That was a great chapter. I'm looking forward to the reactions from basically everyone in BB. Though especially the PRT and Empire. This is going to make waves. Looking forward to what you plan in the next update. But first Archer, whoohoo. 
Noitaerc
(Nexus Force) (Assembly) (Verified Minifig)
- Location
- Currently stranded on Mata Nui island
jcfiala
Code Monkey
- Location
- Denver, CO
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Jonn Wolfe
(Verified Sarcastic) (Not a Wolf)
- Location
- Beyond Sanity Since 1971
A New PHO Meme "Cockslap" has appeared!
It Was Very Embarrassing!
Why is it that I have this images of Rain with a cherry cola/koolaid/red sword with a LED light on the knife's hilt to make it glow? Can I hear a lightsaber anyone?
Wait I thought Bakuda was Birdcaged too. Didn't Taylor do a whole thing when she captured her where she burned a slut tattoo onto her back on live tv and told the Birdcage to use their gift.
And speaking of continuity confusion, you know what would have been real useful this last fight, Green Flame Barriers and Brute enhancements. Sure would have been useful in a close quarters fight. If only Taylor had access to Green Flames, you know the ones she unlocked back in like chapter 7.
In all seriousness Fencer though what is going on with Taylor's Green Flames. It's been ages and she hasn't done one thing with them yet. Is her forgetting she unlocked a new flame type supposed to be a plot point or did you just forget with how long it's been. No judgement but I am really curious.
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Fencer
Writer
- Location
- 2nd shift
- Pronouns
- He/Him
woops misspoke. She's as good as dead. Sorry.
I did not forget. It's just weak because it's new and she hasn't played with it much yet
Fun fic, looking forward to more!
Something I was thinking about... It would be interesting if there might possibly be some Panacea for Taylor's condition. There are two really good potential hooks for it between the similarities with what happened to Fleur, and Taylor's modus operandi being so similar to Marquis. Obviously, those hooks are pretty mutually exclusive. The former is coming from the New Wave angle while the later is more something a rebellious Panacea who has learned about her father might consider.
Something I was thinking about... It would be interesting if there might possibly be some Panacea for Taylor's condition. There are two really good potential hooks for it between the similarities with what happened to Fleur, and Taylor's modus operandi being so similar to Marquis. Obviously, those hooks are pretty mutually exclusive. The former is coming from the New Wave angle while the later is more something a rebellious Panacea who has learned about her father might consider.
A Missi interlude, she is yung and powerfull and very tired of the "adults" making her sit back, if KidWin share the "grownups have info they not sharing and than afect us" and Vista discover she is goin to war in some years i can see her "fuck it i'm out of here, Faultline/Morgana/ Stalker solo act are better than this shit"
Fencer
Writer
- Location
- 2nd shift
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Maybe, hadn't put to much thought into it yet. Figured sooner or later Tay would get a chance to monologue at the wards and I could worry about it then but I did plant a seed with kid win, and he is a tinker so he could hack some records... I'll think on it.
- Location
- Israel
I rather dislike the common fanony hypercompetent Missy tbh. Her picking a fight with Hookwolf in canon was supposed to show that despite her claims she's still a teenager with lacking decisionmaking skills. I'm also not really convinced she'd be willing to ditch her friends to go with Legacy here. (Though I might or might not be biased for wanting to see more of Lily, Jason and Dani.)
- Pronouns
- Yes
Slight problem with this - she never picked a fight with Hookwolf. She ran into him (Literally) while out for a walk to clear her head. While you can argue that hiding the injury didn't show best judgment, it's the sort of thing that is fairly common among soldiers even without the added issues Missy has.
IMO the fact she was able to hide the injury justifies her decision to do so as it proves how little everyone involved cares about her.
In contrast, I'm not convinced she has any friends among the Wards, not given the fact she was able to hide her injury in canon.
She's hypercompetent for a thirteen year old kid with severe emotional issues, all non-cauldron capes have severe emotional issues as a default state and with her home life Missy is more fucked up than average.
Mal-3
Fun Tyrant
Wrong story, my dude. You're thinking of Archer. This is the one where Taylor's a prepper crimelord.
- Pronouns
- Yes
No, right thread given that he was replying to someone wishing for a Super-Missy interlude, although I suppose you could argue for it being off topic here.
- Location
- Israel
Huh, that apperantly happened.
Actualy i'm not say than Missy was anything of that, save powerfull, i only want to se her interlude because she is alredy pissed enought with "the sistem, parents, the PR" to actualy go out of the Ward if she see a war un the future.
Windborne
Devourer of Stories
- Location
- Oregon
Ok, not really comfortable with Taylor losing her eyes like this, it's my biggest personal fear so I have issues with it in general. But PanPan is around and while Taylor is very much a person who takes laws as more just guidelines I'm hoping she recruits her permanently. One she needs a doctor for her community and two I'd really like for her injury to not be permanent.
Ch. 18
Fencer
Writer
- Location
- 2nd shift
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The Empire was getting clever. They'd started to implement some… questionably reliable security measures. Honestly it seemed like they were just throwing everything at the wall and waiting to see what might slow me down. If I was still doing the sneaky ninja routine that might have actually given me a little pause. Unfortunately for them, I was done being sneaky. The fifth safe house I'd hit in the two days since getting off my pain meds was a collapsing, half on fire, ruin. And the mooks the Empire used to defend it were piled on the sidewalk with a couple broken limbs each.
Cash in a sack, machine guns half disintegrated, and a bunch of drugs I didn't feel comfortable reselling fully burned to ash. With one last nod I went airborne and invisible. I'd kept my word and left civilian identities out of this, but I sure as hell wasn't letting them off the hook. I had nothing to defend and they had everything to lose. Plus given Coil still wanted them gone I was going to push them as hard as I could until they were dead or destroyed. At the rate I was going it should only take a couple weeks until they did something extra specially stupid that I could exploit.
{}{}{}{}
Rain and I had moved all the contraband from his house and the two of us had moved into a warehouse Coil procured instead. Apparently, child protective services were a bit less susceptible to bribes than other government agencies and whatever Coil had been doing to keep them off of Yammamoto's back had stopped working. So now the two of us were runaways living out of a barely livable mess. It honestly kind of sucked but neither one of us was willing to put money into any kind of business that could be traced back to us when the Empire still had so many normals and capes.
Idly I rolled a joint between my fingers while Rain counted out stacks of stolen money.
"You've been playing with that thing for a couple days now." Rain noted without actually looking up from what he was doing. "You planning to actually smoke it or are you trying to decide how much to charge for it?"
