Chapter 1

May 15, 2011

Leviathan caught Hookwolf around the middle with his tail, flecks of blood and flesh spraying from the tail as it circled Hookwolf's body of skirring, whisking blades. Leviathan hurled Hookwolf away.

Browbeat saw an opening, stepped in to pound Leviathan in the stomach, strike him in the knee Armsmaster had injured. Leviathan, arms caught by Parian's octopus and goat, raised one foot, caught Browbeat around the throat with his clawed toes, and then stomped down sharply.

Browbeat deceased, BW-8.

# # # # #

Time passed.

Floating weightless I dreamt. Throughout the dreams I could almost make out what the voice in my mind was saying.

"How familiar are you with schizophrenia?" Dr. Cohen asked. He was talking with my mother in his office while I sat in the waiting room. I don't think they realized the door was still open and I could hear their conversation.

"If I recall correctly it is a catchall term given for a number of related conditions caused by various chemical imbalances and irregularities int the brain." My mother's reply carried the certainty that was inherent in any matter of medical knowledge, even though as a podiatrist, her work was as far from the internal intricacies of the brain as one could find on the human body.

Dr. Cohen's voice was silent for a moment. I could easily imagine him tugging at his earlobe as he decided how to respond to her either incorrect or at least incomplete answer. I had noticed the gesture frequently during our sessions. I often looked for those sorts of tells to better understand social interaction. "That is a workable definition for now, though there are believed to be various environmental factors at work as well. I can recommend some more in-depth works for your later reading if you would like. One of the important factors is that the condition usually does not manifest fully until early adulthood. But certain behavioral and affective changes may occur as precursor symptom in the teen years …"

Light and darkness cycled. Actual memories blended with aquatic tableaus.

"What are you looking at, loser?" Sonia sneered as she bumped me from behind. I was leaning against the railing. If my sister had been bigger, I might have thought it an attempt to throw me overboard. I don't think her antipathy for me had reached that point yet, but it had been growing as my popularity at school waned. She constantly complained that my odd behavior was starting to hurt her social status, something she could not afford in her senior year.

I ignored her, which was a bit of a challenge given the conditions. We had launched from Cape George and were "touring the Bay" as my father liked to put it. All my family were there, except Scott, who was in his last year at UMASS, along with one of my father's colleagues from Medhall and her family. I could not be bothered to learn their names, but they did make the boat a little crowded.

Looking over the railing at the Boardwalk in the distance, I started to wonder if I could make the swim there if I should be pushed off the boat. Estimating the distance at a couple of miles, I decided I could. I had been a competitive swimmer in middle school and high school, only leaving the team my sophomore year. I still swam in the back-yard pool whenever the weather allowed. I just could not be bothered to "represent" Arcadia.

"I think I can do it," I said aloud. "Now to test the hypothesis."

"What?" my sister, who was still standing next to me. She reached out as I vaulted over the railing.

Her cry of "No!" was the last thing I heard as the frigid water closed over my head …

Dream imagery mixed with memories swirled in my mind as my body intermixed with schools of colorful fish flowing in undersea currents.

"It doesn't really matter if you like it," my father stated. "It's best for you to be in the Wards. You are the one that decided to become a hero…"

"It was the most efficient way to analyze my abilities," I interrupted. "These powers are combat oriented, so seeking out various combatants allows me to further explore the intricacies …"

"And you can do that safely in the Wards ..." he interrupted in return.

"But the restrictions the PRT places on us …"

"Are necessary and good …"

"The mandatory PR events and public appearances …"

"Are necessary to ensure public support …"

"They make me do 'team building' exercises with the other Wards …"

"You're a team!"

Cries of agony and scenes of horrific carnage filled my mind.

"But you should know your chances going in," Legend said, his voice earnest, "Given the statistics from our previous encounters with this beast, a 'good day' still means that one in four of the people in this room will probably be dead before this day is done …."

I stopped listening. While statistically accurate, I doubted stressing the lethal realities would be conducive to more effective combat, though it would be interesting to see if there was a way to test that.

" … If you are confident you can take a hit from Leviathan and get up afterwards, or if you have the ability to produce expendable combatants, we need you on the front line! You will be directed by Alexandria and Dragon!"

That piqued my interest. I had never really been able to test the upper limits of my strength and full durability in combat situations. I had always had to hold back for fear of crippling or killing my opponents. This was stressed by the Wards trainers and PR flacks. I could test my full capabilities against the Endbringer without fear of social or legal consequences.

I stepped forward.

Colors and sounds, scents and vibrations, fields and points; new sensory stimuli presented the world in new ways.

Floating and flowing ever onward, I dreamt and remembered.

# # # # #

July 15, 2011

I finally woke washed up on a rocky shore. It was cold, both the water and the sharp wind. But I did not feel chilled. I pulled myself onto a shelf a few feet above the waterline and rolled onto my back. The cloudless night sky showed a plethora of stars, unlike anything I had seen in Brockton Bay. There was a faint sheen that shifted colors in ripples across the firmament. I closed my eyes and slept.

I woke with the sun shining weakly from its spot a third of the way up from the horizon. It felt wonderful, fulfilling a need I had not known I had. I could sense the nourishment sating my nascent hunger.

What? I wondered. Since when do I eat sunlight?

