Interlude: Victoria Dallon
"I'm here! I'm here!" She yelled as she dove down to the PRT building, Amy in her arms. It would be the most secure place in the world to house her with this chaos. No one would ever be stupid enough to hurt her sister, not unless they wanted the whole cape world gunning for them, but with all this insanity better safe than sorry. The PRT building would be where she could do the most good and be kept safe at the same time.
A guard flagged her down on the helipad, she touched down, letting Amy go as the PRT agent approached her.
"Glory Girl!" He shouted over the din of distant gunfire and explosions. "Here!" He thrust a box in her direction. She opened it and took one of the offered earpieces. PRT frequency, encrypted to high heaven. One for her, one for Amy and six more for her mom, aunt Sarah and everyone else to better coordinate. She handed Ames hers out of habit than any real suspicion she'd need it.
"We need you and yours near the north end apartments."
"What's going on there?" She shouted as Amy rushed into the building, ushered by another three agents. No doubt there were already wounded in the med bay.
"Purity's on a rampage. Legend's on his way but you and Photon can definitely check her quick."
"Got it." And just like that she took off, box in hand. She'd be meeting up with Crystal and aunt Sarah a few blocks away. She'd give them their earpieces there and decide who was gonna rush off to give the others theirs.
As she flew above the street she could see the pillars of black smoke rising above the bay. The sirens from ambulances, police, PRT, fire trucks, they all blared across the whole bay to the point that she couldn't hear anything else. The glow of fires off in the distance lit up the bay in pockets and the pops of gunfire added to the sheer cacophony.
God what in the hell happened that started this bullshit?
"Vicky!" She heard from down below, finding Crystal standing on a rooftop with- Clockblocker?
She swooped down, cape tugging behind her. "Clock, what's wrong?" She asked as she handed Crystal the box of PRT ear-pieces.
"Yeah!" He pointed to her left she turned finding a plume of red flame that rose up above the skyline. "Big ass fire. ABB threw a molotov into a gas station. We need help evacuating and containing it. Putting it out. Fire breaks You name it we need it. So come on get Photon Momma and family over here!"
"Its Lady Photon you ass." She half snapped, more out of reflex than any real sense of outrage as she turned, rising a few inches off the ground for a better view, finding the gas-station literally shrouded in fire.
Damnit was that… shit, it was the convenience store by the sandwich restaurant! She'd taken Amy to lunch there from the hospital.
She turned back. "Look I've been called out to go help Legend against purity. Crys, go and help send word out to aunt Sarah to come and pick up her ear-piece. I'll tell you both if we need help!"
"Shit! Purity's out here too!?" Clock hissed. "This is some bullshit!"
She didn't bother answering, turning north and shooting off like a bullet. Crystal would help the fire. Best thing for her to do was take out Purity fast so that Aunt Sarah could move to help others rather than waste time on an overrated Nazi bitch.
As she flew over the buildings, high enough to not feel the stifling heat that was permeating the whole city from the pockets of fires that were blooming everywhere, she felt her eyes stinging with the acrid smoke that was now choking the air above. She flew fast enough to leave swirls of smoke in her wake and through her stinging eyes she could see one of Dragon's suits rising up, out of the skyline like a metal serpent.
It was a morbid curiosity that made her raise her hand, up to her earpiece.
The heroes ran on the high priority frequency. Direct orders from the PRT HQ was basically what they heard along with distress calls from other heroes. Anything else was, for lack of a better term, 'well below their pay grade.'
She switched channels.
The sheer noise made her rip the thing out of her ear with a shout. Coming to a dead stop in the middle of the air. She held the thing a whole foot away from her ear and could still hear the shouts. The frantic calls of god only knew how many people screaming into their radio transceivers to try and get through to PRT HQ or call in backup.
She switched it back to the priority frequency.
For a second, she thought she'd made a mistake. That she'd hit the wrong button. But with a second longer to listen, the message registered and her heart fell into her stomach.
Taylor!
She activated the earpiece. "This is Glory Girl! Requesting permission to change targets from Purity to Surtr!"
