Taylor Hebert was trying not to panic.

Ever since she'd obtained her powers she'd been planning her debut as a superhero. Her ability to control insects wasn't all that impressive, but she was still determined to do her best to be a hero and make a difference. If she didn't have strength, she'd just have to be smart.

She'd just been making her way through the dilapidated and essentially abandoned docks area of her city of Brockton Bay when she chanced upon a gathering of gang members. Moving to investigate she'd found it was the ABB with their leader, Lung. She'd arrived there in time to hear him talk about killing kids, which naturally horrified her. Quickly determining that she needed to stop them she'd prepared the swarm of bugs she'd gathered and incapacitated the gang members all at once with bites and stings, making sure to keep things non-lethal.

Unfortunately, even though all the normal members of the gang had gone down, Lung was a parahuman like her, and wasn't going to be going down that easily. She'd launched a wave of spiders and wasps, among others at his crotch and eyes, which she'd determined to be the most vulnerable targets, but her swarm was being destroyed at an alarming rate.

Lung was a Brute with added pyrokinesis. The more angry he got, the bigger and stronger he became, and his body became covered in flames. The longer a fight with him went on the harder it got to beat him, to the point that he had actually helped sink the entire island of Kyushu in a battle against the Endbringer Leviathan.

Unfortunately Taylor didn't have anything in her arsenal with the kind of single shot power needed to bring him down, so instead she focused on distracting him as she began to leave. Of course, it was just her rotten luck that her movement to get away had attracted his attention. Apparently his various senses were also enhanced, because even when he was semi-blinded by wasp stings to the eyes he immediately turned to the roof she was standing on.

Roaring angrily Lung leapt onto the roof after her, now over seven feet tall and bulging with muscle, the metal dragon mask on his face shifting as his features began to change into something inhuman.

Taylor launched almost the entirety of the remains of her swarm at the villain in desperation, once again aiming for those vulnerable parts. Most of her bugs perished in the blaze that covered him, but a few got through to do damage. Unfortunately Lung counted regeneration as one of his powers, so the injuries weren't as debilitating as Taylor could have wished.

The massive man was growling angrily, moving to attack. Not having any better plans Taylor pulled her pepper spray out of a pocket in her costume. If nothing else she'd hope it would distract him long enough for her to scramble away.

Right as he was about to reach her, when she was lifting the pepper spray to aim at his eyes, something golden yellow slammed into Lung with immense force and the sound of a shotgun going off, sending him skidding away and leaving Taylor blinking at the sudden occurrence.

A beautiful, buxom girl with gorgeous, long blonde hair was standing where Lung had been, gauntlet covered fist outstretched from where she'd punched the villain. She turned to look at Taylor and she could make out lilac eyes through a golden domino like mask with a dragon motif. The newcomer grinned. "Cool costume. Hero or villain?"

"Hero!" Taylor said, still slightly stunned, though her cheeks warmed behind her insectine mask in pleasure that this girl approved of the costume she'd made out of spider silk and beetle chitin even as she burned in envy as she compared the the blonde's voluptuous form to her own flat as a board beanpolishness.

A snarl from Lung drew their attention as the brute recovered, glaring at the blonde in rage. The target of his ire cracked her knuckles. "Excuse me. We can talk more once I've put this guy down." Then she launched herself at him, swinging her fist to hit him in the head, Taylor now able to see that her gauntlets doubled as shotguns, blasts ringing out with each punch.

Taylor was so stunned with the fight going on in front of her, especially at the fact that Lung seemed to be losing, that she nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand settled on her shoulder. She turned around to find another girl standing behind her, this one black haired and dressed in similar colors, a black domino mask with a cat motif to it obscuring her face. And were those cat ears on top of her head?

"Sorry." The cat girl said, glancing at Taylor before aiming her attention at the ongoing fight. "Ya-Snapdragon tends to play with her opponents." She spoke up a bit louder. "Would you put him down, already? I don't want to have to deal with him if he ramps up too much before you can."

The blonde, apparently having the hero name Snapdragon, huffed. "Fine, Bl-Shadowcat." With that she launched herself at the now almost eight foot Lung, who seemed especially pissed off, and hit him with a vicious combination of blows before finishing with an outright brutal headshot. Lung staggered, dazed, and Snapdragon finished with a double hammer blow to the top of the head who's force Taylor could practically feel. Apparently that was enough, and Lung lost consciousness, falling to the rooftop as he began to shrink to his normal size.

