Chapter 2774: 8.3
I brought up my shield with one arm and the security guard with my other before running for some cover. Cover which I might add was in abundance with collapsed buildings and ruined vehicles everywhere. There was an argument for dropping the security guard and distract Leviathan so that he'd be safe. However, with all the flooding that could happen it was just as likely that he'd drown without me being there. There was no shortage of busted cars or chunks of buildings littering the streets and to that end cover was easy to come by.
I didn't need to outrun the Leviathan, I just had to fall back on an old trick.
Crouching down I pulled the familiar feeling of my veil over me. I prayed that it would cover the guard as well, hoping that the green glow that enveloped me wouldn't give away our position. With Glory Girl's aura affecting me I did not feel fear but I still felt tension. A few seconds passed and in my mind's eye I knew that Leviathan was still aware of me, still looking for me. I darted under another vehicle across from me and not a moment later the truck I had been hiding under was lifted into the air and thrown aside.
If Endbringers had emotions then I had no doubt that it would confused by now, perhaps a bit annoyed at how I could avoid it.
Then the ground trembled below me as dust was kicked lose, water shook and sloshed masking my movement as I made my escape. It seemed that a dragon was fast approaching.
"GRAAAAARGGH!" The massive form of Lung burst into my view before tackling the Endbringer, however there was no mass to slam into. Instead the form of Leviathan collapsed into a pool of water, only to reform at Lung's side. Or perhaps it only looked like it reformed. I remembered reading somewhere that Leviathan was fast, sometimes faster than the human eye. Real footage of the monsters were rare, blurry messes at best and outright fabricated at worst.
I continued to creep away, intent at finding safety. Despite being fearless I knew that being at ground zero with an Endbringer fight was a bad idea. Flying overhead came the giant transparent green man again. At its centre was a familiar sight, Eidolon. The three giants fought, trading blows and when it seemed that Leviathan would escape it was peppered with a storm of lasers, fireballs and other fantastical projectiles.
Chief among them was Legend. His lasers bending and twisting in ways that physics could not explain, hammering away at the Endbringer. An entertaining if deadly lightshow.
As the smoke cleared another group of Capes, all flyers zoomed in with Alexandria in the lead as she brought a boulder down upon the monster's head. I noted that Glory Girl was among them as she dropped a small car. As much damage had been done to the Leviathan it was all minimal. Spinning around Levithan's tail lashed out and the Heroes surrounding him dropped like flies. In fact it was practically raining Capes as they were swatted out of the air. What Capes remained in the sky backed off to let Lung and Eidolon rush back into melee.
The sky practically screamed as someone smashed into the building above me. A Cape covered in green armor bounced off before landing into the murky water.
Carefully I propped the security guard up against a chunk of concrete making so he wouldn't fall and drown. Wading through the water I noted that it wasn't too deep but if you landed face down, any amount of water would be deep enough to drown in regardless of volume.
Soon enough I had eventually made my way over to the other Cape as I pulled him up from the water. He coughed unevenly as blood poured from his mouth. At least he was still alive, though he was no longer in any shape to fight.
"Th-thanks…" He forced out. "Don't… ah…. Supoose…"
"Hey, don't talk, you're hurt." I scolded him.
"Grab my… grab my…" He struggled weakly before something fell from his costume. At first I thought it was a piece of armor that was knocked loose from the impact. However the red glass container was anything but armor! It was one of my health potions!
Armsmaster must've made good on his promise to distribute them! Uncorking the bottle I tipped the contents into his mouth and in an instant he was standing once more.
"Damn, that has a quite a kick to it!" He cried out with some cheer completely at odds with our surroundings and situation. "Man, that Vim sure is a miracle worker hey? Oh and thanks for the help kid." He told me slapping my shoulder.
"Forest Condor up ,CC-6" A feminine voice intoned.