"Negative! Negative do not approach the-"
"This is Legend- belay that. Glory Girl head towards them, you're to provide backup for Dragon but do not directly engage! Don't worry about Purity."
"You have her handled?" She asked to make sure. If Legend got hurt…
"Oh yeah." She was surprised to hear him chuckle. "Got some unexpected help up here."
She didn't ask. If he said he had it handled, then he had it handled.
Right now Taylor needed her help more…
Taylor…
The last time she'd seen her was at the tail end of their argument in the alley. Shouted at her. All but called her a hypocrite…
That was the last time she saw her friend. And it was with an argument on her lips and fists clenched in anger. Demanding that she conspire to cover up a crime…
It was beyond fucked up. That same night she and Amy had gone home, tried to pretend nothing had happened. Trying to ignore the fact that that one mistake, that one fuckup, had brought them… had brought her that close to committing murder.
Then… the next day it was like a hurricane.
First the Undersiders hit a bank, take Amy hostage, that blond bitch Tattletale plays some fucked up head games, they find out the Wards ID's are in the hands of a villain and before they can even wrap their heads around half of it, the prison is under attack and Taylor…
Taylor becomes some Lung 2.0 bullshit and goes on a rampage, nearly killing Armsmaster, that Hess Girl, and Chris.
The Master had supposedly twisted her emotions. Or her memories or something. Made it so she thought of all of them as her enemy. Made it so that they were the bad guys in her head.
And she knows it's unlikely. That its self centered. She knows that a lot of this was based on some history between Taylor and Hess. That had to be the catalyst no doubt, that this Master preyed on Taylor's emotions regarding Hess and her past and used it to control her. But even so she has to ask.
Was it my fault?
Did those twenty minutes at the alley have something to do with it? Did she add more fuel to the fire that made it that much easier for the Master to make her see them all as bad guys?
She didn't act heroic that day… Far from it. She almost killed a man. Conspired with her sister to cover it up like she always did and then intimidated/coerced Chris and Taylor to keep the secret.
He was a Nazi… but she was supposed to be better than a Nazi. And everything she'd done… she'd just been… a criminal with a better costume and a better smile.
She might not have been responsible for the Master twisting Taylor… but she was damn sure she didn't help.
Twenty minutes… that's all it took. Twenty minutes for a fuckup Amy couldn't just erase for her. That her mom couldn't pull her out of or her aura mellow out for her.
She had to fix this!
She heard a chime at her ear followed by an electronic voice.
"Isolating frequency."
A second later:
"Glory Girl." Dragon. "Keep yourself out of sight for the time being."
"Why?" She asked, more out of genuine surprise than any kind of outrage. "Tay's fighting Lung. We need to stop him before he ramps up."
"You can't interpose yourself between them to try and fight Lung. Taylor is unstable, her behavior erratic. She might see you as just another enemy. And between both Lung and Surtr you'll very likely end up dead."
She winced. The memory of the punishment she'd endured at the Black Knight's hands bringing back a phantom pain.
"So what are we gonna do? We can't let Lung amp up."
"Unlike Surtr, Lung can't escape containment foam. If I can contain him then we can handle Surtr. I've designed this suit with that combat in mind."
"What am I gonna do then?"
"Support. Give me their locations if I lose them, hit them if they manage to grab hold of my suit to shove them off. For now we're relegated to hit and run attacks. Engaging either of them in a drawn out fight will end with our defeat."
Not her usual role but if it helped Taylor-
"Fine." She spied the Dragon suit barely ten blocks away. "I see you, coming in fast!"
"Stay out of sight as much as you can."
She swooped down low, touching down on a building, she hit the ground running, rushing towards the edge before looking down where the two Monsters were currently tearing up the street down below.
God she felt so useless… all she could do was just stand up here and watch. And Dragon had a point. Surtr engaged them in an all out fight at the prison and he won handidly.
Yet Lung and Surtr combined, if the fight continued…
She saw Dragon fly in and around the battle, taking pot shots whenever she could and using her foam to slow Lung down.
And she just floated there, she heard the roars of Lung getting bigger and Surtr getting angrier while she couldn't do a damn thing!
