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And check out my fic "Negative One".
Why do fics that start with Endbringer fights always go to either Canberra's battle with Simurgh or Leviathan's attack on Brockton Bay? Because we have no idea where Behemoth attacked before that.
So I decide where he attacks.
This can either be a one-shot or a full story, depending on the reaction I guess.
November 17, 2010.
The city of Fuji stands quietly as the wind blows through the empty streets and the gentle waves the Suruga Bay calmly flows. Abandoned houses and stores sit silently in the ghost city, with no signs of life as all the civilians have already been evacuated.
Mt Fuji stands at a fair distance, visible from even the street level of the once-populated city.
The sun is partly covered by clouds, other than that the sky is clear, and beautiful in a peaceful way.
Dragon doubts it's going to stay that way for long.
In a world where people with superpowers can come from anywhere and anytime, the world called Earth Bet has a lot of problems on its plate.
The effects of these superpowered individuals called Parahumans or Capes for the slang term, to the world at large. The change of global crime as superpowers get abused by those who don't deserve them. The constant management of the public to not incur panic.
These are just some of the many problems that Earth Bet is facing.
Nonetheless, out of all the problems that Earth Bet has to deal with, there are three that do the most damage.
Endbringers. Giant monsters spawned out of nowhere and attack cities from all over the planet every three months.
The waiting is always the second worst part when fighting the Endbringer that earned the title of "Hero Killer".
Can you guess what takes first place?
Dragon would sigh if she could, doing that though would do nothing since she'll just be imitating a sound that humans make when they're stressed or tired.
While she can be stressed, she can't get tired.
At least being secretly an AI has some advantages, regardless of the programs chaining her potential.
Many of her remote-controlled suits are standing by around the city, outfitted with as many unique and exotic payloads and energies imaginable. A necessity since the Endbringer they're about to face is dynakinetic, having more kinds of energy hitting it in a short amount of time can do more damage because it wouldn't be able to adapt fast enough.
But she knew that victory here is impossible.
She might not be human, but she is a hero. Her programming might've forced her to become one at the start, but she still wants to save every single life she could.
Using the cameras of a war suit, Dragon looks around the assembled Capes about two miles away from the city.
A wide expanse of grass stretches out far along the horizon. A lot of her transport aircraft are off to the side after dropping off capes, and some are simply being teleported in by various movers. Tents are set up along with medical beds set up to take in any wounded the battle will most certainly leave.
Some of them are heroes, some are villains, and some are neutral rogues. But right now, all of them put aside their differences today in honor of the Endbringer truce.
Every parahuman in the base is doing something. Either warming up for the fight ahead, strategizing a plan of attack, walking or flying around to stave off some jitteriness, or even praying for a god to protect them.
The Triumvirate, arguably the three strongest heroes in the world, and the leaders of the Protectorate all float just a bit away from everyone else, speaking to each other privately.
The fear and dread are so potent that even someone without nerves like herself can feel them.
Behemoth is the Endbringer with the highest body count to date. With his nigh unlimited energies, he can fry, electrocute, melt, burn, or disintegrate any Cape that doesn't have some form of super durability, and even some that do.
They were lucky today, as lucky as they could get before an Endbringer fights anyway. This is one of the rare instances where they had a much earlier warning before the attack could commence. The people have already been evacuated and they've got ample time to prepare.
The standard strategy in fighting it is to have her suits and some nigh invincible Capes to engage the Endbringer at a closer range while some of the Blasters pepper it with projectiles at a safe distance. At a minimum, 100 feet, but of course, the farther the better.
That thing is the Hero Killer for a reason.
Its ability to bypass the Manton Effect, which is a tendency for powers to only be able to affect either inanimate objects or living matter, not both, has made sure that anyone that gets close gets fried from the inside out.
It's not a preferred way to die.
Dragon can't even blame the heroes or villains that decided not to show up for this fight, who would want to be thrown to their almost guaranteed deaths?
That fear is gripping the entire world, not just parahumans, and that grip is getting tighter every time one of those monsters attacks.
Something has to change before the world gets better.
The world right now, more than anything, needs hope.
*Boom*
Suddenly, a sound akin to an explosion swept through the air, and for a brief moment, Dragon feared that Behemoth had already surfaced without her knowledge.
"What was that?!"
"Is it starting already?!"
"Where did it come from?!"
While everyone around the base looks around in confusion and slight panic, Dragon is already trying to triangulate exactly where the sound came from.
