Chapter Text

“Come on Havoc…” that haunting voice sang from the other side of the corner, “Stop hiding little bunny, you’re a big girl now” an eerily similar voice finished from the other corner in front of her. They had cornered her, again.

She felt her heart pounding painfully against her ribs, begging her to continue running. Her back pressed against the lockers behind her as she wiped the sweat from her brow. The normally clean burgundy lockers were now a dark ominous red due to the dim light of the hall, the shadows from the shitty school lights throwing long distorted shadows in every direction.

The bushes and trees on the edge of the courtyard, rustled as if someone or something was darting through the pitch-dark grounds, impossibly fast. It was increasing her anxiety, feeling like there was another unseen threat stalking her.

If she ran right, and managed to make it through she could get to the school exit. Right it is. She took off running, pushing off the lockers, she felt slow despite pushing herself harder than ever. She slung herself around the corner to find one of the Trouble twins leaning cockily against the wall of lockers, half hidden in the shadows. She stopped short, right arm suddenly throbbing in phantom pain.

‘Keep running, Amy!!! Why did you stop? Don’t stop, you idiot!’ she yelled to herself mentally as she stared down Trish (or was this one Tara?). She had to keep moving.

“Good little bunny” she cooed condescension dripping from her tone.

She felt rooted to the spot, unable to move her feet, her lungs burning with the effort of sucking in gulps of air to satisfy the need for oxygen from her racing heart. A thought occurred to her through her haze of panic.

‘This never happened…. This isn’t real’

The Trouble twin smirked at her, stepping away from the lockers to face her, then looking behind her. Amy twisted around and found the other one directly behind her. She struck out, swinging her fist towards Tara’s face (or was this one Trish? Screw it).

She managed to dodge, and Amy’s fist slammed into the locker behind her head. She cried out at the shattering pain through her wrist.

“Fuck!”

“Havoc?” Jake’s voice called.

She blinked and suddenly she was on the dirty floor, next to those abandoned subway tracks from years ago. Another and she was back in the school, but she was alone. Or was she? The sound of their laughs were bouncing around the walls around her. She forced herself to her feet and spun in circles, waiting for them to pop back up behind her.

A hand landed on her shoulder and she jerked up, arm raising to defend herself as she jerked sideways. She felt the ground beneath her drop out and she fell with a small thump onto the ground a few inches below her. She was incredibly confused and disoriented by her position on the ground and the even darker room she found herself in.

“Amy… It’s ok. Your home. It’s just me” Hartley’s voice said from above her.

Amy could hardly hear her with the blood pounding in her ears and her breath coming in heavy pants. She felt overheated and her palms were sweaty. She tried to get to her feet but something was wrapped around her feet, tripping her up. Another thud, an oof, and a gasp from Hartley sounded within quick succession as she landed heavily on her front.

“Fuck” she muttered, as she tuned around, jerking her legs to free them of the blanket that had wrapped around her calves.

“Amy calm down. It’s ok” Hartley said.

Amy finally managed to free herself, standing up and finally taking in her full surroundings and muttering a few choice curses at the offending blanket now under her feet. She and Hartley were in the dark living room, the only light coming from the muted TV.

Right, they were having movie night, she must have fallen asleep… and had a nightmare, apparently. It wasn’t real.

“Amy? Come sit down… Everyone else went to bed. It’s just us” Hartley said softly.

After determining for herself that they were alone, she finally plopped down heavily back onto the couch next to Hartley. She sat on the edge of the seat, forearms resting on her knees, and she gripped her shaky hands tight between each other. She took deep slow breaths until she was no longer panting, and her heart stopped thundering against her ribcage.

She was thankful Hartley didn’t try to touch her again as she calmed down. Part of her wanted to tell Hartley everything and part of her wanted to run again, and avoid that vulnerability. She wasn’t even sure what she would tell Hartley. It wasn’t the same nightmare about that night that she’d always had. It was different, things were different and she had no idea why. Or why it affected her so violently. It almost felt like…

“Do you want to talk about it?” Hartley finally asked.

Amy took a deep breath, moving to sit sideways on the couch and face Hartley, putting a bit more space between them. She hadn’t noticed until then that she had been rubbing at her right wrist absent mindedly, so she crossed her arms over her chest to stop that.

“I don’t know” she finally said, glancing towards the stairs again.

“Was it the same nightmare?” Hartley asked gently.

“…Kind of… It was of the twins but it was different. It’s never been different” Amy explained confused.

“Maybe you’re stressed about something. Dreams tend to reflect emotions that aren’t being processed” Hartley offered.

Amy couldn’t help but smile, of course Hartley would try to explain it in a way that hinted Amy was supposed to talk about her feelings (gross).

“No, I don’t think so. It almost felt like a warning…” she said thinking about the nightmare more. “But I don’t know. That’s dumb” she said trying to wave it off.

“I don’t think it’s dumb” Hartley reassured. “A warning about what though?” she asked.

“I don’t know” Amy sighed. “Just never mind, forget it. Let’s just finish the movie” Amy said giving Hartley a fake reassuring smile.

Hartley bit her tongue and let Amy clam back up, at least she talked to her this time. Hartley got comfortable again and restarted the movie, while Amy drew her knees up on the couch and played with her rings, clearly still in her head and not actually watching the movie.

Hartley was pretty sure this was the third nightmare she’d had in less than two weeks, but she wasn’t even sure because Amy barely admitted to the other two and she just so happened to witness this one. She didn’t understand why they were suddenly happening so often. Considering that when Amy first told her about that night and her resulting nightmares, about a month ago, she had said she only had them once every few months or so.

By the end of the movie Hartley was practically half asleep and Amy was still sitting very tensely on the other end of the couch. Hartley was worried that she may not have been sleeping as much as she should be. Which may explain why she fell asleep within the first ten minutes of the movie (and Hartley was more than happy to let her sleep, considering how peaceful she looked).

“I should probably go home, we have that math test tomorrow morning” Hartley said yawning and stretching.

“Oh yeah” Amy said distractedly, “I might skip tomorrow.”

“Ok, well you should try to make it, Ford isn’t known to be flexible with makeups” Hartley said simply.

“Yeah, I know. I just think I could use a day” Amy said trying to be dismissive.

“Ok, I’ll see you some time tomorrow then. Text me” Hartley said as she started for the door. She had her hand on the doorknob when she turned back around, “At least try to actually sleep tonight, ok?” she requested softly.

“Yeah, goodnight Hartley” Amy agreed with a fond smile, definitely not lying through her teeth.

Hartley smiled like she was pleased with herself and left to go home. Amy locked the door behind her and when she was sure she was back in her own home, she went down to the lair instead of up to her room.

She scribbled a note for her parents, just in case they came down before she got back, because she learned from her last secret trip to Centropolis (Always leave a paper trail). She then grabbed the teleportal device that her dad had hidden. She, of course, had found it the next day, while her dad promptly forgot where he hid it. Typical.

Went to Centropolis. BRB :P

Chapter Text

She clicked the button and went through the portal, coming out the other end in her full Havoc outfit (that really was a genius addition to the device, not that she’d ever admit that to her dad) outside one the biggest villain hangouts in Centropolis. She took a deep breath because this could go one of three ways. Either they ignored her, and she wouldn’t be able to get information, or potentially try to beat the shit out of her for deserting her post as leader without warning. But hopefully if she was lucky, they would simply act as if nothing had happened and would answer her questions without too much hassle. She crossed her fingers that they weren’t holding a grudge and opened the door to the Underground bar.

The sound of pool balls snapping together, ruckus conversations, and loud music mixed together as she opened the door, overwhelming her with her already frayed nerves. She couldn’t turn back now though, she needed to know. That nightmare had felt far too much like an omen.

A few heads turned to look at her as she walked to the end of the bar, but thankfully no one seemed to want to pick a fight, yet. The bartender that has been running the Underground for as long as Amy could remember, saw her and his eyebrows drew up in surprise.

“Havoc? Long time no see” he greeted handing off a ready drink and coming her way.

“Hey Al” she greeted with a smile.

