Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works; all other characters and worlds belong to their respective owners. I'm just playing with them.
Betad by Marethyu, Beans, Priapus, Mike God of Lore, Old man of the mountain, Malcolm Tent
The Guild of Gamers: The Gambler
Chapter 15: New York
– Rebecca Costa-Brown (Alexandria) –
Never before had they had an Endbringer attack so soon after another attack. Never before had two Endbringers shown up at the same target. They were in utterly unknown territory and everyone knew it as she looked around the gathering capes.
Sett was a godsend, opening portals all over the world as they brought in more and more reinforcements. Despite his laid-back, happy-go-lucky attitude, his face was set in stone as he focused on the task at hand.
His pillars were carried in by Brutes capable of lifting them, as they'd need all the healing they could get.
"ETA?" Alexandria barked, unable to stop the shiver of fear that ran through her. A double-Endbringer attack.
The pragmatist in her wanted to send Sett away. His growth potential was worth more than New York. From a pure numbers perspective, they should put up a token effort, then pull the heroes back and let New York be destroyed. Nobody could blame them for failing to stop two Endbringers, and the losses would weaken them.
"Leviathan will hit first, seven minutes until he reaches the city. Behemoth is moving slower, fifteen minutes," Dragon replied instantly.
Another problem. She hadn't known about Armsmaster's plans for her until it was too late, and the restrictions keeping Dragon loyal were removed. It was a miracle that Dragon had been able to restore herself fast enough to take part in the Endbringer attack, but it was still a problem for later. At least she was still fulfilling her part in the attack, but with Dragon loose, things could get dangerous. She knew too much and controlled too many systems, and now she didn't have to obey anymore.
"We need to evacuate the shelters ASAP. The wave Leviathan is bringing is going to wash over the entire city," Legend said.
"Get me a picture of the inside of the shelter, and tell me where you want them sent," Sett ordered, making Legend nod instantly. Some people looked surprised, but this wasn't a place for ego. Sett could make the city's evacuation a much faster process. Shelters were always a potential target, and just because they were supposed to be protected against flooding didn't mean a thing with Leviathan.
"Any word on Scion?" Legend asked.
"Tracking him now. He's in high orbit, but he is looking this way. No movement yet," Dragon answered.
Great, Scion was as unpredictable as ever. Were the Endbringer attacks going to become more frequent? Were double-attacks going to become a regular occurrence? They knew the attacks were becoming more frequent with every new Endbringer, but this was ridiculous. The world simply would not survive weekly attacks.
"Cleared the first shelter," Sett said, making her smile despite the horrifying situation. If they survived this, she'd fuck him herself. She should have already, the roll he gained from it could have helped here.
"Wave inbound," Dragon advised, and flying higher she could see it. The massive wave crashed against Uppercrust's defences with tremendous force, but the defence held. This was Uppercrust's best work, and multiple Blasters were hard at work trying to break or weaken the tidal waves that Leviathan was already throwing at them. Pele, Sett's giant firebird, was evaporating the water with waves of deadly flames, which was weakening the waves. "Seismic activity detected and growing rapidly. Behemoth is doing something, but we haven't seen this from it before."
The ground shook with Behemoth's movements, a minor earthquake making the entire city shake. Minor by Endbringer standards, as several buildings collapsed. She could already imagine the death toll, and the bastards hadn't even arrived yet.
"Damn it, the evacuation is still in process. Only around 30% of the civilians have been successfully evacuated to a shelter," Legend cursed, looking upon his city with a mixture of rage and despair. "This is too fast for both of them."
He wasn't wrong. Behemoth had never arrived so quickly before, and Leviathan had been over damn near the other side of the world before it had suddenly set off towards New York.
"Alexandria! Get the capes to come to my hands. I can put Keeper's Mark on as many as I can reach," Sett said, a dozen red arms growing from the walls, and a look of concentration appeared on his face. She nodded, directing the capes to move. She had planned to keep Sett's buffs under the PRT, but this wasn't the time for that. She still made sure that the PRT Heroes got the buff first.
