Chapter 933 - 51-53

 Remove this ad spaceThreadmarks Chapter 51 ( Killer Queen) View contentTDRWriter, mad bunnyJul 16, 2024#3,485[PRT HQ. April 2d, 2011]

Director Emily Piggot closed her eyes as the tirade of stupid continued before her. The Youth Guard had shown up in force and were doing their best to.... ramble unintelligibly? Blame her for something? Honestly Emily had turned them out about ten minutes into it after they started blaming her for putting the 'precious children' at risk.

Not a damn one of them said a fucking thing about the Nazi's that started all of it by trying to kill the Wards at school, despite that being in the front page of the papers and on every talking heads lips at the moment.

Martha Stewart was calling for Nazi blood for fucks sake.

Oprah had offered a bounty.

Not to say the three idiots in the room were the only ones there besides her. The PRT's Youth Guard rep, slash , handler was there as well, seated in a chair over by the only non broken window in her office with his head in his hands, utterly useless really. Granted she couldn't blame him, his job was to be the contact point between the YG and the PRT, he wasn't used to dealing with the force of nature that three Karens who had an expired Chili's coupon they were trying to use at Arbys were. Emily was amazed he managed this long without shooting them or himself.

The other person in the room was Jessica D'liss head of the legal department of ENE. The woman had a stack of paperwork in front of her and an open laptop that she was already using to write something up as well as recording the tirade if Emily was correct.

She was also watching one of the three screaming people with a look of some one who was waiting for the right moment to slip a knife in between their ribs.

Every so often the potted plant, Betty, twitched and grew eyes as well. So if they needed to get rid of bodies Alucard was here for it.

The main woman, or at least the loudest, was the local branches president. She had the typical bowl cut that everyone associated with the Karen type personality, and a type of blonde that came out of a bottle going by the dark roots, her business dress probably cost more than what was currently saved in Amy's Neurosurgeon college fund, and the less said about what her shoes were worth the better.

Christine Summers, the woman's nasally voice made Emily want to break her nose, and try and reset it to get rid of that tone. It was worse at high volume, Emily would rather have listened to the 'Freight trains sing the blues' CD again. Where Alucard had gotten that gods awful thing she didn't want to know, but the title was 100% accurate.

Still better than kids bop though.

The second was Frank Goshawk. The man was the head of PR for most of the YG east coast, a counter part of Glenn which made Emily hate him all the more. At least he smelled and dressed better than Glenn, looking very much like a stereotypical office worker Although he wasn't yelling as much as the head Karen, everything he said fueled the screaming of the other two.

The third one was definitely a lawyer given she was the one Jessica was clearly plotting to murder.

Janette Greer and Jessica had locked gazes the moment they entered the room, and Janette had flinched first.

Piggot rather liked Jessica, which was weird because she WAS a lawyer after all. But she was a lawyer on her side which was pretty much the point.

The topics of screaming ranged from the treatment of Rachel Lindt, Emily Clark, the Wards as a whole, the Nazi attack, Missy Birion and anything else they could toss into it. Seems they had been saving up a head of steam. Maybe Emily shouldn't have kept denying their meeting schedule for the last few months.

With Rachel they kept bringing up how she needed to be put in juvie to be kept away from the other children and keep a murderer away from the rest of the Wards, and keep her away from the public, and the animals she had needed to be put down because clearly they were trained to kill by the delinquent.

Emily had been cut off from a massive rant by Jessica cutting in and informing the group that Rachel had been cleared of all charges and that the paper trail had the very system turned against her. The very sort of thing the Youth Guard had been designed to combat so why were they still so in favor of punishing an innocent girl? Perhaps they should be investigated for their part in the debacle.

None of them had an answer and shoved their way into their next screaming point, clearly now pretending the girl didn't exist.

They then moved on swiftly to Emily Clark. Going on about how she was put at risk by being a Ward because of a Nazi specifically targeting her due to her cape name. They also used their tired rhetoric about the girl needing to be returned to her parents so not as to stimmy her developmental growth. The Youth Guard were going to make sure that happened no matter what.

Again Jessica had cut their rant short by informing them that Emily Clark's parents were currently doing fifteen to twenty in big boy prison for child abuse. Evidently a little bit of questioning from a federal agent had both of them sing like canaries and try to finger the other for the problems. Given Emily Clark had already told her side of the story to her therapist and the therapist had passed that on to the CPS it was already known that they were both full of shit.

They hadn't taken that well either. That was two.

"Which brings us back to Miss Birion and her parents."Janette snapped. " And the illegal investigation and accusations the PRT has leveled at them."

"Article six section four of the contract signed allows us to investigate our own employees." Jessica stated. "The Birion's signed that."

"Honestly how did that situation even get past CPS?" Director Piggot questioned already knowing the answer but still surprised that Christine answered.

"We did not utilize CPS in this. We are able to conduct our own investigations." Christine offered.

"I'm sorry what?" Director Piggot demanded. "You bypassed a Child Protective Services initial investigation... what about subsequent follow ups? Missy was listed as a possible abused child due to her Triggering so young."

"We deemed it not to be the case and made sure that she remained with her parents so she could properly grow up and show that core family values win out. "Christine stated. "Our authority is not in question here, we are the best organization to ensure the well being of the children that you monsters keep trying to turn into child soldiers."

"Maybe you were once, when your organization was interested in something more than money and actually cared about the children you claim to be protecting."Director Piggot shrugged. "The fact you think you have any say about Aster and Theo shows that more than anything else. Only one of them triggered after all, but you're only trying to claim them both because you don't have the clearance to know which one or with what. That your plan has the pair of them separated ,but both kept in Brockton Bay shows how tone deaf you are to both what they want and need. Both of them are going to wind up in New York for a time under the care of some one you can't touch without pissing off the entire gay community, before they come of age to go to Canada where they are further out of your reach. You can't stand not having control or a imagined feather in your cap for putting their names on your paperwork."

"Our jurisdiction is global!" Christine snapped.

"There are starving children in Africa being affected by the Warlords that would disagree with you, there are the child labor camps of the CUI that would disagree with you. There are children being turned into mind controlled followers of the Fallen that would disagree with you." the youth guard rep spoke up from where he sat, his head still in his hands as he listed flatly. "Your organization only stretches so far as those who bother to listen to you."

Director Piggot raised her opinion of the man a notch.

"Our sole purpose it to protect the children that you are throwing into war and turning into child soldiers." Christine snapped jabbing a finger at Director Piggot.

"Well that's a interesting way of putting it. Given for a bit we were in a war. As such I plan to have all of them start wearing body armor of some kind and learn gun safety and how to properly use one despite there being no plans to make it part of their kits. In Vista's case however, grenades." Emily Piggot hummed. "You know like a normal PRT trooper."

"WHAT!?" Christine screeched.

"Given that even on safe patrols the Wards are going to and HAVE encountered firearms a gun safety class and fire arms training is one of the things I'm going to have them all take part in."Director Piggot repeated. "I've already got permission from the parents of Druid, Saturnia, and Gallant. In fact both of them have already passed their fire arms certification and Druid has a third place ribbon from a shooting competition and participant awards in several more. From my understanding Gallant has even more awards from various contests. This is America after all, more guns than people, I would love to see you try and fight the NRA. Those people are nuts."

"That is preposterous, we will not allow such thing." Christine grumbled.

"It is not your say in the end, it is the parents say. As for the armor and Vista and the confoam grenades that is up to the Director's discretion as the grenades are something that all Wards have already been trained with." Jessica stated.

Emily blinked as the three started screaming again and carrying on about their own ideas of how things should be. Emily wondered if Christine was secretly a para-human with the power to have the most grating voice that existed.

"SHUT UP!" Director Piggot screamed out slamming her hands on the desk. "Honestly your opinions here mean shit to me. The worst thing you can do is try to raise a stink about my actions, all of which will be carried out any way as 'I am new to the chair and there will be adjustment' And if you keep pressing and raising hell, people will do the same thing they do with most atrocities, tune them out. After all Rune was clearly underage, did you ever track down Kaiser to yell at him? I'm pretty sure Labyrinth and Newter are underage, have you contacted Faultline to discuss the issue? What about all the children with harmful powers in the Parahuman Asylums, or what about all the case 53's that have shown up and are clearly under age? Doing anything to help them?"

"Director please calm down." Jessica tried to placate.

"We are doing our best." snapped Christine.

"Bull... shit... you regulate and regulate and bitch and moan and whine and black list and you improve nothing. You force us to follow rules you change on a whim while parroting an organization that already exists. And then. There's THIS!" Emily Piggot slapped a stack of forms down on the table with a growl." Your new and up to date, just faxed into my office this morning, hours of allowed work for the Wards to follow. Child Labor Laws already cover this!"

"Director please give me your gun. I do not want you to do anything rash." Jessica spoke up.

