Deep inside the Boat Graveyard, two warriors struck at each other with enough force to make the very air shake, their blows crashing against each other with the sound of cracking thunder. Nina was on the offensive, her fists blurring as they made contact with the Hell Bat armorthat Keagan wore over his fragile body. Keagan had thankfully finally learned to dodge, his feet making small adjustments so that the furious blows either missed him completely or only clipped a small part of his armor. He could strike back too, just not as fast as Nina, which meant he was perpetually on the defensive against the shapeshifter.
Sparring with Nina was a lesson in humility, because the entire first 'week', he'd been getting his ass whooped on the regular, and he'd constantly been thrown, kicked punched, or flipped in a variety of ways. It was only in the second day/week that his brain had actually learned how to respond to Nina's lightning-fast strikes.
Now, only a few hours/days into the third day/week, he was…not on her level, but he was a little bit behind her in speed, but way above her in striking power.
Today wasn't as bad as the last two had been, because they were still waiting for the Leviathan fight. When they weren't training, the two of them were planting defensive measures all over the Bay.
Because of Nina, Brockton now had several thousand durability, invincibility, mass teleportation, and element-proof seals and runes plastered all over the city.
Thanks to Keagan, Brockton now owned several force field generators, energy weapon turrets, and anartificial gravity generator.
Obviously, all of these were hidden from the public eye, but using Miss Militia as a contact to the local PRT, they were able to inform them of the city's new defenses.
It was Keagan's idea to keep Nina out of the public eye until the Leviathan fight. Right now, the wound was too raw, and if she immediately jumped back into patrolling with her clones, her naysayers might gain too much attention. Therefore, it was best to wait until the next big crisis where Nina could prove that she was going to fight in the interest of the people.
Keagan was actually in hot water himself. Quite a few people had realized that if 'Anubis' and her 'sisters,' hadn't reinforced the city, he would've been responsible for several hundred deaths and millions in property damage.
That…had surprised him. He hadn't really thought of the civilians of Brockton Bay in that fight, just beating Nina.
That personal revelation made him feel uncomfortable, so he promised that if property damage was completely unavoidable, then he would do his absolute best to fix it himself.
He had enough fabricators and repair drones that he could manage to do what Nina had done when she renovated the city in her short-lived takeover.
Right now, though, was time for their break.
Nina teleported them onto the deck of the ship(it was impossible to enter the ship without her, a security measure that he was surprised that she'd thought of), the two of them trying to catch their breath as a light drizzle fell from the sky.
Nina spoke first.
"I think it's going to be today,' she said, breaking the silence. "It's been raining all day, just like in the book, and I can feelsomething manipulating mass amounts of water with my water bending. The only thing I don't understand is why it's being so slow. I'm not one hundred percent sure, didn't Leviathan attack during the day?"
"From the reports that I've gotten, I don't think an Endbringer has ever attacked at night. Early in the mornings, sometimes late in the evenings, but they usually pop up sometime during noon. It's already three pm," replied Keagan.
And yet, he truly did believe that the attack was happening today. The gray skies, the endless drizzle that was slowly growing in power hour by hour, the choppy waves of the Bay that were beginning to rock the Boat Graveyard. It was definitely Leviathan. But…
"Do you suppose it's a fake-out?" asked Keagan, trying to keep the fear out of his voice. "That it's the Simurgh or Behemoth that's causing these waves instead? I think they both have the ability to mimic Leviathan's powerset; Behemoth with his dynakinesis and the Simurgh with her telekinesis."
If so, that would be bad.He had prepared explicitly for the Leviathan fight, and if one of the other Enbringer's showed up, things might go sour. He only had a few barebone plans for the Simurgh and Behemoth: magical items and battlefield removal, respectively, along with some battle formations from the Leviathan plan. That was it.
Thankfully, Nina shook her head.
"No, I think it'd fuck up their programming or whatever. They stick to the three-month schedule really tightly, and they always take turns. What differs from battle to battle is intensity. One month, the Simurgh'll practically be playing tag with us, and the next, Behemoth will do this thing where he stomps on the ground and causes an earthquake."
"You've been to an Enbringer battle before?"
"Yeah, but mostly on Search and rescue. The first time I went, I chose combat was against Behemoth, and I nearly died. Couldn't heal properly for weeks. After that, I stayed on SR and hoped that I could find a way to get stronger. Now that I have almost limitless energy though…"
With a devil-like grin, her fist hit her palm hard enough to cause a visible shockwave.
"I can't wait for a rematch."
