With his current tinker tech arsenal I think his best strategy would be to give The Figh the laser sword combined with The Sword, equip his armor and sink deep into his hive mind trance to rely on everyone else's combat experience to stay alive. Probably send Nia and a couple of building drones as far as possible from Brockton Bay to make sure that if the worse should happen they can hopefully rebuild. Killing Leviathan wouldn't be ideal with how it would wake up the other Endbringers but it would be better than dying.
In Nuclear Fire
- Thread starter Poliamida
- Start date
Nah, the solution to all your problems is Zerg rush. And Poliamida hinted that he will finally use the amazing strategy that is Zerg rush. Which is a fancy way to say wave tactics.
I am assuming a minimum of 3 Ultralisk, hopefully a lot more. And a few hundred Zerglings. And an assortment of other units. And now that they don't have to hold back any ore between now and the Leviathan showing up or the end of the fight the drones will collect all the materials they can to produce even more units. So all the cars still on the street due to the EMP, all the abandoned buildings and factories, all the materials in the destroyed building (which would also help clear space for rebuilding later) and all marital in the boat graveyard.
Well they might not be able to get them all, but they will stop being stealthy.
I mean, the PRT knows he has multiples of these bots, but I'm sure they will soil their pants when they realize just how many he actually has. The number of Capes that can wield an army hundreds strong is small, and the number that can do it with units as capable as some capes is even smaller.
Nightchill
from the cold of night
- Pronouns
- Derg
I just found an image of stetmann riding a mecha ultralisk into battle while a swarm of mecha zerg follow behind him and it's amazing. Shame it's on the wiki and i can't post it here
EddBlackheart
Blunted Edge Lord
- Location
- Between Mind and Matter, Dream and Reality.
Avis was the missing Aegis from the Trinity Processor. He was the Monado.
The Aegis' were all Monados.
The reason the XC1 Monado was racist was Zanza/Crazy half Klous was a dick and reprogrammed his half.
Maynarths half was fine.
The Aegis' were all Monados.
The reason the XC1 Monado was racist was Zanza/Crazy half Klous was a dick and reprogrammed his half.
Maynarths half was fine.
They should totally give Danny a backpack drone just in case he needs it. Plus it would allow them to constantly keep an eye on him during and after the fight.
Sir Gawain
Down Bad for RPK16
- Location
- elmendorf texas
Just binge read this and I love it. But I'm kinda sad you never did the mechanicus quote.
From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of steel. I aspired to the purity of the blessed machine. Your kind cling to your flesh as if it will not decay and fail you. One day the crude biomass you call a temple will wither and you will beg my kind to save you.
But I am already saved. For the Machine is Immortal.
From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of steel. I aspired to the purity of the blessed machine. Your kind cling to your flesh as if it will not decay and fail you. One day the crude biomass you call a temple will wither and you will beg my kind to save you.
But I am already saved. For the Machine is Immortal.
- Pronouns
- He
Can you provide link for this fic? Not getting any stories of this name.
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Nuclear Fire 57
Poliamida
(Verified Heavy Molecule)
- Location
- Beyond the Stars
Nuclear Fire 57
When we arrive at the base -with Danny right behind us- we find it a hurricane of activity.
There are several portals opened all across the walls, with multiple zerg units moving in and out of them. Newt, Nia, and The Fight are standing around a raised platform in the middle where a hologram of Brockton Bay can be seen, discussing what to do. And Aisha paces back and forth, twitching while holding a whimpering Long John in her arms.
She's the first one to notice our arrival.
"Pete!" Only a moment later she realizes that Danny is with us. "And Mister H?"
Danny doesn't look at her to return the greeting, his attention focused on the tinkertech all around him. He's a bit pale but I don't know if that's because of Leviathan's arrival or him realizing how unprepared he is for all this. "Aisha?" He asks in a trembling voice as if not wanting it to be true. "How much I don't know?"
That's something that I so much don't want to answer, so I walk ahead and go meet with the Blades. Thankfully, Newt is clothed. I wouldn't want to explain to Danny why we have a nudist down here.
As if attracted by my thoughts, she perks up. "Good to see you safe, master!" That one, though, won't be easy to explain.
I can almost feel the pressure of Danny's stare. "I'm sorry, what did you call him?"
We don't have time for this! "It's okay," I say. "I created them that way."
His eyebrows knit in a frown. "What?"
Newt straightens up, giving Danny a military salute. "We're fully autonomous combat units designed by Master Peter to follow his every command!"
Oh, look at that! It was very easy to explain. Not like it's helping my case, but that's something I'll only have to worry about if I live long enough to see the next day. As that's a distant possibility right now, I can safely ignore it.
I draw close to Taylor who's busy inspecting the map. The image, created by the Illusion, is being updated in real-time by our sensors. In it, we can see hundreds of thousands of dots moving in chaotic waves from one end of the city to the other. They are the civilians doing what they can to reach the shelters in time, or at least the company of their families.
In clear contrast, there's another group of dots in Lord Street Market standing still and in orderly lines. They are capes from all across the globe, still arriving thanks to the help of teleporters of their own, and ready to help however they can.
It feels like a rock sinking into my stomach when I see the nametags of the Wards amongst them.
They will all fail and most likely die for nothing. None of them know how to truly fight an Endbringer.
Should I tell them? My knowledge could save uncountable lives, but it would most likely turn me into Cauldron's lab-rat. I'll evade that for as long as I can guarantee the safety of my people. Besides, Tattletale knows all that I do, so she can claim all the glory for herself if she chooses to.
Where is she anyway? The Undersiders agreed long ago to fight any Endbringer that threatened Brockton Bay, and in the map I see tags with Grue, Bitch, and Regent, but there are no traces of her.
Taylor throws a look at Aisha. "Do you know where your parents are?"
"No!" She yells back. "If I knew, they'd already be here!" She's nervous, and how can I blame her? How does anyone react to the fact that a walking apocalypse is coming towards us?
"Newt," Taylor orders next. "I want an overseer loaded with a portal."
