The parking lot of the PRT HQ
Colin stood glaring at the street. He'd rather not be here but Piggot had a point, free tinker tech if the offer was real was too valuable to pass up. It would look very poor if there were injuries or deaths it could prevent.
The Wards had started filing in. They were eager to see what Danger was bringing as well. They were jabbering about whether or not they'd forgive the rival who publicly embarrassed them.
Four large trucks similar to dump trucks turned into view. Danger was visible standing on the top of the lead truck's cab. They pulled in through the checkpoint and then sliding doors opened disgorging what seemed like half the city's villains.
The Undersiders all had new costumes armored panels over sleek body suits similar to both Weaver's old costume and the one Danger had made for Luminous. They were designed to be similar in style to their old fashion.
Trainwreck was in a new suit of armor that looked more advanced than his normal fair
Leet was dressed as some sort of utility worker and Uber was dressed like a scientist with a large backpack with a sprayer attached to it.
The so-called Doctor leaped off the truck and gently came to rest. "The Travelers are on their way. I reached out to them but they had their own preparations to make."
Two more excited the truck and looked at Armsmaster Danger jerked a thumb towards them "Expert and Benefactor will be helping the medics she has the power to give abilities to others of which regeneration is most useful given the mobile nature of the battle to come."
Armsmaster frowned "I take it Victor has stolen some medical skills?"
"Well, Expert has medical skills, yes. Uber has loaded the same and has tinker tech equipment of both my, Leet's, and Toybox's design.
Leet has turrets and drones he will set up to distract and harass the enemy. Bitch will not be directly facing Leviathan. Her dogs are not suited to that sort of thing. But with their great strength, speed, and keen senses they will be doing rescue and evacuation work."
"I had hoped for more but was expecting to receive less," Armsmaster admitted.
"Good now to the gifts. Kid Win and Gallant get the same thing. Here is a pair of my power cells formatted to snap into the auxiliary power input of their suits. They are fully charged. The interface will also give both suits a deflector shield."
Kid Win winced "And you know the layout of our suits how?"
"I told you he smarted off about the design at the museum." Gallant reminded him.
"I suspect he analyses any tech he touches. The way he was momentarily distracted when he touched my halberd gave it away." Armsmaster grumbled.
"I will neither confirm nor deny that. Anyhow moving right along. Browbeat and Aegis this body suit goes under your main suit it will pump medical gel and perform basic first aid techniques should you be injured.
Nova here is a suit for you made to gather the ambient energy around you and retain some of it. This should let you use your powers longer much like the suit I made for Purity."
"It's Luminous now." Armsmaster corrected.
"Ahh yes well I will graciously allow Luminous who I have not met to use Purity's old suit." Danger said with a polite yet forced smile.
He dug further into the truck. "For Shadow Stalker, I have explosive quarrels there are exactly twenty of these and I highly recommend the number used and turned back in when the battle is over be checked."
"To be certain there is no miscommunication, are you saying that you only allow the use of these gifts for Endbringer fights?" Dragon chimed in over Colin's suit speaker.
"No, but I reserve the right not to repair or replace any not damaged or used against A class and higher threats. As well I would find using them on me to be extremely tacky.
I mention these specifically because Shadow Stalker has a history of misuse of force and I was getting around to reveal their strength. Unless contained by her power phasing the shots into Endbringer flesh, I'd not use these as they have a quarter kiloton explosive yield." He explained
"Nuclear?" Colin asked in mild alarm.
"Antimatter most of my stockpile damn stuff is difficult to make too much so for casual use but this is an emergency. I have had to shelve several projects for later due to expected power constraints."
"You had five kilotons of explosives stored away?" Dragon carefully asked.
"No, I had several generators that now lack fuel due to converting the drained fuel into a serviceable but admittedly makeshift weapon that I am hopefully putting into hands that will be given responsible oversite.
I'm showing a high degree of trust in you to ensure this isn't misused. Please don't fail me."
"It's not us I worry about misusing such power," Armsmaster said with a glower.
"Good I don't worry about myself either so long as I have you worried about me and I worry about you there is at least someone worried about either side."
