Allegro 7

Othala bit her lip hesitantly as she stood apart from the flow of Parahumans entering the building.

Not ten feet away from the villainess, a dirty, haggard woman wearing an obscene amount of makeup was bent over the mechanical guts of a metallic monstrosity that could only generously be defined as a vehicle, cursing vehemently as she fumbled with her tools and worked to make the engine actually run.

Othala glanced back and forth uneasily as she opened and shut her hands. Squealer was... a degenerate, to put things lightly. She was vile, she was repulsive, she worked for one of the most repulsive examples of what the Empire fought against, she'd done every drug under the sun...

And she was a Tinker, she'd showed up to fight an Endbringer, and no matter how much Othala didn't like it, she was white.

As such, it was with a heavy heart that Othala made the decision she did. Walking fast and concentrating on her powers, she strode towards the doors to the entrance, only just 'happening' to pass behind Squealer as she went. As she passing her by, she briefly puzzled over what the Tinker was muttering before shrugging it off. Once she was behind the Merchant, she snapped her hand out and tapped her finger against an exposed part of her thigh before accelerating, vigorously wiping her fingers against her bodysuit.

Victor cocked an eyebrow at her once she caught up with him. "Where were you off to?"

Othala shuddered in response. "If you want to maintain a healthy relationship for the foreseeable future, you won't press for an answer."

Meanwhile, Squealer's cursing had intensified as she paused in her work to clutch at her suddenly blazing cranium. She felt like someone was taking a pair of hammers to the inside of her skull. Like someone had poured molten lead in her ears, like... like-! ... Actually, she felt... pretty good, to be honest.

Squealer blinked as the haze of pain cleared out of her senses. More than good, actually. She could barely even remember the last time her thoughts had been so clear. As she scanned the engine of her vehicle, her mind instantly started making connections, improvements. Connect this there, weld that, loosen these...

Suddenly, she froze as she caught sight of something in the reflection of one of her vehicle's parts. Squealer snapped her head around and stared at the other two vehicles in the parking lot.

One of them was Leet's two-legged mech, which he was furiously trying to force to work while Uber looked on nervously. The other was Trainwreck's hulking mass, the metal-encased man grumbling darkly as he cast a wary eye at the sea of storm clouds that was choking the sky.

Squealer's head spun around as if on a greased swivel, examining both her vehicle and theirs intently while her mind flew as fast as a nitro-boosted racecar. Finally, she came to a hasty (and most likely adrenaline-driven) decision. "Hey, douchesacks!"

Leet jerked and rammed his head into the hood of his vehicle in surprise while Trainwreck cast a derisive glance at her. "What?" He grunted heavily.

"Get your rides over here, now." Squealer ordered, jerking her thumb towards her metal monstrosity.

"Oh yeah?" Leet finally managed to look at her warily. "And why should we listen to you?"

Squealer's eye twitched in impotent rage for a second before she plastered the closest approximation to a sweet smile she could muster on her face. "Because first, I said so." She drawled. "Second..." She suddenly reached back into the guts of her truck's engine and yanked on a few wires, prompting a few of the cannons half-strapped-half-welded to her truck to rumble to life and point themselves at the other two villains, which caused them to break out in cold sweats. "Because I'll blast your asses into the stone age if you don't. And third?"

Squealer smiled maniacally.

"I've got an idea that's going to blow that ugly mud puppy's fucking tail off."

-o-

Inside of the command post, the small horde of Parahumans milled about while they waited for the Triumvirate to speak. Heroes generally kept away from villains, teams tried to stick together, and teleporters regularly brought in more and more capes from just about everywhere. Through it all, everybody just tried to keep track of everybody else in particular.

Gangsta frowned as she hovered a few feet off the ground and scanned the crowd. "Hey, I can't see Trainwreck or Squealer or Uber and Leet anywhere. Didn't those guys come in?"

"I think they're staying outside with their rides. No big whoop." Chicago shrugged indifferently.

"Eh, if you say so..."

Currently, the crowd of Reapers were occupying a full corner of the building's ground floor. The Composer and her inner circle were on the edge of the group, facing the rest of the Reapers. Half a dozen Mosh Grizzlies were also present, carrying huge wooden crates under their arms.