"Already a step ahead!" Newt replies. "It's ready to evacuate us outside the city."
I don't want to argue, if only out of fear, but would that even work? If Leviathan wants me dead, he'll just chase after me.
"Good. My dad, Peter, and Aisha will be the first to go. The rest of us will stay and evacuate the city."
"What?!" Danny's face loses its color when he realizes that Taylor didn't add herself to the evacuation list. "You can't stay here!"
"I can and I will," She challenged back. "Someone needs to coordinate the evacuation of the rest of our people."
"You don't need to do this!"
"And who will?!"
"Me! Just tell me what to do but, please, make yourself safe!"
I can see the muscles of her neck trembling. She wants to argue, I can see it, but there's no reason for her to take this risk. There's no reason for any of them to take it!
If Tattletale is right, Leviathan only wants me.
"Taylor, this is just your pride speaking. Just--"
Before I can finish voicing my thoughts, a new portal opens and through it comes a blonde girl. "Oh, you're already here. Good." She's dressed in casual clothes, with a sports jacket around her waist and her hair tied into a ponytail. If I didn't already know who she was, I wouldn't have recognized her.
"Tattletale?" Taylor asks in surprise. Then she reaches up to her face and realizes that she isn't wearing one either.
"Lisa Wilbourn," Tattletale presents herself, maybe as a token of goodwill at the unmasking. "I'd like to say that it's a pleasure to meet you, but the circumstances aren't the best."
As she finishes that sentence, our attention gets dragged to the holographic map of the city. It flashes a bright red as a tidal wave surges from the sea, reaching towards the coastline. Just seconds before the impact, walls of light manifest to stop it. Some of them are created by the assembled capes -by shielders and maybe Eidolon too-, but the majority are the product of dozens of bridge-building units that crawl out of the sand.
How many of them are out there? Since when has Newt been preparing for this?
Interlocking their beams the builders create a star-fortress of solid light that absorbs the first wave. Many of them are destroyed by the impact, but the coastline survives.
With the back of her sleeve, Tattletale -or Lisa, I should say- cleans the corner of her mouth. "The bastard isn't here yet. We still have time to talk." Her words come amongst gasps for air, and one glance is all I need to know that she's in pain. She must be pushing her power to its limits.
Taylor doesn't care about any of that, who stares at her with her arms folded. "Yes, what was that about Tech-Priest being the target?"
Aisha recoils, just now hearing about that.
"I've been studying the Endbringers for a long time now," Lisa explains, making it sound like the information she has is thanks to her own work and not the gifts I gave her. "I managed to figure out a lot about them."
"More than the entire Think-Tank of the Protectorate has managed in decades?"
"Honey, you should know by now that they are all hilariously incompetent! And I am a better thinker than all of them put together." Yeah, but only thanks to me. "The Endbringers aren't human, they never were. They are machines created with a purpose." To make Eidolon look good. "I'm not sure which, but their own survival is needed to fulfill it. Tech-Priest has weapons capable of killing them, so they need him out before he reaches his full potential."
The group falls silent for a moment, processing it all.
Newt is the first to speak up. "We already have the means to get Master out of the city."
Lisa shakes her head. "Won't work. Leviathan moves faster than anything you have. He'll catch up."
That's exactly what I was afraid of.
Sadly, unlike the game, my portal guns have a maximum effective range of only a couple hundred meters. If I want a portal to the moon I need to physically bring a portal bug there that can open it. Right now, the only unit I have that could transport it is the overseer, and it sadly isn't very fast.
And yet, a treacherous voice in the back of my mind whispers that isn't such a bad idea.
Why is no one suggesting the obvious solution?
"But if Leviathan is only coming after me-" I venture, scratching my chin, and suddenly I find my face pressed against the table.
"You say that and I'll kill you myself," Aisha whispers into my ear. "Whatever happens next, we're together in this." Then she lets go.
Okay, message received, I won't try any noble sacrifices.
"Sentimentality aside," Lisa continues, "Leviathan needs to keep face, and may still destroy the city even after Tech-Priest's death." Danny flinches at the mention of that. "Besides, if he realizes that Tech-Priest is leaving that could be reason enough for him to stop holding back."
And that's like a bomb being dropped in our group. The only ones who don't react to it, are the Blades and I, who already knew.
"The Endbringers have been holding back?" Danny yelps.
"Yes, they are capable of much more than they let on." Lisa waves her finger from side to side, doing her best to leave it clear that she's full of herself. "And the damage they receive? Purely cosmetic. They don't have internal organs or anything similar to that. They just play along until they receive an arbitrary amount of damage and then retreat, letting capes believe that they actually achieved something."
Drops of sweat roll down Taylor's face. "Then we tell the Triumvirate about it. Lead Leviathan into a trap."
Lisa shrugs. "Best case scenario, they laugh in our faces. They'll say that this is just our panic speaking and that we want special treatment. After all, many capes have claimed to be able to kill Endbringers in the past and they all failed. And the worst-case scenario? Well, if they do believe that Leviathan is only coming after Tech-Priest, some will say that his life is a fair trade."
Fucking Alexandria! I'm sure she'd be the first to suggest such a thing. Legend would resist, of course, but I can see Eidolon going along if only to not risk being outshined.
"Then do you have any useful ideas?" Taylor snaps.
"Of course I--" Lisa's words are interrupted by an alarm, and the arrival of a massive unknown signal coming from the sea moving faster than any sports car. "Leviathan's here." She licks her lips and then aims an index finger at Newt. "Get him to the other corner of the city!"
"Didn't you just say-"
"We need to keep him mobile! As long as he remains inside Brockton Bay it should be fine, and keeping an army of capes between him and Leviathan will be more effective at keeping him alive than anything we can do." Then she looks at me. "Now, go!"
My reply is a nervous nod.
This is it.
A fight for my life. Not the first of its kind that I had to survive in the last couple of months, but all our previous battles were against human enemies. Capes, yes, but humans at the end of the day. They were all enemies that I believed we could beat. Leviathan, though? He's a monster birthed from our darkest nightmares.
