7.1
For a long second I didn't move. I could hear the siren, see the people on TV moving quickly towards the exits as Dollerant spoke on her microphone and Mouse Protector gathered with the other parahumans.
For a moment, I just listened… the sounds from the TV were clear but… down here…
I never really considered how deep underground this place was.
The Endbringer Siren… It sounded so far away when I know one of the horns is just at the top of this building.
Barely thirty seconds pass before the door slides open with a hiss, Sills steps inside, breathing heavily. The man must have sprinted down here. "We don't have a lot of time." He said. "We still need to call your father, but if he gives the ok, are you willing to fight this thing?"
The question brought me up short.
Fight an Endbringer…
Until the beginning of the year, I would have just been one of the civilians running to a shelter.
Behemoth, Leviathan, the Simurgh… these things were just… natural disasters for my whole life. I had no more thought about fighting them than one would think about fighting an earthquake, or punching out a hurricane.
Frankly… I almost wanted to laugh at the notion.
For so long these things had just been so… distant. Kyuushu, Newfoundland, Canberra. The closest had been New York, but I hadn't even been born yet.
This was always someone else's problem.
Not in my backyard, out of sight out of mind.
But now, it firmly was my problem.
I nodded, numb to the movement, and my answer came out of me before I could really think about any of it.
"Yeah… Yeah I'll fight."
I stood up and moved towards the closet.
"What are you doing?"
I blinked, surprised by the question that should have a rather obvious answer. I turned and answered him. "Putting on the costume."
"You're fighting an Endbringer." He stated flatly. "Your 'PR friendly persona' can wait another day. And if Glenn says otherwise I'll shoot him myself."
Sills just became my favorite PRT agent...
(X)
When we got to the lobby it was chaos. People were hurrying left and right as they were evacuating or preparing. I saw Velocity off to the side, he must have practically flown here.
He turned and spotted me.
"You in then?" He asked, and I nodded. The hero turned towards Martin. "I'll take her to the ready room. You head on back to what you were doing."
Martin offered a nod to the man "I'll get the ash delivered from the rig." He patted me once on the shoulder.
Was that encouragement? A goodbye? Both? Has he grown attached to me in some way?
I saw the Sills walk away and start shouting orders.
"What now?" I asked, looking up to Velocity.
"Everyone is en route here. Villain capes, too. Since we're the first one's here, our job is to go and make sure the teleportation pads are clear, last thing we need is someone getting hurt when Strider jumps em."
Strider, California cape if I recall. Works with Alexandria.
Just then, I heard the rolling rumble of thunder, and the hiss of an oncoming downpour.
Leviathan…
It made sense. We were on the coast, and Behemoth normally targeted much more densely populated areas. And the Simurgh was the one that attacked last time, in Australia.
I suppose I should be grateful that it wasn't Behemoth.
Velocity moved through the halls at a walking pace that had to be helped by his Mover ability. I was all but sprinting after him. The only reason he seemed to slow down was to, basically, announce our movement to the people walking through the halls in conflicting directions to ours.
We moved out of the exit on the south east side, rushing towards a rather large hexagon shaped building that I'd never been inside before.
I rushed through the downpour, my feet already making light splashes on the asphalt.
"Taylor!" Came a voice as Velocity opened the door and jammed it open with a door peg. I turned, seeing Kid Win rushing over on his hoverboard.
He had a helmet in his hand.
Armsmaster's helmet.
He landed on the ground, the board practically springing into his hand with a practiced motion.
"Take this." He panted, all but shoving it into my chest.
I gripped the helmet in my hands. My mouth opening and closing to try and determine what I should answer.
"Look just, please take the thing, just for today okay? We're gonna need every edge we can get." He panted, clearly having rushed from wherever he'd been on patrol.
He was right… This wasn't the time to be picky. I placed it under my arm, to be put on as soon as my ash got here.
Minutes later, as we were just finishing the cleanup of the teleportation area, the massive, empty space that took up the entirety of this building, when Triumph, Dauntless, Weld, Flechette, and Gallant arrived, with Velocity quickly assigning them other jobs. Five minutes after, I was done and waiting in the command room when a PRT agent wheeled in five full tubs of ash.
With barely a flicker of thought the ash moved from its inert state and covered me from head to toe, in a purely familiar sensation that I'd already learned to miss. It was more ash than I'd ever used before. Just one of those barrels would have been enough to cover me. I compressed it, hid it as best I could, I gave myself a robe of sorts to camoflauge the extra...god knows how many pounds of ash and I still had too much. I spread it out, molding it to the others. the tiniest number of grains that I could get away with. Making a note to do it for all of them, the people I knew, and the strangers.
