Amy Dallon
<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Amy Dallon</default></title>
<image source="Image"></image> <image source="image"></image> <group><header>Basic Information</header> <label>Civilian Name</label> <label>Aliases</label> <label>Gender</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Death</label> <label>Age</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Post-timeskip</label> <label>Ward start</label> <label>Relations</label> <label>Family</label></group> <group><header>Professional Status</header> <label>Occupation</label> <label>Classification</label> <label>Unique Features</label> <label>Alignment</label>
<label>Status</label><format><label>Location</label> <label>Teams</label> <label>Previous Team(s)</label> <label>Base of Operations</label></group> <group><header>First Appearance</header> <label>Worm Debut</label> <label>Ward Debut</label></group> </infobox> Amy Dallon is a parahuman with the ability to reconfigure biology with a touch, who was adopted as a child by Carol Dallon and New Wave.
Personality
Panacea felt a gnawing sense of guilt, because every second she took to herself, she wasn't helping other people.<ref name="3.x" />
Like her absent biological father she holds herself to a strong code that governs her behavior and use of her power.<ref>“You’re your father’s daughter. Both of you are bound up in rules you’ve imposed on yourselves. His rules defined his demeanor, the boundaries he worked within, the goals he sought to achieve and how he achieved them. They were his armor as much as his power was. I would guess your rules are your weakness. Rather than focus you, they leave you in free fall, nothing to grasp on to except your sister there, and we both know how that has turned out.” - Excerpt from Prey 14.10</ref> Notably, she refused to kill using her power or interfere with human minds, even to heal. Breaking these guiding tenets caused her considerable mental stress.
Amy felt extremely lonely; her adoptive mother, Carol Dallon, never really wanted her and treated her coldly and suspiciously;<ref>Wildbow on RPG.net</ref> while her adoptive father, Mark Dallon, suffered from clinical depression and found it difficult to look after her. The only person who consistently showed her affection was her sister, Victoria Dallon.
She also felt a strong attraction to Victoria, likely as a result of constant exposure to her sisters awe-inducing aura at a formative stage.<ref>Comment by Wildbow</ref> Although she kept this a secret, fearing that it would ruin their relationship, it caused her to feel an extreme dislike for Victoria's boyfriend Gallant.
As a result of these various sources of stress, Amy was "steadily crumbling" at the start of Worm.<ref name="SB1">Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref>
Following the Battle at the Bank, she had a deep-seated dislike of Tattletale stemming from her attempts to manipulate her.<ref name="3.x" /><ref name="SB1" /><ref>“You sound like Tattletale. That’s not a compliment.”
“My ability to read people is learned, not given, I assure you.
[...]
I suspect you’ve never been around someone who actually paid attention to you.”
“Tattletale did. And Skitter.”
I startled at that.
“I meant on a long-term basis, but let’s talk about that. I imagine they were telling you ‘No, you aren’t. You can be good.'”
“Yeah.” - Excerpt from Prey 14.10</ref>
Appearance
Amy is described as "mousy" with frizzy brown hair and freckles.
As Panacea, Amy wore a robe with a large hood and a scarf that covered the lower half of her face. The robe was alabaster white and had a medic’s red cross on the chest and the back.<ref name="2.x" />
During her time in the birdcage, she would acquire several tattoos as mementos to her life before the birdcage.
Abilities and Powers
Amy is a biokinetic with an innate understanding of, and the ability to modify, the biology of any living organism she touches. For much of her life, Amy primarily restricted her use of the power to healing. She was one of the greatest healers in the world.<ref>I can’t do anything for the people with more serious brain lesions unless I attend to them directly. There’s other healers out there, I know they’re not as good, but maybe they can do something to fix that. - Excerpt from Prey 14.10</ref>
She has demonstrated the ability to render parts of a person's body numb and threatened to give Skitter time-delayed obesity or to make everything she ate taste like bile for the remainder of her life.