Al had a scruffy, rough around the edges look to him, with light brown hair and a perpetual five o’clock shadow. He almost reminded her of her dad, he could tell her they were brothers and she wouldn’t be surprised. But Al wasn’t a supervillain, he ran the Underground and he had let it become a stomping ground for villains, his only rule was no barfights. A rule that was routinely bent and nearly broken. They all respected Al enough to help break up fights and throw the offenders outside to finish their brawls. Supervillains weren’t known for their impulse control or anger management though, so even those that respect Al broke the rule on occasion.

“What are you doing here? I’ve heard rumors that you left again” he said, leaning on the other side of the bar.

And as the official bartender to the supervillains of Centropolis, Al was the perfect person to go to for any information. He managed to have all the gossip and intel on everyone.

“Yeah, I just popped in to talk to you actually” Havoc said with her most charming smile.

“I see” he said chuckling, “You know it’ll cost you though.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know the drill” she said pulling a twenty out of her pocket and putting it on the bar.

He reached to grab it, but Amy pulled it back slightly, “It’s yours once I know you actually have info” she explained.

He chuckled, “Very well. Shoot kid”

“Do you know the Trouble twins?” she asked.

He grimaced, “Yeah they were a nightmare”

“Were?” she questioned.

“Yeah, they stopped showing up like a month or two ago. I heard that after you stopped showing up for the job, they were in the running to take over. Everyone thought they’d jump at the chance, but they left soon after. No one knows where or why though” he supplied. “Job had a lot of turnover” he added.

She nodded thoughtfully, it was weird that they wouldn’t take the job and it didn’t put her at ease like she hoped.

“Ok, thanks Al” She handed him the twenty. “Who’s in charge now?” she asked just out of curiosity.

He gave her a joking smug smile, rubbing his fingers together, indicating it’d cost her more to find out. She rolled her eyes but pulled out another bill from her pocket, handing over the five.

“Good to know you haven’t changed, Al” she said sarcastically.

“Slither” he said simply, as he pocketed the money.

Amy hummed, “Not bad”

She always liked Slither, she had a good sense of humor.

“Anything else I could do for you, kid?” he said pleasantly.

“Nah… well actually” she said, “How welcome do you think I am here?” she asked in a more hushed tone.

He leaned in a little closer, “I wouldn’t stick around if I were you, but things have been calm tonight so far, so you might be fine for a bit. You know how it goes” he said unconcerned.

Amy looked around the bar, biting her bottom lip in thought. “Thanks Al” she said distractedly over her shoulder and he went to the other end of the bar to continue pouring drinks.

She always liked Al, he was chill, never really took sides in villain squabbles for power, but wasn’t some holier than though type. He had been around villains enough to know to look out for himself first, so he was far from squeaky clean. But most important, he wasn’t stupid enough to be a rat to any heroes or cops. The perfect mix of trustworthy and untrustworthy.

She leaned back against the bar, eyes scanning over the villains filling the bar for the night. Trying to decide if she should try to get more information or call it good enough and go home. It was still early enough in the night that it was mostly just the older crowd. A few heads bent over what looked like blueprints, no doubt hatching some crazy scheme, and a group on the far wall was playing darts. Some were throwing darts at pictures of superheroes, others were throwing darts at each other, drunkenly trying to dodge or catch the darts, while spilling their drinks down their fronts.

Her generation (the teens and twenty somethings) usually showed up a little later in the night. That was when things usually started to get out of hand and Al had to start throwing people out.

It was the villains her age, the ones she used to run wild with, that would pose the most danger to her. The villains from her parent’s generation probably wouldn’t give a shit about her being back, but her crowd would probably still be pissed and likely more violent.

And the fact that AL let on that he had heard enough to confirm that, was enough for her to make her decision. She promised she wouldn’t walk into any more potentially dangerous situations without her family backing her up again, and she had already pushed that promise by coming here at all. She couldn’t outright break it tonight.

She pushed off the bar and started for the door, this actually did the opposite of putting her at ease, but it was worth a shot. She was thankfully ignored again and didn’t run into any trouble as she pushed the door open and emerged back into the cool blissfully quiet alley way.

That is until Gloom materialized out of shadows, becoming solid matter again directly behind her. Havoc sensed someone behind her and turned around just as Gloom threw a punch at her. It slammed into her jaw and she stumbled sideways, throwing a sonic blast at instinctually. Her attacker was pushed off her feet by the blast, landing hard on the ground at the end of the alley.

Chapter Text

Amy stretched her jaw and felt the spot she had hit with her fingers.

“Damn it! Why did you go for the face?!” she cursed angrily at Gloom. That was definitely going to bruise, which is going to make hiding this excursion from Hartley nearly impossible.

Gloom was a villain the same age as Amy, she had liked her enough, they had even committed a few acts of vandalism together back in the day. She had pretty cool powers, she could become dark matter and travel through shadows. She had the potential to be a truly terrifying villain, but she tended to be pretty lazy and lacked the follow-through to make it at the top of the food chain.

“Because you have a punch-able face!” She yelled back, dusting herself off as she stood.

“Why are you pissed off at me?” Amy huffed.

“Because we always promised each other if the other every got to be leader, we would help the other out. And you didn’t even reach out to me” she said petulantly.

“Dude… literally every villain promises that to each other to get what they want. Also, I was literally the leader for a day. So chill” Amy said irritated. Now she also remembered Gloom was not the brightest bulb in the room, another reason she stayed at the bottom.

“I should destroy you for daring to show your face again” Gloom said from gritted teeth. But then her shoulders sagged back into a relaxed posture, “Ehh, that would be too much work though. Whatever, we’ll call it even” she said, walking to the Underground entrance and disappearing inside.

Amy sucked a breath in through her teeth, rolling her eyes. It could have been worse she guessed. She opened the teleportal stepping back through into the family’s lair, reappearing in her sweatpants and long sleeve-t. She closed the portal behind her and stashed the device back where she found it and crumpling up her note tossing it in the trash. Because while she needed to leave a paper trail just in case, it was also important to destroy the evidence after the fact.

She went to grab a bag of frozen peas once she got back into the dark kitchen, not bothering to turn on the lights as she was just planning to go to bed. She was just extracting her hand from the freezer when the kitchen lights flicked on, she jumped, making an undignified yelp and slamming the freezer door harder than she planned on as she whirled around.

Her mom stood in her pajamas, leaning against the doorframe, looking at her smugly, “What did you do?” she asked in that sing-song tone she used whenever she caught any of them in their acts.

“Nothing” Amy deadpanned.

“So, you’re just getting a midnight snack of frozen peas?” she asked, amused.

Amy looked down at the peas clearly in her hand, “Yup” she said popping the p sound. “Well…Goodnight then” she said trying to edge past her mom to go upstairs.

“Are you sure there isn’t anything you need to tell me?” she asked again.

“Nope” she said simply again, starting up the stairs.

Once she was finally in her room with the door closed she put the peas to her stinging jaw and relaxed onto the bed, knowing she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep for a while, and staring at the ceiling instead.

………….

Hartley came over the next morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed, like every other morning and greeted the Madden’s who were having breakfast before school and work. Minus Amy who must have decided to skip after all, hopefully she was still asleep.

“Good morning!” she greeted eagerly.

“Hey Hartley” Jake acknowledged.

“I haven’t seen Amy yet this morning, is she skipping?” Eva asked.

“I think so” Hartley said.

“What’s with the face?” Vic asked.

Hartley’s lips had pursed, and eyebrows knitted in concern unintentionally.

“Uhh, nothing. We have a math test today” Hartley covered poorly.

They shrugged it off and Hartley grabbed a plate of pancakes, joining Jake at the table. She had to fight the urge to go upstairs and check on Amy, to make sure she was actually asleep finally. She managed to hold herself back until it was time to go to school. Then she only had to deal with the gnawing disappointment that Amy wasn’t sitting next to her in the car.

Chapter Text

Amy woke up around noon, finally feeling somewhat refreshed. The bag of frozen peas that had been in her hand when she fell asleep was completely thawed and mushy now, making her nose wrinkle in disgust. When she finally dragged her feet into the bathroom, she saw that the bruise on her jaw was already a light blue color. It was tender to the touch, but all in all, not bad. She would be able to cover it with makeup, and maybe Hartley would never need to know.

