Many thanks to themanwhowas, Assembler, frustratedFreeboota, and skyrunner for betareading.

Many thanks to MugaSofer for fact checking.

Douse 6.2

Trainwreck down, CD-5. Chubster down, CD-5. Bearach down, CD-5.

The names went on, droning forth from the armband, even as the battle joined and chaos broke out all around me. I leveraged Nenya into movement and resilience, forcing myself forwards in the crowd, pushing through the capes until I was in the front ranks. The star in the monster's breast was blinding—or would have been, had it the power to blind. Even through the glare, I could still see perfectly.

"Surround him!" Alexandria roared. She rose into the air and dove for the Endbringer's face. Meanwhile, capes not in the frontline group fell back behind us. Armsmaster and Chevalier were rallying the strikers into a second rank.

But none of that was my concern. I hefted Aeglos and leapt upward to strike wildly at Leviathan's shoulder as the Endbringer twisted and wove between attacks, its back bent as it loomed over us. The blow went wide, and the spear's point missed its target and embedded itself in the trailing water echo. Around its blazing tip, the water froze solid. The chunk of ice fell and shattered uselessly against Leviathan's broad back.

It turned its back to me as it grabbed for Alexandria with one hand while the other clawed at the capes on the ground. Its tail whipped up, snaking around and knocking over those closest. I barely dodged it, and almost managed to stab at it with Aeglos as it passed me. Again I missed, striking only the echo left in its wake.

A crossbow bolt, longer and heftier than Sophia's, flew past my head, whistling shrilly. It punctured through the water echo without resistance and sank into the ground beyond.

That was when Leviathan seemingly decided to stop sitting in the middle of us. It leapt, pushing itself up with water, and lunged at Alexandria. She leapt backward in the air, out of its reach, but was consequentially too far away to react when the Endbringer turned on a dime and dove for one of the others.

I didn't know him. He was clad in a full coating of chitinous armor, with bright, razor-sharp blades emerging from his forearms, and eyes which glowed a pale yellow under his mandibled helm. Leviathan threw itself into him and pushed him back a few staggering steps. Then it spun, as though drilling into him and over him, and its water echo whirled around him in flat discs. The brute's armor was flayed away in seconds by the maelstrom, rent apart as if by sawblades, and the man within was thrown aside to smack into one of the others, bleeding heavily.

Carapacitator down, CD-5.

Leviathan leapt again, landing on all fours and already running, skating over the top of the water. I had to dive backwards to dodge its echo as it barreled past, straight over the fallen body of Carapacitator. As it passed, it stooped, and its echo scooped him back up into itself, suspending the fallen cape in the water.

His mask had shattered, and I saw a pale, broken face looking back at me. The yellow eyes looked all too human now, as did the pinched expression of stark terror set in every line of his features.

Then, as if in slow motion, his body crumpled like an aluminum can under a sledgehammer. One limb at a time was crushed down into a thin smear, and the man was screaming in anguish, bubbles emerging from his mouth as from a valve, until at last his head, too, was squeezed into a pasty red pulp.

Carapacitator deceased, CD-5.

The entire process had taken some two seconds, and in that time Leviathan had already traveled the length of the street, dashing away from us like a bullet from a gun. Through the mess that had once been Carapacitator that horrible, beautiful star still shone bright, piercing air, water, and flesh undiminished.

I blinked. I could still see it behind closed eyelids.

For a moment, I cursed Nenya, and the perception it granted me. I didn't want the image of Carapacitator's body being crushed like garbage in a compactor to be burned into my mind in minute detail. I wanted to be able to forget.

But it was better than being dead myself.

"After him!" Alexandria ordered, and we charged. I did not use Nenya to speed up, any more than was necessary to keep up with the others. I did not want to be alone when I reached Leviathan. Was it the same for them too? Many of the capes beside me were movers. Were they, like me, restraining themselves to stay with the pack?

The water grew deeper as we proceeded down towards the bay and the ruined boardwalk. Leviathan reached the destroyed frame before we did and turned left, towards the city proper. Its echo slammed against the timber and shattered what little structure remained like so many matchsticks.

He dove down a street and out of my sight.

"Fliers, we need to cut him off!" Alexandria barked. She rose, and others followed her. I recognized both Glory Girl and Aegis as they rose over the buildings and flew after the Endbringer.

