88

Date

2011 May 15th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

As Taylor approached the Triumvirate, she beheld the bustling crowd of people preparing for the Leviathan's arrival around the freshly built wooden buildings. The crowd was interspersed with draconic robots, and she could even see a few that resembled Armsmaster.

Over the heads of everyone, one lone drone hovered in one place, projecting four screens around it, which only contained a countdown.

00:11:39

Good, she still had some time.

Slowly, while waving to a few people who spotted her, approached the three famous heroes and some of her personal idols. Not Eidolon anymore, but Alexandria was still cool, and even more with the sword she got at the Battle of Ellisburg.

Eidolon was simply glaring at the ocean as if hoping that his gaze would destroy the approaching Endbringer, while completely ignoring her.

Alexandra simply gave her a respectful nod, while Legend gave her a full smile and greeted her properly.

"Hello, Lux Arcana, thank you for coming."

"Hello Legend, Alexandria, Eidolon. It's not like I could let that bastard destroy my city."

Taylor ignored Eidolon's quiet scoff and glanced at the clock.

00:10:15

Legend continued without breaking a stride, though he gave Eidolon a reproachful look.

"I will be holding a speech as usual. It will be in the middle of the preparation area, under the clock drone. Until then, you can mingle with the others."

Taylor just shook her head softly.

"I'm sorry, Legend, but I won't be attending that."

"Oh, why not?" asked Legend, with a small frown. Then he cracked a small smile. "Am I that boring to the younger people?"

"No, no! Nothing like that," replied Taylor hastily. "I'm just planning to head out, and delay the Leviathan so that you can organize everybody properly."

There was a brief silence as the three older heroes processed that.

"What?" growled Eidolon, his attention fully on her. "You think you can defeat it…"

"Eidolon!" snapped Alexandria, cutting off whatever Eidolon was about to say. "Let's listen to the woman."

Though Taylor was thankful to the older woman, it felt terrible that she could hear the disbelief in Alexandria's voice. Clearly, the heroine was just humoring her for some reason.

Well, so be it…

"I talked it over with Dragon, and we have run a few simulations," she stated, trying to sound as confident as possible. "We think, that I can hold it off at least ten minutes at worst."

"And at best?" asked Legend curiously.

She shrugged while giving a smile that was obscured by her mask, then turned around to head off. She notified them, and that was enough.

As she launched off the platform, leaving the Triumvirate staring at her, Alexandria contemplatively, Legend in surprise and Eidolon angrily, she heard a small 'oh' from Legend, as he realized what she meant.

00:09:17

She ascended a little higher, then stopped to access the data about the Endbringer on her mask screen. And upon finding the rapidly moving red dot on the map, she tagged it, took a deep breath, and launched herself towards it at high speed, leaving behind her telltale flash, making people wonder why she had left.

With the speed she was flying, it took her barely a second to leave the air space above Brockton Bay.

The sun was shining brightly over the ocean, and while she could see the rapidly congregating storm clouds, the rest of the sky was barely covered with a few whips of white fluffs.

According to her display, she was halfway there when Tess contacted her.

"Hello, Lux."

Her friend's voice was the same calm she was used to, but she could feel the worry emanating from it.

"Hey, Dragon."

In case the recordings of the conversation were ever requested, they made sure to keep it to codenames, and not to talk about anything sensitive.

"Nice day for flying, eh?"

"Lux… "

"Fine," she replied with a pout. "What's up?"

"Leviathan is still heading for the city. My calculations put its target as the new industrial complex. I will add the optimal interception coordinates to your display."

Taylor clenched her fist at the thought of the monster destroying Tess's and her father's hard work.

"Thanks."

There was a brief pause, as she slightly corrected her heading based on the new route displayed on the screen before Tess continued.

"Lux, this is the last chance to back out. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Don't worry, Dragon. I got this!" replied Taylor, trying to inject some levity into the conversation. Though inwardly she was also worried. It was one thing to know that she was capable of destroying the Endbringer, and actually going up against a monster that made the world cower in terror for more than a decade.

"Very well. Good luck, Lux, and please be careful."

"Will do, Dragon."

With that, she cut the communication and focused on the sight in front of her.

There was a slight bulge in the water, heading straight for Brockton Bay with impressive speeds. So, she sped up, and enveloped herself with lightning, while turning on all her protective powers in a well-practiced motion.

Time to show the overgrown lizard who was the best!

Date

2011 May 15th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Amy puttered around the medical tent as nurses, doctors, and other healer parahumans walked around with hurried steps and worry on their faces. She could see some of the healers were sporting the same badge as she was, indicating they joined the Healer Union.

She ignored the fear in the air and made sure that her station was ready and then spent a bit of time making sure that the walls and buildings she erected were not going to collapse.

She knew that this entire thing was just a play to give hope to people or something equally ridiculous, so she wasn't that worried. It was the exact opposite. Thanks to her membership in the new Union, she was going to be paid handsomely by the government for participating in the fight.

True, it was little less because it was her home city and she didn't have to travel anywhere, but the money that she would receive and the back pay that the Union arranged for her from the hospitals, would ensure that the moment she hit the magical number 18, she would be able to buy a nice home for herself. Preferably as far away from Carol as possible.

She was about to head out to watch Legend's speech when Dragon's voice came through all the speakers, gaining everybody's attention.

"Leviathan is still approaching the city. ETA in 298 seconds. Please be aware that Lux Arcana flew ahead to stall the Endbringer."

The background noise instantly increased as everybody began discussing it, looking rather excited, with a few pessimist exceptions. She could even see a few people crying, declaring Lux Arcana a hero for sacrificing herself…

Scoffing, instead of going out of the building, she returned to her station, took out her tablet, and tuned in to one of Dragon's drones that had an overview of the battle.