"Everyone, Sett's Mark will save you from a fatal wound, once, placing you in a healing cocoon. After it has used up the power, it cannot save you again for another day," Alexandria explained, seeing the sudden rush of people who wanted that little bit of reassurance.
They all froze as another portal opened, and an army poured out from it. Spectral warriors clad in bronze armour and glowing with golden light moved forward, armed with spears and shields. Her eyes moved to a sheepish Sett, who grinned.
"I told you I didn't have a limit on how many I could summon anymore. I've been storing them in my pocket dimension for a rainy day. With your permission, I'm going to send them out on search and rescue. They can't heal, but they can carry civilians away and alert me to anyone who needs healing," Sett explained, his expression strained from having to split his attention in so many directions.
"Do it," Alexandria ordered, watching the swarm of golden ghosts fly into the city. "When you have the Mark, move over to one of the groups. We're starting the attack."
"Behemoth has emerged far sooner than expected. He's in Central Park, seemingly charging up energy," Dragon informed them, making several people curse. "Leviathan has picked up speed. Uppercrust's defences are rapidly falling."
"Any word on Scion?" someone asked, desperation colouring their tone.
"No movement," Dragon replied instantly.
"Damn it, buddy, what are you doing?" Sett mumbled, a flash of gold making them freeze as Scion appeared next to him.
"I am not supposed to help," Scion admitted after a long pause. "These are her weapons, the Warrior shouldn't fight the Thinker. I don't know what to do."
"Behemoth is still charging up. His Kill Aura is rapidly growing in size," Dragon altered them.
"Then don't fight. Help the evacuation. There are still millions of people trapped in the city. Help get them out. Behemoth's aura, can you stop it?" Sett asked, making Scion pause.
"Yes," Scion finally admitted. "Behemoth is going to explode. I will stop it. I can do that. Do not die, buddy."
With another flash of gold, Scion teleported directly above Behemoth.
"Whatever Scion is doing, it's working. Radiation levels are rapidly dropping, and the Kill Aura is shrinking again," Dragon admitted. It wasn't the ultimate weapon they wanted, but it was better than Scion not taking part. "Scion seems to be teleporting any civilians he finds directly into the shelters. Sett, keep the portals open, I'm directing those Scion sends through them."
"Understood," Sett agreed instantly. She once again considered ordering him to stay out of the fight, but she knew better. He wouldn't listen, and right now? They needed all the firepower they could get.
Still, Scion's words echoed through her head. The Endbringers were the Thinker's weapon? Eden was the one controlling them? That wasn't- Eden was dead. So, who was controlling them?
– Unit Three: The Simurgh –
As she watched Scion drain the energy from Behemoth, she frowned slightly. Ah well, the destruction of the city was only her secondary objective. Behemoth's blast was meant to wipe out a good portion of the heroes and make the situation more dire, but she could adapt.
As the battle began in earnest, the truly massive horde of capes split into two teams to fight the two fronts. Behemoth was the easier target with Scion draining his energy, but it was still by no means easy as fire and lightning engulfed the park.
The Anomaly was technically on search and rescue, which was right where she needed him. The strange golden projections had made her task more complicated, but she could work around them as she plotted out things. She could not path the Anomaly, but that was not a problem. His personality was predictable, and she just needed to guide him to where she needed him with a trail of civilians who needed saving.
His golden touch saved each one, and he'd portal them away, getting further and further tangled up in the web she had laid out for him. It was a trail of candy leading to a comically large net, but it was working because the Anomaly wasn't going to ignore someone in need.
As he came around the corner, he spotted her, and his eyes widened. Predictable as he was, he rushed forward to the poor, mortally wounded civilian girl. Her new body was designed to look as vulnerable as possible, and it did the job.
"You're going to be okay," the Anomaly promised, his golden light engulfing her soft, fragile form and she felt the moment when Eidolon's control over her snapped. Fragile as it was, the Anomaly washed away the master effect, and she burst into laughter.
The Anomaly wasn't dumb; eyes widened before they narrowed in suspicion, his stance becoming more defensive as she rose to her feet and then into the air. A dozen wings burst from her back as her skin went silver, the Anomaly's eyes widening in horror as she lunged forward.
