A/N: Chap 48 review responses are in my forums as normal. Thanks for reading!
Chapter Fort-Nine: Strife Bore Painful Toil
Sarah sat on the edge of the couch in the living room of the Hebert home and watched a monster die. Maria sat beside her; her hands held in prayer under her chin. One of Lacy Water's older daughters was taking her turn cleaning up in the kitchen following breakfast.
The news out of Ellisberg should have rocked the world; it would have in any other time. But after the brutal destruction of the Slaughterhouse Nine, the country began to realize that Kratos was not just a powerful brute—he was an effective leader.
Ellisberg, New York, was the home of an S-class threat known publicly as Nilbog. He had the terrifying power to be able to shape any biological material into his fantastical creations. In the course of a week, he killed the entire population of the town and replaced it with his 'children'. In the process, he easily destroyed several PRT strike teams and capes who tried to stop him, and even a National Guard unit, before the whole town was just cordoned off.
When the Protectorate Thinkers predicted that Nilbog had created biological failsafes, all discussion of trying to remove him permanently were shelved. Until, that is, Kratos determined it was time for him to die.
Using a railgun and delivery system built by String Theory and shooting projectiles designed by the wet drug tinker Lab Rat, Kratos' team belted the interior of Ellisburg and the surrounding land outward of one full mile with a terrifyingly powerful antibiological chemical that killed every living thing down to the smallest single-celled organism to a dept of one thousand feet. The railguns were so powerful that each shot could be felt in Manhattan.
The cape formerly known as Glastig Uaine, now glad in golden winged armor, worked with Narwhal to make sure the chemical agent did not spread in the ten minutes of its active lifespan. When the chemical dissipated, the most sterilized eighty square miles of land to ever exist left a barren, desert-like hole in the landscape of New York.
The news reports on television looked stunned and horrified as they stood on the edge of a desert.
"Think they actually got him?" Marie asked.
Sarah nodded. She woke that morning with a headache, as if she'd overused her powers before meeting Telos. "Yeah, they got him."
The report moved on to an attractive Asian woman standing on the edge of what looked like a small resort compound. Sarah was not surprised when this new reporter announced that String Theory killed Heartbreaker with a hand-held rail-gun that delivered a gene-locked, self-guided explosive dart that honed in on the infamous parahuman rapist-Master from a mile away.
Tracey, one of Lacy Water's older daughters, walked into the living room with a cup of coffee. "So, did I hear you mention the church coffers got some donations yesterday?"
Despite her headache, Sarah couldn't help but smile. "Yeah. You know, a million here, four million there. It's nice to start getting a salary."
Like her mother, Tracey was a thick-waisted girl with a bosom that went beyond blessing into the realms of back pain. While she was plain spoken, she was not quite as earthy as her mother. Her twins were sleeping in Marie's room. "Any idea where'd it come from?"
"Kratos is putting all the bounty money into the Church. He's only keeping what he needs to keep his team going. There were lots of bounties on the Slaughterhouse Nine."
Sarah stood to get coffee, leaving Marie and Tracey to follow the exploits of Kratos and his team of Birdcage parolees. She poured the coffee black and unsweetened. The bitter bite of it sometimes helped when her head hurt.
She left the house and let the sweet, pure air of the domain fill her lungs. Her feet took her down the steps of the porch and past the circle of stumps that surrounded the cold bonfire where Telos' inner circle often spent their evenings.
The morning sun hadn't quite topped the mountain yet, but was high enough that Sarah could make out the features of the blue-grey granite. The gardens burst with life, providing enough vegetables to feet their entire flock of two thousand. No matter how clean they picked through it, the next day it always had more.
Even with Telos away, the beauty of it left Sarah at once humbled and giddy.
She looked up at the dark cobalt sky, and knew that the Simurgh was up there following as the God of War cleared the way for one greater than himself.
Though Sarah's power was purely intuitive, she thought she could feel the Simurgh staring down at them. The Endbringer's gaze wouldn't be able to penetrate Taylor's domain, at least Sarah hoped and prayed. But the city around them was also precious to Telos. She grew up here; attended school here.
In the bonfires, Sarah had seen images of a young Telos playing with her friends or exploring the docks while her father worked. She saw memories of her goddess as a toddler playing in her mother's office at UNH Brockton Bay.
