The capes with the power of force fields (or something close enough for government work) had enough time to make a shield outside the building. The monster made tsunami hit hard, but did not overwhelm them. In fact, Clockblocker even time stopped one wall.
"Everyone outside! Leviathan will land almost immediately afterwards. Teleporters, get us outside!" Legend ordered.
The light rain had turned into a heavy downpour. The water was flowing downhill and back into the Atlantic. Skitter was finding the heavy water made it hard to keep a swarm functional until she forced more of her power into the swarm.
"FOUND YOU!" Crawler shouted. His eyes on all sides of his body made it obvious how that was possible. He started to gallop forward in a weird way due to his six limbs, charging Leviathan as it trotted out of the water at its blistering pace. The monstrous parahuman shouted about the joy of finding something that might be able to kill him.
The hunched over form of Leviathan met his charge head on. The clash of the two monsters was loud on Crawler's part, as the Endbringer ripped one arm off and left a huge furrow in his face. Immediately a new limb started to grow out to replace it, harder and more sturdy with armored plating.
Crawler spat acid into the nonsymmetrical Endbringer's face, burning into its four eyes and gash-like mouth. Leviathan's tail hammered into Crawler's back with a loud crack. The water-echo hit the same point, squishing the middle of his body into a meaty paste.
His back was already pulling itself together as Leviathan tail whipped around in a spray of water. Before it could strike, everyone else arrived.
Four flying figures divebombed on to Leviathan's back with a muffled statcato boom. Alexandria, Ms. Liberty, Charged State and Glory Girl kept on the pressure, hammering again and again. High up in the air, Eidolon looked off into the bay and started his own battle against Leviathan's mega-hydrokinesis. The waves started to calm.
Legend, Purity, Lady Photon, Laserdream and Dragon unleashed a furious salvo of energy and plasma as shield and barriers rose up around Leviathan's side. Inky blackness latched onto the Endbringer even as the ground seethed with a black, tar-like energy that sucked at the Endbringer's limbs.
And in a moment, Leviathan broke free and dashed forward over two hundred feet, leaving all but the most fleet in his wake. The group of heroes moving to help the first team barely had time to skid to a halt in the wet mud before being over run.
"Victor down, CD-21. Grue Deceased CD-33. Bambina down, CD-5. Iron Falcon deceased, CD-11," Dragon started announcing.
"I hate the rain," Bonesaw said as she fiddled with her bloodstained apron. Her blonde ringlets were plastered or hanging limply from her head.
"Tell me about it. Out here my fires aren't going to last very long at all," Burnscar said. "Just keep Hatchet Face away from me."
The two shambling figures behind the smaller girl did not pay her any heed.
"Murder Rat and Hatchet Face know how to fight. Don't you trust my work?" Bonesaw asked with a cute pout. "Oh! There's the building!"
The National Guard building was being repurposed into a hospital for parahumans. There were a lot of people moving in and out, but PRT guards were not in position yet.
"Now how am I going to get in with all those nasty guards? How inconsiderate," the child said.
Mechanical spider-robots dropped from the roofs onto the PRT troopers, injecting them with sedatives or paralyzing agents.
"Yeah, yeah, woe is you," Burnscar said. "You're totally helpless and a total riot."
The older girl walked in first, fire flaring from her hands. And a smile on her scarred face as she burned the first person in front of her, a nurse that turned around at just the wrong time.
"Hey all!" she called out. "Slaughterhouse visit!" Burnscar started giggling. It was always so much better when she had some fire around her. She started to send streams of fire into the screaming nurses and doctors that had gathered in a meeting.
Bonesaw's mecha spiderlings rushed left and right to set up a signal jamming field. Their master was hopping and skipping as she trotted into the building. And there was her target standing up from a bench near the coffee machine that was set up near the center of the half set up triage in the two story open area.
"Hi, Panacea!" Bonesaw called out as she waved at the older teen. "I'm just such a big fan! We are going to do some amazing things together!"
Brown eyes were wide in panic as Panacea looked around. Surprisingly, her mostly white costume did not stick out too horribly from all the white curtain dividers. A tap of her arm band under her robe's sleeve was only giving her a buzzer error. She turned and started to run for the farthest exit away from the two monsters in human form when one of the mechanical spiderlings appeared in front of her, a saw blade whirring to life. "Shit-shit-shit," Panacea chanted to herself.