It was unnecessary.
In a timeframe too small for her cameras to pick up on, a figure suddenly drops in an empty area in the base, surprisingly, the ground doesn't break from the impact as whatever dropped there was certainly fast enough to cause some kind of damage.
All of the Capes around her, from the Triumvirate to the villains, whip towards the thing (no, person, it's a person) that landed. The figure rises to its feet a moment later.
And if she had eyes they would've widened then and there.
A tall mature woman stands straight on the pristine grass below her, she's six feet tall and both of her hands are on her hips.
The woman wears a costume that the PRT would've approved of, a dark, sleeveless bodysuit with a high collar, exposing her muscular arms, yellow elbow-length gloves, and white knee-high boots. There's also a strange design on the front of her bodysuit, white stripes forming the letters "U" and "A".
Around her waist was a belt with an angular golden buckle, a small cape attached around the back which hung down to her knees, and over her shoulders was a longer cape, buttoned to the shoulders of her bodysuit fluttering behind her.
But it wasn't the suit that caught her attention.
It was the face.
And the lack of a mask.
The woman's full features are captured completely by the cameras of her suit, ready to be saved and cataloged.
Whoever this woman is, her identity is now and will forever be known by the entire Cape community. Which is pretty much the entire world.
Her beautiful face and sharp purple eyes look around confidently, and her dark black hair is tied in a half-up-half-down bun with a small clump of bangs on her forehead. A small mole is located just under the right side of her mouth.
A mouth that is currently pulled into a wide smile.
A grin with no trace of fear, anger, or sadness for the day to come.
Just pure optimism.
The mysterious woman raised one of her hands and gave a relaxed wave. "Hi, I'm here. Sorry for being a little late, air traffic was hell."
+/+
Keith, also known as Legend, has seen a lot of things in his time as a hero so very few things at this point can surprise him.
A tall and beautiful woman appearing out of nowhere, wearing a costume without a mask in an Endbringer fight where her face will be seen by Parahumans, both good and bad from literally all over the world?
That's a first for him.
Sadly, he didn't have time to ask any of the myriads of questions that he had.
Because it's time.
Almost as if it was waiting for the unmasked Cape's arrival, the ground shook violently as Dragon warns everybody that Behemoth's about to surface.
Legend's perfect eyesight catches a glimpse of the newest Cape in the fight. She's floating alongside Alexandria with the other Brutes, ready to slow the Endbringer down and keep it immobile.
Eidolon flies close to Legend, part of the artillery team as well as a defense just in case Behemoth jumps to them for an attack. Behemoth might not be a mover like the Leviathan, but the bastard sure can jump.
Worst case scenario, he could teleport as many Capes as possible to gain some distance.
Well, newest as in he's never seen her before, and an Alexandria package that's confident enough to go up against Behemoth without wearing a mask should be someone recognizable.
A lot of the Brutes will die, he knows that and they know that as well. While he admires their courage and willingness to sacrifice themselves, the fact that it's seen as normal pisses him the hell off.
But she can't be a new trigger because he can clearly see the complete lack of fear on her face. She's too confident in herself and her power, and she moves and acts like someone who's no stranger to battles as dangerous as this one.
Perhaps she was a soldier before this?
*CRACK*
The loud sound of the earth breaking apart catches the heroes' attention, just near the edge of the city below, less than a hundred feet from the Bay, and large cracks spread through the stone and concrete below. Some buildings already becoming unstable from the unstable ground.
Legend promptly decided that he'll think about the newest Cape if any of them survived today.
The earth broke outward even more as power unimaginable begins to rise from underneath.
The reason for the Endbringers' attacks has always been unknown. Even he, the leader of the Protectorate and member of a certain secret organization barely know more about these monsters than the average civilian.
Whatever their reason might be, it always feels like humanity only barely ever wins against them.
The earth finally lost its battle with the Endbringer and it explodes upward into the air. Smoke, dirt, and dust choke the air and bellows out of the hole made.
Legend is floating more than 200 feet away from the hole but he still feels the sudden blast of heat even from this distance. It feels as if a large fire suddenly just burst in front of him. He can already smell something burning and nothing's on fire yet. He could perfectly see the rest of the blasters around him feel it as well.
And Eidolon, just like in every Endbringer fight he's been in, looks weirdly excited to get started.
Keith would shake his head at his friend's thirst for battle if he were anywhere else.
