Brockton Bays Marvelous Mage

Victoria Dallon tried her best to be a good person. She was young, filled with teenage dreams, drama, and hormones, but she still tried to do what was right. Up until recently, she had seen the world as pretty clear-cut. Good versus evil, villains versus heroes, order versus chaos. Her mother taught her from a very early age that there was no gray area, that there was no middle ground.

At the time, she had thought that drawing such a firm line in the sand was heroic and courageous. To her even younger mind, her mother was refusing to back down from her beliefs, standing firm against the world's slowly weakening moral compass. Her mother taught her a lot of what she thought being a hero was about. About how clear-cut the world was.

But now? Now she knew there was no such thing as simple.

Before, she never understood how people would act surprised or shocked when their actions, or even their loved ones' actions, caught up to them. It was simple cause and effect. How could you not see it coming? How could you pretend everything was okay? These people were bad, they were criminals, so why were they shocked when someone stopped them?

But now, she saw the same thing happening while she was looking inward. Now, she was watching her family do just that. And she could feel it herself. Could feel the urge to sit down and be quiet. To put it off, to simply nod and believe that it wasn't a problem, that everything was fine. That this was normal.

Carol Dallon was an unmovable object, a force of will that never deviated from its path, because she knew she was right, and everyone else was wrong. But now Victoria could see it. Every time her mother said, "My daughter and Amy." The cold look Amy got when she did anything Carol could consider wrong. Carol didn't do that to her. Her mother would chastise, roll her eyes, or even punish her when she messed up. But never the cold stare.

And it only got worse. On an average day, Carol Dallon would make around seven physical gestures of affection to her daughter. Victoria knew that because she had been keeping track for a few days. Hugs, shoulder squeezes, face touching, even an encouraging nudge out of the house when she was procrastinating heading to school. Carol was never an overly affectionate person, but she tried for her daughter.

Victoria had been counting for four days, and she had yet to see Carol even pat Amy's shoulder. In fact, she hadn't even heard any words of affection or support. No advice, no commiseration, no offers for anything. They hardly talked at all.

Unless Amy did something wrong. In that case, Carol paid her plenty of attention. When Amy did something that Carol didn't like, she would have no issue explaining how annoyed, disappointed, or angry she was. She would spend hours putting her sister in her place, hammering the already stressed girl with angry words and disappointed looks.

She had tried, more than once, to convince her mom there was something wrong, to convince Amy she wasn't okay. To get her dad to pay attention long enough to realize that something was wrong. But nobody took her seriously, believed her, or could care long enough to hear her out. She tried again and again, to the point that she had given up. Amy was angry at her for trying to suggest she couldn't handle it, Carol was annoyed that Vicky would even suggest maybe finding someone they could talk to, and they were both angry with her for suggesting and trying to keep Amy from working in the hospital.

They weren't listening. No one was listening, and the worst part was that she knew what she needed to do about it. Arcanum's words played over in her head now, damn near constantly. Kick it up the chain. Someone needed to do something, and since her family wasn't, maybe her Aunt Sarah would.

But it wasn't that easy.

She had gotten close what felt like a dozen times already. Between pulling her aside at team meetings or trying to talk to her out on patrol. She had floated in the sky above her aunt's house and above her work for hours. She just couldn't do it. She was terrified of what would happen, about what might happen. What if she was just being dramatic? What if she was wrong? Would Amy hate her for not leaving well enough alone? Would her mother resent her for spreading lies?

Her constant worry and fear were wearing down on her. Dean had noticed immediately since he could see her worry and incessant anxiety, but she had brushed him off. Now, other people were starting to notice. They asked if she had been sleeping okay, if she was feeling okay, and if everything was alright. She just brushed them all off. Who cared if she could barely eat and hadn't slept well since talking to Arcanum? How could she care about herself when she couldn't get herself to help her sister?

Amy was suffering, and she was doing nothing.

And then it got worse.

News began to spread that Arcanum's healing had finally been approved by the PRT. Apparently, he was healing people at the hospital on the very same day. Immediately, Amy's mood plummeted. She went from grumpy and sarcastic to aggressive and mean, pushing everyone away from her. What little friends Amy had, soon began to ignore her, which suited the healer just fine, as she was no longer even considering socializing. It had taken a week for Vicky to learn just why Amy was so upset. Apparently, Arcanum could fix the one thing Amy was incapable of fixing, brain injuries.

Within a single day of working for the hospital, Arcanum had healed everyone Amy could not help, all while making a good amount of money. While she never said anything outright, it was clear that Amy had no tolerance for her fellow healer.

While Amy managed to keep her opinions to herself, Carol did not. She called an emergency team meeting. When everyone had congregated in the planning room built into the Dallon basement late one night, she revealed that they needed to come up with a strategy to handle the incoming danger.

"Danger? What danger?" Aunt Sarha had asked, looking confused.

"Arcanum!" Carol said, leaning on the table as she stood at the front end. "He murdered Alabaster, and is working on setting up a gang from Brockton Bays homeless!"

"...Alabaster's death was ruled an accident from poor power interactions, and was the result of self-defense," Uncle Neil said after sharing a look with his wife. "The PRT didn't even bring Arcanum in for questioning."

"They are trying to play nice with him since he can do what Panacea can't," Carol explained, patronizingly waving away Uncle Neil's concerns. "He is a murderer and the leader of a growing gang!"

Victoria looked around, gauging everyone's faces. Her father, Mark, looked tired and bored, his depression in full force. Everyone else, even Amy, looked at Carol in confusion. While Amy might not be Arcanum's biggest fan, she didn't deny he was trying to be a hero.