"Truly you have a dizzying intellect." Clockblocker quipped.
"Here smartass this faceplate should replace your own it has a superior HUD that also will show you a countdown for when your temporal desynching ends on objects." Danger said passing said object to him.
"You can do that?"
"Yes, not only that but there is the possibility it could be a training tool to help you learn to control the duration of your power not likely something you want to try right now. Due to the sheer circumstance, in the long run, it might be the best thing I'm giving out today."
Danger pulled out a final object. It looked to be a Thick belt styled to match her costume "And for the lovely Vista something far too dangerous to give to anyone else."
"Which is?" Armsmaster inquired his voice filled with caution.
"A Relativity Redirector. Not as powerful or high-tech as the Relativity Condensor but this will tell some arbitrary limits on your power to fuck off. In a very limited way that is. You see it gives your power a point of reference to redefine in relation to other points nearby allowing your space twisting to force a distance you chose between it and the other points."
"Ahh well that would be useful," Armsmaster admitted.
"It does what now?" Vista inquired.
"It will let you fly" Kid Win explained.
In the air headed to Brockton
Dragon scanned the assembled capes. The turnout was above average. Legend was giving his speech while the armband communicators were distributed to the crowd.
Danger rolled his armband end over end within his fingers while staring at it. He then smiled. A second later Dragon found the data channel was sending a wealth of information about everything within a thousand-meter radius sphere centered on the young cape.
She mentally shook her head at the show-off. She idly wondered if that was his max range for as like him to brag it was also like him to sandbag and obfuscate.
Her Dragon mech scanned him with her new sensors. As she had suspected it confirmed he had the same type of quantum signature Nova had.
The girl herself was glowering at the group that Alexandra was going to lead from her place in the group that would be following Legend.
She had uncharacteristically argued with Colin about her placement. She was unwilling to question authority further once she was told the orders came from the Triumvirate themselves.
She very obviously was not happy with being told that she was going to stay away from the monster.
Turning her attention back to the crowd she scanned over Piggott's' conscripts' and the abnormal number of villain volunteers. The level of equipment the villains had was disturbing.
Tinker's were limited by the need to maintain their gear. Her own lack of that put Dragon in an upper tier of the cape hierarchy. The fact that Danger could pull similar stunts and equip a small army was unsettling.
Coil's mercenary forces stood near the trucks which held deflector shield projectors, not enough to stop Leviathan. They were for redirecting the wall like waves of water he could send surging down streets. The mercenary force would defend retreats and protect triage areas.
Dragon hoped all of these factors would keep the body count lower than average. Maybe this time less than one in four would die.
Vista watched the initial surge of water hit. The surge flipped her over and spun her around in a way that felt like the worst sort of tilt-a-whirl. She quickly righted herself. The belt and harness didn't feel like flying. It was more like being in a climbing harness suspended by a bungee cord. Her power was the cord and could move her where she wanted. She had no plans to rely on the device save for this sort of emergency move. With no time to practice with it, she couldn't trust her usage to be adequately skilled.
She looked about and saw Weaver not far away. The Undersider had pulled herself to a standing position. A cloud of bugs was steaming out from her mapping the space around her.
JD- NO, Danger he was in costume. He was standing up nearby with a clear mask over the bottom of his face. The dark hair he sported in costume was flat and dripping. Whatever dye he used wasn't running. He had started gesturing. The Undersiders were waving back. Missy realized they must have a private com built into their suits. He pulled his weapon to him by its arm strap and then struggled to lift the bazooka-like oversized cannon back into place on his shoulder.
Eyeing a building she decided to risk using the harness to get perspective. She floated at a running pace to the top of the building. From her new vantage, she could see the Endbringer.
His semi-humanoid body was longer and leaner than human proportions. His long whippy tail was smashing anything in its range. With no mouth and inhuman asymmetrical eyes, it had no readable expression but that didn't stop Missy from assigning to it deep and hateful malice.
Leviathan was fast. Most of the ground-level heroes couldn't keep up. The artillery heroes were doing their best but only Legend, Purity, and Nova seemed to be doing damage. Glowing spots from the first two's lasers and thin but noticeable gashes from Nova's rays were the only visible damage.
