Triumph spoke up, his voice carrying casual authority. "Strider's bringing in capes from Boston and New York, but it'll take time for them to reach us since he refuses to enter the city. We need to keep Kong busy until then. We've been tracking Kong's patterns. He's got that energy beam—charges up for ten seconds or so, fires for maybe five seconds, then there's a cooldown of a few minutes where he gets more physically aggressive. Aegis was hit when he got too close during the recharge phase."
Aegis nodded grimly. Taylor wondered if Triumph got hurt the same way and was spreading the blame.
"The beam attack is the real problem. Anything it touches stops existing. Some kind of matter disintegration effect, but what's left behind is extremely flammable."
"What about you?" Triumph asked Taylor. "Your bugs get close enough to gather any intel we don't have?"
"I tried to attack him directly. I swarmed his face with stinging insects and his fur started glowing. Blue-white flame that just... killed them. And then it expanded outward in a pulse. Killed most of my bugs."
The assembled heroes exchanged glances.
"So he's got some kind of kill aura on top of everything else," Aegis said grimly. "Great."
"Behemoth." Said Browbeat. Everybody looked at him, but he refused to elaborate.
"Look," Triumph said, "we all want to help down there, but let's be realistic about our options. I can't shout loud enough to seriously hurt something that size, and even if I could, I'd probably bring down half the remaining buildings."
"I could freeze him," Clockblocker offered, "but only if I can touch him. And getting within touching distance of a hundred-foot tall rage monster seems like a fast way to become street pizza."
Aegis nodded. "I'm tough, but not that tough. I can fly, so I'm on rescue duty in case somebody else goes down."
All eyes turned to Browbeat, who continued his silent vigil. After a moment, Triumph shrugged. "Browbeat's got enhanced strength and some adaptive abilities, but again—the size difference is insurmountable."
Taylor studied the scene below, watching Kong rage against the flying capes. Charge, fire, rampage, repeat. The heroes were doing their best to keep him distracted, but they were fighting a delaying action at best. And each blast that went wide was carving through buildings where people might still be hiding. What's more it was clear Kong was becoming more angry and irritated, crushing buildings and ignoring the swooping capes. He doesn't want to be played with, he wants to kill she thought
"I'm going down there," she said finally.
"That's suicide," Aegis said bluntly.
"Maybe. Maybe not. I stopped him firing his beam once already. If I can get close enough, I can do it again."
"And when Kong decides to step on you?" Clockblocker asked.
"I'll get out of the way. I can track him while running away." She said firmly.
"I can't come with you." Triumph explained with a wince as he gestured at his arm, "I'd just slow you down."
"Fine." She looked at the Wards and began toward the slope that led down to the docks.
"Hold up," Clockblocker called, jogging after her. "If you're going down there, you need backup."
"No," Taylor said firmly. "There's no point—"
Clockblocker held up his communicator, the small device glinting in the firelight from below. "Coordination. Real-time intel. Seems like useful things to have."
"Fine," she said. "But if I tell you to go, you run. I can track him better than you can. In fact, if you see a swarm of bugs in front of you like this" She shaped an arrow in the air. "Run that way."
Clockblocker grinned. "I think you've got me confused with someone brave."
Together, they started down the hill toward the battle, leaving the other heroes to their overwatch position as Taylor—no Scoutfly's swarm began to gather, covering the ground like a carpet to avoid the monster's attention.
—
Dennis - Clockblocker - T + 39 minutes
The descent into the docks was like walking into hell itself.
What had once been a crowded arrangement of shipping containers and warehouses was now a landscape of twisted metal and smoldering craters. The air tasted of smoke and something else—ozone.
"Stay low," Scoutfly whispered, crouching behind the twisted remains of what had once been a cargo crane. "He's focused on the fliers right now."
Dennis nodded, listening to his earpiece as another update crackled through. The situation reports were getting worse every time. Kong—what kind of name was that anyway?—had already leveled half the docks and showed no sign of slowing down. The reinforcements Strider was supposed to bring were nowhere to be seen, and the local heroes had already run out of tricks.