She watched the two, her heart dropping to her stomach as Surtr jumped, lunging for Dragon's suit as it fired down on Lung with foam sprayers, trying to get a bead on it.
"Dragon!" She screamed into her headpiece, and to her relief Dragon swiveled her head around, firing some kind of freeze ray, sending the black knight crashing back down into the side of a building.
She released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding, watching as Dragon fired missile after missile in Lung's direction before shooting off into the sky with a shriek of protesting jet engines, giving herself some breathing room.
Lung charged straight into the building like a rampaging bull, crashing into it with a sound that rattled her where she stood nearly ten stories above. She rushed to get a better vantage point as the Knight grappled with the metal monster, crashing through walls and brick in their struggle. Then, before she could even grasp at what happened, Lung was on the ground, Surtr above him, crashing its fists against Lung's face over and over and over again.
She could hear the crunch of bone, see the spurts of blood, Lung's face was caving in…
Shit! Taylor was gonna kill him!
She was about to dive down. About to do one of the stupidest things anyone could ever think of doing, getting between Lung and anything that could threaten Lung, when suddenly, the Asian was free, punching the Knight into the side of the building and picking himself off the ground.
"Get out of the firing line!"
She didn't even bother looking, just obeyed. After years of working on a team and with the PRT she knew when to just obey and not ask. She flew straight up a second before she heard the discharge of missiles shrieking below her and smashing into the building below.
She looked down in time to see Surtr rush out just as it collapsed entirely.
It looked up, its helmet following Dragon's path before it… turned and ran?
She had to blink, stupefied for a moment before she spoke into the headset. "Dragon! Dragon! Taylor's running!"
"What?!"
"She's running!" She repeated as she watched the thing jump onto the top of a building, Lung lunging right after it with a beat of his newly grown wings.
And Surtr just… flatly ignored him, jumping off the building, away from him.
"She's heading south by south east!" She shouted.
"I see her. Analiz- Oh no. Glory Girl. Taylor's not running!"
The blond blinked. "Then what the hell is she-"
At the next jump she felt her heart drop into her feet.
"Oh hell…"
"This is Dragon to all PRT personnel. This is Dragon on all frequencies. Surtr is moving straight towards the PRT Headquarters. This is an alert to all PRT personnel, Protectorate heroes and Wards. Surtr is moving for the PRT Headquarters! I repeat! Surtr is moving for PRT Headquarters!" Dragon yelled. Victoria followed close, not even needing to ask her if she should engage. If this was gonna happen it was gonna happen at the very last possible minute. If Surtr changed his route or Lung actually caught up to him they'd dodge a major bullet.
The Dragon suit fired missiles at the sprinting black knight.
"This is Dragon. Who is available? We need someone to help intercept."
"This is Velocity! I'm on my way right now, two minutes. I can't stop him though."
"Dauntless. I'm tied up with E-88! Get some troopers up here and I can go!"
"Triumph here, ABB. Five more minutes and I should be done. Where the hell is Militia!? She's not answering her comm! Just static!"
"This is Lady Photon. Myself, Shielder and Laserdream are on our way."
"This is Brandish, I'm at the corner of Eighth and Cumberland. The ABB is running but they're torching everything on the way out! I can't leave!"
"I can't fight both Lung and Surtr in a straight up fight for long!" Dragon replied. "If they get too close to the PRT building I'll engage but you'll have an additional five minutes at most if I have to commit to holding them both off at once."
The sheer chaos of a hundred voices screeched through her ears. Everyone scrambling for some kind of solution, some means of stopping this thing, or slowing it down til Legend could come back.
She grit her teeth.
"Taylor stop!" Shouted Dragon over the loudspeakers from her suit. Victoria was already gaining ground when she saw Dragon fire again at the leaping Surtr, striking him and sending him sprawling to the ground. The New Wave Heroine stopped mid flight, observing, and she already saw the black knight on the move already, the missile and foam-grenade strike not even fazing the beast.
Just for a few seconds… Just long enough for Lung to catch up.
She dove.
"This is Legend. I'm on my way and I'm bringing in the cavalry!"
