- Location
- Earth Prime
It's conceivable that she might have been able to. But I imagine that it would have wound up with something akin to what happened when Amy tried to do that after the S9.
Ring-Maker [Worm/Lord of the Rings Alt-Power] [Complete]
- Thread starter Lithos Maitreya
- Start date
- Crossover Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
- Location
- australia
some of the reason the reasons that vicky should have lived were funny but the sheer number of then was ridiculous. one person even said that the moment panpan was healing her there was no way she could have died without even giving a reason.
- Location
- Estonia
Honestly, I think the only thing that might restore the SoD of the people who canonize Panacea's abilities to that "bio-goddess" level, would be a well-written Omake from Panacea's PoV. Her touching Vicky and knowing, through the experience of trauma patients lost before, that Vicky is too far gone for her to bring back even if there is still some final brain activity going on. Or that Vicky is fading faster than she can reverse it. And having the strength to let go and not waste her power on something she knows is futile or worse, even if she is unable to hold back her tears.
Lithos Maitreya
Character Witness
- Location
- United States
It's not an omake, it's Interlude 6b. I wrote it last night. Now I just have to convince @fabledFreeboota that it's actually contributing to the chapter and isn't just pandering to SB.
I don't see Amy narrating "she's fading too fast for me to fix it" changing someone's opinion if their problem is that they think it's impossible for anyone to be in that state to begin with.
An interlude is definitely a better way to show what's going on than just having Amy describe what she's trying to do and why it's not working, but is it really necessary? I'm sure it'll be worth reading in any case because I've got faith that Lithos knows what he's doing, but I think that the people making unreasonable complaints will continue to do so unless the interlude is Amy discovering that Vicky is actually just mostly dead and she'll make a full recovery.
Lithos Maitreya
Character Witness
- Location
- United States
I mean, I have several reasons to make 6b an Amy interlude. Even if I had no intention of addressing the SoD issues, it would still be an Amy interlude. It's up there with 3.5, 4.6, and 5.6 when it comes to plot significance.
NegativeJ
LOVE
- Location
- Est
Oh yeah I remembered something... Amy's healing faster than you think @Lithos Maitreya, I think you forgot about the slightly "botched" patrols Vicky had... I really don't think Pan-Pan had less than 5 min's to fix him/them.(I think there were hints about this being a semi-regular occurrence.) Super strength and dumpsters are not good things to a normal human's anything.
Lithos Maitreya
Character Witness
- Location
- United States
I didn't forget shit, and you need to move on. The worst Leviathan can do is several orders of magnitude worse than the worst Glory Girl can do.
So Victoria was lucky that she did not hurt them as bad as she could have.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
- Location
- Lickwidget
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hmmm... I've been enjoying this story a lot @Lithos Maitreya.
Now aside from that, to the main point of this post!
I've been thinking about likely bearers of the Three, since it seems apparent to me that Taylor will not hold them forever. Throughout the entire story so far the Rings have read to me as temporary things, though Taylor herself sometimes seems to not think about giving out the Three even though they are not truly hers. This was reinforced strongly for me in 6.2 when she ran into the limits of supporting Nenya as its Bearer, and did actually think about herself as not its True Bearer.
I currently don't really have an idea as to who could bear Narya and Nenya, but I got to thinking about Vilya and hit upon a possible Bearer.
Panacea.
This is for a couple of reasons:
Rings of Power both affect others and also help their bearers. For example Narya, is usable by its Bearer to give others Hope, but it also gives its Bearer Hope when they most need it.
Thus when I thought about Vilya I asked myself, "Who needs healing?". I immediately hit upon Panacea, she is in need of much healing and ease of pain, though most of it is emotional I see no reason Vilya could not have an effect on that.
Vilya's power is to "heal and preserve". This sounds like something which has much synergy with what Panacea can do, strengthening her far beyond what Vilya may do when held by anyone else.
The other Ring I was considering that might fit her is Narya because it gives Hope, and she needs that too.
Now aside from that, to the main point of this post!