A horizontal pool of shadows appeared in the air above the center of the room, admitting one flying red and maroon wearing albino in a hurry. Futurias made a pulling motion and abruptly Laserdream appeared, beams lashing out in glowing fury, exploding the ground where Burnscar had been standing.
Another teleportation pull and Glory Girl appeared, zooming around to land on the robot threatening her sister with a heavy crunch and shriek of bent metal.
"Ooh, gross. There's stuff inside these things," Glory Girl complained.
"Watch out for for the zombies. I have to get back to the battle," Futurias called out. In the last thirty seconds, six more people had died and eight had been knocked unconscious. Her dark powers rose within her and unleashed a primal fear of death and darkness upon Bonesaw, Murder Rat and Hatchet Face.
Then she disappeared as she teleported back to the fight against the Endbringer.
"Now that is really unfair," Bonesaw said. At least her backup nervous system stopped her from being frozen in terror.
Laserdream put a full power burst into Hatchet Face's head, vaporizing it. The headless body dropped to its knees, then fell down forward onto its chest.
"You killed him!" Bonesaw shouted. All that work to rebuild him after Cherish killed him the first time!
"Hello, kill order. Duh," Laserdream noted even as one of her weak force fields blocked a gout of flame from Burnscar.
"You're not very nice," Bonesaw accused. "Teach her a lesson!"
A wave of mechanoid spiders came out of the shadows in all directions. Including along the ceiling.
"Crap," Laserdream said, zipping around in the air in an evasive pattern.
Stryder's lightning thundered down on the ground fifty away from Leviathan, bodies piled together under him. He was breathing heavily.
"ђ๏ฬlเภﻮ tฬเﻮђlเﻮђt!" Futurias called out as she tapped into Leviathan's life force. The explosion of necromantic energies filled all of the fallen heroes, villains and rogues.
The Endbringer reversed course, only to slam to a halt as the three flying bricks pounded him away from the recovering capes.
"Keep at it," Alexandria ordered, zooming back in fists first into the Endbringer's shoulder.
"MORE! MORE!" Crawler screamed as he dragged his armored form after the Endbringer. He was still nearly as fast as ever, but now his armor only cracked, not shattered after it was hit.
Gitanica slammed into the opposite side of the Endbringer, planting her feet three inches into the concrete as her fists hammered home, faster and harder by the second. For the moment, she felt unstoppable as dents appeared in the crystalline surface.
The monstrous member of the Slaughterhouse crawled right on to the back of Leviathan, limbs becoming longer and more muscular. Tentacles were growing from neck even as more potent acid dropped on its head.
"KILL ME! KILL ME!" Crawler screamed even as he tried to rip more of its skin off.
Leviathan sprinted off again, leaving it water shadow to crush three of the eight capes in melee. It skidded to a halt five hundred meters away right through a high school.
"Moving north on Bayford," Skitter said as she bounded and zipped along a healthy five hundred feet away and to the side of Leviathan's path. "Now underground through the sewers, heading west five hundred feet now SOUTH DIRECTLY TOWARDS ME!"
One bug-blur out of the way, Skitter was the only witness to the building she had been on exploding in a geyser of water. Leviathan arched its back, still trying to dislodge Crawler as it dove back into the sewers.
"Continuing south along Hartford Ave," Skitter continued, cautiously trying to keep up while not being hit by the water-speedster monster.
Leviathan must have decided that it was finished being annoyed with Crawler as it leaped hard to bounce off a wall, then the street and then the building on the other side. Crawler was sent sliding through a building. Just as he was standing up on his myriad of limbs, Leviathan charged him.
It skidded to a halt right in front of Crawler. Levithan's claws made a weird clap in front of it.
Crawler fell apart into two halves, cut perfectly in twain by the entire weight of Leviathan's water shadow that had been compressed down to half a millimeter. Before the body hit the ground, Leviathan was blitzing forward in between the two parts.
The monster's head and brains had been exploded by its passage across twenty feet.
"Crawler, Deceased: CD-67," Dragon announced across Skitters armband. Shaking her head, she rushed after Leviathan, calling out its direction and location that her bugs managed to give her.
The flying brigade of capes arrowed back into the fight, chasing Leviathan as he smashed through building and then dodging when he scampered up a building to leap at them.
