Enjoy!

End of the Beginning

If she wanted to be honest with herself, Annette couldn't bring herself to hate Legend.

Oh, she was angry at him, there was no doubt in her mind at that. She could feel the fury of a star burning in her chest every time she glanced at him or any of his Protectorate capes. He was the face of the Protectorate, the organization that had chosen to abandon them to the nonexistent mercy of a madman, but she couldn't work up the hatred to truly loathe him. Partly because the entirety of her hatred and rage was being focused on the monster that had put her and the other civilians of Ellisburg in this situation, but also because he just looked so worn out.

He hid it well behind a mask of friendliness and determination, but she could see the way his shoulders hunched in on themselves a little, as if standing up was some great effort on his part. Even through the tinted visor of his hazmat suit his smile was strained and brittle like glass as if a single blow would shatter it into a million pieces.

Annette wondered how many times he had seen something like this before. The man faced an Endbringer every three months and was forced to fight in the corpse of a city as a monster tore apart civilians and heroes alike. Were they just another lost city to him? Another weight on his shoulders?

"We're about three-quarters of the way through," Legend said as another group of refugees stepped through the shimmering portal. Annette would have through it would have been easier just to have everyone go at once. But apparently, the Protectorate and PRT wanted to keep the size of the group manageable for the decontamination teams on the other side, lest they risk some pet or creation of Nilbog's slipping through.

The thought of Nilbog's monster rampaging across the countryside without pause was enough to send chills down her spine. She supposed that the Protectorate thought that risking the lives of the refugees still in the town was less important than the lives of the surrounding towns and cities. Part of her wanted to hate them for demoting them to pure numbers while the other part couldn't help but agree. They had already had one nightmare in this town, they didn't need to add others.

"Good," was all Annette could really say as the portal surface warped and twisted as another group stepped through. Convincing the people to travel through the ominous looking portal had been a bit tricky, but having a few of her creatures step through and back had been enough to convince them of its safety.

"Once everyone's out we can start bringing more heroes in," Legend continued. Annette couldn't hide the sneer that overtook her lips as the mention of the "heroes" that would be coming to help fight alongside her Spartoi meat shields. Funny how eager they were to fight and help when they weren't at risk.

"What will happen to the others?" Annette asked, drawing a confused look from the Protectorate Blaster. "The heroes that abandoned us," Annette clarified, her voice dropping into a slight growl at the mention of the cowards that doomed them to death and worse.

Legend seemed to flinch somewhat at the reminder of his fellow's failure, but he kept up an impressive poker face. "They'll be dealt with," Legend said with enough conviction that Annette almost believed him. Less than a week ago, she would have never considered doubting Legend, one of the most powerful capes in the world, and the leader of the Protectorate, but recent events had reminded her not to take things at face value. It was a lesson she had learned in her younger years when a man she had thought to be her friend tried used her to rape her best female friend. She had taken the lesson to heart not to judge someone by a pretty face, but the glamor of the Protectorate's heroic image had managed to blind her somewhat to the fact that in the end, the heroes were merely human.

"Dealt with how?" Annette pushed on, her eyes narrowing somewhat as she stared the hero down. Legend shifted uncomfortably underneath her gaze and though she couldn't see them she could easily imagine his eyes flickering back and forth nervously. Annette wasn't sure if his nervousness stemmed from her red inhuman gaze or the nature of the question itself.

After taking a moment to compose himself Legend told her, "There will be an investigation to determine how complicit they were in their dereliction of their duty."

"And then what? Will the ones with the rich mommies and daddies cry out for help?" Annette asked sarcastically, her lips curling into a sneer. While Brockton Bay wasn't exactly the cream of the crop, there were a few wealthy families living in the city. Some of their relatives had come through her classrooms for a time and while not all of them acted like spoiled brats, there was a certain sense of entitlement that you didn't see the kids that had to work two jobs to scrape by.

The flinch from Legend told her everything she needed to know.

During the hours between her recharges she and Thomson had talked in order to keep their minds off of how utterly screwed they would be if the Protectorate didn't come. Thomson didn't reveal any identities, mostly because he didn't know any, but he had heard some rumors about the capes that had been assigned to his team. They were the troublemakers, the ones that became a hero because it was fun or exciting rather than having a desire to protect innocent people. The heroes who got off scot-free for their mischief because of their parent's connections.

