Outreach 6.1

Looking at my brother, who was apparently Æonic, I couldn't repress my grin. "Dude, it's me! Lee!" I jerked a thumb towards Break, "And that's Herb!"

He stared at me, hard, before shaking his head. "No way, you look nothing like him. You're too SWOL!"

I laughed, wondering where the hell he'd come from, but happy to see him nonetheless. "One, go fuck yourself. Two, like you have room to fuckin' talk!"

"Holy shit it is you!" he said, more to himself than me.

"What's going on?" Purity asked confused, looking between us. "Do you know each other?"

"Yeah!" I responded, slinging an arm around his shoulder. "He's my little brother!"

"Who got fuckin' ripped, high five!" Herb added, holding his hand up, which Charlie stepped forward and hit after a moment's hesitation.

I looked around, noting the stares from the villains starting to leave. Dropping the bubble, I told Charlie, "This is not the optimal place to discuss things, why don't you come with us to a more secure location Æonic?"

He hesitated, before nodding, accent back as he too saw the villains, "Of course, where should we meet?"

I held out a hand. "We'll show you, it'll be faster."

He grasped it, going taut as I levitated us an inch off the ground. "What the fuck?" he hissed as he looked down.

"The three of us can all fly, it's easier," I commented.

Herb winked at Purity, "Shall we?

Purity nodded to him professionally, taking off, Herb giving me a thumbs up before turning into a pterodactyl, following her. I lifted my little brother, and we took off into the sky.

Landing a few minutes' walk from the base, Charlie looked at me, asking "So you're the-"

"Yeah," I cut him off. "I was training."

He nodded to himself as Purity looked around. "Where are we going?" she asked unsurely.

"Back to our humble abode madam," Herb responded, grinning.

She looked around, expression skeptical, "In the railyard?"

"It does mean we can't get delivery," I responded.

"But I am a decent cook, so that's no big!" he reassured.

I agreed, "He is, better than I am." Charlie nodding, adding, "Same."

She quieted down, but as we approached the base, the outside a rusted wreck she slowed again.

"Vejovis, unlock" I commanded, a light playing over my face before the door opened, revealing the homey interior. Walking inside without waiting, I headed towards the meeting room we'd never actually used before, the other three looking around as they followed.

"Just this floor?" Charlie asked, snorting at my nod. "Mine's better." Rolling my eyes, I shifted my clothing to business casual, taking the chair at the head of the table. "Okay, that's cool," Charlie admitted, taking the seat to my left, as Purity and Herb sat to my right. My little brother looked at me, before shaking his head. "Fuck, it is you," he commented, reaching behind his head, the full clock helmet opening up as he took it off.

He looked like he'd aged five years, but in a good way. All of his baby was fat gone, leaving a very different face, though the mouth, nose, and eyes were still the same if you looked for it. Sighing he ran his gloved hand through his hair, messing it up from the uniform dome it had compressed into. Herb popped his mask off, and Purity, looking to me for confirmation, dropped out of Lightform after I nodded. "Okay, I gotta ask, how did you get minions?"

He smirked, "Craigslist." I stared at him in disbelief. "Nah, just fuckin' with ya, I've been recruiting people I've helped. Figured if they come in liking me, they'd be more loyal."

"Wait, you got a gang?" Herb asked. "How long have you had powers?"

"A week," he shrugged, laughing at Herb's "Fuckin' white people."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Purity asked, glaring at him.

"What? No!" he responded, holding his hands up. "Um, what I mean is, sort of, normally, he really went fast and just got everybody around. Like seriously? Seriously?"

Charlie shot a me a look, and I motioned between the two mouthing 'He likes her'. He nodded, before stopping and frowning, mouthing 'Nazi?' I shook my head, "She left two years ago." He shrugged as Herb continued covering his ass. "So, you've gone villain?" I asked, not censuring, just interested.

He gave me a disbelieving look. "Have you seen the cops here? They make Chicago look clean! Besides, here you can actually make a gang and nothing happens. Fuck yeah I'm doing that!"

"Have you claimed territory yet?"

"Not yet," he shook his head. "Not sure where to start. And how."

I shrugged, "I might have some ideas."

"Aren't you a hero?"

"Okay, so, yes, but no," I started.

"Oh, thanks! Now I understand!" he snarked.

"Shut the fuck up and let me talk," I responded without heat. "Hero is a massively loaded term, especially here. Villain is almost as bad, but not quite. When someone says hero, it could mean a lot of different things. It could mean the Superman, Batman, Dudley Do-Right super good guy who'd never do anything bad, let alone kill. The kind of moron who would capture a mass-murderer and turn him over to the cops, even if they've already escaped before, and somehow considers themselves blameless when the asshole breaks out and does it all again." While this universe didn't have a Joker, it had people who were arguably worse. They weren't going to have another Christmas, if I had my way.

