“Got it!”

There was only silence after that.  Teeth clenched, shivering, I pressed my good hand as hard as I could manage against the ragged mess of Armsmaster’s shoulder, trying to slow the blood loss.

So is Taylor gonna have to carry Armsmaster’s former arm with her now?

Also, if the armband is on the detached arm, why didn’t the system announce Armsmaster deceased, CC-7 when the arm stopped getting a blood pulse? Hm. Maybe it did, and just didn’t bother announcing that to Armsmaster’s own armband.

“Yes, as long as I’m within a few blocks of him.”  Again, the system relayed my message. Affirmative.  Range restriction of ‘a few blocks’.

Huh. It rephrases it too.

Did it really need to reword what I said?

I could see it being useful if someone’s unnecessarily wordy, but there’s not much to be gained from this particular rewording.

“Can you fly?  Chase him?”

“No.”  Negative.

It seems almost stylistic at this point.

Meanwhile, the other person doesn’t seem to be getting reworded, at least not quite as blatantly. Maybe it’s a perk of being trusted with unmoderated chat.

“Then I’m sending a flier your way, to ensure you stay close enough.  We need eyes on this bastard, and you’re them.”

Yeah, I can’t imagine the reworded message would keep the word “bastard”, given the formal, military-esque styling.

So yeah, we finally know what Taylor’s role in all of this is! It’s kinda satisfying.

…I suppose Tattle’s comments on Taylor’s use of the bugs to sense her surroundings might’ve been foreshadowing.

“Cancel that!  He’s going West-North-West from my location!”

My voice echoed back to me in the Armband’s tinny voice a half-second after I’d finished.

Oh, so the armband just repeats what you say if it’s approved, rather than play the recording. Fair enough, though it seems potentially troublesome if more than one person were to start communicating things at a time.

Armsmaster’s armband changed to display a red dot, tracking Leviathan’s movements, or the closest approximation the system could guess.

Nice.

“Roger, sounds like he might be heading for one of the shelters, lots of people packed into a space where they can’t run, vulnerable,” someone replied, “Medical help incoming.  Whoever this is, you can track Leviathan?”

Like in this situation. If the armband doesn’t delve into voice acting and use different voices for each of them, this could get a little confusing for third parties.

Finding the arm, I picked it up.  Heavy, almost too much to hold in one hand.

Not exactly the way you had ever expected to shake hands with the one and only Armsmaster, was it?

It wasn’t just the weight of the armor or the fact that it was a muscular, full-grown-man’s limb – the gauntlet had been crushed around the pole of the Halberd, crumpled like tinfoil.

So that you have to pick up the Halberd too, which is filled to the brim with technology that is smaller than usual but not necessarily lighter?

With the arm and weapon in a bricklayer’s grip that was painful to maintain, I hurried back to Armsmaster’s side, dropped them near him.  I shook him, hoping to get him alert, to no avail.

“Here’s your missing limb, I’m sure you know what do do with it.”

With my only working hand, I pried the Halberd free of his glove, rested his arm across his chest, and pressed the button.

“Armsmaster down!  CC-7!  Leviathan is heading West…”

I wonder how the remaining Undersiders are going to react to hearing Skitter’s voice after her death message. I guess they might think “Was that… no, must’ve just been someone who sounded very similar.”

I felt the bugs I’d clustered in Leviathan’s wounds change direction.  The compass point between West and Northwest was what?  More Wests than North.

Oh shit! She just found a way to be useful. She’s now able to sense Leviathan’s movements remotely and keep the system updated.

As long as he stays within reach of her power, at least. Fortunately, that ought to be at double range, unless the mystery boost stopped applying.

He turned, crouched, bolted West, away from the coast, full speed.

I hurried to Armsmaster’s side.

Well, alright. See ya, Levvy.

“You,” he groaned.  His left arm was gone at the shoulder, torn out of the socket.  Blood poured from the wound.  “You’re dead.”

Dude, if this is about Tangle… oh wait. It’s because of the armband being broken – he genuinely thought she was dead, because once the armband broke and lost touch with the central system, the system assumed the worst and went Skitter deceased, CC-7.

“Hey, you’re not making any sense.”

“He killed you.”

Had my armband announced my death when it glitched out and died?  Assumed total destruction of my unit, and me with it?

Yeah, seems like it.