Apparently, the Protectorate had held back the best heroes in reserve because they didn't think it would be necessary to take down what they had originally thought to be a single Changer. This was despite the fact that this cape in question had managed to cut off all forms of communication to the outside world. Thomson had told her that the whole thing reeked of laziness on the part of the people who put the team together in a rushed effort to deal with what they thought at the time was a minor irritant. For them, it had been easier to grab a few of the less loved heroes and throw them out to fight rather than trying to fight for the few heroes that might have actually tried to help.

And now almost five thousand people had paid the price for their ineptitude.

"This is a delicate situation," Legend tried to say, no doubt in an attempt to assuage some of her concerns, but Annette was having none of that. He didn't get to preach about the importance of the bureaucratic process or how those heroes could still save lives at a later date. Not when fivethousand people were dead or subject to fates far worse than merely dying.

"No, it really isn't," Annette said with a growl. A few of her Spartoi shifted in response to her agitation, letting out a few soft growls of their own as their movements became tenser and more predatory. She could see the desire for bloodshed and violence light up in their blood red eyes like the first flicker of a flame, just waiting to be unleashed. Some of the heroes tensed up as well in response, but she didn't care. If this is what it would take to get them to listen, then that was on them.

"Those capes," Annette said, careful not to use the word hero. It was a term that had been thrown around far too lightly these last few days. "Will answer for what they did here, and if that means that I have to track them all down and drag them kicking and screaming all the way then I will."

Everyone within hearing distance had stopped whatever they had been doing to listen to the argument. From the corner of her eye, Annette could see the next group of refugees stopping short of the portal to watch the proceedings, ignoring the man urging them to go through. She could tell from their expressions that they were just as curious about Legend's response as she was.

Legend seemed to tense as his masked eyes swept over the assembled group. A few of the capes returned to whatever they had been doing while other blatantly ignored their tasks to watch the proceedings with interest. After a long moment, Legend sighed, and for a moment Annette felt the slightest sliver of pity for the man. He looked as though he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and was trying to juggle a dozen bowling balls at the same time. But she wasn't going to let this slide under the rug, not when she and the people of Ellisburg needed justice. Nilbog would burn, but the capes that fled the scene were just as responsible for this travesty as the madman was.

"You have my word that the parahumans that abandoned you here will be brought up on charges," Legend said as he straightened himself up to his full height. His commanding presence had a noticeable effect on the people gathered, even the refugees looked a little less wary than before. And honestly, Annette wanted to believe the man.

This was Legend, one of the most powerful capes in the world and the leader of the Protectorate. While Taylor had always favored Alexandria, her little owl had chattered on about the Blaster's powers for hours whenever the topic of the Founders had been brought up. How ecstatic would Taylor have been if she could have been here to see this? Annette wanted to believe that the man would do the right thing and see that those who had left her and the town to die would see justice.

But these last few days had reminded her that not everyone did the right thing when push came to shove. Some would shatter or break in the face of certain doom, giving into the easy way out to avoid their own deaths while condemning others. Annette had little doubt that those capes would be considered more valuable for their powers than the average person to the higher ups in the PRT and Protectorate. How many of the five thousand lives was each of them worth?

The thought of being reduced to numbers on a page made Annette's blood boil, but as she stared the man down she realized that now wasn't the time to push this. Not while Nilbog's monsters were roaring at the gates.

Annette grunted and tore her gaze away from Legend, and like that the tension and fear that had been subtly building evaporated in an instant. The people that had stopped to stare at the confrontation went about their business, though they still glanced over in case anything else started up.

Annette wasn't entirely satisfied with Legend's response. Even if he did everything in his power didn't mean that others couldn't interfere to get them off scot free. But at the very least she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for the time being and focus on killing Nilbog first and foremost. Even so, as she walked away Annette couldn't help but give the man a warning of what was to come should he fail to live up to his word.

