Orb Weaver: Conseuences, 6

The next morning, I had a… bland breakfast.

I understood all the reasons, hospitals needed to provide for a wide range of dietary needs, while taking into account the possibility of allergies, drug interactions, and taste buds off due to illness or injury…

But I couldn’t help but think and feel some unjustified annoyance over the image of the people of the Bay eating ham, eggs, and—

No. That just made it worse. With that, I started eating.

With only a little grumbling.

After that, was the (supervised) shower, and then a ride in a wheelchair, and I…

Okay, I hated it. I felt like I was back at Winslow, helpless, everyone else controlling me…

And I felt like I was surging against some kind of invisible restraint.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and fought my annoyance down.

I’d seen the sheet, and listened to the doctors.  A week, and I’d be going home. Too long. Far too long.

But there was nothing to be done about it, and I really hated those words.

“Right, now Taylor, you’re going to do some walking, but your hands are going to be on the bars at all times, and I’ll be here if you need a hand.”

It was infuriating,  I didn’t—

And I almost slipped and fell, the strain on my arms painful as I held myself up. Then I stopped, panting.

“Well, that’s better than yesterday!” Dr. Wilkes said. "Don’t try to force through it."

I gave him a flat look.

“I know, it sucks, but in truth, we’ll have you back in school by the end of this week.”

A week. I took a deep breath.

“Fine. Could I ask for some more tablets?”

“You already have—“ Dr. Wilkes stared at me. “You know rest is part of this recovery.”

“And yet, there’s a documented amount of stress when Parahumans cannot use their powers.”

He rolled his eyes. “I also have training in parahuman medicine, young lady, and I find it difficult to believe you are not aware of how much you are overstating that. Kid Win has been able to sit in my office without dismantling things.”  He chuckled. “Though he has been doing much better… thanks to his tutor, I believe.”

Well, something had gone well. But as I continued my miserable exercise, every bit reminding me that I was so far behind where I’d been, the TV set up in the exercise room was telling another story.

“Four parahumans and nearly twenty unpowered gang members were arrested by Velocity and the Wards!”

Not just the Wards. I watched as Glory Girl and Aegis dueled with some kind of large robot or projection, with flashes of light coming from inside the mall. Then there were quick cuts to the interior, showing a bank vault door leaning against a support, with Kid Win directing Madison to pick it up and follow him. Some of the police shied away from her alienesque form, or maybe the fact that she was holding the bank vault door in one hand.

“Kid Win offered to repair the door, but I’m told the bank declined!” The chirpy reporter looked out at the camera. “And this was our first look, well other than the Endbringer fight in Texas of the newest, and somewhat controversial Ward.”

“That’s right, Claire,” her partner said. “That brings us to our next segment, Wards and supervision; is the Protectorate doing its job…”

I shook my head. “I wonder who is paying them?”

“Hm?”  Dr. Wilkes didn’t take his focus away from me.

“They’re not focusing on how effectively the Wards worked, but actually bringing up…” I sighed. “Yes, I know, if it bleeds, it leads.”

"Atlas has a…. Mixed history.” Dr. Wilkes glanced at me, but I kept working. “And because of her status as an open cape, they can probe in a way that would see severe consequences if they did it to someone else.”

“Atlas?”

“Her cape identity. We’ve been briefed on it, and it’s a good idea to get into the habit as quickly as possible.”

“Ah.”

Not just severe consequences from the PRT? I doubt Madison would push back much.  But Atlas… The Titan holding the world up. Interesting.

Not bringing up her action in the Endbringer battle in a mid-day broadcast… That actually made sense. Traditionally, Endbringer reports tended to be focused on later new channels, when it was easier for parents to censor what the kids might see. Not anything official, just… custom for broadcast media… And of course, completely useless given the existence of PHO and other online sources.

The bell dinged, and for a moment, I looked down and wondered if I could push through… but my legs were trembling.

No. It wasn’t as if there was a Nazi I absolutely had to see destroyed with my own eyes.

The next step was exercising my arms and squeezing my hands using a rubber ball. Dr. Wilkes explained that Panacea had taken nutrients and muscles from all over my body rather than focusing on any one part.

I didn’t need him to yell the obvious—it’d been close enough that she had to take that much to repair my body.

The exercise period ended, and I was walked back to my room. I was allowed to walk—with an orderly behind me, wheelchair ready for me to fall into.

I didn’t need it.

Small victories, Taylor.

But I was surprised to see Panacea and Glory Girl waiting for me.

Vicky was wearing…

“Yeah, I’ve decided to abandon the fashion world,” Vicky said, following my gaze to her loose pants. “At least until my leg doesn’t look like a twig anymore. Good news, I can fly in the house until I’m better.”

