Hope Through Overwhelming Firepower Interlude 14 Eidolon
"You ready, Eidolon?" Legend questioned, having to use his power simply to move.
Eidolon breathed heavily. "Yes. As ready as anyone can be, at least." He looked around at the shifting mass of heroes and villains, mostly heroes, that had gathered in an attempt to fight off the Endbringers. "All of them... they're probably dead."
Legend looked around as well. "Maybe, but we're not out of options yet. The Tinkertech power replicator is quite potent, and between the three of us and Buster, maybe we can make a dent."
Buster make a dent? Certainly, she'd done worse already in another place, another time. "She's not exactly displayed much in the way of ability to protect others." Or limit collateral, for that matter. A replication of the feat that took out Behemoth would probably kill off America. "And with Buster's displayed power sets, anything that would be effective against this is likely to have unpleasant repercussions." Eidolon finished.
"That's what the power replicator is for." Legend pointed out. "It will, hopefully, keep us all alive long enough to accomplish something."
Us? Who was Legend kidding? Even in his prime, Eidolon would have hesitated to say he could even dent this. As he was now? "Let's be honest. We're here, all of us, just to hold off the Endbringers long enough for Buster to accomplish anything." And if that wasn't a bitter thought, Eidolon didn't know what was. That all of his, and Cauldron's, sacrifices were for nothing. Eidolon didn't know if he could bear the thought that Cauldron had made the Case 53's for nothing. That they had let Manton go for nothing.
"I wouldn't say that." Legend interjected. "She's powerful, probably the best hope we have for damaging the Endbringers aside of Scion, but she doesn't make everyone here irrelevant."
She really does. Eidolon thought sardonically. "We need to survive long enough for Scion to even show up."
"His timing is rather... random." Legend admitted. "But maybe that randomness is in our favor today."
Eidolon didn't say anything in response. How could he? Even if Scion did show on time, that only means he and Buster run into each other. And then... who knows? In Calvert's other reality, her and Scion meeting initiated a battle that shattered North America. But that conflict was initiated by Buster, and Scion was apparently almost showing interest before Buster attacked. And if she really is gathering the other Entity's Agents...
Legend looked around, and frowned. "Alexandria should have been here by now, there's not too much longer till the Endbringers show up. What's taking her?"
A worst case scenario flashed through Eidolon's mind: Buster had gone berserk and Alexandria was dead and- He mentally shook himself. There was no evidence such a thing had happened. He would see a conflict between Alexandria and Buster numerous miles away from the actual fight, let alone the mere few miles distance that separated them now. "Alexandria has been keeping in contact over the phone, we should know why soon, hopefully." He spoke.
Speak of the devil, Legend and Eidolon's own phones buzzed not too long after. A text.
From: Alexandria
Buster just went catatonic; she isn't reacting to anything I do. Can't move her either, she's got the anti-movement things enabled as well. I will keep trying to get through.
Legend rubbed his head. "Wonderful."
Eidolon felt like screaming. Could nothing go right?
"We'll have to make do." Legend resolved. He motioned towards one of the PRT personnel assigned with managing things. "What Thinkers are there that could potentially monitor the Endbringers movements."
"Uh, give me a moment." The man grabbed at his phone. "Let's see... Locally there's Earthshock and Buster. For out-of-towner's... Best bet is probably Throweye, but he's with the rest of the Tinkers."
"I'd like to see Earthshock, then." Legend told the man.
"Hmm... The boy was forcibly drafted into the Wards not too long ago, and he has a history of anti-authoritarianism. He's not a reliable source at all." The PRT officer replied. "Besides, his accuracy is fairly poor, why not just use Buster?"
"Something happened." Legend admitted. "We're not sure what, Alexandria is looking into it, but Buster might be absent for the beginning of the battle. Try not to spread that around."
The man paled. "Fuck... Well, there's always Scion." He tried to convince himself.
Legend put his hand on the man's shoulder. "Indeed, not all hope is lost. Scion will show, he always has if an Endbringer attack goes on for long enough. Our job is to make this fight last long enough and I believe we can do it."
The man smiled hesitantly. "I hope so, sir."
As Legend coordinated an appropriate response to the Endbringer assault, now that they were down Buster, Eidolon focused on what he could do.
Namely, drawing up a power that could solve their biggest problem. Leviathan blowing them all up.
He kept the gravity manipulation: Flight and battlefield control in one package was far too useful.