"Thinking about both. Feels wrong to sell something I wouldn't use myself. And honestly this is about the only drug I could see myself using. Probably sell alcohol to teenagers too, but anything else I look into… addictive, highly addictive, causes brain damage, causes depression, causes yada, yada, yada." I let myself fall back fully onto the couch. "I mean yeah, I'm on board for the whole villain deal, and getting people something to take the edge off is one thing. But there's numbing the pain, and then there's full blown escapism. Given how bad the latter can go…" I shrugged and rolled the joint between my fingers again.
"You know for someone who's perfectly willing to kill the competition your kind of a softy."
"Fuck off." I muttered.
I wanted to keep my reputation and territory clean. Was that so wrong? Sure, I wouldn't be pulling in as much cash as the Merchants, but there were plenty of other ways to make cash. Strip clubs, hookers, loan sharking, protection rackets. More cleanly, I could invest in local business like the Yakuza used to do before Japan went to shit. Then I could just let the cash come to me. I was really liking that plan. It wouldn't be fast cash, but it would be stable cash. Better yet if I funded certain types of businesses, I could send my little minions there for job training which would prove useful after the collapse. Farmers, butchers, brewers, carpenters… Oh yeah. Investing had a lot of long term benefits I could use.
Letting possible profit slip away annoyed me, but if I negotiated with the other groups maybe I could keep exclusive rights to the low end stuff and let whoever had the stomach for it deal the harder drugs. Probably Trickster and Regent.
"I'm just saying, it's been a few days now. Smoke it, sell it or put it away." Rain shrugged as he finished bundling another set of bills and marked down the amount in his ledger.
With a glare I stuck the joint in my mouth and lit the tip of my pointer finger with purple fire. A few puffs later and I found myself coughing.
"Fucking! Ugh! Smaller puffs!"
Rain chuckled at my misfortune and I settled for glaring at him. I worked a touch of Indigo fire into the smoke and blew a smoke ring ten feet to burst against his chest. Smug bastard only laughed harder.
Five minutes later the last of the loot was counted and locked in the vault. I'd also stopped half way through the joint I'd been smoking. It just… I didn't want to relax. I wanted to be planning and plotting or just doing something! Even if it was nice to feel a bit mellow for once it just… Fuck, normally I was better with words than this, but it just didn't feel like something I really wanted to keep doing. I didn't hate it. I just didn't really want it. Maybe wine would be more my speed? Mom had liked a glass of wine after a stressful day.
I really needed something else to break up the monotony. Sure, I was waging a gang war almost single handed, but that was easy and repetitive. I needed something else to keep me occupied and I was fresh out of books on wilderness survival. Maybe I could get my hands on military manuals for setting up a base or something? Even if those weren't a perfect match for what I had planned they would probably be a good place to start.
I was just contemplating getting something to eat when the sirens went off.
Rain sat bolt upright and I slumped back against the couch closing my eyes as I counted the sequence of the sirens. When it hit a four count and kept going, I started to curse.
An Endbringer was coming here. Dad was out of the city already Rain had no one tying him to the city any longer either. We could empty the safe of cash and just run. Well, fly. It would be the safest option. But long term? Not showing up to this fight would hurt my reputation, a lot. This was my home, not standing up to fight an Endbringer here… That said something about a cape. And if the Protectorate really did go easy on us so that we were here to throw against the Endbringers? Would failing to show up cost me that dubious safety net?
Alright so I needed to fight, but if I was going to do this... well, there was no reason to be an idiot about it. I pulled out my phone and hit the speed dial.
"Lisa, which one is it, and where's the meeting?"
"It's Leviathan, and the meeting point is the PRT headquarters."
"Got it." I hung up and turned to Rain.
"Come on. There's a shelter a few blocks from here."
"We're not going to fight?" Rain fell in step beside me as we moved toward the door.
"I'm not sending a hydrokinetic to fight Leviathan. You might as well be throwing spitballs for all the good it would do. I'm going to fight with projections, and I can do that just as well from one of the bunkers." I grabbed the bug out bags and slung one at Rain while the other went over my shoulder. "Come on, we want to be in there well before the shelters start to fill up."
I slipped a pair of mirrored aviator sunglasses out of my front pocket and over my eyes. If anyone got really close, they might notice the glow of my projected prosthetics, but it should be enough. Before opening the door, I poured almost my full reserves into a single projection. A copy of myself in costume with the hood down and eyes glowing indigo formed behind me and flew out of the skylight. That was the best I could do, and being there to die in person wouldn't help any either way. It would just have to be enough.
{}{}{}{}
People were talking. They were talking around my real body in hushed whispers as we all huddled in the stark light of fluorescent bulbs, and they were talking around my projection at the PRT headquarters. Between being squeezed in, all the noise, and the effects of that stupid fucking joint, I was starting to freak out. Just a bit.
"Yamamoto," I hissed.
"Yeah?"
"I'm going to close my eyes, ignore the world, and try to focus on what I was doing before we left." I caught him nodding out of the corner of my eye. "If someone tries anything while my attention is elsewhere, feel free to stab them."
"You got it boss."
"Good."
"I'm sorry I was a little distracted by something. Could you repeat that?"
Vista rolled her eyes and held out the wristband again, before repeating the instructions. I took it with a nod but held up a hand to stop here as she went to leave.
"I'm happy to have a way of staying informed during the fight, but I'm only here as a projection. Will that cause problems for however this thing works?"
"I, I don't know. You'd have to ask Dragon or maybe Armsmaster? Even if it can't read you properly it should work fine otherwise?"
"Fair enough. Thank you."
The girl nodded more firmly and headed off.
"Well now. Not even showing up in person for an Endbringer attack. How… disappointing." A voice called out loudly enough to draw attention. Turning I was unsurprised to find Kaiser leading what little remained of his Empire.
"Yes well, I figured it was in my best interest not to give anyone the chance to stab me in the back. After all, some people have shown they can't follow the rules."
I could just make out the man's eyes narrowing into a glare behind his helmet. And I could easily hear the hushed whispers spreading around us. Funny thing was, while I hadn't said it, I was at least as concerned about the Protectorate trying something stupid. Them coming to my house hadn't exactly been acceptable either.
"You try my patience, girl."
"I've also tried your new security measures. They're shit, in case you hadn't heard yet."
There were a few quiet laughs from the people around us.
