89

Date

2011 May 15th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Despite the situation, despite the knowledge of what she was fighting, and despite knowing if she failed there would be hell to pay, Taylor strangely enjoyed herself.

In the end, fighting in the virtual world was nothing like fighting in the actual world. In virtual reality, she always knew that it was a simulation, that it wasn't real, and if she failed she could just start anew.

Here, now, as she dodged the strikes of Leviathan's water echo, then blocked its actual body's attack with a quick lightning shield, Taylor knew, that one second of inattention, one mistake would spell her doom.

In response, she launched one of her attacks; the lightning spears waving through the water walls that the Endbringer raised from the ocean below them and found their way to its hide, creating a few craters that were already rapidly regenerating.

At first, her attacks were probing, trying to find the rhythm of the fight and to see if she might find a weak spot in the Endbringer's defense. But no, Leviathan reacted to every lightning spear, every lightning bomb, punch, or kick, and wasn't even slowed down by Taylor trying to blind it. And what it could not dodge, it tanked without issue.

Fortunately, the opposite was also true. No matter how much water it fired towards Taylor, she always dodged it. And even if the Endbringer landed a hit, it was rather ineffective thanks to all the defensive powers that were currently empowering Taylor.

They flashed across the ocean, going back and forth, striking each other, hoping to score a crippling hit while to the external observers it looked like two flashes going off all over in the distance.

Taylor evaded another high-speed spray of water that in the distance hit the shield protecting the city, causing it to shake, then summoned a giant beam of lightning at Leviathan.

The beam vaporized a good part of the ocean, and for a fraction of a second, there was a circular hole in the water. Before it filled in with great noise, Leviathan nowhere to be seen. Though Taylor could feel the Endbringer move under the water.

The next second it launched itself out of the water at Taylor hovering in the air, bringing with it a truly enormous amount of water littered with rocks from the seabed. She could even see a half-crumpled form of an old trawler.

Upon a closer inspection, she could see that the Leviathan's hind leg was nowhere to be seen. It seems her giant fuck-you beam (she got the idea from Admin) was partially successful. Though she knew that to truly kill it, she would need to hit the core, but that could have been accomplished with a Sting-powered blitz at the beginning (whatever Sting was because Admin refused to elaborate). All she was doing now, was putting on a play to all the people watching: yes, there is a parahuman strong enough to kill an Endbringer, and humanity would not be beholden to their whims anymore.

Taylor slid to the side, allowing the giant projectile of water, debris, and Endbringer to sail past her before she abruptly turned and fired chains made of lightning after it, binding it.

The chains first bound the remaining limb, then slithered around the entire body, crisscrossing it. While it bound the monster, the chains also burned its hide. The sizzling noise it made was rather disconcerting.

Despite the chains, the Leviathan didn't stop, so Taylor felt a small tug, then she was flying after the Endbringer that was trying to get her to let go like a demented bull, while she was trying to use her own power to stop the rampaging Leviathan.

It must have looked ridiculous from the outside.

With a small curse, she finally gave up stopping the monster, just with her flying power, and let the chain go. She watched with satisfaction that as soon as the counterforce vanished, Leviathan accelerated even more, putting some distance between them.

So, Taylor with a thought directed even more energy into the chain-shaped construct, and when she deemed it enough, detonated it.

There was a blinding flash, and when that cleared up, the second Endbringer was lying on the water, its face aimed at her, with what she would swear was anger, and with none of the limbs and its entire body scarred by the exploding chains.

Taking this opportunity, she began charging up another lightning beam.

However, the Leviathan didn't allow her to complete it. The dark clouds that had been creeping every slowly towards the city suddenly opened up and a hail of biblical proportion began pelting her, with each raindrop acting like a bullet.

She used the charged energy for the beam to create a shield while Leviathan used its water echo to replace its missing limbs with water and launch itself towards Taylor.

Taylor summoned her spear and meet the Endbringer under the rumbling, by now pitch-black clouds.

The impact of claw on metal could be heard from miles.

Date

2011 May 15th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Colin sat next to one of Dragon's gynoid bodies in a fully upgraded armor and was watching on several screens the fight between Lux Arcana and Leviathan, while another group of monitors was showing the integrity of the shields.

The edge of the torrential rain, that the Endbringer summoned, reached the shields, and the kinetic energy of the raindrops was enough to drain the shields somewhat, so he was helping Dragon to monitor it, though he knew that next to an AI he probably was almost useless.

