Well then, let me get a couple of things cleared up.
First off, I want to apologise about Emma Barnes. I got some pretty damn important details wrong, and made what happened to her sound less important. Things like rape and scarring is not to be taken lightly, unless you are deliberately going for black/dead-baby comedy. And even then, you need to be careful about how you handle it.
That said, what happened to her still doesn't justify what she's done to Taylor. It's just nowhere near as minor as I mistakenly made it.
Second thing is that some people have noted that I messed up with the breathing thing. I can understand what they meant. When I said that Alex breathed, I was meaning something different from what we do. I remember from my high-school science classes that some microorganisms are considered Aerobic organisms - That means that they breath oxygen like we do – instead of Anaerobic, which means that they don't breath oxygen. When I looked them up, there was also mention of others that breath something other than oxygen, but we won't go over them here.
What I'm saying is that in game, Alex always jumps out very quickly when he falls into water. I always figured it was because he needs to breathe. Apologies for any misunderstanding.
Now, we've got a little clash in the reviews here. Nothing serious, just something I've noticed.
Nefracture wants me to try and avoid having every fight being anti-climactic, and show that humanity isn't always the underdog against Alex. One plan I had was that Armsmaster would put up a damn good fight. But now toolazytologin wants me to not let Armsmaster put up a good fight against Alex, saying that Cross should be the only human who can match Alex. A bit of a dilemma. But I've decided that Cross managed to match Alex because he had explosives, lots of men, and knew a lot about what Alex would do. Armsmaster has that and much more, thanks to his tinker tech. I mean, canon-wise, he got closer to nearly killing Leviathan than anyone aside from Scion. It's only logical that he could give Alex a real fight. Aside from him, the only people I can see right now giving Alex trouble would be Crawler and Siberian. Everyone else, he just needs to move faster than them and hit them once or twice, and they're down and out.
Oh, and finally I want to thank gomt8 for giving me the web address for a thread all about Alex's capabilities. That was very helpful, and will be useful for this story.
Chapter 7: Step 7 – Participate In an Endbringer Grudge Match
We had managed to escape our fight against Fog last week with our lives. Luckily for us, someone else had already dealt with Purity, Rune, Crusader, and Night. Armsmaster had dropped down, engaging all of us. We left him tearing into Fog and ran out of there. We had only gone because Purity was threatening to destroy the city and murder everyone her group ran across until we returned her baby to her. The moment she was dealt with (Armsmaster was probably behind that too) we didn't need to stick around. At least, that's what the others argued. I wasn't up to fighting them; Brian had been injured during an altercation against Hookwolf and his men versus the PRT. Now, the news were ablaze with everything that had happened. Purity was arrested; Rune and Crusader too. Only Fog and Night managed to escape. Hookwolf was chased off, and the PRT claimed more land from the villains. Well, liberated really. Every other Empire Eighty-Eight cape went into hiding, their civilian lives ruined.
Kaiser had gone missing. Either he had jumped ship, or someone got to him before all hell broke loose.
Either way, this was likely the biggest loss Triple-E had suffered in a long time.
We were standing outside an abandoned construction site. I wasn't sure whether it was always like this, a project given up halfway through, or whether the builders just hadn't woken up again. Only Blacklight was in more civilian clothes; the rest of us were in costume. Hopefully the late night would stop people from recognising us.
Tattletale unlocked the door for us, leading the lot of us through the various debris and refuse of a construction site. Gravel, cement mixers, pipes left lying around. Eventually, we found ourselves before the hatch of a storm drain. A large pipe meant to direct large amounts of water down towards the sea, in case of flooding. They were usually dark, dank, and smelled something awful.
In other words, a good place to hide the entrance to a lair.
Tattletale led us towards a relatively clean passage of the drain. A hallway mostly devoid of water. On the far wall was a lone camera, and a door with no handle. Normally, we would be expected to wait. But we had barely stopped before a soldier opened the door for us. Blacklight pushed past him, the man visibly stumbling away. We followed him into a giant two-storied room. Metal walkways ran around the perimeter; the ground floor below had lots of boxes stacked around. A small army of soldiers were standing around, talking to each other. On one side of the room, the Travellers were clustered around a laptop. Over at the far end, Coil was talking to four people. All of them wore suits; none of them looked like villains. Lackeys, perhaps? Coil spotted us coming, and finished his discussion with them. They holstered their paperwork and left quickly; no doubt heading to deal with their current jobs.
"Undersiders. Blacklight." He greeted us. "I trust you've been having a quiet week?"
Grue shrugged. "More or less." He rolled his shoulders stiffly. Despite medical attention, he still bore the scars Cricket left on him. "We need to talk."
"And we shall. But first, I have to talk to Blacklight." He turned to face him, his expression hidden by his mask. "Blacklight, my sources are having some difficulty in identifying where exactly Purity has been taken. Am I correct to assume that the PRT are merely trying to save face over this whole affair?"
Blacklight shrugged, his appearance changing into Purity's. Kayden Anders. Basically, Purity without the glowing eyes and hair. "I killed her personally, so there's no way she's in prison. And saying that she's been arrested sounds better than 'we haven't got a clue where she is'."
Coil nodded. "Good. I had hoped to use her disposition to weaken and hamper Hookwolf, but I suppose that I will have to change my plans."
"Should've thought of that before handing their details to the PRT. There was no way they would've let something so juicy slip them by." Wait. The PRT were the ones to out them? But… but that would break the unwritten rules. Surely they're not so short-sighted to do that over a few capes.
Because without those rules, the Endbringers' jobs became a dozen times easier.
"Yes. Director Piggot has always been willing to cheat for her side. A trait I might respect if she weren't my enemy." Coil nodded. "Very well then. Your work is exemplary. I'll send you the pay this afternoon." He turned towards us, Blacklight stepping back now that he was finished. "Now, Am I right to assume that we have to talk about the Empire Eighty-Eight incident?"
"Yeah. Mainly about how you fucked us over because of it." Grue said.
"I understand. Blacklight has voiced similar grievances. I sent him to deal with Kaiser, and so he was unprepared for an attack by the Protectorate while in Max Ander's form. You have to understand though; I have been searching for this information for some time now, at great personal cost. To have the final piece fall into my lap while they were vulnerable… It was an opportunity I simply couldn't ignore."