I wanted to point out that I was Vim but before I could say another word he flew off back into the fray. Wait was that Dragon's voice I just heard? Wait, he had one of those Endbringer bracelets! It would've been connected to Dad's prototype bracelet! AHHH! I could've found Dad by now!
Glancing around at the other fallen Capes I noted that they were getting up after drinking one of my potions. Those that couldn't move on their own were helped by other Capes. However despite all that there were many more that hadn't survived the impact. I couldn't heal the dead after all. A few people scavenged what they could, pocketing the potions I had made. It was morbid but I understood that they had to help who they could.
Following suit I approached someone who had been cut in half. Grabbing the health potion I stuffed it into my inventory, the security guard wouldn't die today if I had something to say about it. However the real treasure for me was the bracelet around the man's arm. Despite how simple it looked, the tech behind it was completely foreign to me. Well if I could figure out how to use a high tech smart phone then I'd be able to work this out right?
"Hello?" I yelled into the thing. I twisted the thing around looking for a button. "Dragon? Are you there?" Considering that she was the top Tinker in the entire world it stood to reason that she coordinated things.
"Armsmaster down ,CF-6" A feminine voice intoned. I froze then at the news. Armsmaster was hurt? I turned back to where Leviathan was and noted that with all the buildings, smoke and ruins in the way I couldn't see him at all. I had to help him!
"Armsmaster up ,CF-6" The voice came a moment later causing me to pause mid step. Right my potions, as long as he or someone nearby could move he'd probably be fine. That said it seemed like the bracelets only communicated information automatically. Still there had to be a way to speak through them. Fiddling with the armband I found what I was looking for.
"Hello Dragon? Anyone? This is Vim!" I had no idea if that had worked or not. However with nothing else to do I ran back to the security guard with potion in hand. It seemed that he'd been dislodged from his resting place but thankfully he was still above the water with little to risk of drowning.
"Come on, you're gonna be alright." I told him as a poured the contents of my potion down his throat. His eyes opened suddenly and he made a hacking sound as he cleared his throat.
"What just? How? Where?"
"Hey it's okay, you're fine." I told him. "Come on, let's get outta here, it's not safe." It seemed that Leviathan was being contained for the moment. Between the Heroes and Lung it was clear that the monster was on the back foot though collateral damage was at an all time high. That said it did look like that the city drains were doing its job if the lowered flood levels were anything to go by. No longer did I have to wade my way through the water, instead only my ankles were submerged.
Before I could get another word out I was lifted off the ground. Two strong arms had grabbed my torso and I struggled to be let go. Producing my sword I gave it a swing to whatever had gotten me.
"Hey wait it's me!" A familiar voice shouted causing me to stop my attack. "It's me Glory Girl!" She shouted.
"Wait!" I yelled back. "You left the security guy behind!" With our awkward positioning I couldn't look back without snapping my neck. "You can't leave him to die!"
"Fuck….." Gliding to a nearby building she dropped me off. "You sure you're okay?"
I nodded. "How'd you find me anyways?" I asked.
"The bracelet." She pointed out. "Dragon told me, the closest flyer to come grab you." Huh that made sense…. So why hadn't I heard any reply to that effect? I glanced down at the bracelet…. Which was now snapped into two pieces. When had that happened? "Just… stay here, I'll come back for you." She called as she flew off back to the security guard. I didn't even know his name.
Before she was out of sight she looped around back towards me. What the hell was she doing?
A building collapsed as Leviathan barrelled out of it. Wasn't he getting his face beaten in by Eidolon and Lung? Where the hell did they go?
"Oh shit shit shit shit!" Screamed Glory Girl as she grabbing me around the waist talking me off the building and into the sky. "SHIT!" She screamed again as I watched Leviathan come towards us.
"I got this!" I yelled producing my bow and arrow.
*Twang!* The arrow struck true.
*Twang!*
*Twang!*
*Twang!*
Arrow after arrow, all of them made of Vim's patented Tinker Tech Steel!
