The lightning and thunder crashed down. On the shore of southern Ireland, the battle lines drawn, a monster approached. Everywhere it went, the dead lay scattered at its feet. An armada of the most powerful capes in history only hoped they would be able to slow the beast down. The terrified legions of parahumans stood firm, if desperate, against the inevitable clash. At the head of the group, a familiar symbol of power gave her speech.
"Attention!" Alexandria said, shouting, her voice amplified. "If this is your first Endbringer attack, you should know what you're in for. This is Behemoth, also known as the 'hero killer.'" She surveyed the crowd and saw more than her fair share of crying faces. "His field will kill anyone who doesn't have enhanced durability above a certain point, so don't get too close to him. His power is unbelievable, to say the least. Shockwaves from him can level cities. He emits radiation that can incinerate in seconds. Furthermore, his roar is capable of shattering stone. He is the toughest, as far as we know, and this will not be an easy battle. If we're lucky, he won't get too far inland. Our mission is to drive him away with as few casualties as possible."
Legend approached her. "When is Hancock going to be here?" he asked, more of a morale boost than an actual question.
"You don't have to ask," Alexandria reminded him. "He has a habit of getting here on time."
The monster approached, shaking the ground and scattering the rocks with each stomp. Behemoth let out a roar, and the parahumans closest were scattered like flies. The battle kicked off with Alexandria propelling forward to take the first initiative. Legend and Eidolon moved in opposing directions to do the best they could.
"Any word on Scion?" Someone close to one of the higher-ups asked.
"Scion's not likely to get involved for a half-hour," the man said. "As far as the satellite data we got earlier indicates, he's currently dealing with a series of earthquakes in China."
"SCATTER! BLAST INCOMING!"
It didn't matter who issued the shout. Behemoth burst forth, propelling himself onto land and erupting like a volcano. A burst of heat caused the air to explode in parts and the heroes unlucky enough to not have heard the warning found themselves vaporized. The ground melted in parts and shards of rock shot up from where stone shattered like glass. Arcs of lightning shot in all directions, and more than one hero exploded from his tissues flash cooking.
Alexandria shot forward and caught the monster on his right side, pushing him away from the largest crowd of heroes. Legend fired a series of lasers at the Endbringer as heroes moved into various positions. The monster stumbled a bit, using his power to orient himself and continue moving forward. A series of magnetic capes on the ground fired metal projectiles at the creature, but his power redirected them back to their source. A burst of heat melted a series of rock outcroppings, and a few heroes got caught in the molten rock.
Behemoth's head moved in a predictable pattern. "Shit! He's going to roar!" Again, it didn't matter who made the warning. The noise that filled the air ruptured ear drums and exploded eyeballs of close victims. The sound shattered windows dozens of miles away. At least one glass manipulator died at the hands of his own arsenal.
A distant sound of thunder revealed a brilliant dot of fire in the distance. Among the crowd, some knew already what headed towards them. "Hancock!" The dot grew larger at an incredible rate, revealing itself to be about the size of a man, and burning almost white hot. The dark-skinned superhero flew in like a space shuttle's rocket. More than a few had braced themselves already.
When Hancock impacted Behemoth, the shockwave more than rivaled those the monster created. Moving at what would later be calculated as "at least escape velocity," his body had caught fire from a combination of air friction and his own gift of fire. Those who could see from a safe distance saw a multitude of craggy projections get blown off the beast's hide. The blast knocked the monster out into the water. Behemoth skipped across the surface for almost a mile, kicking up enormous sprays before Hancock muscled him into the air.
Behemoth fired several heat bursts and shockwaves at him, along with a lot of lightning. Hancock grit his teeth and fought through the pain; after all, his tissues weren't getting damaged. "You are one ugly motherfucker," he said, smashing him upwards. The creature let out a roar and used his energy redirection to halt his upward movement. "Oh, that's how you wanna play it?" He pushed himself down a bit, then zoomed upwards, flying straight through the monster, tearing a huge gash out of the creature's midsection. The tissue gushed blood. He grabbed the section of the torso and pulled. "Son of a bitch!" Letting out a roar of his own, he tore the lower half of Behemoth off. The legs fell into the sea with a huge splash. His fists white-hot with the Power of Fire, he began tearing his way through the body of the beast.
Behemoth let out another roar and unleashed a half dozen different bursts of energy on Hancock all at once. Fighting through pain, the hero's hot punches caused rocky projections to shatter, and flesh to explode from thermal stress or cook to ash in seconds.
The monster got a solid smack in from one of his enormous arms, knocking the hero off him and into the ocean. Smashing into the water, the beast swam down and the water around the two of them began to boil. A rocky fist smashed into Hancock, forcing his mouth open. Ocean water poured into the hero's lungs, irritating him further. Bursts of electricity jolted him in several waves. He tensed his arms to avoid his muscles jerking involuntarily. The creature pounded him with a massive shockwave.