"And you forgot about us. How it would look like to people like Hookwolf."
"If it makes you feel any better, I was just as surprised when Hookwolf called Kaiser and fingered you lot as the culprit." Blacklight spoke up. "But yeah, that was a major fuck-up on your part, Coil."
"We're just not sure if we can trust you anymore." I said. "You didn't even give us a warning of what you were planning. We could've been ambushed without any idea as to why we were being attacked."
"Of course, Swarm. I apologise. Perhaps it would set your mind at ease if I offered to let you be a part of my plans from now on? That I would not begin any plan on such a scale without first informing you and any other capes in my services."
I shook my head. "Still too risky. You could go forward with something minor, only for it to explode in our faces. And don't say that we can trust Tattletale to tell us if something affects us. She's good, but her power isn't infallible. No offence." I said to her quickly.
"None taken." She replied flippantly.
"Swarm, if you are looking for a singular action I could take to regain your trust, I'm afraid that you'll be clutching at straws. I can't guarantee such a thing; all I can do is ensure that you have no more reason to distrust me any further."
"It's not just trust." Grue was saying. "These situations you send us into… for someone like Blacklight, I'm sure that they're trivial. But for the rest of us, we're barely holding on by the skin of our teeth. All it would take is one unlucky moment, and we would've died multiple times. You can't have Blacklight deal with every problem you have, but you also can't send us on frankly suicidal attacks and expect us to come out on top."
He was right. A chance meeting, a wrong turn, being there at the wrong time. All of those contributed to Cricket nearly killing Grue.
And most people can't walk things off like Blacklight can.
"I understand what you mean." Coil mused. "What if I told you that I had a way to more ascertain your success against a particular problem?"
"I think something doesn't add up.' Tattletale said. "Even with your power…"
"I can't make guarantees like that. I know." He interrupted her. "Follow me, and you'll understand." He led us to the other end of the base, the rest of us quiet as we followed. I wondered what he was showing us. Some way he could tip the scales in his favour? A special weapon, a secret power? What did Coil have that was so useful to him?
The answer became apparent within minutes of meeting the guard stationed there. He was leading out a young girl, about twelve years old. She had dark rings under her eyes, and she kept scratching at the inside of her elbow. I noted how she didn't make eye contact with anyone.
Coil bent down and pushed the hair around her face away in a fatherly manner. She glanced up at him, then away.
"I need some numbers, pet." He said gently.
She sniffled. "Only if you give me some candy." She said in a small voice.
"Of course. Candy after six questions."
Three. I can't handle more than three today. My head hurts."
"Very well then. Give me the numbers if I had the Undersiders attack the PRT headquarters." I stiffened slightly. That was exactly the kind of situation that we were worried about. That Coil would hand us a suicidal mission for some asinine reason.
The girl nodded. "Twenty-seven point five two four nine percent that they succeed. Seventy point five nine oh that only half the team escapes. That counts as one question."
Did she…? Where did she get those numbers from? Were our odds really that bad? How had she figured it out?
Coil turned to us, letting the numbers sink in. "She can calculate possibilities. Our best theory is that she sees all possible realities in a fraction of a second. Of course, such a large amount of data taxes her. But you can understand why she is so valuable to me." He turned back to the girl, one hand resting on her shoulder. "What if I were to send Blacklight in instead?"
"Eighty-nine point three recurring that he would succeed. Forty point seven oh four two that they would cause significant damage to him before falling."
"Good, good." He turned back to us. "It's obvious that Blacklight would have a much higher success rate, given his incredible power and skill. Though I am surprised to hear such high odds of hurting you badly. They must be preparing for you."
The girl was biting her nails. I looked away, feeling ashamed. "One more question. And then I get candy."
"Of course you will. Now, what are the odds if I send Blacklight in a month from now?"
"One hundred percent that he will kill off every member of the PRT. Sixty-nine point two percent chance that he will be heavily damaged during the fighting. Candy now."
Coil stood back up, hand under his chin. "No. that doesn't feel right. Last time, you said that different numbers. What could've changed since then?" I got the feeling he was talking more to himself than you us.
"Those are the numbers." The girl said firmly, tugging on Coil's leg. "They're what's in my head. You just don't want to give me candy." She was getting agitated now. I had seen that enough times before to know what it meant.
I felt sick to my stomach.
"Of course I do, pet." Coil said in a soothing tone. He looked up at the solider who had retrieved her. "Get her to her room. Give her what she wants. Mr. Pitter will make sure she doesn't have too much." The man nodded and grabbed her by the hand, dragging her back to her room. She didn't resist.
Blacklight stepped forward a bit. "Can't help but notice how high those last numbers were. Makes me wonder what will happen in a month that will… motivate me so much."
"Yes. I wonder too." Coil answered, more to himself than to Blacklight. "Perhaps they discover a weakness, or find a powerful ally." He turned towards us. "I must look into this immediately. I trust that you will see yourselves out. I hope that this convinces you to join me." He turned and walked away, leaving us to find our way out. We walked in silence.
Halfway along, Regent gave a low whistle. "Man, I'm so glad my power doesn't fuck me over like that. Imagine being so messed up that you couldn't make any real conversation."
I glared daggers at him, even though he couldn't see me behind my mask. I let some venom slip into my voice. "Are you really that dense?"
"What? What did I say?"
"She isn't affected by her powers. Coil's been hooking her up to drugs." Saying it aloud made it seem more real, more overbearing. Like a miasma hanging overhead, choking me.
I took a deep shaky breath. "If you had paid the slightest bit of attention to the news, you'd know who she is. She's the missing girl; the one who vanished on the day of our vandalism. Dinah Alcott. That's why Coil wanted us to attack that day; so we would lure most of the heroes away, and he could kidnap her." I came to a stop. Everyone else came to stop, standing apart from me. "We can't work with him; I can't work with him. Not anymore."
I wouldn't say that I was expecting an uprising on the spot. But the silence that greeted me was deafening.
"… Sorry, Swarm." Grue said in a sad tone. "But I'm afraid that we're going to have to agree to disagree."
He might as well kicked me in the chest. Would've been less painful than this.
"You're still going to work for him? Even after what we've seen?"
