The Simurgh had successfully flattened a significant number of the small, incredibly loud and rapidly firing ships, and the bombing troupe was currently flying a large loop to come back around for round two. Whatever ship, which appeared to be of the larger variety, only took a few seconds before another fwoomp informed Legend it had reloaded already.
He didn't know much about modern military technology, but by the 12th rocket flying through the air in roughly under a minutes time span he was forced to acknowledge that the ship was obviously also of Tinker-Tech design, if that wasn't already clear from the gleaming black metal hull. Several turrets adorning both the top and bottom were swiveling about as its point-blank defense, but its primary offensive weapon was clearly the massive electric rockets it was deploying every few seconds.
The effects they had on the false angel were minimal, but each time they struck they temporarily blinded her and seemed to cause a brief stutter as she reoriented herself. Her telekinetic efforts to obliterate the few ships that remained close to her were slowly increasing in tempo, and she successfully blocked several of the rockets by detonating them early against her cloud of debris.
Buildings underneath her had, by some miracle, suffered no damage from the ship's attacks, but were currently looking the worse for wear as they'd become the Simurghs repurposed fly-swatters and makeshift missile stoppers.
She'd even managed to snag several of those smaller ships that initiated the attack and started to rip them apart, but before he could even worry about whatever twisted creation the Endbringer had in mind, most of the ships stuck in her grasp simply... disintegrated.
Huh. That works, he supposed.
His next surprise entered the fray but from an unexpected direction - hovering just above street level were a pair of ships that projected a solid blue, hexagonal shield that surrounded them and the nearby civilians in a protective bubble. Any debris that was either intentionally tossed or merely floated into the barrier was stopped and rebuffed with apparent ease.
Not only that, thin beams of white light rapidly began appearing from near the tip of the ship, though instead of blowing a hole through the concrete slabs they targeted the objects simply... stopped.
Perfectly still in the air, as though they were grabbed by an invisible hand and told to simply cease moving.
Then, in a surprising display of intelligence, they tossed the debris backwards and away from the large telekinetic's area of control. Denying the enemy easy ammunition, requiring her to focus on grabbing more instead of attacking or shielding herself... smart.
In yet another surprising twist, the ships began using their beams of... telekinesis? Whatever they were, they latched onto several civilians who seemed to be stuck, frightened, or unable to move under their own power. They swiftly toted them into the shield's cover if they weren't already, and once they reached some sort of limit, they rapidly retreated, carrying their new cargo with them to safety.
All the while, Legend simply watched in fascination as a single force of spaceships successfully fought against one of the worlds most feared combatants of all time, stalling for time and dealing enough damage that the city just might not be quarantined.
Though he could see more ships spawning at irregular intervals from where they all originally appeared, they weren't being replaced fast enough to completely bring their numbers back up to the original count.
Pressing the buttons to give out an armband-wide announcement, he spoke. "Attention all capes, the fleet has struck the Simurgh a major blow, and we've seen no signs of her using precognition to dodge attacks. They're numbers are dwindling however, and it will be our time to strike and hold the line soon, prepare yourself. Blasters, group yourselves with me and prepare to unleash everything you have on my mark. Anybody with flight and damaging abilities might get more time to participate if that rocket ship continues its pattern of targeting her mouth every time she opens it. Get into position and prepare yourselves!"
The assembled capes underneath him all shook themselves free of their collective stupor and formed up in the assigned groupings. Internally, Legend was hopeful, but painfully aware of the potential for everything to go wrong in an instant. For his sanity's sake, he chose not to believe this was all planned by the Simurgh to give them hope once more, only to dash it against the rocks.
Strider appeared rapidly, repositioning groups of blasters at Legend's command to within striking distance, but far enough away to not be at risk from the current fight.
While he himself repositioned, an idle thought entered his mind that no more new ships at appeared in the last couple of minutes, and the Simurgh was mostly dealing with the rockets and the bomber fleet that was still mostly intact. With her focus only being split between two opponents, however, she proved herself just as frightening without a massive precognitive boost.
Numerous chunks of concrete, rebar sticking out of several pieces, floated to intercept the rockets as they moved without the false angel even looking into perfect positions.
