Several buildings away, Nina gave a low whistle as she watched the new guy rip through her clones like tissue paper. He was strong, way stronger than she'd thought. If Dinah hadn't given her an advanced warning, she might've actually lost. However, there were a few things that put the fight in her favor. The first one, of course, had been Dinah's warning. The second was the fact that her opponent was as green as hell.
Like she'd said, he was strong as hell, but it was obvious that he wasn't exactly sure how to use his weapons. He hesitated before every, froze for a fraction of a second before every bast of energy, and he flinched every time her clones got into melee range with them, even though he should be able to handle the blows, since he had Superman powers.
Plus, there was the fact that he wasn't using his powers to the best effect. He was staying in one spot, rooting himself like a plant, he wasn't using heat vision or ice breath, and the few times he did move, he could barely stop himself from crashing into her. He moved like combat thinkers did, with their bodies being supported by their Shards to produce more damage than their bodies would be able to naturally produce by themselves.
This was probably his first fight.
"Why is he fighting me?"
"He thinks you're dangerous to him, to the world. You make things change too much. He doesn't like change. He tries to make sure he doesn't affect anything, while you destroy every possible destiny of yours with a touch. You cause events to spiral out of control, and he can't handle that."
Unchanging, not wishing to bend or break for any reason. It even showed in his fighting style. He didn't like changing weapons, even when it benefited him. Right now, he was being swarmed by clones on all sides. What he should have done was start flying, get a ranged weapon and keep the number of clones down. But he was so stubborn that he didn't even notice the four clones stealthily drawing a seal on the ground with their feet.
"That can't be the only reason."
"It's not. He's mad and sad and broken. He hates this world, hates everything about it. He thinks of us like dolls, I think. Puppets, dancing to an invisible tune only he can hear. It makes it easier for him to pretend he can't do anything about it. He's so full of hate and anger, but he has no way to release it safely. Once he sees that you can take it, then he stops caring about holding back."
She could see that too. Escanor's Ax, Superman powers, Stormbreaker, Cosmi-Rod, and Captain Britain's shield- that was a combo you used when you wanted to sink continents, not take down a villain, even an S-class one. From what Dinah had described of the weapons he could use, some were insta-kill, targeted, and nonlethal to the environment. But he had only chosen the ones that could cause the greatest amount of damage in the shortest amount of time. If it weren't for her dozens of durability seals that were coating Brockton Bay, this place would probably look like the end of a Behemoth visit by now.
"You can beat him, though. You can even kill him, but you'd die a little later. The most important thing is what to do after the fight. You have to trick him into joining you first."
"How do I do that?"
"He wants to go home. You have a way of getting there."
"The Rinnegan's ability to traverse dimensions! But Dinah, the kind of power needed to open a portal that far would kill me. I've tried it before, and I was nearly ripped apart by the energy demands. Earth's Bet Multiverse cluster is so far from our own that we're honestly better off just staying here."
"That's why I keep saying totrick him."
"Oh! You mean like an illusion or something! But, what if he founds out?"
"He won't, and even if he did, you actually do have a way home, you just have the durability yet. He'd give you some of his tools to make it possible if needed."
"Then what's the tricking needed for?"
"The End of the World. With you and him fighting together, our chances of winning go up from 25% to an entire 50%. And that's just if the two of you are fighting together."
"Holy sh-ittake mushrooms, he's that strong?!"
"Yes. Where you have more options, he has more pure destructive power."
She could definitely see that. Even now, her durability seals were starting to weaken. Heatwaves were coming up from the asphalt, and small singes were appearing on the buildings. It was a good thing that her clones were almost done with the seal. Brockton Bay couldn't take much more of this. Hopefully, in the time that she was gone, the Protectorate would realize that maybe they shouldn't mess with the clones of the girl that could impersonate an Endbringer.
"Okay, so we get him on board with us. Then what?"
"We need to make him attached to us. To see this world as his home, or when the time comes, he won't give it his all. So, when you convince him to work with you, bring him to me."
"Why, to guilt-trip him?"
"That's only part of it. He has a soft spot for kids, and I remind him of someone he was close to. He'll connect with me more easily. Then, I can introduce him to other people that he can connect more easily with. Of course, all of this hinges on whether or not you're able to beat him."
"Oh, don't worry about that, Dinah. You just get some rest."
With one final sweeping foot, the seal was finished, and the four clones clapped their hands in unison, looks of victory on their faces.
"Flying Thunder God!"
There was a clap of thunder, a flash of yellow chakra, and suddenly, he was gone.
"Yes!" she said with a grin. A few of her clones landed next to her, looking for new instructions.