"I agree that it's fucked up on multiple levels. But some of us need him to help us. I can't look after Aisha without his help."
"I… I'm not trying to say that Aisha isn't important… but are you really willing to let Dinah suffer, just for Aisha?"
"If I have to? If there's no way I could have both? Yeah." He sounded so calm, so neutral. It was as if he didn't feel anything for her.
"I agree with Swarm. This is fucked up." Blacklight said. We all looked at him in surprise. I saw that his hands were clenched tightly.
Sure, he was willing to jump in and help me. But this was still a little surprising.
"And what exactly will you do to get her free?" Tattletale asked warily.
"Convince Coil to let her go." He said as though it was simple. I'd give anything to have his kind of confidence. To know that I could walk into a room and have people do whatever I say.
"She's a powerful precog. There aren't many of them out there, and I don't think anyone could give such an accurate reading for anything that happens tomorrow, much less a month. You really think that Coil's going to let her go because you say so?"
"He hired me because he didn't want me as an enemy. I think he's more interested in being alive than dead. And I'm strong enough that I could make up for any… uncertainty."
Well, that was one ally. I turned back to the group for more support. Bitch looked at me angrily. Shouldn't have expected help from her. Regent, however…"
"You told us about your time with Heartbreaker. You told us how you ran away to get away from the drug use and abuse." Heartbreaker was a dangerous villain. What you would get if you gave the power to affect emotions to a selfish man. He would bind young women to his will, force them to commit crimes and die in his name. Regent was one of his kids; I had the feeling that he was the reason Alec was so… broken. I waved a hand at the building. "You can't tell me that you're just going to overlook all of this."
"My problem with Heartbreaker was that he was trying to control me. Blacklight's right; you're just going to get yourself killed trying to help everyone. Better to focus on yourself instead."
I turned to Tattletale. My last possible ally. My only friend, beside the violent villain. But she didn't look me in the eye. She just shook her head.
Anger tried blossomed within me. But it was tempered by exhaustion.
"Fine." I said emotionlessly. "Fine. Guess it was stupid of me to expect my teammates to have a conscious. I'll go and… and do something else. Work on my own." Now that I said my piece, I just turned away and stormed off to the exit.
Blacklight held me back by the shoulder, pulled me close.
"Don't do anything stupid." He muttered to me. "I'm just as pissed off as you about Dinah. But I've still got some use for Coil. I'll think of something."
I half-heartedly nodded. But my mind was already coming up with ways to get past Coil's defences.
Coil looked up as Alex entered his office. From what little he could see of his stance, Coil wasn't happy to be interrupted. It was likely that if it was anyone other than him, he'd likely be forcibly removed from the premises.
The fact that he didn't even try already told Alex more than enough.
"Blacklight." Coil greeted him. "Are you here to contribute any ideas as to why you would kill the PRT so thoroughly? Something they might do that would enrage you to that level of violence?"
Alex paused. "I won't pretend that I'm not interested in the numbers. I'm curious as to what they do to piss me off. But I'm not here about that."
"Ah." Coil must've figured it out. "Dinah."
"Yeah. Her. It's fucked up, Coil. And I hate it." He stepped closer, fingers lengthening. "You are going to send her home right now. You aren't going to go anywhere near her again."
Coil clicked his tongue against his teeth. "Blacklight, I appreciate the work you've done for me. I know that you are certainly the most powerful asset I have right now. Having you on my side can tip the scales in my favour. But I have devoted a lot of time, money, and effort to recovering Miss Alcott. Her precog powers mesh well with my own powers; helps me make the correct choices. Without her, I'm afraid that we will have to make more guesswork. I might send in a team, and they might not make it back at all. The Undersiders already complained about how I send them into situations they only survive through luck; your first meeting with them was one such incident. Would it really be fair if I let her go and leave them vulnerable?"
"If they get in over their heads, send me in. I have ways of getting close in moments. You don't need her when you've got me. And frankly, I don't give a damn about your 'chessmaster' routine. Shit happens; deal with it."
And what if I have you busy on a different mission? What if you are too far away to help them until it's too late? There are many variables that even you can't plan around. That's why I need her. Dinah is a safety net."
"Really?" He took a step closer so that he loomed over Coil's desk. "And what do you think are the odds of you getting out of here if you keep saying no to me?"
"Not in my favour." Coil admitted. "But it's not just me who needs her."
Alex stayed his hand. "What are you talking about?"
"The Travellers. You see, you've only seen most of their members so far. Trickster may be their official leader, their face, but he's not their real leader. That accolade goes to Noelle."
"So what does she need Dinah for?"
"I don't tell this to everyone out of respect for her privacy, but her power is changing her. It's already altered most of her body, and it's working further and further on her mind. Trickster can help keep her calm, but only for so long. Eventually, she starts… devouring people whole. Dozens go missing; people start investigating. The Travellers… travel. But each time, it gets worse. It likely won't be much longer before Noelle is gone, and something worse takes her place."
"Again, what does Noelle need Dinah for?" Alex sympathised with Noelle. He understood what it was like to have powers considered monstrous, to feel like your mind is changing, having someone human holding you at bay.
The difference though, is that he was having an easier time holding onto his humanity. In fact, he was gaining humanity all the time.
"My agreement with the Travellers is that they will work for me in exchange for healing Noelle. To that end, we need to try many different procedures. Dinah's power lets us find out the success rate before we devote too much effort to it, in case it becomes a failure. Without her though, we will have to administer and test everything. Most will likely fail. Some will have adverse effects. Others could even kill her or speed up the process. But the string of failures… it will break her will. Make her give up hope. And without hope…"
"You become a monster." He finished. He wanted to curse, to hit something. Great. This was supposed to be easy. He would come in here, threaten Coil, have Dinah back home within the hour. Instead, he was having to choose between helping out a drugged-up girl, or helping out someone on the edge of becoming a monster.
Could he really justify helping out one person, and let another become something worse?
Before he had to make a choice though, Coil's computer started beeping loudly. Coil turned to it, his body stiffening as he saw what was on it. Behind him, he could hear the soldiers moving, strapping things down, locking hatches.
"Trouble?" Alex asked.
"You could say that." Coil responded. "According to this alert, we have an Endbringer on approach. Leviathan." Alex felt himself stiffen too, his body moving into flight-or-fight responses.