Figuring the house would be empty she delayed putting on makeup till after she ate and showered and made her way downstairs.

She was just starting to read through the twenty or so texts Hartley had sent her this morning as she walked downstairs. So she didn’t notice the person standing in the living room.

“Good morning!” Hartley called from the kitchen door, “Or afternoon, actually. But whatever, hi!”

Amy stopped in surprise, keeping her head down, looking down at her phone and not looking at Hartley, trying to hide the bruise. She brought her hand up, pretending to scratch at her cheek to cover it once she unfroze her brain.

“What are you doing here?” Amy asked, voice a pitch higher than normal with her panic.

“I came home for lunch, I think I left my history book here last night and I need it for my last class, so I came to look for it. You haven’t seen it have you?” she asked as she started looking around the living room.

“Uh no. I haven’t. But you had better hurry and get back to school, you wouldn’t want to be late. You can get a loaner” Amy said trying to get her out of the house.

Hartley looked up at her from the ground where she had been looking under the couch, eyes narrowing, “Your being weird. What did you do?” she asked knowingly.

“What? Nothing” Amy chuckled unconvincingly, “Why does everyone always think I’ve done something?” she said trying to dismiss Hartley’s suspicion.

“Because I know you and I know when your trying to hide something and trying to get rid of me. Like now” Hartley said still suspicious and eyeing her appraisingly.

“Pfft no” Amy tried, crossing her arm over her chest and propping her left arm on it, still covering her jaw.

“Amy” Hartley said, voice dripping with warning, as she walked closer to her.

Amy sighed, “It’s nothing, really. Don’t freak out” she said as she tried to angle her face further away casually from Hartley’s approaching figure.

Hartley caught on though and grabbed Amy’s wrist pulling it away with a annoyed huff that quickly turned into a gasp.

“How did… When did… What?” she asked brain not latching onto one fully formed question before another popped up.

“Well, like I said it’s no big deal. But I dropped into Centropolis for just a few minutes last night to talk to an old… friend. And when I was leaving I ran into another old… friend? Who was a little mad at me, but we settled it. So it’s all good” Amy placated, “This was simply a misunderstanding” she added gesturing to the bruise.

Hartley gripped Amy’s chin between her thumb and forefinger, turning her face to get a better look at the still blossoming bruise with a disapproving look, “Most misunderstandings don’t result in bruises” she said finally letting go.

“They do in the villain world” she said.

“We aren’t in the villain world, Amy” Hartley sighed.

“Yes, I know, it has so many annoying rules” she cracked.

Hartley cocked her eyebrow, staring her down unimpressed, “You said you were done being a villain, and…”

“I wasn’t being a villain” Amy cut off exasperated as she crossed her arms. “Look I went to ask about the Trouble Twins, I just wanted to make sure they were still in Centropolis. Which they aren’t. No one knows where they went but they left not long after I took a stab at being leader. I just had a feeling and I needed to go and find out for myself if I was wrong”

“And… were you wrong?” Hartley asked still exasperated but a little more understanding now.

“No, but I wasn’t not wrong either” Amy said.

Hartley opened her mouth to speak but then turned confused, “What?”

“I proved that the Trouble Twins aren’t still terrorizing the people of Centropolis where they belong, where they couldn’t possibly be trying to find us in Valley View. But I also didn’t prove that they are coming for us in Valley View, because they could be anywhere” Amy explained, like it was obvious.

Hartley looked at her with a mix of confusion and worry, like she had just told Hartley that she thought she had three heads. “Ok…” Hartley said with a placating tone. She stepped closer putting her hands on Amy’s shoulders, “But alternatively what if it was just a dream and you’re just worried and jumping to the worst because of everything that happened with Declan and Shadow. Your worried someone else could find out where you are all in hiding, and so your mind is thinking of potential threats from your past and your subconscious combined them in the form of a bad dream” Hartley suggested softly.

“So you think I’m crazy?” Amy asked, jaw tight with frustration.

“No” Hartley shot quickly, “No, I think you’re tired and understandably on edge after everything from the past few months” Hartley tried to smooth over the brewing argument, “That being said, I think you weren’t thinking straight when you went to Centropolis alone again” she added tensely.

“And what if I’m right? And not just crazy” Amy diverted back, just as tensely, shrugging away from Hartley’s hands, “The twins would have jumped at the chance to be leader, and they could have made a real play for it, with Shadow out of the way. So why the hell would they just leave, unless for a good reason?” Amy explained her theory further, voice rising slightly at the end.

“I’m not saying ignore it! I’m saying tell your family to keep an eye out and if your right then you’ll all deal with it together like you have before. I just think you shouldn’t jump to the worst possibility right away and you definitely shouldn’t go into dangerous situations alone! You could have died last time, Amy!” Hartley yelled back.

Amy scoffed, breaking eye contact and looking down at the ground, she had nothing to say back for once.

Once Hartley was sure she wasn’t going to reply she took a deep breath, “I have to go back to school. Can we talk about this more after school? I promise I’ll just listen if you tell me about last night more” she said far softer.

Amy looked back up at her, bottom lip between her teeth as she nodded silently. She looked like she was holding herself back. Hartley wasn’t sure if it was from snapping at her or from getting upset in front of her.

Hartley sighed and grabbed her backpack that she had dropped by the door, a loaner from the library would have to do. She looked back at Amy regretfully again before heading out the door without another word. She was pretty sure she could have handled that better, it was kind of a low blow to mention her near death experience with Shadow, but it was true. She just hoped that Amy would forgive her and if she was lucky take what she said to heart.

Chapter Text

Hartley suggested they go to the Round Up for dinner since they couldn’t talk at Hartley’s house with Celia there and Amy’s house was far too crowded with nosey villains at the moment. So, they walked in tense silence for a minute before Hartley finally broke the tension.

“I’m sorry. I was too harsh earlier and I didn’t hear you out. Maybe if you told me about the nightmare you had and why it felt different I could understand why you went to Centropolis last night” Hartley apologized, so diplomatically it made Amy smile despite herself.

“And I’m sorry for trying to hide it from you” Amy said kindly, “Though had you just stayed at school, you never would have found out and we would have been fine” she joked.

“Ha.Ha” Hartley faked laughed dryly, “Not funny. You know I always find out one way or another. And we ARE fine, now. Right?” she said cockily then turned almost insecure.

“Yeah, we’re good” Amy said bumping her shoulder as they turned into the Round-Up.

“What makes you think I wouldn’t have found out anyway?” Hartley asked curiously.

“Because I’m really good at covering up bruises. You can’t even tell now” she said smugly, gesturing to the side of her face where the bruise was. Sure enough the bruise was successfully invisible thanks to her makeup skills. Hartley wasn’t entirely sure that was something to brag about though.

They got a table in the corner, where they couldn’t be overheard, and ordered their food. As they waited and ate Amy explained everything to Hartley. She told her why the nightmare had felt so off and how she decided to go to the bar impulsively to get information and then about the misunderstanding/ close call with Gloom.

“…So what do you think?” Amy asked once she finished her explanation.

“Well… I still don’t like that you went by yourself and-“ she started.

“Not about that. I mean do you think I might be right about the twins?” Amy cut her off.

Hartley sighed thoughtfully, “I don’t know. I mean I trust you and your instincts, especially after Declan. But you said yourself there isn’t any concrete reason to suspect anything or any real reason for them to come after you again. So, the only thing we can do now is try to keep an eye out, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. Anyway, how was your day?” She asked.

Hartley started telling her about school that day, but Amy was still thinking, distractedly playing with the straw in her drink not taking in a word Hartley said.

“And then that new girl got paired with Gem in gym class and she totally tripped Gem. It was pretty great you would have loved it” Hartley spouted excitedly.

Amy hummed still not actually listening, Hartley finally catching on.

“You aren’t listening to anything I’m saying though, so I could tell you we took a field trip to Mars today and you’re just going to nod in three, two, one. Yup there it is” Hartley muttered to herself.

She reached out and put a hand on Amy’s wrist, “Earth to Amy” she said.

“What? Yeah, sounds like a great Wednesday!” she said snapping back to attention.