Big mistake, Hancock thought. The shockwave displaced enough water to create an air pocket. He unleashed a punch like few he'd ever thrown. Behemoth got caught on the bottom of his head, which exploded in a blast of gore and rock. The force launched his body out of the water and at least a mile up into the air. Ejecting himself from the water, Hancock began to fly at dozens of multiples of the speed of sound, impacting Behemoth's body before he had time to react. Segments of the creature's corpse fell off in house-sized chunks.
The denser layers of the body began to become a problem. The impact of the punches began to cause cavitation in the air, and yet, layers were barely cracking under such force. He smashed his hardest punches against the ultra-dense material and it barely budged.
About a quarter mile up the shoreline, with the aid of satellite feeds and remote drones, many of the heroes watched as the dark-skinned warrior pounded away at the hard flesh of Behemoth. Many stared in awe at the sight of the mostly-skinned monster reduced to his inner, hardest layers. "He's stuck," Legend reminded. "He can't punch down any further."
A veteran of more than one Endbringer attack, Armsmaster, approached. "Shouldn't we be helping him?" Alexandria looked at him.
"Were you at the last one he arrived at?"
Collin shook his head at her question. "No, ma'am," he said, "I showed up but I got taken out."
"The last time we got between him and them," she reminded, "it only made it worse for him. These guys are on a different level."
Armsmaster turned away from his superior to look at the makeshift screen. "I hope so," he thought out loud.
In Brockton Bay, the front door of the Hebert residence flew open, the rain pouring down. Annette shut the door and threw her raincoat onto the rubber floor mat by the umbrella stand. She set her keys and glasses on the counter and turned to her husband and daughter. "I heard," she said, sitting down. "How is it going?"
"We've got live coverage from the site," Danny said, wrapping an arm around Taylor. "He's really demolished Behemoth, but he can't get farther down."
They saw as the monster rapidly regenerated, right before a volley of blows knocked the regenerated material off the hyperdense inner layers. "John," Annette whispered, wrapping her arm around her husband and daughter.
"Is he gonna win?" Taylor asked, looking up at her mother.
"I think so," Annette said. She looked at Danny. "The problem is the core's way too dense."
"What bothers me," Danny said, "is that when you fought Leviathan, you did about as much damage to it, and it left about at this point."
She couldn't betray her feeling of concern. "Yes, and that's strange."
"I hope he kills it," Taylor said. Both nodded. "Are you gonna help, mommy?"
Annette looked at her. "I can't," she said. "Remember? We can't be too close to each other."
"A shame," Taylor said. "I think two together could kill it."
Just then, a horrifying sound echoed through Annette's mind.
A ranking PRT officer approached Alexandria. "Ma'am! We've got bad news!"
She turned away from the fight. "Tell me," she said.
"The Simurgh has just been sighted off the coast of Brockton Bay!"
Legend grit his teeth and shook his head, Alexandria sighed and clenched her fists. Eidolon looked at the crowd. "So, are all three of us going," he asked, "or is one of us going to stay?"
"Alexandria and I'll go," Legend said.
"This just keeps getting worse," Armsmaster said.
"You might get to be involved yet," Eidolon told Collin. "If Behemoth doesn't leave soon, this is only going to get worse."
"Behemoth's leaving!" Someone shouted.
Everyone turned back to the screen. "Why isn't he going into the water?" Eidolon asked.
The hero killer had plenty of ocean to disappear into if he wanted to lose Hancock. Instead, he flew over the water, propelling himself via energy manipulation. The hero followed him. Hancock simply knew this beast was headed somewhere populated. He'd fought this thing so many times before it wasn't funny. When the monster would run, because he simply lacked the strength to break through to the core, it usually vanished beneath the waves. This was a new strategy.
"The hell you going?" He shouted, more out of anger than expecting a real answer.
Annette's vision went blank for a moment, and then she saw a vision. Hancock over the water, impaled between the two Endbringers, Simurgh and Behemoth. His lifeless corpse hung from the monster's claws and the other's device. "No," she muttered. The psychic scream echoed through her mind. Horrifying visions of death and destruction pulsed through her like a radio transmission. She felt the pain of losing her other half as if it had already happened.
"What…" Before Danny could finish his sentence, she shot up to a standing position.
"NO!"
The house jolted as she took off. She hardly left the door on its hinges as she flew off. Her last shout almost knocked him over. Taylor and Danny were left speechless for a moment as they stared at the empty space where she'd been.
"Mom!" the young Taylor shouted. She hugged her father tight. "They can't get too close! Where's she going?"