He debated dropping the energy nullifier, it certainly wasn't going to stop Leviathan from ripping him apart from the inside out, but it was too useful a counter against Behemoth. Eidolon was still reeling from the fact that Leviathan was now the most dangerous Endbringer, barring whatever Behemoth was still hiding. At least the Simurgh was moderately crippled.
So that meant dropping the heat sapping lasers. Probably the least useful power amongst his abilities, but Eidolon always felt slightly bitter about taking the support role and leaving other's to die on the front line. Still, he was accustomed to bitter decisions.
He dropped the power, and his Agent began bringing new ones to his attention. New offensive powers came up. Lightning manipulation, a Manton violating angle switcher, and even hydrokinesis. Eidolon briefly considered keeping that one, but pushed it away as well. There was a time when he might have been able to overpower Leviathan, but not now.
Not for the first time did Eidolon curse his weakening powers.
As Eidolon continued to shove aside offensive powers, his Agent began trying other ones. After a few moments of pointless powers, Eidolon's agent offered up the perfect power.
Eidolon blinked. It wasn't often anymore that he was able to call up a power so perfect to the situation at hand. "Legend, I have a solution to... most of our Endbringer problems, actually."
Legend looked up from his conversation with a sullen looking kid in a brown coat and mask. "Really? That's wonderful."
The kid's sullen look vanished, to be replaced by utter horror. "What in the fuck I- They're coming, and fast!"
"Calm down, Earthshock, where?" Legend insisted.
"I don't fucking know!" The kid screamed. "There's so much going on I-I can't get a reading. Down, that way!" He pointed northerly.
Legend breathed in. "Best we're going to get, I suppose. Inform the Tinkers to freeze the earth along the northern side, leave an obvious path where possible."
Eidolon frowned, his power was still maturing. "My ability to help will be delayed slightly; my power needs some time to come to full strength. You might want to try and have the Endbringers take a more roundabout path."
"We have a highly limited power supply; we can't afford to stall for too long." Spoke Legend.
"I am aware of that, but the best method of dealing with the primary threats the Endbringers pose is this power." Eidolon replied.
"...I trust you, if you believe that, then... We'll do it." Legend turned and spoke into his phone. "Dragon, have the Tinkers delay the Endbringers for..." He turned towards Eidolon.
"Half a minute should be good." Eidolon confirmed.
"Half a minute." Legend finished.
Dragon replied in the affirmative, and they waited.
"Remaining power: 60%" Dragon spoke.
Legend winced. "Sixty? We were at ninety not too long ago. I hope this is worth it, Eidolon."
"It is." Eidolon confirmed. "It's a power interdiction field of sorts; changes things so that powers can't be activated through it."
Legend nodded.
Thirty seconds passed.
The earth began to shake. Capes began shifting nervously. Eidolon prepared himself.
"Dragon, I leave managing the Tinker device to you." Legend spoke into his phone, before setting it to the side. "This is it, Eidolon, the culmination of everything we have worked for over the years."
Eidolon remained silent for a moment. "...Yeah."
And then, there was no more time for words.
The ground before the gathered capes fell away, as a drill of water rapidly formed an abnormally circular hole, the constraints of Clockblocker's power having done their job.
Eidolon brought the power interdiction to bear, and layered a greenish dome over the hole, focusing the effect inwards. "Keep the Endbringers inside the dome!" He shouted.
Water streamed fourth from the hole, a cascading stream that reached the green dome, only to fall apart uncontrolled.
Eidolon breathed a sigh of relief. The power interdiction worked on the Endbringers.
The water rapidly filled the entire dome, leaving a murky blackness at the center. Here and there, you could see small streamers of water spill out from the dome, as it left Leviathan's control radius.
A gray figure, Leviathan, shot forward in an attempt to leave the dome. Its efforts were quickly thwarted by Dragon freezing the water in front of Leviathan.
Leviathan reeled back from the impact, but it was not deterred for long. Moving quickly from one edge of the dome to the other, it attempted to escape Dragon's cage.
"We'll run out of power at this rate." Dragon spoke over an intercom system set up at the last minute. "Down to 54%"
"Right." Legend began directing the gathered Parahumans, as Eidolon concentrated on maintaining the dome.
A loud 'crack' echoed, as a blast of superheated steam lanced forth from within the dome. The capes in the path of the blast didn't even have time to scream.
"Shit! Behemoth." An unknown cape swore.
The first blast wasn't the end, dozens of the concentrated steam attacks tore out of the dome. Chaos reigned. A few with force field powers attempted to stop the blasts, but they were too few and disorganized, while the amount of steam Behemoth could propel seemed limitless.
