Capítulo 127: 125 Interlude: Alexandria 2 Electric Boogaloo
A/N: I'll post a map here for what the convoy looks like, cuz it's fun
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South of Yakama, Washington, July 5th, 06:52.
Sitting in the back of the armoured transport, I keep myself perfectly still, nerves that would be causing my leg to bounce long since burnt out over the years.
The sun is still in the throes of rising, yet everyone in this convoy is alert and ready for a fight, even if it is barely seven in the morning.
After threatening to knock the moon out of orbit, no one stood in my way as I moved to catch the insane woman currently being transported, I had her 'trial' set up before I even caught her.
Meaning that once I did, we could move things forward as fast as possible, so as to not allow that damn psychopath Tear to have the opportunity to break her free.
Something that I know is all but guaranteed to happen, partly thanks to a young Hero who apparently knew Tear back when she was only known as Lusia.
Thanks to her, we have a very detailed psychological profile of the Clown, and I have personally read through every report, every social media post, every blog relating to her; I likely know Lusia better than anyone else still alive.
So really, the only question is whether or not she will survive the journey.
She is with the Nine after all, and I'm certain that from what we've seen of what she's doing, she would want to break String Theory free without using the Nine as a crutch.
Obviously, Jack Slash wouldn't allow that, causing some infighting, hopefully they will just kill each other off and save us the trouble.
My prosthetic eye aches as my mind drifts to a certain member of the Nine. The only person to truly hurt me.
Clearing my mind of distracting thoughts, I focus back on the woman plaguing me.
I have been 'advised' not to actively hunt down this network of 'Clowns' that she is forming, but thanks to the nature of the threat, nobody is going to try and get in my way putting at least this Clown in the Birdcage.
But it is inevitable that she will try to stop this, and she's not stupid, loathe as I am to admit it, so I even brought back up, just in case.
Not that I truly believe she can best me, or even hurt me for that matter.
For all the versatility her power has shown, nothing so far suggests anything capable of harming me. My backup in this case, is just to handle whoever else she brings with her, if she doesn't come alone that is.
Truthfully, I'm feeling rather expectant.
As a member of the Nine, Tear has a kill order automatically, and after all the trouble she's been causing, I would be 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 to test just how potent her regenerative capabilities are.
Now, merely a day after catching String Theory, the question of whether or not Lusia will make it in time to intercept us is finally answered as a radio to my left crackles to life.
"Company. Five capes, two ahead and three to the side, one minute until collision." Darcy's voice rings out in the van, causing the men and women around me to straighten and double check their weapons.
Live fire is permitted, but containment foam is likely to simply be more effective.
"Understood, keep a look out." One of the troopers, Anderson, my mind supplies, responds to Darcy.
She is a useful one, Darcy. She's one of ours, not a natural trigger. Her father wanted her to have a power so that she could help expand his 'enterprises,' so naturally he came to us.
Unfortunately for him, she ended up with a fairly weak power, she can't even learn anything about the parahumans she senses, just their location, and he was arrested not long later, so now she's taken to just living a normal, peaceful life.
After this operation, Cauldron will only have one more favour owed by her, but really, she's hardly worth anything.
Thinking of Cauldron has me thinking of Lusia again, more specifically how Contessa can't Path her.
Normally a worrying thought, but with how she explained it, I'm not too worried.
The only people so far that Contessa couldn't Path are the likes of Scion, the Endbringers, Eidolon and Glaistig Uaine. There are others of course, but the point is that they tend to be incredibly powerful in their own right.
But the way she explained it, is that with Scion, it's like her power gets a 'permission denied' when she tries to Path him, while with the Endbringers it's liker her Paths simply slide off of them.
With the likes of Eidolon, Glaistig and Pastor, it's more like the Path simply can't give an accurate answer, with there simply being too many variables to consider, too many powers at play.
Apparently, Lusia is similar to them, but it feels like the Path is 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬, like it's trying to get close to a predator that only fights back in response.
The Doctor and Kurt have come to the conclusion that it's likely that Lusia's Agent is rebelling for whatever reason. This is part of why the Doctor doesn't want me to hunt her down, since Lusia could end up being something of vital importance to our goals, not that she knows it.
The radio once again cracks to life, cutting off my thoughts. "Obstruction on the road, it looks like Tear Ma'am, I can't see a second."
I barely even have to think for a second to figure out what she's planning.
Lusia has been with the Nine, if she's here, and with only four other parahumans at that, then clearly she fought her way out, maybe even just killing the others of the Nine.
But she's here with others, too many for it to just be the Clowns we know. Not that there aren't enough of them, just that Lusia wouldn't be stupid enough to bring them here.
Which, unfortunately means that she has likely killed Jack and taken over the Nine.
My eye aches even more, phantom pains returning as realisation of just who I might be fighting today sets in.