"It could mean those 'go out and punch bad guys in the face' types who abuse their power and piss away their potential," I continued, waving around us. "Like most of the heroes in this dimension, who-"

"Hey!" Purity objected, having been listening. "I don't waste my potential!"

I gave her a bland look. "You can fly and fire off blasts of Light. Have you done anything to try to figure out new applications after you figured out how to 'move fast and shoot stuff?' When things calm down I'm going to be working with everyone to find new ways of using their powers to increase their combat potential, and possibly find non-combat applications."

She looked confused, "Non-combat?"

Suppressing my desire to snort derisively, I reminded myself that it wasn't her fault, both her shard and this world's views helped shape that particular blind spot. "Yeah, off the top of my head I could be the best exterminator, ever. Herb could help scientists understand how dinosaurs actually worked, let alone the uses one could find for an intelligent T-Rex. Charlie can stop time. I really shouldn't have to explain the dozens of ways that could be useful. If we can find a non-combat use for your power, even if you decide to retire from fighting, you'll be set for life."

My little brother appeared to be deep in thought. "How could his power be useful?" she asked.

"Seriously?" I asked, incredulous. "Okay. Firefighting, Bomb-Defusal, Surgery, Three-Dimensional Construction, Art, Search and Rescue, Entertainment, Prison Guard, do I really need to go on?"

"No, I understand," she replied, a little chagrined.

"Right, so, where was I?" I asked, mostly to myself. "Yeah, the meaning of the term 'Hero'. It could mean those self-sacrificing types, who take the blame for things that they didn't really do, like Hercules, Spider-Man, or Anakin Skywalker. With great power doesn't come great responsibility intrinsically, but they get god complexes. Then when shit happens that they couldn't have known about, they get some messed up martyring 'it's my fault' philosophy that destroys their lives."

"It could mean the older type of hero: someone who's human, and tries their best, though their faults constantly undercut them, like Iron Man, Sigurd, or King Arthur. Though most of their problems could be solved by open and honest communication." That could be said about most things, but so many people refused to just talk because of their own fear.

I shrugged. "For me though, and this might be hubris, but I'm the kind of Hero from the Myths of old. The kind that has the power and the will to do what needs to be done, ultimately beholden only to myself. Musashi, Beowulf, hell, the original hero, Gilgamesh are all those, and while I'm not there yet, give me time!" I proclaimed.

Purity looked between Herb and Charlie. "Is he always like this?"

"Yes!" the chorused.

I winced. "Sorry, bad habit. I like to give out my complete thoughts so as to avoid misunderstandings."

"He preaches," Herb translated.

"No I don't!"

He nodded emphatically, "Yes, you do."

"No, I-"

"Not to interrupt your lover's spat," Charlie interrupted. "But I need to get back before someone on my crew does something stupid."

"Right," I responded, understanding. "Carl."

He was taken aback by that. "How? Fuck it, I don't want to know." He sighed, turning to fully address me. "Before I leave, the final boss, The Warrior: It's fucking Scion, isn't it?" I nodded as he leaned back. "Fuuuuck."

"What?" Purity asked. "Final Boss?"

I considered how to put it, before shrugging and just told her straight; It'd been working out so far after all. "Eventually Scion will go crazy and try to kill everyone. Not for the next two to fifteen years, according to precogs who can see him. But yeah, take how hard it is to kill an Endbringer, and then, like, five times that bad. Maybe twenty."

Purity stared at me, going pale, "WHAT!?"

"Jesus man!" Herb rebuked.

I didn't quite get the problem. "What? By next year, tops, we'll be able to kill Behemoth."

"WHAT!?"

Herb looked at me, wide eyed, hands up in a cringing position.

Charlie however nodded, smiling, "Oh, okay. Good."

She looked at us like we were both absolutely insane, turning to Herb, nearly begging, "Please tell me he's joking!"

Herb winced. "I'd like to, and I'd like to reassure you, but he's not wrong, just a little too explain-y today."

She looked at him before she took a deep breath, centering herself before looking at me. "How?"

"Well, first of all you need to understand the Endbringers themselves," I started. "They're multiversal constructs. It's why they can tell physics to go screw itself. They're actually made of crystalline layers, with every layer supposedly five percent tougher than the previous one, and at their core we're talking two hundred layers." Charlie cocked his head to the side, thinking with a frown.

"Yeah, we're talking galaxy level mass if that was true, and supposedly even the arms, which only have a three percent increase per layer, would need thirty trillion atmospheres of pressure to damage fully. That's why that intel is complete bullshit, and an excellent reason why you can't rely on Thinkers to fight things created by powers they share a source with. Those facts might be true, from a certain point of view and leaving out a lot of important details."

