Hope Through Overwhelming Firepower 6.3
"Taylor, eh?" Dennis let out a sigh and shook his head. "What is with you and underwhelming names?"
Taylor deadpanned slightly. "What were you expecting?"
"I don't know, something out of a comic book; since you seem to be right out of one anyway. Sinestra, or something, maybe." Dennis answered with a wave of his hand. "Although." He mused. "That would be more of a villain name, wouldn't it..." Dennis rubbed his chin in faux seriousness.
Taylor raised an eyebrow. "...I have no idea how to respond to that."
Missy looked askance at Dennis. "Do you ever think before opening your mouth?"
"Nope!" Dennis promptly and proudly answered.
Taylor shook her head in bemusement as their conversation rapidly descended into pointlessness.
After leaving Alexandria's office, she had met up with her Dad in short order. After a brief moment of her Dad worrying over her, they had returned home, only for her Dad to collapse in bed shortly after.
It suddenly hit Taylor that, because he fell asleep so rapidly, she had never told her Dad about the events of yesterday. Something to do later then.
Aegis moved up while Taylor was musing. "Well, while they're off bickering, I can finally get a chance to introduce myself. I'm Carlos."
"Chris." Kid Win, or Chris now, introduced himself.
"Dean." Gallant offered.
"And I'm Mathew." Browbeat finished.
"Nice to, uh, know your names, I guess." Taylor replied.
Carlos nodded. "Well, you're officially a member of the Wards now, a Ward directly attached to Alexandria, but a Ward nonetheless. So, as leader of the Brockton Bay Wards Team, I welcome you." A pause. "And now that the official crap is out of the way, it is tradition whenever a new Ward joins that we all go out to Fugly Bob's."
Taylor smiled slightly. "I think I would like that."
Carlos smiled in turn. "Very well." He turned towards the rowdy pair. "Dennis, Missy, calm-" He trailed off and glanced at the doorway.
"Am I interrupting something?" Eidolon questioned.
Carlos audibly swallowed. "Uh, no sir."
Eidolon nodded, and moved in front of Taylor. "You killed the Siberian, correct?"
"I did." Taylor answered. Was he mad for some reason?
He took in a deep breath. "Whatever may happen in the future, good or bad, I will remember this. Thank you." He gave a curt bow, as if the action was something he wanted to do, but was incredibly outside his comfort zone.
"Um, you're welcome." Taylor replied.
He nodded, and left the room.
Dennis let out a whistle "...Daaaaaamn. The impact of little Taylor's actions doesn't really sink in until you see something like that."
"I'm afraid I'm a bit confused, what was that about?" Taylor asked.
Dean frowned in thought. "The Siberian was the one who killed Hero, and she was considered invincible up until now, was probably thanking you for avenging a friend." He shook his head. "But, as Dennis said, damn. Having Eidolon come in and personally thank someone you know isn't something you see every day."
Taylor had nothing to really say in response. Sometimes, you forgot the Triumvirate were people too.
"I get the feeling things like this are going to be rather common around you, aren't they." Mathew dryly directed at Taylor.
Taylor grumbled slightly. "You know, it was just a week ago that I was relatively normal for a Parahuman. Decent Blaster, slight Brute, nothing else special. Five days later, and I'm the next Eidolon or Scion as far as the general public is concerned."
"As far as the general public is concerned?" Now it was Dennis' turn to raise the eyebrow. "Hell, as far as pretty much everyone is concerned. Seriously, not only is the Empire Eighty-Eight remaining on the down low, the Merchants have been quiet since the Leviathan attack. You got Skidmark to start thinking things out. That's infinitely more impressive than any amount of Endbringer wrestling you will ever do."
Missy's crossed her arms. "Can't we discuss this later? I'm hungry."
Carlos, having regained his bearings, began to speak. "Agreed. I didn't manage breakfast today, and would like to get something in my stomach soon."
Dennis scowled. "Fine, fine, ruin all my fun." He turned towards Taylor. "Hey, Taylor. What's it like being a robot?"
Chris groaned. "And he had held out for so long, too..."
"... I honestly haven't noticed a difference." Taylor shrugged out.
"...Huh."
Taylor leaned over to Chris. "Why were you so against him asking that, anyway?"
"Because we knew that the conversation would never leave the topic." Chris replied.
An hour and a half later, after they had returned from the 'sensitive public area' of Fugly Bob's, Chris was proven right.
"Perhaps she is preforming internal matter to energy transmutation using the food she eats?" Mathew postulated. "It would explain why she is still both capable of, and feels the urge to, eat."
"Those were all English words, I'm fairly sure." Dennis began. "But I have no idea what any of them mean in that context."
Taylor twitched. They had been at this for the last half-hour by her count.
"Never mind." Mathew waved Dennis off. "I wonder, though, could she draw energy from non-food sources?" Mathew stroked at a non-existent beard. "Hey, Taylor. Would you be willing to-"
"No, I'm not eating anything you offer me." Taylor flatly responded.
Mathew deflated. "Well, fine." He grumbled half seriously.
A second's pause. "Hey, do you still need to sleep-"
Taylor twitched again. "That's it. Next person to mention anything robot related is going to find out my new potential sleeping schedules with me. As I grab your wrist, and we stand together in silence for a long time."
Blessed silence reigned for a few moments longer. "...Is that a promise?" Dennis began.
