56

Date

2011 February 23rd - Tuesday - Earth Bet Time

Director James Tagg had been having an okay day until he got the unfortunate news that the Simurgh was heading right at the Madison quarantine zone. Due to ingrained paranoia and adequate preparations, he could immediately give a few orders to his men, and they began a well-practiced retreat from the quarantine zone.

Though he made sure a few people with megaphones yelled the information to the people who still lived in the ruins.

They immediately abandoned the bunkers and buildings built next to the zone, judging to be too close to the attack. Instead, they retreated to a spot a few dozen miles from Madison toward Milwaukee.

When he was assigned to this hellhole, he made sure to survey the surroundings, making sure to know every small and big escape route, or spot that can be used in case of emergency. And he made sure his men were aware of it too. One never knew with that bitch, Simurgh.

The temporary HQ tent was already up and filled with people handling various equipment, setting up communications, and other devices when he arrived.

"Report!" he exclaimed.

One of his men joined him shortly from somewhere, holding a sizeable tablet. He saluted before speaking.

"Director. Evacuation is complete. Observation equipment is functional. Several people tried to scale the walls, but the automated defenses took care of them," reported the man in a neutral tone.

"Good. How about the white bitch?"

"According to Dragon, everything between fifteen to five minutes. It has been behaving weirdly in this attack…"

"This whole attack is weird as hell!" he said in an angry tone. "Very well, start the setup of our artillery, I want to ready to fire in five!" The other man nodded, prodded the tablet a few times, then looked back at the Director, awaiting further orders. "How about the arrival site for the parahumans?" he asked with a slight distaste.

If he could have, he would have handled the entire event with the might of the American army. Sadly, despite his dissatisfaction and repeated requests, he was time and time again denied. Still, one day, they would realize he was right, and then he would excise the rot that infested his country.

"Site 47 was set aside for teleporter arrival; Lieutenant Johns is already there with a welcoming team," said the man, unaware of his superior's thoughts, or just ignoring it.

"Good. ETA on that?" he asked, while idly watching as two soldiers lugged in an enormous screen and began to set it up.

"Teleporter arrival any minute. Rest are arriving in thirty minutes by Dragon transport."

"Figures… Call me if this is done," he said while motioning around him. "I will be in the observation tower."

He was in one of the taller guard towers set up on top of a nearby hill, holding a very high-tech binocular, when he heard his radio come alive.

"Director! It's coming!"

"Preparations?" he said as calmly as possible while turning in the direction from where they expected the Endbringer to arrive. It wouldn't do for the soldier to see their leader be anything but a bastion of calmness.

"Artillery is ready, Sir! Alexandria is in the tent. The parahumans at Site 47 are preparing to head out. The rest are 15 minutes out!"

"Good! Send out an alert. I want everybody to be ready! I will be back in a second."

"Yes, Sir!" replied the man, and the radio fell silent.

Tagg raised his binoculars and scanned the rapidly darkening sky. It only took him a few seconds to find the flying terror, her stark white feathers standing out against the backdrop of the red sky. He watched it for a few seconds, but he did not see the anomalous behavior.

Was it something in Canberra that caused it?

He didn't know, and he hated the fact.

With a disgusted huff, he turned around and began climbing down the tower.

Alexandria stood in the middle of the tent that was at the center of activity and watched the arrival of the Simurgh on a giant screen. A second time today.

It was a really eerie feeling.

What had caused it? Was it something in Canberra? Or maybe the construct Dragon created? Or was this simply a novel way to torment them? Would the other Endbringers do the same thing? And would Contessa ever answer her messages, because this silence was getting suspicious…

Her frustration was only eclipsed by Eidolon's anger, though at least, thanks to her inhuman control, she could hide it. Eidolon, however, had found himself alone, with no one brave enough to go near him.

She watched as Tagg returned, his guards taking up a place next to the tent door.

"Alexandria," he greeted her in his usual gruff tone.