But I shake that thought and focus. If she was just standing there alone, then she would definitely just be planning on letting herself get hit by the front transport, but she's not alone.
And since she was with the Nine yesterday, I'm fairly certain I know her plan.
So without wasting any time, I grab a radio and speak quickly and concisely.
"Avoid collision, Crusher is hiding behind her," is all I need to say before I feel the vehicle suddenly jerk to the side.
Everyone here knows about the Nine and their powerset, so I don't have to warn anyone about what it would mean to drive into Crusher's power field.
A second later, the radio comes to life again, Darcy's urgent voice coming through from the other end.
"The other three are moving! Two for the prisoner and one centre!" She yells, making me frown.
She knows our formation.
Great, she's already got a leak in the PRT. Lovely.
I hear a loud crash from ahead that I attribute to Lusia jumping at Osmosis' transport, putting a stop to the convoy, but I ignore that in favour of flying up, straight through the roof as if it wasn't even there.
It takes me barely a second to take in the scene around me.
At the front of the convoy, Lusia is playing with Osmosis' transport like an oversized chew toy, while Valiant is somehow already on the ground, seemingly unconscious.
Crusher is standing slightly further ahead and keeping her distance, and a quick glance to the side is enough to learn who else she has brought with her.
The most obvious is Crawler, who is barrelling towards String Theory's transport, with Murder Bear shortly behind him, while the person approaching me is a small girl in a marching band outfit with a bunny mask and feathered cap.
March, my mind supplies.
Small time Villain in NY. She's caused Legend some trouble with how she's been targeting the Wards, but for the most part she hasn't shown to be anyone of note.
Yet she seems to be approaching me as if she believes she can take me.
She isn't the first, and she won't be the last, but I'm not just going to play by their games.
The troopers can handle her, is all I think before launching myself towards Crawler.
I reach him right as he crashes into the front of the vehicle, his head and shoulders already showing signs of turning to stone, and I give him no time to react as I barrel into him, sending him tumbling away from the road, except that's not what happens at all.
Instead, the moment I reach him, he twists his entire monstrous body, reminding me of some combat precogs I've fought before as he manoeuvres himself perfectly to avoid my strike, while also landing a full body check on my that has my body carving a trench into the ground the next instant.
Annoying.
Raising back to the air without so much of a scratch, I glance down to see March toying with the troopers around her, dancing and flipping in an all too exaggerated manner as she does so.
Lusia has already finished with the front transport and is throwing it aside like trash, turning her gaze to me with a hungry smile on her bare face.
She isn't the first Villain to think they could best me, and once again, she won't be the last.
But I ignore her in favour of the transport and watch as a bright flame suddenly bursts forth from the final transport, hitting nothing as the two capes around it jumped back just in time to remain unharmed, as if they saw the attack coming.
Annoying.
The troopers try to help, but even against the weakest of the bunch, Murder Bear, they don't manage to do much of anything.
Dashing for Crawler once again, I decide to get him out of the fight by simply picking him up and throwing him away. He can't move nearly as fast as I can, so it should keep him out of the fight.
But right as I am about to reach him, I am knocked to the side by a powerful force hitting me from behind, and a glance out of the corner of my eye shows a spike of bone shattering against my skin.
Before I can orient myself again, I am impacted once more, by Crawler this time, and my body ends up digging another trench into the ground.
𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨.
A second later I am in the sky again, the air 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 before me as I fly forward, deciding to just ignore the difficult targets for the moment and to get rid of the easy ones, such as the bear woman standing at the back of Sting Theory's transport.
They all have kill orders, so I don't bother with the peaceful method and instead just swing a fist at her head, knowing exactly how much force I need to use to turn her skill into a fine mist.
Yet, once again she acts as if she knows the future, ducking before I even swing at her, and as I try to adjust my swing, her power springs to life, a number of transparent tendrils sprouting from her heart and piercing upwards to her side, perfectly managing to hit the underside of my fist right before it killed her, resulting in my attack flying overhead.
My mind reminds me of the information on March, and how she supposedly has a Thinker power that helps her with timing.
At the same time, Crawler comes crashing into me, but this time I don't go flying.
This time, I keep control over myself and he only manages to push me a small distance.
With an annoyed frown, I grab hold of one of his arms, and with a flight assisted horizontal spin, I launch his body as far away as I can, immediately ignoring him as he soars away so that I can focus on securing the prisoner.
By now, she's already inside the transport and working on getting String Theory free, but before I can entre to stop her, I see March standing at the entrance to the van, happily waving up at me.
The annoying thing with Thinkers like this, is that I don't know if her plan involves me simple charging her, or if her plan is for me to avoid the bait and go in through the walls or roof of the vehicle.
Wait, what happened to Prometheus?