Cavalry?
"Do not engage. I repeat. No one engage Surtr further. We'll handle this."
Her heart skipped a beat as she came to a dead stop.
We?
Did they really...
"Dragon, save your ammo for Lung."
"Understood."
"H-hey Legend. This is Kid Win. Are you… I mean… can you just… stop Tay-"
"Kid. I promised you I'd do my best to help Taylor didn't I?"
"Yeah."
"I don't plan to become a liar today. We'll stop her. And that's all we'll do."
"Thank you sir..."
"This is Vista, that goes double for me. Thank you Legend..."
'Me too.' She added mentally.
She didn't even bother following further, rushing away from the site to head towards the PRT HQ where she could already see dozens of the PRT men and women lining up in firing lines and barricades.
She barely had a moment to take in the rush of organized chaos before she heard the crunch of shattering asphalt and looked down the road where Surtr was charging straight for the PRT building, the massive creature dwarfing even the cars around it.
Then, straight above.
Their ray of hope came in the form of the woman in black armor.
Alexandria crashed down onto the street and the next thing she saw was a sight that she'd only managed to see done once before, by her. Surtr getting thrown back like a punching bag.
She scanned the skies, searching, and found Legend approaching the Black Knight, and higher above, Eidolon, speeding away into the city where she knew Lung to be.
Eidolon!
The Triumvirate is here!
She flew closer, close enough to hear as Legend shouted at Surtr. "That's far enough." The leader of the Protectorate loomed above the silent Alexandria as the black-caped super heroine stared down the black knight.
She rushed forward, ready to help, when Alexandria's voice cut into her ear through the radio.
"This is Alexandria. No one interfere. You're likely to just get hurt rather than help. I trust I've made myself clear."
The woman didn't wait for another word. She crouched and exploded; Surtr raised his sword. The broad face of the blade taking the absolutely massive blow. The weapon shattered before she kept charging, shoulder tackling him upwards, rising ten, twenty, thirty feet before she smashed him straight into the sixth story of a building. She darted out and Legend's blasts came in right behind her, beams of blue and white lasers lancing into the hole to make the area freeze over with a layer of frost.
For a moment, there was stillness. It lasted long enough that Victoria had to wonder.
Is that it?
Then flames exploded across the whole sixth story, sandwiched between the floor and ceiling, they spread out the windows to lick up the building's sides, quickly catching on the floor above.
Out of that inferno Surtr leapt, the massive blade now burning with off colored flames, lunging straight for Legend with a downward slice, roaring like an animal.
The man moved but Alexandria was there just incase, moving to tank the blow on his behalf, only to get smacked down to hit the asphalt with the force of the blow, her back smashing into the street hard enough to shatter it all over again.
She recovered, and as Surtr hit the ground she was on top of him, relentlessly she tackled the knight, punching and kicking with all her considerable strength. The blows sounded like thunder from Victoria's perspective.
For every blow he received the monstrous knight gave back just as good as he got, swinging his sword, backhanding her, dodging. Every blow seemed to shake the ground beneath their feet.
Alexandria was stronger… but it quickly became apparent Taylor or Surtr or whatever had more skill…
One issue Brutes had was that they had a lot of trouble learning any fighting techniques. There was no need. Technique was a means of overcoming a foe of superior or equal physical strength. When you could punch through a brick wall with your little finger, there was no need to learn how to throw someone without throwing out your back.
But either the Master, or Taylor not being a permanent Brute, had enough knowledge to be able to level the playing field. For every sheer brute force blow that broke through his guard, Alexandria was tossed, or slammed onto the nearby building, or the ground, or taken advantage of to counter with a brutal hit, whether it be by his massive recovered sword, a punch, a kick, or even a headbutt. As though Surtr had knowledge in fighting another person just as strong as he was.
Two beams of pure yellow energy launched down from above, crashing straight into the sixteen foot Monster and sending him flying to carve a jagged trench through the road.
The Monster rose out of the ground, whatever damage his armor suffered quickly eliminated as more ash converged to rebuild him from the ground up.
She flew in close. Maybe she could get to her.