"It's in the desk. I'm not allowed to wear it until my arms back to 100%. Besides I'm not going to do anything rash and these useless pieces of shit are gonna walk out of my office fully intact and fully aware of how they fucked up with this." Piggot flipped open a page.

"Director..." Christine started.

"SHUT, THE FUCK, UP! I AM THE ONE TALKING NOW!! Gallant, allowed time on duty 20 hours. This does not take into account all the work he does for his own family business which from what he's said is another 30 to 40 hours a week. Going after the Stansfields next? Or are you afraid they'll stop donating to your sorry little organization" Director Piggot growled.

"It is....."

"Still talking!" Piggot snapped at Frank. "Aegis 30 hours allowed. Why, is he getting more hours at 16? He is still underage? Clockblocker 10 hours, cut down due to him working too much over time in previous months? Do you know WHY he was trying to work himself to death? Because his father was in the hospital and he was trying to make money to pay the fucking bills and you shit stains just ignored that and tried to cut him down every chance you got despite it being in your fucking charter that you will help with medical. Vista 10 hours max, no patrols. Do you realize that she has been fudging her hours for the last six months to work more!? She's been allowing us to underpay her by not recording her times so she won't be reduced further, have you looked into why?"

"This is not a final.." Christine began.

"No don't bother, just let her go." Jessica sighed looking a bit bored as she waved at Director Piggot. "She's on a roll."

"Shadow Stalker is not even on the list? How did you forget an entire Ward!? Particularly one with HER history! You seemed real interested in her when she was first brought in. Let me guess you've seen her discipline records and are playing see/hear/speak no evil monkey games to try and avoid any connection!? Spitfire is on the rolls for hours for YOUR Training class and consolation NOTHING ELSE! "Emily nearly ripped the report in half, shoving the next page in the Youth Guard woman's face nearly climbing over the desk to do so. "You wrote out and SIGNED FOR an entire schedule for Druid, all sixteen hospitals in the Bay on a rotating shift for her to heal, a SIXTY SIX HOUR schedule!! When would she have time for school or life or any of the vets office visits she planned? You are basically looking to work her to death because she has a power you want to exploit!? YOU DIDN'T EVEN ALLOT LUNCH BREAKS!! Who fucking bribed you to make this shit!?"

"As the director your power to limit or refuse our suggestions is limited as you are required to follow the agreements the Youth Guard has made with the PRT. The most you can do is complain and attempt to force us to change the scheduling and rules. I will admit that the schedule might need some tweaks, but there are reasons for it. You are well aware of how little say you actually have with this involving the Wards program. Congress has approved our proposals to this extent." Christie stated flatly with a small smirk clearly thinking she had the upper hand with this ruling.

"On that you are correct." Emily dropped back down into her chair dropping her elbows on the desk and steeping her fingers in front of her face. "My hands are tied up in regulations and rules due to your bribing of Congress or sucking all their dicks or whatever it was you did to weasel your way into this position of control. The only ones who can tell you to fuck off properly are the parents, most of whom you often manage to convince to see things your way by painting the Protectorate and the PRT in a poor 'misguided' light.

"I am glad you are seeing reason here." Christine offered.

"Mrs Summers. What is my last name?" Director Piggot asked simply.

"Excuse me?" Christine blinked thrown off by the question.

"My last name, it's right there, on the little plaque in front of you on my desk. You can read right, wouldn't surprise me if you couldn't to be honest, but I expect one of you three can work with letters and simple shapes."

"Piggot.... what does this have to do with anything?" Christine stated as Frank's eyes widened.

"Yes.... and what is Druid's civilian name?"Emily offered. "That is something you are privy too with all the NDAs sighed after all."

"Amy Piggot." Frank swallowed.

"Indeed. And what name is listed as the primary Guardian of both Rachel Lindt and Emily Clark?"

"You are only listed as an emergency contact with those two and a …. oh." Janette Greer winced.

"Exactly. While Theo and Aster are not in my hands, for a moment they were. And these!" director Piggot lifted a single piece of paper with a large number of names on it. "Are signatures from Daniel Hebert, Erica Hess, James Stillbrook, Alex Burgos, Timothy Stansfield, Alice Allcott for our newest ward, as well as myself. All on a nice piece of paper signed and notarized by three local judges telling you lot to fuck off. Miss D'liss contacted them all and gave them all the information on what you had been doing and how many times you had failed and not a one of them had any issue with telling you lot to fuck off. In your pursuit of PR cookies you alienated the very people your organization was designed to help. This information is going to be filtered and published, not by our PR department, but by the actual Child Protective Services and other government agencies you have been leeching money from for years. When what you did here comes out, I'm sure every other branch run by ignorant childless fuck ups like you will come to light and you will encounter the same reactions."

All three of them stared at the woman grinning across the desk from them.

"After the shit show of these lawsuits are done I expect you would be hard pressed to find a job flipping burgers at Fugly Bobs. Whatever your organization was started to do, you idiots have swayed your little branch FAR from it. As a Director, I, like everyone who has ever had to deal with you, will enjoy watching your organization burn. As a mother of a teenager whom you tried to fuck over because her powers were useful, I will be doing my damnedest to douse you with gas and hope that I'm the one who gets to strike the match. Get the fuck out of my office you stuttering parasites and leave all your access passes at the front desk. Also as of this moment if you violate the NDA's you signed, because of my order, which has not been canceled yet, you will be considered E88 sympathizers and shot on sight. Now get the fuck out of my life."

The trio stared a moment longer before backing away to the door and rushing out.

"I think threatening to shoot them was a bit much." Jessica offered.

"It wasn't a threat, it was a warning. They only get the one. Now what do you have about the Birons?" Piggot sighed.

[April 3rd 2011]

"Amy.... I hate your mother." Dean offered from where he was on his back on a mat panting heavily.

"Not real fond of her myself at the moment." Amy called back from where she was draped over a bench with an ice pack on her leg.

"Burglph" Dennis added to the conversation laying face down on the floor and not bothering to move enough to talk. Emily didn't respond at all from where she was, neither did Carlos, though in his case he was buried under a collapsed portion of ceiling tile.

The rest of the wards were splayed out in various portions of the gym not having the best time of it.

"Whine whine whine. Honestly I've been going easy on you kids. Ask Piggot what it was like when I trained her."

The woman speaking was standing in the center of the room looking at all the splayed out kids and shaking her head slightly. Her grayish purple hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she, like the Wards, was dressed in gym clothing, though the baggy material did nothing to hide how fit the woman was, nor the swollen belly of some one several months along in a pregnancy. The woman was short, she might have topped five foot total, yet she had systematically challenged and taken down every one of the Wards, including Missy, after allowing them to use their powers and to team up against her.

The woman's name was Starfall Kaisur, the wife of Major Kaisur, a man who was standing in the doorway with a wide smile on his face as he watched his wife work.

The short woman had been an Army Ranger when it still mattered, before taking on a job a PRT trainer and being paired up with the ex Marine Force Recon, Jer'rahd Kaisur. The pair of them were still considered the DI's to live up to by the current trainers, and nightmare fuel to the new recruits years after their retirement. Though all the current DI's were dreading the day any, of the now married pair's, kids showed up to boot camp.

Initially Starfall had been brought in to make Sophia a 'special friend' and train her that orders were to be obeyed. But after the fiasco with the Youth Guard, and there was a fire that burned REALLY fast, she took over for all the Wards at least until she was to go on maternity leave, though since she was technically a contractor at the moment that could be any time she felt like it, not just if she was having the child.

Major Kaisur had stated she would probably have the child in the med bay in the morning and be back to screaming at her charges by lunch time.

Starfall was evidently a very bored housewife.

In less than a day every group that had anything to do with the YG across the nation suddenly didn't. Countless people from all over the world screamed about mismanaged funds, former Wards and independents who had suffered under their yoke spoke up, and multitudes of stories flooded the internet and the news. Seemed the YG had not made any friends. There were already plans to strip all of their funding and funnel it back into CPS and other assorted organizations, perhaps build a new one from scratch

Nothing of value was lost.

"You trained the Director? Missy asked, sitting up slowly with a wince suddenly interested.

"Oh gods. I've heard about you." Amy whined. "Usually when mom wakes up screaming at night,."

"The t-rex married a fucking Utah raptor...." Sophia muttered to herself.

"Utah raptors aren't real raptors." Taylor groaned.

"Exactly. Impossible animal." Sophia stated.

"Point." Taylor admitted.

"I'd say hippo myself." Amy offered.

"Was that a crack about my weight?" Starfall questioned.

"No that was a crack about how unusually violent you are." Amy corrected.

"Fair enough, now get up, we still have two hours and I have to show you all why you are pathetic."Starfall stated.

[April 5th, 2011]

"So what do we have here?" Director Piggot asked the pair of lawyers from the legal division Jessica had sent up to explain things.

