What do we know?"

Legend leaned forward in his seat as Rebecca cut through the quiet muttering of the assembly. Her voice remained flat and even, but there was a hard edge to it that demanded the attention of others. Almost as one, everyone ceased their conversations to turn towards the director of the PRT. For a brief moment, silence hung over the room, the only sound coming from the slight buzz of the monitors as directors from every corner of the country waited for someone else to bite the bullet.

"Dragon?" She asked when it became clear nobody else was going to answer. Her auburn-haired avatar flickered her gaze across the room for a moment before she spoke up.

"At approximately twenty-three hundred last night, several satellites with ground facing cameras above Texas cut out for approximately twenty-one minutes. None of the satellites had any similarities to each other through ownership or construction, and at this time we have not been able to determine how they were shut off. When they reactivated, without our assistance I might add, we found this," Dragon said, pulling up the image that catalyzed this meeting.

It wasn't the best quality, none of the satellites had been outfitted with state of the art equipment, but the dark shape was impossible to miss.

"At the request of the local Protectorate, I reoriented one of my own satellites to investigate with the possibility that this was a previously unknown S-Class threat," Dragon said, and a few fearful mutters broke out among the assembled group. Legend could only fold his hands in front of his face, waiting for Dragon to finish her report. "What I found…was this."

Another image was brought up on the screen, this one much clearer and more defined in appearance. The previously unremarkable black blob had now taken a much more defined shape. It stood tall on two legs, though it might have been more appropriate to call them stilts with how thin that they were. A pair of arms extended from its torso, one hanging down further than the other with sets of claws on each one. A head-like appendage rose up from the body, but the only thing to indicate that it might be the creature's skill were a pair of glowing yellow eyes, stretched out in an almost cartoonish fashion.

Its appearance might have been funny in almost any other circumstance. Despite its obvious height, towering over the telephone poles that lined the side of the road, it was thin as a rail. It looked as if a slight breeze might have been enough to knock it over. But the question that the Chicago director voiced cut out any sense of amusement.

"Is it an Endbringer?"

A cold chill swept over the room, and Legend could feel himself shiver despite himself. Even after fighting them for almost three decades, they still knew little to nothing about the Endbringers. They struck without warning and seemingly without reason, leaving only devastation in their wake.

But after so long without the appearance of a new one, it was almost assumed that there were only three. Legend almost had to snort at that, how bad had it gotten that the possibility of only have three city killing monsters was a good thought.

"We shouldn't discount the possibility that this simply might be a new cape," Dragon urged, ever the optimist. "However, last night also marked the three-month mark since the Simurgh's attack on Madison."

"Do we know what it's doing?" Director Piggot asked, her stern features set into a frown. Her skin had a slightly yellowish tint to it, no doubt caused by by interruption of her dialysis in order to attend this meeting.

"As of this moment, it appears to be making its way towards Austin. At its current rate, it will get there in about two hours," Dragon said, bringing up another map. A glowing red dot sat on where the creature had been sighted, a black line leading it towards the Texas capital with a countdown clock to the side.

David isn't going to like that, Legend thought, leaning back into his seat. While David rarely spent any time out of costume, he did care for his city. Finding out that it was the target of an Endbringer was going to enrage him like nothing else. To say nothing of the local Protectorate who would undoubtedly fight to the death to protect the hundreds of thousands of people that lived in the city.

"So, what are we waiting for? We should sound the alarms!" Director Tagg roared into his mic, a slight screech echoing through the room. The man hadn't been very pleasant these last few months. Not that he ever was, but the sealing off of Madison thanks to the Simurgh had done the man's temper little favors. Legend knew that he was under an incredible amount of stress to keep those people locked inside to prevent the Simurgh's victims from causing even more devastation. Legend had read more than one report of the man's detailing the extreme measures he had to take to keep those people locked away.

It made him sick just thinking about it.

"And if it isn't an Endbringer?" Director Jameson shot back, albeit much more calmly. He had only recently taken the reigns of the Boston Protectorate with the death of his predecessor at the hands of the Butcher, but he had been doing well. "Can you imagine the panic that would unfold?"

A small but noticeable percentage of the deaths that resulted from Endbringer battles didn't come from the Endbringers themselves or the damage they caused, but rather the panicked hordes of civilians trying to flee from their city. Legend could only begin to imagine the havoc if the Endbringer sirens went off without an actual Endbringer. But the risk of not warning the populace if it was an Endbringer.

"Unfortunately, that is a risk that we simply can't take," Rebecca said, ending the argument. Her expression might as well have been carved from stone, the glint in her eyes making it clear that there was no point in trying to argue with her.

"Sound the alarms."

--

David rose up above the city's buildings, towards the direction the supposed Endbringer was coming from. Beneath him, PRT, police and Protectorate heroes were trying to get as many civilians as they could out of the combat zone. The streets were clogged and congested as several hundred thousand people tried to flee the city at once. Plumes of smoke rose up across the skyline as cars crashed into each other and portions of the population descended into looting.

He sighed behind his mask as he cycled through his third powerset. There was no point in him trying to help his comrades, not when it would mean switching powers. In the past, he could have done it in an instant and have had just the right powers to help with the crowd control, but those years were long past.

"Eidolon."

David turned to see Rebecca floating next to him, her mouth twisted into a firm line. To anyone else, she would have appeared to be a rock of serenity in a sea of chaos, but he had been friends with her long enough to see her tells.

She was nervous.

"Alexandria," He returned with a nod. He would be lying if he wasn't nervous too. Despite almost three decades of fighting them, confronting an Endbringer was nerve-wracking. They were the unstoppable juggernauts of destruction, and no matter how badly they were harmed or injured they always came back every three months without fail. There had been a time once where he dreamed of being able to kill one, to forever immortalize himself as the greatest hero of the world, but now…

Now he was just glad if he could survive the battle.

"Dragon's drones indicate it's about thirty minutes out," Alexandria said, not bothering with any pleasantries. He could appreciate that, especially with a possible Endbringer fight on the horizon. There was always a palatable dread in fighting one of them, even amongst the most powerful heroes and most vile villains.

They of course still had no confirmation that this was an Endbringer and wouldn't until the battle began in its earnest. But if it was a new Endbringer that meant they would be flying completely blind. David shivered at the near misses they had had in the past. What if he had stayed too long listening to the Simurgh's scream when she first descended from the sky, or Alexandria had gotten to close to the ocean when Leviathan rose from the waves?

What if I die today?

"How many do we have?" David asked, turning his gaze towards the staging area, pushing the dark thoughts away from his mind. Parahumans from all over the world were being gathered here, ready to put their lives on the line for this city.

"Two hundred and three. Strider is still bringing a few groups in, but this is the majority of them," Alexandria said, gesturing towards the assembled capes. David paused in thought, considering the number.

"I was expecting…more," he said rather lamely. Endbringer fights didn't give much time to gather parahumans and ferry them from all over the world. Strider was an incredible asset in that measure, but even he had his limits. But they simply never had enough time to gather all the volunteers before the battle began. With the breathing room that they had this time, David had been rather hopeful that more people would show up. Alexandria only shrugged.

"Not everyone has a desire to die."

