Amy wasn't the kind of cape that went into the field. Unless someone was injured badly enough they couldn't be moved, she waited til they were brought to her. Tonight though...she just couldn't. The entire briefing, no one said a word about trying to rescue Lia, or even Vista when Tattletale revealed she was still alive.

  Now she was in the back of a van with a bunch of PRT officers, all armed with actual guns, and Battery. The hero was worrying at the base of her prosthetic, where it met her skin. It was covered by her costume, but Amy could see the seam through it. She'd offered to help, but Battery said nothing was wrong. She was right of course, Amy had fixed her arm up as best she could once she'd started healing again. Still...

  No, she couldn't worry about it because there were bigger problems. They weren't near the fighting, Miss Militia had been very clear about the nightmare that would unfold if Amy got...eaten. Despite the distance, she could hear feel the ground rumbling as the capes fought Noelle, or Echidna as they were calling her now. It made her antsy.

  It was almost too bad she'd never paid attention when Uncle Neil tried to teach her the basics of fighting. Not that Amy could actually do anything in this fight, but some kind of knowledge she could cling to would be nice. Hopefully the heroes would be fine and--

  “Medic!” A cape in tight, cornflower-blue spandex with a blaze of yellow lightning across the chest tore the door open. “Got wounded.” Amy glanced at Battery, who gave a quick nod.

  She was out of her seat and the van in seconds, grimacing at the sight of half a dozen wounded capes laid out on white sheets. After tersely getting permission, Amy began healing right away. The injuries were ugly: chemical burns, shattered bones, bacterial infections that she'd never seen in a textbook or her hundreds of hours in hospitals. What the fuck were they fighting out there?

  She recognized one of the costumes, black with red suns. She was one of the Travelers, Sundancer, made a sun that she controlled. If these kinds of villains were working with the Protectorate, they were really going all out. Amy quickly patched her up, then moved onto a cape soaked in digestive juices. He was incoherent, babbling something about someone being 'taken from him'. Poor guy, must have snapped.

  She did a little extra for him, slowing his heart and relaxing his overly tense muscles. Thirty seconds later he was breathing normally, if staring a little weird. Amy ignored it and finished the last cape, who only had a broken wrist, then hopped back in the van. She strapped back into her seat, and a minute later they were moving again.

  “Think they'll get her, cap?” one of the officers asked as the ground shivered, rocking the van.

  “No doubt,” the man replied with confidence. “Word from on high is the Triumvirate is here now. You ever seen them fight before?” The other officer just shook his head. “Well you probably won't get to today, but it's the stuff of wonders.”

  “Stuff of nightmares more like,” another groused. “You didn't see when they were fighting the Nine, sir.”

  “I didn't,” he admitted. “Doesn't matter. They're the best heroes we have, strongest too. Situation like this we need all the artillery we can get.”

  “I'm not a fan of scorched earth, captain.”

  “Enough of that,” Battery snapped.

  The van rolled on as the shaking got worse. In the distance, Amy could hear the sounds of battle picking up again. Whatever the heroes were doing to stop Noelle, or Echidna, or whatever the fuck they were calling her, it wasn't enough. The van halted and a moment later there was banging on the door. When it opened, there was another cape, bleeding from a long gash along his jaw.

  Amy sighed and got to her feet, then hopped down to the ground. More capes needed healing, a woman with a tie-dyed bulletproof vest, a trio of exotic looking pistols and a hole in her liver; a man dressed in pastel blue who'd lost two legs above the knee; a monstrous creature that Amy realized couldn't be older than ten if her power wasn't messing with her.

  They were all fucked up. Not just the wounded, but capes in general. Amy knew it was common for most parahumans, hero or villain, to be more difficult to deal with. That was the nature of getting powers you didn't want as a consolation for living through your personal worst nightmare. And despite that, as soon as they were healed every single one got back up and charged towards the fray.

  Looking up the road, Amy finally caught sight of it and paled. The monster had looked far smaller on the other side of the camera. Now it, or she, towered nearly as tall as some of the buildings around her. Ice had formed all around her, slowly being chipped away by tremendous blasts of light coming down from the sky. Amy glanced up and saw a tiny figure that could only be Legend pouring them down.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  However the fight had been going before, it seemed to be coming to an end here. Echidna was trapped, heaving up piles of bodies that were being laid into by fire, ice, and multi-coloured explosions. It was hideous, the screams from the dying, the scent of gore and smoke carried on the wind. Amy couldn't help but agree, this was the stuff of nightmares.