One lone monitor was showing the status of the fighters. Currently, it only had a list of people who ventured into the rain for some reason and got wounded by it. The rest were watching, spellbound on the giant projected screens as Lux Arcana 'stalled' the Leviathan.

Seeing as the young parahuman damaged the thing more than anybody over the years, he was pretty sure they were way past stalling.

Reading one of the outputs, he called out to Dragon while not taking his eyes off the fight.

"It seems, you were right. That speed is way past anything it has shown. My predictive algorithm would have been too slow to adjust."

"We long have theorized that the Endbringers are sandbagging," replied Dragon in a calm voice. "it seems we finally have evidence for it. The rain alone has enough kinetic energy to level a small town. A normal human would have been reduced to a paste if hit by it."

Colin grimaced at the mental picture.

"Will your shields be alright?"

"Yes. I had to adjust the energy distribution to avoid overload, but if only the edge of the rain hits us then everything will be alright."

"And if the full force?"

There was a moment of silence. As Colin suspected, Dragon calculated the results.

"Half an hour at maximum strength. It seems I have to further improve them for the next fight…"

Colin just sighed.

"I will forward the information to the Thinkers."

Dragon nodded, and while he began speaking with one of the Thinkers, she watched as lightning surrounded Lux Arcana's spear and it increased in size. When it reached three times the size of the young woman wielding it, she began to slash and with incredible speed and released crescents of lightning energy at the Endbringer.

Date

2011 May 15th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Using her trusty spear, she met every claw strike, every swing of the Leviathan's tail, while dodging increasingly faster and stronger blasts of water. Some of them were so fast, that she suspected if Leviathan would have stopped using its power to hold it together, and liquid state, just the heat generated from the friction with the air would have evaporated them.

At the same time, the rain from the storm clouds kept coming, and Leviathan kept launching water and debris from the direction of the ocean.

Dancing and waving through these projectiles while also defending against direct strike and trying to strike back at the Endbringer was taxing, but not impossible. It was a pity that no matter how many clones she made, the monster never mistook it for the real Taylor. And also, sadly, because of their nature, if she wasn't directly controlling them, then they would be quickly destroyed by the deluge of projectiles.

She had played with bullet-hell games that had fewer projectiles…

Having enough, while parrying a strike, Taylor concentrated for a second, then released an omnidirectional blast of lightning, granting her a few seconds of peace.

She used the time to gather a larger amount of power.

But this time, she didn't aim at the monster, but at the sky.

Date

2011 May 15th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Danny watched the battle with his heart constantly hammering away in his chest. The visuals were astounding, and the commentators had long since had run out of things to talk about. So, now on most of the channels, they were simply showing as Lux Arcana fought the Endbringer.

The few times the channels cut to the commentators, he could see hope mixed with fear. Because while nobody even brought up the possibility, based on how the fight was going on, there was an unspoken expectation of Taylor winning against the beast.

He watched as there was a brilliant flash around Taylor before his daughter reappeared for a moment and he could make out her armored figure before she glowed even brighter. He didn't even have time to wonder what was happening when a humongous blast of lightning was released from her, aimed at the sky.

It was like reverse lightning. However, instead of originating from the sky and striking the ground, it originated from the ground and struck the clouds.

There was a moment, then for a second, the previously ebony clouds lit up with otherworldly light, before being dispersed as a wave of lightning swept the sky clear for several miles.

The video being streamed stalled a little as if even the one recording it was surprised, then the channel cut back to the experts who began excitedly babbling about what happened.

He didn't care about that, so began cycling through the channels to find one where he could continue to watch the action, but apparently now that they had something to talk about, everybody wanted to do it.

Danny was getting angry when he noticed a red blinking notification on the screen. Activating, a clear and high-definition view of the fight with Dragon's logo in the right corner greeted him.

Marginally relaxing and making a note to thank the woman, he continued watching as his daughter fought while mumbling to himself.

"Come on, Taylor… you can do it!"

Date

2011 May 15th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

After successfully clearing up the sky, and stopping the annoying rain (while also leaving up a few lightning constructs that would stop any new cloud formation), she had to speed up, because Leviathan immediately pounced on her.