Snapdragon wiped sweat from her brow as she grinned widely. "Well, that was fun for a debut night."

As Shadowcat shook her head in apparent exasperation Taylor stared between the two girls. "This is your debut night as heroes?"

"Yep!" Snapdragon said as Shadowcat nodded. "Wasn't expecting to deal with Lung on our first night out."

There was a thud on the side of the roof, prompting all three girls to whirl in that direction as another girl's voice spoke. "I'm guessing she didn't either, seeing as it's her debut too."

The three girls saw a massive doglike monster had landed on the roof with a girl in a purple and black costume riding it. She had a purple domino mask hiding her face, and long dark blonde hair. She was grinning slyly as she observed the three heroes even as another two monsters landed on the roof, carrying three more people.

One was a broad male in black biker leathers, a motorcycle helmet hiding his face. Another was in a white and gold renaissance outfit, a Venetian mask hiding his features, a gold colored scepter in his hand. The last was a burly girl in simple clothes of jeans, a heavy coat, and a dime store dog mask as her only nod to parahuman convention.

When all three tensed up the blonde girl raised her hands. "Whoa, whoa, we come in peace. Seeing as you saved our asses we aren't going to get in a fight with you." She pointed at Taylor. "Especially you, bug girl. You have the potential to be really scary, especially after what you did to Lung. He's so full of bug toxin he's going to definitely be feeling it tomorrow."

Taylor blinked, surprised by the assessment, but Shadowcat was the one who spoke. "What do you mean we saved you?"

Taylor's mind made the connection. "Lung said he was going to go kill kids. He was talking about you?"

The blonde nodded as she got off the massive dog monster. "Yep!" She eyed Taylor for a moment before smiling. "You thought he was talking about some poor orphans or something and that's why you intervened, right?" Taylor nodded hesitantly. "Well, thanks anyway. We're the Undersiders. We're small time villains who mostly target other villains. I'm Tattletale, that's Grue…" She pointed at the boy in motorcycle getup, who nodded. "...Regent…" This time the renaissance faire reject, who was twirling his scepter with apparent boredom. "...and Bitch." The last was obviously the girl in the dime store mask, who simply glowered.

"Villains, eh?" Snapdragon said with interest, making most of the Undersiders tense, though Tattletale seemed relaxed. Then the blonde hero shrugged. "Meh, I've had my fun tonight." The Undersiders relaxed again.

"I'm Shadowcat, that's Snapdragon." The black haired girl standing next to Taylor said. "We're members of the Unbound."

Taylor blinked, and she saw she wasn't the only one surprised as Grue spoke up. "I haven't heard of the Unbound before."

"We're a new hero team." Shadowcat explained. "Our members are debuting tonight throughout the city."

"A lot more of you, eh?" Tattletale said with interest before she glanced back as the dog things perked up, Bitch looking off to the side. Taking that as her queue Tattletale quickly got back on her dog as she spoke. "Somebody's coming. Probably Halbeard. This fight wasn't exactly quiet." Then she looked at Taylor. "Never got your name."

Taylor shifted. "I, uh, haven't thought of one." She said, feeling silly for admitting as much.

"Might want to think about that fast then." Tattletale said. "Last thing you want is to end up with the PRT giving you a name like they did to Chubster." Then she waved. "So long!" Then the Undersiders were gone.

Taylor sighed and looked over at the passed out Lung. Part of her felt foolish that she'd almost gotten killed for stepping in to save what turned out to be villains, but the Undersiders didn't seem bad enough to deserve death, so she didn't mind too much.

Snapdragon made a show of clapping her hands clean in satisfaction, a grin on her face as they heard the roar of a motorcycle approach. "Well, I'd say taking down the biggest, baddest villain in the city is a good debut, eh kitty? Even if it was with an assist."

Shadowcat snorted but seemed to agree. "It'll definitely help the Unbound's reputation." She looked at Taylor. "If you want to claim credit with us, you're going to need a name to give the authorities."

Taylor nodded, thinking furiously. "Yeah. Trying to find something related to insects that doesn't sound villainous is hard, though."

Shadowcat hummed, thinking it over. "Good point. 'Swarm' or 'Hive' aren't exactly approachable."