Missy did her best to ignore the steady tick of fallen capes the armband was calling out. She reached out with her powers and expanded the space in front of the Monster doing what she could to slow its advance. She could see from its speed that her efforts wouldn't do much.
Dragons Mech dropped in front and unleashed everything she had on Leviathan. Missiles, lasers, and a plasma breath weapon all struck mere seconds before metal claws and teeth tried to find purchase on the Endbringer's skin. The Ranged team rallied and poured on the firepower. Missy saw Danger had made it down an alley and was discharging his giant weapon. Its searing light hit Leviathan who seemed to blur about the edges a bit but to no noticeable impairment.
Dragon broke from her assault flying straight up. For a second it looked like the Endbringer was going to leap after her but it changed focus as a whirling chain of barbs and blades wrapped around its knee. Hookwolf pulled himself into Leviathan similar to how he'd pulled himself out of the containment gummy.
He didn't get a chance to do more the next massive surge of water crashed into the city and it was all Vista could do to hold on and not get washed off the building.
Leviathan pushed past her building effortlessly walking on the water thanks to his hydro-kinesis. His over eight-ton weight knocked Hookwolf away, his tail cut another cape in half. He barreled through Vista's distorted space with barely a notice. The monster suddenly caught sight of Alexandria rushing toward it. Leviathan backpedaled and let the duplicate made of water it had following itself surge forward. As they two were crossing paths explosions tore up its back and tail. The water clone was disrupted and fell to the ground as a mist.
As Vista stood she could see. It had been Shadow Stalker. She tossed away a remote detonator and started running. Kid Win was floating nearby on his hoverboard. He had been her ride-in. Now he had his Alternator Cannon out and blasted away at the beast. Its back was pitted and scared from the anti-matter quarrels it had been barraged with. Chris was aiming for the deepest divots in its flesh.
Alexandra slammed into the monster before it could pivot to attack the Wards. Kid Win used the opportunity to send his board into a dive to pick up Sofia and escape to relative safety. Alexandria's attack knocked the Endbringer back and to the ground.
With wicked speed, the creature seized its opponent and pinned her under the again surging water. Alexandra lifted the Endbringer but like a cat, its body was more sinuous than it looked flowing around and spoiling her grip.
Vista focused on pushing her power into the street, twisting it into a rise. Her space warp struggled to lift Alexandra out of the water even as Leviathan called upon his water control to deepen it as quickly.
Hookwolf shot out of the water propelled like a pole vaulter by a spear and landed in the middle of the crater mark formed by Shadow Stalker and Kid Win.
The attack seemed to distract Leviathan despite doing little damage. Hand-sized hunks flew as the flesh of the being flaked off at the edge of the crater. Hookwolf's blades and saws couldn't seem to mar the deeper layers. He was scouring away the surface wherever he could. Alexandra squirmed free and rocketed up into the air.
While the arms and legs couldn't reach the Nazi the long tail moved like a whip. Frenzied blades of air from Stormtiger intersected the organ but to no avail, quick slash after quick slash tore through the scrap metal semi-canine until all that was left was gore-soaked twisted metal.
Narwhal launched a furious attack attempting to contain the beast. Sundancer rushed out seeing her opportunity. She sent her miniature sun through the gaps in the crystal-like forcefields she expanded it. The nearby arm bands warned everyone away to a safe distance. Steam exploded out as plasma and water fought to annihilate each other. Vista changed her space warp to funnel the steam up and away. Another wave of water surged as every cape that could fly started evacuating the defenders. The ensuing explosion of steam overextended Sundancer her power gave out and she dropped bonelessly only saved by Shielder's sudden snag.
Myrddin created a suction that pulled the superheated steam into a sphere he then launched it at the Endbringer and it exploded into a stream of power that drove him back down the street toward the bay.
Chevalier fired his sword's cannon blast into the beast as it tried to get up, knocking its legs out from under it. Eidolon streamed down from above waves of energy forming a drill-like force field around him and slammed Leviathan down into the ground. So great was the torque the monster started to rotate in place.
