She ignored the rain as she entered the conference room, moving slowly and carefully as it was rather packed.
"Okay," said Eidolon. "How many of you have been in an Endbringer fight before?"
"Mister Eidolon, I have an attack which should at least severely damage-" began Taylor.
"You. Shut up. This is serious," snapped Eidolon. "Every new cape thinks they're a big deal. You're not. So just shut up. We've heard it all before."
"Then stay out of my way," said Taylor, turning and exiting again.
A Dragon suit moved nearby. "You think you have a way to hurt Leviathan?"
The girl in the homemade costume glanced up. "My cape name is Ex Nihilo. I can create matter and energy by tapping into the wellspring of creation - the higher level dimensional field that formed a space/time bubble in the Big Bang. My problem in going out before now was that my lowest amount of power is too much for common use. If I tried to stop a mugging, I'd end up scattering the atoms of everything within a hundred feet of the target."
"That isn't a common problem but there are parahumans who have trouble with too much power and not enough control," said Dragon. "If I get you a first shot, do you think you could demonstrate?"
"Yeah," said Ex Nihilo, sounding a bit less miffed.
"Hold on, I'll get you to a higher vantage point," said Dragon, offering a hand.
As soon as they were atop the building, both could see the oncoming wave.
"Can you use radar or pressure analysis to indicate where Leviathan is in that?" asked Ex Nihilo.
"Right there," pointed Dragon after a moment's scrutiny.
"Aiming. Firing at one hundred billionth of power," said Ex Nihilo, making out a slight darkness within the wave. "Fire."
* Assault *
The shockwave caused the Rig to shake as if an earthquake had just struck. The sound hammered away, shattering glass and even putting a crack in Battery's coffee cup.
Capes in the assembly room had immediately ended up falling over each other.
"What the hell was that?!" asked Eidolon as he floated up.
A loudspeaker crackled and Dragon's voice spoke. "Ex Nihilo just fired on Leviathan. Extensive damage to waterfront. Forceshield on Rig down 75%, running compensators."
Assault was one of the first out the door and to the railing. He had a good look as Leviathan ran. Or rather, the bottom half of Leviathan fled. There wasn't anything above the hips except a smoking stump.
"The clouds. Look at the damn clouds," said someone nearby.
Assault did. He immediately noted that the overcast was burned away in a "V" shape that started over at one particular building.
"Yes, Armsmaster," said Dragon's voice over an open channel. "Ex Nihilo described it as being one hundred billionth of her estimated 'normal strength' output. Power registered as over nine thousand zettajoules."
There was a startled sound from Armsmaster's location. Followed by something that sounded like "It's over nine thousand?! That's impossible."
"That's a lot?" Assault asked.
"You know, seeing the lower half of Leviathan running off into the distance without the rest of him somehow strikes me as being oddly amusing," said a nearby cape in bronze armor.
"Huh," said Assault. "Does that mean we don't have to fight the Endbringer today? Shouldn't we have a party or something to celebrate?"
"Where is she anyway?" asked the bronze-armored cape. "'Ex Nihilo' you said?"
"She went home," answered Dragon's voice. "Said she got enough bullying at school and didn't need Eidolon stressing her out even more."
"Someone who could blast half of Leviathan away in one shot is getting bullied at school?" asked Assault. "Can you relay my compliments on her self-control?"
"I shall do so. As I have her contact info in order to get her out of that school, I will relay that as soon as I can," said Dragon.
"What high school?" came Armsmaster's voice over the comm channel.
"Winslow," answered Dragon.
"Oh crap," said Assault. Teenage girl. Bullied. In the most violent school in the state. Holding... "What would you say her average power level would be if this was a billionth?"
"Somewhere around 200 times 10 to the 44th power joules," said Dragon. "That's not if she pushes it. As it is, that would burn off the atmosphere. If she didn't have complete control of that power she might have cut through the planet with the attack she just did. Damage to the Rig and waterfront was from the blast wave resulting from the energy release. Fortunately there is a sphere of protection that forms around Ex Nihilo during release and she was able to return that energy almost immediately after discharge."
"If she does, say lose her temper and go all out?" asked bronze-armor guy.
"I inquired. She called it a Big Bang Attack. Because it would generate one." Dragon went silent. "I'm going to recommend some nice tranquilizers that have minimal side effects. And work on some kind of power suppressor."