I've been thinking about likely bearers of the Three, since it seems apparent to me that Taylor will not hold them forever. Throughout the entire story so far the Rings have read to me as temporary things, though Taylor herself sometimes seems to not think about giving out the Three even though they are not truly hers. This was reinforced strongly for me in 6.2 when she ran into the limits of supporting Nenya as its Bearer, and did actually think about herself as not its True Bearer.
I currently don't really have an idea as to who could bear Narya and Nenya, but I got to thinking about Vilya and hit upon a possible Bearer.
Panacea.
This is for a couple of reasons:
Rings of Power both affect others and also help their bearers. For example Narya, is usable by its Bearer to give others Hope, but it also gives its Bearer Hope when they most need it.
Thus when I thought about Vilya I asked myself, "Who needs healing?". I immediately hit upon Panacea, she is in need of much healing and ease of pain, though most of it is emotional I see no reason Vilya could not have an effect on that.
Vilya's power is to "heal and preserve". This sounds like something which has much synergy with what Panacea can do, strengthening her far beyond what Vilya may do when held by anyone else.
The other Ring I was considering that might fit her is Narya because it gives Hope, and she needs that too.
Douse 6.3
Lithos Maitreya
Character Witness
- Location
- United States
Many thanks to @themanwhowas, @Assembler, @Skyrunner, @fabledFreeboota, and ShadowStepper1300 on QuestionableQuesting for betareading.
Many thanks to @MugaSofer for fact checking.
Carol Dallon let out a wordless, tormented howl. She threw herself upon her daughter's body, pushing Panacea aside. The healer stumbled slightly, but kept her footing. Her eyes blindly trailed over her sister and mother as the tears ran down her cheeks.
Dean staggered back. Missy caught him, supported him. His armor rattled slightly as he shook. Sobs escaped from under his helmet, quiet and painful, and Missy wrapped her arms around him as best she could.
But my eyes were drawn to Panacea. She was still standing, had made no sound. Her lips were trembling, but were pressed firmly together. She reminded me of nothing so much as a pillar of iridescent crystal, cracking under a terrible weight, but not broken. Not yet.
"Why weren't you faster?" Carol roared, her head snapping up, red eyes glaring at Gallant. "You could have saved her! You should have saved her!"
"Leave him alone!" Missy growled, her face twisting into a snarl. "We did the best we could!"
"Your best wasn't good enough!" Carol's face remained fixed in an angry rictus for only a moment more, and then she seemed to crumple. She fell back down, burying her face in her daughter's bloodied chest.
Panacea approached, then, and touched Vicky's cheek. She trailed a hand along her face, ran a finger across her lips, reddened and damp with blood. She didn't say a word, even as the tears flowed from her eyes, but her other hand tightened into a fist.
Carol looked up again and roughly shoved Panacea aside. "Don't touch her!" she hissed. "You should have been able to heal her! That's your job, isn't it?"
Panacea shuddered. "I can't heal everything." Her voice was soft and low, but steady, with only the faintest hint of a quaver. Underneath, though, I could practically hear the cracks spreading.
"You let her die!" Carol screeched, a wildness in her eyes as she pushed herself upright, facing her surviving daughter. "You've always been jealous of her! You let her die, because that's just who you are! Your father's daughter! Spiteful, vengeful—"
The pillar creaked under its burden.
Panacea moved. The hand gently caressing Vicky's skin remained, but the other snapped out and held Carol's chin. There was an unspoken menace in that touch.
Panacea's voice was quiet, yet hard as diamond. Her eyes did not stray from her sister as she spoke. "Think hard about what you say next."
"You never loved her," growled Brandish. "Not like I did."
In the ensuing silence, I heard the tinkling shards of a heart shattering.
"No," said Panacea, her voice perfectly steady. "Not like you."
Brandish dropped like a stone, unconscious. Panacea let her fall and leaned over Vicky.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, and gently kissed her sister's bloodied lips. She lingered for a few moments before pulling away. Then she stood straight and left the building without a backward glance.
"Amy!" Dean's voice was rough. "Come back!"
She ignored him. Without stopping, she turned and walked up the sidewalk, away from the ongoing battle with Leviathan, away from the hospital.
"Stop," I said, as Dean made to follow her. He turned to look at me.
"She's going to get herself killed!"
I shook my head, pulling away from the patient I'd been healing—he was stable, at least. "She won't."