At least the new cape seemed to know what she was doing. Dennis watched her move with a purposefulness that spoke of either natural talent or serious training. Part of him wondered why he had volunteered to join her in what was probably a suicide mission, but he knew the reason. I just couldn't stand waiting any longer.
"Get down." Scoutfly, commanded suddenly.
Dennis dived to the ground as a sudden blinding light streaked across the sky near them. "Jesus Christ," he breathed as Kong's latest beam burned through a pair of warehouses like they were made of flash paper. Something exploded and the heat washed over them even from blocks away. Tiny pieces of burning metal and concrete began to rain down around them.
"Wait," Scoutfly said suddenly, her voice tight with concentration. "There's someone alive in that building."
Dennis followed her pointing finger to what remained of a concrete office building about two blocks closer to Kong's current position. The structure looked like someone had taken a giant bite out of it—the top three floors were completely gone, leaving jagged concrete edges and exposed rebar reaching toward the sky like broken teeth.
"You sure?" he asked, squinting at the wreckage. "That place looks pretty thoroughly wrecked."
"Ground floor, northwest side. There's a small room with lots of tv screens, mostly intact." Her bugs were moving now, he could see the dark streams flowing toward the building like reverse smoke. "He's trapped, I think. There's something wrong with the door."
Of course there is, Dennis thought, but he followed anyway. His power wasn't much use for search and rescue, but an extra pair of hands couldn't hurt. Besides, if Kong comes back this way, at least I can freeze him for a few minutes.
"Careful," Scoutfly warned as they reached the building's perimeter. "The structure's not stable. My bugs are finding a lot of loose concrete."
The entrance she led them to was a gap where a side door had once been, now partially blocked by a fallen beam. Dennis had to turn sideways to squeeze through, his costume catching on the rough concrete.
Inside was a maze of collapsed ceiling tiles and toppled furniture. Emergency lighting flickered sporadically, casting everything in an eerie red glow. The air was thick with concrete dust and Dennis was glad his helmet was fully sealed.
"This way," Scoutfly said, navigating the debris with surprising grace. Her bugs were everywhere, flowing around obstacles like glittering, living rivers. As they went Dennis tagged doorframes and support beams with his power, hoping they would help hold the building up a little while longer.
They found the security guard's office and Scoutfly turned to face him expectantly, "In there."
"Hello?" he called out. "Anyone in there?"
A muffled voice responded from inside. "Help! The door's stuck and the ceiling's coming down! Get me out of here!"
"The door's completely jammed," Scoutfly observed, running her hands along the frame amidst a carpet of insects. "The whole frame is twisted. The fire escape on the other side of the room is buried too." There was a small window, but it was filled with metal mesh, and too small for a person to climb through..
He fruitlessly began to look around for something to use as leverage amidst the office supplies.
"Here," Scoutfly said, appearing beside him a minute later with a crowbar. Together, they worked the crowbar into the gap between the door and frame. Dennis wedged it in while Scoutfly began to pull. The metal groaned in protest.
"On three," Dennis grunted. "One... two..."
They threw their combined weight against the lever. The door groaned, shifted, and suddenly gave way with a sharp crack. They both stumbled backward as the security guard burst out of the door as soon as it opened. He stumbled as he nearly crashed into them. "What the hell is happening out there? It sounds like the world is ending!"
"Pretty much," Dennis said grimly. "You need to get to safety. Come with us."
The man nodded shakily and followed them back the way they came, squeezing out through the rubble. The entire time he repeatedly expressed his gratitude. Dennis couldn't tell if he was thanking them or God, given how many religious phrases the man used.
"Thank you. Thank you, Jesus Christ. Thank you. Oh my god thank you…"
"That way," Scoutfly pointed toward an alley running away from the harbor. "Follow that alley north, then head north west toward the main road."
"What about you two?" The guard asked, genuine concern in his voice.
"We've got more work to do," Dennis said. "Just run, and don't look back!"
The security guard nodded seriously and rapidly shook both their hands before hurrying off into the night.
As they watched him disappear into the shadows, Dennis felt a surge of satisfaction.