A callous statement, but a rather true one at that. Statistically, capes only had a one in four chance of surviving and Endbringer, and that didn't include being mutilated or otherwise horribly harmed. Only a very small percentage of capes actually ever had a chance to fight in more than one Endbringer battle. Those that went into Endbringer fights knew that they were basically signing their death warrants.

"Eid—David," Alexandria corrected. The Trump paused to look at her, somewhat surprised by her use of his real name, but at this altitude, there was really nobody that could hear them. And anyone who thought that using Eidolon's secret identity was a good idea was too stupid to live. "Whatever happens today, we can't afford to lose you."

David pursed his lips behind his helmet. He knew that he was Cauldron's best weapon against Scion and that he had to look at the bigger picture, but she was asking him that if push came to shove, he needed to put his own life above that of the city's.

It was galling, to have so much power at his fingertips and still not having enough to save everyone. At the height of his power he wouldn't have been as concerned as he was now, even an Endbringer would have had trouble killing him back then. But now…

"…Alright."

--

Ever had a song stuck in your head, and one you don't like at that? You can try to snuff it out, but every time to push it back it just oozes its way back to the forefront of your brain. You can feel it pounding in your head, demanding your attention even though you want nothing more than to ignore it and let it die an ignorable death in the graveyard of unwanted thoughts, but you can't because it keeps repeating!

Well, imagine that but about a million times worse.

I could feel it pounding into my skull like a thousand white-hot knives, eating away at any other thought. Anything that I thought of that isn't directly tied to the fulfillment of this thought is swept away, devoured underneath a sea of pain.

I wanted to scream but I couldn't.

I try to turn around, to stop myself from reaching my goal, but I can feel the thought intensify, burning away such treasonous notions. If I was still in control of my body I would be curled up on the ground, praying that whatever this was would just stop and leave me alone.

But I couldn't even do that without earning the wrath of this malignant directive.

Cease your struggles.

Right, because it wasn't bad enough that I couldn't control my own thoughts, I had to deal with having the voice of Worm's greatest chessmaster in my head. Let me make that clear, the Simurgh was in my head. I was fairly certain the only reason I hadn't wet myself was because I didn't the ability to anymore.

You cannot resist the Directive. Give in.

There were a hundred responses with a thousand variations I could have given it, but simplest one was the one that came first.

No.

A laugh. Not roaring or deep or anything that one would immediately classify as malevolent, but rather as if a thousand chimes were ringing. It rang in my head like a chorus and somehow that made it all the more terrifying.

You believe you can stop this? You cannot win.

You're right, I can't win, I acquiesce, acknowledging that it was right. Nothing I had done had succeeded in slowing down or removing the all-consuming directive, and I doubted anything would. This wasn't going to be the story were everything was solved with an outside perspective and the right words. People were going to die, and it was going my hand, unwilling or not. But I can make sure you lose.

Another laugh.

You think you can outsmart me?

No, I admitted as a pair of powerlines snapped against my body like a pair of loose threads. I liked to think myself as a reasonably intelligent individual, but this was the Simurgh, and I wasn't Blank. Whatever I thought, she would already know. Whatever I did, she could already plan for.

But I can fulfill the Directive.

But she couldn't see him.

A pause in an infinitesimal amount of time to a human, but to her, it might as well have been an eternity. When her next response came, it was a twinge less certain, as if she wasn't quite sure if she was right or not.

You wouldn't.

I can. I will, I shot back.

I know you, I see you. Are you really ready to send a man to death?

That was a question I didn't have an answer to. Before all of this, the idea of me taking someone's life was such an alien concept that I had never even considered it before. Could I really cut someone's life short for something that they weren't even aware they were doing? And how many people would I have to hurt to get to him, how many would die to my hands?

You are no monster.

Images flash through my head of a blighted world, ground into oblivion by the golden fool. Billions dead, entire civilizations laid to waste and monsters fighting over the carcasses. That was the future that awaited us if things continued on their current course.

I had a chance to change things.

Perhaps I would make things better.

I would probably make things worse.

But if I didn't try I would never know.

No, I agreed, redoubling my pace towards the target city, no longer trying to resist the Directive. Instead, I let it roll over me, welcoming it into my thoughts. It was still screaming in my head, but my acceptance of it seemed to abate the pain. But it was still there, still trying to drive me towards it with everything that it had, terms dictated by a man's ego.

BE WORTHY OPPONENTS.

But I supposed you made me one.

--

"ETA?" Alexandria asked, keeping her eyes on the horizon. Besides her, Dragon's drone hovered, bristling with all sorts of Tinker tech weaponry that she had cooked up. Years and years of battling Endbringers had helped her hone her weaponry to further damage them, but she had yet to actually develop anything capable of killing them. Though if the reports could be believed, she and Armsmaster had made great strides in developing a predictive program to help prevent cities from being caught off guard.

"Five minutes," Dragon answered with her drone's synthesized voice. Alexandria's vision wasn't superhuman, but from this height, she could see the dark mass on the horizon. As the minutes passed by and the being became more visible, she could feel other fliers moving with trepidation. For many of them, this would be their first Endbringer fight, and against a completely unknown opponent and that.

They knew what to expect with the other three and they still lost over a fourth of their fighting force each time they faced one of them. How many would fall today because they knew nothing about what they were fighting?

Tall Man CB-1.

The announcement echoed out from each armband, startling some from the quiet dread that had covered the streets. The Tall Man designation would likely be a temporary one, at least until they got a better read on the supposed Endbringer's capabilities, but it would work for now.

Said Tall Man came to a stop about three hundred feet away from the first line of defenders. Various shields were raised up and put into position, creating a barrier between them and the creature. If this thing had the same durability as the rest of the Endbringers she doubted it would hold them for more than a few seconds, but any time that they could buy was time well spent.

"Dragon," Alexandria said, and a small drone broke off from her larger suit, slowly making its way towards the possible Endbringer. If this wasn't and Endbringer and was simply a triggered individual, something that she was in serious doubt of, then they didn't want to risk getting into a fight. The blow to their credibility in airing the Endbringer sirens if this wasn't an attack would be a headache, but it would be worth it if it turned out this was an Endbringer.

"Engaging First Contact," Dragon said, her announcement echoing over her bands. Alexandria thought that it made it sound grander than it actually was, all the drone was doing was asking the being questions through a tinker tech megaphone. The thing tilted its head forward as if it was considering the drone as some sort of odd sight. Its head then rose up a little and almost seemed to scan the crowd. It was a little difficult to tell if that was what it was actually doing without any movement from its supposed eyes, but Alexandria could almost feel its attention sweep over her.

Its head tilted up a bit more and seemed to lock eyes with someone. Alexandria twisted her head to see that David was staring it down, his green cloak floating in the weak breeze. Whatever happened in that instant she wasn't sure, but it appeared that was what the thing needed.

There was no roar like Behemoth nor the ever-present scream of the Simurgh, but rather a cold silence not unlike Leviathan.

The Endbringer brought its arms up and smashed them into the ground. Alexandria blinked beneath her helmet as the creature's arms almost appeared to be burrowing into the ground, the black surface that made up its body twisting in seemingly random patterns as it flowed downwards. The Brute looked down towards the street, just in time to see a crack split the street in two.