Ducking under the jumping Endbringer, she thrust her spear enveloped with lightning at the stomach of the monster, who instantly, with no apparent propulsion, tried to dodge upwards. So, the spear only cut a few inches deep into the stomach, to Taylor's disappointment.

If she could defeat the Endbringer without the use of Sting, then that would show Admin!

She didn't know what, but it would show him!

Looking at the timer, Taylor saw she had been fighting for close to half an hour. The agreement with Admin was that she would be trying to take out Endbringer the old-fashioned way, then she would try to be as dramatic as possible and use the Sting to take it out. Dramatically.

Sometimes, she suspected, Admin really enjoyed being dramatic.

Glancing at the countdown, she deflected another claw strike, then jumped slash flew over Leviathan, who was using its entire body to rush at her. A few lightning spears found their marks, leaving gashes on the Endbringer's back.

She had little time to think about it because the water echo was following closely, but this time it was separated enough from Leviathan that it followed her location change. Reflexively activating another lightning shield, she was momentarily blinded as the water echo struck her, then enveloped her.

Date

2011 May 15th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Watching Lux Arcana fight with the Leviathan was better than any monster movie. At least it would have been if it weren't for the very real threat of the Leviathan destroying another city.

Legend looked over the waiting crowd of parahumans, who were all huddled around the screen, or who had the ability were watching the fight with their own eyes, just as he was.

Several times, he almost joined the young parahuman, but every time he began moving, Dragon stopped him just as she stopped several others. Though, after a few people got pummeled by the rain (then got chewed out by Panacea) the number of people who tried to help Lux Arcana decreased significantly.

The only one seriously to try every few minutes was Eidolon, who was steadily getting frustrated. And this time, he couldn't even blame him. He was just as frustrated as his friend. Letting one young parahuman fight an Endbringer, while they stood there and watched as if they were in the movies?

He was better than that!

Reluctantly, however, he had to agree with Dragon's decision. Lux Arcana was not accustomed to fighting with any of them. Going in there would be just asking for deaths…

According to Dragon, the young heroine was perfectly capable of recognizing when her limits were reached (he kinda doubted that, but stayed silent out of respect) and would retreat if that came to pass.

Watching the fight, it took him a few seconds to realize that Alexandria was hovering next to him.

"What do you think?"

"Well, as far as stalling goes, it's a success."

It couldn't be seen because of the helmet, but he was pretty sure the woman was giving him a deadpan glare.

"Legend."

"Fine, fine. I think… maybe… She damaged it, but nothing extreme."

He was pretty sure Alexandria said something, but whatever it was, it was lost in the sound of an explosion as another flash illuminated the ocean. The next second, however, the entire wall and shield system shook, as something impacted it with a tremendous boom. He could hear car alarms going off, and saw some of the windows near the wall system broke.

Focusing on the spot of the impact, he could see Lux Arcana peeling herself off the force fields.

"Well, that must have hurt."

He prodded his armband a few times.

"Dragon, is Lux all right?"

"Yes, Legend. Internal sensors show no damage to Lux's body."

"That's good to hear, but I think it's prime time the rest of us join Lux Arcana in the fight."

"Lux Arcana agrees. Give her one attempt of attack, then you can join."

That surprised him. He expected the young parahuman to be dragged away from the fight with force.

"Good to hear. I will start preparing. Tell her: Good luck!"

"Will do, Legend."

Alexandria, next to him, nodded in satisfaction.

"Finally, I was getting bored."

He said nothing, just refocused his attention on the parahuman who stalled the Leviathan for half an hour with no damage to the actual target of the Endbringer. Not even Lung or they managed that.

He wondered what her last hurrah would be…

Date

2011 May 15th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Well, that showed her to pay more attention, defensive powers or no.

She shook herself and flew away from the shields she had impacted after Leviathan used his water echo to launch her into it. Her eyes immediately found the Endbringer, who was in a middle of a gigantic wave, surfing towards her home, its green asymmetric eyes shining with malice.

"Well, that's not good…"

Seeing as the countdown was finished, and she was out of time to destroy her target (a little harder when she had to think about collateral damage), Taylor reluctantly initiated the plan that Admin came up with.

She gathered up the power she had been using for the last few months and began concentrating like a motherfucker.

Date

2011 May 15th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Vicky was excited.

She wasn't aware of every facet of the plan, but she knew without a doubt that today an Endbringer will die. How that would happen, she didn't know, but she was looking forward to it.