Her power was too slow to be much use on Leviathan.<ref name="8.4c1">Comment on Extermination 8.4</ref> It took her "some time" to modify tissues for transplant to avoid rejection.<ref name="RPG1">She can regrow missing body parts. She can't conjure material out of thin air, however. Even donor material is tricky because the body is liable to reject it unless she invests the time to alter it on a deep level. This is time she wasn't able or willing to spare when Armsmaster was in custody.
Atlas was made from an abundance of raw material. One key hurdle that they didn't have to cross. - Wildbow on RPG.net</ref><ref>“Can you grow us wings?” Trickster asked, in a wry tone.
“I can’t generate flesh from nothing, and it’s slow to convert something into a part your body won’t reject.”-Prey 14.3</ref>
Amy is capable of modifying brains, but has a firm rule against it; she fears what may happen once she crosses this line.<ref>“You don’t understand. I can’t cure brain damage.”
My heart fell.
“I- my- the last time I did it, the last time I broke my rules, everything fell apart. You’re asking me to do the exact same thing Jack was. To break my rules again.”
“They’re just rules.” Where was Jack?
“They’re the only thing holding me together.”
He’s getting away. This stupid girl. “You were willing to die if he took you hostage. I’m asking you to sacrifice yourself in a lesser way. Fall apart if you have to. But undo what Bonesaw’s started.”
“This is worse than dying,” she said, her voice quiet. - Excerpt from Prey 14.10</ref>
Weaver compared her in power to Contessa, Glaistig Uaine or Labyrinth.<ref name="Twelves" /> She had what Glaistig Uaine called the "shaper" faerie, which she claimed was on a par with her own and the Queen Administrator, and would "clean up after we are all done here, one way or another".<ref>"There are others who stand shoulder to shoulder with us, but queen is the wrong word, Administrator. The champion, the high priest, the observer, the shaper, the demesnes-keeper[...] The shaper and demesnes-keeper clean up after we are all done here, one way or another. So it goes."</ref><ref name="SB2" /> Her shard was a bud from Marquis'.<ref name="SB2">Wildbow: Amy's power is related to Marquis'
Wildbow: Just broader
Gundor: Right
Wildbow: Minus the limitations that were put on the Shaper shard - Wildbow on IRC, archived on Spacebattles</ref><ref>"Is Panacea's shard a bud shard from Marquis or is she a first generation cape?"
Yes. - Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref><ref>Wildbow on Reddit</ref> She was not related to Bonesaw.<ref>Comment on Interlude 10.5 (Bonus)</ref>
She was capable of modifying life into entirely new organisms:
- Scramble and Relay bugs to interact with Skitter's power
- Atlas
- A coffin-like "cocoon" filled with clear liquid for an injured Glory Girl.<ref name="14.10">Prey 14.10</ref>
- Pheromones that attracted stray dogs and cats.<ref name="14.10 e77">“I used pheromones to lure stray cats, dogs and rats to us, then I knit them together. Victoria didn’t have enough body fat to stay warm, and she was wearing out faster than I could get her nutrition.” - Excerpt from Prey 14.10</ref>
- An airborne plague.<ref>“I’ve been turning every microbe that touches my skin into an airborne plague, Jack,” Panacea spoke, her voice low. “You should be dead now.” - Excerpt from Prey 14.10</ref>
- A contagious parasite that counteracted Bonesaw's miasma.<ref name="14.10">Prey 14.10</ref>
History
Background
During the Brockton Bay Brigade's battle against Marquis, the Brigade discovered his daughter Amelia hiding in the closet. Brandish and Flashbang adopted her to keep her safe from the media and those who would exploit her due to the high chance of her manifesting superpowers. This was requested by Marquis.<ref name="15.x">15.x (Donation Interlude 1; Carol)</ref>
Panacea triggered two years before the story began,<ref>Do you understand what it means, to cure some of these people? I feel like every second I take to myself is a second I’ve failed somehow. For two years, it’s been this… pressure. - Interlude 3</ref> when Glory Girl was injured by a gang attacking a mall.<ref name="SB1" /> She would visit hospitals for two or three hours at a time every evening, curing people. Sometimes she would visit again during the night because she couldn't sleep.<ref name="3.x" />
Story Start
She was called in to heal Lung after he was poisoned by Taylor and Armsmaster.<ref name="I10.5">Interlude 10.5 (Bonus)</ref>
Panacea was called by Glory Girl, who asked her to heal a suspect she had injured in a fight. The two argued about Victoria's excessive use of force, but she eventually acquiesced. She helped her sister interrogate the man.<ref name="2.x">Interlude 2</ref>
Amy was present for the Battle at the Bank without her costume; she briefly incapacitated Skitter by interfering with the feedback she received from her bugs. At one point, Tattletale threatened to expose her secrets in front of Glory Girl.