Snapdragon stretched, her assets sticking out in a way that made Taylor's jealousy flare up once again. "Meh, you guys are overthinking things, I think. Just go with 'Queen'. Cause you direct the swarm, yknow?" Then she blinked when Shadowcat turned to stare at her silently. "...What?"

"...Did you just suggest a name that didn't suck?" The cat girl asked.

"Oh, fuck you! I have good ideas!" Snapdragon… snapped.

"I don't know…" Taylor said. "Sounds kinda conceited."

"It fits." Shadowcat said with a shrug. "If it helps, use another language's word for it, or a synonym."

As Taylor considered the suggestion, Snapdragon picked Lung up and dropped from the roof, landing on the street with ease as the motorcycle they'd been hearing finally arrived. Taylor was helped down from the roof by Shadowcat, who leapt down as well afterwards. Safely on the ground Taylor saw who she'd somewhat expected to see after Tattletale's comments, though part of her couldn't believe she was in front of the leader of Brockton Bay's of the Protectorate, the government's official superhero team, on her first night out.

Armsmaster was a somewhat imposing figure, outfitted as he was by advanced Tinkertech armor. His entire body except for his lower face below his nose was hidden by the midnight blue power armor, the visible parts showing that his beard was dark brown. When he dismounted his bike and withdrew one of his trademark halberds he gazed at the three girls with his mouth in a stern line, obviously sizing them up.

Snapdragon seemed amused by the man's appraisal, much to Shadowcat's apparent exasperation. Taylor just really wanted to avoid getting on the man's bad side. It wouldn't bode well for her burgeoning career as an independent hero to fight an officially sanctioned one.

Then Armsmaster's gaze turned to Lung, and then the many incapacitated gang members, some of which were moaning in pain after the insect bites they'd endured. Taylor hadn't been gentle, too focused on stopping them from attacking what she'd thought at the time were innocent kids.

"You three did this?" He asked, still tense and ready for a fight.

Shadowcat gave Snapdragon a warning look before stepping forward. "We only really helped with Lung. She took care of the gang members, and did a lot of damage to Lung before we arrived." She said, indicating to Taylor.

Taylor flushed behind her mask as the elder hero gave her a considering look. "You're a hero?"

"Yes?" Taylor said, confused by why he'd asked.

"You don't look like it." Armsmaster said bluntly.

Taylor cringed, being reminded of her school bullies by his blunt criticism of her costume.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Snapdragon barked, eyes narrowed angrily. "Her outfit is a bit intimidating, but that just makes it awesome! No way any bad guys would want to mess with her." Taylor was moved by the girl she'd just met defending her, especially when she turned to her to ask with interest. "Did you make it yourself?"

Taylor blinked but nodded. "Ah, yeah. It's made of spider silk and insect chitin, mostly beatles. From what I can tell it should be pretty knife resistant."

Snapdragon's smile widened, and even Shadowcat's eyebrows rose, impressed. Hell, Armsmaster actually seemed somewhat intrigued now, which made Taylor feel even better.

"What are your names?" Armsmaster finally asked at length.

"Snapdragon." The blonde said proudly.

"Shadowcat." The cat eared ravenette said, more subdued, though still confident. Then the two girls turned to Taylor, wondering what she'd say.

Taylor hesitated, wondering what to say. Her mind scrambled for a suitable name before she finally landed on something. "Imperatrix."

Snapdragon's eyebrows rose while Shadowcat smiled lightly, pleased. Armsmaster, for his part, didn't give any indication about what he thought of it, simply nodding. "Very well." Hefting his halberd he began making his way towards Lung, a needle sprouting from the high tech blade.

"What are you going to do?" Snapdragon asked with interest.

"I've developed a tranquilizer that will inhibit a regenerator's powers, so if he wakes up he'll be able to be subdued." Armsmaster explained tersely.

He was about to stick Lung when Shadowcat spoke. "Wait!" She called. When he turned to glance at her she continued. "Imperatrix made dozens of spiders and wasps bite and sting him when she fought him. He's probably swimming in different kinds of venom. Will he be alright if you take away his regeneration?"

Taylor's eyes widened as what Shadowcat was saying struck her. Lung could easily die if his system stopped being able to fight the venom in his system.

Armsmaster hesitated and then pulled back. "Very well. I'll leave him be for the moment and give his body an opportunity to purge the venom from his system. I'll inject him at the first sign of him waking, however." As the girls relaxed he turned his gaze to Taylor. "What did you hit him with?"