"Non-fliers, keep after him!" That was Armsmaster, who I suddenly found beside me. He was still charging, a grim set to his mouth, continuing towards the turn Leviathan had taken.

I followed, but something in the corner of my vision made me glance to my right. I blinked.

"Wave!" someone screamed, but that was inadequate. The sheer wall of water bearing down on us was no wave. It was monumental, towering over the tallest of us by almost five feet, and pushing forward like a bulldozer.

"Brace!" That was Bastion's resonant voice. "Shields up!"

The shakers put up their barriers. I saw the telltale stretching of space as Vista lengthened the distance, hoping to force the wave to wear itself out, but there wasn't enough time, and this was no ordinary wave. All around me, capes were grabbing one another, or holding on to buildings and posts and preparing to weather the impact.

I am unbowed. We are unbowed.

Nenya flared, a star in the storm, eclipsed only by that bright pinprick I saw shining in the streets behind me. I saw the capes around me stiffen, as if braced against supports of adamant. I felt the rush as the Ring of Power lent itself to me.

The wave struck, and we were not swept away. Almost every one of the assembled capes stood firm under the onslaught, holding strong against the impact.

The water level sank surprisingly quickly. In mere moments my head broke the surface again. I spluttered and spat brine, but Armsmaster was already calling out. "Keep moving!"

We did, wading heavily through waist-high water. The tip of Aeglos was freezing passing droplets of water into a fine dusting of snow, which billowed around me and swirled down towards the sea.

Even as I followed Armsmaster as he waded through waist-high seawater, I was watching that bright light shining through the buildings and streets, undimmed by intervening stone. It was moving erratically now as Leviathan engaged the other capes in combat.

Iron Falcon down, CD-5. Lady Photon down, CD-5. Oni Lee deceased, CD-5. Vantage down, CD-5. Fierceling deceased, CD-5.

Then, as if at an unseen cue, the light changed tack, ceasing to dodge and instead darting straight towards us. The light grew no brighter, since it was already as bright as any light as I could imagine, but it grew nearer all the same as Leviathan approached. I heard the rumbling as it crashed through buildings on its way.

"He's coming towards us!" I called out. "Through the buildings!"

Armsmaster nodded at me and shouted, "Get ready!"

I hefted Aeglos.

The building to our left shattered like an eggshell, sending fragments of stone and masonry flying out in clumps. The debris splashed into the water and crashed into the assembled capes, scattering foam and gore.

Cloister down, CD-5. Triumph down, CD-5.

Leviathan emerged from the hole like an avenging god. Its claws were hooks seeking to catch and rend, its tail a flailing lash, and its water echo a tidal wave of mingled blood and brine.

Crusader deceased, CD-5. Adamant down, CD-5. Pelter down, CD-5. The Erudite deceased, CD-5.

I met the Endbringer halfway. Gone was fear, at last. With Nenya streaming out power through me, I could no more be cowed by fear than by any other force. Aeglos shone brightest blue, and the light of Nenya mingled with the shimmer of my armor, setting the water all around me aglow in an incandescent, silver halo.

"Ego!" I shouted, the Sindarin pouring forth in an unquenchable tide. "Ego, limlug, ulunn i gaer! Ú-hirithach si tûr!"

I lanced forth with Aeglos, aiming straight for that shining thing in the center of its chest. Frost spread from the point where the blade touched the Endbringer's flesh, and the point sank into it, fighting the resistance of its tough hide.

Leviathan recoiled, pulling itself off of the impaling spear and whipping around. Its tail struck me hard across the stomach, its water echo a second blow just as hard. I was thrown up and back out of the water to fly fifty, sixty feet or more, exhaling sharply as my body was dashed against the inside of my armor. I arced through the air like a missile, and hit the water headfirst and sank, sank like a stone, falling deeper and deeper into the dark water past the beach's dropoff.

I struggled, trying to right myself, and eventually managed it so that my head was facing up towards the faint, flickering light shining down into the murky water from above. The salty brine stung my eyes, but I kept them open, allowing Nenya to fill me until the pain felt like little more than a passive reminder.

I was at least a hundred feet down. I could see faintly in the murk where the slope of the beach rose up. And though my armor had protected me from the worst of the impact, bouncing around in it had still left me winded. My lungs were anything but full.

