You know? Given my particular situation, I'm reminded of my time in middle school when I and all the other children talked about what superpowers we would have. Only we never really did consider how we would get those powers. I mean, trigger events aren't even that well know among normal humans in the Protectorate. And even if we did speculate what our trigger events would be, we would cheat. Make something up that wouldn't really both us, but sounds just bad enough it would count towards that. And I, like so many others, would have never thought of what was happening right now as being my trigger.
Of course, I honestly can't think of a better time than being stuck inside a carport with a piece of rebar stuck through my shoulder as Armsmaster had a dick measuring contest with the Leviathan to learn I have the ability to make reality my own personal bitch.
The trigger event was an odd thing to feel. I mean, at first I was trying not to think about my the intense pain blossoming from my shoulder in an attempt not to scream. Then suddenly that pain was reduced to a dull burning sensation and I was suddenly aware of everything within a certain distance around me. Like a massive bubble surrounded me I was intuitively aware of almost everything in my surrounds, including the car two ceilings above me getting ready to fall down through the hole that had been created.
I wasn't entirely sure it would break through the ceiling between me and it, as this was a carport and as far as I could tell they had pretty thick floors. Only this building was barely standing as it was, so maybe hanging out underneath what will soon be the landing zone of an SUV wasn't such a great idea.
"ARGHAAaaaaAAA!" I inelegantly shouted as I pulled my shoulder off the metal construction pole. "MMMHhhhmm, that's brisk!" It burned like a motherfucker, but at the same time I kind of enjoyed it. It wasn't so intense enough that I wished it was gone, just enough to burn. It certainly wasn't hurting as much as it should be, it was an interesting feeling.
Where was I? Oh yeah, Armsmaster playing with Leviathan not that far away, to far for my sphere of I-know-everything power. Speaking of that, I suddenly felt someone enter my area on the outside wall of the carport. I couldn't quite feel them they way I felt everything else around me. It was like the walls and objects were in high definition but whoever this person was they felt like a silhouette. But more than that, I realized I had a measure of feeling over everything in the area, like a thousand hands touching each and every surface. It was only when these metaphorical hands didn't touch the yet to be named person did I even notice this was a thing.
Curiously, I tried experimenting with this as I made my way to the crouching person, pressing my hand against the gaping hole in my shoulder. It would kind of suck if I bled out after just becoming a superhero.
As it turns out, this feeling I had about my general surroundings only let me exert a sort of pressure on them. I'm not exactly sure what that did, but I did notice something started looking a little… smoother around the edges. I decided to put that off for a moment. More not dying now and less experimenting with unknown power.
My first priority was getting to the person on the ground nearby. With any luck it would be a cape of some sort that could make sure I don't die before I get to some doctors. Then after that I might decided to face the fact my entire life is over as the Leviathan just got done destroying everything I know and love. Actually, made I should just ignore that part.
A swung over the railing and landed next to… Skitter. Okay, wow. I mean, with all the heroes running about the bay to fight the Endbringer, what are the chances I would land right next to Brockton Bay's up and coming villain? She's no Lung or Kaiser, but she is definitely up there. One of the scarier ones when you consider she runs Regent and Hellhound.
"Excuse me," I gasped as I landed in the water sodden grass beside her. She was already looking at me with her creepy bug mask before I managed to roll my head and look at her.
"You're injured," she said bluntly.
"Oh, when then that happen? Must have tripped on something." I said it with as real as smile as I could manage, although her mask made it impossible for me to see her reaction.
"Do you think you can hold on for a little bit?" I paused before responding. I looked down and took my hands away from the wound.
"It looks like I'm clotting well enough. I probably won't die in the next twenty minutes, so long as I avoid any more pointy objects." I had lost a ton of blood, but I didn't any of the effect I thought it would have. Was that part of my power? It was almost annoying that I couldn't begin test at this moment. But that would have to wait until I got a quick patch job, a shower, and a new bra because clearly this one was no good. Although, blood red wasn't such a bad colour on me either.
"Good, then we need to get to Armsmaster."
"Get to Armsmaster?" Oh, it appeared Armsmaster, or more appropriately Armmaster, had fallen to the ground, his Halberd and arm hitting the water not to far from him. I was all for helping what might be my future employer if things go right, but there was the issue of the hulking lizard/human monster hovering over him.
But one does not simply refuse when the super villain you are following with the hopes of running into some superhuman friends that do some superhuman healing begins to walk forward and expects you to follow.
I made it about three steps before we both froze when the Leviathan stopped moving and turned to look our way. I was briefly aware of someone entering my sphere of influence. They were only there for barely a second before they were gone again, moving in the direction of the Leviathan. There was a massive wave of water which moved behind the person as they moved.