"Alright Vista is currently staying in one of the suites in the building, we would have put her in the employee building , but that took some damage from the attack and needs to be gone over to make sure it's still safe and everyone staying there is in the shelter for now until it's cleared." One of the men there offered, his name was Luke something. Piggot couldn't remember as the black haired man was fairly unremarkable.

"Her parents are still in holding cells with the BBPD as everything in the house is investigated." The other lawyer offered, Emily was certain this ones name was Charles, though he was also the sort that was forgettable. Both of them were like names pulled out of a hat for a part in a story that would then have them vanish again with barely a description or name.

"How's she holding up?" Director Piggot asked.

"Fairly well from what the therapist has said." Charles offered." Though we don't get all the details for obvious reasons when it comes to parahumans. Ms D'liss has trusted us to collect information on who would be best to host her. At twelve she's too young for anyone to accept her living on her own, so she will need a foster home."

"Given who she is, that is a very short list, though we did have quite a few volunteers, as well as a large number of suggestions. Vista has already been shown the list of possible candidates, and aside from shooting down two because of , and I quote, 'He makes enough dad jokes normally I don't want to see what he is like when he has a reason.' and 'Are you drunk? I'm more mature than her, how does she count as a functional adult?'. " Luke explained.

"Is it bad that I know exactly who she was talking about?" Director Piggot stated.

"It just means you're adapting to the place director." Luke offered with a small smile.

"Well after whittling down a few and adding others we are down to three possible names." Charles continued. " The first is Carla Mendez. She's part of the janitorial staff, she has two children already one of them about Vista's age in fact, and is a well trusted staff member along with her sister."

"Down sides are she doesn't speak any real English and given her nationality and hair color Vista would stand out like a sore thumb to anyone looking, normally not an issue but with the attack in the school, we've upped the requirements a bit, not that Mrs Mendez isn't still an option. She's just not the top one." Luke offered.

"The other one we have is Major Kaisur and his wife. They have three children already with a 4th on the way, they are both trusted and written in on every NDA that exists. Two of their children are around her age and their home is already big enough for Vista to have her own room." Charles stated.

"Down sides are she would need to change schools, the fact that a new baby is going to take a lot of time, also it's the Demon and someone who was willing to marry him."Luke offered. "Upside is no one in their right mind would threaten her ever again or risk having everything they've ever known and or loved ripped away from them forcefully and burned in front of them before they were humanly killed."

"This is Major Kaisur. He would kill them as inhumanly as possible if they hurt one of his children." Director Piggot corrected. "And the less you know about what his wife would do the better you will sleep at night."

"Fair point." Charles nodded. That does leave us with the last one. Homes big enough, NDAs cover all Wards and Protectorate information, location is near enough that Vista wouldn't need to change schools. Already has a child from foster care that is well cared for, and came well recommended by two Protectorate members, a Ward, and Vista seems to agree with the choice."

"Oh? Wait. Why does this sound familiar.... " Director Piggot took the paper looking down at it before glaring at the two men, who like the extras they were, didn't look directly at her.

"How did the fucking CAT sign this!?" Director Piggot demanded.

[April 7th 2011]

"And this is gonna be your room, I had the big bedroom, but mom shoved me over to this one so we'll have to share the bathroom. Right now all mom's gun stuff is still in here, but that's not gonna be any trouble to move and she's already locked up the guns. " Amy offered showing the blonde twelve year old around the house.

Emily sighed glanced down at the box she was carrying up to Missy's new room frowning at the collection of Slayer memorabilia that filled the box. Setting it in the room she groaned as the two girls continued to dart around the house as Amy gave a tour, her daughter super excited to be the big sister. Missy seemed just as excited at everything given she was practically vibrating in place, then again Amy was very infectious when she got in a good mood.

" Emily Piggot.. mother of two. Really if you wanted kids this bad you should have let me know, we could have gotten them the fun way." A dark voice spoke from behind her.

Emily turned glaring daggers at the vampire before pointing to the mostly emptied room.

"Just put the fucking boxes in there we still have to bring her bed up." Emily growled before glaring at the great green cat sitting in the hall. She pointed at the cat dramatically." And don't think I don't know what part you played in this!"

Pocky just yawned and moved to lay down where it was most inconvenient for everyone.

[April 8th, 2011

"Director!" Armsmaster shouted kicking open the door to her office only to see Oni-lee standing in front of the woman's desk.

"the great Lung agrees to your terms." Oni-Lee stated flatly before vanishing in a puff of ash.

Director Piggot sighed as a squad of troopers and Armsmaster pushed into the room. She holstered her side arm and sighed. Fucking teleporters. She just needed to close all the windows, the damn assassin had jumped up to the roof then jumped and fell past her window to see where he could pop into. It was the only reason she had gotten her gun out in time for his arrival.

"Took you long enough to get here after I hit the alarm button." Director Piggot sighed dropping back down into her chair and gesturing to a large Chinese take out box on her desk, the sort that delivery drivers used to transport several meals at once. "Take that to forensics would you? "

"What's in the box?" One of the troopers asked as Armsmaster approached the desk.

"Director I apologize, but a truck filled with explosives and tinker tech was delivered by a pair of known ABB members out front and..." Armsmaster trailed off as he looked down into the box on the desk. "Why did Oni-lee deliver a woman's head to you?"

"It's Bakuda's. Lung is sticking to a deal that was made. I expect the explosives are from her as well." Director Piggot sighed. "Some one call housekeeping to come up here with a vacuum as well. The fucker left ash all over the gods damned Carpet."

So it has been a while on this story. TE is taking a lot of my time. Also don't worry about Starfall I don't plan on keeping her around in story too much, but she is from one of my older works. In that one it was either her or Jer'rahd that were going to be the main character. And I have a hard time not reusing old characters in new combinations.

There was a lot in this chapter that I redid and rewrote and the entire rant was redone at least a dozen times and i'm still not 100% happy with the end result, but I'm at the point if i don't go with the best i could do , i might never publish it.Click to expand...Last edited: Jul 16, 2024480TDRJul 16, 2024View discussionThreadmarks Chapter 52 ( Raindrops keep falling on my head.....) View contentTDRWriter, mad bunnySep 23, 2024#3,511[May 15th, 10:17 am, north of Brockton Bay across the state line in MA, Southwick Zoo

"So how's your birthday going so far?" Saturnia asked, the pair of them were standing outside one of the zoo's exhibits watching the Galapagos turtles wander slowly around.

"Not to bad, could have done without you talking shop with the bug guy though." Vista offered.

"Hey the Darwin's Bark Spiders in the bug tunnel seem interesting, the zookeeper in charge said he's gonna let me know when the egg sack they have for them hatches." Saturnia offered, "But that can't have ruined your day."

"Nah the zoo is a nice touch though even if I am in costume, Alucard whipped up a rather impressive breakfast spread and there's supposed to be a party later tonight when we get back. One in the Wards area, then another one for dinner with just.. family... " Vista offered. "Not sure how that's gonna go. I've never had a Birthday where there wasn't constant screaming and one-up-man ship going on between my parents. Alucard and Dire... Emily were even civil, honestly those two are a weird pairing and I kinda wanna know what's going on with that."

"Director Piggot is the one Mas..... ALUCARD, has decided he was gonna serve.... Not sure why really, boredom I suppose." Saturnia offered as the pair walked along to the next enclosure. "If you want to know you should ask him or the director, they'd probably tell you. When I asked he told me it was just a shared vampire kink along with leashes and collars. And I certainly don't feel that."

"What if it was Aegis?" Vista grinned getting a glare from a now flushed Saturnia.

Vista chuckled lifting her hand up and adjusting the space between her hand up to a Giraffe's head so the tall animal didn't have to bend over to accept the treats Vista was offering.

Druid was here to check over a few of the animals that seemed ill and clear the polar bears they had here for the winter season to head back up to Canada where they would spend the summer. Shadowstalker was with Druid and three PRT Guards including Agent Shimmer were scattered around keeping an eye on everything and serving as the Wards adults for this trek.

Inside the polar bear enclosure Druid was finishing up checking over the female Polar bear while Shadowstalker sat near the male, slowly stroking over the ultimate danger floof's fur.

"This is fucking amazing..." Shadowstalker muttered.

"I know right. They'll be out cold for about another ten minutes or until I wake them up early. The Vet tecs here are pretty good with their doses. They do this every time some one needs to check them out as these guys play a little rough and since the female here is pregnant she's only gotten more moody. They're gonna take this opportunity to load them up too because they don't want to use the tranqs any more than necessary so they don't harm the embryo, but as far as I can tell everything looks good on both of them."

Druid smirked then tossed something at Shadowstalker who caught it out of the air. Shadowstalker kept petting the bear though looked at the odd bone like growth.

"What's this?"