Hartley just gave her a concerned smile, “It’s Thursday”

“Oh right” Amy said, with a chuckle. “Sorry, I zoned out” she admitted.

“I know, it’s fine. You ready to walk home?” Hartley asked, finally realizing her hand was still on Amy’s wrist and removing it, hoping the heat in her cheeks wasn’t noticeable.

“Yeah” Amy said and she pulled some money out of her pocket, leaving it on the table before following Hartley out of the Round up.

They chatted the rest of the way home and Amy actually managed to listen this time. They reached the middle of their two houses and said their goodbyes for the night, Amy assuring Hartley that she’d see her in the morning for school.

…………………

The next morning went like any other and Hartley almost forgot to be worried about Amy, when she seemed to be acting like herself again. And Amy felt more like herself today, having finally gotten a good night of sleep.

Amy was able to convince herself that she was over reacting and let herself just live her life. Hartley even indulged her by laughing at her jokes about the very young, very naïve sub they had in sixth period. So it came as a shock when Hartley’s mood seemed to change completely when they met back up at their lockers not even ten minutes later.

Hartley had to stay to help the sub find a few things in the classroom since she was the sub for the week following and Hartley was the president of the Sunshine Club. They had planned to walk home together so Amy waited for her. This sort of thing happened all the time.

Hartley walked into the quad talking to a girl that Amy didn’t recognize. Hartley gave her a cheery smile and wave goodbye and began to walk towards her locker.

“Hey Hart, who was that girl you were talking to? I don’t remember seeing her around” Amy asked as she leaned next to Hartley’s locker, waiting for her to put her books away so they could go.

“The new girl I told you about, she’s my lab partner in science” Hartley said, Amy noticed the distinct tone of annoyance in Hartley’s words though.

Her eyebrows raised, confused at her attitude, “Oh, did you?” she asked casually. Hartley just scoffed and rolled her eyes, “Is everything ok, Hart?” she asked, Amy’s eyes flicked to the new girl they had been talking about over Hartley’s shoulder.

She was standing in the far corner of the courtyard talking to one of the boys in their year, flicking her red hair over her shoulder in an overt show of flirtation. She was basically the picture of the popular mean girl from every 90s and early 2000s movies. Amy got a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach, probably from Hartley’s personality shift, but her eyes kept flicking to the girl.

“Fine” Hartley snapped, slamming her locker shut.

“Wow, what has gotten into you? Did something happen with the new girl? Did she say something to you or something?” Amy asked completely confused.

“Why do you always assume I’m some fragile thing that can’t take care of myself? I don’t need you accusing everyone around us for your problems, Amy!” Hartley’s voice raised, pulling the attention of a few curious people milling around.

What the fuck was happening?

“Umm, ok” she drew out bewildered, “How is this my problem?” she asked truly innocently, for the first time in her life.

“Because you’re my problem!” Hartley yelled a look of pure anger looking out of place on her face.

When Amy only stared confusedly at her Hartley barreled on, “Your so dumb, you don’t even know!”

Amy’s jaw clenched, a pang of hurt shooting through her, “Come on” she said grabbing Hartley’s wrist and dragging her away from the onlookers in the courtyard, to the mostly deserted hallway. When she turned back around to face Hartley, she yanked her wrist out of her hold, still looking hateful.

“What the fuck has gotten into you?” Amy spat.

“Just some clarity finally” Hartley shot back, “I can’t believe I ever tried to be your friend. You’re such a screw up you couldn’t even manage to be villain leader for a day” she let that blow sink in and watched Amy’s face fall from angry and confused to complete devastation, “No wonder your mom would rather spend time with me than you. Your whole family honestly. You ruin everything you touch.”

If it had been any other person picking at her deepest insecurities she would have fired up and either hit them or dug just as deep into their wounds to hurt them back. But Amy couldn’t bring herself to do that with Hartley. And any other person wouldn’t have been able to get to those wounds so quickly but Hartley had managed to damage and lower her walls so much that her words hit hard, fast, and with precision.

Tears were already brimming in her eyes, and she had to bite her lip to stop it from quivering. She gave a half laugh in a lame attempt to cover her pain, undermined by her sniffle, “Huh… ok. I don’t know what the fuck your problem is or why your being an asshole all of a sudden, but I’m going to go. Let me know when I’m done being your punching bag” she muttered angrily.

“Yeah, run away like you always do, Amy! Because your too pathetic and stupid to handle your problems by yourself!” Hartley called after her.

Amy walked quickly to the school exit with her head down, before breaking out into a run to get home before her sobs left her crumbling on the ground. She slammed into her living room, ignoring her mother who tried to greet her and stomping up the stairs. She slammed her bedroom door before finally dropping to her knees and sobbing into her blanket.

Chapter Text

She didn’t leave her room for the rest of the night or most of the next day. And every attempt Eva made to get her to come out for dinner or breakfast was met with a sullen, “Go away”. Combined with the fact that Hartley hadn’t shown up at all, made her think the girls had gotten into a fight and she was getting more and more worried the longer Amy stayed shut away, this was not her daughter. Normally Amy brushed off fights and lived her life, harboring a healthy measure of resentment for a while, sure, but she never shut down like this.

“Jake? Do you know what happened between Amy and Hartley?” she asked Saturday at lunch, which Amy refused to come down for too.

“No. Why? Are they fighting?” he asked.

Eva explained her suspicions and Jake agreed to text Hartley in an attempt to find out, but he was slightly surprised when she never replied.

Amy finally emerged for dinner, looking completely unlike herself. Her hair was in a messy bun and she was wearing an oversized jacket and sweats, she looked miserable. Her eyes were red and downcast, she had clearly been crying. She hardly ate and mostly pushed her food around her plate.

“Amy? Sweetheart? What’s wrong? Did something happen with Hartley?” she asked cautiously once the boys cleared out and before Amy could leave.

“I don’t want to talk about it” she muttered.

“I’m sure whatever happened between you two can be fixed, sweetheart” her mom soothed.

“Whatever” Amy said gloomily as she stood and left the kitchen.

Amy flopped back onto her bed, curling into a pathetic ball, staring at the wall. Could this be fixed? What had she done to warrant such a harsh reaction from Hartley? Clearly Hartley had no desire for her to try and fix it, based on her cutthroat words. She never in her worst nightmares, would have thought Hartley would use any of her insecurities against her like that.

Part of her didn’t want to believe it happened and wanted Hartley to waltz in telling her it had been a body snatcher or something. She didn’t want to believe her best friend could enjoy hurting her like that. Another part of her spiraled down the dark hole, thinking she was right. After all, Hartley knew her better than anyone and if she thought she was a fuck up, then she must be.

It was on one of these disbelieving angry pacings on Sunday afternoon that a thought occurred to her. A spark of hope reignited within her for the first time in days. Should she let herself believe that it was even a possibility because if she was wrong she wasn’t sure she’d be able to ever pull herself out of this horrible feeling. She had to at least try though, for Hartley.

She changed (for possibly the first time this weekend) into a casual outfit, just in case Hartley wasn’t at home and she had to track her down in town. She put on a Tshirt and a pair of jeans, lacing up her combat boots and redoing her hair into a ponytail before running out of the house.

She took a deep breath before banging on Hartley and Celia’s door. Celia answered, looking confused as to why Amy came to their house, because she almost never was there.

“Is Hartley here? I need to see her” she asked nervously.

Celia eyed her appraisingly, “Yeah she’s in her room. Are you feeling ok? Because if you get me sick I will kick you all out on the street faster than you can say bless you” she threatened.

“Yeah, fine” she said distractedly as she pushed past her and started up the stairs.

“Well fine, I was just going to head over to your house to watch my program anyway” Celia huffed annoyed.

Amy heard the front door close and found herself outside of Hartley’s room far too quickly. She took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for if this didn’t go the way she wanted. She knocked then opened the door hesitantly when she heard a soft answer.

Hartley scoffed again, rolling her eyes when she saw Amy, “What are you doing here?” she sneered, “I thought I made it clear that I want nothing to do with you, you unlovable dumbass. Or should I spell it out for you” she smirked, sounding so much like Gem it was unnerving.

Amy ignored the gnawing pit in her stomach at the continued harsh words and grit her teeth steeling herself.

