Chapter 2: Cataclysm
January 3, 2011, Three years ago
Robin had worked as a first responder to any and all cape-related incidents within Brockton Bay since the first day he had joined the Protectorate. He supposed that he owed that to his uniquely suitable breaker state. Today was no different, apparently there had been strange reports coming out of Winslow High throughout the day, on top of that the principal had contacted the PRT five minutes ago reporting what sounded suspiciously like a new trigger event inside the school premises. He was, as usual the first person to reach the place, he would scout the place for any information he could gather then report back to the PRT and the Protectorate so they could decide on a course of action. Nothing unusual for him, even so, he knew that capes could be unpredictable, especially new triggers so he resolved to maintain his caution.
He changed out of his breaker state right as he reached the school gate. He hadn't paid any attention to his surroundings while he was running, navigating his path more by instinct than any conscious thought so he was somewhat startled when he heard somebody gasp beside him. He turned to look in the direction and was met with the sight of a gaggle of girls standing near the school gate, staring at him. He assumed a practiced smile and waved at the girls before turning and walking into the school premises. He knew PR was an important part of his job as a hero but he had priorities, he wouldn't jeopardize a mission just to talk to people. In any case, whatever had happened here could be harmful to the people so he preferred to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
As he entered through the gate, he saw a scowling woman standing in front of one of the building entrances with an air of authority. He presumed that she was the school principal so he started walking toward her. As she noticed him after a moment, she started approaching him as well. He looked around as he walked, he could see students loitering in the schoolyard even though he was reasonably sure that the school day had ended a while earlier. He supposed the students were curious enough about what was happening inside the building that it overrode the school's authority to get them out. A more cynical part of him noted that some of the students were probably affiliated with the gangs present in the city who had a vested interest in anything concerning capes. As he continued his observation, to his surprise he also found Shadow Stalker in her civilian identity standing among the students. She was talking quietly to an anxious-looking redhead. He had forgotten that she didn't share the same school with the other Wards. He decided to get her report on this incident later when she was alone.
"Ms. Blackwell, I presume." he greeted the principal as they reached each other, offering his hand.
"Velocity," she said, taking the hand "I wish we could have met under better circumstances." she continued.
"Likewise." he gave a smile "Please lead the way."
The woman nodded and gestured to the entrance behind her, inviting him to walk alongside her. As they walked, he could see that the entire school was in a state of disrepair, graffiti from different gangs in the city strewn across the walls, most prominently symbols for the Empire Eighty-Eight and the Merchants, clearly painted over again and again.
Right as they set foot inside the building, he sensed that something was wrong. The air had an energized quality to it as if every time his body collided with a particle of air a faint electrical shock went through his body. As they continued further in the school corridors, he started sensing a faint metallic flavor in his mouth.
"The students found her after their last class of the day," the principal started, bringing Robin out of his musing, "There's a barrier surrounding the girl, and she appears to be frozen inside." she continued in a distressed voice.
Robin nodded his head and they continued their walk in silence. As a defensive ability, shields weren't uncommon as far as powers went, but if the girl was stuck inside the result of her trigger, they would have to find a way to pierce the shield.
"Here." the principal pointed to an entrance and they walked inside.
The first thing he noticed as they entered the corridor was a pulsating bright blue light originating from what appeared to be a series of lockers on one side of the corridor. As they walked closer, the energy in the air felt as if it was almost exerting physical force on him and he felt the metallic taste in his mouth intensifying exponentially. It made Robin wonder if anything harmful had been disseminated into the air. This place was empty of people, but the students outside may have been exposed to something dangerous. He supposed he would have to wait for the PRT troopers to arrive to evacuate everybody and maybe even put them under quarantine until Panacea arrived.
They walked toward the source of brightness in silence, as they got closer, Robin could see a vaguely humanoid figure behind the light source in between the pulses of light. Finally, they came to a stop a couple steps away from the glow. It was a pulsating semi-sphere of blue light, a barrier he supposed, encompassing a black-haired girl with dirtied clothes.
He noticed that the girl floated a few centimeters above the ground, her eyes were closed and her expression was serene like that of a toddler, sleeping with absolute trust in the protection her parents afforded her.
He didn't know what the poor girl had gone through but he was more than familiar with trigger events, and this was almost certainly a trigger event. At that moment, he made the impulsive decision to help the girl adapt to her new cape life. With such a public trigger event she would not have a civilian life anymore. Moving to another city only somewhat hampered the problem, as he was certain that by now videos of her had found their way to the internet, the PRT would try to bury them of course, but it would be pointless.
"A student tried to poke the barrier," the principal started, drawing Robin's attention. "She is now sitting in the nurse's office, missing an index finger." She continued, frowning in the direction of the floating girl.
"Right," Robin replied "Well, I'm sure the PRT will be interested in interviewing her."
He looked back to the girl thoughtfully. As he squinted to see better between the pulses, he could see that the inside of the barrier was entirely empty of any material except the girl herself, so he could safely conclude that the barrier had eaten away at all the surrounding material.
"How long do you think she could have been in this state before the others discovered her?" he asked.