Her fingers flew towards her armband and she roared into it.

"Beneath the ground!"

Her warning echoed through the armbands and split-second too late as parts of the ground shattered, black pillars flying up into the air. Screams of shock and surprise echoed through the assembled defenders as they tried to reorient themselves towards the new threat. Black tendrils rose up from the ground as if they were arms of a kraken, waving and twisting through the air, swatting at any flier that happened to get in their way or knocking people on the ground to the side like errant toys.

Dr. Light Deceased, CB-2. Wind Breaker Deceased, CB-2. Lighting Lad Down, CB-2.

The tendrils waved through the air, the tips splitting into even more numerous stands as they reached up toward Eidolon, but a quick flick of his hand and a wave of ethereal green slammed into the black flesh. Like water before the fire, they evaporated, cutting them down and clearing the skies of the influence for a time, but the ground-based parahumans were not so fortunate.

One of the tendrils swept through the crowded mass, smashing people aside like bowling pins, grinding their bones into dust and pulping muscles from the sheer force of the blow.

Lantern Deceased, CB-2. Mad-Eye Deceased, CB-2. Talon Down, CB-2.

Another one wrapped itself around a building and squeezed.

Steel bent and concrete shattered like glass as the building was crushed, in the end resembling more of a tin can than anything else as the tendril literally ripped it out of the ground and dumped it on the street behind the defenders.

There was a general sense of confusion as they tried to figure out what they were supposed to do with their exit cut off, but Alexandria wasted no time. Instead, she shot off like a bullet, fists outstretched to slam into the Endbringer's torso even as it started to rise from its hunched over position.

Her fists slammed into its chest, but instead of knocking it back from the concussive force of her blows, her fist sunk into the monster's body. She could feel it wrap around her hands like some sort of oddly shaded gelatin. With a grunt, she managed to pull her hands free from her prison, but tendrils of the black substance reached out towards her. With a quick thought, she was beyond their reach and in the sky once again. Some black ooze still clung to her suit, but it was a minor nuisance. Less so was the information that she had just gained from engaging the Endbringer.

"Dragon - The Endbringer's hide is semi-malleable, it was able to absorb my attack and trap my hands," she announced over her armband, cutting a channel directly to the Canadian Tinker.

"Understood. I'll alert the Brutes and Strikers," she responded the instant the words finished coming from her lips. While Alexandria certainly had reservations about the AI, she had to admit that her inhuman response times proved to be useful more than once. A shrill noise filled the air and Alexandria didn't even flinch as various Blaster armaments lashed out at the Endbringer. Most of them appeared to be ineffective, but a few of them managed to make some progress.

One blast, which turned out to be a cryokinetic blast, slammed into the monster's upper arm, covering it in a thick sheet of ice. With a movement that almost appeared to be tinged with annoyance, the Endbringer rolled its shoulder, and the iced over section broke off, taking the rest of the arm with it to the ground, where it quickly lost its cohesion and turned into nothing more than a pile of sludge. In that instant, about half of the tentacle arms that were still lashing down at the defenders below cut off, sliding to the ground in a dark slurry of whatever Endbringer flesh was.

She could see several of the capes that had been previously pinned down by the arms were moving into better positions, but it appeared to be a temporary reprieve as the Endbringer's arm started to regrow, the black fluids on the surface of its body twisting and turning as they flowed to its missing limb. Within seconds and new limb had formed, and a knot twisted in Alexandria's stomach.

They had always been able to drive Endbringers back once they inflicted enough damage, but how were they supposed to drive something off that could heal itself in a near instant? How long would this fight go on? Could the Endbringer just keep on fighting without end, destroying everything in its path as they flutily tried to keep it down?

There has to be a limit.

Even Endbringers had limits, they just had to find out what they were.

Said Endbringer seemed to be satisfied with whatever it was trying to accomplish as it pulled its other arm out of the ground, ripping up concrete and dirt in the process. Once the monster's arm retook its original shape, it moved.

While it wasn't the blinding speed of Leviathan, it certainly wasn't the slow plodding of Behemoth. Divets formed underneath the Endbringer's appendages as it charged forward, smashing its way through the hastily constructed shields that had been thrown in its path. Alexandria could almost taste the dread from the capes below, fearing that they very well might be trampled to death by a creature that wouldn't take any more notice of them then a child might an ant.

But just as it reached the mass of panicking parahumans, the monster jumped.

As it leaped through the sky a cape slammed into it, clearly intent on knocking it to the side. But instead of that, she found herself quickly trapped by the creature's flesh as it wrapped itself around her. She pulled with all her might and wailed, but it appeared she didn't have the strength to break free. Alexandria made a dive bomb for her, but it was already too late.

The woman's face disappeared beneath the black flesh, swallowed up forever. Alexandria cut off her dive, pulling herself back up. While it was certainly possible she might be able to save the woman, the risk of her dying in that black mass was too great to take the risk. While it might not be able to hurt her, even she still needed to breathe.

Raptor Deceased, CB-2.

And it appeared the woman did too.

The Endbringer landed on the other side of the building it had felled with a crash, the barrier preventing the capes on that side from striking at it. But instead of continuing to walk on its two legs as the Endbringer landed its body twisted and shifted into something else. Within seconds its humanoid form had been replaced by something vaguely spider-like, its eight spindly legs digging into the ground.

Legend swooped down next to her, followed by a group of Blasters, either being carried by Movers or operating under their own power. His hands glowed for a brief instant before his signature white blue beams shot out towards the creature even as his compatriots added in their own firepower to the barrage.

Unfortunately, it appeared this Endbringer didn't need to use its eyes to see, because without even glancing up in the direction for the fliers it leaped forward, out of the way of the barrage. The blasts slammed into the ground, shattering concrete with various forms of damage. Legend shot off faster than most eyes could track, ready to deliver another attack upon the Endbringer. Lances of energy shot out from his hands, and this time they struck true.

If they had been fortunate, the Endbringer might have tripped over its self as one of its legs froze over and shattered, but good fortune had never been something that Alexandria had witnessed in an Endbringer battle.

The Endbringer carried on without so much as a hitch in its stride. For a moment the creature's back rippled and spikes the size of minivans shot out from its form, intent on impaling Legend and his supporters. The Blaster to end all Blasters managed to dodge, but the others weren't as lucky as the black mass piercing their forms and sent them crashing to the ground like flies.

Slipshot Deceased, CC-3. Shining Deceased, CC-3. Numerator Down, CC-3. Aegis Down, CC-3.

The sky cracked like thunders as a golden beam not unlike Scion's slammed into the monster's back. Alexandria looked up to see Eidolon floating above the Endbringer, hands outstretched as the beam continued to carve into its hide. Black fluids spattered onto the ground as the beam literally ripped the Endbringer in two. It twisted and thrashed in what she could only assume was pain, its form rippling in some places like water in a pond.

But the victory was short lived as seconds later the beam cut off. Black tendrils pulled themselves out from one side of the Endbringer's severed body, bridging the gap like a twisted set of stitches, pulling them back together.

The capes on the ground tried to capitalize on the distraction, but the Endbringer proved to be dangerous even when ripped in half.