Missy dared hope for a minute that they were winning. It seemed like they had done more real damage to him than had ever been done in a single battle. That was when the water double returned. It launched itself out of the nearby bay and tackled Eidolon. The world's mightiest hero was launched down the street only to be caught by Alexandra who quickly flew away. Legend ordered an attack but many of the Artillery had been scattered helping get the ground-based defenders away from the steam. Nova among them.
The water Echo whirled to attack when a barrage of cars and other large debris started to disrupt it. Ballistic was standing in the street launching objects his super-strong teammate Genesis was rolling tossing and pushing toward him.
However, the double had achieved its goal. The clone had purchased Leviathan time. The Endbringer had found his footing again standing. The Endbeinger forced its power and a new even more powerful wave rose. Looking as if the bay itself had risen like a wall behind it.
Tears came to Missy's eyes as she pushed her power to its limit. She couldn't stop that thing but perhaps she could spoil its surge. She might push back the top so it lost some of the terrible force it would impact with. The pompadour-like bend didn't seem like much. That was when something shot by and Missy was knocked out cold.
Dragon was preparing an offensive to 'self-destruct charge when her sensors displayed something coming in at Mach speed.
With her sensors able to pick up things no human eye could see and the inhuman speed of her cognitive function Dragon knew what it was. She could see a diesel locomotive not quite hiding the blazing aura Of Nova.
Impacted by more than twenty times his own mass moving a greater than 343 meters a second Leviathan exploded backward through his own tidal wave. Propelled by twelve kilotons of directed kinetic force despite its best efforts to use its control of water to stop, the creature was knocked well past the oil rig.
"Dragon, you have to help get her out of there." A priority interrupt came.
"Colin?" She inquired
"Yes. Piggot is furious Nova isn't answering her com. She is going to drop the first wave of Bakuda bombs. I have a plan to get her out before that but I need your help and Guild clearance."
"Yes, Colin I'm on it. Just tell me what you need."
The passage of the train was largely empty. Defenders had already been seeking to get clear of Eidolon's attack or the massive wall of onrushing water. The furious Ward had chosen a path that wouldn't result in any direct deaths. A few had been along the edges of the area. They were knocked about by the insane forces at play.
Armsmaster pulled his bike up to one such very ill-looking teen.
"We need you." He announced.
Danger looked up and made some trembling arm gestures.
Colin's computer picked up that while some of his shaky movements couldn't be parsed it was ASL. Rather than attempt to sign back Colin raised his vambrace and showed the teen villain a text explanation on its display.
Danger gave an unsteady nod and climbed into the sidecar.
"Clockblocker I have Danger we're coming in hot be prepared to jump in." He ordered
To the teen's credit, the display just flashed a green acknowledgment.
Colin slowed to a jogger's pace but didn't stop as the white-suited ward leaped into the sidecar. He and Danger made a minor scuffle over the seating but soon were both clinging to the sides of the compartment as the bike hit the water and turned into a jet ski.
"Do you know what to do?" Dennis asked.
"He can't hear you. He read the plan, just stand ready to do your part" Armsmaster explained.
Denis moved as much to one side of the car as he could, bracing himself against Armsmaster's shoulder. Danger seeing him move reached into his belt and pulled out a cable and his variable pistol he plugged one end into the base of the pistol and the other into a small black square he handed to Clockblocker. He disassembled pieces of his rifle and quickly rebuilt his pistol to have a shoulder stock and scope. Crouching down in the sidecar he stabilized his shaky grip by resting the weapon on the edge of the car and started to aim.
"Close to one hundred and twenty meters. Turn forty-five degrees from head-on, keep movement to a minimum!" He said quite a bit too loudly.
Leviathan was standing on the water using his control of the substance to make it react to him as if solid. Nova was attempting to beat on the Endbringer with the ever-shrinking remains of the flattened engine. With each swipe, the monster was cutting away bits despite her aura's efforts to keep the object whole.
With a whip of its tail to her back and a two-handed clap, the monster both destroyed the improvised weapon and sent the teen flying. Colin let out a quiet curse as it turned toward them and lept.
