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).

Depart from the rooftops, buildings may come down imminently, my armband announced.

I feel like Tattle would definitely take note of this if she heard it while on the rooftop.

Flying capes left the roof of the building, each carrying someone.  They were still leaving as Leviathan lunged through the side of the building and the forcefields that had been reinforcing the walls.  He tried to retreat, was stalled by more forcefields.  I saw a figure on the far side.  Bastion.  The hero who had been in the news over his racist tirade.

I don’t remember, were we given an idea of Bastion’s power back in 8.1?

*looks back* No, we didn’t. Maybe we’re about to?

I’d like to note that I don’t recall Tattle’s armband saying anything at all in the Interlude. Maybe she forgot to turn it on? Or turned down the volume? Or maybe my memory is just shit.

Myrddin pointed his staff and launched that orb at Leviathan.  It hit harder than anything yet, and the brute was sent flying into the interior of a nearby building.

I’m thinking Myrddin’s power might be generally gathering things up and then firing them out, not just with mist. Kind of similar to Ballistic, except Ballistic has to actually get to the thing he wants to send off, and Myrddin might be limited to non-solids where Ballistic is limited to solids.

“Seal him off!” someone shouted.  Chevalier.  “Make him come back our way!”

So hey, is this the building Tattle is on? Did Myrddin just send Leviathan in her direction?

Forcefields went up around the exterior of the building.

I don’t remember this happening in the Interlude, though, but it’s possible Tattle didn’t see it.

The building itself bulged and warped as Vista exerted her power, thickened the walls, made the middle floors of the building draw together slightly, a slight hourglass shape.

I never knew that building models were held to the same beauty standards as human ones.

I saw her, wet and worn out, one hand raised, shouting something I couldn’t make out at one of the out-of-town Wards.  The Ward was speaking into his armband, replaying some message.

I’m guessing that should be “relaying”?

Whatcha got to say, then?