[Rotlimb: Uh. So who’s the knight in shining armor?]
“Meteor?” Gallant said as she approached. I didn’t miss the questioning inflection. “What’s happening to you? Your core keeps… shifting.”
My core? Oh right, she said something about that before at the park. God, that talk felt forever ago. Had it really only been earlier this month? “It’s… I’m…” [Diamondback: Costume like that suggests a hero. Watch out, Sixteen.] [Edict: Hopefully a source of reason. I can’t handle much more of this craziness…] [Footloose: The woman Sixteen is gonna ditch frumpy girlfriend for, obviously. I mean, would you look at that ass! Mm mm mmm!]
“It’s okay,” she interrupted, with a calming gesture. [Rotlimb: You’d fuck a dog if it made the mistake of showing you its ass, you fucking freak.] [Toro: Shut the fuck up, Ten!] “I know you have trouble communicating.”
My mouth snapped shut. On some level I knew I should have felt worse about allowing her misunderstanding of the issue to linger, but at the same time, how could I possibly explain to her? Fuck, how was I going to explain to the crew? [Footloose: Whoa whoa whoa! Gotta get consent before you just dive in for that doggy style action!] [Edict: This again? Grow up!] [Diamondback: Trouble communicating? Is she referring to when you were acting crazy?] [Klaus: Let’s keep it down so June can focus, everyone!]
“A cape is attacking the area with illusions and some sort of fear effect,” Gallant continued, ignorant of my inner turmoil. No, I had that wrong. She had to be seeing it plain as day, so was she ignoring it? “I don’t know who they are, but I’ve been tracking them. I tried to catch them off guard, but they got away, and they’re not letting me get close anymore.” [Toro: Don’t you tell me to grow up, you useless cuntsicle! At least my power is useful instead of your shitty ass excuse for one!] [Footloose: What’s that, Seven?! I should talk really, really loudly?! Okaaaaay!!] [Caterpillar: Your desire to help your offspring is admirable, Seven, but such a request is unlikely to work.] [Rotlimb: You’re probably right, Twelve. Sixteen was loopier than a circle earlier.] [Butcher: Fuck off, Seven. Remember your place.]
“I have to pull out, Gallant,” a familiar voice said, projected from some sort of device around the ward’s wrist. “Will Meteor help, or am I extracting you?” [Edict: The fuck did you just call me, you son of a bitch?!] [Footloose: Mom, Dad, please stop fighting! You’re tearing our family apart!] [Diamondback: That’s impossible, Four. A circle is a perfect loop.] “You’re the only person here I know who doesn’t seem to be affected by the cape. We’ve got to stop them!”
Toro and Edict continued to tear into each other while Gallant spared a look over her shoulder at where the Dragon-craft was still firing on Elle’s horde of nightmarish doctor and nurses. I was more preoccupied with the person just out of sight behind it all. I could tell Elle was okay, since the pulverized projections were cobbling themselves back together, and more were rising up out of the dirt to join the masses, but that didn’t mean Elle was okay. The cape Gallant was talking about—I remembered her from Providence, after what she said earlier. I remembered the overwhelming fear, the feeling of choking on air. I needed to get Elle and the rest of the crew out of here.
“I’ll convince her,” Gallant replied, drawing my attention back to her. “Go take care of the portals. We have things in hand here!” [Toro: Unfuckable butterface!] [Edict: Imbecilic Neanderthal!] [Klaus: C’mon, just stop this!]
“I need to get the crew to safety,” I denied, trying to ignore the shouting in my head. The Dragon-craft began to pull back, its slender form skillfully maneuvering up and out of the horrifying hospital Elle and brought into existence around us.
Gallant flinched away from seemingly nothing before adding in a harried tone, “Someone killed all the Endbringer’s minions. That was you, right? If we help each other, this will be over in a few minutes, and your crew can get medical attention.”
Their primary threat gone, Elle’s projections turned on us and began to swarm forward. There was no time. I grabbed Gallant’s armor and lifted her along with myself into the air, twisting in time with my twinging nerves to avoid the wall swelling up into a hand to crush us. Halfway to the hole the Dragon-craft had departed through, the opening began to repair itself, so I abandoned course, again moving in time with the warning from DZ’s power to avoid—
The arguing voices in my head were suddenly swallowed up by impossibly loud shrieking, wailing, and cackling in my ear, the abrupt, overwhelming noise drawing a reflexive flinch out of me. My stolen attention cost us as the second hand from the wall I had been trying to avoid managed to grab my leg. It immediately squeezed, and I reflexively winced at the feeling of my leg beginning to crumble under the pressure. I should’ve been howling in agony, but Diamondback’s power meant I didn’t feel a thing.