“Someone brainwashed you, didn’t they?” she asked, voice surprisingly steady.

Chapter Text

Hartley smirked at her evilly looking at her coldly. It was so reminiscent of the evil way she looked when her grandmother had body snatched her. And Amy knew that this wasn’t Hartley, at least not Hartley in control of her actions.

“I knew it” Amy huffed disbelieving.

She opened her mouth to use her sonic hypnosis and break whatever brainwashing was making Hartley act like a bitch, but Hartley launched herself at her. Instead of her sonic hypnosis note, the only thing that came out of her mouth was a surprised oof.

Then there was the resounding thud as her back slammed into the wall, knocking the wind out of her lungs. Hartley was punching every inch of her she could reach, which was everywhere because Amy’s arms were awkwardly useless above Hartley’s shoulders.

After a particularly strong punch to her side, Amy finally forced herself to fight back, she pulled her knee up into Hartley’s stomach, just enough to stun her momentarily. Amy tried to push Hartley away from the awkward way she had latched onto her middle, head pushed into her middle, but she didn’t budge. Eventually Amy wound her arms under Hartley’s armpits and threw her off herself.

She followed quickly while she was off centered and grabbed her wrists, pushing her back against the wall instead, wrists pinned by her head, so she couldn’t keep hitting her. She suppressed the irritated growl at Hartley literally attacking her, because she knew it wasn’t her fault and opened her mouth to hypnotize her back again.

But Hartley was scrappy and apparently wasn’t done yet, because she threw her head forward, forehead crashing into Amy’s mouth.

“Motherfucker” she cursed as her lip bled, her hands relaxed just a fraction on her wrists and Hartley broke free. Grabbing her again and pushing her back until she tripped over the mess on Hartley’s bedroom floor. They fell to the floor together, struggling and grappling with each other.

Amy was trying so hard not to actually hurt Hartley, but Hartley was fighting tooth and nail trying to literally bite and scratch Amy whenever possible.

“Stop fighting me! I’m just trying to help you!” Amy grunted irritated when Hartley dug her nails into her upper arm. She managed to finally overpower Hartley, rolling on top of her and pinning her again to the floor.

She wasted no time and as Hartley struggled and thrashed beneath her she hypnotized her to reverse whatever brainwashing had turned her against Amy. If it hadn’t been brainwashing it wouldn’t have worked so she was so relieved when Hartley instantly stopped fighting her, her features going from feral to confused.

She looked up at Amy and she watched her eyes as comprehension dawned on her and she instantly looked so upset as tears fell from her eyes. Amy sighed in relief, dropping her head slightly just above Hartley’s shoulder and relaxing her grip on her wrists.

She was about to get back up when their eyes met again and she was pretty sure the flutter in her stomach had nothing to do with the punches she had received. She pushed herself off of Hartley and rolled onto her back next to her on the ground, still breathing hard. After a whole weekend of barely eating and sleeping, that fight took a lot of energy and she was exhausted.

Hartley sobbed next to her though, so she forced herself to sit up. Hartley was covering her face with her hands, sobbing. Amy kneeled next to her and pulled her hands away from her face, before helping to pull her to her feet.

Hartley took her offered hand hesitantly, but once they were both standing, she flung herself at Amy again, this time wrapping her arms around her in a crushing hug.

“I’m so sorry” she sobbed. “I didn’t mean it. I was so horrible! I didn’t want to! I’m so sorry, I couldn’t stop it”

“I know” Amy said holding her back just as tightly, as tears of her own slipped down her cheeks. “It’s ok”

Hartley didn’t let go for several minutes, Amy didn’t mind of course. But when Hartley’s arms shifted lower, Amy couldn’t help the wince when her arms gripped around her sides harder.

“I’m sorry, are you ok?” she asked, still crying thickly as she pulled back looking at her, eyes falling to her bloodied lip, “I didn’t want to hurt you” she sniffed.

“I’m fine. You’re just a scrappier fighter than I would have expected and you are a lot stronger than you look” Amy tried to joke.

But Hartley’s sobs renewed, and she pulled herself back into Amy, with slightly gentler arms now. Amy held her tighter letting her cry into her shoulder as she tried to hold back her own sobs.

Hartley pulled herself back slightly, looking at her with teary eyes, “Why didn’t you stop me? You could have stopped me!” she said reproachfully, with a halfhearted slap to her shoulder.

Amy gave a weak chuckle, “What are you talking about? I just did”

“You could have stopped me faster; you are a way better fighter than that” Hartley glared weakly before hugging her again.

“Well, I didn’t want to hurt you. You didn’t know what you were doing” Amy explained gently.

“I’m so sorry” Hartley cried again.

“Hartley it’s ok, you weren’t yourself” she said more sternly.

Hartley pulled away fully this time, wiping her eyes on her sleeve, “Come on” she said guiding Amy to the bathroom across the hall by grabbing her hand. She let go once they were in the bathroom and Hartley wet a washcloth. Amy was looking in the bathroom mirror examining her split lip, wincing slightly at how bad it looked.

Hartley nudged her around so she was leaning against the bathroom counter with Hartley in front of her. Hartley dabbed at her lip with the washcloth, wincing in sympathy and looking as miserable as Amy felt for the last two days.

“Hey, I know you didn’t mean it. It’s ok. We’re ok” she said, Hartley just nodded sadly, lip still trembling as she tried to hold back even more sobs.

“Do you need to go to the doctor or something to get stitches?” Hartley asked worriedly.

“No, it’s not as bad as it looks. It’ll be fine with some ice” she said, “Do you remember who brainwashed you?” she asked.

Hartley shook her head, “No, I just remember that everything was fine in 6th period and then when I saw you after in the hall I felt like indescribable anger at you for no reason and then it was like I was hearing myself say all those awful things, but I didn’t know why and I couldn’t stop myself and in that angry part of my mind I… felt a sick satisfaction that I had made you cry” she explained, whispering the last part with intense shame. “And then when you left I was confused and every time I thought about texting you or going over I literally couldn’t. And then the same thing happened when you came over except you knew I was brainwashed so it was like I knew the only way to hurt you was to actually attack you and I felt like I couldn’t stop myself. It was all wrong and I couldn’t stop” she was sobbing again by the end.

This time Amy pulled her back into a hug, letting her cry again.

“How does one person have so many tears?” Amy joked, finally pulling a wet chuckle out of Hartley. “Ok, I have a plan…” Amy said.

Hartley helped clean and bandage the scratch mark on her forearm and they made their way downstairs to the kitchen, where Amy could ice her lip, as they hashed out a plan to catch the person that brainwashed Hartley.

……

“…Are you sure that’ll work?” Hartley asked hesitant about the plan.

“I think its our best bet” Amy sighed.

“Well I don’t like it” Hartley pouted.

“I know. I don’t either”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking about the challenges of the day ahead.

“I should probably go home” Amy finally broke the silence, standing up from the table. “I’ll… see you tomorrow I guess” she said awkwardly.

Hartley rushed back in, looking upset again and gripped her in another strong hug, “I’m sorry I said those awful things… and hit you… and scratched you” she said pathetically into her shoulder.

“Don’t forget biting me” she tried to joke, but quickly reassured her seriously again, “I know Hartley. It’s ok. It wasn’t you” slowly patting Hartley’s back.

Chapter Text

It was now Monday morning and Vic was taking the Madden kids to school, Hartley’s absence hung heavy in the tense silence of the car. Amy could tell they all wanted to ask what had happened between them, but Amy’s scowl as they were getting in the car was enough to keep them all silent.

It wasn’t hard for Amy to act in a fowl mood, she was still pissed off at whoever had done that to Hartley, and from having to stay away from Hartley, after having such a bad weekend all she wanted was for Hartley to make her laugh. Damn, she had a problem if she couldn’t go three days without Hartley.

She slammed her locker shut, and forced herself to walk in the opposite direction of Hartley’s locker. Somehow her scowl didn’t discourage someone from stepping in her path and trying to talk to her.

“What?” she snapped at the girl.

“Hi, I’m Debby! I’m new. Your Hartley’s friend, right? I was going to join the Sunshine Club and since I know you two are friends, I thought I could ask you about it too” she said with a smile.