"Can we have someone follow her in school and when her bullies start in on her, take them away somewhere they'll never be found again?" asked bronze-armor guy.
There were a few murmurs of agreement among the crowd.
* PRT ENE HQ *
"What's up?" asked Shadow Stalker, looking around at all the serious faces in Director Piggot's office. "Is this about that stuff with Leviathan?"
"Yes, but it's more that you go to Winslow," said Armsmaster. "Do you know of any bullying going on there?"
"No," said Shadow Stalker after a pause in which her face had gone through several expressions.
Armsmaster made a little gesture and Director Piggot leaned over her desk. "Do you know anyone who MIGHT be bullied there?"
"No, of course not," said Shadow Stalker. She noted Armsmaster made that little gesture again and now everyone was looking very unhappy at her. "Well. Maybe. One. She's a weirdo who just sort of hangs out by herself. A real troublemaker." There was that gesture again. "Nobody likes or believes her stories." What the hell did that little 'down' gesture mean?
"Miss Hess," said Director Piggot with a positive lilt in her voice, sitting back and smiling.
"Oh shit," mumbled Shadow Stalker. She'd heard of this. Piggot got angry. She glared. She had a vicious streak. But there had been that story about how when she passed beyond furious and got very polite. The calm just before everything went straight to apocalyptic. Judging how Armsmaster and Miss Militia were now edging away from Piggy - she'd just reached that point.
"Shall we try this again?" asked Director Piggot. "Let me be clear." She tapped a tablet and a picture appeared. A young woman in a homemade costume with very familiar looking hair. "This girl attends Winslow. She is being bullied. She reduced Leviathan to a third of his starting mass with one shot. She is afraid that if she keeps getting bullied she will lose control of her power and she will leave a smoking crater that used to be the city. We do not want that happening, do we?"
Looking at the new image of a pair of legs running away from a section of boiling water. Shadow Stalker considered protesting that there was no way that Hebert could have triggered and if she was she certainly couldn't be anything like dangerous.
On the other hand if she HAD triggered...
Shadow Stalker considered how far down Taylor's Vengeance Checklist she would be IF (unlikely as it was) Taylor Hebert triggered. If there was one of those Roaring Rampage of Revenge in the works. The best she could hope for was... number two. Maybe number three if she threw the other two at her and ran for it.
"The only person I can think of, it's pretty unlikely. I mean, it's Winslow," tried Shadow Stalker. "There's recruiters and members for the Empire, for the ABB, and the Merchants. Hell, I think the Broadway Bruisers have a couple of kids in there and they're maybe seven or eight members total."
"'Broadway Bruisers'?" asked Director Piggot.
Miss Militia answered. "Twelve members. One parahuman. Mixup is a Stranger 4 with a power he calls Pass Without Trace where a group can hide in plain sight as long as they're on the move and within ten feet of him. They mainly hit ATMs and other soft targets while avoiding areas where they have any public contact. Considered very low priority among the other gangs in the city."
"So, small change," said Director Piggot.
"No, Small Change is another of the little gangs," corrected Armsmaster. "Four members. No parahumans. Basically shoplifters with pretensions of becoming bigger. They call themselves a supervillain group but they just wish they were."
"Whatever," said Piggot. "Not our business. So what you're saying is that Winslow is a gang recruitment center."
"It's a high school," said Shadow Stalker as if that was obvious. Perhaps it was.
"How soon can we get her out of Winslow?" asked Director Piggot.
Dragon's voice came over the speakers. "At least three days for the paperwork to clear as it requires people to review and sign off."
"Any chance we can get her transferred to another city? Preferably another continent?" asked Director Piggot.
"She held out her hand and formed a sphere of energy," said Dragon. "I scanned it. If she had released it, the Western Hemisphere could have been vaporized."
"Another planet, maybe?" suggested Director Piggot.
"I have received classified communications indicating that something along those lines may indeed be in process," admitted Dragon. "As the alternative is shooting Miss Hebert before she unleashes enough power to destabilize Earth's orbit..."
Shadow Stalker twitched as the name was confirmed. Couldn't be THAT Hebert though. Maybe there was someone unrelated with the same name?
Everyone noticed.
* Tattletale *
"Yeah boss. I was there, remember? You told me ahead of time to scope people out, so I did. You wouldn't believe the Thinker headache I still got. Gonna need a lie down soon as I get off the phone."
Grue glanced over at where Tattletale was on the phone, she already had a wet cloth over her eyes and forehead so he knew that she was being honest about the pain level.