I raised up into a sitting position, looking down at my body. Two facts stood out. I was nude. And I was green. My body was formed like my pre-trigger base shape, somewhat larger and more muscular. But all the skin I could see was a grass green. As I turned my head to see more of my body, my long hair fell over my shoulder. It was also green, darker and denser somehow.

"Well, that's new." I muttered. My voice was normal, which surprised me. I expected it to be rough from disuse.

I glanced around, trying to determine where I was. Sitting nude was not a good idea in many places. In front of me was the ocean. Other than small rocks jutting out just offshore, there was no land as far as I could see. Somehow, I knew I was looking east, with the land behind me. My view of the land was blocked by the dark, wet rocks almost surrounding me. I stood to get a better look.

Pushing myself up with my hands, I found I was launched into the air. Where I stayed floating a dozen feet above the shelf on which I had slept. I turned in a slow circle. Behind me were tall, craggy mountains. Nearby was a rocky shoreline fading into a flat plain of gravel and low grass. I saw no signs of human habitation, though there were birds in the distance.

"Where am I?"

I was surprised to be flying, but I could tell it was my telekinesis holding me up. As soon as my attention turned to my powers, I could feel they had changed. They were both stronger and more comprehensive. Not long after I had gotten my powers, I had found the term interoception, the sense of the internal state of one's own body. That was the basis for my biokinesis. Now I could feel my insides in far greater detail than I had ever before.

With that sense I found hundreds, maybe thousands, of changes I had not made myself. The photosynthesizing skin and hair were just the most obvious. I started to lose myself in exploring those changes when I realized I had no idea what my external situation was and whether Leviathan or another threat was nearby. Forcing myself, I looked outside again.

I saw no immediate threats but did not feel comfortable being nude in an unknown situation.

I caused my skin to extrude my costume. Most people outside the PRT were not aware that I created my own costume from my body using my powers. I had practiced the change, along with bulking up my musculature, enough to make it almost instantaneous. That was the reason I did not wear armor or carry weapons. I could not create them from my body. Or I had not been able to. I felt like I could do better now. Again, I wrenched my attention to the external environment.

I flew upwards, trying to get a better view of the landscape. My eyesight was much sharper than it had been, and I felt I could zoom in like a camera with just a thought. I did not have to concentrate on the mechanics of the change anymore. As I rose, I found I could detect pockets of animal life here and there. It was some combination of movement, temperature difference, and something else I could not quite understand.

I flew towards something I was detecting in the distance to the northeast. After several minutes moving along the coast, I saw a boat in the water. I landed in the rocks and watched as it motored towards the mouth of an inlet three of four miles distant. As that was in the direction of the odd sensory stimulus, I assumed it was some sort of settlement or facility.

That meant people.

I had a sudden feeling of anxiety. Was I ready to deal with people? Especially people I did not know. I had no idea who they might be. Or how they might react to an unknown cape. I figured no one outside of the Bay would have heard of Browbeat, and not all that many in the Bay either. I had not made much of a splash in my short career.

"Maybe I should wait until night and check it stealthily. See what it is before committing myself." I hid myself deeper in the rocks where I had a good view of the inlet. As the day progressed, I saw three more boats return to the area. They were fishing boats that seemed to be trawling along the coast. "Likely they had gone out at dawn and were returning at the end of the day." The sun was sinking so it was late afternoon or evening. I felt like I was pretty far north, so the day was probably longer than I was used to.

Eventually the sun set, and I moved towards the inlet.

I had spent part of the day exploring my new body. I discovered I could still change shape, and it was easier. All I had to do was imagine what I wanted to look like, and it happened in a few minutes. This was much faster than before and required significantly less concentration. I was also able to change my outerwear, as it was just an extension of my skin. I could duplicate natural materials such as wool, cotton, silk, and leather easily. I was also able to change my skin and hair color, though I lost my ability to feed from sunlight when I switched from green to a more normal tone.

I was dressed in a body suit f black and greys as I approached the small town that lay at the end of the bay. There were several boats docked in the harbor, along with a few dozen shipping containers stacked nearby. The containers were old and rusted, a sign of the lack of seaborne commerce since the advent of Leviathan.

A few people still walked the street. Most seemed to be leaving what I assumed was the local tavern on their way home for the night. A few wandered on unknown errands. Two trucks moved slowly on the rutted gravel roads.

I ghosted around the buildings. Several carried signs in a language I did not recognize. The script was mostly like English, though there were a few unfamiliar letters that made me think of one of the Scandinavian languages. Not my specially. I only read English and Arabic, my mother's native language.

Eventually I found the local grocery store. It had a newspaper dispenser outside the door. There was a USA Today that was dated July 12th, 2011. If that date was accurate it had been almost two months since the Leviathan attack on Brockton Bay. There was what looked like a local paper as well. It was dated 15 Juuli. I assumed the American paper was older. If that was correct it was my seventeenth birthday. The local paper was from Nuuk. The name did not ring any bells. I had no idea what country I was in.

I took a good look at several of the locals then headed back out of town. In the morning I would adjust myself to look like some combination of Native and European that seems to make up the local population. I also adjusted my clothes to the common thick sweater and heavy pants and boots.

An hour or so before dawn I threw myself, fully dressed into the sea. I was only vaguely surprised when I was able extract oxygen from the water through my skin and hair. When the current took me to the shore, I forced myself against the pier, making sure my scalp was split and added a nasty knot on my forehead.

The locals found my 'unconscious' body in the morning.