“Don’t waste your breath” Amy said then grit her teeth and gulped at what she had to say next, “I’d rather have a million papercuts than be associated with her again” she said then pushed past the red head.

The girl had the nerve to grab her arm and stop her from leaving, “What happened? Everyone always says you two are inseparable”

Amy looked pointedly at the hand on her arm, where unknowingly to the girl a deep scratch hid under her sleeve, “First of all, that’s none of your business. Secondly, you’re going to want to remove your hand before I remove it permanently from your body”

Amy could have sworn she tried to hide a smirk behind a shy smile as she released Amy’s arm. New girl was her first suspect, but she couldn’t push too fast because she needed to be sure and she couldn’t let on that she knew what had happened.

“I’d stay out of my way, new girl” Amy threatened, letting some of her real anger show before shoving past her on her way to class.

Avoiding each other for the entire day was pretty much torture on both of them. Hartley had to sit with her sunshine club at lunch and Amy sat with her brothers, but they had to sit with their backs to each other so they wouldn’t keep looking at each other. Amy was very clear that Hartley had to be careful with even that, either completely ignoring her existence or looking pissed at her. Hartley chose to fight herself and ignore her, because she couldn’t bring herself to look meanly at Amy after all the pain she’d already put her through.

By sixth period, Amy was emotionally drained and had to put the rest of her energy into not glancing over at Hartley, who sat a row in front of her. She ended up staring out the window, checked out from the half-assed lesson the sub was pretending to understand.

The bell snapped her from her daydream and she rushed to gather her things so she could leave for the day.

“Wait, Madden. Can you stay a minute?” the sub asked.

Amy rolled her eyes and sighed annoyed, before turning back around to the sub.

“You didn’t seem to be paying attention to the lesson at all today” she said with a clearly fake sweet voice.

“Well, it didn’t really seem like you knew what you were talking about so what’s the point” Amy snarked.

The sub (Amy didn’t bother learning her name) raised an eyebrow at her talking back, “You leave me no choice but to give you a detention and send an email to the principle about your attitude.”

“Great, can I go now” she huffed as she took the pink slip, a substitute teacher held no threat to her in reality.

The sub gave her a nasty look, like she was hoping that Amy would be upset at the consequences and waved her off. Damn she’s a bitch.

She was greatly relieved when she finally got home and Hartley was already in the Madden’s living room waiting for her, she gave her another long hug in greeting.

“That day sucked” she muttered sadly into Amy’s shoulder.

“I know” She agreed with a sigh.

They sat on the couch and discussed the normal aspects of their day, before Amy transitioned into telling her her suspicions of the new girl, Debby.

“I don’t think it’s her. I remember our conversation and it was all about the Sunshine Club and she didn’t bring you up. I think I mentioned that you helped decorate for a few club parties, but that was all” Hartley said.

“Did you talk to her today?”

“Yeah, she said you basically threatened her and asked what had happened between us, but I avoided the question”

Amy chuckled, “I only vaguely threatened her…Well no, it wasn’t that vague, actually”

“Do we have to do another day of this?” Hartley pouted, adorably Amy thought (Stop it you hopeless, idiot).

She sighed, “Yeah, I think so”

“Ugh!” Hartley groaned and sat back, grabbing the remote from the table, “Want to watch something?” she asked still pouting.

“Sure” Amy said, smiling faintly at Hartley’s cute little bad mood of not being able to see her tomorrow at school again, which mirrored her own feelings.

They got comfortable on the couch as Hartley picked a movie and pulled out some of her homework to work on.

“Oh and by the way, that asshole sub gave me detention for tomorrow” she grumped.

“What?! Why?!” Hartley huffed.

Chapter Text

By the next morning Amy had to drag herself from her bed, letting herself mope about another shitty day to come as she got ready. She thankfully had breakfast and after school to look forward to with Hartley at least.

She didn’t want to admit it to herself, or anyone, but the words this new threat had made Hartley say had stung and stuck with her. She kept thinking those thoughts had to come from somewhere. Was it just because Hartley had known those were her insecurities or did a small part of her believe what she had said? It didn’t help that on top of that she was stressing the fuck out about who was after them this time. It sucked.

…..

Hartley could practically feel Amy’s stress and bad mood rolling off her by the next morning. It increased her own anxiety at the prospect of another day of pretending to be mad at Amy, they were practically just waiting around like sitting ducks, letting Amy continue walking around like bait.

Which is exactly why she wouldn’t let Hartley tell her family about what was going on. Hartley had agreed with the stipulation that they tell the Maddens everything if they didn’t find anything after today.

They just had to get through one more day.

The day dragged on and on, Amy could hardly function with her continued lack of sleep from the last several days and her mind kept wandering to who in the school could have fucked with Hartley. So by the end of each period, she had no idea what had happened in every class. In sixth period she stared blankly at the projector, pretending to watch the documentary playing, dreading the next hour and half of detention.

The bell rang finally and snapped her out of her stupor, and she started to walk for the door.

“Hartley? Will you stay and help put the desks back? Mr. Medena said you usually help” the sub asked.

Hartley stayed willingly and Amy filed out with the rest of the class, keeping her eyes on the floor, thinking over the last two days. She still hadn’t come up with anyone better than the new girl, Debby, who Hartley is pretty sure is innocent.

Amy stopped in her tracks as the realization hit her. The last place Hartley was alone Friday before she had been brainwashed. How had she missed it? She turned on her heel and sprinted back the way she had come and barged in through the door, ready to act.

Hartley was backed into a corner by the sub, who obviously wasn’t a real sub, looking terrified. The blonde woman raised her hand, and a blue glow emanated from between her fingers.

Chapter Text

Amy moved without conscious thought, slamming into her while her back was turned. She slammed her into the wall, getting a few hits in during her surprise. But she was bigger than her and she easily flung Amy off of her, and after she stumbled a few feet back, they stood sizing each other up.

“I knew you were an asshole” Amy snarked, thankful that her attention had been drawn to her and away from Hartley who was sitting in the corner petrified.

“I guess I underestimated you, I thought you’d be too stupid to figure it out this quickly” she snarked, and waved her hand over herself, so she revealed her appearance as a slightly older version of Tara Trouble.

Amy saw Hartley pulling out her phone, likely calling her family for help. She subtly rotated her wrist, putting up a small sonic barrier between them and Hartley, so she wouldn’t hear her calling for help and couldn’t get to her, even if she tried.

They both raised their hands, ready to attack the other with their powers when someone grabbed her backpack, that had still been slung over her shoulders, and flung her sideways into the desks, hard. She groaned and stood back up, dropping her bag off her shoulders as she now faced both twins.

“Why are you all so obsessed with me? You could have just been the leaders and forgotten about me” Amy vented.

“Destroying you would secure our spot as leader for a very long time. We’d be the uncontested leader. Slither is just a placeholder”

“Mmm I don’t know, kinda seems like you’re just obsessed with me” Amy snarked.

They both rolled their eyes in sync and their hands lit up blue, as the desks between them, that Amy had just been flung over, slammed to the sides of the room and barricaded the door. Something small and heavy flew at her, she barely managed to block it with a sonic blast. Irritation spiked as she realized it was a stapler. Great, they had telekinetic manipulation.

Then a hailstorm of objects began to fly around the room, some barely missing her, some slamming into the invisible barrier she created to protect Hartley, and a few objects slamming into her. Pencils scratched into her skin and erasers and markers pelted her, as she focused on diverting the heavy textbooks from slamming into her face with her sonic blasts.

She released a sonic blast around herself, powerful enough to make them stumble backwards, distracting them enough to briefly stop the barrage of flying items. She had to move fast, so she began to sprint at Trish, who was closest to the door. She was almost there when she was tripped up, slamming down into the ground, chin bouncing and scraping on the rough carpet. She twisted herself around trying to get up, but realizing it was a power cord, come to life with their powers tightly binding her ankles up.

They began laughing at her, as the power cord wrapped slowly and tightly up her legs. She briefly met Hartley’s terrified gaze, as she tried to break through Amy’s sonic barrier, keeping her safe. That was when the panic and severity of her situation truly sunk in.

