61

Exodus 2

Despite our plans, we did hang around in Manchester for a short while. For one thing, neither of us knew which direction we had to go to chase the Nine. We would have to wait until either my bot expansion caught up with them, or we heard about sightings through the news. In the meantime, we both would feel guilty if we just sat around waiting when there were tons of injured people everywhere.

We didn't make any big announcement that we were back, though. We headed back towards the children's hospital, where I knew we could get samples of Bonesaw's bacteria. We stopped by to heal anyone we came across along the way and moved on as soon as they were well enough to get themselves to safety. We guessed that word would get around eventually.

Amy didn't seem particularly excited about returning to her role. Not that she wanted people dead or anything, but she had gone almost robotic when she healed people, putting on the same tired face I used to see at the hospital, saying the same repeated disclaimers and permission lines thoughtlessly. It was like she was already at the end of a sixteen-hour shift. I couldn't blame her for that.

The children's hospital was gruesome. Even though Bonesaw had quickly fled the building after I dealt with the Siberian, she had left behind plenty of damage. Too many people, including children, were dead, their bodies harvested for the killer's experiments. The few who had been dying on our first arrival were now dead. By the time we arrived there wasn't anyone to save, only bodies to be buried.

I decided to spare Amy the guilt of seeing the bodies inside. The outside of the hospital was gruesome enough. My bots alone were enough to find containers that had more concentrated samples of the bacteria and brought them out to us.

Somehow, Amy seemed more excited to dip her fingers into jars full of bacteria than healing people. I would have called it reckless if I didn't know she could kill bacteria on a whim. I guess she just wanted the change in routine.

"So this is what Bonesaw was using against you?" she asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "I already have a counter against both the enzyme and the bacteria itself," I told her.

"Let's see what you can do."

I used my bots to kill off some of the bacteria on her hand. Amy had her eyes closed, focusing on the microscopic action occurring at her fingertips. She nodded. "Yeah, I can do better."

Instantly, some of the bacteria changed. In fact, she had made a dozen variants, and my bots were suddenly fighting a hard fight again, albeit in different ways.

"Okay, give me an hour or so and we can have a rematch," I said. I was already getting ideas of what to change, and where the newfound weakpoints were.

Amy actually smiled for once. "You know, this is kind of fun."

Vicky just stared at the two of us. "What the hell kind of game are you two playing?" she asked. I suppose, to an outside observer, it just looked like we both closed our eyes and maybe had a game of telepathic rock-paper-scissors or something.

"Bots and Bacteria, it's all the rage these days," I answered. Amy snorted as she suppressed a laugh.

"Okay, whatever. So which way are we going?" she asked. "It's kind of morbid hanging out here in front of a hospital with dead people on the outside…"

I still didn't have a precise direction, but at least I knew the general direction they had gone. Mainly from the lack of bots – Bonesaw was still destroying mine, while my clone had clearly nabbed whatever she could as they fled. There was a clear, bot-less path heading westwards all the way outside my range.

"Somewhere roughly that way," I said. I formed a copy of Abyssal and Roamer for us to ride. "We might as well get going."

"We're going to need better road trip games than whatever the two of you are playing at," Vicky griped.

We tried to set off, but our pace was slowed quite a lot because word of our location had been spreading, and people were coming to us for help. We couldn't turn people down, so our progress was slow and gradual.

Leaving everyone and everything behind was less difficult than I thought it would have been. I guess it had already been a few months since we lived in Brockton Bay proper. That city was an unsalvageable mess. It was home for us, yet if we went back I knew there was nothing familiar remaining.

Regardless of how much hero work we did, Brockton Bay was a forsaken city. Sure, it wasn't walled off like the ones hit by the Simurgh, but it may as well have been. With a crumbling economy to begin with, then hit by Leviathan and the Slaughterhouse Nine within a week, people considered the place cursed. Nearly anyone who hadn't died had fled town. No company would invest the money and time to repair the damaged buildings. No infrastructure, no jobs, no money, no economy – Brockton Bay's downward spiral was now accelerated to an inescapable black hole. Even cleaning up the junk and healing the wounded was just sweeping things under the rug.

