Amelia, Ch 294- Taylor
The alarm screeched its displeasure, and I shot up in bed, reaching over to shake Amelia awake. Two in the morning? God damn it. Amelia complained unhappily in her sleep, then realized what was going on, and was instantly as awake as me.
RealizationHorrorAlert.
Adrenaline is a wonderful thing. I rolled out of bed, and she did the same on her side.
"Do you know anything?" she asked.
I reached out with my senses, looking for information as I put on my armor. I found it with Victoria. Every Pantheon member's specialized armor was quantum linked to Avalon and functioned as a relay bug. A fact that was a closely guarded secret. In essense, it meant I was backup any time any of our teams needed help.
"Confirming Leviathan, Pacific ocean, likely California," Director Dunn told Chevalier and the rest of the gathered team. Victoria was already there with them. "Dragon's transport vessel is en route now."
"Understood," Chevalier replied. "Arclight, you take charge here while I'm gone."
"Yes, sir," the other man answered. The voice tech in the armor made it clear he wasn't happy about that command, although I didn't know why.
"I'm sending Janus after you," I informed Victoria.
"May as well cancel the transport," Vicky cut. "We have special pickup plans."
"Miss," the Director responded. "You're not the one in charge."
"Oh, I know," she answered. "But I just got instructions from the people who are. We'll have a teleporter here in..." she paused for a second, and I took the prompt for what it was.
"About three minutes," I answered.
"Five minutes," Vicky finished.
"North America, they think," I answered, grabbing my armor. What does it say about us that we keep million dollar plus pieces of combat armor in our bedroom? "West coast. Could possibly be Hawaii."
"Coast? That's specific," she asked as she morphed her suit over her body.
"We know who this one is," I answered. "Leviathan's making a showing."
"It's Leviathan. I want both of you to go to the Philedelphia site and meet with Victoria and Chevalier's team," I instructed Lily and Eric. "Then bring them all to Avalon's capitol." We really need to get around to naming things.
"Understood," Eric responded, already in his armor. Lily was still not dressed. Her armor was a lot less convenient than the rest of ours, thanks to the nanofilament that let her shield herself with her power.
"Just teleport us over now," she told him. "I'll get dressed during."
DeterminationVindication. "The last of the originals," Amelia responded. "Do you think we'll be able to kill him?"
"Vicky's going to be pissed that it won't be her that gets to deliver the final blow," I answered. Meanwhile, my zerg were lining up for their transit. The phalanx types were top priority, taking the forward facing position. I'd trained with Missy enough that she knew what that meant. I felt the warp of space as she wove her way across the planet, creating the path my monsters started traveling through even before Amelia and I were finally able to make it outside.
"Status report?" I asked.
"Command center's powering up," Emma responded. "Ten minutes."
"It'll have to stay here," Missy spoke. "I can barely get the zerg through."
ConfusionConcern. "I thought it would be years before Avalon was populated enough to give you problems," Amelia asked.
"If we wanted to go to or from anywhere else, it would be," Missy responded. "But you're asking me to jump from our most populated area to our second most populated area. I had to detour near the south pole for this. It's almost like they planned it this way."
"Can't rule it out," Lisa cut in. "We know they managed to build the Simurgh. They might be using something like her to coordinate attacks."
"Just worry about the zerg, then," I commanded. "We'll rely on Janus to get us in position."
Meanwhile, I felt the perception shift as Atropos and Janus jumped from Bet to Avalon, and then a moment later over to our Philadelphia site to pick up Victoria and the others. I didn't bother eavesdropping on the conversation.
"Don't worry, I can provide a staging area," Dragon responded over our com systems. One of the few non-Pantheon members that we'd given that access to. "I have a number of Fafnir models in the region doing geological scans. They're versatile enough to accomplish most of what your platform can under ordinary circumstances. Leviathan is a known quantity, your more esoteric technology will be wasted on this."
GratitudeAcceptance. "Thank you," Amelia responded.
Over the course of a few seconds, Philly's Protectorate team started appearing on our teleportation platform. Victoria and Lily immediately flew toward where Lisa was waiting, followed closely by Chevalier, and then the rest of his team.
"Same plan we already discussed?" Lily asked as they landed. Normal voices, not the com systems.
"Minor changes, but nothing that concerns your roles," Lisa answered.
Emma rushed up to Vicky. "Here's that sword I told you about," she held up the weapon. It shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow, a kaleidescope unable to decide on a pattern. "The stasis forcefield is active for now. It's unbreakable in this state, and as sharp as any standard sword. If you need to you can give it Clockblocker's immovability or a cutting edge just slightly weaker than the nanorthorns. But those are huge energy drains."
"It's basically a lightsaber," Zach cut in.
"Okay, I see the options on my armor," Vicky agreed. She held the sword straight up. With a better angle, I could see how slender it was More like a fencing sword than the weapons Chevalier or Alexandria used.
"Activate the final setting and you have exactly twenty six seconds before it breaks," Emma continued. "During that time, it will be able to cut through anything, matter or energy, that isn't enforced by Atropos or Shaman's powers. We've tested it against Alexandria's power and the densest Endbringer tissue we've had the opportunity to study. Don't know if it'll cut through their core, but I'm pretty sure it will."
"Don't use it unless you absolutely fucking have to," Lisa demanded. "I know you want to get payback for Gallant, Shielder and Manpower. But the new Endbringers are designed to be immune to methods that were key in killing their predecessors. If Atropos fails-"
"I won't," Lily cut in, her voice determined.
"If Atropos fails," Lisa continued. "Then we might be better off letting Leviathan get away and trying with her power again in a year or so when he gets back for a rematch. You could be carrying the only thing that can kill the newest generation of Endbringers, since the Shaman-Rosary interaction was used on Wendigo. And we don't know how Leviathan's going to behave during this battle. We'll need to expect his rules to change."
"Fuck that," Vicky complained. "Ames will back me on this. That bastard needs to die."
"She's right," Chevalier argued, placing a hand on Vicky's shoulder. "We don't know how the Endmakers are going to react to two Endslayer combinations. If this is a third method, we need to keep it hidden as long as we possibly can."
Vicky deflated a little. "Fuck," she sighed. "Fine, we do it your way."
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A/N- Wee, stuff!
How Vicky's new sword works: It creates a time distortion along its edge. On one side, time is accelerated to approximately twice its normal speed for an area about half a molecule thick, all along the length of the blade. On the other side, time actually flows in reverse. Not by much, mind. Anything caught along the edge is divided by their own past and future.