Hartley couldn’t hear anything happening on the other side of the weird invisible wall that had been erected around her corner. She could only guess that it was Amy’s doing as she watched books, laptops, and pens bounce uselessly against it as they tried to get to her too. She didn’t care though, she just wanted to get to Amy. She pounded her fists against it and yelled Amy’s name, trying to get her attention. But it was useless.

She was powerless to watch as Amy stopped the assault of objects and began to run at the one on her left. Powerless to watch as Amy fell to the ground, struggling and pulling at thick extension cords that wound snake-like up her legs. Watching like a mute helpless bystander as Amy finally met her tear-filled eyes, finally looking fearful herself. She screamed pointlessly as new cords snared Amy’s wrists, pining her to the floor.

‘Where was Mr. Madden!?’ Hartley thought as she desperately kicked at the stupid barrier. Watching the twins close in on Amy like prey.

“Get up, Amy!! Get up!! Amy!! Please” she screamed pointlessly into her protective prison.

Amy pulled and fought against the unyielding cords keeping her trapped and vulnerable. She could see Hartley hitting, kicking, and screaming at the soundproof wall around her as tears streamed down her face, but she wouldn’t let it drop. She would protect her above all else.

“We have our little bunny…” One started in a mocking coo, “All snared up” the other finished.

Amy made a frustrated growling yell. She didn’t want them to win. Didn’t want them to be the reason she died. And she definitely didn’t want to be murdered in a classroom. That would be lame.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, pushing away her fear. The last time she faced them, she didn’t have powers, she was nothing then. But now she was a powerful villain, who destroyed the most dangerous villain in two decades. She could hold her own against them. She could do this.

She summoned every ounce of power she had as she felt them lurking over her. A foot slammed into her face as another landed on her chest, knocking the wind from her, and pushing down. She let that anger fuel her and let the vibrations explode out of her, destroying the cords binding her and throwing the twins back violently into the walls.

Scrambling to her feet again as fast as she could, she pounced as Tara tried to get back up. She braced herself against the wall and kicked into her with all her might. Not stopping until she stopped moving, and she was sure she was out cold.

Hartley cheered as Amy found her power and fought back. She had freed herself and violently went after one of them, just feet in front of the barrier. The anger and ferocity clear in her posture and unrelenting attack. But she was too focused. She didn’t notice the other one getting back up behind her.

“AMY!!! Turn around!” she screamed as she banged on the stupid wall separating them.

She figured that they couldn’t hear her, just as she couldn’t hear them, because Amy didn’t flinch or look at her, even after she finally stopped attacking the woman on the floor. Which means she didn’t hear Hartley’s warnings about the other twin.

“Fuck!” She screamed desperately, turning her attention to her phone again and calling Jake for help this time. Because clearly Mr. Madden and Colby were too far away.

Amy had lost herself in the adrenaline and aggression of finally fighting back, a mistake her twin would make her pay for. An arm wrapped around her throat, squeezing and stealing her ability to breathe as she was yanked further away from the wall.

“You are so annoying” Trish growled ferally.

Amy gripped the sides of her arms, and squeezed her hand underneath her right arm, breaking the link slightly weakening the hold. Then she dropped her bodyweight and twisted, using the momentum to flip Trish around and slam her into the ground.

Amy created a quick sonic band around her body, holding her in place firmly then dropped next to her and threw two vicious punches to her face, knocking her out too.

She stood back up on shaky legs, panting as she caught her breath. Her hand throbbed along with pretty much her entire body.

She heard banging on the barricaded door, realizing somebody was trying to get in. She stared worriedly at the door, not knowing how to explain all of this.

“Amy!!” she heard her brother’s voice yell, relief washing through her. She sighed breathless and used her powers to clear the door. And now that she knew it was safe, she waved her hand, breaking down the vibrational wall holding Hartley back.

Hartley stumbled through the once again free space, as she had been pushing against the barrier so fiercely. She quickly righted herself and ran to Amy.

“Are you…” Amy started to say but was cut off as Hartley barreled into her, she gripped the sides of Amy’s face and crashed their lips together.

Amy’s eyes widened in surprise, before quickly falling shut, relaxing into the kiss as she wrapped her arms around Hartley’s waist, humming into her lips once she finally started to kiss her back.

Time froze around them and the only thing that mattered was Hartley, because she was kissing her. She was finally kissing Hartley. Hartley was kissing her like she was her air, desperate and unrelenting as her hands tangled in her hair, managing to pull her somehow closer.

“Finally” Jake’s voice broke them from their moment and Hartley pulled back slightly blushing.

Amy was still slightly stunned and out of breath, but she rolled her eyes at her brother’s commentary as he stood by the door, surveying the scene. Hartley wrapped her arms around her neck, pulling close for a tight hug instead, distracting her from the insult she had on the tip of her tongue for Jake.

“Stop scaring me like that” she muttered tearfully.

Amy held her close, feeling so many emotions at once that everything felt overwhelming. Everything except Hartley, who was keeping her tethered tightly. She held her back just as tightly, as her own tears began to fall down her face.

“Sorry” she murmured back.

“Don’t worry! Daddy’s here to save the day!” Vic announced as he came barreling into the carnage of the room, Colby just behind him.

Amy and Hartley both gave wet chuckles at his absurdity, pulling apart finally. Only to stand directly next to each other, Hartley’s arm around Amy’s shoulders and Amy’s around Hartley’s waist.

“You’re a little late on the rescuing” Amy chuckled, wiping her eyes on the back of her sleeve. “But if you could deal with all of this, that’d be great” she said flatly, gesturing to the destroyed classroom and two unconscious bodies on the ground.

Vic looked around the room, with a slightly daunted expression, clearly trying to come up with a plan.

Chapter Text

Vic looked around the room, with a slightly daunted expression, clearly trying to come up with a plan.

“Ok, are you two ok?” he asked seriously.

Hartley nodded, but looked worriedly at Amy, who had scratches and marks across her face and hands as she leaned tiredly on Hartley. But she nodded too, glancing over to meet Hartley’s eyes.

“Ok, Jake, take them home” Vic asked, tossing Jake the car keys.

“Be careful, they’re smart and slippery” Amy warned warily.

“What do you want me to do with them?” he asked carefully.

She looked down at them again, subconsciously holding Hartley closer, before sighing, “I don’t know. But they know too much”

“I can erase their memories. Give them permanent amnesia?” he offered.

“Yeah, fine. I just want them to leave me alone” she exhaled.

The exhaustion from the adrenaline crash was catching up to her and all the aches and pains were making themselves more well known to her. She started to walk for the door, her and Hartley starting to separate slightly. But Hartley didn’t want to let her go, so she slid her hand down to grab Amy’s hand.

She hissed and pulled her hand away carefully and shook her head as Hartley started to apologize. She offered her left hand instead to her, which Hartley took. And they followed Jake from the room, leaving her dad to deal with the clean up. She released the sonic bands around the twins, to make it easier for them as an afterthought.

Hartley edged closer and closer to her as they walked to the mostly deserted teacher parking lot. She wrapped her arm around Amy’s left arm leaning in and letting their shoulders bump.

“Are you ok?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry” Amy said bumping her shoulder back and letting go of her hand so she could walk to the other side of the car.

Hartley saw the fatigue in her eyes though and something else behind her green eyes, that she decided to figure out later as they both slid into the backseat.

Amy caught sight of herself in the rearview mirror and grimaced. The split in her lip had reopened, bleeding freely down her chin. The bottom of her chin had a bruising scrap from where she’d slammed into the carpet. And a dark red mark colored her cheek and temple, from a boot.

Hartley reached for her hand again, breaking her from her thoughts. She opened her mouth to say something, but Amy flicked her eyes to Jake warily, clearly not wanting to have any conversation that they needed to have in front of him. But she squeezed her hand trying to silently tell her, they’d talk later before turning her attention out the window.

“Do you need me to stop for anything?” Jake asked, oblivious to their weirdly tense silence.

“No” Amy answered.

And before they knew it they pulled into their driveway.

Amy went straight to the kitchen grabbing an icepack for the side of her throbbing face. Hartley grabbed another and together they followed Jake into the lair, where they kept their first aid supplies.

