{A creature half bird and half woman who lured sailors to destruction by the sweetness of her song.}
(•͈⌔•͈ ﾂ
The phone rang, out at the security station. I could feel it from where I sat at my computer, idling away the night; mostly in the reaction from the night watchman, the dull surprise and businesslike direction as he picked up. The vague sense of query as he answered. I think the night watchman's name was Jim... Jim Allbeck? I wasn't all that familiar with him, but I didn't need much clarity.
I'd felt it dozens of times before, using it as an excuse to try and sharpen my awareness of my power, but this time was different. It was Mr. Allbeck's emotions, they peaked- enough to distract me from the work on my computer screen. Urgent and surprised. Then fear began to creep in along with a sense of grim resolve.
What was that about?
Maybe his wife was pregnant and she'd gone into labor or something... At least it was a problem to work on, the change of pace was welcome.
...I was so damn bored.
It was quiet, and I was not engaged with the assignment in front of me. I huffed a sigh, and concentrated on balancing a pencil on my nose. The subtle input from my power, of the minute shifts in balance as I breathed, shifting my center of gravity and tilting the pencil, helped to distract me from the paper I was supposed to be writing.
The economic impact of Tinkers on the electronic and computer industry remained half finished on my computer screen.
It was a strange thing to think about- most parahumans were encouraged to get into law enforcement or the military. There was a decent presence in the entertainment industry- but there weren't a lot of places parahumans really flourished.
It was so odd. Parahumans could fly or pick up cars, but struggled to open businesses.
There were a couple, of course. But it was generally unwelcome. The onetime largest parahuman-owned business, Uppermost, stuck out. Both as an example of parahumans succeeding in the private sector, and as why they needed to be regulated...
I frowned. Something rubbed me wrong about that. It felt familiar, a distant parallel to the problems here at Alchemilla. I couldn't find anything particularly wrong with it, but it felt... Off. It also shot down a tentative idea I'd had for maybe becoming a psychologist. Thinkers, particularly broad Thinkers like me, had so many restrictions on them it was almost impossible to use their powers without being tied to a larger organization. I remembered the media furor over the Banner Act, but I hadn't even heard of the legislation that followed. I'd spent four hours trawling through the morass that was parahuman politics, and all I had learned was what I couldn't do with my powers.
With a sigh, I plucked the pencil off my nose.
There were other topics. I'd started on calculus and it'd been a challenge for a day or two... But the more I worked with it the easier equations became. New problems weren't doing much for me either.
I was almost certain at this point my power was not actually accelerating my learning exponentially- it didn't feel like that. It was too uneven. It felt more like... I wasn't sure what to call it. It wasn't super learning, it was like my power was tuning me in different ways, or pulling up information as I needed it. Or... That wasn't quite right either.
I started spinning the pencil over my fingers. The play of angles and weight in my mind engaged me for a bit. I drummed the fingers of my free hand on my notebook.
Disengaged from the present, my mind wandered, out into the hall outside, the dim awareness of the night guard where he quietly freaked out. Out into the block of rooms, and their occupants.
I briefly touched on Heather and Nick in their rooms. Heather was asleep, but Nick was still awake. Why was he still awake? I didn't think he had a power that prevented him from sleeping the way mine did. Go to sleep Nick.
Much further away, Mimi and Elle. Mimi's dreams were always troubled, full of sadness and hopelessness. Elle was... Strange. Her dreams were very vivid- or, at least they produced a very clear emotional response. I wondered if her power allowed her to dream lucidly. That was a concept I'd read about once when I'd looked up other Noctis parahumans- capes that that didn't need to sleep, like me.
That had taken me to lucid dreaming, and remembering the vision. Thinking about it made my head hurt.
Using my powers to peek into the other floors of Alchemilla was something I could manage more easily now. It didn't fill the space the boredom occupied, but trying to peek in on the remodeling in Administration was less tedious than math at the moment.
I was bored, so very bored and... restless.
My hero notebook beckoned, but the idea of reviewing or expanding my list of potential hero names, or experimenting with an actual cape in my costume... I sighed.
I thought about having another session with my journal, trying to meditate and seeing what it brought me this time.