Suddenly, the Composer drew everyone's attention to her with a sharp whistle. "Alright, everyone, listen up!" She ordered firmly. "I didn't want even a single one of you to be here, but seeing how you all decided otherwise and you won't listen to me, I suppose I have no other choice but to make the most of it. I'm going to lay down our basic strategy. First is this: You. Do not. Engage Leviathan." She emphasized each word firmly. "This is non-negotiable. Not a single one of you is to get within fifty yards of the bastard. If you see him coming towards you, you run, you fly, hell, you dig for all I care, it doesn't matter, you just get the hell out of there. He is a Brute 10, you are all Brute nothing, so much as a glancing blow will kill you. Am. I. Clear?"

The Reapers gave a general murmur of understanding.

"Good. Now then, second: most of you will be acting as search and rescue. I've gone over the records of old Endbringer fights, and a lot of the casualties have been because no one was able to get to anybody who was injured or trapped in time. You have your Melodies and your Noise, use them to find and rescue anybody who survives this bastard's rampage." The Composer focused on a Reaper in a yellow rain slicker. "Shanty, I want you to round up the best Shark Noise and Melody Reapers you know. You'll be in charge of helping anybody in risk of drowning, but make sure you do it far from Leviathan. He's a hydrokinetic, so if he senses you in the water, there's a good chance that he'll crush you before you know what's going on. Understood?"

The Reaper nodded decisively. "Aye-aye, ma'am."

The Composer nodded in turn. "Good. Now then, third: While we won't be engaging Leviathan directly, we will still be fighting him." She indicated the boxes the pseudo-bears were carrying. "Inside of these crates are some of the strongest, rarest Noise that I've ever made. Circle Pit Grizzlies, Metal Corehogs, Dub Rhinos, Fusion Sharks, even Wooly AORs. Those of you who are really good with Noise, you'll be carting them around and bringing out as many Noise as you can, as fast as you can. We're going to flood this bastard with a mess of warm bodies. Industrial, Screamo, Thrash, Acid, Soul, come here."

Five of the larger, heavier-set Reapers stepped forwards.

The Composer indicated for one of the Grizzlies to set down its crate and then remove the lid, which it proceeded to do. Inside of the crate were five herbicide-sprayer packs. The plastic jugs on the backs were decorated with stencils of roaring dragons.

"These," She heaved out the packs and started handing them to the Reapers. "Are the only five Goth Metal Drakes I've ever made. With any luck, they'll be able to stand up to Leviathan, so I want us to make these last. Industrial, you'll use yours first, then the person closest to Leviathan will use theirs, And so on. Understood?"

"Got it." The large Reapers chorused as they firmly secured the packs.

"Right, next-!" The Composer was interrupted by something red suddenly blurring next to her and halting, revealing itself to be Velocity carrying a pair of cardboard boxes.

"Here." He grunted, handing the boxes to Grunge. "Armbands that Dragon made. I don't know how many of you there are, so I grabbed as many as I could. They'll track your locations and vital signs. Screen goes on top, button on the left communicates to with everyone else, button on the right pings your location, press both at once to get a flier to pick you up and move you to a better location. Armsmaster will explain more later." And with that, he blurred away.

Grunge opened one of the boxes and made a hasty estimate before nodding. "Should be enough in here for all of us."

"Good. Start handing them out." The Composer scanned the crowd and gestured for two Reapers in particular to step up. "Synth, Chiptune, get over here!" She then snapped her fingers, prompting Psychedelic to appear in a flash of flames. "Go to Tattletale, wait until she's ready, then bring her here. And make sure you don't overload her powers again."

Psycho snapped off a hasty salute and burst into flames, appearing not thirty seconds later with Tattletale in tow.

"That's never not going to be trippy..." The Thinker groaned as she tried to regain her balance.

Meanwhile, the DJs snapped into hasty salutes. "Yeah, Boss?"

"You two are going to be our eyes in the skies." The Composer jabbed her thumb upwards. "Leviathan is big, but the city's bigger, and he's stupid fast, so there's an all-too-real possibility that we could lose him. You make sure we don't do that. The winds will be choppy, but with any luck your Canors will be able to handle it. Use both the armbands and our phones. Nothing against Dragon, but some redundancy never hurt."

She then rounded on Tattletale. "You're one of the smartest people in this room, so there's no way in hell we're going to let you put yourself at risk by staying on the ground.. You'll be going up with the DJs so that you can have a birdseye view of the situation and feed intel to everyone as need be."

Silence reigned for a second as the Composer stared at the three expectantly before she flung her hands up in the air. "What the hell are you waiting for, Leviathan to make landfall!? You're not going in ten minutes, or even ten seconds, you're going now! Go, out the doors and up, now now now damn it!"

That got the trio moving, scrambling through the crowd and towards the nearest available doors.

