2.3

Alec was tense

That was the closest he ever got to fear. This might just be the closest he had come to emotion since his last puppet, but that was a long time ago. Turned out that what he had needed all along to get the blood pumping was just a little Endbringer. Huh.

They'd been teleported out of the building after a wave had crashed down on the building, but they had a plan. Queenie had sat them down and lead them all through it, step by step, in case of just such a situation. With a poof of smoke, they were all back at the base.

"Stay there," Queenie barked, and then teleported away, into her workshop, most likely.

Alec leaned against the closest wall, and put a hand over his chest and closed his eyes, listening to his rapid heartbeat. Delicious.

He heard the others move around, murmur, but he only opened his eyes when he heard the poof again. Queenie threw a mechanic bracelet at each of them. He recognized them as the teleportation bracelets. Queenie herself now held a remote with many buttons on it. With a flex of her wrist they were all back at the battlefield. Well, a few hundred further at least. The place where they had been standing before was now covered in debris and water. Not safe.

Queenie pressed a button, and there were several hundred poofing sounds, a great, big cloud of smoke. Techno Bots, almost a thousand of them. They charged, shooting at the Endbringer as they teleported around, grabbing the wounded and bringing them to the healers. That visibly helped the situation.

Queenie threw them some coms as well, and they put them on.

"Jailbird, turn up your speakers and sing them encouragement." Queenie ordered.

"Yes, your majesty. Collar, up volume to maximum frequency." Their newest member said.

The collar their leader had made for her made a brief beeping sound to alert Jailbird that the order had been carried out. She began to sing and his heart soared. Oh… that was good. Courage felt even better than fear. So awesome. He didn't feel invincible, exactly, but more like he had what it took to win anyways.

"Grue, Bitch, Regent, help with the rescue efforts. Tattletale, teleport to the planning center and contribute."

"Yes your majesty," they chorused.

And with a poof of smoke she disappeared, no doubt to enact the next stage in their plan.

Alec put the bracelet on and teleported. He went where his power said there were nervous systems, and he reached out to feel whether they were hurt or not. He'd fling them over his shoulders and teleport over to the healing center and then go and do it again.

But then, just as he was searching for another wounded, he heard it… And he grinned.

"Leviathan, you wretched foe!" He heard over the speakers in Queenie's creation. "Prepare to meet your maker!"

He turned towards the chaos and saw a huge mecha the size of Leviathan grappling with the beast. It was pointed black with red details, and it wore a huge red cape.

Leviathan drew back its arm and gave the mecha the right hook, and then it kneed the thing in its stomach. The mecha countered by… pile driving it. Alec snorted.

This general state of affairs continued for almost ten minutes, with the Triumvirate helping the mecha last against the Leviathan for as long as possible before it broke down. Queenie periodically shouted random cliché one-liners during the whole thing. Alec wasn't worried as Leviathan tore the head and limbs off the body and smashed it to itsy bitsy pieces. Queenie had just assured them over the coms that she'd teleported to safety in time, after all.

When Leviathan was done with the mecha it lunged across the city, but then…

Lung.

It was more than a good day, by everyone's standards. Only one in six people had died, instead of four. The docks were destroyed, the parts of the city closest to the sea were flooded, but besides that… A good day.

AN: Not that much ham here, because Endbringers are Serious Business, but I promise, the ham will be back!