"Director Tagg," she returned neutrally. While she didn't like the man, it was not a good time to play games. "Are you also here to watch the landing?"

The director just grunted, while turning towards the same screen.

Both of them stared at it, not daring to look away, in fear of missing something, while around them PRT personnel and the few Thinkers who managed to hitch a ride on a teleporter were running around, trying to take care of everything.

The screen showed the Simurgh flying towards the zone, completely ignoring the defenders. Thanks to the drones, floodlights, and observational post his men managed to set up. No matter where it went, they always had a clear picture of it. And thanks to some kind of Tinker bullshit, not even the rapidly approaching night was a problem.

As Simurgh began to descend, she heard a yell behind them. "Director, Dragon is here, Channel 7!"

She used her helmet to change over the channel, and glanced at the Director, wondering what he would do.

"Dragon," began the man, his voice still gruff and more than angry. "What are you bringing to this party?"

"Director Tagg," greeted him the woman. "I'm currently deploying shield and S&R drones, and a Titan-class mech is already ready to drop as soon as the Simurgh touches down."

"Hmm. Will that work?"

"I hope so."

Tagg just snorted in answer. "I assume you know how to link to our equipment?" he asked, while still staring as the Simurgh theatrically flared out her wings, and touched down in the middle of the zone. If she saw it correctly on another screen, it was exactly in the middle of the zone.

"Yes, Director," came the calm voice from one of the speakers in the room, spooking several people. "Simurgh arrived. Beginning of Titan-class mech drop. Please make sure to avoid the impact site."

On one of the screens, she could see the same giant mech she also saw at Canberra, heading for one of the parks of Madison.

How many of these things had she made?

Cursing her momentary distraction, she returned her attention to the main screen. There she could see the Endbringer dramatically raise her hands, her wings splayed out around her, while something began to rise in the air from the ruins.

"What are those?" she asked.

Instead of getting an answer, the screen automatically zoomed in, though she suspected it was Dragon who was doing it.

The sight that came into focus chilled her blood.

It was technology.

Everything from car motors, toasters to unidentified device remains, was floating towards her.

She was building something.

That was not good.

Especially because Madison was home to the remains of several Tinker tech devices housed in the old vault, and several of them were capable of facilitating the travel between dimensions.

The last time she had access to that technology she wrought untold damage, so she was wondering what she would do with it now…

Would she use the same technology, or was she after something else that was left in the vault?

She was broken out of her thoughts by a yell from one of the stations. "Sir, no Scream!"

"What?" exclaimed the man still standing next to her. "Confirm it."

"We did, sir. Legend even did a flyby. No Scream."

She ignored the cursing next to her as she watched the flying debris began to accumulate in front of the Endbringer in a ball. She could see metal twisting and moving about, slotting into places; devices breaking and joining.

"Right, I think it's time to do something about this."

And with that, she strode out the tent and flew up the sky intent on stopping whatever plan the Simurgh concocted.

"Dragon, ready to start?"

"Yes, Alexandria. Initiating contact in ten seconds." Came the prompt reply from the AI. And despite the situation, Alexandria couldn't help but get excited at the thought of a giant mech duking out with the Endbringer.

Legend was pretty sure he wasn't alone, being awestruck as he watched the giant dragon-themed construct rose slightly in the air, silently, and fly towards the Endbringer with incredible speed. He suspected if it had enough space to speed up, it would have even broken the sound barrier.

He watched as the robot struck the Endbringer, generating a giant boom and dust cloud. He could hear several people cry out in fright and even some in pain due to the sound.

"Hold attack until the dust settles," came the order from Tagg, through his communicator.

It only took a few seconds to dust settle enough to see if Dragon managed to strike the tech ball that the Simurgh was building.

However, to his immense disappointment, he saw the Endbringer standing with her back towards the mech, her numerous wings acting as a wall. A second later came the confirmation from Dragon.