The Composer snorted a heavy breath through her nose before finally speaking. "Right... Psychedelic, is your... 'friend' here?"

Suddenly, Psycho was joined by a second figure who looked like a negative image of him. His clothes, mask and markings were all similar, but where Psycho's clothes were white with red patterns, the doppleganger's were dark blue with pitch-black designs.

The Composer nodded definitively. "Good. Round up everyone who knows how to handle using the Foxes. You'll be acting as first-responders and transport. Move anyone who needs to be moved so that we can try setting up some traps for Leviathan and make certain that anybody who needs medical attention gets it ASAP. Got it?"

The two masked individuals nodded in synch.

"Good. Grab who you need and go."

Psychedelic burst into flames instantly, swiftly grabbing seven other Reapers in the crowd one after another before vanishing. Meanwhile, his doppleganger stood silent for a moment before collapsing into a pile of ashes.

"Alright, good, good..." The Composer muttered as she watched Psycho grab a few Reapers out of the crowd before addressing her lieutenants. "As for the rest of you-"

"Excuse me?"

The Composer groaned and rolled her eyes as she turned to face the woman in a rose cloak and gold mask who had addressed her. A second of brain-wracking provided the cape's name. "Rosary, right? From Haven? Forgive me if I'm rude, but I have troops to coordinate. What?"

The woman stared at her flatly before speaking. "You are aware that the person who was here earlier was Oni Lee, correct?"

The Composer could already feel a headache starting to blossom. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"The man is a notorious assassin with absolutely no respect for life. Why haven't you turned him into the PRT?" The Christian cape demanded.

The Composer stared at her in disbelief. "You do realize that the Endbringer Truce is a thing, right?"

"Yes, but I'm assuming that you've known him for quite some time, and I want to know why someone with a relatively neutral standing like yours would tolerate his freedom." Rosary clarified.

The chief Reaper stared at her flatly for a second before groaning and pinching the bridge of her nose through her gasmask. "Look, after... everything, that happened with the ABB two weeks ago, Lee was left without someone to take orders from. I don't know what his malfunction is, but either way he hit it off with Psychedelic and has been following his lead ever since. I think he might be building an identity off of him or something, hell if I know. Either way, I've been able to keep him off the streets and out of anyone else's hands, plus when you get down to it his powers make him really useful."

"Why would his powers be a factor with powers like yours?" Rosary asked in confusion.

The Composer shot her a flat glare through her gasmask. "Okay, listen, I don't know what you hear down in Hodunk, Alabama-!"

"Topeka, Kansas actually," Chicago provided.

The Composer blinked and stared at him in surprise. "Seriously? That's just... yikes. That is unfortunate." She shook her head flatly. "Anyways... Let me give you a basic rundown of my powers: I can make paint, I can make creatures known as Noise, I can grow parts of Noise anatomy, and I can let other people use Noise and Noise anatomy as well. That's it, full stop, end of story. I can't raise the dead, I can't cause atomic fission, and I can't call down stupidly huge and powerful... Jesus beams! Got it?"

Rosary leaned back nervously at the outburst, hastily beating a retreat as she seemed to finally realize that she was antagonizing a Parahuman a full factor more powerful than her. "I- uh- U-Understood. W-well, good luck, with... everything? Mayhaps we can discuss this later when things are less... hectic?"

"I'll think about it." The Composer responded noncommittally.

And with that, Rosary beat a hasty retreat back to her team.

The Composer stared after before sighing and shaking her head. "Damn black-and-white evangelists..." She muttered before readdressing her people. "Right, anyways, where was I?"

"Yo." Gangsta snapped her fingers and gestured at herself and the rest of the Composer's lieutenants."

"Ah, right, right, anyways..." The Composer shifted mental gears as she turned her attention to them. "You six and Psycho are my closest and most trusted allies. I want you all to do your very best to get out of this alive."

"That would be a preferable outcome for all of us, yes." Chicago nodded in agreement.

"Is there an actual point to this here speech?" South asked. "Besides a tearful goodbye?"

"Yes, there is. I have an order for all of you, one I've already given Psycho." The Composer looked each of them dead in the eye, one after another. "Do anything and use anything to survive. Anything. Am I clear?"

The six jerked in surprise as they processed that statement.

"Are you telling us to use...?" Grunge scratched his chest uncomfortably.

"If you have to, yes." The Composer confirmed.

"Sweet!" Hip squealed. "Finally, we can devastate a full city district without getting in trouble!"

