Ya, the S9 would all die or have to run away if they attack them. But they would cause a lot of chaos if they do attack.
He needs some anti-master tech pronto. The Fallen with master powers are scary.
In Nuclear Fire
- Thread starter Poliamida
- Start date
Nuclear Fire 58
Poliamida
(Verified Heavy Molecule)
- Location
- Beyond the Stars
Warning: this chapter contains a bit of body horror.
A deep silence has fallen over Brockton Bay, only periodically disturbed by the flow of draining water and the hiss of zerg drones working to clear rubble and bodies alike.
Even the drumming of my heart is little more than a distant echo.
It's like the world has come to a complete standstill as we look down upon the remains of the once invincible beast, now humbled and broken.
It's funny then that the one to shatter the spell isn't any of the members of the Triumvirate, a veteran hero, or even me. It's Clockblocker.
"This will make for a great pick-up line."
With the moment now forever ruined, the Triumvirate snaps out of their shared trance.
"All of you, to the field base!" Alexandria yells at us. Without even waiting to see if her orders are followed, she departs with the rest of the Triumvirate close behind her, probably to talk privately with the other members of their conspiracy.
"Why is she ordering us around?" Flechette says without looking at us, some bitterness clear in her voice. "Legend is our leader."
I'm reminded that Flechette serves under him in New York so she must feel a lot of respect for the man. Little does she know that he's just a puppet controlled by Cauldron. A good-hearted puppet, but a puppet in the end.
Oh, well, if I still had the energy to do so, I'd shrug. "A Sergeant in motion outranks a Lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on."
The two Wards stare at me, maybe surprised by my sudden burst of wisdom. Satisfied by it, Flechette picks herself up from the ground and starts walking in the direction to where I assume the base of operations is.
Clockblocker follows close behind her.
Nia and I exchange a glance. Following Alexandria's orders could be a grave mistake, but with her reserves of Ether almost depleted and much of the Hive destroyed, we're in no position to make more enemies at the moment. Better to play along, at least for now.
She speeds up to catch up to Flechette, with The Fight right next to us still holding Armsmaster's halberd.
Our shared exhaustion makes this a slow march but, as we move through the remains of the city, we start catching glimpses of life. Pigeons fly above our heads, dogs bark in the distance and people crawl out of their shelters, now faced with the daunting task of picking up the remains of the lives that Leviathan ruined.
The worst by far is the smell. There are sections where the sewers overflowed, coating the sidewalks in effluent.
There's a dead rat there, and a piece of human waste over there next to a patch of fresh blood.
The drones are already working to clean the city, but even with their help, I struggle to wrap my head around the destruction, in vain trying to calculate a number. The damage caused by the water alone must be immeasurable, with no ground floors having been spared, and to that, we must add the damage caused by the battle itself.
Oh, yes, and the lost lives too. I shouldn't forget about those.
"So, do you girls know that I helped kill Leviathan?" Clockblocker says puffing up his chest.
Nia doesn't even bother looking at him when she replies: "In your dreams."
Neither does Flechette. "I don't even like boys."
The Fight remains steadfast at my side, acting as if she didn't even hear him.
Clockblocker turns his head away while he scratches the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guess that what you did was more impressive." He swings his arms from side to side. "Like, I held him there for you! That's important, right? It's something." Underneath his costume, his muscles tremble as if he was struggling to put himself into motion.
He may believe that the part he played was the minor one, but he's very much mistaken. If it hadn't been for him, we all would have died.
"If you hadn't trapped Leviathan in stasis," I told him, "he would have self-destructed and Brockton Bay would now be a crater."
Open mouth, insert foot.
We almost crash against Flechette when the girl comes to a sudden stop. "They can do that?!" She shakes her head and continues walking. "Of course even in death, they'd try to screw us over. How do you even know that would happen?"
Crap.
Thankfully Nia is there to do all the thinking for me. "Tattletale told us." She deserves a raise.
Flechette nods as if understanding very well what we're talking about. "Ah, her. She does like to talk a lot, doesn't she? Must be in love with the sound of her own voice." It seems that Lisa made a name for herself while I wasn't looking.
"Why didn't she tell me?" Clockblocker complains. "She just said 'get into the portal' and the next thing I know she-" he gestures at the Fight, "is hurling me at Leviathan."
"Not like it would have changed anything." Flechette shrugs. "Is she part of the local Wards team?"
Clockblocker shakes his head. "A villain, actually. My team and I clashed a couple of times with hers."
"What a disappointment."
"Tell me about it."
That's hormonal teenagers for you. They see a blonde in a spandex suit and rational thought becomes a foreign concept. I want to believe that I have better self-control than that, and better taste too. Chrome is better after all.
"And talking about disappointments-" Clockblocker draws closer to me. "What does a guy need to do to receive that kind of service?" The amusement is clear in his voice. It probably has something to do with the fact that Nia's still carrying me.
"Lose a limb, for starters," She barks back at him. "I'm sure that my friend here could help you with that."
Realizing that we're talking about her, The Fight steps forwards gesturing at the glaive that she carries at her side.
That gets Clockblocker to back away. "Yeah, I think I'll pass. There were more than enough lost limbs already. I had to freeze some people so they wouldn't bleed out." His jovial tone wavers as he starts talking faster. "I tried to reach for this one girl who was being dragged away by the water. I thought I had managed to save her but I only froze her hand. It wasn't attached to the rest of her body. Then the armband announced she had died."
"Clock," Flechette tells him in a quiet voice. "It's fine."
"Of course it is," he insists but I doubt any of us believe him. "I mean, we killed Leviathan. I grew up having nightmares about him. But we won. They can be killed. Now we only have to do it two more times. Unless more keep popping up." He clutches the side of his head and walks back close to Nia. "Hey-" He goes quiet as if doubting what to say.
"What?" Her tone of voice makes it clear that she's making a great effort to tolerate his presence.
"Just-- thank you. For bringing Vista back."
"Oh. It was nothing. Don't even mention it."
Clockblocker goes quiet after that and we continue on our way without suffering more distractions.
The further away we move from the coast, the fewer signs of damage we meet. Relatively speaking, at least. There are no more collapsed walls or cars buried under piles of rubble, but a quick glance is enough for me to know that whatever possessions families were keeping in the nearby houses, were all lost.
Soon enough I realize that we're walking through a familiar area. As mangled as they are, I recognize some of those lamp posts and signs. This is the road to Clarendon, a road that has already dried out by being on higher ground.
It must be because of that why they set the field hospital here, and it's a good thing that Nia's still carrying me or I'd have fainted at the sight.
Even in victory, this was a massacre.
An entire block of the city has been flattened -by capes, my drones, or Leviathan I don't know- and every open space is occupied by a patient. I see many blood-stained bandages, bodybags, and crying people.
A cape wearing a domino mask got his lower jaw torn away, and his tongue hangs freely like a limp piece of meat.
A girl wearing what looks like a motorbike helmet is missing everything from her belly button down, and the only thing keeping her alive is the drone plugged into her lower half.
Panacea and other healers zigzag through the files of wounded capes, doing the best they can to keep them stable, but they are too few and the casualties are too many.
My eyes immediately dart to the back of a cape I know very well, currently mending the broken leg of a kid dressed like an eagle that can't be much older than me.
"Ladybug!" I call for her, jumping out of Nia's hold.
Bad idea.
Very bad idea.
Consciousness flickers on and off and I stumble, the ground rushing to meet my face. I try to reach with my left hand to stop the fall but remember too late that I don't have one of those anymore.
"Master!" Nia catches me, bringing me back into her arms.
"I told you not to call me that," I force the words out of my mouth with the world spinning all around me.
"And I told you to stop worrying me like that!"
Everything feels numb, except for my head that feels like it was made of lead. At least the small commotion did its job alerting Taylor of our presence.
"Tech-Priest!" She cries out, rushing to meet us. "You're fine." She gestures as if she was about to hug me, but sees my state and pulls back.
"Ish." I reply waving weakly at her. "And you? What about Imp?"
"I'm the same as you." She glances at the useless stump hanging from my side. "A bit better I guess. Thankfully Imp was unconscious when they announced that you--" She goes quiet.
"Died. You can say that. I'm not the only one who did that around here."
"Yeah." She nods and glances over her shoulder at where her drone is moving to assist a new patient. With Taylor's visor fully operational, this one's doing its job perfectly. "Imp woke up some time ago and went to search for her family after I told her you were okay."
I hope that she finds them. How high is the typical casualty rate? One in three fatalities? And that is only for capes, I don't know how bad things are in the civilian sector.
We must be grateful for knowing that Danny's safe because far too many families aren't as lucky.
"That's something I should do too." Clockblocker surprises me with his comment. I had forgotten that he was still there. "After-- after I check how my team's doing. See you later." He starts walking away, then stops and nods back at us. "It was nice to fight alongside you for a change."
He may still have bad memories of our battle.
Flechette follows his example. "I should do the same. So, if you'll excuse me."
Once again surrounded only by friends, Taylor gestures at us to follow. She takes us away from the main hospital area, away from prying ears. With my visor destroyed, we need some space if we're going to talk in private.
"Newt's rebuilding the hive as we speak."
I flinch. I don't know how many units were destroyed but the number of losses must be above three digits. That matters little, though, because these are Zerg and we could recover in a matter of hours.
That's not the problem.
"Do you think we'll need it?"
We just survived an Endbringer battle and the hive was instrumental in his defeat. But I kind of revealed that I have self-replicating machines of war and people have been sent to the Birdcage for much less.
"I don't know, but if the PRT gets pushy again--"
Taylor's words get interrupted by the sound of people yelling.
The reason?
A caravan of drones has just arrived bringing with them more patients.
These are the civilians that I ordered my drones to save, and to my great relief, the vast majority still look human. They have patches of mech-flesh embedded into their bodies replacing missing organs or limbs, but it's nothing that some clothes and makeup can't hide.
But then there are the other cases.
What happens when a drone tries to replace a leg or an arm but doesn't know what a human looks like? Well, they use something that they do know.
There are many people whose hands were replaced by claws, or whose legs were replaced by the hydraulic pistons of a lurker.
In some cases, the drones mixed up the two.
There's a man who cannot walk because his leg was replaced by a buzzsaw, and another one who has a zerg-leg strapped to his shoulder.
And those are the lucky ones.
The unlucky ones--
My stomach twists when I look at them.
"Jesus," Taylor gasps with a hand against her mouth.
One of the first things that I hardcoded into the zerg was the importance of the brain. Everything else can be fixed, but if that one is lost then there's almost no way to bring the person back.
Well, they obeyed. They kept the brains safe. In some cases, to the detriment of everything else.
There's a head strapped to a pair of legs, struggling to keep its balance. Another one with a body that looks like a caterpillar, slithering across the ground. And a third one is nothing more than a brain encased in a solid block of zerg-flesh, without eyes, mouth, or any other way to interact with the outside world. Is he even alive inside all that?
As bad as those cases are, the hardest ones for me to look at are those where the drones couldn't discern where one person started and another ended. Those are patchworks of multiple bodies stitched together into a single mass.
They are fully awake, and they are not happy.
Some of them yell, some others cry, and others just hang their heads quietly in shock.
Upon looking at them, the healers and those few capes who are back on their feet rush to help them, offering whatever comfort they can.
There will be a lot for me to explain once this is all over.
"You!"
Well, it didn't take too long for the first critic to arrive.
I search for the source of the yell and find it in a woman dressed in a white suit with orange trims.
Great.
Brandish.
Why, Nia? Why did you revive that one?
She's dragging Victoria behind her by the wrist. The flying brick could have easily broken free of her mother's grip and flew away, but the looks of confusion and concern she's throwing at the woman tell me that she doesn't want to argue right now.
"You did this to her!"
At the accusation, several people perk up realizing that I'm there. Some of them approach to witness the exchange, be it out of confusion, curiosity, or anger.
I saved those people's lives, you ungrateful assholes!
Of course many would point out that the life I brought them back isn't worth living.
I release a sigh.
It won't be easy to explain that I have no idea how to reverse the process.
"Stand back, Brandish." Perceiving the threat, Taylor steps between me and the raging mother with a raised palm. "The truce is still in full effect."
Of all the laws that capes willfully ignore when convenient, 'no fighting during Endbringer battles' is one of the few that many will try to enforce. At least when in public, like we are right now.
"Tell that to him! He disfigured my daughter!"
That's a lawyer for you, always trying to twist the fact to make it sound like the other party was the one at fault.
Brandish pushes Victoria forwards, who smiles weakly at us almost as if she was trying to say 'sorry for this' with her eyes. One glance is all I need to find the source of the conflict: her right arm is fully mechanical now.
It doesn't look half bad, honestly. Far better than some of the other cases out there, but I can see the reason for Brandish's distress. Looking more like a metallic skeleton than a proper human arm, Vicky resembles a skinned Terminator.
"Hey, look. We match." She waves at me in an attempt for a joke, one that falls flat and makes her mother scowl.
"Glory Girl, takes this seriously!"
Vicky floats back, trying to put some distance between us but not enough that would cause her mother to get angry. "Mom, chill, this isn't that bad."
"Not that bad? Victoria, have you looked at yourself?!" Brandish snaps, using Vicky's civilian name to show how angry she is.
Joy, family drama. Between this and an Endbringer, I struggle to pick the lesser evil.
