Critical Mass

(Worm/Fallout)

1.1.1

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critical mass

: a size, number, or amount large enough to produce a particular result

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Dropping from the Mover's arms with a splash, I ran to the roof's edge; thunder rolled and clapped in the clouds high overhead while water surged and crashed in the streets below.

The forecast had predicted there would be bad weather all down the Eastern seaboard this week. Brockton had been hit pretty badly with flooding, and Boston had suffered no differently. Only there had been two storms to come to the City on The Hill.

On either side of me, Blasters and Tinkers, hero and villain alike, lined up alongside as my power leapt into my arms. Blurring black and green into a long tube, I slung my new weapon onto my shoulder as it vibrated—almost in excitement, like a living thing.

Resting the long tube on my shoulder, I peered across the street for a moment before tilting it down and taking sight as. A green, grassy soccer field covered in a few inches of water filled my vision as I only half listened to Dragon countdown the seconds to Leviathan's arrival.

Hearing her reach one, I watched as a small, feminine figure in a purple costume with white armor panels appeared at the center of the field in a small explosion. A promising young ward from New York, now Butcher XVI.

Apparently having lost her arbalest in the fighting, she had taken up the weapon of her predecessor—an oversized bow. I watched as she brought it up, an arrow already nocked as she drew back.

The countdown reached Zero and a portion of the school directly in front of the girl exploded into shrapnel and debris. An indistinct, teardrop shaped body with too long limbs emerging through the ruin of the building a moment later. Leviathan had arrived.

Shattered concrete and broken rebar flew as the Endbringer surged forward on an expanding wave of water that tore through and around the school building. Thirty feet tall and fifty from head to tail, it absolutely dwarfed and towered over the target of its ire. Whatever her original power had been, it been incredibly effective when she had been among the long range group and using it on Butcher XVI's shots.

Effective enough, that it had earned the duo the undivided attention of the Endbringer. As unfortunate as it had come about, that knowledge had made options available that had not been possible before.

Leviathan juked the instant Flechette loosed her arrow, dashing to the left. It didn't work however, the Endbringers' back knee buckled, and it slowed as the air exploded around Flechette and she teleported away.

Immediately Leviathan re-oriented, a wave of curling water curling forming under in an instant as it started moving toward wherever she had teleported to. It didn't get far.

Overhead a green cloaked figure appeared:, Eidolon. Waving his hands wide, a ripple of twisted space around Leviathan and the Endbringer was slowed to a crawl,; the ground beneath it buckling and compressing under whatever power Eidolon was using on it.

He didn't stay, though, teleporting away to hold the river and seas at bay to keep things from becoming a pyrrhic victory. But not a moment was wasted—, the instant he vanished, Alexandria and Glory Girl bore down on Leviathan before it could get back up to speed.

Double teaming it, they crashed down on it like a pair of meteors. One black and one white, they grounded the Endbringer.

The building trembled and shook violently from the impact, but I kept my footing as I shifted aim onto its center mass as Glory Girl got out of the line of fire. Alexandria remained, pinning it in place while the others moved in.

The building trembled and shook violently from the impact, but I kept my footing as I shifted aim onto its center mass as Glory Girl got out of the line of fire. Alexandria remained, pinning it in place while the shielders and Brutes moved in.

It wasn't choreographed, but everyone here knew their role.

The first to teleport in was the tall, forcefield covered figure of Narwhal. She appeared out of thin air at the edge of the field in a wisp of blue smoke with Sylvester, the imp- like Case-53 Mover sitting astride her shoulders. Waving her hands like an orchestrator, two-dimensional panes of energy sprang up around Leviathan and with the help of other forcefield users, they boxed the Endbringer in. Layer by layer.

I and every other blaster cut loose the moment the

Pulling the trigger of my rocket launcher, I and every other Blaster in the sky and on the surrounding streets and rooftops unleashed everything we had into the kill zone the moment first force field went up.

Alexandria flew out as Legend took a position high above Levithan with the rest of the flying Blasters and began raining down beams of every color and effect imaginable on the trapped Endbringer. Some froze, some burned, some bent mid-flight to hit a part of him that was out of sight, some just exploded.

With each pull, the launcher jerked against my shoulder as the rocket ignited. I reformed it in less than a second to reload, re-aim, and fire. I was able to send one HEAT round downrange every two seconds.