Even at its best, early morning was pretty boring. Usually, but now...wait. I looked up from my coursework. What the hell?
The pencil slipped from my fingers and clattered to the floor.
It was five in the morning, and there was a sudden flurry of activity on the periphery of my awareness.
There were ten times as many people as usual this time of the morning. And there was a lot of movement. People running around double-time, and in large groups.
I sat up.
Eyes closed I tracked nurses, doctors, security guards, even a janitor; all that I shared even a passing familiarity with. Most I probably would never have the attunement to effectively track, but there were so many...
I was starting to pick individuals from the milling crowd of presences. Was day shift coming on early? I could pick out one of the nurses from this morning, and one of the security guards that had come on just before curfew, Jazmine Franklin and Kurtis Adams.
What was happening?
I opened my eyes.
There were other presences, people moving out in the halls on this level now. I could feel a faint echo of their distant emotion and energy. All of them were agitated.
What was this? I leaned on my power, pressing for specifics. I could sense every one of my doctors, brighter beacons in the tide of bright lights. Doctor Yamada was here, she was back from rotation early? Doctor Selmy, Doctor Fox...
Something was happening. Something... Something was wrong. I felt my scalp prickle in response, goosebumps rising on my arms, and cold settled in the pit of my stomach like a lead weight. There was movement everywhere.
Elevators were moving. The stairs were crowded. I was only vaguely familiar with nearly all of the moving bodies and my sense of the hospital only hinted at the numbers. A lot of them had converged on the cafeteria, I had no idea how many, and I had a sense of activity there. Not of people but of things. Architecture? The context of the cafeteria felt different. Were they moving the tables?
Why?
Why would they do that? We had breakfast in just a few hours.
There was movement in the main halls, movement in the infirmary and the cafeteria, movement in the gymnasium. Activity dipped and surged puzzlingly and it took me five baffled minutes to realize at least some of this increased traffic was passing through the service hallways that I shared no attunement with.
Movement only increased. I lay there, confused and bewildered. Security checkpoints were opened, people moved through them freely.
Was this some kind of emergency? A... fire maybe? I reached for a scenario in bewilderment, and drew a blank.
And then the tide of anxious people began to move down into the patient levels, and I followed its progress. The staff moving... this was something planned, they moved with purpose. I began to sense familiar presences in the mix, not doctors and nurses, patients. People that had been asleep in my extra awareness started waking up, and then they started moving. Some went back to their rooms. I thought I felt a short scuffle break out, quickly quelled. The perpetrator was moved, as I waited, the faint presence moved to an elevator and was relocated to a lower level. Medium security?
What the hell? What was going on?
Additional personnel arrived outside in my own block, at the security station. Six men. They hovered for several minutes, before moving out, going to doors-
A knock. I flinched and jumped to my feet, uncertain but definitely more awake than I could ever remember being- powers or not.
The door opened a moment later, and the night guard was standing there, fidgeting and nervous and making me even more nervous in turn.
"What's happening?" I blurted.
"There's an emergency meeting, you need to come with me." He replied gruffly.
"But what's happening?" I reached for my slippers, then thought better of it and grabbed my sneakers instead. Outside, bouncing on one foot as I slipped them on, I saw security leading out Nick, Heather, others. I met Heather's eyes and raised my eyebrows in a question, but she just shook her head subtly. I sensed... Confusion from her? Confusion. Suspicion. Discontent. She didn't know what was happening either.
There was a lot of confusion going around, fear and apprehension. A few cases of grim and cold dread, most of which were staff. And everywhere, urgency.
"Attention staff," the intercom chimed, "All personnel to muster stations. Repeat, all staff to muster stations. This is a class two event emergency. All staff to muster stations."
My eyes kept moving as we followed security, more familiar faces appeared. Copperquick, with his unruly mop, Charnel, serenely allowing herself to be led by one hand. Elsewhere, I could feel people converging. All around us, familiar presences converged on a larger gathering in the cafeteria. And when we entered, we were greeted with at least fifty staff, and another fifteen patients- not all of which I recognized. We walked by tables in the process of being folded up and rolled over beside the wall.