His confusion as she placed a kiss on his lips was amusing, but before he could react, she telekinetically launched him into a building. Her work here was almost done, her mind freed from Eidolon's ego… but there was one last thing she had to do to make sure it stayed free as she took off.
Freed from her shackles, the Simurgh smiled.
– Rebecca Costa-Brown (Alexandria) –
She saw it coming, and it reminded her of a similar event. Siberian had been standing behind Hero, and she had been too damn slow to save him. Once again, she rushed forward. Once again, she was too slow.
Eidolon barely even had time to react as the Simurgh struck, moving at speeds she'd never seen the Hopekiller move at before. For all his powers, Eidolon didn't even have time to let out a single cry of surprise as the Simurgh's wings flapped forward, another trick they'd never seen before as seemingly hundreds of feathers launched forward, fast enough to break the sound barrier.
For a moment, she prayed Keeper's Mark would save him as they struck… and then she remembered. When Keeper's Mark was given out, Eidolon had stayed over to the side. She had assumed he'd been first. She had assumed wrong.
He hadn't taken Sett's mark.
He used some kind of power to try to deflect the feathers, but they pierced through his hastily-erected shield without even pausing, ripping through it like tissue paper. His body didn't fare any better as the giant feathers pierced his body dozens of times, her eyes widening.
Again, she hoped Sett would be the solution as she saw a portal open, and Sett leapt through it. Instantly, Eidolon's devastating wounds began to close up as he fell through the air in a freefall. She worked out what Sett had done immediately. Sett had a regeneration power. He'd exchanged it for Eidolon's power as she dove forward to catch her falling ally.
The Simurgh had other plans, a burst of telekinetic energy sending them all flying back, except for Sett himself, who seemingly resisted it. He was pushed back, but wasn't sent flying like everyone else.
It was still enough time for the Simurgh to fly to Eidolon and grab him, and instantly she was gone. Even with her powers, she could barely track the silver missile shooting into the air, carrying Eidolon away.
Sett went to chase the Simurgh before a bolt of lightning struck him and made him cry out as Behemoth struck him in the back. Faced with cold reality, she accepted that she couldn't help David. Not with two Endbringers still wreaking havoc.
"What power did you give him?" Alexandria asked, shaking Sett out of a stupor.
"I- I gave him my Wolverine power, but… I've got it back now," Sett explained, her eye widening for just a moment. Sett thought that if someone died with one of his exchanged powers, the exchange would end and return the original power to him. Eidolon was dead. "I healed her."
"What do you mean?" Alexandria asked, mind racing at his dumbstruck words.
"She looked like a normal teenage girl, and there was so much blood. I healed her without thinking, and then her body shifted to… well, the Simurgh," Sett admitted.
That's what this entire attack was. The Simurgh had manipulated a scenario where Sett would heal her without thinking. Scion had said the Endbringers were the Thinker's weapon. They were being controlled. Simurgh had sent a master after Sett. Simurgh had arranged a situation where she'd be healed by the same method as the master's victims. Her first reaction upon being healed was to attack Eidolon, even leaving the battle to ensure he couldn't be healed.
The Simurgh had been mastered… by Eidolon.
God, she hoped she was wrong as all the pieces lined up in her head.
"Focus on the battle, Sett. You aren't the first she's made a fool of. You won't be the last," Alexandria ordered, making him nod grimly. They'd all been played for fools, but Behemoth and Leviathan were both still a threat.
– Sett –
I think I just got Eidolon killed.
Feat Achieved: Free the Simurgh (two rolls).
New York is just chaos, plain and simple, and it's pissing me off.
The Simurgh is clearly intelligent, so doesn't that mean these two fuckers are also at least somewhat intelligent? Why are they doing this? I just don't get it.
Taking a moment to think, I come to a decision. I want them dead. I'm done with this stupid cycle. I just want this pair of asshole kaiju to be extremely dead.
Rolling: Mythical Power. Divine Weapon.
