Yeah, I completely messed up the Tribeam-Solar Flare thing, there. If you go back and check, I edited that to be correct.
Sorry about that.
Chapter Six: Upward Momentum
Lisa Wilbourn watched the news with an appreciative eye for the small details.
On the wide screen in front of her, Saiyan was receiving an award for services to the country and the world at large. One, for killing the Slaughterhouse Nine, the other for killing Leviathan.
Lisa's power told her a lot about some of the more subtle things going on.
For one, everyone could tell that this was an attempt by the president to profit off of this upheaval in the global balance. With a Hero that was capable of ending some of the threats that had plagues the world for so long on his side, he could get back in office for a third term, if it were made legal to do so again.
What they didn't see was that this was a last cry for help from a government that was being eaten alive by the fact that the Villains didn't give two shits about the law. If President Philsy and his fellows could take back even one tiny iota of respect, it would be a major victory.
Another thing a lot of people would have missed was how uncomfortable Saiyan was, standing there and receiving accolades for killing people. It wasn't that she was conflicted with what she did. Jack Slash and his crew of monsters were just that. They had given up their humanity long ago, for whatever reasons.
No, what bugged the girl was the attention.
Lisa stopped her progression of kata to snicker. Poor girl, she thought, Wants to be a real hero. Hates the attention.
Was bullied. Hates being center of attention because of it. Only recently-
She sighed as her power kicked in for a moment before she stopped it from telling her more. She honestly didn't care what the girl had been like before. Saiyan had obviously gotten over it. Maybe it was even what caused her Trigger.
Still didn't matter.
She was still way stronger than Tattletale. The blonde could guess at how much of a head start the girl had, just by what she'd done so far. Still, if her source(her power) was right, she was about to hit something of a ceiling.
That would be her time to catch up. It would probably be in little more than half a year, if they continued at this rate, but it would happen, without a doubt.
However, that was only if Saiyan and Tattletale kept up their training.
Lisa could already see the problem with that.
The blonde knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Saiyan would keep training, keep growing, until she could kill the other two Endbringers. After that, though…
What reason would she have to get stronger, if there was no one to challenge her? Why would she do anything but maintain her current level, if it was enough to defeat any of her enemies?
Lisa aimed to be the reason for Saiyan's continued growth.
Why, you may ask? Because this feeling, this power, was intoxicating. It made Tattletale giddy when she first flew. Sure, it was just a few feet off the ground, and inside the base she had appropriated from Coil, but she had flown, none the less.
She could only imagine what it must feel like to be on the level of the characters in DBZ. So strong that world ending threats, things that could blink and destroy a star, were just an inconvenience. She wanted that.
But first, she had to get strong enough to be a challenge. As it was, Saiyan would deal with her just as easily as she had Lung. Easier, most like.
Lisa dropped to the ground, one hand behind her back, the other placed precisely to keep her balance while doing one armed pushups, grunting with the effort after only a few repetitions.
"If only Kaioken didn't have a power requirement," she grumbled, eyes still glued to the screen, "Then we'd be havin' it out sooner, rather than later." A grin spread slowly across her face as she licked her lips, "But don't let me slow you down. I'll get there, sooner than you think. Then we can have some real fun."
-9001-
High above the Earth, drifting in orbit near the moon, the Simurgh, Ziz, was gazing down at the planet rather intently. Not that one could tell. None of the Endbringers were made with the ability to emote.
That is not to say that they didn't have emotions at all.
Behemoth was a creature of hate and rage. He genuinely wanted to kill everything, and every time he failed to destroy a city it just caused his rage to grow.
Leviathan had disliked the people that fought him, but he didn't hate them like Behemoth. He didn't even like attacking the cities. It was just something he had done because it was the reason for his existence. What he liked, however, was whales. They had been fun to swim with.
And Ziz?
Well, at that moment, she felt fear.
Fear for her life. Fear for her future. She could see it. She had always been able to see it.
If something didn't change soon, she would die. Killed by the hero calling herself Saiyan.
She looked down on the world below her, focusing every ounce of her precognitive ability on the parahuman that would kill her, trying to find some way to change the course of her future.
There was no way she could use one of her Ripples. They'd never have the strength to do it, and the PRT had long since took to quarantining the survivors of her attacks.
Going after the girl's father just ended up with Ziz dying quicker.
If she waited, let the usual cycles take place, she'd live a few months longer, but she would still die.