Endbringers. The biggest threats this world faced. They were more like natural disasters than people, more so than even Alex could be. A force of nature, guided by an intelligence dedicated to causing as much death and pain as possible.
Behemoth; a moving volcanic eruption. Able to manipulate any kind of energy. Generates a field of heat. Anyone too close burns to death.
Leviathan; A living tsunami. A hydrokinesis on a macro scale. Capable of sinking entire landmasses; has in fact done so in the past.
The Simurgh. The best way to describe her is Murphy's law incarnate. Or the butterfly of doom. She caused far less immediate damage than her brothers, but made up for it later. People go mad, plans fall apart, anything that could go wrong does. And then they kill more people.
You couldn't kill them. You couldn't truly injure them. The best you could do was fend them off enough that they run to lick their wounds. And they always came back.
And one of them was heading this way.
Dana.
He was smashing through the door before the thought fully crystallised.
Dinah had to wait for later.
He found Dana loading up the truck herself, the back filled with boxes. He wanted to breathe a sigh of relief. Good. She had the same idea as him; getting her to safety.
"Hope you've grabbed everything important. I want us out of Brockton Bay before whatever's attacking gets close."
"Just hold on, Alex." She responded, stopping her packing. "Us? What makes you think that we're running?"
"Because we have to get you to safety." He replied. "And I'm coming with you."
"No you're not. I'm going. You're staying."
"Why the hell am I staying behind?"
"Because you could help fight back." She replied forcefully.
"Fuck. That."
"Alex, you're the only one I know who can take a hit and keep fighting. And if you used Lung's power, you could probably even go toe to toe with Behemoth and survive."
He growled. "Why are you so set on this? I'm not sticking around to pick a fight with him anyway. What I am going to do is make sure that you're as far away from this as possible." As soon as they had learnt of the Endbringers, he had made a choice. If they ever showed up, he was running. Especially if it were the Simurgh. A living bioweapon like him? He'd be the juiciest target on the field. All she'd have to do is cause Dana's death, and he'd do more damage than even she could do.
Dana turned to glare at him. "Alex, cut the bullcrap. I know you. You may have trouble understanding morality, but there's still good inside of you. After all, you nearly killed yourself saving New York from the thermonuclear bomb."
"I saved you. The rest of the city was a happy coincidence." It wasn't completely true. She had a slight point. But this was different. "There's going to be dozens of capes fighting Leviathan. I'm not going to make that big a difference."
"Really? So Alex Mercer, Mr 'Overpowered' himself, thinks he can't make a difference? Let's make a list, shall we? First off, you can get crushed or sliced and heal in seconds. Second, you can adapt to combat whatever you're fighting. Third, you can gain enough biomass to rival Leviathan in size and strength. Fourth, you're pretty goddamn strong and fast, meaning that you can keep up with him. Fifth, Lung's been on record as the only person capable of fighting Leviathan on equal terms." Dana folded her arms, a smug look on her face. "Sounds like you could make a fucking big difference to me."
"…I don't like water." Even he could tell how petty that sounded."
"Jesus fucking Christ, Alex. It's just fucking water. Yeah, you're scared of it for some lame-ass reason, but suck it up and face your fear." She sighed, the frustration on her face fading. "Alex, please. You might just be the difference between a win and a loss here."
"…" He sighed. She was right. He was powerful enough. And he won't lie and say he didn't want a chance to face an Endbringer, to see how it works and if he could work around it.
But the idea that Dana would be out of his sight…
"Ok, fine then. But I am going with you to make sure that you get the fuck out of this city first." He held up a hand to stall any objections. "I mean it, Dana. Unless you're a city away from all this I am not going to do shit about Leviathan. And I'll need to grab some biomass from outside Brockton Bay anyway." Dana surprised him by pulling him into a hug. His biomass hardened against it for a second before returning to normal.
"Thank you, Alex.' She said gratefully. "I'm so glad you're staying to fight."
"Yeah… Well… Have to make sure that Coil lives long enough to keep his end of the deal." He mumbled.
That said, he wasn't as against the city surviving as he would pretend.
Getting the truck far enough from the city for him to carry it the rest of the way had been difficult. So many other cars had the same idea he had; get the hell away from Brockton Bay, before Leviathan showed up. They were just so slow, weighed down by so much frugal junk. Part of him wanted to suit up, use his reputation to bully a way through. But if someone linked Dana to Blacklight, if someone decided to use her against him…
Well, better not risk it.
Luckily, Dana managed to take a turn off towards a quieter area. From there, it was easy for him to grip the truck with his biomass and run through the countryside towards the next city over. Some city he didn't both remembering the name of. It was meant to be a temporary thing only. A place for Dana to hide out safely while he went to war. He dropped her off in a remote part of the city; from there, she could find a shelter or something.
He handed her the boxes he had. Two of them. "Keep those safe. Until I figure out a way to have more without them crashing on me, I can't keep them all with me."
Dana rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, yeah. I'll keep your stupid heads safe for you. Now get moving. You've still got to get some more biomass before you head back. They're not too sure how long it'll take for Leviathan to show up."
"Will do. You keep safe."
"You too. Try to come back alive." She said. He dashed away from her, towards the nearest large patch of trees. It was too small to be a forest; too big to be anything else. But it'll do for him. He drove his tendrils into the bark on the nearest tree, more tendrils lashing out wildly. He didn't bother with subtlety; he simply overwhelmed their immune systems and fed. The bark turned red and fleshy, more tendrils linking up to other trees. They shrank in size as he devoured every last bit.
He wasn't indiscriminate. He consumed every last piece of biomass he sensed. Animals, plants, the corpse of a hiker… It all became a part of him. When he was done, there was nothing but a barren patch where the trees had been standing. He could already feel the weight now, felt himself sinking into the ground. He took off running, dirt flying up from the force of his legs. Cracks formed wherever he stepped, his movements like an earthquake. His biomass changed shape, smoothed over parts and sharpened others to make him more streamlined. It moved downwards to his legs, giving him more power.
There was a loud boom, as he broke the sound barrier.
When he arrived in Brockton Bay, he nearly skidded for a while before he managed to slow his forward momentum enough to get to a more normal speed. The capes near him, heading towards the meeting, looked at him in surprise. Not that he blamed them. When he looked back, there was a long line of cracks and potholes where he had been running. There were subtle signs of damage from his passing.