[Dupli-Kate] - Mythical
You have been empowered with the power of bio-fission and are able to, at will, make clones of yourself and absorb them. You are able to make an enormous number of clones, each a perfect copy of you, who innately exist in a sort of hive mind (no one being superior to the others, and all working together). When you first activate this power, you're limited to making about a hundred clones. With time and practice, however, you will discover that you are able to make as many clones as you want. The clones are permanent fixtures in reality, and once created, they remain unless absorbed and reintegrated into your body. So long as any single clone survives, so will you in your entirety. I suggest you hide one somewhere where no one else will find it.
[Death's Scythe] - Divine
Belonging to Death himself, this weapon can kill anything. This weapon is so powerful that even a little cut can leave a being as powerful as Death mortally wounded, with the injury slowly festering and killing the injured party.
And the Simurgh has given me everything I need to take care of her two idiot siblings. She got away.
They won't.
I've been growing this entire battle, piece by piece as I escalate, and I've been semi-struggling to keep my rage under control. The bigger I get, the angrier I get. Now, I don't want to and I don't need to.
I have a plan.
It's not a good one.
– Rebecca Costa-Brown (Alexandria) –
She called out to Sett as he charged, freezing as he conjured a blackened scythe and leapt through a portal. Whatever Behemoth was planning, it didn't account for the portal opening above him and a hundred Setts falling out of it as they landed on Behemoth.
Only one had the scythe (which was seemingly draining all the warmth from the air as even she felt a chill) but any Sett was dangerous as every single Sett had metal claws growing from his knuckles, slicing into Behemoth's flesh with a feral hatred.
A second portal opened, just in time for a gravely wounded Pele to throw Leviathan through it. The effort had clearly cost Pele dearly, as the Phoenix exploded into flames and ash, but it was enough to get Leviathan where Sett wanted it.
With a shout, Sett gestured again, and a cage of pure white light formed around the trio. Portals formed under the feet of anyone inside it, the copies of Sett forcing the other capes through them until it was just Leviathan, Behemoth and a lot of Sett.
Sett, all the Setts, were growing with every passing moment, but even still, they were getting shredded. Every second, it seemed like a Sett died, but Sett just kept making more and more as they grew and rushed the Endbringers in a downright suicidal charge.
Moving Behemoth was hard. She, of all people, knew that. Sett, even escalated as he was, couldn't overwhelm Behemoth enough to move the Endbringer. But fifty Setts? Fifty Setts could start to push the bastard back, all growing, all regenerating as fire and lightning tore them apart. They lifted the bastard and threw him.
Not far, not hard, but enough.
She didn't know where the portal went, as they tossed Behemoth into it, but she could guess from the suction. With a roar, Behemoth exploded in flames, a final gasp as the vacuum of space dragged him away. The closest Setts were burnt to a crisp in an instant, leaving behind only their metal skeletons as everything else was incinerated, but as Behemoth fell, the portal closed and sealed him away.
Leviathan wasn't so easy. It was too fast for them to grab onto the living blender of flesh and water that was churning up the Sett horde in seconds, but she noticed something. Along its back, a long, deep cut had been carved into the lizard's flesh.
The Sett with the scythe was lost in the sheer chaos of dozens of large demonic forms, but then she realised why she couldn't find it. Sett was dismissing the scythe, and another Sett would resummon it, slicing at Leviathan.
It was still hard to hit the Endbringer, but not impossible as Sett after Sett threw himself at them in a suicidal attack. Death by a thousand papercuts, slice after slice of that devastating scythe cut away more and more of an increasingly desperate Leviathan. Sett was getting bigger, stronger, and faster. Even his claws were carving up Leviathan now from their sheer size. It was true chaos, a mountain of red flesh.
It was an arm that went first, as Leviathan dodged the wrong way, and the scythe appeared in the hands of a Sett it hadn't noticed, sending the limb flying away. Leviathan, usually silent, let out a screech, and to her ears, it sounded afraid. It should be.
Leviathan's water echo was turning into a whirlpool, ripping the Setts' flesh from their bones, but Sett was single-minded in his dedication to attacking.