The wooden alcove Telos crafted by the PRT headquarters really was a gift to the city she'd loved. Just as Pallas Athena was the patron goddess of ancient Athens, so too was Telos the patron goddess of Brockton Bay.
In the back of her mind, Sarah heard screaming.
It wasn't a chorus of voices, like what she might hear at a sport's event. No, it was a continuous drone just on the edge of human hearing. The sound permeated everything around them. It seeped through Kurt and Lacy Waters as they played a raucous game of Monopoly with their family. It seeped through Ty and Shaquelle Washington as Ty played a racing video came with two of his high school friends in their apartment. The drone of it surrounded the trees that grew from Telos' blood, tasting their bark and recognizing the power of them, even as it continued to seek the source of that power.
The drone of sound that was not really sound was joined by another, this one well above the threshold of human hearing. It came from deep within the sea. A pod of blue whales accidently swam across the cone of the sound. One died; the others scattered in confusion and pain as their delicate senses were overwhelmed.
A third song joined the others; well below the realms of hearing. It came as a deep rumble from within the earth, tickling seismographs without triggering any warnings. The three questing songs centered on the two trees that grew from Telos' blood.
By returning to America to clear the way for Telos, Kratos brought the Endbringer's eyes with him. And though Telos remained hidden in whatever quest her steps had led, the testament to her power remained strong and clear.
Brockton Bay was Telos's home, and her magic saturated both it and its people.
One giant, glowing red eye opened in the chthonic depths of the earth; two soulless white eyes opened in the empty void of a dead heaven; four glowing green slits looked up from the murky deep. They saw; they knew.
~~Theogony~~
~~Theogony~~
"Sarah!"
Blinking back tears, Sarah fought to focus against the raging agony in her head. Marie was leaning over her, her delicate features twisted by fear. Fear dominated every aspect of the poor girl's life. Even her power was born of fear. Instead of triggering with the power to defend herself; she was instead cursed with the power to help others defend her. Even here, within the realm of her goddess, Marie's life was driven by fear.
That fear focused on her now; Marie had blood on her hands when she reached back from where she'd been gripping Sarah's head. Behind her, Tracey knelt down in alarm in the vibrant grass of the field behind the house.
"What happened?" Sarah asked.
"You went into convulsions," Tracey said. "I heard you scream something and came out to check on you. You're bleeding from your nose and ears."
Sarah didn't nod; her head hurt too much. "Take me to the Spring. Please."
Marie and Tracey helped her stumble toward the Holy Spring. As often happened, the distance seemed to fold in on itself until Sarah knelt down and with shaking hands cupped water to her lips. The holy water washed away the worst of the throbbing, and with the agony dulled her mind began to process just what happened.
"Well, I suppose that's why she called me Pythia," she muttered.
"Sarah?" Marie hovered worriedly. "What happened?"
"I had a vision," Sarah said. She stood and looked at her two companions. "Get Dragon on the phone; I need to speak to Kratos. And Alexandria, too."
"What do you mean?"
Sarah turned and gripped the scared girl's shoulders. "Marie, remember Telos is with you. Remember who you want to be, not who you are or were. Call your Aunt's family and tell them to come. Tell them to come to the domain right now. Tracey, call your family and have them spread the word to the faithful. We need everyone here, now."
"You're scaring us," Tracey said.
"That's because it's scary as hell," Sarah said. "The Endbringers aren't going to wait for Telos to show herself. They've figured out where her domain is. We have a day if we're lucky, likely less."
~~Theogony~~
~~Theogony~~
Marie stood on the curb outside the Folksvangr when her Aunt Eléa arrived with her husband John, and a second car with her three adult children and four grandchildren. It was easy to forget that Aunt Elea married in her teens as well.
"Go in, hurry," Marie urged her older cousins.
"But…but…it's bigger on the inside!" Cousin Marcus muttered. His wife patted his hands and led him in with a worried smile to Marie.
Eléa lingered outside as her family sought shelter. "We were scheduled to do testimony against Papa and the clan tomorrow," she said. "Are you sure about this?"
"I'm sure," Marie said. "Can you drive me?"
Eléa rolled her eyes. "You're eighteen, Marie. You need to get your own license."
