Compared to the weirdly polite guy at the hospital, Vicky’s brain ends up much more complicated to change. I have to stop humming Freddie Mercury and pay attention to how different this is.

A fact I’ve heard repeated, often from people who work in k-12 education, is the younger the brain is, the more moldable it is. The easier it is for them to learn and retain information. It’s how children who live in families that are fluent in three, or maybe even four or five, languages don’t have any issues learning that many languages at once. Their family speaks it around them constantly, and the child’s brain designates learning the languages as top priority for survival.

It's also why children raised in cults have such a hard time changing their beliefs once they are pulled out. Why children raised in abusive homes become withdrawn and afraid of physical contact years after leaving the toxic environment. The young brain is malleable, and the experiences they have at the beginning of their life will shape the foundations of who they are, for good or ill.

As they start to age, it becomes less like clay and it’s harder to shape them so easily. They can still change, of course. They can still learn new things. But if you want someone to grow up as an avid reader, you encourage them to read when they are just out of the toddler stage. That’s what happened to me, my first time around.

Vicky’s brain is just starting to come out of that pliable stage. She is seventeen, so that is to be expected, but the difference between a seventeen year old female and a forty-or-so year old male is far greater than you might expect, so I have to adjust my approach to compensate.

Vicky also has much more experience with interacting with Amy, original Amy, and her brain has adjusted to love her like a sister. This is both good and bad. Good because it gives me a lot to work with and I don’t need to start from scratch like hospital guy. Bad because it is directed towards Amy, not the person currently in Amy’s body.

When I was making my plans for how I needed to kill Scion, I took a moment to ask myself how I could completely mess this chance up right out of the gate. The first answer was, of course, screwing up the initial transfer by showing off my double emotional state in front of Dean. Later, I thought of something even worse that would be both terrifying and hilarious.

What if my thralls came to the conclusion that the person currently in Panacea’s body (i.e. me) was not the person they were loyal to? If they decided they were being deceived by someone pretending to be their master by hiding in her body?

They would capture me and attempt to force me to give Amy’s body back, and when that failed, they might kill me to prevent Amy from suffering any more. That would be even more stupid and ironic than my last life’s ending, and that is a high bar to clear! The boss would probably laugh his butt off though.

This leaves a hole in my strategy where other bodysnatchers like Regent or Pretender can slip through and take over, but Regent will be mine soon and Pretender was only relevant when Alexandria died. I will have to be more careful once my change of heart starts becoming obvious, but for the time being I have both the informational advantage and the element of surprise.

Change of heart. That reminds me.

I put everything on hold and switch my attention to Amy for a minute. “Not a single thread that suggests she’s attracted to you Amy. I don’t know whether to be thankful your sister isn’t a pervert, or annoyed that this body really is this bland. For someone who can control looks with a touch, you’ve really let yourself go.” She’s still muted, but her anger is tinged with a bit of self-deprecation. “I feel your pain panpan. Well, I actually do feel your pain, but I meant that metaphorically. Do you realize how many hours I have spent practicing being seductive, only to end up in this? So many options lost.”

I wink at her. “I’m just saying, I probably could have seduced Armsmaster. Dragon’s reaction would have been fantastic.”

I get a strong sense of disgust at the thought. She would have had to watch that, which would have made it even more fun, but I digress. “To be clear, I’m not about to make her attracted to you. I may be using your body without your permission to invade and change the minds of the people you love most while you watch, but even I am not that bad. Let it be known that Amy Dallon is not a rapist, just a slaver.”

Grim amusement, exasperation, and the ever present horror. Gotta love dark humor.

I finish retying Vicky’s thought patterns the way I want them, and while Amy is currently blasting me with increasing amounts of horror as she watches her sister become my best friend, I don’t think the end result looks too different from where Vicky was already. She let me polygraph her with no hesitation, after all. She was willing to do a lot for me already. I just needed to change the target and tweak some things here and there. It was complicated because of all the small details I had to find and adjust, not because I needed to create something new.