She thought about bringing the other Endbringers online. That shortened her time, causing Saiyan to grow stronger, quicker, in order to combat the threat more effectively.
If Ziz could have cried, she would have. It was just completely hopeless. There was nothing she, or her Ripples, could do that would…
Wait. There was something. Not something she could do, directly, but something that might let her live. Something that would remove her threat level in Saiyan's eyes.
Something that would free the Simurgh of her destructive imperative.
Her form twitched, her feathers ruffling silently in the vacuum of space. If she could, she would be smiling.
-9001-
"Nice medal," Shadowstalker said, sitting down next to Saiyan in the cafeteria at the Protectorate.
Taylor didn't bother to acknowledge the black girl, just continuing to eat her sandwich. For some reason, Hess was insistent about getting on her good side. Obsessed with it, really. Taylor was having none of it.
"Seriously, though, good work on the S-Nine. Bout damn time someone crossed those freaks off a list," the track runner kept going, despite the lack of response, "Makes me wonder about what's next, though. Lung, in prison. Leviathan, dead. Jack Slash, deader than dead."
The previously skinny teen stood up then, going towards the dormitory. She never actually stayed there, like some of the other wards, but it was a nice place to hang out, sometimes.
Sophia didn't give up, though. She dumped her tray and quickly followed the strongest girl on the planet.
"Madison is havin' a party before school starts again," the exvigilante said, having to practically jog to keep up with the taller girl, "You're invited."
Taylor whirled on the black girl, a frown on her face, "Go bother someone that cares," she turned back around, took a few steps, then faced the other girl again, "You know, I really don't get you. What in the hell makes you think we're friends? What makes you have even an inkling that I would want to spend my downtime with you?"
Sophia just smirked, "You're a predator, now," she crossed her arms, "Just like me. That's why you didn't push to have me sent to patrol that Alaskan Quarantine zone. And when you finally get annoyed with all this," she gestured dismissively at the building they were in, "You're gonna need someone on your side." She didn't have to say that she felt it would be her, Sophia Hess, that Taylor eventually looked to for a friend.
The tall girl stared at the bane of her previous existence with the very definition of a blank stare.
"Are you retarded?"
Sophia blinked, "What?"
"You must be, if you buy any of that," Taylor scoffed, "A predator? You know, that actually suits you perfectly. You are definitely a predator," seeing the black girl starting to regain her smirk, she continued, "Just like a creepy bald guy watching a playground," she stepped closer to the track star, "And me? I'm not a predator," a smirk grew across her own face, not a nice one, "I'm a hunter," she turned back around, walking away again, "Make of that what you will."
"Damn it!" Sophia cursed again, punching the wall in a fit of pique.
-9001-
It had been two weeks since she had been sent to kill the Slaughterhouse Nine, and Saiyan was pleasantly surprised that her job hadn't just swiftly come to an end from all the bad guys just giving up. Because, wouldn't ya know it, the baddies and law breakers and neo nazi's just knew that they could get away with it, anyway.
After all, there was only one Saiyan, and she couldn't be everywhere at once.
That was definitely true. She couldn't be everywhere in the world. But Brockton Bay? That was hers.
And since she'd been practicing her sensing ability, she'd been able to work out the locations of the bad guys that much quicker. Instead of taking nearly ten minutes, it had been cut down to just under six, eight when under fire. Armsmaster helped to train her.
Oddly enough, the Tinker seemed… bitter for some reason. Taylor couldn't begin to guess why. She knew to stay out of Tinker labs, and she hadn't broken anything of his. Not even accidentally. On the bright side, he really tried his hardest to disrupt her concentration in the practice session.
"Saiyan to Command," she said, high in the air, "The docks are quiet. Moving on to the next sector."
"Roger that, Saiyan," came the voice of Kid Win, "Be advised, two figures have been seen moving about just outside your current patrol route. Identities unknown, but could be trouble."
"Understood," the girl said, "I'll keep an eye out." Saiyan looked around for a moment, but didn't see anything prominent. No skulking villains in hoods, standing on rooftops. No monsters waiting to jump out at her.
She shrugged, and started flying towards her next check in point.
Only to be blinded by the smoke and fire of an explosion that went off in her face.
"Ha!" a male shouted, "Told you I could hit her!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," another grumbled, "Didn't hurt her, though."