Enough contemplation.
I leave The Sword behind. That's a formidable weapon, maybe even capable of harming the beast, but it will serve better in the hands of someone who knows how to wield it.
In exchange for it, Taylor gives me the Blink Band. That one I accept with gusto.
She also tries to give me The Fly but I reject it. I'll be too exposed in the sky. I won't be able to outrun Leviathan with it either, and I'd feel safer if I knew that they have that option.
I give my team -my family- one last look. The clock is running against me, but I want to memorize their faces for one last time. Heaven knows if we'll be meeting again.
Then I break into a sprint.
There's already a portal waiting for me on the wall, and I pick a Portal Bug on the way out as an extra means of defense.
"We need to keep mobile too," Lisa explains to the rest of the team. "If we stay here we're dead, so-"
And that's the last I hear before I step through and the portal closes at my back.
I keep running.
This is the only thing I can do even when I don't know where I'm going, challenging the strong wind and torrential storm threatening to throw me off-balance.
Is this what a hare feels when being chased by hounds?
The hunter is somewhere out there, and he's faster and stronger than me. What is there to do but to pray for a swift end?
In some other place, in some other time, I'd have already given up. But not yet. At least for now, I'll keep resisting.
My feet splash on a pool of water when I land on the next roof.
Under the dark veil of the heavy rain, it's hard to tell where a shape ends and another begins, but I recognize this place: it's the prison complex where we fought the Empire for the last time. Just around that corner is where Kaiser supposedly died.
Newt truly sent me to the other end of the city.
Breaking through the whizzing wind, a deafening sound drags my attention to my back. My eyes widen in fearful wonder at the spectacle taking place before me. It's a spectacle of light, smoke, and death. Flying capes zigzag around the sky, shooting energy beams from their eyes, hands, and chests at something that I cannot see. Explosions dot the landscape, and every now and again a building simply ceases to be.
So impressed I am, that it takes me a moment to notice the black shapes, each as big as a van, floating above us. They are vaguely round, with a bright light in front of them, and what seems to be tentacles hanging from underneath them.
Zerg Overseers. There are at least six here, and there may be more hidden by the weather.
The hive has grown a lot since I gave it to Newt.
"Master!" And speaking of the devil, she calls me. "Don't stop moving!"
I never noticed when I stopped, and it takes my legs a moment to respond. "Yes! Where?"
"To the south! I'll tell you when I have a new portal for you."
I follow her instructions, putting as much ground between me and the ongoing massacre as possible.
The battle against Leviathan was a first in the original timeline. Armsmaster's prediction engine gave the defenders an unprecedented advantage as they were informed about Leviathan's arrival minutes before the attack was confirmed. That precious time allowed the city to prepare, turning this one into their most successful battles to date.
I dread to think what Brockton Bay would have looked like without the early warning.
Many civilians still wander the streets as if in a daze, with fear clouding their good judgment. Despite orders of rushing to the shelters, many have decided to test their luck and abandon the city on their vehicles.
A motorbike climbs up the sidewalk and almost runs over a man on its mad dash to salvation.
Inside a car a family desperately tries to break the glass, having been left trapped when the drivers around them fled from their vehicles in a panic.
A woman rests against a corner with blood flowing from the side of her head, maybe having been pushed aside by a fleeing mob.
I'd like to stay and help them, but my presence is what's putting them in danger. The best thing I can do right now is to remove myself from the scene.
How long has it been since it all started?
Each minute that I spend running through the darkness feels like an eternity. I'm struggling to remember how the battle went in the original timeline.
The initial tsunami killed several of the defenders.
Leviathan then ignored Legend's lasers, and Alexandria could do barely more than scratch him. One of Dragon's suits breathed plasma on him and then self-destructed, but that didn't even slow the monster down.
When did Flechette wound him? Was that before or after Miss Militia tried using Bakuda's bombs on him? That not only didn't work, but every time the heroes seemed to get the upper hand, Leviathan summoned a new tidal wave that killed more of them.
And then was Armsmaster's disastrous duel against him. All birthed out of pride and desire to be seen as the one who slew the monster.
I admire his focus and dedication, but he committed what may well be the cardinal sin of every creator. He put himself above his creations.
"Newt?" I speak almost in a whisper into my communicator. "Newt!" I call again when she doesn't answer.
"I'm here! Sorry, Master, I was coordinating with Dragon." That's what the Overseers must be for. Against an Endbringer, they must be a godsend. "What do you need?"
It takes me a moment to find the right words. How do you talk with someone about this? "In case something happens, make sure to restart the hive somewhere else."
"It won't come to that."
I want to believe that. "The Zerg are a formidable weapon. Even if I weren't there to upgrade them any more-"
"Master!" She interrupts me. "We will deal with that if that happens, so stop thinking about possibilities."
Is it so bad to make plans for it? If one prepares for the worst, then they will never be disappointed, just delightfully surprised when it doesn't happen, and ready if it does.
"Connect me to the cape network." I tell her.
"I don't believe that to be a wise decision."
Of course it's not. Who even designed it? Why did they think it to be a good idea to announce the names of all those who die, making sure to kill the morale of those who still live? What will I even do if I see a name that I know?
But I want to know.
If Leviathan doesn't end me, uncertainty will.
"Please."
"Very well."
Immediately I start hearing the voice of the operator next to my ear.
"Leviathan sighted, BC-14. Charger down, BC-14. Saurian down, BC-14. Optics deceased, BC-14."
The names continue, but I don't recognize them so I don't bother memorizing them.
"Leviathan sighted, DE-13."
"Leviathan sighted, EE-7."
Each combination of letters and numbers represents a position in a grid that the city was divided into. Each new announcement is Leviathan moving hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye, and wherever he lands, people die.
"Leviathan sighted, GH-31. Vista deceased."
My heart jumps to my throat.
No.
No, please no.
"Optics recovered. Black Mamba recovered. Vista recovered."
Recovered? What does that even--
Nia!