Of course, what would you expect when a several ton man came running past?
Still, all this attention would be useful. He found through Lung's memories that attention was what powered his shard. Not how long he fought for, or anger, or anything like that. He needed people to look at him, to acknowledge him.
Already he could feel the shard reacting to the attention.
He pushed it down, ignored the people staring. It wasn't time yet. He didn't know if he could shift while it was active. He needed to wait a bit longer before he got started. He walked past the other capes towards the cliff. Not all the way; just enough to see Leviathan's arrival better.
It was already showering with rain. He was close. Almost too close. Leviathan was fast on land; faster on water.
Well, at least he wouldn't get pummelled to death like the others would.
The last of the capes had arrived, heading in to hear the meeting as much as get out of the rain. He didn't follow; if he did this right, their plan would go out the window. Instead, he started mapping out the mutations and builds he needed. Where his biomass was needed, what shape it would take, what weapons he should build. He ran through the blueprints his DNA gave him, picking out the right form.
The weather grew worse and worse. Now was the time to start changing. He headed down towards the docks, and latched onto the ground as he started changing shape. Biomass and tendrils bunched together in places, forming new limbs. He focused some into his legs, giving them the strength to support his weight. He could ignore the square/cube law only so much after all.
He had just formed a head again when he was hit head on by a powerful wave. He let it wash over him, his biomass recoiling slightly from the contact. Turning away, he saw the wave hit the cliff he had been standing on, where the other capes were having their meeting. Hopefully, most of them would make it out alright. He turned back towards the docks, towards the Boardwalk. They had been torn apart by the power of the wave, and by Leviathan. Thirty feet tall, built much like Alex was right now. A long tail scythed through the air. He looked as though some great god had started hewing things together, regardless of whether they fitted together or not. His face was at best a gash, a finger painting done just to give him something to look with.
Honestly, Alex thought he would've been more impressive.
The capes had teleported around Alex, some of them standing underneath him. They all looked up and pointed at him, getting clear as he still shifted his biomass. He bulked up his arms, making one almost as big as his whole body. They seemed torn with indecision. What do they attack first; Leviathan, or him?
Better get moving before they make the wrong choice.
He pulled himself forward with his massive arms, sending himself flying towards Leviathan. He lashed out with one fist, landing a solid hit on the monster. The weight and the force behind it sent Leviathan falling, Alex landing on him. He grew a mouthful of teeth, and started biting down. As Leviathan lashed out with claws, Alex ignored him. He pushed him down with claws, jabbing them into his flesh. Almost immediately, he felt resistance. His biomass started tasting his flesh, probing for weaknesses. He detected silicon. Leviathan was made entirely from silicon.
Then Leviathan slashed him across the eyes with his tail, and pushed Alex away with a wave of water. The biomass he had probing was left behind. They immediately started digging their way further downwards, still searching for data. Alex healed his eyes just in time for Leviathan to land on him, claws lashing out. Evidently, he didn't like being bested, even for just a moment. Or maybe he identified Alex as the biggest threat, and decided to take him out first.
Well, that was what he was here for.
Alex fired spikes of biomass from his chest, all of them cutting into Leviathan. They weren't going as deep as he would like, so he twisted them downwards. They slashed his chest, cutting open grooves. At the same time, two smaller arms grew to grab him by the head, slammed him to the ground as Alex got back up. He slammed his giant fist down once, twice, three times. Each time, it was like an earthquake happened. He felt waves slam into him, but he simply anchored himself and kept going. Leviathan lashed out wildly and blindly, carving at anything that got close. Below, he saw some capes flying around, firing lasers and powers at Leviathan's prone form.
So in a fit of panic, Leviathan managed to slice through his neck and push a spike of water through his chest. But it took longer to get through than normally. He felt his biomass become tougher. The water dropped down as Leviathan struggled free, lashing out with his tail and slicing through his arm. Alex simply grabbed the missing appendage and reintegrated it, moving more biomass to the injured area. Needed to bulk it up more. Can't have the happen again.
Then there was a fire in his belly, but it didn't hurt at all. Alex opened his maw wide, and hit Leviathan with a powerful roar. He saw the air before him distort from the power behind it, and leviathan was sent stumbling.
But it was the fires that helped a lot.
They washed over Leviathan, burning away at the extremities. They helped disorient him enough that Alex could slam into him again. This time, the claws had a harder time getting through his biomass. He felt himself bulk up, growing in size. Alex held him down and fired a large spike from his chest. It still didn't go all the way through, so he had them come back up when it went as far down as it could. Pieces of his biomass still trapped inside regrouped, fed him information. Leviathan was like… an ogre. He had layers; each more dense than the last. Closer to the core, there simply wasn't space for anything to get through.
Well, if he couldn't go through him, he could still pound him into submission.
Leviathan slammed him aside with another powerful wave, and he twisted his body to catch it. His back biomass softened, so that when he struck capes it was like he was a bouncy castle. As soon as he came to a halt, he felt claws rake at his chest and back. People ran away where they could. He only had to put up with this for a few seconds before he had room to engage.
So he tapped into the second power he had brought with him.
He appeared behind Leviathan as he kept wailing on his copy. Or original. Whichever one it was. He slammed his fists down on Leviathan, pushing him into the ground as the other him turned to ash.
He wasn't sure who was more shocked; Leviathan, or the capes.
Leviathan lashed out, but Alex bit deeply into his arm. Started tearing into it with a third set of arms, with long bladed claws. At the same time, he appeared before Leviathan again, and started pounding his head. When the old him vanished, he pulled his biomass inward and then fired it like a battering ram. Leviathan went flying, and he was running after him. He had to brace against a powerful wave pushing at him, so he teleported behind Leviathan, smashing him again.
There was something he had to check though. Something that would mean the difference between victory and defeat.
He pushed on his biomass, directed it towards the rear and his shoulders. It moved slower than it normally did, but it obeyed. Within a half a minute, he had three spiked tails and two extra heads. It was easy to adapt to seeing things from three heads.