"So. Wildebeast. African-American, from the accent lives in Georgia. Brute and Mover. Low on both, maybe a 3 or 4. Thinker for the enhanced senses but still pretty low grade. Thought she was going to die because she knew this was way over her head. Minor physical alterations due to skull structure..."
Another pause.
"Just ones you could potentially use? Well, there was Andy Oakley - chlorokinetic. Means he can make plants grow faster. Probably do a good job if you put him on a farm or something, increased crop yields could... Please don't yell. Headache. Seriously, there wasn't many that looked like you'd have a use for them. Either they're in a group, from way far away, or their powerset ain't something you'd immediately use - it was an Endbringer fight. Thinkers and other squishy types normally stick way away from those. Oakley mainly thought he could erect plant barriers to conceal things like the medical tent."
Another pause.
"No, boss. Ex Nihilo is NOT someone to recruit. First off, she's scared of her own powers. Second, she has reason to be. She was having trouble controlling and then dismissing that attack. Because it was about as low as she could go but it was still a freaking lot of energy there. Plus there was something funky going on with MY power."
Grue looked up from his magazine again, that statement was somewhat concerning.
"Look, as soon as I put my focus on Ex Nihilo and what she was doing it was almost like a fugue state. My power got REAL interested. She's able to manifest energy from the same source the Big Bang came out of. She could literally blow up the planet by accident. That's what she's scared of. That's what scares the piss out of me. You try threatening her family or something to get her to work for you and then what? Drug her into compliance? You just increased the chance of her losing control. Kidnap and torture? Same. Literal earth-shattering kaboom."
Grue wanted to know who the boss was at this point as the idea of threatening a cape's family being among the first options didn't sit well with him at all. Not to mention the whole blowing up the planet bit.
"I read her lips. She can basically create energy or matter using her ability. She could make diamonds or gold out of nothing until that stuff is nearly worthless. Doubt she would, but she could. Hell, she could make those rare earths that go into cellphones and not crash the market but still get a major revenue stream out of it. If you want to hire her for THAT you might have a chance. Depends on how much she has to know about a material in order to make some."
Grue idly wondered if the NEPEA laws would keep a cape from doing that sort of thing. While thinking about that, he went and got a glass of water.
"Yeah, boss. Later."
Grue held out the glass as Tattletale put the phone away. "Bad one, eh?"
"Horrible, and I was right about the 'strange' part," said Tattletale, taking the glass and sipping at it while closing her eyes again. "Still feel as if my power is trying to work around all the details or something."
* Orbit *
They had a purpose. To generate conflict and test the so-called parahumans. To give the Emulator a decent but not overwhelming fight.
Scion's purpose was way down on their list but it was still there.
The Simurgh observed as the information went through the network of Thinker abilities as it was flagged of Greatest Importance. There was one on the planet who could kill them. There was one on the planet who could fulfill the Warrior Entity's stated purpose. That very one could potentially rip the galaxy apart in creating a second Big Bang and it was unknown if the current universe could withstand that sort of event.
That one speck among the many was also not a parahuman and had no active Agent. It had been slated for the Queen Administrator but something had altered that seeding and displaced Queen Adminstrator.
Despite seeing both past and future, the Simurgh could not see what had altered the seeding.
This was of concern.
* Taylor, Winslow High School *
She faced the high school and tried to settle the nervousness. It was telling that a little electrical discharge ran up and down her right arm - she was only partially successful in quelling that anxiety. It took an effort to dismiss that coronal effect.
At which point she noticed a small shadow pass over her.
Glancing up, Taylor blinked and caught a glimpse of a small spherical machine disappearing over a roof.
Not sure what that was about, Taylor hurried along the street. Another flicker to the side and she briefly saw a reflection of a woman in a very nice fedora who inclined her head in Taylor's direction. An eyeblink and the woman was gone.
Was she being stalked? Would that at least mean that she didn't have to go to school and face Them and try to keep from releasing enough energy that the seas boiled away and the atmosphere burned? She seemed to be immune to the direct application of her power, but she had a feeling that indirect effects weren't covered.
All too soon, the school was before her and she could see the Trio standing near the main doors. Waiting. For her.
There was a terrible temptation for a moment. Raise one hand, a thought to release just the bare minimum. They'd be gone from her life forever. So would the school. So would a couple of miles of city behind them before she could dismiss that energy.
