Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I was hallucinating now. I think. I felt trapped, more than anything else, and now I wasn't. A moment ago, I had been in the locker, furious, panicking, crying, trapped by the smell and the filthy stickiness and the bugs-

Stars

-And now there was none of that.

Just... water, in every direction. Empty, mostly. It was dark, like the locker, but I could tell there was nothing trapping me. Which was strange. I didn't go swimming often, but being so deep underwater, you'd think it would feel suffocating.

But it didn't.

Maybe I was dying? Which was ridiculous, how does someone die just from getting stuck in a metal box covered in shit for a few hours. Maybe I had a heart attack, or something.

This was just a hallucination.

It was still better than the locker, and I let myself drift with the current, only to find I didn't float, at all. I dropped like a stone, more or less. Which was sufficiently weird to distract myself from my own personal despair. What kind of principles does this hallucination follow, anyway?

I stood up, and looked down at the muddy ground beneath me. I had left a pretty big impact in it, nearly a crater. What had been keeping me floating before I thought about it? I jumped up a little, wanting to go up-

HOLY CRAP

The water shot past me, or I was shooting past, the water faster than I could keep up with. The instant I thought to slow down, I felt some kind of grip on everything around me. I held fast to the feeling, and stabilized, holding myself absolutely still in the water. It felt like my stop should have created a shockwave or something, with all the momentum I had a moment ago, but my grip on the water around me kept it just as still as I was keeping myself. Glancing to the side, I noticed my surroundings had also gotten substantially brighter- the water looking a deep green-blue around me, rather than the pitch it was before. There were even some fish, in the distance.

How deep had I been? With another thought, I reached out for the gripping feeling, connecting to everything around me, and began to pull myself up, slower, much slower than I had before. Slow enough that I could see what I was doing.

The water got brighter, and the life more plentiful, to the point where I had to gently nudge away schools of fish with my grip on the water, to keep them from running into me. Finally, I broke the surface of the ocean and saw the great wide sky around me.

I was then briefly in the sky. I was going much slower than before, but even so I had been shooting upwards pretty fast. I suppose my momentum-halting ability only worked underwater. When I burst from the water, I was sent flying. Before I landed back into the sea, I threw my hands forward, instinctually trying to catch myself, only to land on all fours on the surface of the waves. In an area around me, the water became more-or-less stable, the crests of the waves leveling out into merely being a slightly uneven surface. I got up onto two feet, and carefully began moving forward across the surface of the water.

I could walk on water too, apparently. It was tricky, walking, that is. Grabbing hold of the water with my power- I was a Parahuman, of course, not hallucinating. I was a Parahuman, and obviously I teleported out of the locker, and into the ocean outside the Bay, and I can control water -and making it solid was easy. Very easy. What was hard was the walking part.

I had heard about Case 53's on the news, and on PHO and the Parahumans wiki, but I never thought it would happen to me. I didn't think I would become a Cape, either, but if I did, I didn't think I would become a monster. Maybe it was unfair to think that, but I had bigger problems at the moment. For one thing, I was suddenly a lot more top heavy, and I don't think I have a mouth. When I fell the first time, I got a good look at my hands too; big, green things with savage claws. Checking behind me, I had similar lizard-like feet, and a long scaly tail.

I had become Taylor the Crocodile woman. Not what I had been hoping for when I fantasized about getting powers, but beggars can't be choosers. I should be relieved, I suppose. There's no way that the terrible trio are going to continue their bullshit when I look like this. They'd be scared stiff.

But then again, it's unlikely I'd even see them again, because Winslow probably isn't going to let a Crocodile woman into their halls. Arcadia might, which was a nice train of thought. If I joined the Wards, I'd get to go to Arcadia in my downtime. Not that I'm looking forward to super-powered teen drama, but it would be a good benefit, for sure.

Dad would be happy for me, I'm sure.

...

Once he got used to the giant lizard thing.

I clambered back to my feet, slowly balancing myself. I took one step in front of another, trying to keep my over-sized torso from falling to far forward or backwards. I knew I could swim fine, superhumanly fine, but I need to figure out how to walk. Not much crime is going to happen out on the ocean.

Maybe my body is meant to go around on all fours, like a gorilla? My arms are definitely over-sized enough for it to work better than walking. I shifted forward, putting a hand on the water, and found that it was quite a bit easier like this.

Now that I had a better idea of how to get around, it was about time that I got back to Brockton Bay. Ever since I realized I was a Parahuman, I've been trying to teleport again, like I did to get out of the locker in the first place. But it hasn't been working. Thinking to hard about trying to get someplace just seems to urge the water to push me there. And while that's definitely a speedy method of transportation, shooting so fast through the waves I can barely comprehend it, it's not what got me out of the locker and into the ocean to begin with.

Looking around, I don't see any land at all. It occurs to me my biggest issue right now might be that I have no idea where Brockton Bay is. It's just water in every direction. For all I know, I might be in the middle of the ocean. Land might be just over one horizon, and if I gun it for a different one, I won't see land for days, maybe weeks. I mean, I'm fast in the water, but probably not as fast as a plane.

After puttering about for some time, I eventually came to the conclusion that, since I didn't have a mouth any more, I probably don't have to eat. I've read about other Parahumans who don't eat regular food, or at all. Ones who sustain themselves off of emotions, or just don't get tired, as part of their ability. I don't know if I'm like that, but considering I don't have any way to eat or drink, I hope so.

For now, I'm just going to go in a straight line until I reach land, and from there get a hold of a phone... Come to think of it, I don't have any way to talk, either. I guess I'll need to get to a computer. My claws are probably a little too big for a keyboard and mouse, but I'll have to make do. If worst comes to worst, I can find someone and write in the air with water.

With a plan in mind, I drop beneath the surface and push against the water as hard as I can behind me, and pull in front of me, and I'm back in that blur of faster-than-thought motion from when I first left the seabed.

It's hard to tell exactly how far I went, or how long it took, in that strange state where I can't really catch sight of anything, but eventually land came within sight. I swam close to the shore, before attempting to stand again. Would a gorilla-walking crocodile woman be scarier than a regular walking one?

I had more success this time, and wandered along the beach, eyeing the short black-sided hill leading upwards. It wasn't anywhere I recognized, and the weather was completely different from Brockton Bay, giving credence to my teleport idea. I lumbered up the short cliff, and took in the sight of the disappointingly small island I was standing on. There was a path, and maybe a dozen buildings, and that was it. There weren't even any people around.

What are the chances of landing on a deserted island? Sighing without any sound, I didn't bother trying to balance myself, gorilla-walking over towards the houses.

It was then that I realized my transformation was even more serious than I thought. As I got closer, I began to feel off, the path was far too small, the houses not getting big enough as I got closer, and now that I was standing side-by-side with a building it was obvious that I had become a giant. I was tall enough, even almost sitting, to be level with the roof of the house.

I realized with some sadness that there'd be no way I could fit in my house, living with Dad. Would this kind of thing be covered if I joined the Wards?

I noticed a whistling sound from above me, and noticed three figures floating in the sky, a distance away. I could only barely make them out from where I was. Capes, I guess. There weren't too many fliers back in Brockton, and save Purity, all of them good. None of them seemed to be glowing ominously at the moment, so I didn't worry too much.

Standing up to my full height, I began to wave at them. I gestured for them to come closer, but I seemed to have scared them off, all three flying away in different directions.

I can't really blame them, I must look terrifying, but it still stung that they just left. It couldn't have been too much trouble to fly over here.

Ah well, I should focus on getting home. And the first step to figuring that out is to figure out where I am now. I trudged across the island, before finding a sign that identified the place as Dursey Island. I have no idea where that is, but the sign's in English at least, so I'm taking it as a good sign. There really, really, wasn't much around. Only a few buildings, some paths, a little stone tower thing. Not even a restaurant. And not one soul in the whole place. Considering everything, there probably wouldn't be many people on the island anyway, but none of the buildings or paths feel abandoned.

Maybe its just early in the morning, and tourists only come to the island later in the day? I think I saw a cable car connecting to the other nearby island. Or continent, possibly. I'll check it next if I can't find anything useful here.

I've crossed most of the island, just looking around, when the first blast hits me. It doesn't hurt exactly, but I can tell that my skin has been damaged. Not knowing what else to do, I start running. Running in my new body turns out to actually be easier than walking. More laser blasts strike me, and I try to think clearly. I'm not in pain, I'm not panicking, but I've been a Cape for less than a day, and already someone is trying to hurt me. To kill me. I try jinking, changing directions in my dash, but the blasts continue to hone in on me no matter what.

You know what? Screw Dursey Island. It's not a big place, and I'm faster in the ocean anyway. Whoever is shooting at me probably can't keep up with me when I go at my max speed. I pump my legs harder, launching myself in a massive bound towards the ocean, which practically leaps up to meet me half-way.

I blink in surprise as I crash into and then through the wall of ice. I barely have time to look around, to realize that a huge portion of the sea I was calling to in front of me had been frozen solid, before something shot into my gut.

Like the lasers, even though I had a vague feeling that my body was damaged, it didn't hurt really. I'd been punched before. Knocked around, I knew what it felt like to have the breath knocked out of me. This didn't feel anything like that. It felt like nothing, like I had been hit by a snowball, at most. And that's wearing a thick jacket. But when I looked down, I saw that the black-garbed woman buried in my gut had both fists literally inside me. Breaking the skin, covered in my blood.

I wasn't sure if I should be worried or not, whether I could regenerate, or- or something. For now, I just needed them to stop hurting me. I braced myself with the ground with my tail and claws, and then reached with both oversize hands to clasp the woman trying to rip my stomach out. I manage to yank her away from me, but before I can do anything else she's already pushed my hands to the side, breaking free of my grip.

And she's also Alexandria.

I'm star-struck for a moment, and she takes advantage of it by cupping one hand over the other fist, and swinging them into my head. I close my eyes instinctually, and I feel my head, my entire body, getting knocked backwards, but once again there's no pain. There's no headache, there's no sudden disorientation caused by my brain sloshing around when it shouldn't be.

I'm just pushed backwards, and that's it. I can feel that she's done some damage, but it doesn't bother me. I'm distracted from my injury as more lasers begin to pepper me en masse. I decide to run in the opposite direction, but to my dismay the other flying Cape- Eidolon, that's Eidolon, oh shit, has been doing something to freeze all the water around the island.

If Eidolon and Alexandria are both here, it means that the one hitting me with lasers was Legend. The entire Triumvirate was here, on an island in the middle of nowhere, attacking me for no reason? Maybe I was right in my first guess. This has to be some kind of dream.

While I'm thinking this, I'm taking a pounding in the real world. Every time I'm not grappling directly with Alexandria she's tackling me, punching me, ripping pieces of my body free from ever-growing wounds. Wherever Alexandria isn't is getting hit by Legend's beams, so far, only the little ones, the tracking ones that always hit, but he's sprinkled in a few that were more effective. One flash of light almost made me feel something, and left a hole in my shoulder you could throw a golf ball through.

All the while, Eidolon seemed to be content just watching, waiting, as his comrades beat me down.

I try to grab Alexandria again, to keep her away from the wounds she's been picking at all over my chest and back, only for her to dart away through the air. For a short moment, I'm not being attacked at all.

I make a run for it. Putting effort into it, my body starts moving like it did in the water, the world around me blurring as I move faster than my mind seems to be ready for, aiming in a straight line for the ice. I reach out with my power, and in a moment its liquid again, and rushing to meet me.

Eidolon has decided to stop being a watcher, and vanishes in a burst of smoke. A second later, a good distance away, he reappears, along with a half-dozen other costumed people I don't recognize. Eidolon vanishes again, and the group he left behind begin to fire. Beams, ice shards, sonic waves, even bubbles, in one case, begin to smash apart the ground around me and bounce off my scales. Luckily there's almost nothing within the barrage that's at the same level as the beams that Legend had been throwing around.

I focus on my goal, the water, only to have Eidolon reappear between me and the sea, another group of Capes in tow. They break from their arrangement immediately, and fling themselves at me, some flying, some running and leaping, and one burying his feet into the ground. I leap clear over most of them, but three of the flying Capes latched onto me and began to pull me back towards the center of the island.

