Dragon's Progeny: Chapter 58

The thing about scarfs was that they were fantastic at keeping your neck and mouth warm and a bit less effective at hiding your identity in the case of an emergency. The downside? They absolutely sucked to wear in torrential rain.

Tammi pulled the soaked garment higher on her face, doing her best to turn away from the pouring rain so that she wasn’t effectively waterboarding herself. The dumpster lid she had commandeered for the task of being her personal chariot wobbled underneath her as wind ripped past her, brought down into the city by the waves steadily crashing against the beach, slowly growing in intensity the longer the night wore on and that thing got closer to their shores.

The street below her was a wreck, full of abandoned cars and even luggage. Broken windows and trampled signs alluded to the panicked crowds that had run through the area, but there was hardly anyone left down there anymore. They were all in the shelters or taking their chances to beat the literal force of nature beating on the city’s gates. 

Well, they were probably smarter than Tammi. 

Yuko’s face flashed in Tammi’s mind, teary eyed and absolutely terrified, and her resolve wavered just as fiercely as her lid underneath the wind. Fuck, why was she even doing this? Did she really care that much about this place that she was actually going to try and help against an Endbringer of all things? 

No, she instantly decided, no of course she didn’t. This wasn’t about saving the city itself, it was more personal than that. It was the choice itself that mattered. She didn’t expect to be able to do shit against Leviathan – hell, she didn’t even expect to save that many people, but the fact that some asshole was about to try and take a piece of her life and she was expected to just sit by and take it pissed her off to no end. If there was one thing that Tammi Herren hated more than anything else, one thing that she absolutely loathed with all of her being, it was being told she didn’t have a choice to do something.

Was it childish? Sure. Did that change the way she felt or alter her decision in any way? Not in the slightest.

Flares burned brightly on the street ahead of her, indicators of where she was supposed to be going though the giant mechanical dragon sitting out front was indication enough. Tammi lowered herself just in front of the building, climbing off of her lid and standing on slightly shaky legs. Alongside Dragon, there were a few other people outside, some of them in unfamiliar costumes but most of them wearing standard PRT gear. They mostly ignored her as she landed, giving her a glance at most before deeming her not important enough to address.

A crack like thunder and a flash of light split through the air and Tammi flinched as several people materialized out of thin air, their presence heralded by a crackle in the air like ozone.

Well that explained how so many people were attending this thing. Tammi watched as the group split up into smaller groups who then walked into the building, keeping well away from each other like they didn’t really want to interact. The cape who had brought them with them took a knee, bringing a hand up to their opaque helmet and lifting the visor slightly to get better air flow. Guess teleporting that many people took a lot out of them.

Tammi waited a beat before following the group inside, slipping through the doors, she was met with a large, open lobby, with dozens of fold out chairs sitting in front of a large stage. 

The room was already chock full of more capes than Tammi ever thought she would see in her life. Colors and styles ripped from media and imagination were worn by people of every variety, all crammed into this space. Most were sitting in the offered seats, but a few were standing, and they were all grouped up into cliques, with the ones who were clearly villains sticking together while the same could be said for the heroes. A few of them mingled together, but it mostly remained the same throughout.

There were also a few standout faces, people that Tammi probably would have been happy never being this close to. Legend, easily identified by his bright blue spandex and winning smile, wasn’t smiling so brightly as he talked to another, shorter man in yellow and black armor. Tammi could see the lines on his face as he gestured, articulating whatever point he was making with sweeping motions to the crowd around them as the armored man nodded along.

Alexandria was lingering nearby, just off to the side. She was as still as a statue as she watched the proceedings with a stoic expression beneath her helmet, and a rather large space had been cleared around her as the other capes in the room did their best not to get near the person who could probably break all the bones in their body without even noticing. Tammi could see where they were coming from. Even from this far away, she was intimidating.

Eidolon was nowhere to be found as far as Tammi could tell, but she was pretty sure she saw that wizard guy from Chicago in the crowd somewhere so there was that.

Turning away from the living legends before she was noticed staring, Tammi looked around, searching for any friendly faces among the throng of costumed individuals. She didn’t want to be alone with this many random capes around. Who knew how many of these out-of-towners were freaks or weirdos.