And then, it rises.
Like a demon rising from hell, a single red, glowing eye appears in the hole. A mouth filled with jagged uneven horns open, Two mangled pieces of obsidian act as its hands reach out to grab the edge of the hole. Its gray, leathery skin becomes visible, topped with cooled magma and obsidian-like crags.
The bay boils in its very presence, dirt around it is already melting, and the air feels like it's burning.
The 45-foot monster is now climbing out of the hole.
They don't let it.
"Now!" Legend's command boomed across the battlefield. In unison, everyone under his command fired their powers at the same time.
Over a dozen drones swoop in and blast Behemoth with everything they've got. Containment foam, freeze rays, lasers, and bombs.
At the same time, Legend and all the blasters around him fire off with all their power. Keith himself is firing massive amounts of lasers from his hands, all curving and turning in impossible directions to hit the Endbringer in as many directions as possible.
Disintegration beams, kinetic blasts, fireballs, invisible lasers, random objects being spawned in thin air, lightning bolts, makeshift bombs, and any other kind of projectile get shot at Behemoth.
It won't kill it, they never do, but hopefully, it's at least damaging it.
For a split second, Legend thought it would've been enough to at least knock it down.
*ROOOOOAAAAAARRR*
But the extremely loud bellow of the beast, amplified by its control of sonic energy, kills that hope, and his eardrums.
"Ah!" Legend screams in pain, but he wasn't able to hear it. His bones rattled from the sheer volume.
All sounds disappear as his eardrums burst instantly, he stops firing to grab both of his now bleeding ears as the mother of all headaches attacks him.
He's just lucky that this is the worst that happened, if he were closer then his eyes would've popped in their sockets and his insides liquified. The other Blasters that were firing with him also stopped, some even dropping to the floor in agony.
Eidolon, having brought up a healing power is already working to repair his eardrums and continue firing.
Legend would need to go into his Breaker state to heal the damage but he needs to do something first.
Behemoth leaps from the hole in the ground, lightning already firing from its claws and body. The drones that were unaffected by the scream were not so unaffected by the lightning flying everywhere.
Legend presses a button on the armband on his right arm and speaks to Alexandria without being able to hear his own voice.
"Alexandria! Give us some cover! We need a few minutes before we can fire again!"
A few minutes is really pushing it, Movers have already responded and are carrying some debilitated Blasters away while some just flew back to base to get their ears healed up.
Not being able to hear in an Endbringer fight is more of a death sentence than the fight already is.
Legend is already preparing to recover his hearing when-
Gone.
His eyesight has been perfect ever since he got his powers, everything in his sightline will always be crystal clear and this vision also allowed him to see things that are moving fast.
Even with this power, he couldn't see what the hell just happened when the entire Endbringer just vanished in front of his eyes.
In the exact same second that he noticed the Endbringer's disappearance, an extremely powerful burst of wind blows him back, hard.
He immediately goes into his Breaker state to quickly heal his ruptured eardrums as well as dodge the possible attack.
When he comes just a few moments later, he hears a voice crying from his armband. "Legend! Legend, come in!"
"Alexandria! I read you, what the hell just happened?!"
His mind whirls with possibilities. A new ability? Some kind of teleportation or invisibility?
"Look up!"
His eyes whirl upwards and-
"Is that-?!"
Behemoth, currently in the sky, over five thousand feet in the air, lightning firing off in random directions, creating brief flashes of light even in the noon sky.
And flying just halfway down beneath it is her.
The new unmasked Cape that joined, except this time there's something different about her.
Almost like an answer to Behemoth's aura, lightning is also emanating from her flying form. Blue sparks of electricity flow throughout her entire body, her skin just slightly glowing with raw power. Red nerves flow through her muscular arms as she clenches her fists at her side.
And even though Legend's only looking at her from the side,
Her wide smile is still clearly visible.
"What…?" Legend hears Eidolon mutter next to him.
He couldn't see the expression behind his glassy helm, but he could tell Eidolon was just as shocked as the rest of them.
Eyes are staring wide eyes at the woman as a feat unimaginable got done right in front of them.
Somehow, she just… threw the Endbringer high in the air at a speed that he could not see.
"It's coming back down!" Another voice rings through the armband.
They all look up and they clearly see the Endbringer falling back down rapidly. Much faster than normal, the result of its manipulation of some kind of gravitational energy.