More hands began to form out of the one gripping me, and before I could stop to think about what I was about to do, I yanked myself away hard enough to rip my leg off. I swung Gallant down and away from the walls, and she fired an energy blast to intercept a cleaver thrown by one of the projections below. With half a mind I grabbed hold of all the bullets Dragon had pelted the ground with and pulled them into blades I immediately began to use to shred the projections in a makeshift blender. The rest of my attention I kept on the ceiling, as I sent some of the bullets rocketing up into it and began to use Alchemist’s power to change the material into metal. I could feel Elle fighting it, and I grit my teeth as I tried to push back harder, but it was no use. We were in her bailiwick—she would win. Desperate, I shifted gears, leaving Gallant where she was as I teleported to directly next to the wall. The air around me exploded as I appeared, and though the structure was rocked by the blow, it didn’t cave.
My nerves screamed in alarm, but I was too close to dodge as the scorched wall ballooned into a hand and grabbed me. Instead, I desperately and instinctively called out, “Stop!”
The hand clenched tightly around me, and I felt with acute awareness as my bones began to crack and shatter, the air in my lungs being expelled along with a gob of blood. The crushing sensation froze, and I struggled futilely against it with my broken limbs before giving that up for the terrible idea it was. Instead, I pulled some of the swirling blades below up to the hand to begin changing it into metal while I resumed doing the same for the ceiling. Gallant and I were flying through seconds later, back into the chaos outside, and the unimaginably loud noise vanished after a few moments.
“Oh god, we need to get you to a healer!” Gallant exclaimed when she got a good look at my broken body. [Footloose: Hoo boy, you are so lucky you have Fifteen’s power. Giving new meaning to the word ‘ragdoll’ true story.] [Diamondback: Interesting improvisation. Got the job done.]
I hesitated, trying to figure out how to explain I was going to be fine, when the pulped remains of my leg rocketed out of the hole in the ceiling below us and began to reform on me, sans clothing. “Uh. I’ll be fine…?”
Footloose cackled as Gallant stared at the warping outline of my shattered body as it began to repair itself. [Quarrel: What are you, a kid caught in the cookie jar? Stop being ashamed and lean into it. You’re a Butcher.] [Diamondback: Just explain the regeneration and handle the illusion cape.]
The cacophony coming from nowhere resumed, and I threw myself out of the way, narrowly dodging a sphere of gas that ultimately flew past harmlessly. I could almost hear the voices shouting in response underneath the noise, but I couldn’t make anything out. It was impossible to think, so instead I just did.
I teleported, and blessedly, the noise vanished again once the scenery around me resolved into a new location. I realized I was over an unbroken portion of the structure Elle had begun to pull into this world, which by that point had grown so large it was sprawling across half the area. Portions of it were broken as fighting between the capes continued, with some of them having flown up and out to fight in the air. Past the edges of the structure I saw two Dragon-craft continuously attacking creatures streaming out of four burning eyes scattered around—eyes that mirrored the still burning eye of the sword Endbringer on the horizon beyond them.
I needed to get the rest of the crew and get out of here, but Gallant had raised an unfortunately good point. Spitfire had needed medical attention before all of this, and who knew what injuries everyone had sustained in the meantime. [Caterpillar: Though we focus on this cape for now, do not let the greatest of our enemies escape your notice.] [Edict: Yeah, that is really ominous…] [Rotlimb: Goddammit, that’s creepy… I’m getting flashbacks to the fucking Simurgh…]
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Dammit… Rather than fly back to Gallant and risk the noise overwhelming my senses again, I pulled her from where she was down to me while being careful to avoid accelerating her too much, a task that was surprisingly harder than it had been before Delible’s death. Why am I able to move metal faster? [Footloose: I, for one, am enjoying you subverting the damsel in distress trope by rescuing the knight. Even if she’s a lady knight. Hm… Might’ve ruined my own point there…] [Klaus: June, you recognized the illusion cape from before, right? What exactly is their powerset?] [Delible: Is it just distance, or does the Endbringer not look injured?]
“I can explain,” I started to say when she got close enough to hear me over the sounds of fighting, only for her to interrupt me with, “If you’re okay, then I’ll guide you to the illusionist.”
