Lisa could hear the cries of shock and alarm ringing out in the ops center holding the PRT analysts along with the Thinkers that had volunteered to help in the fight against Leviathan. The sudden appearance of BBzilla from the waters of the bay, holding a struggling Leviathan in his fist like an overly fidgety guinea pig, had induced a moment of silent awe before everyone seemed to feel the need to express their incredulity and confusion.
"What the fuck is that!?"
"Did we know he could do that!?"
"Why the fuck wasn't this in his FUCKING FILE!?"
Lisa's eyes were narrowed as she stared out of the windows that looked out onto the scene that had everybody in hysterics, her arms crossed under her breasts as she considered what was happening and how this could affect things. She hadn't known Beast Boy could do that either, but unlike her current colleagues, neither was she really shocked. The Unbound might have some strange, undefinable quality that kept Thinker powers from working correctly or completely around them, but she was smart enough on her own that she could piece together some of what her power was actually able to work out, and she knew that every single member of the team was infinitely more dangerous than they seemed at first blush, even the relatively weak seeming ones like Paladin. Beast Boy having some hidden depths beyond his already very useful and versatile skill set was simply a given.
That said, this was still a bit much. It was a good thing that Dragon had sent a message through the armbands that the real life Godzilla in their midst was Beast Boy and thus a friendly, otherwise Lisa would not have been surprised in the least if someone had panicked and attacked. Then again, it wouldn't surprise her if they did anyway. BBzilla was frankly terrifying, even compared to a goddamn Endbringer, and with this single act the Unbound had just established themselves as one of the most dangerous powers in the world.
Any group that could field their own damn Endbringer was to be feared. It was the entire reason the ABB had been such a powerhouse before Lung got captured.
"Wave!" Dragon warned over the armband again, though once again it seemed unneeded, as the weird energy shield Nevermore had created once again blocked the minor tsunami, the water splashing harmlessly back down into the bay.
"Well? What is everyone waiting for?" Nevermore's voice said over the earpiece in her ear that connected her to the Unbound's network.
Almost immediately she could make out a flash on a nearby rooftop, and thought she could hear the crack of the shot, even as a sizeable chunk of Leviathan's torso disappeared, the monster still struggling in BB's grip, the changeling's personal forcefield (or whatever it was) continuing to flash under the assault.
Lisa was impressed by Rose's marksmanship. She doubted pretty much anyone could make that kind of precision shot and not at least graze their ally, the distance negating the advantage granted by the target's size.
The shot was apparently the signal to everyone else, as the flyers made their way to the trapped Leviathan and began to hammer him with all they had, Alexandria flying in close and simply wailing on him as her fellow members of the Triumvirate blasted with everything they could. The other flyers did the same, while those on the ground either tried their own hand at hitting him with whatever ranged attacks they had or waited to be needed, no doubt while hoping they wouldn't be.
"Hopefully they can cause enough damage to cause Leviathan to retreat whenever Beast Boy is forced to let go." One of the analysts said, one of the few that had apparently managed to maintain his professionalism.
"Right, he can't keep this up forever, not when Leviathan is continuing to try to attack to break free." One of the Thinkers said in response, apparently either even minded enough or able to shake off the shock quickly enough to become useful again.
Lisa's eyes glanced down as her power alerted her to something happening in the water at BBzilla's feet. "Head's up, it looks like Levi is trying something new." She called both to the room at large and over the tac net.
Indeed, at Beast Boy's feet the water was beginning to swirl and move before whips of it suddenly lashed out, striking at the enormous dinosaur's legs, Beast Boy's shield flaring green whenever they struck, making the transformed teen let out a loud growl of irritation. The sound then shifted to a low humming, and Lisa saw his back plates begin to light up with a blueish glow, starting at the tip of his tail and moving up along his back.
Anybody who'd even thought of a Godzilla movie knew what that meant.
