There was something oddly comforting about sitting in my gunship on my way to some unknown or unknowable danger. I'd done the same thing many times before, and it had, for the most part, turned out to be bad for the danger, rather than ultimately bad for me. Yes, this last time, it had taken some particular steps to make it through alive, but really, at the end of the day, that was every hunt. Yes, Raven Beak's revelations about me, and the subsequent… metamorphosis that I dealt with was different, but I still made it off of ZDR alive. '
The big difference about this trip was that this was the first time in a long time that I'd had a mission in an area that was populated primarily with civilians. I also had company in my ship. My father, dressed in what appeared to be a more tactical version of his costume, black and armored, with his ears replaced by a helmet that had the ears painted on them, sat in the copilot seat next to me. Dauntless, dressed in his seemingly Spartan-inspired costume, sat in a jump seat to my left, while another Protectorate member, Velocity, dressed in a red costume with racing stripes on the sides and a set of stripes that met in a V on his chest. I assumed, from his name, that his powers had something to do with how fast he could move.
Plotting out our course to Canberra, I brought up a set of briefings on the Simurgh. While I had vague memories regarding the Endbringers thanks to my time as Taylor, I hadn't been in the position to fight an Endbringer then. I had been a relatively normal human girl. Now, however, I needed to know what it was that I was getting into. I gave Adam the go ahead as we traveled.
"The Simurgh is perhaps the most dangerous of the Endbringers, not because of the damage that she can cause directly but because so much of her damage is indirect," Adam said over the ship's speakers. "It has been determined that the Simurgh acts via psychic manipulation of her victims. You will hear a scream in your mind when you encounter her, this is her working to manipulate you. There is a set amount of time that it is safe to engage her, after which, retreat is mandatory."
"Where are you getting this from?" Dad asked.
"Your director has generously allowed me access to Endbringer data in pursuit of this mission," Adam said as I shifted once more, focusing on my flying. "Are you unaware of the Endbringer protocols, Ratcatcher?"
"No," Dad said.
"We haven't been to a fight yet," Velocity said. "The last one that was even close to accessible to us was Behemoth, in November, but that was over before ENE even had a chance to mobilize."
"I suspect that the Director chose the three of you because of your capacity for search and rescue," Adam said. "Ratcatcher, you are able to locate those in need of rescue and direct people to appropriate areas with your power. Velocity, are you able to carry anyone with you when you use your power?"
"Unfortunately, no," he said. "However, I should be able to help locate people."
"Lady, will you be using the gunship's weapons?" Adam asked.
I waggled my left hand. I hadn't really decided yet. It depended on what the situation looked like on the ground. Would I be going directly after the Simurgh? If so, would the ship's weaponry be more effective than my beams and missiles? I didn't have the energy necessary to produce an Omega Beam, nor was I willing to put lives in danger to try and access the Hyper Beam that I had used against Raven Beak and the RBK-X form there at the end. Perhaps if things got desperate enough, I would use it, but until then, I would stick with what I had access to easily.
"What weapons does the ship have?" Dauntless asked.
"Beam weaponry and missiles," Adam said. He was being intentionally vague, for admittedly good reason. There were a couple items that I still had in the bombing bay of the ship that were quite a bit stronger than the beams or missiles had the chance to be, but I would refuse to use them on any populated planet, especially one populated by humanity. Some weapons of Chozo design were just a bit much for most threats, and I didn't want to put a population at risk.
"Could you elaborate on what you mean by Beam weaponry?" Dauntless asked. "Is that like what Hunter used on Hookwolf?"
"Somewhat," Adam said. "What Lady used on Hookwolf was a nonlethal version of her normal beam weapon, known as the Stun Beam. She combined it with the properties of the Wave Beam to help revert Hookwolf to his human form. In the case of this ship, the ship is armed with Plasma Beam weapons and Ultra Missiles. Over a populated area, I would not recommend the use of Ultra Missiles, and instead, we will downgrade effectiveness to Super Missiles."
