My alarm beeped insistently and my eyes opened to see the digits of the clock announcing quarter to six in the morning. I rose, turned on the light, and dressed right away. I stared, for a moment, at the blue headscarf hanging in the closet before I shut the door and headed upstairs. I made some coffee and had a handful of cereal. Just because the rest of the day would be hell didn't mean I had to start it that way. With a sigh, I left my half-finished mug on the counter and went to my mom's room.

“Mom,” I said loudly, knocking the door twice before pushing inside. “Get up. We need to leave. Leviathan's on his way and we need to get to a shelter.” Mom sat up and opened her mouth to protest, but it was cut off by a coat landing on top her her. “I'm gonna grab some clothes. Pack what you can. Five minutes.” I turned just as a second person began to sit up in bed.

Not my problem. Frankly if Mom had someone else to distract her then I'd be better off. I wasn't up to playing her daughter when the city was under attack by an Endbringer. All I had to grab was my bag, prepacked the night before with clothes, some snacks, and a couple other bits I found around I figured would be useful. Can opener, Swiss army knife, just basics. I stopped by the fridge and grabbed the two bottles of water that were actually there. Dammit, not ideal in terms of supplies. I returned to Mom's room, glaring when I found her and the strange, blonde man embracing.

“Hey,” I snapped, drawing startled gazes. “The fuck are you doing? We have--” I was interrupted as Endbringer sirens started wailing. “--no time.” Their eyes widened and they quickly scrambled to get dressed.

I rolled my eyes and waited by the front door, watching as people began stumbling from their homes. I checked my phone and noted the location that it was directing me too. Even though I didn't know Brockton Bay, Amelia had lived here all her life. I knew it was just a fifteen minute walk, though with the crowds that would be there...

No, it would be fine. Leviathan hadn't made landfall, hell his storm hadn't even reached us yet. If I left the house right now and really ran, I could probably make it to the beach before the first wave hit even. But I wouldn't, not this time. After another minute, standing and tapping my foot, watching more people run by the house, I was finally joined by my mom and whoever her hookup was.

“Let's go,” I said flatly, opening the door. I was stopped by a hand on my arm and stiffened.

“We're going to be okay, Amelia,” Mom said softly. It would be reassuring if...

“Yeah, we will be,” I agreed quickly, pulling away. “But only if we get to the Endbringer shelter.” I saw her face grow pale and she nodded. Hopefully that got it through her head.

We walked quickly down the road, jogging as rain began to fall, then running the last three blocks as it became a monsoon. Fortunately we made it, and the guys running the shelter were competent enough to have the crowd we got stuck in inside fairly quickly. I was still soaked, as were my things probably, but that was small potatoes.

We were directed to a trio of beds on the upper level of the shelter, still well below-ground. That was better, frankly. If the pumps failed I really didn't want to chance drowning again. Just yesterday I'd woken up with a gurgling scream from a dream I remembered nothing of, but the feeling of water filling my lungs. I shivered. At least I wouldn't need to go through that again.

The shelter began rumbling and people cried out around me. It felt like an earthquake, a mild one but still. The first wave had hit. Right now, the heroes and villains defending the city had just teleported from their building and were recovering. I knew Taylor was clearing her mask, trying not to waterboard herself with sodden silk.

How long until the second wave hit? I forced myself to relive what I could remember of the two fights. After teleporting...well, the first time I'd been in the thick of it, working as a detached part of the fighting. Huh, a ravelin. I hadn't exactly been fighting, but was definitely in the...splash zone, such as it was.

Things had seemed to rush by, time melting as if washed away by the rain. There wasn't a great indicator for when it hit, since one second I'd been scrambling to keep up, the next bolting for the cover of Ravelin's shield. Not that it did me any good when the wave actually hit...

What about the second time? I'd been sort of blindly following Taylor, since she lived. Obviously I hadn't, so her luck didn't exactly extended to me. That time too had passed quickly, but was maybe five, ten minutes at most? That felt right. I checked my watch and sighed, a useless gesture since I hadn't checked the time when the first wave hit.

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I glanced back and saw Mom clinging to her...boyfriend, I guess? He seemed to be comforting her just fine, though his face was ashen. He saw me looking and offered a feeble, trembling smile. I gave him a small smile back and a thumbs up, which he returned with a mildly confused look. Well...whatever. He was just some guy anyway.

I sighed and turned back. The shelter began rumbling again, far worse than last time. A roar passed overhead, drawing more screams from the people inside. I couldn't deny that my stomach flipped too as what had to be the second tidal wave struck us. I didn't hear the sound of buckling metal or water pouring in, so we were fine at least.