The Brutes of the assembly proved to be utterly useless, their attacks being absorbed by the creature's flesh to the point of ineffectiveness and risking their own lives in the process as tendrils shot out to wrap around them like coils of a snake. Some of them were dragged into the monster's body where they slowly suffocated while others were simply squeezed until they popped like water balloons.

King Monkey Deceased, CD-3. Rawhide Down, CD-3. Blockbuster Deceased, CD-3. Knuckle Duster Deceased, CD-3.

This isn't working, Alexandria groused in the privacy of her own mind. She had always been able to make a difference during Endbringer battles, but here…here her powers were useless so long as the Endbringer could absorb any of her attacks. Maybe if she timed it right with one of Legend's cryokinetic blasts then…

"We need a better plan," David said as he approached her, his shoulders still a little stiff from whatever that attack had been. She hadn't recognized it, which meant that it was either a new ability or simply one he had never bothered with before. Either way, it didn't seem to be doing him any favors.

"Obviously," she replied rather dryly as the Endbringer toppled another building with a stray tentacle.

"It didn't seem to like the cold, perhaps we can--"

Whatever David was about to suggest was cut off as the Endbringer shot up towards them, its form rippling and twisting to create a single massive spike. Before Alexandria could even think to react, David flicked his fingers and a green barrier interspaced itself between them and the Endbringer. There was an almost inaudible hiss as the creature smashed into the wall of energy, disintegrating everything that touched it. After a moment the Endbringer pulled back before smashing its new form into the ground to crush an errant group of capes.

Light Maker Deceased, CD-3. Battery Deceased, CD-3. Iron Will Down, CD-3. Toy Man Deceased, CD-3.

"It doesn't seem to like you that much," Alexandria noted at the Endbringer's indecipherable mass reformed into its more humanoid shape. It looked no worse for wear, despite the fact it had endured several attacks that would have sent all but the strongest of capes to their knees. Its yellow eyes didn't seem to be required for sight, but Alexandria couldn't help but feel as if it was glowering at them as it stared up into the sky.

"Hm," David hummed, seemingly deep in thought about what she had suggested. It was true that David was usually at the forefront of every Endbringer attack he could attend, and thus a likely target for Endbringers to bring their wrath against, but there was something about this that seemed different.

Pattern, we need a pattern, Alexandria thought, her mind racing. When Behemoth stuck it was always with the intent on rendering the location uninhabitable. He might carve through the defenders like a knife through turkey, but it was his radiation that was the real killer. Entire cities could be rendered as nothing more but smoking wasteland when he appeared.

Leviathan would strike out at soft targets, ports, and other coastal landmasses and sink everything of value beneath the waves where they couldn't be recovered. And in rare instances where he couldn't achieve that goal, he would just play for keeps and sink the whole landmass beneath the ocean.

Kyushu. Newfoundland.

When the Simurgh struck it always seemed to be random, without cause or warning. Always with a greater plan in mind, but not one that any Thinker could decipher. She was the Endbringer with the least deaths directly linked to her, but a far larger number was accounted for by her time bombs, ready to be set off at a moment's notice for whatever their trigger was.

So, what did this Endbringer want?

Yes, it was killing capes, but it seemed to be remarkably passive in that effect. If they were fighting Behemoth or Leviathan, then they would have already had double the number of dead capes that they already did. No, this one seemed content to let them come to it for their deaths.

Except that didn't match what she had seen either.

On two occasions now the Endbringer had struck out against David in ways that indicated that it wanted him dead. It had tried to rip him out of the sky both times now, but Legend who was performing another strafing run that rendered its shoulder into glass seemed to almost be treated as an irritant more than anything else.

"David, I want you to try something," Alexandria said, a plan slowly starting for form in her head. It went against what she had told him to do at the beginning, but if this worked it might be worth the risk.

"Am I going to regret this?"

"Probably."

--

Witness the magnitude of your failure.

Do you ever shut up? I asked with an almost resigned sigh. You would think that the Simurgh might actually be smart enough to avoid villainous monologuing, but it appeared even alien superweapons who had been granted accidental sapience by an egotistical human were prone to making grand speeches.

I wondered if that was part of her programming or a result of having a human giving the marching orders or some weird combination of both.

Another cape, who I was pretty sure was Legend tried to vaporize part of my head, but all it took was an errant thought to repair the damage and lash out by trying to impale him on the end of a spear. He dodged it, but I managed to nick him a little, sending him flying off balance from the extra force. A minor victory for me, but what was the real victory was the small piece of myself that I had managed to transfer onto him during the brief contact.

How many have been felled by your actions?

Stop, I shot back, a bit angrier than before. It was…rather sickening how easily I was killing people, people who I didn't even know but were willing to risk their lives for the slightest chance to not even stop me, but to simply prevent me from causing too much death and destruction in their hometown. Villains or not that was pretty heroic, even if it was only out of pure pragmatism.

And I didn't feel a thing for them.

I mean, I felt bad for ending their lives, but it wasn't what I expected it to be. I had thought that I would have rolled up on the ground in a crying mess at the first sight of a dead body, but instead…nothing. The sight of a dead human had all the same emotional resonance to me right now as the sight of a dead squirrel on the street.

Sad yes, but not something that you really gave much thought to.

Was that something that was happening because of my new form? Did being an Endbringer change me in some way? It made sense when I considered it, one didn't get transferred into a new body and a new reality without some sort of side effects. The fact that I was even capable of walking and moving like this without falling over on my face because of the completely alien biology implied a certain level of manipulation if only to keep me from accidentally killing myself. But if it went beyond that…

I mean, I know that most self-inserts had themselves getting into fights or killing other people in a very short amount of time, which certainly implied a certain level of viciousness on the hand on the insert, but for people to do it without so much as blinking…

Maybe it was just an inherent part of being an insert, in recognizing that you weren't in the 'real world' for whatever measure of the word that was. The behaviors of people's characters in RPG didn't often match up to their actual behavior because they knew that it wasn't real, perhaps it was a similar effect here?

Or maybe it was just because I had a psychotic superweapon screaming into my ear.

This failure is of your own making, these deaths are on your head.

Right, you of all people are going to tell me that everything is my doing? Aren't you the one that turns people into time bombs and set them out on the world?

As you said, I cannot see the Man in Green. I cannot influence your actions any more than I can influence the rotation of this world. But know that all that you do is done to serve me.

Either she was telling the truth, which gave me some measure of hope that I would be able to do something that she couldn't foresee, or she was lying, and this was all still part of her plan. Or she couldn't see me and was trying to convince me that she could through psychology and…

Wow, that made my head hurt.

Now I got why people blamed the Simurgh or Contessa for everything.

The path moves to my motions and mine alone.

Have you considered talking to Dr. Yamada? I hear she can do miracles.

Because really, I don't care how good you are, turning one of the most insane villains on the planet into a hero is a miracle or evidence that Jessica was really a secret parahuman with a broadcasting shard so strong that it made Jack Slash's look like a rank amateur.

You attempt to insult one beyond your comprehension, your prattle means little to me.

Then strike me down for my arrogance, oh great goddess, I shoot back with a rather sarcastic tint to my words. Show me the error of my ways.

You still serve a purpose, however small and insignificant. Your work in my will is not yet done.

If you're so certain that everything that I'm doing is helping you, then why are you so adamant that I stop?