Kaiser looked about ready to start taking more shots but unlike… wow, literally everyone else I've gotten into verbal sparring matches with, he actually seemed to know when to stop digging. He broke the rules, I spanked him for it. Here and now, when trust meant literally everything, the longer he talked the more I could point that out, and the worse things would turn out for him. It wouldn't even be a challenge. Maybe he'd been hoping to catch me on a bad day, but I could have spun this even on my worst day.
"I was hoping that we could negotiate an end to hostilities." He tried for a more conciliatory tone of voice. "There's far too much bad blood now on both sides to even entertain another invitation to join the Empire. But I see no reason we could not be... neighbors."
I actually blinked at that before chuckling.
"Did you just ask me to stop fighting a gang war, which I'm winning near single handed, so we can be neighbors?" I chuckled some more. "Oh, Kaiser, had this offer come earlier I might have split the city with you and been happy keeping a decent corner to myself." That would have been before I knew I was working for Coil and learning what he had planned, but it was true. "But now? No, I don't think so. There's only enough room in this city for one of us, and I intend to be the last woman standing."
His metal gauntlet creaked.
"You've been lucky so far, Morgana. Foot soldiers are one thing, but capes are quite another. You are rather badly outnumbered."
"Hmmm, maybe, but I don't think so. I'm not the kind of problem you can simply beat into the ground by force. And really that's the only tactic your Empire knows."
"You'll regret this." He seethed.
"I doubt it." I smiled back and let my eyes glow all the brighter.
"Is there a problem here?"
Taking in the new face at a glance I immediately decided to ignore Kaiser in favor of giving the newcomer my full attention. The slight would hopefully sting Kaisers pride more than anything else I could say.
"Legend! Wonderful to meet you! Big fan. So sorry you're visiting our city for something like this."
The man raised an eyebrow and tilted his head towards Kaiser.
"Hmm? Oh them. No, no issues here. Just the dying remnants of an empire trying to deny the inevitable."
Kaiser snarled.
"You'll regret those words once the truce ends, Morgana! No one crosses the Empire." His piece said Kaiser turned and marched away.
Grinning I leaned in towards Legend and whispered. "I thought he'd never leave." Legend for his part looked baffled.
"Why are you so relaxed, this is an Endbringer attack? But you're cracking jokes and poking other villains."
"I'm just a projection." I took a moment to set up my armband. "Having my real body here wouldn't make me any more effective and it would just put me at extra risk." I shrugged. "Oh, I'm afraid alright, but I'm doing everything I can. Either it will be enough, or it won't. If it isn't…" I shook my head. "But if the city and I make it through this in mostly one piece? I can't show weakness. Not when most of those in attendance are going to be my enemies again tomorrow." I grinned and let it grow past human limits as my teeth sharpened to points.
Legend just shook his head.
"I heard about what happened with your father. You made quite the splash with that power play of yours. Threatening to out an entire gang of Villains… That's very worrying behavior."
My smile vanished, replaced with a glare.
"Legend?"
"Yes?"
"Bite my underage ass." I deadpanned as I flipped him the bird, which separated from my hand and morphed into an actual bird. A pretty red eyed raven that cawed in his face before landing on my shoulder where I could pet it. Legend opened his mouth to say something, but I talked over him.
"They stomped all over the rules to try and recruit me. They got exactly what they deserved for their trouble. If the rest of the bay is smart there won't be a repeat."
The raven dipped into my hood and vanished, its flames merging back in with the rest of my projection. I was now thoroughly done with this conversation so I turned and slipped away into the watching crowd.
I probably shouldn't have been that antagonistic towards the head of the Protectorate. Was that the pot or the upcoming fight getting to me? Both? I needed to calm down and focus. If I wanted to do any good at all here, I needed to be at my best.
I nodded to the Travelers and the Undersiders when I saw them, but I kept my distance. No reason to give away the fact that we were all on speaking terms. That was a surprise best saved for when we nabbed the city for ourselves.
I think I'd ask for a bit of the city near the boardwalk. But not the boardwalk itself. Something close enough that it usually stayed calm, but far enough away that a strip club or bar wouldn't ruin the boardwalks aesthetic and get me unwanted attention. Or maybe I could get the boardwalk and some of the surrounding area? It might be a bit much for just Rain and I, but I was hoping to find a couple more capes at least. Might actually be doable if I could get the support I wanted.
On the other hand, the boardwalk was a decent percent of the cities life blood and the Protectorate guarded it jealously. That might be a little too hot to hold after all.
Thoughts of conquest were derailed by Legend getting up on some makeshift stage and starting a speech. Ah well, I'd worry about that after the fight. And there would be an after! Anything else… didn't bear thinking about.
{}{}{}{}
It was raining. Only that description didn't do the reality justice. The sky was never ending, overlapping sheets of water that fell like frigid little daggers.
I was so damn glad that my body was safe and dry in a shelter.
Leviathan slipped out of the waves like oil gliding off of glass. Its tail twitched lazily back and forth and it's head tilted slightly from side to side as it eyed our ragtag battle line. There wasn't any signal, or order or anything like that. There was a moment of stunned hesitation where people like myself who had never faced this before hesitated, and then the experienced capes lashed out and the rest of us followed suit as quickly as we could.
I led with a weak probing attack a half dozen crows of disintegrating fire held together with only a touch of Indigo to make them stable and lasting.
I almost lost track of them in the midst of everything else but I wasn't reliant on only my eyes to follow them. I could feel their location and lead them to the target easily enough. One was dispersed after getting clipped by someone else's attack, but the reminder arrived just fine.
I could feel them burrow into Leviathan's hide. Quickly at first but slowing rapidly. They progressed maybe four inches before four ran out of power and the fifth was dispersed by Leviathan's water shadow.
So that worked, but how well? Even if I threw everything I had into it, I wasn't going to be able to destroy it entirely. Not even close. Not with diminishing returns like that. Not even multiplying the effects to my limit. I needed a better strategy than just trying to turn the fucker to dust.
Leviathan moved.
I'd seen videos of mudslides, avalanches, and tsunamis. They had come up when I was researching environmental risks of different regions. Watching Leviathan move was like seeing one of those guided by intelligence, and set to fast forward.
He tore through the line of defenders, sending capes flying just by his passage and the effects of his water echo. The armband started to list casualties; I hesitated a moment. I could do damage, others would be running S&R. I could just keep blasting away… But that wasn't really a plan of action so much as a lot of desperate flailing. I needed to think. I needed a plan. And there were a lot of injured capes in need of help right this second.
Mind made up I zeroed in on the nearest downed cape. She had a green outfit that looked like bike leathers and a domino mask. Her legs were bent backwards. I checked for a pulse then told gravity to bother someone else before lifting her in a princess carry and flying full tilt towards the healers.
