Last time, on GENDERSWAP FUSION UNIVERSE!

Contessa: Well this is odd.

Comte: Wanna take advantage?

Contessa: Sure!

*Two Bullshits of the Price of One!*

Kid Win: Oops!

Laser Lass: !sspO

Dimensions: Fusion-HA!

Armsmaster/Jeanne d'Arms: You are grounded! No more lab for you! And my counterpart sucks at sleeping!

Vista: Hooray, I'm not the only saneish Ward girl anymore!

Singularity: Hurooh, our own villains followed us.

Denise, also known as Timesnatch: Oh god, don't tell me you have-

Miss Militia: Another bug controller with a love of black widows?

Clockblocker: ...Okay, Mirror-sis, just like we practiced. 3, 2, 1-

Both: BULLLSHIIIIIT!

And now, the next part:

Syzygy

Part 2: Mixi

"And this creep is like 'dah, I no know about own inbred creed, dar', so I'm like 'Dude, now I feel like beating you up because you're just that bad a liar, now will you please just cave and tell us what we already know?' And he's still 'I big skinhead, watch roar! RAAAAWOHGODMYPANCREAS!'"

Nick laughed a little at that. "Oh god, mine are the same exact way. Except mine somehow think that insulting masculinity makes me so underconfident that I may just leave them alone to contemplate how femmy I am." He leaned back, flexing his muscles. "Why, it's almost as if they're short on content!"

Victoria smirked. "Or projecting. They aren't able to use the 'full of yourself insult and reasonably avoid hypocrisy, can they? After all, they have an inferiority complex to uphold!"

Nicodemus, also known in his home universe as Icon, laughed a bit. "Well, why else do they become Nazis! 'My family is shit, my schooling is nonexistent, my teeth are rotting out of my skull - but hey, I'm white! That's something! That's something! TELL ME THAT'S SOMETHING!'"

Victoria laughed. Finally, someone who understood! "And dear lord are they high-strung! 'AH! AN IMMIGRANT! AH! A MINORITY! AH! A CATHOLIC!' I mean, seriously, all I do is just give them something to be actually afraid of! Might actually help them by giving them something to focus on!"

"Problem, you think the E88 are capable of focusing! Honestly, Vic, you shouldn't do that, the sheer amount of aneurysm-induced fatalities alone might make the gene pool even shallower and make the Master Hillbilly!"

Both capes howled with laughter, collapsing on the table, completely oblivious to their adopted siblings in the nearby booth sinking even further into their seats.

"O-Okay. Okay. Enough about business, I have lungs to take care of." Victoria inhaled. "So, you're part of your dimension's New Wave?"

"Yep!" He slouched a bit, giving her a much-appreciated view of his abs. "Me and Andy, Icon and Caduceus, Glory and Guts. Doing the PRT's job, because they won't. Man, Brockton Bay always gets screwed over, doesn't it, bro?"

It took a couple seconds to get past Andy's contemplation of his life, aka spat of depression. "...Yeah. Yeah it does. Sucks." Even he wasn't sure if that was more on the state of the city or himself.

"Yeah, I mean we have a director who cares more for photo-ops than operations, a completely borked idea of power structures, and of course, the fact that capes seem to love the climate, no matter what side they're on." He chuckled bitterly. "The Bay seems fated to be a crapsack, no matter what universe it's in."

"Ah, but that's why we both formed!" Victoria said, doing a bit of a flourish to emphasize her point. "New Wave, to show the people there's a different way, a more accountable way!"

"That's the spirit, Vic!" He grinned, a dashing, roguish grin Victoria was sure he practiced. "No matter how strapped we are for members!"

"...Hey, here's a thought," Victoria interjected, internally scolding herself for not having the idea sooner. "While we're looking for a way to get you back home, you can join our New Wave!"

Amy shot up. "What!?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know sis, it's sudden, but seriously, we could use two crowd control Alexandria clones and healers. Would be nice to have a bit of help around the hospital too, right?"