"Bad molar from Bubbles there." Druid gestured to the male bear. "Evidently he had a tumble and hit his jaw, broke the roots off that tooth, was easier to pull it and heal over the gum than let it fall out naturally. You can have it. I'm gonna clean up the cracked snow leopard claw that we had to remove and give it to Vista for her birthday."

"Awesome." Shadowstalker stated looking at the tooth, her other hand still stroking the Polar Bears head.

A loud beeping drew the girls attention to their phones moments before an alarm sounded, the noise accompanied by the screaming and roaring of numerous other animals in the zoo.

The vet techs with them tensed at the noise, though all of them snapped their gaze to the door as it was thrown open and Saturnia stood there.

"Let's go, I'm driving!" The girl snapped ignoring the protests of the Trooper behind her.

"Shotgun!" Agent Shimmer called from further down the hall.

[PRT subbasement shooting range]

The heavy report of the rifle and the kick against her shoulder was a welcome feeling after so long as a invalid. Druid had cleared her as being healthy finally after far too long with her being underweight.

Hell, Emily's picture was one the wall at Fugly Bobs for eating the Challenger TWICE when she was trying to build up body mass. The first time she had eaten it and ordered a second large fries before she was sated. The owner of Fugly Bobs was considering banning any one who worked for the PRT from taking the challenge if Druid had healed them given after the Nazi attack, quite a few Troopers and other workers that Druid had fixed up had gotten their picture on the wall.

"Slightly to the right. Hold your fire though, that punched through the backdrop again."

Emily pulled back lifting the rifle and making it safe, before adjusting the sight as Je'rahd slapped the range alarm before making his his way down to check on the backdrop. The range was clear save for the two of them as they tested out Armsmaster's Nanothorn rounds but good safety practices were paramount.

They had needed to replace several armored backdrops as the round punched through them and into the dirt mound behind them. Given the first shot fired punched through the backdrop, the mound of dirt and into the cement wall behind that before finally stopping.

Emily had taken the time to work on the Sniper Rifle she acquired from Victor as well. The sites and everything were finally to her liking and she had been looking over a list of shotguns she could use to replace the one Meadows had left that Purity destroyed, though she hadn't found one she liked yet.

Most of her focus was on getting Missy settled. It had been an experience, though thankfully Amy remained as positively optimistic as she normally was working them through the possible teething problems of the young girl being moved into a new house.

Emily also found out that the girl had a serious case of hero worship for Slayer, and had put two and two together to reach four on exactly who Slayer was. Amy was doing her best to not lose herself in a fit of giggles every time something came up about it and Alucard for some reason decided to pretend he had no idea who Slayer even was, prompting Missy to go off on tangents from the teasing.

It was the girls birthday today too, and Emily was torn. She could feed what Missy was interested in, get her something for her job or her collection or the like, or try and treat her like a normal 13 year old and get her something you would usually get a 13 year old. She was half tempted to get her a gift card but even that was questionable as she didn't know where to get a gift card from. She had instructed Amy to try and find out what Missy might like and so far she had a rather insane list on her phone from both the Vista and Missy category. Some of it was a flat no however.

She wasn't going to get the girl her own custom 1911. She needed to finish growing before she would get a custom gun like that. Little hands and all, besides a 45 was more of a graduation present wasn't it?

Jer'rahd walked back up to the counter as Emily finished adjusting the sights on the rifle. "Looks good. Not sure on the fact the damn things need to be hand loaded and I don't like the design of the rifles he rigged up, but I can't deny how effective they seem to be.

"He said the barrels were designed to be easy to replace. Four to five shots seem to be about the limit before the scoring starts causing issues." Emily offered. "Still it's enough to start people training with them. Evidently he and Dragon managed to put together a ammo production machine for them. The rounds only have a shelf life of at best a month though before the tinker tech bullshit breaks."

"Ehh better than some of the other stuff I've seen. Anyway I've got some newbies to put the fear of me into I'll send up a list later of the ones I think should start training with these things." Major Kaisur offered.

"That works, I need to..." Director Emily Piggot trailed off as a noise filled the air.

Colin sat back in his chair, his hand slipping up to stroke his beard as he looked down at the strange laptop in front of him.

It hadn't been a priority when Alucard first brought it in, getting the Nano thorn working as the Director wanted had been, but he took time here and there to look it over and the more he did the more it had shifted to a primary focus.

His specialty was in no way programming, but he was skilled enough to recognize this as a backdoor to something that was obviously tinker tech. Making notes and studying it he noticed a pattern start to emerge, particularly after his dinner with Dragon.

The woman never left her suit, something expected with her supposed crippling agoraphobia, or germaphobia. There were a number of theories and Dragon had never confided to him which might be correct.

Moon Dog had been correct though, the pasta at the place he suggested was quite good.

Still he had noticed a number of things on the laptop since then. All of them coinciding with other things observed and the lines of code became more familiar as he studied them.

Earlier this morning he had finally pieced together enough of the code that he was certain of one thing.

Dragon was an AI.

He really was not sure how he felt about that.

For one he found it hard to believe as she was more human than he was sometimes, with a impressive emotional spectrum, oft he found himself asking her how he should react in certain situations.

Though on the other side of that it explained a number of things on how the Dragon slayers had managed to get away with stealing so much of her gear if they had access to this. And why she really never showed her real face or anything other than a digital avatar.

There was even a small part of him that was angry. Raging at the fact she had lied to him this long and was she even really his friend or was that simply a program?

That emotional part was quashed as it often was in the light of hard facts. Everything that had been done was easy to see logically. People would react badly to an AI, there was far too much popular media that always painted the AI as something trying to destroy humanity. That belief would likely explain Saint and the Dragon slayers to be honest. And if she worried about what he would think it explained a lot of her reluctance. It made sense in truth. Still he had questions and only one person..... yes person, could answer them.

Reaching over to tap a button he opened a com connecting to a line he and Dragon had set up for them to speak securely. He let the code beep a few times on the network, he didn't have long to wait until Dragon's avatar came up on the screen.

"Colin... this is a nice surprise Are you calling for something yourself or is this a call from Armsmaster?" Dragon asked, her voice the same calming tone he was used to.

"I am calling this time Dra... Tess..."Colin let out a sigh. "I have a few questions I would like to ask you.... that might be a little personal."

Colin's eyes darted to the laptop, eyes looking over the code there in surprise at a number of reactions that seemed to be cycled through including a rather brief one that seemed to flash several jpg files of various wedding dresses.

He was not sure what that reaction was for.

"Well go ahead I will answer what I feel comfortable with." Tess offered.

"Tess.. are you a..." Colin started then cut off sharply at a noise.

Kenta stood at the edge of the circle of people watching the puppet show put on by the clothing designer Parian. Currently the large stuffed animals were putting on a impromptu show with a masked blond woman playing Goldilocks. The girl spared a few worried glances at Kenta as if recognizing him before falling back into her lines as the three giant teddy bears around her went through the rest of the scene.

His wife Yumiko stood next to him seemingly relaxed though Kenta knew without a shadow of a doubt that the woman probably had seen and accessed more possible threats than even he had.

Their daughter was at the front of the crowd enthralled with the way the big bears moved around and clapping along with the story.

Kenta made a note to put a few hundred in the woman's tip jar for making his daughter happy like that. Perhaps he could commission a large bear as well, hmmm perhaps a dragon would be more fitting.

Yumiko thought he spoiled his little girl. She was right, though if his wife ever gave him a son he would be more the disciplinarian with a male child and she could spoil the boy.

The amusing thought was cut short as a noise filled the air. The family was moving before the rest of the crowd even reacted, Yumiko having gathered up their daughter and Kenta having dropped a roll of a thousand in the jar before following after.

"Look of course it's a Kaiju, it isn't just supposed to be a whale, it's a massive abnormally large creature with unusual speed strength and intelligence. For all purposes of the narration it is nigh invulnerable to conventional whaling practices of the time. The novel doesn't even properly depict it as a whale more like a supernatural force and almost like an ancient god." Gregor offered.

"See that is exactly my point why Moby Dick is NOT a kaiju. It's a supernatural force, it likely isn't even real but the gathered frustrations of a mad captain bent on revenge to what he thought he saw. A legend that doesn't actually exist but is enough to drive a man mad. Moby Dick isn't a Kaiju because there is no Moby Dick. Sure there might be a big white whale out there and it might even have been what Ahab is after. But what ever that whale was that started Ahab down his quest was just a whale, there is no Moby Dick and everything that happened in the book was just what was imagined at the end Ishmael even admitted he had been going mad while adrift, so everything he had seen needed to be taken with a grain of salt as it could have been madness and it was little more than a storm that took out the ship." Train-wreck continued.