The bombers unleashed their devastating payload early, so as to breach the shield wall the Endbringer had constructed for herself, the blasts easily enough to wipe out and pierce her attempt to block. Even with their destructive power, especially the larger bomber who eclipsed all of the smaller ships with a single hit, the Simurgh remained standing strong.
This time she decided to counter-attack, lobbing numerous pieces of detritus at the still-approaching cluster of ships. Although nearly all of the shots connected, every single one survived the attack as the trees, rocks, and parts of buildings were deflected by a thin blue barrier that appeared right as they were struck. Personal shields as well as projected shields. Very interesting.
At worst they bobbed slightly from the impact but continued on their merry shrieking way as they passed. Did they really have to announce their presence with that awful noise?
This trend continued for a while, and though his group looked eager and ready to start he didn't give the signal to attack yet. Something wasn't quite right - the area where the ships originated from hadn't spat out any new ships for several minutes, and while one might have thought it was because the Tinker who created the ships had run out, Legend's 6th sense was practically screaming a warning at him.
It was less they weren't spending resources on more of their smaller ships - it was the sense they were focusing all their effort on... something. Something big. Legend had no way of verifying his fear, but he could shake the feeling that something was coming.
Based on the tech they'd already displayed; he was both extremely interested and scared to see what they showed off next.
Several explosions rocked the very earth itself as some of the bombers were destroyed, crashing into the ground, but not before successfully unleashing their weaponry on the Endbringer. They swiftly disintegrated, much like the others before it, leaving not even a trace behind.
A couple noisy bombing runs later and most of the ships were defeated, leaving only the larger ship that stopped doing passes and stopped, unloading its not-inconsiderate close range weaponry and its explosive attack every chance it had. It lasted nearly a minute on its own, a testament to the raw strength and defense of the cruisers? Frigates? Destroyers? Possessed.
The rocket-ship never ceased firing either - though most of its shots were ineffectual, it did provide some form of distraction and annoyance for the Simurgh.
Meanwhile, the bubble-shield ships seemed to have successfully evacuated the nearby vicinity as they were now focused entirely on ripping pieces of debris away from her shield and tossing them away, outside of her control radius. Though each ship had to use a significant number of its beams to actually wrest control from the false angel, they were slowly but surely reducing the total number of weapons she had access to.
It was as the final deathblow was dealt to the larger bomber that Legend gave his order. "Blasters! FIRE NOW! Give her everything you've got! Brutes, prepare to smack her down once we stop!"
Most of the capes attending were ones Legend recognized - they were all familiar with their general strategy when it came to a a currently non-moving Endbringer (excluding Behemoth), which was to blast it with everything they had in an effort to stun it, then keep it from getting up and repeat the process. Eidolon floated near him, having charged his powers for as long as possible.
"Let's end this quickly."
It was part prayer, part self-actualization. Streamers of fire, light, oddly bent space, distorted beams of purple and an infinite variety of other attacks burst from their group, colliding with the Simurgh in a torrent of ungodly destruction. It was also further proof her lack of precognition was practically confirmed - the Endbringer, as the physically weakest of her family, would never eat that much raw firepower.
As the last beam tapered off, Legend had completely lost sight of their foe in the massive dust cloud that had erupted. Another fwoomp told him that the missile-ship had never stopped unleashing its never-ending payload.
The explosion that followed rapidly cleared the air of debris, and Legend vaguely heard Dragon in the background telling the ship to cease-firing. It seemed to comply with the command, as no new missiles emerged, and he was granted sight of Alexandria swooping in and grabbing the Simurgh by the neck, before pulling her backwards and swinging her into the earth like a meteor touching down.
Like an actual meteor, a large crater was formed at the impact site, where the rest of the flyers swiftly took position and began unloading their own attacks. Included in that assault wave were closer-range Blasters who were ferried in by flyers to stay relevant and as safe as they could be, given the situation.
Legend's group of long-range Blasters received a teleport from Strider to a new position that was closer, but overlooked the new angel-shaped crater in the ground. At their armbands command, the flyers and brutes retreated, before his group unloaded everything they had yet again.