"How can you know that?"
"She won't give Leviathan the satisfaction. If she kills herself, it'll be later." I pulled out the Jewelry Box and whispered into the lock. "Edro a adlenc." Nenya glimmered inside, bright and silver, and my eyes were drawn to it for a moment before I reached for the Red Ring instead.
"We kind of need her here, though." That was Othala's voice, dry and terse, as she glanced over at us from another patient. "I get it, it sucks that her sister died, but—"
"You have no idea what you just saw," I said, cutting her off. I took off Vilya and withdrew Narya from the Box. "You lack perspective."
"Fuck you!" the Empire healer said, voice sharp and angry. "I've lost family, too! You don't—"
"You're not Panacea, and your family wasn't Glory Girl." Narya went onto my finger and I let out a breath at the rush of fire in my blood. The Jewelry Box closed. "You just saw the unbreakable shatter. Have some respect."
The armband, at last, kicked in again. Losses are as follows: Fog, Glory Girl, Bambina, Humble, Uglymug, Buckler, Dauntless. Injuries are as follows: Ballistic, Leet, Über, Stardust, Triumph, Iron Falcon, Flechette, Mister Eminent, Cloister, Brandish, Hallow, Circus, Oaf, Narwhal, Tattletale, Zigzag, Escutcheon, Velocity, Myrddin.
As the droning voice continued, I crossed to Dean and put one gauntleted hand on his shoulder. "There will be time to mourn," I promised him. "There will be a time for tears and grieving. But it's not now."
He looked up at me. His shivering, which had been slowing over the past several minutes, at last stopped completely. "Okay," he said. "What's the plan?"
What is the plan? I wondered, glancing around at the hospital. Leviathan's presence was palpable, here. It hung on the thoughts and feelings of both the injured and the healers. It was in the scent of blood and vomit, and in the sound of pained groans. It was in the sight of red wounds and pale faces.
I didn't know what to do, not really. But I knew I had to do something. In that moment, I knew that I was willing to die if it meant getting that monster out of my city.
My city. Not Leviathan's. Mine.
And I had just the people to reclaim it.
"Leviathan is stronger than a hundred or so capes," I said at last. "So we stop fighting him as capes."
"What's that mean?" Vista asked.
"It means that we fight him as Ring-Bearers." I stepped outside the field hospital, raised my left hand, and unleashed Narya. Red light burst forth like a beacon, lancing up into the stormy sky above in a thin beam.
Hope poured forth from me like a wave, crashing over one cape after another, rippling through the city. Pale faces regained color, grips tightened around weapons, quaking limbs grew steady.
And, with Narya emboldening me as it did the others, with my cheeks rosy with the rush of heat and power, I drew Narsil. The sword shone nearly as bright as the Ring did in the cold, gray morning. Red was the light of the sun in the blade; cold was the light of the moon.
"RING-BEARERS!" My voice echoed through the raging streets, louder than the thunder and heavier than the rain. "TO ME, RING-BEARERS! TO ME!"
And the Ring-Bearers came. Gallant and Vista came and stood at my left. Sophia burst from the shadows to my right. Kid Win and Aegis arrived together, floating above us. Browbeat had a lamppost in his hand when he joined us. Clockblocker was the last to arrive, nursing a bloody crack in the armor of his side.
Eight Rings of Power shone like seven planets orbiting a star. Dawn and Dusk mingled with radiant Jewel and unyielding Stone. Sun and Moon and Earth glimmered in gold and silver, and verdant green.
And Narya, the red star, the war star, shone brightest of all.
I turned to face my Seven. My eyes roved over their hard faces and bright eyes, their squared shoulders and clenched fists. And I spoke.
"No man," I said, "no woman, no human or parahuman, can fight this thing and hope to win. Leviathan is to them what they are to cockroaches. The best that mortal men can do against something like this is to scuttle into holes in the ground and pray it does not find them."
Leviathan was getting closer. I could feel its light bearing down from behind me, even through the back of my head, as it glowed bright and terrible.
"It is the fear that lurks in the depths. It is the monster in the dark water. It is the sea serpent, the megalodon, the kraken. It is terror."
Not one of the Ring-Bearers wavered.
