Dragon's Progeny: Chapter 59

Brockton Bay was drowning. 

Icy rain fell in sheets all around the city, pooling in the streets and on roofs as the monster at our shores enacted its will on the world. Even this far away, I could feel its influence on the world around me, the subtle pull it had on the liquid that had slowly and steadily risen to ankle height, even in this empty parking lot. It dredged up memories that I would rather have remained forgotten, as did the sounds of waves crashing against buildings less than a mile away.

The battle to defend the city was very likely in full swing by now. Powers both simple and esoteric pitted up against Leviathan in vain hopes that they would be able to drive him away before he did too much damage to the city. Failure and success were measured in losses instead of victory, and I knew that even if they managed to force the beast to retreat, Brockton Bay was likely done for. It would just be another city lost to the waves and its defenders would be memorialized with names on a plaque in whatever ruins remained. I just prayed that one name in particular would remain off of that list.

I put the disquieting thoughts out of my mind, focusing on the moment and the people before me instead as dozens of people trembled before me. This group was smaller than the others I had sent away so far, the dregs of those who had not made it to a shelter in time and were instead seeking refuge from me. And just as I had been all night, I would grant it.

Esoteric energies thrummed through my veins as I lifted my hands, enacting my will upon the lines carved in the asphalt underneath their feet. Glowing crimson symbols burned to life underneath the group, bright and vibrant even under the layers of water heaped upon them. They glowed brighter still, becoming almost white as the magic inside of them reached a fever pitch, before a pillar of that same magic rushed upwards, consuming the group in a dome of light.

When the dome disappeared, everyone within was gone, whisked away to a location far safer than anywhere in the city just like the dozens of groups before them. Sweat rolled down my neck and into the folds of my ostentatious robes as I lowered my hands, exhausted but unbowed.

“That was the last group.” Nana said from her place beside me, looking out into the empty streets surrounding us. Lee was standing between us and slightly further back, staring through the rain in silent vigil, “Everyone else is either in shelters or didn’t bother to show up here.”

I nodded but didn’t respond verbally, turning to the row of buildings separating us from the fight itself. Even this far away, I could smell the salt in the air. Could feel the tremors of the waves crashing against the city as Leviathan did his best to drown us all out. He was just as frightening as I remembered.

“So what's the plan Hime? Are you gonna whisk us off to whatever magical place you sent them to next?”

Nana's tone was displeased, as it had been since I told her of my plan to take zero action against Leviathan. She was mad at me, and it wasn't hard to guess why, but I didn't comment on it. We'd already had the argument once before.

“I won't be able to go through the portal with you.” I said instead, “My power only works from this side so you'll have to step through before me and I'll meet you where you end up.”

“Oh well in that case, you can just go ahead and shut that thing down.” She said casually, making me pause.

“You aren't leaving?”

“And let all of my stuff get washed away? Uh-uh, I'm gonna go back home and save whatever I can.  No overgrown lizard is gonna make me leave all my sit behind.”

Her words were frank and gave no indication that she would be swayed away from the decision and I didn't have the energy to argue with her. I just nodded, accepting her decision for what it was  before letting go of my hold on my powers.

Even as my form slipped away, the power bubbling under my skin barely decreased in the slightest. The looming threat of the Endbringer just over the horizon wouldn't let it, leaving me just as ready to transform as I had been when it arrived.

Nana gave me a look as I turned back into human form, “So what are you going to do? Just gonna get while the getting’s good?”

“You know I can’t fight it, Nana.” I said quietly and the woman’s face twisted.

“Out of all people… I never took you for a coward, Hime.” She said disappointedly. I stared at her harshly for her words but she didn’t care. The woman was far too headstrong for my anger to sway her emotions in any shape or form.

She gestured at the flooded streets around us, “You’re really going to just let this happen, aren’t you? You aren’t even going to try to stop him from turning Brockton Bay into another Japan, another Kyushu?”

I looked away, “There’s nothing I can do. I’m not invincible, and I don’t have a deathwish. I am better served with the rest of our people.”

“Bullshit.” She hissed, “What would your father say if he saw you just backing down and rolling over against that thing? If he were here, do you really think he’d be fine with running away while the city he claimed fell to an old enemy?”

Her words were passionate, showing the respect she had for my father and his power. Unfortunately, she had one thing terribly wrong.

My eyes narrowed, anger coming to my face unbidden, “He absolutely would. My father knew that fighting an Endbringer is an exercise in futility. Even after that battle, he told me explicitly that the only reason he even stepped into the battlefield was to protect my mother and I.”