"Um," Amy began, careful to scrub her objections of the actual reason she wasn't a fan of Icon signing up. "Won't that create a, um, conflict of interest with their New Wave? I mean, new bodies is all well and good, but-"

"Oh come on. It'll be fine! He helps our dimension for a bit, I help his dimension for a bit." Possibly helping both of us a bit more, the perverted part of her brain spoke up.

"...Good point," Amy muttered miserably as she firmly set her eyes on her untouched drink.

"Bro? You have any problems yourself?"

"...No objections," Andy replied in a tone that said the exact opposite. Not that either elder sibling noticed.

"Hah, great! I'll just go talk to your leader, and-"

"Ahem."

All four capes turned to look at the waitress, who looked like she would rather be anywhere else. "Um...yes?" Victoria asked.

"I um, hate to, er, be the...just take a look at the phone, please?" she said, holding out her smartphone.

Both blondes leaned in to read the story on "Dimensional Fusion! Parahuman Dopplegangers Invade!"

Specifically, the part about certain traits all the dopplegangers shared. Genetic makeup, for one thing.

A significantly paler pair of blondes, not being nearly as stupid as they often seemed to different respective blondes (although apparently just as oblivious), turned back to each other.

"...Er." Nick began. "...What's your last name?"

"...Dallon?"

"Ah. That's what I thought."

A very, very long silence followed.

Slowly, Amy and Andy Dallon began to uncup their ears, though that didn't stop the scream-induced ring in said ears. Or protect either from the dust that had found its way under the table. Blinking, they both began to automatically assess the damage that their older sibling had done, even though currently Amy was the only one capable of doing anything about it.

The table looked like an artifact from a warzone, crushed and splintered by the simultaneous push of superhuman strength from either end. The rest of the restaurant wasn't much better, given the twin holes in, respectively, the storefront and back. The clatter of various kitchen implements and fire extinguishers going off could be heard from the latter, whilst the former allowed echoes of car horns, car crashes, and car alarms through, to join with the groans and profanity of various customers.

Comedically, the waitress who unknowingly triggered all this was perfectly unscathed, standing petrified in in former position with phone out.

Andy was the first to react. "What did you do!?"

"Nothing intentional," she squeaked.

"Nothing-nothing intentional my ass!" Amy was quick to join the other healer. "What's on that phone, huh!? Memetic Tinkertech? Medium for a Master? Or maybe it's you-"

"No. Look on your own phones, but I didn't do-"

Both doctors slammed their hands into the waitress, checking for signs of lying.

And finding nothing.

Relieved and confused, both yanked out the phone, crowding each other to see the screen and-

Oh.

That would...explain the...

But they-

They...their brain stems were alight with arousa-

They were setting up further dates-

But if they were genetically-

Oh dear sweet merciful god-

"Excuse me for a second," the dopplegangers said simultaneously (because of course they would)-

A few minutes later, both duplicates exited their gender's bathrooms, still coughing and desperately wishing they could affect their own brains, just this once.

Even if both were taking kind of a perverse joy in knowing that, officially, there was still no other rival for their adopted siblings' affections and dear god they did not need to think about that back to the bathroom-

Thanks to a lack of ammunition, the new bout of vomiting only lasted a couple seconds. This time carefully avoiding any thoughts having to do with romance and reproduction, specifically a genetically ingrained taboo relating to it, both approached the waitress, going into their business mode.

"Any injuries?"

"No serious," Andy replied automatically. "Should check to make sure-you take that side."

A few routine heals (and apologies) later and...

"We are so, so sorry," both duplicates began. "If there's anything we can do-"

"No. We're fine, seriously."

"But if we-"

"No, we're a popular spot for capes," the waitress replied, back in her element. "This happens every other week - longstanding arrangement with Stonemason. And probably other self."