I nodded in agreement as I continued our trip to Canberra. Australia's capital city was situated about sixty-five miles from the eastern coast of the continent, and the city was located right on a lake. The sun was just beginning to rise there on February 24th, and it was looking to be a sunny day, unlike about half of my previous planetary excursions. Rain may wick off my visor, but that doesn't mean I enjoy dealing with reduced visibility. The local time appeared to be just after eight in the morning, and we were making good time on our approach.
I glanced at the ship's sensors, and as we descended toward Australia, a smaller craft… perhaps a power suit of some sort, had come alongside the gunship. The craft was short, with an almost serpentine segmented body with a tail and four legs. It was being kept aloft by four engines on the upper body, and each leg had talons. It reminded me a bit of… someone that was better left forgotten. At least the head on it didn't look quite like a dinosaur.
"Lady, we are being hailed. Should I allow the connection?" Adam asked.
I nodded, authorizing the connection to the ship's comms. I had also pressed the appropriate buttons to make sure to get the conversation recorded.
"Connecting now," Adam said.
"Unknown ship, this is Dragon of the Guild," said a female voice with a slight accent. I couldn't quite place it. Maybe Canadian of some sort? "You are approaching Canberra. Are you intending on helping with the fight?"
"Yes," I said. "This is Hunter, escorting Ratcatcher, Dauntless and Velocity of the Protectorate ENE."
"Hunter?" Dragon asked. "Is your artificial intelligence joining the fight as well?"
"I will endeavor to do what I can," Adam said. "But I am confined to the capabilities of the gunship."
Dragon's pause was longer than I thought it would be. Perhaps she wasn't expecting for Adam to be the one to respond, but I wasn't going to tell him to not talk to other people. He was his own being, after all.
When Dragon spoke up again, it was respectfully. "Thank you, Adam. I'll send you the coordinates of the rally point. Some combatants have already begun their engagement, but I will provide each of you with armbands for communication."
"Hunter wears power armor," Velocity said. "Will the armband be able to work with her?"
"I'll make it work," I said. "Communications only?"
"Not only, no," Dragon said. "The armbands in Simurgh fights are designed to prevent Zizbombs from being created out of our fighters. More will be explained when you make it to the rally point. I'll send word on ahead that you're going to be showing up. There should be space for you to land."
"Thank you, Dragon," Adam said. "When you send the coordinates, I will plot them for Hunter."
Dragon sent the coordinates to us after that, and we plotted them. It seemed the rally point was in a suburb east of the city, apparently near Kingston. The Simurgh was attacking the city proper, about ten miles out. Given a straightaway, I'd be able to make it there within a minute. I suspected Velocity would be the same.
I landed the gunship on an open patch of ground, no doubt prepared by the forward party. Whoever had set things up ahead of time had managed to clear just enough for me to set the gunship down.
"Be careful, Lady," Adam said over my suit's personal radio rather than the ship's speakers. "The Simurgh is not like things you have fought before. While I have no doubt that you will triumph, the costs could be much. A win does not necessarily mean the destruction of the Simurgh."
I nodded, and I gestured toward the exit for my father and his companions. Dauntless led the way out, followed by Velocity and then my father. I lightly pat the gunship's armrest before standing. "Adam, I'm not sure I want you in the fight. I don't know what the Simurgh is capable of, and repairing the gunship isn't an easy task with the technology available here."
"I understand, Lady. I will provide you with tactical information from here," Adam said. "I am releasing the swarm of rats that your father placed in the cargo hold now."