It was working, but lowering my launcher as I lost line of sight on Leviathan behind the barriers I parsed the area and re-assessed. The trap was going to fail. With every second that passed hundreds of thousands of gallons of water rushed into the area from every direction. Down the streets, though and over the buildings, from the storm drains it came.

It was too much, too fast. No one had believed for a moment that we'd be able to lock him for long, but the amount of water—-

A brief flash of an explosion high in the sky drew my eye as Flechette appeared, bow in hand as she loosed an arrow between a pair of flyers. It was an oblique shot, but the dart turned mid flight to arc down with the rest of the Blaster fire.

There wasn't a roar or a scream, but the very air shook as she teleported away again.

"Harlequin down, JL-4. Feral deceased, JL-4. Willow down, JL-4. Revolio deceased, JL-4. Ironsides down, JL-4."

Ground level shielders and Blasters were washed away as the water churned and the Movers rushed in to pull them out. Cohesiveness broke and the shielders that could get out on their own scattered and fled while others, but not nearly all, were pulled from the waters.

All save Narwhal, who rose above the waters on one of her own barriers as the trap failed and for all of a moment I saw Leviathan. Curled in on itself protectively, its exposed skin a collage of damage: skin glowing red hot and steaming from the rain; some parts of its body were blackened and charred, others torn to shreds; or just completely gone, bleeding green blood freely. Then, faster than a whip crack, it uncoiled, moving no slower than before. The damage had been nothing but superficial. Cosmetic.

Reaching out it grabbed one white caped figure from the sky and dashed them to the ground while its long tail flicked out to several flyers from the sky that had strayed too close.

Only those with high enough Brute ratings escaped intact, the rest… they fell in pieces as Narwhal moved in to face off with Leviathan. She threw up a labyrinth of two-dimensional force fields around the Endbringer before lashing out directly, cutting and slashing at it. Green blood spilled as she tried to hold it off as long as she could to give the other defenders time.

Meanwhile, the water continued to surge below and the Blasters around me were pulled out. One by one, flyers picking up one's and two's while teleporters jumped in and out—

Leviathan broke with Narwhal, slipping through her force fields in some places while outright smashing his way through others. Before she could even react it left her behind, diving and disappeared into the water. The only thing betraying its location and heading being the rising swell of water that it built up in its wake as it rushed toward the building I was on.

I drew in a breath, filling my lungs and yelling a warning as loud as I could. E even as the swell crested in my periphery.

"Move!" An instant after the word left my lips it was already too late. The building shook as the surge crashed against it and Leviathan burst out of hiding a short ways away.

Unnatural, in a word. TIts too long fingers grasped the edge of the roof for a moment before it vaulted up and over the building. A wall of water flowed up in its wake before it bore down on everyone left atop the building.

"Maser down, JL-5. Harleq—"

I barely managed to put my hands behind my neck when the water hit me. It was violent. It pressed down on me from all sides, squeezing the life out of me as the current picked me up and slammed me down over and over again. Somewhere throughout it all, the tang of iron filled my mouth.

Then I was slammed into something, hard, and the air was forced out of my lungs. In an instant, a bit of filthy, muddy water rushed in as I was picked up and thrown down again and again and again. My body screamed for release, for oxygen, for- my lips slip open and salty wetness rushes in.

My back hit the roof as it slammed me down and the air was forced out of my lungs. In an instant dirty, muddy water filled the vacuum as I was picked up and thrown down again and again and again. My body screamed. For release, for oxygen, for- my lips slipped open and cool, salty water poured in.

The world dissolved as darkness crept in and the muted rushing of the waves began anew. Overwhelming the dull, incessant throbbing in my head as they pulled- cool air and fat raindrops pelted my face. Instinctively I gasped for air but choked on the water in my lungs as I bobbed in the water. Sputtering and spitting my chest and throat burned I triedtobreathwhycouldn'tIbreath!

There was a light, somewhere, bright and blue but it faded. Black was creeping in as something caught me under my arms and pulled. Hands, pulling me out of the water and onto something hard, rough and jagged. They let go and the blue light disappeared as I toppled over and curled in on myself. Heaving and hacking my throat raw.

Pulling a knee under myself, I slowly managed to shift myself onto my hands and knees. That worked a bit better and through tear blurred eyes, I choked up water from my lungs onto broken brick and rock.