She moaned and thrashed a bit but I just held on all the tighter as my real body fought back my gag reflex. This was insanity. This was why I wanted off the damned hell world. As long as the Endbringers existed no one was safe. Not really. We were all just living on borrowed time clawing back at an enemy we could never fully stop.
What the hell was I supposed to do?! I could hurt the fucking thing, but stop it? No never. Could I destroy its head?
My thoughts skipped a beat as I descended to the healer tent. If I could destroy the head would that kill it? Did I have the power to actually pull that off? That would be a long shot. That one probing shot hadn't gotten deep… but it had been like trying to burn through layers. Each layer was tougher to dissolve. Maybe not by a full order of magnitude but still...
I very carefully did some guesstimating, feeling out just how much energy I had to work with and how potent I could make it.
I laid the wounded woman down on an empty bunk and launched myself back into the air as soon as I escaped the confines of the tent which was already filled with bloody, screaming, defenders. I had sentenced Bakuda to worse, but she deserved it. I killed Hookwolf, but that had been fast. These people were here to protect, and they were being brushed aside like ants. It was disgusting.
I didn't think my reserves would be enough to behead Leviathan. I couldn't be sure. I had no frame of reference for what I was considering. I needed a smaller target… Or maybe thinner. As I got back into the air, I realized everyone was flying search patterns. He'd slipped past us. Oh God it was loose in the city and we didn't even know where. We needed to slow it down, hobble it.
The knees had been thinner than its neck. With a grimace I started chasing after the few reports of wounded as they came in. It wasn't much of a plan, but if I could slow the fucker down for everyone else to hammer it… Maybe I could do something here after all.
{}{}{}{}
I finally found the fight just in time to see Armsmaster squaring off to fight Leviathan, on his own. Like a fucking dumbass. Sure, I was looking for the fight all on my lonesome, but I was just a projection. Robocop was here in person to get flattened. Which was why I honestly forgot to do anything when he started dancing around Leviathan's every move.
"Ok… need to remember to take him seriously if I ever have to fight him." I couldn't quite keep the awe out of my voice.
This was why people kept trying to fight them wasn't it. No matter how overwhelming they might be there were capes who could stand against them. Even if it was only for a short time. It was impressive, breathtaking if I was going to be fully honest. I was still very much questioning his sanity, and his plan to dual wield polearms, but he obviously had some idea of what he was doing.
He ducked and weaved and grapple-lined his way around attacks. I used the distraction to pick my moment. He might be doing alright for now but I doubted it would or could last. Even in power armor he was only human and the Endbringers just weren't.
Leviathan did something and Armsmaster missed a step. One of his halberds went flying and I made my move before Leviathan could finish the job.
It was a bandsaw blade; a perfect loop with inward facing teeth circling Leviathan's leg just below the left knee. I hardened the blade with what little of the green flames I had at my disposal. I charged it with disintegrating red fire. Then just to be sure I pumped it full of purple and multiplied everything about it to the absolute maximum of my ability.
"Fuck you!" I screamed out and sent the final two mental orders to my construct; shrink and spin.
Leviathan, jerked to a stop and spun on its good leg. I could almost see imaginary hair standing on end as it turned to face me like a cat with its hackles up. In just a few seconds I'd cut near halfway through, but the resistance was mounting fast and progress was slowing. Oh well, I needed to keep its focus and keep pushing. That left me with nothing but pure indigo fire for illusions and projections. I wasn't even going to bother trying to hijack its senses. I didn't have time to try and work out however this thing might interpret the world around it. But I could certainly put on a show.
I swelled and grew until I was a match for Leviathan in size. My cloak billowed out behind me beating like a real pair of wings playing up the raven imagery. The spear I'd never actually gotten a chance to use in a real fight formed in my hands a match for my new size and I brandished it before me.
The light from my eyes was intense enough to cast shadows under the darkness the clouds and sheets of rain brought with them. All the while my saw blade dug deeper and deeper into Leviathan's leg.
"Come and get me, fucker."
Leviathan moved, still lightning fast, but not so fast as it was before, and with a noticeable hitch in its stride. Good.
It plowed right through my spectral body. With a grin I spun. The head of my spear was the only solid part of my projection at the moment and I brought it round to slam against Leviathan's head, knocking him in the direction of his injured leg. It gave and he toppled to the ground. I solidified the rest of my projection for the extra weight and traction as I slammed the spear point into his chest, doing my best to pin Leviathan to the ground until I could finish cutting off his leg.
Leviathan spasmed and slashed at my body with water and claws. For all that making my body solid let me apply more force it made my body more fragile and after just a moment I was forced to fully dissolve into a cloud of indigo fire before reforming my giant self.
Leviathan used the break to regain its feet. I was all ready to start on round two but our standoff was interrupted by Armsmaster slashing across two of Leviathan's eyes with a halberd blade surrounded by grey fog while swinging past on the grapple line his second weapon contained.
Leviathan ignored the loss of two eyes to lunge for me again. With a deceptive twist I was only capable of thanks to this body's nature as a projection I flowed around the charge like a matador my cloak whipping around me as if it possessed a mind of its own and stabbed my spear into Leviathan's back. It only produced a shallow cut, but with adrenaline pumping through my veins it felt like victory.
A moment's attention on my bandsaw blade curdled that sense of victory. I was progressing but the last two inches of the damned things leg had slowed progress to a crawl. I was pretty sure the kind of progress I was making every five seconds needed a micrometer to measure. With a growl I pushed harder than ever before the thin band of crimson and purple showing through the thin gap of Leviathans leg glowed all the brighter and the beast thrashed as I managed to a bit more than double the disintegration once more. It was going to come at a price though. I could only maintain this for a short time. It didn't matter. I would make this work.
Armsmaster once more came out of nowhere swiping at Leviathan's feet with the strange grey cloud that seemed to rip through Leviathan's out layers. Then a barrage of lasers strafed Leviathan's back. A quick glance up showed Legend circling around for another pass. Leviathan pivoted pushing off with his tail and trying to run only for Alexandria to tackle him from the side slamming him into an office building.
I lunged in striking the Endbringer in the chest with my spear and trying to force it further into the building all the while I pushed as hard as I could to burn through his leg.
"Tidal wave inbound." The armband I was wearing like an earring announced.
In a moment I was the only one on the street fighting to hold the bastard still. I was so close now, less than an inch to go and I'd have taken the bastard's leg! Even if I never fought these monsters again, I could hold my head high and say I'd done more than most anyone else.