With New Wave whittled down to just the Pelhams and us, we didn't know what would happen to the team. We weren't even sure if we wanted to retain the New Wave label while we chased the Nine. Our shared home in Concord had been ransacked by Bonesaw, and I wasn't sure if they even wanted to stay there. We never had enough time to properly settle into Concord for it to feel like home. Crystal might just go back to college and live on campus. I couldn't see Mrs. Pelham be okay with her taking on even more danger after barely surviving this ordeal. Eric would undoubtedly be sent back to school.

We were, on the emotional level, homeless. It really wasn't a difficult step to make it a physical reality. At least we didn't need that many supplies. My bots could substitute for many things, including transportation, shelter, water filtration, clothing, and so on.

Therefore, I didn't hold back when it came to replenishing my bots. Much of all three cities was just scrap. I spared enough bots to help perform basic medical treatment to everyone within my range, but aside from that I was converting anything that nobody would miss into new bots.

There was always the problem of getting the bots where I actually needed them. We were heading west, chasing down psychos who were deliberately avoiding my range of control. The majority of my bot production was out east, so I'd have to move a large bulk of them physically. Abyssal, Roamer, and bulk-movement methods were actually the fastest, so I put him to good use while he moved and deposited bots.

Abyssal did some search and rescue while passing through, shedding spare bots for first aid when I found someone. I also used him to signal to other heroes and paramedics along the way. Despite my former coverage of the area, there was a lot of new space for me to search. I had tried to respect peoples' privacy, as well as laws against trespassing, prior to Leviathan. Now, all bets were off. I had to search every nook and cranny for survivors. And, while it was unlikely, maybe a Slaughterhouse member was still hiding in someone's basement.

Of course, with Abyssal active, people who knew about him would be asking questions. When the Pelhams saw him walking around, they would know that I wasn't dead, just a runaway. Dragon knew as well, and she was already landing her normal electronic drones with relief supplies. Much of her supplies were actually technical equipment, including lighting, power generation, cellular and internet networking equipment.

I also knew that with communications restored soon, people would be asking a lot of questions. And Dragon would be fielding a lot of them herself. It would be best if I spoke to her directly before rumours and speculation took hold. Or someone sent her after us on a search and retrieval mission.

One of my Abyssals approached one of Dragon's drones after she had finished dispensing her payload. "Abyssal. Good to see you. Shall we walk and talk?" she asked. I gave a nod in response. Our respective remote puppets walked away from the crowds for some privacy.

"It's good to see you're still alive. Where are you? When I lost contact with my transport ship, I feared the worst…" Dragon started.

"We're OK. Amy is with me," I informed her.

"You know, I thought it was strange that you weren't in the area. Normally the two of you would be taking care of the healing until we had to pry you from stretchers and force you to get some rest," Dragon pointed out.

I knew she was implying some kind of threat or possibly Mastering. Lying would only raise more red flags. "Slaughterhouse have a clone of me."

I hoped she would figure out the implications herself. Of course, Lisa was faster. "Wait, you got cloned? Did Panacea?" her voice came through Dragon's drone. She actually sounded scared.

"No. Just me."

"Alright, it looks like we only have one brooding class S emergency to worry about," she muttered.

"I'm working on it."

Lisa and Dragon must have discussed things off-mic for a bit, because they were silent for a short while before talking again. "So, by 'working on it,' you mean you're chasing after her?" Dragon asked.

"Don't answer that!" Lisa quickly interrupted. "The clone of you… is it evil? Is it an evil clone?" Lisa asked.

I nodded.

I nodded again.

"At least that explains all the patients that got slurrified," Lisa said quietly.

"I can't condone chasing after the Slaughterhouse Nine. Nearly a hundred would-be heroes have tried hunting them and failed," Dragon said.

"She's not, though. She's simply retaking control of some rogue nanobots," Lisa said, half-jokingly.