"I will make sure that the people that are responsible for by husband and daughter's deaths are brought to justice hero," she said, so much contempt dripping from her voice that Legend's hands twitched in response. The slightest glow shrouded his palms for the briefest of seconds before fading into nothing.

"And I don't care what side of the law they're on."

Annette sighed as she sat down. The chair creaked underneath her weight, the metal framework shifting to accommodate her form. Though she didn't really need to sleep or rest anymore, using her powers did exhaust her. She had created another three pits to spawn more wolves and bears for the coming fight and needed to rest and let her well of energy rebuild. The relative silence of the room provided her with a brief respite from the hustle of capes and Spartoi outside.

A half-written lesson plan remained up on the whiteboard that showed that the class had been planning on learning about Shakespeare's plays. Despite the situation, Annette couldn't help but smile a little. Shakespeare had always been one of her favorite playwrights. She had always loved talking about him in her class and had hoped that when Taylor had gotten old enough she would be able to teach her herself. But now…

Annette's smile faded from her lips, the good feeling fading as quickly as it had come. The armrest of the seat groaned underneath her hand as she tightened her grip around the plastic. She could feel cracks starting to form but she could care less.

Parents shouldn't have to see their children die.

It had been something that she had said to a coworker of hers when she discovered that one of her students had been killed by a group of Teeth gangsters. A hard-working well-mannered child killed because a group of fools needed violence to make themselves feel better. Because none of them could stand the thought of being worthless or weak and had to prove to the world otherwise.

Nilbog was no different than any of them. He simply worked on a much larger scale.

Hundreds of children killed in mindless violence. Those that did survive would be scarred for life, and the majority of them were now without family or home. They would be shuffled off into the foster care system without another thought and left to those who couldn't begin to understand what they had gone through.

What would have happened to Taylor?

If Annette could, she would trade her life in a heartbeat to see Taylor alive again. She would have wept tears of joy to know that her little owl would be able to live and experience a full life. But what would have happened to her after?

Danny's family was dead, and she was estranged from her own. She knew that the Barnes would have been more than happy to take Taylor in, but they would have lacked the legality to do so. Taylor would have been shuffled off to some foster center where she would spend the rest of her life in the hands of some strangers, assuming that she wasn't' just moved from center to center. Annette had a friend that worked in the foster center, and while there were good people looking to get the kids a better life, more than a few simply didn't care.

Would those children going through decontamination have to experience something similar? Would they be lost forever in a faceless bureaucracy because one man wanted to feel powerful?

Annette glanced down to the seat's armrest to see that she had splintered it into tiny fragments with her newfound strength. She grimaced as she shook the particulates off her hand. She was still trying to get used to her new strength and had been subject to a few accidents these last few days.

And if anyone asked, the hole in the door to the teacher's lounge where the handle would normally be was not her fault.

The brief pang of levity was enough for Annette to pull herself out of that particularly depressing line of thinking and focus on what was important. Namely on the battle that was going to happen.

They only had two more groups to move through the portal, after which they would start bringing in reinforcements and the real fight would begin. With her Spartoi leading the charge they Protectorate capes would begin a sweep of the town in an effort to drive Nilbog back to his lair where they would kill him.

They were hoping they might be able to catch Nilbog by surprise, but her Spartoi had caught a few of his creatures testing the edge of their defensive perimeter and they weren't sure how much information the creatures could relay to Nilbog. The specifics on how Nilbog commanded his monsters was still unknown. For all they knew, he could have a mental like to each one of his creations and was constantly aware of everything they did, or he simply gave them commands and they carried them out to the best of their ability.

Visual evidence suggested that he needed verbal commands seeing how many of his creations seemed to wander around the town with no clear objective in sight. But even so, they didn't want to take the risk that Nilbog might be lowballing his capabilities and lulling them into a false sense of security. But regardless of how Nilbog controlled his monsters, she still had to deal with the issue of communicating with her own.

Her Spartoi were a mix of the two lines of communication. On one hand, she was reasonably aware of where most of her creations were within a certain range. She couldn't really make pinpoint statements as to where they were but instead got a general idea. The best explanation that she could come up with was when someone was following behind you. You knew that they were there and could make a reasonable assumption as to what they were doing, but you didn't know any specifics. The only way she could command her creatures through the link was if she had vision of the specific Spartoi, otherwise, every single one of them would try to fulfill the command at once. And while the thought of one of her Goliaths trying to open a refrigerator was amusing, she didn't want to risk someone getting hurt because of her Spartoi stampeding to all accomplish the same objective.