The principal's frown deepened "I'm not sure, it could have been anywhere between minutes to hours."
If it had been a few hours or longer, it significantly reduced the odds that the barrier would drop by itself, still, they had to wait and see, prolonged trigger events weren't unheard of.
"Any other useful information?" He asked.
The principal stilled for a second, "Nothing comes to mind." she answered after a moment's pause.
He thanked the principal and told her to leave the matters in his and the PRT's hands. After she left to presumably attend to the loitering students, He spent a few moments in silence before putting his hand to his earpiece. "Console, do you copy?" he said as he turned from the girl to pace in the corridor, pulsating blue light illuminating the place.
"I copy." the PRT operative replied after a moment.
"There's been a fresh trigger inside Winslow Highschool. The parahuman in question appears to be encased inside an impenetrable barrier that damages anything it comes into contact with." he reported into the earpiece as he took a look at the girl. Was the light pulsating less than before? He wasn't sure.
"Acknowledged Velocity." the operative said a second later, drawing his attention back to the conversation "Is additional parahuman presence required at the moment?"
He thought for a moment, "Not urgently, but I suspect we will eventually need some help to get her out," he answered "besides that, I advise a district-wide quarantine on the suspicion of biohazardous materials being released into the environment. I would also advise acquiring Panacea's services as soon as possible to clear up the problem."
It took a few moments for the operative to respond, he stood in silence while he waited for the operative's response, staring at the girl. The pulsating was definitely stabilizing, did that mean anything?
"Panacea is currently out of town, but your suggestions will be taken under advisement." the operator finally said, causing him to frown, he started pacing again, it was inconvenient, but he could handle a few days of being in quarantine.
"Console, I want to emphasize—"
He stopped walking as he felt a massive surge of electricity pass through him, there was a startling zap in his earpiece and he felt a faint pain in his ear. he stilled for a moment then quickly took out the earpiece and stared at it before turning to look at the frozen girl.
The barrier had mostly stabilized into a faint blue color, the pulsating was now primarily concentrated on the top. The girl was still floating mid-air, and her eyes were wide open.
She stared at a point behind him, expression still serene, content. As far as Robin was concerned there was nothing particularly wrong about the scene in front of him. Yes, she had just gone through a trigger event, but different people responded with different emotions to the aftermath of their trigger, so her look was nothing unusual if a little distracted. Even so, something pushed him to enter his breaker state and step back.
The world slowed around him as he took a few steps back. The girl floated frozen in place, expression unchanged, as if she was a statue, merely an observer to the world around her, unconcerned. A moment everything was fine, normal, the next, the ground shattered beneath her feet. Where an instant before it had been flat and whole, it was now broken, disorganized, shrapnel flew in slow motion in every direction. Robin dodged them instinctively. He had heard no sound at the ground breaking but he felt a shockwave pass through him, disorienting him. He was running backwards now, instinctively trying to create as much distance as he could. The top of the barrier around the girl opened, a faint stream of light shooting up. The barrier expanded minutely, the lockers around her simply disintegrated as they fell on her. The ceiling above the girl cracked, showering large pieces of concrete on the girl, the material harmlessly evaporating as it hit the barrier.
Another shockwave passed through him, almost knocking him to the ground. When he looked up, the wall behind the lockers simply wasn't there, the girl still floated where she had been before, her expression still serene. The barrier was more of a cylinder than a semi-sphere now, it had turned mostly invisible but its presence was clear from the way that it consumed the dust. He could see the effect's slow growth; he could see that the circle around the girl sped up as it expanded. Robin turned from the scene and ran, all pretense of control gone.
He ran through the corridors as the building collapsed around him, he didn't know where he was headed, he couldn't navigate his path. He ran by instinct, without any clear thought. By some divine miracle he found himself outside the building. He ran out of the school gate and then a bit more before stopping, he paused for a moment, taking a breath, before turning to look back at the aftermath of the disastrous trigger event.
He saw the building collapse in on itself, large chunks falling down before being consumed mid-air by the expanding effect, disappearing into nothingness. to his shock the effect didn't slow down, it was as if the more material it consumed, the more energy it acquired. The effect took more speed, leveling whatever it passed through. He stared at the frantic students who had escaped out of the schoolyard, he wasn't sure it would be any help. The barrier expanded at a brisk rate, he saw Shadow Stalker morph into her breaker state, and an instant later he saw to his horror that she vaporized alongside the other students.
Robin felt mentally paralyzed from the scene, still his body knew what it had to do, he turned the other way and ran, he didn't look at the people he passed, he didn't think of his friends. He didn't stop, he didn't look back at the accelerating wave of destruction, he simply ran. He ran as civilization collapsed behind him, as the ground slowly caved in. He ran as the air around him grew unbearably hot.
It was an eternity later when he finally dared to look back. When he did, he was far outside the premises of the city. The destruction had died down, the ever-present energy in the air slowly drained. And there was no sign of the hometown he had lived in for as long as he remembered. He could see the violent movement of the ocean filling a crater larger than anything he had ever witnessed. And at the center of it all, as if a temporary monument to the sheer annihilation, there was a bright pillar of white light shooting toward the stratosphere.