Taylor let out a groan. What had she done to deserve this?
The jovial air was interrupted as Alexandria entered the room. "Dragon, Wards room."
The TV blinked on, and a face appeared on the screen. Dragon, presumably. "Buster, or Taylor right now." She greeted. "A pleasure to finally meet you, although I wish it could be under better circumstances."
Taylor blinked. "Well, nice to meet you too. What's the matter?"
"Five minutes ago, the Simurgh came to a stop above this mountain." Two images, one of the Simurgh and the other of a fairly nondescript mountain, came into view beside Dragons' face. "A minute after that, and the Simurgh fell, for lack of a better word, out of the air." The image with the Simurgh in it changed to show a video of the Simurgh gathering its wings about it, and dropping out of the sky in a dive for the mountain. It landed on the mountain with a graceful dip.
Dragon continued. "For the purposes of full disclosure, and the fact that trying to keep it secret is pointless now, that mountain is the current location of the Birdcage."
That drew sharp breaths from Taylor and the other Wards.
"It's hitting the Birdcage? Damn." Carlos swore. "And not but a few days after the previous attack."
"It is quite clear there is nothing usual about this Endbringer attack." Dragon spoke, and played the video again.
The Simurgh continued to stand there, waiting for something.
A minute later, and that 'something' was revealed.
The earth surged, and broke upwards. A flow of magma began to spurt forth as Behemoth and Leviathan pulled themselves out of the ground.
"W-what?" Dennis stuttered. "I-just... The fuck?"
Taylor supposed no one could find it in themselves to correct Dennis' language. It was an apt description.
Dragon briefly muted the video as Behemoth lifted an arm into the air, and brought it down with incredible force.
The mountain shattered open, and the rush of howling wind as air moved to fill the void was all that could be heard.
"The Simurgh lifted up its compatriots, and entered the outer vacuum area of the Birdcage." Dragon explained, as the Simurgh began floating into the newly opened void.
Dragon paused the video. "I will make the rest of this briefing short; I have others who need to see it as well. I brought all of the Birdcages defenses online in response; however the Birdcage defenses were designed to fight off Parahumans, not three Endbringers. All of the primary defense systems were destroyed by unusually fast water echoes out of Leviathan, Behemoth or the Simurgh may have been enhancing them somehow. The Endbringers broke into the Birdcage main after that, causing a panic among the inmates. A few, such as Glaistig Uaine, Marquis, and Black Kaze attempted to fight back, all died. Past that point, most of the Birdcage's air supply had emptied into the spatially enhanced void around the Birdcage, beginning the death of those who had survived. As the situation was now fully unrecoverable, I activated the self-destruct for the Birdcage, intending to set off a two hundred megaton explosive. Behemoth took control of all the energy involved, and ejected it out the hole they had come in from. The rest of this must be seen."
Did that woman ever breathe? Taylor, still slightly reeling from Dragon's rapid fire description of events, took notice of the screen.
The three Endbringers moved forwards through the now shattered Birdcage, the dead and dying lie around them. The Endbringers came to a stop in front of their quarry. A woman, grasping at her throat as she struggled to take in breath.
Mathew let out a slight gasp. "String Theory?"
The Simurgh reached down, and wrapped its oversized hand around String Theory's head. A surprisingly delicate wrist flick later, and it wrenched her head right off. As the headless body toppled to the ground, the Simurgh moved out of the way as Leviathan stepped forward.
Leviathan spun in place, creating a large buildup of water. A half minute later, and Leviathan shaped the newly formed water into a massive drill. The drill began digging into the earth beneath the Birdcage quite slowly at first. Until Behemoth moved up and thrust downward, causing the spin of the drill to increase to incredible speeds. A moment later, and the Simurgh added its own telekinesis into the project. Backed by the power of all three Endbringers, the drill tore through the earth like a hot knife through butter, and Leviathan, Behemoth, and the Simurgh, vanished into the earth.
The video vanished, and Dragon began to speak once more. "I am showing this to all significant Parahuman assets before the events will be released to the public at large. I am organizing a meeting of all of said significant Parahuman assets, and would like you to come, Taylor Hebert."
Taylor nodded without hesitation. "I accept, assuming my father will allow it."
Dragon nodded. "Then good bye." The screen shut off entirely.
"Kind of abrupt there." Chris said with a frown.
"Please forgive Dragon's... curtness. She is taking her perceived failure to protect the Birdcage much harder then she really should." Alexandria spoke.
Chris stared. "Uh, yes, Alexandria, ma'am."
"And this day was going so well too." Taylor grumbled. "I should probably go, I guess. Need to convince my Dad to let me run off. Again."
Alexandria nodded, and handed Taylor a number. "Take this; it's the number for Dragon's phone. As you are immune to teleportation, Dragon has offered to provide you transport. Contact her when needed."
Taylor took the number. "Thanks."
Alexandria nodded again, and walked off.
Taylor turned back to the rest of the Wards. "Well, I'll see you all later, then."
"You really don't think that much of it, do you?" Dean commented.
"Hmm?"
Dean waved her off. "It's unimportant. Just go and see your father."
Taylor frowned for a moment. "You sure?"
"Quite."
"...Alright." Taylor answered.
Leaving the Wards with one final wave, Taylor left for home.
Primary Singularity: 24% Output.