12:30 pm, Medhall Building 21st floor, Brockton Bay.
Looking out the window and seeing the curtain of black smoke rising in the distance, Max Anders cursed out loud. Those were Empire safehouses and warehouses. Some of them were brothels and gambling dens. Beams of faint white carved fiery swathes throughout his territory.
He looked at the TV over his shoulder, the local news was urging people to remain inside. A shaky video clip showed familiar double helix beams obliterating very specific Boardwalk businesses.
"Motherfucker!"
He lashed out, wicked iron spikes and sharp greatswords rose from the ground, shattering his desk to pieces. The Biermann twins jumped, Cricket just grunted.
"Can't we just run away, Max?" Stormtiger looked near ready to shit himself.
"Oh?" He flinched at Max's mocking tone. "Run away? Take the highway maybe? Because that worked out wonderfully." He stabbed his thumb back at the laser spot flying in the sky. "Our European allies aren't answering my calls, so no teleporters for us. Tell me, where does that leave us, Tiger?"
Stormtiger hunched in on himself.
"That's right. Fight or flight. I refuse to fight that so we're left with flight- literally." Max paced. "It would have to be a commercial flight. Easier to blend into the crowd and use the hundreds of people onboard as shields.
"Jessica?" Max turned to one of the statuesque blondes.
"The car is ready. They're just waiting for your go-ahead," she replied, slightly shaken.
"Tell them we're on our way," he sighed. "Let's go." Max plugged a tinkertech USB into the office terminal and let it do its job. The five villains swiftly walked towards the elevator where Max swiped a special card.
The elevator began its descent into the Empire's emergency escape route- the subterranean tunnel branching out in different directions. The one they took led to an exit near Brockton Domestic.
No one spoke during the dark ride, a heavy atmosphere had settled over them.
"Jessica?" Max felt uneasy.
"Yes?"
"Why didn't we hear anything? It should've happened by now."
Jessica gasped, "Perhaps a tinkertech failure?"
"No." Max shook his head and pursed his lips. "I have a bad feeling about this. Be prepared for anything."
That did not reassure her or the others.
They came out of the tunnel more uneasy than they had left. Max looked back- no smoke over Medhall.
Fucking Trumps.
The exit opened up near the underground parking of the airport. 'So close,' thought Max.
The group's spirits lifted when they reached the outer lounge and reception area of Brockton's humble domestic airport. Their hopes grew further once they had successfully checked in. Now all they had to do was wait for an hour or so until the plane to New York was ready for boarding.
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So, Max tried to pin a Medhall explosion on me. It didn't work out for obvious reasons. Thinker powers were bullshit and Abaddon's invisible and pinpoint Stilling beams handily dealt with such meagre attempts.
I ignored Max and his group for now.
Hovering over Empire territory, I wondered which foolish hero was going to respond. The chance of a response by another parahuman was placed at 94.76%. A very good chance.
Outside interference? Extremely unlikely, unless I went after the Rig or attacked the local PRT branch. That would force a member of the Triumvirate to respond- most likely the trigger happy Eidolon, and if Contessa tells him not to, then Legend.
Villain response? Likely Lung and Oni Lee if I cornered them, but not as likely as-
"Hey asshole!" A rush of wind followed by a clap of thunder.
There she was. The rare, redeemable character in all of Worm and Ward that frankly hadn't been a complete monster.
"Didn't your mother teach you any manners, girl?" I drawled, warping behind her and letting loose a warning shot which flipped her high into the air before she regained control.
She was livid and looked too pretty and symmetrical to be anything but bio-enhanced. "What did you say about my mother?!" Glory Girl roared and tried her best to pulp me with her dainty fists. Another warp, another potshot.
"I do not like to repeat myself, child. Go back the way you came." Victoria was out of breath by now but her anger had not abated in the slightest. She had come here, despite being explicitly told not to by her mother and her aunt. Ah, teenage rebellion. In this case, it was the height of Darwinism.
"You've killed and traumatised innocents, burned the city and terrorized its people, and you want me to just leave?! Who do you think you are?!"
"I am Nemesis, and you're just another gnat in my path." That definitely ticked her off. "Stand down, girl, and leave on your own two feet while you still can."