"Nice job back there," he said to Scoutfly as they resumed their approach toward Kong. "You're good. I'm surprised I've never seen you before."
She glanced at him, and even through her mask he could see her surprise. "Thanks. I... this is actually my first time out."
"Seriously?" Dennis kept his voice light. "Could've fooled me. You seem like you've been doing this for months. Great work with the costume."
"Thanks. I've been... preparing." She paused. "I wanted to be ready."
"Smart. Most of us just jumped in and learned by screwing up." Dennis grinned behind his mask. "Though I have to say, Kong here is a hell of a baptism by fire."
"Well, go big or go home, right?" Dennis could tell he'd won a smile off her from her voice.
"That's the spirit."
—
They were close enough now that Kong's movements shook the ground beneath their feet. Each step sent tremors through the concrete, and Dennis could feel the vibrations in his teeth. They found cover behind a shipping container that gave them a clear view of the harbor. Kong was tracking Dauntless, his massive head following the hero's aerial maneuvers. The titan moved with an odd grace for something so large, it reminded Dennis of a cat chasing after a laser pointer.
"New arrivals," Scoutfly observed, before a laser hit the back of Kong's head, ending his pursuit of Dauntless.
Dennis looked up and recognised the flying forms of Glory Girl and Lady Photon. Glory Girl's white and gold costume stood out even in darkness. She dived forwards, hefting a metal beam. Dennis thought she was going to hit Kong with it, but she broke off just out of Kong's reach, releasing the bar midair and letting it sail into the giant monster's face with a boom. Lady Photon on the other hand maintained her distance, repeatedly firing her hard light blasts.
"They're trying to box him in," Scoutfly said, and Dennis could hear the concern in her voice. "Drive him toward the peninsula, away from the city center."
"Sounds like a good plan to me."
"No." Her voice was flat with certainty. "It won't work. He doesn't like being herded. He doesn't want to be distracted, he wants to destroy."
Dennis had no reaction to that. Except a sinking feeling in his stomach that she was right.
"We need to get closer to the pier," Scoutfly said, already moving. "I have an idea, but I need to get my swarm out over the water."
They worked their way through the maze of destruction, staying parallel to Kong's position but gradually angling toward the harbor. The ground was littered with debris, and several times they had to detour around fires or freeze unstable structures to get through.
The rubble blocked their view mostly, but in the glimpses of the fight he caught, Dennis noticed more flyers had joined the fray at some point. Shielder and Laserdream. Manpower and the rest wouldn't be far he imagined.
Ever since she'd pointed it out, Kong's frustration was becoming more obvious by the minute. His beam attacks were coming faster now, the cooldown periods shorter and his aiming more erratic. He jerked his head as he fired at the flyers, trying to catch them with the beam.
"There," Scoutfly pointed toward a concrete pier that jutted out into the bay. "I need to get closer to the water."
"What are you doing?" Dennis asked, watching Scoutfly's insects stream past them.
"Giving him a target," she replied, concentration evident in her voice.
Dennis followed her swarm's movement and saw it taking shape over the water—a humanoid figure made of insects, sixty feet tall standing waist-deep in the dark water. It was an impressive display. It looked like a nightmare monster from an Aleph film. The rest of her swarm descended on Kong, streaming into his eyes and mouth.
Kong noticed immediately, a wave of blue flame enveloping him. The titan stopped its pursuit of the flying capes, eyes narrowed almost suspiciously before they fixed on the swarm. His lips pulled back in a snarl as he opened his mouth. Light gathered in his jaws like a captive star.
"Get ready to move," Scoutfly warned.
The beam lanced across the water, vaporizing the insect decoy instantly. The beam continued past the decoy, flying across the bay and striking the rusted hulk of the old container ship that had been blocking the harbor mouth for as long as Dennis could remember.
"Good aim." Dennis said with a whistle.
"Thanks—
A sudden roar split the night, different from Kong's bestial howls—and infinitely more familiar. Dennis had heard that sound in his nightmares for months after their last encounter.
"Oh good," he said chipperly. "Lung's back."