"Black widows and brown recluses, among other spiders, and various kinds of wasps, bees and hornets, mainly. A few centipedes, before he ramped up and they couldn't get close. I mainly aimed for his crotch and eyes." She answered.

Snapdragon winced. "Damn, that's gotta suck. Remind me not to piss you off."

Armsmaster nodded in understanding, apparently making notes. "Understood. Now, do you want to claim credit for the capture?"

Something about what he said made Shadowcat's eyes narrow, but Snapdragon spoke. "Why wouldn't we?"

"Capturing Lung could paint a target on your backs, and since you're rookie heroes that might be more than you can handle, especially since Oni Lee and Bakuda will likely be especially focused on you." Armsmaster explained.

Snapdragon placed her hands on her hips, looking at Armsmaster challengingly. "The Unbound need the rep this'll give us, seeing as we're new on the stage. We can handle retaliation." Her lip curled into what was close to a sneer. "Hell, I pity the poor, dumb bastard that tries to attack us."

Armsmaster paused. "The Unbound? Is that an organization you three are part of?"

"Snapdragon and I are members of the Unbound." Shadowcat said. "It was just luck that our group decided to debut in Brockton Bay tonight and we ran into Imperatrix, who's independent. That said…" She turned her head to look at Taylor. "Do you want to claim credit for the capture? He's not wrong about it possibly putting a target on your back, though we'd be willing to help with that."

Taylor considered that seriously. Part of her was willing to let the two other girls take credit for taking down Lung, simply being content knowing she managed to help stop him. But on the other hand, she'd almost died fighting him, and she knew how important notoriety could be for a cape. Finally she made her decision.

"I think I will." She said with a nod. "I need to start building a reputation sometime. Might as well start now."

Armsmaster nodded, not showing what he thought of the decision one way or another. "Very well. I'll call in the police and PRT to pick Lung and his gang up, then." With that he turned away, bringing a hand up to his helmet.

"Charmer." Snapdragon said drily. Then she turned to Taylor with a grin. "Well, it's been fun, Imperatrix, but me and the kitty have a patrol to continue."

"Ok." Taylor said, nodding. "It was nice to meet you, then. Hope we run into each other again."

Shadowcat held out a hand with a business card in it. "If you ever want help or to team up with someone, this is our number. Someone will always be available to answer any call, and a member of the Unbound will meet up with you and help out however we can."

"Yeah! I definitely wouldn't mind teaming up with you again." Snapdragon said enthusiastically.

Taylor took the card, a bit surprised, but feeling a bit of warmth in her chest at the offer. "Thanks."

With that the girls said their farewells and leapt onto the rooftops. Taylor watched them leave, turned briefly to Armsmaster, who nodded to her, and then left as well, feeling incredibly tired.

It had been a long night.

A week before Yang and Blake met Imperatrix, the soon to be named Unbound had gathered in the base they'd made for themselves using Cortana's electronic manipulation and Harry's magic to discuss the world they'd wound up in and what their next moves would be.

"You're sure about this, Cortana?" Harry asked seriously, the rest of the team glancing at each other unsurely.

"About ninety three percent sure." She said just as seriously from the holographic projector she'd gotten around to cobbling together from some of the UNSC and Remnant tech they'd carried with them, along with some local resources. "The lance is taking its sweet time this time. We're going to be on this world for several months, maybe even a year, before we can leave, so we might as well settle in for the long haul."

Harry sighed before nodding. "We knew it was a possibility this would happen as we jumped. We'll just have to make the best of it." He could see that several people weren't happy with that, especially Lara, but nobody said anything. "What have you found out about the world we've wound up in? What's special about it?"

"What makes you think there's something special about it?" Cortana asked with a wry smile on her face.

Beast Boy snorted at the question. "When have we wound up in a normal, boring world since we started jumping?"

"My world was normal." Alice said, amused.

"No it wasn't. You were in it." Harry said, making the group chuckle. Then he turned his attention back to the amused Cortana. "So?"

Cortana became serious. "So we've stepped into a bit of a mess this time, guys. This world is teetering on the brink of going completely to hell."

The rest of the team joined her in becoming focused. "Start from the beginning, Cortana." Chief said seriously.