The parents will be home soon, so I withdraw myself from my awareness of her brain and wake her up. Her eyes shoot open with a gasp. I might have used too much adrenaline.

We both sit up on the bed in unison. She turns to me with a wide eyed expression. “You changed my brain.”

“I did.” I reach my arm around her and squeeze our sides together. “How do you feel?”

Vicky continues to stare at me. “I feel great, actually.” She looks me up and down, and if I hadn’t been knee deep in her neurons a few seconds ago I would have thought she was checking me out. Alas. We sit there in silence before she coughs slightly. “What made you change your mind? Was it what you found out at the hospital?”

I flap my unoccupied hand at her. “Nah. It isn’t important. I just decided to stop holding back. You could make a case for me snapping under the pressure, but I’d like to think of it more of an awakening.” I flash a grin at her. “A new me.”

Vicky laughs at that and slowly puts her arm around my shoulders too. Best friends forever. “Well, I always thought you could use some more confidence. If this is what it takes to get you out of your shell, I’ll take it.”

She pauses and peeks at me from the corners of her eyes in suspicion. “Or is that the mind control talking? How much did you change?”

I shrug with her arm still around me. “Not much. You were already mostly mine anyway. Sisterly love and all that."

I tick off what I've changed on my fingers. "I did some tinkering with the targets of your loyalty. I think you’ll find Dean to be a lot less distracting. No amount of torture will ever convince you to betray me. You will also start noticing your thoughts are more aligned with what you think I would want you to do. Don’t try to fight it please. You’ll only hurt yourself, and I don’t want you to resist me.”

Vicky nods thoughtfully. “If you don’t want me to, I won’t.” She lets go to give us some space and inhales sharply. “Whoa, that really does sneak up on you. Damn girl! That’s impressive!”

“Thanks!”

“I really should be mad at you though. Hmm.” The corners of Vicky’s mouth twitch upwards. She’s trying to hide a smile. “I think, for past Vicky’s sake, you deserve a little punishment.” Why is she trying to hide a smile? A memory rises to the surface. Oh snickerdoodles.

Vicky lunges at me and starts to tickle me as hard as she can. I gasp in laughter and fall off the bed, but she just flies horizontally to keep her leverage.

“Hahahaha-Stop!-Hah-Stop!-Hahahahaha-Uncle! Uncle!” She cackles as I roll away, desperately trying to flee the monster I’ve made. “I don’t know Ames! I don’t think the lesson has sunk in yet!” She suddenly pauses and her mouth drops open in realization. “Wait a minute. You can cure Dad’s depression, can’t you?”

I nod frantically. Anything to escape the torture. She smiles beautifully at me and her aura slips. Oh frick here we go again. Triple attraction slams into me and I begin the song and dance of taming Jupiter for the second time today. “Ames, that’s amazing!”

She lands back on the ground and starts hopping up and down. “Everyone I give to you will never be depressed again! Think of how many suicides we could stop! Yes! Amy, thank you so much for changing your mind. And mine, I suppose. I think past Vicky’s anger debt has been settled, don’t you?” I’m frozen again, so I can’t respond. “Ames? Oh! Sorry.”

Her aura peters off and I get to move again. “Maybe…” I take several deep breaths. Curse this body’s respiratory bronchioles! I pause at that. Now there’s a vocabulary word. Thanks panpan. “Maybe you should work on controlling your aura a bit more? It’s hitting me like a truck.”

For the first time in a very long time, Vicky actually looks sorry for her loss of control. I do good work. “Yeah. I’ll work on that. For real this time. Sorry again.”

I wave her off. “It’s fine. I can deal with a slip every once in a while. I’m not mad, but it does need to change.” I glance at the door. “Speaking of fixing people, any idea of when the parents are going to be home? It's getting pretty late.”

Vicky shrugs. “They should be back any minute. They were supposed to be over for dinner until tonight.” She seems to be distracted though. What’s on her mind? “How’s Dean going to react to this?” Ah, that explains it.