And he was still growing. Before, he had been of equal size to Leviathan. Maybe a bit bigger. Now though, he was easily towering over him; twice his size in all ways. Stronger too; Leviathan's blows and slashes were barely worth caring about. Yes, he was scraping away biomass; but at such a rate that Alex would've died of boredom long before he died from lack of biomass. So he took the time to tear into Leviathan, incorporate his silicon nature into his biomass.
Then he focused on his claws. He wanted to carve him apart as much as he could. Maybe if he took longer to recover, it'll give him more time to come up with a more permanent solution. The biomass that made up his claws spread itself out, until he had only a single layer of cells at the very edges. They worked their way through Leviathan's cells with every slash; breaking off and being replaced with every pass.
But he was working further and further inwards all the time.
Leviathan grew desperate now. He was lashing out more and more with his tail, carving grooves into his flesh with every pass. Each time, he simply healed it over; each time, it dealt less damage. He hit back with his own tail. He stabbed them in, over and over in succession. Then he twirled them together and twisted the muscles at the base. Turning them into a drill. Dana was right; he was doing the most damage out of everyone here.
But then the power stopped growing. Confused, he saw them all running away. He turned back to see a massive wave, even bigger than himself, heading straight for them. He tried to latch onto the ground, but Leviathan severed his claws.
Collision. And then he was being thrown into the city.
He carved grooves into the road as he tried to halt his progress. He felt a building give way as he slammed into it, felt it fall down. He blinked the waters from his eye and growled. Stupid. He forgot the most basic rule of fighting Endbringers; always assume they're smarter than they appear. It made perfect tactical sense to hit him with something he couldn't ignore, something that would wash him away. Gave Leviathan time to move, time to get his bearings.
Or time to do some damage to the city without being overwhelmed, he mused as he spotted Leviathan climbing up a building. This would have to be pretty embarrassing for an Endbringer. You do some damage to the front gate, as a way to announce yourself, and you spend most of your time trapped there with another monster sitting on top of you. He'll have to do some damage, or else he'll look weak.
Alex teleported to Leviathan's last location, looking around for him. Nothing. Bastard was fast. Luckily for Alex though, his senses have spent his whole life evolving. It used to be that he would have to rely on the same senses as everyone else. A boost here and there whenever someone on his hit list showed up.
Now though, his senses worked more like an echo. He felt more than saw a wave reaching outwards from him, spreading across the city. It faded for a split-second, before returning to him from his right.
Found you.
He teleported towards the echo, sent out another echo as soon as he landed. It came again, further to his left. He moved again, another echo. He was waiting near the center of the city. Close enough that he could reach it by land.
Alex jumped into the air, heading towards Leviathan.
Look out, look out, little Endbringer. I'm coming for you.
I wasn't sure who was more surprised when a giant monster appeared from nowhere and slammed into Leviathan. The Endbringer, or us.
It was slightly easier to make out in the rain, thanks to its reddish skin. Parts of it looked like it had been flayed alive; others were growing and healing over as it pounded Leviathan to the ground. One arm was much larger and heavier, looking like it had mutated or something. I saw it lean down and open a gash on its face, lots of teeth sticking out. It bit into Leviathan, tearing into him. Leviathan lashed out, claws shredding its chest, but the monster ignored its wounds. It responded by jabbing large claws into Leviathan's chest; but they only made it half-way before stopping.
As it came to a halt, Leviathan slashed it across the eyes with his tail and pushed him away with a large wave of water. He charged the monster again, the afterimage washing over them both as they clashed. Several large spikes erupted from the creature's chest, stabbing into Leviathan before slicing downwards. Two extra arms actually grew from its shoulders, grabbing Leviathan by the head and slamming him down. From there, they rolled over and started laying into each other.
From the ways things were going, I think the other monster was winning.
"What is that thing?" Someone shouted, as we stood there in shock. None of us answered; we didn't know.
"Nevermind that!" Legend shouted back. "It's an ally for the moment, and it's giving us a chance. All capes on offence, move in and open fire. We need to use this chance." He fired lasers at Leviathan, the beams twisting to avoid the other beast. With this show of action, others joined in. The rest of us moved to set up defences in case Leviathan broke free.
Me? I went looking for Tattletale.
Not that easy, since the allied beast created tremors with every punch.
I found her on a rooftop, watching the fight with others as though this was a pay-per-view match. I quickly ran inside, found the stairs up to the top. Came crashing through the rooftop access, somewhat out of breath.
"Tattletale!" I called out as I raced towards her. I ducked as Leviathan roared, moving jerkily as he fought his way free. His tail lashed out wildly, slicing through an unfortunate cape before slicing into the beast's neck. He pushed away at the beast with a spike of water, before severing its arm and backing away. "What is that thing?" I repeated. Tattletale turned to me, eyes wide, before turning back to watch the beast. I saw it grab its severed arm, place it back on the stump. A ring of black-and-red washed over it, and the arm was a part of it again. It noticed how it was slowly being covered with scales; how its head was more draconic, had a longer neck.
Then it opened its mouth, and my world was replaced by noise.
It was so loud and painful, the water being displaced before it. I couldn't hear anything apart from a great amount of ringing, and we were all stumbling about.
But I looked up in time to see the beast breathing fire. It washed over Leviathan, sending him stumbling. The beast slammed into him again, attacking again and again. I could see that Leviathan was having a harder time fighting back, his attacks doing less damage. The beast held him down by the arms and another spike stabbed from his chest. More spikes erupted from Leviathan, around where the first spike entered. I thought back to the Fundraiser, when Blacklight attacked Armsmaster. Tattletale shook me, her mouth moving slowly as she said something to me.
I didn't need my ears to know what she was saying.
Blacklight.
Fucking son of a bitch, is there anything he can't do?
Then Leviathan smacked him aside with a large wave, sent him skidding towards people. I saw him crash into them, sweep them aside like they were nothing but crumbs. My armband started listing everyone who had been injured from the collision. Leviathan surged forward, started pounding Blacklight for his troubles.
I noticed that there were very few deaths from such a powerful blow.
But then came the real surprise.
A second Blacklight appeared behind Leviathan, slamming him down against the first. Within a second, the first one vanished into a cloud of ash.
My hearing returned with a loud painful pop.
