4.9 - Catherine
"The after action report of what later became classified as the Brockton-Calernia Incident is perhaps the single most classified and redacted document in existence. Even knowledge of the report's general contents requires top secret access, viewing the redacted version requires relevant compartmentalized clearance, and it's been postulated that no one actually has ever seen the full, unredacted report."
- Interview with the retired PRT Director of New York, later withdrawn from publication
I was getting a surprising hang for this spinning through the air thing, which was worrying. My stomach only lurched a little bit now and the voice in the back of my head that absolutely loathed heights had screamed itself hoarse by now and given up. It wasn't so bad, to be able to duke it out with a hero in the middle of the sky. I wasn't in the middle of the Fifteenth, having to worry about taking out my own troops. There were a lot fewer issues with collateral damage. Well, except when Alexandria threw me into buildings, which she did seem to be moderately fond of, but they weren't my buildings.
And I got time to ponder as well. Fights were normally quick things. Typically people who let their head wander in thought when blades came out were the first to have it wander from their shoulders, but when you were careening across the sky, there was sometimes nothing to do for a few seconds but appreciate the view. Perhaps that was the multiple, severe concussions talking and I was just getting a bit loopy. She did also seem fond of hitting me in the face, though I was pretty sure I was shrugging that off nearly as well as she was, so it felt a bit personal.
So it was while I was being spun by my ankles, Alexandria hefting me up through the sky with the intent to fling me somewhere probably utterly insane this time, which I would have to fly back from and inevitably do something equally asinine to her, that I noticed something above. There were some beautiful clouds, tall, white, covering the sky. It wasn't quite a clear blue day. But peeking between the clouds there was a small figure I could spy.
"That's a really big bird," I tried to comment over the rushing air to Alexandria.
"We're three miles up, there's no birds up there, it's probably a plane," she commented off-handedly as she began to shift the angle she was whipping me around at. Ah, she was about to throw me.
"Then why is it coming down towards us?" I shouted over the wind to her.
Alexandria, ever the paragon of heroes, looked up while still holding onto my ankles. She clearly saw what I did, which was something large and off-white descending from above at a rather fast speed. It had to be coming from quite high up, or perhaps my perspective was off. I wasn't used to judging things that flew, so it was a bit difficult still at times.
The statuesque woman, however, seemed surprised, as she let go of my ankles. The momentum she had built up sent me careening off into the wild blue yonder, though not nearly as badly as I had expected. I only flew down towards the city limits, which were in much better shape than the area of the city we had been fighting over. That was essentially razed to the ground at this point and I was thankful Black wasn't around to see that. I suspected he wouldn't have approved of how inefficient this plan was so far.
Making my way back towards the portal, I kept low, close to the buildings, lest I get shot by Legend again on my approach. That man had ridiculous aim and it was rather unfair that he could make his projectiles track me. I knew roughly where the Undersiders were and sure enough, a little bit of scanning around and I saw a fight going on near the outskirts of our own bigger one. A black mist of some sort was blanketing the battlefield and giant monstrous dogs darted in and out. There were several heroic-looking types trying to circle around, one was trying to clear the mist as well, but I couldn't really make out any of them from this distance. I didn't really have time to get bogged down in a different fight, let alone one I knew nothing about, I needed to find Tattletale and get information.
On the roof of one of the low, squat buildings that advertised being a store for guns, cigarettes, and tobacco related accessories, I saw the figure of what might have been Regent. Poofy hair, vaguely regal, kind of an asshole… I changed course, heading closer. Yeah, that was Regent alright.
Dropping down next to him as his focus was seemingly elsewhere, I whisper-shouted, "Regent? I need Tattletale. You all alright?"
"Holyyyy shit," he yelled back, pointing the scepter at me. "You can't just drop from the sky like the fucking Triumvirate on people in the middle of a fight." He paused for a moment as if only then finally processing what I had said. "Oh, uh yeah, these guys are annoying, but they're chumps. Tats? Sure, here, I've got a radio."
He dug a flesh-colored bundle out of his ear, offering it over to me. It was, I admit, not my most graceful moment, taking it and then trying to figure out if I was supposed to press it or talk into it.
"Oh my god, just…here," Regent said, fiddling with it for me.
Speaking, I tried it out, "Tattletale? I'm headed back, Alexandria threw me pretty far, what's going on?"