Maybe matter instead? Blasting them with hydrogen would be easiest. Oxygen and hydrogen together? Could she make water? Tons of water cascading down on them, washing the school and her tormentors away?
No, she would simply have to put up with them. Her father was already a wreck. She'd tried to bring up the power angle with him yesterday after the Endbringer had been run off and he'd not had the time to listen as he was dealing with the effects of the tidal wave on the docks. If she destroyed a good portion of the city, how much further he'd collapse was not something she wanted to see.
As usual - she had no backup. Nobody had her back. She was alone and nothing she could do would make this situation better.
"What is SHE doing here?"
"She should just hurry up and die."
"Oh my god, what IS she wearing? Fashion toxic disaster."
"That's not the clothes, she's just toxic waste of space."
She walked past the small group of girls who were just followers. Just those who saw a target that wouldn't/couldn't fight back.
There they were. Emma even had a smirk going, the cruel expression. She was about to start speaking.
"Why do you even bother, Taylor?" began Emma. "With a face like yours-"
What if she tried to do matter instead of energy? How much matter would appear at her most minimum trickle? Maybe if she went with something complicated instead of simple she could do even smaller? So what would that be? Neutronium was simple enough in structure but she wasn't sure it would even remain stable. Hydrogen was the simplest element - she could probably do that. Oxygen? No, that would be dangerous. One spark and those flourescent lights would do that much. What about helium? That was simple enough.
"- like when your mother died? Maybe you should join her so she isn't lonely."
Lithium? Beryllium? Boron? Carbon?
"Are you trying to ignore me, Taylor? Maybe you're just so far gone around the bend-"
Carbon was relatively safe. What form though? Crystalline was complicated. Maybe something like a fine powder? Graphite. Yes, she could begin to picture the structure. If it was a powder though - it might be a respiratory hazard. If she went with little cubes though.
Sophia moved in and buried her fist in Taylor's stomach.
Taylor's control began to slip.
Then the Simurgh ripped the roof off.
* PRT ENE HQ *
"What the hell?!" asked Director Piggot as she watched Sophia Hess do the single most stupid thing she'd ever seen. On being told that Taylor Hebert was Ex Nihilo and that the girl was basically to be treated as a live bomb - anyone sane would be trying to avoid provoking a response.
That Sophia had simply acted like hired muscle towards this 'Emma Barnes' had been dismissed initially as either Sophia's hitherto-unknown sidejob of being a bodyguard or perhaps she was planning on intervening if things got to be too much.
To punch Taylor Hebert hard enough that the girl doubled over and was gasping for breath?
Then the Endbringer sirens began going off while a moving very bright light cast shadows in her office?
* Sophia *
It couldn't have been true about Hebert. Hebert was as pathetic as it was possible to get. Hebert was the lowest of the prey.
So she hit Taylor in the solar plexus when nothing seemed to be phasing the beanpole. Hebert looked preoccupied, like she was thinking hard about something and not paying attention to her surroundings. When a prey did that, they were practically asking to be the low rung on the food chain - right?
Then the roof ripped up and Sophia glanced up and then stared in the horror that was completely to be expected when you were within spitting distance of AN ENDBRINGER?!
Lots of people were screaming and Sophia wouldn't be too surprised to find out she was one of them as the Simurgh started reaching into the building.
As the Simurgh grabbed Emma Barnes in one hand. An idle part of her mind not ready to piss herself in horror noted that the Endbringer was sufficiently hot from her arrival that Emma's clothes were now burning.
Then the Simurgh was gone. A white dot that dwindled into the distance and vanished.
"WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!" asked a vast number of people all at the same time.
At which point there was a "foomph" noise and there were feathers everywhere.
* PRT ENE HQ *
Director Piggot stared at the screen.
[To: Director Emily Piggot, PRT ENE HQ]
[cc: Rebecca Costa-Brown, PRT Chief Director]
[cc: Alan Barnes, divorce attorney at Shyster and Cheatum Law Firm]
[From: The_Simurgh ]
[Subject: Intervention]
[I see the future. I saw what was about to happen.]
[Your species seems to be especially foolish at times.]
[Seeing that Emma Barnes was about to wipe out humanity, I acted.]
[It was strangely fulfilling to save humanity. I may have to]
[explore this option in the future if I can overcome programmed]
[objectives and someone who just wants a "good fight."]