A silver beam from the gun barely clipped the edge of the beast's torso. Leviathan stopped moving but his water echo did not. It hit the now frozen Endbringer and became a chaotic wave that sent the trio on the bike end over end Armsmaster's armor locked to the bike and kept him seated as the vehicle spun but the teens were tossed into the drink.
Colin worked the controls and righted his bike then yelled into the com "Clockblocker do you read me? Nova, where are you? Danger are you out there?"
"Hey, I'm here. I've got Danger." Clockblocker replied.
"Colin Nova is out of range sending her nav point to search and rescue. You need to head directly back to shore." Dragon replied on the line.
"Be ready, we're cutting it close, I'll grab you, boys, with the grapple function of my halberd."
"Shit I did not plan to go water skiing today." Dennis groused.
With a tight smile, Colin made no comment the boy had done well so far. He'd let one joke ride.
Speeding away, Colin didn't look backward as Dragons Mech descended and grappled the temporally out of synch Endbringer. Located in its mouth was the key to Colin's plan. A single bomb made by the mad tinker Bakuda. With Dragon's help a highly targeted efficient strike.
Dennis held Danger as the grapple rod formed a cage and then reeled them in toward the sidecar. He took the opportunity to look backward as the countdown on his visor was ending. Leviathan began to move again. As it ripped into Dragon's tele-controlled mech the bomb exploded sending out a wave of temporal energy.
Dennis could feel it on a fundamental level. Unlike his own power, it did not freeze time but slowed it to a crawl. Even with its great strength, it was unlikely Leviathan would escape that sphere of temporal disruption for a few thousand years.
Legend leaned against a wall and looked about the recovery area where Heros and Villians alike were being treated. It was shaping up to be a remarkable tale. While intense the fighting had also not penetrated deep into the city. They had the best group of healers that had ever been gathered as well. Brockton had only lost one in six defenders, a significant improvement. What was leaving most people stunned was the final result.
Armsmasters' quick thinking had not driven Leviathan away; it had imprisoned him possibly for generations. It was already being cautiously called the first true victory against the Endbringers. They were going to keep monitoring the temporal sphere but so far it was stable.
The idea that they might never have to fight Leviathan again was still sinking in. If it proved true Brockton might become a symbol of hope to rally the world. For that kind of propaganda piece, the politicians would spare no expense in helping get the city back on its feet.
He had an unpleasant task to do, however. Pushing himself off the wall he walked past the nurses and doctors in the tents. He stopped next to Nova who was resting on a cot cradling a hot cup of soup.
"Nova you are suspended for six weeks for disobeying our instructions." He said without preamble.
Amy Dalton glared daggers at him but he ignored her; she was not in his command chain and thus not his problem.
"Several people like your friend Vista were hurt by your actions. You did not announce your strategy ahead of time so we could mitigate its downsides. You also nearly got yourself killed and exhausted your powers. There is a good chance despite the excellent crew of healers here today that had your healing powers been added to them others who died might have lived."
The girl didn't even look at him, he squatted down so he would be at eye level.
"You were thinking of this battle of this city and of your friends. Velocity, Browbeat, and Aegis are dead. I get it. It made you want to lash out. This battle was brutal but short and with light fatalities. However, you may have cost us in the long run."
That got the girl's attention she spun her head and for a second he thought she was going to spit at him.
"We have more than a little proof that the Endbringers communicate. Your powers seem to grow. There is a good possibility that if you stayed in the reserve when we cut you loose. When you are an adult and ready to take on the responsibility. You might have been our surprise weapon. You might have been able to deal far more strategic damage to higher value targets and in the end, saved many many more lives."
"I don't agree sir. Calculus is something for math, not morality. I don't give up on people to save theoretical people later. One bleeds blood, the other ink. I know which is more precious to me. I guess you just told me which is more important to you." Nova replied in a tone cold enough to warp steel.
Shaking his head, Legend walked away. He heard the Dallon girl say "he's just thinking of the big picture. He's being a jerk but-"
"There is no big picture Amy, only a billion little ones. Sparks trying to hold back the darkness till someone brings the dawn."