Soon his body was a pincushion of arrows…. Which didn't slow it down at all, in fact it hadn't even flinched or acknowledged the damage! The nerve!
Then Leviathan jumped into the sky and took a swing at us with its massive claw.
"DODGE!" I shouted out to Glory Girl. Without even questioning my command she did in fact dive downwards as the Endbringer's claw cleaved the air where we once were. Flying between the buildings now we darted around the corner. I had to slow the monster down somehow!
Going through my inventory I began dropping everything I could.
First the anvil. It went into Leviathan's face. The Endbringer ignored it as if it was just another drop of rain. Crap! That was the heaviest thing I had on me!
It seemed that I would have to rely on volume rather than weight! Volume that my Inventory had provided me.
With that in mind I began to throw EVERYTHING I had at him.
Bunch of misc potions that weren't helpful to other Heroes clinked against its feet as they practically cascaded from my hands. The potions were all individually indestructible and the Endbringer scrambled for purchase on the road, almost tripping over them like a man walking on a pile of marbles. It managed to find purchase eventually and continued it's pursuit.
About a bucket full of pennies, dimes and assorted coins smacked into the Leviathan's face uselessly. Honestly I was kind of surprised that I had so many coins on me. I just kept finding them all over the place. Drawers, our mailbox, cupboard, just found them everywhere.
I threw my old Vim outfit, black pants and mask right at him. The wind caught onto them before they even reached it and were now uselessly soggy rags in the water.
I then threw my scissors and hammer at him which also did nothing. I knew I was desperate but this was stupid!
I dug into my inventory and continued to drop things at it in the vain hope to slow it down.
Four sets of leather armor, Steel ingots, iron bars, leather strips, my spare steel armor, daggers, unused chicken eggs and a cushion that I think I took from the Ward's common room.
Nothing hurt the monster of course, they just bounced off it's thick skin.
Only the cushion and the chicken eggs, arguably the softest items I had did anything at all as the cushion was bisected by the Endbringer claws bursting into a cloud of feathers sticking to its face where the eggs had landed and broke.
So now we had Leviathan whose face was covered it wet, yolky feathers chasing us. If it weren't for Glory Girl's aura making me fearless I'm sure I would've been screaming my head off by now. However, as it stood I was able to see the humor in the situation and thus laugh at the absurdity.
"KEEP IT TOGETHER VIM!" Glory Girl shouted, more for her own benefit than mine I assumed if her frantic tone was anything to go by.
Well, either way that was everything I had in my inventory. Everything except my bow and arrows which had proven to be useless already. I could throw my sword and shield at it but I wanted to keep those in reserve on the off chance that it managed to close enough to us.
The thought was just as silly.
"Fly me closer!" The imaginary version of me shouted. "I want to hit it with my sword!"
Yeah, not gonna happen.
That said I did have one last item…. Something I hoped to never see again.
The yellow triangle shirt thing that the PR guy gave me flew through the air before slapping wetly against its face. While the feathers were spread out enough to not blind it, the triangle on the other hand was large enough to cover half it's vision as it clung to the yolk of the eggs.
THAT had an effect and had seemingly caught it by surprise as it scrambled to get the damn thing off it's face. The yellow triangle struggled back by virtue of its elastic but eventually it was slashed, rendering it into rags. It would not be missed.
Leviathan once again continued it's chase after us. It was at this point I realised that it wasn't just me throwing stuff at it. On the ground and in the air around us were Capes doing just the same thing and still it did not slow down even in the rare instance where chunks of it's skin were blasted off or blackened with ash.
Blasting it with powers, shooting at it with high tech guns, force fields were erected and destroyed constantly. It was a fighting retreat!
"HOLY SHIT VIM!" Glory Girl swore again. "WHY IS IT AFTER US? WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO VIM?"
Honestly I figured it'd be after the Triumvirate more than anyone else. After all they fought it the most. Maybe even Lung being the only guy who had taken it on in a solo situation.