[Sincerely, Elizabeth aka The Simurgh.]
[PS: check Principal Blackwell's financial records sometime.]
"What the hell just happened?" asked Emily Piggot of her empty office. Fortunately for her sanity, nobody answered.
* Dragon *
Feathers. Not the Simurgh's feathers. Ex Nihilo had apparently gotten a glimpse of the Simurgh just as she lost control of her power.
Which was why Winslow High School was currently buried in feathers. Possibly numbering in the millions considering that the school's main building and corridors were now loosely filled with feathers.
Analysis of the feathers revealed they were actually constructs of carbon but lacked cell structures and were instead just solid forms. Composition was of carbon with some nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur compounds.
They were surprisingly soft and fluffy.
Nobody was hurt but everyone was inconvenienced. They also blamed the Simurgh. With the exceptions of Madison and Sophia. Possibly because they had a large number of feathers in very uncomfortable places.
There was also the question on everyone's lips.
"Emma Barnes can control the Simurgh?"
Which was followed by several other obvious questions.
"How long has she been controlling the Simurgh?"
"Is Emma Barnes responsible for the Simurgh?"
"I knew she was a bitch, but damn! Does that mean the Simurgh is a projection? Are all of the Endbringers projections? Is that why they can be driven off but never beaten?"
For some reason, very few people thought Taylor Hebert was the parahuman responsible for the Endbringer. Maybe because of the view that she would have gotten herself out of the locker or not been knocked down stairs or had handfuls of hair pulled off or had chewing gum put in her hair or stabbed with newly sharpened pencils or a dozen other incidents that were brought up when the subject did get broached.
Of course, there were also many that thought when those incidents were brought up that wondered exactly what the hell was with Winslow High School.
* Wards common area *
"She needs to go to the Birdcage!" declared Shadow Stalker.
"For feathers?" asked Vista.
"It was assault with a parahuman power, shrimpboat!" countered Stalker.
"Why are you calling her 'shrimpboat'?" asked Clockblocker.
"She's small and she stinks," answered Shadow Stalker. "Hence - shrimpboat."
"So... because you were buried in feathers, which you just shadowed through, Taylor Hebert aka Ex Nihilo needs to be sent to the Birdcage. A prison which couldn't possibly hold her because her minimum power discharge is literally enough to cut through a mountain?" asked Clockblocker.
"Yes!" said Shadow Stalker.
"You got feathers up your butt didn't you?" asked Clockblocker.
Kid Win held his hand up. "Aren't you supposed to be the dark edgy Ward, the closest thing to an anti-hero without actually filling out the paperwork for anti-hero branding?"
"What's that crack supposed to... I could rebrand as an anti-hero?" asked Shadow Stalker. "What's an 'anti-hero'?"
Deputy Director Renick pulled out a PRT handbook and flipped to the relevant page. "'Anti-hero branding is for the parahuman whose powers or personality does not loan itself well to the typical heroic standards. Typically described as 'dark and edgy' or 'does not play well with others' - includes reduced standards of behavior and limitations on PR duties.' On the other hand, anti-hero merchandise is more limited but sells well."
"What?" asked Shadow Stalker. "Wait. You mean I could have chosen 'anti-hero' and avoided all the Meet & Greets and that PR bullshit?"
"It was on the standard paperwork, one of the checkmarks," said Kid Win. "Didn't you read the forms?"
Shadow Stalker stared at Kid Win, then Renick, then went over to a wall and lightly bumped her head against it several times.
Clockblocker couldn't leave well enough alone. "Though if being buried in feathers that you could shadow through was enough to get you this upset, maybe you weren't suited for anti-hero? They're supposed to be stoic after all."
"Well, if we're done here, I have work to do," said Renick.
"Still think she needs to go to the Birdcage," grumbled Shadow Stalker.
"For feathers," pointed out Clockblocker.
* Emma Barnes *
Nothing was happening to her.
After some time, that fact caused her locked-up-in-terror condition to fade a bit.
She uncurled and looked around her. She was not in Winslow. That was bad.
No Sophia. No Madison. No little clique of followers and hangers-on. That was also bad.
It was a women's bathroom. She felt a little out-of-sorts but everything was normal for such a place and she felt a little more settled after using the facilities. That was good.
She couldn't remember things. She'd been in Winslow, waiting for Taylor with the others. Then blank. She wasn't sure if this was good or bad.