  A flicker overhead drew her gaze, and her eyes widened; Sundancer had decided enough was enough. The sun grew rapidly and even from here Amy could hear Echidna's bloodcurdling shriek. It was cut off by a loud crackle as the sun crashed down, plowing into the monster and the street below. As it hung there, annihilating everything inside of it, Amy began to walk towards it.

  Not the sun exactly, but the heroes she knew would be gathered around it. There would be injured, probably too many to count, many more who couldn't be moved. Lia hadn't been among the capes brought back yet, but it was obvious some of them had been inside Echidna, soaked in digestive juices. That was okay, she had to just be too injured to move or something. Had to be.

  The sun flickered out as Amy got to the battlefield, barely a minute later. There was nothing left of the monster but ashes and a crater. As the soot cleared, she saw Alexandria step out, naked as the day she was born. Looking around, Amy couldn't find Lia in the sea of capes. She started walking, then jogging, then sprinting between groups, ignoring the wounded asking for help. Lia had to be here, she had to be here.

  Her breath was coming quicker, heart pounding rapidly. Amy knew the signs of a panic attack and swore under her breath, sitting on a piece of rubble well away from the other heroes as they gathered around Alexandria. Lia wasn't here, which meant she was still inside that thing when Sundancer vaporized it. Amy couldn't find the cape, but knew it was her fault that--

  An ugly cough echoed out, and her head snapped up. At the edge of the crater, there was a slowly moving silhouette getting to its knees, then slowly standing. It looked around for a moment, then began limping towards the other heroes. Amy squinted. The costume was familiar, but it was covered in hideous greens and blacks of bile. As soon as she realized though, she gasped and leaped to her feet, sprinting across the cracked asphalt.

  “Amaranth!” she cried, making the girl turn towards her. “Amaranth oh my god!”

  She wrapped the smaller hero in a hug, her breath coming in deep, shuddering heaves. Amaranth was stiff in her grip, and Amy could feel her shivering despite the heat. She shuffled and pulled away from Amy, her face downcast. Lia raised her head and slowly craned it across the battlefield before she finally met Amy's eyes.

  “What happened?” Her voice was a dry rattle.

  “You...you got eaten by Echidna and--”

  “No shit,” Lia coughed. “Clone's, where'd they go?”

  “Um, I think the heroes got them.” Amy glanced over her shoulder and grimaced at the piles of bodies. “Echidna said yours ran away.” She was suddenly pulled and Lia's bloodshot, grey eyes stared at her, wild and violent.

  “Where?” It was a demand.

  “I don't know,” she blurted. “I'm not a fighter, I wasn't fighting them! Echidna said it ran off after saying something about how things weren't real. Vista's apparently went after her family, but...” Amy managed to stop herself before saying something stupid and insensitive like 'yours is already dead'. Amaranth stared at her for a moment, then let her go and began scanning the horizon.

  “Fucker,” she swore. “I already did your fucking job, what more could you--” Lia froze, staring at the distant apartment blocks known as the Towers. “You bitch.”

  Without another word, Lia ran. A limping, pathetic pace, barely more than a jog, but Amy had just watched her survive a sun dropped on her head. She took a few, feeble steps, but stopped herself before long. She wanted to help Lia, wanted to save her from...well not herself, but an eviler version of it.

  She couldn't. Amy wasn't a fighter, she'd just get in the way. But at least here, she might be able to do some good, even if it wasn't for Lia. With a deep breath, she turned around and joined the heroes again, walking between injured cape after injured cape, healing each in turn. The injuries were awful, career-ending in most cases, but nobody died under her hands. No one ever had before...

  The heroes were arguing with the Undersiders, something ugly she wanted no part of. She strode to the edge of the scorched crater, staring down into the pit below. The asphalt was still glowing in places and the heat was unbearable. Amy took a step back, filling her lungs with slightly cooler air. A scraping footstep made her turn around, and she saw Skitter standing there, slightly hunched.

  “What?” Amy asked.

  “Need your help,” she replied, bugs buzzing. “Still have wounded.”

  “Heal thyself,” Amy spat. “I did enough for you as it is.”

  “You did help us before,” Skitter agreed. “We still need your help now. If it's a question of money--”

  “It's not,” she cut the villain off, hands balling into fists. “And you still fucking owe me, because you sure as shit didn't try and pull L-- Amaranth out of that.” She pointed sharply at the smouldering crater.

  “I didn't. I told Sundancer to do it, was our only chance to end it.” There was a beat of silence.

  “You're a fucking monster, Skitter.” The villain jolted like she'd been struck. “Get the fuck away from me. If you ask for healing again I'll...” Amy grit her teeth and shook her head. “Go.” Mercifully she did.

  Amy turned back to the crater, wondering how Lia had survived. There was an ugly feeling squirming in her guts saying, in a way, she hadn't.