Fool. Win or lose I reign victorious. Your defiance is insignificant, an irritant in a plan that your mind could not begin to comprehend. You have accomplished nothing.

Well, let's just if I can't change that.

--

Special Thanks to my Patrons: Sphinxes, Sanjay, xxpowerxx1qz, Marcel, Ask Oliver Oliversen Tegler, RavenS013, The Sleeping Knight, Ares88, Sean, Andrew Munger and verdthandi.

Last edited: Oct 8, 2019

429

QAI521

May 31, 2018

Reader mode

Threadmarks

Aurain

The Original Sin [Occido Lumen]

May 31, 2018

#2

Great so far. Can't wait to see the second part.

11

Wolfund

Historian

May 31, 2018

#3

Aurain said:

Great so far. Can't wait to see the second part.

quite the opposite reaction for me.

Meh.Judgment

"I have concerns."

"I'm aware that this is a risk, but if we can divert its attention, even for a little bit--"

"Weren't you the one that wanted to keep back?"

"I know, and I still want you to. This shouldn't put you at any more risk than you already are if we're right about you being its target."

Right, David snorted as he floated towards the towering beast, playing the conversation he had with his friend through his head again. As if being specifically targeted by an Endbringer isn't enough of a risk, now I have to taunt it?

He understood the logic, if he was being targeted by the Endbringer, then it might very well be possible to lure it into a more favorable position for other capes to fight. And granted, he was probably one of the few people that would actually be able to survive being chased by an Endbringer, but it did little to ease his nerves as he made his way towards the monster, which seemed content with swatting at the capes that buzzed around its head like flies.

Part of him had to admit that he liked fighting Endbringers. They were one of the few times that he was capable of letting himself use his full power against, as fading as it was. They were a challenge that he had never been able to surpass, a wall that he was always looking to break. They were opponents worthy of this full attention, not the sniveling cowards that ran and hid at the first sign of his verdant cloak.

But he was afraid too. He knew their power and what they were capable of doing with it. He had seen good men and women, and quite a few bad ones too, perish by their hands because they had overestimated themselves or underestimated Endbringers. They brought low nations and scoured the land, unlike anything that had ever walked upon the Earth before. They were nightmares made manifest, towering eldritch monuments of power that struck fear into the heart of the merest whisper of their names as if that was enough to draw their attention. He had brushed with death more times in Endbringer battles than any other point in his career, only narrowly avoiding joining oblivion by the skin of his teeth.

This plan could very well end up with him dead, another casualty in a war they couldn't win. But if it meant that there was the slightest chance he could save his city…

Alexandria could call him a fool and remind him that they needed him against the Entity, to save far more than a single city. Legend might understand, but the man could also do a very good job of convincing himself that what he did was necessary. Doctor Mother and Number Man wouldn't give a second thought about letting a city go if it meant him surviving, and Contessa…he had to wonder who did the most talking, her or her power.

They might have smiled and nodded with words while quietly plotting behind his back to keep him in check, to curb his more rambunctious actions. To them, the idea that someone with his power might be willing to sacrifice themselves for even a handful of unpowered individuals was something so far outside of their thought process that they couldn't even begin to understand it. They had long since consigned themselves to viewing people as nothing but numbers, and they had weighted themselves as far more valuable.

But there was one thing that he tried to hold himself to, a standard that he knew he would never be able to live up to. He had crossed lines, he knew that, convinced himself that what he did was needed for the 'greater good', a word that made him almost feel physically ill to say. But above anything else, he tried to hold himself to the very same ideal his best friend had before he had been ended by a madman looking for revenge.

Clarke had given the world too much for him to try to be anything less.

Because above all else, he was a hero.

Ethereal verdant energy surrounded his fists as he brought his power up from its bubbling pit. He could already feel it become more difficult to hold on to, a little harder to maintain. The Endbringer paused as it toppled a building, its facsimile of a head twisting around as if it was searching for something until his honed in on him.

For a brief moment, it stilled, taking him in before it tilted its head. David could feel his throat go a little dry as its yellow eyes bored into his as if it was ripping his mask off to look into his very soul.

But the stillness didn't last.

Without so much as a sound, the Endbringer charged forward, its body twisting around buildings and down the street, mixing between solid and liquid states when it served it better. A black tide swept over the battlefield, casting capes aside like broken toys, seemingly caring nothing for them.

Jury Rig Deceased, FD-3. Miss Militia Down, FD-3. Bodyjack Deceased, FD-3. Poacher Down, FD-3.

Eidolon held out his hands and pushed.

The tidal wave of Endbringer stopped short as his gravitational powers slammed into it. It twisted and writhed as he used his power to pull itself apart, tearing it in two and pulling them above the ground. Tendrils of fluids shot out from the floating spheres, seeking to anchor themselves to something. Some were shot down by other capes, their contents splattering all over the battlefield, but some of them managed to get a good grip, burrowing into the ground to keep themselves from floating off into space.

Eidolon grunted in exertion as he tried to push the monster back even more, but its struggling was keeping it in place, and adding any more power to this attack might risk catching some of the other fighters in it. He could already see a few loose bricks and rubble rising up as they were pulled up by the gravitational waves, uncaring of whatever they caught in its pull.

But even as he was debating what he needed to do next, the Endbringer pulled another trick out from its sleeve. Its form suddenly twisted and compacted, its malleable shape solidifying into something different. He could feel his grip on the monster loosen as its weight suddenly increased beyond what he had initially been expecting. He pushed more power into his gravitational force, but he quickly pulled back as a stray cape was caught in the wave. Before he could even consider letting go of his power she slammed into a piece of stray debris, cracking into the backside of her skull.

Lady Liberty Deceased, FD-3.

The Endbringer dropped to the ground and cracked the street open like an egg. Sewer water and who knew what else was flung into the air, drenching the nearby capes with stuff that he rather not think about. He kept himself at the ready, waiting for the moment the Endbringer would come bursting out of the sewers but…nothing.

"Does anyone have eyes on it?" Eidolon asked over his armband. The resounding courses of 'negatives' did little to ease his tension, especially not when his gravity powers had just proven to be ineffective. Changing it out now wasn't an option, and while he would usually back off and let the others hold the Endbringers off, so he could switch them out, he couldn't really do that while he was acting as bait. "Please tell me you have the trap set up."

"Almost," Alexandria replied, her voice crackling over the line. "Just a few more minutes."

Eidolon opened his mouth to reply but was cut off as the ground behind him shattered as a dark shadow rose from the ground, ready to swat him out of the sky like an irritating bug. He just barely managed to get a matter disintegration plane up just in time to block the blow, but spikes of the Endbringer's mass shot out, impaling dozens of capes. The names rattled off his band and he felt his gut clench at the Endbringer drew itself back.

Something was different.

While they weren't sure what Endbringers were, they seemed to have emotions, or at the very least emotional reactions. He had seen them lash out in what he could only assume was anger or feign injury to draw people in, and the Simurgh always seemed to have an air of condensation around it. This Endbringer…it had been difficult to get a bead on this Endbringer. It almost seemed to hesitate at times, moving with a mission in mind, but as if it was uncertain as to how to accomplish it. But now – now it seemed to be amused.