Charged State was thrown back, but Alexandria and Ms. Liberty plowed right through the water shadow to smash into the monster again. Leviathan just flexed into the attack, pushing back to rush back to the ground and down a major street.
It spotted a group of capes on the ground. In an instant it charged them.
"Now!" Clockblocker shouted out as he ducked low.
Kaiser sneered even as he shot blades from one small patch of the ground in a open ended cone of swords that Leviathan headed right into.
"This better work," Aegis called out from right behind his team mate.
At his side, Gallant was firing his beams towards Leviathan. Shadow Stalker and Vista were right next to Hookwolf, Victor, Menja and Fenja. Both giantesses were over twenty feet tall.
White gauntlets touched metal and Leviathan slammed into a totally immovable trap. Kaiser was already raising more blades at the back even Aegis lifted Clockblocker up under his arms.
Then Leviathan's water shadow hit like concrete geysers from between the gaps.
Clockblocker's faceless helmet crunched Aegis's nose, even as Kaiser, Victor and Shadow Stalker were smashed across the ground for fifty feet. Menja and Fenja moved over to protect Kaiser.
A vibration filled the air as Leviathan backed out of the trap just in time for Alexandria and Legend to double team him again. Purity screamed in fury as she unleashed a bolt of white energy that was more than equal in power to Legend's lasers. Lightning thundered down from the sky as Stryder arrived and then departed just a moment later with the dead and wounded.
Then a huge red beam blasted out from the dark, rainswept sky, burning a trench that crossed Leviathan's location. Out of the inky blackness above flew a flight of Arachnos transports, with a much larger vehicle in the center. The twenty foot cannon on its nose was still glowing from the heat of its blast.
Arachnos Wolf, Crab and Bane Spider soldiers dropped from the far wings. Their rifles and maces unleashed red beams and armor piercing bullets. From the center, gigantic Arachnos transport dropped hundreds of mecha spiderlings and Arachnobots. Last floated down the Mu Mystics as scarlet, magical lightning shot down upon Leviathan.
"I guess Lord Recluse figures that we've softened him up enough," Gitanica shouted as she leaped up to land next to Skitter.
The heroes and villains were regrouping, as the King's Men and Australia's Crown Jewels appeared out of the darkness.
"Can they even hurt him? I know the US Army used a nuke on Behemoth and all it did was make him more powerful," her friend asked worriedly.
"They are just a distraction. Look, here come their heavy hitters," her giant friend said.
With a roar, Wretch landed next to Leviathan and smashed a ten foot wide crater into the ground. Furious beams of scarlet energy streaked out from the huge armor of Black Scorpion even as souls wailed their discontent as Ghost Widow floated forward. Behind them came more of their lieutenants. The frozen Ice Mistral, the sadistic Silver Mantis, the alien looking Barracuda and kinetic controlling Undoing.
Dragon swooped overhead, rocketing away towards the south on full afterburners with a massive roar that could be heard over the battlefield.
Charged State soared back in, noting the army of Arachnos making their entrance. She suddenly looked off into the distance. She tapped her armband. "Priority, I'm detecting a large buildup of energy to the north."
The massive Arachnos super carrier fired again, burning a crater into the side of Leviathan.
Armsmaster stood over Triumph even as Dauntless's shield covered his back.
"Do you see him?" his leader called out.
"No, this rain is making it impossible to see him," Dauntless replied. He sent out a burst of energy.
"Get Triumph back to medical. I can hold off Shark Man off on my own," Armsmaster said even as he launched a blast into the rain, getting a snarl in return.
"I'll be back in a minute," the younger hero promised, then picked up and flew off with the injured sonic blaster.
"Just you and I," Captain Mako said from the shadows as he kept moving around.
Some sixth sense warned Mako to duck and roll, avoiding having two silver blade hitting his vitals.
Armsmaster toggle his built in communicator, only to get a buzz of jamming. He sent a spike of power through it, burning it out to over power it for just a second. "Mannequin. Are you going to help him?"
The silver figure tilted its head back and forth, then shook it back and forth as he scrabbled along the ground like some weird spider.
"Robot? Silly fool, I'll break you down for toothpicks," Captain Mako hissed out.
Three way fight it is, Armsmaster thought to himself. His regular halberd collapsed even as his extra halberd extended out and started humming.