"Who else, though?" I asked.

"And that's the point," Lisa said. "Nobody else could catch up to the exponential growth of an evil Taylor than a good Taylor."

"Perhaps I can refine the Nanothorn design," Dragon said. "Mass produce them and eliminate any bots that are under control of your clone. You don't have to risk yourself in this."

"Evolving design. You can help." I suggested.

"I still can't condone this," Dragon said. "You're underage, and runaways. The law doesn't look kindly on that, no matter the parahuman powers at play. Everyone from CPS to the Youth Guard will be trying to stop you for your own good."

"Will you?" I asked.

Dragon gave another sigh. "There's no good way to present this to the media. If I let you go chase after the Nine, I'm essentially condoning suicide. If I help you, it'll look like I'm recruiting child soldiers. The best I can do is try to convince you otherwise and find an alternate solution. Even if that includes firebombing a few square miles."

"Please don't try to stop us," I asked as politely as I could.

"They haven't actually said they were chasing after the Slaughterhouse Nine," Lisa pointed out. "We'll have to play the plausible deniability card. So… can you give me a better reason why you're heading west?"

Topic: Announcing the New Wave cross-country healing tour!

In: Capes ► Cape Meetings and Gatherings ► USA

►Trapped_in_the_Lair (Verified Cape)

Posted on 5 Sep 2011:

Greetings to everyone on PHO! This is Princess reporting from Dragon's lair. As most of you have already heard, the Slaughterhouse Nine recently made their boldest attack yet, hitting three cities in New Hampshire simultaneously before escaping. Dragon herself lost a whole lot of her remote drones in the process, and our good friends at New Wave were struck particularly hard.

New Wave's resident healers, Panacea and Eunoia, were personally targeted by the Nine, but thankfully both of them survived. However, some other members of their team didn't do so well. Nevertheless, the two of them remain committed to making the world a better place and trying to ease others of the pain and suffering that they have experienced themselves.

Thus, they are going on a road trip, bringing healing services to areas that have been devastated by the Slaughterhouse Nine and other villains. Dragon has decided to volunteer some vehicles and drones for transportation, protection, and support services. The services will be free, but donations to New Wave, Red Cross, or the S9 Victim Relief Funds are welcome.

As usual, remember that people will be seen depending on the severity of their illness. If all you got is a papercut, don't expect to get anything more than an autograph. And even autographs might be limited because that might cut into healing time.

For those of you who haven't heard of Panacea and Eunoia, here's a list of what they can or can't heal:

- Physical injuries

- Cancer

- infectious diseases, including HIV

- Our ability to treat brain injuries and psychological issues are limited.

- Our ability to treat congenital diseases are limited.

- we do NOT treat genetic abnormalities.

- we can NOT cure Case 53's or restore memory

- we can't make you younger

Panacea and Eunoia reserve the right to withhold their services to anyone for any reason, at any time. You will be required to sign a waiver before the healing is performed.

Again, healing will be free, but donations are welcome.

There is no definite schedule, but we will tell people where we are going. Please don't book hotel rooms anticipating our arrival, because things may change at any time for any reason, including weather, traffic, or medical emergencies. We plan on staying at each location for two to three days before moving on.

Our first stop will be: Pittsburgh on Sep 9th - the University of Pennsylvania Parahuman Research Hospital

►DaUsualSuspect

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

Wow, that's amazing! Now the rest of the country gets to see the living miracle that is Panacea

►ErrHed (Brockton Bay Leviathan Survivor)

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

Damn, there's still a lot of healing that needs to be done in Brockton Bay...

►Brocktonite03

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

Look, I'm BB born and raised... and even I'm giving up on the city. Anyone she heals is probably going to leave for better pastures anyway. She might as well go where everyone else is going.

►Rightsector

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

YESSSSSS! My aunt has cancer, and she couldn't afford to go to Brockton Bay, holy shit this is a fucking dream come true. Thanks Panacea!

►Greaseboy

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

Are they coming to Houston? They better, that's a lot of people they'll be missing if they don't...