I get off the floor and lean against the wall. “I’m a master Vicky. Give me skin contact for twenty minutes and he’ll react however we want him too. Just because you’re mine now doesn’t mean you have to give up your relationship with him.” I knock on the wall a couple times. “Heck, it might even make your relationship better. Common ground in serving me could go a long way. I know you guys are constantly breaking up and getting back together again.”

A smile grows on Vicky’s face once more at the idea. “Yeah. You’re right. Maybe that’s what we’ve been missing.” She uses her flight to turn towards me without moving her legs. “Thanks Ames. Any ideas on how-” The sound of a car pulling into the driveway interrupts her, and both of us freeze. The parents are home and we didn’t have any time to plan. Carol is home and if anybody is going to be suspicious of me it’s her.

Amy is giving off a weird mix of hope and profound dislike. Not sure who to root for huh? Man your life is a mess. I snap my fingers at Vicky to get her attention, and her wide eyes meet mine. “Don’t worry sis. I have a plan.”

Her arms wave in frantic motions as we race to the stairs. “Well hurry up and tell me! We have like a minute!”

“We’re going to have to wing it.” She facepalms as she abuses flight to get down the stairs faster. I wasn’t finished! “Try to position yourself so Carol is facing you and I’m behind her. Say something about how you need to talk to her about girl stuff so Mark isn’t there.”

We reach the living room and she stares at me. I stare back. “What? It might work!” She starts to respond and is cut off when the door opens.

“Vicky! We’re home!”

I love you too Carol. Not.

In walks Mrs. McSupressedTrauma and her husband Mr. DepressedForever. Carol is wearing a white dress with simple flower designs traced in black underneath a thin dark blue coat. The blonde hair Vicky was very lucky to inherit hangs short and loose in the hood. Mark is probably wearing something similarly casual, but I am too focused on the hood that is put up over Carol’s head.

If she doesn’t take off that coat I am going to have zero openings to touch her skin. I glance at Vicky and see she is thinking the same thing. Then Carol pulls it off and hangs it over the arm of the coach next to the door, and I breathe a slight sigh of relief. False alarm. Now I just have to get three seconds of skin contact on a paranoid parahuman who can transform into a ball at any time and cut my arms off. I love my job.

Vicky tries to smile. ‘Hi mom! How was the Pelham's?”

Carol glances toward her as she takes off her high heels. “It went well, as usual. Sarah’s lasagna is still the best in town. Anything happen while we were gone?” She turns toward me as if I would be the only reason something would go wrong.

To be fair, I would be, and something has definitely gone wrong, but if I hadn’t taken this body there would be no reason to think that. Amy was a perfect little obedient healer until Bonesaw helped her out. Hasn’t she ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Vicky shakes her head. “No. Nothing.” I face her and raise an eyebrow. I’ve been getting good at that lately. She winces. “Actually, uh…”

Mrs. IStillHateYouAnyway finally starts to notice how suspicious Vicky is being, and the side character behind her calls out. “Something the matter?”

Vicky is clearly trying to play catch up. Loki’s mistletoe dart she is a bad on the spot actor. This is working in our favor though, and I have way too much experience in this game, so I take over. “What Vicky is trying to say is she needs to talk to Carol about girl stuff. Sorry Mark, it’s a bit embarrassing. For her anyway. I think this is hilarious.” My perfectly straight face tells them exactly how funny I think this is, or at least that would be how Amy would act here. Inside I am scrambling to plot how this has to play out. Amy finds it funny though.

“Amy! Don’t be mean to your sister.” Wow. How ironic. “Mark and Amy, please go to your rooms. I didn’t expect this Vicky but I’ll do my best.”

“No!” Vicky yells. There is only so much I can cover up sis. Start pulling your weight. “Sorry. No. Amy can stay. But uh…” She shifts from foot to foot. “Dad, if you could ignore us, I need to talk about… puberty. Yeah.” She says that last part like a nun avoiding the sex talk at Sunday school, but it’ll do for now. This’ll be the last time I put her on a deception mission though.

Oh. Dean.