Mantellum was there, with his strange negative-space in my extra awareness, beside Inkling and Quilt and the others, the Case 53s. He caught my eye and gave a little nod.
The Case 53s were a knot of solidarity among the more chaotic mass, Inkling and Quilt anxious, but level- and Prowler among the number of the cold and grim. They stood in sharp contrast to others. Mimi and Elle were there, Mimi almost frantic and desperately wrestling with the roller coaster of emotion. Mumbling to herself and rubbing her arms. Elle stood directly beside her, looking around. Her face was, as always, flat and blank; but behind that she was interested, excited even.
I saw Summer Holiday, Feral, Kudzu. The other members of Summer's security squad. But what really caught my attention was a cluster of new faces at the other end of the room. I didn't recognize any of them. One, a woman in a black bodysuit with glowing blue lines, she thrummed with agitation. Another, a man in a blue bodysuit with red gloves and a red cape, and a red cloth mask tied over the top of his head with holes for his eyes and trailing long cloth ties.
But the one that drew my eyes, was the man standing in the center of the room. Tall, broad-shouldered, in full body armor, dark blue accented with silver highlights. His helmet covered most of his head, hiding his eyes and nose behind a visor, but left the lower half of his face bare, displaying a neatly-trimmed beard.
Armsmaster. Head of the Protectorate East-North-East. Right here, talking to a circle of doctors and nurses.
I tried to place the other man. Probably Tradewind- I guessed he was here to represent the Boston Protectorate in lieu of Bastion. Boston was pretty close, even if Brockton was the home of the regional office...
And the agitated woman in the illuminated bodysuit was probably Battery. Armsmaster and Battery, both of them were big names from Brockton, from back home. I was a little giddy, they were living legends that I'd looked up to as a child. Their presence did help still some of my trepidation, but why were they all here?
"Everyone up front, please keep moving." One of the senior nurses called, I think her name was Hernandez? I could see her beside Doctor Lafayette and Doctor Yamada. I kept looking for familiar faces, touching on my power when I couldn't find everyone, trying to keep track of all the movement on the other floors. There was just so much.
We were all ushered to the front, where a wide circle of tape had been laid out on the floor, fifteen feet across, and a few tables with benches had been pushed aside to leave an opening in the chaos of the cafeteria. We sat on one side, the Protectorate heroes stood across from us.
Armsmaster turned away from the doctors. He was bigger in person than I thought he'd be, taller. Maybe it was the armor? He took exactly one step forward, back straight and shoulders squared, and set the butt of his halberd down firmly with a clang. The sound sent a ripple through the room that quieted anxious whispers and turned every eye to him. This was the man that commanded the Protectorate ENE, and the entire room felt it.
Beside him, Doctor Lafayette also stepped forward, spine ruler-straight, expression stony.
"You're all wondering why you're here." She said, sternly sweeping them all with a glance, "...Well, I won't mince words. Two hours ago we received word from Dragon. The Red One warning system has determined the Simurgh is maneuvering, and that an attack is impending."
A chill ran down my back, the fear swept through the room in a brisk wave across everyone present. It bounced back in my extra senses, running down my back twice as strong in sympathy. The shock took my breath away and left my hands shaking.
The Endbringers were something that we all understood. They were forces of nature, disasters that touched everyone, that struck a chord of fear that we all knew, parahuman and staff alike. It struck a chord, fundamental to each of us. I remembered growing up, of every few months- my parents quiet and grim, talking quietly and giving me horrible false smiles. Moments of silence at school and quiet days when it seemed everyone at school talked in whispers.
Nights spent watching a flickering television as grim-faced news anchors tallied the dead and missing, and long bleak shots displayed the damage. I had always thought Emma was brave, she walked right up to people and started talking to them like she knew them their whole lives. But remembering it, she looked scared then. I wasn't used to seeing that on Emma.
Just like I wasn't used to feeling this kind of anxiety from normally cavalier Heather, or hollow dread from unflappable Doctor Yamada. It felt out of place and alien, but the sentiments were mirrored in the hints echoed in others I was less familiar with... In myself.