►Sothoth

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

There's 300 million people in the country, they can't hit every single city everywhere

►Rightsector

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

Yeah, my Aunt can't fly to Brockton Bay but maybe they'll swing by somewhere closer

►Greaseboy

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

I wasn't complaining, i was just saying they could tons of ppl if they went to Houston

►Fflash

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

Is this even real? Who's Princess? What does she mean "Dragon's lair?" This seems like a scam post

►XxVoid_CowboyxX

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

Bet dragon kidnapped someone and is forcing them to work for her

►Sasquatchewan

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

Jesus, Void, not again with your stupid conspiracy theories...

►Fflash

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

Why did she post the message, though? Why didn't anyone from New Wave post it up? This doesn't pass the smell test. Sure is fishy here

►TRJ

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

Because most of them are dead, mate. And they've turned villain anyway according to the PRT. Agreed, this is probably fake

►Eunoia (Verified Cape) (New Wave)

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

yes this is real

sorry hard to type right now

►Grush

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

…Eunoia, blink twice if you're being held hostage

►Hairy-erry-day

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

What the heck is going on here? Since when was New Wave a villain group? At worst they're rogues.

►Trapped_in_the_Lair (Verified Cape)

Posted on 5 Sep 2011:

I can clarify a few things while Eunoia is still setting up her new phone. First off, while the official PRT listing has New Wave as a villain group, that's more because of a control freak director (who, if my intuition is correct, is going to be quietly fired or "reassigned" sometime this week) than anything New Wave did. Second, they've already lost their home (twice), including all their phones and computers (thanks Shatterbird) so until they are set up again I'll be doing the posting for them.

►Eunoia (Verified Cape) (New Wave)

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

thanks princess yup shes right

►TinMother (Admin)

Replied on 5 Sep 2011:

I will confirm that I have received information directly from Dragon herself that this post is legitimate. Carry on, everyone.

"Seriously, Taylor, how are you doing that?" Lisa asked me after a different Dragon drone caught up with me and Amy.

Amy looked at me. "What did you do?"

"Oh, I just tried to post something on the internet. I had some issues with the punctuation," I told her. I hadn't had much of a chance to practice using the brain-machine interface since I had left Dragon's workshop.

She looked even more closely at me, scouring my hands and pockets. "Without a phone."

"It was just a test, really," I said. I didn't think it was that impressive. I was barely able to navigate the internet and type out some basic text through my interface system, while Dragon was controlling a hundred drones and trawling thousands of websites while simultaneously continuing to innovate and invent. She was essentially using the same brain-machine interface that I was. Or, at least, I had copied her design, but certainly not her expertise in using it.

"You basically gave yourself a technopathic power," Amy insisted.

"In the same way a guy with a laser pointer has a Blaster power. It's not that big a deal, Dragon and Errant were the ones who invented it. Anyways, are you sure a single forum post is going to be enough of an announcement?" I asked.

"For what you're doing? Yes. You want to start small and have word-of-mouth build up the momentum. There's no point in spending money on radio or TV ads for this kind of thing," Lisa assured us. "You'll get far better, and free, publicity by having people talk about it, and news agencies pick up on it naturally."

"I suppose. But that gives us less control of the message," Amy pointed out.

"Don't worry, you'll have me helping out," Lisa said. "And besides, you'll be able to deal with some of it directly after you get your new phones."

"New phones? Like, Dracotek phones?" Vicky asked eagerly.

"I'll be coming by with a transport truck. Hopefully it'll be more comfortable than camping," Dragon's voice replaced Lisa's. "And what are you planning on doing for food? Just relying on donations?"

"I've got food covered," Amy said. "I'm… testing some things out."

"I see," Dragon said. "Also, we've received notice from multiple sources that Glory Girl was captured and possibly killed in action." The drone's weapons subtly repositioned as she looked at Vicky.

I looked at Amy. "You want to explain this, or should I?"