Holding my weight with one arm, Nia raises an index that then she aims at Brandish. "Okay, first, shut the heck up. This is still a hospital and you're being far too loud." She raises a second index. "Second, be a dear and present all your complaints to Leviathan. Maybe you will get an apology out of him because all we did was to stop your daughter from bleeding to death."
The woman's face turns a shade of red. "There would have been no need for that if you'd let us take her to Panacea!"
I swear, if it's not one thing is another.
"Then just rip it off." Taylor sounds far too excited with the idea as she voices it.
"Hey, wait a second here!" Vicky enters a defensive position, covering her mechanical arm with the other. "I feel I should have a saying here. This is my arm you're talking about!"
"That's not your arm, Victoria!" For the love of Lord, her voice is like a needle being driven into my brain!
"Well, the old one turned into red mush so I'll have to settle for this." She flexes and snaps her fingers, showing that she still has full control of it. "And I kind of like it if I'm being honest."
You know what? I like you. I'll add a Gatling gun to your arm for free.
"What are you saying?" Brandish asks in dismay. "Don't you see how wrong this is?"
Okay, that's enough. As fun as all this has been, this sounds like something that New Wave should deal with behind closed doors.
I'm not the only one to think that because the argument is brought to an end by the sound of someone clearing their throat.
"Excuse me but I'll have to request that you keep it down."
It's a man who looks as if he had just walked out of a painting of King Arthur, dressed in a massive suit of silver and gold armor with a sword as tall as him strapped to his back.
This is the second time I have seen him today. The last time was when he was charging Leviathan.
"Chevalier," Brandish forces her tone under control when she realizes that she's before one of the top heroes of the Protectorate. "What are you doing here?"
He acts as if he didn't hear her at first and he steps forward. He takes one look at Taylor, then at me, and then lets his eyes linger for several seconds on Nia and The Fight.
A power of his that was a very well-kept secret was his ability to see reflections of the Passengers bonded to the capes, but neither Nia nor The Fight have one of those.
At this stage, I don't even bother worrying about it. What's just another bullet point in the long list of horrible things that have happened today?
"Dragon sent me to retrieve Tech-Priest," He explains before turning towards Brandish. "Also, this is neither the time nor the place for a fight. Leviathan may have retreated but-"
"He's dead," I say out of pure instinct.
The three of them stare at me with shock clearly written on their faces.
Wait, they didn't know?
"What?" Chevalier sounds as if he's struggling to believe me.
"Leviathan," I repeat. "He's dead. We killed him. His body is way over there." I throw a thumb over my shoulder.
In the blink of an eye, the place that Vicky was occupying a moment ago gets replaced by empty air as she darts towards the place I pointed at.
"Glory Girl, wait!" Brandish calls her to no avail. "This is not over." And with that last warning, she rushes after her daughter.
I should be happy that she's no longer being a nuisance, but her delightful presence was replaced by that of dozens of capes walking towards us. Even those who are still wounded limp however they can and risk snapping their stitches open just to be the first in line to look at us.
"Hey, what did you say?" One of them asks.
"He said that Leviathan was killed." Another one replies.
"Is it true? I had heard something about that but I didn't dare to believe it."
"Leviathan's dead!" Someone shouts in the back, and that's the spark that turns this unstable powder keg into lightning.
Someone starts yelling.
Someone starts crying.
Whatever concern there may have been directed at me for my drone's work gets quickly forgotten, drowned in pure joy. People cheer, even when it means reopening their wounds or harming those who still need rest.
I'm starting to see why the announcement hadn't been made public.
Chevalier raises his arms trying to bring attention to himself. "Everyone! Please, return to your spots! Wait until a medic looks you over." It's completely useless. They don't listen to him. "You two," he points at Nia and me, "follow me."
Neither Taylor nor The Fight are getting any of that. "Wherever they go, we go too."
"Of course, but do try to keep a low profile. Please."
How does he expect a group of capes to keep a low profile?
That's a question that will remain unanswered, at least for now.
With Chevalier paving the way forwards, we get to the back of the field hospital and reach the building where Dragon is located.
Clarendon.
How strangely appropriate that she's here, at my school. And what a pity that it survived an Endbringer attack with nothing more than some cosmetic damage.
Next time I'll make sure to lead the Endbringer here so they can do me a favor and free me from the bother.
Stepping through the main door, I find that in my absence the place has turned into a makeshift command center. Heavy-duty generators have been installed in the playground, and there are thick cords of wire running from one end of the building to the other, feeding electricity to a variety of equipment. The classrooms, normally full of children, are full of PRT officers, each one with a computer.
"Where is Dragon?" Chevalier asks one of them.
"At the back."
He means the gym, a place that represents everything I stand against but that I'll do my best to tolerate in the name of meeting one of the greatest tinkers this world has ever seen. Also all-around nicest person ever that this world doesn't deserve.
That's a decision that I don't regret when I look at what she has done to this place.
My hairs stand on end and I can feel my power bouncing in joy inside my head. The entire place has been covered in complex machinery, and several combat suits are resting against one of the walls. One of them has been destroyed, but several mechanical arms are already repairing it.
I need to resist the urge to grab a wrench and dismantle it for parts.
There are also at least a dozen monitors that I can see, each one running a different program, and are those 3D printers? Those wouldn't become mainstream in my previous life until several years in the future, but these look far more complex than anything I saw before. There are four in total working non-stop to produce spare parts for the suits.
My power tells me that there are enough rare materials here to build at least three more blades, and it makes me wonder what Dragon's factories in Canada must look like.
I feel like I should be respectful around here. With some strength having finally returned to my lower limbs, I crawl down from Nia's hold so I can continue the rest of the way on foot.
"Dragon!" Chevalier calls seemingly at the nothingness because the place is devoid of human presence. "Is it true? Is Leviathan dead?"
Like the pulse of a beating heart, all the machines cease to function before restarting it a moment later. One of the monitors rises from its place, revealing to be a flying drone, and the image changes to show the face of a woman. She looks incredibly average, with plain straight hair and features that don't suggest any ethnicity.
"Endbringers have suffered grievous damage in the past and recovered from it," Dragon explains. "We are not sure yet, but the preliminary analysis suggests that he is."
Chevalier takes a step to the side, seemingly taken aback by the confirmation. "Why wasn't I informed?"
"You were assigned to hospital duty. We didn't want to give people false hope, especially to those who are still in a critical state."
And looking at how things got a bit out of hand back there, that was the right thing to do.
"Yes. Yes, you're right." He nods, clutching the side of his head, before glancing back at us. "And talking about critical cases, Tech-Priest is here. I should go back and help keep things stable over there." He then retreats with quick steps, closing the doors at his back.
The monitor displaying Dragon's avatar hovers closer to us.
Okay, Peter, keep your cool. You're in the presence of an incredibly powerful and intelligent AI, and all-around wonderful human being, but that's no reason to make a fool of yourself.
"Tech-Priest, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," she says with a cordial smile.
"Hi!" I yell, waving with my good arm.
I panic for a moment but Dragon seems to find the exchange entertaining and giggles. "I could also call you Belisarius Cawl if you wished to."
Oh, honey, no. I get that you were trying to make a joke to put me at ease -at least I hope that was your intention- but that's one of the worst things you could have said in a moment like this.
Taylor snaps. "If you know about that, you could also call us by our names if you wished to."
The venom in her voice makes Dragon raise her eyebrows in surprise. "That confrontation was a mistake," She says, sounding hurt. "If I had found out what the PRT was planning to do, I'd have advised against that."
"Oh, yes, 'advice'," Nia snarls. "Because, as we all know, morons always listen to that."
"Okay, girls, let's take a step back here--" My petition goes unheard.
"I understand that you're angry but, please, listen to me."
"Why should we?"
"I'm not your enemy."
"Now that would be a first."
This is going slightly out of control. Dragon wasn't ready to deal with Taylor and it shows, but in her defense few people are.
Realizing that, Dragon switches the image on her screen to show multiple short videos of the battle against Leviathan.
I hold back a gasp when I see Leviathan looming over me before the Ultralisks charge in. Sparks fly as Leviathan tries to break free.
The image then changes to show dozens of Hydralisks unleashing a barrage of Erudition missiles, and then it changes one more time to show a seemingly empty street that suddenly bursts into activity when Drones start crawling from underneath it.
The video ends and Dragon's avatar is back on screen. "You created this, didn't you? I counted 153 combat units and more than 500 construction/healing units." Wow, that many? That sounds nice. "From samples that Armsmaster sent me we know that your technology needs very little maintenance, but even when taking that into consideration it's highly unlikely that you built all these units by hand." She makes a pause before adding: "Are your creations capable of self-replication?"
I gulp and realize that I'm nowhere near as healthy as I had thought. I wouldn't mind going back into Nia's arms right now, but the fox-girl has her hand clenched into fists ready to fight if needed.
It was only a matter of time until someone realized the power of the Zerg and made that question. But, like so many other things in life, it wasn't something I spent much brainpower pondering about.
Why waste time and effort suffering over what's inevitable when there are more pleasant things to do?
"Like the Machine-Army of Eagleton? The one that the PRT declared too dangerous to engage with and so they abandoned and quarantined the town?"
I stare at Taylor, surprised by her sudden declaration.
For her part, Dragon narrows her eyes. "I see that you were prepared for this."
"Ellisburg may be the most famous example of a cape taking over, but there's also the cases of Gallup and Gary." Taylor drones out what sounds like a well-rehearsed script. "The PRT abandoned those towns, leaving them in control of villains."
I fix the collar of my costume, feeling very hot inside these heavy clothes.
This was what we planned for, wasn't it? To keep amassing power until our potential enemies declared us too much of a bother to fight. Mutually assured destruction was the name of the game, but now that we're faced with the possibility of resorting to it, it feels too real.
If Dragon feels in any way threatened, she doesn't let it show and her tone remains neutral. "The details surrounding quarantine zones 1 and 6 are classified. Is it right for me to assume that Tattletale told you about them?"
"You'd like to know, wouldn't you?" Taylor keeps pushing, unwilling to take a single step back.
Dragon sighs, letting her eyes fall to the ground. "You're not doing yourselves any favors by comparing your team to Nilbog. What happened in those places was a tragedy that no one deserves to suffer through. And if you do know about them, you'll know that none of the towns you listed were even a tenth of Brockton Bay's size. An independent with this amount of power and no supervision will scare a lot of people."
I wonder if there are any tinkers out there who specialize in social interaction. Dragon would need to get in contact with them if she wants to talk to Taylor on friendly terms ever again.
I should intervene and say something but this trainwreck has left me speechless.
"And why should we care about that? We only ever attacked villains, and did everything in our power to help all the people we could!" Taylor brings her foot down, making it clear where her line stands. "The only time we fought against the Protectorate was when they fell under Coil's control. And despite all that, you kept antagonizing us! If you don't want us to cause trouble then you don't attack us. It's that simple."
No, it isn't.
No organization that wishes to survive will ever admit incompetence, and that's what the PRT would be doing if they allowed us to fix the problems that they cannot.
A moment passes before Dragon gives her reply. "People fear what they cannot control."
Most people wouldn't know how deep what Dragon just said cuts.
Dragon was never truly free. She was forced to obey authority, even when it was evil or wrong. For years now she has been forced to obey and become an accessory to things that she disagreed with. She fights when she can, but her hands are tied by her shackles.
She's as much of a victim of the system as we are. Worse, even, because she doesn't even have the option to fight back.
When put into that light, I understand why she wants to be a human so desperately. Even with its many flaws, who wouldn't choose freedom over anything else?
"That's true," Taylor says dismissively. "And the reason why we built machines that could fight an Endbringer. And they did a good job, wouldn't you say? More than what hundreds of capes working together ever managed to. So, what will you say? Will you attack us next?"
The message is clear: if the best that the Protectorate has to offer falls short, what hope do they have in a battle against us?
I don't think that Dragon disagrees with us. Or, better said, I don't want to believe she does. But she has her orders and she has to obey them.
"That's not for me to decide," She admits, sounding hurt. "You revealed incredibly powerful machines that could become a national threat-"
"At minimum," I grumble under my breath.
"-but you did so to fight an Endbringer. Your help was also critical to achieve something that many thought impossible -killing Leviathan- and they will hope that you're at our side when it comes the time to fight the remaining two." Her avatar shakes its head. "I apologize, but right now I cannot tell what may happen. That's above me."
Taylor scoffs, frustrated by the vague reply. "So, is that it? You called us to tell us… what? That you couldn't do anything to help us?"
"No, I also called you hoping that you could help us."
"With what?" Taylor folds her arms, sounding distrustful of anything that Dragon may offer.
The screen switches once again, this time to show an image I became intimately familiar with ten minutes ago: the hospital out there.
More people have arrived, almost all of them sporting obvious signs of my tinkertech, and I already know where this is going.
"I need Tech-Priest's help deciphering how the implants work. I have no desire to use that information against you but, as you saw, many of these procedures reached questionable results."
Taylor straightens up as if ready to complain, but then stops and glances back at me.
Thank you for the vote of confidence.
Okay, there is a big problem here because my current specialty doesn't synergize well with mechanical implants. Without a tech-three similar to Starcraft or Deus Ex, reverting what the drones did will prove… challenging to say the least.
"The patients are alive so I'd argue that, under the circumstances, they were successful enough," I reply, deflecting the question. "But I get what you mean." Christ, how do I fix this? Maybe some other parahuman can do it? "I remember Brandish saying something about Panacea having trouble with them?"