"Alchemilla is preparing to receive casualties of the projected attack. I am informing you so that none of you are taken by surprise. So you can understand what is going to happen for the next few hours or days." She said, "Alchemilla is one of hundreds of hospitals around the world that has volunteered to accept casualties. Many of our current patients have been confined to their rooms for the foreseeable future. Which leads me to the current issue- namely, all of you."
Doctor Lafayette closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she cleared her throat, "There are a few patients cleared for activities outside Alchemilla," Doctor Lafayette's voice cracked, lightly. She was anguished, a complicated morass of sorrow, desperation, and anger. "I have a list of patients cleared for engagement, or for periphery support, by Manhunter. If... If you want to help, we are accepting volunteers. I hope that you can find it in your hearts to help us."
She swallowed thickly, and for the first time I realized she was tearing up. After a moment she glanced to Armsmaster, who nodded shallowly and stepped forward.
"The following parahumans have double-blue clearance, and have the go-ahead. Maser."
I glanced to the side, at Blake, who slouched at the end of the bench, eyes half lidded, expressionless. He stared at Armsmaster without blinking and didn't speak.
"Badcell. Young Lady. Facsimile."
I looked for the unfamiliar names, a boy of about eighteen, with tattoos up and down his arms. A woman with a faint haze lingering around her head, arms, any exposed skin. A thin, wan, unsmiling man with arms that hung limply at his side. All three wore blue.
"We have two minutes to teleport, do any of you wish to volunteer?" Armsmaster asked. I paused, feeling out the emotions of the room briefly. There was fear, that anxiety, trapped between offering and wishing someone else would first. At the end of the line, Blake crossed his arms, leaning back. He shook his head.
There was no sign that Armsmaster was disappointed by his refusal, not even to my senses. In fact, it almost felt like he expected it. A moment later, a young woman with brown hair stepped forward, I think I might have seen her once in the halls- she wore orange, but I didn't know her name. "I can help!"
Armsmaster stiffened, it might have been in surprise, or perhaps something else, "Zipline-"
"I'm a faster Strider. I don't need to get close to the fighting to help. Let me fucking help!"
Doctor Lafayette stepped forward, opening her mouth to protest, "Zipline, requirements for contact with the Simurgh are more stringent than other Endbringers, you are not-"
"You won't be fighting unless you have a Blue rating and clearance from the board, but we can use the logistical support. Can you follow orders? Work with Dragon and Hero?"
Doctor Lafayette spun on Armsmaster, "She isn't cleared!"
"We cannot afford to turn away help." Armsmaster replied, "Villain, independent or otherwise."
Zipline glared at Armsmaster- she was a villain?
"Can you follow orders?" Armsmaster repeated.
"Yeah." Zipline said, hands on hips and chin raised defiantly.
"Fine." Armsmaster grunted, Doctor Lafayette closed her mouth, I could see her jaw clench.
I took a deep breath. For a moment, it was quiet. I licked my lips, mouth dry and clenched my fists to keep my hands from shaking. I hesitated, but it was a little easier now that someone else had spoken first, even with the echo of the room's fear still cold on my back.
"I'd like to volunteer too."
Armsmaster turned towards me, his face unreadable behind that visor, "Auspice. Thinker, proximity based. New patient."
"Um. Yes." I said, wishing I had Zipline's confidence, but that was lost in the cold.
It was what heroes did, I'd grown up watching them fight the Simurgh and her minions on television. But faced with the reality that I could go out there, be part of that fighting... I was sure I could contribute too. I wasn't sure how, but a reason was sure to come to me, I was sure they could use as many hands as they could find.
A reel began to play in the back of my mind, names of heroes and villains that had died fighting the Endbringers. That had died to the Simurgh. An unending list of deaths and faces watched in the late night news, that blurred until in my mind's eye I saw Emma, Mimi, Elle, Heather and Nick.
"Denied." Armsmaster said, flatly.
I blinked. What? "I can help, my power gets stronger over time. Let me work with your Thinkers, or Tinkers."
"Auspice, you are a minor without approval for Endbringer engagement from your guardian. Denied."
Well, I felt crestfallen. But before I had time to examine that disappointment further, someone else spoke up.
"Um. I-I'd like to volunteer." Mimi stepped forward, and I stared. My heart leaped again, and this time the fear was for her. Mimi, she'd never even used her powers outside Alchemilla! "I-I've been getting better. A lot better. I want to help. I can help."