Amy shook her head "Just rest you drained your powers and still have some symptoms of shock. I'll be back after I make my rounds."
Legend passed where the former Othala was checking on Danger. They were testing his hearing. Armsmaster was nearby, he gave Legend a nod.
"Not the first time I've been regenerated, Gifter. I will be fine."
"When was the first time?" Legend asked as he neared
"Quantum-empowered beings have jumps and plateaus of power. When I had my first major jump I found my increased cognitive power put to the test. I have a sensory power that I used to have to push to activate. It started to function all the time. I was bombarded by information continually.
No one understood I was too young and my emotive and linguistic skills were not up to explaining how bad it was. During a particularly bad surge, I clawed my face so hard it damaged both my eyeballs"
"Rather extreme" Legend forced his face to stillness even as Othala grimaced in horror.
"Useless in the end you see as I sat in the hospital recovering I found I could hear the capacitors charging in the nearby electrical equipment. I could feel the fluid pressure in the IV lines and taste the composition of the plastic in my cup when I put it to my lips.
It was then I knew power demands expression you find a way to channel power safely that is the key. Control not denial.
"But you're not here to talk about boring anecdotes from days gone. You're here to find out if I'll join the Guild or Protectorate. You're going to explain how much more I could be doing. How many lives could I be saving?"
"Yes, something like that"
"No, I won't join you, not for all the money and power you could offer."
"Will you reconsider if-"
"I WILL, however, do contract work"
Legend looked at Colin who nodded
"Explain," Armsmaster asked.
"Things, like I did today, custom equipment, gathered allies, exclusive services. If you ask I will give each thought, and careful consideration. I will aid you based on the merit of your cause. I would be willing to design suits as I make for - Luminous for other heroes to use in Endbringer fights. It might not be fast but it will be steady."
Legend nodded "That is at least a start I think we can work something out depending on what you ask for."
"Good, then we have an agreement. At least a preliminary one. Goodbye Armsmaster I still haven't forgiven you in toto for the foot thing. I do guess you've worked off a few toes, however."
"One last thing. You and Nova showing up in the same city isn't a coincidence. What is going on there." Legend inquired.
"Imagine someone you didn't like being at your mercy. As much as you disagree with them you can't just leave them to die. It doesn't mean you're going to go out of your way to help them, however. Particularly not if they are being a pain. I wouldn't let her die but I wouldn't let her carry my secrets either. Mind machine interfaces are not exact enough to precisely cut information. If I gave her a tattoo to make her look like a known phenomenon? Well, I didn't think there would be any questions."
"That is incredibly scummy" Armsmaster opined
"Yes well I'm not proud of it but trust me giving her a fresh start was better than what she had," Danger replied his face turning introspective.
Armsmaster and legend followed as the villains loaded up their kits and rolled out. Legend gave Colin a nod before flying away. Vista walked up and quietly pondered.
"I guess he'll abandon the electronics repair wagon guise"
"Hum?" Colin intoned.
"The two hicks who found Nova the young one is Danger."
"Vista we have security camera footage of them buying the clothes Nova was wearing when she showed up and were able to use traffic cameras to track their van to the PRT building."
Missy looked at Armsmaster confused "And?"
"That time intersects with the period you and the Wards were fighting Danger. Not only that I scanned those two with a test copy of Dragons Quantum Feild scanner on a follow-up call they both show green no field. That means no powers."
"But-" Missy turned to stare at the vans just dipping out of sight.
Once far enough away Legend called for the Doorman to open a gate and he passed through. Legend slowed down as he passed into Cauldron's Base. Rebecca was still in her Alexandra costume. She was sitting next to Doctor Mother drinking some fragrant herbal tea. David had stripped out of his Eidolon Persona and looked freshly showered. Contessa was leaning against the wall-looking board.
"Well, Keith did you find out anything?" David asked.
"He admitted to erasing the girl's memory and giving her the tattoo. He claimed it was to give her a fresh start but with what we know from Accord that is at best a secondary reason."
Number Man had entered the room as Legend spoke. And took a chair next to Rebecca. David leaned forward.
"His going to Acord for information brokering services was a windfall for us. He still has means of avoiding too much of our surveillance." David mused.