I nodded, and I made my own way to the exit. I stepped onto the exit platform, and as it lowered, I adjusted the tinting of my visor to shield my eyes from the sunlight. Standing on the ground a little bit from my ship was Dragon's craft… suit, or whatever it was called, looking over me as I exited. Near her, aside from the Brockton Bay Protectorate members that I had brought here, stood two men and a woman. I recognized the three of them. One man wore a skintight sky-blue costume with white lightning and flame designs. He wore a blue and silver mask that covered part of his face, and I recognized him immediately. Legend. He was one of the few heroes I easily remembered from my time as Taylor.
The other man next to him was a man in a blue-green skintight suit with a heavy hood and sleeves that draped over his hands. Inside the sleeves and his hood glowed with a soft green light, and the way his suit was armored gave the appearance of muscles. He wore an opaque, glassy helmet that also glowed a green, but his eyes could be seen beyond the mask. I knew him too, Eidolon.
The woman was slightly shorter than me with long, straight black hair. She wore a black costume with a skirt, knee-high boots and an elbow-length gloves. There was a visible tower in the center of her chest. A cape draped down behind her, and she had a steel helmet that covered half her face, letting her hair flow out behind her. Alexandria.
The Triumvirate had come to greet my ship as it landed. I didn't know if I should be honored or worried. Alexandria ostensibly was indestructible save for very specific power interactions. Legend could literally turn into light, and Eidolon could swap his powers around to the most ideal ones for his situation. I doubted that they would want to fight me, but there's something to be said about this sort of greeting, at least on a planet where I didn't have my reputation to precede me.
"Hunter," Legend said, a smile gracing his face. He stepped forward and offered his left hand to me. I took it to shake his hand. "Welcome back to Earth Bet. Director Piggot called ahead and vouched for you. I know you aren't Protectorate, but are you willing to face down the Simurgh?"
I nodded, gripping his hand tightly with the shake.
Legend's smile grew wider. "Good." He let go of my hand, and he turned to the rest of the group. "Let's get to those who got here first. Dragon, are you coming?"
"I'm with you, Legend," Dragon said. Her suit scanned me over one more time as I followed Legend. "What sorts of options do you have available to you, Hunter?"
"I'll be using my lethal suite here," I said. "Plasma, Wave Beam, Wide Beam… all of them. Sadly, I don't have my Ice Beam right now."
"Why not?" Dragon asked.
I shrugged. I didn't really want to outright tell her that I'd lost access to my upgrades after losing terribly to Raven Beak, only to get brand new upgrades in order to defeat him. Instead, I focused on what was going on ahead of me, with my father and Eidolon.
"What's the Simurgh doing, exactly?" Dad asked. "Do we know?"
"Not yet," Eidolon said. "She appears to be building something, but the thinkers that arrived only know two things. One, it's dangerous, and two…"
Eidolon paused for a moment. He looked back at me. "They saw the clips of the two of you versus Hookwolf. I would wager to say that Hunter is the second thing."
"It's why we're letting her fight," Alexandria said. "Hunter, you aren't currently on the rapid response team for the Simurgh, but you're here. Piggot said that you agreed to follow the Ziz protocols. I will be holding you to that."
I nodded.
We approached a much larger group of capes. It looked like maybe thirty had already arrived, but there were groups of five or ten arriving at a time in flashes of light. The Protectorate had a teleporter on call that apparently had the ability to teleport from somewhere to here in Australia. I didn't really pay too much attention to the capes that I didn't know, but idly, I kept count of their totals. I suspected I'd be able to get who they were soon enough.
There was a man in a PRT outfit handing out armbands, of which Legend, Eidolon and Alexandria each grabbed one, putting them on. Dad, Velocity and Dauntless put one on as well. I grabbed one, and I looked it over, scanning it with my visor. Immediately, my visor started putting out a warning about the explosive content found within the armband. It also picked up the radio frequency that the armbands were linked to, and I could see Adam doing his work to link me into the network.
I then clipped the armband onto my gun arm, just below my elbow.