A quick glance to the side answers that as I see him lying in a pool of blood with a bone spike sticking out from his gut.
It only takes me a second to note that it shouldn't be fatal, so long as he gets treatment within a couple of hours, the spike having missed the most vital organs.
Knowing that Thinkers like their tricks, I decide to just be simple instead of overthinking things and just charge at them.
March draws her rapier as I approach, and a sudden sinking feeling forms in my gut, making me hesitate.
A good thing too, as I barely got close enough for her to land a small swipe before I backed off, opening a small wound on the palm of my hand, barely even noticeable, more of a paper cut really.
But it means that she can hurt me.
"Tut tut, little Miss Bibliophile,~ don't tell me the mighty Library of Alexandria is afraid of a small little girl, is she?~" A mocking voice calls out from the side, and as I look over I see Lusia approaching with a sway in her hips, her external power nowhere to seen.
I don't say anything as I float there, annoyed at how quickly everything has gone wrong.
It's barely been a couple of minutes and Osmosis is hurt, possibly dying, Valiant is at the very least unconscious, Gorgon the same and Prometheus is dying, all the while they have walked in and are freeing the prisoner as if I don't even exist.
It took them barely a couple of minutes to completely dismantle everything I prepared for her, and they did it with such ease, not even a single scratch on any of them.
How 𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜.
"Nothing to say?~ Well, maybe you can at least answer a question of mine then?~" Saying so, a tendril of her power bursts out of her back and extends dozens of feet off the road before reeling back the next moment, only with something in it's grip.
"How's the eye?~" She says, making me flinch minutely in anger before controlling my expression, though, going by the widening of her own smile, she clearly caught my slip up, "I'm sure it must hurt, but don't worry.~ You have been avenged!~"
As she shouts out her exclamation, she proudly presents what she grabbed, as if showing off a trophy.
It's a head. A decapitated mans head, horrifically burned and melted as it is, I still recognise it.
Even if I didn't have a perfect recall, how could I forget the face of William Manton, former member of Cauldron and the Master of the Siberian.
"Now, I know what you must be thinking, that's not the Siberian! That's just some random fucked up lookin' ass dude!~ But you'd be wrong! See, it turns out that dear Sibby was actually a 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 this whole time!~ He 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 us! So much for girl power right?~ Turns out she was just a lie.~ But now he's dead, so all is good, and we can be besties right?~"
Lusia keeps talking, but I'm not listening.
They killed Manton. They killed the Siberian.
The Siberian who has fought Legend, Eidolon and I by herself and gotten away. The Siberian who killed Hero.
Part of me wants to be happy that Hero has finally been avenged, but a bigger part of me is simply weary of how much power Lusia seems to be accumulating, both in herself and in those she surrounds herself with.
An even bigger part of me, is the part realising that I won't be able to stop them from freeing String Theory.
Fine then. Change of plans.
With a blur of motion, the air collapses around me as I fly forward as fast as I am able, smashing into Lusia before she can do anything about it and flying up into the sky the next moment.
In five seconds we are thousands of metres above the ground, and I don't pause as I spin a full circle and throw Lusia back down to the earth with all of my strength.
𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮
A ring of displaced air explodes around her body as she plummets to the ground, but I ignore that in favour of taking a deep breath and focusing on what matters.
That being, 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘣𝘪𝘵.
Luckily, there is one solution.
One of the benefits of being teammates with someone known to have all the powers, is that he can do anything and be anywhere without anyone questioning it, because he is Eidolon, and he can do anything.
So with one last glare down at the annoying Clowns below, I speak three words like a death sentence.
"Door to Eidolon."
The world splits and a man wreathed in green appears before me.
And so, The Strongest Hero takes to the stage.
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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
Here's an updated map for the end of the chap!
Didn't like this chapter, even though it's 3k, I feel like I didn't do Alexandria justice.
Also yeah, Eidolon. idfk how this is going to work out, but my thought process is basically that after this fight, there won't be the opportunity for any high power level fights for a while, so I wanted to make something good rather than the rofl stomp that was just delivered.
Seriously, I was planning this chap to be a cool showcasing of March's power, but then I realised too late that lusia's group just vastly outperforms Alexandria's, but if it was the entire triumvirate it would be the opposite.
Either way, Alexandria can kick Cralwer around with ease, just can't kill him, Lusia could fight her but would be physically weaker and unable to harm her, in a straight fight it's 6:4 in Alexandria's favour, but lucy and march are both all or nothing, so that counters.
Now, I love people with a shit tonne of powers, so Eidolon is probably going to kick lusia's ass while alexandria takes on the others, idk how I'm going to reasonably get lusia out of this lol, but I'm sure something will work out... probably. maybe this will just turn into a birdcage fic lol?
(5+)Advanced chapters with the links below!
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