The smoke cleared and the teen hero could see two men, in brightly colored uniforms, standing on what was clearly an alien saucer. She didn't even have to glance at it twice to realize the vehicle was an exact replica of Frieza's ship.
And if she wasn't mistake, that would be Uber and Leet, dressed up as the cannon fodder soldiers Frieza employed that used arm mounted cannons to fire energy blasts. Blasts like the one that just hit her.
That irked her.
"You two did not just do that," she growled, narrowing her eyes at them.
The two stopped their bickering to look up at her, paling by a few shades.
"Oh, right, record breaking Brute/Blaster about to beat the daylights out of us," Leet said, looking at her through the scouter he had cobbled together. He hadn't figured out a way for it to give him actual power levels, but it did give a general description of her height and body density.
"Run?" Uber asked, not even bothering to aim his arm cannon at her again.
"Run," Leet agreed.
The two twirled about on the spot, ready to jump back in their ship and activate its stealth ability. With that, they might be able to get away.
Unfortunately, by the time they had completed their one hundred eighty degree turn, Saiyan was standing their, cracking her knuckles.
"Leet," the taller of the two said.
"Yeah, Uber?" the Tinker asked.
"I love you, bro."
"In memory of Yamcha," the hero interrupted their little moment, "Gay." With that, the girl moved.
Uber and Leet were annoyances. Hardly even worth the attention they got. They were more incompetent than anything else, and good at getting away. That was the main reason they had never been caught. They simply weren't priority.
That was why Taylor decided to take the two with pure martial arts. No Chi blasts needed.
Uber had obviously shed whatever skill it was that let him hit her in the face with that blast earlier, trading it for a martial art mastery. He stepped forward, ready to stall her so Leet could get away and distract her so they both could escape.
The Thinker had barely even thrown his punch before he was on his back with a slim fist heading towards his face. He barely rolled out of the way. When he made it back to his feet it was just in time to see Saiyan clothesline his friend and partner.
"Damn it!" he cursed, heading for the girl, using his ability to master aikido for the moment.
Saiyan turned to face him again and took up a separate stance from his own, one fist by her waist, her left hand and foot forward.
"At least make this interesting, okay," the girl said.
Uber almost glared at her for that. If he didn't know she was playing with him, he'd have tried something reckless to get her to pay him some respect.
Instead, he went in cautiously, probing her defenses with a couple of quick jabs.
The teen just batted them aside, almost moving at the same time he did.
They moved slowly around one another for a couple of moments, then suddenly leapt at one another, trading blows like it was a kung fu movie. Kicks, punches, dodges, blocks, and counters happened so quickly and smoothly that the average person would believe that it must have been choreographed.
Uber was trying his best to land any blow he could, just to say he had been the only villain, ever, to actually hit her, but the girl wasn't going for it in the slightest.
"Fuck!" the man yelled when he overextended. Saiyan had feinted, and he missed it. Now he was committed to an attack that simply wouldn't connect. He tried to salge it by turning, but that just turned his face into the path of her fist.
That hurt. Her knee hitting him in the ribs was God damned agony. He went down like a sack of potatoes coughing and wheezing. He was honestly surprised that he wasn't coughing up blood.
Saiyan looked down at the two minor villains with something like contempt.
"You know, I'm not even sure I should bring you pains in the ass in. It almost seems like a crime to take you two idiots off the streets," she grumbled. She knew that, with the docks not exactly a hub of activity, these two paid good money to people to play their minions in some of their videos. Saiyan would honestly hate to be the person that took another source of income away from her dad's friends and acquaintances. Who knew who they would turn to next? The E-Eighty Eights? The Merchants?
"Grah!" she turned her Ki back on, gathering the necessary Chi for flight and lifting into the air, "I'm letting you two go, this time. Consider this a one time only deal, got it?" she glared at Uber until he nodded, "We meet like this again and I bring the hammer down."
With that, she zipped off again, going back to her patrol route, grumbling about stupid shades of grey.
Uber just picked up his partner, carried him into the mocked up space ship. He really had to talk to Leet about picking their targets better.
-9001-
I would like to point out that this story is brought to you by BijuuDamaBomber. In particular, the scenes with Uber and Leet just now, and the fact that I am still writing this are due to conversations I've had with them about where the story is going.
Now, Power Levels
Lisa- 231
Ziz- 300/1100
Behemoth- 500/1400
Uber- 25/100
Leet- 12
Taylor- 1941