Crisis, Day 3.1
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Marceau

They were going to sit her down and talk. That was their grand plan. They were going to all but ambush that reality's version of Panacea and talk to her. It was a simple plan, one that was filled with holes and possible failures but she was hopeful.

Her hands anxiously started to smooth out her borrowed dress. Skitter didn't have as large of a selection as she did but she made due. They all did, each trying to find something comfortable for themselves from Skitter's closet. The Techno Queen looked particularly uncomfortable in a pair of overalls that wouldn't cover her and the glasses she had gotten from Starfield, who disturbing enough said she'd just regrow eyes for the moment. Skitter just looked annoyed to be sharing her clothes. Taylor was just glad there was a pair of heels for her to wear, a gift from Lisa Skitter apparently never wore. They would be for a good cause that day.

Every once in awhile her eyes would skim over to the cafe door, waiting for their target to arrive. Amy, almost like clockwork, came there every Saturday morning to pick up a coffee and one of the shop's specialty muffins. Despite her various glances the girl had yet to appear and seemed to be the only one at the table bothered by that. Skitter just kept sipping at her tea staring calmly ahead of her while the Techno Queen was busy typing at her newly acquired smartphone.

The atmosphere wasn't tense but it certainly was uncomfortable, not that the Techno Queen seemed to notice. Skitter did not want them there, in her world, invading her life. Taylor couldn't say she blamed her, she was just glad her alternate self was so willing to help Amy. Though she was curious what had happened between Skitter and Amy to make her feel as though she owed the healer something.

Awkward silence continued on for several minutes before Skitter put down her cup, her face actually showing some emotion for the first time that morning, "I don't get it, why do you two insist we have to talk to her like this? Couldn't you two and the other one have just written her a letter or something?" The other one being Shy Girl who had to stay behind when Skitter put her foot down on only two of them going. Besides, Shy Girl's face was too attention grabbing and would likely send the wrong message to Amy.

"Yeah, well, a letter really wouldn't have covered what we want to say." Taylor said, not being completely honest with her reasoning, "Somethings are better said in person."

"Like telling someone that you're their friend from an alternate reality trying to help them out. Much more believable in person… Mostly." The Tinker didn't so much as look up from her typing, not even pausing when she took a big bite out of her muffin.

"Or we could have just made an anonymous donation to her and mailed in those spa tickets you got her. I'm sure Lisa would have set something up."

"Riiight," The Techno Queen drawled out through a mouthful of muffin, "And watch as that money is never touched and the tickets magically end up in Vicky's pockets. At least this way we could tempt her." The sounded fairly accurate to what would happen if Amy wasn't pushed into taking the gifts.

Skitter didn't seem convinced, still, she kept her peace and went back to her tea even though she was still clearly filled with doubts. Taylor was thankful for that, she wasn't sure her nerves could have taken a drawn out argument just then.

Silence returned to their table for a good twelve minutes before she walked in. She was in her street clothes and her hair was shorter but Taylor recognized her with no issue or hesitation. Her heart ached a little at the sight of her.

Taking a moment to center herself Taylor stood from the table, "I'll go get her." and before either of the other Taylor's could say a thing her heels were already clicking across the floor.

Amy was staring at the muffin display when Taylor got in line behind her. There was a fresh batch of carrot cake muffins on display and if this Amy was anything like Taylor's then a few of them were about to go missing. The girl reminded her of a rabbit sometimes.

Resolving herself once again Taylor tapped Panacea on the shoulder. The girl stiffened at the contact before slumping down with an annoyed sigh. She barely turned to look at her, "Yes?"

Taylor paused, cleared her throat, and hoped her voice didn't sound as dry as her throat suddenly felt. "I, uh, can we talk to you? Just for a bit?"

Her eye roll was a completely automated response, just how Taylor remembered it. It also meant that Amy was about to passive aggressively tell her to shove off by saying something like 'She'd be at the hospital soon'. Taylor decided it was best to cut her off before that, "We don't want any healing or anything like that, I promise. We just want to talk for a bit, that's all… I'll throw in a carrot cake muffin?"

Amy paused at her words, considering what she had said before caving into the offer. Whether it was idle curiosity or muffins that won the day she did not know, she was just happy it worked. "You have five minutes."

Lips spread into a too wide smile Taylor excitedly nodded, "All the time we need. Let's just get our orders first and we can head on over."

