Grue
Brockton Bay
While everyone knew that it was possible, it just didn't seem to register as reality until reality slaps them in the face.
For one Brian Laborn, this was no different. He was a man, a young man but a man who had taken his fate into his own hands, and he had a sister to take care of. Instead of immediately taking action, he pondered. If there was one thing his dad taught him not by his words but by the results of his action, then it was that action without thought or plans always brought heavy consequences. His family situation was one such result.
So instead of jumping into the cape scene, he thought and researched.
He wanted to rescue his younger sister from the terrible home life of their mother, and as an adult, he needed power to make that happen. Initially, he had wanted to become a villain and gather as much money as he needed to hire a lawyer and get his younger sister out of her position through that. Unfortunately, he realized that this plan was neither foolproof nor smart.
Why? Because someone would ask how a minimum wage worker got enough money to hire a lawyer for a process that was at least a year long. If people started asking that, then the IRS would start asking him about his income. If that happened, then he may as well say goodbye to gaining custody of his sister.
Yeah, it wasn't going to cut it.
Running away with his sister was also a no-go.
So what did that leave? Finding legal help?
…
Well, he could.
And so he did.
Instead of going to a lawyer, he approached his dad.
Oh, he didn't like the man. The relationship between him and his father was a rough one. While he didn't blame the man for breaking up the family, he did not appreciate his inability to help Aisha.
His dad let him into the house and listened. He sighed as soon as the story was over before telling Brian exactly this.
"The government takes care of its dogs."
And so, Brian went to the only place where he would be wanted and kept: the Protectorate.
A long arduous week later, he was accepted into the Protectorate, and they got the court to hand over custody from an obviously irresponsible and drug addict guardian to a man serving his nation as one of its heroes.
Life was …
It was hard. Being a hero did not mean that he was going to have life easy. If being a hero meant anything, then it actually meant that he had his life tougher than many. The understaffed and overworked Protectorate put him to work immediately. To relieve the burdens of the older generation of heroes, they put him to work far longer than a new hire should be, but this granted the veterans more time to rest and train. Because he didn't have experience leading, they cut into his free hours to make sure that he was capable of doing so. He didn't complain, because he knew that he was joining what was essentially a military organization, and he knew how to live under such a circumstance.
And because he was a new hero, the Protectorate put him out there in the field as soon as they realized that he had the basics of martial arts covered.
But for all of the work he did, he was satisfied. He had rescued Aisha from the clutches of their addict of a mother and her rotating retinue of boyfriends. He had a well paying job. He was respected.
Unfortunately, not everything could last forever.
He was in the middle of fighting with Undaunted, a new member of the Elite of the Brockton Bay branch, when it rang.
The Endbringer Sirens.
Both of them paused and listened.
Once. Twice. Thrice. Pause.
Once. Twice. Thrice. Pause.
Once. Twice. Thrice. Pause.
And Brian's stomach dropped.
3 bell tolls in three successions.
Leviathan.
He looked at Undaunted, and backed off when he did.
"We'll have to finish this later," he said.
Brian nodded as Grue, a persona that he adopted who spoke only when he needed to.
{Grue, this is Armsmaster.}
"This is Grue. Undaunted backed off."
{Acknowledged. Head over to the PRT headquarter."
"Affirmative."
An Endbringer battle.
Grue tried to calm himself. He pulled out his personal phone. Today was a Thursday and the time was 12:19 pm. Aisha should be at school, but he didn't trust her to stay there if he wasn't watching. She was too free to be "allow" herself to be kept at school.
He called her.
{Brian!} the panicked voice of his sister came through almost immediately.
He looked around, making sure no one was within hearing range. "Aisha, I'm going to go fight."
{You can't! You'll die!}
"Then what else am I to do? Run?"
{Exactly!}
"… Aisha, they helped me when they needed me. I can't abandon them now."
{But you aren't even a Brute! You'll die from the waves alone!}
"Which is why I'll probably be assigned to search and rescue. I'll be safe."
-
He was wrong. He was man enough to admit that he was wrong when he was wrong.
Because mere three hours into the fight, he lay bleeding on the ground.
He had jumped and ran as much as he needed to. He found people, provided first aid, and marked them to be picked up by Movers.
He rescued thirty-seven people when it happened.
Leviathan came within half a block range.
Brian had seen pictures and videos about the second Endbringer. It was fist-clenchingly terrible watching people die on screen.
It was bone-shakingly horrifying closeup.
(The fact that the Triumvirate, Lung, Vexa, Menja, Fenja, and Kaiser were all engaging the monstrosity didn't even register.)
He just hurled the cape he had providing first aid to on his shoulder and just booked it.
Didn't make one block before Leviathan's tidal wave swept in and smashed into him. He lost the Irish cape and got slammed into the side of a building.
And then got impaled through his stomach by a telephone post.
-
When he woke up, he found himself hooked up to three different machines. Apparently, Leviathan was drive away fairly quickly and the rude healer, one named Smiles, had found him. Smiles managed to bring him to Panacea in time to save him. From what he heard, Smiles overexerted his power trying to keep him alive. He swore that he would properly thank the man one day.
Except… Smiles didn't make it. The man brought three capes to the medical tent and died from blood loss.
The next news wasn't as happy as his own survival. From the roster of Brockton Bay's own heroes Gallant (Protectorate), Clockblocker (Protectorate), Velocity (Protectorate), Browbeat (Protectorate), Janissary (Independent), and Smiles (Independent) died fighting Leviathan.
Death of Smiles was especially hard for everyone. Though the man was sometimes too playful to be around, he was one of their only two healers in all of New England.
For Grue though, it was the death of Velocity that struck the hardest. He was his mentor in the Protectorate. Hee always helped him when he needed it, and even took over shifts when he was running on fumes. He was the quietest coworker he had, and now he was dead.
Later that day, he heard that Aisha was alive but not well. She thought he had died and triggered as a result.