The date is Friday, May 13, 2011. The time is 4:53PM. I stride into the PRT headquarters just as dozens of office workers are heading for the door. I stride towards the elevators through the crowd. A few people call out to me, but I know that if I stop they'll just escort me out or delay me.
I pick up my pace, reaching the elevator just as the doors open to reveal a tall man in blue and white power armor carrying a halberd (Armsmaster) and a woman in green wearing American flag scarves on her waist and lower half of her face carrying a sawn-off shotgun (Miss Militia).
Just as I'd hoped, they're both here. That increases the possibility that they'll believe me by 12.74%. Miss Militia's eyes widen as she spots me. Armsmaster abruptly stops and almost stumbles in his attempt to not run into me. They stare at me in silence for a few moments.
They share a few glances between each other before I see Armsmaster's mouth open "Can we help you?" I shake my head "No. I am here to help you." They exchange another glance and I continue. "The Endbringer known as Leviathan will attack this coming Sunday, the 15th."
They stare at me, the shock clearly visible on Miss Militia's face since I can see her eyes. "Wha- who-how-...Huh?" Undignified but I expected this reaction from Armsmaster. There was only a 34.73% chance that he'd say anything more intelligent than that.
It's not his fault. It's just a sign that his brain works faster than his body. Regardless, I must drive home my point. "Would you like me to repeat myself Armsmaster?" His mouth opens and closes a few times before he answers, almost in a whimper "Yes please."
I nod "The Endbringer known as Leviathan will attack this coming Sunday, the 15th." "And how exactly do you know that Miss?" A somewhat large woman in a suit asks, her voice curling up at the end, asking for my name as well as my explanation.
Oh dear. I'd hoped this wouldn't happen since this was one of the less likely scenarios. Now they definitely won't believe me. My best bet is to try to convince the heroes in front of me that I am being honest and hope that it's enough. Here goes everything.
"How I know does not matter. Nor does my name. All you need know, Director Piggot, is that Leviathan will be here between 24 and 48 hours from now." The director narrows her eyes at me, not even trying to hide her suspicions. I don't think I like her.
"Then why should we believe you? You could just be trying to incite panic and make us use up resources unnecessarily." I shrug "Then don't. Whether you believe me or not doesn't matter to me." With that, I turn around to leave the PRT. I hear Miss Militia yell at me.
"Hey! Wait! Hold on!" I look back "See you later Miss Militia, Armsmaster." With that, I focus on the door, forcing my time to speed up slightly so I am there in a fraction of a second. I hear someone yell "What the shit?!" Who it is is irrelevant. I continue until I am certain there is no chance of finding me.
I sigh. If they don't hit the switch and turn on that siren by the end of the day...a lot of people are going to die. I watch the sunset and wait patiently through the night. I wait...and wait...and wait. The silence persists, peaceful and undisturbed. If not for the charged tension in the air, it'd be peaceful.
I do not move until the sun creeps over the horizon once again, signalling the dawn of a new day. That's disappointing. Oh well. At least the thought is in his head now. I guess I'll just have to attend their meeting on Sunday. Maybe then they won't question my predictions.
Today is Sunday, May 15, 2011. The time? 6:52 AM. The Endbringer siren's wail pierces the previously tranquil streets of Brockton Bay. Policemen and police cars set up barricades on the street and guide the masses towards the shelters created for just such an emergency.
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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