"It's like a dream come true!" Hop sighed rapturously.

"You two do realize that your attitudes are at least a little inappropriate for this situation, right?" Grunge demanded.

The pre-teens glanced at one another before shrugging indifferently.

"There's a very good chance that we could kick the bucket, we know." Hop stated.

"But if we're gonna die, then we'll die laughing, damn it! Gotta flip Leviathan the bird somehow." Hip concluded.

The mood soured instantly at the reminder of imminent doom.

"Damn it, you two..." Gangsta groaned.

Grunge glanced around before drawing himself up to his full height. "Gentlemen... and Gangsta. And Hip and Hop. And Chicago."

"I'm not that bad."

"You can be a bit insufferable at times."

"...point."

"I just want you all to know..." The bear-wielding Reaper snapped up a salute. "It's been an honor serving with you, in whatever capacities I did."

"Ahhh!" Gangsta cooed as she spread her arms. "Come here you big-!"

"I will break your arms off of your skinny body."

"Noted."

The Composer chuckled melancholically at her friend's antics as she turned to face face the rest of the capes in the building.

"It was nice knowing you all."

-o-

"Hmm... a valid strategy, Krieg..." Kaiser mused thoughtfully. "Though difficult to implement. These monsters do not have human mentalities. Baiting them would be difficult at best, impossible at worst..."

"I know, herr," Krieg sighed solemnly. "But at this point, better to take all chances than die like dogs, nein?"

The steel tyrant considered this for a moment before nodding in agreement. "A fair point... Very well. Fenja."

The valkyrie-themed villain on his left snapped to attention.

"Go and inform Hookwolf, Stormtiger and Crusader of what we'll be attempting," He hesitated for a second before sighing heavily. "As well as any heroes you pass along the way. It would be best if they knew not to interfere when we try this."

Fenja nodded tersely and marched off, deftly navigating her way through the throng of hero and villain parahumans alike.

Kaiser watched as his soldier marched off, ensuring her safe passage. The truce might have been in effect, but humans would always be humans, and you could never be too careful. Right when he was about to look away, one parahuman in particular caught his eye.

"What on earth...?" He frowned.

"Sir?" Menja questioned in confusion.

"Wait here," He ordered grimly as he braved the crowd himself, more than a few parahumans giving way for fear of angering the parahuman crimelord any further than he apparently already was.

Once Kaiser was a few feet away from his target, he came to a halt, straining his ears to try and make out what the individual was saying over the general ruckus of the crowd without being noticed. The second he managed to make out a comprehensible sentence, he paled dramatically, hastily making his way through the crowd in search of someone he could inform of this... unsettling development.

The second he caught sight of one of those someones, he lashed out and grabbed their arm.

Miss Militia jerked in shock. "What the-? Kaiser!?" She exclaimed upon catching sight of her captor. "What the hell do you think you're-!?"

"Skidmark is going cold turkey," Kaiser hissed hastily.

Miss Militia blinked as she processed that statement before tensing. "He's what?"

"Two weeks clean." Kaiser reiterated grimly. "I overheard him complaining how he wished he could break his streak on account of the fight, but he doesn't have any on hand. I thought it would be best if you were informed."

Miss Militia nodded numbly. "Skidmark... clean... at an Endbringer fight..." She slowly raised a hand. "You might be a racist ass, Kaiser, but it was nice knowing you."

Kaiser nodded solemnly and shook her hand. "And you as well, Miss Militia. Here's to dying a good, honorable death."

"I'd prefer to stay alive, but I appreciate the sentiment."

"You shitstains realize you're like ten feet away from me, right!?"

"Shut up, Skidmark."

-o-

Legend cast his gaze over the assembled Parahumans morosely, wondering for a second who would remain after the following hours before clearing his throat. The simple action drew the attention of everyone in the room to him.

"We owe thanks to Dragon and Armsmaster for their early alert." He stated firmly. "We've had time to gather, and that means we have just a few more minutes to prepare and brief for Leviathan's arrival, instead of jumping straight into the fray as we arrive. With this advantage, some luck, teamwork and hard effort from everyone, I hold out hope that this could be one of the good days."

He let everyone mull over that for a moment before continuing.

"But either way, you should know your chances going in. Given the statistics from our previous encounters with this beast, a 'good day' still means that one in four of the people in this room will probably be dead before this day is done."

-o-

"I don't know about you, but I like those odds." Hip grinned at her brother, albeit with maybe one or two too many teeth.

"Tell me about it," Hop chuckled. "Two hundred says that Grunge gets crushed by his own ego."