The dragon descended from the smoke-filled sky like something out of Revelations, forty feet of burning scales and wings. Dennis had never seen Lung so huge, even in the video from Kyushu.
Maybe he can actually kill this thing, Dennis thought desperately as Lung crashed into Kong's back. They went down in a tumble of limbs, thrashing on the ground and causing a fresh plume of dust to rise up, obscuring them from sight.
Suddenly Scoutfly grabbed his hand, tugging him desperately away towards a building jutting out on a pier. He realised instantly and broke into a sprint alongside her. He looked back to see Kong and Lung burst out of the cloud of dust. Biting and clawing at each other, rolling across the pier towards them.
Dennis let go of Scoutfly's hand and they ran, their feet pounding against the concrete as the pier shook beneath them. Behind them, the sounds of the titanic battle grew louder—roars that seemed to come from the depths of hell itself, followed by crashes that made the ground jump.
A wave of superheated air washed over them, carrying the acrid smell of melting plastic and something that reminded Dennis uncomfortably of barbecue. He risked a glance back and immediately regretted it. Lung had wrapped himself around Kong's torso, his serpentine body coiled like a massive python, while flames poured from his multiple jaws in torrents that turned the night sky orange.
"Faster!" Dennis shouted, though he wasn't sure Scoutfly could hear him over the chaos. The heat was getting worse, and he could feel his costume sticking to his back.
They weren't going to make it, he realised. The pier stretched out ahead of them, but Kong and Lung were moving across it faster than they could run, there wasn't enough time, they would be crushed or burned. Even if we make it to the building we're fucked…
The water was maybe twenty feet below to their right, dark and uninviting. Drowning beat burning to death in his opinion.
Then he saw it—a shipping container, sitting askew on the edge of the pier. Its doors hung open like welcoming arms.
"This way!" He yanked Scoutfly toward the container, diving through the open doors just as a terrifying, familiar glow lit up the pier around them. He slammed the doors shut with a clang that echoed in the confined space.
"What are we—" Scoutfly started to say.
"Trust me." Dennis pressed both palms against the inner wall of the container and let his power flow out. The familiar sensation of temporal lock settled over the structure. "This whole container is now frozen in time. Nothing can hurt it."
The words had barely left his mouth when Kong's beam attack struck.
Even through the stasis bound walls of the container, Dennis felt the universe scream. The air itself seemed to vibrate with barely contained energy, and bright light poured in through rivet holes and cracks. For a moment he was sure they were about to be vaporized along with everything else.
Then the light faded, and they were still alive.
Dennis fumbled for his phone's flashlight, the beam illuminating their prison. The container was largely intact, but as he swept the light across the walls, his blood ran cold. Along the edges where the metal was thinnest, where rust had eaten away at the steel over the years, perfect circular holes had been burned through.
"Holy shit," he breathed, running his finger along one of the holes. The edge was perfectly smooth, as if the metal had never existed there at all.
His mind raced back to the power testing sessions, to Dr. Hendricks explaining his abilities: "The temporal lock makes the affected matter essentially inviolable. Our calculations suggest it would be easier to fold the universe in half than to damage something you've frozen."
And Kong's beam had nearly punched through anyway. Only the thickness of the container walls and his power's protection had saved them. Impossible.
The sounds of battle were moving away now, growing more distant. Dennis could hear the crashes and roars echoing off the remaining buildings as the two titans carried their fight elsewhere.
Scoutfly was quiet for a long moment, her bugs swarming around her angrily.
"Clockblocker," she said. "We have a problem."
He turned to look at her, noting the tension in her posture. "What kind of problem?"
"Can you swim?"
—
Taylor Hebert - Scoutfly - T + 131 minutes
"Can you swim?" She asked, realising that the answer would be 'yes' before he answered.
As soon as the beam let up, Taylor had let her remaining swarm spread out through the holes in the container, tiny scouts mapping the destruction around them. What they found made her stomach drop into free fall.
The pier was simply gone. Her bugs traced the edges of the destruction, following the path that Kong's beam had carved through everything. Concrete, steel reinforcement, the massive pylons that had anchored the pier to the harbor floor—all of it had been erased.