"I wish I knew, kiddo," Danny said. Honestly, he was scared shitless. He had a terrifying feeling that this was some kind of trick.
Annette saw the Simurgh hovering five miles off the coast of the Bay. Ignoring all common sense, she slammed into the Endbringer at tremendous speeds. She sent the thing reeling. As soon as it righted itself, it moved in a zig zag pattern backwards to the left. No, you don't, she thought, pressing the attack. She had the strength to end this monster, she believed. In the past, this beast had used various forms of psychic attacks to escape, but this time, Annette swore, she would end this creature.
"Stop running and fight me!" she shouted.
Alexandria and Legend arrived within sight of Brockton Bay. They saw their target, hovering off at a relative distance to another target.
"Is that…?" Legend trailed off as he recognized the woman, hurling punches at nothing in particular. "Oh hell."
Alexandria let out a sigh. The ex-wife of Hancock wasn't actually hitting anything except air. Which, as facts go, meant only one thing. "Now we know why the Simurgh came here," she said.
"So, what's the goal of," Legend said. Then his eyes went wide. "Oh hell!"
Alexandria realized the same instant. "We have to go! Now!"
The plan seemed so straightforwardly effective, the two of them almost had to give the Endbringer credit. Legend took off ahead in a desperate attempt to reach Hancock before the worst could happen.
Alexandria flew into the direct path of her unwitting enemy. "Stop," she shouted. "You're being used!"
Annette clenched her fists and her serious expression grew darker. "So, now you decide to stop running and fight me, Simurgh," she said.
"Son of a…" Alexandria barely had time to register a sigh before being struck with the hardest blow she'd ever taken. She impacted the water like a cruise missile and in an instant, had a hand around her neck while a fist pummeled her. Her head went under the water and she sputtered a few times.
Alexandria head-butted Annette high into the air. She coughed up a mouthful of water and pressed the attack. Anything to keep the two apart. Boxer's jabs to the body and face drove her foe back. This was bad. The Simurgh had always been a clever bitch in the past, but if they lost either of the two, they'd lose some of their best weapons against these monsters. If the psychic attack had succeeded to this extent, who knew what would be in store next.
The helmeted hero grabbed her unwitting opponent by the collar. "Snap out of it!" she shouted, possibly in vain. "You're being tricked!"
Annette saw the Simurgh in front of her. The monster wrapped its hands around her. She shoved the hands to the side and delivered a solid right hook to the temple. A piece of something fell off and splashed in the water. She didn't listen to the bizarre noises the Endbringer made, she just knew to fight back.
After taking another hard punch to the face—which shattered her helmet—Alexandria changed tactics and flew head-on into her opponent, driving up at the last minute and slamming a knee into the woman's stomach. She bashed her foe in the head repeatedly. Maybe blunt force would have some effect.
Legend arrived to see Hancock knocking pieces of regenerated flesh off the core of Behemoth. "Hancock!" he shouted. "Get out of here!"
"Legend? What the f…?" Before he had a chance to finish, the core slammed him out of the way and plunged into the water. He shook his head and faced the hero. "What the hell's goin' on?"
"Just get the hell out of here now," Legend said, flying close. "Simurgh's got your ex-wife under psychic control. Trying to lead her to you. Just fly out of here."
Hancock's fist clenched. "That fucking…!"
"No!" Legend argued, approaching. "Please. Just get out of here. You two are far too important."
Hancock grit his teeth. "They're gonna pay for this," he said. He flew away in the direction of the beach.
The Simurgh suddenly moved away from Annette. She looked off into the distance and saw the monster zooming off into the distance. She took off at full speed.
Alexandria saw that Annette no longer saw her as the Simurgh. When her attention suddenly changed, and she sped off, the triumvirate member cursed under her breath and took off. Of all the lowdown dirty…! Her thoughts raced as she desperately sped off to try and catch up to the hero. This had to be one of the worst things that could happen. These people had one weakness and the Endbringers found a way to exploit it.
Hancock heard a sonic boom off in the distance and turned his head. His exceptional vision allowed him to see what he had hoped not to see. Annette and he had made a pact never to be within the same city at the same time. Then again, the Simurgh was capable of some nasty mind fuckery, and he didn't know how well he could stand up to it himself.
Annette approached the target. Simurgh fled onward. As she flew, the creature flew faster. She wasn't about to let up.
Hancock pushed himself even harder. He felt the wind begin to feel cold against his skin. Dammit, he thought.
Behemoth burst forth from the water, partially regenerated. He caught Hancock right through the torso with a spiky obsidian fist.
The illusion dropped just as the real Simurgh approached from behind. Annette looked as the image of the Simurgh disappeared and she saw the horror unfold before her.