Armsmaster was silent a moment, "Teleportation unsuitable for logistic support. Pyrokinetic, unlikely to harm the Simurgh. A history of instability. Denied."
Mimi slumped a little, hurt. Her eyes darted towards me for a moment, there was a sense of question, of approval. It took me a moment to realize she had offered because of me, somehow.
Horror, this time the chill all my own, had she really just tried to volunteer because I had? Had she done it because she thought it was something I'd approve of?
Charnel stepped forward- "I volunteer."
I blinked. Charnel hadn't even been on the list, but her volunteering itself surprised me. I couldn't imagine her being invested in something like this, she so rarely engaged, and when she engaged it was so subdued... I was floored.
Armsmaster paused, then tapped the side of his helmet. He remained like that for several long seconds, listening to some distant communication. With Dragon, maybe? Maybe whatever collection of Thinkers was tasked with vetting the volunteers?
"Charnel." There was a pause. I had the most uncanny impression her was reading something behind his visor. He opened his mouth, then hesitated, "Manhunter."
"Sorry, but people are my specialty." Another voice chimed in. It was coming from Armsmaster's suit, I guessed from some hidden speaker system. The voice was reedy, nasally, it put me in mind of a skinny man with big coke-bottle glasses somewhere. Not one of the greatest Thinkers alive.
"I'd like to vouch for Charnel here. I've reviewed her case history. My models give her a seventy percent chance of complete immunity to master influences. Dragon can corroborate. We have a green light on my end." Manhunter said.
Armsmaster hesitated, "Dragon?"
"He's right," a woman's voice this time, with a slight accent, "Charnel's got the green light on our end." She didn't sound pleased.
Dragon, another of the biggest names on the Think Tank, one of the greatest Tinkers in the world.
Armsmaster grunted, "Granted. However, you will be paired with a Protectorate handler."
"I got her," Feral said, stepping over to Charnel and laying a hand on her shoulder, "I've worked with her before."
"Thanks. Best of luck, Kalie." Dragon said.
"No problem, best of luck wrangling those evacuation routes Manny."
"Awww man..." Manhunter groaned one last time.
Another long pause, Armsmaster said nothing. The strange impression that his attention was somewhere else on the other side of his visor persisted, "Understood. Anyone else?" Armsmaster asked, "Twenty seconds. Everyone who's coming, step into the circle." Armsmaster indicated the circle on the floor.
The Protectorate heroes, Charnel, Zipline, Feral, Summer Holiday, everyone stepped into the circle.
"Five." Armsmaster warned. Almost at the same time, the intercom chimed, "Attention staff, attention staff. Teleportation imminent, teleportation imminent."
A moment later a man popped into existence. Dark blue coat and pants, a cap and goggles. He glanced around the room, taking stock. "This everyone?" he asked, "We're on a tight schedule." He had a faint New England accent with... a bit of irish?
He looked terrible actually, even without his face visible- shoulders stooped and head hanging, he looked exhausted already.
"Yes, let's go." Armsmaster said.
I looked at them, at Feral- Kalie, standing with Charnel. Kalie smiled back, everlasting good cheer, and that fearlessness I had come to expect from her. Charnel met my gaze. I couldn't sense what she was feeling, I had trouble imagining what she had to be thinking. I wanted to ask them questions. Understand why they were going out to fight that monster. I wanted to believe I'd have the chance later, if they came back. When. When they came back.
They were coming back. They had to be.
The volunteers were moving. The parahumans that had been gathered with Armsmaster and Battery and the rest- they all moved into the circle. I looked from one to another, memorizing costumes, faces and masks.
I wanted to remember them. Look them up later. I would know each and every one of them.
"Right. Stay still everyone." A moment later, and everyone in the circle disappeared with a pop.
For a moment I pushed, looking for their presence, the impression I had attuned myself to. Partially... Partially curious, partially something else. Fear. But they were gone.
Into the sudden silence, the intercom blared again, "Attention. Attention. The Simurgh has entered the atmosphere. Repeat. The Simurgh has entered the atmosphere."