That has to be her doing. She's resurrecting them.
Thank you. Thank you.
"Brandish deceased."
Okay, that one-
"Brandish recovered."
What a terrible day this is.
"Leviathan sighted, BA-34. Leviathan sighted, AX-38. Leviathan sighted, AT-47."
He's speeding through the city like a rocket! And going straight to the south-east. Why? What is he searching for?
Oh, yeah.
Fuck!
A sound reaches my ears. It's like a roaring river bringing with it heavy boulders, and maybe a human or two.
"Master!" Newt yells into my ears. "Portal! Now!"
Almost without even thinking, I shoot right at my feet and leave the area.
Where did it lead me to?
I think I recognize this place, it's close to the trainyard all the way to the north, but some distance away from our base and the Undersiders' place. I should be safe here. At least for a few more minutes.
Looking down at the streets below, I see them flooded and carrying with them the pieces of broken glass from shattered windows. At least there are no people here.
"Help! Someone, help!"
It seems that I spoke too soon.
The ones calling for aid are a pair of capes dressed in blue and red spandex. Between them they carry a third one in their arms, dressed in yellow, who has a splinter the size of my forearm nailed into his stomach.
If I stay here, I'm putting the lives of the three in danger.
If no one does anything, the wounded cape will die of blood loss in a matter of heartbeats.
"Newt! Where's Nia?"
"Busy! She's in search and rescue operations."
I wonder how bad things are out there.
"Does she have any portals with her?"
"Damaged. I'm trying to link her back to the network."
Fuck! She should be able to revive him if he dies but only if she gets to him in time. Who knows how long that line will be before this day is over?
A decision made, I jump to the streets below.
"I'm a healer!"
The duo doesn't resist as I work on their wounded friend. It's a relatively simple procedure, thankfully, and I'm done with it in a moment.
Almost a fraction of a second too late.
Looking past one of the capes' shoulders, down the street, I see what can only be described as a wall of murky water rushing towards us at an impossible speed. Behind it, I see the glow of four green unblinking eyes, three at one side of the head, and one on the other.
He's already here.
"Master! Get out!"
I shoot a portal to the wall, grab the unconscious cape, and teleport through it using the blink band.
The blue cape is next. He hurls himself through the portal, kissing the asphalt with the side of his face as he lands.
The red one doesn't make it.
The last thing we see of him is how the wall of water crushes his body just before the portal collapses.
"Red Jaguar Deceased, FG-3."
All that for nothing. Despite my efforts, a life was still lost.
I thought I'd have gotten accustomed to people dying after all this time. I witnessed several deaths since I arrived at this place -some of which I caused- and yet there's still an inherent wrongness to it. It's as if my brain still struggles to properly comprehend it.
Glancing at the eyes of my temporary partner, widened in mute disbelief, I wonder if he feels the same way. Were they friends? Coworkers? Rivals? Brothers? Something else? Does that death pain him as much as it would pain me to lose any of my friends?
I may never know.
Leaving the unconscious cape behind, I break into a sprint away from that place, fearful of what could happen to them if they stick around with me.
This time, I find myself to the south of the shoreline, close to where Fugly Bob's is. Was. That section of the pier has been swallowed by the rising tide and only rubble remains. And bodies. The rivers flowing down the streets of Brockton Bay carry with them the corpses of broken capes who died at the hand of the monster, and civilians who couldn't reach the shelters in time. For a fraction of a second, I see the faces of people I know floating down the stream -from this life and the previous one- but that's just my mind playing tricks on me. I don't know these people and, even if I did, the mud and blood covering them would make it impossible to recognize them.
I push on towards the north, instinctively follow the line of the coast while clutching the Portal Gun against my chest as if it was the greatest treasure in the world.
I reach the harbor where Danny works, one of the first places I visited in this new life. The place where his office used to be is now occupied by the remains of the Protectorate base. The retrofitted oil rig was snapped off of its foundations and was hurled against the city. Its energy shield still flickers on and off like the final heartbeats of an agonizing animal.
Just then I realize that I haven't heard about Leviathan's movement in a while. Why?
"Pe- Tech-Priest, are you there?"
Wait, that's not Newt.
"Danny?!" What is he doing? "Where's Newt?"
"I don't know! She left to do something." Panic is clear in his voice. "Listen, Leviathan has switched targets. He's destroying your teleporters!"
I spit a curse out that would get me grounded under any other circumstances. "Where is he?!"
"I-I don't know! The map here is turning off, I think he's destroying those flying machines of yours!"
A chill runs down my back. With our portals destroyed, and with the Overseers down, there's only one place he could be going to.
From the corner of my eye, I see the remains of an overseer flying in my direction like a deadly projectile. I trigger the Blink Band, teleporting out of the way and putting it on cooldown. Then I shoot a portal that takes me all across the harbor, but the sound of destruction just keeps getting closer.
Oh crap, oh crap! What am I supposed to do? I cannot fight this! I never wanted to fight this!
Below me a tidal wave crashes against the coast, eating away the buildings that stand in its way.
"Peter, listen! We're going to make it!" Danny tries to reassure me, but what does he know?
He doesn't know how bad the situation is, how powerful our enemies are, or how tall the tower of odds is stacked against us. I do! And the only reason why I didn't fall into desperation so far is because I have been repressing it all into a tiny ball deep within me. Now everything is coming out.
"How?" I yell as if hoping for him to have any answers.
"You're in Third and Evergreen, right?" He might as well be speaking in Chinese, those names mean nothing to me. "There should be a gallery to your right! Go through it!"
I see it. It's a straight corridor that goes all the way through the block and is full of clothes stores. It's flooded, and the owners most likely already lost all their possessions, but it offers me a clear shot to the other side. I open a portal and jump through.
My blood runs cold.
I saw many descriptions of the Endbringer. I saw fanart of it too. They don't do him justice.
He towers above me, with scally limbs wrapped in cords of muscle, and with saber-like fingers that reach the ground.
And he was waiting for me.
Before the strike can land, the Blink Band teleports me away right back to the other side of the portal.