“Uh…” [DZ: You know this hero, right? She probably knows but isn’t acknowledging it, so she can play ignorance later.] [Toro: Stop gaping. You look like a dead fish.] Well, you’d know, DZ. “Okay then. Where to?”
“They’re not far,” Gallant remarked as she pointed the way, and I got us moving. “Be careful. I don’t understand exactly how their power works beyond illusions and fear.” [Toro: Gee, Three, I wonder why you’d come to that conclusion. Personal experience, perhaps?] [Deimos: Mmm, this illusionist would have been a fun fight while I was alive.]
“I’ve encountered her before,” I quietly replied as we reached the point Gallant had indicated. Below us the roof of Elle’s structure was solid, and as Gallant gestured forward, I realized the illusion cape was moving. “She was the reason everything went to shit when we rescued Canary in Providence. Her power had some sort of spreading factor to it… and I think she could plant illusions by looking at you too? Would explain some things.” [DZ: Can it, dick.] [Delible: I fear I’m missing something.] [Quarrel: Too bad you were busy being dead, you overgrown lizard.]
“You—” She sighed. “Never mind. They’re a ‘they,’ by the way. Do you have a plan for dealing with them?” [Toro: Why don’t you make me, asswipe?] [Deimos: Heh. Careful, Quarrel. Boasting only makes you look small.]
“Oh. Thanks. And well, if I’m remembering the sight part right…” [DZ: You know, I’m getting awful sick of— Oh geez.] [Quarrel: There is a difference between boasting and regaling the facts. Sixteen, no.]
[Butcher: Don’t. You. Dare.] [Rotlimb: I swear, if you use her power, I will make it my personal goal to drive you insane!] [Toro: Don’t be a fucking coward, sneaking in like Five! Fight!] [Caterpillar: If you use Five’s power, you will be antagonizing many of the others.] [Quarrel: Fucking wimp…]
Okay, what the fuck, that was a strong reaction… Chill, I’ll do something else. “Yeah, I’ve got a plan,” I told her as I tried to ignore the bloodthirstiest voices. I could feel the eyelets on boots below us, steadily moving towards a hole up ahead. There were several people ahead near the opening, at least one of them down on the ground, and I turned on Belial’s power to see—
Gallant flinched away from something. “They know we’re here!” she hissed. “Go!”
The roof began to warp. I lunged for the hole while maneuvering Gallant up away from where Elle could easily harm her. I slipped through, and almost immediately, everything began to twist and turn nauseatingly.
“There you are,” I heard in my ear. “And here I was afraid you had decided to run fr—”
The voice cut out as I focused on the veins that seemingly didn’t exist just a few feet away from me and pushed pain into them with Butcher’s power. They buckled over, the truth briefly laid bare for my eyes as the cape hunched over in agony. Three of the bystanders I didn’t recognize, their confusion evident from their body language as whatever illusion they had been fed fell away, but my attention promptly shifted to the person on the ground when I realized I did know her.
“Spitfire?!” I blurted, taking an unconscious step towards them in concern when I realized that, in addition to her still injured left arm, one of her legs was bending the wrong direction at the knee. [Klaus: Whoa, hey, pay attention to—!] [Diamondback: Idiot.] [Toro: Fucking moron!]
The illusionist’s head snapped up, and they vanished along with the other capes. They stumbled to the right awkwardly, likely thinking I couldn’t see them, and I started to fly forward, intent on striking them. My nerves twitched, and I allowed myself to twist around a spear-like weapon thrust at me, and no sooner had I dodged did I feel the urgency to move again, and though I tried to adjust course, I had already committed too much. Another of Elle’s hands snagged me, and I instinctively teleported to escape.
My focus on the illusionist meant that I unconsciously moved to their location, resulting in them being blown back and away by my arrival. The image they were feeding me fell away, and I saw with my own eyes as well as through Belial’s power as the cape’s illuminated blood spurted from ruptured veins. Even though I had stopped projecting pain into them, they were howling in agony as the wounds from the explosion began to sizzle and fester, deepening the damage.
They weren’t the only one wailing in distress. Though none of the others had been close enough to be hit by the conclusive force of my explosive displacement, the flames that billowed out still washed over them, leaving everyone but Spitfire with burns that likewise began to rot.
“Gallant!” I yelled as I moved her as quickly as I could down into the area while I stalked forward towards the illusion cape. “I need some help with wounded here!” [Butcher: Honestly expected you to make the same mistake twice in a row.] [Klaus: Don’t kill them! Just knock them out!] [Quarrel: Deal with them.] [Rotlimb: Kill them! Kill them, or they’ll kill you!] [Toro: Rip their head off!]