I shrugged. "Are they multiversal? They'd have to be, and they are crystalline so they've no real biology to take advantage of, but the same source that confirmed the first Thinker's intel that gave the hard numbers on the layers said a glassing orbital strike could take one out, so their exponentially increasing toughness couldn't be a thing. Even if it was I've got at least three ways to kill one, but we don't want to take one out 'til we're ready for the next one. So-"

"The next one!?" Purity demanded.

Herb looked at me pleading, "Please don't dump it all. Not right now."

I looked at him, considering his words. If this had been day one, or even before the bombing I would have deferred to him. Purity was his project, but after Dinah, I couldn't trust him. For all I knew he'd do something like let Jack Slash get to Theo, just because it happened in canon. He said he was going to st- my thoughts froze. He didn't actually say he was going to stop doing that. He said he had his reasons, he expressed regret, but he never said he was going to stop. Oh Fuck Him.

I repressed a sigh and growl as Purity looked between the two of us. If this was Bakuda, or someone like her I'd let him screw up with her, but Purity was a hero, a latently racist one, but at her heart she was good, and I wasn't going to let him screw her up like he had Dinah. Let him flirt? She was an adult, she could handle that on her own. If she really didn't want him to she'd tell him to stop like an adult and he would, because he was like that. When it came to important things though, I was going to do what was right, and if Herb had a good reason why, I'd listen, but I was done doing things just because he asked.

I looked at her, a sad grin tugging the corner of my mouth, and shrugged as Herb's eyes went wide. "What? Did you think there were only three?" Charlie looked like he was going to say something, but shook his head. "Yeah, there's a bunch, but we only have intel on the first six, so we need to be ready for anything by the time we start that ball rolling," I explained. "Hell, after some training Purity, and if your powers work like I think they might, you could be able to, if not kill, then fight off Khonsu, the fourth one, on your own." I grinned, looking around at them.

"He'd definitely need some Tinkertech assistance," I jerked a thumb at my little brother, ignoring his smiling objection, "But each one of us could fight off an Enbringer solo once we're at our peak." I pointed at Herb without looking at him, "Behemoth, and maybe Leviathan," Charlie, "Tohu, the fifth, and maybe Leviathan." Purity, "Khonsu, and Bohu, the sixth, if Tohu's tied up, they work together," and finished with a thumb to myself, "The Simurgh."

"You're crazy. You're all crazy. I've joined a team of crazy people," she commented helplessly as she sat back in her chair. "How do you know all of this?"

"That answer is long and complicated. The short version? We're time travelers from another dimension," I bullshitted, though from a certain point of view it was true. Then again, from a certain point of view Anakin Skywalker was killed by Darth Vader. "A dimension where the golden age of heroes never happened, where there are no powers, where Reagan broke the USSR with economics, it didn't fracture with infighting as its mid-level members sought to secretly use parahumans to take over their own territories. Some of the people where we live heard about what happened, will happen from your perspective, long after it was over, and are incapable of helping. Something happened, and Herb and I found ourselves here, as well as apparently my little brother and my father. We-"

"Wait, Dad's here?" Charlie asked, looking around like our father was waiting to pop out from behind a chair.

"I'm pretty sure, but he's being cagey about meeting. You know how cautious he is. Besides, he's got like no combat related powers," I responded. "It's probably making him even worse than usual. Imagine if I said I wanted to meet, but you weren't sure I was me, and you couldn't stop time."

He nodded, "Point."

"So-" I started, only to be cut off by Purity this time.

"Wait, you saw what happens? How far? Were my kids okay?" she asked, unsure.

I sighed. "Okay, so, first thing. Herb and I, and Charlie now, and maybe our father, have already derailed the regular timeline, possibly irreparably, which is a good thing. The ABB isn't making nearly the same progress, Coil's assets are being undermined, and the confrontation between Boardwalk and Oni Lee never happened in the version of the future we saw. Oh, side note, Boardwalk straight up didn't exist before. He's not on the team at this time, and after what he said the Protectorate tried to pull, he's never joining them, but he'll assist us if he's free."

"I'd like to have a few words with him," she stated menacingly, sidetracked as I'd planned. "I've heard rumors that he's claiming to by my child with, Skidmark," she looked ill at the thought alone. "As if I'd ever have sex with. . ." she stopped herself, looking around. "And I'm not that old!"

"With Skidmark? I don't blame you!" Herb agreed. "That foul-mouthed junkie scum isn't fit to lick your boots!"

She nodded quickly. "Yes. Exactly. Junkie. That's what I meant."

"From what he's told me, he's been asked about that, and has denied it every time. Wherever that rumor started, it wasn't with him." Suspiciously specific denials were denials after all.