"Stay back!" She froze, Alexandria soon interposing herself between her and Taylor, her face looking like it was carved out of stone.
"Damnit…" Legend cursed, descending from above. "Did we even hurt it?"
Alexandria frowned. "I doubt it."
Legend breathed. "I've got an idea."
"What're you thinking?"
"Get Taylor out of the suit… if we can pull her out of there suddenly enough that might disorient the Master long enough for me to hit her with one of my concussive lasers if it comes to that."
"She could just reconverge all the ash onto herself again and all the effort is for nothing."
"Better than just trying to beat it by brute force again." He countered. "I'll see if I can make a custom laser of sorts. Glory Girl." Victoria froze up.
"Sir?"
"I need you to work with Alexandria here. Give her back up and go in on long dives. You were able to stun him with a head start right?" Victoria nodded. That was the only way she managed to put a dent into Surtr's armor, with a head start and speeding in like a missile.
"Then do that. Dria, take him close." Alexandria nodded before she turned back to Victoria. "Two second warning on the radio. I'll get out of the way." Without waiting for a response she turned away and flew down to the recovered monster, fists outstretched. Surtr braced himself and the two Brutes slammed into each other like a rhino ramming a car.
"Go!" Legend flew off, hands glowing as he began to work. Glory Girl flew straight up. Higher and higher until she was above the clouds.
Above she spotted the green-white dot that was Eidolon zipping around a roaring Lung. The villain must have been twenty feet tall now, standing on the roof of a building, breathing out flames and lashing out with fist, claw, and tail like some cheap sci-fi movie monster.
She took a deep breath… and fell.
Freefalling was always something fun she did with Dean when they had free time, free falling outside base in the Atlantic Ocean. It was few and far between… but damnit the experience was exhilarating. Relaxing even.
And she felt her muscles release their tension as she fell like meteor, gaining momentum thanks to gravity. Opening her eyes, she activated her power and began to fly straight down, the force of the wind soon being blocked out by her power as her speed became enough to make even the wind feel discomforting. Downward and angled her eyes stung, but she saw Surtr locked in combat with Alexandria.
Images of Taylor at school flashed before her mind's eye. Her shy and reclusive nature so similar to Ames. Yet she did something Amy didn't do. She came out of her shell, slowly but surely.
Dean had told her ahead of time how shy she was, how insecure. His emotion detection had given him enough insight for that even after one meeting. Taylor was a good person. Someone that genuinely wanted to be a Hero.
She didn't deserve this.
She didn't deserve Coil.
She didn't deserve to be Mastered, twisted.
She didn't deserve to have to be forced to hurt her friends.
Didn't deserve to have the PRT covering up whatever bullshit that happened with Hess. Going behind her back to avoid some bad press.
She didn't deserve a friend that tried to drag her down to cover up the latest of her fuckups.
She didn't deserve fucking Surtr!
She didn't deserve this black, giant, fucking Monster!
Glory Girl yelled as she broke the sound barrier for the very first time.
"LET GO OF MY FRIEND!"
The knight rounded at the sound of her voice, too late. She hit him with all the force she had behind her two fists, slamming into his gut with more power than she could ever remember using in her life.
She cocked back her fists and punched, pounding down again and again and again in the helmet as Surtr's head visibly jerked under each and every blow like a punch drunk fighter. While being tackled at supersonic speeds.
She cried as she hit him, screaming like a mad woman before she grabbed onto its shoulders and pulled, throwing the massive Knight as hard as she could, watching him hit the ground a block away, body skidding on the ground like a stone on a pond, and smashing through a tree before he came to a stop at the foot of William Park Hill.
They were four blocks from the PRT building now.
Victoria panted as she floated in the air. As she looked at the prone beast.
Then, slowly. It moved.
She saw the flames take to the grass first, spreading through the length and breadth of the park to instantly turn the soft green field into blackened, burning remains. The trees lasting a few seconds longer before they too were reduced to little more than burning ash.
The ash swirled around him. Circling like a dust bowl as he picked himself up off the ground and his armor began to regenerate.
She clutched at her head. All but pulling her hair out. "Damnit Just stop! Let her go you bastard!"