“How dare you, you filthy maggot!” they screamed at me as they pried their eyes open with obvious effort. “I’ll—!”
They vanished from my sight, but it was too late for that trick to be effective. I swept around behind them and nearly snapped their neck before catching myself at the last second and pivoting to wrapping my arm around their throat and tugging them into a sleeper hold, much to the displeasure of the more violent voices.
“Labs, it’s me, Meteor!” I called out as I silently counted, the cape slackened in my arms when expected. I still held it several seconds longer. Just in case, I told myself. “I’ll come help you soon, okay? Stay safe!” [Butcher: That mercy is going to be the death of you someday, Sixteen.] [Klaus: Thank god…] [Toro: Fucking pansy… You had them!] [Edict: You did the right thing, June, don’t listen to them.] [Footloose: Boom, baby! My power saved the day, haha!] [Diamondback: Poor choice. They’ll do whatever they can to fuck you over now.]
“Meteor?” Spitfire weakly responded from where she was on the ground. “What is going on? What the hell was that just now?” [Toro: Cram it, Ten! Nobody asked for your goddamn opinion!] [DZ: Don’t get me wrong, this cape is probably about to get a kill order if they didn’t already have one, but if she can avoid it…] [Rotlimb: Ugh, stuck with another loser pacifist. Hopefully you’ll go quickly.] [Klaus: You did good, June.]
“Hey,” I replied, trying to ignore the voices with little success. Fuck off, Rotlimb. I got the job done, and that’s what matters. “I, uh… It’s sort of a long story, so I’ll tell you when we’re all together again. Hang tight, and we’ll get you a healer, okay?” [Edict: Whatever, Toro. I’m done arguing with your dumbass shit today anyway…] [Diamondback: They definitely will based on past experience. Better to kill the cycle of revenge now.] [Caterpillar: Keep your focus on the next biggest threat now.] [Klaus: Ignore Rotlimb. He’s just pissed you’re fighting the instincts so well.]
“Haaa, I thought I was imagining you talking,” she remarked while trying to hide how badly she was clenching her teeth. “I’ll live—just bleeding a bit—so check on everyone else first.” [Toro: Don’t you fucking ignore me, whore!] [DZ: Edict, why do you antagonize him…] [Quarrel: Hmph. This is anticlimactic… They shouldn’t have been able to give you such trouble. Get better.]
“I’ll watch her,” Gallant offered from where she was tending to one of the injured bystanders. “I’ll call in for medical treatment, figure out who can help your crew. You can call it in from anyone’s armband.” [DZ: Whoa, don’t fucking jinx it, Quarrel!] [Footloose: Aww, the perfect little knight!]
I nodded my thanks and quickly flew up out of the structure to more easily fly towards where Elle was sitting on the wet earth, her knees pulled up to her chest as she rocked back and forth with her eyes closed. I opened my mouth to ask if she had been hurt when off to my right a hole appeared in one of the walls, blossoming into a tunnel large enough for a person to move through. Glowing feet grew out of the earth next to her and trotted off towards the tunnel before pausing at the entrance, their glow brightening and dimming in an alternating pattern designed to grab attention.
It was clear what she wanted. “I’m not leaving you alone again,” I firmly told her as I helped her rise to her feet. “We’ll go together.” [Klaus: Did you already mention who is in this crew of yours? Spitfire and Labyrinth, obviously, and you mentioned you know Heavensword.]
Yeah, knowing Heavensword doesn’t mean she’s part of— Elle made a distressed noise, and the changing glow of the feet brightened considerably while the back and forth pattern sped up. I frowned, pivoting from helping her stand by hand to grabbing the metal still wrapped around her from earlier and sending us flying down the tunnel. Masuyo, my cousin, is back home in Brockton Bay, I idly answered, trying to dispel my growing unease from Elle’s behavior. Gregor and Newter are here. They’re Case 53s like you were, Deimos. You all saw Spitfire, and that just… leaves…
Cold dread washed over me when I realized there was a welder’s mask ahead. Our previously brisk pace quickly accelerated to as fast as I dared while carrying Elle. No. No, she’s fine. Probably just injured, but not too badly! Just a few cuts and bruises, maybe a—
The world around me ground to a halt when she finally came into view, lying on the ground in a pool of blood.
“Faultline!!”