"Okay, girls, I'm gonna go and deal with him. For now, you hold down the fort and make sure the Protectorate doesn't get any ideas, all right?"
"Got you boss!" they chorused.
"Good! I'll be back in thirty-ish minutes!"
This time, rather than a flash, there was a crack as their originator used Apparition to reach her destination."
One clone turned to the other.
"So, I know she said to hold down the fort, but there's not actually much to do, is there? I mean, the only capes we know that can be a problem are Eidolon, Legend, Alexandria, Narwhal, Dragon, Mydrrin, and Chevalier, and there's no way that the PRT is even gonna bother to send them here, not after we've practically claimed the city."
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," said a cold voice.
With a sigh, the aforementioned clone turned around, already resigned to her fate.
Not only was every aforementioned hero there, but there was also a small army of what had to be other Protectorate heroes, all of them glaring nastily at them.
"Okay, so…this one's kind of on me," the clone admitted. "In reparations for that though, I volunteer to be the one to take on Alexandria!"
"Hey, no fair!"
"Fucking cheater!"
"Bitch, you picked the easiest person to deal with, fuck you!"
And with a roar from both sides, the war for Brockton Bay started anew.
Keagan stumbled as he went from standing on firm, solid concrete to…sand? That was definitely sand. He turned, looking at his surrounding.
Endless plains of sand, as far as the eye could see, and a harsh, unforgiving sun that was burning down on him, slowly refilling his reserves.
Holy shit.
She had just BFR'd him.
But how? He had kept an eye on all of her clones, none of them had made any hand signs as far as he could tell. Then again, all of the clones had been capable of performing sealless jutsu, so they could have prepared the Hirashin Jutsu without him ever knowing. Just how strong was the crazy girl?
But before he could take a step, there was a small crack behind him. In a flash, he turned, readying his weapons-right into a straight punch that made his head snap to the side, a loud crack echoing throughout the empty desert. Holy crap, that hadn't hurt, but he could feel it, and that was the thing that scared him the most. He shouldn't be capable of feeling anything less than a missile, and if she was hitting that hard, that meant that she had been holding back in Brockton.
'That's fine,' he thought grimly.'I can let loose too. It's almost noon. With Rhitta in my hand, I can use The One and finish this.'
The girl appeared in front of him, her fist cocked back for a punch. He swung Rhitta down, ready to cut through her. She swung her arm up to block it, and internally, he shook his head. She was definitely gonna lose an arm from this, but using the Elder Wand of the Deathly Hallows could easily restore it. Rhitta met her forearm in a blaze of sunlight and flame-and shattered against her arm like so many pieces of glass.
His eyes widened even as the Ax disappeared from his hand, reappearing in his backpack's inventory. He wasn't exactly sure of Rhitta's durability scale, but Escanor had used the weapon to slash through mountains and fight Melodias on even terms!
He knew, instinctively, that the weapon would regenerate, but he wouldn't be able to use it for the rest of the day.
That left him with his Superman Jacket, his Captain Britain shield, and his Cosmi-Rod.
The Cosmi-Rod with the Power Stone imbedded in it alone should've been able to deal with her, but even with that and his other equipment, he'd been unable to do much more than keeping her at bay. Was she really that powerful?
His shock was so great that he was unable to dodge the earth-shattering jab that connected with his stomach, sending him soaring through the dry desert air. He felt his body stay in the air for at least ten seconds before he hit the ground skipping once-twice-thrice! before his body went into an uncontrolled roll that felt like it lasted for a mile before he slowed to a stop.
He scrambled to his feet, his hammer and shield up and ready, but the huge dust cloud that had risen when he hit the sand dune was obscuring his vision. And that was why he missed the hammer blow that forced him to bow, He struck out with a direct blast from the Cosmi-Rod, but she somehow danced around it, her leg rising to meet his face. He managed to bring his shield back up in time to block the kick, but the force of the blow still sent him sliding back several meters.
How was she this strong?! He had been dominating her in the city, but now, out here, when he should have destroyed her, she was turning the tables onto him! Should he summon another weapon? But what would work? The Deathly Hallows? The One Ring? The Hellbat Suit?
He opened his mouth to summon one of them, but he choked as a left hook slammed into his throat, making his eyes water.
That had hurt!
And yet, she kept the blows coming furious kicks and punches landing one after the other, none of them giving him time to breathe, and every time he opened his mouth to say something, she'd aim for his throat or his head.
How could she even tell, he was wearing a mask that covered his mouth, for crying out loud!
The Winter Soldier mask was no help at this point: it granted a superior fighting style, true, but only if the user's body could keep up and react to the opponent, and at this point, trying to hit her was like trying to catch the wind.