“And you won't do the same for Tammi?” She asked, bringing my anger to a screeching halt, “You started a gang war to get her back, nearly went against your principals just to save her, but now you're willing to let her run to her death just because you're scared? What happened to the Yosei who was willing to do whatever it took to protect the people she cared about?”

“Tammi was taken against her will and I promised to get her back. But this time she made a choice of her own free will and I won't try to force her to abandon it.” I swallowed hard but kept my composure, “I would like nothing more than for her to be here, safe with me rather than trying to fight off a force of nature, But I suppose she'd rather throw her life away.”

A hand came across my cheek hard and fast, leaving stinging skin and a dumbfounded expression in its wake. I stared at Nana dumbly before I slowly brought a hand up to rub at the cut where the woman's prosthetic fingers had caught on my skin.

Nana's face was absolutely furious, “That’s unworthy of you, Yuko. Grow up and stop making excuses. If you want to hide from Leviathan then that's well and good, but don't insult that girl just because she chose not to.”

As I clutched my injured cheek, she turned to leave, giving me one last piece of advice in parting, “Your father wasn't invincible and I bet he was scared out of his mind when he fought Leviathan. But he put aside that fear because he knew that he had people that needed protecting. Can you really say you're living up to his legacy if you aren't willing to do the same?”

And then the woman walked off, leaving me to stew in my thoughts and the pain her words and hand had caused me. I removed my palm from my cheek as Nana disappeared, passing by Lee who of course didn’t offer a single word of feedback. I watched her go, her words running circles in my mind as I stared at the back of her labcoat, before I slowly turned to look into the distance where the battle with Leviathan was raging. Where Tammi was probably fighting for her life just to stay alive…

The oath I made on that night floated to the forefront of my thoughts unbidden, the promise of protection and safety that I had already failed to upkeep. Was I really willing to do so again?