"Unsuccessful first strike. Simurgh turned around."

"Attack is a go. Primary target is the ball it is building. Currently no Scream, so no time limit." came from Tagg, and he already could see several parahumans heading for their target.

He sighed at their impatience, closed his eyes, trying to center himself for a few seconds, then he also headed for the Endbringer.

Tagg watched as Dragon's awe-inspiring mechanical construct struck the Endbringer again and again, just for the Endbringer to react insanely fast and turn their back to it. This caused every attack, be it physical or plasma, fire or even simple weapon fire from the construct to dissipate against the feathers of the monster.

It was extremely frustrating watching it. Though at least the mech managed to get a hit on it, not like the parahumans. The Simurgh simply danced between their attacks, causing them to miss or sometimes even hit each other or the mechanical construct.

Every attack aimed at the still moving, and churning ball of technology was blocked by its hands, or by a parahuman, who flew through the space at exactly the incorrect time.

The only good news was that it wasn't using the Scream, and it was concentrating so much on the construction that nobody died yet.

"Carjack down AD-5, Current down AD-5," came another notification.

"What happened?" he barked out, his eyes still on the screen.

"Apparently Carjack found a gas canister, threw it at the Ball, and Current detonated it. Simurgh threw the entire thing back at them," came from somewhere in the room. "Dragon's drones have already retrieved them."

He snorted, then had an idea. "Somebody send a message to Piggot, it's time she does something useful instead of whining about her budget. Tell her to send over Panacea and whoever is not cowering under their beds."

"Yes, Sir."

No matter what they did, what he did, nothing worked. Not even Dragon's stupidly powerful mech. Every laser he fired missed or hit one of the parahumans, making him scale down their lethality, or if they went near the Ball, it hit a piece exactly the right place to break it or fuse it to another.

It was beyond frustrating.

And he could see, and almost feel in the air, that the others were feeling the same way. The notifications kept coming, though thankfully nobody died, and they kept shooting, but nothing was accomplished.

Dragon's transports were a few minutes out with the rest of the force who volunteered to come help from Australia, but he doubted they would be any help.

"This is Director Tagg," came from his communicator, the Director's gruff voice still as calm as at the beginning. "Leave the area. Artillery fire in 30 seconds. Those that have ranged attack fire on mark."

Blanketing the area was not the best option, but maybe it would work. He grimaced at imaging what the people were going through on the ground, but he had no time to help them. Dragon told him, when he brought this up on the way here, that she would have her drones look for them and protect them, so he would just trust her.

"15 seconds."

He flew higher while watching as several fliers picked up their earthbound counterparts, while several other fliers mimicked him.

"This is Dragon. I will attempt to restrain it."

He watched as the black mech charged at the Endbringer, trampling several ruins further into the ground, with its arms wide open.

"5"

He charged up his hand with a laser that would melt the metal in Ball, and he could see several ominous glows around the other fliers, who were also preparing their best shot.

"4"

Several hundred small drones rose into the air, most of them illuminated by the glow of the shield they were projecting. Probably to contain the explosion.

"3"

A giant coruscating virulent-green globe appeared over Eidolon's head, who was standing in the air with both of his arms raised, visibly strained. It started out as the size of a child and quickly grew big enough that several adult men could stand in it comfortably.

"2"

Dragon's construct began to move towards the Simurgh, ready to restrain it.

"1"

He glanced around, and he could see the worry etched onto the faces on people's faces.

Maybe he should have done another speech?

"Fire!"

And with that he let go of the energy suffusing his hand, watching almost in slow motion as it, and countless other projectiles, headed for the mysterious ball that the Endbringer was building.

He could also hear the sound of artillery fire in the distance, while Dragon moved with incredible speed to envelop the false angel in a deadly hug.

As soon as his laser neared its target, time sped up again, and he was blinded as the myriad of projectiles hit, instantly joined by deafening explosions as the artillery shells hit, obscuring the scene.