1.3
Somer's Rock was best described as nondescript. The gray-white paint on the outside was peeling, and the rust from the iron bars on the windows had bled onto the surface. It was a hole-in-the-wall bar on a long street of hole-in-the-wall businesses. Everything was run down, and it looked like it had been before Leviathan had come to town. Even at noon the area was mostly deserted.
According to Jack Regis, who was surprisingly knowledgeable about the seedier side of Brockton Bay, Marquis had declared this cesspit to be neutral ground where the criminal fraternity could meet without danger of violence. Even the BBPD and PRT respected it as a necessary function.
Mesa hoped the Undersiders continued the tradition.
He entered the establishment prepared for a fight. A quick check showed Skitter seated next to a hulking inhuman figure that looked like a stone gargoyle had climbed down from a cathedral. Its face was a carved snarl and its bat-like wings were mostly furled against its back. It wore no clothes. Vector stopped and stared.
"This is Genesis," Skitter introduced the figure. "Please have a seat."
Mesa took the offered chair and stared at the inhuman figure squatting across the table. "I'm Vector." He did not offer his hand.
""Hmm..." the stoney figure grunted. "Shantytown and South Beach are my territory. Surfside is connected to Shantytown. Why shouldn't I claim it?"
"Because I'll stop you if you try," Vector replied flatly.
He knew almost nothing about Genesis. They were a member of the Travelers, a roving band of villains that had appeared in Brockton Bay earlier in the month. Genesis had been a part of the multi-group attack on a reception with Brockton Bay's mayor at the Forsberg Gallery and had helped humiliate the local Protectorate. Skitter had also been involved. The Travelers had taken part in the defense against Leviathan, but Mesa could not remember Genesis' specific involvement. The villain had appeared in different forms so was suspected of being a Changer.
"We thought you might say that," the gargoyle growled. "I don't think you can stop me. There's only one way to know for sure. You and me, one-on-one, over the Pentucket Island Bridge tonight at midnight. You keep me off of the Island and we'll leave it alone. I step foot on it and it's my territory."
Vector was considered one of the heavy-hitters on the hero side in the Bay. As a Blaster, he was ranked as only slightly less powerful than Purity but was considered more versatile than her. And that was before whatever powerup he had gotten during the fight against the Endbringer. He was strong enough that Gladly had been fighting off the Protectorate's pushy recruiting since he made his debut. His contract with Surfside had made that much easier. Given his abilities, Mesa liked his chances against almost any single cape in the Bay area. The question was, would Genesis fight alone?
"Not step foot. Touching the island isn't the same as taking it," Vector countered. "You have to take me down. If I can still fight you, I will. And if you bring in anyone else I'll have the Protectorate and New Wave on call. This could turn into a real clusterfuck if you don't stay within the rules."
"I hear you," Genesis nodded in agreement "Tonight at midnight."
Vector nodded to Skitter and backed out of the door. He had preparations to make. His first stop was the PRT HQ. He called ahead to let them know he was coming.
"Miss Militia, thanks for meeting with me on such short notice." They were seated in her temporary office.
Mesa had been surprised to find that Armsmaster was officially "working on a special project" and was unavailable. There had been rumors on PHO about the tinker's scuffle with the Triumvirate after the Endbringer battle. Mesa remembered seeing part of that when he had first awoken on Earth Bet, but he had been too loopy to retain any details. Some people were saying Armsmaster had been arrested but the Protectorate was keeping it hushed up. Whatever the case, he was talking to the tinker's deputy.
"You said this was urgent?" Her tone made that a question.
"Yes. As you know the Undersiders and Travelers have been staking claims to territory all over the city." The flag-draped hero nodded. "Genesis is going to try to take Surfside tonight."
"And you're asking for our help in stopping them?" Miss Militia clarified.
"Not exactly." Vector replied. "I've effectively been challenged to a duel. Genesis versus me. I'm ok with that. But if they bring in more villains I'm asking for the Protectorate to be ready to jump in."
"Only if more villains join the fight?"
"Exactly. They know I'm going to be there. The whole Traveler team, maybe joined by the Undersiders, could decide to just overwhelm me. I can't take them all at once."
"Why fight the duel at all? We could take Genesis with our team."
"Because Brockton Bay is descending into chaos and anarchy. You're allowing them to claim territory. I have to show them that I can defend Surfside. I have to make them back off. I think I can take any one or two, maybe even three of them. On the other hand, I'm not stupid. If they come as a mob, I need a mob behind me as well."
"Where and when?" she asked.
"The Pentucket Island Bridge tonight at midnight. I'll be there early of course, and I'll have the Surfside police watching around the island, in case the duel is a distraction."