"All flyers, back off now!" Cortana barked over the net, confirming Lisa's expectation, and as everyone got the hell out of dodge Beast Boy brought his fist up in front of his face at a decent distance away, the still wriggling Leviathan apparently trying harder to get away, seeming to know he was about to get nuked.
Lisa's eyes narrowed. Actually, now that she was really looking, it looked like Leviathan was struggling more than he should be able to. Then her eyes widened as her power made a connection that made her pale. Before she could say anything, however, Beast Boy let loose.
Seeming unconcerned about any damage he might cause to his own hand, he opened his mouth wide and unleashed a massive torrent of bright plasma straight at Leviathan that enveloped the monster completely, his own shield flashing brightly as it dealt with the damage of his own attack. He kept the stream up for ten full seconds, whatever water that had still been covering Leviathan flashing into steam in the first instants, and when the assault finally ended the Endbringer was shown to be noticeably damaged, though not as much as one would hope. Then again, that was pretty much standard for all of the demonic siblings.
Beast Boy still wasn't done, however, using his other hand to reach down and grab the monster's head in his claws, seeming to be trying to rip it off like a child would a doll's, growling lowly as he strained, Leviathan's struggles increasing even as the flyers began to head back in to continue the job.
What Lisa had realized about the Endbringers was still ringing around in her head, however, and her power soon added another wrinkle even as Alexandria reached the monster, pounding at his neck to seemingly help with decapitating the bastard. Before she could consciously process what had just shot through her mind (and had prompted a Thinker headache to start forming, oh joy), her hands were on both the armband and her earpiece, letting her shout out her instruction immediately, almost panicking. "Beast Boy, let Leviathan go now!"
To his credit, Beast Boy didn't hesitate, immediately releasing his opponent. Even as he did so, however, Leviathan lashed out, faster than anybody had ever seen, his claws ripping through Beast Boy's shield (which as far as Lisa could tell, should have held out longer, even as depleted as it apparently was) as well as his hand, leaving a deep gash in the massive hero's palm. Beast Boy stumbled back in surprise, letting out a cry of pain as a gout of blood escaped his hand even as Leviathan dropped back into the waters of the bay, immediately making his way towards the city, still going much faster than expected.
"What the fuck?" A Thinker nearby murmured.
Lisa had turned to the many screens showing video footage of Leviathan and the defenders from multiple drones, no longer able to see him through the window, her face grim. "He's been sandbagging!" She said tersely with her voice high in near panic as he impacted against Nevermore's shield like a missile, the entire pane of energy shuddering from the impact, though it didn't break, by some miracle. "All these years, he's been stronger and more capable than we knew, he just hasn't used it!"
A PRT analyst was staring at her, his face pale. "You're kidding, right?"
His question was answered when the waters of the entire bay seemed to stab up in a legion of spears to try to break through Nevermore's shield, miraculously still unable to despite showing more force and control than had ever been displayed before by the monster. Beast Boy and the flyers were in the process of making their way to him even as the ranged groundbounders started blasting upon hearing from Nevermore that the shield was one way, doing their best to drive him off before he managed to punch through.
One of the drones focused on Nevermore himself, the man looking strained but determined, his eyes narrowed at the attacking form of Leviathan only a few yards away from him, the dark patterns tattooing his face adding to his unwavering gaze as he held his hands up to maintain the barrier.
"She's right." Another Thinker in a classic noir detective's getup said, going over some recordings of previous Leviathan fights. "He's currently moving with twenty seven percent more speed and force than he'd ever displayed before, and it's increasing. His water manipulation also seems more elaborate and powerful than previously demonstrated."
"So this entire time, he's just been playing with us?" Another of the analysts asked bleakly, staring at the attacking monstrosity on the screens. "Have the others been doing that too?"
"Probably." Lisa said darkly, her own gaze locked on Nevermore's image, eyes narrowed. "What are you…?"