"It is fortunate, then," I said, "that you are not mortal. Not anymore. You are Bearers of Rings of Power! You are the Seven! You are unwavering stars in the night sky, the light that no shadow can touch!"
I turned and raised Narsil as Leviathan rounded a corner. My eyes sought the light of that thing, deep within its chest.
"You are as the rising sun!" I roared. "And together, we will beat back the night! Together, we can hold back the sea! Fear neither death nor darkness, for they have no hold on you!"
Leviathan tensed like a coiled spring.
"FORWARD, RING-BEARERS!" I leapt into the storm, and the Seven followed. Leviathan met us halfway, and we engaged it with blade and bolt and fist.
Browbeat dealt it a devastating blow across the side of the head which knocked it slightly off course as it dove for me. I stepped aside and raked Narsil into its flank as it passed. The blade clove through its thick hide unquelled. Shadow Stalker fired bolts into the cut which only solidified when they were deep into the monster's body.
Clockblocker slowed time around us, and I watched as Aegis dove and grappled the monster's head at a snail's pace, twisting, trying to wrench it off of the shoulders. Vista lengthened the distance around us in all directions, hemming the monster in by hundreds of yards of stretched space. Kid Win fired lasers at its eyes in a flurry of light and color. Gallant launched a concentrated beam of despair directly into the center of its chest.
For a fraction of an instant, it looked as though we had succeeded. Leviathan reared, flailing, as blood spattered from the gaping wound in its side. Aegis pulled its head sideways, stretching the thick muscles of its shoulder farther than they seemed intended to stretch. Clockblocker was coming forward to attempt to freeze the thing in time.
Then he collapsed suddenly, like a puppet with its strings cut. Aegis was blasted away as the monster's water echo surged, without any accompanying motion from Leviathan itself. The water pushed out from the Endbringer's skin, throwing my teammate aloft. One of Leviathan's claws came up and grabbed at Kid Win, forcing him to withdraw almost twenty feet to avoid being caught. Both the Endbringer's own tail and its water echo whipped up and struck Vista in the side, sending her sprawling.
At last, it backhanded me, moving faster than I could dodge, and sent me careening into a building where I cracked the stone as I struck. Shadow Stalker barely avoided being crushed, herself, by phasing into shadow at the last moment.
Then the monster turned and fled, water echo following. It dashed through Vista's stretched no-man's-land in under a second and was gone back into the streets.
"After it!" I hollered. "Don't let it get—"
I saw a flash of yellow out of the corner of my eye, and I looked to my Wards' armbands. Their screens were ringed by yellow, with indicators pointing in Leviathan's direction. As I glanced to look, I saw what the indicator meant.
The wall of water bearing down on us had to be fifty feet high. It swallowed up building after building in its gluttony, and kept rushing forward. Someone was screaming, "TIDAL WAVE!" Someone else yelled "BARRIERS!" and I saw light flashing behind me as shields surrounded the field hospital.
I had no time to speak, to shout, to call out encouragement. I barely had time to take a deep breath myself before I was swallowed up by the dark green water, and swept away down sunken streets by the rush.
The water buffeted us in different directions. I saw the Seven go flying down other streets and alleys and out of my sight. The salt water stung and burned my eyes, and stones rung my armor like a bell as buildings crumbled around me.
I flailed wildly, and eventually found purchase on a building's fire escape. I caught the metal railing and held myself there, trailing along with the rushing water like a flag caught in a breeze. At length the water level dropped and I emerged, gasping and spluttering, hanging from the iron bars by one hand.
As the water fell away, the armband spoke up again. Heavy casualties, please wait.
Now that I could see again, I took the opportunity to take stock. I was two stories up, hanging over open air. Capes were recovering around me. I could see a cape I didn't know on the roof above me, swathed in white bandages like a mummy. He was on his hands and knees, coughing up water from the hole for his mouth. Directly below me was a heavy-set man in a costume like a cowboy or a bandit, with a bandana covering the lower part of his face. He sat with his back to the wall, his chest visibly rising and falling as he breathed heavily.
And down the street, already standing up, was a familiar figure in blue power armor.