My diaphragm convulsed, contracting before violently ejecting what had to have been the last of the water in my lungs. Gasping, I sucked in a breath only for my throat to lock up and a fresh mouth of water came up until my throat and lungs burned raw as I managed to finally fill my lungs.

For a few seconds I just… knelt there, breathing, as the rain fell on me and the storm raged above. The aches and pain were so numerous they just blended together, a dull throb all across my body that would no doubt be leaving me black and blue by morning. There wasn't a single part of me that hadn't bean beaten by the water.

But it was manageable. The pain was something I was familiar with. Not being able to breathe…

M breath caught in my chest and I was left hacking a bit before it subsided. Mustering up some salt and iron-flavored saliva, I spat a wad of dirty red on the rubble that lasted but a few seconds before the rain washed it away.

Well, it also hurt to breath, but that was fine. I was alive and that's what mattered.

"Hey! Not to be an unsympathetic asshole, but are you Ok or are you gonna' just sit there? There're still others in the water!"

Through bleary eyes, I looked toward the voice to see a lanky figure a dozen yards away. Blinking, I got a better look at him: tall with matted brown hair, narrow at the shoulders and clad in a long brown coat with faded blue jeans peeking out at the ankle. He stared at me, the expectation on his face plain and clear to see without a mask in the way.

Shaking his head he turned, a bulky hard case on his back swaying as he clambered over the rubble before wading into the water. Reaching down behind a bit of concrete he lifted a person into view; a glowing, neon blue… thing, hanging off their shoulder.

He hauled the cape up onto the rubble and flipped the cape on their back, putting his head to their chest before starting chest compressions and after a few seconds the person was coughing up water. He rolled them over, staying only a few moments longer before moving on as the water a little further past him surged. A large green lizard, at least the size of a horse, crawled out of the water. It dumped someone on the rubble and the man hurried over. There was another of the blue things on their shoulder.

Spitting again, I absently wiped at my mouth. Realizing only as I did so that my bandanna had come down around my neck. Pulling it back up over my nose, I rose to my feet. I was unsteady, but using a few bigger pieces of debris I held myself up as I looked around and regained my balance… for the most part.

Scanning the area I saw Leviathans exit had—save a few shattered concrete columns from the school—all but leveled the immediate area. The school building, the building I had been on, the other building running along the length of the sports field— all had been reduced to little more than piles of rubble protruding like little islands from the water. There was no one, but as I looked around a number of the glowing spheres bobbed to the surface with, more often than not, thrashing figures accompanying them.

Survivors. And as I looked on one surfaced and a flyer descended. Reaching down, they pulled them out. The glowing sphere hanging off their shoulder like a balloon as they brought them to an island of rubble and went back out for another.

With renewed fervor I quickly cast my gaze about, scanning the murky waters in my vicinity.

Most of the spheres were further out into the water, too far out for me to reach, but— There! I locked onto a sphere as it bobbed to the surface just a little ways away with a gasping passenger and started toward them when my thigh throbbed and contracted in a cramp.

I remained unimpeded, however, and, as it always did, my weapon found its way back to me. In a kaleidoscope of black and green, it shifted into a tall quarterstaff to help steady my footing as I made my way over to the water.

Dropping the quarterstaff, I reached in and grabbed a man under his arms. The neoprene-like material of his costume squished under my fingers as I hauled him out of the water while his sun-bleached hair brushed my sash and his arms dragged limply over the rubble.

Setting him down, I checked for breath or pulse but finding neither I started compressions and flipped my mask up to perform mouth to mouth.

"One… two… three." Ducking down I pinched his nose, tilted his head back, and breathed into his mouth. It was practically murder on my lungs, but I kept it up. Sitting back up I pressed my hands down on his chest and began compressions again. "One… Two…" Water spurt from of the man's mouth and he sat up, pushing me aside as he staggered and grabbed at some of the rubble. Coughing up water as he cleared his lungs.

I took the moment to flip my bandanna back down.

Moving slowly, the man mumbled his thanks as he sat down on a pile of bricks. Arms on knees as he caught his breath while I looked around for anyone else close by. Fortunately, however, it seemed in the time I'd pulled the man out, the other rescue personnel had pulled out everyone else they could. There weren't as many rescued as there had been down on the ground, and there were a number of limp forms lying among the rubble; parts of them running red in the rain… But it was better than one could have hoped for otherwise.