When the waters receded briefly as Leviathan prepared to launch another attack to break through the barrier keeping him from the city, said shield suddenly disappeared, the tinted glass seeming energy vanishing in an instant. At that exact moment, while Leviathan was off balance due to the sudden disappearance of the thing it had been struggling against, Nevermore flew at the monster. Leviathan's reaction time seemed to have increased as well, as it managed to swipe at Nevermore, barely missing the teen as he reached the hydrokinetic's head.
Lisa's eyebrows rose, and she heard several other people in the ops center gasp or make other noises of surprise and shock, as Nevermore reached out, touched Leviathan's head… and then seemed to somehow be able to use that contact to drag Leviathan along, flying into the air and bringing the Endbringer with, the monster flailing and struggling as it left the ground. He then flew out back towards the middle of the bay at great speed, passing BBzilla who was just then 'skidding' to a stop in order to turn and follow.
"Ready the Hammer." Nevermore ordered over the Unbound tac net, sounding surprisingly calm. It reminded Lisa of the way military commanders could sound in some movies even while in a firefight, the confidence and professionalism to get the job done.
"Hammer ready, locked onto target." Cortana reported equally professionally.
"Full burn on my mark." He responded as he reached the area of the bay farthest from any friendlies or structures.
Dragon's voice came over the armbands. "Everyone fall back, keep away from Leviathan." The order prompted BB to once again stop in his tracks and begin putting some distance between him and whatever Nevermore was doing, the other flyers, Triumvirate included, following his lead.
"Mark." Nevermore said as he dropped Leviathan from two hundred feet in the air, obviously intending there to be a delay before his enemy could reach the water and thus move out of position. As he let the Endbringer go he immediately flew away, towards the mouth of the bay, not coincidentally the direction that Leviathan would need to head in in order to escape. Reaching a point a bit beyond it he flew up a bit before stopping, the camera on him showing he had his eyes closed and one arm up with his palm outstretched towards the sky as he floated in the air.
Of course, Lisa only really noticed that in her peripheral vision, as the instant Nevermore gave his order, the fist of God seemed to punch down from above and onto Leviathan.
It seemed to go in slow motion, even though it took a couple of seconds at most. Even as Leviathan began to fall back towards the waters of the bay the dark clouds that were covering the sky over Brockton and dropping the deluge that followed Leviathan anywhere he attacked began to glow orange, starting out dull and dark and quickly brightening. Leviathan was only a few dozen feet from the water, obviously preparing to launch himself back into the fight, when the clouds were suddenly vaporized away as a massive column of what seemed to be plasma dropped from the sky and onto his form with a teeth rattling roar that drowned out everything else for miles. For a split second Leviathan was visible as a dark shape in the conflagration, writhing as it tried to get away, then the pillar of fire hit the bay. The water immediately boiled away into steam, a fog beginning to form in the area as more and more water rushed into the gap only to be turned to vapor, the almost blinding column continuing to hit the now bare seafloor, keeping Leviathan pinned.
And even then they could vaguely make out the form of the monster, trying to escape towards the city and thus the defenders, showing more power and tenaciousness than ever before, actually managing to partly emerge from the pillar of concentrated 'fuck you' for a split second before the column began to follow him with deceptive seeming sluggishness, enveloping him once again and making sure it was never not causing him damage.
Then BBzilla joined in, once again launching another Atomic Breath at where Leviathan was trying to escape, holding it as long as he could in order to add his own bit of fury into the inferno. The flying Blasters surrounding him promptly joined in as well once they got over their shock, with Legend and Eidolon leading the charge, launching everything they could at the base of the pillar of destruction, followed by the groundbound Blasters and general ranged attackers, even those that only really had handguns or other firearms. Four Dragon suits (which on its own was momentous in its own way, as the world's greatest Tinker had only ever sent out one suit at a time before) took up formation around the Hammer's column, launching their own attacks at a closer proximity than the others could risk.
The assault seemed to last an eternity where the roar of the Hammer firing was the only thing that could be heard, but eventually Beast Boy stopped firing, the other capes following suit, and shortly afterwards the pillar of fire disappeared, apparently spent. For an instant the blackened, molten ruin of the seafloor was visible, before the waters once more rushed in and covered it, steam continuing to billow as the water in the area bubbled.