"Heh..." Hip nodded slowly. She trailed off for a moment before slowly biting her thumb. "Five hundred says that I don't make it."

Hop snapped a glare at his sister. "That's not just not funny, it's stupid. If you win, who do I pay!?"

"Put it towards a good funeral?" Hip's smirk grew a bit shakier.

Hop glared at her flatly for a second.

Then he slapped her upside the head.

"OW! Hey, you can't hit a girl!"

"Oh suck it up, you've hit me twice as hard!" Hop growled. "Two things: First, you've slugged drug dealers ten times as hard. And second, you're not dying here. Neither of us are! We survived Lung, we survived that thing two weeks ago, and we managed to barely survive our genetic donors!"

"They weren't actively trying to kill us..." Hip grumbled.

"Could have fooled me." Hop rolled his eyes. "Anyways, the point is that we've faced most types of monsters known to man. What's one more, huh?"

"Heh..." Hip swallowed heavily and redoubled her grin. "Yeah... just one more..."

-o-

"We think of Leviathan as the middle child; he was the second of the three to arrive." Legend continued. "He is not the physical powerhouse Behemoth is, nor the cunning manipulator that the Simurgh so often proves to be. That said, I would advise you to think of him as having many of the strengths of both siblings at once. You've seen the videos on television and the internet. You know what he is physically capable of. I want to be clear that despite the image he might convey, he is not stupid, and he can display a level of cunning and tactics that can and will catch you off guard."

-o-

"And I thought facing one down was bad enough..." Vector scowled.

"Never thought you'd see round two, huh?"

The relatively-rookie hero glanced over his shoulder at the familiar bodysuit-clad form behind him before looking back at Legend. "Never really wanted to either," He was silent for a moment before speaking again. "Where's-?"

"Vista put me in a hotel about a mile away," a heavily armored ant-centaur creature clicked roughly as it stepped up next to him. "If the fight comes towards me, I'll wake up and call someone to get me."

Vector nodded solemnly. "Fair enough." Another moment of silence. "Oliver?"

"Chicago shoved him on a bus with a few grand and told him to come back in a few hours if the city was still standing and to make due if it wasn't."

"Good..." Vector nodded firmly. "Good."

-o-

"You are doing a good thing. The greatest thing." Legend reaffirmed. "This is why we are tolerated, why society allows and accounts for the capes that walk the streets and fight in its towns. Because we are needed for situations like this. With your assistance, we can forestall the inevitable. Your efforts and, if you choose to make them, your sacrifices, will be remembered."

-o-

Hookwolf slapped his palms on Cricket and Stormtiger's shoulders.

The pair looked back at him questioningly.

"Don't die." He grunted.

They nodded in understanding and looked forwards again.

-o-

"-forcefields, telekinesis, whatever your power, if you can interrupt Leviathan's movements or help reduce the impacts of the waves-!"

Suddenly, armbands across the hall squawked to life.

"Tidal wave incoming, get out or drown!" Tattletale announced frantically.

Instantly, capes across the hall burst into action.

"Strider, get us out of here!" Legend bellowed.

"PSYCHO!" The Composer roared.

Psycho ported in in a flash of flames at the same time as a blue-uniformed hero, eight tails waving behind him. A crack of thunder announced the departure of several dozen heroes, while a sea of tribal-style fire enveloped the Reapers and a few other parahumans.

When the flames faded, the Reapers were positioned on multiple rooftops overlooking the bay, close to a dozen Reapers per roof. The rest of the heroes and villains appeared either on other rooftops or the street via different means of transportation or flew up into the air, some hovering alongside the pair of massive bats that were circling far above the city.

The Composer raked the water searching for the source of the tempest that had engulfed the city.

She didn't need to look far.

Striding down the devastated remains of the Boardwalk were thirty feet and God-only-knew-how-many tons of inhuman, monstrous scaled flesh and claws. Gallon after gallon of liquid poured from his frame and filled the space behind him as he made his way towards the assembled army, his movements a sickening amalgamation of staggering, jerking and slithering. His head snapped madly to and fro as his mismatched set of eyes swept over the waiting city. His tail whipped about animatedly, cracking the air with every lash and thrash.

Even though he himself was silent, the roar and crash of the titanic waves and the howling of the storm were announcement enough.

Leviathan had arrived.

A.N. I hope you've enjoyed the speedy update rate... because now I've run out of pre-written chapters, so it's gonna be awhile. Sorry. Still, enjoy what I have until I update anew.