"I'm in contact with her right now," Dragon keeps talking while showing new images. This one is what I can best describe as an X-ray picture of a cyborg. I'm genuinely surprised that she managed to amass so much information in the last couple of minutes, but that's Dragon for you. "She's looking at the worst cases but tells me that your implants splice with the nervous system in a way that interferes with her powers."
Is she talking about Khaydarin? If that can scramble Panacea's powers, that doesn't give me much hope for an easy solution.
"In some cases, it should be relatively trivial to surgically remove the implants and allow Panacea, Nia, or other healers to reconstruct the missing body parts." Dragon shows us an animation of a scalpel cutting a mechanical arm off. A doodle of Panacea then sets her hands on the patient and regrows the missing limb. "But, in others, the implants are also working as life support mechanisms, and removing them could prove fatal."
Like the ones who are just heads strapped to spider-like bodies, and I don't want to imagine what those amalgamations of multiple bodies would look like if we cut them open.
"Even with Nia's prodigious healing powers on our side, risking these people's lives in such a way is something that I, personally, consider unacceptable. That's why I'm looking for a tinkertech solution. If you're adamant about keeping your technology secret, I'm willing to share some of my resources with you so we can help them together."
Crap.
I'm tempted to tell her yes if only to secure her resources and gamble that my next tree will give me the tools I need to untangle this mess. Besides, I'd love to work with her! But sometimes I feel that I'm too honest for my own good. At least, when confronted about it.
"Nia, is there anything you could do here?" I ask our resident healer.
She shakes her head, dashing my hopes away. "My power-- how to phrase this? It works very well with your technology? Yes, that. It wouldn't recognize the implants as foreign objects and just ignore them."
Dragon's avatar cocks her head in confusion.
When I created Nia I made sure that she wouldn't be just 'a' healer but 'our' healer. As we usually go around with our armors on, I needed to make sure that her powers and our implants wouldn't interfere with each other. That's complicating things now.
And Dragon keeps staring at me. What am I supposed to say?
"Okay, this is the thing-"
Before I can deliver my confession, a shadow blocks the lights of the ceiling. I look up and a chill runs down my spine.
Alexandria and Eidolon have just entered the room through the Skylight.
"Dragon," the woman who has become synonymous with 'flying brick' greets our host. "I am here to inform you that Leviathan's death has been confirmed. Legend is currently addressing the surviving capes."
Conveniently away so he can't object to any immoral acts.
Why do I feel like we're being cornered here?
My eyes wander to the back of the room where a CO2 fire extinguisher is conveniently located.
"Who is getting credited for it?" Taylor demands to know.
Alexandria doesn't look happy with Taylor's tone and turns towards her, looking quite intimidating with that iron mask that covers her whole face. Despite being one of the greatest heroes of the world, she wouldn't look out of place as an evil overlady. "That's to be decided later and irrelevant for now. I also came to inform the members of Heavy Gear that the PRT will ignore all their previous transgressions in exchange for more samples of their technology." She points at the glaive that The Fight still carries in her arms, hugging it close to her body as if it was her favorite toy.
"Our transgressions?" Taylor sounds insulted but her comment goes ignored by the adults.
Dragon's monitor moves to stand between Alexandria and us.
"What a coincidence, I was also discussing with Tech-Priest the possibility of a tradeoff." Despite being constrained by her shackles, it's nice to know that she's trying to protect us.
Alexandria gives her a nod that's as sharp and to the point as her words. "Good, we'll want as many of your suits equipped with the weapon as possible. Armsmaster will collaborate." At no point, she implied that there would even be an option.
"We were actually discussing other applications-"
"None of them are as important as something that can kill an Endbringer."
Tired of being ignored, Taylor speaks up. "We haven't agreed to anything yet!"
Just by the way she stares down at us, Alexandria leaves it clear that she isn't a woman who appreciates being told 'no'. "Whatever personal grievances you may have, they aren't important. Just say your price. Resources? Money? We'll get it to you as long as you build more of those weapons." She won't be happy when I tell her that's not possible.
"You mean as long as we do as you say."
"If it comes to that, yes. This is not negotiable when the future of the world is at stake."
My neck aches and I feel sweat rolling down my back.
Alexandria keeps staring at Taylor, who stares back showing an incredible amount of willpower for being able to stand against someone who could bend a steel beam as easily as they snap a twig.
Nia clenches and unclenches her hands, as if ready to blast with an attack, and The Fight clutches her glaive ready to strike.
The only one who doesn't seem to care is Eidolon, who remains back as if the result of this argument was below his interest.
Come on, why can't there be easy solutions?
Fuck it.
"I can't build more." I finally admit I'm tired of this pointless argument.
In the silence that follows, a pin dropping to the floor would have been like a nuclear explosion.
Dragon's avatar twists her face in surprise, and even Eidolon unfolds his arms looking shocked by the revelation.
"What did you say?" Alexandria demands to know.
I hate to repeat myself. "I. Can't. Build. More!" I yell at them, hoping to leave it clear.
"Explain."
How do I even begin? "I'm like Leet." Do they even know who Leet is? Eh, it doesn't matter. "I only have access to the stuff I can create for a limited amount of time. Once the time's up, it's gone. I can't build more swords the same way I can't tell Dragon how my drones work because that information is no longer in my brain!" I tap the side of my head for extra emphasis.
It feels like being under Glory Girl's aura of fear when Alexandria hovers above me, but there are no master effects in place here. The terror creeping up my back is the product of Alexandria's force of presence alone. "If you're lying to us-"
"He's not lying!" Nia intervenes. "That's how his power works, so deal with it."
Alexandria floats back, and I can almost taste the frustration oozing out of her. "In that case, we're keeping it. That technology will be studied by the thinkers of the Protectorate."
I clench my teeth, my stomach twists, and my heart jumps to my throat.
My very being rejects the idea of letting my technology fall on their hands.
It's mine! For me to do as I please, give to those I chose to and to take away from those I don't!
"We won't let you steal from us!" Taylor yells, aiming an index at Alexandria.
"Your compliance is not a factor. We'll take it by force if needed."
Okay, we prepared for this. We bluffed for this. Taylor killed Alexandria in another timeline by filling her lungs with insects, so there should be nothing stopping her from doing that again!
The killers of Leviathan and Alexandria! All in one day! The newspapers would love that.
Assuming that we can do that, of course, and Alexandria doesn't kill us before we can blink using her super speed.
"Alexandria!" Dragon intervenes. "This is highly irregular."
"Any complaints you may have, Dragon, the Guild can send them through the usual cha-"
Her words get suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone kicking the door of the gym open.
In comes a person that, at first, I fail to recognize. It's a girl wearing power armor similar to mine, just painted purple, and with a visor that covers most of her head leaving only her mouth exposed. It's thanks to her feral grin that I manage to recognize her.
"Hello, public!" Tattletale greets us, raising her arms as if she was a rockstar stepping onto the stage. "Thank you, thank you. You're all too kind." She slithers towards Alexandria as if she was a shark smelling blood. "Surprised to see me here? You'll see that I'm difficult to get rid of. Just like cancer."
I hold my breath back. Holy shit, Tattletale!
Before gaining her powers Alexandria grew up as a sickly teenager who was rushed from hospital to hospital, slowly losing hope in what her medics were telling her. That was the lowest point in her life and she was just reminded of it all.
"Tattletale." Alexandria spits every letter of her name as if it was vile in her mouth.
"Yes, it's me!" She raises her voice even louder. "The mastermind behind the death of Leviathan! The greatest and humblest thinker in the whole world!" She's loving every second of this, isn't she?
If there weren't this many witnesses around, I have no doubt that Alexandria would have already torn her head off. "There are many who would like to contest that claim."
Tattletale throws her head back and laughs. Then she stares at the hero right in the eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry, do you know of any other thinkers capable of reading Endbringers?"
Alexandria recoils back in what I'd almost say is fear. Even Eidolon is now giving Tattletale his undivided attention.
Well, that's what you get when you nurture the idea of the 'boogieman', of the invincible cape, and when you put the future of your organization on the shoulders of that one person. The moment they fail, you're back at being a scared child in the middle of a dark forest.
But why isn't Contessa intervening? Why is she letting us use her shadow to cower the Triumvirate? Is the presence of Leviathan's remains interfering with her power, or is it something else?
Maybe her path doesn't even care.
Whatever it may be, Tattletale is exploiting it to the fullest, and her grin does nothing but grow. "That's what I thought." She shows her teeth at the intimidated capes. "And have you seen my new friends?" She gestures at the door.
Just on cue, three new figures walk in. The first one looks like a futuristic soldier dressed in power armor and with the British flag on the shoulder, the second one looks like a German Landsknecht, and the third one isn't actually a person but a hologram that I know very well.
"Manchester. Vornehm." Alexandria calls the two men before turning to the hologram. "And who is this one?"
"Belisarius Cawl." The figure of the AdMech bows. "As I was telling the representatives of The King's Men and the Meisters," he gestures at the two men, "I understand that my children gave you some trouble, correct?"
Who is controlling it?
Newt? No, this doesn't sound like her style.
Aisha? She should still be with her family, and this looks too complex for her. I can't see her staying in character for long.
That would leave us with--
Danny?!
"What do you want?" Alexandria asks through clenched teeth.
Before any of the men can reply, Tattletale steps right back in. "Well, a mansion made of solid gold would be a good start for me, but for now I'm here to make sure that you give proper credit to those who made Leviathan's death a reality." She glances at us as she walks circles around Alexandria. "Starting with me who coordinated it all, and followed by Tech-Priest who built half of the weapon that killed Leviathan. He also built the portals that allowed us to surprise him and the augmentations that allowed The Fight to get into position. And that's without mentioning the sensor array that allowed us to track him down."
Then she moves to the side, giving space for who I assume to be Manchester to take the stage. "Besides celebrating the deed, we're here to formally thank him and his team for their medical work. In my case, I'd have lost a personal friend of mine if the parahuman Nia hadn't intervened."
"Three members of my team also owe their lives to them," Vornehm adds in broken English thick with a German accent.
Then Tattletale continues. "Yes! Let's not forget that thanks to Tech-Priest's technology this one will go down in history as one of the battles with the least amount of fatalities."
"In exchange for having turned dozens of people into something that would make Bonesaw proud."
The grin on Tattletale's face disappears as she darts towards Alexandria. "Be careful. That kind of words would discourage a person from helping the next time an Endbringer appears. If not something worse."
It's funny to see Alexandria flinch. For the longest time Cauldron assumed that only they knew about the real nature of Zion, but we just proved them wrong.
Her threat delivered, Tattletale waves at us. "Now chop-chop, team! I want us back at the base before dinner time."
She turns towards the door but suddenly finds her way obstructed by Alexandria.
"You're free to go but the weapon is staying with us."
Damn it! I thought we were done with this.
"You're stealing from a fellow parahuman? During a truce?" Tattletale places a hand against her chest in very well-rehearsed dismay. "I knew that the Protectorate doesn't give a crap about the Unwritten Rules but I thought you'd try to be subtle about it." She throws a look at Belisarius. "You're filming all this, correct?"
"Absolutely," the hologram confirms. "This is our technology, built with methods that we understand and that we can improve upon. If we give it to the Protectorate, it will most likely be destroyed."
Or even worse: they'd get confused by it like a bunch of dumb monkeys, and store it somewhere so they can forget about it. Like what happened to Hero's equipment. And Professor Haywire's stuff.
Sadly that's still not enough to get Alexandria off our backs. "Tech-Priest just confessed that he can't build more but we have the resources to analyze and hopefully reproduce it. Even if you can upgrade the weapon, putting all our trust in a single point of failure could end in disaster!"
Once again the room gets filled with Tattletale's cackling laughter. "Oh, the irony! That's so precious coming from you, people." She throws a knowing look at Eidolon.
"And I must put in doubt how capable you are," Belisarius adds. "Despite all your resources, you haven't achieved much."
Manchester seems to find the comment funny. "That's American pride for you. They always believe that the world revolves around them."
The humor, though, is lost on Alexandria. "This weapon could be the key to kill the other Endbringers! Don't you understand that?"
Enhanced by the armor, Tattletale stalks towards her, moving faster than any human should be able to. "Oh, I understand it. I understand it better than you do." She speaks in a low, threatening voice. "It sucks, doesn't it? How horrible it must be to realize that all the sacrifices you made -all the lesser evils you forgave- were for nothing. You must hate that a bunch of nobodies like us are doing a better job at saving the world than you are. But you know what they say: youth before beauty."
Okay, Tattletale, you can tune your Tattletale-ness down a notch. You were doing just fine teasing the Triumvirate and pretending to be stronger than Contessa, but it will be all for nothing if you keep angering them! I want to leave already!
Alexandria clenches her fists as if fighting against herself to not just kill us all, but then there's a bright flash.
It leaves me confused, almost blinded.
When my sight gets back into focus, I find a confused The Fight staring down at her empty hands. The glaive is gone.
Where is it?!
How did it happen?!
Who did it?!
Eidolon.
The glaive is now in Eidolon's hands.
The second strongest being on the planet runs his fingers up the length of the shaft until he reaches the base of the blade, where The Sword connects to the Halberd. He fidgets a bit with it until the card retracts and detaches from the rest of the weapon.
"The truce is still in effect," he says, and as he speaks it's like a drum beating against my chest.