And yet that rematch would have to wait because as the day went on, the weather slowly got worse, but no Leviathan. They stayed out there on the rusted deck, Keagan braving the rain in his environmentally sealed HellBat armor, Nina dancing around in it like she was fricking five years old. They even brought her suitcase apartment onto the deck so that they could take thirty-minute breaks in between very light sparring, as well as meals.
Keagan felt the pit in his stomach slowly grow as the sun set and the sky darkened, the moon rising into its place and the stars began to appear next to it. And during all of this, the waves became stronger and stronger, becoming tsunamis that began to slam against the Bay's multiple forcefields with impunity. Keagan actually had to summon the five-pronged Trident that belonged to Aquaman in order to still the waves.
It was nine-thirty pm when the Endbringer alarm went off, its continuous wail making Keagan's skin crawl.
"Fucking finally!" yelled Nina, her eyes glowing as she gathered energy. "Where is the motherfucker! He made me miss lamb shwarma night! I'm flaying his scaly ass and hanging it on my wall!"
And yet, none of his sensors were picking up Leviathan's unique energy signature. Massive amounts of energy were being used to manipulate the rain and waves, but the source of it was far away from Brockton waters.
"Computer, access all Dragon cam's and find subject Leviathan," he said to the Suit.
"Accessing. Please standby."
A series of images and videos flitted across his viewscreen almost faster than he could process them, accessing all of Dragon's systems, piggybacking through the same backdoor that the Dragonslayers had. It was unfortunate yet useful, but once he took care of them, he would make sure to get rid of them for her privacy.
After a solid minute of searching, the Suit finally displayed an image and name of the city that Dragon's predictive programming said leviathan was probably going to attack.
Keagan felt his mouth turn as dry as cotton as his heart pounded in his ears.
My fault, he thought. It has to be my fault. Why else would the Endbringer choose to attack this city, a city that hadn't even been touched in canon?
"Fuck," he cursed. 'Fuck. FUCK!"
"Dude, what is it?" asked Nina, concerned. "What's wrong?"
In his despair fuelled anger he turned to her, wanting to blame her for this change in the timeline. If it hadn't been for her incessant meddling, then maybe Brockton would be the one facing Leviathan, a city that was now well prepared for any Endbringer attack. But logic won out, and he kept those bitter words in his mouth. Nina wasn't the one at fault here.
It could be anything from their very presence in this reality to it being a branch off from the main timeline.
They had continually said that this was an alternate universe, but it was only just now that he saw just how sideways things could go. Their plans needed to be more flexible. He couldn't trust the stations of canon anymore, and the loss of that comforting knowledge burned like a brand.
"We have to go," he said brusquely. "We've changed too much. Brockton isn't the target, not this time."
Nina's eyes widened in shock. "But…the preparations! The plans we had to engage him in the city; we made those because we knew Brockton could survive a fight with Leviathan, after all our changes to it. If we do it in any other city-!"
"I know. The base plan can still work, it's just the specifics that are fucked up. We'll have to be flexible, something you excel at. Remember, we know we can win this. We just have to save the city too."
Nina swallowed, her body shivering not from the cold, but from fear. The certainty of Keagan's multiple plans was now gone in the wind, and they had to be unpredictable from here on out.Like Naruto, she thought, and that alone was enough to calm her down. She'd been modeling herself after crazy Shonen hero's ever since she was old enough to read subtitles; unpredictability was something she had in spades.
"Where to?" she asked, her voice strong and steady.
"Boston."
A slight 'pop!' sounded through the air as Nina apparated them to Boston's abandoned ports, and the two of them nearly fell over as a tsunami-sized wave rolled over them, crashing into the port with a thunderous boom.
Keagan gritted his teeth as he growled.
Alongside the forcefields and durability seals that Brockton was now decked out with, the Boat Graveyard had actually functioned as a natural wave breaker, taking most of the force of the waves before they could hit the docks. Here, in Boston, where no such riots had happened, the city probably already had a foot of water out in the streets.
Time to enact the plan.
Step one: Take away the battlefield advantage from Leviathan. While he's fast and strong, he's known as the sinker of islands, not the Brute who breaks Mountains. Take the ocean away from him, and he becomes a lot less deadly.
Nina summoned dozens of clones as he tapped the Trident gently on the surface of the water. Instantly, the sea calmed, the tsunami-sized waves quickly becoming little more than soft currents, the boiling rage of the sea now under his command.
He could feel something, a powerful force vainly try and grab control of the sea back, but it was too late. Control of the waves was now his.
In the corner of his eye, he saw the clones of Nina jet into the air, little hurricanes underneath their feet letting them reach inhuman heights.