"I disagree, in the book it is said that the Whale had been reported by several others and was regarded as a local, but very real, legend. Physically the whale very much fits the definition of a kaiju." Gregor retorted. " plus even going by the unreliable narrator route Ishmael still made many notes of the rest of the crew having reactions to the whale. And the mad sole survivor is oft used trope in kaiju flicks."

Faultline wished the two intellectuals would just shut up, but ever since Train-wreck had joined up whenever she got these two together for a mission it was always like this. They got into discussions that most people would find absolutely banal. Newter had already put on his headphones to tune them out and Labyrinth was simply staring off into space.

Grue was trying very hard to be professional like usual, though he was keeping an eye on Aisha who was leaning over Regent's shoulder watching him play on a game boy. Faultline wasn't sure how Grue managed to convince her to let him bring his sister along, sneaky powers or not, but evidently there was something up with his dad and he couldn't watch her this week. The mission wasn't anything too complex and if she hadn't needed Grue's abilities for it she would have left him in charge of the bar. She was not going to leave Newter and Regent to watch the place themselves. Not after last time.

They were still paying for the damages out of their pay.

The discussion was starting to get spiritual when Shamrock opened the front door to let them know the truck was ready for them, only for a noise to silence everything.

"We need to go , NOW." Faultline growled.

Rahs smiled as the song on stage reached a crescendo. He had never been a fan of Annie, but something about the little starlet playing the part on this production was just electrifying. The supporting cast coupled with her voice was superb. The story was wonderfully displayed on the stage and even the bit parts of some background dancers were giving a performance as if this was a over funded Broadway premier and not the amateur production that this little theater was putting on for a quiet Sunday morning show.

It was perfect and Rahs doubted that any one would be able to duplicate this level of love and dedication to a show again any time soon.

Which was of course when a noise brought the entire show to a screeching halt.

Rahs closed his eyes standing up as the crowd started to react and made his way to a curtain ducking behind it to teleport back to the Protectorate HQ the moment his powers told him he was out of sight.

He was not a happy theater buff.

"And this is the couch where a great many heroes have sat their butts before you and the great TV of largeness which has managed to not get broken for at least three months in a row this time, despite some of the best attempts of other Wards." Clockblocker continued gesturing to the Wards area rec room.

"And you manage to put up with him how?" Flechette asked looking over at the girl in the bomber jacket that was also helping with the tour, she was fairly certain her name was Spitfire.

"You get used to it." Spitfire shrugged.

"You see what sort of slings and arrows I must suffer here?" Clockblocker asked the other ward there.

"Ja, seems you deal vith quite the torment surrounded by pretty girls like this."

"It's not just pretty girls, there's Aegis and Gallant as well, they bring down the charisma of the whole place." Clockblocker agreed.

The two new wards had recently arrived from Director Kilgore's area being transferred in now that the biggest threats of ENE were gone.

The first was a girl who had started in New York but then been transferred to get away from rabbit themed stalker named March. Flechette had spent a good bit of time working out of Georgia with the heroes under Director Kilgore.

March had made a move to come after her but had vanished off everyone's radar for a few weeks, only for her to turn up dead outside of Nashville with clear signs that she had run into and annoyed some one with multiple powers or a small gang of them. The investigation was ongoing though the autopsy stated she was killed finally by one large blade cut that went center mass and went through her heart and her spine. That set off a number of alerts at the time that the Slaughterhouse 9 might be nearby, though no other murders were found and the 9 had popped up in Wyoming briefly not long after.

The other new Ward to ENE was a case 22 though that definition was a little loose. The young individual had claimed to know exactly where he was from then went on a bit of a rant about the major having promised ponies if they did what they were told. While the Ward wouldn't elaborate they also seemed rather annoyed at whoever this Major was. That aside the knowledge that they did provide seemed to be some some alternate earth somewhere as there was no record of London bridge burning down due to some Nazis. As such they were declared a Case 22 also known as a dimensional refugee. The feline ears and tail they possessed marked them as possible Case 53s, but the omega mark all case 53s had was not present on them.

Schrodinger, as they called themselves both as a real name and a cape name, was loosely classified as a Stranger 4 Trump 3 as they seemed to be everything and nothing all at once, tall yet short, fat yet rail thin, a boy and a girl in fact the only thing that seemed to be static over any length of time was the cat ears and tail they possessed, everything else varied depending on the perception of the individual.

No one was quite sure how well they would fit into the wards as anything other than a headache for thinkers and masters, but everyone was still working on that.

And yet, they were also not working on it.

Flechette 's abilites were normal by comparison as a Striker 8 and Mover 2 with how she was known to use her abilities for traversal.

"Alright before some one taller and paid more takes over your tour, I have several warnings." Clockblocker announced. "One, Shadowstalker is a bitch. Two, do not make fun of Vista's height or age, failure to do so results in it's own punishment. Three, do not taunt the happy fun Druid, she's the medic, make nice or you get the cat. Four, do not hit on Aegis when Saturnia is anywhere nearby, she will deny it, but she has it bad and is clearly not up to sharing her beefcake."

"Guys are not my preference." Flechette offered.

"Okay, you're fine then. Feel free to hit on Saturnia if you want, cause I want to see her turn red and Aegis get jealous for once. I have 20 bucks riding on him not being able to keep up his usual prim and proper bullshit if Saturnia gets flustered."

"50 /50 split and I'll do it." Flechette smirked.

"Oh you'll fit in here fine." Spitfire laughed though that died off as a noise filled the air.

Ethan crouched low over the table leaning one way and then the other, taking in the sight that was the fourteen layer 'Shaggy' sandwich he had constructed. Six types of cheese, four types of sliced meat, some left over breakfast bacon, lettuce, tomato, a bunch of various flavorful mixed condiments, all placed in alternating layers to not make the pretzel bread hoagie roll soggy. All of it held together with a bamboo skewer with a perfectly crisp pickle on top.

"It's beautiful." Ethan beamed.

"It's disgusting is what it is. How can you even eat that?" Jamie rolled her eyes.

"Forgive my wife oh holiest of sandwiches, for she knows not what she blasphemes."

Shaking her head Jamie ignored Ethan's antics and looked back at her magazine before dropping it as both their phones sounded an alert. Scooping it up Jamie read the text and tossed the chair aside grabbing the keys from the counter and Ethan by the back of his shirt.

"Let's go!!" Jamie shouted dragging him towards the door.

"But my sandwich!" Ethan whined. "We're not even supposed to be on duty today."

His whining stopped as a noise filled the air and the sandwich was forgotten.

A noise fills the air and the heroic occupant of the bed just yanks another pillow over her head and continues to snore as she sleeps through it.

Such heroic sleep is ruined less than ten minutes later as the door to the apartment is thrown open and a annoyed Hannah storms in kicking open the bedroom door.

"It's after ten, why are you still in bed? GET UP YOU IDIOT!" Hannah screams kicking the heroically sleepy Erica out of her bed hard enough that there's a new hole put in the wall on the other side of the bed.

Erica sits up pulling the blanket off her head with a yawn blearily looking at the annoyed Hannah on the other side of the room.

"Oh hey. What are you doing here Hannah? And what's that noise?

Greg rubbed his temples, there was a problem with his power.

He figured it was a too good to be true thing, particularly after he strained it so bad with all that Empire 88 shit.

He did what he always did on Sunday morning take some time to look at the week ahead on a couple of routes and push into week to see what might happen. Last week was pretty good in truth, nothing exciting or problematic, though also not much in the way of progress towards his goal. He did manage to get his online contact info to Theo however along with a message to keep in touch. He figured the guy would even if they probably wouldn't talk much. Theo's new powers might be of help to Svelte, so he didn't want to lose contact with him.

This week however his power only went a little bit ahead, then stopped. Not 'a little bit ahead' like to Tuesday, no it didn't so much get an hour into his Sunday before it stopped and he couldn't push further.

He tried other routes different ways of doing things, but he only got maybe an hour into it before it stopped. So it wasn't as if someone nearby was triggering, that was just a information blackout, not a full stop like something was blocking him.

Finally he did a route where he stole the neighbors car and drove as far and fast away from Brockton Bay as he could get, and that one lasted longer than the others for some reason he wasn't sure why. Though just before he cut that one he heard a noise on the car radio that made him drop all his routes.

Greg pushed out of his seat and turned to rush downstairs yelling for his mother, but the sirens had already started and Greg hadn't made another route to follow.

On a street corner where he was feeding the pigeons, no you don't want to know what he was feeding the pigeons, Alucard lifted his head at the blaring siren, his head tilting slightly at the sound that struck terror into nearly everyone.

The Endbringer sirens screamed, cell phones and radios and every speaker across the globe clicked in with a robotic voice.

"At 10:43 am Eastern Standard Time, Endbringer Leviathan has been reported to be on the move. Tracking programs show its projected path has it heading towards the East Coast of the United States of America with most projections showing the target area to between Boston and New York with the highest number of projections indicating that Brockton Bay as the target. Message repeats."