"Time to kill some monsters," he announced.
"Lord Recluse has ordered you death, so you will die-" the mutant started to say, only to dive out of the way as two tons of armored mecha landed where he had been standing.
"Over my dead body," Dragon stated even as her serpentine jaws opened, firing a burst of plasma from Mako's location to where Mannequin had been standing. Both of her enemies had already dodged her attack.
The Slaughterhouse's chrome monster suddenly leaped over Armsmaster to stick to the wall twenty feet above him. He then shot off his left arm on on a chain, hitting the ground where his target had been.
Armamster swept his nano-thorn blade through the chain that connected the arm to the cyborg. "I guess you aren't as smart as I'd heard. Otherwise you would know better than to attack me when I'm prepared to fight an Endbringer."
Mannequin moved up the wall, then had to leap to the ground as a large missile exploded the building he had been on.
Captain Mako leaped out of the darkness, claws headed towards Armsmaster's back. The Tinker took a calculated risk, stabbing over his shoulder without moving. Just like his combat data predicted and he had practiced, Captain Mako failed to react quite in time.
The headless corpse fell to the ground with a splat in the puddles on the ground. Armsmaster was swinging back towards Mannequin, but the psychopath fled into the storm sewers.
"Climb on. I'll fly us back to the fight," Dragon called out.
"Tell Dauntless and Triumph to head to the Endbringer and that Captain Mako is dead."
Squealer shuddered in fear as Lord Recluse's gauntlet laid on her shoulder. Her hands gripped the control yoke tighter even as she checked readout and location. Skidmark, in a new and tailored uniform in the seat next to her, was laughing while on his latest high.
"Your flying attack cruiser is working perfectly," the incarnate of darkness said in a tone that showed his glee. "Against any other foe, it would win by itself."
"Um, thanks?" Squealer whimpered out.
"My lord, casualties are nearing twenty-five percent already," Red Widow informed him from her control console in the center of the bridge.
"Status on on the spire?" he demanded as he turned back around. The spider-legs on his back flexed in irritation.
"Eighty percent chance of successful activation."
"Then initiate the plan. Squealer, prepare to land," Lord Recluse ordered in his deep, booming way.
"Da fuck? We're safe up here," Skidmark said loudly.
"Shut up! You are going to get us killed!" his girlfriend whispered loudly to him.
Red Widow ignored their antics, but behind her, the high ranking Fortuna in her own scarlet armor tilted her head towards them. Kalinda subtly stroked Squealer's dislike and fears, tamping down her memories and caring for her lover.
Soon, she would be ready to join Arachnos properly.
Massive metal door in the ground of the Ship Graveyard groaned and creaked open, letting rain spill into the stygian depths of the heart of Arachnos. Fifty feet wide, it was barely wide enough for a metal tower that arose from the depths.
Fifty feet, then one hundred. Finally, at two hundred and fifty feet, the black spire clanged to a halt. Red electricity crackled across its surface and the dozens of armored glass tubes that adorned it. All of the lower powered psychics Fortunas that were installed in the life support chambers opened their eyes.
And screamed with their minds, loud enough to be heard in Boston. Much less the city only miles to the south of them.
Back in Brockton Bay, the Arachnos archvillains fought a retreat as Leviathan staggered, drunkenly walking back and forth. Fanjets from the Arachnos assault cruiser blew all the water water away to clunk to a landing on the ground. A ramp lowered and Lord Recluse tromped down the metal path in an even and steady manner.
The rain lessened as all of the other heroes and villains held back, not understanding what was going on.
Lord Recluse walked to within ten feet of Leviathan's nonsymmetrical head. "Bow before Lord Recluse. Bow down before your new master!" he shouted out, loud enough to be heard by everyone.
The massive hydrokinetic monster/natural disaster slowly lowered its head and hands to the street.
"Bullshit," Clockblocker shouted.
Lord Recluse turned his back on the Leviathan, walking twenty feet closer to the parahumans gathered to fight the monster. "I have conquered my first Endbringer." Scarlet red eyes scanned the huge crowd. "I will bind and contain Leviathan, for the mere price of Brockton Bay and the surrounding twenty miles of land. These lands will become the sovereign country of Arachnos, to lead this world into a new era of peace. You have one hour for your President and Congress to agree."
With that, he turned on his heel to walk back to his airship.