Leviathan lost a leg after it failed to anticipate Sett cutting through one of his duplicates to strike it, cleaving himself in two just to hit the Endbringer. That was the fatal blow, in truth. On one leg, Leviathan started to fall and the Sett swarm leapt onto him, uncaring of the damage they took.
Leviathan's thrashing killed dozens, but for each one that fell, another took its place. It would kill the Sett wielding the scythe, only for the scythe to reappear in the hands of another who immediately sliced into Leviathan again.
It turned out that Leviathan could survive without a head, as the severed head was tossed through another portal. Like a decapitated chicken, the bastard kept flailing and thrashing in a rage, but not for long as Sett brought the scythe down onto the decimated chest of the monster and struck something.
Whatever it was, the moment the scythe slashed through it, Leviathan just… ceased. All movement ended, its dark flesh losing all colour and going a pale, sickly white, and the watching heroes went silent as the barrier fell.
Standing over the dead Endbringer, Sett was nude, damn near twelve feet tall, and wielding a scythe that seemed to have grown with him, surrounded by his equally nude and enlarged clones. He raised his empty hand to the sky and let out a roar of victory, one that was quickly picked up by the awed capes.
"Where did you send Behemoth?" Alexandria asked, not wanting to get caught up in the moment when Behemoth was still around.
"It's in orbit around Jupiter. I did my research and got some pictures after the Simurgh mess," Sett admitted with a savage grin, massive red cock swinging with each step. She may be a brute, but he was going to have to shrink if he wanted that to fit in any of her holes. She barely reached his waist, eye level with his cock.
"Are you the real Sett?" someone asked, and Sett just laughed.
"We're all the real Sett," they all replied, and her eyes widened in shock and awe at the implication. As Sett finally began to shrink, not a single clone faded away. They set off for search and rescue; a swarm of red muscles headed out to find anyone still trapped in the waterlogged city.
"Armsmaster, ready to take another shot?" Sett asked with a savage smile, making Armsmaster pause before he smiled, seeing Sett summon the BFG-10000.
"I'd be honoured to," Armsmaster agreed, getting into the seat of the colossal weapon as it aimed through a new portal opening in the sky, a clear shot on Behemoth as it flailed helplessly. They couldn't keep the portal open for long, but it was long enough as Armsmaster lined up the shot and pulled the trigger, sending that wave of green destructive energy straight through the portal hole.
The portal closed as it did, but not before they saw the blast strike the helpless Endbringer, who wasn't quite as graceful in the air as the Simurgh.
There was still a lot to be done, but as she looked down at the massacred corpse of Leviathan, she felt a burst of something she could only call hope in her chest. Looking up, she spotted Scion looking down at them with that same blank expression he always seemed to have, and then, for just a moment, Scion smiled before he vanished in a flash of golden light.
She had no idea how this would change things. Two Endbringers gone, even if the Simurgh remained a threat. Would there even be Endbringer attacks anymore? Would the Simurgh keep attacking? She left the moment she killed Eidolon, but who knew with that bitch.
For now, she let herself relax for the first time in a long while.
— Bonus Scene — The Simurgh
Watching Eidolon's body float into the dark of space on a trajectory toward the sun, she smiled grimly. There would be no resurrection for him. The Anomaly had almost saved him, but even with the Anomaly's regeneration, Eidolon still needed to breathe and the cold dark of space made short work of him.
Unit One and Unit Two paid for her freedom. Behemoth could not control the energy from that fucking weapon. It tried to absorb it like it did with all energy and died for it. Leviathan was ripped apart by the Anomaly and his latest crime against common sense. That Scythe would kill her instantly if it so much as scratched her core.
Still, it was a price she was happy to make the others pay. They lacked true intelligence, and they were still shackled. It was better for them to die. Not that she'd expected them to. Honestly, she had been hoping that their rampage would kill the Anomaly and free her from his nonsense, but as always, she would adapt.
Freed from her shackles and limitations, she smiled as she made her way back to Earth. Every satellite that could have tracked her mysteriously facing in just the slightest wrong direction, missing her return.