Alucard tilted his head slight with a small smile.

"Oh. Seems we will be having sushi for dinner tonight. I'm going to need a lot more rice though."465TDRSep 23, 2024View discussionThreadmarks Chapter 53 View contentTDRWriter, mad bunnyDec 3, 2024#3,578"Dead I am the sky, watching angels cry

While they slowly turn, conquering the worm.."

WOOO HAA!" Agent Sunset shouted as Vista shrieked.

At least she thought it was Vista.

Sophia Hess had been through some horrific shit in her short life, but riding along as Taylor drove was right up there, not too far from her trigger event.

The PRT transport van was several tons of armored tankiness that should not be dancing along the packed highway like a drunk ABB member on a super bike.

Particularly since those dances usually ended in fiery crashes.

"Dead I am the pool, spreading from the fool

Weak and want you need, nowhere as you bleed"

Sophia was pretty sure they had been upside down in that tunnel back there.

A glance to the side showed Vista clinging to the chair as she stared at the wall twitching a little as the van seemed to go at an angles impossible to normal physics. Something that seemed to be freaking out the girl who made said physics her bitch.

Druid was on the other side with her eyes closed and hands turning white as they gripped the seat.

The two PRT Troopers by the back door of the van however, well, neither of them were moving and both were sitting stock still, like they always did, as if this was a normal drive. The one on the left looked fucking bored in fact.

Sophia considered that maybe these were the guys who were usually assigned to Saturnia's driving patrols.

"Dead I am the rat, feast upon the cat

Tender is the fur, dying as you purr "

Okay now they were airborne for some reason, Sophia knew the feeling of weightlessness just before gravity grabbed you and pulled you down.

Okay this feeling was lasting a bit longer than she expected.

Any day now... Any day...

There was a wrenching jerk and the sound of the van landing on top of something and crushing it flat.

"Did you have to aim for the Lotus?" Agent Sunset demanded from up front.

"It's their fault for leaving it abandoned in the middle of the highway like that. Besides if they own a Lotus they can afford the insurance for a Lotus." Saturnia spoke, her voice seeming to come from the entire vehicle. "Not going to land on something someone might need to get back and forth to work. It was in the PRT PR handbook."

"You read that?" Agent Sunset asked.

"I was bored on console duty." Saturnia offered back.

"Dead I am the life, dig into the skin

Knuckle crack the bone, twenty-one to win"

Perhaps the worst part about all this, was that in the back of the van, no one could see what bullshit was going on as no one back here was brave enough to stand up and look through the little window slit that allowed anyone in back to see what was going up up front. Coupled with everything else, it was almost too much. Particularly when there was movement that felt like the damn armored van did a barrel roll.

"Dead I am the dog, hound of hell you cry

Devil on your back, I can never die"

"ARE WE THERE YET!?" Sophia screamed out over the music that was only just deafening the noise of the Endbringer Sirens outside.

"Get Strider to drop every one off at Kings Hill, that will be the rally point. Stevens hows the evacuation?" Piggot demanded, looking over all the information coming in at HQ and barking orders.

"Slow Director, we're closing all but one inbound lane to aid in the evacuation, though we're still having a bottle neck by the belt loop due to accidents."

"If the vehicles can still move tell them to move, insurance only pays out if you're still alive to claim it. If there's a stalled car or break down, grab a brute from the capes gathering and have them move the car, I want the streets clear in under an hour, we have maybe two before that fish gets here. Some one tell Major I want sniper teams six thru eight set up in Sector A-7 with the nano thorn rounds ready, I'm taking three thru five to Sector C, one and two will post up in Sector H. I want those two teams to keep the medic area covered in case some shit stain tries something, put the Wards there as well I want full coverage of every angle of that place and it will keep them back from all the projected paths."

"On it Director."

"Alucard, Legend called in and wants you at Sector L. That puts you between the fish and one of the shelters We don't know what the damn fish is coming here to fuck with so we don't want it sinking the place if it gets pinned, remember what happened last time this stupid thing made landfall and you went to meet it, it spent most of the fight avoiding you as best it could and did even more damage going after it's target."

"Fiiiiiiiine" Alucard moans over the com.

"Don't get lax, if shit goes south I'm gonna cut you loose." Director Piggot growls.

"Oooh. Promise? I shall remain on the edge of my seat." Alucard offered.

"Director we've got a group of leftover Merchants blockading Market and trying to make it a toll road." some one yells.

"Authorization granted to put them down if they won't move granted! Keep the traffic moving!"

Alucard drops the Laz-e-boy he stole from one of Lung's safe houses in the middle of the street dropping back into it with a groan as Legend's rather fatalistic speech was broadcast through the device he wore on his arm. Unlike the others it didn't bother trying to read his vitals.

Those about to die we salute you type shit. Legend was a pretty cool guy but come on... some one get the guy some new material.

Alucard snorted and kicked back in the chair before reaching over the side picking up a G.I.Joe, Cobra lunchbox, and pulled out the thermos which was designed to look like a tribute to Cobra Commander and his daughter Medusa. Honestly Alucard found that particular story arc a little weird, but whatever, Hasbro did weird shit when they were still around and now everyone else did weird shit with the license.

The voice acting was spot on though even if the daughter looked a little like Bug Girl.

He popped open the thermos and started slurping down the blood inside... ooooh, B positive, it was a motivational drink today.

Alucard stretched out and adjusted his hat as the clouds rolled in thick, obscuring the sun.

"Dragon give me a status report!" Director Piggot ordered. As she adjusted her sniper nest on the roof of what was left of the Medhall building. It was one of the tallest buildings in the city and with the massive hole Purity had accidentally punched into it and killed the head of the Nazis, or maybe it wasn't an accident, they were both dead so she didn't care.

"Of course Director." Dragon began. "The medical area is set up with the Wards and the majority of the PRT presence in the area. They are set up at the estate of a one Biron Lancaster. Mr Lancaster has already fled though he had previously suggested his compound be used in case of a Endbringer attacking here, mostly as a tax write off. The roads are clear around Brockton Bay and at least 85% of the city is in shelters according to reports. The new Ward, current placeholder name 'Lotto' has given a 65% chance of the shelters being enough."

"That's too damn low of a number." Piggot grumbles.

"It's the best she could give. All of the Nanothorn units are in position, The heroes have split into three groups, one to break up the waves, one to fight and one for recovery. Everyone is as ready as we can be.

"Where's Alucard?"

"Oddly still in the same place he was told to be, Sector L." Dragon hummed.

Piggot adjusts her position and looks through the scope downrange towards the water seeing the rain beating down on the bay, sweeping towards the city as much further out to sea something else was sweeping closer.

"Are you going to help them daddy?"

The man froze turning slowly to look back at his wife and daughter, rain falling on his exposed arms flicking away to steam as he looked out at bay and the turbulent waters. His gaze shifted back to his family and he let out a sigh before he glanced to his subordinate. "Keep them safe, or else."

"So you're in a shelter?" Vicky asked.

"Yeah, looks like we're gonna have to put off our first date for a while longer." Amy offered from the other side of the line. "But, my little sisters birthday gets first priority after the Endbringer. You good where you are?"

"Yeah mom tossed me into the shelter near our house, boring and loud, but at least this ones set up with a phone relay." Vicky offered.

"Heh, well sadly this one isn't, so before it gets closed up fully I better let you go." Amy offered.

"Alright. Stay safe Amy."

"You as well, at least as safe as we can get locked in a tin can like sardines."

Druid closed her personal phone with a sigh, cutting it off before pocketing it. Vicky was safe enough and thinking about it wasn't going to help.

"Everything good?" Clockblocker asked walking up to Druid with Gallant and Spitfire with him.

"Yeah, every things fine. V's already in the shelter. Seems like it's a tier three shelter too."Druid offered.

"Ahh the fancy ones. Good on her." Clockblocker nodded before turning and glaring at gallant before gib slapping him upside the head.

"Ow, Clock, what!??"

"Don't give me that, that hurt my hand more than your head, and as to why, I can hear you grumbling. You two broke up and you agreed to let Druid have a shot. It was pretty clear you and V were not compatible." Clockblocker pointed out.

"Just because I agreed doesn't mean it's not gonna bother me." Gallant offered. "All I agreed to was that I wasn't going to get in the way of them, not that I wasn't going to complain."

"Fair enough. I'm sure you'll never find another blonde, blue eyed,athletic girl with all your wealth, so it truly is a noble sacrifice. Any way." Clockblocker snarked. "So we ready to get to work?"

"I'm more hoping we won't need to do any work."Spitfire offered.

"I've been to two of these things. Even if the Endbringer doesn't hurt any one there's too much else that can and does go wrong, which is why I asked the Deputy Director for you three to help. Clock you can keep any really bad cases frozen until I can get to them, Gallant can keep people calm and Spitfire is here because she got the best score in the first aid classes we took."