Using the Avatar state, the clones would keep the skies clear and also provide powerful ariel support.
Step two: Secure the city. Even with all of its advancements, I don't want Levithan to find a way to wreck it. So that means we have to make sure that unless we allow it, the city is inaccessible to him.
He summoned apure glass orb with a glowing regular dodecahedron inside of it. The Orb of Osuvox, an incredibly powerful magical item from Ready Player One. Nina summoned a clone that gently took the Orb from him.
"You remember the spell?" he asked. She'd better remember it. He made her memorize the damn thing for a week straight.
The clone nodded, and in a flash of movement, she was gone, heading towards the middle of Boston to set it off.
The Orb was a powerful magical shield that couldn't be dispelled naturally for ten million years as long as a Level 99 mage was holding it with both hands and said the spell properly.
Nina, who had ridiculous amounts of energy at her disposal, was considerably above a level 99 mage.
Nothing could go in or out of the shield unless the clone allowed it, and unless the Orb itself was destroyed, Boston should be safe. He let out a soft sigh of relief at the sight of the silvery barrier springing up thirty seconds later. For now, barring Simurgh's interference, Boston was secure.
Step three: Set up lines of defense. Obviously, we'll be the first line, but Leviathan is fast enough to be mistaken as a teleporter.
If for any reason, he gets behind us, or we get incapacitated, we need something to defend the city.
A solid army of clones will be good for a second wave, whilst I break out the summons for the third line that can double as wave breakers in case he regains control of the water.
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu," said Nina softly, a huge cloud of smoke obscuring the two Outsiders from sight. When it cleared, however, the sight was as fear-inducing as it was awe-inspiring; severalthousandclones stood on the surface of the water, their arms crossed and grim looks on their faces.
Some of their eyes becamered with black tomoe, orpurple with black rings or apure white with bulging veinsframing their faces; others summoned a visible aura of energy that made the calm sea under his control begin to broil beneath their feet; others grew fangs, claws, tails, and wings, the physical changes striking on her already gorgeous body, making her look like a temptress sent straight from hell; more summonedeldritch orange circles with Sanskrit writingin them, martial poses ready; and still others summonedmistlike strands of energythat clung to their hands and eyes, filling the air with strange magic.
And now it was his turn.
"Mass Summon!" he cried out. "Pacific Rim!"
There was no pop to announce their presence: one minute, the waters were calm; the next, he had to use the trident to calm the waters as the huge mechs appeared in all their glory.
Gypsy Danger, Crimson Typhoon, Cherno Alpha, Striker Eureka and Coyote Tango from the original movie, and Gypsy Avenger, Bracer Phoenix, Guardian Bravo and Saber Athena from Uprising.
The old, powerful mechs alongside their new, more agile counterparts, readying their enormous weapons as they all formed a rough line of defense behind the clones; some of the clones even saw fit to climb on them for a better vantage point or attack positions, depending on their current powerset.
Step Four: Be on the defensive as Leviathan approaches. We're not trying to kill him because we don't want to summon more Endbringers. What we do plan to do is wound him so much that it takes a long time for him to heal, and then drain as much of his shard energy as possible to make those wounds last even longer.
Tattletale said that a nuclear bomb would be enough to make him regenerate for years on end, right? Let's hit a little harder than that. But to achieve that, we have to let him come to us-
"Let's take the fight to him,' said Nina suddenly.
"Um, Nina, that's not the plan."
"The plan was made for Brockton, which is probably the most fortified city in the world right now. The whole point of having some of my clones record this fight is to be seen as Symbols of Peace, right? To make the world see that we are here to protect them."
"Well, they're actually there to help our PR, but yeah, that too."
"Then no more reacting to the Endbringers. No more waiting for them to kick our asses while we take the licks. We want Earth Bet to have hope, to be in actual peacetime? Then we show that we're willing to wage war on the Endbringers. Tonight, we show that we're not to be fucked with. That humanity is ready to take back our pound of flesh and give the Endbringers a taste of their own medicine!"
Her clones obviously cheered for her, but underneath the Hellbat armor, he couldn't help it as he gave a wild grin, his heart beating in…excitement? Yeah, excitement. Nina had pumped him up. He always loved those 'fuck yeah, humanity!' stories, because it made him feel that they as a species could do anything.
Well now, they were going to prove it.
And as if on queue, ten miles away from the port something large, green, andfastjumped from the water and into the air, its body gaining a significant amount of airtime as it soared. Keagan could instantly see its objective: it was planning to sail over their heads, past the Jaegers, and land right on the forcefield, where it could deal direct damage.