Every time he raised his Cosmi-Rod to strike down at her, or raised his shield to block a hit, she would effortlessly flow around the blow or block and give him three strikes in retaliation.
The thing that scared him, though, was the blows were starting to sting even though they weren't sending him flying back anymore, at most sliding him back a few inches.
That meant she must be using either chakra or magic to transmit the energy behind her blows beneath his skin and into his muscles directly.
With a growl, he slammed the butt of the Cosmi-Rod into the soft sand, sending out an AOE attack that sent her flying away in a blast of purple energy.
Enough of this! He had only intended to rough her up a bit and hand her over to the PRT, but now, he was planning to actually break a few bones before he handed her in. With the amount of power that she was exhibiting, it was obvious that she was a danger to the timeline, to him! If she was allowed to keep changing things, he wouldn't be able to prepare himself for the coming trials!
He ignored the voice in his head that sounded a lot like his precious little sister, asking him to please reconsider this, that there was a reason why the two of them had been sent here.
He ignored that voice easily, shaking off its arguments. She was a warlord, plain and simple. It was a classic example of Superman vs Lex Luthor.
If Superman went wild, Luthor would be the only one with the stomach to put him down. It didn't matter what Luthor's motivations were, it was his actions that spoke about his true intentions.
He also ignored his sister's voice when it cried out about all the people that Luthor had killed, maimed, and tricked n his quest to defy Superman. This wasn't a comic book, it was a hell world, and he had to make choices that would benefit everyone in the end.
Even if they benefitted him more than anyone else.
He caught up with her just as she was getting up, swinging the Cosmi-Rod with all of his strength. She tried to move out of its path, but it still clipped her side, sending her flying away again. With a yell, he threw his shield, the red disk little more than a red blur that caught her squarely in the back, eliciting a cry of pain from her as she was sent even farther away.
Finally! A bloodthirsty grin made its way onto his face as he ran forward, the Power Stone in the Cosmi-Rod fueling him with even more power and strength.
At this point, he wasn't even sure if it was about stopping her or beating her, the only thing he knew was that he wanted to finally make her go on the defensive since she had apparently been playing with him ever since they got here.
He leaped into the air, summoning his Captain Britain shield to him, the Cosmi-Rod held tightly in his hand as he aimed it downward. He felt a small amount of glee in his heart as he saw her laid out on the sand, defenseless and weak-
And gave a shout of alarm as she suddenly appeared in front of him, her palm driving itself into his stomach. It wasn't painful, but it still sent him flying backward into the air. He growled, managing to stop his airborne flight. He looked down at himself to see if he still had a hold over his weapons.
And what he saw made him freeze.
First of all, he had been stripped of his gear, including his mask, leaving his face bare for the girl to look at, and that meant his identity was shot. Secondly, he was see-through, like a ghost, his body lighter than air. And finally, he was watching the girl catch his body and gently lay it on the ground.
It took him a second to actually realize what had happened.
"Did-did you just push my astral body out of my corporeal one?" he asked in astonishment. That was Dr. Strange's magic, and she hadn't shown any
sign of it during the fight! Had he underestimated her that badly?
"I didn't really have a lot of options," she said in a conversational tone. "It was either this, Petrificus Totalus, or sealing you away. And you might not have noticed it, but I sent quite a few spells your way during your little temper tantrum. You didn't react to any, so I assumed the use of Escanor's ax and the reinforcement from the Power Stone to be bypassing Superman's weakness to magic."
"You're…right," he said grudgingly. "But why did you attempt to only subdue me? For all you knew, I was trying to kill you."
"Were you?" she asked, genuinely curious.
"No. But that's only due to assumptions. I've never heard of a weak SI before, and the fact that you had been able to take over Brockton unobstructed by the gangs and the Protectorate meant that you were at least Endbringer Level, especially since the news showed that Lung was at his highest point of escalation. And when you showed off your prowess with jutsu, I assumed that you could take it. Chakra is a particularly powerful tool, especially here. If I had been wrong, you would've been dead on my first swing."
"Not a bad analysis! And to answer your previous question, I didn't really want to kill someone from my Earth. As far as we know, we're the only ones here. That's a bond between us, and I'm not exactly in a rush to break it, even if you did hurt my feelings." she said cheerfully. "I hope you don't mind if I get to ask you a few more questions, but this is the only chance I've gotten to talk to you without you trying to take me in."
Something was wrong. In the back of his head, he knew that he was way too forthcoming with his answers, too eager to respond. But he couldn't access his Inventory in this state, so all he could do was answer her questions.