I focus back on the conversation before I lament how hard Vicky betraying her boyfriend is going to be. Carol looks a little skeptical at Vicky’s outburst, but she still waves at Mark to go up the stairs and walks toward the kitchen. I tilt my head at Vicky to snap her out of her awkwardness. She takes the hint and moves ahead of Carol while I let her pass me by.

Carol starts talking without looking at either of us. “Ok. Is it about Dean?” She stops in front of a cabinet and pulls out a glass. A sardonic smile forms on her face as she fills it up with water and leans on the counter. She takes a sip and eyes Vicky with amusement. “Don’t tell me he proposed to you.”

As Vicky sputters out a protest I quietly move closer to Carol while her back is turned. “No! No! Oh my god no. It’s just. Uh…” I take a few more steps. “Dean and I got to talking, and…” I move a bit of Carol’s hair out of the way and place my fingers on her neck.

Wrong move.

Carol whips around and backs away from me before I can even start. “What do you think you’re doing?” She hisses. Oh noes. The last time I saw someone this mad was when I was caught making small amounts of hydrochloric acid during lunch at UA. Her eyes are accusing as she glares at me, and my thoughts race as I barely pull together an excuse. Jumping jackalopes! I thought that would work!

I start to stammer out something about how I thought I saw something wrong with her eye. She opens her mouth to spew more vitriol at me. SMACK!

Carol’s body is flung directly at me and we both smash together, and then onto the floor with a thud, Carol weighing me down. The glass of water spills all over me, and I manage to get a glimpse of Vicky flying with her fist extended. I quickly piece what happened together. Frantically grabbing for Carol’s neck I-

Oh yeah. She’s out cold.

“Everything alright down there? I heard something loud hit the floor.” Vicky is still hovering there with her fist out. ♪ Let the bodies hit th- no. This isn’t the time. We can sing later. I motion an arm at Vicky to get her to reply while I begin to stabilize Carol’s very heavily concussed head and lock her in unconsciousness. She’s still having problems holding back her strength, I see. Then I shiver from the coldness of Carol’s water running down the front of my shirt. Maybe I should have waited until she set the glass down.

Vicky finally pulls herself together and settles down on the floor, only to decide to float off it again. “We’re fine Dad! Just dropped something!” Yeah, you dropped something alright. I can’t heal myself, you know. You’re lucky I didn’t break anything.

Vicky zips over to hide by the side of the stairs in case he comes down. She gestures that if he walks down she’ll smack him too. I finish up my final check up. Carol will be fine, though I can already tell it’s going to take at least thirty minutes to rewire all of this irrational hatred and fear, and I’m happy to see Vicky being proactive about this. Not that she really has a choice. At least being a superhero comes with some experience, if not in acting.

Once it’s clear he isn’t coming down, I start dragging Carol over to under the table. The last thing we need is a nosey neighbor seeing her body with two obviously guilty teenagers standing over it. Vicky darts over to help and I get envious of superstrength when she drags her over with seemingly no effort. I might be able to force anyone to be my friend and make super plagues, but sometimes you gotta hide a body fast.

At this point Amy is just watching blankly, hope evaporating once again. Mark certainly isn’t going to put up a fight in time. He can barely take care of himself.

I speak in a low voice. “She’s going to take longer than you did.” I stand up straight as Vicky pushes some chairs in to camouflage our first team effort a bit more. “And Mark is expecting Carol to come up soon. So here’s what we're going to do.”

She waits expectantly.

“We’re going to wing it again.” Her hand starts to come up. “Kidding. I’m kidding. I’ll just run in there and babble something about how I need to heal him. He won’t react in time. He trusts me way more than Carol ever did.”

She puts her hands on her hips and lowers her volume to match mine. “Fine, but I’ll be right behind you to back you up. Flight means no footsteps to hear me coming, and if it goes wrong I can crash through the wall and punch him out.”

I glare at her. “Please don’t destroy the house.”

“I will if I have to.”

“Please don’t destroy the house.”

“I said only if I have to.”

“If you destroy the house, I will start calling you Collateral Damage Barbie and post my thoughts online.”