I battled with myself for what seemed like an eternity, fear weighing against love and resolve in my heart. My jaw set as I clenched my teeth and my hands balled into fist at my side, before I turned away sharply, shaking my head and following after Nana.

~~~

When a parahuman is born, when they choose to step up and put their powers to use in heroism or villainy or even something in between, there is always something that they have to consider. A question that had to be asked, consciously or unconsciously, before they took that first step into the limelight.

If an Endbringer attacked your city, would you run or fight?

It wasn't a requirement. In fact, most people would try their best to advise against actually fighting an Endbringer. It was common sense. But when one came to the place you called home and tried its best to wipe it off the map, reason tended to take a back seat, and emotion grabbed the wheel instead. 

Once you're actually in it though, once that decision has been made for you and you were face to face with one of those monsters, there wasn't room for emotions anymore. After all, when you're smacked in the face with a tidal wave or come inches from getting cut in half by a tail, the only thing that kept you alive was cold, calculated logic. Emotions made people sloppy, and being sloppy got you killed. 

That was probably the only reason Tammi was still able to keep going despite everything that was going on. Exhaustion filled her to the bone and regret consumed her mind for ever thinking that she belonged out here. 

She gripped her platform’s handles tighter, slick metal sliding against her palms as she angled downwards. It wasn't the trash can lid that she had used to get here, that hadn't been big enough to carry more than two or three people. Instead she had been given something more useful by the PRT, whipped up in just a few minutes by someone with a metal shaping power. It was rough, but it was leagues more useful than what she had before.

Of the three capes in her platform, only one of them had any real semblance of life in them. She couldn't recognize any of them by name but their costumes had some sort of theme going on, medieval fantasy or something. She found them grouped together too, practically draped over one another in the rubble, so she figured she'd just grab all three instead of loading them on one by one. Whether that would change anything, she had no clue.

The triage section was a good distance away from the battle and heavily fortified against the waves. Walls and wave breakers surrounded the line of tents, preventing the bulk of Leviathan’s water from getting through to the wounded inside. There was a section of to the side designated for drop offs and Tammi brought her platform down there, calling out to the nearby attendant.

“I’ve got three here! Two critical!”

A man–or kid really, Tammi mentally corrected, ran towards them as soon as she called out. He was wearing a bright white and blue costume lined with silver stripes and as he held out a hand, a silver pane of energy manifested in his palm, growing larger as he slid it underneath the group of wounded behind her and lifted them into the air. He carried them away without a single word, just as he had the last three times, and Tammi sighed as she took a moment to stretch her legs. 

She had been on and off of that thing for the entire battle, rushing to and from the battlefield as she tried to save as many people as she could. They said Endbringer battles were exhausting, but they never told you about the mental toll that it took on you as well. She'd come across more corpses in just one battle than she had her entire life, and every time she failed to save someone, her spirit died a little bit more 

Leviathan was the most destructive Endbringer in a lot of ways. Sure, Behemoth left long lasting devastation wherever it showed up and the Simurgh created chains of events that would eventually be catastrophic if they were allowed to play out, but they were preventable. Behemoth could be stopped before its goal was achieved and as long as you kept an eye on the cities the Simurgh visited, things would mostly be fine.

If Leviathan showed up though, the death and destruction started immediately. There was no preventing it, you could only weather the storm and do your best to drive it away before everything you know and love crumbled into waterlogged dust.

Brockton Bay hadn't crumbled completely, but it was well on its way there. They weren't making very much headway in driving him back and the tidal waves were only growing stronger. At this point, it was only a matter of time before things went from worse to hopeless.

Leviathan spotted, CD-5

The words that came from the armband on her wrist told Tammi that her break was over. Leviathan has moved to a new sector which meant that she and the other search and rescue capes could move on to the one he had just vacated.

This was how these fights went. No matter what position you chose, you were given maybe a minute to catch your breath before you were off again. If search and rescue was this bad, Tammi could only imagine what it was like actually being in the triage tents.

Tammi made her way back to the battlefield, going to the sector that Leviathan had just vacated so that she could hopefully save whoever was left.

As she flew, Tammi’s thoughts strayed to her girlfriend. What was Yuko doing right now? While Leviathan was tearing through the city and wave after wave of sea water battered them all, what could she be doing? Was she already out of the city, far away so that the monster’s assault was nothing but a distant event? Or maybe she was still here, watching but not interfering as she lost another home?

Tammi didn’t really know and honestly, it didn’t really matter. All that mattered right now was survival, both for herself and whoever she managed to save. As Tammi reached her destination, she slowed her chariot, looking around for anyone who she might be able to help. Unfortunately, she was only able to glance over the carnage wrought by Leviathan’s presence before another chime on her wrist forced her to stop.

Tidal wave incoming.

The warning was unneeded, at least for Tammi. From her position up high, she could see the wave before it even fully started forming, a bulge in the ocean that grew unnaturally large unnaturally fast. It was the biggest one that had been sent against the city yet and was sure to cause. The telekinetic stared at the herald of imminent destruction for a moment before swooping down towards the battlefield, looking for anyone that she could grab before it arrived.

She managed to get three people onboard with her before the wave reached the shore, at which point she was forced to pull up. She shot into the air, just barely managing to clear the crest of the swelling ocean, moments before it crashed down on the streets below with a thunderous sound straight out of someone’s worst nightmare. Even the air pressure of the water passing below her was enough to make her platform wobble and threaten to tilt, but she managed to rein it in before they were all sent back down into that mess.

And what a mess it was.