"Mom… I don't think Arcanum is a villain," Victoria said, chewing her lip. "I mean, we have all done some pretty brutal stuff to Alabaster to try and keep him down and out of the way, but he always pops back. How was any of us supposed to predict that there was an exception, if that's even what caused it?"

"It doesn't matter. The man is a murderer. He needs to be brought to justice before he tries to solidify his control of the Docks," She explained. "If he does that, he will clash directly with Lung and the ABB, and Brockton Bay will suffer for it."

That brought everyone up short. Not because they agreed Arcanum was trying to solidify a gang, but because if he continued to work around the Docks, it was very possible that he would end up getting on Lung's bad side, a dangerous place to be, for Arcanum and for the people he supported.

"Carol, there is no evidence he is doing anything but helping people," Sarah said, frowning at her sister's insistence. "But he may need to be warned about what happens to people who push into Lungs territory."

"Are none of you listening? He is already starting a gang!" Carol said, her volume rising as her sister's point was steadily ignored. "He has already killed to protect his territory! We need to come up with a plan to take him down before he-"

"Carol, I understand that you are worried about the Bay's stability, but we cannot 'take down' Arcanum, not without proper evidence," Aunt Sarah said, matching her sister's tone and volume. "The PRT's official stand is that he is a hero, so even if we did take him down, what would we do with him, stash him here in the basement? The PRT would just let him go, and probably demand we come in for questioning since we would have attacked a known healer and hero!"

For a long moment, the siblings stared each other down. Eventually, after looking around for any sort of support, Carol finally backed down. She sat down in her chair with a huff, defeated for now.

Since she had been the one to call the meeting, the session quickly came to a close after that. Carol pulled Aunt Sarah aside to have a loud, obvious, easily overheard conversation, while the rest of the two families went upstairs. As they usually did after team meetings, takeout had been ordered, this time Chinese, which arrived shortly after the meeting ended. While the food was being spread out on the table, Aunt Sarah and Carol returned. The latter completely ignored everyone and making her way upstairs, her face pulled into a thunderous expression that spoke volumes about how the private conversation had gone.

The after-meeting meal was tense and awkward, the absence of Carol weighing heavily on them. This wasn't the first time Victoria's mother had tried to push for drastic action, but it was the most out-there and confusing in recent memory. Victoria couldn't help but wonder what was going through her mother's head. Why was she so determined to vilify the hero? Was she being paranoid? Did she actually have a point? Why did she have such a large issue with Arcanum?

Victoria had a much easier time understanding Amy's problem with the hero. Frustration about a potent healer not sharing her beliefs, jealousy at his freedom and confidence, and envy of his ability to heal brains.

Once the meal was over, the two families split, saying their goodbyes. Sarah pulled Mark aside for their own private conversation, this one much more reasonable and quiet, while Eric and Neil headed out to the car. As Victoria gave her cousin Crystal a hug, waving as her older cousin walked out, she saw Amy make her way upstairs. Her sister was probably going to work on homework since she had only just returned home from the hospital when the meeting started. More importantly, though, she would be out of earshot.

Not long after that, Sarah finished her conversation with Mark, who immediately sat down in the living room in his usual spot, the TV already on. Aunt Sarah gave Victoria a quick hug before making her way to the door. Vicky gave a look over her shoulder to her dad, already dead to the world, as he watched whatever stupid reality television was on. Amy was upstairs, as was Carol.

This was her chance.

"Aunt Sarah, wait," Victoria said, floating after her aunt, following her out the door to the front porch. "Can I talk to you for a moment? It's kind of important."

Aunt Sarah stopped and turned, looking at Victoria for a moment, studying her face. She must have spotted something worrying because she immediately looked serious.

"Is everything okay, hun?" She asked, stepping closer and rubbing her shoulder. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I… no… Well…The thing is… I…Well-"

The young hero stumbled and tripped over her words, her mind beginning to fill with anxiety. She continued to talk, but it was a jumbled rush of words and mumbles. She did manage to get out that she was worried about her sister.

"Vicky, hey, it's okay, just take deep breaths," Her Aunt said, now looking properly worried. "What was that about worried about Amy?"

Victoria took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. She felt wobbly and unstable, like she was about to make a massive mistake but at the same time reveal a great dangerous secret. She could hear her heartbeat and her pulse race, nervous energy flowing through her that made her want to sit down or run away. She was sure that if anyone had been around that wasn't immune to her Aura, they would be freaking out.

"I'm worried, worried that-"

From further into the house, Victoria could hear an insistent knocking. She didn't even have to think to recognize it as her mother's. The fact that she could hear it from where she was meant it was probably closer to a pounding than a knock, but she didn't have long to think about that. The knocking stopped but was soon replaced by loud talking, then shouting.

When it became screaming, shouting loud enough that even with the front door shut, both Victoria and Aunt Sarah would have heard it. She could tell it was terrible because Amy never really shouted like that. She would stop before that, roll her eyes, and ignore Carol, taking whatever punishment her mother doled out, barely even shrugging her shoulders. But now she was meeting Carol's aggression, matching her shout for shout.

Both Vicky and Aunt Sarah rushed back inside, making their way to the staircase. Before they could reach it, the loud shouting began to move as the two people screaming at each other stormed down the second-floor hall. Carol shouted for Amy, demanding that she stop and not walk away from her, for her to come back that instant. After a moment, the sound of a slap resonated through the house, followed by Amy demanding she be released.

Both Aunt Sarah and Victoria arrived just in time to watch Amy tumble down the stairs. The sound of meaty impacts and snapping bones cut through everything. Amy came to a stop at the turn into the stairs, cracking a pair of balusters as she slammed to a halt. At the top of the stairs was Carol, her eyes wide as she looked down at the unmoving healer.