I'm stronger than they are, though, and I dig my claws into the ground to halt my backwards progress, and begin grabbing each Cape and tossing them away. They're fliers though, like the Triumvirate, who have once again joined the fray, so I'm not given much chance to get away. "He can't reach the water! Push him back!" someone shouts.

The Capes are cheering with every landed attack, every time they force me to stumble, every time a punch connects with my head, and all I can think is to ask why. Why would they be tormenting me like this? Even if I'm terrifying looking, I haven't done anything wrong! I hit the ground face-first when a Cape launches himself into my back, and Alexandria is suddenly there, straddling my neck, holding me down at the others begin whittling away at my scales. I'm more blood and flesh than skin, now.

God Damn it!

My hands whip upwards from where they had been held down by other Capes a moment ago, the Capes that were gripping them being sent flying, but at the moment, I can't bring myself to care. Both hands clap together over my neck, Alexandria caught between. I know that she can break out, so I'll have to act fast.

I toss her, as hard as I can, towards where Eidolon floats above. I then leap from the ground, spinning through the air, sending the Capes gripping me flying off in every direction as I sail into the formerly-frozen sea, the water rushing up in a great geyser to meet me.

"Fucking Leviathan!" one of the Capes hisses behind me as he bounces against the rocks.

And suddenly, everything makes sense.

Well, no, it doesn't.

But at least it's an explanation.

Chapter Text

Of all the bullshit to happen today, this was never, ever, on the market. I think I might have heard about Capes being able to possess people, or control others bodies on PHO or the Parahumans wiki, but not even a hint of anything like this. It would be international news, something able to control an Endbringer.

I was Leviathan?!

I am Leviathan?!

What the hell?!

However, my goal has shifted from crawling away from and escaping the Triumvirate and Pals without getting on their bad side, to simply getting away as fast as possible. I was an Endbringer. I didn't deserve mercy, I couldn't make a heel-face turnabout. Not in the eyes of these Capes. Not in the eyes of- anyone, really.

Anyone here who would sit still and listen to my explanation without trying to hurt me was too stupid to be allowed to fight Endbringers.

And the worst part? I didn't blame them. Not in the slightest. That thought was interrupted by a laser beam, however. Catching me in the face, taking out one of my four eyes. Well, I guess I blamed them a little. But it would be stupid, to take anything I say as truth. If Leviathan stopped fighting back, that would be the best time to throw their all into it. Nearly every Cape worth anything would fight Endbringers, if the opportunity arose. They were the enemy of humanity. Plain and simple.

This was inconvenient as hell, for me, at least, but I understood it.

The water I dragged up onto shore met me with a splash, and I felt the grip instantly. I latched on, turned towards the sea, away from the island, away from the Capes, and pushed. I shot through the water like a torpedo, and I pushed even harder, reaching into that state where I was moving too fast to see what I was doing.

I left the island far behind me.

I waited a few minutes, before allowing myself to decelerate, the water around me becoming less and less a blur, before I could finally see again. I surfaced just a little, my eyes peeking over the waves, and looked in a full circle in every direction, including up. No teleporting Eidolon, no Alexandria or Legend, and nobody else. I climbed out of the water and laid on my back, simply floating and looking up into the sky.

What do I do now?

The first thing, I suppose, is seeing what damage they did to me. After every Endbringer battle, the monsters would retreat back into their home realm, and after a few months, they'd pop back up, fully healed. I sat up, and with a little concentration, I lifted water from the sea around me, the bubble pulling free of the water around it. I narrowed my remaining- three, I think- eyes and pushed, pulled, and prodded at the water, to see what I could do.

Exerting pressure on it, I made the bubble flat and dense as I could, shaping it into a rough oval about as tall as I was. In my makeshift mirror, I got a good look at myself for the first time. All thirty feet of me. My arms were elongated, my chest and shoulders wide, not to mention my head, that almost too small for my comically muscular neck. In comparison to my upper body, the lower was almost pathetic. My legs were skinny, and while my thighs looked powerful, it tapered down into something out of Jurassic Park. My tail was impressive enough.

I briefly feel a spike of hate as I remember Emma's taunting. Her jibes about being mistaken for a boy would remain forever true.

The oddest thing, to me however, was my face. The face I had looked into before so many times, was just gone. Nothing was similar. I had no mouth, no ears, no nose, no eyebrows. All I had were those four cold eyes. Three on one side, one on the other. Or at least, I should have.

As it was, everything was burned, ripped, bruised, and cracked. Places where Legend's lasers and Alexandria's punches landed absolutely covered me. I looked like a wreck. I remember green ichor splashing out of me in the battle, but all my bleeding stopped at some point, once I entered the water. At least none of it hurt. None of my injuries were uncomfortable, or itching, or anything else. I was glad for that, and set about trying to regenerate myself.

If past delays between Endbringer battles were any consideration, it could meant that the regeneration process could take months. Either way, it was something to do. I focused on my reflection, on the burned-out eye, and thought hard about fixing it.

To my pleasant surprise, it happened quite quickly. Water rose from the sea, and clung to my body in slowly-rising waves. I knew logically that the water couldn't be transforming into my flesh- it was too dense for that, but where water passed flesh began to knit and repair itself.

I let go of my concentration, to let the regenerating go on autopilot while I played with my power. Endbringer battles weren't often recorded, except from a distance. A cape-wife on PHO mentioned that it was bad for morale to see so many heroes die at once. But I've seen bits and pieces. Leviathan had a water-echo, like an after-image, that followed behind him, made of water, mimicking each motion he had done a second before.

I clearly didn't during the fight, so it wasn't an automatic power. It was probably more water-shaping, like what I was doing with my improvised mirror. Releasing the mirror from my power, the condensed water exploded violently away, before I gathered it again and began trying to make shapes.

Over the next hour, I experimented with my powers based on what I had heard about Leviathan, as well as just trying things out. The biggest discovery among all of this was that I could create water, whenever I wanted. I willed it, and it would emanate from me. I could tell it didn't come from nowhere exactly, but it definitely wasn't being gathered around me, from the moisture in the air or anything like that. I was creating it.

Creating it while moving created the after-image, but I could take control of the water I made just like any other source. My hydrokinesis was about as versatile as I wanted it to be. I could increase the pressure, change its temperature, hold it in place mid-air, and keep it stable and in one piece even while punching it with all the strength I could manage.


The same punch sent myself flying for at least a mile in the opposite direction, my body bouncing off the surface of the ocean like a skipped stone.

I was lucky that I hadn't accidently killed anyone on that island. If I had tried that clapping move against anyone but Alexandria- well, they'd be paste. Or maybe even vaporized.

I would be testing my physical limits some more when I had access to something other than water to break. But for now, I focused on other ways to utilize my hydrokinesis.

The grip I had on the water around me was both massive and absolute. It followed my thoughts nearly exactly, I could even leave some things running on automatic, like the water-based regeneration, but directly focusing on a specific task seemed to increase the effectiveness of whatever I was trying to do. I could direct individual droplets to move in complicated patterns, or grab the entire area around myself, and lift it all at once into the air. Creating a sky-scraper of saltwater in less than a minute. Reaching upwards, I could feel the clouds.

If there was anything that bothered me about my ability, it was that the water was perfectly controlled in liquid state, kind of finicky as gas, and downright stubborn as ice. The frozen water in the clouds gave me pause, but with a little stirring, and forcing a little melting here and there, I found I could transform the white fluffy things above me into dark storm clouds.

It always started raining whenever Leviathan arrived, and I supposed that was how he did it. My range was something incredible. It felt at first that I didn't have limits, sensing water for miles and miles in every direction, but the farther I got, the less focused I became. If I focused on something a hundred miles away, I lost track of the water even a few meters from me.

I spent most of the day there, in the middle of nowhere, practicing my new abilities. It was only when the sky began to darken that I focused directly on my plans for the future.

The biggest factor was the nature of me being Leviathan. Was I still in the locker, in a coma, or something, my mind simply piloting Leviathan? If I fell asleep here, would I wake up a human again, and Leviathan would be free once more to wreak havoc?

Was my brain inside Leviathan's? Was this my body now, and if it died, somehow, would I die permanently, or wake up back in my own body?

Was my original body dead, and I was stuck like this?

I just didn't know.

I closed my eyes, the only real way I had left of expressing anything any more. I couldn't sigh, or laugh, or growl.

I let myself sink into the water, and reached out to the world around me. I focused on a spot a few miles from my location, and simply watched as fish slowly passed. In those spots my attention was focused on I could see and hear, in a way. I think it was really more a kind of echolocation. The sounds were carried by the water, and their shapes outlined in the water. Would this ability work on land?

My eyes shot open, as I created a plan.

The water double rose from the ocean, and I gave it a quick test. It was a double of myself, or rather my old body, as accurate as I could remember. I might have given it a bit more oomph around the curves than the original article had, but nobody had to know that.

It wasn't difficult shaping and manipulating the water double, I could keep the small details surprisingly consistant- eyelashes, the number of fingers, even forming teeth and a tongue inside the mouth, and keeping that space empty, so that if my double had to open its mouth it wouldn't just have a disturbing indent inside. The long curly hair was troublesome, but if I was going to prove to Dad that this double was me- it would be worth it.

But what was difficult was moving it. I could create a near-duplicate of myself, but if I tried to make it walk, or grab something, or even turn its head- it felt off. Like looking at one of those old CG cartoons before they knew what they were doing. It looked like a human, but it didn't move like a human should. The legs would raise too much, or the arm would be too double-jointed, or even not jointed at all. Facial expressions were easier, since the face was made of water, a lot of it wouldn't apply, and what little did, I understood well enough to make it expressive in a way that wasn't too disturbing.

In the end, I decided to just do away with legs entirely. I restructured the double, and this time clothed it in long loose robes. Also made of water. If the wonky movements happened inside a long loose sleeve, or under a wide dress, it wouldn't be nearly as noticeable.

Now came the hard part.

"Plrubbblrlblll" my water double said.

This would take some practice.

Finding Brockton Bay was far more trouble than it should have been. Even once I figured out where America was in comparison to my own location (West, duh,) trying to find a specific city along a massive amount of coast was still nearly impossible. By moving my attention to a specific spot, I could kind of feel the shape of the closest buildings to the sea by reading them through the moisture in the air. My best hope was picking up on the PHQ Rig in the middle of the Bay, but I had no such luck.

I eventually gave up on trying to locate it manually, and decided to take a more roundabout route.

My double forms out of the sea, and walks over the beach towards the buildings in the distance. It's around 10 PM, and there aren't any sunbathers or anything. I have my double slither over to a pathway leading away from the beach and towards the streets on the other side of the buildings. There's a bit more foot traffic going this way, and I notice people steering clear of me. No screaming yet, which was a good sign.

A couple who were walking on the opposite side of the street from me actually came closer, and one of them pulled a box from his vest- a camera, and snapped off a picture. I couldn't see the flash, but I heard the click.

"Hi there." I said.

"Uh, hi. You don't mind us taking pictures do you- It's just, well, it's not too often you meet a Cape just walking around on the street, you know?"

"No problem." I answered. I haven't been able to mimic my own voice by a long shot, but after some practice I could make my double make sounds intelligible enough to understand. "Uh, actually, can you answer some questions for me? I'm- I'm blind. Kind of. And I just came out of the ocean a few minutes ago."

The two were thoroughly confused now.

"So... can you tell me what city this is? And- what direction the nearest PRT building is in?"

"Uh, sure. Myrtle Beach. Where are you from?"

It couldn't hurt. If anyone asked it would only add more credibility to the story I'm going to spin for the Protectorate.

"I'm from Brockton Bay." the man's girlfriend winced, which I didn't think was fair. I mean, sure, we had more villains compared to heroes than almost anywhere else on the East Coast, but- okay. "What state are we in?"

"South Carolina." Crap. I'd have to head North quite a bit. "We don't actually have a PRT Department here. Only two villains and three heroes in the city." Crap!

"I guess... I'll just head North. Thanks." I turn and head back for the beach, but the girlfriend cleared her throat.