Afterwards, she healed the Wards of any injuries they had and told them of her observations regarding Tattletale's power to help them in future fights.<ref name="3.x">Interlude 3</ref>
Post-Leviathan
She healed a lot of injured heroes and villains in hospital following Leviathan's attack.[citation needed]
Amy was chosen as Bonesaw's nominee for the Slaughterhouse Nine. She was forced to break a number of her rules, and in her distress, she modified her sister's mind to be attracted to her.<ref>Like a flame at the end of a long fuse, leading to a stick of dynamite, her power traveled from the side of Victoria’s neck to her brain. It was barely a conscious action on Amy’s part. [...] “Anything stupid. Like what? What did you do?” Amy’s voice was a croak as she replied, “…make it so you would reciprocate my feelings.” -Excepts from Infestation 11.h </ref>
After Glory Girl was injured by Crawler, she encased her sister in a biological pod made from stray cats and dogs.<ref name="14.10">Prey 14.10</ref>
She modified Glory Girl to the point she lost track of what she was supposed to look like. The result was possibly inspired by something she saw during her trigger event.<ref name="30.5 c1">Funny how parallels appear. Almost as if Panacea had been recreating something from something she saw in a trigger event. - Comment on Speck 30.5</ref>
Post-Slaughterhouse Nine
She voluntarily goes to the Birdcage.<ref>Wildbow on RPG.net</ref>
Gold Morning
Panacea was one of the prisoners released from the Birdcage.<ref name="27.3">Extinction 27.3</ref>
Amy made victory possible by modifying Taylor into Khepri. Khepri largely left her alone.<ref>Others… who was I leaving behind? There was a group still in the settlement. They hadn’t all moved through the portal. I reached for their names. Right. Tattletale. Rachel. Imp. Panacea. I’d taken the others, collected the wounded. - Excerpt fromSpeck 30.5</ref> Though several people were sent to her for healing.
After these events, she was reunited with her sister.<ref name="30.7">I watched the individual members of the swarm touch ground. The girl with healing powers had been placed deliberately next to a living pool of flesh with multiple heads of golden hair. The healer’s hands were covering her face, but she didn’t step away.
Her hands slowly lowered, and she laid her eyes on the monster, which was actively, ineffectually reaching out for her. - Excerpt from Speck 30.7</ref>
Early Ward
Panacea was assisting The Wardens by overseeing Rileys work. She is still undecided where she is heading in the new world.<ref>Interlude 3 II</ref>
Tried to go to a family reunion that didn't go well. When she tried to follow her sister she was almost attacked.<ref name="II1.7 e1"> - Excerpt from Daybreak 1.7</ref>
Trivia
- Panacea was the name of the Greek goddess of universal remedy, from which the word and concept "panacea" is derived. The panacea was said to be a substance that cured all diseases and granted eternal life.
- Amy and Victoria were considered early on as protagonists for a story called 'Guts and Glory'. The story would have alternated between each of their perspectives on a chapter by chapter basis and covered many of the same events that were covered in Worm.
- In early drafts of Worm, Amy triggered when Glory Girl was injured by the Slaughterhouse Nine<ref name="SB1">Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref>.
References
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