"Look, it's not that hard!" Vicky declared. "I'll explain. So, basically, yeah, Victoria Dallon is dead. I'm her clone. I was basically born with the urge to kill my sister, which I almost did, but then she un-brainwashed me, and then Taylor restored me from a backup she had. How's that for a summary?"

"Gaaaah!" I heard a dull cry from the drone's speakers.

"Sorry, it looks like Lisa just got another migraine," Dragon said. "So what you're saying is… you're a clone?"

"We're hoping that it won't be too much trouble legally. Like, what rights do clones have?" I asked.

"Hm. Well, she isn't Victoria Dallon, legally. Victoria Dallon is dead. Clones are the responsibility of the Master that created them, and for the most part, are considered an extension of the cape's power. In the same way that you would be responsible for anything that you did with Abyssal, or me with my Drones."

"Well, that makes sense so far. But what about sentient clones that think for themselves?" I asked.

"That would be considered dangerous territory. Fully independent creations draw parallels to Nilbog," Dragon said. "They won't be legal citizens, and each one will require extensive Master-Stranger observations, until we can be fully assured that they aren't going to act as agents for the Master that spawned them."

"Wait, so I'm not even a citizen right now? Not even a green card?" Vicky exclaimed.

"I'm afraid not. You're in a bit of legal limbo at the moment, and I have to warn you that coming out to the public would not be received well. It's best to come up with a whole new cape identity and stick to it. People – including important people like politicians and judges – really don't like certain powers like Masters, Biotinkers, or Artificial Intelligence," Dragon said.

We all looked around at each other in an awkward silence.

"So… we're just going to ignore the issue?" Amy asked.

"As bad as it sounds, yes. That's probably the best solution in the short term. At the very least, build up your own reputations even more and be public with your acts of heroism, which will help sway public opinion if the information gets out," Dragon advised.

"So I'm getting a makeover again?" Vicky asked. "Well, as long as I get to keep these babies," she said as she rubbed her butt.

"You wouldn't have problems with that if you actually worked out your legs instead of flying all the time," Amy muttered, eyes fixed on her clone-sister's antics.

The changes that Amy made to Vicky were superficial at best. Honestly, it could basically be passed off as hair dye. That actually put her more in line with the two of us, somewhere between my black hair and Amy's brown. We were depending on giving her a mask and a different costume to really hide her identity anyway. But that also meant we were changing her costume as well, to something very different from Glory Girl. We had to figure that part out before any major public events.

"I was thinking, maybe we should continue the fantasy theme? Like, maybe I can be a witch or sorceress or something," Vicky suggested.

"What do you mean, fantasy theme?" Amy asked.

"Well, we've got Dragon, a white mage, and a knight. Oh, what happened to Errant, by the way?" Vicky asked Dragon.

"Still recovering from Leviathan. And installing new prosthetics," Dragon explained.

"I'm not a white mage," Amy insisted.

"You totally are! We just need to make your robes even more robe-y! We should totally go for the fantasy quest theme. I'll be a witch!" Vicky shouted ecstatically.

Seeing her this enthusiastic brought back memories of our last shopping trip together. Even I was taken aback by how… Vicky-like Vicky was. Not that I was complaining about getting it right, but it was eerie when I remembered that the real Vicky had died less than a day ago.

"Maybe a druid theme would be better," I said. After all, she did do plants as well as people now, though I didn't know how public she was planning on making that knowledge. "And don't witches wear dresses? How are you planning on fighting?" I pointed out to Vicky.

"Hmm, you're right. Maybe I could go with one of those fighting monks! Yeah, hand-to-hand is totally my thing," Vicky pointed out. "But what about you? Your costume is too futuristic. Can you make it something in line with the theme? Oh, maybe you can take the White Mage role!"

"Uh, I don't want to have almost the same costume as Panacea," I said. "Maybe I'll just tweak my existing costume to look more steampunk or something." Dragon's silicon-free drone was an easy inspiration.

We continued to work on our costumes while we waited for Dragon's transport to pick us up. We would be travelling by land, as it allowed for a roomier vehicle with less legal hoops to jump through compared to a flying drone. While I made more tweaks to Vicky's costume to her liking, Amy also made some changes to her own.