His voice is like a layering of a dozen voices, all sounding the same and coated in raw power. If Alexandria looming above me felt like being stared down by a tiger, Eidolon's voice alone feels like staring at the sun.
"This belongs to Armsmaster," he continues, gesturing at the halberd. "I'll make sure that he gets it back." Then he hurls The Sword.
My healthy arm spasms, almost by its own accord, and shoots out to catch the card. It lands on my opened palm.
"What are you doing?" Alexandria asks him, flying to his side.
"Something that I haven't done in a long time." He turns around and with a wave of his hand, he opens a portal in the middle of the air. "I'll go tell Legend that we're done here." Before stepping through, he throws one last look back at us. "I hope to have you at our side during the next Endbringer fight. Thank you." And then he leaves.
Alexandria stares down at us for one last time before following after him, and the portal closes.
With those two gone it's as if a massive weight had fallen off my shoulders, and I can breathe once again.
I hope we don't get any more surprises. I don't think that my heart would resist more of this.
"Well, that happened," Tattletale says, coughing into her fist. "I swear I can't get a read on that guy."
I don't think anyone can.
"Whatever the case," Manchester adds, clearing his throat, "If any of you feel disappointed by the Protectorate, remember that the King's Men know how to appreciate talent."
Vornehm walks behind him and pats his shoulder as if they were old friends. "Already trying to conquer what isn't yours? You're an Englishman, alright." He raises an index that then points at me. "And do remember that German engineering is the best in the world."
Yes, I know. The Iron Blood girls are proof enough.
With their speeches delivered, the two foreign capes take their leave.
"I suggest we do the same and bail out." Tattletale will hear no complaints from us, and we all head towards the exit.
But then I remember that I do have one last thing to do.
Dragon is still there, staring at us in great confusion, her processors probably running hot trying to understand all that just happened.
"I'll call you when I have a solution," I tell her and then rush after my team.
I hope I can fulfill that promise.
"Home, sweet home!" Tattletale beams after we cross the portal that takes us back to our base.
I'd argue that this isn't her home but who knows if hers is still on dry land, so for now I'll allow it.
"Taylor, Peter!" Danny rushes to our meeting, grabs us each in one arm, and gives us a strong hug. "I'm so glad that you're fine."
'Ish' I'd add, but this isn't the place nor the time. He looks disheveled and a bit pale, the day having taken its toll on him as it did on all of us.
"Master, a pleasure to have you back." Newt gives us a salute. "A pleasure to have all of you back."
Long John informs us of his joy too as he tries to jump up Taylor's leg demanding to be carried.
"Oh, so cute!" Tattletale swipes a finger across her face clearing a fake tear. "You're ready for the picture!"
Taylor's eyebrows knit into a frown as she breaks away from Danny's hug. "Are you alright? You have been very--"
"Unnaturally cheerful? Oh, girl, I'm high as fuck right now!"
What.
"What?!" Danny repeats my unvoiced question as his face loses what little color it had recovered.
"Oh, don't worry, it's nothing addictive." Tattletale repeats with a dismissive wave of her hand. "It's just the same concoction that Tech-Priest used to throw my power off." She points down at the armor she's wearing.
Well, let's add yet another point to the long list of things that Danny may want to ask us about, but that's secondary right now.
A little fact that most people have forgotten is that Alexandria's name comes from the library of the same name. It was meant to represent not just her strength, but also her intelligence.
One of her many powers is the ability to deduce people's emotions and get an insight into their thoughts, through body language alone.
Kind of similar to what Tattletale does.
With that realization comes the first piece that allows me to put together what Tattletale did back there.
"You used it to confuse Alexandria's powers."
She waves her finger up and down confirming my theory. "And to hide how batshit terrified I was! Seriously, that was one of the stupidest things I have ever done! But also the most rewarding." She takes her visor off and gives it to me. "Here, see if you can see what's special about this one."
I receive it, access its logs, and immediately find something odd.
If I'm reading this correctly, this visor was programmed to shut down the external sensors almost at random, leaving only the radio channels open. "There were parts back there when you were both blind and deaf!" I gasp in surprise. "How did you do all that then?"
How did she keep a coherent conversation with Alexandria? How could she walk around without tripping?
Her power is impressive but it has its limits.
"It was thanks to her!" Tattletale points at Newt. "My lovely assistant told me what was happening around me, and my power extrapolated from there." She brings the tips of her fingers together, smiling like a child who's about to share a nasty secret. "Because here is the thing, your network uses a cipher that works very similarly to how powers communicate with parahumans and each other."
"Powers do what?" Taylor yells in surprise, but I ignore her. My brain is working at full power processing this new piece of information.
When I emerged from the Buster after linking with the Hive, I found Tattletale there staring at me with a blank expression on her face.
Let's say for a moment here that Khaydarin transmits information in a way that resembles Shard-speak. If that's the case, then it means that--
It means that Contessa can't see us.
"You found a poor man's shield against thinkers." And how convenient it is that I have a piece of that inside my chest.
"Correct!" Tattletale cheers, spinning like a ballerina. "I just made the most powerful parahumans of the world shit their pants with a freaking bluff! Oh, I'm so awesome!" She then stumbles and needs to grab a nearby table to stop herself from kissing the floor. "Also-- oh, fuck." She clutches the side of her head, her cheeks turning a sickly shade of green. "Here comes the crash." She drags herself to the couch. "I'm fucking tired. And I have a killer headache. Do you mind if I sleep here for the night? My bed is probably floating towards the Caribbean right now. You wouldn't have ice cream, would you? Eh, it doesn't matter." She lets herself fall and passes out the moment that her face touches the cushions.
"What did she just say?" Taylor asks in confusion. "I honestly only got half of that. And what was that about powers?"
I could answer all her questions, but that's a can of worms that I don't want to open. I'll let Lisa find her way out of that hole on her own. That's why I keep her around after all.
"I'm in the same boat," I lie. "But that's thinkers for you. We'll ask her after she wakes up."
And with that, the group disperses.
Nia needs to rest if she wants to recharge her depleted ether reserves, The Fight needs to keep an eye out for trouble, and Newt has an information network to rebuild.
We don't even know the current state of our territory, much less the rest of the city. I fear that fixing the mess that Bakuda left will be a cakewalk compared to what's ahead of us, but once we have a reasonably good idea of the extent of the damage we'll know how to proceed.
Until then, it's just Taylor, Danny, and me.
We stare at each other in awkward silence, none of us willing to be the first to say something.
A lot happened, a lot was said, and many secrets that we weren't ready to share got revealed.
How will we continue from here?
"So, dad--" Taylor ventures, still looking uncomfortable talking to Danny in costume. "Interested in a position on the team?" She points at the now deactivated hologram projector that Danny used to cosplay as Belisarius Cawl.
He smiles, shaking his head. "Oh, no. That was a one-time thing. Besides, I still have my pride and my daughter being my boss would be awkward." He runs a hand through his messy hair, some strands falling off his balding head. "Look, there's a lot I want to ask you two about, but I think that Lisa here had the right idea." As if listening to us, the sleeping thinker releases a snore like the sound of grinding stones. "This was a long day and we all will need some rest. Tomorrow we'll sit down and talk, but for now, let's just enjoy that we're together and we're safe."
You know what? That's another great idea I can get behind. I have no energy for tinkering, and even if I did, the lack of an arm would make everything go slower. Tomorrow Nia will be back at full strength and--
Wait a minute.
I'm a freaking idiot.
Excusing myself for a moment, and leaving father and daughter alone, I walk into a nearby room. Once there, I use Tattletale's visor for two important things.
First, I order a replacement for mine.
Second, I dismiss my armor.
As the drones that form it unfold and crawl back to the floor, I grab one and plug it into the stump of my arm. The little critter plugs into it and dozens of tiny legs dig into my flesh. I don't feel the faintest trace of pain as small pincers peel my skin away so they can connect to my nerves, and in less than a minute the process is complete.
Now Glory Girl can say that we match!
Looking down at my now fully mechanical arm, a visceral satisfaction comes to me. I'd have wished that this had been a product of my desire and not necessity, but I won't complain. This is nothing but the first upgrade of many that will hopefully come.
But that's tomorrow's problem.
For now, I'll just sit down, relax, and bask in the fact that, despite the odds, we survived for another day.
Nuclear Fire 58
A deep silence has fallen over Brockton Bay, only periodically disturbed by the flow of draining water and the hiss of zerg drones working to clear rubble and bodies alike.
Even the drumming of my heart is little more than a distant echo.
It's like the world has come to a complete standstill as we look down upon the remains of the once invincible beast, now humbled and broken.
It's funny then that the one to shatter the spell isn't any of the members of the Triumvirate, a veteran hero, or even me. It's Clockblocker.
"This will make for a great pick-up line."
With the moment now forever ruined, the Triumvirate snaps out of their shared trance.
"All of you, to the field base!" Alexandria yells at us. Without even waiting to see if her orders are followed, she departs with the rest of the Triumvirate close behind her, probably to talk privately with the other members of their conspiracy.
"Why is she ordering us around?" Flechette says without looking at us, some bitterness clear in her voice. "Legend is our leader."
I'm reminded that Flechette serves under him in New York so she must feel a lot of respect for the man. Little does she know that he's just a puppet controlled by Cauldron. A good-hearted puppet, but a puppet in the end.
Oh, well, if I still had the energy to do so, I'd shrug. "A Sergeant in motion outranks a Lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on."
The two Wards stare at me, maybe surprised by my sudden burst of wisdom. Satisfied by it, Flechette picks herself up from the ground and starts walking in the direction to where I assume the base of operations is.
Clockblocker follows close behind her.
Nia and I exchange a glance. Following Alexandria's orders could be a grave mistake, but with her reserves of Ether almost depleted and much of the Hive destroyed, we're in no position to make more enemies at the moment. Better to play along, at least for now.
She speeds up to catch up to Flechette, with The Fight right next to us still holding Armsmaster's halberd.
Our shared exhaustion makes this a slow march but, as we move through the remains of the city, we start catching glimpses of life. Pigeons fly above our heads, dogs bark in the distance and people crawl out of their shelters, now faced with the daunting task of picking up the remains of the lives that Leviathan ruined.
The worst by far is the smell. There are sections where the sewers overflowed, coating the sidewalks in effluent.
There's a dead rat there, and a piece of human waste over there next to a patch of fresh blood.
The drones are already working to clean the city, but even with their help, I struggle to wrap my head around the destruction, in vain trying to calculate a number. The damage caused by the water alone must be immeasurable, with no ground floors having been spared, and to that, we must add the damage caused by the battle itself.
Oh, yes, and the lost lives too. I shouldn't forget about those.
"So, do you girls know that I helped kill Leviathan?" Clockblocker says puffing up his chest.
Nia doesn't even bother looking at him when she replies: "In your dreams."
Neither does Flechette. "I don't even like boys."
The Fight remains steadfast at my side, acting as if she didn't even hear him.
Clockblocker turns his head away while he scratches the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guess that what you did was more impressive." He swings his arms from side to side. "Like, I held him there for you! That's important, right? It's something." Underneath his costume, his muscles tremble as if he was struggling to put himself into motion.
He may believe that the part he played was the minor one, but he's very much mistaken. If it hadn't been for him, we all would have died.
"If you hadn't trapped Leviathan in stasis," I told him, "he would have self-destructed and Brockton Bay would now be a crater."
Open mouth, insert foot.
We almost crash against Flechette when the girl comes to a sudden stop. "They can do that?!" She shakes her head and continues walking. "Of course even in death, they'd try to screw us over. How do you even know that would happen?"
Crap.
Thankfully Nia is there to do all the thinking for me. "Tattletale told us." She deserves a raise.
Flechette nods as if understanding very well what we're talking about. "Ah, her. She does like to talk a lot, doesn't she? Must be in love with the sound of her own voice." It seems that Lisa made a name for herself while I wasn't looking.
"Why didn't she tell me?" Clockblocker complains. "She just said 'get into the portal' and the next thing I know she-" he gestures at the Fight, "is hurling me at Leviathan."
"Not like it would have changed anything." Flechette shrugs. "Is she part of the local Wards team?"
Clockblocker shakes his head. "A villain, actually. My team and I clashed a couple of times with hers."
"What a disappointment."
"Tell me about it."
That's hormonal teenagers for you. They see a blonde in a spandex suit and rational thought becomes a foreign concept. I want to believe that I have better self-control than that, and better taste too. Chrome is better after all.
"And talking about disappointments-" Clockblocker draws closer to me. "What does a guy need to do to receive that kind of service?" The amusement is clear in his voice. It probably has something to do with the fact that Nia's still carrying me.
"Lose a limb, for starters," She barks back at him. "I'm sure that my friend here could help you with that."
Realizing that we're talking about her, The Fight steps forwards gesturing at the glaive that she carries at her side.
That gets Clockblocker to back away. "Yeah, I think I'll pass. There were more than enough lost limbs already. I had to freeze some people so they wouldn't bleed out." His jovial tone wavers as he starts talking faster. "I tried to reach for this one girl who was being dragged away by the water. I thought I had managed to save her but I only froze her hand. It wasn't attached to the rest of her body. Then the armband announced she had died."
"Clock," Flechette tells him in a quiet voice. "It's fine."
"Of course it is," he insists but I doubt any of us believe him. "I mean, we killed Leviathan. I grew up having nightmares about him. But we won. They can be killed. Now we only have to do it two more times. Unless more keep popping up." He clutches the side of his head and walks back close to Nia. "Hey-" He goes quiet as if doubting what to say.
