When I finished working on my gear, I was just under a week into the current cycle. I almost immediately left the forest and headed into the city, wanting to spend some time walking around after being cooped up for so long. I loved my forest home, but I had been cooped up in it for a while, and been working my ass off for even longer.
As I flew above the city, I couldn't help but see how amazing it was doing. Not only was it remarkably clean compared to when I had first woken up inside its limits, but the people seemed to have more energy as they walked down the streets. Apparently, the various guardian spirits had started using their golems to clean up the large trash deposits sitting in alleyways and along abandoned parking lots. That had given the town a chance to hire more people and catch up with cleaning the rest. Not to mention that, with the lack of gang activity, people felt much safer on the streets, whether they were walking around or doing repair work.
The city was far from completely healed, of course. They still had a rather large unemployment issue due to the failure of its previous major industry, shipping, which had died with the boat graveyard, but it was certainly doing a lot better than it had been.
On a whim, I flew across the city to the shop I had once lived out of. I had once promised myself to fix the damage I had done to it during my early attempts at magic, but when I arrived to do so, I was rather surprised to see that the shop was actually under renovation already. Quite a few businesses in the area were. If I had to guess, people were willing to risk starting a business here now that we had proven we could keep the criminals out.
I was tempted to pop inside and see if there was anything I could do to help, but when I noticed that no one was inside working, I once again took flight, escaping before the crowd of people could surround me.
It was probably on the rude side to run like that, but at this point, my reputation as someone who avoided interacting with the public, beyond the people I was helping, was pretty much set in stone. My only true public event had been the press conference after the Slaughterhouse Nine was dispatched, and I wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.
Olivia liked to sometimes poke at our PHO threads, which were some sort of older-style online message board, but I had no desire to do that. I spent way too much of my life on the internet before coming here, and I wasn't about to repeat that any more than necessary.
Eventually, I landed on the rooftops near the Docks Community. A few minutes later, Olivia climbed the nearby ladder to sit with me. She spent a lot of time out of costume there, so I wasn't surprised to see her. As she turned to look out over the open area filled with people, my eyes lingered on her scars for a moment, as I wondered, not for the first time, whether she would ever let me heal them.
"Did you change your costume?" She asked, tilting her head as she looked me up and down.
"Yeah, just updated them a bit," I explained. "Plus, I worked in some of my newer stuff. You know, I could do the same for Crow's gear."
"... I've gotten pretty good at controlling it," She admitted, skipping past the unwieldy method of referring to Crow as a separate person. "Would updating it change that?"
"It…might?" I said, frowning and looking up as I thought about it, trying to consider just how I would update her gear. "Some aspects would probably get easier, but it would probably shift things around a bit."
"Then not right now," She said, brushing me off. "I wouldn't say no to more gear, but I'm used to the cloak."
"Sure, hold still," I suggested, pulling out my staff. "Actually, you might want to sit down, this will take a few minutes."
"What are you doing?" She asked, trusting me enough to sit down before I responded.
"You know that crossroads stuff I used to make the roads safer?" I asked, Olivia nodding in response. "Well, its lower levels might be bound to physical transition points, but at higher levels it becomes about boundaries, then even further it's just about changes between states. In and out, off and on, fighting and at rest, injured and healthy. I can use those transitions to apply lower-level effects, give you energy, clear your mind, heal you slightly, stuff like that."
"Huh… sure, sounds good."
"They can be, though on their own they are each only a minor buff," I admitted with a shrug. "And I'll have to keep yours charged myself or they will fade."
I began working the effects around her, making sure the healing I tied to her healthy and unhealthy states wouldn't heal her scars. I was still hoping she would ask me for help eventually, but until then, I would wait.
It took about an hour to apply what I wanted to, but about halfway through that, Alya came out to watch. She watched as I worked, getting through most of them, before she turned to scan the area around us.
The elemental had been quieter than usual over the last several weeks. I had asked her why when Olivia pointed it out at some point, and Alya responded that she was simply not needed with me working so much, so she was mostly watching and waiting. I had to remind myself that she wasn't human, and that to her, this was all a very short blip for her, as she was basically immortal. She would exist long after I had gotten bored and decided to pass on.