She growled and to no one's surprise, decided to listen to her teenage impulses. Before she could act on them, I decided to switch tactics. If the little girl wishes to stub her toe that bad, who am I to deny her?
Ghostly clones split from my body and flew at her, Victoria noticed them but a second too late. My energy form was also to blame, it was incredibly hard to look at.
The attack passed through her forcefield without any resistance. The fandom's theory about Glory Girl's invincibility field being solid enough to not hinder Crusader's ghosts was true.
She received a hard punch to the solar plexus.
Victoria Dallon gasped and doubled over in pain, the field flickered. I gave her no reprieve. Another ghost yanked her right arm and snapped it with a sickening crack, while the third spun a kick mid-flight and knocked most of her teeth out, rattling her brain and dislocating her jaw in the process.
Her mouth was bubbling with copius amounts of blood and spit. Her perfect teeth fell with an unheard clatter onto a rooftop underneath. She lost consciousness quickly and would've fallen if my ghosts hadn't kept a tight hold.
A woman's scream shattered the short-lived silence. Her mother. She probably thought her daughter was dead.
All of New Wave was here, active powers, grim faces and rage in their eyes upon seeing Victoria's condition. The only reason they hadn't acted yet was because their girl was in my hands.
"Your daughter still lives, Brandish. For her continued existence and yours, I would recommend you take her and leave." My words cut through her mounting rage, leaving her momentarily confused, which then sparked into hope.
My ghosts flew over and handed Victoria over to her aunt who caught her and flew away, Brandish followed closely behind, tears in her bloodshot eyes. New Wave silently and hesitantly departed, but not before Crystal Pelham gave me one hateful parting glance.
I watched them leave for no other reason than to admire the juicy posteriors of the women. Excellent genetics or Panacea, one could not deny that those were indeed some nice derrieres.
Ahem. Moving on.
Mr. Lung and Mr. Lee needed a house call.
I flew down south into ABB territory where Lung was hiding out, hoping I'd go home and rest or do anything other than attack him. I would have to disabuse the lizard of such foolish notions.
Several Japanese and Korean shouts rose as the residents and ABB gangsters saw me flying over them.
I bursted through the roof of a run down residential building.
Lung had already gained enough scales via self-harm and the heat he was putting out was softening the cement under his bare feet. The ninja with the Oni mask was by his side.
Whether they resisted or not, it mattered little.
He said nothing and neither did his lieutenant. No words were needed, Lung roared and blew his flames in a wide arc, hoping to get me wherever I went.
Naturally, I denied him all the oxygen in the air in a fifteen metre radius with kinetic manipulation. I could still breathe because I never bothered playing fair. I was here to terrorize these assholes, not have a comic book tit for tat. Lung's fire dulled and he let out a choking gasp.
Oni Lee tried his teleportation trick but that didn't work out for him as expected because I was shining so bright he couldn't aim for shit. He was also having a very hard time breathing. Crazy, suicidal bastard that he was, he disregarded his own health to try going for where he assumed my jugular was but got a large helix beam to the face that also took away a large chunk of the wall behind him. Ghosts were summoned to keep him busy.
Lung's capacity to draw breath (hah!) and hold it had increased to fuel his murderous rage. Just in time for another white hot laser to the noggin. Bet that hurt like hell. Oh, he's getting bigger.
I smiled, and met his rage by turning into a giant serpent made of blades, spikes and hooks. Then wrapped around him and squeezed with the added topping of shredding his scales and the skin underneath.
Sure, I lost surface metal here and there because of the obscene heat, but the sound of his painful howls was music to my ears. I kept moving and twisting around his body, torturing him, digging deeper and deeper with each coil. Every wound I gave, I kept it open by letting tendrils of spinning hooks and serrated blades worm their way into it.
I was relentless. Hookwolf may have retreated when he lost enough metal or energy- I had no such constraints. I could keep going.
The heart and brain, I avoided, the rest was fair play.
It was half an hour and a molten rubble later that Lung's rage sputtered out. There was only so much Goku a human could channel, before they either lost their mind to the pain I was dolling out or their body gave up on them.
I looked down at the now charred body of Oni Lee- a result of taking away his skill to throw a grenade right before he did. I didn't need to act out my usual charade for this loser, so I let him be.