"What?" Her tone of voice makes it clear that she's making a great effort to tolerate his presence.
"Just-- thank you. For bringing Vista back."
"Oh. It was nothing. Don't even mention it."
Clockblocker goes quiet after that and we continue on our way without suffering more distractions.
The further away we move from the coast, the fewer signs of damage we meet. Relatively speaking, at least. There are no more collapsed walls or cars buried under piles of rubble, but a quick glance is enough for me to know that whatever possessions families were keeping in the nearby houses, were all lost.
Soon enough I realize that we're walking through a familiar area. As mangled as they are, I recognize some of those lamp posts and signs. This is the road to Clarendon, a road that has already dried out by being on higher ground.
It must be because of that why they set the field hospital here, and it's a good thing that Nia's still carrying me or I'd have fainted at the sight.
Even in victory, this was a massacre.
An entire block of the city has been flattened -by capes, my drones, or Leviathan I don't know- and every open space is occupied by a patient. I see many blood-stained bandages, bodybags, and crying people.
A cape wearing a domino mask got his lower jaw torn away, and his tongue hangs freely like a limp piece of meat.
A girl wearing what looks like a motorbike helmet is missing everything from her belly button down, and the only thing keeping her alive is the drone plugged into her lower half.
Panacea and other healers zigzag through the files of wounded capes, doing the best they can to keep them stable, but they are too few and the casualties are too many.
My eyes immediately dart to the back of a cape I know very well, currently mending the broken leg of a kid dressed like an eagle that can't be much older than me.
"Ladybug!" I call for her, jumping out of Nia's hold.
Bad idea.
Very bad idea.
Consciousness flickers on and off and I stumble, the ground rushing to meet my face. I try to reach with my left hand to stop the fall but remember too late that I don't have one of those anymore.
"Master!" Nia catches me, bringing me back into her arms.
"I told you not to call me that," I force the words out of my mouth with the world spinning all around me.
"And I told you to stop worrying me like that!"
Everything feels numb, except for my head that feels like it was made of lead. At least the small commotion did its job alerting Taylor of our presence.
"Tech-Priest!" She cries out, rushing to meet us. "You're fine." She gestures as if she was about to hug me, but sees my state and pulls back.
"Ish." I reply waving weakly at her. "And you? What about Imp?"
"I'm the same as you." She glances at the useless stump hanging from my side. "A bit better I guess. Thankfully Imp was unconscious when they announced that you--" She goes quiet.
"Died. You can say that. I'm not the only one who did that around here."
"Yeah." She nods and glances over her shoulder at where her drone is moving to assist a new patient. With Taylor's visor fully operational, this one's doing its job perfectly. "Imp woke up some time ago and went to search for her family after I told her you were okay."
I hope that she finds them. How high is the typical casualty rate? One in three fatalities? And that is only for capes, I don't know how bad things are in the civilian sector.
We must be grateful for knowing that Danny's safe because far too many families aren't as lucky.
"That's something I should do too." Clockblocker surprises me with his comment. I had forgotten that he was still there. "After-- after I check how my team's doing. See you later." He starts walking away, then stops and nods back at us. "It was nice to fight alongside you for a change."
He may still have bad memories of our battle.
Flechette follows his example. "I should do the same. So, if you'll excuse me."
Once again surrounded only by friends, Taylor gestures at us to follow. She takes us away from the main hospital area, away from prying ears. With my visor destroyed, we need some space if we're going to talk in private.
"Newt's rebuilding the hive as we speak."
I flinch. I don't know how many units were destroyed but the number of losses must be above three digits. That matters little, though, because these are Zerg and we could recover in a matter of hours.
That's not the problem.
"Do you think we'll need it?"
We just survived an Endbringer battle and the hive was instrumental in his defeat. But I kind of revealed that I have self-replicating machines of war and people have been sent to the Birdcage for much less.
"I don't know, but if the PRT gets pushy again--"
Taylor's words get interrupted by the sound of people yelling.
The reason?
A caravan of drones has just arrived bringing with them more patients.
These are the civilians that I ordered my drones to save, and to my great relief, the vast majority still look human. They have patches of mech-flesh embedded into their bodies replacing missing organs or limbs, but it's nothing that some clothes and makeup can't hide.
But then there are the other cases.
What happens when a drone tries to replace a leg or an arm but doesn't know what a human looks like? Well, they use something that they do know.
There are many people whose hands were replaced by claws, or whose legs were replaced by the hydraulic pistons of a lurker.
In some cases, the drones mixed up the two.
There's a man who cannot walk because his leg was replaced by a buzzsaw, and another one who has a zerg-leg strapped to his shoulder.
And those are the lucky ones.
The unlucky ones--
My stomach twists when I look at them.
"Jesus," Taylor gasps with a hand against her mouth.
One of the first things that I hardcoded into the zerg was the importance of the brain. Everything else can be fixed, but if that one is lost then there's almost no way to bring the person back.
Well, they obeyed. They kept the brains safe. In some cases, to the detriment of everything else.
There's a head strapped to a pair of legs, struggling to keep its balance. Another one with a body that looks like a caterpillar, slithering across the ground. And a third one is nothing more than a brain encased in a solid block of zerg-flesh, without eyes, mouth, or any other way to interact with the outside world. Is he even alive inside all that?
As bad as those cases are, the hardest ones for me to look at are those where the drones couldn't discern where one person started and another ended. Those are patchworks of multiple bodies stitched together into a single mass.
They are fully awake, and they are not happy.
Some of them yell, some others cry, and others just hang their heads quietly in shock.
Upon looking at them, the healers and those few capes who are back on their feet rush to help them, offering whatever comfort they can.
There will be a lot for me to explain once this is all over.
"You!"
Well, it didn't take too long for the first critic to arrive.
I search for the source of the yell and find it in a woman dressed in a white suit with orange trims.
Great.
Brandish.
Why, Nia? Why did you revive that one?
She's dragging Victoria behind her by the wrist. The flying brick could have easily broken free of her mother's grip and flew away, but the looks of confusion and concern she's throwing at the woman tell me that she doesn't want to argue right now.
"You did this to her!"
At the accusation, several people perk up realizing that I'm there. Some of them approach to witness the exchange, be it out of confusion, curiosity, or anger.
I saved those people's lives, you ungrateful assholes!
Of course many would point out that the life I brought them back isn't worth living.
I release a sigh.
It won't be easy to explain that I have no idea how to reverse the process.
"Stand back, Brandish." Perceiving the threat, Taylor steps between me and the raging mother with a raised palm. "The truce is still in full effect."
Of all the laws that capes willfully ignore when convenient, 'no fighting during Endbringer battles' is one of the few that many will try to enforce. At least when in public, like we are right now.
"Tell that to him! He disfigured my daughter!"
That's a lawyer for you, always trying to twist the fact to make it sound like the other party was the one at fault.
Brandish pushes Victoria forwards, who smiles weakly at us almost as if she was trying to say 'sorry for this' with her eyes. One glance is all I need to find the source of the conflict: her right arm is fully mechanical now.
It doesn't look half bad, honestly. Far better than some of the other cases out there, but I can see the reason for Brandish's distress. Looking more like a metallic skeleton than a proper human arm, Vicky resembles a skinned Terminator.
"Hey, look. We match." She waves at me in an attempt for a joke, one that falls flat and makes her mother scowl.
"Glory Girl, takes this seriously!"
Vicky floats back, trying to put some distance between us but not enough that would cause her mother to get angry. "Mom, chill, this isn't that bad."
"Not that bad? Victoria, have you looked at yourself?!" Brandish snaps, using Vicky's civilian name to show how angry she is.
Joy, family drama. Between this and an Endbringer, I struggle to pick the lesser evil.
Holding my weight with one arm, Nia raises an index that then she aims at Brandish. "Okay, first, shut the heck up. This is still a hospital and you're being far too loud." She raises a second index. "Second, be a dear and present all your complaints to Leviathan. Maybe you will get an apology out of him because all we did was to stop your daughter from bleeding to death."
The woman's face turns a shade of red. "There would have been no need for that if you'd let us take her to Panacea!"
I swear, if it's not one thing is another.
"Then just rip it off." Taylor sounds far too excited with the idea as she voices it.
"Hey, wait a second here!" Vicky enters a defensive position, covering her mechanical arm with the other. "I feel I should have a saying here. This is my arm you're talking about!"
"That's not your arm, Victoria!" For the love of Lord, her voice is like a needle being driven into my brain!
"Well, the old one turned into red mush so I'll have to settle for this." She flexes and snaps her fingers, showing that she still has full control of it. "And I kind of like it if I'm being honest."
You know what? I like you. I'll add a Gatling gun to your arm for free.
"What are you saying?" Brandish asks in dismay. "Don't you see how wrong this is?"
Okay, that's enough. As fun as all this has been, this sounds like something that New Wave should deal with behind closed doors.
I'm not the only one to think that because the argument is brought to an end by the sound of someone clearing their throat.
"Excuse me but I'll have to request that you keep it down."
It's a man who looks as if he had just walked out of a painting of King Arthur, dressed in a massive suit of silver and gold armor with a sword as tall as him strapped to his back.
This is the second time I have seen him today. The last time was when he was charging Leviathan.
"Chevalier," Brandish forces her tone under control when she realizes that she's before one of the top heroes of the Protectorate. "What are you doing here?"
He acts as if he didn't hear her at first and he steps forward. He takes one look at Taylor, then at me, and then lets his eyes linger for several seconds on Nia and The Fight.
A power of his that was a very well-kept secret was his ability to see reflections of the Passengers bonded to the capes, but neither Nia nor The Fight have one of those.
At this stage, I don't even bother worrying about it. What's just another bullet point in the long list of horrible things that have happened today?
"Dragon sent me to retrieve Tech-Priest," He explains before turning towards Brandish. "Also, this is neither the time nor the place for a fight. Leviathan may have retreated but-"
"He's dead," I say out of pure instinct.
The three of them stare at me with shock clearly written on their faces.
Wait, they didn't know?
"What?" Chevalier sounds as if he's struggling to believe me.
"Leviathan," I repeat. "He's dead. We killed him. His body is way over there." I throw a thumb over my shoulder.
In the blink of an eye, the place that Vicky was occupying a moment ago gets replaced by empty air as she darts towards the place I pointed at.
"Glory Girl, wait!" Brandish calls her to no avail. "This is not over." And with that last warning, she rushes after her daughter.
I should be happy that she's no longer being a nuisance, but her delightful presence was replaced by that of dozens of capes walking towards us. Even those who are still wounded limp however they can and risk snapping their stitches open just to be the first in line to look at us.
"Hey, what did you say?" One of them asks.
"He said that Leviathan was killed." Another one replies.
"Is it true? I had heard something about that but I didn't dare to believe it."
"Leviathan's dead!" Someone shouts in the back, and that's the spark that turns this unstable powder keg into lightning.
Someone starts yelling.
Someone starts crying.
Whatever concern there may have been directed at me for my drone's work gets quickly forgotten, drowned in pure joy. People cheer, even when it means reopening their wounds or harming those who still need rest.
I'm starting to see why the announcement hadn't been made public.
Chevalier raises his arms trying to bring attention to himself. "Everyone! Please, return to your spots! Wait until a medic looks you over." It's completely useless. They don't listen to him. "You two," he points at Nia and me, "follow me."
Neither Taylor nor The Fight are getting any of that. "Wherever they go, we go too."
"Of course, but do try to keep a low profile. Please."
How does he expect a group of capes to keep a low profile?
That's a question that will remain unanswered, at least for now.
With Chevalier paving the way forwards, we get to the back of the field hospital and reach the building where Dragon is located.
Clarendon.
How strangely appropriate that she's here, at my school. And what a pity that it survived an Endbringer attack with nothing more than some cosmetic damage.
Next time I'll make sure to lead the Endbringer here so they can do me a favor and free me from the bother.
Stepping through the main door, I find that in my absence the place has turned into a makeshift command center. Heavy-duty generators have been installed in the playground, and there are thick cords of wire running from one end of the building to the other, feeding electricity to a variety of equipment. The classrooms, normally full of children, are full of PRT officers, each one with a computer.
"Where is Dragon?" Chevalier asks one of them.
"At the back."
He means the gym, a place that represents everything I stand against but that I'll do my best to tolerate in the name of meeting one of the greatest tinkers this world has ever seen. Also all-around nicest person ever that this world doesn't deserve.
That's a decision that I don't regret when I look at what she has done to this place.
My hairs stand on end and I can feel my power bouncing in joy inside my head. The entire place has been covered in complex machinery, and several combat suits are resting against one of the walls. One of them has been destroyed, but several mechanical arms are already repairing it.
I need to resist the urge to grab a wrench and dismantle it for parts.
There are also at least a dozen monitors that I can see, each one running a different program, and are those 3D printers? Those wouldn't become mainstream in my previous life until several years in the future, but these look far more complex than anything I saw before. There are four in total working non-stop to produce spare parts for the suits.
My power tells me that there are enough rare materials here to build at least three more blades, and it makes me wonder what Dragon's factories in Canada must look like.
I feel like I should be respectful around here. With some strength having finally returned to my lower limbs, I crawl down from Nia's hold so I can continue the rest of the way on foot.
"Dragon!" Chevalier calls seemingly at the nothingness because the place is devoid of human presence. "Is it true? Is Leviathan dead?"
