“We’re not going to be able to go on with Plan A.”  The words hung in the air.

So what is Plan B?

“This brute is hurt, but we don’t have the resources to hold him down while we hurt him any more.  We’re too tightly packed, like this, and it’s too easy for him to take us down in droves.   Two or three more minutes of this, and there won’t be any of us left.”

So spread out?

Armsmaster turned, looked up at where Leviathan stood, frozen.  He pointed up at the Endbringer with his Halberd.  “We spread out.  The second this beast is free, he’s going to look for a way out, to run and heal up what we’ve done to him.   So we cut him off, we slow him down and keep him from getting to any areas where he can do real damage.

Sounds like a decent tactic.

“Eidolon is going to leave, do what he can to minimize the damage from the waves and ensure the rest of the city doesn’t get leveled while we’re fighting here.  The rest of us are going to slow Leviathan down best we can, take any opportunities we can to hurt the motherfucker.

In just a second, we’re going to organize you guys, put the toughest and strongest closest to this bastard, space out the people who can hurt him, get the weakest ones positioned to pass on word if they see him slip past us.

Let’s hope you have time for all that.

“This is our plan B.  We stall, from here on out we prioritize survival over putting this abomination down, and we fucking pray that Scion notices there’s an Endbringer around and shows up before this city and everyone in it is a memory.”

Well. Not the most hopeful of plans, but since when was this a hopeful situation?

“Listen!” the voice that cut through the shouts and the frantic chatter was authoritative, strong.

Ooh, now who’s this? Kaiser, maybe? Although I’d imagine Taylor would recognize his voice.

Armsmaster.

Ah. I should’ve read another line before pointing out the recognition thing, because this is where it would go if it were Kaiser too.

He had Myrddin, Eidolon and Chevalier just behind him.  People turned to listen, myself included.

A timeout like this is probably a rare occurrence in an Endbringer battle. Better use it for what it’s worth, especially since we don’t know how long it’ll last.

“He’s torn through our front line, he’s taken down some of our best, and he’s deliberately targeted and eliminated most of the capes who were in Bastion’s group.

The heavy hitters, right?

We have precious few left who can take a hit from this creature and survive it,

Oh right, the heavy hittables.

and we’re running low on those who can wall off another tidal wave or block his path.

The last one was bad enough with walling.

Was he mentally cracked?  Was he serious or was he playing around?  I suspected the latter, but kidding around and wasting time in a situation like this?

Does Taylor not remember how Trickster’s power works?

In a second, the cape was replaced by an unconscious Clockblocker.

Hey there!

This makes me wonder what it takes for the armbands to count someone as “down”.

The pane of his helmet was cracked and leaking a trail of blood.  I bent down to examine him, was pushed out of the way by someone else.  Some woman with a costume that outlined her bones, like a really good version of the skeleton costumes you saw on Halloween.

Mrs. Skeltal requires doots.

She began using her fingers to check Clockblocker’s neck, and I couldn’t help but suspect she was a doctor.

Yeah, that or someone close to Clocky. Or both.

“Stay still!” I snarled at her.  When I pressed again, depressing the two buttons with my pinky finger and thumb, she held her arm firm.

I shouted into the armband, “Clockblocker down, CD-6!  Need a teleporter to get him free, stat!”

Ooh, a teleporter, good call. The water won’t be in the way if he doesn’t have to be classically moved through the space it’s in!

The time freezing effect of Clockblocker’s power lasted anywhere from thirty seconds to ten minutes.  How long had we spent, here, since Clockblocker had given us this momentary reprieve?  It was hard to judge the passage of time with the adrenaline, the frenetic pace of the ongoing battle.

In my case, it’s hard to judge the passage of time in general, but that’s my ADD.

Trickster appeared in the place of the blue moon Woman, tipped his hat at me.

Perfect! Now we just need something to put in Clockblocker’s place.

Also, Luna must be so confused. One moment, Taylor’s borrowing her communicator, and suddenly she’s somewhere else…

“Clockblocker, in there,” I pointed with my good hand.

Trickster frowned, looked around.

“I apologize for desecrating your body, brave hero,” he spoke, looking down at where the cape with the trumpet icon on his chest had flopped, dead.  “You do good work even in death.”

I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that there are lots of non-living objects the size and mass of a human body lying around.

Kaiser – I hadn’t even seen him in the group – erected a latticework of blades across the front of the alley, between us and Leviathan.  It wasn’t enough.

It was a nice try, at least.

Leviathan tore through them like I might tear through a wicker basket.  Edged pieces of steel spun through the air and clattered to the ground.

Unfortunately, “nice try” isn’t enough against this overpowered motherfucker.

Kaiser changed tactics, creating columns of steel instead, each three or four feet across, harder to shatter.  They were slower to emerge, but they bent rather than broke.

Nice! Essentially huge prison bars… at least it sounds like they’ll be a bit sturdier.

Leviathan responded by pushing.  He exerted his full strength on the barrier of blades and the columns, leaning against them.  The walls broke around the base of the columns, and the pieces of steel fell.

Dammit.