Her fashionable and expensive clothing had some burns around the middle. This was frustrating but she could make anything look good.
As she moved through the room, she spotted a mirror and checked. What she saw caused her to scream.
* Dragon *
"Found her," announced Dragon.
"Location?" asked Armsmaster.
"Hell, a city in Norway."
Armsmaster was quiet for several long seconds. "How did you find her?"
"Video titled 'Bully Girl Relocated' shows her wandering out of a women's bathroom and trying to find someone who speaks English while trying to keep her face from being photographed. She is not successful as a girl trying to cover her face with paper towels just ends up with more attention."
Armsmaster looked at the still picture popping up on a monitor. He nodded. "Other than that 3mm burn on one cheek, it matches."
"Same clothes as well. I'm supposing that the Simurgh was able to keep her alive despite the acceleration necessary to get her there in that short a time via telekinesis. Why she would bother is a different question altogether."
Armsmaster was silent a moment longer. "Dragon? How did the Simurgh post a video?"
It was Dragon's turn to be silent for a moment. "I'm adding that to the list of questions about this whole incident."
Armsmaster nodded. "We'll have to assume that the Simurgh was able to influence her in that period."
"I'll put out the alert," said Dragon. "Containment only since we don't know for certain."
* YX Hell gas station, Hell, Norway *
"You say you've been kidnapped, you just escaped, and the person responsible is this 'Taylor Hebert' except that she's a wimp and prey and a loser?" asked Viggo MacTavish, who DID speak English because every so often you did get tourists who'd want to buy some memento of their visit. Even if 'Hell' meant something different in Norwegian, they leaned into it because it sold merchandise.
"Yes!" declared the redhead.
A couple of locals (Sid and Martine Krofthasser) waiting for their car to be fixed just exchanged a look and a wink.
"So, where is this 'Hebert'?" asked Viggo.
"She's probably back in Brockton Bay," said the redhead who'd identified herself as an American named Emma Barnes. "Wait till my father hears of this!"
"So she's a loser and wimp but managed to attack you, knock you out, and drag you all the way here?" asked Viggo.
"I don't care! Call the PRT! Call the American Consulate! Call the police if you have those out here in bumfuck Europe!" declared the redhead with the partially burned clothes.
"Narkotikamisbruk?" asked Martine Krofthasser. (Druggie?)
"Amerikansk," answered Sid. "De gjør det alle sammen der borte." (American. They all do it over there.)
"Lei seg. Hun var nok pen en gang," put in Viggo. (Sad. She was probably pretty once.)
"What was that?" asked Emma as the three started talking in their weird language.
"Oh, we're expecting a cold snap later this week," said Viggo. "Well, I can call emergency services. They can probably help you out."
"Good! About time!" declared Emma. "My dad is a lawyer! Don't keep me waiting or he'll sue!"
"Jeg har møtt mange hyggelige Amerikanere. Synd at dette ikke er en." Viggo held up his phone as he addressed the Krofthassers. (I've met many nice Americans. Shame this isn't one.)
The beeping from the TV drew everyone's attention (except for the tourist) to it. On hearing a gasp from that old couple, she did take a look at the TV.
"That's me!" said Emma as she wondered what everyone went still for. There was a picture of her. A picture of the Simurgh for some reason. A picture of a Simurgh containment zone. A picture of some coastal place.
Viggo's thumb came down on one button, and he clicked a speed-dial. "Ah. Yes. Some help will be here soon. Sid, Martine? We're just going to check if their car is ready."
"Huh. Ok, ok. Hmmph." Emma noted that the three of them seemed to be avoiding coming close to her all of a sudden. What was going on?
She was especially curious when she caught a glimpse of them running across the road. Maybe she should start running - there could be something about that car up on the lift maybe?
Coming to a quick decision, and hearing sirens approaching, Emma Barnes ran.
* Sumarbrander *
Most capes didn't have to check a weather report before heading out.
Most capes didn't have their powers dependent on the weather.
It kind of sucked, in Sumarbrander's opinion, that his powers WERE reliant on the weather and in particular the time of year.
He was an Alexandria-type whose power fluctuated from Brute-1 at the worst of winter to Brute-7/Mover-4/Blaster-3 at the height of summer.
Here in early May, he figured he had reached Brute-3 and Mover-2. He could fly again, which was always good and a relief after spending months ground-bound. As the only cape from Trondheim and close areas, that meant he was getting busy now. A frequent sight in his Viking-style tunic and leggings, which was as good a superhero costume as he was willing to do. Though due to local regulations he had a safety helmet and high-visibility vest over the whole thing.