"So, I don't want to sound judgemental…but why didn't you help? And I don't even mean the clusterfuck that is Brockton Bay. The problems you outlined for me in our fight, it shows that you at least understand the worst parts of what's happening here in America. Why didn't you attempt to do anything to stop them? I understand that three months isn't a long time, but I would've expected to have heard some news of a vigilante with your kind of weapons."
"A lot of it was fear," he admitted. "I can't remember everything from the book. I can't remember the descriptions or Cape names of every dangerous
person that we shouldn't cross or countermeasures that we should be prepared for. I can't remember if Heartbreaker can only affect women, or exactly why the PRT didn't send the Triumvirate didn't destroy Ellisburg. I know that there's a reason that each of these threats was allowed to continue existing, and I can't remember if it's because Contessa finds them useful or if the fallout of destroying them is too much.
"Another factor was caution. For all we know, just our presence in this world has shifted things so invariably that we'll have no idea to proceed. If we had stuck to the original timeline, then we could have ended most of the World ending threats before they started, and had some measure of control over the changes. But now, we have no idea how far the butterflies have fallen. What if it's someone else who has Queen Administrator?
What if Taylor died in the locker? What if Coil has a different power here? What if the Endbringers aren't jobbing anymore?
Can the Simurgh see us? Can she twist us without ever using her Scream now? Did she need to use it before? Do the same people have the same powers? There's so much that if we get wrong, we could die from it.
Worm thrives on ingenuity and exotic abilities.
A simple jumping power could be someone who's actually traveling Dimensions with each step, and that could somehow be used to kill us. Skitter killed the Superman-Expy with bugs.Do you really believe she's the only one with that kind of ingenuity?
"A decent amount of it was also…selfishness. This world…it's taken everything from me. I had a home, a family, a perfect life. I had it all, and I wanted for nothing. I was never afraid or uncertain or cold or hungry.
And Brockton Bay introduced all of that to me and more when I woke up in an alleyway there. I saw horrible, horrible things there. I've never actually been in a fight, did you know that?
Today was my first. I've never met someone who couldn't be reasoned with. I've never met someone who would be willing to kill me for drugs. I've never met someone who could hate another person because of their skin color. I've heard of it all, of course, but that was just on the news. It's one thing to hear about poor kids in Africa. It's another to be there
"I hate this world. I hate this place. I hate the food, I hate the drinks, I hate how it smells, I hate how everything seems so depressed and gloomy, I hate the view outside my window, I hate the selfish people who let things get this bad, I hate the ones who can't fix it, and I hate myself for never doing more than the bare necessities, but every time I eat the food here, I remember my mom's cooking and the family dinners.
Every time I talk a walk in the city, I keep remembering how my two older brothers promised to take me on a trip around the world. Every time I see little kids huddled up in groups because there's a legitimate fearthat they could get kidnapped, I keep thinking of my little sister who's ten but doesn't even like to wait at the bus stop five minutes away from our house.
"And who's to say it was a ROB that put us here? This could be the result of one of Leets machine's fucking up, or a Contessa plot, or the Simurgh's bid for freedom, or even an old, malfunctioning piece of Haywire tech.
Our powers could be a result of us moving through dimensions because I don't think either one of us has a Shard in our brains unless we're really weird Cauldron capes. I don't want to be the hero. I don't want to be the one everyone pins their hopes on. I don't want the responsibility of fixing this world. I don't know how to fix this world.
We can punch villains all goddamn day, but how do westopmore villains from emerging? How do we fix the economy so people aren't starving anymore?
How do we get jobs back to the unemployed? How do we fix the parts of the world that have been destroyed by the Endbringers? How do we bring shipping and international trading back? How do we fix Africa?How do we make this world believe in heroes again?
"It's easier to believe that these people were just created this way because of Wildbow.
That the world is as fucked up as it is because that was how it was meant to be. That there's nothing I can do to change it because that's how this world is constructed.
Because if all we do is just keep punching out the bad guys, have we really changed anything?
What if, by some miracle, we manage to win it all, and Earth Bet is still a shithole? What then? Why should we waste our lives helping a planet that might be predisposed to hurting itself."
"Dude…how old were you in our world? Before we got dropped here, I mean?"
"...eighteen. I turned nineteen two months ago," he said quietly.
"Kid, I think that you've romanticized our Earth in a way. I think you miss everything too much to remember the bad parts, and from what you've told me, you've never actually seen the uglier parts of the world," she said slowly.
"Because if you remove the superpowers and villains and Endbringers…this world isexactly like our home.People lied and cheated in our world too, Keagan. They stole and murdered. They did drugs, and there was the whole mess with officers killing black people there too, like George Floyd.