Just in case, she made sure she was always near the medical building where her sister was, while her family was clustered near the wall, ready to fight the monster of the seas. Though there was a clear divide between Carol and the rest of the family. Not that obvious to an outsider, but to her, and probably to almost every Thinker present, it was clear as a day.

Vicky was hovering high over the medical building, in her uniform (remade by Taylor to be strong enough to protect her somewhat) resplendent in her new shiny tiara, gauntlets and greaves joined by her new (and very shiny) cuirass that she had wheedled Franky and Admin into providing her. More like Admin, because Franky was always up for helping her out.

Though she had to refuse the first iteration as it came out as some kind of fetish wear, with a cleavage slot big enough to see everything, even though Admin assured her it protected her as much as normal armor.

After some negotiation, they arrived at the current, historically accurate cuirass. While she trusted her shield, she wanted something else if it failed or somebody overpowered it.

She watched the entire fight as if she was sitting on pins (even though she was floating), cheering loudly when Taylor damaged the Leviathan and gasping or booing when she was hit by one of the attacks.

When Taylor was launched towards the wall her sister raised and hit it, she was beginning to worry.

Not much, as she knew her friend was built from stronger stuff, but she still worried.

She was about to fly higher to get a better view when her armband chirped and Dragon's smooth voice came through.

"This is a general warning. Lux Arcana is about to do a last run against the Leviathan. On the mark, those who wish to participate in the fight can fire at will. Legend will give the mark. Leviathan has created a giant wave, brace for impact if the attack isn't successful."

Vicky saw that people, who as of now were glued to the screens, began to feverishly prepare for the fight, but she was once again distracted by Taylor.

She began to glow with lightning, and as Vicky watched, she could see less and less of her friend's armored body, while Leviathan, riding the giant wave, came ever closer. The glow grew ever bigger until it was almost 50 feet, oval-shaped, like an egg. Then it changed, the lightning thinned at places, and thickened at other places, until at four points the lightning extended, making what Vicky realized was limbs, while the middle was transforming into a torso covered by armor, not dissimilar to hers, only it covered everything.

On the top of it was a knight's helmeted head, and while the entire thing was a mix of white and yellow lightning, with the yellow playing the job of accent, the eyes somehow shined golden with extreme intensity.

The limbs, which were also armored, hung lifelessly for a second. Then the entire thing spasmed as if given a shock, and then began moving as if it was somebody's actual body. Only 50 feet tall, and made of lightning.

Vicky was wondering what Taylor was planning with this super cool transformation when the gigantic body hunched over for a brief moment, and several masses of lightning erupted from the back.

They quickly formed into ten magnificent white and yellow feathery wings.

Gaping at the sight, Vicky watched dumbfounded as a copy of Taylor's spear appeared in the construct's hand, for some reason also made of lightning.

She was so going to bug Admin until she gets something similar…

Unfortunately, while the transformation only took a few seconds, it allowed Leviathan to get dangerously close to Brockton Bay with its gigantic wave.

The angelic construct flapped its wings, though Vicky suspected it was just for show (not that she minded, it looked super cool), then raised its spear, and launched itself at the wave and the Endbringer.

As the construct flew forward, the air in front of it and around it began to sparkle with lightning, extending to the width of the wave, as if Taylor intended to meet the wave of water with her own wave of lightning.

Vicky forced herself not to blink, as she didn't want to miss anything, and if the light seared her eyes out, well, then her sister could grow them back.

Then the next second the charging construct met with the incoming wave with a tremendous explosion. Despite wanting to witness everything, she had to shield her eyes from the blinding explosion, and even stabilize herself as the shock wave buffeted her and the rest of the parahumans flying in the air.

When she looked back, she was astonished. At the same time came the announcement from Dragon.

"Leviathan down."

Taylor's construct was holding the Endbringer on its spear, while the wave was nowhere to be seen. The spear hit the Endbringer in the middle, as if it tried to dodge it but didn't manage it fully. On its back, as Leviathan hung from the spear, still spasming a little, and she could see the top of the spear protruding.

There was a beat of silence, then the construct grabbed the spear with both hands, and swung the spear with Leviathan on it towards the wall system.

The Endbringer cleanly detached from the spear, and a second later impacted the wall with a dull thud and fell to the muddy beach.

She could see one of its legs kick a few times before going still.

"Leviathan deceased."