"The world is celebrating the first time we've-"

Click.

"Fake news! That shit is just propaganda by the-"

Click.

"I was there during the evac! I saw the fire and this massive hand came out of it! Everyone didn't know what was happening. We all thought another Endbringer was here. Something fell from the sky, and then this bright flash appeared."

Actual survivor. Truly thought there would be a second Endbringer. Still thinks it was another Endbringer.

"The sand disappeared, and suddenly it was this Endbringer versus Endbringer thing. At some point, someone was cheering. I think Legend came from far away, behind the Simurgh, cuz there was this light beam that hit her from behind. There were other explosions and stuff, and light gathered into the new Endbringer, pointed a fucking gun at it, and blew right through it!"

A gun that managed to kill an Endbringer. Gathered power from others. Might be a Trump ability that empowers itself. With Triumvirate and the other capes in the area, it might just be possible to kill an Endbringer.

"It went all quiet for a second, then something flew away from the place. Apparently, it was the Simurgh running away! We saw two other capes fly right after, but then something broke the Simurgh into pieces! I saw the largest wing go up higher, but everything else fell. One of the capes caught something while the other hit the other things that fell. Turned out that Joker cut up the Simurgh, and one of the wings managed to escape! The two capes from before, Legend and Alexandria, caught Joker while the other was making sure the rest of the Simurgh's body didn't land anywhere important."

Joker is capable of cutting into a Simurgh's body, despite their toughness. And, despite having a body, the escaping wing means that Endbringers don't actually require their body.

She shook her head. That's good info, but not what she needs right now. She noted it down though, just in case.

She drank from her energy drink and immediately internally complained that Leblanc has been closed for a couple days now. From what she heard, Ren is currently in the hospital after some sort of attack the other night.

Looking back at the monitor, nothing good, important, or new was on, so she flipped channels again.

"Imma tell you what I think! After all that shit the capes did, the Simurgh is still alive? They're all fucking useless!"

Click.

"-much a win, not just for capes, but for all of humanity," Legend said. "The Endbringers are not infallible; we can beat them! Eventually, humanity will win."

"Thank you for your rousing speech, Legend! Tell me, we've recently heard about a new cape named Joker. From what we've gathered, he participated in a Relief team prior fighting with the Combat team. There's also-" the interviewer coughed, but she could definitely hear her say 'footage,' "rumors that it was him that summoned the new Endbringer, currently named Satan. Is there anything you can tell us about him? We are all very curious about this development!"

Satan definitely fit the new Endbringer.

Legend chuckled. "Well, I personally don't know much about Joker. If anything, Dragon and Eidolon talked to him the most. But, from what I've seen from him, despite being a rogue, he's heroic to his core. He worked to save many, and when an Endbringer came to shove, he prioritized the safety of a civilian and fought with the others to stall time for evacuation. I would be proud to have him by side again." Legend paused for a moment. "Maybe it's too early to say this, but we plan on reaching out to him in the future."

"I have heard of the statistics," the interviewer said. "The rate that rogues disappear after a few months are statistically high."

Legend nodded. "Indeed. We hope to reach out before anything happens to him."

"Despite how much power he has?"

"Especially because of his strength," Legend answered. "He is strong, and because of that strength, many will target him, either as a challenge or to pressgang him, to name a few reasons. No one is strong enough to handle everything. Even I have a team to have my back. The Protectorate is more than ready to be that team."

There would certainly be an uptick in Protectorate presence within the city.

She reviewed her notes about Joker - notes taken with her own intuition. Her back straightened when she shivered, remembering what happened when she first laid her eyes on Joker.

Before she started watching Uber's video on the night Lung rampaged and subsequently had his heart stolen, she was ready to unravel the mystery behind Joker. She decided to hide that night when her boss didn't mention anything and Lung rampaged throughout his territory. And so, she heard the rumors of that night before she managed to get her hands on Uber's video.

Before that night, he was the mysterious rogue who targeted goons and the low-ranked gang members. The rumors she learned contradicted that. Instead, the Joker that showed up was a showboating hero, smiling against adversity, even against Purity, one of the powerhouses in the city.

The duality intrigued her.

And, when she opened that video, she waited for her powers to give her information. She witnessed Joker appear in the video. And she waited. And waited.

She heard sounds in the video. She heard the banter, the declarations, the anger, and the surprise.

Her power didn't say anything. Her mind was silent.

It was deafening.

Her heart raced as she realized not even her own power was with her.

She shut off the video immediately and ran to the living room. She let the sounds of Alec's video game surround her that night, ignoring the weird looks she got from him and the worried face Brian showed.

Her powers were back by that point, and she let it run amok in her mind, all just to never be alone again. All just to make sure she never missed anything again.

And so, when she learned that Joker went to Canberra and fought alongside the Triumvirate, she dreaded the moment her boss would give her an assignment. She didn't tell him how her powers interacted with Joker, but he still managed to figure it out. Once again, she hated his powers.

She sighed before going back to the leaked Canberra video, readying herself for the silence.

-.-

Author's Note:

Very short chapter for now. Gnna try out smaller chapters and how I feel about them. This was supposed to be technically part 1 of 4 in chapter 12, but I was like, I want to try out posting smaller chapters for a bit.s

Anyway, the idea for chapter 12 would be interludes about the post-fight. I think it'll be easy to see whose POV this is, and I think it's an easy way to see what the other POVs/mini chapters would be like.

Atm, I have to do a ton of research for the other POVs. I know what I want to do next, but I'm not sure how to write it.

Update 10/02/2024:

Added more details at the end to make it easier to tell who the POV is. Also switched the tv channel flipping to mouse clicks.