"Fine. Sure. But even if it won't happen now, what happened to Theo and my little Aster in that future?" She asked, trying to stay on topic. Herb looked pained. "That bad? Please, tell me," she pleaded.

Sighing, I did as she asked. "Okay, so in the way this originally played out Scion, um, triggered after two years, as those with the power to see the future knew that if they waited the full fifteen years, we'd lose against him. The world is currently breaking down Purity, those out there who could stop it can't or won't, and without us interfering, they don't. In fifteen years, things would've gotten so bad you would have had no chance of beating him, so they kickstarted the apocalypse."

"In the short term, after the ABB is taken down, Coil unmasks the entirety of the E88, which he's probably still going to do, so you need to move your kids right after the truce ends, if not before. They can stay here if you want, but CPS is going to do some downright illegal things otherwise, and it'd be easier to keep them out of the way then have to kill some people following bad orders to get them back." I looked to Herb, who nodded, smiling comfortingly at her.

"But things in that timeline got bad, and after Kaiser fell, the group split into The Pure, led by you, because you took his poisoned offer, and Fenrir's Chosen, led by Hookwolf. You were forced to abandon Theo, so he'll Trigger, for reasons that aren't going to happen. He does, taking the name Golem and joining the Wards. After that . . . are you sure you want to know? It's not going to happen. We won't let it."

She took a deep breath, nodding. "Yes. Even if it isn't I need to know." I looked to Herb, who was subtly shaking his head no, but this ultimately wasn't his decision.

"So, you know the Slaughterhouse Nine?" I started, her eyes went wide. "Yeah, they come here recruiting. Still will, but we're going to kill them all." I stood up, pacing, not wanting to look at her, knowing this was going to be bad. "In that timeline though, Jack Slash, Bonesaw, the Siberian, and Hookwolf, who've they've recruited, escape. They grab a Tinker and get cloning, emerging out of hiding a year and a half later as the Slaughterhouse Nine-Thousand, with just short of three hundred members. They have nine clones of every member they've ever had who's died, with the exception of Gray Boy, who they can only make one of for some reason. He traps you Kayden, in an endless, torturous loop, with Jack Slash taking Aster to raise her and mold her into one of them, to twist her into a monster. Aster dies instantly in the attack on their cloning facilities, before they can get started on her." I looked at her, and instantly regretted it.

Kayden stared at me, face white, mouth open in horror, tears streaming down her face, emotions laid bare. Herb reached out to grab her hand, and she flinched, but didn't pull away. I stood there, looking her in the eye and promised her: "Kayden, that's not going to happen. In the original timeline humanity barely squeaked out of complete destruction, and was reduced to a borderline feudal existence. That was because almost everyone looked out for themselves first, last, and only. When Zion started his purge, only a tiny fraction grouped together to fight, the rest sure that if they were the ones who were attacked, they'd somehow do what no-one else could and win, letting that monster in golden skin destroy their competition first, so complete was their arrogance and self-delusion. The Birdcage was opened, and a lot of heroes and villains fought to try to stop him, dying in the process because no one would lead, every single one of them either trying to offload the responsibility to someone else or so concerned with their own egos they refused to work with others to save the world."

"Billions burned Kayden, turned to dust in golden light as Earths in multiple realities were scoured. Over half of the people on Earth Bet lost their lives in the first day of his rampage. In that timeline a hero, not even yet an adult, had to sacrifice themselves, their sanity, throwing open the gates of their power and mind-controlling thousands of parahumans in an all or nothing battle as their brain eroded under the stress of their own unbound abilities, losing the ability to read, then understand speech, then faces, degrading farther and farther, losing everything that made them, them, made them human, as they struggled to hold on just long enough to kill the golden god before he killed everyone."

I grit my teeth, anger at the atrocity that was the canon ending fueling my words. "I will not let that happen! I will save this world if I have to drag it kicking and screaming to do so. I am a Hero! I have the power to save the world, and the will to do so, even if I'm damned by those I protect. That is what we're here to do. Not fight in some stupid dominance game over race, creed, or nation, not make a profit, not just save the people around us, like Aster and Theo, but making a world that all children can grow up safe in Kayden. We are here to save the world, nothing more, nothing less, and in that we don't need your help, for even if you walk out that door we'll still do our damndest to save you, but with you we could do so much more! Save so many more! That is what the Penumbral Defenders are, for even in the shadow of an impossible foe we'll stand, fight, and win, because if we don't, No One Will!"

Herb stood up and slammed his hand on the table angrily. "That's enough!"

I looked at him, not understanding what the hell he meant. He knew that's what we were going to do, or at least I thought he did. Shelving that worry, I focused back on Purity. "It has to be."