I dropped, catching myself lightly on the street, and jogged over. "Armsmaster!" I called. "Do you know where anyone is?"
"Not yet," he replied, turning to me. "Do you?"
I glanced over to my right where Leviathan's star still lingered, incandescent. "Leviathan's over there," I said, pointing. "But other than that, no."
"You can sense him?"
"Yes." I shrugged. "I see a glowing thing in the center of its chest, like its heart, and I can see it through walls."
He studied me, a frown on his lips. "And can your Ring-Bearers see this, too?"
"I don't know," I admitted. "I think, maybe? A Ring of Power allows insight into the Unseen. So, probably, at least when they're using their Rings. Why?"
Armsmaster didn't answer for a moment. Then, when he spoke, his voice was grim, but confident. "All right. I'll be needing one then."
"What?"
"A Ring. Just for the fight. I'll need a way to keep track of him. I should be able to kill him with the countermeasures I've prepared." He turned to me. "I can take Fire—Narya, right?—and you can use Water. Sound good?"
Please consider donating to my Patreon. Many thanks to those who have already donated.
Many thanks to @MugaSofer for fact checking.
-x-x-x-
Carol Dallon let out a wordless, tormented howl. She threw herself upon her daughter's body, pushing Panacea aside. The healer stumbled slightly, but kept her footing. Her eyes blindly trailed over her sister and mother as the tears ran down her cheeks.
Dean staggered back. Missy caught him, supported him. His armor rattled slightly as he shook. Sobs escaped from under his helmet, quiet and painful, and Missy wrapped her arms around him as best she could.
But my eyes were drawn to Panacea. She was still standing, had made no sound. Her lips were trembling, but were pressed firmly together. She reminded me of nothing so much as a pillar of iridescent crystal, cracking under a terrible weight, but not broken. Not yet.
"Why weren't you faster?" Carol roared, her head snapping up, red eyes glaring at Gallant. "You could have saved her! You should have saved her!"
"Leave him alone!" Missy growled, her face twisting into a snarl. "We did the best we could!"
"Your best wasn't good enough!" Carol's face remained fixed in an angry rictus for only a moment more, and then she seemed to crumple. She fell back down, burying her face in her daughter's bloodied chest.
Panacea approached, then, and touched Vicky's cheek. She trailed a hand along her face, ran a finger across her lips, reddened and damp with blood. She didn't say a word, even as the tears flowed from her eyes, but her other hand tightened into a fist.
Carol looked up again and roughly shoved Panacea aside. "Don't touch her!" she hissed. "You should have been able to heal her! That's your job, isn't it?"
Panacea shuddered. "I can't heal everything." Her voice was soft and low, but steady, with only the faintest hint of a quaver. Underneath, though, I could practically hear the cracks spreading.
"You let her die!" Carol screeched, a wildness in her eyes as she pushed herself upright, facing her surviving daughter. "You've always been jealous of her! You let her die, because that's just who you are! Your father's daughter! Spiteful, vengeful—"
The pillar creaked under its burden.
Panacea moved. The hand gently caressing Vicky's skin remained, but the other snapped out and held Carol's chin. There was an unspoken menace in that touch.
Panacea's voice was quiet, yet hard as diamond. Her eyes did not stray from her sister as she spoke. "Think hard about what you say next."
"You never loved her," growled Brandish. "Not like I did."
In the ensuing silence, I heard the tinkling shards of a heart shattering.
"No," said Panacea, her voice perfectly steady. "Not like you."
Brandish dropped like a stone, unconscious. Panacea let her fall and leaned over Vicky.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, and gently kissed her sister's bloodied lips. She lingered for a few moments before pulling away. Then she stood straight and left the building without a backward glance.
"Amy!" Dean's voice was rough. "Come back!"
She ignored him. Without stopping, she turned and walked up the sidewalk, away from the ongoing battle with Leviathan, away from the hospital.
"Stop," I said, as Dean made to follow her. He turned to look at me.
"She's going to get herself killed!"
I shook my head, pulling away from the patient I'd been healing—he was stable, at least. "She won't."
"How can you know that?"
"She won't give Leviathan the satisfaction. If she kills herself, it'll be later." I pulled out the Jewelry Box and whispered into the lock. "Edro a adlenc." Nenya glimmered inside, bright and silver, and my eyes were drawn to it for a moment before I reached for the Red Ring instead.