A few members of the local Protectorate were hanging around, Wards and adult members alike. New Wave was also present, or at least most of them were. They were sitting together in a huddle, talking quietly amongst themselves. Panacea wasn’t present, but she was likely in whatever triage tent they had set up at these events. She hadn’t missed an Endbringer fight yet, as far as Tammi knew.

She didn’t see anyone from the Empire, not that she really expected to, but she also didn’t see any of the independents or villains that were left in the city. Did they all bail out too?

An arm was suddenly slung around her shoulder and Tammi reacted on instinct. She reared back and slammed her elbow into their stomach before throwing off their arm and shoving them away from her, backing away a good distance. Several eyes turned her way to watch the commotion unfold, wondering who in their right mind would be stupid enough to break the Truce.

“Oof! Guess that’s what I get for trying to return the favor, huh?” Tammi blinked as she recognized her would-be assailant. Tattletale clutched her stomach where Tammi had hit her, regarding the telekinetic with a pained grin, “You could have bruised a rib with that one. Are you always this jumpy or am I just special?”

“I told you to leave her alone.” Grue walked up behind his teammate. He was followed by the rest of the Undersiders, or at least two of them. Skitter and Regent didn’t look very happy to be here, but at least they were present. Bitch wasn’t here at all. She was completely absent which Tammi found weird. Those dogs would have been good meat shields with how big they were.

Even if they weren’t exactly friends, Tammi was happy to see friendly faces nonetheless. She was beginning to worry that she was the only villainous Brocktonite here. She shrugged at Tattletale’s question, “Your fault for surprising me like that. We’re all on edge around here.”

“I hear that. Feel it too.” Tattletale said as she rubbed her stomach. The girl looked around, scanning the crowd deliberately, “So where’s the big boss? Actually, nevermind. She’s probably up somewhere talking to some of the big boys on the best way to work her power… Or maybe not?” She added on as she saw Tammi’s face sour.

“Yosei isn’t coming.” Tammi crossed her arms, ignoring the shock radiating from the group in front of her.

Tattletale seemed the most surprised, “What? You’re telling me that the queen of mythological monsters isn’t coming to fight a guy named Leviathan? I thought she’d be all about being the big hero defending the city like her dad.”

“Yeah well, considering what happened the last time Leviathan came to a city she was in, she thought it would be better to just stay away.” Tammi pulled her soaked scarf up higher, hiding her frown as Tattletale hissed.

“Oh shit. Yeah, it’s probably hard to get past that kind of PTSD, huh?” 

Tammi just nodded, “I don’t blame her, but I’d feel a lot safer if she was here right now.”

“Wouldn’t we all? We could just sit back nice and comfy and watch the monsters duke it out.” Tattletale joked, “So where’s she at right now if she’s not here?”

“Not sure. She said she had a plan to get people out of our territory before Leviathan gets here so she’s probably doing that. After that, I’m pretty sure she’s just gonna leave.”

“And you’re not going with her?” Tammi just shrugged and Tattletale raised an eyebrow, "Really? You just got done being a hostage and now you’re jumping into a fight with an Endbringer? You sure you don’t want to take a step back? Maybe wind down and think before doing something like this? I mean, I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t a Thinker and pretty much guaranteed to be in the backlines.”

“I’ve thought about it enough.”

Tammi’s tone broke no further questions and Tattletale shrugged, “Alright then. Well glad to have you anyway. You’re planning to join search and rescue, right?”

“Not like I can do anything else. I’m sure as hell not gonna be throwing trash cans at Leviathan.” Tammi looked around, categorizing the faces and costumes, when she spied a certain man in glowing blue armor making his way towards them, “Oh great.” 

Armsmaster was sporting two halberds on his back instead of his usual one, and he had an intense expression on his face as he strode towards the gathered villains. He stopped right in front of them and Tammi eyed him tensely, wondering what he was planning on doing.

“Where is Yosei?” The man asked gruffly, looking directly at Tammi.

“She’s not here.” Tammi said, glaring at him, “And even if she was, you couldn’t do shit to her anyway. We’re under a Truce right now.”

