All the Time to Lose (Wormverse)

Ch 10: Warning of Namazu

Mobs of people fleeing for the shelters. I, on the other hand, walk calmly, briskly, and purposefully to a building located between the Docks and Downtown. There's only a 7.31% chance that they'll use a different location for the Parahumans to meet.

~Weld's P.O.V.~

I go around the room, handing out armbands to whoever doesn't have one. I've just handed the Undersiders theirs when someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn around to see a girl. She's shorter than me, with copper hair. I can't even begin to guess her age or her ethnicity.

She is wearing jeans, dirty sneakers, a t-shirt, and a simple black mask covering her face. Her voice is so clear and calm in the face of the impending chaos. I can see a small smile in the curve of the mask "Hello Weld. May I have an armband please?"

I don't know who she is. I've never seen her anywhere before. I want to ask for her name but I think better of it. So, I nod and give her an armband. When Legend calls out for movers, I see the girl walk up to the group. Armsmaster calls out to her though, cutting off Legend. "Who are you?!"

She stops and turns to face him, not quickly but not slowly either. Her voice is apathetic "I'm here to help. Does it truly matter who I am?" His response makes the whole room go quiet "Because you knew Leviathan was coming. How?" My jaw drops to the floor.

She sighs like she's bored "You can call me Aeon. And don't worry Armsmaster, Miss Militia, There was only a 6.28% chance you'd believe me. I only told you because you needed to be thinking about it so you would feel compelled to check your detection software."

There's a small uproar but Legend silences everyone. He looks at Aeon but Aeon is staring out the window. She lifts her hand, raising her pointer and middle finger together and moving her hand away from her body towards the sea. She stops and looks at Legend, her hand still outstretched.

"You need to finish. Leviathan will be here soon." Legend nods slowly and proceeds to finish up his speech. Or at least...he tries to. After a few minutes, he's interrupted again. This time though, it's by a wave slamming against the old building. All of the defensive capes reinforce the building.

They don't hold for long though as they are quickly overwhelmed by the force. Legend's voice can be heard across the entire room "Strider! Get us out of here!" With a thunderclap, everyone is out of the building. I look around, shaking myself out of the daze to see everyone else doing the same.

The water level is about halfway up my calves right now but we're not in the bay. The rain is affecting visibility now, making it difficult to make out landmarks. Legend is shouting out orders to get us into lines, preparing for Leviathan's next move.

I can see that some of the other capes are still recovering from Strider's teleportation or whatever just happened. Legend yells "Get ready!" just as Leviathan drops to all fours and charges at us. He was so fast I barely have time to blink before he's right in front of me.

My wristband goes off "Carapacitator down, CD-5. Krieg down, CD-5. WCM deceased, CD-5. Iron Falcon down, CD-5. Saurian down, CD-5." Not good. The fight has only just begun and we are already losing...badly.

~~Time skip!~~

~Skitter's P.O.V.~

"Miss Militia down, CD-6." My heart drops. I'm already worried about Tattletale and the other Undersiders, but we're losing far too many heavy hitters for my liking now. Then, something weird happens. Leviathan jumps, probably intending to scale the building. Why? I honestly don't know.

As he jumps though, he suddenly plummets towards the ground, stopping mid-air when he collides against the first after image, only to get smothered by the after image created when he fell. He is eerily silent when the water fades, he lands on the ground only to get buffeted by his own after image...again.

Things are quiet for a moment as we watch Leviathan get to his feet. He's not staggering...but it is not a clean movement either. Whatever just happened, it affected him. After a second, a few capes capitalize on his sudden stop and blast him. The fight resumes as if nothing had happened.

After a minute more of fighting, it happens again. Leviathan lunges forward, only to stop after just a few feet and immediately start running backwards. However, he is running backwards even faster than he was forwards. I didn't even think that was possible.

It'd be comical if it didn't happen during an Endbringer fight. As he runs backwards, another after image appears, trapping him between two walls of water as big as he is. Things seem to stop for a moment as the Endbringer struggles to move. The after images fade and he stills.

He suddenly starts using his tail and claws to lash out at any and all capes that dare to even move let alone attack him. One of his attacks cleaves the building next to him, dropping a few blasters as it falls. I can hear the comm list off names. The voice fades out as my brain focuses solely on Leviathan.

"Castle down, CD-6. Fulgur down, CD-6. Vigilant down..." I can't figure it out. Falling I think I can sort of chalk up to gravity...but running backwards? That doesn't make any sense. I'll have to look into that later. For now though, I need to focus on living through the fight.

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