A pause, where I wasn't sure if the technology was working, then a reply, the line thick with static and panting breaths, "Squire? Oh thank god you're still here. We have to pull back through the portal pronto. Get your friends, plan's fubar'd."
"What do you mean?" I asked, needing clarification both on direction and on what she meant as she tended to lapse into slang when talking quickly and stressed.
She responded quickly, "The Triumvirate are running scared. I intercepted some of their radio chatter. They think the Simurgh is on route."
"Does it happen to look like a big bird? Or like..a bunch of wings stuck to a lady?" I asked, with a sudden sense that everything was about to come together.
"What the fuck are you guys talking about," Regent asked, only hearing my half of the conversation. I ignored him.
There was a long, hesitant pause. "...Squire, what did you see?"
"When I was fighting Alexandria up in the sky I pointed out what looked like something really big slowly coming down towards us," I answered, mustering all the honesty of Masego. "Kind of like a bird."
Tattletale didn't respond for a few seconds and then it just sounded like someone trying to muffle themselves by screaming into a bag, or perhaps into Scrub's shoulder from the indistinguishable distant sounds of distress distorted by radio.
"Tattletale?" I asked, starting to get worried.
I was missing something here. Our fight had attracted something's attention, but I didn't know this world like they did. In Calernia if there was to be death from above, I'd think Angels or Gnomes. Here though…some capes flew, sure, but I didn't remember any that came from, what was it called, space? It was still an odd concept. I knew the Moon was haunted, yet another reason to destroy it, but it definitely wasn't the Moon coming down.
"Squire," Tattletale finally replied. "That's the Simurgh. You saw the Simurgh."
Wait, like…
the Simurgh? The Endbringer I had vaguely heard about that apparently showed up every random number of months and destroyed a city, killing thousands or more, and mindfucking people? The immortal monster that wandered the world, terrorizing everyone?
That thing?
And it looked like a big, funky bird-lady?
"The Simurgh?"
"The fucking what?" Regent asked, whipping his head around back to me. Distracted from his task of removing the muscular control from a hero's calves as they attempted to sneak past Bitch's pack. The man, instead of falling over, suffered a severe muscle cramp which left him bent over and grasping at the offending knot right as the monstrous dog caught sight of him and charged.
"New plan: get everyone." Tattletale said. "Now. We're leaving. Apprentice is probably outside her precog and maaaaybe you, but the rest of us are fucked if we stay. We need to get through that portal. Get my team, we're going through."
"What about the Protectorate?"
"Fuck the Protectorate, they want to fight the giant death angel on her home turf, that's their choice. I'm going to Narnia to get us some magic fucking swords. Precog that."
Regent had a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, what's she saying?" I heard screams of pain in the background from beneath the pack of dogs.
I turned to him and shrugged. Half of what she said was lost on me, but I was getting the general shape of things. "She said we're leaving immediately and getting some 'magic fucking swords'."
Regent motioned for the radio back and I quickly handed it back over. There was some quick chatter as the Undersiders coordinated their retreat. Fortunately the Protectorate didn't seem too interested in chasing, they were also pulling back from the looks of it. From what I vaguely understood there was a sort of truce in place around Endbringers? But I wasn't sure if that was going to happen here. It was a nice dream, but in my experience Heroes didn't tend to be willing to compromise enough to genuinely work with others.
I could've flown a couple of the Undersiders over, but I couldn't carry all of them plus Bitch's dogs, which she refused to leave, so we had to go together. Going by dog wasn't particularly slow, but we were targets that way. That was why I was staying above, providing cover, rather than flying ahead. We had to divert north, crossing pockmarked roads, possibly my fault, to pick up Parian and Foil who seemed none too happy with us, but were still happier to be with us than stuck in the city with a rapidly descending Simurgh.
We ran into Tattletale and two of her mercenaries, who looked like they had barely gotten through the scrap. I didn't see hide nor hair of the other capes.
As Foil started dismounting, Tattletale walked over, smacking on her calf. "There's no time for that. We go straight for the portal. Speed and surprise."
The purple-clad villain grabbed a bone spur on the dog next to the duo and swung onto its back, landing behind Regent.
Grue vaguely turned to her direction. "The Protectorate and PRT won't just let us through."
"They have much bigger problems at the moment and I'm betting we can work with that. Besides we were fighting for control of the portal, that's different from stopping us from simply running through. We don't need to force them away, now." Tattletale looked to Bitch gesturing forwards. "Let's move."