Just enough time for Lisa to see that Leviathan still wasn't dead.
He was damaged, immensely so. A huge amount of his body mass was just gone, and seeing it fully for the first time in such a state, with no water to hide it, allowed Lisa to learn quite a bit thanks to her power. But despite the immense amount of damage, he was still moving, turning with more speed and strength than he should have.
When the waters hid his form everyone was tense, the ones that hadn't realized or noticed that the Endbringer still hadn't been destroyed waiting with bated breath to see if they'd finally managed the impossible.
Lisa was reaching for both of her communicators to warn everyone that it probably wasn't over when Dragon's voice beat her to it. "Leviathan is racing for the ocean at 2.7 times his normal speed. He's running away!"
People began to cheer after a moment of shock, and Lisa could easily understand why. This was the first time in history that an Endbringer had been driven off without a single death, and with the location that had been targeted relatively, if not almost completely, intact. To say this was a victory was an understatement of monumental proportions.
Of course, just when she was about to relax Nevermore's voice came over the Unbound com net. "Not this time. You don't get to escape this time, motherfucker." He growled, sounding… almost monstrous, in a way.
Before she could ask what he planned on doing one of the analysts in the room spoke with panic in her voice as she gripped her headset in a white knuckled grip. "Watchdog says something is coming at us from space!"
The room instantly went dead silent, every eye locking on her. "Is it Ziz?" The cape in the noir getup asked.
"No, too small." The woman said shakily. "Ziz is still hovering in her last known position. And now they're saying it's more than one thing."
"Then what the hell-" One began before being interrupted by a cape near the windows.
"Look!" The young man cried, pointing out over the bay.
Lisa turned to look, but she'd only been able to catch a brief glimpse of Nevermore bringing his arm down to point at the water below, when something streaked down out of the sky at an angle and hit the waters of the bay with a titanic boom, shaking the building and rattling the windows hard enough it was a shock they didn't shatter as another huge mass of water was vaporized.
Before anybody could do more than let out a cry of shock another came out of the sky to impact the exact same place. Then another, and another, and another, all of them coming down nonstop and with only a couple of seconds between them.
"Is it raining fucking meteorites!?" A cape younger than Lisa screamed in fear and shock as she cowered with her arms over her head in a futile attempt to protect herself from being annihilated by one of the impacts. "Is Ziz sending them at us!?"
LIsa had to bend her legs and brace herself as she looked down at the bay, the building shaking so much it was hard to stand straight. If it hadn't been built up to Endbringer code standards they'd be in trouble. The flyers had moved for cover behind the massive form of BBzilla, though Alexandria remained exposed in order to observe, not needing to fear a hit as much as the others. The ground bound capes had all retreated into the buildings they'd been standing on, no doubt just as terrified and confused as everyone else. "It's Nevermore!" She yelled, more to be heard over the continual booms than anything else. "He's hitting Leviathan with them!"
"Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck…" A cape in his early twenties said continuously as he huddled near the window, looking out of it as he repeated the words, sounding almost like he was praying. Finally he seemed to snap. "What the fuck kind of monster has so many absurd powers!" He screamed, staring at the still hovering Nevermore, the leader of the Unbound still holding his hand up, palm out as he continued firing meteorites at the Endbringer.
Before anyone could answer the rattled young man's rhetorical question the booming suddenly stopped, the last of the meteorites having landed. Then Nevermore gestured, and a pillar bearing a section of the seafloor suddenly rose and extended above the churning waves, displaying his target.
Leviathan was a mess. His body was mangled and thinner than it ever had been, with certain parts either more intact or more decimated than others, an odd, thick ichor leaking from multiple points. That allowed her to see what he truly was made of.
Layers. Crystalline layers. Likely originally hundreds of them, though the battle had destroyed a large amount. She could feel her Thinker headache getting worse and worse as she focused everything she had on this unprecedented opportunity.