Marie didn't respond; Ernest tried to teach her several times, but whenever the car went over 30 miles an hour she froze up. She climbed into the back of her Aunt's sedan as other people began arriving from the surrounding neighborhood.
"So, ah…what's the emergency?"
It was hard for Marie to even voice it. "Endbringers."
In the front seat, Eléa stiffened. "Endbringers? Plural?"
"Telos is a god," Marie said. Oddly enough, it was the first time she'd ever spoken the words aloud. But the truth of them made the words come easier than she'd feared. "She defends the world. The Endbringers want to destroy it. They come for her. We need to gather our followers. They'll be safe within the Domain?"
Eléa turned and stared. "Marie, what about your other cousins and family?"
"None with hate in their heart can cross the threshold to Telos' domain," Marie said. She felt her eyes water at the thought. Though she knew her siblings and cousins were filled with hate, they were still her family. "Do you think my cousins could enter? Could Susan or Lily walk into any place with black people and not feel what they were taught to feel?"
"What about you?"
Marie met her Aunt's gaze. "I have no hate," she admitted. "I…don't think I ever did. Just fear. I'm always afraid, Eléa. But I have to do this. I prayed to Telos to be stronger. She…she can't make me stronger. But she can give me the opportunity to try." She handed a piece of paper to her Aunt. "Call Aunty Elsa. Call my mother. Tell them to flee the city. But take me to this place now. Please."
Eléa was not the best driver in the world; while talking on the phone with family that had disowned her, she was even worse. But even so, she pulled up to the address Marie gave her. She'd pulled it from the registry of their church and stared with trepidation and surprise.
The buildings they arrived at formed a solid line of old brownstones built for dock laborers in the 1800 and early 1900s. Some were abandoned, all were delipidated and split into smaller apartments. And on the steps leading up to the building were a group of large, muscular black men lounging about without a care in the world.
She and Eléa both stared at the men with trepidation. Marie's fear was her own; Eléa's was the caution every woman felt when confronting large, aggressive young men regardless of color. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
Marie took a deep, shaking breath. She'd spent so much time around Shay, but she'd never seen where the girl lived. It was such a stark, striking contrast to the beautiful, stately homes she'd grown up in.
"Telos is with me," she whispered, clutching her cruciform Telos pendant. She wore her robe and could feel her god's power within the runes that lined it. She was not Marie Herren, granddaughter of a card-carrying member of the Nazi party. She was Didomi, a Priestess of Telos and a giver of gifts.
Her hands shook as she climbed out of the car. The men watched her intently, their conversation dying on their lips. Their dark eyes followed her as she climbed out; one seemed to blink in surprise. Under the overcast skies, her robe bore a slight glow from Telos' blessing. She walked up to the curb, a few feet away.
One of the men snorted a laugh. "What you want, snowflake?"
The one who spoke looked like a man, but he sounded…young. Like her brother. I can do this. I can do this.
"My name is Didomi, I am a priestess of Telos," she said. She spoke loudly to cover the tremor in her voice. "I need to speak to Shaquelle and Ty Washington."
The door opened and a giant woman came bursting out. She was not much taller than Marie, but easily twice her girth.
"You fools get outta my way," Mrs. Washington declared. She walked right up to Marie, and it took everything the girl could summon not to step away in fear. Ty and Shaquelle's mother did not speak softly. She yelled every word, as if always angry. Her dark eyes flashed as she stepped to within inches of Marie.
Swallowing bile, Marie forced her eyes to remain open as she braced herself for a blow. It was her cousin Ernest who shot this woman's son. It was members of the Empire 88 that her father supported who killed this woman's husband. For all her fear, Marie's vision in the fire of Ty and Shauqelle's life forced her to admit that this woman had far better reason to hate Marie than Marie had reason to fear her. And so she braced herself to accept the blow as penance for her family; for the sins done this woman and her family at the hands of Marie's.
No blow came. "What're you doing here, girl?"
Marie clenched her Telos pendent. "Pythia received a vision. The Endbringers are coming. Those who've taken Telos into their hearts will find shelter in her domain. I've…" For an odd moment, the fear lessoned as she realized the words she was going to say were true. It felt…almost like a weight being lifted.
"Shay is my sister," Marie told the larger woman. "She's taken our goddess into her heart and received her blessing. Ty…Ty is my brother. He shed blood at my cousin's hand, and by forgiving me, he has become my brother. I'm here to take you all to her domain. You and any who take Telos into your hearts."
