6.35 Rubicon
20th of May, 2011
David doesn't know what he expected when Alexandria, Legend and him arrived in Boston, but two squabbling children and a ten-foot-tall, reptilian-looking mech trying to separate them under a torrential downpour certainly hadn't been it.
It even makes him a little angry at first. Dragon has been responsible for the logistics of every Endbringer fight since she joined up with the Guild, the AI surely has better things to do with her time than pacifying two brats!
Yet before he can build a full head of steam about the lack of professionalism on display, his train of thoughts come to a screeching halt as soon as he registers Rebecca's words, greeting the trio in her usual clipped, no-nonsense tone, effectively taking charge at once.
"–Nictimène–" He hears his fellow Cauldron executive say, and his eyes instantly snap back toward the two children behind his mask that he had already dismissed.
David almost feels like berating himself from not noticing earlier; but now that it's been pointed out to him, he recognizes the girl at once. A memory of a distant briefing brings back to the forefront of his mind the fact that Jacqueline Barnes had been friends with a Ward in her civilian identity prior to the Somerset mess. Now that they're standing side to side without any sign of hostility – the green-clad blonde with a metallic halo even adopting a parade rest – he is pretty confident he just informally met said friend.
Dismissing this rather inane observation, he looks toward the one some people had started dubbing 'Little Hero' once it had been confirmed that she'd been responsible for avenging one of his oldest friends and countless others.
Begrudgingly – now that his head isn't swimming with visions of doom culminating into his uncaring death at the hand of a stitched-eye freak like the last time he saw her – he has to admit that the girl is at least looking the part.
Hovering slightly above the ground, the tip of her armored feet barely touching the helipad, her diminutive figures nonetheless cuts a larger than life impression in her sleek white power armor threaded with pulsing, scarlet lights. David is no Tinker himself – he tried once, and quickly learned that his power didn't encourage repetition – but he met enough of them over the course of this career that he can recognize good craftsmanship when he sees it. He is not exactly clear about the girl's current capabilities – he probably should've gotten another look at her files, alas his head had been elsewhere since Somerset – but after seeing her lay waste to rows after rows of cannibalistic Changers while fending off the winged streaker that got Rebecca killed, he would bet on 'slightly North of overkill.'
It was a little mind-boggling – maybe even a little humbling – to realize that she had managed to come to such a result with only stolen resources, all the while maintaining a secret identity for almost half a year at her age.
And now, David somehow owes the girl his life, and he honestly doesn't know how he should feel about it, or the fact that people had started publicly comparing her to John of all people.
She wasn't the first to get compared to his late friend – far from it – and he usually smothered such talks with a dismissive attitude and an internal scoff.
But hearing those same words spoken about Nictimène leaves him more… pensive.
"Eidolon," Rebecca's voice wrenches him out of his contemplation, and he feels himself reddening slightly under his mask, "Your thoughts?"
This is unprofessional of you, he mentally berates himself, the leather of his gloves creaking slightly as he clenches his fists in frustration. Get it together.
"Apologies. I missed the last part. Please continue." He says, making a conscious effort of appearing unbothered by his slip.
"It never gets easier." Legend comments solemnly, and he feels oddly grateful for the man's slightly off-mark explanation.
After all, it is true enough – Endbringer fights never get easier, even if the looming confrontation isn't the root of the issue gnawing at him here.
"Nictimène suggested that we give Vista here the opportunity to shield the coast." Rebecca explains, and David commits the new name to his mind while simultaneously side-eyeing the green-clad child in intrigue, "This could very well be a long shot, since Leviathan's hydrokinesis doesn't abide by the laws of physics. I suggested that a Trump could possibly help her set up a bigger buffer."
He doesn't need a Thinker power to parse through his colleague's hidden meaning; she wants him to do it.
For a moment that seemingly stretches like an eternity, he feels angry at the proposal. He is Eidolon, always on the frontline, the most powerful hero the world over. He doesn't play second-fiddle!
Then the tide of his anger recedes, and he starts seeing the logic behind Rebecca's words; slotting in a Trump power to boost another parahuman's output shouldn't be that hard to him assuming he has one, and it doesn't stop him either from keeping the suite he has been carefully curating since he's been told that an attack would come today.
Finally, his mind settles when he realizes that both the girl and him would have to be on the frontline for this to work. If things don't go as planned – and it never does, in his experience – then he'll be next to the action anyway.
"I'll do it," he clips, his mind made up, "We have some time. I'll see if I can find an adequate power."
Admittedly, the sheer awe radiating out of the green-clad child at the simple answer acts like a balm to his weary soul.
"Great!" the other child currently present enthusiastically claps, blackened lips under her owl-themed half-mask stretching in a full smile, "Now, let me sell you on another idea I had! I know this is going to sound a little crazy, but hear me out first!"
Admittedly a little curious by the girl's attitude, Eidolon falls quiet once more and settles in to wait for Nictimène's explanation.
At the end of it, and after much yelling, he has to admit two things to himself.
Firstly, the girl who saved his life may not entirely be sane.
Secondly, now he really is curious to see if she can pull it off.
After all, worst come to worst, he'll be right behind her to strike at the beast.
***
In the end, David did find an adequate power, one he had never touched before considering how reactive it was, and he had to concede that Vista's Shaker power was one of the most impressive he had ever seen in his entire career. He's used to flying, so the altitude as him and the two children stand atop a building utterly dominating the coast doesn't fill him with awe, but the way the land and the sea both have been stretched on miles on end by the girl surely does.
