It’s possible that it isn’t merely like Bakudatech. It could’ve been confiscated from her on her defeat. Although with how crazy Bakuda is, it would be rather risky of the Protectorate to use her stuff.
Category: argh krix fix your categories
“Care!” Miss Militia cried out, “Fire in the hole!”
She fired a shot from her grenade launcher, grabbed another grenade with a blinking LED from her vest and loaded it into her gun. Why? She’d shown with the bazooka that she didn’t need to load ammunition, hadn’t she?
Hm. I actually thought of explosive ammo back when she did that, as a reason why she shouldn’t be using her psyche for ammo, but… bazookas use explosive ammo too, don’t they? I don’t think that’s why she’s suddenly reloading.
It’s much more likely that these aren’t regular grenades that can be produced by her power, but rather some sort of Tinkertech. The kind of explosives you’d expect from Bakuda, though perhaps not quite as advanced (depending on the Tinker’s specialty).
Then I realized why. It wasn’t the kind of ammunition you found in normal guns.
eyyy
The first shot exploded into a mess of golden sticky ribbon, familiar, though it somehow escaped my memory where I’d seen it.
That… does sound familiar to me too.
The second exploded in midair, near Leviathan’s shoulder, leaving the tips of the scales and one gaping wound glinting like crystal. As Leviathan moved to recoil, the edges of the crystal separated from his flesh and seeped with that dark ichor.
Nice hit!
Eidolon was staying behind, raising his hands, and green sparks began rising from the ground, clustering around Eidolon and the fallen, obscuring them.
Hm, now what kind of power is this? Some sort of mass teleport?
A second later, he and half of the bodies that had been scattered around the battlefield disappeared, the sparks blooming outward in twenty small firework explosions.
A showy one. It’s certainly not something you do unnoticed under calmer conditions.
I took that as my cue to join everyone else in the pursuit. Eidolon could help the wounded. I couldn’t, really.
Should’ve brought that first aid equipment.
I ran after the others, nearly tripping into a pothole in my hurry. My armband showed a green icon for Leviathan, and I followed it.
Rounding a corner, I came up at the rear of a small crowd, perilously close to the Endbringer.
Woah, watch out!
Fog was blocking one route, while Sundancer stood at another, her superheated orb between her and Leviathan.
Oooh, I’m sure he wouldn’t like to touch that. Besides, the scorching heat could help get rid of some of the water, especially if Myrddin is involved.
The remaining capes were divided between the other two possible alleys Leviathan might have moved through and the air above him. Legend was hammering Leviathan down to the pavement with a series of laser blasts.
They’ve got him surrounded, it sounds like. Niiice.
Leviathan turned around, lashing his tail behind him to cast three lashes of water our way, then crouched.
Uh oh. Last time that I can recall he crouched, he was getting ready for a leap that caused the first deaths.
“He’s running!” someone called out.
Leviathan dashed away from us, fast, only to skid to a stop and turn a corner for cover as Legend, Lady Photon, Laserdream and a half dozen other heroes opened fire from the skies above.
On the face of it, Leviathan withdrawing seems like a good thing, but it doesn’t actually do any good unless they can get him to withdraw completely, going far enough away that he can’t continue attacking the city with waves or trying to create the sinkhole under the city.
Others had picked themselves up, were moving into the side streets and alleys to follow, intent on cutting him off. I looked around, glancing over at the injured and wounded, knowing Tattletale was among them.
Y’know, I do think Taylor’s reaction to hearing Tattle’s name has been a bit less intense than expected (though admittedly, she’s not exactly a dramatic person). That’s probably because she’s holding on to the doubt in the armband’s definition of “losses”… which means she might actually be about to find Tattletale. It might take actually seeing the body to get the real reaction out of her.
“Be ready!” Armsmaster called out.
This makes me think of the very beginning of the battle.
Leviathan heaved himself up out of the building’s remains in one motion, used his tail to pick up and fling a mess of broken wood, concrete and rebar at us. Aegis threw himself into the cluster of projectiles, but two capes were struck down by smaller chunks. A third was folded in half by the arc of water from Leviathan’s tail.
It’s not looking good.
Brigandine deceased, CD-5. (sic)
At least the two capes that were struck down are still alive.
I couldn’t afford to dwell on what might have happened to Tattletale. I wiped beads of water from the lenses of my mask with my gloved hands, pushed my hair out of my face, and made a note of my bugs.