"We kind of need her here, though." That was Othala's voice, dry and terse, as she glanced over at us from another patient. "I get it, it sucks that her sister died, but—"
"You have no idea what you just saw," I said, cutting her off. I took off Vilya and withdrew Narya from the Box. "You lack perspective."
"Fuck you!" the Empire healer said, voice sharp and angry. "I've lost family, too! You don't—"
"You're not Panacea, and your family wasn't Glory Girl." Narya went onto my finger and I let out a breath at the rush of fire in my blood. The Jewelry Box closed. "You just saw the unbreakable shatter. Have some respect."
The armband, at last, kicked in again. Losses are as follows: Fog, Glory Girl, Bambina, Humble, Uglymug, Buckler, Dauntless. Injuries are as follows: Ballistic, Leet, Über, Stardust, Triumph, Iron Falcon, Flechette, Mister Eminent, Cloister, Brandish, Hallow, Circus, Oaf, Narwhal, Tattletale, Zigzag, Escutcheon, Velocity, Myrddin.
As the droning voice continued, I crossed to Dean and put one gauntleted hand on his shoulder. "There will be time to mourn," I promised him. "There will be a time for tears and grieving. But it's not now."
He looked up at me. His shivering, which had been slowing over the past several minutes, at last stopped completely. "Okay," he said. "What's the plan?"
What is the plan? I wondered, glancing around at the hospital. Leviathan's presence was palpable, here. It hung on the thoughts and feelings of both the injured and the healers. It was in the scent of blood and vomit, and in the sound of pained groans. It was in the sight of red wounds and pale faces.
I didn't know what to do, not really. But I knew I had to do something. In that moment, I knew that I was willing to die if it meant getting that monster out of my city.
My city. Not Leviathan's. Mine.
And I had just the people to reclaim it.
"Leviathan is stronger than a hundred or so capes," I said at last. "So we stop fighting him as capes."
"What's that mean?" Vista asked.
"It means that we fight him as Ring-Bearers." I stepped outside the field hospital, raised my left hand, and unleashed Narya. Red light burst forth like a beacon, lancing up into the stormy sky above in a thin beam.
Hope poured forth from me like a wave, crashing over one cape after another, rippling through the city. Pale faces regained color, grips tightened around weapons, quaking limbs grew steady.
And, with Narya emboldening me as it did the others, with my cheeks rosy with the rush of heat and power, I drew Narsil. The sword shone nearly as bright as the Ring did in the cold, gray morning. Red was the light of the sun in the blade; cold was the light of the moon.
"RING-BEARERS!" My voice echoed through the raging streets, louder than the thunder and heavier than the rain. "TO ME, RING-BEARERS! TO ME!"
And the Ring-Bearers came. Gallant and Vista came and stood at my left. Sophia burst from the shadows to my right. Kid Win and Aegis arrived together, floating above us. Browbeat had a lamppost in his hand when he joined us. Clockblocker was the last to arrive, nursing a bloody crack in the armor of his side.
Eight Rings of Power shone like seven planets orbiting a star. Dawn and Dusk mingled with radiant Jewel and unyielding Stone. Sun and Moon and Earth glimmered in gold and silver, and verdant green.
And Narya, the red star, the war star, shone brightest of all.
I turned to face my Seven. My eyes roved over their hard faces and bright eyes, their squared shoulders and clenched fists. And I spoke.
"No man," I said, "no woman, no human or parahuman, can fight this thing and hope to win. Leviathan is to them what they are to cockroaches. The best that mortal men can do against something like this is to scuttle into holes in the ground and pray it does not find them."
Leviathan was getting closer. I could feel its light bearing down from behind me, even through the back of my head, as it glowed bright and terrible.
"It is the fear that lurks in the depths. It is the monster in the dark water. It is the sea serpent, the megalodon, the kraken. It is terror."
Not one of the Ring-Bearers wavered.
"It is fortunate, then," I said, "that you are not mortal. Not anymore. You are Bearers of Rings of Power! You are the Seven! You are unwavering stars in the night sky, the light that no shadow can touch!"