She was barely aware of Nevermore approaching Leviathan, who was on his back, stuck in the molten rock he was on and was writhing to try to get away with less overall strength than before, his injuries obviously hampering him greatly despite his earlier display of having been sandbagging. What looked like a stick of wood was in the teen's hand, and a short beam of dark energy emerged from the tip like some kind of lightsaber, the energy looking like Grue's darkness but… deeper, more… more.
Still, she continued focusing on Leviathan, trying to figure out how to finally end this, and she almost collapsed when she finally found out, falling to her knees, panting.
As the energy of the 'lightsaber' in Nevermore's hand shifted form to lengthen and become thinner at the tip, turning into a spear, Lisa brought her hand up to her earpiece. "Nevermore, on his torso, off center to the right two inches from where a human heart would be." She bared her teeth. "Kill the bastard."
"You're getting a raise." He said simply before diving down at the Endbringer, his energy spear ready to drive through his enemy.
Leviathan looked up at its executioner as it (and she knew, for sure now, that Leviathan was an 'it') continued trying to escape. It made no sounds, no vocalizations, simply continuing to writhe. It was freeing itself, the cooling rock breaking, but Lisa could see it wouldn't be in time.
Nevermore, in contrast, let out a battle cry as he dove, his weapon a streak of darkness that seemed to leave an afterimage in her eyes, as if the light from the sun couldn't completely replace the space it had been in. Then, impact.
The spear of darkness initially pierced through Leviathan's form with surprising ease as the monster jerked. It still didn't vocalize, or make any sound at all, but Lisa wondered if anybody else was imagining it screaming in agony.
Nevermore landed on Leviathan's body, feet against its torso, and continued thrusting the spear deeper. He seemed to meet some resistance, visibly gritting his teeth as he continued forcing his weapon in, more and more of it disappearing into Leviathan's form.
Everyone was watching with bated breath. The ops center around Lisa was utterly silent as everyone stared at the screens showing what was happening, many of those there tensely clutching their hands or each other, a few seeming to be praying to various deities without a sound, only moving their lips.
Outside was similar, Beast Boy carefully approaching, still in his Godzilla form, the many capes that had participated in the battle trailing along. The Triumvirate hovered closer, though even they apparently didn't dare approach too much.
Finally, with one final cry of effort from the hero attempting to slay the monster, the dark energy that made up the spear seemed to pulse before suddenly extending straight through Leviathan and into the stone it'd been bound to, the other end visible emerging from its back due to its position as it tried to escape.
Then, almost anticlimactically, Leviathan slumped and went utterly still, still having not made a single sound. Nevermore went still as well, unsure, before allowing the energy that made up the spear to dissipate and straightening up, slipping his piece of wood into his coat and floating off of Leviathan's body, still tense as he glared down at it.
A full thirty seconds passed in still, tense silence, everybody waiting with bated breath to see if Leviathan would somehow get back up to continue terrorizing them. Then, slowly, people began to cheer as the realization set in. First a few, then more, until finally everyone in the air, on the rooftops, in the ops center, was screaming their joy, with BBzilla even letting out a triumphant roar of his own.
Lisa remained slumped on the floor of the ops center, looking out the window with a grin on her lips, for once not really bothered by the almost blinding migraine pounding at her skull. All around her people were celebrating wildly, jumping, screaming, and just generally allowing themselves to lose their damn minds. Two capes, a hero and a villain, were hugging and laughing in joy. A couple of the local analysts were busy making out on one of the desks, and she knew that one of the men was asking the other to marry him, his voice filled with renewed hope. One of the older capes just took a seat on an office chair and began to smoke with one of the analysts, both of them seeming exhausted.
Lisa's smile grew when Nevermore was suddenly pounced on by a large amount of the capes that had been flying near him, disappearing into their celebratory pile. Legend was laughing nearby, his arms around the necks of his fellow Triumvirate, both of whom seemed more subdued, if still pleased.