She looked either thoughtful or uncertain. Hard to tell with half her face covered. Finally, she said, "It's an opportunity to concentrate forces on them if we can draw several villains to the location. If they don't come, we at least get to see a show." The last was said with obvious humor.
"I'll endeavor to make it entertaining. Thanks."
Mesa's next step was a call to Crystal Pelham, aka Laserdream. From his inherited memories he knew that there was a prior relationship there. Her and Vector's powers were similar enough that the young New Wave blaster and Gladly had become competitive friends over the last three years. Their ages were far enough apart, especially when they first met, that there was little chance of their relationship ever evolving beyond that.
He knew she and her mother were grief-stricken at the loss of Manpower and Shielder. Mesa had stopped by to offer his condolences in person not long after he had returned from Manchester, not because he retained a remnant or affection from Gladly, but as a cop he felt it a duty to offer his respect to fallen brothers in blue, even if he had not known them and they were not quite cops. He also wanted to maintain contact with the most successful group of independent heroes in the Bay.
He knew mother and daughter were already back on the job. So, he called. "Crystal?"
"Hey Vector." She took a deep breath with just a hint of a shudder. "What's up?"
"I wanted to invite you and your team to watch a duel between me and Genesis, one of the Travelers."
"What the fuck?" she snapped.
"And to back me up in case the rest of their team tries to interfere, possibly the Undersiders too."
"Those fucks. Vicky and Amy would love a shot at them." I noticed the young hero's language was saltier than Gladly had remembered. Anger was a common effect of grief. "Alright, you got my attention. Now, tell me what the fuck is going on."
He did.
When he returned to Surfside, he found hundreds of people with guns gathered in the middle school athletic field. Seavers, the mayor, and Clyde, the police chief, were managing the crowd with most of the Surfside PD assisting. Vector landed amidst cheers.
"What's all this, then?" the hero asked the mayor.
"We heard about the gangs openly taking territory in the city," the older man almost growled. "That's not going to happen here. We know that you can handle yourself, but we've got to do our part too. So, we're creating the Surfside Guard and the Island Militia."
He pointed to a group of men and women who appeared more relaxed than the rest. "The Guard are all veterans. We've got fifty, mostly former Army, Navy, and Marines. A few former PRT and cops. They'll be the main force. The Militia are the best of the rest, call it another one-hundred-and-fifty experienced hunters and sportsmen with a leavening of older vets. They're the reserve. Tonight, we'll scatter them in small groups around the island, just in case your spectacle is a distraction. Half the Guard will be backing you up at the island end of the bridge. The rest will be in town, ready to deploy anywhere they're needed."
"Where did all the guns come from?" Vector asked. Mesa was from Texas. He expected everyone to have guns there, but this was New England.
"Live Free or Die, my friend," Seavers laughed. "New Hampshire has some of the most gun-friendly laws in the country. Where'd you think you were, Massachusetts?"
"Alright then," Vector said, smiling.
This could be a good thing, or a disaster. He hoped it would give the island the protection it needed, especially when he was not around. He was going to have to practice blocking attacks from behind. Friendly fire was a thing. Especially with a hundred or two well-armed amateurs getting nervous behind him. "Now let's talk comms."
The Pentucket Island Bridge was a four-lane deck plate structure stretching over the three quarter-mile wide sound between the mainland and the island. The waves and riptides tearing through the narrow strait during Leviathan's rampage had undermined the two pillars at the center of the span, dropping a section almost a hundred yards long into the sea.
It was on either side of this gap that Vector and Genesis stood at midnight.
Somehow word had gotten out about the duel. Crowds had gathered on both shores. Boats swarmed in the gentle waters on either side of the bridge, some shining powerful spotlights to illuminate the area. Half the Protectorate team, and several Wards were joined by New Wave on the Island, prepared to defend. The occasional shifting shadow on the Shantytown side of the bridge hinted that the Undersiders and others might be lurking, ready to attack.
"Just you and me!" Genesis roared through a dark amorphous maw. The villain had taken a bulky humanoid form that sprouted a multitude of dark bat-like wings. It was uncomfortably evocative of the Simurgh, without sharing any specific traits.
"Just you and me!" Vector agreed.
Both opponents launched into the sky, shooting towards each other. As soon as Genesis was comfortably in range, Vector released a two-handed pressor blast that punched all the way through the hulking form. Rather than falling the form almost exploded into a dozen fluttering batwing shapes, each flying in a different trajectory.
Almost before he could react, Vector was surrounded. The arm length creatures circled him, dodging his blasts, and diving in to buffet him. When the first creature touched him, it mostly bounced off his pressor field, but the lateral movement allowed the edge of the wing to brush against his shoulder. With aloud pop, electricity arced between the creature and Vector.
"Ow!" Vector cried. While his new pressor fields were able to redirect most physical attacks, or at least rob them of much of their momentum, they were less effective against energy attacks, only able to disrupt some of the incoming power. The shock was painful, and his own involuntary reaction sent him spinning in the sky.
"When you said 'me', what you meant was you were your own frigging team," Vector called to his opponent.
The swarm made an eerie electric buzzing in response, then two more wings closed in.
Vector dropped fifty feet and sent a shearing beam – two beams, each from one finger, that switched between tractor and pressor causing the target to violently deform. It cut through the electric wing like a buzzsaw. Once bisected, the creature dissolved into powder and blew away on the wind.
What the hell? Mesa thought. He's not a shape changer. These are summons or something? Maybe clones like Oni Lee? That changes things.
Quickly shifting targets, Vector released another shearing beam, slicing through a second batwing. Only for a third to slam into his back, shocking him. He reeled through the air as the creatures swarmed him.
The electricity scrambled his reactions. He could not aim. He could not control his movements. All he could do was pulse his field. It felt like sneezing from every pore on his body. His pressor field shot out in all directions, slamming into four batwings, knocking them tumbling across the night sky.
Vector reached out with a tractor beam and grabbed a flier circling outside the main mass and pulled it forward to slam into a wing preparing to make its attack run. He followed with a tightly focused pressor that punched through both creatures, dusting them.
The creatures scattered into the dark. The searchlights from the boats started traversing the night sky, occasionally revealing glimpses of the fliers. But they were too fast and moving too erratically to be followed.
The hero scanned the sky using his visor. Miss Militia had agreed to lend it to him for the night. Nothing on infrared. The creatures had no heat signature. He switched to ultraviolet. That let him spot a few of the fliers. He flew in pursuit. Two wings came at him from behind in a crisscross attack. Vector rolled forwards and sent a beam after each, narrowly missing them both.
"Damn!"
Two more fliers scissored across Vector, front and back. He created a circular pressor shield with his left hand and batted the front one while twisting to dodge the one behind. A quick shearing beam caught it as it fled, slicing off the tip of its wing. Even that was enough to cause the creature to crumble.
Again, the swarm vanished into the night. Again, Vector searched for them.
This time his search was interrupted by a bolt of lightning crashing towards him. He met it at the last moment with a two-fisted pressor blast that disrupted the energy pathway causing the electricity to flash harmlessly into the night. This was a new ability, part of his expanded powerset since the Leviathan attack.
Some quick spotlight operator managed to trace the origin of the bolt to illuminate the many-winged hulk swooping towards Vector. Electricity raced along the edges of all the wings towards the creature's center. It opened its maw and another bolt flashed towards the hero. He sent another pressor beam to fracture the energy conduit.
Before Genesis could gather the power for another blast, Vector shot a dual-fisted vibratory beam that literally shook the composite body into its component parts. The batwings fluttered aimlessly for several seconds as if disoriented.
Not letting the opportunity go to waste, the hero released an arc of beams, one from each finger of his splayed hands. Several of the thin beams punctured one of the winged forms. Three of the seven remaining fliers fell to dust. The others, though untouched, quickly followed into dissolution.
Vector searched for more enemies in the night. The spotlights waved to find new targets. The crowd waited, holding its collective breath.
After five minutes of fruitless searching, it became clear that Genesis was gone. Capes on both sides of the bridge prepared for a disastrous escalation. Vector slowly approached the mainland shore and gently landed in front of a half-dozen well-armed men. They were wearing uniforms very like those the men distributing food packets for Skitter had worn. Mesa thought they were soldiers of the larger gang.
"Are we done here?" Vector asked the apparent leader.
The minion raised his hand to his ear, listened for a moment, then nodded silently. At his circular raised arm gesture his men piled into their SUVs and drove away. Vector breathed a sigh of relief as he lifted into the night sky. This would not be the spark that ignited an open Bay-wide war.
[Hidden Underground Bunker in Brockton Bay]
"That's the best outcome?" Coil muttered incredulously, pushing back violently, sending his chair rolling across the smooth floor of his workspace. He had taken to talking to himself when he began using his power - experiencing things no one else could know, much less understand.
"Eight possible futures. Eight! And this is the one that causes the least overall disruption of my larger plans." He shook his head sadly. "My people aren't ready for direct confrontation on that scale. They're either defeated or the battle destroys the very city I am trying to take over. So the little island maintains its independence, for now. No matter. It's not important in the larger picture."
He rolled himself back to his desk and began pulling up reports from his other agents. He had a city to run.