The wave knocked me off of him and when I found my feet again, he was gone. Moving for the cost, based on where the band saw was heading. I followed at full speed. A black and purple shadow racing over the city. I landed behind it, swiping at its back driving it on out of the city. Its tail lashed out at me knocking me away but a blast of pure light I recognized as Purity's took full advantage, hammering it. More effects poured on it. Herding it, chasing, harassing. Leviathan's water shadow blew outward knocking away anyone foolish enough to get close and it bolted for the water. I was just close enough to see it leap into the air, and it's left leg separate at the knee. The main body slid into the water without so much as a ripple, the severed leg came down with a splash.
I sat in the bunker scarcely daring to breath as I waited for confirmation. If that wasn't enough to send him running then I was fresh out of ideas. There was nothing more I could do except buy time. Size and spear just couldn't do more than cosmetic damage against that thing.
Almost a minute later the arm band squawked to life again.
"Leviathan has retreated."
In the bunker my hand snaked out and clamped down on Yammamoto's shoulder. Sharp eyes glanced back at me and I gave my Lieutenant a shaky grin and a tight nod. Relief sparked in his eyes as I closed mine to go about doing what little more I could. There were probably still wounded to recover.
We'd made it through the attack. What came next… would be near impossible to predict. I hadn't been paying attention to the never ending list of wounded and dead, but if the Empire hadn't lost someone I would be stunned. Never mind the Protectorate or Wards. I hadn't seen any sign of the Merchants. I sort of wanted to go after them for that on principle alone. Not that they would have done any good but still.
The city had been a wounded creature for as long as I could remember, this might very well be it's killing blow, and if it wasn't would there be enough left here to make a gang truly profitable? I couldn't make money in a place where no one had money to spend. Blowing out a breath I forced my real body to relax even as I hunted through rubble for survivors. That was a worry for another day. For now, I still had a job to do.
Cash in a sack, machine guns half disintegrated, and a bunch of drugs I didn't feel comfortable reselling fully burned to ash. With one last nod I went airborne and invisible. I'd kept my word and left civilian identities out of this, but I sure as hell wasn't letting them off the hook. I had nothing to defend and they had everything to lose. Plus given Coil still wanted them gone I was going to push them as hard as I could until they were dead or destroyed. At the rate I was going it should only take a couple weeks until they did something extra specially stupid that I could exploit.
{}{}{}{}
Rain and I had moved all the contraband from his house and the two of us had moved into a warehouse Coil procured instead. Apparently, child protective services were a bit less susceptible to bribes than other government agencies and whatever Coil had been doing to keep them off of Yammamoto's back had stopped working. So now the two of us were runaways living out of a barely livable mess. It honestly kind of sucked but neither one of us was willing to put money into any kind of business that could be traced back to us when the Empire still had so many normals and capes.
Idly I rolled a joint between my fingers while Rain counted out stacks of stolen money.
"You've been playing with that thing for a couple days now." Rain noted without actually looking up from what he was doing. "You planning to actually smoke it or are you trying to decide how much to charge for it?"
"Thinking about both. Feels wrong to sell something I wouldn't use myself. And honestly this is about the only drug I could see myself using. Probably sell alcohol to teenagers too, but anything else I look into… addictive, highly addictive, causes brain damage, causes depression, causes yada, yada, yada." I let myself fall back fully onto the couch. "I mean yeah, I'm on board for the whole villain deal, and getting people something to take the edge off is one thing. But there's numbing the pain, and then there's full blown escapism. Given how bad the latter can go…" I shrugged and rolled the joint between my fingers again.
"You know for someone who's perfectly willing to kill the competition your kind of a softy."
"Fuck off." I muttered.
I wanted to keep my reputation and territory clean. Was that so wrong? Sure, I wouldn't be pulling in as much cash as the Merchants, but there were plenty of other ways to make cash. Strip clubs, hookers, loan sharking, protection rackets. More cleanly, I could invest in local business like the Yakuza used to do before Japan went to shit. Then I could just let the cash come to me. I was really liking that plan. It wouldn't be fast cash, but it would be stable cash. Better yet if I funded certain types of businesses, I could send my little minions there for job training which would prove useful after the collapse. Farmers, butchers, brewers, carpenters… Oh yeah. Investing had a lot of long term benefits I could use.
Letting possible profit slip away annoyed me, but if I negotiated with the other groups maybe I could keep exclusive rights to the low end stuff and let whoever had the stomach for it deal the harder drugs. Probably Trickster and Regent.
"I'm just saying, it's been a few days now. Smoke it, sell it or put it away." Rain shrugged as he finished bundling another set of bills and marked down the amount in his ledger.
With a glare I stuck the joint in my mouth and lit the tip of my pointer finger with purple fire. A few puffs later and I found myself coughing.
"Fucking! Ugh! Smaller puffs!"
Rain chuckled at my misfortune and I settled for glaring at him. I worked a touch of Indigo fire into the smoke and blew a smoke ring ten feet to burst against his chest. Smug bastard only laughed harder.
Five minutes later the last of the loot was counted and locked in the vault. I'd also stopped half way through the joint I'd been smoking. It just… I didn't want to relax. I wanted to be planning and plotting or just doing something! Even if it was nice to feel a bit mellow for once it just… Fuck, normally I was better with words than this, but it just didn't feel like something I really wanted to keep doing. I didn't hate it. I just didn't really want it. Maybe wine would be more my speed? Mom had liked a glass of wine after a stressful day.
I really needed something else to break up the monotony. Sure, I was waging a gang war almost single handed, but that was easy and repetitive. I needed something else to keep me occupied and I was fresh out of books on wilderness survival. Maybe I could get my hands on military manuals for setting up a base or something? Even if those weren't a perfect match for what I had planned they would probably be a good place to start.
I was just contemplating getting something to eat when the sirens went off.
Rain sat bolt upright and I slumped back against the couch closing my eyes as I counted the sequence of the sirens. When it hit a four count and kept going, I started to curse.
An Endbringer was coming here. Dad was out of the city already Rain had no one tying him to the city any longer either. We could empty the safe of cash and just run. Well, fly. It would be the safest option. But long term? Not showing up to this fight would hurt my reputation, a lot. This was my home, not standing up to fight an Endbringer here… That said something about a cape. And if the Protectorate really did go easy on us so that we were here to throw against the Endbringers? Would failing to show up cost me that dubious safety net?
Alright so I needed to fight, but if I was going to do this... well, there was no reason to be an idiot about it. I pulled out my phone and hit the speed dial.
"Lisa, which one is it, and where's the meeting?"