"GRAAAH!" Speak of the devil and he shall appear as they say. How he appeared was not how I imagined it though. From the skies with his dragonic wings Lung belched searing flames from his maw, turning the water around Leviathan to steam. That was all par the course for the big angry dragon man though. The odd thing was the fact that there were two of him.
The clone (and I assumed it was a clone) however glowed green and was transparent, just like the giant green man from before. Apparently Eidolon had felt like a change of pace.
Emerging from the flames came Leviathan, it's flesh was charred with chunks falling off as they steamed and smoldered. Hurt as it was the thing ignored both Lung and Lung light as it kept coming for me.
"RAAAARGARAHGHGHGAHRGAH!" Lung screamed once more, no doubt insulted that the Endbringer paid so little attention to him. The two dragons, one silver with shining scales and the other glowing green dived at the monster, pulling it into a grapple. It managed to slip through them however and continued its way towards me. It was then that it fell over as some sort of phenomena held onto its tail.
It was a black mass of…. Something, a perfect orb that sucked in all light. Where that had come from and who it was produced by was a mystery but it gave the rest of the heroes a chance to bombard it with their powers. Were we winning? Is this how the Leviathan would die?
Whatever the case Glory Girl continued to fly away from the fight, no doubt having received orders from her arm band to get me out of there.
Wait….
Arm band.
"Glory Girl!" I shouted to her. "Can you ask Dragon to find my Dad? He'll have a comms device thing too!"
"Wait, you have a Cape for a Dad too?" She asked in surprise. "Damn! I knew I liked you for a reason, I had no idea we had so much in common!"
"No, no just… can you ask her quickly?"
"He's safe in DR-4" A voice interrupted us. It wasn't Dragon that answered though, it was Armsmaster. Hearing his voice was comforting and made me glad that he was safe. "The Leviathan is being contained, it looks like we might even kill it." He spoke with some level of bitterness which I found oddly misplaced. "Wait... a second… what's…."
And that's when Brockton Bay exploded. In hindsight we should've seen it coming. All those missing clouds, all the water that previously flooded the streets, all that moisture in the air. All of that had gone missing throughout the fight.
It had to be somewhere and now everyone on the ground was suffering for it as buildings everywhere began collapsing. The underground pipes no doubt had burst with the sewers all ravaged by Leviathan's water controlling powers. Infrastructure all over either fell over or were thrown into the air by powerful geysers of water.
Glory Girl I knew was strong enough to lift a car. However it seemed like the car would win in this specific moment. More specifically the car that came flying at us at the speed of a bullet. We were knocked apart, separated in midair. There wasn't much I could do about it honestly but I looked for options regardless. I tried to pull another power out from my ass but it seemed that life refused to cooperate.
I suppose I should stream line myself so when I hit the water I'd be okay. Olympic level divers did that all the time but the difference was that I had started at a much higher altitude. On the other hand I was a Brute so maybe I'd survive the fall. They said that when you dropped into water at such a height it'd be no different from hitting concrete. I consoled myself by reminding myself that if I survived this, my heavy armor shard would probably improve.
Did my heavy armor shard improve based on the amount of damage I took? Or was it based on how many times I was hit? It was an odd experience to fall to my death without being afraid as the green glow still enveloped me.
"HANG ON VIM!" Glory Girl yelled in the distance as she flew towards me. She wouldn't make it though, she was too far away. How we got seperated so dramatically had escaped me but it was what it was. I continued to fall and soon the flooded waters of Brockton Bay reached up to meet me. I held my breath, waiting for the inevitable.
I then landed with a soft splash.
Unharmed, unhurt and unphased.
I hadn't even gone that deep.
Huh.
Sometimes my powers frustrated me.
Sometimes they annoyed me with their arbitrary limits.
This was not one of those times.
Breaking the surface of the water I took a deep breath as I found myself in melee range with Leviathan. I knew I saved my sword for a reason.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone