Taylor jogged and sloshed through the streets towards the location her armband was displaying. She moved to go around an upturned truck and the arrow on her armband shifted as well; the injured cape was just ahead.

She kept moving but took a moment to glance at her right and see how the battle was progressing. Leviathan had not yet managed to break all the ranks of capes fighting him, though many had died already in the initial flurry. She figured this was as much a success as they could hope for in an Endbringer battle.

The water that always accompanied his arrival had already wreaked plenty of havoc; other than the dead and injured, everything that wasn't made of concrete had been shattered by the water, leaving this part of the city submerged. More than even the tides, the constant blasts of water-echoes from Leviathan were adding to the water already on the battlefield, making him faster.

Leviathan had been cunning as always with his surprise attack; hitting the building they were all gathered at, before anything else. He was still too close for comfort, a single leap on his part could bring him on top of her.

Pushing her thoughts aside, she forged ahead. Freaking out was of no use, the frontline – well, more of a huddled mass of capes in face of Leviathan's speed and strength – would hold or it wouldn't, it was one thing at a time for her. She reached the injured cape who was curled on his side, bleeding heavily from a puncture wound in his torso. The idiot had removed the piece of metal that had pierced his belly, and as a result, had lost a dangerous amount of blood judging by the pallor of his skin.

If he didn't get help soon, he would die from blood loss. Once again, she pressed both buttons on her armband and spoke into it, "Requesting evac at my location, mover needed for wounded cape. I'll uh… try to stem the bleeding but he needs medical attention."

She cut off the connection, rolled the cape over as gently as possible, and then pulled out her first aid kit. Taking disinfectant and a roll of bandages, she began the first aid by cleaning the wound and applying the ointment and the bandage.

Within thirty seconds, a cape appeared near her with a crackle of electricity. He glanced around, looking a little frantic, and noticed her. Having done what little she could for the wounded cape, she let the teleporter take him and asked for her next assignment in the radio.

As she waited, she noticed a speedster moving like wind with an injured cape in his arms hurrying through the streets towards the medical camp. She looked behind her trying to see the battle but the angle was against her this time, the bend in the road blocked her view but she could hear the commotion. While the constant downpour was like an incessant buzz, some sounds still passed through and even drowned it out, like Leviathan demolishing buildings and large tides of water or lashes of his water-echo smashing against… well, anything really.

Most of her bugs had been washed away in the initial attack but she had built up a decent reserve of the sturdy ones to keep track of the battle among other things.

She got the directions to the next injured – closer to the battle this time – so she started jogging which soon turned into a slow walk that had her wading through knee-deep water at times.

As she reached the cape needing rescue, she was somewhat relieved to see no puncture wound this time. But he was dangerously trapped in a tangle of rubble, bruised and barely conscious. Rebar and jagged pieces of concrete had him firmly stuck and there was no way out short of moving the rubble. She recognized the uniform, this was a rogue cape from out of town who was fragile enough that he would not survive concrete and steel falling down on him. It was almost a miracle he had not got crushed and turned into mincemeat yet.

Taylor could not help him, she lacked the strength to remove the rubble or the ability to get the cape out some other way. So, she made to punch the two buttons on her armband and call for a better form of assistance for the unfortunate rogue. That was when the speedster cape she noticed earlier came to a stop near her, causing a gust of wind that ruffled her long hair. He was tall, easily above six and a half feet and wearing knee length robes with a loose trouser and he had an injured cape in his arms in a bridal carry.

She looked up, he had a bandana for a mask wrapped around his face, leaving his disconcerting eyes uncovered; black orbs with white circles. Quite a get up, it certainly had an intimidating effect, much like her own style choice for her suit.

"Apologies, you looked like you needed some help." The tall cape said politely. In stark contrast with his hulking form.

"I can move these stones so we can get him out." He offered, pointing at the chunks of concrete trapping the unconscious rogue.

If he had the strength to move this much concrete and the speed he had displayed, what was he doing here? He could be fighting Leviathan head on. Taylor wondered briefly. Then dismissed the thought, who was she to judge someone.

Speaking of, the battle seemed to have moved away from where it was. She focused and it was now farther from the main city than it had been a minute ago. Huh, a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.

She realized it had been a few seconds since the mover had asked her the question and he had put down the injured cape he was carrying on a dry column of stone.

"Can you? Safely?" She asked, then added, "I'm Skitter by the way."

"Of course, I can," he replied with confidence. He then grabbed a cart-sized piece of debris with both hands, casually lifted it, and carried some distance away before setting it down. He repeated the process a few times and in fifteen seconds or so, there was enough space that she could lean in and grab both arms of the injured cape and try to heave him out.

Her helper came to take one arm from her and together they pulled the injured cape out from the wreckage. Interestingly, no radio on his arm, maybe he had it in his pocket. "I am Lindon," he said conversationally.

Taylor gave a brief nod and pressed both buttons on her own armband again. "Send a mover at my coordinates for evacuation, bruising on the neck and hands, medical attention needed." She said.

She received the reply a moment later, "Acknowledged, ETA one minute."

Glancing up, she saw 'Lindon' picking up the cape he had laid down earlier. Cape name or the real name? She couldn't decide.

He gave her a thumbs up and glided away, running over the debris and the cars in a smooth motion and avoiding the water.

Taylor spoke in the radio for the next task and tried to peer towards east, hoping to catch a glimpse of the battle through the rain. Some of her bugs had also made it to the capes facing and flanking the Endbringer and she could get a general feel of the battle from them. Leviathan appeared to not have made much progress, he was being pressed by a group of flying capes and supported by others.

Then she got the directions for her next rescue, this time towards the docks and started jogging there. Who knows, maybe today they would beat back the Endbringer before Scion shows up.

Luis slowly came to his senses. The first thing he felt was pain all over his body like a building had dropped on him. The second thing he realized was that someone had firmly grasped him in their arms. The third thing he noticed was that they were both moving extremely fast.

Then it dawned on him, there was Endbringer fight, and he fully jerked alert. Although that only served to remind him of his broken bones. His part in the battle had been more of an embarrassment if he was being honest.

The confident new hero, the pride of Portland, the Changer Brute Carapacitator, and he had only managed a solitary hit at Leviathan – which did nothing by the way – before the Endbringer had smashed him with his tail. What a pathetic showing, not only did he break his legs but he had also lost consciousness when Leviathan had launched into the nearby building with his tail's strike. Some brute he was.

"You are awake. We will reach the medics shortly." The man carrying him said in a reassuring manner. He was broad chested and powerfully built, he must have been strong to move at this speed while carrying another grown man. He was also glowing faintly, must be the effect from his mover power.

Luis mind wandered back to the start of the day, he was in the middle of a patrol when he had heard the Endbringer sirens. He had wasted no time in reaching his protectorate office and then coming here with a teleporter. He didn't even have the time to go to the toilet after the sirens, he had just forgotten about it. He realized he desperately wanted to pee now.

He also remembered being a little bit awestruck standing in the corner of the room listening to Legend's speech. His ma had brought him a Legend action figure when he was four, that was seventeen years ago, and he had never met Legend after becoming a hero. It was only right he felt a little fan-boyish, at least something had gone right today.

But then Leviathan had unleashed his first attack on exactly that building. Even though they had a warning in advance and they had managed to gather a good number of defenders thanks to Armsmaster and Dragon's predictive algorithm, Leviathan had been able to surprise them. And what was it that Legend told them? One in four capes dead on a good day. That was not good; unacceptable is what it was. He shuddered to think how many casualties there would be on a bad day against an Endbringer like Leviathan.

He hoped to God that the casualties would be fewer this time around, far fewer. That by some miracle Scion would show up early and save their asses.

He was dizzy, and did not know whether to be grateful or ashamed. The relief at not dying at the hands of the Endbringer was at odds with the guilt at abandoning the battlefield, even if he was injured, that too, was his fault for underestimating Leviathan, for thinking he had the strength to fight close quarters against that monstrosity.

His emotions were all over the place.

But he would not abandon his fellow heroes for long, this was an Endbringer fight, in Brockton Bay no less, so the world's foremost healer would be here.

"Yo, thanks for rescuing me, "he got out with gritted teeth, the movement making the pain worse, he had a split lip and cuts on his tongue too, the insides of his cracked mask doing a number on him, probably a concussion too, "take me straight to Panacea when we reach the hospital." He finished, proud of himself for not stuttering. "Please." He added just for extra effect.

"Panacea?" The cape carrying him asked slowly, he wasn't winded at all. He then said after a moment, "Will… you be healed then?"

What kind of a question was that. "Of course, she heals everyone… And these're just fractures, my legs, she will fix them… and I will be back to fight." He was panting by the end, even to himself Luis sounded desperate. 'I hope' he added mentally.

"Excellent, Panacea it is then." The cape said with a sparkle in his eyes. They had reached the medical camp meanwhile.

The Mover set him down on an empty bed and asked a nurse to call for Panacea. The nurse only nodded back, too busy to answer and hurried on her way, not even breaking stride.

"See you soon then." The big cape gave him a pat on the shoulder and sped away.

Luis waited for Panacea to come and heal his Brute five body.

Samantha had taken part in the Brockton Bay City Endbringer drills some years ago. She had done it with all of her professional acumen and the seriousness it demanded, unlike many others who had slacked off once they knew it was a drill.

Still, there was no comparison between the drills and the real thing. The Endbringer attack had caused a continuous stream of dead, dying and injured capes coming to the hospital in only the last ten or so minutes. If that weren't enough, a couple of unfortunate, or should she say stupid and careless, civilians who had not evacuated in time had got hurt, presumably trying to evacuate a little too late, and were on the treatment tables.

This was hectic, the past hour or so had been the most frantic of her life. While Panacea was taking care of the severely wounded and injured as much as she could, they all – the doctors and nurses – had to pick up the rest of the burden and not let her support go to waste.

That included convincing some of the rather stubborn among the recently healed capes that their injures had only superficially mended and they had not completely healed, even if it was Panacea who had treated them. That they would most probably end up being a problem for those who were fit and fighting on the frontlines. That all the effort of the medical staff and Panacea would go to waste.

She just had that talk for the second time today with a big cape named Carapacitator. Before she went to her next patient, Panacea had told Samantha to not let the Portland hero stand on his feet under any circumstances for at least another hour. The cape in question was still drumming his fingers impatiently on the side of the bed he was sitting on.

Another arrival in the courtyard got her attention, the same speedster who had brought in Carapacitator and asked her to bring Panacea had now come in with two more injured capes, one on each of his arms.

That made it five rescues in the last five minutes for him by her count.

She moved toward the newly arrived patients to check up on them.

'Leviathan isn't a run-of-the-mill predictable monster.' That was the conclusion Dross reached with Suu and Ruby. More accurately, the Endbringer changed patterns regularly and was always on the move. This posed quite a challenge for Dross to come up with a suitable battle plan with no collateral damage should Lindon need to join the fight. Nevertheless, Dross relished challenges, the small fry monster would die today.

He had his attention divided; he was analyzing Leviathan thanks to feedback from Ruby and Suu, in addition, he was also building a simulation for Lindon, as well as helping him locate and rescue other capes although that seemed to be over. So far, they taken five defenders to the medics and handed another two to the teleporters they had encountered along the way.

Dross also remained alert, he had his and Lindon's senses straining for any chatter that could be heard about the Endbringer, the world and everything else, so that he could assimilate more information. In the midst of it all, he couldn't help but spend some of his attention to ponder on the bug themed girl and her peculiar abilities, or at least, what he believed her powers to be.

Despite juggling multiple tasks simultaneously, he was perfectly at ease. He was the Presence of an Ascended sacred artist, on top of being an Ascended mind spirit himself, he had become much stronger and much more versatile than he ever was even at the height of his powers back on Cradle.

"Where next?" Lindon came to a stop when they came close to the beach.

[I told you to pick up one of those radios. That would have been handy.] Dross replied, not wanting to spare more attention for finding injured capes. He preferred to have more of his attention on Leviathan who was still running around like Yerin and Mercy had not been attacking him.

"What need of a radio when I have you Dross?" Lindon said innocently.

[Hey, I'm not Eithan. This flattery doesn't work on me.] It always did.

Dross decided to humor Lindon. [I can't sense any injured cape close by, same as you by the way.] The humans in this word did not have a core or a spirit but they still registered somewhat dimly and strangely on their spiritual senses. Especially those with powers.

"Let's move to a different area then." Lindon said and began running, Soul Cloak activated.

Dross focused on the battle once again – courtesy of Ruby – and very much enjoyed Leviathan getting some taste of Yerin's blade. But something else had been on his mind for several minutes so he asked Lindon, [Did you notice the bugs around that girl?] He referred to the tall cape who had been trying to rescue another was stuck in the rubble like a mouse caught in a trap and needed Lindon's help.

"Yes."

[Unusual, and the quantities they clustered in.]

"Hmm, what are you thinking?"

[She controls insects and their movements, possibly much more.]

Lindon though about it for a moment, then said, "Not to disagree but that is still just a guess isn't it? On the other hand, we know for sure this Panacea can heal anything, which is a seriously powerful ability, and more useful too."

[It is an educated guess; the distinction is important.] Dross ignored the bit about Panacea, her powers sounded boring.

"Look, all I am saying is that you are still using the word 'guess' aren't you?"

[You realize if those insects do her bidding then it's like she has living techniques, very weak, but a lot of them.]

"I'd love to see a mosquito fend off blackflame, or a deflect a sword strike, or resist a clap, or wind, or…"

Dross cut in [I did say weak, and I know you are not serious but at some point, sheer numbers should make up the difference.]

"Okay, jokes aside," Lindon changed tack, "the insects' behavior shifted when we got her attention, they got more agitated. What could that be about I wonder?"

[ She looked fine,] Dross responded [unfazed in every sense, but 'her' bugs were the opposite… What an interesting power by the way, this place is amazing.]

Lindon continued, "It would be thematic too you know; her costume was a bit on the nose. One thing is obvious, these people take their costumes seriously."

A sly grin spread across Dross' lips, [Lindon, you've got a costume on your mind too? Something garish maybe? In red, black and blue… and purple?]

"What? No. Although… actually no. No need." Lindon said, he had become so decisive, it was becoming hard to tease him.

[Actually, seeing as we are a Cape team now, you might consider getting one. I can show you how you would look, I have some ideas hehehe…] Dross popped out in front of Lindon, smirking at him.

Lindon raised an eyebrow. "When did the team thing happen?" He said.

[Hah, I didn't tell you. Ruby and then Mercy announced us as "The Reapers."] He played the brief memory for Lindon. [I can't tell if she meant it as a joke or not, they…] Dross paused, hearing something faint through the sounds of rain and fighting. [Stop! Go back.] He told Lindon and strained to hear once again what he had just caught a hint of.

Lindon turned extra alert and threw his spiritual perception wide, "what is it?" He asked, tracing his steps back.

[Something about Leviathan. There,] He showed Lindon an unusually high building compared to its neighbors, on the other side of the street.

"I have it," Lindon said. Dross was borrowing Lindon's senses anyway who easily honed in on where they needed to go.

Dross was very interested in getting more of the information he had just glimpsed. Someone knew the intricate details about Endbringer physiology. He needed that, he would drink it all up and use it to see this creature dead – or at least thoroughly beaten if they couldn't kill him for some nonsense political reason, like back on Cradle – either way, he would win.

The battle plan would be complete very soon.

Tattletale did not like to haul ass. And she had been having to do a lot of that for the past few minutes.

After the first tsunami attack on the Cape meeting room where they had all gathered before the fight, she, Grue and Regent had been teleported to a good vantage point high up on a rooftop. She had got her feelings out and had a bit of a heart to heart with the other two, kind of cringe thinking about it now since all she felt was annoyance at this point.

When Legend had told all the defenders to get ready for Leviathan's charge, they had braced themselves. But before that could happen, another tide of water had come directly at their position. They had been forced to retreat in panic and Tattletale hadn't been able to see the start of the battle. In fact, she hadn't seen Leviathan in action at all yet which had further soured her already bad mood.

Not only that, they had to hurriedly find another building through knee-deep water at times and then climb up again to get a good view of the battle. All the while rain had been unceasing and the radio kept spitting out the names of the downed and deceased.

Tattletale never liked to feel useless and so far, that's all she had been. She would change that soon.

Skitter was also somewhere down below, Tattletale last saw during her trudge through the streets; a silhouette with bugs buzzing around her, heading towards one of the downed capes. Search and rescue, good for her. Tattletale hoped Skitter was safe, she hoped they would all be alive in a few hours, although statistically at least one of them was supposed to die today, wasn't that what Legend said? All their disagreements with Skitter could wait until after the Endbringer battle, fuck it, they'll save Dinah too, they'll try anyway. The little girl didn't deserve to be a villain's captive for her powers anyway, they'll find some solution.

All these jumbled thoughts and more swirled in her head as she moved up the stairs of the newly-built six-story building. She was also focusing to keep the walls on her power stay up. No way she would allow an early onset of the thinker migraine to disrupt her, even if it might eventually indispose her. This was her first chance to watch Leviathan in a fight, she would be at her best for it.

As a silver lining at least, this rooftop had a much better vantage point. As she reached the top, she had almost the whole waterfront in her field of vision and a clear sight of the fliers as well as the ranks of ground capes. As clear as it could be anyway with sheets of rain pouring down.

The first view she was greeted with was of a ferocious battle, it took her breath away.

Leviathan was moving fast, a blur when he was moving and at time he simply vanished. Videos simply did not do any justice to how fast he was in real life.

As she watched, he stopped momentarily, whipped his tail around like a cudgel with impossible speed and hit a couple of fighters who were attacking him from more than thirty feet away, the distance didn't save them. Her radio monotoned the names of two more deceased.

But a deeper examination with the help of rudimentary binoculars revealed plenty of wounds on Leviathan's body, some of them quite deep.

She let her power run free, anticipating the migraine soon and mentally preparing for it.

Steady blood flow from small wounds, asynchronous movement; has blood but no comprehensive cardiac system.
No cardiac system, no mouth, no nose, no apparent ears: nonstandard nervous system.

She focused on something else.

Blood flow from bigger wounds not consistent with the size of wounds and smaller wounds.
Bigger wounds heal quicker.

She shut her power and looked at Regent, "You can't do anything can you?"

"Fuck, no. If I try too hard it's going to backfire like crazy." He said, backing away from the edge of the rooftop.

She told him. "He doesn't even have a nervous system for you to scramble."

"Fucking useless." He grumbled.

"Don't be too sad, use the first aid training Grue made us all get, just keep an eye out in case you can help out with your power." She said and then shifted her attention back to the battle. She heard him complain some more about stairs as he went on his way but tuned him out.

A cape she hadn't seen before was giving Leviathan the hardest time, teleporting near instantly with bright flashes and using her sword and some sort of hidden blade like projections to carve chunks out of Leviathan. Probably one of the reasons why Leviathan hadn't made much progress since the start of the battle. The cape was always engaging with Leviathan and he hadn't managed to shake her off so far.

Non-standard power set, possible triumvirate level power output, unafraid of confronting Leviathan; has fought in Endbringer battles before.
Will keep Leviathan busy on her own until Scion shows up, isn't made of glass.

Fascinating, she dampened her power and watched the battle with more focus as it was so enthralling. Alexandria and Dragon simultaneously attacked Leviathan from two directions. Leviathan had used his echo to thwart Alexandria's head on charges before that's' why she came from behind this time, Tattletale' power supplied.

Alexandria's punch rocked Leviathan who stumbled and his swipe aimed at Dragon missed. Alexandria punched the other leg making Leviathan stagger some more, but the next instant he hit her with his tail, she was flung away almost as fast as she had come flying in.

Meanwhile, Dragon's suit launched a tremendous number of missiles at Leviathan. Claws the size of a man emanated from the suit and gripped Leviathan, blue-white flame shot out of the suit and started burning Leviathan before he started ripping the suit apart.

Dragon ejected to almost eighty feet away with a smaller suit of armor that had very thin arms and legs. Everything left behind glowed red, orange, white, then exploded violently around Leviathan, as though every crevice of the old suit had been packed with high explosives. Leviathan reeled, lashed his limbs wildly, then made to lunge back towards the gathered capes.

He was intercepted by four flying capes this time, one of them the familiar sword-wielding, teleporting cape who had been incessant in keeping Leviathan company. Two of the other three harried him with superstrength and in case of the last hero, an oversized battle axe.

Dragon enters battle with suit packed with explosives, risky, current suit has insufficient room for arms and legs: Suit unmanned.

Remotely controlled? Dragon was not here in person then? Tattletale raised an eyebrow. She caught Grue looking at her with a tilted head.

What? She meant to ask him but before she could, an arrow came out of nowhere and punched into Leviathan, almost flipping him upside down, he caught himself on his tail to avoid going to the ground in a heap.

The Endbringer retaliated by lashing with his tail and hitting the cape with the big battle axe. The water-echo behind the tail was just as fast and scattered more defenders. But he was still not fully mobile so Chevalier found an opening and struck deep with his sword. It swelled up to gigantic proportions and made a big wound in Leviathan's side. This time instead of reacting, the Endbringer got up and sprinted the other way.

The female sword cape with the teleportation ability kept up with Leviathan, teleporting constantly to harry him and opening up his neck from behind with dozens of strikes in a second. Tattletale couldn't even see the attack, only its aftermath.

She hunkered down to watch the fight, mentally opening the doors to her power to let more information flow.

Leviathan, nonstandard cardiac, nervous systems: irregular biology. No standard organs or weak points. No brain, heart or center of operations for rest of his body.

What a weird specimen, were Endbringers completely alien?

Leviathan whirled around a few times trying to catch the sword cape who kept attacking from close range and taking pieces out of Leviathan amidst a barrage of bullets, flames, lasers and other projectiles thrown at Leviathan.

Irregular biology, no vulnerable organs: body divided into layers, extending down to hyper-durable core body, each layer down is slightly more than twice as durable as previous. Exterior skin is hard as aluminum alloy, but flexible, lets him move. 3% deeper in toward core of arms, legs, claws, tail, or .5% in toward core of head, trunk, neck, tissues are hard as steel. 6% in toward core of extremities or 1% toward core of main body/head, tissues strong as tungsten. 9% toward core of extremities, 1.5% toward core of main body, head, tissues strong as boron. 12%—

Layers? Boron? Steel? Tungsten? She didn't need a chemistry lesson. Anyway, she had to stop and start again. Her power did that, if she didn't focus, it would keep giving her a steady flow of information but not information she could use.

Whirling around at rapid speeds meant Leviathan's tail and water echoes had dispatched another flying hero as well as Narwhal who was down, though thankfully not deceased. Out of the corner of her eye, Tattletale noticed Ballistic from the Travellers providing support fire, sending trash, dumpsters, rubble and pieces of the street careening into Leviathan.

The full body, three sixty-degree movement created enough water from Leviathan's water echoes and with enough force that no ground heroes had managed to remain close.

Tattletale tried again with her power.

Durable layers to body, no conventional organs, irregular biology: Tissues mend from the inside out, layers expanding to fill wounds and integrating into surrounding structures. Not human.

Knew that much.

Not human: Never was human.

That gave her pause. But she could imagine Grue shouting at her, "Something we can use!" and that was nudge enough to get her to focus her efforts. "Weak points."

Before she could focus on that though, a ridiculous attack of seven massive blades – visible this time, however briefly – hit Leviathan from all sides. Tattletale had to shut her eyes and brace for a shockwave, she could feel the power in the attack, it had been overwhelming.

Her power kicked in automatically.

Triumvirate level or above, Eidolon among the three can match/exceed this power output. One of the strongest capes in the world, mixed bag powers, swords, blade projections, teleportation ability; completely unknown, but experience against Endbringer suggests not a recent trigger; cape from one of the parallel earths, not alone, teammates just as strong…

Whoa! She broke off, parallel earths? That was… actually not ridiculous, it made sense. If there was Earth Aleph and an Earth Bet then there would be more. What's more ridiculous was capes coming from there to fight Endbringers here.

"What did you say?" She realized Grue had asked her that in a rather disbelieving tone a moment ago.

What? She didn't know she had said something out loud. Fuck. "Uh… I'll tell you later." There were more important things going on right now. Grue grunted, shaking his head.

She could see Leviathan now, he much thinner with layers of his flesh stripped away in the last attack. He was prone on the ground and Legend was attacking him along with several other capes who for once had a good shot at Leviathan.

She focused on the weak point again, she had to find something useful.

No vulnerable organs, hyperdurable tissues: simple organs exist at core of torso, where there is highest amount of surrounding tissues. Optimal thickness of layer and narrowness of body part at upper arms, just before shoulder joint, and upper thighs, just below hip joint.

A core? This was something she – everyone – could use. She pressed the button for the communicator on her armband but before she could say anything, she noticed a huge cape appear above the ledge, he drifted down to stand on the rooftop and walked towards them.

Grue turned around to face him, her own hand drifted to rest on the holster.

"Apologies." The newcomer said politely, "I couldn't help but overhear something you said. May we talk?"

Same bandana mask as the sword cape; he is her teammate from a parallel earth; joined the fight late, does not have a radio because he doesn't need it…

What the hell? He had heard her. How? And so quickly after she got to know their secret. Also, no need for radio; how does that work?

The cape, who was in martial robes curiously, waited patiently while Grue had seemingly decided to let Tattletale lead. "Depends what you want to talk about." She said evenly after a moment. "Kind of busy here you know, with Leviathan and all that."

"It's about Leviathan. You said something about layers and no organs?" He looked at her expectantly.

She hadn't, it was a mumble at best. She felt off-balance and on the backfoot.

"If you had given me a moment, I would have told everyone that." She answered, trying to take control of the conversation and felt a little satisfaction in seeing his grimace.