He and Nina moved as one, flying in the air to intercept it. Nina gave a whoop of joy as Leviathan's body came closer into focus, and he couldn't stop himself from releasing one as well. For the first time since coming to Earth Bet, he wasn't scared or worried about his possible impending death. He felt free and ready to fight.
Step Five: Don't. Hold. Back.
Victoria thought that she was pretty strong. She could bench-press a cement mixer after all, and often, her lack of restraint often ended up in…incidents that she needed Amy's help to clean up. But she always felt proud of being one of the strongest capes in the Bay, and the strongest amongst her age group. She thought that if an emergency came, she would at least be one of the hardest capes to take down.
Glyph-Anubis-had shown her otherwise. The crazy bitch had disabled her shield with a tap and sent her to sleepy land with the next.
That, and her declaration that she was going to dome the bay, put the girl firmly in 'crazy enemy,' territory.
That was part of the reason why she found it hard to believe the news story.
I mean, the girl who can make disposable clones just so happened to be cloned? And no one noticed the difference until it was too late? It just seemed to be a bittooconvenient.
What was more likely was that the guy that had beaten her was actually a Protectorate member, and had forced her to join, with them making up that story on the news, and Amy and her mom agreed.
Sure, the videos had seemed really convincing, but with the number of tinkers out there, was it really a surprise that at least one of them could edit videos in such a way?
The fact that she seemed to disappear over the next few days only proved it in Vicky's mind. If you were innocent, why didn't you come out and tell the world so yourself, rather than letting others speak for you?
New Wave was all about accountability, and if you couldn't own up to your actions, then what good was your word?
The part of her that whispered about the seven men she had crippled and called Amy to remove the evidence was ruthlessly shoved to the side. This wasn't anything like that. She was better than that skank ever could be.
So when Strider had been shocked to find out that he could no longer teleport to Boston, and those who had been capable of flying sped over there as fast as they could, only to see the translucent white dome over the city, she'd wanted to crow in happiness for a bit.
Obviously, what was happening to Boston was pretty bad, but after they all beat the bitch to a pulp, they could make her reverse it! What was most important was that she was right! That skank couldn't be trusted! Now, she had a chance at a rematch. Let the bitch try and fight her in an environment where she could actually fly.
Then the two of them could see who was going to be chained up to a chair!
She was all ready to attack her and the guy in armor Takedown was either under mind control or was in cahoots with her, but either way, he had to be stopped.
Until Alexandria held up her hand.
"Stop. We've discussed this. This is their plan, and this is their fight. Glyph wishes to atone for her part in Brockton, and Takedown has several weapons that can only be deployed with her in residence. We are the last line of defense. Should everything else fail, that is when we move in."
Vicky wanted to scream at her, and several capes actually did protest at this. It was obvious that she was just planning to take over another city! The longer they waited, the worse things could get, especially if she had a tinker on her side! The Endbringer alarm had probably been set off by her, and this was their chance to stop them before they ramped up too much! But the Triumvirate refused to budge on it, so Vicky would just settle for being right again.
But then Glyph summoned thousands of clones without breaking a sweat. Then Takedown transported a bunch of giant robots that were as tall as skyscrapers. Vicky had squirmed on the inside at that.
She wasn't sure if she could beat that. Maybe she could take down a handful of clones, but those robots… were way bigger than any Endbringer.
Just one of these strolling into a city could reduce it to rubble. Vicky wasn't even sure if Behemoth, the tallest, could reach their knees. Suddenly, she kind of hoped that she didn't really have to fight them.
And that was when Leviathan jumped out of the water, shattering Vicky's perceptions of the situation at hand.
Wait, there actually was an Endbringer? This wasn't Glyph showing her true colors and taking over the city?
But- but even as strong as they were, they couldn't solo an Endbringer, could they?
Of course, that was when the two of them jumped through the air, stopping Leviathan's flight as the three of them slammed into each other with enough force to create a thundering 'boom!' as they collided, instantly stopping Leviathan in its tracks.
However, as the three of them descended, a pillar of water rose up to catch Takedown, whilst Glyph seemed to jump off of some kind of unseen platform to launch herself at Leviathan, causing the two of them to hit the water with enough force to temporarily cause a tsunami-sized wave.
She said temporarily because, with a gesture from his Trident, the water stilled at Takedown's command.
"Did-did he just take control of the water? From Leviathan?" a cape whispered next to her.
"Of course he did," said Eidolon, surprising them. "Takedown's arsenal is full of esoteric weapons that are on the level of Hero's tech. Leviathan's control of water is uncontested amongst parahumans…until now. For any of us to survive, taking away his main weapon was key."