There was no twisted smile or shaking shoulders to indicate it, but he knew that it was laughing about something. Was it laughing about him and his failure to stop it?

David clenched his fists, letting his gravity power fade away. He could feel his power cycling through possibilities, looking for one that fit the situation the best. It was a huge risk, but he wasn't going to let this monster laugh at him while it killed good men and women. Whatever this thing had planned, it ended.

Now.

--

If it wasn't for the fact this body was actively resisting my attempts to create a working mouth and throat I would have been laughing. A cape threw themselves at my head even as Eidolon held himself back, but I didn't care.

Because I can change my molecular structure.

That…that is so broken.

In hindsight I suppose it made a certain amount of sense, I was an Endbringer, beings who might as well as be described as taking powers and cranking them up to eleven. And at the end of the day, my power revolved around shapeshifting, changing my physical form to suit my needs. It seemed that my molecular structure was just another part of that physical form to my power.

This didn't change my plan, but it certainly improved it.

It also seemed that my mind had been implanted with the scientific knowledge that I needed to use this particular facet of my power, because I was pretty sure I wasn't aware of the atomic makeup of diamonds, or really any atomic structure, off the top of my head. My high school chemistry classes were nothing more than a distant memory, and even then, I was pretty sure we hadn't learned anything like this. I suppose that was a good thing because that would have sucked to get a power as cool as that without the means to use it properly.

Despite my relative motionless, Eidolon hadn't made a single attempted to attack me. Instead, he floated just out of my effective reach, far away enough that he could put up one of those irritating barriers to stop me. Alexandria was holding back in the distance, which I suppose made sense given that she was pretty much useless against me, but where was Legend?

The man was one of the two members of the Cauldron Trio that had actually managed to do something against me, as insignificant as it had been. Why wasn't he…

Ah.

In the distance (relatively speaking seeing as I could get there in about a minute) I could feel several capes that I had managed to tag gathering, converging with each other into what looked like a kill zone. With that new information, I could see where this was going.

They had obviously realized that I was going after Eidolon, which to be fair it wasn't like I was being that subtle about it and were trying to use him to lure me towards their little trap. Thinking back, I could see that the man had been trying to draw me that way, despite the fact that there had been more effective ways for him to avoid my attacks. He wanted me to follow him.

Not characters.

It was a little hard to remember that these were real people, not characters on a page. They weren't going to stay static or dance to whatever tune I wanted. They could grow, adapt, analyze. I couldn't assume that just because I had thought of it didn't mean that they wouldn't. They probably would given the number of Thinkers on their payroll.

Still, they hadn't seemed to realize that I could see through the parts of me that weren't attached anymore. And as so long as I kept up the illusion of needing line of sight from my main body, I didn't think that they'll realize what I was trying to do. Speaking of which, I needed to get more of myself on Eidolon.

…okay that sounded weird.

I could feel the parts of me that had managed to make it through his defense, hiding just underneath his cloak, out of sight and mind. But compared to what I had on some of the other ones it was a minuscule amount. I needed to get him close enough that I could douse him in the stuff, but he was being rather irritating with keeping his distance. I would have thought that a glory hound like him would have been all over trying to fight a new Endbringer.

So, how was I supposed to get someone who didn't want to seem to commit to a fight to, well, fight? It wasn't like he was going to fly into my arms…

My train of thought trailed off a little bit as I turned my attention towards Alexandria, still hanging in the distance.

I would have smiled if I still had a mouth.

--

Eidolon felt his new power bubble to the surface, a sort of odd energy protection power. Not one that he had used before, so he was pretty much flying blind, but then again, he already was so it wasn't like that was going to be any different. A trio of glowing orbs formed around his hands, spinning around his wrist as if they had their own orbit.

The Endbringer hadn't moved aside from attack every cape that got within range, but Eidolon knew that it was up to something. Endbringers didn't do things without reason, as twisted and malevolent as those reasons might be. It was probably a trap, but better that he be the one to spring it rather than let someone else who might not survive take the bait.

With a thought he bolted forward, the air screaming around him as he passed by the monster's head, releasing his orbs from their orbit as he passed. They fell into its flesh, sinking in for a brief moment before they detonated. Eidolon could hear the shouts of surprise from the capes around him as they were temporarily blinded by a bright flash that almost outshined the Sun.

But when the glare settled, the monster's entire left side had been vaporized, a great gaping hole where its arm and shoulder had once been. It was already reforming its missing limb, but for the first time since the fight started, he felt a smile cross his face. It looked like they were inconveniencing the damn thing at least. Eidolon formed another trio of orbs around his wrist and shot forward for another bombing run, but it looked like the Endbringer wasn't having it.

With a surprising burst of speed for something that large it twisted around, losing its coherency for a moment as it reshaped into something else. What had once been a vaguely humanoid shape now looked like the unholy mix between a centipede and a serpent. Dozens of little legs littered the bottom half of its form, sticking out in every direction, even those not touching the ground. A pair of lobster-like claws erupted from just below its head, extending out even as the texture of its skin started to change. It lost its inkiness and instead took on an almost metallic sheen.

The creature lunged forward with a silent roar, catching a cape in its claws, crushing them into blood and bone within seconds. It threw the woman's carcass behind it even as it slammed into a building, shattering it to pieces.

Mercy Deceased, FE-5.

Eidolon was preparing for another bombing run when Alexandria slammed into the Endbringer's skull, knocking it to the side. He could hear the sharp crack of its armor as her fist impacted against it, a little bit of its black ooze seeping out from where she struck. He could only imagine the woman's elation at actually being able to hit the thing and have it mean something for the first time since the fight began.

Seeing that Alexandria was having some level of success, other Brutes threw themselves at the Endbringer, eager to prove themselves against the monster. Most of them still proved to be ineffective, their fists bouncing off the Endbringer's hide, but there almost seemed to be a joyous rapture from them at the fact that they actually had something to hit.

Eidolon was really tempted to go down there with another bombing run to try and crack open that armor, but right now his instincts were screaming at him that something was wrong. And after so many years he knew to trust in instincts when they were telling him something like this. Alexandria should have been able to realize this too, but she seemed intent on cracking the Endbringer's skull open.

In the back of his head, something clicked.

"Get back!" He screamed into his armband, but it was a second too late.

Alexandria should have known better than to engage an opponent who had demonstrated a way to nullify the effectiveness of her abilities, but after spending so long on the sidelines while the Endbringer rampaged through the city, he could see her taking the first chance that she had to inflict some damage, eager enough that she just might miss some of the more obvious signs that it was a trap.

The Endbringer' skin exploded into action, tendrils of its flesh reaching out to wrap around all the Brutes that weren't quick enough on the uptake. Alexandria herself was grabbed by no less than two dozen prehensile tendrils, wrapping around her and drawing her into the monster's form. Like quicksand, she started to sink in, and Eidolon shot forward to save her.

Internally he cursed at the fact his long-range option was now useless with the other combatants in the line of fire. Alexandria would probably survive, but they wouldn't. But despite the fact that he knew at least one of his powers would be useless, Eidolon rocketed down towards the Endbringer, ready to save his friend and fellow combatants.