"Apologies once again if that is the case. If you have any more information on Leviathan, will you share it with me?" He said.

The information was supposed to get out anyway so she decided to humor him, "Sure, why not. He is the weakest at his arms, then legs and tail. The extremities you know." The next bit was critical, she paused and tried to look at Leviathan who had been hemmed in with a ridiculous number of forcefields, ice walls and other barriers but was chipping away at them quite swiftly.

"He also has a core, somewhere in the torso where his organs exist and from where he heals." She explained.

"That sounds right from what I have seen." He said with a distant stare. Could he look at leviathan from here? She kept a hold on her power, complete focus was needed here, the migraine was becoming serious too.

He began to ask her, "How did you come by this information? Is this your thinker power?" He paused, then started again, "I am a new cape so please indulge me."

Fuck, he already knew it was her that discovered this information, high chance he was just being polite.

She decided to mix some truth in her answer, "Yes, a thinker power, not very useful otherwise but can give me some answers."

He bowed to her slightly and said, "Gratitude." Then straightened and continued, "I have more visuals of Leviathan, see if you can extrapolate something from them."

Tattletale'e eyes widened slightly, he had understood the nature of her power in no time. Then her mouth almost hung open as two holographic displays the size of her TV appeared in front of her; one with a closeup video of Leviathan and his wounds, the other showing him from afar.

She recognized the first one to be the fight from the perspective of the sword cape, those two were hundred percent teammates then, not that she doubted her power. The video was also slowed down so she could view it clearly and it zoomed in appropriately whenever there was a good shot of Leviathan's wounds.

The other display was zoomed in at opportune moments and just enough so she could see Leviathan's movement relative to those around him and in the context of the entire battle. Similar to her own view from up here but clearer and slowed down.

This was valuable intel, she let power run in full flow.

Enhanced mental capacity for sword cape, can cut almost anything without drawing her sword, can explode blood and turn it into a weapon; her teammates have similar level of strength…

Stop, focus on Leviathan, she reminded herself. But teammates? She shook her head, why not, if there was one, there could be more.

Improved tactics and increased speed, even faster and stronger if in trouble, becomes more intelligent in fighting style; mostly sandbags in Endbringer battles, especially at the start unless challenged by Eidolon or Scion, and now the sword cape and her archer friend;

Another display popped up with live events of the fight – probably what this mysterious cape from another earth was seeing.

Protecting chest from arrows, core at the center of chest; on the defensive, today is least successful attack ever, will escalate, try something drastic; speed increased substantially, moving the fastest of all battles, wounds healing quicker, does not need body to be whole for damage output…

She stopped, the headache was blinding her now. She groaned and massaged her temples.

"Okay, as I said, core in the chest/torso area, everyone needs to aim there, he is still sandbagging…"

It was a long explanation. Some distance away on the beach and among the ruins of the boardwalk, the battle still raged.

Ballistic heard Dragon on the radio; telling every non-brute and even those with a low brute rating to retreat a safe distance away from the battle on standby. Ideally, they would stay there as backup and recharge their batteries, literally in some cases.

He had not done that yet and remained rather close to the battle, though not in the thick of it. He was far enough that he could attack but also would have enough time to escape should Leviathan come this way. At least he hoped he would have time to run.

His projectiles had been demoralizingly ineffective so far even though they created a lot of noise. He had exerted himself to hit Leviathan with dumpsters, cars, trucks and more. Some hadn't even hit and those that had only temporarily bothered the Endbringer.

He saw Trickster walk up to him from the direction of one of the buildings that had a cluster of long non-flying ranged fighters on its rooftop.

"You heard Dragon?" He asked the leader of his group. If it were up to him, The Travelers would have someone else as leader but he didn't care enough to make it a point of contention.

"Yeah." Trickster replied.

"You know what it's about?" Ballistic asked.

"Some new cape is tearing Leviathan a new one, I guess they want her to keep going and they want us to not get in the way." Trickster said, then shrugged, "Fine by me I say."

"Where's…" Ballistic was about to say Sundancer's name but Trickster cut in, "She is away, backed off when the order first came in. I just saw her back there." He pointed to somewhere behind him, "Why are you still here?" He asked a little harshly, eyes constantly scanning for the Endbringer.

"I am okay here, enough distance from Leviathan and I can still contribute." He said wiggling his hand. He anticipated pushback from Trickster and mentally prepared an argument for staying.