Paper plates and cups filled the pair made their way over to the Taylors' table where the others waited nervously. Amy came to a halt as she came to the table, probably a little surprised over the three mirror images that sat there, triplets were a rare sight even for someone working at a hospital. Taylor pulled out a chair for her and Amy hesitantly joined them. "So, what do you want?"

"It, well, it's a little complicated to explain." The Techno Queen snorted, her focus split between her typing fingers and the conversation in front of her. Taylor sent her a brief glare, "But, we basically just want to help you."

Naked distrust was the only thing Taylor could make out on Amy's face. She'd have to try and fix that. "It's nothing sketchy or anything we just want to give you something for all your hard work."

Going by the healer's expression her words had the opposite effect. If anything Amy now seemed more way. "You want to give me something?"

Making eye contact with Skitter Taylor gestured for her to hand over the gift. Skitter scowled at her as if offended at being told what to do. But she easily understood the situation and slip their prepared envelope across the table.

Amy stared at the thick envelope with all the uncertainty one would give an angry viper, "What is - I'm not doing anything illegal." She barked, "So if you're trying to bribe me…"

Realization hit Taylor quick and denial was already on her lips. "No! No, it's not a bribe. We don't want you to do anything with the money besides pamper yourself. There's about $10000 cash and two tickets to a pretty good spa out near Boston."

Chatter seemed to quiet around them, making her wish that she had more than a scarf to hide her face with. Skitter glared at her from under her hood but it wasn't her fault that talk about money seemed to cut through her silence field! Techno Queen still didn't look up from her typing, though she did leave a quip.

"Exactly what a bribe would sound like." She mumbled tongue stuck out as she came to an apparently difficult bit of typing. "Just tell her the truth, who we are, why we're doing this, all of that. Honesty is the best policy after all."

"And I thought we agreed that was a bad idea" Skitter hissed. They had agreed it was a bad idea, mostly because the truth sounded crazy. Even for a world filled with superheroes it sounded crazy.

"Uh-huh, and how are things going now." She had a point. Amy had started openly glaring at them and only a morbid curiosity kept her there. If they didn't do something soon the girl would leave.

So, after a long deep breath, she began to explain. She told Amy how she, along with Techno Queen and the others, weren't from Earth Bet. Or at least not that version of Earth Bet. How they had all been taken from their worlds by a misfired Tinker-tech device and how they were going to help that world's versions of their loved ones while they waited to get home.

Her words were met with the expected amount of disbelief, "You expect me to believe this bullshit?" Amy interrupted her with a great air of frustration. "That is literally impossible."

"Expect you to? No, not really. But we can prove it." Techno Queen said looking up from her phone for the first time since they had entered the cafe, "If I remember my biology right then when cells age DNA strands start to get shorter. Right? Well, if we were triplets like you probably think we are then the three of us should be the same age and I'm pretty sure that I've got almost a year on these guys. Here, take a look."

Amy stared at the offered hand about the same way she stared at the envelope but that time she decided to grab the viper by the neck. She started with the Queen's hand, then Taylor's eagerly offered one, and Skitter's reluctant one last. Her face had started to scrunch up, confused and likely having a hard time believing what her power was telling her.

"Right, say I believe you," Skeptical but at least she was willing to keep an open mind, "Who's the you here?"

Taylor answered without any hesitation. Not even bothering to notice Skitter's attempt to silence her, "Her name's Skitter-"

"HA!" Amy laughed out. There was no joke in that laugh, just an angry disbelief. It was the type of laugh a victim of a particularly cruel prank gave, a sound every Taylor knew well. "You expect me to believe that I could be friends with any version of Skitter? That's a laugh. I'm out of here."

Uncontrollably and out of habit Taylor reached for Amy's hand. It was slapped away with a glare. "Don't touch me." The words were hissed viciously and hatefully. Taylor could swear she felt the first sting of tears coming to her eyes.

Raw with emotion Taylor cradled her swatted hand to her chest and watched the alternate version of her girlfriend stomp off. It took some effort to remember that the Amy walking away from her wasn't her Amy but she succeeded. It still hurt all the same.

"The hell did you do to her?" Was that her voice? She couldn't tell. All she knew that her blurry eyes fell onto Skitter after those words.

She looked away.

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An
This part has literally been done for two weeks but life is annoying and even more annoying is taking things written on paper and putting them in the computer.