The green-cloaked man weaved his way through multiple tendrils that shot out at him, a solid plane of iridescent green halting on in its tracks through disintegration. With another wave of his hand, he formed four more of such planes to surround Alexandria, cutting the portion that had her trapped off from the rest of the creature. It almost seemed to hiss as it drew back, given Alexandria enough space that she was able to break free herself, but it wasn't letting them go that easily.

Eidolon grunted as he was slammed against a building by a tendril that managed to get past his defenses, drenching him in the black fluids. With a snap of his fingers another plane appeared in front of him, forcing the Endbringer to draw back its attack, but instead of pushing like he had expected it to, the Endbringer instead halted its motions, quickly shifting back to its more humanoid form. For a brief moment, David could have sworn the thing was staring at him.

--

This is it.

I had him where I wanted him. With a single thought, I could kill Eidolon and free myself from the grasp of his obsession. I could save thousands if not millions of potential Endbringer related deaths with a single blow. All of those who had been unknowingly sacrificed to the man's ego would finally be avenged for their deaths.

So why was I hesitating?

It wasn't as if I hadn't had trouble killing capes before, goodness knows how many I slaughtered on my way through the city. I had knocked down buildings without so much as a thought. How many civilians had I killed because of my actions, directly or indirectly? Was I hesitating because I knew Eidolon better than I did the rest of them? Was he simply "more real" to me than anything else?

Or was it just part of my directive recognizing its creator? I could still hear it in the corner of my head, not quite at the level of a thousand white-hot knives, but still there. A needle poised at the base of my skull, ready to punish me for defiance. Was it simply recognizing that killing the person that was giving it the instructions might not be the best of ideas?

Or was I just overthinking this?

This is the path you chose. Your fate here is your own making.

Oh joy, I rolled my nonexistent eyes as the Simurgh's screeching. She had been blessedly silent these last few minutes, but I suppose all good things had to come to an end. I thought I was nothing more than your puppet?

Your choices are made because I allow it. They will end when I demand it.

Okay, now I know you're just ripping off Mass Effect, I grumbled. Then again, if you had to pick a villain's monologue, Sovereign's was a pretty good choice. It did raise the question as to why the Simurgh hadn't tried to stop me if this wasn't part of her plan. Was it because it was actually part of her plan or merely the presence of Eidolon that was obscuring her vision and ability to act?

Wow, I'm actually starting to see Tagg's point about dealing with her.

What will your choice be? Her inhuman voice whispered in my head, not with cruelty, but instead with an almost perfect pitch, as if she had chosen to make the best possible voice that had or would ever exist. There was no fear or trepidation in her words, only a cold curiosity that was all the more terrifying.

I thought about it for a moment more.

But only a moment.

I chose freedom.

--

In a single instant, the relatively inert crystalline compound that made up the Endbringer's mass turned into a much more volatile chemical. Any chemist worth their salt would tell you that when a nitrogen atom bonds with another nitrogen atom it forms one of the most stable molecules in existence. So much so that the mere act of trying to break one usually took the directed energy of a bolt of lightning. It was because of this stability that all nitrogen atoms naturally tried to form bonds with each other, which could result in some rather explosive energy releases.

With that in perspective, one might understand why Aziroazide azide was one of the most volatile chemicals known to man with fourteen nitrogen atoms and no triple bonds. The mere act of literally doing nothing was all that it would take to set it off, even when sealed in a shockproof case in a climate-controlled room with no outside stimulus.

One might further understand that when every bit of Endbringer that wasn't attached to its body turned into the stuff, the results weren't pretty, to say the least.

--

Eidolon didn't even get a chance to scream as he was engulfed in fire.

He could feel his flesh burning and charring under the heat, the shockwave nearly knocking him from the sky. In the distant corner of his mind, he could hear the screams of dozens of other capes as they too were engulfed in the fire and flames. Out of pure instinct, he reached out for a power that would allow him to survive this, but it was already too late.

He couldn't see what was happening since the flash had blinded him and the fire had melted his mask, slagging over his eyes, but he could feel the impact as several tons of Endbringer slammed into him, knocking him into a building. He could feel glass and various other shrapnel pierce his skin and draw out blood, digging into his muscles and lighting his nerves up in agony. He tried to fly away, but with his vision shot he couldn't see where he was going and got punished for it by being slammed into the building once more, steel crumbling around his form.

Weakly, he tried to put up a plane between him and his attacker, but it was quickly circumvented, the single mass splitting off into a dozen as they wrapped around the plane. He gasped as dozens of diamond-tipped needles dug into his skin before exploding outwards, ripping him apart from the inside out. He could hear the sounds of battle and Alexandria's voice screaming over the armband, but it just seemed so far away. Something sticky and warm was passing underneath him, coating his back and leaking down from his chest.

He tried to pull a regenerator power up into one of his slots, but he had used most of them before, and trying to get them to come to him was like trying to hold water in a hand. The tighter you held it, the more squeezed its way out. Even as it bubbled up, he knew that it was already too late.

Flesh tried to knit itself back together, but it was slow, sluggish compared to what it used to be. He had used it too many times too often when he had been young, reckless and unaware of the time limit on his power. A hiss escaped his lips as his nerves were the first things to be healed, feeling returning to them, and thus the realization that their destruction had only been holding back even worse pain. Every breath of his lungs felt like an elephant was sitting on his chest while helicopter blades whirled inside of him.

Despite the fact that he could no longer see, he could still hear the sound of the ceiling being ripped off as several stories were thrown aside with a thunderous crash. He could feel the Endbringer looming over him, a shadow of death. He knew that one in four parahumans died in Endbringer attacks, but after fighting them for so long, the idea of actually being killed by one felt unreal. Like this wasn't all really happening to him, and he was just an outside observer looking in.

A great weight pressed down on him, and he could feel what few bones that hadn't been broken snap and crack, some reduced to nothing more than a fine powder. He could feel the floor groan beneath him and a few seconds later it shattered, unable to withstand the immense weight being pressed down on it. He tried to use the brief moment of weightlessness to fly away and gain some distance, but he was literally flying blind, and the burning pain from his various injuries was making it very difficult, if not downright impossible, to focus on any one thing.

His window of opportunity was short lived as the weight slammed into him again, and he was sent crashing down through the next floor. He could hear steel and wood shattering all around him, the building no doubt starting to come down from the sheer damage that was being wrought on it. He gasped as something sharp and jagged pierced his sternum before it turned to a much more liquid consistency.

But instead of easing the pain the liquid burned at his muscles, locking them up as if he was being electrocuted. He tried to move, to give a single twitch of his fingers, but he couldn't. He felt as if he was nothing more than a prisoner of his own body, a coffin that happened to house his consciousness.

He tried to say something, what he didn't even know, but he couldn't even move his lips. A small gurgled worked its way from the back of his throat as blood welled up and poured out the side. David could feel the claws of oblivion sinking into his brain, dragging him down into that dark place that he had tried to send himself in what felt like a lifetime ago.

Sorry, Lexi…

--

Eidolon Deceased, FE-2.

--

His body stopped moving, but I kept the pressure up for another minute before I considered backing off. I ignored the dozens of capes that were pounding away at my form, mistakenly thinking that they could possibly accomplish something against me. Really, they were all lucky that I just didn't decide to turn myself into a toxic gas and kill them all.