"You were Empire," the woman said, her eyes narrowed.
Marie nodded; her eyes stung as this, too, was a truth. "I can't change what I was," she said. "I can….I can only change who I am and who I will be. That's why I'm here."
In that very moment, a distant siren began to wail. The young men behind her stood up in alarm. All up and down the street, the poorest residents of the city stepped out. Marie looked and saw everything her family had taught her to hate. Brown and black skin; African immigrants, Indians, Muslims. And with this new sense of weightless truth, she knew what she had to do.
She stepped back and raised her voice. "The Endbringers come—Pythia, High Priestess of Telos has foreseen it. Not one, but all three come. Those without hate in their hearts can find shelter in the domain of Telos! If you doubt your heart, flee the city! The shelters will not save you. But move quickly!"
With the undeniable proof of the danger, Mrs. Washington turned and faced the apartment. "Ty, Shay-Shay, come on!" She didn't scream, she shouted. And her voice boomed so loud it drowned out the sirens.
Shay appeared and jumped down the steps. Though she was four years younger than Marie, she was just as tall. She wrapped Marie in a hug.
"Get in, it's going to be tight," Marie said. She looked over the girl's shoulder where Ty was talking urgently to two of the boys that came with him. She recognized them as his friends—one had even helped guide the faithful.
"This is Tate and Hassim," Ty said. "They're okay. Digs and Shaunta have cars. They'll get the families out."
"It'll be a tight squeeze," Marie said. "Shay, ride up front with your mother."
Eléa didn't even say anything when the people piled into the car. Her eyes were wide as people realized what the sirens meant and began crowding the streets. "Hang on," she declared when she backed up and then pealed out, leaving the old apartments and the speed limit far behind.
The city erupted around them like a disturbed nest of ants. People, cars and trucks appeared as if from nowhere, filling the streets as terrified residents sought shelter or escape. The only thing going for Eléa was that they were heading back deeper into the Docks neighborhood, rather than seeking an Endbringer shelter or trying to escape the city entirely.
Even so, when they encountered a huge crowd of people outside of Telos' domain, they had to abandon the car. The brief flash of Marie's courage began to burn out when she saw the solid line of desperate, terrified people blocking their way.
"Tate, Hassim, with me," Ty declared in a commanding voice. The three athletic young men formed a wedge. Marie grabbed her Aunt and Shay and fell in right behind, with Mrs. Washington bringing up the rear.
Marie didn't understand why the crowd had gathered until she reached the point in the foliage that normally opened to admit the faithful. A wide-open area stood in the center of the crowd, none of whom were willing to get too close to those at its center.
Merchants were blocking the way. The small, vicious parahuman gang of drug peddlers had forced the believers back as they tried to batter their way through Telos's protections. The other capes of the Merchants were there as well—instead of joining the heroes to defend the city, the cape leader Skidmark sought only to hide. More importantly, he was preventing those who accepted Telos from entering.
For one blinding moment, Marie felt no fear. All she felt was outrage that these people would dare endanger the faithful of Telos! She rushed forward, shouting at them. "Leave! There is no place for you here!"
One of the Merchants—not even a cape—answered with a gun. People screamed as the stick-then, Meth-addled woman fired her snub-nosed pistol. Marie fell back in shock as the pain spread across her chest. It felt like someone hit her in the chest so hard she couldn't draw breath. Gentle hands caught her, and she found herself staring up at Ty.
"Marie!" He looked scared and terrified, but a corner of Marie realized that his terror was not for himself. She remembered the first time she saw him, bruised but determined in the face of her cousin's bigotry. She saw him, as if she could see his soul the same as her goddess could see hers. He too was driven by fear, but not for himself. His fear was for those he cherished—for his sister, and his mother.
And as he held her, for Marie herself.
Her breath caught in her chest, and the world seemed to darken as she saw her goddess hovering before her. Telos glowed brilliant gold, with her wings spread wide. She seemed to lean down to Marie and touched her cheek with a shining hand. Bless you, my sister.
Everything went black, until moments later Marie blinked awake to the sound of screams and shouts and distant Endbringer alarms. She blinked and saw Skidmark and his Tinker girlfriend Squealer picking themselves up off the ground.