A groan and a wheezing wet cough brought my attention back to the heavily tattooed, muscular torso lying on the smoking, soot-flaked earth. It had no legs or arms, and it was mumbling.
The crippled man opened a single puffy, reddened eye to look up at me.
"You are just like her. Monster." His voice was scratchy but his English was not as heavily accented as I had thought it would be.
My helm unfolded and I looked the dragonman in the eye. "No, Kenta. I am much worse."
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Underground Bunker (Location Unknown)
"The parahuman now being referred to as Nemesis, continues his rampage across southern Brockton after what authorities claim to be a duel with the parahuman leader of the ABB, Lung, leading to his demise as well as that of his right hand man, Oni Lee." The news anchor reported.
"This is disturbing news in light of the gruesome murders these past few hours, which have also been attributed to said Parahuman. Residents and parahumans of Brockton Bay are advised by the Protectorate to stay indoors and not involve themselves in any altercation with Nemesis."
Thomas Calvert popped a pill and washed it down with a glass of cool water. His head pounded with a vengeance and his timelines kept collapsing.
He had ordered his Tattletale to look into Nemesis. No luck there either. Tattletale was still indisposed and insensate, according to the Laborn boy.
It was clear to him that Nemesis had a Thinker immunity or some form of disruption field that fucked with Thinkers everywhere.
It wasn't just the Thinkers in Brockton Bay who were having trouble predicting the new power stealer- the obscuring effect went as far as his contacts in Mexico, Canada and Europe. A small vindictive part of him hoped that she was suffering too. But deep down he knew that if there was any chance of stopping this monster, that woman would be one of the few who'd know how.
Thomas hated how helpless he felt, it reminded him of those unpleasant days in Ellisburg. An unstoppable monster and the complete loss of control. He hated those days with a passion. He hated Nemesis.
He also knew how to pick his fights, and this? This wasn't a fight he'd win. He had to contact Cauldron, that was the only way he was getting out of this blasted place.
"Door to Cauldron."
A rectangular doorway flashed into existence.
A tanned girl, smartly dressed in a pantsuit walked out of the doorway. Her gait was strange. It wasn't awkward, not at all, just... strange. Like every step was perfectly calculated. Unnatural.
Coil felt like he'd made a terrible mistake, but what choice did he have? He was cornered.
"Call off the hit on Tattletale." The fedora wearing woman commanded. "Don't waste my time. Do it quickly if you want to live another day."
Coil gnashed his teeth, but did as the monster asked. He dialed the appropriate number.
"Yeah, bossman?" The mercenary answered.
"Come back to base. It's off." There was silence on the other end. Coil smoothly rattled off a code. "321167 B19."
"Alrighty then, bossman, your call." Coil let out a relieved sigh and turned back to the woman but she was already halfway through the portal.
He swiftly got up and followed behind, his briefcase in hand, it had everything he needed. If he had 'forgotten' to turn off the dead man's switch he had prepared for dire circumstances like these, then it would be a truly unfortunate turn of events for the people above.
The loss of lives would be enormous but such things happen when a superpowered serial killer slash terrorist is on the prowl.
'Dark times,' thought Coil. 'Dark times, indeed, when the powerful were more concerned with the life of one annoying teenager than those of thousands.'
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I felt Doormaker open a portal underground where the Snake had made its nest. The Eye walked through and did what she did best- meddle. I let her. It was amusing to see Cauldron scramble to secure whatever was left of their assets in Brockton- or at least the assets they gave a shit about.
Coil was an insignificant amoeba. He could try and run as much as he wants. There was only so far he could go. I used [Technopathy] to empty Coil's offshore accounts of every penny and disarmed his nasty surprise. Following that, I scattered his wealth across the world, to people who needed it the most.
Contrary to popular consensus on the Internet and the tripe news outlets were peddling, I did give a shit about the lives of innocent people. There wasn't a single innocent death following my aerial bombardment, I had made sure of that. Only criminals, murderers, rapists, terrible loan sharks, and violent pimps.
Speaking of terrible people, I turned my gaze to the final few villains that required my violent attention.
Smoothly turning mid flight, I shot off in the direction of my final targets for the day.