A/N: I was originally going to post these at the end of Rolling Guard, then I figured, why not? The guys over at SB had seen it already, so...
Also, just because I want to say Thank You to everyone thats kept up so far, a reply to a comment that I enjoyed reading.
BreatherOfInsanity: I can't take full credit for using mods as arc names, I got the idea from Skiajati (A Warframe/My Hero Academia Crossover. I enjoy the concept of this one, but the way it's implemented... it's nice, but not my cup of tea. Still, the writing is good), the fact that it also fits the original Worm Arcs naming scheme was just a bonus.
(There is a point to each of the names being what they are, it will take a while, but you'll see it. Oh, and thanks for sticking around and reading my work, all of you)
September 2005
DrapDrapdapradaprDapdrapdrapDrapdapa
The sounds of rain pounding into the roof echoed in the house, even on the ground floor the impacts were deafening. The window before the two ten-year-olds rattled as the wind from the storm rushed by, blocked from shattering from the gale-force winds only by the shutters bolted around the frame and the suction panels clinging onto the glass itself to hold it in place.
Taylor and Emma both eyed the glass; neither of them had helped place the reinforcement and while Emma's home was both newer and more secure than Taylors, a tropical storm was nothing to ignore.
Emma's living room had been transformed into something better suited from the 1870s. Everything electric had been unplugged, lightbulbs had been removed, the tv had been pressed up against the back of the couch, while things like phones had been powered down/unplugged and placed inside boxes, then further set aside.
Covered candles lay atop furniture, fabric placed carefully away from the open flames. Planks of wood, not two-by-fours but actual panels, rested against walls, with several taking up places right in front of the windows and front door, in case of a breach. Blankets, canned food, cases of water, clothes, and other necessities lay scattered around the room as well; all carefully organized and set up for up to two possible weeks of simple living.
Things had been counted twice, moved into place, and counted again before the door had been sealed up like the windows; it won't do to find yourself missing something in this weather with what was coming.
The parents of the two, plus Emma's sister, had gathered in the kitchen, discussing options and plans for the next few days that they would likely be stuck in the house. No one wanted, or could really, go outside while the storm was happening. At least not without proper equipment.
The last week had been a flurry of activity for Brockton Bay as people geared up for the storm; lucky it was the Bay, no other storm was predicted to intercept this particular one, and the geography of the region meant that it was going to be a mild one.
Not that it meant much, most places could still flood and would get damaged from the water and wind. On the flip side, there was going to be a surge of construction and a need for workers in the coming weeks, as well as more than a few happy gardeners.
On the downside however, was how overrun the Bay was going to be with plants in a few days.
In the distance, thunder boomed, and a flash of light edged through the shutters.
"… I want to see it," Taylor whispered.
Emma gave her a look and hissed, "You want to go outside!?"
Such a prospect was nearly suicide given that the city was locked down as it was. If something happened to them, then the only people that could help were the ones in the building with them; the same ones that wouldn't let them outside in the first place.
"Doesn't your sisters' room have a view of the mountains?" Taylor asked.
Emma considered this for a moment, before turning her head and looking at where all the adults were, her braid swishing as she did so.
Neither one of them even should have been close to the windows, in case they were blown inwards. There were panels that should have been placed over the inside of the windows to prevent this, but given the predicted rating of the storm, the adults had decided that they didn't need them (yet); plus the fact that the living room windows faced away from the flight path helped, as it meant that it was unlikely that something would get sent through them due to which way the winds were blowing.
The young redhead bit her lip; no doubt the prospect of seeing the cause of the storm was enticing, and it was only passing over the mountains at an angle to Brockton Bay…
The pair carefully and quietly made their way to the stairs. Half-whispered conversations echoed through the kitchen door as they bypassed it. Taylor could hear her mother talking to others, laying out plans for the days to come, as the others interjected with ideas and questions.
In a way, the two families were lucky; they had each other, the members of the DWA, and help from Alans' coworkers. This meant that all the things most people would struggle within this situation (moving things, the planning, making sure that valuables were secured from both water and thieves, sealing up homes, gathering supplies), were taken care of in a few days before the storm hit.
There had been more than a few incidents around the city of people fighting each other over supplies, or rushing to leave the city at the last minute, which caused problems for the BBPD and the PRT; Both of whom were working hard to make sure nothing happened, and that the storm would roll over the city without issue.
Emma led the way into her sisters' room and darkness greeted them. Everything electronic had been unplugged and secured, from the main power switch outside, to batteries inside clocks; a time-consuming process, but a necessary one considering the dangers involved from a possible EMP.
Like the ones downstairs, the windows upstairs were sealed shut, but both inside and outside in this case. It only took a few clicks of the latches to open the inner shutters however. There was nothing they could do with the outer ones, but the way the shutter panels were aligned to force water away from the windows meant that the pair of pre-teens could see through a gap to the outside, if barely, and only if they pressed themselves to the glass.
Winds blew, the tree in Emma's backyard shook, and the glass rattled as gusts passed by. This all combined with the rain to create poor visibility. The mountains, which normally were mostly visible over the hills and distance leading up to them, were completely obscured under the cloud cover; not having any power in the city to cut through the gloom didn't help either.
Some things were easier to see however, as it was hard to miss the swirling clouds up above, or the lighting as it lit up the area in flashes.