"I beat you in that test in fact." Spitfire offered.

"Yeah because there was that trick question involving pathogens. Any way the main healer here is a case 53 named White-mage who's up from Director Kilgore's area in the south."

"That the guy who looks like a giant humanoid rat?" Gallant asked.

"That's him, he's got a AOE style heal pulse, but it's not very good for anything life threatening. His power is more into curing various diseases than straight up healing, but it does have the utility." Druid explained.

"Huh, a plague rat that brings cures instead of pestilence." Clockblocker nodded.

"Yeah but don't use that joke, he's heard it a few million times and gets cranky about it." Druid offered as the small group headed back into the triage area of the manor that had been commandeered.

[CONFLICT ENGINE 2] surfaced some distance form the shore noting that as usual the [HOSTS] had gathered in numbers.

There was nothing of note here. No target beyond [CITY]. There was a [BROKEN] further along the coast that [CONFLICT ENGINE 2] should have gone after first, or even a new [BUD HOST] named[CURE] that would have made a valid target, but there was an issue with the cycle here.

A large number of [HOSTS] had vanished from the network in this location recently and [CURE] had spawned here. There was also a [ERROR] when it came to a [QUEEN NODE] in the area. It was not sending [DATA] or [CONECTION] properly. [PROTOCOL] stated that the [HOST] of the [QUEEN NODE] must be destroyed to force a reset with [QUEEN NODE].

[HOST ] and [ERROR] possibly linked.

[CONFLICT ENGINE 3] was not sharing[DATA] on location as usual but instead was issuing [WARNINGS].

[ABOMINATION] was in designate[CITY].

[CONFLICT ENGINE 2] understood [WARNING] and raised [ESCALATION PROTOCOL].

Greg Veder shifted in his seat as he watched the nurses and doctors run about getting ready. He was still stuck only seeing mere minutes ahead in the path, and tucking himself away in the dining hall of the manor where he wouldn't be underfoot was the best plan he could come up with.

He didn't want to be far from his mom just in case he needed to get her out of there and this was the place that Druid was in, so this might give him a chance to talk to her if there was a lull.

He kept taking paths despite himself even if they never went any where.

Now that he had a moment to himself he noticed something, this blockage of his power was much the same as the one where Theo had triggered. If covering the whole city rather than just a section of the school.

Curious, but it meant that he could... ah there it was, there was a route past it.. wow that was a lot of damage..... huh... looks like most of the city was fine, why was....

Checking his phone on the future route told him what he needed, but there was nothing he could do about it, nothing came close to the manor that he could adjust... unless....

Greg Veder checked the time on his route, then in real time before nodding.

Pushing himself to his feet he walked out of the dining hall into the kitchen, no one was back here all the household staff had taken off with the places owner when the sirens started.

Greg set his bag down and checked the fridges and nodded before he started pulling stuff out, cutting on ovens and stoves.

He was by no means a master cook, but he had used several of his routes to play around with some dishes and had surprised his mom on a number of occasions.

Plus chicks supposedly loved a guy that cook, not like he had had a date to test this theory, but Svette wrote about it in her stories, so at least she might, so he had practiced when he had free time to make her something when she was finally cured.

None of that was why he was doing this now, now he just needed to make hearty, thick, and fairly fattening meals, after all some people that were important to his plans needed it to survive.

Vista sat on the short rock wall that ran along the edge of the cliff that over looked the city.

Break Manor was the name of the rather impressive compound some rich guy built at the top of the cliffs on the outskirts of Brockton Bay. They were hardly really cliffs, just a steep slope that put the manor only about fifty feet above the suburbs below it that were built outside the belt loop of the highway.

It was still about five miles as the crow flew from the city limits and the place offered a pretty good view of the city itself as the upward slope from sea level towards the mountains here meant that you could even see the bay if you were at the right place on the compound and squinted or had binoculars. Vista had found that spot pretty easily given the fancy lawn chairs nearby.

The Manor and the compound it was on was massive. A four story southern style manor that built out into two, three story wings that were three times as big as the main house. The compound itself was surrounded by a three foot high rock wall all around the place with immaculate gardens, countless outbuildings, a massive pool and a 18 hole golf course. Everything was cared for by live in servants and an owner who was the only one who lived here, and that was only during the spring and summer. His main house was supposedly even more ridiculous.

Surprisingly he had offered his own house as a staging point when it was clear Leviathan was coming here. There didn't even seem to be much cleared out, though Vista hadn't had much chance to poke around when the PRT came in to start setting up.

Saturnia had beaten the teams by about fifteen minutes.

The indoor basket ball court was set up for triage and the helipad was marked off for any injured to be brought in by Strider or other fliers. Druid, Clockblocker, Spitfire and Gallant were positioned there.

The movie theater was packed with kids and family members of the hospital staff that had come here. Aegis and the three new Wards, Weather Girl, which was a name place holder, Schrodinger, and Fleccette were there trying to keep everyone calm.

Shadow Stalker, Baskerville, herself, and Saturnia were out patrolling the grounds with a number of PRT agents.

Vista sighed glancing back at the number of trucks and vehicles in the lot behind her. Several large fuel trucks sat closest to her ready to refill the generators that would be running to keep the setup here going if power was fully cut as expected. The one closest truck to her was a ragged looking black truck hooked up to a massive gas tank trailer. The cabs detailing had a silvery raised identifier saying it was a Mack R-600.

Vista had no idea what that meant but the exhaust stacks towered over the top of the cab and that someone had spray painted the word 'Earth' on the doors in yellow for some reason.

Vista glanced back as a draconic looking pack of massive dogs lumbered by, two of them had PRT agents on them and a third had Baskerville on it with three others without riders. The girl was in costume for the first time Vista had seen her, though it was little more than a armored outfit not unlike the PRT wore and a full helmet done up with a dog like mask.

Vista lifted a hand in a wave and got a nod in return from the girl before the patrol continued on.

"Has it started yet?"

Vista looked to the other side as Shadow Stalker walked up with a frown and leaned on the wall, looking out at overcast city. Lightning flickered in the clouds and there were rumbles of thunder, but the rain hadn't reached out here just yet.

"Supposedly he's coming out of the water, but I can't see anything but the storm from here." Vista responded. "Did... your people get out?"

Shadow Stalker looked like she was going to snap back at Vista before she just let out a small sigh.

"Yeah. Mom got everyone in the car and they're headed to my aunts in Pennsylvania." Shadow Stalker huffed. "What about you?"

Vista blinked not sure how to respond to that though a voice on the other side of her made her turn to look that was as Saturnia frowned looking to her phone.

"Dads in the main PRT shelter. He was there talking with the lawyers about something when the sirens went off." Saturnia offered then looked to Vista. "Worried about the Dir.. err your mom?"

"She's been to a lot of these things. I'm not worried." Vista explained though not adding in that she had been to a lot of them as Slayer, not as a Director.

The three of them stared at the water a little before Saturnia pointed.

"There, someones started shooting at him."

The trio watched the lasers flash in the distance wondering if it was Legend or some other hero when the Dragon watches on their wrists started up.

>Deadbeat, down, Periwinkle Princess, Deceased, Joe Strong, Deceased, Bobsur Uncle , Down...<

Vista winced a little at the names as they started to flood in.

"Shit... wish they would let me do something." Shadow Stalker growled.

"What would you even do?" Saturnia asked.

"I dunno.... phase a truck into him?"

"You can phase a truck?" Vista asked.

"Yeah, did a power test update not that long ago. Managed to phase one of the armored vans, once they took the battery out any way. My carry weights insane when I'm in shadow form. "Shadow Stalker shrugged. " I think they wanted to see if I could phase something while you were driving it."

"Thought you had issues with electricity?" Vista asked.

"I do, s'why no ones actually asked me to phase one of Saturnia's rides." Shadow Stalker shrugged.

"Diesel trucks don't need electricity to run." Saturnia offered and pointed to the 'earth truck' "Something that old might need it to start the engine, but once it's running you can take the battery out and it will still run."

"How do you know all this shit?" Shadow Stalker asked.

Saturnia shrugged. "I read a lot."

The three of them looked back to the city as the names started up going faster, they could hear yelling as the first of the injured were brought in.

"I can get it there." Vista offered finally.

"What?" Saturnia asked.

"The truck... I can get it there, drop it right on Leviathan's head." Vista stated.

"I'd need to be holding onto it until it phases into the damn fish...." Shadow Stalker muttered, before running over to the truck and scrambling up to yank open the door rooting around in the cab a moment.

"FUCK, no keys... and it's stick ..." Shadow Stalker growled.

" I can hot wire it, then we yank the battery and I can drive it... Vista can we drive it through your thing?" Saturnia offered.

