July 4th 2003 Ironwood.

The Justin hid under a blanket as Juno smiled and waved at the cameras. I stood up, my hand over my core as I recited the pledge, the cameras and lights were hot, they brought out the governor for this. I finished the required speech, a series of flags were set up, this was a public relations moment created for the public. A moment of patriotism and honestly, I felt touched the moment the Seattle capes got up and clapped as the ceremony ended.

The camera's were shut off and the moment was over, I walked out of city hall pushing a stroller.

"So what do you want to do for your birthday?"

It was 9 in the morning, we had all day and-

"Sleep."

I blinked.

"Are-"

June leaned against the wall.

"I'm sure, just go out with the kids, take care of them and let me sleep."

She sighed.

"Sorry it's just between the kids and the tinkering..."

I nodded my head.

"I get it, I will take them out."

I went to a park, and watched as they walked around, a PRT security patrol wasn't as hidden as they thought, but I tolerated it. They weren't babies anymore, Juno had firmly entered the terrible 2's and-

"WATCH ME DADDY!"

I watched as she tried and failed to do a cartwheel, she frowned at a bruise, her eyes watered but she didn't cry.

"Fix."

I got up.

"Juno?"

"Please."

I put my hand on her skinned knee and watched it heal, she smiled and giggled and saw some other children in a sandbox she rushed forward. The parents eyes opened as they saw me, I took a seat on a bench. One of the women looked nervously as my daughter rushed up to the other girl.

"Just looking after the kids."

"Oh... right, forgot you were...a father."

She scooted away from me, never mind I was on another bench, whatever this wasn't for me. I let them get their energy out and then when they were tired I took them to the library, the doors were just big enough to let me in. I read stories about knights, and princesses. Juno looked bored but Justin was entranced by the stories. They were smart, I made them that way, but I didn't know how far they would take it.

The future was uncertain, would they be ok or would they-

"Daddy, I HUNGRY!"

Or I could just get them something to eat and take it one day at a time.

July 7th

"What can I do for you?"

Men in black suits, they weren't PRT... they were from the UN.

"We made a visit to Iran...this is what we found from what was left of the city."

They opened the box a small little chunk of meat...Zahhak... the black dragon, the slayer of an entire city, their words were phrased like an acusation.

"I offered to help."

"We know... it's... Hopefully no one else will do that again, we need you to tell us what kind of posion or acid or whatever it is he used, for next time."

I took the tiny black chunk and concentrated on it studying it. If I could still grimace, I would have.

"It's not acid or posion."

"Really, some kind of energy attack then?"

"I wish... that darkness, he's creating tiny micro holes to other universes."

The man nodded.

"About the size of a pin prick but billions no trillions of them at the same time, to many different universes... imagine being killed by a cheese grater. Thats what he did to an entire city."

"Fuck."

I sighed.

"I have children..."

"Sorry... it's just can you make countermeasures, Ironwood?"

I thought about it, if I used what I learned from Cronos, and mixed it with... it was possible.

"I could create beasts that would create fields of stable space, it would protect people in the bubble but those outside of it would not have that kind of protection, and those fields would not be big enough to protect large buildings and infrastructure."

I felt a migrain and my senses were hit.

"What's the problem?"

"Istanbul three days, another Endbringer, I'm sorry I don't know it's capabilities."

July 10th

She arose from the sea, bigger and larger then myself, the lower half of her body was that of a black spider, the upper half that of a woman, her skin was dark, she had six glowing red eyes and white hair that blew in the breeze. She screamed and shot eggs out of her abdomen. They hatched almost instantly and an army of buglike monster arose.

Machinegun fire echoed through out the city, I sent my own monsters out to hunt hers, and she... she ran, she was fast, agile and jumped around like a rubber ball on a trampoline, all the while sending out more and more monsters. My attempts to kill them directly with my powers didn't work, her powers resisted mine.

"We need support, Ironwood."

"Sending help, the bugs are resistant to my direct biomanipulation."

"Thought about, um."

"Do you want me to use a city wide plague because, I'm pretty sure the Thinkers would confirm that could backfire horribly."

"Roger that... How's it going?"

"She's a runner, she's using the terrain and her superior mobility to stay out of my way... If I could just catch her, I'm sure I could get a kill."

"Wish we could help but the army of bugs is keeping us busy..."

She kept out of my grasp, kept moving away and kept sending out more and more bugs, eventually though she seemed to get frustrated, she made her way towards the ocean, the world's naval vessels opened fire for all the good it did until she submerged under the debts of the ocean.

"15% casualties from Arachne, a third of them are confirmed deaths, the enemy army is dead. Ironwood come back, we have wounded, everyone else... we didn't get a kill but we won, she ran away with her tail between her legs. Next time... Next time we will win this."

I moved back towards Istanbul, I could see fires in the distance, and I saw wreckage all around, people looked and felt grim. The number of Endbringers was getting larger and the war... the war was becoming more serious.