"…Lee." Tattletale was shouting at me. "He's using Oni Lee's power. That's why no one's seen him recently. That's how Lung escaped. Blacklight killed them and took their powers." I gave her a shocked look, before glancing back at Blacklight again. He was overwhelming Leviathan now. He was tearing into him while a second Blacklight stabbed Leviathan in the back. He was now twice Leviathan's size, with spikes and scales everywhere. He launched Leviathan again with a part of his unarmoured body, dashing towards him. Leviathan responded by slowing him with a wave, but Blacklight teleported around it. There were bulbous growths on his shoulders and at the base of his spine. They grew larger and larger, gaining features on them.
Now he was a giant three-headed dragon, bigger than anything I had seen before. He held leviathan down with his mouths, started tearing into him with his claws. I was surprised that there was anything left of Leviathan to survive. The only downside to this was that they were fighting so much that no one else could get in without getting in the way.
Leviathan was getting desperate now.
"We gotta move." Tattletale said in a small voice. I could understand why. A massive wave was building up, growing higher and higher. Everyone was running now, getting as far away as they possibly could. Fliers were picking up passengers and flying away; teleporters were getting groups around them and moving elsewhere.
And we were still stuck on top of the building.
"Hurry up you two!" One cape yelled at us, waving his hand wildly. He was floating off the ground; a flier. Good enough for me. We grabbed hold tightly as he carried us off.
We barely made it.
The wave crashed down, and every building in the way toppled over like a house of cards. One cape, flying lower than the rest of us, was caught in the wave. He and his passengers were washed away, likely dead.
Owlman, deceased. CD-6. Doctor Kickass, deceased. CD-6. Little Timmy, deceased. CD-6.
Down below, I could see Blacklight's giant shape being washed into the city.
Leviathan was gone now.
"All capes!" Armsmaster's voice sounded. "Keep an eye out for Leviathan! We cannot let him escape to recover!"
Recover? Surely Blacklight had done enough damage to him. He's got to be running now, right?
Or was that just wishful thinking? Was the damage merely superficial?
There was a crash somewhere, and my armband pointed to our left.
The cape put us down on the ground, and we ran the rest of the way. In the distance, I saw a building falling.
We followed the armband's directions to another scene of chaos.
Leviathan had been badly injured; his movements were slower and less powerful. He had to rely more on throwing walls of water at us. I think that was what saved most of us from being killed so quickly; we could adapt to them, avoid them.
We just had to hold out long enough for Blacklight to get back into the fight.
I had any flying bugs I could find circling around, trying to find him through their sense of touch. But there was nothing. Surely that wave hadn't been too much for him. I mean, after everything he's gone through, could a huge amount of water really have been enough to kill him?
Dragon landed on top of Leviathan, firing her rockets and plasma breath at close range. Leviathan tried to throw her off, settled for tearing her apart. She exploded with violent force, throwing him back. Parts of him were burned now, glowing slightly red.
A loud roar filled the air as Blacklight appeared above, driving Leviathan to the ground. I got it; Dragon used her suit's destruction like a flare, pointing out Leviathan's position. Blacklight drove his three tails into Leviathan's back, drilling into him and sending blood flying.
But then Leviathan slammed his hand against the ground, and everything started shaking.
The aquifer.
Everyone started backing away again, but the ground dropped out too quickly. Streets, buildings and people all fell into the water, Leviathan and Blacklight included. Those who had been too close to them were pulled under by the displacement of the water as they both sank.
Wildtiger, deceased. CD-6. Meister, deceased. CD-6. Iron Dude, deceased. CD-6. Bookworm, deceased. CD-6. Conductor, down. CD-6.
The water was frothing, likely from both of them fighting.
Thing is, water is Leviathan's territory. It's where he's fastest, where he's strongest, where he's most dangerous. On land, things were a bit more fair, if not in Blacklight's favour.
Down there? Leviathan was king and god.
The water suddenly exploded upwards and outwards, raining down upon us. A loud roar forced more of it up and out. The ground around the hole started crumbling, falling in and on top of them. Then the ground started shaking violently. Blacklight came crashing through the edge, Leviathan held in one large hand. He crashed down on top of him, his full weight on top of him. I felt the ground shake even more, before the bit they were on fell into the hole. Cracks started forming outwards, trying to swallow up more of the city.
Further away, I saw Blacklight and Leviathan appear high in the air. They both fell to earth, clashing and swinging away at each other. They both crashed to the ground, dust billowing everywhere.
And then Blacklight appeared above and fell again. And again. And again.
After the third time, a large spray of water headed back towards the sea. Everyone around me started laughing, started cheering.
He had done it. Blacklight scared off Leviathan. All by himself.
Armsmaster seethed as he watched Blacklight get all his glory.
He had spent months watching all the footage of Leviathan in action. He had studied every last attack, every move, every plan he had. He had created programs to help him train, come up with a dozen plans for killing the monster himself. He had made a halberd capable of disintegrating matter on contact to do the deed.
And then Blacklight showed up and ruined all of his plans.
Instead of Leviathan being killed, they merely managed to pound him hard enough to make him run. Instead of him getting the glory and removing the last remnants of Empire Eighty-Eight, Blacklight was the guest of the hour. And he had slinked off, like none of it even mattered. 'Just doing my job, folks'.
The only thing he could get out of this was more data about him. More ideas of what he was capable of. Right now, he wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not.
His armband beeped, signalling a private call. He moved away from the others to an abandoned building. Only there did he answer it.
"Armsmaster." Piggot said on the line. "Have you and Dragon come up with ideas as to how this was possible?"
"We have." Dragon replied. "Our current theory is that his physical abilities are somewhat strengthened by his size. The fact that he started off as big as Leviathan meant that he could hit as hard as he normally did without being immediately thrown aside by his waves."
"How is that possible?"
"His body is made up of that sample Armsmaster recovered. According to Dr Ragland's notes so far, the sample doesn't require bones or organs to survive and sustain, and it can bind together with more samples to strengthen and grow larger. He also theorised that they are more capable of occupying the same space in greater numbers. In short, he was able to feed enough to have several dozen tons of his mass in a smaller body than expected."
"He was… denser than he should be?"
"A characteristic noted about the Endbringers." Armsmaster noted. There was a moment of still silence between them.
"And what does that mean for us?" Piggot asked.