This lasted a few seconds, until Dragon promptly froze everything around the dome. "Come up with a counter measure quickly." She demanded. "We're down to 41% back here."
Eidolon blinked in confusion as he began to feel an odd pressure coming from the dome. His eyes briefly widened, as the power interdiction began to slip from his grasp. "What the hell..." He muttered to himself, and attempted reaffirm his control.
"What's wrong, Eidolon?" Legend questioned, turning away from his attempts to give the assorted Parahumans direction.
"I think the Endbringers are attempting to push through my barrier, and... it's working." Eidolon admitted. "The power is beginning to burn out."
Legend just sighed. "What's one more time limit? Just tell us when to pull back."
Eidolon stumbled as the pressure doubled. He felt like he was trying to grasp water. "Now, pull them back now." He gasped out.
Legend, to his credit, didn't even hesitate. "Pull back, immediately, as far as you can." He spoke over the intercom system.
The assorted capes, however, did. Acting as a confused mass, some attempted to follow Legend's order, while others appeared to have not heard it all. Resulting in a jumbled mess that barely managed a vague retreating motion.
Legend repeated his order, as Eidolon continued to futilely attempt to slow down the burn out. His efforts proved for naught, as he felt the power interdiction slowly fail.
And then, the power broke, and fell from his grasp as if it had turned to air. "Another power, gone." He whispered to himself.
Of much more immediate concern, was the unshackled Endbringers. Dragon had immediately rerouted Clockblocker's power so as to contain each Endbringer individually.
Not that it mattered much.
Most of the capes had gotten out of range before the collapse, but a fair few didn't. They all died, instantly.
Those who had escaped Leviathan's range, were now dealing with a cascade of electricity and other, more exotic, energies radiating from Behemoth.
In other concerns, the Tinker device the Simurgh still had was beginning to undergo... modifications. And the green glow was strengthening.
Overall? Nothing was going well at all.
Eidolon accepted the first power his Agent pulled in to replace the power interdiction, an ice ray. Eidolon eyed the rapidly receding sea. Useful, he decided.
At some point, a group of force fielders had managed to get coordinated enough to block off Behemoth's barrage of attacks. Although, the charred bodies spoke volumes of how long that took.
"34% remaining." Dragon informed everyone. "I can't spare any power for things other than containing the Endbringers anymore, I am sorry."
The ground shook, and the previously receding sea barreled forth. An almost supersonic wave of water rapidly approached the shoreline.
Eidolon brought his gravity manipulation to bear, and dragged the sea downwards as best he could. It slowed, but not enough. The wave smashed into the capes containing Behemoth, scattering them and breaking their force field cage. Behemoth began channeling electricity into the wave, which swept around for another pass.
Eidolon considered using the ice ray for a moment. An image of the wave, only now with ice swept through his mind. And then the realization that, with Behemoth, they could do it anyway did as well. "Can't make it any worse." He muttered, and began freezing the ice as well. Predictably, it accomplished little. "Still needs time to build." Although, even fully built up it probably wouldn't accomplish much against this.
The wave began spinning around a point, forming the same destructive attack it had taken Buster to break through last time. Only now, it was on fire. If ever they needed proof of the Endbringers having a cruel sense of humor, the water tornado of ice and fire was proof enough.
The ray, slightly more powerful now, lanced forth from Eidolon's hand. As he brought everything his gravity power could do against the attack, even dropping his flight.
The force of a hundred times Earth's gravity pulled in the opposite direction of the whirlwind, as colossal sheets of ice formed to impede its path.
And, it was almost working. The maelstrom slowed ever so slightly, just enough for the capes that remained to gather themselves.
And then a green light flashed.
"Power reserves empty!" the panicky voice of Dragon was heard.
Shit.
The twisting wave of water enveloped Leviathan, newly freed from Clockblocker's artificially recreated power, and it pushed out.
The hypersonic gray figure crashed into Eidolon shortly after.
Eidolon stumbled backwards. If he hadn't kept that energy nullifier around... He shook his head, and thrust outward with his gravity power, trying to drag Leviathan down, only to be baffled at the complete lack of response. What was happening-?
He was shocked when his gravity power began informing him about an inexplicable gravatic anomaly interfering with the power. He didn't think it had Thinker traits as well, and what ano-
There was a sound of shattering glass.
Leviathan visibly warped, and stumbled back. A glance behind it proved that the same was happening to all the space behind Leviathan, all being dragged to a single point.