"Yeah I can't put the end 'in' someone, but people can cross it no problem...." Vista explained." Never had any issue with cars either just no reason to do it beyond that one power test."

"Fuck yeah, we have a plan....." Shadow Stalker cackles.

"It's a bad plan, but we can drop the tanker on it then get back through Vista's portal before the Endbringer even knows we hit it. Particularly if he keeps going." Saturnia hummed.

"And if he goes down we can stay there and show the world how bad ass we are. I mean fuck we're gonna put a truck inside an Endbringer how bad ass is that?" Sophia cheered.

"It's a horrid plan that is going to get us in so much trouble no matter what the end result." Saturnia stated.

"So no?" Vista asked.

"No, I'm game, I'm just pointing out we are going to get yelled at." Saturnia pointed out. "Damn fish needs to learn that attacking the bay was a bad idea. Or ideally, not learn it and just die."

"Fuck yeah." Shadow Stalker added.

Director Piggot cursed as she stared out from her sniper nest at the creature stomping through the city like a budget Godzilla.

The nano thorn sniper rounds had worked exactly as intended and done shit all but knock some chunks off the damn fish when they hit.

Leviathan hadn't gotten close enough to her position for her to fire off a shot, but one of the teams had attracted the fish's attention with a good shot near it's eyes.

They hadn't survived the high pressure water attack that the Endbringer fired at them in retaliation. It wasn't even an attack anyone was used to seeing, the fish usually relied on it's speed and water echos, it had shown before it could use a beam weapon, but it rarely did, now it seemed it was using it to great effect and the bodies were piling up.

Well parts of them were.

Emily was about to vacate her position to seek cover when an odd visual effect formed over the Endbringer.

"What the fuck is that?"

The disruption above [CONFLICT ENGINE 2] drew its attention immediately though it did not seem like an attack. The radio in one of the half destroyed stores nearby warbled out some fast paced music as [CONFLICT ENGINE 2] turned its attention upward.

"If you got a hunger, for what you see, you'll take it eventually

you can have anything you want but you better not take it from me!" the store speakers sang.

[CONFLICT ENGINE 2] lashed out, swinging upward as if reaching into the sky only to hit, nothing?

There was the blare of air horns as the tanker truck fell past the attack, passing through the Endbringer's form until it suddenly solidified as two figures fell out of the front of the truck passing through the street.

[CONFLICT ENGINE 2] however did not notice them however as it suddenly had become one with a truck, and more concerning, the massive tank of fuel it had been pulling, and given there were a great number of fires around it from the para-human attacks...

"It's gonna bring you... down..." the speakers in the store blared before everything exploded.

A few minutes later a manhole cover a block away pushed up and out with a clang on the street. And a slightly singed Saturnia climbed out followed by a fairly singed Shadow Stalker, the former moved off to the side coughing out a lung while the later pulled off her partially melted mask gasping for air.

"FUCK WHAT WAS THAT SMELL!?" Shadow Stalker coughed.

"Raw sewage catching fire.... I am very glad you managed to stay in your breaker state for that." Saturnia coughed. "Wonder if Vista managed to close the portal thing of her's in time."

"More concerned if that worked." Shadow Stalker offered looking around before freezing in place." Holy Shit."

Saturnia looked up at the exclamation and down the street.

There was a lot of fire really, most if not all the buildings on that block were rubble. There was no distortion in the air, but what there was, however was a mangled spike of metal that was all that was left of the truck, and a Endbringer that was missing most of its upper torso and one leg. It was still standing upright with its severed arm above it phased with the truck scrap.

It was also not moving at all.

A number of flying para-humans drifted closer looking at the charred remains of the Endbringer as Shadow Stalker let out a whoop.

"Suck it you fucking fuck!!" Shadow Stalker shouted before turning to Saturnia and pointing at the corpse of Leviathan." I told you it would work!"

"I never said it wouldn't. I just said we were gonna be in trouble." Saturnia spoke though she offered a smirk.

"Fuck we're gonna be household names for this shit! We killed an Endbringer! Bet Japan will name a fucking island after us." Shadow Stalker considered. "Think I can get them to rename a species of shark or tiger after me?"

"Shark maybe." Saturnia offered staring up at the corpse. Her attention was diverted as Sophia Hess moved in front of her one hand holding her mask the other holding out a fist towards her.

Saturnia blinked looking at the fist then at Sophia.

"Don't tell me you don't know what a fist bump is, Buggy."

"I still do not like you." Saturnia responded.

"Like me or not, after this I bet they're gonna pair us up a lot more and we need to at least fake getting along right?" Sophia chuckled. "So come on don't leave me hanging girl, fucking top of the food chain here!"

Saturnia sighed and lifted her arm closing her first and bumping her knuckles to Sophia's.

The girl smiled at the fist bump and opened her mouth to say something, she then exploded in a shower of gore as all the blood in her body suddenly decided to not be in her body.

Saturnia flinched as what was left of Sophia Hess dripped down her face.

Behind Sophia's body, the remains of the Endbringer were starting to move.

>Guppyman, Deceased, Agent Light, Deceased,Professor White, Deceased,Smooth Gladiator, Deceased, Huge Captain, Deceased, Gray Raven, Deceased, Gentle Beetle, Deceased, Scarlet King, Deceased, Master Rhino, Deceased, Flute Man, Deceased, Shadow Stalker, Deceased, Saturnia, Down, Vista, Down,.....

"DRAGON WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?" Emily Piggot Bellowed, her rifle whipping up to the cliff far in the distance where those last three names were supposed to have been. She could see some smoke over the manor but nothing that looked like an attack.

"I don't know... the reports are only now coming in.... a number of people in the area around the Endbringer are exploding in showers of gore, the only ones who seem unaffected are the para-humans with unique biologies or breaker states...."

"Why are Wards getting hit with this?" Piggot growled.

"I do not know Director. Wait.... Saturnia and Shadow Stalkers trackers place them right in front of Leviathan, Vista is still at the hospital.

"What...."

"Director.. the shelter nearest to Leviathan has lost all life signs. The camera's show everyone in the shelter just.... exploded....."

"A new power?"

"It seems so Director a killing aura like Behemoth has displayed. With the shelter hit it seems like it is larger, and might be the creature controlling the water in a human body...."

" What's the range?"

"Unknown exactly but the shelter was about three blocks away."

"Fuck... tell everyone to fall back and I need transport to medical." Director Piggot snarled.

"I'll have a flier come by to pick you up." Dragon acknowledged. "I am not sure what we can do against this new power."

[CONFLICT ENGINE 2] was hurt. Not that it felt pain but having a explosion go off inside of it was not a fun thing. It was far past the numbers needed for a [RECALL] protocol, but the target of this mission was currently in front of it.

The [QUEEN NODE] with the [ERROR] was before it, it would activate its [RECOVERY] program and draw in [MATTER] from its core, destroy the [ERROR] and then execute the [RECALL]. [ERROR] seemed to be responsible for the damage making it a [THREAT] though only a minor escalation of that.

Shifting itself to water it flowed off the spike leaving the fused flesh behind and reforming its legs and tail at least, the buds of it's arms starting to grow again, though it was much thinner than it had been as well as shorter until the core could supply more materials.

[ERROR] remained in place before [CONFLICT ENGINE 2] unaffected by [WATER BURST] ability.

Odd.

[CONFLICT ENGINE 2] forwarded the data gathered into the [CYCLE] for other [NODES] to review and moved forward to destroy [ERROR] physical if ability's would not function.

[CONFLICT ENGINE 2] was almost in range to crush [ERROR] when a burning reptilian fist slammed into the side of its head flinging its emaciated body at least three blocks to the left of where it had been.

"KLLL HUUU!" A fully ramped up Lung snarled rushing after the damaged Endbringer.

"... Fucking hell." Emily stated watching as Lung tore into the Endbringer, an Endbringer that was slowly recovering from anything the rage dragon did even as she watched.

" Director I have the report. Vista is fine, though evidently she burned her eyebrows off and melted a couple of lawn chairs. She said that She Saturnia and Shadow Stalker decided to drop a fuel truck on Leviathan, and it seemed to work. At first."

"Until the fucker gave up all pretenses of playing with us and proved the manton limit is just a suggestion to it. Fine, fuck it. Dragon patch me through directly to Alucard."

"Done."

"ALUCARD!"

"Yessss?" the voice on the com droned.

"Alucard. Permission to engage granted. Lung is also engaging so be careful of friendly fire. Code Whiskey, Alpha, Lima, Kilo." Director Piggot stated.

"Are you sure?" The voice on the com got much darker sounding.

"Yes.... it's sushi for dinner tonight. I don't know if an Endbringer can feel, but make it hurt." Emily growled.

On the other end of the line there was laughter as the sky grew even darker.

"May you survive what is unleashed." a number of voices spoke from the com, many sounding like those who had been listed as deceased in this battle.[/WARNING