Like the pulse of a beating heart, all the machines cease to function before restarting it a moment later. One of the monitors rises from its place, revealing to be a flying drone, and the image changes to show the face of a woman. She looks incredibly average, with plain straight hair and features that don't suggest any ethnicity.
"Endbringers have suffered grievous damage in the past and recovered from it," Dragon explains. "We are not sure yet, but the preliminary analysis suggests that he is."
Chevalier takes a step to the side, seemingly taken aback by the confirmation. "Why wasn't I informed?"
"You were assigned to hospital duty. We didn't want to give people false hope, especially to those who are still in a critical state."
And looking at how things got a bit out of hand back there, that was the right thing to do.
"Yes. Yes, you're right." He nods, clutching the side of his head, before glancing back at us. "And talking about critical cases, Tech-Priest is here. I should go back and help keep things stable over there." He then retreats with quick steps, closing the doors at his back.
The monitor displaying Dragon's avatar hovers closer to us.
Okay, Peter, keep your cool. You're in the presence of an incredibly powerful and intelligent AI, and all-around wonderful human being, but that's no reason to make a fool of yourself.
"Tech-Priest, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," she says with a cordial smile.
"Hi!" I yell, waving with my good arm.
I panic for a moment but Dragon seems to find the exchange entertaining and giggles. "I could also call you Belisarius Cawl if you wished to."
Oh, honey, no. I get that you were trying to make a joke to put me at ease -at least I hope that was your intention- but that's one of the worst things you could have said in a moment like this.
Taylor snaps. "If you know about that, you could also call us by our names if you wished to."
The venom in her voice makes Dragon raise her eyebrows in surprise. "That confrontation was a mistake," She says, sounding hurt. "If I had found out what the PRT was planning to do, I'd have advised against that."
"Oh, yes, 'advice'," Nia snarls. "Because, as we all know, morons always listen to that."
"Okay, girls, let's take a step back here--" My petition goes unheard.
"I understand that you're angry but, please, listen to me."
"Why should we?"
"I'm not your enemy."
"Now that would be a first."
This is going slightly out of control. Dragon wasn't ready to deal with Taylor and it shows, but in her defense few people are.
Realizing that, Dragon switches the image on her screen to show multiple short videos of the battle against Leviathan.
I hold back a gasp when I see Leviathan looming over me before the Ultralisks charge in. Sparks fly as Leviathan tries to break free.
The image then changes to show dozens of Hydralisks unleashing a barrage of Erudition missiles, and then it changes one more time to show a seemingly empty street that suddenly bursts into activity when Drones start crawling from underneath it.
The video ends and Dragon's avatar is back on screen. "You created this, didn't you? I counted 153 combat units and more than 500 construction/healing units." Wow, that many? That sounds nice. "From samples that Armsmaster sent me we know that your technology needs very little maintenance, but even when taking that into consideration it's highly unlikely that you built all these units by hand." She makes a pause before adding: "Are your creations capable of self-replication?"
I gulp and realize that I'm nowhere near as healthy as I had thought. I wouldn't mind going back into Nia's arms right now, but the fox-girl has her hand clenched into fists ready to fight if needed.
It was only a matter of time until someone realized the power of the Zerg and made that question. But, like so many other things in life, it wasn't something I spent much brainpower pondering about.
Why waste time and effort suffering over what's inevitable when there are more pleasant things to do?
"Like the Machine-Army of Eagleton? The one that the PRT declared too dangerous to engage with and so they abandoned and quarantined the town?"
I stare at Taylor, surprised by her sudden declaration.
For her part, Dragon narrows her eyes. "I see that you were prepared for this."
"Ellisburg may be the most famous example of a cape taking over, but there's also the cases of Gallup and Gary." Taylor drones out what sounds like a well-rehearsed script. "The PRT abandoned those towns, leaving them in control of villains."
I fix the collar of my costume, feeling very hot inside these heavy clothes.
This was what we planned for, wasn't it? To keep amassing power until our potential enemies declared us too much of a bother to fight. Mutually assured destruction was the name of the game, but now that we're faced with the possibility of resorting to it, it feels too real.
If Dragon feels in any way threatened, she doesn't let it show and her tone remains neutral. "The details surrounding quarantine zones 1 and 6 are classified. Is it right for me to assume that Tattletale told you about them?"
"You'd like to know, wouldn't you?" Taylor keeps pushing, unwilling to take a single step back.
Dragon sighs, letting her eyes fall to the ground. "You're not doing yourselves any favors by comparing your team to Nilbog. What happened in those places was a tragedy that no one deserves to suffer through. And if you do know about them, you'll know that none of the towns you listed were even a tenth of Brockton Bay's size. An independent with this amount of power and no supervision will scare a lot of people."
I wonder if there are any tinkers out there who specialize in social interaction. Dragon would need to get in contact with them if she wants to talk to Taylor on friendly terms ever again.
I should intervene and say something but this trainwreck has left me speechless.
"And why should we care about that? We only ever attacked villains, and did everything in our power to help all the people we could!" Taylor brings her foot down, making it clear where her line stands. "The only time we fought against the Protectorate was when they fell under Coil's control. And despite all that, you kept antagonizing us! If you don't want us to cause trouble then you don't attack us. It's that simple."
No, it isn't.
No organization that wishes to survive will ever admit incompetence, and that's what the PRT would be doing if they allowed us to fix the problems that they cannot.
A moment passes before Dragon gives her reply. "People fear what they cannot control."
Most people wouldn't know how deep what Dragon just said cuts.
Dragon was never truly free. She was forced to obey authority, even when it was evil or wrong. For years now she has been forced to obey and become an accessory to things that she disagreed with. She fights when she can, but her hands are tied by her shackles.
She's as much of a victim of the system as we are. Worse, even, because she doesn't even have the option to fight back.
When put into that light, I understand why she wants to be a human so desperately. Even with its many flaws, who wouldn't choose freedom over anything else?
"That's true," Taylor says dismissively. "And the reason why we built machines that could fight an Endbringer. And they did a good job, wouldn't you say? More than what hundreds of capes working together ever managed to. So, what will you say? Will you attack us next?"
The message is clear: if the best that the Protectorate has to offer falls short, what hope do they have in a battle against us?
I don't think that Dragon disagrees with us. Or, better said, I don't want to believe she does. But she has her orders and she has to obey them.
"That's not for me to decide," She admits, sounding hurt. "You revealed incredibly powerful machines that could become a national threat-"
"At minimum," I grumble under my breath.
"-but you did so to fight an Endbringer. Your help was also critical to achieve something that many thought impossible -killing Leviathan- and they will hope that you're at our side when it comes the time to fight the remaining two." Her avatar shakes its head. "I apologize, but right now I cannot tell what may happen. That's above me."
Taylor scoffs, frustrated by the vague reply. "So, is that it? You called us to tell us… what? That you couldn't do anything to help us?"
"No, I also called you hoping that you could help us."
"With what?" Taylor folds her arms, sounding distrustful of anything that Dragon may offer.
The screen switches once again, this time to show an image I became intimately familiar with ten minutes ago: the hospital out there.
More people have arrived, almost all of them sporting obvious signs of my tinkertech, and I already know where this is going.
"I need Tech-Priest's help deciphering how the implants work. I have no desire to use that information against you but, as you saw, many of these procedures reached questionable results."
Taylor straightens up as if ready to complain, but then stops and glances back at me.
Thank you for the vote of confidence.
Okay, there is a big problem here because my current specialty doesn't synergize well with mechanical implants. Without a tech-three similar to Starcraft or Deus Ex, reverting what the drones did will prove… challenging to say the least.
"The patients are alive so I'd argue that, under the circumstances, they were successful enough," I reply, deflecting the question. "But I get what you mean." Christ, how do I fix this? Maybe some other parahuman can do it? "I remember Brandish saying something about Panacea having trouble with them?"
"I'm in contact with her right now," Dragon keeps talking while showing new images. This one is what I can best describe as an X-ray picture of a cyborg. I'm genuinely surprised that she managed to amass so much information in the last couple of minutes, but that's Dragon for you. "She's looking at the worst cases but tells me that your implants splice with the nervous system in a way that interferes with her powers."
Is she talking about Khaydarin? If that can scramble Panacea's powers, that doesn't give me much hope for an easy solution.
"In some cases, it should be relatively trivial to surgically remove the implants and allow Panacea, Nia, or other healers to reconstruct the missing body parts." Dragon shows us an animation of a scalpel cutting a mechanical arm off. A doodle of Panacea then sets her hands on the patient and regrows the missing limb. "But, in others, the implants are also working as life support mechanisms, and removing them could prove fatal."
Like the ones who are just heads strapped to spider-like bodies, and I don't want to imagine what those amalgamations of multiple bodies would look like if we cut them open.
"Even with Nia's prodigious healing powers on our side, risking these people's lives in such a way is something that I, personally, consider unacceptable. That's why I'm looking for a tinkertech solution. If you're adamant about keeping your technology secret, I'm willing to share some of my resources with you so we can help them together."
Crap.
I'm tempted to tell her yes if only to secure her resources and gamble that my next tree will give me the tools I need to untangle this mess. Besides, I'd love to work with her! But sometimes I feel that I'm too honest for my own good. At least, when confronted about it.
"Nia, is there anything you could do here?" I ask our resident healer.
She shakes her head, dashing my hopes away. "My power-- how to phrase this? It works very well with your technology? Yes, that. It wouldn't recognize the implants as foreign objects and just ignore them."
Dragon's avatar cocks her head in confusion.
When I created Nia I made sure that she wouldn't be just 'a' healer but 'our' healer. As we usually go around with our armors on, I needed to make sure that her powers and our implants wouldn't interfere with each other. That's complicating things now.
And Dragon keeps staring at me. What am I supposed to say?
"Okay, this is the thing-"
Before I can deliver my confession, a shadow blocks the lights of the ceiling. I look up and a chill runs down my spine.
Alexandria and Eidolon have just entered the room through the Skylight.
"Dragon," the woman who has become synonymous with 'flying brick' greets our host. "I am here to inform you that Leviathan's death has been confirmed. Legend is currently addressing the surviving capes."
Conveniently away so he can't object to any immoral acts.
Why do I feel like we're being cornered here?
My eyes wander to the back of the room where a CO2 fire extinguisher is conveniently located.
"Who is getting credited for it?" Taylor demands to know.
Alexandria doesn't look happy with Taylor's tone and turns towards her, looking quite intimidating with that iron mask that covers her whole face. Despite being one of the greatest heroes of the world, she wouldn't look out of place as an evil overlady. "That's to be decided later and irrelevant for now. I also came to inform the members of Heavy Gear that the PRT will ignore all their previous transgressions in exchange for more samples of their technology." She points at the glaive that The Fight still carries in her arms, hugging it close to her body as if it was her favorite toy.
"Our transgressions?" Taylor sounds insulted but her comment goes ignored by the adults.
Dragon's monitor moves to stand between Alexandria and us.
"What a coincidence, I was also discussing with Tech-Priest the possibility of a tradeoff." Despite being constrained by her shackles, it's nice to know that she's trying to protect us.
Alexandria gives her a nod that's as sharp and to the point as her words. "Good, we'll want as many of your suits equipped with the weapon as possible. Armsmaster will collaborate." At no point, she implied that there would even be an option.
"We were actually discussing other applications-"
"None of them are as important as something that can kill an Endbringer."
Tired of being ignored, Taylor speaks up. "We haven't agreed to anything yet!"
Just by the way she stares down at us, Alexandria leaves it clear that she isn't a woman who appreciates being told 'no'. "Whatever personal grievances you may have, they aren't important. Just say your price. Resources? Money? We'll get it to you as long as you build more of those weapons." She won't be happy when I tell her that's not possible.
"You mean as long as we do as you say."
"If it comes to that, yes. This is not negotiable when the future of the world is at stake."
My neck aches and I feel sweat rolling down my back.
Alexandria keeps staring at Taylor, who stares back showing an incredible amount of willpower for being able to stand against someone who could bend a steel beam as easily as they snap a twig.
Nia clenches and unclenches her hands, as if ready to blast with an attack, and The Fight clutches her glaive ready to strike.
The only one who doesn't seem to care is Eidolon, who remains back as if the result of this argument was below his interest.
Come on, why can't there be easy solutions?
Fuck it.
"I can't build more." I finally admit I'm tired of this pointless argument.
In the silence that follows, a pin dropping to the floor would have been like a nuclear explosion.
Dragon's avatar twists her face in surprise, and even Eidolon unfolds his arms looking shocked by the revelation.
"What did you say?" Alexandria demands to know.
I hate to repeat myself. "I. Can't. Build. More!" I yell at them, hoping to leave it clear.
"Explain."
How do I even begin? "I'm like Leet." Do they even know who Leet is? Eh, it doesn't matter. "I only have access to the stuff I can create for a limited amount of time. Once the time's up, it's gone. I can't build more swords the same way I can't tell Dragon how my drones work because that information is no longer in my brain!" I tap the side of my head for extra emphasis.
It feels like being under Glory Girl's aura of fear when Alexandria hovers above me, but there are no master effects in place here. The terror creeping up my back is the product of Alexandria's force of presence alone. "If you're lying to us-"
"He's not lying!" Nia intervenes. "That's how his power works, so deal with it."
Alexandria floats back, and I can almost taste the frustration oozing out of her. "In that case, we're keeping it. That technology will be studied by the thinkers of the Protectorate."