Cortana nodded before her avatar disappeared, showing footage of a golden man flying through the air. "In the 1980s of this world everything changed when this being, Scion, appeared out of seemingly nowhere. From then on, people began to develop superpowers, to the point that there are now thousands of powered people throughout the world."

Beast Boy and Harry perked up, as this seemed to be a world close to their own, at least superficially.

"As you'd expect if you read comics, or simply have some small clue when it comes to human nature, superheroes and villains quickly rose to prominence. They take all kinds of forms, but the governments of the world have developed a category and rating system for the different types of powers that have been shown. There are twelve categories, each with a rating out of ten. Keep in mind a single powered person, or parahuman or capes, as they're called in this world, can have ratings in multiple categories."

"And the categories are?" Jaune asked, taking everything in, preparing to make plans and strategies for whatever they faced.

"I'm getting to that." A list appeared on screen. "They're as follows:

Movers have powers that let them, well, move. This can be anything from super speed to teleportation.

Shakers are those with powers that have an area of effect, like creating an area around themselves of warped space to keep others at bay.

Brutes are straightforward in that they have enhanced strength and/or durability, though that can take different forms.

Breakers can change their body into another state, like becoming intangible.

Masters can control others in some way or create minions. The government is particularly preoccupied with this type, for obvious reasons, creating protocols to determine if any employees are under Master influence.

Tinkers are probably the most versatile, as they can create or alter things in ways far beyond current technology, generally within a specific specialization. Some of them don't even make sense. A Tinker could potentially make a super efficient power generator out of some copper wire, a few AA batteries, and a bit of chewing gum. It's maddening." She sounded particularly ticked off discussing that, but soon got back on track.

"Blasters are those that have some sort of ranged, offensive ability, like launching laser beams from their hands. Strikers are the melee equivalent, like being able to stop time for a person they touch.

Thinkers are probably the most subtle category, in that they focus on information gathering, going from being really good at math to outright precognition.

Changers can alter their form in some way. Beast Boy would be a prime example of a Changer.

Trumps are those that can affect other powers in some way, like giving temporary ones, or taking them away.

And lastly, Strangers focus on stealth or infiltration, like being able to become invisible or just unrecognizable."

Everybody was making notes on what they were being told, and comparing their own abilities to the various categories. They knew that their stay in this world would require them to know this information well.

"The parahuman community has also developed a list of semi-official rules that even the government respects, at least for the most part, so you all better memorize these." Cortana turned a gimlet eye at Nora in particular, said girl rubbing the back of her head with a guilty grin.

"First of all, secret identities are pretty much sacred. You do not purposefully try to find out or reveal a parahuman's secret identity. By extension, you don't go after a cape's family."

"That doesn't seem like something villains would follow." Beast Boy pointed out, well acquainted with how the game was generally played.

"You'd think so, but it's pretty important to them." Cortana explained. "A decade or so ago a group local to Brockton Bay, the city we're in, calling themselves New Wave, wanting to bring a new era of superhero accountability by unmasking. They did a few good things, put some powerful people away, but one day a man looking to become a member of the Empire 88, the local neo-nazi gang that controls a significant portion of the city, attacked a member called Fleur in her home while she was 'off duty', so to speak. After her murder New Wave's entire movement collapsed, and now they're a shell of their former selves. The important part here is that, after this happened, Kaiser, the cape leader of the Empire, made a public statement of condemnation… by personally killing the offender."

The team glanced at each other, eyebrows raised, though John nodded in understanding, well used to how the politics of the underworld worked and able to apply his knowledge to what had been described.

"And the same goes for villains?" Ruby asked for clarification.

"Generally." Cortana said with a nod. "There are some villains that have known identities, but this can be due to things such as the events that gave them their powers being very public, or the fact that they just don't care and are dangerous enough to protect themselves."

"What are the rest of the rules?" Chief asked in order to keep things moving.

"No lethal force among capes." Cortana said firmly. "Not without a damn good reason, like self defense or defense of another. Villains are to be captured and jailed, and heroes are generally to be driven off or incapacitated, if not captured and 'convinced' to work for the villain."

"Ok, I can understand that coming from heroes, but I don't see villains following that rule." Beast Boy said, slightly baffled after his many near death experiences as a member of the Titans.