Beast Boy had finally dropped his titanic form and was laying bonelessly on one of the rooftops, obviously exhausted, with Rose landing next to him soon enough, beginning to check on him with a big grin on her face, which the changeling gladly returned.
The teenage former villainess let out a breath and closed her eyes to savor the moment. Not only was Coil dead, but Leviathan had joined him in hell.
For some reason, she suddenly felt a lot more optimistic about the future. It had been a good day.
It took far, far longer than I wanted, but finally put Leviathan in the ground. Err, on a big pillar of rock on the ocean that'll likely become some sort of historical site or something, but you know what I mean.
Seriously, I'm so very sorry for how long this took. I won't try to give any excuses beyond saying that my motivation and enjoyment of writing pretty much abandoned me for a while. I was barely able to force myself to write my patron requested chapters, and even then I was behind for ages.
Still, I'm hoping this'll help me get back into it properly, and the next chapter won't take… over 6 months!? O.o Good gods, I really did screw up, didn't I?
Also, we crossed the 3k review mark. Holy crap. Back when I started I was shocked when I got to 100.
In any case, not too much to say about the fight itself. Not that I can think of at the moment, at least. I stayed awake longer than planned to finish this. Originally only planned to put in a couple of hundred words tonight to make a bit of headway, ended up typing up over half the thing.
I'm sure that the Levy fight wasn't up to many people's standards. Unfortunately it was what I came up with. I do hope you guys enjoyed it anyway, though. And I hope you're all looking forward to the upcoming Benevolent Show of Force.
Also, we're getting near a point where I want to make a PHO Interlude chapter. Not yet, a chapter or two from now, but soonish. I detailed my ideas for it a few chapters ago, but I'm still pinning down what I'll actually do. I'll keep you all posted.
In any case, I can't think of anything else to say, so I'll just get to my usual reminders.
As I've stated previously, my best friend and their roommate have a biweekly podcast. Yes, I know, everybody and their mother has a podcast these days, but I beg you to hear me out. It's called 'Two Idiots and a Dog', and they talk about pop culture in general with different shows for different topics. So far they've done 'Idiots on Film', talking about classic or important movies, and another one called 'Idiots Unleashed', where they just take a topic their Discord members vote on and talk/argue/rant about it without a filter. They haven't made a new episode of 'On Film' since 'The Lost Boys', apparently focusing more on 'Unleashed', the latest two episodes of which are 'Best Animal Companions' and 'Best Media Adaptations'. So if you're interested, that's 'Two Idiots and a Dog' on most podcasting resources. Please check it out. For me? *puppy dog eyes*
Secondly, I am, as always, truly grateful for those of you who are willing to send a buck or two my way out of the kindness of your heart. I relied on all of you when I wasn't working, and it definitely still helps even now that I'm gainfully employed. Thanks to you I have more of a cushion to get things I still need or pay essential bills. Like Final Fantasy XIV. (Speaking of, Ryuma Hyurinmaru on the Coeurl Server, Crystal Datacenter, North America, Astral Prime FC)
Of course, let us not forget that you do get something out of it. For each dollar that you donate to my Pat A Ron, you get a vote in my monthly update poll stating what you want to see updated next month. And if what you vote for doesn't win immediately, no worries! Non-winning votes roll over to the next poll, so a fic that only gets a vote a month will eventually win (though it might take a bit, to be brutally honest).
So yes, donate to my Pat A Ron, you get a say in what I update. Everybody wins! So that's Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis. The current poll ends on April 4th.
However, as something new, I have set up a Ko-Fi for those of you who don't want to use Pat A Ron to support me. The only caveat is that it won't count towards any voting, so I honestly don't see it getting much use. That said, it's there for those of you that prefer it. Seeing as I only created it a few weeks ago, please give me any feedback on it so I can make improvements. That's ko-fi dotcom /athanmortis78653 .
Thank you as always for reading, and sticking with me despite my (long) dry spells and (frequent) delays. I really do appreciate it. I hope everyone has a good one. Till next time!