Chapter 18:

I gasped for breath as I was hauled out of the water. Looking up, I was surprised to see Bitch holding me up. She looked upset. Looking toward Leviathan, I could see why.

8 of her dogs, all pumped up with her power, were attacking Leviathan, and were fairing about as well as could be expected.

"Bitch, I..."

"Are you alright?" she asked, not taking her eyes from the scene.

"Think my back might be broken. Among other things." I said.

She didn't say anything, and I didn't either. I had watched some of the strongest heroes in the world attack Leviathan, and they could barely scratch him. The dogs didn't stand a chance. It was over in a moment.

When the last of the dogs was slain, Leviathan seemed to turn toward us. I lowered my head. Even after Bitch showing up, we were still going to end up dying.

I looked up again just in time to see Leviathan swiping toward us, relying on his water echo to deal with us. I closed my eyes, and could feel Bitch tense up. We both waited for the attack to strike...

And nothing happened. When I opened my eyes, I saw a strange barrier in front of us. It was pale white, and looked almost like...bone?

"Seems we arrived just in time." A voice said from just behind us. "Quite fortunate for you two."

"Bitch turned around, growling a bit at the man. He seemed almost bored. "One of my associates is assisting with collecting the injured. I've sent her an alert already that we need a pickup."

A minute later, a...mechanical spider appeared. It was flat on the top, and large enough for a person to lay across the top. When the man spoke again, he indicated that that was the exact purpose.

Bitch was hesitant at first, but finally relented to place me on it. Some restraints popped out of the top, securing me down, and it began climbing up a building. I was nervous, but it was better than staying near Leviathan.

Looking toward the Endbringer, I watched as cuts opened up all over him, for no apparent reason. As I was brought higher, I could see a large monster attacking it's legs. I could also see a white figure striking at it, jumping off of buildings to continue assaulting.

I almost kicked myself that it had taken me this long to realize. These were members of The Nine. The man with the bone shield was Marquis, the gashes appearing all over Leviathan was the work of their leader Jack Slash. The monster and white figure were Crawler and Sphere. And this spider must be the work of Bonesaw.

That was a relief. The Nine were the only group capable of consistently pushing the Endbringers back. And they happened to be in the area, as luck would have it.

I could already see Leviathan beginning to fall back. That was good...

My last thought as I faded into unconsciousness was a hope that my friends were okay.

-Later-

I awoke to find myself in laying in a hospital bed. Looking around, I saw that the curtain separating the room was pulled, so if there was another person here, we couldn't see each other. A nurse came in, and was apparently surprised to see me awake. She checked my vitals and then rushed out before I could really ask her any questions. A few minutes later, Panacea entered.

"I need permission to heal you." she said.

"Um, okay, sure." I said. "Can you tell me..."

Panacea shushed me and tried to find how to separate my mask from the rest of my costume. With some guidance, she was able to touch my skin and start healing me. She rattled off the list of injuries I had sustained, which I barely listened to.

When she was finished, I found my chance to speak. "Um, have you seen my teammates?"

"No, I haven't." she said. "Not that that means anything. Bonesaw has been fixing people up between bouts of tailing me."

"Is...is the battle over?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's over. The Triumvirate and The Nine were able to push him out pretty quickly." Panacea said. I noted how different she was here as opposed to at school.

"Okay." I said. "Thanks for the info."

Amy looked at me for a second, and I worried that she may have figured me out. I hadn't even done anything to disguise my voice.

"No problem..." she said. "I've got other people to go deal with, so..."

"Right." I said. "Thanks again."

Panacea left, and I was left alone with my thoughts. Wondering if my teammates had made it. Wondering if my dad had made it. Wondering if...

"Hey, you up?" I heard the familiar voice of Grue ask.

"Grue! You made it. The others?"

"All fine." Grue said. "Relatively speaking. Lisa got a broken leg. Low priority, so the healers haven't hit her yet. Regent is banged up. Bitch...she's physically fine, but..."

I nodded. "Yeah, her dogs."

"She told us about what happened. " Grue said, nodding. "Glad she did, but...she's not handling it too well."

I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. "You all healed up?" Grue asked.

"Mmhmm. Panacea was here a few minutes ago." I said. "Fixed me up, so I think I'm good to go."

"Alright. Guess we can head out. If we can pry Tattletale away." Grue said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"She's loving this. So many people around, she's practically rolling in information." Grue said, shaking his head.

I followed him out of the room and down the hall. We found Tattletale, Regent, and Bitch talking to Legend and Armsmaster. I gasped as I saw it. Tattletale was just having a casual conversation with Legend? And Armsmaster, I supposed, but I had talked to him, so some of the majesty was gone.

"And here's perfect proof. You heard the recording from the Armband." Tattletale said. "If Skitter died, why is she right there?"

All eyes shifted to me, and I suddenly felt very uncomfortable. "Um...my armband broke."

"Did it break, or was it destroyed?"

"This accusation is base..." Armsmaster began, before being cut off by Legend.

"Continue." Legend said.

"Armsmaster had a neat little prediction system installed in his suit. Let him fight Leviathan one on one. And what better way to recover from the hits the Protectorate has taken than to take down an Endbringer? So what if some villains and a new hero who's part of an independent team have to be taken down to do it?"

"Oh no..." Miss Militia said.

"This is ridiculous." Armsmaster said. "Plenty of heroes were hurt..."

"Yeah, and that was an accident on your end." Tattletale said. "For what little credit that's worth. You guys can take Skitter's armband to check it for EMP damage. He used one to keep people from reporting Leviathan's position."

Armsmaster looked like he was about to have a breakdown, practically growling. He reached for Tattletale, only to be blasted to the ground by one of Legend's blasts.

"Thank you for the information." Legend said, taking my armband. "We'll look into this right away, and deal with it as needed.

Tattletale nodded. "Well, I guess we're done here. I'll have to see if Panacea will patch me up later, once the rush has died down."

We all started away, and Grue was the first to speak once we were out of earshot of others. "What the hell was that?" he asked.

"Saw some corruption, checked with the boss, he wanted me to help deal with it." Tattletale said.

"He really sacrificed them? Tried to sacrifice me?" I asked.

Tattletale nodded. "He's obsessed with glory. He was willing to do whatever it takes to be in the spotlight. We showed him up. Some villains die, we probably take some time to grieve, he takes down an Endbringer. The Protectorate would look really good."

I looked down. That was hard to swallow. Armsmaster had been one of my idols growing up. And he was willing to let me die to make himself look better?

If I had any doubts about joining Coil fully, they were gone. We could change the Bay for the better. Not just in regard to villains, but get rid of the shitty heroes too.