Yes, the interplay of power he could feel as he kept a hand on her shoulder had helped, but he is almost convinced she could have pulled it off without him.
#Alert: the buoy in quadrant B-26 just registered Leviathan's approach.# Dragon's voice wrenches him out of his musing, and he feels himself subtly tense.
#This is Nictimène, I see it.# The last member of this impromptu trio clips through the com channel, her tone just as curt as Rebecca's best, contrasting sharply with the first – technically second – impression he had gotten of her.
View:
His attention turns toward the Tinker, her face and hair now fully hidden in full mask, little scarlet spherical construct falling from the triangular wings extending at her back in rhythm as she steps toward the railing.
#Brace for impact, this is going to get loud.# She adds, almost thoughtfully, and David watches as the spheres extend at her sides, their gleam and shine getting brighter by the moment, #50%... 60%... 70%...#
In David's eyes, the crimson light becomes almost unbearable, though he still manages to catch several panels opening at the girl's back, spooling more heat and light, enough to make the surroundings noticeably warmer in spite of the unceasing downpour.
#80%... 90%... 100%. Brace.#
All of a sudden, the glow turns truly blinding, and with a roar akin to a teeth-gritting chorus of agony, the weapon fires.
If anything, David thinks the girl undersold it when saying that it would be 'loud'. The only reason why Vista and him aren't sent flying ass over teakettle being that he had been bracing himself for it while keeping a steady grip on the girl's shoulder.
#There. Nowhere to hide now, you scaly prick.# Nictimène's voice echoes in his ears as he finally manages to blink away the white spot in his vision, her tone dripping with satisfaction.
What he sees when his eyes narrow down toward where the shot landed is nothing more than a wasteland. For a large, overly stretched section of the sea, nothing remains beside the bedrock, including the water itself, flash-boiled to nil.
Far in the distance, he can barely make the exceedingly tiny form of the Endbringer prying itself from the crater.
#Commencing phase two,# the girl comments while stepping atop the railing, the scarlet spheres getting swallowed back into her armor, #Keep it away from the water in the meantime. Wish me luck.#
His attention fully turns back to the girl as he manages to shake off his befuddlement while Vista lets out a wordless grunt of acknowledgement.
#Nictimène, I urge you to reconsider this course of action,# Dragon precipitously says even as the Tinker's armor starts to reconfigure itself, the triangular wings at her back shifting in place to come to fully encompass her shoulders before extending far and wide, #Have you considered what happens if you miss?#
The wings finally click in place as the girl starts hovering a few feet above the railing, before a crimson field flickers alive on them, the openings at her backs opening even further, the dull roar of a reactor making itself known.
#I won't miss!# The girl simply answers.
David could swear he can hear the amusement in her tone.
Then, with a bone-rattling, deafening sonic boom, she is gone on a crimson trail.
He watches as the girl cuts a circuitous line among the skyline at speed he isn't sure he'd manage to reach himself, almost taking a step forward, drawn like a moth to a flame by the spectacle.
The hand he keeps on the Shaker's shoulder is the only reason he does not do so.
Down below, in the barren area, the beast seems to finally realize that his predicament isn't just over yet, and he starts to run.
#Not so fast!# the girl growls over the com channel as she reorients her flightpath, #You're not making it away this time!#
And with a nail-on-a-blackboard screech joining together with the death knell of her flight, the crimson trail darkens.
Like a bird of prey falling on a frightened mouse, the young Tinker makes her final, supposedly lethal approach.
And for a moment that seemingly stretches for an eternity, David thinks she isn't going to make it. He isn't a Tinker himself, but 'ramming an Endbringer at near relativistic speed' sounds like a one way ticket straight to the pearly gates if he ever heard of one.
The beast is fast, almost deceptively so, and too crafty by half to bout–
It's over in an instant.
A single flash of darkened crimson as the girl redlines her reactor, the impact rattling the windows of the building Vista and him stands despite the distance and releasing a large plume of dust.
David's heart falls–
#Wah… Woohoo!# Nictimène's flight path cuts through the smoke once again on a scarlet trail, her voice threading exhaustion and exhilaration on the com channel as she flies higher and higher before disappearing into the cloudline.
David's composure almost freezes when an immense, scarlet explosion rips through the cloudcover, shredding it apart.
#Take that you stupid murder-Kaiju! That was for ruining anime for an entire world! No more Kyushu!# That is until his eyes land on the slowly decelerating profile of the Tinker as she starts to fly down from a circular path toward Boston proper with the sun shining at her back.
#Dragon, can we get a confirmation?# Rebecca asks, her tone anxious, almost on the edge.
A pause.
#No– No signs of activity, Alexandria,# the AI answers, stuttering for a moment before getting her composure back, #Leviathan, vanquished.#
#Ahahah, oohhh!# the girl laughs over the com channel, her good mood somewhat infectious, #Told you I could make it!#
David's eyes stay locked onto the approaching form of the young Tinker, his grip on the Shaker's shoulder finally slackening, a weight on his shoulders he had never acknowledged going away.
And as she finally touches down to give her friend a big, sweeping hug while bewildered celebration overtakes the com channel, he can't help but feel that hope shone crimson today.
[AN: - Endbringer arcs are such a slog, bleh.
- Aight, bet. :3