The sky— boomed! —Overhead as thunder clapped, and looking up I saw lightning trace along and through the clouds toward one location. Tracing it, I saw the bolts crackle and centralize in one spot before lancing down several times in rapid succession; silhouetting a cluster of tall, darkened buildings a few blocks away. Squinting, I could almost make out a few figures rising into the air before multicolored lights lashed out.

The next kill zone.

I pressed the two buttons on my armband and raised it to my mouth, "Pick-up request: Long Range Group."

"Scuse' me ma'am. Don' spose' you could yank this thing off'a me?"

Hearing the thick, Australian accent I looked back to the other cape jabbing a thumb at the sphere. Wordlessly reaching out, I grabbed the thing and tugged it off his shoulder where a couple of stubby tentacles had latched onto his suit.

"Thankee ma'am."

"No problem," I murmured, deciding to examine the neon-blue glowing sphere until the Mover , I tossed it in my hands. Light. For being somewhere between a basketball and a beach ball it was much lighter than it ought to be. Gentle squeezing revealed it to be somewhat squishy while at the same time being taught. Like... a balloon, wrapped in a thin damp sponge. So it held air and was plenty buoyant to lift a person... A biological life preserver?

"Hey, uh, you're Miss Militia, right? From Brockton Bay?"

Ah, that was quick. "Yes, that's-" tossing aside the life preserver, I turned around and— I staggered back, reflexively summoning my weapon as I saw the man from earlier just a few feet from me. Only he wasn't alone. Now, he was riding astride the lizard that had been pulling people from the water on some sort of saddle complete with bridle and reins. And it's size? It wasn't a bit bigger. It was much, bigger. Maybe sixteen feet long from nose to tail tip.

I traced my eyes over the thing before holstering my weapon.

From a distance, and if I'd been squinting, I might have mistaken it for a mashup of a komodo dragon and a crocodile; what with its somewhat low to the ground body, thick limbs, and neck... But then I would have needed to enlarge it fourfold and give it an extra pair of legs in its middle.

Now that wasn't to say it wasn't those things, but it was more. Its legs weren't just thick and powerful looking, they were almost little tree trunks with five digits tipped with sharp looking talons—the fifth of which looked an awful lot like a thumb. The head—squished and flat, as if it had run headlong into in wall—cocked to the side and it blinked down at me, gold-orange eyes framed by red sclera focusing on me. A thick black tongue zipped out a moment over a row of teeth protruding teeth coming up from the bottom jaw.

"Ye—" I coughed as my throat burned momentarily and swallowed. Even that hurt. "Yes, that's me."

Nodding to himself, the man was quiet for a moment before nodding again. "Sorry if I snuck up on you. Names Blasto," he slapped the thick neck of his lizard-mount-thing. "And this here is Gumbo. He's friendly."

The lizard cocked its head, blinked, and warbled at me. I unconsciously blinked back as things came together.

Blasto: A middling level Tinker specializing in bio-engineering that created hybrid 'planimal' minions. Alternate aliases or self-modification suspected due to suspicious movements and having multiple faces and descriptions on record. Previously based in Brockton Bay before relocating to Boston. Competes for territory with Teeth and Accord. Wanted for 2nd-degree murder and massive property damage.

Bio-Tinker… it was probably a good guess then that the life preservers were his work then. A bit different than what he'd been pegged at, though.

"I thought so. It's been a while so I wasn't sure, though... I don't actually think we ever ran into each other before I left The Bay. I never-" He frowned before blinking and vigorously shaking his head, "Anyway, I-" He was interrupted by a beep and he snapped his head down to check his armband.

"Legend down, JJ-5. Saurian down, JJ-5. Harlequin down, JJ-4. Rhime deceased, JJ-3. Calypso deceased, JJ-2. Old Boy down, JJ-2."

"Motherfucker," Blasto cursed as he stared at the band and his head snapped back up to look at me, now scowling. "Ok, I'll skip straight to the point then. I need help." Reaching into one of the bulging bags he pulled out a faintly glowing blue ball the size of a tennis ball and held it up, "I've been following the fighting while throwing these out whenever people go down so they don't drown and so they're easier to spot for search and rescue."