"Finally," Bitch said, giving a whistle and the pack began to move out.
The ride through the city was quieter than I had expected. While we had to take several short detours to get around rubble-strewn streets, for which I vaguely apologized mentally and largely blamed Legend, it seemed like the heroes of this world had retreated from the fight. There were glimpses of the PRT trucks rolling through the streets, sticking to the clearer ones, but we were easily able to avoid them.
The city that had amazed me not so long ago now looked almost as devastated as Marchford, if not worse. Buildings had holes punched out. The glass that I had marveled at being everywhere was more shattered than not, littering the streets. I knew there was more to the city than what we had fought over, but the amount of damage our fight had seemingly done in such a short period struck me. If this was the kind of war that this world could bring, Callow wasn't ready for it. The Conquest had almost been gentle by comparison. It was already a problem that Named could bring so much destruction to a region and that was a day's work for this world.
My musings were interrupted as we approached the portal. Just a few streets away now, at a guess. There were no barricades, no armored trucks or soldiers as some of the group had worried about. No, just one hero stood alone in the street before us. The final obstacle, I could sense. To be fair, she was all they really needed.
Alexandria glanced over our pack of villains and Named with a scathing look. "You came back."
"Let us through," Tattletale shouted from the back of the dog she rode. "There's no need to drag this out. The Simurgh is here, you need time to rally, we'll get out of your way. Everyone's not happy, but at least not dead."
Everyone looked uneasy. Tattletale didn't have a great success rate with the Triumvirate so far and Alexandria could dash over and smash one of us into the pavement in half a second if she felt like it. I'd survive that, but I could understand everyone else feeling pretty antsy being so close to her.
Alexandria snorted derisively. "Besides the fact that it allows you to either secure or sabotage the portal from the other side at your leisure-"
"Which our allies could also do," Tatttletale added.
"-The Endbringer truce is not an excuse to do whatever you like. If you want to help, you can do so here. Likewise if you want to stay out of the way, you can turn around and-"
We never got to hear exactly what Alexandria wanted us to do, though I don't think there was much doubt about it beyond the intent, if not the severity and creativity. Both the black-clad hero and ourselves felt the buffet of wind above us that had all of us bracing. Well, not Alexandria, but everyone who wasn't unreasonably invincible. Our heads snapped skyward to see the many wings of the Simurgh pointed back, the human figure more visible now as she was diving low over the city, directly over us.
Straight for the portal.
Alexandria didn't waste a moment. She simply took flight, directly chasing after the Simurgh even as pieces of buildings began to shoot up from the street and collide with her, shattering on impact into clouds of debris.
"Fuck! She's going for the portal!" Tattletale shouted. She kicked the flanks of the dog she was sharing, earning an annoyed growl from Bitch, and rocketed ahead. "We have to go!"
The race was on and we were lagging behind. Our pack of dogs was trying their best, the Undersiders keeping their heads down as the hounds raced over rubble and made a bee-line following Tattletale and Bitch's direction. Ahead of us I could see the Simurgh having to evade Alexandria as the one woman show did her best to slow the Endbringer, but always seemed two steps behind, the Simurgh always moving closer with every move it made.
I leapt off the dog I was sharing with Grue and took to the air, blasting myself forward at breakneck speed. We had to do something to stop the creature and no one else in the party had the speed to catch her. We needed to grab Masego and Warlock, but I knew they wouldn't be far from the portal. Warlock would prioritize getting his son back over all else I figured.
As I shot over Tattletale and Regent I called down, "Find Masego!" I didn't have time for more. She was a Thinker, she could figure it out.
The Simurgh was still ahead of me and I didn't really have many long range options, outside throwing ice javelins at her. I got the feeling that I'd just be wasting time trying that. I was more of a brawler by nature anyways. I watched as Alexandria tried to come up from underneath and got sideswiped from what must've been a blindspot with a large piece of torn-up road, sending her careening back at me. Suddenly an idea hit.
I caught up to the heroine as she slowed down from the redirected flight and shouted, "Throw me!"
She looked at me for a long moment. "What?"
"Throw me! I'm not fast enough on my own," I said again, with added urgency.