This was alot of ash.
I put on Armsmaster's tinker-tech helmet and covered it with ash, sealing off most of my face from the outside world.
With a blink-click on the interface it was turned on, the systems running through diagnostics, bathing the whole room in blue before I started cycling through the visible spectrum. Infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray. I looked at the PRT trooper, that had brought the ash. A small window appeared on the edge of my peripheral vision, his name, and rank hovering there. Andrew Warren. No criminal record.
Huh. That was new. Did Chris put a database in here? Or give me access to the PRT's database?
Something to ask him later. I looked into the polished shine of the stainless steel wall, seeing my full helmet with a smile that visibly crinkled my eyes in nostalgia.
After that, one by one, they started coming in.
First it was Clockblocker, Kid, Vista, then I saw Cricket… Cricket, Stormtiger, Hookwolf, Krieg and Purity.
An Endbringer fight for their freedom.
Hookwolf stared at me, I stared right back. I could hear the bared tooth growl coming out of his iron wolf mask.
Crusader showed up next.
When Velocity and Dauntless made their way inside, having finished their preparations, they immediately worked the room with the Nazi's. Talking to them. Asking who was coming, who wasn't.
Vista was next to me, fidgeting, Nervous,
So was I.
I wasn't much for breaking silences. Or for pep talks. I'd hardly ever received one. Let alone given one. But… I felt like I should say something.
I lifted my hand to place it on her shoulder when I thought better of it, instead letting it fall back to my side.
"You okay?" I asked instead.
Vista almost jumped, startled before she turned to look at me. "Huh? Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. You don't have to wor-"
"Alright listen up!" Barked Mouse Protector as she walked in. Her voice, while not exactly drill sergeant like, was notably more serious than the last time I'd heard her. "Dragon's systems have Leviathan three hundred miles outside the Bay and approaching with an ETA of thirty minutes at the most! As usual, Alexandria, Legend, and ten time Lottery Winner, Big, Bad, and Green, are on their way and bringing help! We're also expecting more out of town capes."
"How many?" It was Crusader that asked, arms crossed.
"So far we have ten that called in for pickup, that was five minutes ago, so by now who knows."
"Any heavy hitters?" Dauntless asked.
"None that I recognized, though I've only been officially on the job as commander here for ohhh... ten minutes." She smirked. "I'll catch up on my reading after this, I promise."
The doors opened and in walked Kaiser, along with Fenja, Menja, and Alabaster.
"How much time do we have left?" The self styled Emperor asked as he crossed his arms.
"Twenty, twenty-five minutes now."
I wondered, for a moment, if Lung would be showing up. He fought this bastard before, or so I'd heard. So far though, I saw no one from the ABB. I didn't see the Merchants for that matter. Did they choose to stay in jail?
I wasn't seeing Battery anywhere, or Miss Militia either.
Minutes passed, and the silence was broken only by new arrivals. Aegis of course, Glory Girl, Brandish, Lady Photon, Laserdream, Shielder, Manpower. From their conversation Amy was already at the spot that had been requisitioned for the wounded at the town center, far away from the coastline.
There were others of course. A Tinker and a Brute from Maine, arriving with the help of another Mover. A Shaker of some kind from just outside the city.
I didn't know or recognize any of those, I didn't even know if they were villains or heroes.
Frankly, I didn't care. We, the Wards, all waited in various degrees of anxiousness. None of us had done this before, and every one of the more experienced capes were talking to each other already, working on their plans, assigning themselves roles.
When the Protectorate heroes finally pulled away and moved to talk to us we hung on their every word. Knowing that these instructions and pieces of advice could very well mean the difference between coming home or not in a few hours.
When the doors opened to admit Legend I almost didn't even notice him.
Frankly, if Mouse Protector hadn't stopped speaking, and more than a hundred capes filed into the massive room right behind him, I probably wouldn't have even looked at him.
"We have too little time left." Legend said, his tone seemed almost sombre. "Even with the early warning system, we will be less prepared than I would like, but other capes are gathering and should be joining us in short order, " He announced for everyone's benefit.
I looked to the other capes, staples of the fights: Eidolon, Narwhal, Myrddin. My helmet upgrade cued in on the faces I was focussing on, bringing up files and names as quickly as my eyes passed over them.
"Where is Alexandria?"
The question came from Mouse Protector.
She was right, I didn't see Alexandria anywhere.
"She'll be here." Legend answered. "For the moment she is looking into getting another cape, one which could help us immensely." He looked around. "Where is Militia?"
"The inland command center organizing everything on that front." Mouse Protector answered without missing a beat.