That offers nothing but a brief moment of respite because the commercial gallery explodes in a shower of concrete and debris when Leviathan simply smashes through.
One end of the portal has been destroyed, but the other is right below me. I shoot at the side of an apartment complex a street away, and let gravity take me through it.
I live. At least for a couple more seconds.
"Leviathan's behind me!"
With the Blink Band recharged, I teleport away.
"Peter, you need to get to Saint Gerard Square!"
"I have no fucking idea where that is!" The sound of Leviathan's rampage is getting closer, and Danny keeps throwing names at me that I don't know.
"Turn left and straight!"
I do as he says, shoot a portal and walk through. Then another one. This city has become the playground for a deadly game of cat and mouse.
Where is he? I know he's out there, searching for me, but I can't see him.
"Leviathan sighted, EF-2."
Okay, someone else found him first. But who? And how far is that place from me?
Not far at all I realize when I turn the corner and see the beast there.
But he's not alone.
Hanging from his shoulder, cutting chunks off Leviathan's body with his halberd, there's Armsmaster.
His armor is like nothing I've seen before. Instead of solid armored plates, he's covered in layers upon layers of mecha-zerg flesh that makes his muscles look twice as bulky as they should be.
He upgraded his whole arsenal with my technology.
I actually feel a bit proud of that fact, but that doesn't change the fact that it won't help him, and that the imbecile is doing it again.
"Leviathan's holding back!" I shout before continuing with my dash, hoping against logic that my warning reaches willing ears.
"Armsmaster down, EF-2."
So much for that.
The blink band drops me on the top of a nearby building. I search for the next safe place to teleport to, but I lose my balance when the entire structure topples over and I fall together with it.
"Got you!" Someone grabs me by the wrist and darts away further inland, flying low and using the buildings to cut Leviathan's sight.
"Ladybug!" I gasp. She looks like a guardian angel right now flying through the stormy sky on butterfly wings. My happiness of being saved is so big that it overcomes the terror of seeing her out here. "Do you have a plan?" I hope it's a good one that can justify giving Danny a heart attack.
"Yes!" She yells back, my visor allowing me to hear her over the raging storm. "The ambush."
That's a surprise. "Did you get the Triumvirate to listen to you?"
"No, I-" She gets interrupted by a wall of water erupting in front of us.
Thinking quickly, I teleport us to the other side.
That was a mistake.
I don't know if Leviathan has any real form of precognition, or if he's doing it through speed alone, but he's already there waiting for us. With the Blink Band on cooldown, we can't escape him.
He claws at us. Taylor manages to evade the attack, but behind it comes the after-image, the liquid shadow that follows the monster's every move. Twisting in the sky, Taylor uses her own body to shield me, and together we hit the ground hard.
"Taylor!" Desperation overcomes reason and I use her real name. It's not like anyone can hear me after all.
"Ladybug down, BG-5."
She's alive but unconscious. That single attack cut through her armor and she'd have already bled to death if the healing protocols hadn't kicked in. Not like it matters, because if we don't get out of here now Leviathan will finish the job.
I don't have a target for the Portal gun. All around me there's darkness and screens of heavy rain, and the Blink Band's still on cooldown.
That's when a hammer lands against Leviathan's midriff.
The Technobuster attacks with a fury I never thought possible, but even its strength fails to make a dent on the monster's skin.
And if I'm here, and an unconscious Taylor is next to me, then that means that the pilot is--
"Imp!" I cry her name out as I see Leviathan land a blow against the Buster's shield.
The shield that was strong enough to tank a direct hit from Purity flickers and dies under the massive force of the impact. The claw punches through and takes away one of the Buster's legs.
I need to do something! She's not a match for Leviathan!
I clench my fists.
I will save her.
No more running. Does that bastard want a piece of me? Then he's free to come and get it.
Taylor remains motionless, but in her arms, she still carries the Psi Blade. I take it. With a weapon just like that Artanis killed a Hybrid, and if it can cut a Hybrid, it can cut an Endbringer just as easily.
But where is the core?
The base of the tail? The chest? Zion killed it by blasting his chest open, but why did so many people insist it was on the tail?
I don't remember!
My mind goes blank. There's no time for plans. I pick my target and teleport to Leviathan's back, praying that I'm right for aiming at where Leviathan's heart should be.
My hit never lands.
In my panic, I forgot about another important fact: the Endbringers play with us. Leviathan doesn't need to move for his shadow to attack. That was what got Armsmaster during their original battle, what probably got him again just now, and what gets me here.
It's like being stabbed by a hundred knives as the torrential attack pushes me through the wall of a nearby house, and out through the other side.
Once the attack finally ends and I find myself lying still, I realize that I cannot move. I don't need to read through the logs of my armor to know that my legs are broken and my ribs must be cracked in a dozen different places.
The Psi Blade--
The Psi Blade is still attached to my arm, but my arm is all the way across the street.
That's no good. That's not good at all.
The Portal gun?
Destroyed.
The Blink Band?
Damaged.
This is it, I guess.
At least I saved the girls. That's what's important.
As I see Leviathan approaching to deliver the killing blow my only regret is being unable to move my remaining hand. If I could, I'd be showing him the finger right now.
That would be funny. A final show of defiance before the inevitable end.
Oh, it hurts to laugh.
I wonder, will I find myself in yet another world after I die here? I wouldn't mind a nicer one. There are many that are far nicer than this.
With my luck, it will be Warhammer.
Leviathan drops to all fours, ready to slash me at full speed, but that's when the cavalry finally arrives.
Our heavy hitters.
Our real heavy hitters.
The Ultralisks.
They were the elite of the Swarm. Mastodonic beasts of war bred to kill, covered in layers of armored carapace that could deflect the direct fire from a Siege Tank, and armed with monomolecular blades that could cut through neosteel as easily as flesh.
And that beautiful maniac Stetmann managed to replicate them through artificial means, mixing Protoss and Terran technology! I don't think I'll ever stop praising his genius. It was only matched by his insanity.