She used the surrounding grass to grow an intricate network of vine-like plants that wrapped around her body and wove themselves into the fabric of her robes. For one thing, they helped patch up her torn-up costume, but from what I could tell, the vines also gave her some added protection. They were no ordinary vines; my bots could tell they had an outer bark that was tougher than bone, yet still flexible. Visually, it seemed like she had taken my druid suggestion seriously.

Vicky looked up from the wide, veiled hat that now covered her head and face. "Amy! That's perfect! You should give yourself a flower wreath! It would look so cute!"

Amy smiled for the first time in a while at Vicky's attention. The vines around her body continued to grow until they wrapped around her head, and sprouted wide, white flowers interspersed with thinner, four-petal red flowers. Red crosses that matched the rest of her costume.

In the end, we had our new costumes before Dragon arrived to pick us up. Not all that different from our old ones, to be honest. We weren't trying to hide our identities aside from Vicky, but even she had chosen similar colours to before. Her costume of choice was still mostly white, but with baggy pants and a thin, toga-like top. She kept her arms and feet bare this time, since apparently she tended to destroy too many pairs of shoes before. I had assured her that, since her costume was made of my bots, it wasn't a big deal to fix, but she felt it continued to add to the aesthetic. Her face was covered by a wide-brimmed cone hat with some additional veils to hide her face.

Amy had kept her old robes, and basically just added some vines and flowers to them. I had kept mine as well, but altered the colours to add bronze accents and added a few pointless mechanisms.

"We need to pick a new name for you," Amy pointed out.

"I was thinking of joining the Greek theme you two have," she said. "But I'm not great at Greek. Any ideas?"

"The best I can think of right now is Aglaea. Sister to Panacea, goddess of beauty and, well, glory. Too on the nose?" I asked.

"Maybe a bit much," Amy said.

"I LOVE IT! I'm keeping it!" Vicky shouted.

I knew it would be more difficult to convince her otherwise. And, quite possibly for the first time in my life, I was actually glad to sit around doing nothing but discuss fashion. It was nice to see Amy actually smile for once, and the stress to disappear for just a moment while she was fine-tuning the flowers over her body. I had far too many brains to completely take my mind off the horror, but I was glad to just see my friends finally have a chance to relax.

Dragon met up with us using one of her self-driving trucks. Somehow, even though it was shaped like a normal vehicle, it still retained some dragon-like styling like many of her drones. Speaking of drones, the trailer featured one of her smaller drones, packed up into a compact and nearly rectangular shape. The rest of the trailer was a modified camper, featuring more than enough space for three of us to live in comfortably – much more comfortably than her mobile workshop, thankfully.

"Thanks for the ride, Dragon," I said as we got inside.

"It's the least I could do. I want to make sure you're safe," she said. "But before we get going, there is still some paperwork and documentation that needs to be taken care of. For example, since your legal guardians have all been incapacitated, I will have to file for temporary guardianship. Mrs. Pelham most likely has the next closest claim over your care, but I'm working on convincing her to allow me to take care of you for now. Without it, you may be forced into foster care."

"Thanks. I hope it's not too much trouble," Amy said.

"Don't worry. I have a way with bureaucracy," Dragon said with a grin. "Now, Vicky is going to be a bigger issue. The government doesn't like people without official identities, but there are ways to file for citizenship for children who were never properly registered. We can use that when the time comes."

"Does that mean I won't have to pay taxes?" Vicky asked.

"Oh no, the IRS will get their cut no matter what," Dragon said. "But we can work on all of that en route. I'm excited to see what improvements you've made to your bots, Eunoia."

"Hey, save the tinker-talk for later," Lisa said. "I have a little bit of bad news. If you're going to sell this healing tour, we'll have to take care of most people in the area before setting off. And we're going to have to talk to the rest of your team about your plan."

Somehow, planning to take the fight to the Slaughterhouse Nine made me less anxious than this.