"There's a big reason for that which I'll go into later, but it's partly a desire not to escalate. A villain that's too dangerous can get sentenced to the Birdcage, which is an ultra secure prison that's meant to be impossible to escape from, to the point that even the authorities don't have a way to retrieve an inmate. You go there, you're going to die there, one way or the other, even if you turned out to be innocent. Of course, if you became a real threat, you get a Kill Order. That's when the government puts a hit out on you, with a bounty included. At that point everybody is not only able to but encouraged to kill you. So not becoming too high profile for atrocities is generally in your best interest." She shrugged. "There are some who don't care and just continue being monsters, though."

"I'm assuming you've compiled a list of those people?" Harry asked with interest.

Cortana smiled in a distinctly hard way. "Oh, definitely. Quite a few people with Kill Orders on them are simply alive because it's too dangerous to go after them. We should be able to figure something out."

"Making the world a better place and making some money while we're at it sounds good to me." Lara said with a nod.

"Are there any other rules, Cortana?" Penny asked curiously, head tilted to the side cutely.

"There are several more minor rules that I'll send to each of your devices, but the last big one is no enslaving others using mind control." Cortana answered. "That's pretty much an automatic Kill Order. Like I said, people are very wary of Masters."

There were general murmurs of agreement before Cortana continued. "In any case, the main reason even the authorities go easy on capes in many cases is because every single one is needed to combat the monsters that menace the entire world. The Endbringers." Her words drew everyone's attention, with even Zwei focused intently on her.

On the projection an image of an enormous monster with grey, leathery skin topped with cooling magma and obsidian like crags appeared. It's form was a muscle bound caricature midway between a human and a bear. Its 'hands' were simply mangled growths of obsidian-looking material and its arms were as thick as oak trees. Between two horns on its head was a single red, glowing eye above a mouth that was basically a jagged gap lined by obsidian teeth with a deep glow coming from the throat.

"What the hell is that!" Jaune cried.

"It's worse than any Grimm I've ever seen." Pyrrha said, a hand over her mouth.

"This forty five foot monstrosity is Behemoth, first of the Endbringers." Cortana said grimly. "The Endbringers are three monsters that periodically appear around the world and cause catastrophes, leveling cities and even completely changing a country's topography. Battles against them are no longer fought to kill them but simply to drive them off, and victories are marked by a lower than normal death toll."

At the group's horrified silence she continued. "Because of this the Endbringer Truce was created and is international law. The instant Endbringer alarm sirens begin to ring, delineations between heroes and villains no longer matter. Anybody willing to fight an Endbringer is given amnesty for the duration of the attack, which ends once they're safely home after it's done. Villains can't be arrested during this period, and anybody caught taking advantage of the battle to stab another cape in the back is immediately targeted by all heroes and villains. The Truce is taken extremely seriously, because the Endbringers are literal existential threats that affect everyone."

Cortana waited a few seconds to let that sink in before continuing her explanation. "Behemoth, first named Hadhayosh, first appeared in the Marun Field of Iran on December 13th, 1992, devastating the oil fields and leaving them untouchable due to the residual radiation. Since then he's attacked multiple times, emerging from under the ground, causing massive damage and generally leaving an area uninhabitable before he either leaves of his own accord or is driven away."

"What are his abilities?" Chief asked, obviously already considering how to fight the beast.

"Besides his sheer toughness he can manipulate multiple forms of energy, launch lightning around like candy, and generate radiation. Getting withing fifty feet of him is pretty much guaranteed suicide, so he's always fought from at least a hundred feet away to keep him from closing in quickly enough to make use of his 'death aura'. Fights against Behemoth are known to be the most deadly, with enormous casualty rates."

Everybody was silent for a moment, only Alice's whispered 'Dear god' being audible.

"You said there were three Endbringers?" Ruby said, uncharacteristically subdued.

"Yes." Cortana said, bringing up the image of another monstrosity. This one appeared to be smaller than Behemoth, but still huge. It seemed to have a disproportionate body and scaly green skin with a top-heavy appearance due to its hunched shoulders and the large cords of muscles standing out on its neck, upper torso, and shoulders. The top-heavy appearance was only strengthened by his much thinner forearms and calves, topped off with massive claws and digitigrade feet. At the rear end of its body was a prehensile whip-like tail longer than its body.

Its face lacked any kind of mouth, nose, or ears, with the only features being four cracks containing glowing green orbs that resembled eyes. These eyes were placed asymmetrically, with three on the left side of the face and one on the right.