The man nodded, but I was more interested in who exactly Alexandria was getting that the Triumvirate would think to be helpful. But before anything more could be said on the subject Legend looked to the assembled crowd.
"As you all know, Leviathan is on the way here. We have more capes en route who are volunteering to assist us. For those of you who have never done this before, as it stands, the Endbringer Truce is now officially in effect. No information is to be gathered on rivals, no attempts are to be made on anyone's life or freedom be they Hero or Villain. Everyone should know right now that on a good day any Endbringer fight can end with a twenty-five percent casualty rate. We don't need to help that along by stabbing each other in the back. And anyone who breaks this Truce, the consequences are severe."
He offered a pause, allowing his words to sink in for a moment. Everyone around the room looked dead serious. The Endbringer Truce was actually something civilians knew about, at least the bare bones of it. But I don't think I ever quite understood just how important it is. At least until right this moment, when I'm one of the people sitting here preparing myself to fight one of these things.
If I had to do that while looking over my shoulder...
"Leviathan is a Macro-hydrokinetic." Legend continued. "Meaning his control of water his is ultimate weapon. Make no mistake, there will be water on the battlefield. This city will be flooded and he will be bringing in tidal waves and tsunamis to drown us. Thus, starting right now any and all Barrier class capes that can place a permanent or semi-permanent fixture along the coast to break or stop those waves needs to do so immediately while we still have time. Please step forward."
Narwhal was the first to step up, behind her, a a number of capes followed her example, including Kaiser. Villains, Heroes and Rogues all stepping up like a military procession.
One of the PRT troopers that had been waiting began to snap armbands onto their wrists, and quickly the whole procession of about fifty or sixty capes filed out of the room. I wondered what would be done with the Barrier capes that hadn't arrived yet.
"That, unfortunately is only half the equation." Legend continued. "The Barrier capes can only hold off the waves for a while. They will become stronger and stronger until Leviathan overwhelms them. Furthermore, the Bay sits over an underground reservoir." The Protectorate leader frowned, looking decidedly grim faced.
"That means that we have very very little time. We can't make this a battle of attrition, which would be a good way to avoid losses by playing it safe. We have to hit Leviathan as hard as possible in order to make him retreat quickly."
"And if we don't? Why does the underground reservoir matter? "
I didn't see who asked, but it sounded like a girl, clear on the other side of the room.
"Then Brockton Bay will sink, just like Newfoundland and Kyuushu."
Someone cursed.
"Leviathan doesn't have to defeat us. Just outlast us." The hero said. "The best way to fight him, and the most difficult, is to keep him still. Hold him in one area where we can hit him with everything we have. He doesn't have the brute force of Behemoth, or the tactical skills of the Simurgh. Our Thinkers and temporary command HQ will be inland, at the Delany Town Center. They will work to predict Leviathan's moves and coordinate us as much as possible. Separated from the PRT HQ here, and the medical tents being set up on the hillside suburbs to the west."
Made sense. Not putting all our eggs in one basket and all that.
"So far we will have three groups." He continued. "I will coordinate the Blasters, the Assault Team, we are the literal speartip of this act. We can do the most damage while staying as far away from Leviathan as possible. Eidolon will be coordinating the efforts of our Barrier capes. If the Blasters are a spear, the Barriers are our literal shield. Alexandria, when she arrives, will lead the Brutes. Your job is just as important, probably the most important. You have to try to keep Leviathan as far away from the Blasters and Barriers as possible. Keep them alive or we lose any hope of winning this engagement."
He paused, looking to Mouse Protector .
"The PRT Hero Commander of Brockton Bay, Mouse Protector, will be in charge of the Rescue Teams to save any downed capes and take them back to the Med-center."
"Like riding a bike." She said before moving to leave. "I need to get over to the med center and tag it for quick evacs. I know the drill."
And just like that she brushed her way through the crowd.
"If you have any questions. Now is the time." He finished as the PRT agents negotiated their way through the crowd, handing out armbands similar to the ones that had been given to the Barrier capes. "These watches were designed by Dragon and track your life and vital signs. They also serve as Communicators, so be sure to utilize these and keep in contact with your fellow parahuman allies and the Thinkers back at the DTC Command Center."
"What do we do if Leviathan targets civilian shelters?" Purity asked, crossing her arms. "Some of us have family in those." Her voice seemed to be on edge.
Legend frowned, his expression full of sadness. Then he squared his shoulders."Our main priority has to be Leviathan himself. Once he makes landfall our time-limit starts. Our Thinkers say one hour at the most before the whole city is washed away beneath our feet. If Leviathan targets a civilian shelter… our focus must remain purely on him not on the people. Otherwise… if we hold back and spend our time saving the civilians we risk losing the whole city. Millions more."