"It's Leviathan, and the meeting point is the PRT headquarters."
"Got it." I hung up and turned to Rain.
"Come on. There's a shelter a few blocks from here."
"We're not going to fight?" Rain fell in step beside me as we moved toward the door.
"I'm not sending a hydrokinetic to fight Leviathan. You might as well be throwing spitballs for all the good it would do. I'm going to fight with projections, and I can do that just as well from one of the bunkers." I grabbed the bug out bags and slung one at Rain while the other went over my shoulder. "Come on, we want to be in there well before the shelters start to fill up."
I slipped a pair of mirrored aviator sunglasses out of my front pocket and over my eyes. If anyone got really close, they might notice the glow of my projected prosthetics, but it should be enough. Before opening the door, I poured almost my full reserves into a single projection. A copy of myself in costume with the hood down and eyes glowing indigo formed behind me and flew out of the skylight. That was the best I could do, and being there to die in person wouldn't help any either way. It would just have to be enough.
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People were talking. They were talking around my real body in hushed whispers as we all huddled in the stark light of fluorescent bulbs, and they were talking around my projection at the PRT headquarters. Between being squeezed in, all the noise, and the effects of that stupid fucking joint, I was starting to freak out. Just a bit.
"Yamamoto," I hissed.
"Yeah?"
"I'm going to close my eyes, ignore the world, and try to focus on what I was doing before we left." I caught him nodding out of the corner of my eye. "If someone tries anything while my attention is elsewhere, feel free to stab them."
"You got it boss."
"Good."
"I'm sorry I was a little distracted by something. Could you repeat that?"
Vista rolled her eyes and held out the wristband again, before repeating the instructions. I took it with a nod but held up a hand to stop here as she went to leave.
"I'm happy to have a way of staying informed during the fight, but I'm only here as a projection. Will that cause problems for however this thing works?"
"I, I don't know. You'd have to ask Dragon or maybe Armsmaster? Even if it can't read you properly it should work fine otherwise?"
"Fair enough. Thank you."
The girl nodded more firmly and headed off.
"Well now. Not even showing up in person for an Endbringer attack. How… disappointing." A voice called out loudly enough to draw attention. Turning I was unsurprised to find Kaiser leading what little remained of his Empire.
"Yes well, I figured it was in my best interest not to give anyone the chance to stab me in the back. After all, some people have shown they can't follow the rules."
I could just make out the man's eyes narrowing into a glare behind his helmet. And I could easily hear the hushed whispers spreading around us. Funny thing was, while I hadn't said it, I was at least as concerned about the Protectorate trying something stupid. Them coming to my house hadn't exactly been acceptable either.
"You try my patience, girl."
"I've also tried your new security measures. They're shit, in case you hadn't heard yet."
There were a few quiet laughs from the people around us.
Kaiser looked about ready to start taking more shots but unlike… wow, literally everyone else I've gotten into verbal sparring matches with, he actually seemed to know when to stop digging. He broke the rules, I spanked him for it. Here and now, when trust meant literally everything, the longer he talked the more I could point that out, and the worse things would turn out for him. It wouldn't even be a challenge. Maybe he'd been hoping to catch me on a bad day, but I could have spun this even on my worst day.
"I was hoping that we could negotiate an end to hostilities." He tried for a more conciliatory tone of voice. "There's far too much bad blood now on both sides to even entertain another invitation to join the Empire. But I see no reason we could not be... neighbors."
I actually blinked at that before chuckling.
"Did you just ask me to stop fighting a gang war, which I'm winning near single handed, so we can be neighbors?" I chuckled some more. "Oh, Kaiser, had this offer come earlier I might have split the city with you and been happy keeping a decent corner to myself." That would have been before I knew I was working for Coil and learning what he had planned, but it was true. "But now? No, I don't think so. There's only enough room in this city for one of us, and I intend to be the last woman standing."
His metal gauntlet creaked.
"You've been lucky so far, Morgana. Foot soldiers are one thing, but capes are quite another. You are rather badly outnumbered."
"Hmmm, maybe, but I don't think so. I'm not the kind of problem you can simply beat into the ground by force. And really that's the only tactic your Empire knows."
"You'll regret this." He seethed.
"I doubt it." I smiled back and let my eyes glow all the brighter.
"Is there a problem here?"
Taking in the new face at a glance I immediately decided to ignore Kaiser in favor of giving the newcomer my full attention. The slight would hopefully sting Kaisers pride more than anything else I could say.
"Legend! Wonderful to meet you! Big fan. So sorry you're visiting our city for something like this."
The man raised an eyebrow and tilted his head towards Kaiser.
"Hmm? Oh them. No, no issues here. Just the dying remnants of an empire trying to deny the inevitable."
Kaiser snarled.
"You'll regret those words once the truce ends, Morgana! No one crosses the Empire." His piece said Kaiser turned and marched away.
Grinning I leaned in towards Legend and whispered. "I thought he'd never leave." Legend for his part looked baffled.
"Why are you so relaxed, this is an Endbringer attack? But you're cracking jokes and poking other villains."
"I'm just a projection." I took a moment to set up my armband. "Having my real body here wouldn't make me any more effective and it would just put me at extra risk." I shrugged. "Oh, I'm afraid alright, but I'm doing everything I can. Either it will be enough, or it won't. If it isn't…" I shook my head. "But if the city and I make it through this in mostly one piece? I can't show weakness. Not when most of those in attendance are going to be my enemies again tomorrow." I grinned and let it grow past human limits as my teeth sharpened to points.
Legend just shook his head.
"I heard about what happened with your father. You made quite the splash with that power play of yours. Threatening to out an entire gang of Villains… That's very worrying behavior."
My smile vanished, replaced with a glare.
"Legend?"
"Yes?"
"Bite my underage ass." I deadpanned as I flipped him the bird, which separated from my hand and morphed into an actual bird. A pretty red eyed raven that cawed in his face before landing on my shoulder where I could pet it. Legend opened his mouth to say something, but I talked over him.
"They stomped all over the rules to try and recruit me. They got exactly what they deserved for their trouble. If the rest of the bay is smart there won't be a repeat."
The raven dipped into my hood and vanished, its flames merging back in with the rest of my projection. I was now thoroughly done with this conversation so I turned and slipped away into the watching crowd.
I probably shouldn't have been that antagonistic towards the head of the Protectorate. Was that the pot or the upcoming fight getting to me? Both? I needed to calm down and focus. If I wanted to do any good at all here, I needed to be at my best.
