It took several days for Grey to travel back to New York and that time was spent building a maintenance bed for Amy, complete with Brain Dance and a backup system. In addition, her off button was removed.

 ...then came time to bring her back to her father.

Noah clapped his hands as he finished wrapping the whole thing with a giant cling wrap roller. Getting her back to her father was a top priority along with repairing Scar. There was just a tiny bit of time while everyone was getting ready to face off on the Collector. A process that required everyone to contemplate the worst memories of their life and accepted them whole and without condition as valid but not important to their future.

He nodded once as he started getting everything packed up. "Bout ready to drop off Emmi at her father's. Once we finish with that we can hit the crossroads and be on or way." He smiled at Amy, "I am sorry this has taken so long."

 Amy smiled. Her synthetic body hadn't aged but her eyes now looked considerably older. "Well, one thing I can say is that it's been a trip. Might've been a trip to hell and back, but it's still been a trip."

Noah nodded. "Trust that if I had expected half that I would have worked around the maintenance system. If Grey and My tech would have been online what happened there would have been little more than a quiet cruise for you." He sighed, "As to what you saw, the most important thing is that you keep in mind all of nature is not under any obligation go make sense. You did great to not think about the strangeness at that moment."

"The next part of that is to later look at what happened, come to terms that it happened even if nothing made sense, and put it back in your memory. Something your dad was getting a hint on but may have not told you is that a lot of stories have a nugget of truth." Noah said by making a Tah Dah gesture spreading his wings. "It has been my experience, proven by our trip just now, that fairie stories... or at least the old ones... are containment procedures hidden through time."

"I would like, if you are willing, to train you over time. Slowly introduce you to this world because you have an edge, you kept your cool when the whole world went to hell in a handbasket. How to know when to close your eyes so you don't get afflicted by a mages magic backlash. How to see the magical folk of the world."

"Perhaps even to someday become a heavyweight in your own way."

 Amy nodded. "Yeah, that's probably wise. I'd rather know what's out there and be able to handle it that be left in the dark and at the mercy of these things."

Noah smiled and pulled out one of his slates offering it to her. "Solar charged or wall jack. It is a straight link to us here once you set up a password."

"We will set off once everyone is ready. One last word of advice though. I put some blocks in your memory to cover what happened to you. You ran into some rather nasty mages who did stuff that normal mages call 'left hand paths'. We will teach you how to fight back given time but dont scratch at the walls around the memories."

"Over time we will address each little bit that happened, but by taking it one step at a time we will avoid ptsd. You are, after all, the third human to ever make this transition."

Amy nodded and accepted the jack and, after some time, the group began to make their way to see the mayor.

Noah flicked on the intercom for the ship, "Anyone going ashore for meeting the former mayor, we set out in a few moments." He then looked down at his claw. "Going to need my Ed four oh nine armor. People ask less questions with a robot than a living breathing dragon."

 Getting the "small" boat into New York was a bit more complicated than usual due to the presence of the navy and coast guard.

 They hailed and stopped you for inspection. As they drew close, one of the men on the boat shouted over the engines. "This area is off limits due to the disaster. Please identify yourself and your destination of port."

Noah rolled his eyes as he jumped in the armor that made him look like a giant old school synthetic robot. The helmet was first as it gave him the robovoice. "Designation: Personal defense unit Níðhöggr. Destination: Residence of the former mayor to return his daughter to him. Please permit passage for the safety of passengers. This unit is expected shortly and will see no harm comes to passengers or civilians."

 The coast guard pauses for a long moment, just staring at Noah's robo-suit. He then reached for his walkie and spoke into it. "Please wait here for a moment."

 Roughly ten minutes later, he returned. "You're cleared to enter the city. We'll have a guard waiting to escort you."

It wasn't until the time drew near for Amy's return home that Mistral realized she'd been avoiding the girl.

Mistral could never forget her first image of Amy, a victim of heinous Nephandi experimentation, imprisoned in a mutilated and broken body cursed to survive in perpetual agony.  It was hard to believe that the tragic creature she'd found sobbing and locked in a barrel had not only survived, but had been restored to life and happiness in a new synth body.  Amy's resurrection had been a long and difficult road, and it was something Mistral could be genuinely proud to have been a part of.  Yet, Mistral had avoided her, and she wasn't certain why.  Perhaps she feared the strong feelings evoked by this miracle (for lack of a better term), or perhaps she feared that such hope could not be true or lasting.  Whatever the case, she regretted it.

These were the thoughts Mistral brooded over as the smaller bright blue vessel approached the shores of the ruined New York City.  The hail from the coast guard and Noah's armor-donning woke her from her reverie.  As they awaited the coast guard's leave to pass on to the city, Mistral at last spoke to Amy, "Are you ready to return home, madame Amy?"  After a lengthy pause, she added, "It is difficult to express, but je suis joyeux to see you now, Amy.  The state in which we discovered you was... not one that encourages hope in the possibility of good."  A hesitant smile tugged at Mistral's lips, her eyes glistening as she regarded Amy from within the shadow of her hood.  "But here you stand, une femme puissante.  That is good, I think."

 Amy looked down at her hands and smiled, though there was a distance to her gaze that she would likely never again be free of. "I don't think I've ever really had the chance to say 'thank you', not properly I mean.

 Noah put some blocks on my memory. He says that if it all comes flooding back that the machines in my head will break... that's not how he put it but it's what I understood. Still, I can remember some of it... and your face is the first one I remember."

Mistral nodded, suppressing a wince at the nightmarish memories from the Nephandi compound.  She said, "De rien...  It was I who discovered you, oui, and I needed to see you freed.  That is all.  It was Noah's technologie and your own will that has brought you to this point."  Mistral didn't feel especially deserving of thanks, considering how helpless she'd felt at the time to help the tortured woman in any meaningful capacity.  Neither had she figured it out in all the time since.

She looked back over the ravaged New York skyline, then asked Amy quietly, "Does the young Monsieur Jamie know you are due to return...?  I suspect he would wish to see you."

 Amy sat silently for a moment, not entirely sure how to respond to Mistral brushing off her thanks... but finally she spoke. "Jamie doesn't know yet. I thought it'd be best to see my dad and spend some time with him first."

Mistral simply nodded and said, "Un bon plan.  Family first, as they say.  Your father will be eager to see you, I think."

Just then the coast guard returned with permission for their vessel to pass the checkpoint, albeit with a guard escort.  Mistral didn't like that, but sometimes one must humor the Sleepers.  Now to see how former mayor Watson fares after the apocalypse...