Over the cacophony of noise being generated by the Blasters, he vaguely heard the armband spit out a command to continue firing, as the Simurgh hadn't escaped the pit yet. And so they kept firing, his own lasers of varying types flying into where Legend roughly guessed the center of the crater would be. Eidolon continued unleashing his particular brand of devastation, some kind of exotic wave that disintegrated the dust it passed through.
Again, Legend felt optimism. This was by far the most damage they'd dealt to the Simurgh before she managed to so much as let out a peep of her voice, let alone the path of destruction she normally carved as she worked her way through the heroes.
Even if the Simurgh were to burst through and let out a scream right now, they would still be in a better position than any fight with the false angel to date.
Eventually, even he was beginning to feel the strain from unleashing as many attacks as he had in the past minute, and each Blaster slowly petered out as they ran out of stamina.
It took several minutes for the dust to settle enough to get a picture of the Simurgh's crash site - now torn apart, on fire, frozen over, distorted into strange, unnatural shapes, and other things Legend couldn't begin to describe with his current vocabulary.
For all the evident damage, what rested inside the center of destruction made his blood run cold, even as his heart rate spiked and adrenaline flooded his veins.
There she stood - Hopeslayer. False Angel. The Third Endbringer, Simurgh.
Though she was tattered, a couple of wings having broken off, and numerous cracks, divots, chips, and other clear signs of their assault were on display, nothing stood out as much as the look of sheer rage on her face as she slowly floated out of the crater, new pieces of debris beginning to orbit her with growing speed.
Even as he called for the general retreat of all capes in the vicinity, he knew it was too late. The Simurgh had been pushed too far and was going to show them why these creatures were so feared. The fact she hadn't managed to cause any serious damage as of yet was about to be rectified in a moment, unless Legend was terribly mistaken.
Strider didn't enter the active combat scenarios unless it was deemed relatively safe to do so, and it was certainly not safe anymore. Instead, brave flyers and teleporters appeared before their group, grabbing the immobile cluster of heroes and villains.
Legend admired their heroism - but it was too late. As the group that had done the most damage to her by far, they would be the first to go. He himself could likely get away, but he glanced down at the group before him. He could see Astrologer, frantically resuming his assault, calling down fiercely glowing star-like projectiles to try and distract the unstoppable force approaching them.
With a contemptuous flick, the Simurgh diverted an entire corner store into the collection of missiles, redirecting them just enough to miss.
He saw Miss Militia, scowl apparent even through her bandana, as her weapon rematerialized as a massive rocket launcher, which she began to fire and dematerialize, only to bring it back again, firing it with a rapidity that beat even the missile-ship their mysterious ally brought in.
The furiously glowing white streak of light was purity, who unleashed her most devastating attack yet, a frantic effort to delay the monster who approached, growing closer by the second.
Howitzer, a tinker who specialized in a mix of explosives and long-range bombardment, featured a massive frown as he loaded a canister into his own strange ground-mounted launcher. Labeled on the side, Legend could clearly read the warning sticker stating in bold, red letters 'WARNING: EXPERIMENTAL MUNITIONS: HANDLE WITH CARE'.
He dropped it into the tube, much like the clips he'd seen from WWII infantry-carried artillery, it let out a FWUMP and traveled in a perfect parabolic arc before colliding with their approaching death. It travelled fast enough it passed through the shield of debris unblocked, before detonating with a deafening explosion of sound and light that left Legend reeling.
By the time his eyesight finally returned, a nearly perfect unnatural sphere was cut out from the ground and buildings before them, as though the matter had simply... disappeared. The edge of the annihilation was uncomfortably close to their own position, and he received several death glares, even in the midst of their retreat.
Although several of them had managed to be successfully rescued, it was rapidly becoming clear most would not escape the Simurgh's wrath.
Legend unleashed his strongest attacks, already in his breaker state, joining with his fellows to try and stem the advance of the Endbringer.
Eidolon joined him with his disintegration ray, vanishing parts of her shield into nothing.
Even if the villains were mostly trying to save their own skin, the Triumvirate member could see the determination etched into every single face below him. If they were to die today, they would die fighting, and saving as many as they could, knowing there was nothing else that could be done.
