Editing Amanda Pendragon, Reliquary (section)

====BACKGROUND====
Mandy grew up in Paragon City, surrounded by Wonders. The fact she didn't have powers of her own never bothered her much. Almost everyone in the family got them, eventually. (Except for Uncle Augustine, who nobody likes to talk about) She did okay in school, and excelled in artistic pursuits, particularly she had a knack for sewing.

Everything changed the day of the 20XX Universe Expo. Wonders from all over had come, along with scores of normal folks. The evil android [[Superior]] used the Expo as yet another plan to wipe out mankind. Using nanocontrollers to take control of hundreds of the attendees, along with repli-bots he'd secretly inserted into several displays, Superior mounted an assault to capture [[Dr. Thadeus Gold]]'s Ionic Reactor, the centerpiece of the Expo. With the reactor's nearly limitless energy supply, Superior would be free from the need to recharge his own power cells, able to operate anywhere. Worse, he'd be able to run his nanofactories almost continuously. Soon, the world would be shrouded in the Age of the Machine.

The Wonders on the scene, those not compromised by nanocontrollers, fought back against the robots and occasionally their own people. In one of the bloodiest battles in Wonder history, they finally succeeded. The death toll was over two-thousand people, including several Wonders (five of whom had innate powers). And, in a way, one seventeen year-old girl.

Amidst the terror of the battle, Amanda's power emerged. She was overwhelmed with so many deaths. Only a fraction died close enough to her to be absorbed, but even so, the stress was too much. She fell into a coma.

Even upon awakening, days later, she was not out of the woods. The psychic cacaphony threatened her sanity. She needed months of telepathic and psychiatric assistance before she could even distinguish the living from the dead. One crucial source of aid was the spirit of [[Lady Brightstar]], one of the fallen Seven Wonders. Dorothy Reynolds headed up the treatment. Mandy was moved from her family home to the Pendragon estate, where she could receive constant care.

Two years later Amanda was ready to face the world again. Judicious consultation with the ghosts in her mind made catching up on school work a breeze. If not fully reconciled with the additional presences in her mind, at least she could deal with them. The family reunion that year was at [location]. Amanda wandered into a conversation with several of her other relatives. They were discussing the tragic Expo and how much good they'd done that day. They decided to form a team. And Amanda decided to join.