"Then how come he's still able to stand on water?" pointed out Armsmamster, who was hitching a ride on a Dragoncraft. "Shouldn't Leviathan be unable to do so if the water is under the complete control of your…Ward?"
"The control is not perfect, and Leviathan has been suspected of extremely fine hydrokinetic abilities," said Alexandria. "He's just never had to use them before. I imagine that he's using the water that's immediately touching his skin to stay aloft. Look."
Immediately after that statement, the droplets of water clinging to Leviathan's hide turned into millions of tiny needle-like barbs, causing Glyph to jump from his chest, lest she is caught in the barrage.
That didn't mean she was done though. At the arc of her jump, she summoned two giant blue shuriken-like attacks with orbs in the middle, that shrieked as they flew through the air, straight at Leviathan.
The hydrokinetic tried to move out of the way, but the water that used to obey his commands now fought against him, forming a three-sided barrier that kept him from moving left, right, or back, forcing him to take the blasts, which culminated in a blast big enough for them to feel the harsh winds all the way from the dome.
They must've been at least twenty miles away!
Leviathan jumped from the explosion site, but a powerful wave threw him back down, crushing him with enough force to shatter concrete. The wave rolled over him, trying to sink him below its depths, but Leviathan fought like an animal, clawing and scratching at the surface until he was able to jump again, this time narrowly managing to avoid the incoming wave.
Right into Glyph's waiting fist, which sent him rocketing back down.
Vicky…was scared. She'd never seen this kind of raw power in the hands of someone her age before. The Triumvirate had always been there, always powerful pillars that defied evil at every turn…but they'd never been able to fight an Endbringer just between the three of them. They'd never been able to fortify a city all on their lonesome.
They'd never been able to create an army all on their own. And Alexandria had admitted that the two of them were their possible replacements should anything happen to them.
Had she been wrong? Had the fight at the house not been a fluke? Were the two of them really heroes, rather than two villains biding their time?
Well, they were certainly putting themselves at risks like heroes. Takedown was far from the action, but not far enough that he couldn't jump in and intervene should his teammate not be able to defend herself. And Glyph-
Vicky's eyes narrowed as Glyph summoned a few dozen clones. What the hell was she doing?
The clones and their creator jumped into the air, higher than she'd ever seen them jump before, summoning the same blue orbs that Anubis had shown off during their capture.
Except that the orbs kept growing, steadily growing from baseball size to basketball, and only increasing until they were at the size of fuckinghouse.
As they descended toward the Endbringer, they yelled out something intelligible as the giant blue orbs glowed even brighter.
Once again, Leviathan tried to move out of the way, but this time, the water formed as tentacles around his feet and tail, forcing him to stay in place, and no amount of thrashing would release him from his bonds.
When the two forces collided, Vicky thought a bomb had gone off, because the ensuing hurricane-like winds had actually pushed her this time! The other flying movers gave out a yell as they too were moved from their spots, but the Triumvirate merely stood there placidly, the wind only disturbing their clothes, a subtle reminder of the gulf between them and the average Cape.
Vicky knew that the battle wasn't over yet, not by a long shot. Even between the constant hits that he was taken, Leviathan was still getting back up, shaking off attacks that would've killed swathes of Parahumans. It was only a matter of time before he reacted as well. The two of them had been doing amazing so far, but depending on how well, they weathered Leviathan's attacks, this might either be the end of Boston…or the beginning of something new.
And Vicky wasn't exactly sure where she would fit in the new. Or if she even had a place there.
Nina had an idea. A dumb idea, but an idea nonetheless. The plan for fighting Leviathan was for her to slowly drain her reserves as she fought, inflicting a bunch of injuries on him, then, when her personal reserves were empty, she'd start draining energy from Leviathan, so as to fuck up his healing and slowly weaken him. The only problem with this plan?
It was taking too damn long.
She wasn't stupid, at least, not in battle. They weren't owning Leviathan; they were surprising him. He'd likely never seen any of their abilities before, and as such, didn't know how to respond to them. He'd probably never had his hydrokinetic abilities surpassed by a human being before, or any species really.
He didn't know if he could tank their attack with ease, or if one of them was a Sting weapon in disguise. He'd also probably never seen one shard exhibit this much variety without it being nerfed heavily by the Entities.
But he was learning. And he was learning quickly.