That gives her pause. Then she still shakes her head. “Sorry Ames, but you’re too important. If I have to lose face to keep you safe, then I’ll do it. I love you Amy.”

I roll my eyes and give her a thumbs up. I can’t even blame her. I literally just forced her to be this way less than an hour ago. No one told me devotion came with drawbacks, and I don’t really want to make it a direct order.

Best to keep those for emergencies. My team might be mine, but they’re still people.

Whatever. I have to dry myself off. “Vicky, get me a towel please.”

----​

Time for a lesson on lying. There are many different ways to lie, some superior to others, but my personal favorite is, what I like to call, the drive-by distraction deception.

Step 1: Make a surprise entrance.

I burst into the bedroom, locate Mark pulling on his pajama shirt, realize I just narrowly avoided seeing what should not be seen, and march over to him. “Mark, I need to heal you. Now.”

He looks up at me in surprise as I close in. “Why? What happened? Are you alright?”

When I rule the world, I am banning that phrase by the penalty of death.

Step 2: Give them a piece of information that only partially explains why you are doing what you are doing. Bonus points for making it up on the spot based on their initial response.

“Carol was infected by something.” I grab his arm. “I need to make sure it isn’t in you too. Give me three seconds.” Ah, it feels good to get the ball rolling. Sometimes I love my job, sometimes I hate it, but it certainly is never boring. At least not for long.

Step 3: Accomplish your goal before they have time to process what is going on. Then run away as fast as you can if you have to.

He begins to give a reply, and then collapses. This application of Amy’s power is super convenient, and I am going to abuse the hot sauce out of it for as long as I can.

Step 4: Profit.

I have him close his eyes this time before I begin. Making the same mistake twice would be dumb, no matter how much Carol might deserve a little pettiness when she wakes up.

“All clear!” I wouldn’t want to lose a wall over a misunderstanding. Vicky drifts in, wary until she sees me hunched over where he fell next to the bed. “You got him right?”

“Yep! Do you mind getting him on the bed? I'm not built for this and I need to practice proper posture.” She stops flying and walks over at a brisk pace. I help keep him balanced as she hoists him up. “Thanks sis. Get Carol too please.” I know I have complete authority over everything she does and is now, but there’s no sense in being impolite about it.

She jogs back and I don’t hear any footsteps down the steps so I assume she flew again. I start making a map of his brain. There’s a lot connecting to an old brain injury. That came from before his trigger if I remember right. It kind of snowballs from that point, so I am about to begin working backwards when I hear thumps.

Thump.

Thump.

Thirteen thumps later I hear the unique sound of someone’s face being rubbed on the carpet. I have a very intimate knowledge of what that sounds like, don’t ask. Vicky drags Carol into the bedroom. Like, actually drags. I think the thumps were Carol’s head hitting the edge of each step. With a swing of her arm, Carol gets slammed onto the bed next to Mark. I glance at her condition. Her arm just got dislocated.

I let go of my power for a moment and spin myself to face my BFF. “What was that about sis?”

She flinches and sits down next to me. “I’m a terrible sister, aren’t I?”

I raise a finger. “Was. Past tense. I fixed you right up, and you weren’t that bad in the first place. I’ve seen a lot worse. What brought this on?”

She doesn’t meet my eyes. Feeling guilty then. “Past Vicky loved you. I was happy I had a sister, even if you weren’t related by blood. I was willing to trust you and hold your hand, ready to be your confidant in your hour of need. Like in a bad romance novel.”

She starts to tear up. “But that’s just it. I didn’t love you because of you. For no other reason that you were my sister. I loved you because I loved being the one who was trusted to give you love.” She’s shaking her head now. “I didn’t do anything without the emphasis on myself. It’s the same with Dean. I am always the one who starts the breakup. The moment I’m sick of him, I’m done, until I decide I want a boyfriend again. God I’m awful.” Tears begin to accumulate in her eyes, and Amy sends me an intense feeling of worry.