"This is Leviathan, originally named Jormungand, and he first appeared in Oslo, Norway on June 9th, 1996. His primary power is Macro-Hydrokinesis, letting him control an absurd amount of water. There's always a torrential downpour near him, and he can create tsunamis, which he constantly summons to batter whatever place he's attacking. He can also affect things such as underground aquifers. If given enough time then this ability can collapse cities or even sink entire islands, which he has done to both Newfoundland and several islands in Japan, most notably Kyushu."

"Holy shit." Yang said, eyes wide as she watched some video Cortana was playing of an attack.

"He's also got absurd speed, especially in the water, to the point he seems to teleport. Plus he has a sort of echo made of water that follows his movement, which increases his deadliness an inordinate amount, making melee combat even more dangerous than it was already."

"So, basically, get rid of him quickly to keep him from turning wherever he's attacking into another Atlantis." Lara said seriously, nodding in understanding.

The image on the projector changed once more. This time it showed what appeared to be an angelic woman, smaller than the other two Endbringers, but still large. She was waif-thin and unclothed, her hair almost as long as she was tall and platinum-white like the rest of her. She had a variety of asymmetrically and apparently randomly placed feathered wings, which appeared excessively large compared to her body. Parts of her seemed to be 'hollow', or made from carefully placed wings, which traced the outline of the absent body part. Her eyes were silver, dull, cold, and empty. In the image Cortana was displaying she had her three largest wings wrapped around herself.

"Last but most definitely not least is the Simurgh, originally known as Israfel and also known as Ziz. She appeared in Lausanne, Switzerland on December 30th, 2002." Cortana said. "Initially she appeared benevolent and cooperative, but she turned out to be able to manipulate people's minds. Most of the residents of the city became violent and aggressive, attempting to kill as many people as they could and disrupt the world's resistance to the Endbringers as much as possible, which caused incredible havoc throughout Europe. Lausanne's population was barricaded in and bombed. Since then any city she appears in is quarantined and blockaded in order to keep the 'Ziz Bombs' from causing damage, especially since the effects aren't necessarily obvious at first, sometimes taking effect even years after the attack.."

Once again, the team descended into horrified silence. Cortana allowed them a moment before continuing her report. "Besides the psychic scream she constantly emits that lets her change people's behavior, she also has the ability to draw on Tinker powers around herself to create her own Tinker machines for her own purposes. She builds these machines using powerful telekinesis, which she also uses to attack any capes that fight her. She is considered the most terrifying of the Endbringers, and the main reason people are wary of anybody with mental manipulation capabilities."

"Is there anything else about her we should know?" John asked as he sat back with a frown on his face, petting Pax absently to soothe himself.

"All three Endbringers seem to target places that would cause damage to humanity in some way, apparently targeting specific places or people, but the Simurgh seems to especially focus on people who could potentially pull humanity out of the pit it's falling into. For example, she's known to have targeted a Tinker called Sphere who has a specialty in architecture and creating drones that make 'bubbles' that allow protection from the elements, among other things. He could make them large and safe enough that he was working on creating a moon base, possibly the first step to humanity expanding beyond Earth. Once she hit him though, he went mad and shut himself off from the world. Literally. Sphere withdrew, crafting a self-contained ecosystem in which he could survive indefinitely, untouchable, unreachable and safe. Then he reemerged as Mannequin, a serial killer that focuses on murdering Tinkers and Rogue capes who are trying to use their powers to improve the world like once he did. He's now part of the S-Class group of murderous parahumans called the Slaughterhouse Nine."

"That poor man." Alice said in horror.

Harry looked around at his teammates before clapping his hands. "Alright, enough about the Endbringers. Cortana, I'm assuming you've made dossiers on what we need to know about the people, organizations and places we need to know about?"

"Yes." She said with a nod and a smile. "I placed the information about Brockton Bay at the top of the list, since it seems to be where we'll be based out of. Especially as it's apparently the parahuman capital of the US, with more per capita than any other city."

"Let me guess: Far more villains than heroes." Beast Boy said drily, well used to how these things worked.

"Give the man a prize." Cortana said sardonically. Then she once more turned serious. "It's not surprising, unfortunately, considering how parahumans get their powers."

"What do you mean?" Ren asked as he opened his scroll to begin going through the dossiers and prompt Nora to do the same.