It's a true testament to their strength that when two of those mechanical monsters, each one as tall as Leviathan himself, crash against him, the Endbringer actually struggles to break free.
And yet, even the mandibles that dig deep into his flesh, aren't capable of truly damaging him. That's fine because the Ultralisks are in reality just the delivery method for our most destructive weapons.
Each Ultralisk carries with it a contingent of Banelings. The suicide bombers jump off the Ultralisks' backs, detonating their unstable egonergy generators against the monster. They disappear in perfectly round spheres of green-purple light that take with them huge chunks of the Enbringer's body.
"Sorry for the delay, master!" Newt calls from the radio. "But now we're ready for the counter-attack!"
The ground beneath me moves, and from it emerges a Hydralisk that takes me on its back and carries me away.
And it's not alone. Dozens-- no, hundreds more crawl out to add their firepower to the battle. They would be next to useless if they were armed with their standard gauss needles, but these ones are different. They have been upgraded and on their backs they carry Erudition missile launchers, anti-air ordnance designed to take down the best that the universe of Starcraft had to offer.
Even from the sky comes fire as a trio of corruptors joins the fray. Maybe, just maybe, if the Ultralisks can keep Leviathan pinned for long enough their Terraclean Solvent can eat away even its core.
But as my Hydralisk mount takes me away from it all, and I see the blood stains on the walls being washed away by the rain, my mind wanders to other places.
"Newt, how bad are our losses?"
"Imp and Ladybug are stable, master," she answers immediately. "We managed to extract them."
That is a relief but not what I was talking about. "In general, please."
It takes her a moment to speak. "Bad. Dozens of capes already died despite our best efforts and the field hospital is full of patients that will follow if not treated. Nia's doing all that she can, but her reserves of ether are running low, and will need to rest. On the civilian side, things are even worse. Many shelters were breached and got flooded. We managed to rescue many, but--" She lets her words linger, unable to continue talking. The situation is getting to us all, even her.
Something needs to be done.
There is an option, one I didn't want to ever consider, but it needs to be done. "Release the drones. All of them. Tell them to heal."
"Master, are you sure?" The doubt is clear in her voice. "We lost our overseers. Without them coordinating--"
"I know," I tell her through clenched teeth. "Do it anyway."
"Understood, master."
There's a good reason why the drones need a Visor or an Overseer supervising everything they do. The healing process needs a massive amount of bandwidth, and access to libraries-worth of information that isn't stored in one single unit but all across the hive. Without someone telling them what to do and -more importantly- what not to do, my only hope is to be able to fix whatever Frankensteinian horror this will create.
The furious sound of battle becomes a distant rumble. I don't know if it's because of the distance I'm putting between us, because of the still furious wind, or because of all the units that we're losing.
But as we lose zerg, capes join in. I see them flying above my head, rushing past me, or being carried by others.
I recognize some of them.
There's Myrddin, the self-proclaimed wizard of Chicago.
Chevalier wielding his massive cannonblade.
And I even catch a glimpse of Alexandria, who I swear looks back at me.
I wouldn't mind if she died here but I know that's a forlorn hope.
"Glory Girl down, BG-5. Twilight down, BG-5. Oratio deceased, BG-5..."
And the list continues with the names of all those who were just killed or knocked unconscious.
What the heck just happened back there?
"Master, Leviathan has breached containment!" Of course he did. "I'm sending a corruptor to retrieve you!"
Just on cue, I see the little beast hovering above me.
I try to reach for it, but even now, after my armor had time to heal me, my body struggles to obey my commands.
Almost there.
My fingertips brush against the smooth armored exterior.
Then Leviathan lands next to me, creating a shockwave that hurls me barreling through the air.
I should be annoyed. All this just to kill me? It'd have been far simpler if they hadn't shown up at all. If they had attacked any other city I wouldn't have cared. Let them do as they please as long as that doesn't affect me or mine. But I guess that's beyond what their programming allows them to do. After all, this isn't just about capes that can kill them but who could outshine Eidolon. And, hey, as I look up at Leviathan's broken body, I realize how right they were to fear me.
Most of his left arm has been reduced to a skeleton with some patches of that fake skin strapped to it, there are holes through his chest, and his tail has been cut. The only thing that remains mostly intact is his head with those glowing green eyes.
I even feel a bit of pity for it.
Leviathan is nothing more than a slave to the will of others, incapable of thinking by itself. What a sad existence. An existence I spare my own creations from. What a good thing because it means that they don't need me to grow and develop. They will carry on.
As I turn in the air, by the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of a portal opening.
Surprised by the newcomers, Leviathan turns around to face them.
Out of the portal comes The Fight. In one hand she carries Clockblocker, and in the other, she wields what I can only describe as a glaive with a silver blade. Hanging from her back, there's a girl dressed in purple.
That's all I can see before I plunge into the high tide that has already taken most of the city.
My body is rocked back and forth as it crashes against the floating debris.
[Warning = Integrity of the ribcage compromised]
[Warning = Lungs malfunctioning]
[Warning = Main systems compromised. Damage exceeding maximum tolerance. Self-repair function shutting down]
A pity that I didn't toss this organic body into the trash when I had the chance. Removing my need to breathe would have helped a lot here. But, as the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20.
My body stops responding, and everything turns progressively darker.
"Tech-Priest deceased, CD-5."
There's a feeling.
A sensation.
Like a distant memory triggered by a melody you swear you never heard before.
I feel at peace. Even relaxed. The silence of my own thoughts is a nice change of pace compared to the madness that was Brockton Bay.
But that silence is broken by a voice.
"Come on, come on!"
It takes me a moment to realize that I'm no longer underwater. There's solid ground beneath me, and the cool breeze caresses my face. A pity that it's so cold or I'd confuse it with a nice day at the beach on vacation with my family.
"Wake up, you idiot! Don't do this to us!"
I am awake. I think so. I'm thinking, at the very least. Thinking is good. I think, therefore I am. As long as I do that I'll never truly die, and that's also why those who don't do that should be shot on the back of the head.