"Oh…god…no…"
She barely had time to react before a telekinetically assembled weapon impaled her through the chest and got Hancock as well. Her blood splattered on him and she hung limp.
Alexandria and Legend arrived a few moments too late to do anything.
"No! NO!" Alexandria screamed.
Legend simply closed his eyes and wiped a tear away. Then he regarded the two Endbringers. As if to emphasize their victory, they separated, allowing the two corpses to fall into the water, and they vanished beneath the waves.
"Why? Why dad?"
Danny looked down at his daughter. He shook his head. He had no answer to her question. She'd lost, in one evening, her mother and her birth father. He hugged her to his chest. "I don't know," he said. "I wish I did."
Taylor wiped her face on his suit shirt. "She would have never died if it wasn't for those…bastards!" she swore.
Danny's first instinct was to chastise her for language, but he couldn't bring himself to. "I'm not going to let go," he said. "I loved your mother and I'm going to do whatever I can for you."
Taylor shook the sobs out of her face. "I can't lose you too."
"When I married your mother," he explained, "I signed up to be your father. I made that decision. For what it's worth, I may not be indestructible, but I will not abandon you."
"Those monsters are gonna pay for this," Taylor said.
Danny looked down at the rage building in his daughter. She wasn't speaking of some vague notion of karma or hoping out loud. "I know," he said.
The priest, having finished his speech, made one final mark of the cross over the gravestone, gave Taylor and Danny his thoughts, and left. The personal friends and coworkers had gone their separate ways, and the two of them at last stood alone over the grave. Taylor knelt and placed her hand on the freshly disturbed dirt. "I will destroy them," she whispered.
"Honey, you mind if I say something?" Danny asked.
Taylor stepped aside. Her father knelt and looked at the stone. "I don't know what happens next," he admitted, "but I am not going anywhere. If you can hear me, be sure, I'll take good care of our daughter." The whole time, he'd kept from crying, but at last, it came out. "You hear me? I'm not going anywhere."
The two of them embraced, crying on each other's shoulders.
"….a.k…e…up…"
As if waking from a dream, awareness returned.
"Wake up," the voice repeated.
Annette's eyes opened and she looked around. A great hall with a domed ceiling rose all around her. Beings made of various forms of energy sat in a circle, seated by the walls. Some of them looked more human than the others. She stumbled back and corrected herself, using her arms for balance. "What…?"
She happened to look down and see herself garbed in a robe of bluish hues. "Vo'lai," a voice said. She looked up and saw where it came from. A pulsating body of a plasma-like energy sat in a seat against the wall, looking down. It occurred to her that her mind was hearing the words and translating, not actual sound. "Your journey has been cut short. You are here because your physical body has died."
The events prior came to her. "No! My family!" she argued. "My daughter!"
"It seems your daughter is capable," another being said.
"But I can't leave them!" Annette argued. Her fists clenched. "I…I was tricked!"
"Vo'lai speaks truly," a third argued to the group. "The mortal weakness we built in to provide them a way to end their lives; it was not intended to be used this way."
"Please," Annette said, clasping her hands together. "Send me back. Please."
The group mulled this over without her hearing anything. Finally, they turned to her. "Bringing you back poses a problem," it said. "We will have to…" It paused. The group turned to it, then seemed to all look upwards.
The suspense was killing her. "What's going on?"
One waved a wispy appendage. The center of the room changed to a vision of the inside of a medical lab. Pieces of pulped flesh sat loosely gathered around each other on a table. "This is a strange occurrence," one of them remarked.
She recognized pieces of skin with birthmarks. "Is that…me?!" she uttered, recoiling.
They discussed it amongst themselves, once again without involving her. Then they turned to her. "This will provide you a way to return to life," one remarked.
Another pointed at her for effect. "You will have a long, difficult journey to return," it said. "We will not directly intervene on your or anyone else's behalf. Your husband, Yar'uhn, will not be returning under any circumstances. He has been moved on to his final rest."
A lonely sigh escaped her lips as she remembered all the beautiful times they had together. Still, only one thing mattered to her. "I will get to see my daughter again?"
"Certain."
"Then send me back."
The group dissolved the vision. "Not yet." One of them teleported from his seat to in front of her. His wispy energy body gave way to a form of flesh. "Your deeds have earned you the right to be taught, but you have much to learn. And you will not be given advance knowledge of the actions of your enemies."
"I can live with that," Annette said.
"Those who would resurrect you will spend several revolutions of the Earth around the Sun restoring your body," this man said. "They will exhaust nearly every resource at their disposal. They will even use your body for their own purposes. But when they are finished, you will return to life. This is all I will tell you of them."
"Fine. Teach me." A smirk appeared on her face. "After all, you said we have plenty of time."