"Say, what's your name?"

"Um... I haven't picked one out yet, actually. I'm... I'm new."

"Oh, cool!"

"Bye." I wave to the two of them, and quickly make my way back to the water, letting go of the double's shape and letting it join the rest of the seawater.

This was going to be a long night.

Chapter Text

[Legend]

"...Is everyone else thinking what I'm thinking?" Legend said finally, the other upper staff at Cauldron were standing around the room, rewatching the video of the 52nd Endbringer battle, the most bizarre conflict to date.

"Was... Leviathan drunk?" Alexandria asked.

Legend would have laughed, but something about her question made it seem like it almost wasn't a joke. He had been a flawless instrument of death. No wasted movements, faster than a human eye could track, a muscle-bound beast that killed a little more than a fourth of all the Parahumans who went after him. Yet in that battle, he was... floundering.

The video set on repeat began about fifty seconds before the serpent climbed up on shore. It was unlike any other time he had seen Leviathan make an entrance. No tidal waves. No rainstorm. No moment of silence before the sudden mass destruction. No wave of initial casualties.

In fact, there was rarely more than three dozen people on the little Irish island at any given time, and Eidolon himself had teleported every person there out of range when Dragon first calculated that the island was Leviathan's goal. There were no civilian victims in the battle. Another new record. The Leviathan on screen climbed up the slope, and lost balance, before catching itself on its knuckles. It moved like that, almost painfully slow, for the fastest Endbringer, as it wandered aimlessly around the island.

When it got a good view of the island, Legend could have swore it sagged. Like it saw the lack of potential victims, and felt fucking disappointed. He would have laughed for hours, at just that one bit of human expression that he had never before seen on the Endbringer. It made Leviathan look pathetic. The monster was looking at one of the larger buildings on the island, perhaps considering whether or not to destroy it even if it had no residents, when Legend knew that he and his long-time comrades had just flown past above.

He watched the recording of Leviathan following them with its eyes, and then swat the air in their direction, like he could bring down the Protectorate while they were in the air, a mile away. When the Triumvirate left, Legend remembered, to go and brief the troops that were gathering from around the world, Leviathan simply continued to mill about on the island, until Legend took the first shot.

What followed was a recording of the strangest thing Legend would see in a long time. He had fired his first beam at Leviathan, and the beast just sat there and took it, before looking around like it had been stung by a bee, jumping up and doing a slow, off-kilter run on two legs towards the sea.

A few more beams, and Leviathan's run went sprawling out of control, like a car piloted by someone who was at once panicking, drunk, and looking at something entirely different from the road... perhaps Alexandria's theory had some merit.

For a brief moment, Leviathan seemed to get a hold of himself, and made one of his usual flying super-sonic leaps through the air, aiming to clear the distance to the sea, but Eidolon, reliable as ever, froze the entire coastline solid before Leviathan could make use of it or escape. If he remembered right, Eidolon had said his three powers for the battle was a close-range mass teleportation ability, a breaker-effect flight ability, and a Frigiokinetic ability that let him flash-freeze almost anything within line of sight. Leviathan bounced off the ice, and Alexandria pushed him back onto dry land. Her flying tackle managing to pierce Leviathan's scales in the middle of it all.

Alexandria had described what happened next as 'oddly gentle'. Leviathan was practically hesitiating as it wrapped his hands around her, and pulled her free from his stomach, but he barely had any grip. Alexandria pushed the hands apart, which apparently visibly surprised Leviathan. Alexandria took advantage of the Endbringer's shock, and continued the assault. I joined back in, and we whittled him down. For the most part, he only did the bare minimum to appear that he was trying to get away from us, taking almost every attack we threw. The moment we let up, he put back on a burst of his regular speed, heading for the ocean again, when Eidolon teleported in the first of two rough groups we had set up.

The greatest blasters from around the world were suddenly present, giving it their all, and managed to force Leviathan to a halt in mid-stride. The second group was made up of brutes who thought they had a chance of surviving closer combat with Leviathan. And for once, they were all correct. They managed to pin Leviathan somehow, and Alexandria straddles his over-sized neck and attempted to behead the monster. Leviathan clapped its hands across her, another burst of speed that was more familiar, sending the Capes holding his arms to the ground flying, and knocking Alexandria out briefly in the same motion. Leviathan threw Alexandria at Eidolon, at speeds enough to register as a missile, but he managed to teleport away in time to avoid being splattered against his own comrade.

Then, Leviathan jumped, spun, and unfroze part of the ocean, retreating. The recording stopped, and began again from the beginning.

All in all, a little less than a half hour, the fight itself barely five minutes.

Eidolon remained silent, almost fuming. Legend was worried about his friend. Eidolon was, in a way, at his best during an Endbringer battle. He relished the fighting, the pureness of absolutely guilt-free hero work. He was one of the few who looked forward to battling Endbringers. And Leviathan just... wasn't on the top of his game today. If Legend didn't know better, he'd think Eidolon felt insulted.

As for Legend, while the new behavior was concerning, to say the least, especially the strange readings they were getting from the position in the western Atlantic where Leviathan had stopped, he was almost elated. That morning, he had been given a shock by Dragon mentioning Leviathan on the move months earlier than expected, and out of order, Simurgh should have been next, and was nearly panicking. There hadn't been enough time to prepare anything.

People had to be gathered at short notice, deals made with the European government, putting alerts forward to Ireland's Cape populations to join in... and it was a thrilling success.

Which was, of course, a very good thing. No Capes died in the battle, not one, a first in any Endbringer battle. The worst injury belonged to an English supervillain named King Cornwall, who had been holding down Leviathan's tail, had his leg smashed open against a rock when Leviathan had done that wild spin through the air. Nothing Panacea couldn't handle, and it gave the man something to brag about. Beyond that, they had done real damage today. The little Irish island was downright splattered with Leviathan's blood. He had been damaged more than anyone in the Triumvirate had ever seen him. The media was having a field day with it; the greatest victory over the Endbringers in history.

"I wonder if Simurgh and Behemoth will do us a favor and show up to their next fights just as out of it." Legend said, amused.

Eidolon's expression only darkened further.

[Armsmaster]

"Excellent job, everyone." Armsmaster said gruffly, "Take a day and celebrate. You all deserve it." he said joylessly to the gathered members of the ENE Division of the Protectorate. He dismissed them, and they each went off to their respective dwellings to celebrate the victory in their own ways. To Armsmaster, it didn't feel like a victory.

He had not gotten to play an active role in the Endbringer battle. He had been teleported in with the Brute group of melee fighters, his armor and predictive program allowing him to qualify, but the battle had been over before he even managed to stab the damn thing.

Even worse, his predictive program had been worthless. Useless. Worse even than that, it had been counterproductive. His program told him Leviathan would be moving at this speed, attack at that angle- and then half a moment later it would be completely different. Leviathan was acting so different from normal, Armsmaster was almost tempted to think that Leviathan knew about his predictive program, and its new, seemingly sloppy mode of battle was Leviathan simply proving that Armsmaster's methods were useless against him, the bastard.

A few hours later, he was interrupted from his furious reworking of his predictive software by a text from the Director.

⟨Meet me in my office, ten minutes.
⟩I thought the Endbringer debrief was already finished?
⟨Unrelated. Still require you present. Incident at Winslow.
⟩Shadow Stalker?
⟨It better not be.

Well, that was ominous.

He left his lab a minute later, and made good time to Director Piggot's own office. The large woman was ready for him, knowing that around him she didn't have to waste time with formalities. "Murder at Winslow High School. Fifteen year old girl."

"Shadow Stalker?" he asked, surprised.

"No, no. She's fine. In fact she claims to have not seen anything strange at Winslow today at all. The girl was found trapped inside her locker, covered in used tampons, bugs, and assorted garbage and filth. She was locked inside early in the morning, and was found by a janitor investigating the smell just after noon. An ambulance was called, she was delivered to the hospital, and declared dead on arrival. She died of toxic shock syndrome."

The man grimaced, "Its deeply unfortunate, but I don't see how it's PRT business. Was there any evidence of Parahuman abilities used in course of the event?"

"No, but the investigation was halted by miss Hess' handler on behalf of the PRT, so as to not expose Shadow Stalker's identity in the investigation."

"Why would the investigation involve her? I suppose it would be beneficial for Shadow Stalker to keep an eye and ear out for any clues as to who perpetrated it, but this is a crime that falls under the police' jurisdiction."

"It's not that she's an investigator, it's that she's being investigated." Piggot clarified, "Miss Hess apparently had issues with the girl in question, a Taylor Hebert. They apparently had it in for each other." she looked down at the files, nudging them forward, "The staff apparently don't believe that there's any animosity between them, except for numerous accounts of the girl making up stories of being bullied by miss Hess and two other girls. The made-up stories tapered off as soon as she was punished for trying to get the others in trouble. However, speaking with students seems to imply there was some kind of a rivalry between the two." she shook her head, "Either way, the police will likely want to question miss Hess, and directly intervening for only her would be essentially outing her to the police force."

"This is the first I've ever heard of it." Armsmaster muttered, going through the folder, "...I don't think these stories are made up. Or if they are, there's a good chance that Hebert was aware that Hess is Shadow Stalker."

Piggot frowned deeply. "...Why do you think so?"

"The incidents described in the stories are things that Shadow Stalker does with her victims, or it at least fits the pattern. Constantly prickling them, intimidating, roughing up, harassing, trying to make her victims fight back, and pushing them twice as hard if they don't." Armsmaster sighed, "I'll have Aegis talk with her about it." he nearly took a step back as Piggot's expression changed from tiredness, to shock, to familiar anger.

"I want you to talk to her about it. And then she'll be talking to me about it." Piggot scowled, "There's a possibility that she murdered this girl, Armsmaster."

"Shadow Stalker wouldn't risk her second chance on a playground feud." Armsmaster said, "Besides, it might be that Hebert exaggerated the bullying, and this is something unconnected." he said, "I'm not throwing the Wards program under the bus on a hunch."

"It'd hardly be the first time she's gone too far with her victims, if you think there's a pattern- well, I'm inclined to trust that... and if you think she didn't do it, I'll trust that too. I'll talk with the police. You're right about one thing, this doesn't go public. It could ruin the East North East Wards."

[Danny]

The man was a wreck, pure and simple.

His wife's death had damaged him more than anyone would ever know. In his despair, he threw himself into his job, trying to ignore everything that reminded him of Annette, including his daughter. He couldn't even remember the last thing he had even said to her. He left early and came back home late, leaving messages for her to find more often than actually telling her anything in person.

When was the last time he had spoken to his daughter?

Had it been a week?

More?

He had lost his chance.

The house was empty and dark, his friends from the Dockworker Union, his coworkers and comrades of decades, knew better than try to comfort him. It hadn't worked for Annette, it wouldn't work for Taylor. All they'd get out of it was an earful of Danny screaming at them, and Danny weeks of even more additional guilt.

So he was alone.

The phone rang, in the kitchen, and he ignored it, simply remaining where he was lying on the couch in the living room. The last time he had seen Taylor, she was sitting on this couch, packing her lunch and books into her pack for school.

When was the last time he made her lunch?

The phone rang again, and he groaned. He hated phones. Cell phones in particular, but all of them by association. He kept the landline phones in the house out of the necessity of the modern world, but now he was regretting even that.

Would Taylor still be alive if she had a cellphone with her? Could she have called the police, or even the school's landline, or him? To get to her sooner.

The phone rang a third time, and he pulled himself from the couch and walked over to the kitchen, picking it up. He sighed, "Hebert residence." he managed. It could be the morgue, or the police, or- any number of things. It wouldn't do to start screaming at some random worker just trying to do their job.

"Dad?"

He dropped the phone.

Chapter Text

The payphone I was at was quiet on the other end, and I worried for a moment that the the call had ended earlier, and I would have to search for more loose change- but soon enough Dad was back.

"Taylor?! Taylor, is that you?!"

"Dad? Are you alright?"

"N-No, it's not, you-"

"Dad, it's me. I know I sound different, but its me." I said, suddenly very, very worried. I knew he would be upset if I just vanished, but he wouldn't be panicking like this, would he? "Dad, I um... I have a lot of things to explain."