Searching for a Simurgh victim/threat was somewhat outside his usual duties. Usually he just did roadside assistance or air-evac a patient, do search-and-rescue for watercraft and the like, just simple basic stuff. Weather-permitting, of course. Rainy or overcast caused his power levels to dip a bit.
It was beginning to get late, so there was a dip in his flight speed. Maybe 75kph tops. Still enough to get him to the area and try to assist the local police.
Only to find out the "Ziz-bomb" was apparently pulling a runner.
He reached up to touch the earbud and call it in.
Things went a bit off when she reached the waterfront and a large hand grabbed her and pulled her under.
A few minutes later Sumarbrander was wondering why Scion had shown up. Guessing the golden man was after Leviathan (who else could have a hand that looked like that?) Sumarbrander helpfully pointed, but noted he was completely ignored.
Whatever, he'd tried at least.
* Taylor *
It took hours to clear all the feathers out.
It took minutes to just force your way out through them because they weren't tightly packed, just a bunch of loose feathers ranging in size from "half little-finger" to "bigger than you were tall" and in colors that were mostly shades of white. Though there were iridescent green and red and blue and yellow. There were black feathers, gray feathers, brown feathers, and even the occasional neon pink one.
There were collectors of course. Taylor thought Parian had heard and immediately started choosing some for her artistic endeavors.
That, and that apparently both Madison and Sophia had feathers in very uncomfortable places, were the only bright spots in the whole debacle - in Taylor's opinion.
Well, that and classes were cancelled while dealing with all the feathers.
While doing that, and realizing she'd created matter in a complex shape and composition, Taylor settled down at one of the edges of the docks and held up a rock she'd picked up along the way.
She examined it. Hard. Smooth. Sort of gray in color with some striation of something else.
"Structural analysis," said Taylor, remembering that some capes (and some cartoons) had the habit of activating powers by some phrase.
SiO2 69%, Al2O3 11%, CaO 9%, MgO 6% and Fe2O3 5%.
Taylor shook her head. Okay. Rocks were more complicated than they looked.
She could literally fill the bay with copies of that rock. She didn't want to though. She'd rather have the Ship Graveyard cleared, not made into an even worse mess.
"Structural analysis," tried Taylor again, this time looking at a boat and trying to get an overview instead of details that weren't really needed. She immediately got a headache from the amount of information that was suddenly there.
"Okay, maybe NOT doing that again," muttered Taylor to herself, deciding right there and then that taking care of the headache was now priority one.
* NASA *
"A rock?" asked the station commander. Since the Simurgh, there wasn't much they could do about going outside Earth's atmosphere. Monitoring from ground level was about it. "What kind of rock?"
"If it weren't for the size, I'd say it looked like a river rock," said the engineer, she brought up the relevant display. "Asteroids normally don't have smooth sides unless they're a bit bigger than this. This one is only twenty-five miles high and forty-two miles long. Like I said, it just popped up on Skywatch and was relayed to us. Highly reflective for space junk. Radar return gave us the size."
"It almost looks like it has silicates, and is that a sedimentary level?" asked the station commander, briefly looking around the room. Since NASA's budget had been almost entirely rerouted to the PRT, there was a lot of empty.
"Not clear but here's where it is, halfway between us and Mars," said the engineer.
"Keep an eye on it, I wouldn't put it past being some cape BS maybe a teleporter with some insane range," said the station commander.
"Too bad we can't find out who in that case, we might be able to get them to send some stuff up past the Endbringer."
"Don't get your hopes up Janet. This world doesn't have room for hope."
* Dragon *
Of course she was watching Ex Nihilo. Of course she was running several other things at the same time - she was GOOD at multi-tasking. However she was also keeping tabs on Ex Nihilo and anything that flagged as unusual that might be linked to her.
That the same smooth fist-sized rock that Ex Nihilo had examined had been duplicated and appeared before a telescope on the other side of the planet - that was noteworthy. That it had appeared about the same time that Ex Nihilo had apparently experienced something like a Thinker Migraine was noted. Possible control slippage influenced further by the emotional upheaval experienced earlier. This was flagged as a possibility and would appear in the inboxes of Chief Director Costa-Brown and local Director Piggot.