Reality is then forced upon me by a pressure over my chest that sends a jolt of pain all over my body. My insides unravel and I vomit all the liquid that was inside me, leaving my mouth with an aftertaste of salt, dirt and blood.
My eyes come into focus, and see Nia is standing above me. I recognize her by her ears more than her face, because she's wearing a kabuki mask shaped like a fox. A visor.
"Hi," I tell her weakly.
"Master!" She throws her arms around me. Then she pulls back, aiming an accusatory finger at my face. "Last time you scare us like that, understood?" She reaches for the side of her mask. "I have him. He will be fine."
'Fine' is a relative term, but I'm alive. That's what matters.
I tried to push myself up but I'm still weak and still missing an arm.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll fix it later." Nia yanks me up into a bridal carry. "Enjoy the ride, puppy. Do you have any idea how many people would wish to be in your position?"
Discovering the wonders of mutilation after having survived multiple assassination attempts? But I guess it was worth the trouble if it meant being carried by a pretty lady.
But why is it so cold?
Oh, my helmet is cracked and missing the entire left side. That would explain it. I'll need to replace it when we get back home.
But not everything is as bad. The rain has stopped and the skies are slowly clearing. There are no longer any screams or explosions in the distance either. The entire city has fallen eerily silent.
The battle is long over.
Did Leviathan leave when I died? I have trouble remembering what happened back there, and without my visor I have no way to contact the hive.
"Newt told me you had run out of ether." I force the words out after finding the energy to speak.
"I lied." She even sounds offended that I may have thought any less of her. "Of course I'd save enough for you."
Followed by the sound of her footsteps on wet ground, we carry on.
Sunlight is finally peeking through the clouds, and as the shadows vanish the full magnitude of the battle gets exposed. There are ruins as far as the eye can see, mixed with the carcasses of Mecha-Zerg units, some of them already being dismantled by our drone army ready to be recycled.
There are also bodies of capes and civilians alike floating gently downstream. One of those bodies suddenly stops when a drone grabs it by the ankle and carries it away.
There will be a lot for me to explain once this is all over.
"What happened to Leviathan?"
Nia stops and looks down at me. "I think it's better if you see it for yourself."
Just a bit further ahead I see a small assembly of capes. Immediately I recognize the Triumvirate, hovering above. Legend has his back turned to me, and I can't even begin to guess what Alexandria and Eidolon are thinking behind their masks.
Below them there's Clockblocker, breathing heavily and with his shoulders limp as if he had just finished a dozen marathons one after the other.
Next to him, the purple-dressed girl is sitting on a rock while holding her knees against her chest. She's Flechette, who has the power of Sting, one of the few weapons capable of harming an Entity.
Some steps away from the two, is The Fight, holding in her hands what I identify as Armsmaster's nano-thorn halberd. The Sword is plugged into the base of the blade.
There are also some other capes that I'm too tired to try identifying. They all sport looks of shock, disbelief, and a tiny bit of hope.
The reason for that?
At the center of this group is Leviathan.
Or, better said, the two halves of Leviathan, split right at the middle from the top of his head to the base of his tail.
Whatever light once shone behind his eyes is long gone.
...
Well, this is it, the Endbringer battle. A battle that usually makes or breaks fanfics, and it comes out just a tiny bit later than I'd have wanted to. I was honestly hoping that I'd make it land on June 4, marking the 1 year anniversary of this fic, but that plan ended just like most of my plans do. It has been more than a year of weekly updates, something that I honestly never thought I'd ever manage, but the constant support has kept me motivated in a way I never felt before.
You know? This story started mostly as a joke. @Hydralisk ran me through a solo quest based on the original ToF with me as the single-player, and the first couple chapters were the result. He then insisted that I published this as its own story, but it took me a while to muster the courage to do so. Worm was a setting I promised myself never to write about, mostly because that'd involve reading the original story and everything I heard about it told me that I'd hate it to the core. I still haven't read it, and all my knowledge comes from the Wiki, the help of great friends I made along the way, and some specific interludes that I did read to get a better grasp of some characters and events.
For the longest time, I had absolutely no idea where I was going with it. I just wrote, being as surprised with what my characters were doing as you were, but slowly a plot started forming. As a little piece of trivia, I once considered naming my arcs like I did in Zero Summing, and like many other Worm fics do (I think that's where I got the idea, in fact). I'm not doing it because I'm sure I'll end up changing some events before everything is said and done, but if I had done that I'd have named the first part 'Induction', somewhere around Lung's defeat it would have changed to 'Ascension', right now we'd be entering 'Heresy', followed by 'Redemption', 'Crusade', and finally 'Apoteosis'.
Why am I writing all this now? Because Leviathan feels like a milestone. I always prided myself on doing things slightly different from what others do, and in all the stories I read, I only remember seeing him die in two. One was a Supergirl crossover, and the other was a CYOA that was mostly crack.
The Endbringers feel like these sacred beasts that you're only allowed to handle in very specific ways, and that's why, for me at least, all their battles have become increasingly 'samey'. Dreadfully boring, in fact. They come, the heroes flail angrily at them, and then they leave without anything having been truly achieved. Without anything truly changing, in most cases. For the longest time, I considered just not addressing the issue. Send Leviathan to attack some other city in the middle of nowhere for reasons that I wouldn't need to explain, or maybe do send him to BB and let the battle go like in canon, with Scion arriving and him retreating. But what would have I won with that? Absolutely nothing. The Endbringers aren't really characters, much less antagonists. They are excuses. The only reason why they exist is to justify the status quo in the Worm universe.
So, I killed him. In no small part for the personal satisfaction of it, if I'm to be honest. Even knowing that most people would probably hate that development and call it unrealistic. One of my betas even told me -and I quote- "This will either be praised as revolutionary or decried as heretical, lol."
What happens now? Well, I'm not slowing down for starters. Nothing will be the same after this, and I'm super excited for the next tree because it'll allow me to introduce a lot of stuff I've been eager to show. I know that a lot of people have been demanding to see Peter go ham with transhumanism, and that's what you will get. With lots of face-palming and hilarious unforeseen consequences than anyone not Peter would have been able to easily foresee.