If it heard her, it gave no indication. Straightening to its full height before conjuring both swords, one longsword and one massive stone greatsword were back in his hands.
And then… its shoulders shuddered and that gravely laughter sounded out.
It was mocking her. For everything she did it was all for naught. Her fists tightened as she got into position, glaring down the knight.
She heard the cracking of bone, and numerous ash idols began to rise from the hill and the ground. Dozens of them and she could hear the whispers as the light engulfed Surtr...
A single gray beam lanced through the air, slamming into Surtr but doing nothing further. It barely even ruffled the cloak around his feet.
"I did my best." Legend cursed. "I've never tried anything so specific… I guess it was too much to hope that it would work."
"We're not done yet." Alexandria drawled as she joined in. "She has to have a limit. Exhaustion or otherwise. If you really want to bring her in alive and whole we're not nearly done yet." She said, looking to him.
Legend nodded.
"You're right. We're not out of options."
They all turned.
Eidolon.
"Where is Lung?" Legend asked.
"Fleeing." The world's most powerful hero answered. "I could pursue and finish him, but that will take time and more time means more damage to the city."
Legend nodded. "As long as he's quit the field we can deal with him later when he's not amped up. Taylor has to be our priority for now."
Eidolon nodded. "Stay back then." He began to float down to ground level. "This will be over shortly." Eidolon spoke, not turning towards the three.
"We want to save her." Legend repeated. "Keep it-
"Non-fatal I know…" Victoria could almost see the smirk on his face through the back of his head. "We are heroes after all, right Legend?"
She could see Legend's smile. "Yeah."
Eidolon's feet touched the ash strewn ground.
Surtr lunged, his blade rising, fast as quicksilver to come down over Eidolon's head.
Eidolon held his hand up between them.
Inches from its target, blade and knight were brought to a dead halt.
Victoria's eyes widened.
She could see the Monster's body shaking, a low growl reverberating through the whole street as it struggled to move an inch.
The sword burst into dark, off color flames, the sheer heat was enough to make her and Legend reel. The ash idols burned like furnaces, more off color flames bursting from them like open kilns.
Eidolon's green robes were licked by the flames but the man held his ground, bringing his other hand up as though trying to grip something. He visibly struggled, pulling down.
Surtr fell to his knees and howled! Its whole body shaking with sheer effort to resist whatever power Eidolon was exercising over it.
Eidolon himself was tense like a drawn bowstring, his shoulders visibly shaking with what seemed to be a monumental effort as the tongues of flames tried to eat at a suit that seemed to be as invulnerable as he was.
Then, as though he'd reached a point where he was comfortable enough to release some of his grip, his left hand glowed with ghostly energy, diving towards Surtr's exposed back and plunging straight through the ash!
"W-what?"
"A phasing ability?" Legend asked, more than answered.
Surtr roared!
She could never really explain that sound. Something more like a denial than any creature in pain. Rage, hatred… She could hear it all there in that guttural, primal cry of sheer hatred.
Eidolon pulled, and in his hand she saw an arm, thin, pale and slender.
"Taylor!" She screamed, all but ready to dive into the fray.
Then the shriek that cut through the night forced her to stop dead, hands flying to her now bleeding ears as a sound so horrifying sliced through the city.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Her blood chilled to ice in her veins. She felt as though she wanted to slice her own throat to get away from it. The pain that lanced through her skull was like someone driving an iron spike through her temples. This… noise would haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life.
The closest thing she could ever compare it to was a mother's reaction seeing her dead child.
The cracking of bones was lost on her, but as she opened her eyes she saw them, more idols, rising from the ground like terrifying mannequins, parodies of life, twisted and grotesque, their half shorn off faces. Glowing red with the flames that burned within them, eyes peering with an old loathing as their mouths opened wide, shrieking like the damned of hell.
The world began to grow dark, drenched in a hazy, black fog and that was the only warning any of them had.
Victoria screamed, arms coiling around herself as she felt suddenly sick. She threw up, her lunch and blood, all but falling out of the sky to hit the ground, Legend falling beside her, writhing in agony, before Alexandria caught him, but didn't have enough time to catch her before she hit the pavement head first, her forcefield taking the blow.