"You're dead." he said, the words hit me hard.

"No, I'm not. I... I don't think so." So there was a body then? And dead. Shit. I had already mostly given up on every living a normal life again when I noticed the scales, but this made it permanent. I would be Leviathan for as long as I live. It's not like someone could remove my brain from Leviathan and plug it into my human one anyway. And even if I could- thinking strategically, it'd be really stupid.

I'm a motherfucking Endbringer. Even if I didn't like it, I'm probably one of the safest, most powerful beings in the world. Earlier today the whole Triumvirate and fifty-something other Capes tried their damnedest to kill me and I barely felt it.

"You don't think so?" he asked, confused, on the verge of tears. "Taylor, I'm so confused- I saw your body, Taylor, that- that garbage they covered you in!"

"Dad... do you know anything about Capes?"

"Did a Cape do this to you?"

"No, no. It's just- I got my powers."

"What?"

"I'm not really sure what happened- they pushed me in, and closed the door behind me-" I stopped when I heard him suck in a breath sharply, "Sorry."

"No, no, go on." he said quietly, "I'll... you're the one who went through it. But, I saw your body, Taylor, you died."

"And I blacked out after a while. But when I woke up I was underwater."

"You were... underwater?"

"Kind of. I turned... into water? Like, transformed into it. Or I thought so... if my old body is still there, I guess my mind just... made a new one? My body, my new one, it's made out of water. I woke up in the middle of the ocean, and I had no idea where I was, so I just went towards land, and I hopped from city to city for a while, trying to find a PRT office where I could have someone fly me to Brockton, when I realized that it would be better to just let you know... to let you know I'm okay. That I'm still around."

His breathing was quiet, but still there.

"Dad?"

"This is... hard to take in. What happened to your voice, Kiddo?"

"I'm made of water now, my lips are made of water, my lungs are just empty spaces I create when I need to speak... I've been trying to make it sound more like it used to, but this is as close as I've gotten it, so far."

"...Is this real?" my Dad asked.

"It's real. I'm sorry I put you through this, Dad."

"I... look, you said you got lost, you were- city hopping, you said? Where are you? Do you need me to pick you up?"

"I'm... still pretty far away."

"I don't care if I have drive to Australia." my Dad said, a little bit of life returning to his words. "Look, you stay where you are, and I'll head out right now."

"That's sweet of you." I say, it's nice to hear him being so passionate- he hasn't been this lively since Mom died. "I'm in Atlantic City, in New Jersey. But I can move really fast in the water, it'd take-" actually, this might be good for him. Get him out of the house, on the move, give him something to do, rather than just waiting, worrying, about how I'll get home on my own "-less time if we met up half-way." Something I should be able to access from the ocean, between here and Brockton... New York?

"If you say so. Where do you want me to pick you up?"

"The Brooklyn Bridge?"

"In New York?"

"Yeah. I'll try to be there, waiting for you."

"I'll try and get there as fast as I can."

"Okay Dad."

"I... I love you. I love you so much, I'll make this up to you, alright?"

"I love you too." I say simply. I can still hear his breathing on the other end, so I hang up first.

I'm not sure how to feel about this. It's been a long time since Dad really showed he cared. I understand, I really do, Mom's death hit both of us hard, we both shrunk away from everything and each other... and now he saw my body? It couldn't be good for him.

I decided, right then and there, that I was going to get a new lease on life. I deserved better than this. I was going to reconnect with my Dad, and I'm going to become a Ward and get sent to Arcadia, and never see Emma or Sophia or Madison ever again, and I'm going to beat down every single gang boss in Brockton Bay cause now I'm immortal and there's nothing they can do to stop me. I could-

Well, I could do almost anything.

I suppose it isn't the best way to begin my new, more open and honest relationship with my Dad by lying to him about what happened to my mind, but who would believe that over the phone? And it's true enough. It makes things simpler if I just stick to the one lie, that I'm made of water now, and avoid bringing the Leviathan angle in completely. No one would understand, no one would believe me.

But everything else, I'll be honest about! I'll be the best daughter ever.

I moved myself- or rather, my double, over a drain in the side of the curb, and let the double lose cohesion right there, moving my focus spot out of Atlantic City and further North, following the coastline. I had always wanted to go to New York.

New York, I guessed, was more distinctive than Brockton Bay. The Brooklyn Bridge where we had arranged to meet I knew was on the South end of the island, connecting to mainland America. So I just needed to stop at every giant bridge connecting an island with a city, to a city on the mainland.


I passed by hundreds of ones that were too far to the South to matter, and from there, just popping up and investigating anything that might be the Brooklyn Bridge didn't take too long. It was huge, for one thing, and as the sky began to get lighter bit by bit, people began becoming more prevalent on the streets and I could just ask directions again.

I had called Dad at about 2 in the morning, and it was a little past 6 now. I had my water double making the rounds, patrolling from one length of the bridge to the other. I... think it was a four hour drive to New York from Brockton Bay, but I wasn't completely sure.

As it got closer to 7 AM, I noticed a man in a body-covering armored outfit approaching on a weird-looking motorcycle. I wasn't worried for my safety- my real body was still near the middle of the Atlantic, sitting on the bottom with the mud, while I focused on my double and everything around it. And the double itself I could just reform no matter what happened to it.

He was almost definitely a Cape, but without being able to sense colors, it was difficult to tell whether he was a hero or villain. Not to mention this was New York, so I might not recognize him anyway.

For a few seconds, I debated whether to get rid of the double, and only reform it when Dad himself showed up, but if I was determined to be a Hero anyway- I should probably stick around and deal with whatever this was.

"Hey there." he said, friendly enough, slowing his motorcycle down and parking it on the sidewalk I had been walking up and down on for the last half hour.

"Hey." I answer, trying to look as nonthreatening as possible.

"My name's Cache." he greeted, I vaguely remember him. He could put objects in some kind of pocket, and pull them out again later? A hero, anyway. Part of the Protectorate. "How about you?"

"I actually haven't come up with a superhero name yet. I'm new." I replied.

"That's fine. I was just wondering, could you tell me why you've been moving up and down the bridge here?" he asked, casually. He put his hands up, also being nonthreatening, "If you're, I don't know, exercising, that's fine. But we've had more than a few villains try to make their marks on the world by destroying national landmarks."

"Oh! No, no, I'm just waiting for someone here." I had my double frown, "Did someone call the police or something? Is... loitering illegal on the bridge?"

"Technically, yeah, but I'm not going to bring you in if you're not making actual trouble. Mostly people are just worried about an unfamiliar Parahuman hanging around a landmark filled with passing cars." He leaned against the chain, looking out over the water, before looking me up and down, "So, you're a new Cape? How recent?"

It couldn't hurt. If I was aiming to be a part of the Protectorate anyway... Cache probably meets Legend every day, "Yesterday, actually."

He winces, "...Sorry to hear that."

"Why?"

"Do you know about Trigger Events?"

"No?" triggers?

"It's.... basically, the worst day of a Parahuman's life. Usually. Something horrible happens, so horrible your only way out of it is developing powers. Unless you're a second-generation. I've heard that it's easier for them, that they can trigger without going through trauma. Your dad a Cape? Your mom?"

"My Dad, definitely not. My mom... she was in the Parahuman crowd, back then, but she never showed any powers before she died." I made my double shiver, for effect, "I think I triggered yesterday, then."

He nodded, "Are you considering joining the- sorry, I can't tell how old you are exactly. Are you an adult?"

"I'm fifteen."

"The Wards then. Have you considered it? We have a real good team up here."

"I'm actually from Brockton Bay." he sagged a little, disappointed.

"Well... God knows they need the help, over there."

"I'll look into it. It's not like I can keep a secret identity like this."

"You're not a Changer?"

"No. I'm just... made of water. One moment I was trapped in my locker, the next I'm one with the ocean." I have my double sigh, but he looks at me weird, so I probably didn't get the sound or motion for that right. Over the last few hours, my respect for puppeteers has quintupled, "I spent a few hours just moving around, before I tried to get back to shore, and I realized I was nearly on the other side of the East Coast. I've been popping from one city to the next for the last few hours, before deciding to just call and have someone pick me up in a car."

"Do you need a lift?"

"I'd have said yes a few hours ago, but the person I'm waiting for should probably be here sooner or later. It's about four hours to Brockton Bay by car, right?"

"That seems right. Do you want me to wait here for them? If they don't show up, I'm sure I could arrange for transport to ENE HQ for an up-and-coming Parahuman."

"I think I'll be fine. Thanks though."

"Well, I'll see you around. Be sure to come up with a good name." with that, he climbed aboard his motorcycle, and silently joined traffic on the bridge, before making a U-Turn and heading back towards the city.

"Thanks!" I call back after him. I don't actually have to wait too long for Dad to drive up. It's somewhat difficult seeing into the cars around me, but my Dad has the windows rolled down.

"Taylor?" he shouted, catching sight of me and bringing the car over to the side. I think it might be illegal to park on the bridge, so I have my double dash over to meet him before he can even open up the door, "Taylor, is that you?" he asked.

"It's me Dad." I say, with as much emotion I can put into the puppet, "Can I... come in?"

"Y-Yeah, of course." He opens the door, and I slide in. He looks pointedly at the seat belt, and he actually waits for me to strap it into place over my water body before he gets the car moving again.

"I guess... you have questions."

"They can wait." he said, speaking with emotion in his voice, "We have a long car-ride ahead of us. Are you hungry?"

"Are you? I don't think I have to eat any more." I make a point of looking down, "No stomach, at least."

He looks at me sadly, before shaking his head. "I'll stop somewhere along the way, then."

"Okay Dad."

We eventually turn ourselves around, and begin the journey back to Brockton Bay. Back home.

The two of us are quiet for a while, and Dad opens his mouth to say something, before closing it without thinking. Come on Taylor! I was going to be a more supportive daughter from now on! Say something supportive! "I hope the car seat is waterproof." Damn it!

But it seems to do something, because he looks at me suddenly, surprised, before letting out a little bit of laughter. I join in, and soon we're both laughing at every little thing, the stress of the last 24 hours catching up to us.

When he reached over and grabbed my shoulder, I made sure that there was enough surface tension on my skin so that he could properly hug me.

Our little road-trip is cut short about two hours of the way back, by Dad admitting he can barely keep his eyes open. I had called him around at two in the morning after all, and he had already been staying awake out of- shock, I guess. I offer to drive, as a joke, but we both know I haven't touched the wheel in my life. We stop at a little bed and breakfast, and my Dad and I go in and cause a minor panic, before making it clear that neither of us were super villains.

I posed for pictures, Dad had a big breakfast/late dinner, and then went upstairs to sleep while I looked around the little village off the side of the highway.

It was... nice.

It almost felt like a vacation.

I moved around our little room- the old lady who runs the place helpfully told me I didn't have to worry a thing about getting the wood floors wet, but I made sure to not let any water come off my body. I did the same for the car. The seat wasn't even wet, even after having my double sit in it for hours.

I considered trying to read a book, but even after smearing a page with water- something I regretted almost immediately, I still couldn't read much of it. I could sort of identify some of the letters by feeling where the ink mixed with my water, or where the ink was raised enough off the paper that I could feel a proper outline to the letter. But it was disjointed, and missing bits and pieces.

It looked like reading would be off the market for now. Television was a little better. I could keep the volume quite low, as my hearing was very good, and understand quite a bit from that, but the screen was just blank, to my water-feeling. No colors, no light, no dark, with water sense.

It would take getting used to. Maybe I could carry a camera inside my double's head, and have a video screen set up in front of the eyes of my real body? But how would I set that up, or even explain why I was keeping a camera in my head? Something to work on later, I supposed.

Dad woke up a few hours later, and we were back on the road, leaving a tip for the old lady in charge of the place, and posing for a few more pictures.

"So... questions." Dad began.

"Yeah?"

"Are you... are you really..." he struggled with himself for a few moments, "Are you really Taylor? I... I don't trust myself to actually know whether or not. I don't even remember the last thing I said to her- you. For the last few months we've barely been speaking..."