But still Nenya's power surged through me. I was unbowed.

I began to swim, pushing the water down behind me as I rose. Up and up I went, rising from the depths, rising towards that faint light from the rising sun.

My lungs were protesting when I started. Soon they were screaming. Every muscle in my body burned at the exertion. There was no oxygen, no life-giving air, with which to fuel my arms as they swung, up and down, propelling me forwards and upwards. My armor, light as the mithril was, still seemed immeasurably heavy. But still I swam, though my limbs felt like lead and my head spun like a top.

The world grew darker even as I drew closer to the light above. Blackness crept in around the edges of my vision. There was a sound in my ears on the very edge of hearing, like a choir singing. Every so often I could almost make out a word or phrase in Valarin, and every so often I thought I heard a voice I recognized joining in the song—mine.

Nenya was brighter than it had ever been. I could feel it coursing through me in waves of power, keeping me alive and focused, keeping me from succumbing to the horrible, fatal temptation to open my mouth and let the water flow in.

Then there were arms around me. I felt them pulling me up, taking me by my armor and pulling. I couldn't see who it was. I could see very little besides the faint light above me, now, only a small glimmer which seemed miles away now.

I kept pushing water down, and the hands kept pulling me up. The last ten feet were the longest of all, and by the end of them, I had lost sight even of the light. I was blind.

Then the water broke around me. The cool air hit my face and I was gasping, coughing, and gasping again, desperately pulling sweet oxygen into my depleted lungs for the first time in what felt like an aeon.

The hands turned me and pulled me back with them as their owner made their way towards the shore. I spluttered, gasped, choked, and slowly the world came back into view.

All around me a storm raged. Leviathan's fury had not abated, not even close. In fact, as we swam, my aid and I were tossed upward on the back of another wave. They fought to keep me above water, their grip tightening around me as they pushed their way through.

My back was into their side, and their right arm was around me while their left pulled at the water, propelling us back towards the shore. I looked down at my chest, and at the dark-skinned girl's hand that was tightly clenched around me.

"Sophia?" I asked, the name coming out as little more than a wheeze.

"Save your breath," she replied, her words strained with exertion and tension.

I nodded slowly and turned my attention to myself, focusing on breathing and getting my lungs used to the sensation of having air in them again.

We slowed as Sophia's left hand came up to her face and she pressed the buttons on her wristband with her teeth, carefully not letting go of me. "Shadow Stalker here. I've recovered Annatar. Where should I take her?"

Without waiting for a reply, she continued swimming. I trailed behind like so much dead weight.

Sophia's wristband crackled to life then. "Shadow Stalker." It was Panacea's voice. "We've set up in the lobby of a hotel, right near where Strider brought us to fight Leviathan. Bring her there."

Sophia's head bobbed against me, but other than that she made no reply.

A few moments later, my feet touched earth. I pulled away from Sophia and stood up. "Thank you," I said. My voice was still weak, but at least now it sounded like a voice.

She turned to me. Under her mask, her eyes were bright and wet. "Don't," she said, her voice harsh and raw, "ever fucking do that again."

I chuckled, and then found myself falling forward. Nenya was flickering. It was not that the Ring of Power was flagging. I was flagging. I was not Nenya's true Bearer, and never would be. I was the Ring-Maker, and so the Ring of Power would gladly lend itself to me, but I could never complement it the way a true Bearer of Nenya would. I could be bowed in a way a Bearer the Ring had chosen would not be. There was only so much it could do for me.

Sophia caught me. "Let's get you to Panacea," she said. "She, Othala, and the other healers have set up a sort of medical tent."

"I'm fine," I protested weakly. "I just need a minute to rest."

The star that was Leviathan was still moving. I could see it through the buildings as it wound through the streets, dodging between capes and dealing blows when it was given opportunity.

Gully down, DB-3. Resolute deceased, DB-3. Purity down, DB-3. Acoustic deceased, CD-5. Trainwreck deceased, DB-3.

"Then you can rest there," she said in a tone that brooked no argument. "Panacea can take a look at you."

I nodded tiredly, giving up. "Fine. I'll be able to help with Vilya when I recover."

"Maybe," she allowed, "but recover first."

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