I turned and raised Narsil as Leviathan rounded a corner. My eyes sought the light of that thing, deep within its chest.
"You are as the rising sun!" I roared. "And together, we will beat back the night! Together, we can hold back the sea! Fear neither death nor darkness, for they have no hold on you!"
Leviathan tensed like a coiled spring.
"FORWARD, RING-BEARERS!" I leapt into the storm, and the Seven followed. Leviathan met us halfway, and we engaged it with blade and bolt and fist.
Browbeat dealt it a devastating blow across the side of the head which knocked it slightly off course as it dove for me. I stepped aside and raked Narsil into its flank as it passed. The blade clove through its thick hide unquelled. Shadow Stalker fired bolts into the cut which only solidified when they were deep into the monster's body.
Clockblocker slowed time around us, and I watched as Aegis dove and grappled the monster's head at a snail's pace, twisting, trying to wrench it off of the shoulders. Vista lengthened the distance around us in all directions, hemming the monster in by hundreds of yards of stretched space. Kid Win fired lasers at its eyes in a flurry of light and color. Gallant launched a concentrated beam of despair directly into the center of its chest.
For a fraction of an instant, it looked as though we had succeeded. Leviathan reared, flailing, as blood spattered from the gaping wound in its side. Aegis pulled its head sideways, stretching the thick muscles of its shoulder farther than they seemed intended to stretch. Clockblocker was coming forward to attempt to freeze the thing in time.
Then he collapsed suddenly, like a puppet with its strings cut. Aegis was blasted away as the monster's water echo surged, without any accompanying motion from Leviathan itself. The water pushed out from the Endbringer's skin, throwing my teammate aloft. One of Leviathan's claws came up and grabbed at Kid Win, forcing him to withdraw almost twenty feet to avoid being caught. Both the Endbringer's own tail and its water echo whipped up and struck Vista in the side, sending her sprawling.
At last, it backhanded me, moving faster than I could dodge, and sent me careening into a building where I cracked the stone as I struck. Shadow Stalker barely avoided being crushed, herself, by phasing into shadow at the last moment.
Then the monster turned and fled, water echo following. It dashed through Vista's stretched no-man's-land in under a second and was gone back into the streets.
"After it!" I hollered. "Don't let it get—"
I saw a flash of yellow out of the corner of my eye, and I looked to my Wards' armbands. Their screens were ringed by yellow, with indicators pointing in Leviathan's direction. As I glanced to look, I saw what the indicator meant.
The wall of water bearing down on us had to be fifty feet high. It swallowed up building after building in its gluttony, and kept rushing forward. Someone was screaming, "TIDAL WAVE!" Someone else yelled "BARRIERS!" and I saw light flashing behind me as shields surrounded the field hospital.
I had no time to speak, to shout, to call out encouragement. I barely had time to take a deep breath myself before I was swallowed up by the dark green water, and swept away down sunken streets by the rush.
The water buffeted us in different directions. I saw the Seven go flying down other streets and alleys and out of my sight. The salt water stung and burned my eyes, and stones rung my armor like a bell as buildings crumbled around me.
I flailed wildly, and eventually found purchase on a building's fire escape. I caught the metal railing and held myself there, trailing along with the rushing water like a flag caught in a breeze. At length the water level dropped and I emerged, gasping and spluttering, hanging from the iron bars by one hand.
As the water fell away, the armband spoke up again. Heavy casualties, please wait.
Now that I could see again, I took the opportunity to take stock. I was two stories up, hanging over open air. Capes were recovering around me. I could see a cape I didn't know on the roof above me, swathed in white bandages like a mummy. He was on his hands and knees, coughing up water from the hole for his mouth. Directly below me was a heavy-set man in a costume like a cowboy or a bandit, with a bandana covering the lower part of his face. He sat with his back to the wall, his chest visibly rising and falling as he breathed heavily.
And down the street, already standing up, was a familiar figure in blue power armor.
I dropped, catching myself lightly on the street, and jogged over. "Armsmaster!" I called. "Do you know where anyone is?"
"Not yet," he replied, turning to me. "Do you?"