He now knew that he couldn't trust the water, and as such did his best to move from place to place. If it wasn't for their high-speed training, Keagan probably wouldn't be able to catch him. He now knew that while Rasengans and Rashenshurikens were incredibly powerful, they couldn't ever hope to gain access to his core. Even now, she watched him get up and roll his shoulders as he shook off the effects of the Giant Rasengan Barrage, ignoring the giant gaping wounds that littered his body, as they were rapidly regenerating.
And thus, she had to empty a majority of her reserves on one giant, devastating move.
And she had just the thing in mind.
The runes that she had added to her body were more than just durability; with her power, she could easily switch from powerset to powerset, but the few seconds change between personalities and goals was jarring, and she knew that it could kill her one day.
So she had carved new runes into her very bones, a very painful and permanent change to her body. She used Shard Energy to power her abilities; these runes would automatically turn her shard Energy into other forms of energy without having to switch to another person.
So as she got into a running stance, she summoned the full power of her stored-up Shard energy and pushed them through the runes. Immediately, a cascade of powerful energies threatened to rip her apart with their ferocity.
Chakra, Chi, Omega Energy, Magic, Mana, Solar Power, Elemental Energy, Soul Magic, Eldritch Energies, Wuxain Magic, Dark Magic, Light Magic, energies and abilities with no names swirled in her like a cauldron of unlimited potential.
These energies didn't understand each other; some of them had never interacted with each other, whilst others were sworn enemies, and they collided within her, a storm of pure power that wished to tear her apart.
"What would you sacrifice?" Keagan asked on one of their breaks. "The way you talk about Earth Bet…you see this as your home now, don't you? You're not going to come back with me."
"Probably not, no. I'll make sure that you get home safe and sound, but I'll be staying here."
"So what would you sacrifice for this world? How far would you go?"
"My life," she responded instantly. "My sanity, my soul, my body, all of that is up for grabs if it comes to protecting the ones that I love here safe. I know you want to go home. I know you hate this world. But this is the only place where I've been accepted. Where I feel special. Where I know Iamspecial. Here, an entire world needs me to right their wrongs. And I don't want to disappoint them."
She roared as she forced the energies to cooperate, to bend to her will, the runes beating them down as they responded to her unheard commands.
She ran forward, a beautiful rainbow of colors trailing behind her, leaving behind strange reactions in the air and water below her. She moved, faster than most of her abilities would allow, her body straining to keep itself together as she closed in on Leviathan, the beast unable to even comprehend her speed. In the corner of her eye, she saw Keagan quickly create a giant green glowing wall with his Green Lantern Ring, separating the world from her devastating move.
Thank you, my friend.
Just before she reached Leviathan, she jumped into the air, the energies finally corralling themselves into a single shape: a beautiful multi-colored dragon with glowing eyes and a snarling maw.
"NIGHT GUY!"she screamed."DYNAMIC EXIT!"
"Nina!" Keagan yelled as his wall nearly cracked. It was a multilayered wall, with tiny interlocking pieces that were meant to help it spread impacts more evenly, and yet even with that, it nearly collapsed under the intense energy that Nina had just released. What the hell was that crazy girl thinking?! Did she want to die?
That wasn't part of the plan! She wasn't supposed to blow herself up just so that she could have a chance to kill Leviathan!
They were supposed to weaken him to the point of nerfing him, but that was it! Damnit, he knew he should have gone over how important it was to stick to the script with her!
And it seemed that whatever Nina had done, was extremely powerful because the explosion lasted for an entire five minutes. Five minutes of swearing as he pushed the Green Lantern ring to its limits. Five minutes of straining against the maelstrom of chaotic energies that Nina had left in her wake. Five minutes of wondering if his only friend in this fucked up world was dead in a stupidly heroic move that was completely unnecessary.
And when those five minutes were up, and he disengaged the shield, which had been about to fall apart anyway…
"Dear God," he whispered to himself. "Nina, what have you done?"
There was atown-sized craterin what had only five minutes ago been a part of the waters surrounding Boston. All the water that had been in the area had evaporated, and at the bottom of this new man-made trench, two figures lay. The waves were rushing forward, eager to fill the cavity forcefully carved into its surface, but Keagan figured he had enough time to jump in and grab Nina.
Leviathan was…utterly fucked up. Giant cracks all over his body, emanating from his chest, where Nina's bootprint was neatly imprinted, bleeding from practically every possible surface.
Even as he watched the giant rise to his feet, several dozen pieces of him fell to the floor, glittering pieces of blood and false flesh.
The light in its four lopsided eyes was extremely dim, and its movements were jerky and stiff.