Worse, the water below was chaos. Somehow the beam had mostly spared anything submerged. And through thousands of tiny crabs, water beetles, and other bugs that lived in the water, she could feel debris swirling down like metallic hail. Chunks of floating debris plus lengths of twisted rebar and fragments of other shipping containers—all of it settling into a deadly maze in the dark water twenty feet below them.
"Clockblocker," she said carefully, "We're floating twenty feet above the water."
Clockblocker blinked. "What do you mean, floating?"
"I mean this container is suspended in mid-air because the pier it was sitting on no longer exists. We're basically in a time-locked coffin that's about to drop into the harbor." She kicked at the door, demonstratively. It didn't even make a sound.
He looked around their prison thoughtfully, and began to rummage through his belt.
Think, Taylor. What are your options?
Her swarm was reduced but still substantial—the insects that hadn't been caught in Kong's blast or Lung's flames were regrouping, flying back to her. But flying insects couldn't help them underwater, and the aquatic creatures under her control were too small to do anything but be pushed around by the waves.
Wait. With her underwater swarm, she could map the debris field in real time. She could navigate through it, even in pitch darkness. Her bugs would be like a living sonar system, guiding her around the sharp edges of the submerged wreckage.
But that was just her. Clockblocker didn't have that advantage. In the pitch black, freezing water, panicked and possibly injured from the fall, he'd be helpless. She could guide herself through the underwater maze, but guiding someone else while trying to keep them both alive?
The math was brutal and simple: one person might make it. Two people probably wouldn't.
Swimming to the shore would be nearly impossible if Clockblocker got tangled in the wreckage. And even if they made it up, the water was cold. Hypothermia would set in within minutes. Her bugs could find the safest path, but they couldn't warm freezing water or carry an unconscious person to safety.
We're probably going to die down there. Well… he is. I might make it.
To her surprise, the Ward didn't panic. Instead, he calmly pulled out several sheets of plain paper from a utility pouch on his costume and began pressing them against the container's ceiling
"What are you doing?" she asked, watching with growing confusion as each sheet stuck to the metal.
"Emergency reinforcement," Dennis explained matter-of-factly. "My power freezes things for a random duration—anywhere from thirty seconds to about nine minutes. When the container unfreezes, these pieces of paper will still be locked in time. They'll hold us up…"
Taylor stared at him as understanding dawned. It was brilliant.
"You carry paper specifically for this?"
"A lot of our training is trying to come up with contingencies." he explained nonchalantly.
"That's smart," she admitted. His casual competence was oddly reassuring. She had been expecting the Wards to be like the kids at her school. Clockblocker was clearly different.
Suddenly the container shifted, rattling and groaning in protest. As promised the sheets of paper held it steady, with barely a jolt.
"How long does your power last on organic materials? Like silk?" She asked.
"The same, at least 30 seconds but usually a few minutes, it's random no matter what I freeze."
Taylor was already calling to her spiders, dozens of them converging inside the container. "I might have an idea. My spiders can produce silk. I can weave it into a rope and you freeze it. Then we could climb down to the water… Actually I have a better idea, I could suspend it towards the shore and we could zip-line across."
"That probably won't work. Things I freeze can be really sharp if they're thin, if we held onto spiderweb it would cut straight through us, same for anything we tried to slide down it with. Besides…I don't really feel like swimming today." He pressed some buttons on his communicator with his thumbs. "Console, this is Clockblocker. Priority rescue request. I need immediate aerial extraction for two capes at my current GPS coordinates."
The response crackled through immediately. "Clockblocker, what's your situation?"
"Scoutfly and I are trapped in a shipping container suspended above the harbor. The container is stable for now, but we'll need aerial pickup. How fast can you get us a taxi?"
"Stand by. ETA four minutes."
He clicked off the communicator and looked at Taylor, his posture relaxed despite their precarious situation. "See? The greatest power was friendship all along."
She groaned and slumped against the wall of the container. "I can't believe you're quoting Mouse Protector right now."