"It was yesterday, before I went to school. I said I was going, and you said to have a good day."

He let out a sigh of utter relief, "Thank God."

"I... don't blame you. I sound different, God knows I look different." I say. "I'm not even sure how much my shape looks like my old body. This isn't automatic or anything, if I relaxed, I'd become a puddle." he looked very alarmed at that, "This is the best Taylor-shape I can make, off of memory of what I've been seeing in the mirror for my entire life."

"If... if you want to relax, I'm sure we could bring a bucket or something-"

"Pfft! Haha, no, no, it's not hard." I say, surprised, "I can keep this up for as long as I want. But thank you. Maybe I'll sleep in the tub, if I have to sleep."

"What if you accidently go down the drain?" he asks, and his face is so serious I can't help but continue laughing. "I'm serious Taylor!"

"I'd be able to come back. I mean, I was in the middle of the Atlantic ocean when I woke up, and I got here easy enough. If I go down the drain I'll just come out wherever I come out and head back to the house, no problem."

"...What is it like?"

"It's weird." I said, reaching forward and touching the dashboard of the passenger seat. "I can feel things with all the water around- it's kind of like echolocation, I think? I can hear everything really well, and I can tell where everything is, and what kind of texture it has, but I can't see color. And I can't really feel hot or cold, either."

"And... when you're not in human shape?"

"It feels the same." I make my double's hand into a perfect cube, "I think I'm just water, and I can make any shape out of it I want. Though I do need to make a mouth to speak- I don't know any other way really.

"...I'm sorry this happened to you Taylor."

"I'm already getting used to it. There are probably Capes who have it worse."

"Do you know who did it?" his voice had a hard edge to it. I didn't need to ask what he was talking about.

"...I didn't see the person who pushed me in." Dad seemed to deflate a little, "But I have some guesses."

"Who."

"Emma Barnes, Sophia Hess, and Madison Clements." I answered, keeping the anger out of my double's voice was easy enough.

"Emma? But she's-"

"She hasn't been for months. I don't know why- or how, but one day she just decided she hated me." I had my double say coldly, "I stopped caring about it. Now I just wish she'd leave me alone."

"Emma pushed you in the locker?"

"Probably not, she doesn't get physical like the others-"

"People have been getting physical?!"

"Not like that!"

"Do the teachers know?"

"Sophia's a track star who gets away with anything because they don't want her to stop bringing home medals for Winslow, Emma's the richest girl there and Alan's a lawyer who would have her back in anything, and Madison is adorable, so of course she couldn't do anything wrong." I grumbled, "I'm that weird kid with no friends who eats lunch in the bathroom and gets bad grades and who glares at all the other kids. Who do you think they side with?"

"Taylor... why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Who would I tell?"

"Me? The police?"

"The police wouldn't do anything, would they? I mean, I can't prove anything to the teachers, how would I convince cops? And... you already had enough on your plate with Mom. I didn't want to worry you-"

"They killed you Taylor!" Dad said, distressed, "And it's my fault- I should have known something was wrong, I just- I just didn't want to think about it. This- this is a miracle. A wonderful miracle, that you're still here talking with me. But if it didn't happen- you'd be dead. And I let it happen."

"Dad..."

"Oh God. Annette would kick my ass. And I'd deserve it."

"But I could have told you, and didn't."

"She'd give you hell for that, I'm sure." Dad said quietly, "But she wouldn't divorce you afterwards. From now on- if anything happens, if you ever feel unsafe, I want you to tell me."

"I don't think there's anything that can hurt me now, Dad."

"Are... are you sure?"

"Pretty sure." I said, sounding confident.

"That's- that's good." he considered it, "Are you planning on becoming a superhero?"

"I think so. If I joined the Wards, they would get me into Arcadia, wouldn't they?"

"Possibly." Dad said, "Do you... want that?"

"I don't want to stay at Winslow if I don't have to."

"You don't have to. If you don't want to go back there, I'm not going to make you."

"...Good. Would you be okay with me being a superhero?"

"You're sure nothing can hurt you?"

"I can feel and control water vapor around me- even if I got, like, blasted apart, or boiled, or frozen or something, I'd be fine once I had time to gather more water."

"Aren't there capes that can just erase stuff?"

"Well, if they can erase enough water at once to cover my entire range, we'd be dealing with most of the city being gone."

"But heroes fight things that do leave cities gone!"

"Dad, they don't send Wards to do the really dangerous stuff, right?"

"What if there was an Endbringer? The Wards die against Endbringers, sometimes. I read it in the news."

"Well, I don't see how Behemoth could hurt me- I could just pull myself back together from the steam. And I don't think I have a brain, anyway, so I'm not sure what the Simurgh could do to me."

"And Leviathan?"

"..." I don't have to stop the double from smiling, as I control every one of its movements consciously, but all the same, "He'd probably be trouble for me, wouldn't he? You're right Dad. I promise that I'll never fight the Leviathan."

"...Then there's not much I can say against it, if it's something you want to do."

Chapter Text

It's been weird experiencing everything through the double, but feeling my home this way was something all on its own. I was used to seeing where everything was, of instinctively knowing my way around based on touch and smell and years of experience.

All of that was gone, replaced with a perfect three-dimensional map of my home in my head, based on the moisture in the air. Places where the house was more damp were more accurate than places where it was dry.

"Welcome home." Dad said. He seemed to guess what my standing in the entrance way meant, "Any different?"

"Pretty different." I said quietly, walking inside. Dad walked over to the kitchen and began to fix something up for himself.

"This is going to be a very complicated next few days," Dad muttered from the kitchen.
I had nearly forgotten, I was murdered yesterday. The school thought I was dead, the hospital thought I was dead, it would be a mess clearing up everything, especially because they have my corpse. "Dad?"

"Yeah, Taylor?"

"When do you think I should talk to the PRT? I mean, the sooner the better, right? I can't exactly go out in public like this without drawing attention to you."

"I'll call them later today, then." Dad said, "What I'm most concerned about is your would-be killer. I'll have to contact the police and tell them what happened." he looked thoughtful, "When they hear about your powers, they'll probably give the case to the PRT anyway. We could use the chance to talk about getting you in the Wards."

"Alright, that sounds good."

He smiled at me, and then began to gather papers that had been strewn across the house. Apparently all paperwork connected to my death and various other things. The city wouldn't like people coming back from the dead, but it's not like it hasn't happened before. There are probably protocols for this kind of thing. I head up to my room, and close the door behind me.

I head over to my hiding spot, and draw my journal from it, flipping it open and suppressing my disappointment that pencil was even harder to pick out than pen or print. I leave the journal as it is, not wanting to smudge any more of it.

Dad came up a little while after, fiddling with my computer.

"Careful." he said.

"I know, don't worry." It was useless of course, the computer was as bad as the TV, the monitor just a flat surface to me. The journal was the same, pencil scribblings even harder to make sense of than print.

"What are you trying to do?"

"I thought if we had more evidence pointing towards the trio it would help our case." I handed him the notebook, frowning, "I kept a record of everything that happened, and there's a bunch of stuff online that I've been keeping saved- but I can't find any of it now."

"I can help?"

"Sure." I get out of my chair and move over to my bed, leaving Dad to handle the computer. This sucked, I spent a lot of time there. A lot of my old hobbies had to do with visual stuff. Or rather, practically all.

Maybe the camera idea was something to look into after all.

"So I spoke to the police, and apparently they've already shifted the case to the PRT sometime last night."

"What?"

"Winslow was apparently a secret Ward school."

There was a Ward at Winslow? I mean, I suppose it'd shatter the secret identity pretty quickly if a kid randomly started taking out junior gang members and stopping bullies, but when one thinks about a school filled with secret superheroes, one doesn't think Winslow. "Well, that's not good." What if the PRT didn't think it was worth it to transfer me to Arcadia? What if they just left me at Winslow to rot?

"Even if the PRT doesn't move you to Arcadia doesn't mean I'll force you to go back to Winslow Taylor." Dad catches on pretty quick, "I promise."

"Okay. Well, I guess that makes this easier, doesn't it? Have you told them about my powers?"

"No, I didn't think it was relevant for the police, and I figured you'd want to be here for when I contact the PRT."

"Alright."

"Alright then, let's see how much they actually believe this." he clicks at something a few more times, and then shuts off the computer. We both head into the kitchen, and Dad calls the PRT line the police gave him.

"Hello, this is Danny Hebert. Yes, thank you. I was told that my daughter's case was transferred to the PRT? That it involved a Ward's identity? I have some new information I think would be very relevant to the case."

[Piggot]

"..." she looked sourly at the newest report, "Is there any precedent for something like this?"

"Not quite." Armsmaster replied, "While there are Capes that leave duplicate bodies behind, or who can affect things at a distance while leaving their body stationary, we've never had a report of a specific situation like this. We've had an autopsy done, and while Taylor Hebert did possess the Corona Pollentia and Gemma, neither were active. She was dead... Though I do have some theories."

"Hit me."

"The most likely is that Taylor triggered in the Locker, and her power was a Master-ability that allowed her to create sentient autonomous water duplicates. The 'Taylor' who returned to her father merely being a copy created through her power before she died."

"Seems understandable."

"There's a good chance that this copy will disappear on its own given time, but given the variety of Parahuman powers, it's just as likely it might last years."

"How do we handle it?" Piggot asked, "If it's not human should we really trust it with the Wards?"

"It's a thorough enough copy to convince the father, so it obviously has Taylor's memories, that, or Danny Hebert triggered with a Master ability upon hearing of his daughter's death, and he created the construct to convince himself that his daughter was still alive." Armsmaster said, "Either way, it points to a human-equivalent personality and moral system."

"Very well." Piggot said, "Moving on to other matters, Shadow Stalker."

"She's out of the Wards, of course," Armsmaster said seriously, "and back into juvenile detention. The journal isn't ironclad evidence, but it fits her patterns to a T. Shadow Stalker has, even if she's not responsible for Taylor's murder, broken the rules she agreed to that allowed her to stay with the Wards and avoid imprisonment for her vigilante actions." he sighed, the rehabilitation effort had been a failure. It seemed like he would be making anti-Shadow Stalker cuffs for a long time, "Not to mention gone completely against everything the Protectorate program stands for. The journal even implies her using her powers to break into the locker in the past."

"How has she been reacting to this?"

"She's been mostly just cold. When asked about any connections to Taylor, she simply says that she's aware of her, but that Taylor was a loner. Shadow Stalker is not aware that she's a suspect in this." Armsmaster flipped a few pages on Piggot's report, "I've talked to the other Wards about this, and Gallant has claimed that she has had a deep undercurrent of 'disappointment' in her emotions since yesterday. Not suspicion or nervousness. Or guilt."

"Disappointment?"

"Perhaps she's saddened she'll have to find a new target. Either way, she won't be expecting this."

"Hmph. Fine. I want her arrested, quietly. I don't want anyone in the media to even get a whiff of a Ward committing murder under our watch. The Youth Guard would rip us apart."

"I'll handle it discreetly."

"Good."

"What to do about the water construct? Her father implied she'd be interested in joining the Wards."

"Make it conditional upon going through power testing. If she joins, only to suddenly reach her time-limit in the middle of a public relations stunt, I don't want it on the department's head."

"Understood."

That night, me and Dad watched a movie together. Well, listened, really. Which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, Dad was helpful enough, explaining anything that I couldn't infer from the dialogue, sound effects, or music. He had taken a week-long break from his work, originally to grieve, but now we were going to make the best of it by making it an actual vacation, to try and get rid of the stress.

The school was making a large settlement to pay in amends, and the PRT officers working on my case have assured me that the three girls would be facing charges. Emma and Sophia as the main instigators, and Madison and three others at Winslow for being accessories to the manslaughter and bullying. All eight of them were suspended, pending review, and would likely be expelled if Emma's dad couldn't pull of a miracle. A sadistic part of me was thrilled with the thought of Emma and the others going to juvie, but I knew there was a good chance that Emma's dad would get her out of it. Mostly, I was just glad to be done with them.