I turned and looked at the Leviathan with Skitter standing still beside me. A vaguely human shape had been running fast across the ground. The Leviathan raised a claw to do something but never got the chance as the person leaped through the air much higher than I would have thought possible, until I remembered parahumans exist and slapped myself for being an idiot. And great, now there is a bloody handprint on my face.
There was a massive explosion and caused me to redirect my attention to the scene unfolding in front of me. Whoever it was that was doing the running just punched the Leviathan in the face, hard. The was even a white shock wave of air going around the Leviathan's face before it fell backwards. The human shape plummeted to the ground a second later, falling out of sight.
The Leviathan got back on its feet and instant later. Its entire face had caved inward from where the parahuman had punched it a moment ago. The Leviathan hesitated toward us for a moment, before turning and running. Apparently the crater making punch to the face was the last straw. Hopefully the Endbringer won't return to this side of the coast again, we could only hope.
Oh, falling now. I found myself fell face first against the flooded street, getting a mouthful of water in the process. I spat out the mouthful of water and struggled to my feet as I tried to fight out a wave of dizziness that had struck me out of nowhere. I found my footing and started looking around for Skitter.
She had apparently lost a hand somewhere along the way and was bleeding pretty badly. I sauntered up to her as easily as I could manage with the light headedness going on now. She was speaking into those arm bands they all wore.
"-master down! CC-7! The Leviathan heading towards the ocean…" Skitter paused and began applying pressure on Armsmaster's stump. I slumped on the ground next to her and him, suddenly to tried to say or do anything useful. I had to hand it to Skitter, she was taking the broken arm and missing hand rather well. I had a hole in my shoulder, but that hadn't been really painful since I triggered. I wanted nothing more than to rest and feel the pain in my shoulder play out. But I couldn't stop, stopping meant facing hard facts. I had enough self-awareness to know that much, and I knew what would happen if I didn't come to terms with those facts. But all the same, it would be better now if I didn't think about it. I needed something else to distract me. I need something to do, some way to help.
Suddenly it clicked that maybe I could do something. My power dulled the pain and appeared to give me a bit more blood to loose or something along those lines. Maybe it gave everyone in my sphere of effect something similar? Or more likely given how every power seems to act it would probably drain some life force or something out of those two, and that probably wouldn't look good for me once the heroes came for us.
I closed my eyes and focused on exerting that pressure on myself. Instantly I felt the pain dull in my shoulder and the light headedness fade. I glanced down and saw the wound itself hadn't changed so much. Wait, no, that wasn't true. It had changed, just in a weird way. It looked smoother somehow, and the blood looked a little lighter in colour.
I shook my head and focused back on Skitter and Armsmaster. I used my new found strength to stand up and was about to offer to take over when a human shaped shadow fell over me. I looked up to see a cape in a Russian themed costume. He wore a thick grey trench coat with a large fur lining and a match grey fur cap with a red star in the centre. His mask was white with red stripes and yellow eyepieces that covered everything but his mouth, which was set in a steady frown.
"You are attempting to help, yaes?" The question was directed at Skitter, not me even though I was the only standing. I was more blown away by the fact the he even spoke in a heavy Russian accent. What was a Russian cape doing here? Was he even Russian or was he just pretending?
Skitter nodded and tried to apply more pressure, but she was barely standing. The Russian cape tilted his head and asked,
"But he is hero, no? And you are villain?" Skitter nodded her head and tried not to sway, failing.
"There is a treaty."
"But treaty says do not attack enemies does it not? You could leave hero here and no one would know." Skitter was silent for a moment.
"I would know." The Russian cape nodded and looked up.
"Might I help then?" Skitter nodded and moved away. The Russian cape leaned down a plucked Armsmaster up like it was nothing and threw him on his shoulder. He offered a hand to Skitter, who took it and was lifted up and put on his shoulder just as easily as if she were made of paper.
"Her too," Skitter said, pointing at me.
"Aw, you remembered." I said with a grin on my face. With Skitter on his shoulder he reached out and grabbed me by my good arm and pulled me close, wedging my bad shoulder between myself and his chest.
"Vhich direction?" The Russian cape asked. Skitter checked her armband and then point in the general direction of what I hoped was a hospital of some sort. And suddenly we were in the air.
It was at this moment I realized these was the same guy that made the Leviathan's face look like the Gulf of Mexico as he leaped from the ground to the top of the highest building in the area before I had a chance to blink. I looked up to see Skitter's reaction, but she appeared to be unconscious. Oh well, more fun for me.
Or maybe I should sleep. As the edges of my vision grew darker I felt oddly tired. If it wasn't for the constant input by everything in my sphere of influence I might have already been asleep. The wind in my face every time The Russian leaped was quite soothing. All I need was to close my eyes and...