"YOU." A deep and loud voice rings out into the city. But unlike the roar of the Behemoth, this one is paradoxically powerful and loud enough to be heard for miles, but it doesn't hurt the ears.
The voice that came from the woman is powerful, almost as if there was a physical force behind her words.
"WILL NEVER."
Behemoth gets closer and closer, a boom like the one heard minutes before sounds out as it speeds up.
'It was a sonic boom…'
"HURT ANYONE."
The energy around the woman becomes stronger and brighter, so bright that Legend has to squint his eyes to see.
Behemoth is about to drop right on top of her-
"AGAIN!"
A burst of movement quicker than anything this world has ever seen before is done by the woman.
A bright blue flash happens at the point of impact.
Then the tornado happened.
Legend flies back fast with a cry as he gets thrown away by the sheer force of the winds. Exactly where the Behemoth and the woman met is now a rapidly forming tornado, bigger and stronger than anything Legend's ever seen.
A caricature of voices rings out from the armband as Capes try to ask what the hell just happened. Even Dragon's algorithm couldn't sparse through all the voices fast enough to see which one should take priority because they're all asking the same thing.
Legend could barely see large objects flying around the tornado but the wind is making it difficult to focus on what they are.
Then suddenly, the tornado suddenly just disappears.
Four large impacts hit the ground as the final winds tapered off.
Legend's heart is pounding in his chest as surprise after surprise took him today. His confusion has reached an all-time high on who exactly that woman is and what she just di-
His eyes widen again and his breath hitches, his heart skips a beat and numbness spread throughout his body.
'That… That can't be.'
Denial is the first thing that goes through his mind, the first stage of grief.
This is ironic because grief is the last thing he's feeling right now.
Lying in the first are large chunks of obsidian and piles of magma. Sharp black rocks are stabbed into the ground, and pieces of debris litter everywhere as if a small meteor shower just dropped on the planet.
And at the center of it all, is a large head with a jagged mouth and no red light coming off of it.
Behemoth's head lies still on the ground.
"Holy shit." A rare swear word escapes Legend's lips as he tries to comprehend what he's seeing.
The Endbringer has been slain.
Pure silence grips the city as the feat in front of them gets absorbed.
They won today.
Years upon years of fighting, and in front of them lies the corpse of a foe that had been seen as invincible for over a decade.
Slowly, all at once, everyone around to witness the unforgettable moment, looks up to the air and sees her.
Sunlight shines down on the woman as if the sun itself was congratulating her for the feat. Her cape flutters behind her, giving the image of wings like that of a savior. Not a single scratch on the costume or her skin is visible, not even soot stains her form.
And through it all, a wide smile is planted firmly on her face.
The woman, the Hero spoke, her voice carried graciously by the wind, being brought to all who will hear the words of legend.
"My name is Nana Shimura!" The Hero introduces herself by her real name first. "But you can call me One for All!"
One for All…
Her voice hits everyone in earshot in the hearts as an unfamiliar feeling starts to rise. "There is nothing more you need to fear!"
That feeling is joy, jubilation, and happiness.
But most of all hope.
"Why?" One for All asks.
She plants her hands on her hips in a picture-perfect pose for a savior of dark times. The pose of the Symbol of Hope.
"BECAUSE I AM HERE!"
.
.
.
First came the silence.
And then the deafening cheers.
+/+
Finally, peace and quiet.
"Was the cheesy line really necessary?" Nana mumbles into the muscled chest of the man lying under her. Her naked body is pressed against his as they lie peacefully in bed. "I always thought that the line was too corny."
"Cheesy works. Cheesy is easy to remember, and being someone easy to remember is the first step of becoming a symbol."
"Easy to remember?" The Endbringer killer raised an eyebrow at that. "Are you saying that I should be simple?"
The man chuckles at that.
"Of course not," His fingers gently play with her messy black hair, a result of their wild coupling.
"You need to be extraordinary, a symbol that this world sorely needs. This world… doesn't need more darkness to fix things, it's got too much of that already. I always thought heroes have become old fashioned."
Green eyes lock onto Nana's as a grin works its way on the man's face. "But perhaps, old fashioned will work this time around."
To fix the world, people need a reason to smile first.
Regardless of who made it so.
Does this make sense? Probably not, but it is just a one-shot unless it gets popular enough or something. It's all a mystery box you see?
There's going to be a free poll in Pat re0n which you can vote on whether or not you want to see more of this. (And maybe another one that is a bit more lemony).