I clench my teeth, my stomach twists, and my heart jumps to my throat.
My very being rejects the idea of letting my technology fall on their hands.
It's mine! For me to do as I please, give to those I chose to and to take away from those I don't!
"We won't let you steal from us!" Taylor yells, aiming an index at Alexandria.
"Your compliance is not a factor. We'll take it by force if needed."
Okay, we prepared for this. We bluffed for this. Taylor killed Alexandria in another timeline by filling her lungs with insects, so there should be nothing stopping her from doing that again!
The killers of Leviathan and Alexandria! All in one day! The newspapers would love that.
Assuming that we can do that, of course, and Alexandria doesn't kill us before we can blink using her super speed.
"Alexandria!" Dragon intervenes. "This is highly irregular."
"Any complaints you may have, Dragon, the Guild can send them through the usual cha-"
Her words get suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone kicking the door of the gym open.
In comes a person that, at first, I fail to recognize. It's a girl wearing power armor similar to mine, just painted purple, and with a visor that covers most of her head leaving only her mouth exposed. It's thanks to her feral grin that I manage to recognize her.
"Hello, public!" Tattletale greets us, raising her arms as if she was a rockstar stepping onto the stage. "Thank you, thank you. You're all too kind." She slithers towards Alexandria as if she was a shark smelling blood. "Surprised to see me here? You'll see that I'm difficult to get rid of. Just like cancer."
I hold my breath back. Holy shit, Tattletale!
Before gaining her powers Alexandria grew up as a sickly teenager who was rushed from hospital to hospital, slowly losing hope in what her medics were telling her. That was the lowest point in her life and she was just reminded of it all.
"Tattletale." Alexandria spits every letter of her name as if it was vile in her mouth.
"Yes, it's me!" She raises her voice even louder. "The mastermind behind the death of Leviathan! The greatest and humblest thinker in the whole world!" She's loving every second of this, isn't she?
If there weren't this many witnesses around, I have no doubt that Alexandria would have already torn her head off. "There are many who would like to contest that claim."
Tattletale throws her head back and laughs. Then she stares at the hero right in the eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry, do you know of any other thinkers capable of reading Endbringers?"
Alexandria recoils back in what I'd almost say is fear. Even Eidolon is now giving Tattletale his undivided attention.
Well, that's what you get when you nurture the idea of the 'boogieman', of the invincible cape, and when you put the future of your organization on the shoulders of that one person. The moment they fail, you're back at being a scared child in the middle of a dark forest.
But why isn't Contessa intervening? Why is she letting us use her shadow to cower the Triumvirate? Is the presence of Leviathan's remains interfering with her power, or is it something else?
Maybe her path doesn't even care.
Whatever it may be, Tattletale is exploiting it to the fullest, and her grin does nothing but grow. "That's what I thought." She shows her teeth at the intimidated capes. "And have you seen my new friends?" She gestures at the door.
Just on cue, three new figures walk in. The first one looks like a futuristic soldier dressed in power armor and with the British flag on the shoulder, the second one looks like a German Landsknecht, and the third one isn't actually a person but a hologram that I know very well.
"Manchester. Vornehm." Alexandria calls the two men before turning to the hologram. "And who is this one?"
"Belisarius Cawl." The figure of the AdMech bows. "As I was telling the representatives of The King's Men and the Meisters," he gestures at the two men, "I understand that my children gave you some trouble, correct?"
Who is controlling it?
Newt? No, this doesn't sound like her style.
Aisha? She should still be with her family, and this looks too complex for her. I can't see her staying in character for long.
That would leave us with--
Danny?!
"What do you want?" Alexandria asks through clenched teeth.
Before any of the men can reply, Tattletale steps right back in. "Well, a mansion made of solid gold would be a good start for me, but for now I'm here to make sure that you give proper credit to those who made Leviathan's death a reality." She glances at us as she walks circles around Alexandria. "Starting with me who coordinated it all, and followed by Tech-Priest who built half of the weapon that killed Leviathan. He also built the portals that allowed us to surprise him and the augmentations that allowed The Fight to get into position. And that's without mentioning the sensor array that allowed us to track him down."
Then she moves to the side, giving space for who I assume to be Manchester to take the stage. "Besides celebrating the deed, we're here to formally thank him and his team for their medical work. In my case, I'd have lost a personal friend of mine if the parahuman Nia hadn't intervened."
"Three members of my team also owe their lives to them," Vornehm adds in broken English thick with a German accent.
Then Tattletale continues. "Yes! Let's not forget that thanks to Tech-Priest's technology this one will go down in history as one of the battles with the least amount of fatalities."
"In exchange for having turned dozens of people into something that would make Bonesaw proud."
The grin on Tattletale's face disappears as she darts towards Alexandria. "Be careful. That kind of words would discourage a person from helping the next time an Endbringer appears. If not something worse."
It's funny to see Alexandria flinch. For the longest time Cauldron assumed that only they knew about the real nature of Zion, but we just proved them wrong.
Her threat delivered, Tattletale waves at us. "Now chop-chop, team! I want us back at the base before dinner time."
She turns towards the door but suddenly finds her way obstructed by Alexandria.
"You're free to go but the weapon is staying with us."
Damn it! I thought we were done with this.
"You're stealing from a fellow parahuman? During a truce?" Tattletale places a hand against her chest in very well-rehearsed dismay. "I knew that the Protectorate doesn't give a crap about the Unwritten Rules but I thought you'd try to be subtle about it." She throws a look at Belisarius. "You're filming all this, correct?"
"Absolutely," the hologram confirms. "This is our technology, built with methods that we understand and that we can improve upon. If we give it to the Protectorate, it will most likely be destroyed."
Or even worse: they'd get confused by it like a bunch of dumb monkeys, and store it somewhere so they can forget about it. Like what happened to Hero's equipment. And Professor Haywire's stuff.
Sadly that's still not enough to get Alexandria off our backs. "Tech-Priest just confessed that he can't build more but we have the resources to analyze and hopefully reproduce it. Even if you can upgrade the weapon, putting all our trust in a single point of failure could end in disaster!"
Once again the room gets filled with Tattletale's cackling laughter. "Oh, the irony! That's so precious coming from you, people." She throws a knowing look at Eidolon.
"And I must put in doubt how capable you are," Belisarius adds. "Despite all your resources, you haven't achieved much."
Manchester seems to find the comment funny. "That's American pride for you. They always believe that the world revolves around them."
The humor, though, is lost on Alexandria. "This weapon could be the key to kill the other Endbringers! Don't you understand that?"
Enhanced by the armor, Tattletale stalks towards her, moving faster than any human should be able to. "Oh, I understand it. I understand it better than you do." She speaks in a low, threatening voice. "It sucks, doesn't it? How horrible it must be to realize that all the sacrifices you made -all the lesser evils you forgave- were for nothing. You must hate that a bunch of nobodies like us are doing a better job at saving the world than you are. But you know what they say: youth before beauty."
Okay, Tattletale, you can tune your Tattletale-ness down a notch. You were doing just fine teasing the Triumvirate and pretending to be stronger than Contessa, but it will be all for nothing if you keep angering them! I want to leave already!
Alexandria clenches her fists as if fighting against herself to not just kill us all, but then there's a bright flash.
It leaves me confused, almost blinded.
When my sight gets back into focus, I find a confused The Fight staring down at her empty hands. The glaive is gone.
Where is it?!
How did it happen?!
Who did it?!
Eidolon.
The glaive is now in Eidolon's hands.
The second strongest being on the planet runs his fingers up the length of the shaft until he reaches the base of the blade, where The Sword connects to the Halberd. He fidgets a bit with it until the card retracts and detaches from the rest of the weapon.
"The truce is still in effect," he says, and as he speaks it's like a drum beating against my chest.
His voice is like a layering of a dozen voices, all sounding the same and coated in raw power. If Alexandria looming above me felt like being stared down by a tiger, Eidolon's voice alone feels like staring at the sun.
"This belongs to Armsmaster," he continues, gesturing at the halberd. "I'll make sure that he gets it back." Then he hurls The Sword.
My healthy arm spasms, almost by its own accord, and shoots out to catch the card. It lands on my opened palm.
"What are you doing?" Alexandria asks him, flying to his side.
"Something that I haven't done in a long time." He turns around and with a wave of his hand, he opens a portal in the middle of the air. "I'll go tell Legend that we're done here." Before stepping through, he throws one last look back at us. "I hope to have you at our side during the next Endbringer fight. Thank you." And then he leaves.
Alexandria stares down at us for one last time before following after him, and the portal closes.
With those two gone it's as if a massive weight had fallen off my shoulders, and I can breathe once again.
I hope we don't get any more surprises. I don't think that my heart would resist more of this.
"Well, that happened," Tattletale says, coughing into her fist. "I swear I can't get a read on that guy."
I don't think anyone can.
"Whatever the case," Manchester adds, clearing his throat, "If any of you feel disappointed by the Protectorate, remember that the King's Men know how to appreciate talent."
Vornehm walks behind him and pats his shoulder as if they were old friends. "Already trying to conquer what isn't yours? You're an Englishman, alright." He raises an index that then points at me. "And do remember that German engineering is the best in the world."
Yes, I know. The Iron Blood girls are proof enough.
With their speeches delivered, the two foreign capes take their leave.
"I suggest we do the same and bail out." Tattletale will hear no complaints from us, and we all head towards the exit.
But then I remember that I do have one last thing to do.
Dragon is still there, staring at us in great confusion, her processors probably running hot trying to understand all that just happened.
"I'll call you when I have a solution," I tell her and then rush after my team.
I hope I can fulfill that promise.
"Home, sweet home!" Tattletale beams after we cross the portal that takes us back to our base.
I'd argue that this isn't her home but who knows if hers is still on dry land, so for now I'll allow it.
"Taylor, Peter!" Danny rushes to our meeting, grabs us each in one arm, and gives us a strong hug. "I'm so glad that you're fine."
'Ish' I'd add, but this isn't the place nor the time. He looks disheveled and a bit pale, the day having taken its toll on him as it did on all of us.
"Master, a pleasure to have you back." Newt gives us a salute. "A pleasure to have all of you back."
Long John informs us of his joy too as he tries to jump up Taylor's leg demanding to be carried.
"Oh, so cute!" Tattletale swipes a finger across her face clearing a fake tear. "You're ready for the picture!"
Taylor's eyebrows knit into a frown as she breaks away from Danny's hug. "Are you alright? You have been very--"
"Unnaturally cheerful? Oh, girl, I'm high as fuck right now!"
What.
"What?!" Danny repeats my unvoiced question as his face loses what little color it had recovered.
"Oh, don't worry, it's nothing addictive." Tattletale repeats with a dismissive wave of her hand. "It's just the same concoction that Tech-Priest used to throw my power off." She points down at the armor she's wearing.
Well, let's add yet another point to the long list of things that Danny may want to ask us about, but that's secondary right now.
A little fact that most people have forgotten is that Alexandria's name comes from the library of the same name. It was meant to represent not just her strength, but also her intelligence.
One of her many powers is the ability to deduce people's emotions and get an insight into their thoughts, through body language alone.
Kind of similar to what Tattletale does.
With that realization comes the first piece that allows me to put together what Tattletale did back there.
"You used it to confuse Alexandria's powers."
She waves her finger up and down confirming my theory. "And to hide how batshit terrified I was! Seriously, that was one of the stupidest things I have ever done! But also the most rewarding." She takes her visor off and gives it to me. "Here, see if you can see what's special about this one."
I receive it, access its logs, and immediately find something odd.
If I'm reading this correctly, this visor was programmed to shut down the external sensors almost at random, leaving only the radio channels open. "There were parts back there when you were both blind and deaf!" I gasp in surprise. "How did you do all that then?"
How did she keep a coherent conversation with Alexandria? How could she walk around without tripping?
Her power is impressive but it has its limits.
"It was thanks to her!" Tattletale points at Newt. "My lovely assistant told me what was happening around me, and my power extrapolated from there." She brings the tips of her fingers together, smiling like a child who's about to share a nasty secret. "Because here is the thing, your network uses a cipher that works very similarly to how powers communicate with parahumans and each other."
"Powers do what?" Taylor yells in surprise, but I ignore her. My brain is working at full power processing this new piece of information.
When I emerged from the Buster after linking with the Hive, I found Tattletale there staring at me with a blank expression on her face.
Let's say for a moment here that Khaydarin transmits information in a way that resembles Shard-speak. If that's the case, then it means that--
It means that Contessa can't see us.
"You found a poor man's shield against thinkers." And how convenient it is that I have a piece of that inside my chest.
"Correct!" Tattletale cheers, spinning like a ballerina. "I just made the most powerful parahumans of the world shit their pants with a freaking bluff! Oh, I'm so awesome!" She then stumbles and needs to grab a nearby table to stop herself from kissing the floor. "Also-- oh, fuck." She clutches the side of her head, her cheeks turning a sickly shade of green. "Here comes the crash." She drags herself to the couch. "I'm fucking tired. And I have a killer headache. Do you mind if I sleep here for the night? My bed is probably floating towards the Caribbean right now. You wouldn't have ice cream, would you? Eh, it doesn't matter." She lets herself fall and passes out the moment that her face touches the cushions.
"What did she just say?" Taylor asks in confusion. "I honestly only got half of that. And what was that about powers?"