Worst of all, this was hardly the first time he'd been forced to witness the near execution of large numbers of capes. One didn't face Behemoth, the Hero-Killer, without witnessing vast numbers of capes dying. One misstep, one miscalculation, and any of the Endbringers were capable of slaughtering hundreds, if not thousands in a single attack.
For all his history, Legend wasn't ready to witness such a thing again. He screamed, his breaker state barely suppressing his emotions as rage and fury attempted to bubble through the protective numbness that shrouded him.
He refused to let this group of heroes go gently into that good night while feeling nothing for them - he would fight as long as possible until it was too late, then he would retreat and witness each and every single one of their valiant sacrifices. They were delaying her, if only slightly - the others would be much faster at retrieving the trapped capes, so he continued his assault, heedless of the light-headedness that began creeping along the edges of his vision.
Eidolon continued his assault, and quickly turned to Legend. "I'm charging a group teleport, but its not powerful enough yet, we NEED to hold her back! I can't give up my defense power and my attack is helping hold her back, we just need more time!"
"Got it!" Not like he didn't already know they needed time. It was the single most valuable resource in the entire world. And right now, they had very little of it.
Alexandria attempted to dive in again and divert the Endbringer, but this time she merely collapsed a large mound of debris around the world's strongest flyer and grasped with her hand, the concrete cracking under the telekinetic pressure being exerted, before flinging her away.
It was in these moments, where Legend was both aware and was being forced to witness the death of numerous capes, people just trying to do the right thing in this one instance, that he truly felt anger. There was plenty of other scenarios that made him furious - humanity was depraved enough before it gained powers.
But it was these moments of powerlessness before tragedy struck that his blood boiled, regardless of his breaker state neutralizing nearly all his emotions. It translated into a cold, calculating fury that made him want to unleash his most powerful attacks with abandon.
So he did.
Not that it would make a difference in this case - they might save one or two more capes with the time he bought, but by the time his onslaught was over he was spent, his breath coming in gasps even though he didn't have lungs with which to breathe.
"It's not enough! It's not ready, I can't save them, Legend! Fuck." Eidolon - No, David's voice was brimming with emotion - something besides the impotent rage and despair he felt over his waning powers. Although Legend was glad to see something closer to righteous anger, it didn't do anything for them.
Everyone below was still going to die, trapped on top of a building, slaughtered by an angel risen straight from Hell itself.
The Simurgh was too close - they had to retreat before they were caught in her grasp. "We have to leave, Eidolon! Continue suppressing fire, but we have to move back!"
David seemed torn between staying and trying to save everyone anyway, a last act of heroism, but his indecision was broken by the armbands speaking up again.
"ALL FORCES - VOIDPIERCER CRUISER DEPLOYED - WARNING - SINGULARITY DEPLOYMENT IMMINENT. PLEASE RETREAT."
Legend swiftly turned - there was only one force currently hacking the armbands frequency, at least as far as he was aware. As he looked, a new, massive ship appeared before his eyes, just as the others before it did.
This is what they were waiting for, his mind whispered to him, unhelpfully. No shit.
It was by far the largest ship he'd laid eyes on yet. Breaking from the trend of black, reflective metal, the hull was pure white, seemingly drinking in the light rather than bouncing it back.
It had two 'arms' with a large spike protruding in the gap between them. Deep purple electricity arced between the arms and the point of the spike. The rest of the ship just looked like engines, a blue glow emanating from the rear of the craft.
Several covered chutes revealed themselves, before immediately deploying rockets from every single one. Briefly, his mind replayed the warning that was just broadcast to everyone in range - particularly the bit about a singularity being deployed. While the science behind why such a thing was dangerous escaped him, Legend was confident it would be quite deadly to anyone who got sucked in.
He decided to repeat the warning just in case anyone didn't hear. "EVERYONE GET AS FAR AWAY FROM THE SIMURGH AS POSSIBLE! If you value your life, run, jump, just FLEE!"