No, verbal communication was a far better method of commanding her army. Though she was going to have to find a way for her to command her creatures in the heat of battle. Legend and the Protectorate didn't want to risk her to Nilbog's monsters by putting her on the front lines. So, she was going to need a way to relay messages to her Spartoi while miles away.

A new creature then. Something that could inform the other Spartoi of their instructions without risking herself in the field of battle. It would have to be something relatively fast to get the messages out as quickly as it could. Something small then, because it wasn't like this thing was going to do any fighting on its own.

As she considered a few designs the sound of the door creaking on its hinges caught her attention. Annette tensed somewhat but relaxed as Thomson slipped through the doorway with a surprising amount of grace for someone so large.

"Thomson," Annette said as she leaned back into her seat. "I thought you were helping Legend prepping the he- capes."

The word "hero" died a quick death on her lips. Merely using the word to reference the Protectorate parahumans made her feel as though something foul had crawled into her mouth. It was a petty distinction, but given that all she had gone through she deserved some allowances.

Thomson grimaced as he leaned his back against the wall. "Higher ups decided I would be of more use back at headquarters instead," he said, a tinge of anger coloring his tone.

Annette frowned as she considered his words. She could understand some of the reasoning behind the order. Thomson was a commander without a team and didn't have any powers that could protect him from Nilbog's monsters, but the timing just seemed a bit odd. Thomson had more experience than anyone fighting Nilbog's monsters aside from her, and he was the one that had been telling her what she should do to keep them all alive. If it hadn't been for him then even with her powers she doubted that anyone would have survived. And even if his experience was limited to three days, that was three days more experience than any of the capes had. In the land of the blind, the man with one eye was king.

"Why?" Annette asked, genuine confusion lacing her voice. While she was hardly experienced in waging war, she would have thought that the intelligence that Thomson could have provided Legend and the others onsite would be of much more value.

"Some egg heads decided that I'm at risk of snapping and going on a murder spree from being in a such a high-stress environment after such a traumatic experience," Thomson said with a slight curl to his lips to show exactly what he thought of that idea.

"Isn't it your job to be in high stressful and traumatic situations?" Annette asked with a blink. She understood that there was point where one needed to calm down and take a step back from their work, but for something like this to happen now of all times felt the slightest bit odd to her. During their time working together, Thomson had reassured her that he had been in situations similar to this before. Spending days in small towns, isolated from everyone they knew while they tried to kill off monsters like the Slaughterhouse 9. Though he had admitted to never having been in a situation quite like this, the fear and tension of hiding from monsters was nothing new to him.

"That's what I said," Thomson said with a disdainful snort. Annette tried to hide how nervous the idea of Thomson being gone made her feel. It hadn't merely been her physical health that he had helped keep in check, but her mental and emotional health as well. If it hadn't been for him keeping her focused on Nilbog she would have been left a broken wreck, unable to make any rational decisions in the face of the overwhelming sorrow that had nearly consumed her.

Annette took a deep breath to calm herself. She would be fine without Thomson, she just needed to keep her energies focused on fighting Nilbog. "Funny how they offer that to you and not me," Annette said with mild reproach. In all honestly, she would have refused if the Protectorate had told her to leave, she wasn't going anywhere until Nilbog was dead and gone. But to never even get an offer, merely the expectation that she would fight because she could? Even when they had been communicating over the radio there had been no offer to evacuate her from the zone along with the other refugees, but merely the assumption that she would stay and fight Nilbog. The idea that she was being used by the PRT and Protectorate to do their dirty work rankled her. She was going to have to inform them that when this was all over that she wasn't their personal attack dog.

"Different standards I suppose," Thomson said with a shrug. Though despite his calm exterior Annette could see a spark of anger at the injustice that she was facing. It was one thing to expect someone like Thomson to keep fighting, he had signed up and trained to fight parahumans that could crush like an insect. But to expect her, a college professor who had just lost her husband and daughter, to fight just because she had powers didn't sit right with her. Would Cindy and the other triggers have to go through something similar? Being forced to fight against monsters and madmen all because they had gotten powers.