I could answer all her questions, but that's a can of worms that I don't want to open. I'll let Lisa find her way out of that hole on her own. That's why I keep her around after all.
"I'm in the same boat," I lie. "But that's thinkers for you. We'll ask her after she wakes up."
And with that, the group disperses.
Nia needs to rest if she wants to recharge her depleted ether reserves, The Fight needs to keep an eye out for trouble, and Newt has an information network to rebuild.
We don't even know the current state of our territory, much less the rest of the city. I fear that fixing the mess that Bakuda left will be a cakewalk compared to what's ahead of us, but once we have a reasonably good idea of the extent of the damage we'll know how to proceed.
Until then, it's just Taylor, Danny, and me.
We stare at each other in awkward silence, none of us willing to be the first to say something.
A lot happened, a lot was said, and many secrets that we weren't ready to share got revealed.
How will we continue from here?
"So, dad--" Taylor ventures, still looking uncomfortable talking to Danny in costume. "Interested in a position on the team?" She points at the now deactivated hologram projector that Danny used to cosplay as Belisarius Cawl.
He smiles, shaking his head. "Oh, no. That was a one-time thing. Besides, I still have my pride and my daughter being my boss would be awkward." He runs a hand through his messy hair, some strands falling off his balding head. "Look, there's a lot I want to ask you two about, but I think that Lisa here had the right idea." As if listening to us, the sleeping thinker releases a snore like the sound of grinding stones. "This was a long day and we all will need some rest. Tomorrow we'll sit down and talk, but for now, let's just enjoy that we're together and we're safe."
You know what? That's another great idea I can get behind. I have no energy for tinkering, and even if I did, the lack of an arm would make everything go slower. Tomorrow Nia will be back at full strength and--
Wait a minute.
I'm a freaking idiot.
Excusing myself for a moment, and leaving father and daughter alone, I walk into a nearby room. Once there, I use Tattletale's visor for two important things.
First, I order a replacement for mine.
Second, I dismiss my armor.
As the drones that form it unfold and crawl back to the floor, I grab one and plug it into the stump of my arm. The little critter plugs into it and dozens of tiny legs dig into my flesh. I don't feel the faintest trace of pain as small pincers peel my skin away so they can connect to my nerves, and in less than a minute the process is complete.
Now Glory Girl can say that we match!
Looking down at my now fully mechanical arm, a visceral satisfaction comes to me. I'd have wished that this had been a product of my desire and not necessity, but I won't complain. This is nothing but the first upgrade of many that will hopefully come.
But that's tomorrow's problem.
For now, I'll just sit down, relax, and bask in the fact that, despite the odds, we survived for another day.
...
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YuffieK
(Verified Ninja Princess)
Considering how much Legend has been kept in the dark and fed bullshit, the 'doesn't know what's going on' is depressingly accurate.
"Legend is a Mushroom" is certainly a big part of their organizational ethos.
Stratagemini
Totally a Fire Ferret.
- Location
- Central Park
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They/Them
"It's not fair that Vicky got cyborged before me! I need to fix this vast injustice!"
"What about all the other injustices that just happened?"
"Eh, those can fix themselves."
"What about all the other injustices that just happened?"
"Eh, those can fix themselves."
Excellent, thanks for this and hope it doesn't stop.
- Location
- HK
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Honestly, that's probably the best solution until he gets a relevant specialty to fix people. The drones are pretty good at making mechanical replicas of humans when networked properly. I'd much rather be 80% visibly robotic but otherwise whole, functional, and healthy than be a head on legs or fused with multiple people, just waiting for an unspecified organic fix later on. Ordering the drones to do proper surgery once they can should be relatively quick and is a fairly decent solution.
At the very least it's a short term solution to just fix the worst of the issues by adding more robots and telling the robots that did the wrong thing to do better. Maybe a bunch of people have robot legs for a while. At least they are not dead and can jog as much as they like now.
Eventually he will get a specialty that can fix the problems directly. At that point they can revisit the issue with all the people his tech kept alive when they would otherwise have died.
- Location
- Belgium's famous square
How to deal with conspiracy:
Simple, be drugged out of your mind and have inside knowledge.
And about Legend, he's a good guy in a fucked up setting but the quote "evil win when good people do nothing" (or someting like that, can't remember the exact wording) means he's kind of useless.
Dragon on the other hand would like to do something but is litteraly blocked from doing so.
Great chapter, as always can't wait for the continuation of this story.
Simple, be drugged out of your mind and have inside knowledge.
And about Legend, he's a good guy in a fucked up setting but the quote "evil win when good people do nothing" (or someting like that, can't remember the exact wording) means he's kind of useless.
Dragon on the other hand would like to do something but is litteraly blocked from doing so.
Great chapter, as always can't wait for the continuation of this story.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
You work some real funky magic with how likable you made Tattletale in this story. Like holy sweet hells, her depiction in this is unarguably one of the very best that I have ever read! Her character development and relations with Peter and the team is one of my favorites, and seeing her strolling out like a boss and bulldoze the fuck out of everyone was pretty darn amusing too.
Oh, and lots of interesting plot advancements in this latest update as well, so I'm pretty darn exited to see what you have in store for the next one. Also, thanks for the amazing update as always and keep up the good work as always!
Now here is me foolishly hoping for a Cauldron Interlude, maybe an Alternate-POV for a few select members? Bah, it just seems quite fitting to do that sort of thing after this sort of chapter, but that might be just me. They must be quite befuddled over what what just happened, as evidence of Alexandria's impatience and brass attitude, which is a stark contrast to her usual shtick of using her Thinker powers to outwit people.
- Location
- botswana
Love what happened with David(eidolon)...most fics don't like to acknowledge how intimidating n powerful he is because of their opinions on his personality...this chapter deserves a interlude
- Location
- Belfast
I kinda want to see how they try to spin this nonsense to everyone given the fact that Eidolon decided to literally throw around the thing that killed an endbringer in front of two high ranking foreign capes and Dragon...
Legend is probably going to be screaming at them for trying this soon enough, and Dragon was probably screaming internally the second the Protectorate leadership tried to play hardball with Heavy Gear for the second time in a single day and right after they turned an endbringer fight almost bloodless and killed the thing...
They came in expecting to browbeat them or just take it, then Tattletale hail Mary'd their plans and has seemingly kicked off the interesting side of things. I foresee much in the way of shard nonsense soon, and probably some sort of Khaydarin implants for everyone in order to screw with Contessa even more... Plus extra tech to make people less squishy of course.
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I get why her power got bored in ward now!
Tattletale was modeled after Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes did all of the drugs to enhance his investigating and help him with his own headaches, but Tattletale stayed clean as a whistle and wouldn't stay in character!
- Pronouns
- Masculine
Oooooh yesssssss...
Now THAT was satisfying.
Thank you, Poliamida. That was fan-fucking-tastic! Flawless execution from everyone! Yesss... this is going to be magnificent. Sooo much to work through. And yeah, I expect the Triumvirate to be remaining in the city while all of this is dealt with, but tomorrow is another day.
And god yes, I fucking LOVED Tattletale handing everyone their asses! And Eidolon taking charge and telling Alexandria to sit the fuck down from her actions!
PHO is exploding. The WORLD is exploding!
All eyes turn to Brockton Bay and the young boy who brought about the Death of an Endbringer...
...oh fuck yesssss!
So true, so true. Just get her a violin now and with Taylor to play the Straight Man for her and the world is our oyster.
Now to deal with tomorrow... I've been hungrily looking forward to this all week and it was everything I hoped for!
I am content.
Now THAT was satisfying.
Thank you, Poliamida. That was fan-fucking-tastic! Flawless execution from everyone! Yesss... this is going to be magnificent. Sooo much to work through. And yeah, I expect the Triumvirate to be remaining in the city while all of this is dealt with, but tomorrow is another day.
And god yes, I fucking LOVED Tattletale handing everyone their asses! And Eidolon taking charge and telling Alexandria to sit the fuck down from her actions!
PHO is exploding. The WORLD is exploding!
All eyes turn to Brockton Bay and the young boy who brought about the Death of an Endbringer...
...oh fuck yesssss!
So true, so true. Just get her a violin now and with Taylor to play the Straight Man for her and the world is our oyster.
Now to deal with tomorrow... I've been hungrily looking forward to this all week and it was everything I hoped for!
I am content.
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- Location
- Oceanside
That whole exchange with Alexandria was brilliant. Taylor not going along with anything they said especially.
I'm really intrigued by Eidolon's response to the situation, too. He's obviously taking more initiative, but to what end? For Cauldron or himself?
"SomeBODY once told me-"
I'm really intrigued by Eidolon's response to the situation, too. He's obviously taking more initiative, but to what end? For Cauldron or himself?
"SomeBODY once told me-"
This is by far my favourite part of the chapter. At the end of the day most of the "necessary evil" that Eidolon puts up with is due to his waning power and believing that if they fail no one else will be their to save the day.
A lot of fanfic show him as a petty man, but that is far from the truth. What broke him is thinking 5th at he is the reason behind all the Endbringer deaths. If he is presented with a path that means he can do less evil he would take it. And Tattletale did tell them in a roundabout way that they will help fight against Scion and are working towards that.
I hope this is a turning point where he does what he believes is right instead of just bottling it down due to believing he had somehow failed the world due to his power failing him and getting weaker over time.
Alexandria's power (the thinker aspect of it) would have made all of the nasty shit she does ingrained in her memory perfectly. So either her personality changes to fully accept what they are re doing is the right thing and she would gradually become the type of person that just sees people as number and cares nothing about anything other than her goal, or she would have broken down by now. Being the PRT chief director would have made matters worst since being in that position would have I forced that mindset and drove her further down that path as opposed to if she had a normal civilian identity that would allow her to decompress.
I really hope you explore that aspect of the story further in the future. How having some of the weight on them limited would affect Eidolon and Legend.
Well the Bay will turn into a cyberpunk like city once Peter is done with it when his next tech tree kicks in. It will be interesting to see how the power dynamic of the city will shift into empowering civilians against criminals due to having implants that give them a decent amount of strength.
Also now they have potential business partners in Europe that would definitely be happy to have portals open to facilitate trade and allow allies to support them when needed.
I am looking forward to him working with dragon. It would be easy to fix some of her issues if he has regular access to her through collaboration. And he still needs to give her the designs for his Aperture style houses, where she can improve on them. Also working with her will make the upgrades or creations for the next tech tree much smoother.
On a side note he doesn't need to hide his specialty anymore or the origin of his blades fight since the protectorate already knows or will know once Chevalier puts in his report. Because they will ask him what he saw.
I can totally see Peter giving GG some upgrades to her arm, since he will 100% do the same for himself and she is his friend
Edit:
I hope Nia helps Denis's dad. Clockblocker did everyone a solid and deserve some happiness in his life.
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Besides that, those who were modified with robotics are going to be forever verified as #@Ground0Leviathan'sDeath or #defierOfEndbringerMurderAttempt.
That should make everyone happy! 🤩
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- Location
- HK
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I can totally see Peter giving GG some upgrades to her arm, since he will 100% do the same for himself and she is his friend
Going off Ward, Vicky would probably fucking love a hidden laser cannon in her arm.
I think most people underestimate just how powerful he was at his peak. Even reduced to a fraction of what he was, he's still one of the most powerful parahumans. At his weakest, he's capable of bulk teleportation, and Shaker abilities at a scale beyond almost anyone else we see - "Leviathan heaved himself out of the rubble, turned to run, only for water to rise and freeze solid in one smooth movement, forming a wall as tall as Leviathan was, a hundred feet long". That's a lot of water right there.
Even while fighting Scion, he doesn't quite reach his initial peak and Scion is still forced actively avoids his attacks, which is something he mostly reserves for Sting, IIRC. At this point, Eidolon is pulling cliffs between dimensions.
2011 Eidolon has multiple powers each at a level comparable with the more powerful natural triggers - He's a Shaker like Vista under her ideal circumstances, and a Mover like Strider, and that's just two of the powers he'll have at once.
Peak Eidolon is at a level comparable to or beyond the more broken vial capes or second triggers. In each of his powers.
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- Location
- Here
Doesn't this means they are specially vulnerable to Jack Slash's shard?
And Peter/Tattletale know how to help him replenish some of his power. And maybe a tech tree would come around that would help him in some way.
It is possible that Peter does something nice for the guy after giving back The Sword when he could have just stole it. Buts also likely that he won't, so it's a toss up. But I honestly want to see a fic where Eidolon is the bad guy.
Edit:
Different network.
*Looks at my various wishlish of games I want to download when I have a personal computer*
Yes, yes it is.
Skidmark and Coil will be so proud.
Also @Poliamida, TYPO
wavers
Raiseth
I Find Your Lack of Memes Disturbing
- Location
- Russia
*points at an Endbringer*
This is what Peak Eidolon performance looks like. You may not like it, but this is what an ideal Eidolon is.
memes aside, his Shard is able to activate up to twenty threats legitimately dangerous to all life on Earth Bet, each, individually, so him being the most powerful parahuman isn't exactly news. I'd even say you're underselling his peak, considering what Shards are capable of giving out to their hosts. I mean, Faerie Queen, Sleeper, Ash Beast, Moord Nag.
edit: I've seen a fanon in one fic that High Priest is an uncrippled Queen Administrator, so he's like Memetic Fandom Taylor, if you think about it. With him are the sublime trinity of powers of Escalation, Bullshit and Plot Armor. Until they aren't, I guess.
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