“I’m alive.  Listen, I’m going to try and find your arm, my armband got broken, maybe something got dislodged when Leviathan broke my arm.”

He only groaned unintelligbly in response.

I ran over to the general area where Leviathan had dropped Armsmaster’s arm.

So does this mean he’s just Armmaster now? 😉

I tripped over the crack that ran down the middle of the street, got my feet under me to keep running, and began feeling through the water.

I came within inches of touching the submerged blade, turning my hand to molecular dust.

Ah, yeah, that’d be… an issue.

There are enough problems at hand here. 😉 😉

The Endbringer dropped Armsmaster’s arm and Halberd, where the weight of the metal armor and device pulled them beneath the water.

Uh oh.

A lash of his tail dispatched two of my three swarms.  He watched, seeming not to care, as the third ran up to him, smashed against his leg.  The bugs spreading out, burying themselves deep into his injuries.

I don’t know if that’s going to help much, given that his flesh just gets even harder further in. But that’s not something Taylor knows.

I was hoping to find some weakness, devour him from the inside out, but the bugs might as well have been biting on steel.  Nothing budged beneath their jaws, their stings couldn’t penetrate.

Taylor has really shitty lucks when it comes to enemies and their skin/flesh.

From Extermination 8.2 (bold mine):

“I’m telling you your chances now because you deserve to know, and we so rarely get the chance to inform those individuals brave enough to step up and fight these monsters.  The primary message I want to convey, even more than briefing you on the particulars of his abilities, organizing formations and battle plans, is that I do not want you to underestimate Leviathan.  I have seen too many good heroes,” he paused for a fraction of a second, “And villains, too, die because they let their guard down.”

That said, I would advise you to think of him as having many of the strengths of both siblings at once.  You’ve seen the videos on television and the internet.  You know what he is physically capable of.  I want to be clear that despite the image he might convey, he is not stupid, and he can display a level of cunning and tactics that can and will catch you off guard.

“Our second priority is that we need to find ways to hurt him.  If you cannot, if your attacks are deflected or prove otherwise useless, work to support those who can.  It is vain to hope to kill him, but he can be whittled down enough that he will flee back to the ocean, and if we hurt him enough, it may delay the time before he is capable of making another attack elsewhere.”

Good job, Armsmaster, of ignoring every bit of advice Legend gave.

I didn’t hesitate a moment in sending out my bugs.  Three swarms, shaped like people, more as a general cloud.  The bugs all sagged beneath the drenching rain, the ones on top taking the brunt of the downpour.

It’s time for Taylor to do something.

She might not be able to harm Leviathan or snatch Armsmaster out of harm’s way, but she can make some excellent distractions.

Leviathan planted one foot beside Armsmaster for balance, reached out with his free claw, and pressed the tips against the side of Armsmaster’s throat and torso.

*poke*

Still holding on to Armsmaster’s hand and wrist, he pushed against the side of the man’s body.  Armsmaster screamed, a frantic noise that seemed to redouble in urgency with every breath.  He tipped over and fell with a splash.

Not so cocky anymore, eh?

The Endbringer stood, showing none of the frailty or pain it had been displaying seconds ago.  The injuries were there, to be sure, his head hung at an angle because of the way the weight of his head hung on the intact portions of his neck, but he wasn’t suffering, had no trouble putting his full weight on his more injured leg.  Had it been an act?

It… kinda seems like it. I suppose this is the more manipulative side of Leviathan.

Armsmaster hesitated, then threw his grappling-hook-Halberd forward into the onrushing waves like a javelin.  The gush of water froze in time,

Be careful with that. You don’t want to get trapped like Clockblocker.

and he leapt forward, stepping on the furthermost extensions of the immobile spray in a parkour-style ascent over the water and the pipe.

fucking

badass.

The water resumed its regular motion as Armsmaster took his final leaping step off the top, heading straight for Leviathan.

Leviathan moved faster than he had in the last minute, caught the blade in his claw.

aaand this is where it goes to shit, isn’t it?

Dust rose from the claw as the blade sank deep, blood poured out, but the blade remained fixed in place.  Armsmaster tugged, failed to dislodge it.  He tried to pull away, but I could see Leviathan had caught onto his hand and wrist with his clawtips, while the Halberd sat embedded in his ‘palm’.

Now what?

“How!?” Armsmaster roared.

How what? How did it get stuck? How did Leviathan move so much faster than before? How did you lose?