"… I don't see anything," Emma whispered. "Maybe it's gone past already?"
Taylor shook her head amidst a distant boom of thunder, eyes not leaving the gap and the sight beyond. "It's supposed to take a few days for it to pass, and its only been raining for a day… it's out there, somewhere. Just… keep looking."
Several minutes past, though it felt like hours to the pair, with only the sounds of rain and their breathing accompanying them. The glass began to fog up with their breath as they waited, with Taylor wiping away the condensation.
"… Maybe we should go back downstairs Tay."
Taylor glanced at her friend, she could see in her eyes that she was afraid, and sighed after a moment.
"Ok… help me pu…"
The rain stopped falling.
After hearing it for so long, the sudden lack of it made the silence nearly deafening, even with the wind still howling.
Both of girls pressed themselves to the glass, earlier misgivings forgotten, as they watched in amazement as water floated and swirled just outside the window.
Taylor felt her hair begin to stand on end, and saw that Emma's was starting to do the same.
From the distance, a new sound emerged. A thrumming, pulsing in a rhythmic pattern. Starting as a low tone, then building higher as it increased in speed, the pauses between the thrumming getting shorter with each cycle.
Each pause was shorter in time, and every pulse of sound increased further in pitch, the result being the sound got louder every few seconds.
And louder.
And faster.
And louder.
And faster.
And louder.
And fas…
Silence.
The two girls glanced at one another, their eyes asking the same questi…
BOOM
The girls screamed as night, turned, to day; as multicolored lightning filled the sky, cracking it into pieces like a shattered mirror.
Streetlamps surged, the bulbs coming alive for a moment before they shattered. Emma's' sisters' alarm clock turned on, blaring, before it fried with a crackle. A sole lamp, still having its bulb, followed the example of the streetlamps outside, lighting up the room before breaking, sending glass fragments everywhere with a spray of sparks.
In an instant, everything was visible through the mist of the storm, fueled by the lightning; from the far-off mountain range, down to the house behind the backyard. Strange shadows formed as the lightning filled the sky in seconds, blinding anyone that just so happened to be looking outside at the time for several moments.
As the young girls rapidly blinked spots out of their vision, movement in the clouds caught their eyes; through the gaps of the shutters, they caught sight of the source of the lightning, in all of its unearthly impossibility.
Floating serenely downward within the storm, was something massive; so much so that the girls couldn't comprehend what they were seeing at first, as it seemed to be part of the very skies itself.
They just caught a glimpse of it with their recovering vision; its dark skin blending into the clouds like camouflage not helping matters. A wing, forcing a whole section of cloud out of the way as it pushed downward, the main body twisting up to pull itself out of its shallow dive. Lines of faint light streaked over its flesh, seemingly random in appearance.
A distant sound rumbled through the air, a mix of a whale call, with the clicks of a cricket.
There was a distant rush of displaced air as it forced its way up with its wings, rattling the whole house with the force, before the object vanished back into the clouds, impossibly fast for something of its size, which in turn churned for miles from the sudden powerful displacement.
The door behind Taylor and Emma burst open, concerned voices asking if they were alright, as they were gathered up and the window was sealed once more.
Both Taylor and Emma would not forget that day; not for the fact that they were stuck indoors for nearly three days as the storm passed by, but for what they had seen.
It shook both of them, their minds rebelling in defiance at what they had saw. Nothing should be that big, they said. It's impossible, an abnormally.
Like natives of old America, seeing three-mast ships and white men for the first time, they couldn't comprehend it; couldn't rationalize it into their understanding of how the world worked.
But seen it they had, and therefore joined a relatively small group of people; the ones that saw an Endbringer with their own eyes, and lived to tell the tale.
Everyone on Earth knew of this particular beast. Named by the native peoples of New Zealand from where it was first spotted, it was one of three Endbringers that never fled after a fight, like the Big Three did.
It was the strongest of them all, flying within a storm of its own making; lashing out with enough power to have killed two of the seven most powerful capes in the world during their single disastrous attack on it, and sent the rest of them running after it swatted Alexandria from the sky in one blow.
But strangely, unlike the rest of the Endbringers, this one sought no conflict.
It did not travel to cities to drown and wash them away in water, like Leviathan would.
It did not consume all in its path, and then add all it had eaten into itself like Eukaryote did.
It did not scorch the ground with heat and ash, reading everything bare like Behemoth.
It did not roam endlessly in the Earth, seeking noise and disturbances to bury in the sands, like the Shai-Hulud.
It did not twist people into monsters and demons, turning them against one another like the Simurgh.
It surfed the winds of its own making, lightning lighting its way. Following a path that only it knew, purifying the land and sea in its wake.
Occasionally, a city was destroyed, a region awash and overgrown, but it never out of maliciousness. In fact, one could say that the beast that the Māori called the god of weather, was cleaning the Earth, restoring it; it just happened to be indifferent to the humans that found themselves in its path.
Some, like farmers and environmentalists, all but worshiped the Endbringer. Others, like those that lived on mountains, by seas, lakes, rivers, and cities, cursed its name and prayed that it never turned its sightless gaze in their direction.
But in the end, despite what they felt about it, all knew its name.
Tāwhirimātea.
The Stormbringer.
A/N: There is a link over in SpaceBattles that shows what I used for a reference, sound-wise. Lets just say that Tāwhirimātea is following in someone elses Very Large footsteps.
