussion with the adults, and it was determined that there would be a press release — as well as a small official announcement over PHO — about Amy's stroke, coma, and memory loss. Eventually, they said their goodbyes, and all of the Pelhams wished Amy the best with her recovery as they left.
The rest of the night was something of a blur. The car ride was short. Amy spent some time outside. She found a spider in the bushes of her backyard, and brought it inside, up into her room. The spider got named Yeminsk. And Amy collapsed into bed. She tried to think of scents that were better than roses, but she was too sleepy to come up with anything good.
That was fine, she'd figure something out eventually. Maybe get Vicky's help, she smelled good, and she was already helping Amy with fashion. Or would be at least.
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