Amy collapsed onto the stool by the workbench and Hartley placed the extra ice pack next to her, taking her right hand gently and placing it on the workbench with the icepack on top.

Their eyes met and it seemed like there was an understanding between them, Amy accidentally letting some of her emotions slip in the glance. “Jake, I’ve got this you can go” she said.

“Are you sure?” he said not reading between the lines.

“Yeah, bye Jake” she said a little more forcefully, and he took his leave with a grumble of not being appreciated, or something of the like.

Amy was trying to figure out how to break the silence between them again, finding it hard with the several things she wanted to say. But Hartley stepped closer, standing between her thighs and gently tilted her face up, meeting her lips again.

It was just as mind shattering as the one in the classroom, but much slower and less desperate. It somehow managed to ease the weird anxiety building within her of not knowing if that first kiss had meant the same thing to Hartley as it did to her.

And when Hartley pulled away this time she felt more ready to talk, so that she could go back to kissing her again.

“Was that, ok?” Hartley asked.

Amy nodded as she cleared her throat, “Ye-yeah. Perfect” was all her melted brain could come up with. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time” she said, still looking at Hartley’s lips.

“Me too” Hartley said, fingers resting on the outside of her thighs as she was still standing very close to her, she looked down almost and took a breath like she was building up courage, “I love you Amy, and I know you’re my best friend. But I want to be more, but I don’t want to lose you more, so if that’s not what you want that’s ok, we can just be friends again” she said emotionally.

Amy freed her hand from under the ice and placed a finger under Hartley’s chin, pulling her face back up to meet her eyes, “I want to be more. So much more. Because I love you too” she reassured. She pulled her face down to meet hers once more, but she wasn’t as considerate of her still bleeding split lip as Hartley was.

They both pulled away quickly, Amy hissing in pain and Hartley wrinkling her nose in disgust at the taste of blood and grimacing in sympathy as Amy held her lip, smearing the blood across her chin further.

Hartley sighed and grabbed the other stool pulling it directly in front of Amy, “Let me help you” she offered softly. She grabbed her wrist and pulled it away from her lip putting it back under the ice on the table and ripping open an alcohol swab.

“So…” Amy started as Hartley began to clean her face of blood. “Would you like to be my girlfriend?” Amy asked slightly awkwardly.

Hartley paused and looked at her sweetly, “Yes, now stop talking so I can help you”

Amy chuckled, “Fine, only because you said yes” she smirked, grimacing at the pain that gesture shot through her face. She returned the forgotten ice pack to the side of her face, numbing the pain and falling silent.

Hartley moved on to the bottom of her chin, pushing her face up to get a better look at it and dabbing at it with alcohol to disinfect it, “This isn’t bleeding much thankfully” Hartley mused.

Once she started on her hand she decided Amy had been silent too long, “So, do you want to talk about it?”

Amy groaned dropping her hand with the icepack to her lap, “I don’t know. What is there to talk about? They came back, it sucked, and they’re gone now” she said almost defensively.

“But a lot has happened in that time that we haven’t really talked about. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you more when you told me they were back. Are you mad about that?” Hartley asked, prying open the conversation again.

“No, we already talked about that. I’m not mad, I get it” Amy responded shortly.

“Then what is bothering you? Because I know it’s something. You’ve seemed off the last few days and at first, I thought it was just you being stressed about figuring out who brainwashed me, but now I’m not so sure”

Amy shrugged, looking down at her lap sadly, “Yeah, I guess”

“You know you can talk to me, right?” Hartley said concerned. “I am your girlfriend after all” she added lightly.

Amy chuckled finally looking back up at Hartley who had paused cleaning her split knuckles to give her her full attention. “Look I don’t want you to apologize again because I know it wasn’t you or your words or whatever, but those words hurt to hear out loud” she started referring to Hartley’s brainwash-forced cruel words. “I think it’s just because you know those are insecurities for me, not that you believe what you said or…” she said looking back down at her lap again, barely getting the words out.

“Of course, I don’t believe that! None of what I said is true. I need you to know that isn’t true. You’re so amazing. You’re smart, brave, funny, and so so loved” she said as new tears brimmed in her eyes again and she squeezed Amy’s thighs, waiting for her to look back up again.

Amy finally met her eyes, watery eyes mirroring Hartley’s, she smiled like she was trying to shrug off the vulnerability and seriousness of the moment, “I know that logically” she said sadly then after a deep breath pushing it further away, “I’m a catch”

Hartley chuckled, “Yeah, you are”

Hartley saw the way Amy was looking at her lips again and she got a mischievous idea, she ran her hand up her arm to the back of her neck, letting her thumb run across her jawline. She leaned in, and Amy leaned up to meet her lips, but at the last second Hartley swerved away from her lips.

She ghosted her lips over Amy’s ear, smirking, “You need more ice for your lip” she whispered into her ear as she leaned into her.

“You are so mean” she whined in a whisper back at her teasing.

“There you are” Eva said as she descended the stairs.

Hartley pulled back quickly, startled by her appearance and blushing at being caught once again.

“Your father called and told me what happened. Are you alright, sweetheart?” she asked, coming to stand near them.

“Yeah, I’m fine” Amy sighed, turning her attention to her mom.

“I’ll go get you some more ice” Hartley said, excusing herself and giving them room to talk.

“So… is there anything you’d like to tell me know?” her mother asked with an expectant look, referring to her odd behavior over the last week and the multiple times she avoided this exact question.

“I guess…” she sighed, and began the long story of the last week, briefly explaining her past with the Troubles then explaining her trip to Centropolis, Hartley getting brainwashed, ending with today’s events.

“Goodness” her mom said shocked, “I thought it was maybe just Onyx’s kid again or something. I had no idea that much has been going on with you” she said.

“Yeah, its whatever” she said brushing it off.

Her mom opened and closed her mouth twice, trying to find words before taking Amy’s lead and letting it drop, “So… you and Hartley looked pretty cozy down here” she hinted and poked for information.

Amy chuckled slightly, an easy smile at that thought gracing her features instead of the anxious expression it had been, “Yeah, I guess we’re dating now” she offered.

Eva beamed, “Oh honey, that’s great” she said, “I knew you two would figure it out sooner or later” she opened her arms and Amy stood and reciprocated the hug. “And your father owes me ten dollars now” she added excitedly.

“You know having you two make bets on my life choices is a little weird” Amy joked, pulling out of the hug.

“How else are we supposed to stay entertained in this town” she shot back cheekily.

Hartley came skipping down the stairs, probably having just listened in on part of the conversation based on how enthusiastically she came down with a bag full of ice. Amy guessed she was pleased that she had easily told her mom that they were dating because she thrusted the ice bag into her hand at the same time as she kissed her cheek and was smiling so wide, Amy swore she could see all her teeth.

“Miss me already?” Amy joked as she wrapped her arm around Hartley.

“Yup” she agreed quickly, practically vibrating with happiness.

Eva laughed lightly, “Are you sure you are alright, honey?” she asked again, giving her another worried scan.

“Yeah I’m good” she agreed.

“Ok, I’ll leave you to it then, I need to get started on dinner. Are you staying for dinner, Hartley?” she asked as she started for the stairs.

“Yeah, if that’s ok” she said politely.

“Of course” she said kindly, then “Pretty sure I’m not allowed to kick you out now that you two are official anyhow” she mumbled sarcastically.

Once she was out of earshot once again Hartley turned to Amy with big sappy doe eyes, still vibrating excitedly with happy energy, “So… we can tell people we’re dating?!?” she asked.

“Yeah…? Why wouldn’t we? Are… you ok to tell people?” Amy asked with a mix of confusion and apprehension.

“Yes! I want to tell everyone!” she said turning further into Amy’s side and squeezing her into a hug.

“Ow, ow. Ok, chill” Amy said through a laugh, “I don’t think everybody will care, Hart” she added once Hartley loosened her death grip slightly.

“They should” she beamed.

“Who cares about everybody else” Amy said, “I only care that you’re happy” she added softer.

Hartley’s eyes watered and her lip wobbled, still smiling happily, “I love you”

“I know…I love you too” Amy said placing a kiss to her temple.