"Something in the air is different," she stated as I was just finishing up. "The weather is being affected."
I turned to look at Alya in confusion, then up at the slightly overcast sky. I looked back down to share a confused look with Olivia, only to watch her face drain of nearly all color. It took me a moment longer to realize what she clearly already had, and when I did, I could feel a heavy weight drop into the pit of my stomach.
"Where is it localized?" I asked, turning to Alya, the elemental now looking out over the ocean.
"Around Brockton Bay, a bit into the bay as well," she responded, the weight in my gut doubling up. "It's crude but powerful, shifting the water vapor in the air, introducing more. It's trying to create a significant storm."
"Could you stop it?"
"To a degree, it ultimately depends on how determined the one creator is," she responded. "There is only so much I could do. I am a storm elemental, so it's like asking a fire elemental to extinguish flames. It could, but it's the opposite of its specialty. I can unravel a storm, but not when someone else is putting it back together just as fast."
"Don't worry about it, I have it handled," I have it handled I assured her. "I was just curious."
"Do you know who this is?" Alya asked, turning to face me.
"I hope I don't," I responded. "I really-"
My words were cut off by the start of a long, drawn-out siren starting off in the distance, immediately followed by others, spreading across the city like wolves howling for blood. Olivia's already pale face somehow got even more pale, and I could only imagine that I looked the same. All of us were frozen, waiting for the sirens to cut out, but they didn't. After fifteen seconds, when they continued, people started to panic.
A five-second alarm meant an Endbringer was attacking, but it wasn't attacking you. This was a remnant from the early days of their reign, when their pattern was less observed and studied. People were afraid that multiple might attack at once, or that they would spontaneously gain abilities that would make them dangerous to nearby cities. Now all across the country, anywhere that the PRT functioned, Endbringer sirens went off momentarily during an attack so people not in the attack zone could still gather together, leave work, and shelter with their families.
When an alarm continued, it meant your home was the predicted target.
I immediately pulled out a spare teleport crystal, handing it to Olivia.
"This has twenty charges, keep it on you," I ordered, even as her cloak surrounded her. "Guide these people to shelter, keep everyone calm as you can. Guardians will be around eventually to help. When they get here, teleport to the gathering point. I'll be along shortly."
"Arc.... Will, I-"
Crow started to speak, but cut herself off after saying my name. Instead, she reached forward and grabbed my shirt, pulling me into a kiss. After a moment, she pulled back, her costume quickly covering her body and face.
"Please, be safe." She finished.
"I will try," I said, which was really all I could do.
Crow nodded and quickly dropped down to the area below, immediately starting to shout to calm the quickly panicking crowd. Meanwhile, I teleported all the way back to the military base, where the chaos had spread as well. Thankfully, it was orderly chaos, with officers and soldiers running back and forth as they prepared to leave.
Kinsey was standing by his offices, looking out over the fields that were rapidly filling with the organized soldiers, marching out of barracks armed and armored. Occasionally, an officer would approach, ask a question, and he would answer it in short, clear words, and the officer would run off to solve whatever problem they were charged with.
"Seems… unlucky that your city is being targeted, so soon after you finished cleaning it up," He said when I approached. "Almost as if it was on purpose."
"Most theories do say they are generating suffering of some kind," I pointed out. "This wouldn't be the first attack run they've done on somewhere doing well."
There was always an essence of randomness to Endbringer targets, but that randomness was curtailed by some loose parameters. The big bastards definitely selected targets to make as big an impact as possible, and usually that meant targeting cities or locations that were teetering on the edge. Their attacks would force them to spiral into horribleness, or in the case of the Simurgh, insanity. Occasionally, however, they attacked places that were doing too well, shattering any city or location that seemed to be thriving.
Now Brockton Bay was in their sights, and if the rain was any hint, it would be Leviathan. Not to mention it was his turn in the cycle anyway.
"I suppose so," Kinsey commented, before giving me a look. "You don't seem to be panicking enough."
"No, I suppose I'm not," I responded.
"Confident in your work?" He asked, looking out over the fields, where almost every squad was ready for deployment. It was clear he was referring to the troops I helped arm.