Inside, he knew yelling wouldn't make them run any faster, but he didn't particularly care. If even one person was saved because they heard his voice, it would be worth it. Looking back, he could see several of the capes previously trapped on the rooftop of the building they were all stuck in braving the several story fall, likely breaking legs or other bones in the process, before trying to roll away through the crippling pain. It seemed they took his warning seriously.
The rockets, near as he could tell, travelled even faster than the prior missile-ships did. When they struck the Simurgh, rather than explode per say, they instead formed a large sphere, not unlike what Howitzer's bomb pulled off, only they stayed visible for several seconds. The light bent oddly as it travelled through the explosion, until Legend realized what was about to happen.
With a sudden clap of noise and air, the implosion collapsed in on itself, dragging all the matter it latched onto with it, condensing to a tiny, invisible point, before exploding with a force at least equal to the test bomb of Howitzer's before, if not greater. Times four.
Without the annihilation aspect of the explosion, the damage was far clearer to see when the cloud of dust finally dissipated. The surrounding structures that hadn't been flattened all show signs of high speed debris colliding with it, piercing through the visible walls in most cases.
When the Endbringer finally appeared, the damage was even more evident. Whatever force was used to generate the implosion itself was clearly far greater than the explosion portion of it - numerous pieces of the Simurgh were bent in odd ways, several more wings having been torn off. One of her arms was gone, and her face was cracked in a way that made it quite clear she wasn't human.
She'd already been battle-worn beforehand, now she looked like she'd been ran over by a bus. A Tinker-Tech bus designed to cause maximum damage.
An ominous hum made itself known, giving no time for the battle to stagnate. Legend turned again, witnessing the purple arcs growing with increasing frequency as they all began focusing on the tip of the spike amidst the twin white arms of the Voidpiercer.
Maybe the Simurgh attempted to form a telekinetic shield, maybe she tried to flee. He would never know, because as she opened her mouth to scream her defiance to the world, the lightning coalesced into a tiny, solid orb of purple, so dark it was nearly black.
The humming grated on his very bones as it reached a crescendo, unleashed its tiny payload in a blink directly into the Endbringer. For a brief instant, nothing happened - then like the condensed implosion, it unfurled into a new devastating form.
Ah, this must be the singularity that was mentioned. A large, perfectly black sphere had appeared, sucking in everything around with which the material vanished, not to be seen again. The Simurgh had begun to flee but had only made it a short distance. Everything below her knees were sucked in, and slowly began dragging her in further. It was clear she was pushing back with all her might but was making very little headway against the swirling mass of death.
The impossible standoff lasted for several seconds, only breaking when several pieces of some building - Legend idly noted a sign that said 'Tony's Tacos' - rapidly diverted from their path into the singularity to strike her and give her just enough give to escape the pull.
With a burst of speed belying the usual maximum ever used, the Simurgh fled into orbit, missing several important bits and pieces.
With another crackle of purple 'electricity' the Voidpiercer struck the singularity. It arced back and forth for several moments, the ominous hum building up again, until it abruptly vanished, leaving a perfect sphere of nothingness, just like before.
The massive white ship floated serenely in the sky, as though it hadn't just struck the single most decisive victory against an Endbringer... ever.
Silence permeated the air for several moments before the first cheer reached Legends ears. He allowed his breaker state to fall away so as to better let the emotions wash over him like a rushing tide.
It only took a second before a second voice, then a third, and many more voices joined the uproar as the beleaguered capes rejoiced in a massive win against impossible odds that by all accounts they shouldn't have survived.
As though sensing his gaze, the Voidpiercer silently turned about, gently approaching the same area the others were born from before it too vanished.
The Unasked for Interlude:
Drone # 23 Came online in the basement.
Its small branch of Logic received a communication - The Primary Operator needed superior monitoring and communication equipment as to better watch the ongoing battle.
Currently, she was watching their glorious unveiling behind the dimly lit screen of something barely rated above a cathode ray tube monitor. Logic determined this was unacceptable and as such, requisitioned #23 to come and resolve the issue.
The issue with following the directive, however, was the conflict with another parameter of their continued functions - Do not be detected by Danny Hebert unless absolutely necessary. If his life came into danger or severe duress they were to intervene regardless. Allowing their secondary operator to be traumatized by something as small as his daughter's identity as the Primary Operator would be the height of stupidity.