I think that’s the first time she’s even thought of the bugs in this battle, at least that we’ve seen.
There were scant few in the way of bugs that could navigate in this storm. Myrddin had banished the water from the wave, somehow, but the downpour was making the streets flood fast enough that I didn’t trust anything to crawl. No, my power was dead useless, here.
Basically, the only reason you’re here is because you want to help, not because you’re actually any more qualified to than a fit mundane with first aid training. Though to be fair, you didn’t know the Endbringer in question would be the watery one.
Hm. I wonder if Behemoth and the Simurgh have similar elemental affiliations. If they do, it’s almost certainly air for the Simurgh and fire or earth for Behemoth.
The recitation continued, but I was numb to them. Tattletale? I started, looked around, as if I could find her. Where had she been?
No, what I suddenly really wanted to know was what the armband meant by losses. Were all those people dead? Was Tattletale dead?
Confusion. Denial.
Why wasn’t the armband directing me to help someone? Was there no point, or were our numbers so reduced we couldn’t afford to?
I think Taylor just kinda wants something to focus on other than the fact that her armband just told her her best friend was dead.
I could hope it was the latter, but having seen some of the injuries I had, it didn’t make me feel better. It was almost worse, thinking that Tattletale might by (sic) lying somewhere, bleeding out or unable to breathe, not getting help.
I guess so.
The Armband spoke. Losses are as follows: Debaser, Ascendant, Gallant, Zigzag, Prince of Blades, Vitiator, Humble, Halo, Whirlygig, Night, Crusader, Uglymug, Victor, Furrow, Barker, Elegance, Quark, Pelter, Snowflake, Ballistic, Mama Bear, Mister Eminent, Flashbang, Biter…
Oh shit, I was just thinking, between posts, about the armband DDoS and how Wildbow managed to make it so we might not find out Tattletale’s fate in this chapter after all, but here it is, listing up.
We might hear the name Tattletale on its own in a couple paragraphs.
Also, I see there are some names we know in here – Gallant, Night, Crusader, Victor, Ballistic and Flashbang… damn, Glory Girl’s not gonna like this. She just lost both her father and her boyfriend.
(Oh, and Halo. I choose to believe The Endbringer is such a huge threat that they called in backup from a different story’s superhero organization. Sydney, may she rest in peace, clearly died from the sheer unspiciness of the water.)
The names kept coming. I almost wanted to cover my ears, but not knowing for sure was worse.
…Cloister, Narwhal, Vixen, The Dart, Geomancer, Oaf, Tattletale…
There it is.
Goodbye, Tattletale. You were always the best Undersider for me.
“Move forward!” Armsmaster called out, “He’s going to want to escape to recover! We can not let him!”
The longer he’s trapped under that building, the better.
Leviathan had more than halved our ranks with the wave. I could see people face down in the water. Others were crumped up, their bodies contorted, broken, still.
Damn. And the next wave is apparently going to be even stronger?
And the damage to the city was just as bad, in a different way. I stared at the wreckage, the block and a half of shattered buildings, and saw a looming mess of arches and massive iron beams and girders, unable to comprehend what it was.
…I wonder how far in from the coast the Loft is/was. Or Danny’s house, for that matter.
It dawned on me. The PHQ. The headquarters of our local superteam, tourist attraction, torn from whatever fixtures had rooted it in place, smashed to ruins against our coastline.
…oh.
Welp. I guess that forcefield around it didn’t work out in the end.
Like with the Boardwalk, I feel like this warrants a #dang it timmy. Rest in peace, Protectorate Headquarters.
Bastion bellowed, “Do it!”
Leviathan lunged, crashed through one barrier, making it shatter like glass, only for another to appear immediately after. He turned to head our way, was stopped by another.
Nice.
“Fucking do it!” Bastion called out, barely audible.
Oh, that’s not what you wanted them to do.
What was it, then?
The building above him bent and the midsection, unable to support the upper floors, crumbled. The upper half of the building crashed down atop Leviathan and Bastion.
Oof.
Vista turned, wrapping her arms around the Ward next to her, burying her face in his shoulder.
This girl is twelve. And she’s fighting an Endbringer.
I hope the PRT has some good therapists on hand.
Oh yeah, that’s right… not only is it good for avoiding redundancy, but the italics formatting of the armband’s announcements could’ve caused confusion for some readers with the italicized representation of Tattle’s power (though that was also indented).