Nina, however…Nina looked only a little better than Might Guy had after he'd nearly killed Madara. Her skin was grey and ashy, her entire body was smoking, and her breathing was incredibly shallow. But the scariest part was what was happening to her body. Her veins were glowing, filled with a sort of ethereal light, and Nina's eyes were a pure golden white color.
It was a simple matter to send a thundering wave at Leviathan, then coax a tentacle of water to gently pick up his friend and bring her to him. It deposited her into his arms, and Keagan could only look down at her in shock.
"Nina, why would you do this to yourself?" he whispered to her. "The plan was fine. All you had to do was wait! Why?"
"K-k-Keagan?" she said, her voice barely a rasp. "I-I'm so-so-sorry. N-n-n-needed to t-test something. W-w-w-went too far. C-conflicting energ-gies. Weak b-body. Couldn't h-ho-ld it in any longer."
She smiled, a fragile thing that caused her lip to crack and blood to flow.
"D-did I f-f-fuck him up?"
He couldn't help the watery laugh that burst from the back of his throat.
"Yeah, you fucking idiot, you fucked him up. But Nina, you didn't need to go this far, you didn't need to hurt yourself like this. The plan would've done the same thing, just slower. Why go this far? Why…mutilate yourself? Nina, I-I can't even describe what you look like, what's happening to you. I don't have a reference for this inanyof the fiction I've read."
"C-cracked hi-his core."
"...what?"
"W-wanted to really m-mess him up. P-planet busting attacks kill them, r-right? Th-that o-one was ju-just s-shy of i-i-it, I think. So, physical p-power to bypass the s-skin and needed e-esoteric e-energy to f-flow through the core, c-cracking it, b-but not killing him. M-makes him f-feel pain, t-too probably. Th-then, when I g-got close enough, s-sent a few clo-clones t-through the cracks, s-shrunk th-them, and th-hey started draining him, di-directly from t-the sour-ce. Emptied my reserves and beat him in one move."
The little smile she gave afterward would've been cute if it wasn't full of blood.
"Oh, Nina, you-you didn't need to do this."
"I-d-did!" she insisted. "F-f-final stretch n-now. All up t-to you. H-he would've killed you if he went all out. You're n-not fast enough. N-now, you have a chance."
A thundering 'boom!' echoed throughout the air, and Keagan's head snapped up, watching as Leviathan practically threw himself through the air, heading towards Boston. Towards their defenses.
"Nina, you don't have to worry anymore. With how fucked up he is, he'll run-"
"N-n-no!" she growled, weakly grabbing his shirt. The tips of her fingers turned to ash, the tips of her bones peeking out. "Not an h-human, so stop th-thinking h-he is. He is a-a-analien. H-he has an objective, a-and unless he thinks h-he's going to d-d-d-die,he will t-try his b-best t-to complete it!"
"Nina-!"
"Look."
With a sigh full of dread, he looked up and cursed internally as he saw what was happening.
Leviathan was done playing around. Now that his body was permanently damaged, he might as well not hold back any longer, and do his best to destroy the city. Keagan still had control of the water, but his body was still a feasible weapon, even broken, andhe showed it.
He turned into a blur, disappearing from the air and suddenly appearing in front of Nina's thousands of clones. They raised their hands, ready to attack, but they were too slow.
A tail whip that broke the sound barrier easily destroyed half of them, and Leviathan crouched down low, dodging the ethereal blasts with ease.
It was like watching a thirty-foot-tall blender at work. Leviathan gracefully dodged every attack, his claws and tail tearing into dozens of opponents at a time, turning them into smoke, True, his body was still disintegrating, but now he was using it to his advantage, using his fake blood to flow over his body like a cloak, creating spears of fluid that popped whichever clone thought it was brave enough to engage in hand to hand combat with the Sinker Of Cities, and somehow, the shards of his body managed to miraculously pierce enemies both far and wide.
In less than a minute, Leviathan had managed to kill the several thousands of clones that they had posted for the second wave.
Then there were the Jaegers.
Back in Nina's living room, the use of the Jaegers had seemed brilliant, inspired, even. A 200 ft tall robot armed with plasma cannons vs a thirty-foot-tall creature? Leviathan was getting stomped on like a bug, the easiest gg in history. Except, he hadn't taken into account that Leviathan was super fast, super strong, and super vicious.
Leviathan lept onto Gypsy Avengers leg, then ripped into it like it was tin foil. He crawled inside, ripping apart the mechanisms, as he went, moving at an unprecedented speed. Gypsy Avenger shivered, then shook, then fell sideways-incidentally, onto Saber Athena, which was his fastest and most agile Jaegar.