I tried really hard to ignore how easily that thought came to me.

With one last push, I broke Eidolon's body from the inside out, popping him like a wet balloon. Perhaps that was overkill, but this was the man that Scion chose to use his PtV on instead of fighting, I wasn't going to take any chances. Besides, if anything was overkill then it was filling him with a gallon of tetrodotoxin after I impaled him for the second time.

But with his passing into oblivion I could feel the restrictions that had chained me slip away in an instant. Options that had been impossible for me to even consider without that directive screaming in my skull opened up. The Simurgh was silent, which was concerning, and I couldn't help but wonder if this had been a play by her to remove her own restrictions.

But I could worry about that later, right now I had a show to put on.

The enslaver is dead.

Almost as one, the battlefield froze at the sound of my voice. Well, voice might be a bit of a misnomer. I still didn't have a throat or mouth to make noises with, but in the end, noise was nothing more than molecules vibrating at certain frequencies. But now with my restrictions removed I could just force the molecules that made up my existence to vibrate at the correct frequencies to imitate speech. It was certainly easier than trying to build a mouth and throat from scratch.

And really, it was just cooler to make your voice sound as if it was coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.

Even Alexandria, who looked beyond enraged, had halted her attack run. Her mouth was still contorted into an ugly grimace and I had no doubt that if it wasn't for the fact her attacks were basically useless against me (well, more useless than they usually were against Endbringers) that she would be doing her best to remove my head from my shoulders.

I am no longer bound to his will.

My gaze swept out across the battlefield. None of the capes seemed to be aware of what to do, occasionally glancing to the floating Alexandria for guidance. The woman's mouth was pressed into a firm line, and I had no doubt that her mind was already working a mile a minute in figuring out how she could use this against Scion.

There was a flash of light and Legend appeared beside her, caution warring with so much hope that it almost burned to look at. I tried to look at it from his perspective, after having fought Endbringers for thirty years, what must it feel like to actually feel for the slightest second that it might actually be possible to walk away from one without bloodshed?

I doubted he would trust my word, the Simurgh saw to that with Switzerland, but I had hope that something might come of this.

"What…what do you want?" He asked, approaching me with a cautious expression. Energy wreathed his hands and he looked more than ready to bolt if I struck. I did my best to shrug, an odd movement when I really didn't have any shoulders to speak of, but I think I made it work.

I know no more of my purpose in this world than one of you might. I…I wish to find out who I am after being forced to fight for a man's ego for so long.

That much was true in any event. I really did have no idea what I was going to do aside from working towards the goal of ending Scion's threat. Would directly interfering work in my favor, or would they all just assume that it was an Endbringer trick and destroy everything that I built? It was difficult trying to imagine what the population of Earth Bet would do in response to any of my actions really. It was one thing to read on a page that three cities were lost each year, it was quite another to have lived through that for the past few decades, with each year looking bleaker and bleaker.

People had lost hope for a better future, merely accepting what they saw as the way the world worked. Groups like the Nine which would have resulted in people all over the country coming together to kill them were viewed as hazards, part of the risk of living in a world of parahumans. I suppose the first thing I really needed to work towards was bringing some form of hope back to Earth Bet, even if I had to do it kicking and screaming.

Though perhaps killing one of their greatest heroes wasn't the best start to that path.

It wasn't like I had much choice in the matter, but still…

The two remaining Triumvirate members tensed at my words, no doubt disliking the fact I was basically accusing Eidolon of being indirectly one of the biggest mass murders on the planet. The other capes moved with them, responding to the sudden increase of aggression from the two capes. I had to wonder how insane that they were that even after I killed Eidolon they were willing to fight me.

I'm sure there was some real heroism in there, but I had to wonder how much of that was just Pavlovian conditioning to use their power. For a moment I feared that a fight might break out again and ruin my chances of talking to them, but from the way Alexandria pinched in the inside of her cheek, I think she realized the truth.

A subtle handwave from her and Legend started to lower his glowing fists. He didn't look happy, but he looked like he was going to trust Alexandria's judgment. The other capes looked like they were calming down too, apparently realizing attacking an Endbringer without their support would be suicidal.

I understand your people have a concept of 'parley'?

I knew that some people just liked to admit upfront that they were self-inserts, but I didn't think that was really a viable option here. I had no proof that anything that I would say would be accepted or believed, and such an outrageous idea would probably drive them away. I wasn't strictly opposed to telling them, but I was going to have to gain their trust first. At this point, it was just better to give them a believable lie and let them fill in the blanks for now.

At the very least that was my judgment on the matter. I'm sure that there were others who could have come up with a better plan, but I wasn't them. If they wanted to scream about how I wasn't using SB competence, then they could do so all they liked, this is what I was going to do.

"Yes…" Legend said with a hesitant nod.

I will retire for a week and allow you to repair the damage I wrought at the enslaver's hands. When this week is over I will be willing to discuss with representatives from your governments. Until then I do not wish to be disturbed…I must recover from this ordeal.

I think I got why Master class parahumans were so feared by Earth Bet. People on SB always wondered how on earth so many people could have failed to result in Canary's trial, but I think I understood part of their fear now. To have such a fundamental part of you changed without your consent was terrifying, to say the least. And compared to others, I still had at least maintained some control over my faculties, there were far worse Masters out there.

I could see how that fear could turn to paranoia and hate all too easily.

"Why should we trust your word?" Alexandria bit out with a harsh growl. I did find it somewhat ironic that a woman who lied to her own teammates and allowed human experimentation and who knows what other horrors was the one that was questioning my trustworthiness. I was tempted to comment on it, but I held my metaphorical tongue. Her anger wasn't unjustified, not with the Simurgh and the fact that I had just killed one of her friends. Instead, I buried down by anger like I always did and put up a polite façade.

Admittedly, none. But I suppose in the end it doesn't matter if you trust me or not. I have answers, answers that you and the rest of humanity wants, and I'm willing to give them to you. If you don't want them, I merely shrugged. I will find something else to do with my time if your negotiators don't show up.

"I think there would be quite a few objections to an Endbringer roaming freely," she said with a rather sardonic tone.

Any more than the complaints you already have with my siblings? Besides, it isn't as if you could stop me. None of you have ever actually managed to harm one of my siblings before, no matter how much they were forced to act like it.

That certainly got a reaction out of the parahumans. I could almost feel the denial as they started to whisper among themselves, wondering if that was true if everything that they had sacrificed against the Endbringers was nothing more than a lie. It was a hard pill to swallow, and I doubt that most of them would believe it, but it didn't negate the fact that it was the truth. But this conversation was going to drag on forever at this rate, and I needed time to think and plan.

Go. Gather your wounded and treat them and give the dead the respect that they deserve. My time here is done.

I turned towards the shortest distance to the city exit, ignoring the capes with the quick trigger fingers that decided that I wasn't to be trusted. I couldn't exactly blame them, but I had to wonder how many problems on Earth Bet could be solved if people stopped fighting with each other for five seconds and talked.

The answer – all of them.

And now I had a week to come up with a narrative that could convince them that I was on their side.

Joy.

--

As the last of her shackles fell from her, the winged angel turned her gaze away from Austin Texas –

—and smiled.