Finishing this word soup of thoughts, I just want to thank all my readers for sticking with me up to this point. I hope you're enjoying it and that you stay for what's to come.
Oh, and before I forget, once again I thank Hydralisk, also @Magus Zanin, @Ridli Scott, @lbartolo, Full Paragon (I don't think he has an account here), and @Raiseth for being my betas. I don't know what I'd do without them.
You know? This story started mostly as a joke. @Hydralisk ran me through a solo quest based on the original ToF with me as the single-player, and the first couple chapters were the result. He then insisted that I published this as its own story, but it took me a while to muster the courage to do so. Worm was a setting I promised myself never to write about, mostly because that'd involve reading the original story and everything I heard about it told me that I'd hate it to the core. I still haven't read it, and all my knowledge comes from the Wiki, the help of great friends I made along the way, and some specific interludes that I did read to get a better grasp of some characters and events.
For the longest time, I had absolutely no idea where I was going with it. I just wrote, being as surprised with what my characters were doing as you were, but slowly a plot started forming. As a little piece of trivia, I once considered naming my arcs like I did in Zero Summing, and like many other Worm fics do (I think that's where I got the idea, in fact). I'm not doing it because I'm sure I'll end up changing some events before everything is said and done, but if I had done that I'd have named the first part 'Induction', somewhere around Lung's defeat it would have changed to 'Ascension', right now we'd be entering 'Heresy', followed by 'Redemption', 'Crusade', and finally 'Apoteosis'.
Why am I writing all this now? Because Leviathan feels like a milestone. I always prided myself on doing things slightly different from what others do, and in all the stories I read, I only remember seeing him die in two. One was a Supergirl crossover, and the other was a CYOA that was mostly crack.
The Endbringers feel like these sacred beasts that you're only allowed to handle in very specific ways, and that's why, for me at least, all their battles have become increasingly 'samey'. Dreadfully boring, in fact. They come, the heroes flail angrily at them, and then they leave without anything having been truly achieved. Without anything truly changing, in most cases. For the longest time, I considered just not addressing the issue. Send Leviathan to attack some other city in the middle of nowhere for reasons that I wouldn't need to explain, or maybe do send him to BB and let the battle go like in canon, with Scion arriving and him retreating. But what would have I won with that? Absolutely nothing. The Endbringers aren't really characters, much less antagonists. They are excuses. The only reason why they exist is to justify the status quo in the Worm universe.
So, I killed him. In no small part for the personal satisfaction of it, if I'm to be honest. Even knowing that most people would probably hate that development and call it unrealistic. One of my betas even told me -and I quote- "This will either be praised as revolutionary or decried as heretical, lol."
What happens now? Well, I'm not slowing down for starters. Nothing will be the same after this, and I'm super excited for the next tree because it'll allow me to introduce a lot of stuff I've been eager to show. I know that a lot of people have been demanding to see Peter go ham with transhumanism, and that's what you will get. With lots of face-palming and hilarious unforeseen consequences than anyone not Peter would have been able to easily foresee.
Finishing this word soup of thoughts, I just want to thank all my readers for sticking with me up to this point. I hope you're enjoying it and that you stay for what's to come.
Oh, and before I forget, once again I thank Hydralisk, also @Magus Zanin, @Ridli Scott, @lbartolo, Full Paragon (I don't think he has an account here), and @Raiseth for being my betas. I don't know what I'd do without them.
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Looks like you forgot to threadmark this chapter.
- Location
- Texas
I'm guessing Flecette has come to the realization that she's going to get targeted by end bringers now?
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Dude, some parts of this chapter legit felt like something out of a horror movie. A seemingly unstoppable monster hunting you down throughout the City, never slowing down until you died. I could vividly feel Peter's fear and desperation as he sought to do his best until the very end.
No~! Not the burgers! Curse you Leviathan! This must be a giant middle finger for those that enjoyed those greasy goodness.
And thus Peter gained a new title...Hope Bringer.
Overall, this chapter was quite enjoyable indeed and I definitely liked all the fight scenes and developments, but the difficult part comes in the next chapter. Peter has gained a lot of attention from the feats shown by his creations, so Cauldron and the Protectorate will definitely be quite interested in being allies with him.
Still, now that Leviathan is dead, well get to see three new Endbringers! and Poliamida can custom design them because they will be highly specialized in countering and negating the ways that their previous sibling was killed. I'm actually quite exited to see what's the plan for them in the near future.
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- Location
- Taken by the hand to a land that they understand
What actually killed the beast? Portal Cuts?
- Location
- Christchurch, New Zealand
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Awesome! I totally agree, the endbringers are what break a lot of worm fanfics. Most people that move stories past that point simply find a way not to deal with them, for all the reasons you've stated.
But I believe in your story. I believe the characters you've created could pull this off, and I believe the way that they did it.
But I believe in your story. I believe the characters you've created could pull this off, and I believe the way that they did it.
Raiseth
I Find Your Lack of Memes Disturbing
- Location
- Russia
The Fight. You know, the real protagonist of this story.
She grafted the Sword on top of Armsmaste's nanothorn halberd during a protracted anime sequence where she reaffirmed her convictions in a fifteen minute long flashback that showed everything that happened in this story to this moment since her creation, then murdered Leviathan with a single skyward slash while Peter was being busy with a bad case of deads, the wanker.
- Location
- Ontario, Canada
Flechette empowered nano-thorn halberd
The question is where did Clockblocker fit into her plan.The Fight. You know, the real protagonist of this story.
She grafted the Sword on top of Armsmaste's nanothorn halberd during a protracted anime sequence where she reaffirmed her convictions in a fifteen minute long flashback that showed everything that happened in this story to this moment since her creation, then murdered Leviathan with a single skyward slash while Peter was being busy with a bad case of deads, the wanker.
I suspect he was brought along purely to act as comedic relief.