Chapter 18.1
“Thanks for bringing me here Miss Kara.” Billy said for the third time, a bouquet of flowers held firmly in his hands. “I know you may not like her after what she did, but Amber really wanted to meet you and apologize.”
“Don’t worry kid.” Kara said as she handed the guard their day pass and identification, the man checked their information on his computer and nodded. “Besides, I’m not heartless. I can give people second chances if they’re working to get better.”
The kid gave her a huge smile at that, a second later they stopped in front of a metal door and waited until the guard buzzed them through.
STAR Labs wasn’t exactly a maximum security prison, but their preparations to protect their research were very thorough, and they did work with the Justice League to monitor and help meta-humans with dangerous or uncontrollable powers.
Seeing as Amy was still underage, had willingly handed herself over when rescued from Mr. Mind, and Billy had vouched for her as Captain Marvel, the law had allowed her to stay in one of STAR Labs’ facilities if she also went through mandatory therapy.
“Hello, you must be Kara Danvers.” said a middle aged woman as she saw them approaching. “I’m Sharon Banks, Amy and Amber’s psychologist. I’m glad you could bring Mister Batson here, they both greatly enjoy his visits.”
“They’re still separated?” Kara asked as she shook the woman’s hand.
“Yes, Amy was able to absorb the other two personalities we identified as her Id and Inner child, but Amber is still separated.” The doctor said and stopped in front of a thick metal door. “Billy, why don’t you go ahead and meet with them while I talk with Miss Kara?”
“Right, thanks for letting me see her Mrs. Banks.” Billy took a breath and entered the room, his flowers in front of him. “Hi Amy, Amber.”
“Billy!”
“Hey pipsqueak, about time you showed up again.”
The door closed behind him leaving Kara alone with the psychologist. The woman seemed to be watching Kara’s face in search of something so Kara just lifted a quizzical eyebrow and decided to wait her out. Finally, the doctor sighed.
“Right, I was told Amber had hurt you before. As her doctor I must know, are you here to yell at her or blame her?”
For a brief moment Kara just looked at the closed door and thought about it, did she blame Amber for her actions? A little bit, but the girl was only fourteen and had been abused by her parents.
Kara wasn’t exactly the forgiving type but, surrounded as she was by people like Billy, Kori and her cousin, she couldn’t help but want to be a better person.
She hadn’t lied to Billy earlier, she was willing to give the kid a second chance. The girl hadn’t even caused any deaths before she was controlled by Mr. Mind.
“I haven’t exactly forgotten what she did, but I’m willing to forgive it, once.” Kara confessed, to which the doctor smiled at her.
“Good. I wasn’t completely certain if you should meet with Amber yet. It could do a lot of good to the girl, yes, but it could also set her back by a lot.” The doctor looked at the door with a frown on her face. Turning back to Kara, she took a deep breath. “It’s not a chance I would have taken myself, but I was overruled by Doctor Wilcox. Still, I’m glad my fear appears to have been groundless.”
Kara prepared herself to enter the room, but decided to give Billy a little more time alone with the girls. “Say, do you know why they’re still separated like that?”
“Doctor Wilcox believes it’s something in her meta-gene reacting with Captain Marvel’s powers. Amy and Amber were the only ones to retain their powers when separated. The Doctor believes their power has taken over and changed after getting super charged by the Captain’s and is fuelling their separate existences.”
“And you?” Kara had to ask, the woman really didn’t seem happy with her superior’s decisions.
“I believe they don’t want to be united.” Retreating from the door the Doctor sat down on a couple of chairs in the hallway then leaned back against the wall. “Amber’s personality was formed as a way to protect Amy from the rest of the world; I believe she’s refusing to unite with the original because she wants to protect Amy from the guilt she feels about what happened.”
“Wouldn’t it help if I forgave her?”
“Possibly, but not forgiving her could do far more damage.” Lifting her glasses and scratching at her eyes in frustration the Doctor continued. “At this point I’m not certain they can ever be joined. We have been keeping the both of them in the same room and going through the same procedures, but they have been separated for such a long time their experiences have greatly differed.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“That’s just it, we still don’t know. I’m a psychologist and even in my area of expertise I’m not certain. They’re the first known case of split personalities also having split bodies and her condition doesn’t really have a cure.” The doctor gave Kara a bitter smile. “The standard treatment is usually just tries to integrate as much of the personalities together as possible into one while finding a way to manage the dissonance, but they have diverged so much and are acting so independent from one another… It could be best to just stay as they are now.”
“I take it that’s not the healthiest option?” Kara had to ask.
“Again, we don’t know. Can she even stay separated indefinitely or is their independence only gonna make it worse when it ends? That’s not even considering the possible physical side-effects. We’re doing our best, but her case is complicated.”