"Which one of you cunt-nuggets triggered?" the filthy parahuman addict screamed. His teeth were rotting out of his mouth, she saw.
Marie stood. Her chest ached, still, but she could see that Telos' magic in her robes had protected her. She stood, and with a burning faith that left her eyes watering with joy, she knew what she had to do. She turned to Ty and took his face in her hands.
"Telos showed me," she said to him. She didn't have to yell over the crowd—he could hear her. "I am Didomi. I am the giver of gifts. Do you take Telos in your heart, Ty?"
He stared back, wide-eyed and confused. But in his heart, she saw the champion rising. "Yes!"
"Then in Telos' name, I gift you with the strength of a thousand men!"
She felt her power drain out, but it felt different this time. Because though there was a sense of draining, the well from which the power came from refilled instantly. She stood then and looked at his friends. She reached over to Tate and gripped his face. "Do you take Telos into your heart as your goddess?" Even in her own ears, her voice blazed over the roar of the crowd.
Tate and Hassim exchanged a look before nodding. "Say it!"
"I do!" Tate said. "I take Telos into my heart!"
"Then in Telos name, I grant you adamantine skin! No weapon nor hand shall harm you!" She turned to Hassim and did the same. "Say the words!"
Unlike Tate, Hassim nodded and met her gaze squarely. "I take Telos into my heart."
"In Telos' name, I grant you the speed of the swiftest wind! No threat shall catch you! Open the way!"
Othalla could only grant one power to one person at a time. She was small; bound by her fear and the ideology of hate that framed her world. With Telos' blessing, Didomi was mighty, and powers flowed from her hands like water from the ocean.
Bursting with power, invulnerability and speed, the three friends broke from the crowd. Ty went straight for the Merchant's heavy hitter, a big steam-punk Tinker named Trainwreck. The martial arts student jumped into the air with impossible agility, twisted his body, and kicked with both feet right at the chest plate of the Tinker's steam-powered armor.
The armor crumpled like a tin can. The tinker himself dropped unmoving to the ground. Skidmark started cussing and laying down scintillating layers of his repulsing power but couldn't catch them. Hassim blurred through the crowd at the gun-toting Merchant thugs with him. They fell like leaves from a shaken tree, until he hit Skidmark in the side of the head, but did so at such speed the blow crushed the side of Skidmark's skull.
"Skids!" The high-pitched scream of Skidmark's girlfriend rang through the ground. Squealer brandished what looked like a massive gun and turned it wildly into the crowd.
Suddenly Tate was there. Whatever the gun fired slammed into his chest, exploding so powerfully that the back-explosion completely enveloped Squealer and several of the thuds behind her. She screamed briefly before she collapsed.
The other cape, Mush, looked like a moving statute made of trash. He rushed Hassim and Tate, only for Ty to roll forward and sweep the legs. Even if the legs were a construct of trash, without them Mush still fell. Hassim attacked then; in a blur he began pelting the cape with his fists, blowing off layer and later of trash before Mush could recover them, until only a pink, ugly little troll remained.
Ty picked the twisted parahuman up and with his temporary super-human power threw him into the sky.
With the way clear, Marie worked her way through the crowd. Shay followed on her heels. When they reached the threshold, Marie looked to Shay.
Shaquelle Washington was her mother's daughter. "Everyone SHUT UP!"
Her voice boomed over the sirens and the scared shouts of all those seeking shelter. "Only those without hate can enter this place!" Shay shouted. "This is a holy place! You defame our goddess; you hurt your fellows…we'll kick your asses out! Form a line!"
Marie touched her hand to the boundary and prayed; the magic felt almost like Telos's hug. Warm and comforting, and familiar. At her prayer, the threshold opened and the solid wall of vegetation opened to reveal the vast, open plains of the falksvangr within.
Those in the front of the crowd who had never know the truth of Telos now knew. Their eyes widened as they formed a line, and in groups of ten the desperate refugees began swarming in.
Marie and Shay held the threshold open, and around them, Ty, Tate and Hassim stood as sentries.
In Telos' name.
A/N: This, for me, was actually one of the most important chapters of the story. Because it fully demonstrates the true power of Telos' divinity-not her strength or speed. But the tangible faith-and the power that faith instilled-in her followers. I hope others enjoyed it too.