"They wanted me to leave right away to debrief, but I told them they could stuff it until the last evacuee got out," Thomson said, his lips curling in thinly veiled amusement. Annette felt her mouth stretch into a smile at the thought of a group of prim and proper directors behind outright told they could shove off. If it was anything like the time she had told off one of her coworkers for wanting to push out any colored students from the college, then she could imagine several faces going through some very interesting colors.

"…Thank you, Thomson," Annette said after a moment of silence. Her words were quiet and subdued, but she poured as much sincerity into them as she could.

"I only did my job," Thomson said with a slight wave of his hand as if the entire situation wasn't a complete disaster. In her own humble opinion, Thomson had demonstrated far more heroism and bravery than any of the capes that had shown up. They had powers that most people could scarcely dream of having and they still ran from Nilbog, but Thomson and his PRT squad? They stood their ground and spat into the face of death without a moment's hesitation.

If only the capes had even a fraction of that bravery, the little voice in the back of her mind whispered.

"Then I suppose it's time I do mine," Annette said as she pulled herself up from her seat. The chosen design of her messenger Spartoi flashed through her head as she made her way to the door. She could feel her power already pooling around her hands like an eager puppy, just waiting for her to release it.

"After this is all done the PRT boys and I are going to buy you some drinks," Thomson said as she pulled the door open.

"I'll be there," Annette said with a slight smile. She had never really been much of a drinker, and it wasn't like she needed to drink anymore, but the thought of doing something that didn't balance the weight of hundreds of lives on her shoulders sounded nice.

But as nice as it sounded she couldn't afford to think about the future right now, she had to focus on the present. The hallways were surprisingly devoid of life as she marched her way back out into the open. While they hadn't been lively, the experience of trying to get three hundred people to live together for a few days did give the school a cramped feeling.

Annette winced as the harsh glare of the sun greeted her. She shrouded her eyes in the shadow of her hand as she looked over to the portal. The second to last group shuffled their way through the silvery film that connected one point of reality to the next. Just as the group breached the surface of the portal, Annette caught sight of Cindy's bob of black hair as she squeezed her way past the man in front of her.

As their forms disappeared through the portal Annette couldn't help but fear what would happen to the girl once the Protectorate found out that she had powers. Annette glanced down to her hands as black tar oozed from her palms and onto the ground. Her power had given her the ability to kill Nilbog's monsters but not to save the ones she loved. Cindy had gained the ability to burn everything away except for the very monsters she was trying to kill.

Were all powers so soul-crushingly ironic?

Annette clenched one of her fists, the tar-like substance squelching between her fingers as it slipped through the cracks. Despite its seemingly caustic nature, it felt surprisingly jello like as it was being squeezed through her fingers. It was actually quite pretty with the contrast of her bone white skin beneath it.

"Cad-Annette," Legend's voice called out. Annette looked up to see the Protectorate Blaster standing a few feet away, eyeing her newly forming tar pit with a wary gaze. Annette ignored his discomfort as she allowed the substance to burn away at the plant life on the ground as it spread out.

"We're going to be having an onsite briefing, we need you to come," Legend said. It didn't sound like a request, and as much as Annette wanted to tell the man off for thinking he could order her around, now wasn't the time for such petty displays of defiance. Not when so many people's lives were on the line.

As the last of the corrosive fluid killed off what little grass remained Annette cut off her power, allowing the last of the sloppy substance to slide off her fingers and pool together. She could already feel the hatred churning and growing in the pool, the first of the creatures she created was already starting to form.

Whatever was going to happen to Cindy and the Protectorate she could deal with in the future. But if they didn't stop Nilbog there might not be too much of a future to look forward to in the first place.

"Very well," Annette said as she wiped a few errant droplets of the substance from her hands. As much as she despised the idea of being a personal attack dog, there were more immediate concerns to deal with. Once everything was said and done she would put the fear of god into the people who thought they could put her on a leash, but until then she would work with them.

They had a monster to slay.

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