Kara didn’t know what else to say and the Doctor seemed to realize she had said too much leaving an awkward atmosphere between them that stretched for almost a full minute.
“Alright then, I think I’ve given them enough time alone.” Kara finally broke the silence and opened the door.
Both Billy and Amy sat on her bed, their legs crossed while Amber was sitting beside them and pretending not to be interested. Billy had a cell phone out and was showing them some pictures while telling her about his latest training session with Zatara.
Beside the bed, Billy’s bouquet of flowers rested inside a jar of water where Amy had put them.
All three of them lifted their heads and looked at her when she entered, Amy smiled at her, but Amber just avoided her eyes. “Hey, I heard you girls were receiving visits already.”
“Yeah, Doctor Wilcox said we should start interacting more,” Amy said while leaning over Billy. “He’s even going to start letting us out of the lab for exercise.”
“Yep, guy’s an asshole, but at least he knows we’re getting fed up with being lab rats.”
“Amber!” The original twin scolded but Amber just shrugged.
“What? Are you gonna tell me he isn’t an utter asshole?” Amber looked at her twin with annoyance. “Bastard tries to separate us every chance he gets.”
This time it was Amy who avoided her twin’s eyes, too polite to answer the question.
Kara frowned, wasn’t STAR labs trying to keep them together to avoid deviating their personalities and experiences even more? Guess the good doctor decided they were better off separated. Either that or he was a complete bastard only interested in research data. Something to follow-up on later.
Grabbing a chair, Kara pulled it closer and sat together with Amber so they could hear Billy’s story and watch him cast a very basic ball of light. Kara immediately looked for any cameras, but it seemed like the girls weren’t monitored while in their room.
Amber seemed incredibly on edge with her, but she eventually relaxed and became much more focused on Billy’s fledging magical abilities.
Kara thought the three of them looked incredibly cute together. Despite being older, the two girls hung on Billy’s every word with Amy leaning over his body, their shoulders touching and Amber herself squeezed on top of the bed with them while peaking over her twin’s shoulders acting incredibly interested in his fights as Captain Marvel.
An hour later, the Doctor knocked on the door and poked her head inside, warning them that visiting hours were over.
Billy hugged Amy under Kara’s amused eyes, then he went towards Amber and the rebellious teen looked at Kara, then towards her twin and back at Kara. With a long suffering sigh, she let the boy hug her, her face flushed with embarrassment.
Kara managed to keep from snickering.
Just before they left the room, Amber grabbed at Kara’s shirt, causing her to stop and turn towards the girl again. “What is it?”
“Are you alright?” The girl asked with a tiny voice, her eyes meeting Kara’s with a desperate need. “Shit, I don’t know how to do this. Look, I’m really sorry about what happened; I didn’t mean to hurt people so much.”
Kara looked at the girl again and saw deep regret. Putting a hand over her head she messed up her hair. “Look kid, I’m not gonna say it was nothing, but most of it wasn’t really your fault. ‘You’ didn’t kill anybody, or even hurt me that seriously. Just don’t do it again and I can forgive you.”
“I’m not a fucking kid,” Amber slapped her hand away. “And I won’t, I swear I won’t.”
She glanced back towards Amy, her face turning into a protective smile.
“Then don't worry about it. Just try to find a way to make up for the damage you caused when you’re out of here.” Kara told her and saw the Kid nod in understanding.
“Could you… could you find that little kid’s name? I know I fucked up and hurt her family so I wanted to…” She swallowed hard as she seemed to gather herself. “To apologize.”
“I’ll find out.” Looking towards the hallway Kara saw that Billy was already waiting for her at a corner. “I’ll visit again next week, alright?”
“Yeah… thanks.”
Kara and Billy stepped out of the building and made their way towards the Zeta-Tube, Kara still had a meeting with Kori and Wonder Woman for some training, but she wasn’t in a hurry, it wasn’t even three in the evening. Kori trained with her mentor until eight.
“Thanks for coming, Miss Kara.” Billy said as he squeezed her hand. “I know I could come as Captain Marvel, but Amber is always on edge when I show up like that.”
“It’s fine. We wouldn’t want your little girlfriend to be uncomfortable, now would we?” She smirked.
“Ack. That’s not… nevermind.” He just gave up when he saw the amused smirk on her face causing Kara to laugh out loud.
“So, which one do you prefer: the delicate one or the tomboy?” She couldn’t help poking at the kid.
Once they were completely out of sight Billy checked his phone and got excited, releasing her hand he stepped back from her. “I’m sorry Miss Kara, but the League is calling for me. Shazam!”
With a flash of lightning, the little kid was gone leaving a large man in its place, Kara snickered again. “I can’t believe you’re fleeing in terror from me.”
“Sorry, can’t hear you, have to go.” He said while avoiding her eyes, then he flew away as fast as he could, leaving a highly amused Kara behind.