"Hey, I'm a lifelong Mouseketeer," Clockblocker said with mock solemnity. "I grew up watching the cartoon—pure gold."
Taylor felt strangely giddy from the mixture of adrenaline and relief. "Oh my god, I remember that show."
Do you remember the theme song?" He asked jovially.
"Not really. I remember there were a lot of terrible mouse puns..." Taylor was surprised to find herself actually smiling.
Clockblocker cleared his throat theatrically, "She's squeaking up on crime, one villain at a time! No trap can pin her down, she's the bravest mouse in town. Evil-doers you'd better run away! Mouse Protector's here to save the day!" He had a surprisingly good singing voice and Taylor laughed despite herself.
"You know…" She said cautiously. "This is kind of like an episode from the show. Not the rampaging monster, but us right now. Two heroes suspended over water. Classic setup."
"Yeah, only the water would be full of sharks or piranhas or something." Clockblocker added.
"Probably."
They fell into a comfortable silence for a moment, one of the pieces of paper unfroze and Clockblocker casually picked it up and restuck it to the roof.
"Thank you," Taylor suddenly found herself saying. "For coming with me tonight. If you hadn't been there..."
"Are you kidding?" His voice carried genuine gratitude. "I should be thanking you. This whole thing would have gone a lot worse without you on the scene. That rescue back at the building, the way you've been tracking Kong's movements, giving him a target to distract him—you probably saved a dozen lives tonight, including mine."
Taylor felt an unfamiliar flush of pride spreading through her chest. When was the last time someone had complimented her like that? When was the last time she'd felt genuinely useful? At school, she was invisible at best, a target at worst. At home, she was just another burden for her father to worry about. But tonight...
The approach of two flying heroes entering her swarm interrupted her thoughts. The doors of the container swung open and she could see two figures hovering in front of them—Aegis, and a member of New Wave she had seen on the news a few times, Shielder.
"Cavalry's here," Clockblocker said, checking his watch. "Right on time."
Clockblocker climbed into Aegis' waiting arms, slinging an arm around his neck before they floated away from the container. Taylor followed his lead, allowing herself to be carried by Shielder. She couldn't help but notice that under his costume his muscles bulged as he lifted her.
As they rose into the night sky, she got a birds eye view of the Bay.
The city was dark. Every light in Brockton Bay had been extinguished. No streetlights, no glow from windows. The entire city had gone black, leaving only the fires from Kong's rampage to provide any illumination at all.
"They cut the power," she said. "To make it harder for him to see the buildings."
In the distance, she could see Kong's massive form moving through the darkened streets, his rampage taking him away from the docks, steadily inland toward the city center. The flying heroes were still harassing him—she could see the flashes of Dauntless's lightning and the bright streaks of New Wave's attacks—but Kong was ignoring them completely now.
Then she noticed something that made her blood run cold.
Kong had Lung.
The dragon's serpentine form was wrapped around one of Kong's massive arms, wings broken but still thrashing desperately as the monster dragged him head first through a building. For a moment, the two titanic figures were silhouetted against the fires below, locked in what looked like some primordial battle between gods.
Then Kong's mouth opened wide, that familiar deadly glow building to painful brightness.
"Fuck," Shielder breathed beside her. A translucent blue shield appeared in front of them.
The beam erupted at point-blank range, so bright that even with her eyes screwed shut, Taylor could see it through her eyelids. The light seemed to go on forever, a sustained pulse of annihilation that made her insects flee in every direction.
When the light finally faded, Lung was gone.
Kong stood alone in the crater where the beam had struck. The beam had created a crater nearly fifty feet deep, and everything surrounding the crater for two blocks was reduced to rubble. He stood straight, his massive chest heaving. For a moment, he seemed to survey his handiwork. Then, deliberately—almost pridefully—he turned toward the darkened skyline of downtown Brockton Bay and began walking.
The flying heroes recovered from the shock of the blast and renewed their attacks with desperate intensity, but Kong paid them no attention. His burning red eyes were fixed on the city center, on the thousands of people huddled in shelters and basements, waiting for salvation that wasn't coming.
"It's over," Taylor whispered.