“Here for the checkup?” Dr. Wilke’s said.

“And, um, some cape stuff.” Vicky tried to sound casual.

Dr. Wilkes nodded. “I’ll wait outside—I expect you can catch The Investigator if she attempts another crusade.”

I rolled my eyes.

“So, are we… alone here?” Vicky asked. “I mean, Thinker advice?”

Not Thinker, just bugs…

“I’d say we’re alone enough for minor secrets,” I said. I hadn’t detected any listening devices, but when Dragon and Armsmaster were involved that didn’t mean much.

“Okay, Mom… is really happy, you know that the Empire’s gone, because well… Fleur.” Vicky said.

“I understand.”

“And I…” Amy took a deep breath. “I figured out how to purge the shit Victor put into Ms. Cho.”

I sat up. “You did? What about the oth—“ I shook my head. “Sorry.”

“I checked the others. It breaks down over time so most of them could start learning again…”

Vicky shook her head. “I was listening to Mom. It’s a mess. Ames is getting called in to see if she can find any residue even after it broke down, and they’re keeping it really quiet…”

“Because if they didn’t, every person in the state who had committed a crime would claim Master influence.” I nodded. “So… she can learn again?”

“Sort of. There’s nothing stopping her. She’s not in that fucking loop.” Amy paused. “I didn’t do anything to her brain!” she quickly said. “Just purged the foreign substance, like you suggested.”

“I see.” And yet you’re very, very… Well why not. We’re dealing with the outcome of one Master, if you could do brains… who is to say you couldn’t do the same as Victor? “She can learn again?”

“Yeah, but…” Amy shook her head. “It’s not quite like a stroke, because the underlying damage, isn’t there. But a lot of her memory, what made her, her is gone. There are other parts that are intact, or sort of, fragments of memory, but… I know it got you really angry, maybe as angry as Orb Weaver, but I’m just telling you. She may get better, but it probably won’t be the Ms. Cho you remember.”

“So he really did succeed in killing her,” I murmured.

“Yeah, but… Vicky, could you give us a minute?”

“Gotcha, confidential medical stuff,” Vicky said. “Mom always said, HIPAA was scarier than any cape. I’ll wait outside.”

I waited until the door closed. “Is this about me?”

“No. It’s… look, can I have your word that you won’t tell anyone?”

I looked at her. “Unless you’re about to confess to planning harm to someone else, or getting ready to commit suicide, yes.”

She stared at me. “Are you planning to change your identity to The Lawyer?”

“I’m too young for the Bar.”

Amy looked at me as if she wasn’t certain how to take that.

“Okay, well, it’s gonna take Ms. Cho a long time to get better, so I…” She glanced around. “I gave her a couple more decades.”

“What?”

“Aging is just a process of slow decay and I—“ I held up my hand, looking around.

“Amy, thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, but… if you want to keep that secret, you should not say it aloud again. Ever. But… will it be obvious?”

“No…it’s not beyond you know, really good genes.”

I didn’t let my relief show.

“I just wanted to tell you, you know, to let you know…”

“That he didn’t win entirely. Thank you, Amy. In repayment… I’ll try not to need your services anymore?”

The look she gave me was flat. “Krewe says you say something like that every time you almost get killed and then…”

“I’ll try to do better.”

Her expression was deeply skeptical. Then she got up and walked to the door. “Your system is doing well. I charged it up, and if you keep eating, you’ll add back enough muscle mass that you should be back in school by Monday. I’ll give you a check on Saturday.”

“Thanks,” I said, as she opened the door, Vicky’s enthusiastic voice coming in, regaling a nurse with talk about a new movie.

Vicky, the one with the energy.

Amy, the grumpy, tired one and…

Immortality.  Across the world, there were men and women with billions of dollars, powerful dictators, facing the fact that all the wealth and power in the world could not purchase them another day of life. Tinker attempts at longevity either didn’t work or came with serious drawbacks.

Fiction was full of someone grimly telling a friend “this is a secret people will kill to keep,” right before spilling the beans to someone who had never kept a secret in their life.

I was better, but this… If any of those ultra-wealthy learned this, Amy would never be able to rest, never be able to stop running.

And she’s grumpy… but how many times has she heard a student crying or trying to keep a calm face in the light of their grandparents’ last visit to the hospital, facing an enemy no man can fight?

Except Amy could.

I lay back in bed and considered one other thing.

Aging wasn’t a disease; aging was a thousand different processes. You couldn’t cure it by just killing some bacteria. Changing the aging process involved something far more in-depth than most parahuman healing powers.

And Amy was very, very loud in the idea that she couldn’t or wouldn’t fix brains…

Panacea, just what kind of power do you have… and what kind of burden is it?

Nothing answered my mental question.