And yes, the cape repairman's distinctive car - along with another of a very similar design - was already driving up. Must have been in the area.

"Oh, good. Good."

A few seconds. And then-

"Does this mean we have a tab now? Sis was the one with the card."

One accident report later, both younger Dallons exited the normal front door, still trying to think of something to say to their other self.

Amy thought of it first. "So...Caduceus?"

Andy turned to her. "If you have my powers, I use them slightly more offensively than you do. Dad always said a boy's got to protect his family, so I learned to use them as a taser. Safe, clean, efficient. Hence, the name; I can heal you, or I can bite you," he said, utterly matter-of-fact.

A surge of pure envy broiled in Amy's chest, but she fought it down. "So...your dad's the guy with the shield-"

"Yeah. And he's the one who took me from my biological mom."

A pause, while Amy rolled the next question around her head for a bit.

"...Is he...warm?"

"...No," he admitted. "He's not. But he's not mean, either. He can be really nice, too, but..."

Andy sighed. "I think...someone hurt him, a long time ago. Someone who looks like me."

A growing sense of dread began to impress itself upon Amy. "...And?"

Andy, while he wasn't the most perceptive cape in either cosmos, quickly caught on. "NO! It wasn't my real mom!"

...What.

"...How do you-"

"My adopted mom - your dad - told you, right?"

It suddenly occurred to Amy how lucky her duplicate was. "...Mark spends most of his life confined to his bed, in a depressed haze. Vic and I spend more time taking care of him than he does of us," she said through gritted teeth.

A look of horror crossed Andy's face. "...Holy shit. I...must really come off as being really spoiled to you, don't I," he said, suddenly crossing over into sadness.

The building fury evaporated. "...Yes," she admitted, looking at her shoes. "..'S not your fault."

"I...guess." He inhaled a bit. "Anyway, mom says dad actually saved me. Took me in after mom had to go to the Birdcage. Three strikes, nothing like what the S9 did."

Amy did not respond.

"...Ames? You okay?"

"...Three...strikes?" Amy repeated slowly. "Just...three strikes?"

"Yeah, I mean mom always described her as someone who should have been a hero, but wasn't born in the right place or...time...You feeling okay?"

"...Should have..."

"Amy?"

The healer in question said nothing, only collapsed to her knees.

And broke into hysterics.

"Amy!?" Andy rushed over to his counterpart, tearing off his gloves.

"I'm fine! I'm perfectly fine! Fine..." she said as she waved him off.

The penny dropped. "...You thought your version was a true monster," he stated, bluntly.

Amy's nod was more of a manic bounce.

"...Feels good, doesn't it? Getting that issue of what you inherited off your chest?"

"I...don't know!" she said, in a sing-song voice. "I don't know how I feel!"

And for a moment, Andy saw a person he might have been, were it not for the bare minimum of a parent.

"...I'm sorry," he muttered in recognition of her life, hugging his other self.

"You're forgiven," she murmured, hugging back.

And, emotions running high, the source of both healers' powers misinterpreted the surge of emotion as an order to commence a scan-

Both healers instinctively jumped back.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR BRAIN!?"

A/N: Bonus points; Syzygies, in Valentarian Gnosticism, complete each other. As we can see here, the addition of a version of Amy from a slightly less dysfunctional version of New Wave (because Carl isn't screwed up in such a way he swipes Mary's antidepressants out of a hero complex, because gender roles subconsciously helped him deal psychologically with having to be the guardian of his friend and dealing with loss and trauma from killing in self-defense), we have singlehandedly resolved Amy's cognitive dissonance and internalized categorism issues, and laid the groundwork for dealing with the aura addiction part of their codependency/pseudo-incestual longing, as well as resolution of that other internalized categorism.

...Naturally, this will not have entirely positive consequences when their elder siblings discover the fact they've accidentally mind-raped their beloved little siblings, nor is the genderswapped universe entirely more mentally healthy than the canon one. Francis Hebert, for example.