"It explains how he's able to regenerate from his wounds. He's simply moving his mass out, letting it occupy the empty space. Luckily, that just means that I - that is, we – will simply have to wear him down. He can't conjure more biomass from nowhere."
"But he can make more if he feeds."
"Yes. That is why Dragon is going to supply me with suits to help combat him. As they are not organic-based, he cannot absorb them and use them to regenerate."
"And his power? I know that he used Lung's power combined with Oni Lee's to take down Leviathan."
"We… We already had a theory he could take powers. I was almost completely certain that he used Kaiser's powers. Now, I'm certain of it."
"You realise what this means, correct? We cannot send capes in to help you fight him. Not unless we want to run the risk of losing their powers to him."
"We already figured that." Armsmaster said. "Don't worry. I have a tool that will carve him apart." If he couldn't get the fame of taking Leviathan down himself, then he could at least get it by taking Blacklight's head.
"I might not have worried before. But that was before he scared off Leviathan almost by himself. Now, we need more firepower on our side."
"We'll try. But there's only so much we can devote, so many options we have." Dragon paused. "The only other option we haven't tried yet is the samples, and I think it would be unwise to use them without months or years of study."
"We don't have months or years. I want Blacklight dealt with within two months from now. Fortunately for us, Director Costa-Brown agrees with me. She has given authorisation for borrowing Tinkers from other teams. If we cannot tame the samples within that amount of time, then we can at least control it."
There was a pause.
"Director… Ma'am." Dragon said haltingly. "He's done more against Leviathan than anyone other than Scion. People are going to want him left alive. So he can fight them again, save lives that would've been lost otherwise."
"Blacklight does not follow the same rules as the rest of us. The risk that he might go too far, that he might become an even greater threat than the Endbringers, are too costly. We will find a way around the Endbringers. Perhaps the samples might be enough to replace him. But we cannot let him see the end of the year." Piggot said firmly.
"To that end, you're including Tinkers." Armsmaster noted.
"I am. It is our hope that their blatant disregard for the laws of physics might allow them to work around the homicidal behaviour."
"And the mental side of things? What's to stop our subjects from gaining a god complex from becoming as powerful as the 'Endbringer Weapon'?"
"I am picking out candidates from the PRT ranks. They have gone through rigorous testing before now."
"Trust me, they're perfect for the job."
There we go. I wasn't originally planning on the fight being as one-sided as it was, but it ended up becoming the natural conclusion of Alex going up against Leviathan. Yes, he can throw around lots of water. But water is dangerous because of the sheer force behind it. Like hitting concrete they said. For Alex (a guy who drops from the top of the Empire State Building without a single injury) this wouldn't be classified as lethal. At best, it would throw him around and give Leviathan himself time to attack with his claws. And that wouldn't be lethal either. It might be if he had enough time and could tear away enough biomass. But not the amount Alex would've had. Bring in Lung's power and Oni Lee's, and Alex could keep beating down Leviathan until he decided he had enough.
Now, I already thanked gomt8 already for letting me know about the thread, but I want to thank him again. See, I had originally written this chapter with Alex needing to also create vents to blast air like a jetpack to help him break the sound barrier, and even then he would be surprised he could do that. The thread informs me that Alex could run at Mach 1, enough to break the sound barrier, at his base level. (well, his max speed upgrade really, but you know what I mean). It also informed me of a material out there called Graphene. It's made by creating a thin layer of tightly packed carbon atoms bonded by a lattice. By stacking layers of Graphene on top of each other, the resulting layer can have between eight to ten times the stopping power of steel. According to a test done on Graphene (they worked from ten layers to a hundred layers – ten and one hundred nanometres thick), it was enough to distribute the power behind an appropriately sized gold bullet fired at three thousand metres per second. So yeah, he's actually tougher than I thought he was. Saying he's OP is sounding more and more accurate.
As for the samples (planning on calling them something else later) I figured that a tinker suit would make things slightly different at least. It also meant that they don't have to have a complete picture of what the Virus can do to use it. Of course, there will be downsides I will reveal in the story itself at a later date. But at least it's not totally 'give people Alex's full powers'. More like a single part of it.
Anyway, happy new year. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter.
Edit: Ok then. Had some feedback from some people. Had a second look at the scene with Coil and Dinah. Once I stopped focusing on making an awesome fight with Leviathan, I realised that I didn't like the scene that much either. Had people at points complaining about Alex being OOC for helping Taylor; had others complain because he's actually more heroic than I'm making him seem. I suppose if I'm going for a characterisation I should be consistent about it. Not jumping around the place.
Originally, I thought I had only two choices. Have Alex kill Coil (and everyone who works for him) or just not include Alex in the scene at all.
I was originally going to remove all mention of him apart from in the predictions, when I came up with a third option.
Have Alex threaten Coil into releasing her.
I don't know if Coil actually had Dinah's powers helping Noelle. Maybe he didn't even mean it when he said that he was helping her at all. But I thought that Noelle would serve as a good excuse for him keeping Dinah. After all, she and Alex are a lot alike. They've both got powers considered 'Lovecraftian'. They both are fighting against their monstrous sides. They both rack up a kill count and have to travel (well, Alex used to). And it would be a good compromise, a good chance to force him to choose. Who would he help out, and who would he let suffer?
And to those turned off by how high the numbers are for Alex killing off the PRT, just remember that Dinah's numbers are constantly changing as variables change. So one scenario could have a fifty-fifty chance one week, then as someone dies it goes to sixty-forty. And if Alex found out that the PRT are working with a stolen sample of him… Well, he's not going to let them live. Just saying. And things could change later down the line. Their odds might get better than one hundred percent death toll.
Oh, and I changed a bit at the end to have Alex leave. That way, most people aren't aware that Blacklight is the giant monster that pounded an Endbringer. Because I realised that if I left that in... well, I would've put myself in a corner. There would be no way that anyone would want to fight him without a lot of fanwank. I know that Lung fought Leviathan to a near standstill and people still fought him, but he didn't beat Leviathan on his own like Alex did.
Mind you, the only people I have decided I want to fight Alex now are the PRT, Slaughterhouse Nine, and the Merchants. One already knows they are one and the same, the second would still go for it for the challenge, and the Merchants are stupid enough to still try. Still, don't want to write myself into a corner.
Hope this fixes up any things people have issues with.