I envelop her in a hug and let her cry it out. “And that’s not even the worst part. Carol ne-” She sobs. “Never treated you like a daughter. N-not like me. I noticed a little bit, sometimes, but I always brushed it off. I never got it in my head that maybe…” Her chest heaves. “Just maybe, you had a reason for being so quiet. Th-then I saw Carol hiss at you.” I sense her fists clench behind my back as she struggles to get this out. “Like you were some kind of… of… of demon! When you are just trying to help! Just trying to live up to her expectations. To be some great healer, and…”

I let her cry a while longer. We really need to get to bed soon if we are going to wake up early enough for the next phase of the plan, but this conversation is sorely needed, and rejecting her now might lead to her trying something desperate to earn my approval. “Hey. Hey. It’s ok.”

“NO IT’S NOT!!!” I flinch in surprise, which just makes her cry harder. “Sorry! Sorry. I keep messing this up. I keep messing everything up. I should just let you-” I put a finger to her lips.

“Shut up. It’s my turn now. Nod if you understand.” Vicky’s eyes are wide with fear of what I am about to say, but she nods. “Good. You’re right. You sucked.” Her face starts to fall. “I’m not done. Have a little patience please.” She stops, and nods again. “Amazing. What you did or did not do back then doesn’t matter. Who you were back then doesn’t matter. I don’t hold a grudge. I don’t even blame you that much. Most of the blame falls on Carol, who I am about to basically mindwipe. There really isn’t much to salvage in there.”

She snorts, and I give a huff of amusement in agreement. “I know. Not very surprising. Now. I want to make something very clear.”

I lift her chin so she is forced to look me in the eyes, and to give me skin contact to slightly edit some things. “The only thing I care about is who you are now. What you will do for me now. I don’t give a rainbow trout about who you were before.” I tap her chest. ”Yes, you weren’t proactive enough. You never saw me needing help until I asked you directly. You are not that person anymore. I know, I checked.”

I flick her on the forehead and tilt my head playfully. “But I don’t think you quite believe it yourself yet.”

I get off the bed and point to the ground in front of me. “Kneel.” She’s caught by surprise for a moment before she hastily flies off the bed and kneels in front of me. “Put your hand over your heart.”

She stares at me and slowly places her hand on her heart like the pledge of allegiance. “Repeat after me. My name is Victoria Dallon.”

“My name is Victoria Dallon.”

“I am the sister and best friend of Amy Dallon.”

She looks at me with tears running down her face, and I realize she thinks she doesn’t deserve to say it. “Say it.” She swallows. “I am the sister and best friend of Amy Dallon.”

“During my first chance at being her sister, at being there when she needed me, I failed.”

She takes a deep breath. “During my first chance at being her sister, at being there when she needed me, I failed.”

“I was a self-centered alternate word for a female dog, who couldn’t see past her own nose.”

She has to stop herself from letting out a laugh at that. Progress. “I was a self-centered alternate word for a female dog, who couldn’t see past her own nose.”

“That life is over.”

She stops crying, and I can almost see what I’ve done breaking her guilt. “That life is over.”

I narrow my eyes. “Thanks to my sister, I am not that person anymore.”

She finally smiles a little at me. “Thanks to my sister, I am not that person anymore.”

“My sister has given me a second chance.”

“My sister has given me a second chance.”

“I refuse to waste it.”

Her posture starts to be more confident and the splotches on her face from crying are slowly fading away. “I refuse to waste it!”

I smirk at her enthusiasm. “I swear to serve her.”

“I swear to serve her.”

“I swear to be there for her forever.”

“I swear to be there for her forever.”

Her eyes are shining with determination. I can always count on her for that. “I swear to protect her.”

“I swear to protect her.”

“And even if I fail again.”

“And even if I fail again.”

“I know that as long as I do my best.”

“I know that as long as I do my best.”

We’re both smiling now. “She will give me another chance.”

“She will give me another chance!” Mission accomplished, I sweep her into another hug, and she catches herself from using her full strength as she hugs me back.

“I love you Vicky.”

“I love you too Ames.”