I nodded to the Travelers and the Undersiders when I saw them, but I kept my distance. No reason to give away the fact that we were all on speaking terms. That was a surprise best saved for when we nabbed the city for ourselves.
I think I'd ask for a bit of the city near the boardwalk. But not the boardwalk itself. Something close enough that it usually stayed calm, but far enough away that a strip club or bar wouldn't ruin the boardwalks aesthetic and get me unwanted attention. Or maybe I could get the boardwalk and some of the surrounding area? It might be a bit much for just Rain and I, but I was hoping to find a couple more capes at least. Might actually be doable if I could get the support I wanted.
On the other hand, the boardwalk was a decent percent of the cities life blood and the Protectorate guarded it jealously. That might be a little too hot to hold after all.
Thoughts of conquest were derailed by Legend getting up on some makeshift stage and starting a speech. Ah well, I'd worry about that after the fight. And there would be an after! Anything else… didn't bear thinking about.
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It was raining. Only that description didn't do the reality justice. The sky was never ending, overlapping sheets of water that fell like frigid little daggers.
I was so damn glad that my body was safe and dry in a shelter.
Leviathan slipped out of the waves like oil gliding off of glass. Its tail twitched lazily back and forth and it's head tilted slightly from side to side as it eyed our ragtag battle line. There wasn't any signal, or order or anything like that. There was a moment of stunned hesitation where people like myself who had never faced this before hesitated, and then the experienced capes lashed out and the rest of us followed suit as quickly as we could.
I led with a weak probing attack a half dozen crows of disintegrating fire held together with only a touch of Indigo to make them stable and lasting.
I almost lost track of them in the midst of everything else but I wasn't reliant on only my eyes to follow them. I could feel their location and lead them to the target easily enough. One was dispersed after getting clipped by someone else's attack, but the reminder arrived just fine.
I could feel them burrow into Leviathan's hide. Quickly at first but slowing rapidly. They progressed maybe four inches before four ran out of power and the fifth was dispersed by Leviathan's water shadow.
So that worked, but how well? Even if I threw everything I had into it, I wasn't going to be able to destroy it entirely. Not even close. Not with diminishing returns like that. Not even multiplying the effects to my limit. I needed a better strategy than just trying to turn the fucker to dust.
Leviathan moved.
I'd seen videos of mudslides, avalanches, and tsunamis. They had come up when I was researching environmental risks of different regions. Watching Leviathan move was like seeing one of those guided by intelligence, and set to fast forward.
He tore through the line of defenders, sending capes flying just by his passage and the effects of his water echo. The armband started to list casualties; I hesitated a moment. I could do damage, others would be running S&R. I could just keep blasting away… But that wasn't really a plan of action so much as a lot of desperate flailing. I needed to think. I needed a plan. And there were a lot of injured capes in need of help right this second.
Mind made up I zeroed in on the nearest downed cape. She had a green outfit that looked like bike leathers and a domino mask. Her legs were bent backwards. I checked for a pulse then told gravity to bother someone else before lifting her in a princess carry and flying full tilt towards the healers.
She moaned and thrashed a bit but I just held on all the tighter as my real body fought back my gag reflex. This was insanity. This was why I wanted off the damned hell world. As long as the Endbringers existed no one was safe. Not really. We were all just living on borrowed time clawing back at an enemy we could never fully stop.
What the hell was I supposed to do?! I could hurt the fucking thing, but stop it? No never. Could I destroy its head?
My thoughts skipped a beat as I descended to the healer tent. If I could destroy the head would that kill it? Did I have the power to actually pull that off? That would be a long shot. That one probing shot hadn't gotten deep… but it had been like trying to burn through layers. Each layer was tougher to dissolve. Maybe not by a full order of magnitude but still...
I very carefully did some guesstimating, feeling out just how much energy I had to work with and how potent I could make it.
I laid the wounded woman down on an empty bunk and launched myself back into the air as soon as I escaped the confines of the tent which was already filled with bloody, screaming, defenders. I had sentenced Bakuda to worse, but she deserved it. I killed Hookwolf, but that had been fast. These people were here to protect, and they were being brushed aside like ants. It was disgusting.
I didn't think my reserves would be enough to behead Leviathan. I couldn't be sure. I had no frame of reference for what I was considering. I needed a smaller target… Or maybe thinner. As I got back into the air, I realized everyone was flying search patterns. He'd slipped past us. Oh God it was loose in the city and we didn't even know where. We needed to slow it down, hobble it.
The knees had been thinner than its neck. With a grimace I started chasing after the few reports of wounded as they came in. It wasn't much of a plan, but if I could slow the fucker down for everyone else to hammer it… Maybe I could do something here after all.
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I finally found the fight just in time to see Armsmaster squaring off to fight Leviathan, on his own. Like a fucking dumbass. Sure, I was looking for the fight all on my lonesome, but I was just a projection. Robocop was here in person to get flattened. Which was why I honestly forgot to do anything when he started dancing around Leviathan's every move.
"Ok… need to remember to take him seriously if I ever have to fight him." I couldn't quite keep the awe out of my voice.
This was why people kept trying to fight them wasn't it. No matter how overwhelming they might be there were capes who could stand against them. Even if it was only for a short time. It was impressive, breathtaking if I was going to be fully honest. I was still very much questioning his sanity, and his plan to dual wield polearms, but he obviously had some idea of what he was doing.
He ducked and weaved and grapple-lined his way around attacks. I used the distraction to pick my moment. He might be doing alright for now but I doubted it would or could last. Even in power armor he was only human and the Endbringers just weren't.
Leviathan did something and Armsmaster missed a step. One of his halberds went flying and I made my move before Leviathan could finish the job.
It was a bandsaw blade; a perfect loop with inward facing teeth circling Leviathan's leg just below the left knee. I hardened the blade with what little of the green flames I had at my disposal. I charged it with disintegrating red fire. Then just to be sure I pumped it full of purple and multiplied everything about it to the absolute maximum of my ability.
"Fuck you!" I screamed out and sent the final two mental orders to my construct; shrink and spin.
Leviathan, jerked to a stop and spun on its good leg. I could almost see imaginary hair standing on end as it turned to face me like a cat with its hackles up. In just a few seconds I'd cut near halfway through, but the resistance was mounting fast and progress was slowing. Oh well, I needed to keep its focus and keep pushing. That left me with nothing but pure indigo fire for illusions and projections. I wasn't even going to bother trying to hijack its senses. I didn't have time to try and work out however this thing might interpret the world around it. But I could certainly put on a show.