A directed singularity, his power informed him. Eidolon mentally noted that the concept seemed just as baffling to his power as it was to him.
A second later, and the singularity 'amplified', for lack of a better word. With the roar of rushing wind, Leviathan flew backwards into the directed black hole. Stumbling and flipping over itself in a desperate attempt to grasp anything that was not also being drug into the gravatic anomaly.
A mere second after its appearance however, the singularity faded from existence. Leviathan quickly flipped itself up onto its feet.
A hum of energy.
A red streak shot forth from the sky like a bolt of lightning onto Leviathan.
Leviathan, and the bolt of light, struck the ground like a hammer. Eidolon was knocked from his feet as the earth cracked beneath it.
Shaking himself out of his stupor, Eidolon pulled at his newly restored gravity manipulation to rapidly bring him to a standing position.
A shattered landscape greeted him. The immediate area around Eidolon was nothing more than a few large cliffs; torn apart remnants of the isolated section of city scape Eidolon had sequestered himself away in for the duration of the battle.
Towards the center, the ground achieved a consistency more associated with dust than anything else. And at the center of everything, was the unmoving gray creature that was Leviathan and a familiar, if changed, figure.
Buster, with her foot laying amidst the shattered remnants of what was likely Leviathan's core.
Buster glanced at him. "Hey." She spoke with a wave.
"...Hey." Eidolon waved back without thinking, his mind kind of preoccupied with the dead Endbringer before him. Still kind of distracted, Eidolon spoke the first things that came to mind. "What happened to your hair?" Which was glowing red, "And where did that costume come from?" Buster was now clothed in an odd white and red bodysuit, with her orange goggles replaced by an orange visor.
"Don't quite have the time to explain." Buster spoke, as a corona of red energy flared up around her. "There are a few problems, you see." She began to float into the air.
"The Endbringers." Eidolon responded. "Are you sure you can handle them?" Who was he kidding, if Coil's story was halfway true, she had this in the bag.
Buster smirked slightly. "Of course." She began to ascend into the air.
A dark shadow loomed over the two of them, as Behemoth, crackling with energy, stood looking over the edge.
A thunderous boom, and the air distorted as Behemoth directed a cavalcade of thunder and fire down upon Buster.
The hairs on the back of Eidolon's neck rose, as he instinctively knew that his energy nullifier wasn't enough for that.
Buster raised a hand into the air, and a swirl of infinitely black space appeared in her palm.
Reality bent in towards Behemoth, the rain of lightning pulled back to its generator, as a void began to from around Behemoth. Behemoth opened its mouth to scream, but sound could no longer escape.
A second later, and all that was left of Behemoth was a miniature black hole. Buster closed her hand into a fist around the one she had formed in her hand, and the black hole that now held Behemoth vanished.
"Black hole generation and control." Eidolon whispered to himself. An absurd power.
"Significantly more to it than that." Buster shouted back towards him.
More? Eidolon wondered at that.
"And then there was one." Buster commented to herself. Lifting of into the air, she shot towards a white figure Eidolon could still see past the crevice of shattered earth he and the corpse of Leviathan now occupied.
The Simurgh turned to look at Buster. If Eidolon didn't know better, he would have described it as resigned, almost.
Eidolon took a look at where Behemoth used to be.
Perhaps he didn't know better, Eidolon mused.
Nevertheless, the Simurgh still brought its Tinker weapon to bear, and unleashed another storm of green light.
Buster held an arm out to the side, and a thin beam of red light extended from her fingers.
A swing of her arm, and the red beam sliced through both the Simurgh and the attack of the weapon.
The tide of green energy, now split in half, went high and low. Some of it burying into the ground beneath Brockton Bay, the other spiraling off into the sky.
Eidolon didn't think energy worked like that, personally. But what did he know?
The Simurgh, sliced in two at a point a bit above chest line, fell from the air and impacted the ground with a loud 'thump'.
Eidolon, emotionally drained, slid to the ground. Oh boy, was this going to have repercussions, already, cheering could be heard in the background.
Letting out a sigh, Eidolon spoke a single word. "Door."
"I honestly never thought there would be a day when the Endbringers weren't a problem anymore." Legend spoke, utterly ecstatic with the concept. "I have to go tell Arthur, I want him to hear it from me. If there's nothing else you need me for..."
"Nothing." Doctor Mother confirmed. "Go be with him."
A smile still on his face, Legend left the room.
And suddenly, the mood in the room dropped.
"Well that was a thing." Alexandria dryly commented. "I think that was a fair bit above anything Buster was pulling off in the Coil timeline."