"Between what Acord gave us and the occasional information drop from Coil we can keep fairly good tabs on him even without Clairvoyant. It's clear he wants to find and out us but so long as he keeps improving our numbers the way he does." Number Man said with a shrug.
"Indeed the minor irritation is well worth the improvements. Can we not push Coil for more information? I find his attempts to replicate his world's nonentity-derived powers intriguing." Doctor Mother inquired.
Number Man shook his head. "Coil keeps the alliance going out of hope he can supplant us. We have to avoid the impression we know more about their work. The odds are very heavy he'll pull his backing if he knows he can not hope to surprise us.
Not that Danger needs the money he seems always to acquire the resources he needs. The odds are still on him having a path back to his old dimension or another unknown parallel to draw from. He does however need the personnel and contacts." Rebecca mused
Keith pondered this "Is there a way we could independently replicate that? We are working with Entity based powers and technology but simply because we know there are worlds the entities have not or can not reach should give us some edge in finding them. That would be a great final fallback."
Contessa responded "We keep looking into it but indirectly. The Path still shows our best route is to maintain minimal interaction. My safeguards against Master and Stranger effect still show there are defenses around him we don't currently know how to bypass."
Doctor Mother nodded in agreement. "Coil still doesn't know how he passes info from dead timelines or how he can ensure Coil dies in the event of betrayal. We still don't know how he can block Clairvoyant's vision. Nor, why if he can, he doesn't do it consistently."
"Then we follow the current course. We know the girl is some sort of trap. However, using her against the Endbringers doesn't seem to be a trigger. We will test her powers to see just how strong they are and sic her on the next one to show. Somehow I don't think Behemoth will fall for such simple tactics as she used on Leviathan." Rebecca decided.
"Simple but effective Rebecca let us not forget that creativity is why they prey on us. something I plan to remember. In looking for stronger powers we might be overlooking just that sort of innovative use tactic." David countered.
"Sounds like we got this worked out then I need to get home. Keep me advised of any changes." Legend replied
They murmured goodbyes as he doored back home. eager to be back with his husband.
Dangers Lab
Danger was examining the damage and wear on the Suits he'd given the Villains each was discussing what they'd learned from use. The Travelers were listening and pondering what modifications they'd like to see once Danger was able to modify Accords designs.
"I hate to say it but the coms and HUD do me almost no good when my power is active. I'm used to being out of contact with everyone. When I drop my power the sudden flash of it trying to catch me up is just distracting. I think the stuff you gave me to help as a leader is being wasted. Weaver is becoming more our strategist you need to strip most of that out of my suit and put it in hers." Grue explained.
"Right see that's the sort of feedback we need. We can correct that when I produce version zero point two"
"If we're going up against Endbringers again I could use a better weapon I felt worthless out there," Regent added.
"No idea why, it worked well in the field but I got blurry vision after I stripped out of it" Tattletale spoke up.
"The Dogs change size but if you put adjustable straps some sort of pack saddle would make dragging people to the Medics work better" Bitch tossed in.
Danger added that to a holographic board. "Good Good ok. Keep 'em coming. No, wait." he waved to the door for a lackey to come in.
"Sir we smuggled this out before the clean-up crews could get them all Coil said you would want it."
He set a large metal case on the table and popped the lid inside was a diner plate-sized hunk of Leviathan flensed off by Hookwolf's attacks. Danger stared into the case for a few seconds then reached forward. Seeming to think better he pulled his hand back.
To everyone's surprise, he pulled his glove off and then removed the surgical glove he wore under it. Setting them aside He then reached out and lifted the hunk of Endbringer flesh. He balanced it on the tips of his five fingers like a server with a tray and tilted it this way and that while also craning his head about to gaze at it from different angles.
"Oh me. Yes oh me oh my."
"What is it, good news?" Weaver asked
Yes- yes yes,"
A smile slowly formed on his face
"It could be the best news in the world," he said excitedly his smile stretching as he broke out in laughter.
The assembled villains looked at each other nervously at the manic edge building up.
"IN ALL THE WORLD!" He cried with peels of uproarious joy.