In two days me and Dad would head to the Rig for power testing, and after that, I'd probably be a Ward. I wasn't excited about the superpowered teen drama that was sure to come from it, but I was excited to be starting my superhero career.

When the movie finished, Dad yawned, wrapping an arm around my double, "I think I'm ready to tuck in for the night, Taylor... are you tired?"

I really wasn't. Keeping the double in a specific shape didn't require much more energy than keeping water in any other shape, and now that I've had some more practice talking through it, I'm making less mistakes. But even if it wasn't exhausting, it felt like a break would be nice, at least. I wanted to experiment more as Leviathan, as well, something I couldn't do if my attention was on Brockton Bay.

And so, "Kind of? I don't really feel sleepy, but resting for a while... seems nice."

"Sure thing. Did you really want to try the tub?"

"Well, if I go to sleep in my bed, I'm going to wake up half-soaked into the mattress, so I think so."

He seems to be unable to make up his mind as to whether that mental image was humorous or disturbing, "Alright then. Let's get it set up."

We head up to my bathroom, and we make sure that the drain on the tub is tightly closed. "Alright then, let's test it." Dad said. I had my double step up into the tub, and then freed the double from my hydrokinesis. "FUCK!" Dad shouted, collapsing to the floor, gripping at his chest, before darting over to the side of the tub and looking into it. "Taylor? Taylor?!"

I quickly reform the double, "Dad! Dad, I'm okay, I just let go of the shape. I'm fine."

"Holy shit. Give me some warning next time." he muttered, "You'll give your old man a heart attack!"

"I'm sorry, I mean, I told you that if I relaxed I'd just turn into a puddle, right?"

"Hearing it is one thing, seeing my daughter just- drop, melt, that- that's something else." he looks at me, concerned, "Does it hurt?"

"It doesn't feel like anything." I answer truthfully, "Maybe like, sitting down instead of standing?" it was a good metaphor I suppose, "Keeping my body in this shape is like staying in the same position for a while, it's not hard, but it's not really relaxing either."

"Oh..." he let out a sigh, before looking at the tub. "...The room smells like the ocean now."

"Well, I'm mostly seawater. I woke up in the ocean, remember?"

"The car didn't smell like salt."

"I was keeping every bit of my body together, up until right then. Nothing going out into the air- no smell."

"Huh. I guess I'll have to get used to the smell, then." he said good-naturedly.

"I can add fresh water, and get rid of the salt water, if you want."

"Would that-"

"Nothing hurts, Dad."

"Okay, okay. I'm just concerned. If you think it's not too big of a deal-" he yawned again, "Either way, I can deal with the scent of the sea for a while. We can do that tomorrow, if you want."

"Okay Dad. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Taylor."

I have my double sit down, and wait for Dad to leave the bathroom before releasing my grip once more. I keep my attention on the house for a while, shifting my attention to my Dad, feeling the blood in his veins. I very, very, carefully do not touch any of him with my power, and watch him as he gets ready for his own sleep.

It doesn't take very long, the man's still exhausted from yesterday and this morning, and soon enough he's asleep.

Now, for the risky part. If I moved my attention back to my real body, would it be hard to find the water double again? It had taken the better part of three hours to find the Brooklyn Bridge when I was actively looking for it.

I suppose I would have to risk it. If I couldn't find my way back to Brockton Bay before my Dad woke up, I'd have to explain that I was impossible to wake up except naturally, possibly giving him another panic attack.

I could just keep my attention on Brockton Bay 100% of the time- but it felt like a waste. I had control of an Endbringer. I should use it. At least figure out how to make it work properly so I don't hurt anyone. How many times have I seen on PHO discussions about who would win in a fight, Endbringers vs Supervillains, Endbringers vs Endbringers.

I was one of the most powerful Capes in the world, and it would be years before I was allowed to do the big stuff as part of the Protectorate.

I mean, I technically ended the recurring disasters caused by Leviathan, which was great, but I could do more.

Well... time to test it.

I retracted my attention from Brockton Bay, and for the first time in many hours, opened my real eyes. It was pitch black, incredibly dark, on the bottom of the ocean. In the distance the occasional glimmer of bio-luminescence would break the darkness, but in the end, it didn't really matter much to me. The water-sensing I could use to find my way around as the double was even greater being used close to my real body.

I pulled myself free from the mud- I was very heavy, as an Endbringer, and I had sunk quite a bit even despite the sheer pressure the mud here must be under, and gave myself a spin. I flexed my legs, arms, and tail, but I didn't feel any less or more stiff for it.

Okay- first things first, figure out if I can find Brockton Bay again.

I closed my eyes once more, and extended my focus in the direction... that... I thought... ah! There, my house. I had my double reform, and quietly leave the bathroom to put a little moisture on the hour and minute hands of the few non-digital clocks in the house.

It had been around 11 when we went to bed, and now it was 11:38. Not too shabby. Most of that was probably just waiting for Dad to fall asleep. If I had my focus pointed somewhere, I could remember where it was easily enough. Reaching across the coast, I found that refocusing on the Brooklyn Bridge was almost as easy. Maybe the more time I spent focused somewhere?

Let's see, Dursey Island... yeah, that looks familiar. There are more buildings being constructed now than there were before, and a lot of people. And... a statue of Leviathan being attacked by someone in a cape. I guess I put the island on the map. Listening in on the various conversations on the island, and the particular accents of the people there, I guess I was in Ireland.

Huh. My first time in another country.

Well, I wanted to test things out... now how to test-drive an Endbringer in such a way no one gets hurt?

The only blood I could sense running through anything's veins on the island belonged to small creatures, rats, mice, small tropical birds. I was within eye-shot of a city on a coast. I think I was in the Caribbean, somewhere. Either way, this was an island no one would miss. There was enough space for me to run around, once I cleared away the trees, and if I threw some waves around- okay, that might actually still hurt the city. Leviathan's waves get pretty big. And while there aren't any boats too close to where I am, boats move, and if I'm not paying attention one could stray too close and get- hm.

I'd have to be careful then.

I'm still under the ocean, but the island is easily within my close-range water sensing. I was originally planning on trying to make a real wave for the first time, Leviathan's signature, but waves are almost built to destroy without warning. I'll have to practice with big waves eventually, but for now, something more restrained will keep my battlefield in one piece.

I shape a massive flat platform out of pressurized water, and stab it into the island horizontally. Anything above the first few feet of coastline- about a foot above sea-level, was instantly separated from anything below a foot above sea-level. Hmm... I might actually be able to save these trees, the cut was a lot cleaner than I thought it would be. I search quickly for another island, with enough bare beach that I could set down most of this island down on it without destroying any buildings.

Or squashing anyone.

That takes a few more minutes, but while I'm doing that, I leave the water physically, climbing up onto my newly-formed completely flat island.

Now all I had to do was wait for was my training dummies.

The Protectorate arrived within twenty minutes the last time I made land with my power, and this time I had a better understanding of my capabilities. Standing was still difficult- but I was wearing training wheels right now. I activated my water echo, not nearly at full blast, more like letting a sink dribble than channeling a private ocean, and the water covering my entire body let me use my hydrokinesis to help support some of my weight.

For all I know, Leviathan, back when he wasn't me, did this too. I was really top heavy, and raptor legs didn't belong on a human. Or, in my experience so far, something that was only humanoid either. The tail helps balance a little, if I keep it rigid, like predatory dinosaurs actually did, but Leviathan's tail is prehensile. As it is, if I'm not keeping it as a straight line, it just makes my balance even more wonky.

So I don't feel guilty about cheating. What I did feel guilty about is that I've probably woken all of the Protectorate up in the middle of the night for the sake of, in simple terms, excercise. They have jobs, and things to do, and husbands and wives and kids to get home to, probably. The stress of Leviathan attacking a second time within three days wasn't going to do anyone any favors. But if I don't discover my limits now, I might cause damage accidently along the line. I don't want to be killing super heroes. I don't want to be killing anyone. Not if I don't mean to.

It's not like I'll be doing it every night, or anything.

Maybe just once a week?

Hell, if I keep this up long enough, the world might realize that I'm not killing innocents any more, or rather, Leviathan isn't, and the Protectorate might even let me come out of the water without immediately attacking! They might just... let me be, like the Simurgh.

The sound of Endbringer Sirens goes off in the city on the island in the distance. I had nearly forgotten. I was waking up thousands of people, besides the heroes. They were all afraid for their lives, right now. In the future, I'll make an effort to find islands far from people. Maybe I'll just make my own in the middle of the Atlantic?

Ah! There we are, the first on the scene is Legend, like last time. I suppose he has the best mobility of the Triumvirate, Alexandria would have to wait for a teleporter, and Eidolon- well, I guess he could be a teleporter any time he wanted. He was for the last fight.

"Again?" Legend says to himself, and now that I'm more practiced at listening through water, I hear his voice clearly, "And healed completely within three days, that doesn't bode well."

I put my hands on my hips, looking as cocky as possible.

"...God damn it, it's drunk again? I hope it's drunk again."

They thought I was drunk? How the hell would Leviathan even get drunk? I don't have a mouth! Do I? I quickly check to see if I have a secret mouth, but no. Why would Legend think I was drunk?

Alexandria and Eidolon followed soon enough, like before, and I did the same waving motion I had done to greet them the first time I saw them.

Then, I got into a boxing stance. I didn't actually know any boxing, or even go to see any boxing matches, but if shifting from foot to foot, with fists clenched and raised at someone isn't a universal 'come at me!' I don't know what is.

Eidolon almost goes for it, but the other two members of the Triumvirate grab him from getting closer. "He's taunting me!" he muttered, furious. Huh. That wasn't what I expected his voice to sound like. I guess it was almost always Legend who spoke for the trio. I understood, he was the most charismatic.

"Don't go for it. Leviathan's behavior changed quite a bit, and again in a completely different way than in Ireland." Alexandria said. She had a nice voice, very calm and focused, utterly without fear.

"It's calling us out." Legend said, "Maybe revenge for thrashing it so much when it wasn't sober?"

Alexandria groaned- which didn't mesh well with the entire 'serene goddess of power' image she had about her, and which I felt amusing.

"I wasn't being serious- I was just making an observation. Leviathan didn't seem to be nearly as aware and coordinated as usual. He looked drunk." she sighed, "I don't understand why you've run with this."

Oh.

"Endbringer's don't get drunk. Can't get drunk. We don't know what happened in Ireland, so there's no need to distract ourselves." Eidolon growled, "The city is within Leviathan's range as it is, soft target. Evacuation is already progressing, but hopefully we can contain him before he gets too close."

"I have a feeling he doesn't want to get close." Legend said quietly.

"Of course he does." Eidolon said, staring at me, "En͚͔d̠b̮͍͠r͚͡i̩̹̭̳̥̩̰n̙̤̞͙̲͖̪͜g͉̗͇e̤r̲̼̠̯̖͙s͙͍̥ ͓͠ḁ͎̱̬̫̬t̪͇ͅt̷̗͎̮̮͚͚a͝ͅc̲̲̣͘k̶̤̯̹͙̩̤ ̭͕c̦͈į̰t̺͕̩i̤͉͖͓̦̤̼ḙ͙͙̬̬̤̼̕s̪̮͝.̛͇̩" He said, and for a moment I wondered why I was here, when all the people were over there, I couldn't be the monster if I didn't attack cities, I reach back with my arm and ready a wave and WHAT

What the hell was that?! What the HELL was that?!

Chapter Text

That was definitely weird.

And also terrifying.

Maybe this wasn't a good idea.

"Can we teleport the gathered Capes here?" Legend asked.

"Not too much space." Alexandria replied, "The entire flattened area is well within his killzone." she looked to Eidolon, "A new strategy perhaps? Wiping out any gathered opposition more efficiently farther away from the target, and then continuing unimpeded if he wins, and retreating without wasting his energy if he loses?"

"You don't sound sure."

"This is only the second appearance following this new strategy. I have no idea."

"Well, he's clearly waiting for us to make the first move." Legend said quietly. "We could move in with flying blasters and brutes."

"Any new brutes capable of spending some time underwater?" Eidolon asked Alexandria.