That the rock in question was as big as some cities and was currently moving at a relative velocity of perhaps 5mph indicated to Dragon that it posed little danger at the present time was also noted. It was 75.3 million miles away after all. If it were aimed directly at Earth's orbital plane it would take 167 years to reach Earth. Since the path it was taking was nowhere near Earth, even that danger was very much unlikely.
That the Simurgh had moved and was watching Brockton Bay was also noted. Behemoth had gone completely still. Leviathan, at this point, was still running. Or at least the amount of Leviathan that still remained.
The video of Leviathan's legs and tail somehow giving the impression of "WTF?!" and then turning and running away from Brockton Bay was currently 37 different memes, airing on 97% of news agencies, and the cause of much celebration and speculation.
In other repercussions of the events at Winslow and Leviathan's escape, the Hess family was looking at relocation to Whitehorse Canada. A small branch of the PRT that had recently lost a cape to a fusioned bear-shark monster believed to have escaped some new "mad scientist" Tinker. Shadow Stalker could be a temporary/permanent replacement and unlikely to cause any more problems for the PRT there.
That Sophia Hess was well known to hate being cold, and winter in Whitehorse could see temperatures in the negative 30s, was simply a tidbit that could bring some pleasure to Ex Nihilo if Stalker's abilities were deemed simply too valuable for incarceration.
"Contacting Ex Nihilo's father," came a message from Costa-Brown. "Regarding relocation to Earth-Go and remote learning."
That DID seem like a wise precaution.
* Earth-Go, May 5 2011 *
The world had been pretty much empty. Man had never arisen here and their probes had revealed that the split-off in alternates had happened roughly twenty-five million years ago when an asteroid had smashed into what could once have been Northern Africa. It had been another dinosaur-killer in impact damage (though a bit smaller and hitting land) and the effects had lasted roughly two centuries.
Which meant that Taylor Hebert had a treehouse in what was basically a small outpost that was mainly composed of people who were there for research. People who had valuable skills but for one reason or another the group Cauldron had decided they needed to vanish.
It looked a lot like one of the Old West America towns, sharing a lot of features of such places.
A recent addition had been a sizable telescope and Taylor herself.
"Now," said Alice Jennings, having brought an image of Mars up on a monitor.
Ex Nihilo concentrated, looking at the model on the table, then the section of Mars on the display.
Dust plumed out to form a cloud covering almost the entirety of Hesperia Planum.
"Okay, SOMETHING happened," said Alice, glancing at Taylor. "We'll have to see if-"
Alarms started sounding over the loudspeakers scattered through the community.
"What the hell?" asked Alice.
"I didn't do it!" protested Ex Nihilo. "All I did was on Mars!"
Alice cranked up the phone and pressed a button. "Alice here. What's going on? Uh huh. WHAT?! Where is she? I'm moving her to the shelter."
Ex Nihilo blinked. "What?"
"Scion just showed up. No idea how he got here or when, but he just showed up in Low Orbit."
A doorway popped into existence nearby.
"Or that'll work," said Alice, motioning to Taylor. "Quickly."
* Hesperia Planum *
The towers were tall, the doorways huge. Everything sculpted of the same red stone and formed as a single piece.
A model of Barsoom had been brought to life on the sands of Mars.
A dead city on a dead world.
It was really a pity there was no-one who could see it.
Or the flood of water that Taylor had created to accompany it because she'd thought it would look cool.
* Scion *
It was true then. Creation of matter or energy from nothing that any of his senses could detect.
Blue began spreading out across a red planet as a city of stone shifted as the ground under it quaked. To be expected, adding just shy of a million tons of mass to a world the size of Mars was something that would bear consequences.
The search for the ability to reverse entropy was at an end in that there was someone who could bring such into play, but it was not a shard-based ability. Something else had come about and Scion briefly wondered what it was that had done so.
There were civilizations so vast and so powerful that his own kind avoided those areas for they could be killed without much concern from those localities. As had actually happened a few times.
There were Things out there in the Void that were bigger, more powerful, more alien than even his kind could measure. That stood as far above his own existence than he did these insects that his kind fed upon.
It was well within possibility that one of those had happened upon this race and had, for whatever bizarre reason, decided to experiment. If this could be determined to be the case, the logical move would be to avoid disrupting that experiment and thus avoid the attention of that Thing Which Was Beyond.
On the other hand, finding a way to gain that ability for itself was something that would place his own existence much higher among his kind.