Legend gave a sharp whistle. "We don't have a lot of time, so I'm going to make this quick. The armbands are for communication between the capes here to fight the Endbringers. To add your name to the list for tracking purposes, push both buttons on them and state your name. The battlefield is divided into a twenty-by-twenty quadrant grid, and labeled on the armband. This is for tactical purposes. Your armband also has one last function. It tracks how long you have been exposed to the Simurgh's song. If you are within a mile of the Simurgh for longer than thirty minutes at a time, the armband will ensure that you do not have the chance to become her pawn."
"What do you mean?" asked a cape dressed in a garish green and orange outfit that vaguely resembled a mixture between a cowboy outlaw outfit and a dapper gentleman.
"'e means the bloody thing will explode," said a cape that looked like he belonged on a nature documentary. "Don't want to have you threaten anyone. Freedom or death, right Yanks?"
There was a chorus of agreement.
"There will be a five-minute warning," Dragon said. "The armband will beep insistently as it gets close. If you are out of range, the timer will stop, and for every two minutes out of the range, the timer will get a minute back."
So that meant that capes would have to go in waves. Three groups, splitting up enough that the timers could recharge. That made sense.
"Those who can attack the Simurgh directly, you'll be with Eidolon and me," Legend said. "Search and rescue operations will be with Alexandria. It is still early enough that Search and Rescue is optimal for civilians, but S&R should be focusing primarily on capes. Get downed capes out of there so they don't die. Thank you all who showed up, including the villains. While we fight the Endbringer, we aren't heroes and villains. We're united to fight off a threat to this city."
"Let's go," Eidolon said, his voice slightly annoyed. He seemed eager to get started, and I couldn't really blame him. The longer we waited, the more entrenched the Simurgh would get, and whatever she was doing would—
A loud explosion echoed from the west of us, and I quickly pushed my way through the throng of capes to see if I could get a good view. Eidolon, Legend, and Alexandria took to the air. Given the height we were at, the city was below us, and I was able to get a clear view to whatever sort of explosion that had been. A greenish energy was visible for a few seconds in the air, and then… it looked like, at least from this distance, groups of small creatures started to pour out of thin air. Whatever the Simurgh had built, it had created a portal that a number of things were climbing out of.
I zoomed my visor's scanner in, seeing if I could get an idea of just what it was the Simurgh had pulled out. The way the creatures moved was familiar, and… as I got a better look at them, I bit back a curse.
The creatures resembled crustaceans, with ridged exoskeleton-like armor. They had large claws on each arm, and their heads varied from insectoid to avian, to reptilian. Some carried weaponry I recognized as Federation issue, and others carried weapons that I hadn't seen since Planet Zebes had been destroyed. I knew what these were. Somehow, the Simurgh had pulled Zebesian Space Pirates into the city of Canberra.
I could have sworn that there weren't even any Zebesians left out there, but apparently I was wrong, and so was the Federation. Though if these came from their experimentation again, I was going to have words with some overzealous scientists.
"Adam, those are Space Pirates, correct?" I asked, quietly.
"It would seem so, Lady," Adam said. "I could not tell you where they're coming from, other than what you see."
I nodded, and I activated the wristband's communications function. I registered my name first, as Hunter. Then I initiated the override function that I saw on the display screen for the communications. Everyone here needed to know what they were dealing with, and they needed to know how to deal with them.
"Everyone, this is Hunter," I said. "The Simurgh has summoned creatures known as Space Pirates into the city of Canberra. Do not try to reason with them. They can't be reasoned with. Their weaponry is highly dangerous, and they will not hesitate to use it on civilians and enemies alike. Kill them. Whatever way you can. Because they will try to kill you first."
I disconnected from full blast at that. Dad walked up next to me. "Space Pirates?"
I nodded.
"Anything on the ship I can use on them?"
"Rifle," I said. "Adam can direct you to it."
He nodded, and he started off toward the gunship as I started my way toward the city. I was going to stop whatever the Simurgh was doing from going further. At least it was only Space Pirates.
For now.