I could still hear the sound of more capes coming over. Strider must be working overtime right now. Do teleporters get headaches from overuse? Or feel burn out?
"If you're a Brute or feel that you can survive Leviathan's attacks, please step here to my left, if you are a Tinker, or a Blaster, or someone with a significant ranged attack, please step to my right. If your powers aren't suited for combat then you'd best serve on the search and rescue teams. Please arrange yourselves quickly, we only have a few minutes."
The people moved, shifting and filing themselves into the teams.
I let a sliver of my ash fall free, slithering its way through the crowd like a snake through the underbrush. Three-hundred and seventy three grains to crawl out of the building and fall into the torrential rain.
The water turned the ash into a soft mulch, my control nearly slipping entirely before I focused. All my attention, the fine tuned control I'd achieved since the Outcry incident allowing me to retain control of the ash, if only just, using the rough, porous particles to grip each other, using every bit of my fine control to keep it intact.
Not a brute then… too much risk that my Armor would fail me in the downpour.
Blaster?
My main ability was using fire. Leviathan would probably laugh at it.
Rescue Team it is then…
"This is Eidolon. Barriers are spreading around the bay. It's raining hard, he's coming!" I could hear through my helmet's radio. I looked out the window and saw the barrier capes in the distance, or at least, the barriers they were making. Rock, Hard Light, I even saw something frozen with Clock's power. A big puffy thing I could only describe as a cotton candy fluffball.
"Movers, get the Rescue Teams to their spots around the city, they'll be marked by green flares." Legend ordered.
"Hey Tay."
I turned, Victoria was next to me, the first chance she'd evidently gotten to speak to me since she arrived.
"Your dad make it to a shelter ok?" Vicky asked.
I shook my head. "Not sure… with everything-I… I forgot to call."
Now I felt like the worst daughter in the world.
I shook my head, moving quickly to change the subject. "How bout yours?" I jerked my head, gesturing out to the barriers. "Your aunt, and cousins are out there right now."
We could hear the loud rumble of the thunder, the wind and the rain was starting to enter the hangar, and the roar of the waves was getting louder and louder.
"They'll be ok. This isn't their first rodeo." She smiled, probably to reassure herself, more than me. "For Amy though… it's, like, quadruple overtime." She paused.
We fell into silence. "You nervous?" She finally asked.
"Hasn't sunk in yet." I shrugged.
She laughed, nervous. "Yeah. Don't worry Ash." She gave me a playful punch in the shoulder. "I'll be watching your back. Heck, I'll even join the Rescue Team. I doubt my barrier can do much against an Endbringer… Least that's what my mom says."
Suddenly, Dragon's voice chimed in through the walls. "ETA two minutes."
"This is Eidolon, the water is receding from the Bay! I repeat, the water is pulling back into the sea! A tidal wave is inbound!"
"Move!" Legend roared, rushing and the mass of capes moved out of the five doors that led to this building and rushed out, grabbed by fliers and brutes, being carried as far and as fast as possible from the approaching wave.
I moved out, immediately feeling the rain water hit my ash armor and nearly wash it away before I focused my attentions to adapt it to the harsh conditions.
"Tay!" I looked over my shoulder a second before Glory Girl hooked her arms under mine and lifted, flying up into the air.
When we finally landed, I turned to look.
The tidal wave seemed so… impossible. It spread across the whole horizon, a wall of sheer black with the rusted corpses of boats from the Boat graveyard picked up in its implacable march before it smashed into the wall in front of it. The wall cracked like cheap glass and water poured into the Bay.
The water poured over the barrier capes, smashing into new force fields of hard light and telekinetic energy, hopefully unharmed. But the water outside the Barriers...
The wave smashed into the PRT HQ. It was instantly swamped by the wave as it crashed into the land, buildings being, quite literally lifted clear off their foundations to crash into their neighbors. The whole beach-line vanishing in an instant.
Such destruction… I could only hear the drone of voices of Capes either 'Down' or 'Deceased' over the sound of the roaring wave which sped into the city like plague.
And out of the darkness of the water and debris, Leviathan moved, its arms too long, its whip like tail lashing out behind him as he lumbered onto land like a monster out of a bad horror film, four glowing green eyes with three on one side and one on the other. He stood on top of a toppled building, and stood up on his hind legs.
It didn't make a sound, it seemed to stand there just to let the capes know it had arrived. Or he was surveying his opening salvo.
A living natural disaster come to kill us.
How exactly does one fight, let alone kill, a natural disaster?