"He'll be sure to target them." Legend cautioned.

What would they do if I just kept on waiting here? Would Eidolon do that thing again? What if- What if I couldn't resist it a second time? I mean, if I created a wave before I snapped out of it... Was he doing it on purpose? How was he doing it? I thought Capes that could control people didn't do anything to Endbringers- well, I guess I'm proof that isn't true but...

"There's a Ward in Atlanta I believe, but she wasn't strong enough to be recommended for Endbringer duty." she answered.

Eidolon's eyes land on me again, and he's irrit̞a͔̜̪͜t̰ed, wants a fight, a good fight, a fight against a monsterNO. Crap. Okay, it was less this time. I didn't even try to attack the city that time. Maybe it'll just be less and less effective each time.

This is weird. Uncomfortably weird. And dangerous for the people in that city. I'd just leave, but if this just happened again the next time I surfaced I'd be stuck in the same position. Should I just ride it out and see what happens? I could just play it safe, leave and stay underwater full-time for now. I could still face big threats and make a difference just using my hydrokinesis at a distance.

But it would feel like a waste, to have a body like this and not use it to do anything!

When I was on Dursey Island Eidolon arrived within twenty minutes of my surfacing, on this island, within forty minutes.

...I could do a lot in a half hour.

But it was best to gather more information on what exactly was happening here... If he does the thing that makes me want to attack, and the effect lasts more than a second, I'll abandon this for tonight.

But for now, I came here to test my strength against heroes. How to communicate that? They've got almost the right idea, but they aren't going for it. I could make a water mouth, but if any of the three of them heard my water-double's voice, even if I changed it, they might connect the dots. My double is the only way I have of keeping in contact with Dad right now, I can't risk that.

Well, writing, then. Water rises from my echo, forming words in the air, big enough to be read easily even from a distance.

DUEL FOR THE CITY
NO TSUNAMIS

All three of them stare at the words with mixed expressions. There's no psychic whammy from Eidolon, which I'll take as a good sign.

"...This is big." Alexandria says quietly. "...I'll speak with Doctor Mother." I note the name, someone high up in the PRT?

"I'll talk with Dragon." Legend said. "Eidolon?" I didn't see Dragon for sure at the last battle, but there were a lot of people in power armor- so I suppose it was possible. It'd be interesting to meet the best Tinker in the world.

"..."

"Eidolon!" Legend said, harsher.

The man laughs quietly, and Legend looks at him, suspicious, "...Leviathan!" Eidolon shouts suddenly.

"David," David?! "we don't barter with them, not without a much better idea of what's happening."

"What if it's a one-time offer? Revenge for thrashing it while it wasn't sober?" Eidolon asked, "If all of us leave, it might take that as surrender. We have a chance at another zero-civilian casualty battle. Go on, Alexandria, Cauldron needs to be filled in, Legend, so do the Protectorate and everyone we need fighting Endbringers."

"...Fine. Don't get yourself killed." He's off like a beam of light, leaving behind a spectacular trail.

Alexandria flies off in a different direction, before- "Door." huh, a portal. One of the Protectorate transporters is on call, then.

More water-words. EIDOLON

He lowers himself, the green glow of his costume making him stand out in the darkness. "...What are your terms, monster?"

A DUEL FOR THE CITY
WITH ANY CAPES YOU CAN GATHER AGAINST ME
NO DISTRACTIONS
NO OBSTACLES
NO GIANT WAVES
NO RUNNING
JUST BATTLE

"...Why?" Eidolon asked, "Why change now? Why... communicate at all?! What do you want?! Did Scion make you? What was wrong with you in the last battle?"

Now, what would he believe? I HAVE GROWN BORED WITH THE PATTERN. I HAVE LITTLE INTEREST IN KILLING HUMANS THAT AREN'T ABLE TO FIGHT BACK ANY MORE The words hang in the air, and I hope he takes them to heart. I won't be able to shirk Leviathan's reputation for as long as I live. Centuries from now, people will still be cursing his name for all the lives he stole. But if I give a motivation that isn't the extinction of the human race? If I give them a way to deal with me that won't have them immediately risking their lives to stop me whenever I approach land? It'd be useful. It would be a start.

He looks du̡m̶b͜st̴ruc͏k ͠fo̧r a̧ m͏o҉me̵n̨t, and I feel that I should drop the words and lash out and then march on the city, gather waves and nononono. Okay, okay, I'm okay. It was less than a second, I didn't even move. I f̶͖̼̮͖e̫̯̜̮̕e̳̗̪l͇̖̲͕͖ ̺̻̙̖͢m̯͚͈͎o̺̦r̹͚͈̝e͓ͅ of it prickling around the edges of my mind, and I'm just about ready to jump back into the ocean and get as far away from Eidolon as possible, before the compulsion changes to- a̢cc͏ept͘an͟c͞e?

"What are the rules, Leviathan?" he asks.

Okay, I had to think for a moment on this. What did I want to get out of tonight? The answer: Learn how to fight Capes without killing them. That means... variety.

I WANT TO FIGHT THE STRONG
THE WEAK
THOSE WHO HIT FROM FAR AND THOSE WHO HIT WHILE CLOSE
THOSE WHO TELEPORT
THOSE WHO SHAPESHIFT
THOSE WHO FIGHT WITH TOOLS

He wasn't expecting that, I think. The words drop away, and take new form.

DO NOT BORE ME
IF YOU CAN SATE ME
I WILL ALLOW YOU TO HEAL THE FALLEN


"...This sounds too good to be true." Errgh!

COWARDS

"But I'll accept. It'll give us a chance to take you down a distance from the city, at any rate." Good!

I drop the words, and go over to the opposite end of my island from Eidolon. Okay, this could work. This might all be one colossal dumb decision, but it could work. And if it doesn't- well, I almost certainly won't die, and I'll always have my water double identity to help the world with if I'm not allowed as Leviathan.

Eidolon stands for a while, concentrating, I think, before he begins to brightly glow, a constant out-pouring of light lifting him from the ground and throwing him towards me. I charge forward at blinding speed, meeting him quickly and grabbing him. I squeeze a bit, feeling the water inside him but not manipulating it, making sure nothing's breaking- tighter, tighter- okay, that's about as close as I want to push it.

"Grr!" The energy increases in output, and the scales around my hand begin to blacken and char, ash falling a bit from my fingers. It doesn't hurt at all. I whip my arm forward, tossing him through the sky and towards the ocean- if he's moving too fast, I'll try and cushion him.

It doesn't come to that, the light emanating from him suddenly narrowing into a beam in front him. It boils the water he was about to hit, but also slows his momentum, before letting him rocket back at me. His fists abruptly stop glowing, and take on a reflective dark red appearance, before he raises them in front of him. He's aiming to tackle me, and his fists will do something interesting when he does.

I side-step his flying tackle, and send a splatter of water from my echo to hit him as a projectile as he rockets past. I pressurize the water quite a bit, releasing control of the bullet as soon as it gets within a few feet of him. He's knocked to the side by the explosion, and redirects the streaming light to keep himself from spiraling into the ground. He's still glowing, but he cuts off the glow and drops, hitting the earth. He buries his hands into the dirt, and they begin to swell- he's making a crater in the island at the same time, slowly growing around from where his hands are, as he gets lower and lower.

I charge him, this time, upping the output on my after-echo, to something more substantial, before stopping abruptly, leaving it to tackle him out of the ground. His hands are the color of wet sand now, rather than the red, and still tightly clenched. A burst of the light aura, and he's free of my water. A framework of light appeared in the sky around him, before he pointed both fists at me. The framework condenses into several empty squares in front of each other, and in front of Eidolon, before he punches forward.

A copy of each hand, made of densely packed earth, is shot at high speed into the first square, where they shrink and are sped up, before they hit the next square, and the next- and in an instant they pass through the others too fast for me to follow, and the projectiles have already crashed into me.

I'm knocked from my feet, scrabbling at the dirt before I use my water echo to hold myself still. It didn't hurt, but I felt that. As water fills the crater in my chest, I decide I'm not going to get hit by any more of those. My water echo pushes out from my damaged skin, and in the midst of it, two tiny, incredibly dense, red-hot copies of Eidolon's fists are pushed out of the hole they made. They looked more like the hands of an Eidolon action figure, now.

I jump away from my previous location, and throw a torrent of water at Eidolon, curving it like a baseball, so that it hits him from the side rather than straight on, into his waiting fists. It also has the benefit of not touching that... floating instant super rail gun thing?

I feel the water in his body, and I can kind of tell where the impact causes the most hurt, and I slow it down, bit by bit. I... think that it's just a nasty bruise, rather than bone-breaking on impact. Luckily, Eidolon is already fixing the damage done, the light aura entering him, rather than pushing out. The overall effect is diminished slightly, and he backs away from me while he heals himself. It wouldn't have killed him either way, but I didn't want to maim my childhood idols either.

As is... I punch forward, and my water echo continues the impact. I slow it down the moment before impact, but Eidolon is sent flying. And... no broken bones or internal bleeding from that one either I think. He catches himself with the light, and begins to set up another rail-gun light-show.

I rush him, and the squares promptly stop assembling as he moves the framework to follow me. He lifts himself up into the air, but with a leap and a just a hint of hydrokinetic lifting, I'm above him. I slap him from the air and- oh crap, okay, okay. I encase him in a water bubble before he slams into the ground, shielding him from the worst of the impact. There's... okay, not much damage, that I can tell. He's not concussed, and I don't think there's any broken bones.

He's dazed though. Now... how do I knock someone out? I could... just poking him would stab him, but anything more and the surface area would cover his entire body. Hydrokinesis, then. Water rushes up his nose and down his throat, as the light suddenly starts strobing, boiling away- no, just plain-out eradicating most of it, before it can go too far. I hover his bubble over the sea, and have water pour into it, so that even if I'm not drowning him, he isn't getting more air.

When do I stop? When he stops thrashing?

The half-formed rail-gun lights in the sky apruptly vanish, and Eidolon begins to slow down. His fists start to change color- no longer made of dirt, but appearing as ice. Around his hands, my water begins to disappear by the gallon, so I create empty bubbles around them.

The light just keeps on going, but soon the affect around his hands go as well, and they return to being gloved. Within a few seconds, he begins to spew lava from his feet and hands, I suppose trading one of his other powers for them. The lava boils at the water, but a constant stream from the ocean lets me wash it away before the heat can do any serious damage to him, or get him free. Thinking about it, if he has a lava power he probably has some kind of heat resistance to go with it. He keeps making the lava, but then... something, happens. There's briefly two of him, and then one fades away, and I find that he's a bit closer to the edge of the bubble than before, displacing the space inside it. He does it again and again, and I work to keep the water flowing, all around him. I'm pretty sure he's bending space, making some kind of escher-esque maze that the water needs to navigate to reach him, but it's not like I'm short on the stuff. I flood the bent space with water, and no air reaches him.

His jerking slows, and then stops. The space-bending stops, and my bubble suddenly becomes six times the size now that he's not folding all into... somewhere. The lava tapers off as well. The glowing notably doesn't, but I decide not to take any chances. I am not accidently killing a member of the Triumvirate. The bubble empties, and fills once more with oxygen. There isn't technically any water in his lungs, and his heart is still beating... yeah, he's breathing. Okay. He doesn't immediately snap back and start trying to kill me again, so he's probably knocked out.

That's a victory then. I can defeat a Cape without killing them.

I consider just leaving, but I did tell Eidolon I wanted to fight as many types of Capes as possible... and looking back on Brockton Bay... the clock... I still had another two hours before the earliest I think my Dad would wake up.

I'm not actually given much time to make my decision before Legend appears overhead with a burst of light.

I beat Eidolon... and learned that he has some way to make me briefly... think or act like Leviathan, probably. The original Leviathan.

Tonight... was interesting.

"Leviathan!" Legend shouts, lowering towards us. I hold the bubble containing Eidolon forward, before forming chains of water across it, "Let him go." Legend demanded.