Just because she thought this entire thing was stupid didn't mean she wanted to miss the fight of the decade.

Date

2011 May 15th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Alexandria watched as the young woman flew away and turned to Eidolon.

"Don't mind her. If she wants to try to stall it, then let her. This is different from Ellisburg, but I doubt she would be killed. Let's use whatever time she grants us and improve the situation here."

Legend nodded worriedly, while Eidolon just growled and began power walking towards the podium that Panacea created for the speech.

"Maybe a therapist…"

"What?"

Legend smiled slightly.

"His attitude towards Lux. Maybe a therapist could help?"

"Good luck with that…"

Legend opened his mouth to answer, his eyes alight with good humor, but the sound was drowned out by an earth-shattering explosion and bright flash in the distance, as lightning met with water.

Ignoring the frightened cries of the assembled people, she focused on the battle happening out on the open ocean.

Water was raining down after being ejected into the air thanks to the impact, so it took her a second to find the tiny figure enveloped in cheerful yellow lightning as it darted around the Endbringer as it practically danced around on top of the roiling ocean.

She watched for a few seconds as Lux punched with her hands, sending missiles of thick lightning at the Endbringer, who either dodged or tanked them while retaliating with its own water projectiles.

"Leviathan stopped its approach. Please, everyone, hold and continue preparations until Lux Arcana disengages."

The moment Dragon finished her announcement, the screen previously showing the countdown enlarged and began showing in high quality the fight between Lux Arcana and Leviathan.

While she watched as the people began congregating to groups to watch and cheer on Lux, she suddenly felt that something wasn't right. It wasn't her power or anything like that. Simply, her gut told her that something was amiss with the entire situation.

Unfortunately, she doubted she could figure it out without Dragon noticing her.

Maybe after the event…

For now, she made sure to take everything in to remember for later and began heading for one of the screens. After all, if she doesn't have to fight for now, why not enjoy it in comfort?

Date

2011 May 15th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Ethan was assigned to a station around the southern part of the wall currently protecting the city as the violent waves generated by the fight between the second Endbringer and Lux Arcana. He and Sherry only applied for search and rescue, so he didn't mind he wasn't at the central location, and Dragon was nice enough to provide them with a drone that projected everything that was happening in such a high quality, that he made a note to ask for one from Dragon if he survived.

Though, as he watched Lux Arcana dance around the impossibly fast water echo, while simultaneously latching onto the skin of the Endbringer with some kind of lightning whip and ripping off a good chunk of it, he doubted his life was in much danger.

He still maintained his vigilance, as Leviathan could do the same as Simurgh and do something off the wall, but he was still much more relaxed than when he heard the sirens.

Sherry was standing next to him, holding his hand in a death grip, while worriedly watching as Lux pummeled Leviathan, who then retaliated by summoning a giant wave, probably trying to drown the heroine.

He squeezed her hand in reassurance, and when she turned towards him, Ethan gave her a smile, before he turned his attention back to the screen rooting for the young woman.

He was about to join the people yelling out encouragement when he heard a commotion from the entrance of the building where they were stationed.

Ethan turned towards it, wondering who was stupid enough to cause trouble when to his astonishment, saw the half-naked, metal masked figure of Lung striding into the room. The man, not even breaking a stride, walked over to probably the most comfortable chair in the room then grunted threateningly.

The parahuman occupying the chair immediately jumped up and retreated, looking worried. Lung ignored the man, then simply sat down in the chair and focused his attention on the screen.

Ethan and Sherry exchanged a befuddled look, but then shrugged.

The Truce was in effect, so why not?

Date

2011 May 15th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Danny was sitting on the edge of the couch, holding a bottle of water, refusing to drink anything alcoholic while his little girl fought that monster. At first, he only had access to the news channels, as after the Battle of Ellisburg he refused to watch from his daughter's point of view the battle. He wasn't chancing a heart attack just because he was curious. Later, when he already knew the outcome, he would sit down and watch the recordings. For now, he was not happy but satisfied to watch the events through the cameras of the news channels.

The news first covered the walls that young Amy erected, praising the young parahuman, also talking briefly about the Healer Union, before Dragon arrived with her robot army, and the news refocused on them and the shields they projected.

Then there was a review of the command center that Amy set up, a brief introduction of the participating parahumans before the news people were warned that if they didn't want to chance it, they should be leaving.

The woman doing the interviews on the channel he was watching was about to climb back into the helicopter when everything was shaken by a giant explosion.

The helicopter immediately took off, getting to a distance, while the cameraman tried to get a rather shaky picture of the action.

However, the nausea-inducing video was exchanged abruptly a few seconds later for a much cleaner and stable video, the captions helpfully informing him that Dragon was providing it, where he could see the unmistakable form of his precious daughter engaged in a deathly dance with Leviathan.

Danny's grip on the bottle tightened, almost crushing it, but he didn't take his eyes off the screen as he watched her daughter.

Date

2011 May 15th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

As Dragon's stream began to gain traction, and more and more people tuned in on the television or the internet, the world watched with bated breath as one young woman fought the monster of the oceans.

Countless people all over the world cheered as Lux Arcana dodged the swipe of Leviathan, booed as the monster simply shrugged off the attacks originating from the young parahuman, regrowing the destroyed skin in a matter of seconds.

They watched astonished as the already fast fight began to speed up, sometimes only showing flashes of light as whatever Lux Arcana fired off hit home or giant water explosions that obscured the screen after the Leviathan did something reality-defying with the water under it.

The world, as one, held their breath, waiting for the seemingly stalemate to change.