"Indeed, the utter lack of significant collateral indicates a level of ability far in access of what she had access to then." Doctor Mother agreed. "Before, she simply overwhelmed the Endbringers. Now? She outclassed them. Now where will we categorize her new powers? The teleportation you and Eidolon described is clearly from Doormaker-"
"Something that bothered me." Alexandria interrupted. "Was that she created a black hole before beginning her teleport. Almost as if it was needed for a catalyst. Every other time she's displayed a power, it's been superior to the original one."
"On that front." Eidolon began. "When Buster first showed up, she demonstrated some sort of ability to direct the singularities she forms. At that time, I had a power that, among other things, enabled me to understand gravity at a higher level. That directed singularity completely baffled it. I, and in turn it, didn't have even the slightest idea as to how she pulled that off."
Alexandria connected the dots. "You think there's something more to this than merely reclaiming Agents. However, that could easily be explained by her immunity to powers not letting you understand it."
Eidolon frowned. "That would make sense if it was the black hole generation that was interfering- and don't get me wrong, it was- but the idea of a directed black hole seemed utterly foreign to it."
"You have a point." Alexandria admitted. "But your earlier Agent theory is the only one that makes sense. We have nothing else to go on."
"Maybe it's something that doesn't make sense." Doctor Mother cut in. "However, we could theorize anything if that's the assumption we're working under. Until further information comes to light, we should continue with the Agent theory."
A memory came to light in Eidolon's mind. "She said 'significantly more'." He murmured to himself.
"What is it?" Alexandria questioned.
"Something crazy." Eidolon admitted, as the idea began to form in his mind. "How to get more information on this topic."
"How?"
Eidolon sighed. "Something Legend probably would have suggested much earlier, if we hadn't excluded him." He began walking out of the room. "Door."
"What?" Alexandria continued the one word questions.
Eidolon turned back briefly. "Ask." And stepped into the newly formed portal.
A short while had passed since the Final Battle, as the internet was already calling it. Buster had made a brief statement, and then said she was going to check on her father and would really rather not be followed everywhere.
The reporters, for once in their lives, had been rather accommodating. Presumably, angering the girl who was assumed to be the next Scion was considered... bad for business.
And so, Eidolon found himself standing in front of a fairly nondescript house. He motioned to knock, and hesitated. Why was he doing this?
The answer hit him like a rock; he wanted Buster to not be something he would have to fight. Wanted her to be something beyond Scion. Wanted her to be able to just... deal with Scion.
Overall? Eidolon just wanted to no longer have to worry about the fact that his powers were weakening.
Resolve hardened, Eidolon knocked on the door.
"I'm coming." A muffled voice was heard through the door. A few seconds later, and the door opened to reveal a thin man. "Ah... Eidolon, sir." He spoke after a moment.
Eidolon nodded. "And you're Mr. Hebert, I take it?"
"I am." He nodded. "I... Would imagine you're here for Taylor."
"Correct. Can I see her?" Eidolon questioned.
Danny hesitated for a moment. "I-"
"No need, Dad." Buster, or Taylor out of costume, spoke. "I saw him coming."
"Oh." Danny hesitated again. "Are you okay with this, Taylor?"
"Yes, Dad." Taylor answered. "I'll be fine."
"Alright. I suppose I'll leave you two." Danny spoke. He turned to leave, but hesitated for one last time. "She's not in any trouble, is she?" He directed towards Eidolon.
Eidolon snorted. "She's not, but even if she's was, what would you expect me to do about it. You may have only heard about it second hand, but I was treated to a front row seat of her decimating the Endbringers." He shook his head. "Remember the few attempts made to arrest Scion for public nudity?"
Eidolon's words did little to reassure Danny, yet the man left anyway.
Taylor sighed. "Don't take it personally; my Dad's been having an... eventful few days."
"Haven't we all." Eidolon murmured.
"Quite." Taylor agreed. "I mean, literally a week ago I was running under the assumption that my powers didn't exceed anything Purity has shown. Now, boom goes the Endbringer." She made an exploding motion with her hands. "So... where was it you and the rest of the Triumvirate went through those portals. I sensed some..." Her previously cheery attitude vanished. "...Interesting things through there."
Ah, crap. If her extrasensory perception is half as good as we assume, the cat's all the way out of the bag. "Well, I came here to ask some questions, I suppose it's only fair I answer some in turn..." He took a deep breath. Alexandria and Doctor Mother were going to kill him. "...What do you know about Scion?"