"And why tha' bloody hell didn'tcha pass em'round when we we're all together mate?" The other man interrupted, "Oy preciate' it and all, but could have used em' erliuh' ya know."

"Because," Blasto bit out, his eyes snapping to him. "I was too busy harvesting them and getting out of my lab by the skin of my teeth before it could come down on top of me. Mate."

The other cape just raised his hands in surrender, "Sorry."

Huffing he looked back to me, "The problem is I've hit a bottleneck. Between throwing these things out, triage and treatment, navigation, and just moving from place to place I've started falling behind. I need someone to give me directions and distribute." He put the life preserver back in the bag. "So, you in or not."

I glanced around the area at the people, many of which had been brought up by the life preservers and were now being evacuated or brought back to the front lines. Well over a dozen of the neon-blue life preserves littered the area. How many of those people wouldn't be returning if they hadn't gotten to them?

A faint explosion echoed through the air and everyone present looked toward the source of the sound. The fighting in the distance, just barely visible through the downpour.

"Psychlotron down, JF-4."

Much as I wished it were otherwise, I knew I didn't have as much an effect on Leviathan as the other Blasters of the long range group. I simply didn't have the firepower to make enough of an impact- while remaining restricted to conventional weapons at least.

Going with Blasto meant I would be removed from the front lines, but saving a few defenders that otherwise wouldn't have returned to the fight would be worth it. Even if they could only delay Leviathan for a second longer or hurt him just a little more.

I looked back to Blasto and met his eyes. "I'm in."

"Thank you." Digging his heel into the lizard's side he sidled up until he was next to me and shrugged off one of his bags before holding it out to me. Grabbing it, I slung it over my shoulder and grabbed his hand to pull myself up; using the lizard's— Gumbo's—middle leg as a step up and swung my leg over to sit in the saddle. It… squished, as I sat down, and more cold water soaked into the bottom of my pants.

Absently shifting the satchel a little I leaned out, taking a closer look at the saddle and seeing quilted blue fabric with yellow straps and big metal buckles to hold it in place... Quilted packing blankets and ratchet straps if I wasn't mistaken. Good improvised padding, but completely waterlogged.

Disregarding it I brought my wrist up and pressed the two buttons just as a figure descended from the sky at the edge of my vision. "Shifting from Long Range Group to Search and Rescue operations with Blasto."

A pause, and then the screen on the band refreshed the map of the area, now showing a number of white dots that represented the downed capes. "Acknowledged."

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

Looking over I saw a black woman, clad in contrasting white bodysuit and yellow cape with a small yellow domino mask glaring up at me. Wayfarer, a several-year veteran of Endbringer fights. She came to almost every single one and always worked with the support group.

Her lower face pinched up in disdain and she pointed out to the fighting in the distance, "There are other people who need help! People who are actually injured or need to get picked up and-"

"Relax ma'am," the Australian interjected, causing her attention to snap to him. "Ah was planning to ring for a lift anyhow." Standing with a groan the blond man spoke slowly into the armband, enunciating each word clearly. "Returning to long range group." glancing at me he nodded, "Good luck ma'am."

Looking back to the woman he held his arms out to the side as she picked him up and took off toward the fighting.

In Front of me, Blasto scooched forward a bit before suddenly twisting and looking over his shoulder at me, the bulky hard case nearly hit me in the face. "Are you sitting on the yellow strap?"

I glanced down at the strap between my legs. "Yes?"

"Good." He muttered and shifted back around, the sound of something quickly zipping and unzipping coming back to me over the rain. "Now, uh, we're going to be moving pretty fast so you'll want to stay on it because that's your stirrup. Once Gumbo gets up to speed you won't stay on long without it, so just hook your feet under the strap and you should be good… uh, and so long as you hold on."

Pulling the reins Gumbo stood.

"Hold onto what, exactly?" I interrupted

Blasto glanced back, grimacing before turning back around. "Just…" He fiddled around up front for a moment before cursing, "Just hold onto the case."

My armband beeped. "Harlequin down, IK-4. Dysfunction deceased, IK-4. Wildbow down, IK-4. Corvin deceased, IK-4. Flashdown down, IK-4."

"Shit, you better hold on tight."

Cracking the reigns Gumbo lurched forward.