Tremendous crashes echoed outside, each fresh one drawing a new round of shrieks. I quickly made the sign of the cross, right to left, and knit my fingers together, squeezing til they were bone white. I wasn't exactly religious anymore but...it helped.

The sounds of battle outside seemed to quiet for a little while, and low murmurs began to fill the air around me. Had he already been beaten? Surely not, it couldn't be over that fast after the second wave. Not that I had a point of reference beyond a web serial I read years ago and not since. God dammit. There was definitely more to the fight.

Oh, he'd probably been frozen. Right. And Trickster was rescuing Clockblocker, Krieg was penning in the Endbringer, and Armsmaster was preparing to do something really stupid. The relative quiet was allowing me a moment to actually think and...huh, Taylor was right there wasn't she? Could she and Clockblocker have done something like with Echidna? Setting up a trap while he was frozen like this would be...would that work?

No way to test it, sadly. It figured, the time I actually thought of something that could maybe work I was in a position that made testing impossible. Well whatever, it was a good idea and I'd have to keep it in mind for the future. After all, its first use was in the future...relatively. No one had come up with it yet, though it wouldn't be too long.

I flinched as a tremendous rumble ran through the shelter, accompanied by more screams. What the fuck was this? It was far worse than the presumed waves had been, and growing stronger. My stomach dropped as I heard a thunderous 'crack' and looked up just in time to get a face-full of dirty, brackish water.

The shelter had been breached.

Shrieks and panic consumed the room, with dozens rising from their bed and fleeing deeper into the shelter. I shook my head and rose, running to where I saw half a dozen men in orange jackets grabbing pre-filled sandbags from storage. I joined them, wordlessly helping as they began to shore up the leaking walls of the bunker.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, whatever that had been was far worse than just a tidal wave. And how the hell had it got though? I guess 'Endbringer-proof' didn't mean much when they broke physics so casually. Injured people were rushed past us to beds further back in the room, while the group of sandbaggers grew around me.

It was pointless. We were already ankle deep up here, and water was cascading down to the lower levels. The flow of people reversed and the level I was working on became more crowded. A flood of water suddenly rushed into the room from the main door, drawing a series of cries. For my part, I started running sandbags back and forth between the store and the entrance.

“Everybody out!” a commanding voice called. I looked up and saw...Victoria? No, her costume was different. Laserdream then...probably.

People began filing past me and I stepped aside to clear the way, breathing slowly to recover from wading through rapidly flowing water with twenty pound bags of dirt. Fuck this body wasn't cut out for this and...why was I tired when the projection took the weight? Obviously I was missing something, no surprise there.

Suddenly, the flow of people reversed with a chorus of screams. One struck me, despite my not actually being in the doorway, and fell to the ground. No one noticed as they trampled him, and if I tried to help I'd just make things worse. An immovable rock in a panicked river of water and civilians...yeah no.

Then, suddenly, he was inside. Leviathan's tail lashed out and blood coloured the water for a second before being swept away. A clawed hand swung, tearing a man in half and crushing his wife. One of the Endbringer's baleful, glowing eyes turned on me and I shivered. I braced myself, shutting my eyes as his clawed hand struck out to send me onto my fourth life.

Donk.

The noise was so unexpected that my eyes flew open. I shut them again as I saw his arm swing towards me, holding still. Donk. I forced myself to look as the Endbringer struck me again, willing myself to not flinch as sweat beaded on my forehead. Donk. His fist stopped, literally touching me, before drawing back too quickly for me to feel. The water echo struck too, though didn't really feel different than the water cascading from above. What? How?

The questions were cut off as his fingers wrapped around my body, pinning my arms in place. I very nearly threw up as he dragged me out the door, practically flew up the stairs, and threw me into an overturned van. I hit it and it folded around me as I just prayed for my projection to somehow continue protecting me.

The wreckage of the van trapped me, until I thought about moving with myself and my projection. The frame, it seemed, wasn't rated for parahumans. Steel buckled around me as I walked out from the wrecked machine, somehow unscathed. I looked down and found my sweats and hoodie were write-offs. I pulled them off, the beaten clothing simply falling away as it was torn to pieces.

I took a step towards Leviathan, but he was far faster. Without a sound, he grabbed me again, lifted me into the air, and slammed me down under the water that flooded the streets. He froze, and first I thought Clockblocker got him again. My eyes widened and I realized that, unharmed as I was, I couldn't breathe. I thrashed desperately as my lungs began to burn and choked as a mouthful of water entered my mouth. No no no, not again not again not aga