Her skin was fire. Her brain swimming through mud as her insides roiled. She convulsed on the floor.
She couldn't think, couldn't feel, nothing but the sheer misery as her body felt as though she was being stabbed with needles over every square inch.
"We need to go!" Alexandria shouted, appearing above her, grasping at her arm before yanking her up, flying high to escape.
"The damn thing is like an Endbringer." She hissed. "Whenever we get an advantage, its got a new trick of up its sleeve!"
Then, without an ounce of warning, a cold wind surged through the city, biting down to the bone. Victoria opened her eyes to see ice winding its way through the streets like serpents, sleet and snow blanketing the whole park in a second.
And just like that… it was over, the idols fell silent, the flames snuffed out and that horrid shriek, silenced.
Victoria hung there in Alexandria's grip, disoriented and still feeling sick to her stomach. The Triumvirate member held her aloft along with Legend, staring down where Eidolon still stood at the epicenter of… whatever that was.
"Stay put." Alexandria ordered, falling from the sky with speed that threatened to make her sick all over again before the woman set them down on a rooftop. Victoria groaned, trying to stop the world from spinning around her head as she tried to keep her stomach from protesting against her.
(X)
Alexandria descended carefully, listening to Legend and the Dallon girl moaning in pain above and staring at Eidolon's shaking shoulders below.
She called out to him. "Eidolon."
When she got a little closer, she could see that David wasn't crying or wounded. He was coughing.
Aparently whatever this fog was it did affect his form of invulnerability. She was the only one immune.
She descended the last few feet a little faster. David was too important to lose here, or anywhere. "Eidolon are you alright?"
The man turned, and in his hands, there was a girl, she recognized her instantly, Taylor Hebert. Unconscious and not a single bruise on her for all the trouble she'd been to put down.
Hacking up a lung, the world's most powerful cape spoke through his coughs. "Give me a minute to find something that can heal and I'll live. Bring-" He had to pause as a violent coughing fit hit him. "Bring Legend and the New Wave girl to me… god what the hell was that?"
She looked around, staring at the frozen, grotesque idols that now dotted the landscape, listening to the soft cracks of the ice and sleet beneath their feet and above.
"Interesting." She said by way of answer.
It was true. Not many Parahumans could bring down two of the three Triumvirate. And one of them had been Eidolon. This would have to be explored later.
She looked just past Eidolon, towards the half frozen husk of ash that was Surtr.
Then… its helmet angled itself and looked at her.
She tensed, about to scream out a warning to Eidolon before the ash construct… crumbled. Like a poorly made sand castle under a gust of wind.
Just like that the Surtr was gone… just Taylor was left.
Alexandria turned her eyes back to the girl held in Eidolon's arms.
"This girl is something else." She mused. Eidolon coughed a little more.
"Indeed…" The sage agreed. "She would have made a frightening villain if she remained Mastered. But if we can free her…"
"She would be an exemplary hero. Maybe of the greatest of us all. But David," Eidolon perked up. "Where did that flash freeze of a snowstorm come from? It's May and we're too close to the coast for snow."
"For such an occurrence it must have been the work of a Parahuman." Eidolon mused. "Didn't this Protectorate Branch get a new Ward with ice abilities?"
"More like a shrink patient… From what I skimmed over the parahuman is a mental wreck before I came here." Alexandria cupped her chin. "I'll go look into the matter myself. If this person was able to stop the Master's influence, it must be some sort of Counter-Master power. Stranger perhaps. Could be very valuable to us down the road."
"Hnnn." Eidolon nodded slightly before coughing again. "If you'll excuse me, I need to find that Panacea girl after I-"
"Give Hebert to me. I'll take her back to HQ. The other heroes will be converging in, and you, Legend, and Glory Girl can get treated and come along then."
"Hnnn." He gave the girl to Alexandria, and the black-armored cape flew up and towards PRT HQ. She could already see Dragon and other flying capes flying her way. She looked down…
Such a small and frail thing…
Yet so powerful.