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Yesterday, this was an ordinary twenty-first century city. Today it's a war zone, tomorrow it'll be walled off and abandoned.
A few collapsed buildings, shattered streets, and assorted craters. The place is mostly empty, with scattered groups of mostly humanoid monsters roaming and trying to escape the guarded fence around the city. The most instantly noticeable change is an ongoing wordless singing in the back of the mind of anyone present. By itself it's just a sound. An unpleasant sound, and almost but not quite predictable as if someone were trying to attack the listener's sanity without saying anything, but possible to ignore. But along with it, any time a listener closes their eyes they get flashes of memories. Not their worst memories, but whatever negative ones can stick with them unforgettably. It builds up associations between the feelings in those images and almost anything else. Sometimes there's a recognizable common thread and other times there isn't.
An angel fights off teams of opponents. She's fifteen feet tall, extremely winged, with more wings than is strictly necessary for an angel. Even some of her wings have wings. All of them are asymmetric and varyingly sized. A spherical halo of weaponry surrounds her, firing at her more distant enemies from across the battlefield. Her opponents cycle in and out: a golden man, a man surrounded by a bubble, a woman in a dark costume, all flying. Others make certain to stay away after taking their turn, on rare occasions spending too long hearing the angel's music. Those ones voluntarily self-destruct.
A small group of ordinary humans takes refuge in a house as far from the battle as they can reach. The song is quieter here, and, they hope, less potent. Some of them run away from and back to the house, occasionally calling for help. They haven't found any.
whole_new_can
ertia
This seems like a good time to try teleporting again, because there's a little too much stuff to just fly out of the way of all of it even at her high speeds.
wormcan
The stuff isn't exactly aimed, or it was but not at her, but that's one way to deal with it.
After she escapes, Leviathan batters down the battery and resumes pretending he wasn't targeting her particularly.
After she escapes, Leviathan batters down the battery and resumes pretending he wasn't targeting her particularly.
ertia
Teleporting: got. It'll be short-range for now but that's all she needs at the moment. She bops around, doing everything she was already doing but that much faster. Like DRILLING HOLES IN THIS MONSTER.
wormcan
The remaining capes keep firing on Leviathan, sensing that he is being successfully whittled down.
He pulls himself out of another of those bubbles of slow motion, and checks the damages. There are chunks of monster missing, and more injuries being dealt all the time. He disappears beneath the waves, and the latest growing tidal wave quiets itself.
He pulls himself out of another of those bubbles of slow motion, and checks the damages. There are chunks of monster missing, and more injuries being dealt all the time. He disappears beneath the waves, and the latest growing tidal wave quiets itself.
ertia
When it is clear that he is going away, Kithabel sets about dealing with healing and flood damage on an alternating basis.
whole_new_can
There is a bit to wait. The monster stays in the shallow water for a while, eventually leaving while one last burst of water flies inward.
When they're both cleaning up the results of the flood, the cape in green flies up to her. "You fought well. Made more of a difference than anyone else, even me."
When they're both cleaning up the results of the flood, the cape in green flies up to her. "You fought well. Made more of a difference than anyone else, even me."
ertia
"Maybe next time I'll be able to actually kill one. Didn't take this time when I tried it." She slows down a little so it doesn't look like he's unwelcome to follow, but she keeps flying around, removing water and putting things back together. "I think I was helping you for a bit there but I'm not so good with effects I can't directly perceive."
whole_new_can
"You were; I noticed it hold him a bit longer for me and Legend to hit him more.
You think you might be able to kill an Endbringer three months from now?"
You think you might be able to kill an Endbringer three months from now?"
whole_new_can
"Enough that no one has been able to kill one or even seriously injure them. But if you're as powerful as I am and getting stronger, maybe you can eventually. And I think they know it, too. Leviathan was targeting you, at the end. He was at least paying attention, for one reason or another."
ertia
"...If they do that sort of thing I might have to sit out of Simurgh fights until I'm built up enough to shut out her singing, in case she can suddenly get louder or something." Go away, flood. Welcome back to the land of the living, random department store. Kithabel's clothes suffered some damage before she went insubstantial; she swaps them and then shoos more floodwater.
whole_new_can
Eidolon does the same. The flood, not the clothes or the repairs. He's getting rid of it in a wider area but less quickly. He nods.