Armsmaster’s frown deepened, “She killed Kaiser and put Hookwolf in a medically induced coma before the Truce went into effect, and that isn’t even mentioning the millions in property damage. She will still have to answer for those crimes but that is not why I’m here. Eidolon needs to speak to her. Where is she?”

Tammi’s eyes widened at the news and Tattletale stepped forward, taking over the conversation for her, “She’s not coming. Apparently one fight against Leviathan was enough for a lifetime. She’s prioritizing getting her people out of the city to fighting a losing battle.”

“Is there any way to get into contact with her?” Miss Militia stepped from the crowd to join her colleague, “Her power would be very useful in defending the city.”

“She’s probably too busy to answer the phone and I doubt anything you say could convince her to come if I couldn’t.” Tammi shook her head, “She doesn’t want anything to do with this fight. If she did, she’d be here right now or out there waiting for him to show up. She’s not coming.”

The heroes clearly weren’t happy to hear that but it wasn’t like they could do anything about it. Tammi turned and walked away from the group before they could ask her any more questions about her girlfriend’s whereabouts. If they really wanted to try and get her to show up to the fight, Tammi was sure they could go find her themselves. It wasn’t like they didn’t know exactly who Yuko was and where she lived.

She found a place to sit near New Wave but not close enough that they’d notice and actually approach her. Tattletale found her quickly and the Undersiders took their places nearby. She glanced at the Thinker and got a grin in return, accompanied by a shrug, “Figured you wouldn’t want to be sitting alone in a place like this. Besides, I’m sure you enjoy our company more than the rest of these strangers.”

“Better you than nobody I guess.”

“Hey, I’ll take first place by default any day. A win is still a win.” She laughed tensely, but the joke had its intended effect. Tammi relaxed slightly and actually smiled, even if it was a small, barely-there expression.

Just then, the lights above flickered, shunting the room into darkness before lighting it back up an instant later. In that instant though, the pouring rain and ripping winds just outside the building whistled through the darkness, and just like that, Tammi was uneasy again.

“I guess this place wasn’t really built to stand up to this kind of storm.” Tattletale’s voice was strained and Tammi just nodded, clenching her fists together and hoping that the building wasn’t going to come crumbling down around them. That would just be the cherry on top of this shit sundae of a week.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she leaned back in her chair, turning her eyes to the stage as Legend walked up its steps, followed by Armsmaster. The two looked so out of place, standing side by side. Armsmaster’s futuristic armor pulsed with dim light, looking almost militaristic in comparison to Legend’s blue and white spandex. Even disregarding their powersets, it showed the paths that the both of them had taken to heroism, with Armsmaster’s armor lending itself more towards intimidation rather than comfort like Legend’s.

Which was probably one of the many reasons why he wasn’t the one with the microphone. Stepping up to the podium, Legend cleared his throat. The sound carried throughout the room, silencing everyone present as the man’s presence commanded them all to listen, “Thank everyone for coming. I understand that you don’t have to be here and some of you would rather not, but please know that we appreciate each and every one of you for your bravery.”

He was gearing up for a speech, Tammi could tell. She normally hated speeches. They were all either boring or way too disingenuous, to the point where you could tell the speaker didn’t mean a single word they said. Legend though? Tammi could tell from the first word that Legend meant every single word he said. He had a certain charisma about him, and it was easy to see why he was considered the face of the Protectorate just behind Eidolon.

Tammi focused on the man as he turned to the screen behind him, gesturing as it powered on, “We owe our thanks to Dragon and Armsmaster for their early alert. Thanks to them, we have enough time to brief you all and prepare for Leviathan’s arrival instead of just arriving and playing it by ear. With this advantage, today might just be one of the good days.”

He turned to them all, his face etched from stone to convey the seriousness of his words, “That being said, I won’t lie to you. Given the statistics from our previous encounters with Leviathan, a ‘good day’ still ends with one in four of the people in this room dead.”

Murmurs spread at his words and even Tammi tensed at the prospect. One in four? On a good day? What the hell happened on a bad day? 

She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.