To her credit, Alexandria didn't hesitate any further, she simply reached out and grabbed my limbs, a feeling which was quickly becoming familiar given how often it had happened in the last day, and whipped me around in the air for one good swing. Just like that I was speeding like an arrow towards my target, head first. The Simurgh simply moved to the side and one of those larger wings came down to bat me away, but a crash course with the invincible woman in aerial combat had taught me better.
I formed ice along the edge of the wing even as it came down on me and grabbed onto the ice. Forming a spear of it for myself to hurl at the woman in the center of all the wings. Now I was closer I could see the woman in the center was eerily attractive. Beautiful, but in the way a statue was when carved from marble. Not a living thing that should move and fight and everything else this thing did. The wing I was attached to fell away from the body and dove towards the ground, hurling me into the roof of one of the buildings we passed below.
Not something I had expected, honestly, but she had enough wings one wasn't a major loss to her. When I looked down the street I could see the portal too, we were nearly there. Finally. It wasn't big enough for the Endbringer by a significant margin, so surely that meant we had time-
No, don't even think it. It's too dangerous to think like that this close. The Simurgh was still in motion above, still headed for the portal, with Alexandria blasting past me in hot pursuit. I saw those cursed beams of light that had hunted me through both skies and street earlier now turn towards our mutual enemy. It seemed Legend had, from some distant vantage, opened fire at the Simurgh as well.
Even as I got a running start to launch myself back into the air with a burst of ice beneath my feet, I could see the Simurgh pass through the twisting beams unscathed, one deflecting off a piece of wing to knock Alexandria aside, the others scattering away. We were out of time, she was at the portal.
The Endbringer floated down to the tear between dimensions and screamed.
It was like hot knives skewering my skull from the inside. Not quite bad enough that I wasn't able to think and move, but distracting enough certainly. I couldn't even pin down exactly where in my head it was and the more I tried to capture the sensation, the more it fled me. I kept myself moving as fast as I could manage even as my head burned.
Nearby I spotted Warlock and Masego approaching, both looked tired and worse for wear than before. Warlock's once not pristine but at least mostly tidy robes were singed and torn, while Masego simply looked exhausted. I silently pointed them at the Simurgh and continued my mad sprint down the street.
Alexandria pulled herself out of the side of a building on the street below as I rushed for the portal. The statuesque heroine turned to the Endbringer and I expected another round from the nigh-invincible heroine, a distraction to buy us time. What I saw instead was a pause. She seemed to consider for a moment, before bursting forward in another dash of speed.
But her trajectory, all that will do…
I tried to teleport ahead of her, but it was futile. She was already in front of me. I was fast, but not as fast as an arrow already loosed. Alexandria slammed into the back of the Simurgh with a sound that nearly knocked me off my feet, pushing the Endbringer into the portal. Lasers bombarded the trailing half of the Simurgh, a hundred raining down on it. Even as the sides of the dimensional bounds shaved off parts of the unsettling creature, most of it got through, woman and wings twisting together like a cat to slip through the portal.
The Simurgh was in Calernia.
"What did you do?" I shouted at her as I teleported next to the portal, not caring if the explosive splash from the power bothered her.
The woman turned to me, gaze unyielding. "I just removed one of the largest threats to this world. If her precognition fails in your world, your people may be far more capable of killing her than we ever could be." She turned her head slightly to the side. "Legend, Eidolon, to the portal stat. We're not letting it back through," she said to whatever device was in that onyx black helm.
My blood boiled. She had no idea where that portal led and she had just dumped one of their monsters, the kind that killed Named and cities alike, on the other side? Warlock was already rushing to inspect the portal, likely to confirm it was still working. I didn't care for the particulars at the moment.
"You had no right," I snarled through gritted teeth, storming right up to her. "Our world is not your dumping ground. That thing could be in the middle of a city right now. What in the Hells do you think arrows and blades will do against that?"
Seeing that stern look, the eyes that showed no remorse or regret, only the cold unyielding self righteousness of someone who had decided to sacrifice thousands and decided it was just, set off that old flame in me. I threw a punch right for her face, breaking my knuckles on her helmet even as I knew it wouldn't do any good. Turning around I gestured for Masego and stormed off for the portal.
"I'm going to save my people. Do what you can for yours and fuck off," I spat.
It was time to go home.
End of Arc 4
A/N: Happy New Year. Guide to Escalation will return with the final Arc, Arc 5: The Once and Future Queens. That's right folks, we're in the endgame, the fic might actually end!
Kind thanks to Lunas for beta reading this chapter.