Cortana sighed. "A parahuman receives their powers in what is known as a Trigger Event. Trigger events vary, but one thing they all have in common is that they're the worst days in a person's lives up to that point." Everybody refocused on her, Alice especially. "The death of a loved one, a calamitous failure that ruins your future, abuse by a family member, being attacked… A person could trigger and gain powers if something bad enough happens. As an example, a woman triggering and killing an attacker that tried or even succeeded in… well, you know."

Alice seemed especially distressed by this information. "That means that every parahuman is likely dealing with some sort of mental trauma that makes them at least somewhat unbalanced in some way." She said, what training as a psychologist she had coming to the fore. "It's no surprise that people go down the path of villainy in that case. If their 'Trigger Event' is severe enough it could be catastrophic."

"There have been studies that show that parahumans that trigger due to human cruelty are especially powerful, which some organizations have taken note of and… experimented with." Cortana said, disgust obvious in her voice.

"Alright everyone." Harry said forcefully. "We've got a lot to think about and read through. Let's break up for now and take some time to absorb things. We'll make more permanent plans once we have a better idea of what our options are." As everybody began to disperse Harry turned to Cortana as Chief sat down nearby to go over the dossiers. "I'm assuming you've already begun to lay some groundwork?"

Cortana simply smirked. "Lets just say this world won't know what hit it once I'm done."

Harry smirked back. "Good. From what you've told us, it's a mess. We might as well do some good while we're here."

"Roger that." Cortana said.

With that Harry left, opening his scroll as he began to work.

These were going to be some very busy months.

Yay new chapter for new world!

I blame reading Unruly Marmite's latest chapter of Empress Ascendant for Taylor's name.

Yes, the new world is Worm, one of the most grimdark settings in fiction. The team, which I have now named the Unbound (they finally have a name!) will definitely be doing something about it.

Literally years ago, when I first decided to add Worm to the list of universes that would be visited, I asked for help learning about Worm canon in order to do my best job with it. Many people responded, which I'm grateful for, but one of the first to offer assistance, and the person who helped A LOT was sandmanwake. We had many long, involved discussions about the minutiae of Earth Bet. I couldn't have done this without you, buddy. Thanks a ton.

That said, while most of what I'll be using will be canon, I will also draw from fanon when I feel it suits the story best. Hope you purists don't mind too much.

I listened to the people who reviewed previous chapters about not knowing the various universes I was using, so I've decided to make exposition chapters for each world to help those who may not know them. This chapter was my experiment with that, with me trying to fit further exposition in naturally throughout the rest of the fic. I hope I succeeded and this helps. Please let me know.

Because I know some will ask, the Unbound will not be confining their actions to Brockton Bay. It's going to be their base of operations, but I intend to show them making waves on a global scale. You should see some of that in the next chapter.

So, what do you all think of the team name? I thought long and hard about it. Sandmanwake suggested Titans, after BB, and I was tempted, and I thought of several more, but I was listening to the RWBY Vol. 6 soundtrack's song Rising one day, and I got to some lyrics that just clicked with me when it came to this story:

The sky is turning black

Light is fading fast

But we don't surrender

Shattering the night

Radiant and bright

Our might is splendor

Shining forever

We are paragons of virtue and glory

Death can't find our endless story

Infinite and UNBOUND

It just seemed to fit. At least to me. I don't know, maybe it won't be popular, but I still think it fits the team like a glove. Let me know what you think of it in a review.

In other news, after the last chapter Blaze1992 asked me if I was interested in doing omakes or the like regarding the aftermath of John's escape. Their ideas were something along the lines of the High Table fruitlessly searching for John, who becomes a legend in his homeworld for being the only one to ever give the Table the finger and escape. With another possibility being that said legend leads to a revolt by those screwed over by the Table, which Blaze called The Yaga Rebellion. As interesting as the idea is I don't think I'd do it, so with Blaze's permission I'm going to make that a challenge. Someone write a short, or even long, if you want, fic about the aftermath of John escaping his world without a trace, and how the society that already idolized him reacts. Just let me know in a review or PM if you decide to do it so I can check it out.

I think that's it, so before I go I'll go ahead and give my usual advisory that you can have a say in what I write when you donate to my Pat A Ron. Each dollar donated equals a vote in the monthly poll I put up for my Patrons on what I update next month. So that's at Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis.

Thanks to everyone for reading, please review, and stay safe. Till next time!