"Something like that."
Within a few minutes of my arrival, soldiers were stepping through the teleporters and arriving in Brockton Bay. Kinsey was one of the first to step through, as he and his underlings were setting up a base camp outside of city limits. They had had plenty of time to prepare for using my teleport pads to set things up, and they moved like a well-oiled machine.
Meanwhile, I head back to the heart of the city.
People were moving quickly, but shockingly, there was very little panic. Golems were everywhere, pointing directions while guardians stood close by directing and talking. As I flew over the city, I saw that everyone on the outskirts was leaving. Some were driving, others were walking, and some even riding away on other vehicles. The police were out in force, helping everyone leave as quickly as possible.
Deeper into the city, people were moving into the Endbringer shelters, filing in calmly. It was a pressing crowd, people desperate to grab at any safety they could. There were already capes flying around the city that I didn't recognize, though I did spot Weaver… Carrying someone as she flew through the air, heading out of the city. I stopped, creating a platform under my feet, letting her land and set down a masked man who was clearly Danny. She looked down at her feet as if I had caught her stealing from the cookie jar.
"Take him to the forest edge," I said, smiling as she looked up at me suddenly. "Call out for Kali. She will take him further in. It's the safest place he can be right now."
"Thank you," She said, before looking at her dad, who, after a long moment, nodded and let her pick him back up and dart away.
I watch them fly for a moment before letting the platform vanish under my feet, diving down for a handful of seconds, before pulling up to streak across the sky. The streets grew increasingly clear of civilians the closer I got to the coast, but the number of soldiers increased. First, a few squads, then whole platoons sprinting down mostly empty streets, looking for buildings that would give them the best chance of spotting Leviathan. By the time I was pulling in to land, there were dozens on each roof I passed.
Eventually, I spotted what I was looking for, landing across the street from a large parking lot filled with capes, with more arriving even as I stopped it. I spotted Crow waiting for me off to the side with most of New Wave. Rather than land too close, I selected a clear spot and dropped down, landing cleanly on the sidewalk.
Just as I started to cross the street, it started to rain, the light drizzle picking up the pace quickly. By the time I was halfway across the wide street, it was already raining heavily. People were starting to look for cover, wondering if they should move to other buildings, when I reached into my pocket and pulled out a chunk of stone, three bands of mithril encircling it. I stopped as I stepped up on the sidewalk, holding the stone up in the air and feeding it a spark of magic. It glowed, and after a moment, once the rain had soaked it, it sent out a pulse of energy. A moment later, deeper into the city, one of my grand workings gave off a much larger, but similar, pulse, spreading out over several blocks.
Fifteen seconds later, a constant beam of energy shot up into the sky, spreading out at about two or three hundred meters into the air. Almost instantly, the rain began to ease from torrential downpour to heavy rain. It continued to taper off until it shifted to a loose light rain. Just enough to ruin a picnic.
"It's working, but Levaithin is still trying to create more," Alya whispered into my ear. "The Weather Temple is going to have to fight him off for the entire battle. It is making the rain warmer, though."
"It will run out of energy eventually," I admitted. "But it's sufficient for now, the rain is reduced enough that visibility is fine. Keep an eye on it and let me know when it starts to fail."
I could feel her agreement as I looked back up to try and find New Wave and Crow, only to find everyone staring at me. The capes whose eyes I could see were wide, and quite a few of their jaws were dropped. I considered saying something, but ultimately decided to join the group instead. I took one step towards them when someone called my name. I turned to find one of the most identifiable heroes on the planet landing just a few feet from me. The core of his costume was white, while his extremities and sides were cobalt blue. He wore a simple domino mask with white eyes, and as he stepped closer, they were focused on me.
"Arcanum," Legend said, landing smoothly on the edge of the crowd. As he approached, he extended his hand. "It's good to see you. Would you mind coming with me? We would appreciate your help coordinating the attack."
I instinctively shook his hand, doing my best to keep the shocked feeling from showing on my face. After a moment, I nodded in agreement.
"I… Of course, Legend," I responded, giving the world-famous hero a nod. "Lead the way."