I glanced over to my right where Leviathan's star still lingered, incandescent. "Leviathan's over there," I said, pointing. "But other than that, no."
"You can sense him?"
"Yes." I shrugged. "I see a glowing thing in the center of its chest, like its heart, and I can see it through walls."
He studied me, a frown on his lips. "And can your Ring-Bearers see this, too?"
"I don't know," I admitted. "I think, maybe? A Ring of Power allows insight into the Unseen. So, probably, at least when they're using their Rings. Why?"
Armsmaster didn't answer for a moment. Then, when he spoke, his voice was grim, but confident. "All right. I'll be needing one then."
"What?"
"A Ring. Just for the fight. I'll need a way to keep track of him. I should be able to kill him with the countermeasures I've prepared." He turned to me. "I can take Fire—Narya, right?—and you can use Water. Sound good?"
-x-x-x-
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Grounders10
Nine-Tailed Kitsune
- Location
- British Columbia, Canada, Mars
Oh Armsmaster you fool. One does not simply BORROW a Ring of Power.
.. (Meme Totally unintentional...)
.. (Meme Totally unintentional...)
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
...Armsmaster. You're treating a Ring of Power like a piece of tinkertech. This is either going to end in a big fallout between Armsmaster and Annatar, or Annatar letting him use a ring and then consequences.
Also, I really love the imagery of the wards being carried away by the wave, scattered in all directions. It's very evocative and brutal, especially so coming so soon after Annatar's rousing speech.
Also, I really love the imagery of the wards being carried away by the wave, scattered in all directions. It's very evocative and brutal, especially so coming so soon after Annatar's rousing speech.
Ellf
Apprentice Wizard
- Location
- Virginia
@Lithos Maitreya: Good chapter, don't forget the threadmark. Also, Armsy.... only Annatar can swap rings. If you get one... well... Welcome, Armsmaster the Grey.
Lithos Maitreya
Character Witness
- Location
- United States
Thank you, threadmarked.
Poor Taylor, using the wrong ring for Endbringer stomping. Just because it is sandbagging does not mean she should.
Also, very nice depiction of the hopelessness of facing Leviathan. I wonder if Taylor could have done something about that wave had she not foolishly switched rings.
Now, I know there are twelve rings left to distribute, but Annatar needs to get on with handing them out. It's getting painful to read her not seizing the advantages she has.
Also, very nice depiction of the hopelessness of facing Leviathan. I wonder if Taylor could have done something about that wave had she not foolishly switched rings.
Now, I know there are twelve rings left to distribute, but Annatar needs to get on with handing them out. It's getting painful to read her not seizing the advantages she has.
Lithos Maitreya
Character Witness
- Location
- United States
A line has been edited in so that the unreliable narrator problems of the Ring-Bearers vs. Leviathan scene are a little mitigated:
(For the record, don't expect to understand what I'm talking about with unreliable narrator problems yet. I'll address it in the next three chapters.)
(For the record, don't expect to understand what I'm talking about with unreliable narrator problems yet. I'll address it in the next three chapters.)
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
- Location
- Lickwidget
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Armsmaster, who clearly did not listen to Annatar when she described how they functioned, with Narya? On top of him not having any comparability with Narya.
Yeah Armsmaster, you might not like rest of your life.
@Lithos Maitreya excellent chapter! If you end up giving Narya to Armsmaster I will be happily surprised!
Yeah Armsmaster, you might not like rest of your life.
@Lithos Maitreya excellent chapter! If you end up giving Narya to Armsmaster I will be happily surprised!
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Lithos Maitreya
Character Witness
- Location
- United States
Where did you get the idea that Armsmaster has no compatibility with the Ring of Fire?
Of course, receiving it like this would probably not be good for him.
- Location
- Earth Prime
There's a particular way that's good to receive a Ring?
Also, I was somewhat surprised that Annatar didn't offer the Ring of the Unbowed to Amy at that moment.
Lithos Maitreya
Character Witness
- Location
- United States
Time and place, my friend, time and place.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
- Location
- Lickwidget
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Mostly that his character is not one who inspires hope in others as I understand him.
And my bias which considers him a dick/he's unlucky.
- Location
- USA
Pls, no Golum!Armsmaster. The world inst ready for it.