"Just don't die." Came the reply, a little derisively for his liking but then Trickster was gone.

Fuck him, arrogant prick.

Ballistic saw Leviathan crumple two more layers of forcefields like they were made of paper and sent an SUV careening in the Engbringer's path who just hopped over it. He cringed when two capes following Leviathan had to dodge out of the way of his missile. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Leviathan swung both his arms wildly, creating big lashes of water, then raised a claw in the general direction of the city, which also happened to be towards the street where Ballistic stood. A singular tidal wave, thirty feet tall and almost just as wide, surged from the water on the ground and Leviathan's water-echoes towards the city.

Shit, the tide would reach him in a few seconds. He turned to run and find cover but then saw another cape who dropped from the sky directly in the path of the tidal wave, a blue-white nimbus sprung around him, it looked like a forcefield and was as wide as the tide that was about to hit it. Ballistic allowed for some hope and relaxed a tiny bit. He never stopped running though.

Then the water hit the nimbus and instead of being repelled back, it passed through the blue-white halo and… lessened? The ferocity of water clearly diminished after entering the field around the cape, some of it turned into misty spray whereas the rest of it was still a high wave but manageable and not as destructive as it would have been – for the city and also for himself – before it had hit the strange dampening field.

While the foreign cape had mostly dispelled the water, the mist it created had blanketed the area, Leviathan was no longer visible. Ballistic thought for a few seconds and then retreated some more, no harm in taking a little break when it was offered. Let some of the heavy hitters take on Leviathan for now.

He kept moving to find a good place to rest and view the battle.

Lindon was wet, he had neutralized the tide and saved this portion of the city from being swept away with that wave but it did leave him just shy of drenched.

He decided to burn a tiny bit of soulfire to shake off all the moisture.

The Hollow Domain had been somewhat effective in dissipating the wave but some water had remained unaffected and he had some ideas why.

As always, Dross spoke first what Lindon had been thinking, [The technique is working on conjured water, but not real seawater.]

"Not without Sage commands." Lindon confirmed.

With his power restricted, calling on the Way or any Sage commands was not impossible – nothing was impossible – but it was highly improbable.

This iteration's connection to the Way was very corrupted at this point according to the Abidan. However, Lindon had manifested an icon as an Underlord on his first go, so if he or any of the others really willed it, there was the slightest chance they might be able to manifest their icons anew, like Eithan nearly had during their very first fight with Reigan Shen deep in the Sacred Valley Labyrinth.

But they had collectively decided not to do that beforehand. They shouldn't need to, first of all, and second, it meant that any chaos fiend would be alerted of their presence in which case it was best to just break the seals on their power and access it fully. Lindon was certain that time would come before the mission was completed, but today was not that day.

[Yerin has things under control, there aren't any injured or wounded close, there's only one opponent and I have a model ready, okay it's at 84% you got me, but it will take two seconds, so do you want to try?] Dross asked him.

"Alright, but get me out if another wave comes." Lindon told him.

Then his surroundings changed and he was in a simulation, with a model of Yerin at his side and together they faced a model of Leviathan. Lindon thought for a second before asking Dross to begin, he would only try this once or twice in the interest of time but he had some ideas that needed testing. This was the best place for that, far from any collateral damage or obstacles posted by other capes.

"You have factored in attacks from the local capes, right?" He asked.

[I am not a baby Presence anymore, and even if was I wouldn't forget something so rudimentary.] Dross feigned offense.

That brought a smile to Lindon's face. "Let's begin then," he said.

Five seconds had passed in real time when he came out of the simulation although he had prolonged his testing and ended up fighting Leviathan half a dozen times. He now had a much better grasp on what would work and what wouldn't on this Endbringer, Lindon also couldn't try techniques that would level the city, that would defeat the purpose of their mission spectacularly even if Leviathan dies.

The key to killing Leviathan was precise power, not wide area destruction. Tattletale had been extremely helpful with her detailed explanations of the Endbringer physiology and weak points. Not to mention the possibility that Leviathan had not been seriously fighting so far, though Lindon had seen plenty of scrambling and apprehension on the Endbringer's part – especially against Yerin – to believe Leviathan hadn't been completely serious during the battle. Nonetheless, they would stay vigilant.

He noticed that a few things had changed in their surroundings from before – five seconds was not a long time but plenty had happened. No new tidal wave but the rain had quieted down significantly and Leviathan was even farther away than he had been a little while ago, much close to the sea now.

Something was afoot.