It was like watching a car crash. It was so horrible, but he couldn't look awaybecauseit was so horrible.
He watched as Leviathan leaped from Jaegar to Jaegar, ripping them apart from the inside, then bursting from their chests, backs, and heads, each one particularly more viscous than the last, taking out the few clones that were perched on them as well.
In less than three minutes, all of his Jagears were back in his Inventory, and Keagan was nearly sick as he imagined a human with those kinds of wounds.
Then Leviathan took another leap, his fist reared back as far as possible, aiming for the transparent shield that protected Boston. His fist shot out at supersonic speeds-
-and shattered like porcelain against it. Keagan let out a sigh of relief. For a second, he'd thought that Leviathan would be able to breach even that. But thankfully, magic still trumped space whales. Leviathan looked at the remains of his bicep like it had betrayed him, and it was then that Keagan realized he had a chance to go back on the offensive.
A powerful blast of green energy from the Green Lantern's ring destroyed Leviathan's head and sent him spiraling back into the sea. This time, Keagan's waves sucked the beast under, the powerful current sending him this way and that, his murky blood flowing into the water of Boston's harbor.
Keagan was extremely confused though when he felt Leviathan struggling back up to the surface. What the fuck was he still doing here? Endbringers were supposed to scram before they reached anywhere near the level of damage Nina's kick had done to him. He should've scrammed immediately after the Rasenshurikens, but now, here he was, his physical body falling to literal pieces, and he was still trying to come back and fight them?
What the fuck was in Boston that was so important? What the hell was he so desperate to destroy?
Was there another powerful parahuman in there that was important to the Simurgh's plans?
Or… or were they looking for him?That had been his original thought after seeing that that attack was in Boston.
What if he was right? What if the Simurgh thought that for some reason, he was still in Boston, and ordered Leviathan to take out what was probably a huge blind spot in her vision?
But why would she think that he was still in Boston? In fact, she shouldn't have been able to see him, not after he started wearing his psionic blocker…
…which he'd only started wearing inBrockton Bay.He'd spent the most time of his stay on Brockton Bay there, and whilst she probably couldn't perceive him, thousands of people in Boston probably remembered him. It might be wrong, and there might be some kind of super-tinker in Boston, but until then, he'd have that as his leading theory.
Right now though, he needed to scare off Leviathan, and to that, he'd need to make him feel true fear. Fear of Death. He commanded the water to hold him as tightly as possible, despite his constant struggles, then gently cradled Nina into the crook of his right arm, parts of his nanotech armor forming a cradle that held her to him.
"I'm gonna finish this, okay?" he said softly. She was looking a bit better, but her veins were still glowing. The weak smile she gave him made him feel better though. If she could still smile, then she probably wasn't in that much pain.
"I kn-know you will," she whispered to him. "Y-you're th-the best like th-th-that."
And with that encouragement, he started his final attack.
"In the brightest day."
The ring glowed with an inner light, nearly blinding him.
"In the blackest night."
Leviathan was slowly crawling his way back to the surface, and Keagan was letting him. He needed him in just the right position for this.
"No evil shall escape my sight."
His hand began to shake as the limitless power of the Green Lantern ring soared through him, filling him with willpower and determination.
"Let those who worship evil's might."
Leviathan had finally breached the surface of the ocean, but a nudge to the Trident, and the water became like concrete, holding him in place.
"Beware my power!"
Nina gave a small laugh as she cuddled up to him. "Freaking n-nerd. Should've known you w-were gaga for DC. You p-practically stink of angst."
"Green Lantern's Light!"
A powerful beam of green light slammed into Leviathan, and while it wasn't as powerful as Nina's five-minute explosion, the seas boiled and the air screeched as the atoms were forcefully ripped apart.
For a couple of minutes, his sight was filled with the color green, and he went as high as he safely could. When he could see again, though, he saw… nothing.
The water was still rushing to fill in the crater made by Nina, and pieces of Leviathan, jagged and covered in murky faux blood, littered the surface like a nasty version of pollution, but no Endbringer.
When he felt through the Trident for Leviathan's presence, he felt a massive, broken, bleeding presence… scurrying away as fast as it could.
They had won. They had beaten Leviathan.
They had beaten Leviathan.
Before he could celebrate/go crazy with fear of the possible retaliation, a soft groan from Nina drew his attention.
"Shh, shh, it's okay Nina. I'm gonna get you to the hospital, and I'm gonna find someone to fix you, or I'll do it myself, okay? We'll get through this Nina, I promise you."
Nina didn't respond, but the soft grin she sent his way made his heart just a little bit lighter.