Slavery still exists in our world, Keagan.
Kids are still going hungry there. Educations still isn't free all over the world. There are still places where women don't have any rights. Bribery and corruption are still prevalent in our home. The only difference between us and Bet is the Entities.
Dude, I'm sorry, the way Dinah described you, I thought you were an adult or something…you're so young.And I say that because I'm only two years older than you.
"I'm sorry this happened to you. I'm sorry you got ripped away from your family. I'm sorry that your life got destroyed. So I'm not gonna tell you to see this as a fresh start. I'm not gonna ask you to be comfortable with this. I'm gonna promise you something. Help me beat the Endbringers and Scion. Help me stop the big threats coming our way. Don't just wait and react to them, actively help me get rid of them, and I promise you, with everything that I have, I will get you home."
"Oh yeah, and how do you plan to do that?" he asked scornfully. "You think I haven't tried to find a solution myself? Every tool that I have is useless. My strongest reality-shifting devices do nothing but destroy, and my strongest magical items do absolutely nothing. If I had to guess, you basically have the same powers that I do, but yours is energy-based whilst mine are focused around my weapons and tech."
"You're right," she admitted. "We probably do have the same powers. But some powers that I have can't be transmitted to objects. Like ocular jutsu. Like the Rinnegan."
"What about it?"
"I tried to make a portal home using the Rinnegan's ability to travel dimensions, just to see if it was possible. The jutsu didn't fail because it was impossible to get home. It failed because the amount of energy the jutsu demanded nearly ripped me apart as it tried to take away every scrap of power that I had. That energy wentsomewhere. And Dinah confirmed it. I can open a path home for you. We can go back to our regular lives after all of this is over. But we have to win this. We have to save this world. We have to try.
His chest…it ached badly, and his eyes burned as his head spun. Even if he couldn't show it in the Astral plane, his body still shed tears in the physical one.Home was still a possibility. He could still go back. There was a path for him. He could still see his family again. He could hug his mom and dad again. He could tag along with his brothers when they talked about traveling the world. He could still cuddle his little sister and spoil her to pieces.
He just had to fight city-wrecking monsters and an eldritch god-like being to do it. It seemed impossible. It probably was. There was a very high chance that even with all his gear, he could die in a single golden wave of energy, or drowned beneath a crashing wave, or brainwashed to attack the other girl, or burnt alive by radiation. There were thousands of parahumans and dozens of Tinekrtech that could shred him to pieces.
But his old life was a possibility now. He could make it back. And the thought of making his sister cry because he disappeared…was more horrible to him than any of the giant abominations that he was gonna face.
"I'll do it," he whispered to himself.To his family.Then, in a louder voice. 'I'll do it. If you can get me home…then let's fuck up Golden Morning!"
The grin on her face kinda reminded him of Goku when he was prepping for a big fight, for some reason.
"That's the spirit! Now, I'm gonna return you to your body, alright? Please don't try and summon a magical laser and blast my face off."
She held her hand over his made and made a clenching motion with her fist. In an instant, he went from being incorporeal to feeling the blazing sun on his face as his Superman jacket continued to gain energy from it. He opened his eyes to see her standing over him, a hesitant look on her face. She offered a hand to him, and with her help, he rose to his feet.
…his Cosmi-Rod and shield were still in his hands. He could take her down quickly. She wouldn't expect it. But the voice that sounded so much like his little sisters begged him not to. And for the first time since he got here…he listened to it. He Unequipped his Cosmi-Rod, then his shield, and reluctantly, his Winter Soldier mask. He only kept the Superman Jacket on because it was hot as hell out here in the desert, and he was not about to subject himself to unnecessary discomfort unless he had to.
Slowly, he held out his hand.
"Keagan Michael Pentecost." he said, hesitantly making eye contact with her. But there was no judgment in those purple orbs. Then, to his utter surprise, she began to…change.
Her luminescent purple orbs slowly faded to a dark brown. Her beautiful wavy black hair became shorter, going from her back to shooting up to her shoulders, then turning into golden brown frizzy curls.
Her sculpted, athletic body lost all its curves and edges, the muscle slowly fading away until she was surprisingly skinny. She even began to shrink, going from an intimidating six feet to a positively tiny five feet four inches. She barely reached his chin. Her perfect teeth suddenly became a little less perfect and just a little more crooked.
She was cute, very cute, in a petite, sort of fragile way, rather than the hot Amazonian that she had been mere seconds ago. The transformation was honestly mind-boggling.
"Nina Jean Summers," she said with a wide grin.