I swelled and grew until I was a match for Leviathan in size. My cloak billowed out behind me beating like a real pair of wings playing up the raven imagery. The spear I'd never actually gotten a chance to use in a real fight formed in my hands a match for my new size and I brandished it before me.
The light from my eyes was intense enough to cast shadows under the darkness the clouds and sheets of rain brought with them. All the while my saw blade dug deeper and deeper into Leviathan's leg.
"Come and get me, fucker."
Leviathan moved, still lightning fast, but not so fast as it was before, and with a noticeable hitch in its stride. Good.
It plowed right through my spectral body. With a grin I spun. The head of my spear was the only solid part of my projection at the moment and I brought it round to slam against Leviathan's head, knocking him in the direction of his injured leg. It gave and he toppled to the ground. I solidified the rest of my projection for the extra weight and traction as I slammed the spear point into his chest, doing my best to pin Leviathan to the ground until I could finish cutting off his leg.
Leviathan spasmed and slashed at my body with water and claws. For all that making my body solid let me apply more force it made my body more fragile and after just a moment I was forced to fully dissolve into a cloud of indigo fire before reforming my giant self.
Leviathan used the break to regain its feet. I was all ready to start on round two but our standoff was interrupted by Armsmaster slashing across two of Leviathan's eyes with a halberd blade surrounded by grey fog while swinging past on the grapple line his second weapon contained.
Leviathan ignored the loss of two eyes to lunge for me again. With a deceptive twist I was only capable of thanks to this body's nature as a projection I flowed around the charge like a matador my cloak whipping around me as if it possessed a mind of its own and stabbed my spear into Leviathan's back. It only produced a shallow cut, but with adrenaline pumping through my veins it felt like victory.
A moment's attention on my bandsaw blade curdled that sense of victory. I was progressing but the last two inches of the damned things leg had slowed progress to a crawl. I was pretty sure the kind of progress I was making every five seconds needed a micrometer to measure. With a growl I pushed harder than ever before the thin band of crimson and purple showing through the thin gap of Leviathans leg glowed all the brighter and the beast thrashed as I managed to a bit more than double the disintegration once more. It was going to come at a price though. I could only maintain this for a short time. It didn't matter. I would make this work.
Armsmaster once more came out of nowhere swiping at Leviathan's feet with the strange grey cloud that seemed to rip through Leviathan's out layers. Then a barrage of lasers strafed Leviathan's back. A quick glance up showed Legend circling around for another pass. Leviathan pivoted pushing off with his tail and trying to run only for Alexandria to tackle him from the side slamming him into an office building.
I lunged in striking the Endbringer in the chest with my spear and trying to force it further into the building all the while I pushed as hard as I could to burn through his leg.
"Tidal wave inbound." The armband I was wearing like an earring announced.
In a moment I was the only one on the street fighting to hold the bastard still. I was so close now, less than an inch to go and I'd have taken the bastard's leg! Even if I never fought these monsters again, I could hold my head high and say I'd done more than most anyone else.
The wave knocked me off of him and when I found my feet again, he was gone. Moving for the cost, based on where the band saw was heading. I followed at full speed. A black and purple shadow racing over the city. I landed behind it, swiping at its back driving it on out of the city. Its tail lashed out at me knocking me away but a blast of pure light I recognized as Purity's took full advantage, hammering it. More effects poured on it. Herding it, chasing, harassing. Leviathan's water shadow blew outward knocking away anyone foolish enough to get close and it bolted for the water. I was just close enough to see it leap into the air, and it's left leg separate at the knee. The main body slid into the water without so much as a ripple, the severed leg came down with a splash.
I sat in the bunker scarcely daring to breath as I waited for confirmation. If that wasn't enough to send him running then I was fresh out of ideas. There was nothing more I could do except buy time. Size and spear just couldn't do more than cosmetic damage against that thing.
Almost a minute later the arm band squawked to life again.
"Leviathan has retreated."
In the bunker my hand snaked out and clamped down on Yammamoto's shoulder. Sharp eyes glanced back at me and I gave my Lieutenant a shaky grin and a tight nod. Relief sparked in his eyes as I closed mine to go about doing what little more I could. There were probably still wounded to recover.
We'd made it through the attack. What came next… would be near impossible to predict. I hadn't been paying attention to the never ending list of wounded and dead, but if the Empire hadn't lost someone I would be stunned. Never mind the Protectorate or Wards. I hadn't seen any sign of the Merchants. I sort of wanted to go after them for that on principle alone. Not that they would have done any good but still.
The city had been a wounded creature for as long as I could remember, this might very well be it's killing blow, and if it wasn't would there be enough left here to make a gang truly profitable? I couldn't make money in a place where no one had money to spend. Blowing out a breath I forced my real body to relax even as I hunted through rubble for survivors. That was a worry for another day. For now, I still had a job to do.
Fencer
Writer
- Location
- 2nd shift
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yo, so there we go, timing was about right and can you believe that in the seven ish years I've been writing worm fics this is my first endbringer battle? Not of fan of writing them honestly. Too many people we've never even seen before or since, too much going on. It rubs against the grain for me. To me a fight should be short and brutal and endbringer fights just aren't. I know some people wanted Taylor to slaughter lizard boy, but that's just ridiculous. so I munchkined her up a shot at taking off a thin limb then said sure let her have that much of a win. Seeing as leviathan is the spindly one of the three. Really her inner monologue at the start when the fight kicks off was the part I liked the most about writing this one. Happy new year everyone! Fuck you 2020 you won't be missed.
- Location
- Hot Springs
I think that Taylor just got ALOT of people's attention. Which is both good and bad. *Evil Grin*
- Pronouns
- They
this story is so amazing, and yet I literally can't read this chapter. her having no eyes triggers me so much. I literally can't imagine her or the story without constantly having her socketless eyes be the first and only image that appears in my mind.
I hate it because again, the story is really fucking good. but I literally can't read it as it is.
I hate it because again, the story is really fucking good. but I literally can't read it as it is.
Fencer
Writer
- Location
- 2nd shift
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Ok... this keeps coming up and it keeps confusing the ever loving shit out of me.
Just.... she is using solid projections as prosthetics. Working prosthetics. She has her full range of vision and the sockets are not empty.
I don't... if she was blind and helpless and had gaping holes in her head then yeah that would be fucked up. But that's not the case.
also my Dad lost an eye to cancer when I was in elementary school. Forget what grade, but yeah. He got a glass eye, drove to work every day, and was generally the same amazing guy as always. Just with a blind spot. Once closed the fridge door on me because he didn't see me standing behind it.
life goes on.
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