Someone nearby whimpered as the water from the wave receded, revealing the utter carnage that it had wrought upon the streets below them all. It was horrifying. Buildings that had stood tall for decades crumbled completely under millions of tons of water, falling down around the ears of anyone who had been unfortunate enough to be inside or even near them. The capes who weren’t fortunate enough to be gifted with some measure of flight or faster movement had been washed through the debris, dragged along through jagged stone and broken glass even as the salty waters invaded their lungs.

Mass casualties detected, please stand by… The armband spoke, and even without the words, Tammi knew that this one was going to be bad. Even in her tiny sliver of the city, at least two dozen capes were strewn about the place, costumes torn and limbs mangled by the power put upon them. Some had managed to survive by creating some sort of shield with their powers or even out of pure luck and stubbornness, but they were few and far between.

Tammi watched as two people crawled out from underneath a larger, much more stocky cape who had clearly tried to shield them from the wave at the cost of his own life. His costume didn’t give any indication he was a hero, but it seemed that in his last moments, he had put that aside to save the life of another. 

With how things were going so far, Tammi wondered if anyone would be left to remember his sacrifice.

Chubster, Hellion, Washburn, Cloister, Dispatch, Weld, Hindsight, Manpower, Flex, Herald, Verbatim, Trickster…

The armband just kept rattling off names seemingly without end as Dragon calculated the toll that the attack had taken on the defender’s forces, but Tammi tuned it out. Through the rain and darkness, she could see a figure flitting between the few standing buildings as it stomped through the night, and her heart stopped in her chest as an asymmetrical set of four glowing eyes caught hers through the curtain of water falling from the sky.

Throughout the fight, Leviathan had made one thing abundantly clear above all else. Despite its size, it was not the slow, ambling monster its older brother was. It was more akin to a phantom in the night, using its speed and the rain it had brought with it to its advantage as it tramped around the battlefield like it was its own personal playground, killing and injuring capes left and right. One moment it would be in one sector and the next it would be two sectors over, always leaving carnage and bodies in its wake for search and rescue to come try and save.

This was the closest Tammi had seen it yet. It was normally long gone by the time she arrived on her slow moving carriage, but now it was here and it was a terrifying sight to behold. Tall and bald with a lizardlike body, it looked just humanoid enough to pass as something similar. Its body was littered with cuts and other wounds that dripped black ichor into the water around it. A large chunk of flesh was missing from its right arm and its chest looked like it had taken a direct hit from a rocket launcher filled with molten lead, cauterized and almost glassy compared to what was around it.

It wasn't put off or even slowed down by its wounds though, as evidenced by the limp, broken body dangling from its tail, freshly caught yet clearly devoid of any and all life. 

Leviathan flicked its tail to the side, dropping the dead cape like trash, before crouching down on all fours like an animal as opposed to the human it was masquerading as. A pillar of water launched it upwards and Tammi only had a millisecond to react before it was upon them with extended claws, seeking to bring them back down to earth.

Luck was the only thing that kept Tammi and her passengers on the platform as the telekinetic jerked it upwards and just out of Leviathan's reach. The woman right behind her shrieked as the Endbringer’s claws gouged into the metal before it fell back into the dark waters below.

Tammi took the near miss for what it was and didn't look back as she booked it in the other direction. Her heart was beating a mile a minute in her chest at the close call with death and her passengers were just as spooked as they held onto one another for dear life. 

She pulled her platform upwards, urged by self preservation and the cries of the people riding alongside her. Leviathan tilted its head in a mockery of human emotion, seemingly thinking about whether or not it was worth it to try and reach her again. She was pretty sure it couldn't jump this high, even with the help of its water, but she kept rising just to be sure.

“Get us out of here!” One of the capes with her cried, and Tammi wasn't going to argue, even if she wished they would stop yelling in her damn ear.  She swiveled in the air, turning to head to another sector that was as far away as possible from that thing, when motion from above caught her eye, moments before a roar echoed through the air, drawing the attention of everyone on the battlefield including herself. She looked up and her heart felt like it stopped dead in her chest as it skipped multiple beats in quick succession.

Because high above, peeking out from the clouds, was a dragon. It was not one of the ones that Tammi had always seen in movies and TV shows. It didn't have the usual stocky body with four legs and massive wings. Instead it was long and serpentine, with glittering red scales that were every shade of sunlight wrapped into one and silver fur and absolutely no wings to speak of. A gilded mane of silver wrapped around its jaw and head and thick golden horns burst from its forehead, reaching back towards the tip of its tail.

As she watched, it moved in long, sweeping motions that reminded her of dancing, looping in and out of the clouds which dragged behind it like paint on a brush. It swam through the sky without a care in the world, ignoring the devastation below it and as it did so, something began to change. Slowly but surely, the sky began to clear, and the rain that had been pelting the battlefield started to dissipate.

An unknown parahuman has been sighted and appears to be clearing Leviathan's cloud coverage. Tammi's armband spoke as the downpour became a drizzle. Assume they are friendly but please proceed with caution until they have been identified.

But they weren't unknown, were they? At least not to Tammi. There was no doubt in her mind about who that dragon was because who else could it be? Even so, she could barely believe her eyes as the clouds disappeared entirely, driven away by the divine creature's dance to reveal the curtain of stars hanging above.

Its face turned downwards, scanning the battlefield, and Tammi was sure that its gaze lingered on her for a moment as their eyes met, before its attention zeroed in completely on the Endbringer lurking in the ruins nearby.

The roar that split the sky was monstrous and spine-chilling. The dragon’s face twisted into an almost human expression of rage before it spiraled down from the heavens in a tight coil, jaws cracking wide open as it shot straight towards Leviathan like a bullet.

And as the dragon blew past her to slam into the Endbringer like judgment from on high, Tammi realized that despite all the death and destruction surrounding her, she was actually smiling.