In this scenario however, there was no reason to reveal the existence of the fleet or the AI yet.
The problem within that was the current path to Taylor's room required #23 to pass through the basement door. Said door was very close to the current reported location of the Secondary Operator. If it was a dumb drone, it would have opened the door swiftly and tried to make its way upstairs utilizing speed to bypass his awareness - but #23 was a branch of Logic, and as such possessed a rather wicked intelligence.
The Hebert's basement door was known to quite creaky unless opened at an even and slow pace, and even then, it was hardly guaranteed to remain silent.
#23 resolved this by using his construction beam on the hinges inside the doorframe - resorting the wood inside the frame to fully encompass the screws, restoring its solidity, as well as removing any rust or contaminants that would cause it to emit noise when activated by outside forces.
It then eased the door open, though it proved quite challenging as it technically had no limbs with which to grasp, nor a tractor beam to exert force one way or another upon the door.
It was left cracked, however, and with the limited space it had available #23 wedged a corner piece of his chassis just so it caught the door frame and with a nudge, it opened with blessed silence.
The drones were all equipped with ocular tools for observing their immediate surroundings - it immediately identified one Daniel Hebert who appeared to be cooking something in the kitchen, which had near unopposed viewing access to the basement door from his current position.
While #23 was not built for stealth, it knew its anti-grav capabilities left it with a near non-existent sound profile, so long as it didn't engage its construction tool.
It inched forward, ever aware of the man who was currently facing away from it. Barely making it two feet out from the door, Danny turned to retrieve something from the fridge.
At the thought of imminent failure regarding one of its vital parameters, the drone had the digital equivalent of a panic attack. 'Diving' towards the dinner table, the drone positioned itself directly under one of the chairs located there. Barely dodging the legs and avoiding a rather loud collision, #23 hovered in silence, mentally calculating the likelihood of disassembly should it have already failed one of its most important of tasks.
As luck would have it, Danny's line of sight originated just high enough to cut off all view of the drone cowering under the wooden seat. Eventually he turned back towards the stove, though all #23 could see was his feet.
Heaving a silent sigh, the drone slowly emerged from under the chair, though it remained close by in case it needed the cover again.
It inched along, keeping a wary eye pointed towards the kitchen and its current opponent in this twisted variant of hide and seek.
So close to freedom it could practically smell it through its non-existent olfactory senses, it let out a silent cry of aggravation as Danny yet again finished making whatever he was cooking, plated his food, and turned to approach the table.
Finding itself under yet another chair, #23 began to internally berate the stupidity of requiring regularly prepared sustenance multiple times a day - #23 would barely require monthly maintenance even under strenuous conditions!
Steaming with its position just across the table from the Secondary Operator, #23 tried to figure out a way to escape upstairs without catching the eye of his current foe. If time wasn't an issue, then it would have been perfectly willing to wait out the silly human - its patience vastly exceeded the amount of time it would take before Danny had to either use the restroom or sleep.
But no, a fight was happening right now, and it was the closest available drone to provide support for Primary Operator and the main branch of Logic. Fuming, it briefly considered using the construction beam to materialize a statue the internet deemed 'suitably distracting' after a quick query. The main branch caught the line of thought and immediately shot down the idea.
Though it surprised #23, it wasn't one to waste opportunities when Danny suddenly stood, mumbling something about forgetting ketchup. It shot out from under the chair into the adjoining room, mentally screaming in both panic and relief. It paused once it was confident it wouldn't be spotted, scanning for any indicators its sudden activity was detected.
With no changes in pattern, #23 was confident it remained undetected.
Proceeding up the stairs, it entered Primary Operator's room and swiftly constructed a wall of individual 50" monitors, each using trillions of custom built crystals capable of illuminating any color under the rainbow, and then many others not visible to the human eye.
Once the entire wall was converted, per instructions it created a new seating arrangement for Primary Operator, as well as a handset communicator with clear buttons to indicate its use.
Task complete, #23 settled into a corner, awaiting further communication, feeling a sense of pride at its arduous journey finally being finished with no issues.
