Slowly but surely, the Simurgh was being pushed away from its Tinkering creation. My armband had blared a warning about twenty minutes being left until I had to be gone from the city. There was no way that was happening. The Simurgh was currently trying to entomb Legend with debris and having a hard time of it. A trio of blaster capes launched a salvo from a rooftop some distance away, only one of them finding purchase on the Endbringer itself. The blaster that managed a hit seemed to fire some sort of corrosive substance, since the outer layer of the Endbringer's torso started steaming. I heard several capes groan in disgust at what I presumed was the smell of melting flesh.
During this time, Eidolon had built up some sort of purple sphere of energy and launched it at the Simurgh's device. Anything that it telekinetically threw at the ball in an attempt to stop it seemed to get sucked into it, causing the ball to grow. It eventually reached the Tinkertech creation that the Endbringer was making and swallowed it whole. Unfortunately for us, it seemed to have an adverse reaction to Eidolon's attack, since it detonated with a massive shockwave. All the capes nearby got blasted back, including me, and my armband chimed off about thirty different names in the minute it took me to get free of debris.
I looked up to see Legend, Eidolon, and about a dozen different flier capes engaging the Endbringer amidst a positively massive debris field. One flier wearing what appeared to be purple-colored tinkertech power armor was smashed between two dumpster-sized pieces of concrete. My armband whispered once more as the bloody corpse collapsed to the street.
My armor buzzed to life and I kicked off into the air and at the Simurgh. I drew my sword and ignited it again. Just like last time, right as I did, the Simurgh moved to target me. Unlike last time however, I was unable to close to melee range as there was a lot more debris floating around. I deactivated my sword and called on the Butcher's power of teleportation.
Instead of the brief moment of darkness that I usually associated with teleporting, I felt a faint buzzing in the back of my head and the Endbringer's dead gaze snapped to me. My momentum ground to a halt as I felt a crushing pressure suddenly grip me. For a brief moment I wondered how it was able to halt me like this, but then I realized that it wasn't grabbing me but rather my armor.
My shields flared and popped under the pressure. The dense metal that made up my armor slowly started to give. Stabbing pain appeared in a rapidly growing number of spots across my body. I grit my teeth angrily. The buzzing steadily increased to a soft droning noise. It seemed like all the other capes had stopped to watch what was happening to me, except Legend and Eidolon, who were apparently used to the Simurgh targeting one specific cape.
"What are you doing!? Hit it!" I yelled, but they stared on, some in fear, some in pity. The droning was now a loud humming sound, and my armor groaned in protest as it was slowly being compressed. I felt one of the bones in my leg snap and part of my armor's flight system shut down. The pain was unbearable.
The Mind's gentle presence washed over me, and with a guiding hand showed me how I could escape this: with my newfound power granted by the biomass I'd absorbed last night.
The air around me seemed to hum ominously, before an invisible shockwave exploded from my body. Every piece of debris the shockwave touched fell from the sky, no longer under the Simurgh's control. A roar of rage and hatred tore itself from my lips as I suddenly found myself free. The invisible bubble of force pushed the Endbringer back some distance. The humming sound in my consciousness was gone, replaced with a numb, tingling sensation.
Apparently, my power nullified the Simurgh's wholesale. "The scream!" One of the nearby flying capes exclaimed. "It's gone!" Several others confirmed his statement, but my focus was on the one who'd attempted to compress me. Using my power, I propelled myself forward and punched the Simurgh in the face. It may not have done much damage, but catharsis was satisfying on its own. The Endbringer rocketed towards the ground and impacted hard enough to partially expose the underground sewer system.
It seemed that the capes had finally snapped out of their stupor, because they opened fire on the downed Endbringer. A rainbow of blaster powers rained down onto the Simurgh, doing superficial damage. Not content to simply be a punching bag, it spread its wings, throwing about eighty feet of the ground into shadow, and took off into the air.
I was on it instantly, grappling it and trying to slow it down. Whatever method it used for flight seemed to be unimpeded, despite my attempts. We were so high in the air that the sky had started to darken and stars were visible, despite it being almost noon. I teleported above the Simurgh and drop kicked it in the chest. It's upward momentum ceased and it started falling back down at nearly the same speed. I darted after it, grappling it once more and accelerating.
The ground came up rapidly and, at about a thousand feet I let go. Below us, a slipstream portal opened. As if sensing what was happening, the Simurgh spread its wings in an attempt to stop. Another wave of power extruded from me, buffeting the Endbringer and sending it the rest of the way through the portal. The longest of the Simurgh's wings were sheared off as the portal closed, that same black ooze leaking from the severed appendages.
Unfortunately, it seemed that I'd neglected to plan for one thing when opening that portal, the effect that subspace had on real space, and the spot where the portal was exploded violently. The shockwave caused the thoroughly abused Parliament building to finally collapse. Blue lights danced in the air, a side effect of the detonation. The capes that remained airborne, Legend included, fixed me an awed expression. Others were staring at all that remained of the Simurgh on Earth Bet.
"You-" Legend slowly hovered over to where I was. "You killed it." His disbelief was practically tangible.
"Yes, I did." I told him. But I knew the truth. The portal had taken it far away from here. To the planet where the Administrator shard was.
If I couldn't subsume it, the Mind would have to.