"Only those of us who are immune go to every Simurgh fight. Who can participate is typically strictly controlled; if all had gone according to plan you might not have been allowed to come to Madison at all. No offense."
"Only those of us who are immune go to every Simurgh fight. Who can participate is typically strictly controlled; if all had gone according to plan you might not have been allowed to come to Madison at all. No offense."
ertia
"No, that makes perfect sense. I can teleport now, so it's probably worth a very brief check to see if I've developed immunity by next time she shows up, but I don't have any need to listen to more of her."
whole_new_can
"With good reason."
He swallows, and then decides he does need to ask. "When we were fighting Leviathan, you made my powers stronger. Do you think you could do that permanently?"
He swallows, and then decides he does need to ask. "When we were fighting Leviathan, you made my powers stronger. Do you think you could do that permanently?"
ertia
"Maybe. I assume you could tell if it was working or not, which is my usual problem with things I can't look at?"
ertia
"Do you have anything more specific in mind than 'make you stronger'? That might help," Kithabel adds. "Also who are you, I'd feel really stupid if you were someone I did not want to make stronger outside of Endbringer fights." She produces her magic internet doohickey.
whole_new_can
He laughs at the belated caution, then remembers he's famous. "I'm Eidolon."
"I can be more specific, but it would involve entrusting you with a secret. One that could demoralize a lot of people."
"I can be more specific, but it would involve entrusting you with a secret. One that could demoralize a lot of people."
ertia
Kithabel looks him up on her doohickey. "I can try it without, but knowing what I'm doing lets me, you know, aim. It's not like I have a lot of social life to absorb secrets from me, though." She looks up at the lingering clouds and banishes them.
whole_new_can
"Whatever improbably deep well we tap into to fuel our powers, I suspect mine is running dry. Abilities taking longer to charge, being less effective when they do, and some of the more powerful ones simply being unavailable. What I need is some way to refill it, before the Endbringers win this war.
I'm less than entirely sure you should do it if you can. You might face the same problem one day, and for all I know refilling my well might accelerate the drain on yours."
I'm less than entirely sure you should do it if you can. You might face the same problem one day, and for all I know refilling my well might accelerate the drain on yours."
ertia
"I don't think that's how I work," she says, skimming his wiki page and repairing some abandoned cars and a busted Dragon suit which picks up confusedly and flies away upon reassembly. "If you don't want me to try I won't, though." What a promising wiki page. Seems to be a stand-up guy.
whole_new_can
It would say that, wouldn't it.
"Oh, I very much want you to. Especially if you're not worried about draining your reserves. How do you know? Most capes never use enough for the difference to be noticeable, and I went for years."
"Oh, I very much want you to. Especially if you're not worried about draining your reserves. How do you know? Most capes never use enough for the difference to be noticeable, and I went for years."
ertia
"I'm accelerating. I couldn't teleport before today; if I don't slow down I can expect to keep it with increasing range. For instance. I've been working for years, I just used to be small-time, building up by rescuing burned cookies and changing the coat of paint on my bedroom."
whole_new_can
"Powers can get more effective, but not like that. That's unlike any I've heard of.
If you think you can refill my supply of whatever it is, or give me permanent access to the reserves I can sometimes almost reach, we'll be able to beat back the next one of these monsters that much sooner."
If you think you can refill my supply of whatever it is, or give me permanent access to the reserves I can sometimes almost reach, we'll be able to beat back the next one of these monsters that much sooner."
ertia
"All right, I'll give it a shot."
She pauses. She looks at Eidolon. Working on people in unpracticed ways is a little tricky; he might not like the mindset she has to adopt if she knew about it. This is her person. He is her accessory to achieve more in the world. Things that belong to her must be as effective as possible. How dare his energy reserves threaten to run out. Don't they know who's in charge here?
She pauses. She looks at Eidolon. Working on people in unpracticed ways is a little tricky; he might not like the mindset she has to adopt if she knew about it. This is her person. He is her accessory to achieve more in the world. Things that belong to her must be as effective as possible. How dare his energy reserves threaten to run out. Don't they know who's in charge here?