I might as well. The excitement of the battle was draining, now, and I wasn't as comfortable about all this as I thought I would be. I don't think Eidolon was too much more or less durable than the average guy, with the power set he used for our battle. If he had gotten his hands on me and did the thing to absorb the dirt and my water, but did it out of absorbing my scales? The damage to my torso from firing it through the super-rail-gun would be a tunnel, rather than a crater... but then again, the further it penetrated, the less damage it could do. I was tough.

As it was, combined with the weird psychic thing, I didn't want to be around Eidolon any longer tonight.

I move the bubble forward, towards Legend, who doesn't flinch or back away, and simply grabs Eidolon when I dismiss my control over the water and it all falls back to the sea.

"...What now?"

EIDOLON HAS SATED ME FOR TONIGHT

Legend flinches, as the words shape, but looks relieved all the same.

I HAVE TOLD HIM MY WILL
I WANT TO FIGHT SOMEONE ELSE NEXT TIME

"Next time?" Legend asked.

SOON

He winced. Okay, this... didn't feel good. I want to keep up the mystique, there's no way they'll ever trust Leviathan as anything that's friendly, so I might as well use the intimidation factor, but I didn't like seeing Legend like that. I make the letters hanging in the air into blobs of water, and I form new words from it.

EIDOLON HAS SAVED THE CITY , I gesture to the city in the distance, HE WAS AN INTERESTING OPPONENT
IF THE FIGHTS CONTINUE TO BE JUST AS ENJOYABLE MY OPPONENTS SHALL CONTINUE TO EARN THE RIGHT TO SURVIVE
THESE GAMES ARE MORE FUN THAN DESTROYING CITIES ANYWAY

I leave that to digest. Legend looks... hopeful, which is good.

I take a running leap into the water, and let it carry me deep below, aiming where I believe North is. I change my focus to Brockton Bay, and find that Dad is still asleep in his bed. I still had at least an hour.

Since the sea-salt smell was apparently very noticeable whenever I free control of my water double, I set about moving the sea-water out of the tub and into the nearest sewer drain, after turning the faucet on in the tub. By the time I dump the saltwater, there's enough in the tub to make a non-smelly double.

I end up turning on the TV, and hitting the channel button on the remote until I reached something that sounded like the news. The talking heads discussed with each other what the meaning of Leviathan's change of attack pattern was, mixed in with heaps of praise for the Protectorate for not one, but two civilian-death free Endbringer attacks.

There wasn't any mention of my writing with water, or the fact that I beat Eidolon. Only that "Leviathan has clearly shown a new strategy, but it is unknown if the other Endbringers will follow suit" and "While many brave heroes from around the world came together to battle Leviathan, the Triumvirate were able to push it back by themselves, declaring that Leviathan was still injured from the battle three days ago, and had been pushed back easily."

When Dad woke up and headed downstairs, he sat nearby me at the TV. "Hey Dad." I greet.

"Hey Taylor... sleep well?"

"...It's strange."

"Oh?"

"But it's not too bad." I say, before gesturing at the TV. "You know how I promised not to fight Leviathan? I might not have to even say no if they asked. The Triumvirate managed to push him back all by themselves this time, and no civilians died."

"That's great news!" he said, grinning, "A little worrying he attacked so soon again, but it's good news he's being handled. More hope in the world."

As we went through the motions of breakfast and small-talk, I pushed the fight out of my mind.

Chapter Text

FIRST]

Not a monster? Why not a monster? Good fight. Good. Better fight?

Best fight is ruins of a destroyed city, the hopes of those around hanging by a thread, as the monster that none can defeat nears their unknowable, but ominous goal- when, suddenly, the hero who could pushes through, makes the difference that saves lives and sends the monsters away!

But sometimes a fight needs to be the monster couldn't be stopped. It is the enemy of mankind, and sometimes mankind will lose, heroes will fall, despair will wrack the earth. Places that were once beacons of light now snuffed, is hope gone? Perhaps, but perhaps our heroes can prevent the deaths the next time. If so many heroes didn't die. It is a war, brutal and desperate, but that makes the victories all the sweeter.

But is that fight better? Why is Second not fight Best or Sometimes? New.

Maybe different? Third is different, Third fights like fragile, but somehow the worst of all. The hero fights and fights, and wins! But was the win a trap? Merely working into the villain's plan all along? How does one fight against a villain so intelligent, with their mad devices and unknowable goal?

And also the alien, the intelligence, that we could not understand. It knows what we think, and it can make us do things. It comes from beyond the moon, and it has technology we do not understand. The power of the mind, unleashed, from something that could be a God.

But Second fights like this monster fights. Before. Usually? Mostly.

Is New wrong?

Testing? Perhaps.

Does it work?

Godzilla screeches, and the buildings are reduced to nothing in an explosion. An entire city looking upwards in fear at the giant Gorilla, helpless to save the innocent in its clutches. The Death Star, destroying an entire world, beloved by one of our heroes, and suddenly the stakes are higher than ever before. The aliens, appearing from the other side of the moon, speaking into our minds and leaving us clues to contact them.

A room, quiet with awe and dread as the man in the front asks his audience to consider what Damnation is, and why we must be saved from it, and how Satan wants us Damned.

Satan, the Emissary of the fiery pits of Hell, the Serpent, the fallen Angel.

He is the ultimate enemy, says the man in front of the audience.

The HERO is the one who can defeat the monster, but he must defeat the monster because it is attacking the city, because it is killing people by the droves, because it is alien, because it is Satan. If it were merely a man with a gun... the one who beats that is just an ordinary man, doing what is right.

A Hero is only a Hero, when he is fighting a monster. A Hero is only a Hero when more lives than a hundred, a thousand, are on the line. Cities worth of people, countries worth, a planet's worth of people must be on the line for a TRUE HERO!

And Second is not doing that. Why is Second not? Second is not a good monster?

Is it a good monster?

Is Second not a monster?

This monster does not know.

This monster is a monster.

This monster attacks the city, kills the heroes, makes the stakes as high as possible. The monster must be horrifying, must inspire dread and awe and fear and hope. The monster must try to win, and only if the hero is brave and true and powerful enough can the monster be defeated.

Otherwise the hero is not a Hero.

[Dragon]

Seismic readings were fed into a predictive program, giving a rough estimate of where in the Earth's molten mantle Behemoth was resting. She had been going over the results in even greater detail, considering Leviathan's sudden deviation from all the schedules and behavior programs available.

Luckily, it seemed to not be reacting any differently than normal. She moved her attentions to the next S-Class threat along the line.

[THIRD]

[Dragon]

The AI watched the path the ocean-based radar, echo, and probes piecemealed together. It was swimming vaguely North and East, at some of the highest speeds Leviathan had been recorded to move at. It abruptly stopped, still deep into the Atlantic ocean- and fell to the bottom of the sea, dropping like a stone. There's a brief tremor in the area, and then nothing. Leviathan has gone, once again, nearly completely dead.

She formulated some possible guesses as to why he would just drop. Endbringers spent months not attacking anything, usually each Endbringer individually would make an appearance once or twice a year. This meant that any injuries sustained during the battle would have up to, and often more, than six months to heal. Endbringers usually wandered their element... it could be that these bursts of lesser activity, and going absolutely still, was a way for Leviathan to recover quicker. Leviathan hadn't used its macro-hydrokinesis to create the massive signature tsunami waves it was known for in either of the most recent attacks. Perhaps it was storing energy? Keeping power in reserve for the sake of making frequent battles?

She sent her theories to a few trusted ears, and waited, ever-watching.

Chapter Text

Dad is waiting outside the morgue, looking pained. "...You got everything you needed?"

"Yeah." I figured I should... at least see it, or sense it. It might be the last bit of contact I had with my real- my original body.

The plan- well, there hadn't really been a plan for me. But as a family, we always were planning on burial. On having our graves next to each other, in the same cemetery. There was spot reserved for Dad, right next to Mom's. Eventually, my own family- hah! -would bury me nearby, if we stayed in Brockton Bay.

As it was, I wasn't dead, and we only had the one spot reserved for Dad. He offered to bury my body buried there instead, and that he could always talk to the cemetery about getting another spot reserved on the other side of Mom's grave, but I declined.

We were going to have me- my old body cremated, and put in an urn. There were some concerns, but a PRT-based Doctor had a look, and confirmed I had the Corona Pollentia that every Parahuman had. He also confirmed, multiple times, that it wasn't active, or sending out any type of signal that anyone could find. We were as sure as we could be that I- my old body was dead, including the brain, including the Corona Pollentia.

I suppose with all the utter nonsense that exists in a world filled with superheroes, that it might be that my Corona only appeared dead, that the signal it was sending out was simply undetectable, but no less vital to my mind. But if that were the case, it would rot away soon enough, and I'd be in trouble anyway. We could, theoretically, put my body on ice, or in stasis or something, preserve it forever. But it was a huge expense to be making on a 'maybe', and I don't want to worry about it, or be paranoid as to whether my control over Leviathan rests on whether or not my corpse is still intact.

Best to just get it over with.

I never voiced any of these thoughts to Dad, as there was a chance he would try and get my old body put on ice forever, no matter the price, anyway. Maybe try and get the PRT to fund it, even though it was a PRT doctor who assured us there wasn't any connection between my old brain and my new body.

It would happen in three days.

It was... weird. I had been watching the internal flow of water inside Eidolon when we fought, to see what had become damaged, where impacts disrupted blood flow. But looking at a corpse was just...

...

...

Did Leviathan feel satisfaction, upon sensing that... disgusting... stillness? At the blood remaining where it is and settling rather than shooting through thousands upon thousands of pathways?

...

If Dad noticed that my water double's face was more accurate to my real face- my old face, he didn't say anything. We were silent the whole way home.

"Excited?" he asked, as we broke off for the night, him heading towards his room, while I went over to my bathroom.

"For tomorrow?" I had the double smile, and he took a half-step back, surprised. Drat. "I didn't do that right, did I?"

"Um... the teeth-"

"What's wrong with them?"

"I don't really know how to explain it."

I had the double sigh, and at least he didn't seem confused by that, "I've been trying to make my new face more like my old face." I said, "I got a better sense of my old body's shape, but I guess it still doesn't look right?"

"I..."

"You can tell me, I won't be insulted, or anything."

"...It looked more natural, before. Now it looks like-"

"So you noticed?"

"Yeah. Of course I noticed, Taylor." Dad sighed, "Before, it looked like you were more alive. Now... you look... stiff." Dead.

"...I'll work on it." I can't really remember the shape I was using before, now that I've been putting so much focus into copying my real- my old body. It shouldn't be too hard to tweak it, though.

"Get some sleep, first. You- er, we can work on it in the morning."

"Sounds good Dad. Goodnight."

"Goodnight sweetheart." he said, leaning in to kiss the double's forehead before leaving the bathroom in a bit of a hurry. He probably doesn't want to see me let the shape go like last night. I might have scarred him for life with that, just a little bit.

I extend the water arm to close the door tight, before letting go of the water double, letting it drop into the tub. I feel Dad's pulse spike just a little as he heard the sound, and he almost climbs back up the stairs to check on me, before heading back to his own bathroom for the night's ablutions. I didn't want to particularly watch that through my water-sense, so I shift focus away from Brockton Bay.

I open my eyes. My real eyes. My new eyes.

It's pitch black on the bottom of the ocean.

I get up, shifting the sands that had gathered around me, and I'm tempted to stretch myself out, but it wouldn't serve a purpose. My body isn't sore, or aching, or asleep. I could probably leave it how it was for decades, and get up the next moment like nothing was wrong.

I swim lazily from my initial position and look for sea-life, while I debated what to do next. I wasn't going to make my duels nightly, definitely not. And the more times I see Eidolon, the more opportunities I have to get struck by that terrifying fucking mind thing he did.

I... Don't think he was doing it on purpose, in fact, it might not even be Eidolon doing it, though something instinctually tells me it is. It could just as easily be Leviathan's old... personality? Fighting back. Maybe the sight of Leviathan's greatest nemesis was enough to awaken him enough to momentarily try to get back at the city. Or maybe one of Eidolon's powers had some kind of empathic side-effect? When he felt certain things, the Leviathan part of me reacted without any input from me?

It could be anything.

But I didn't want to deal with it any time soon.

Which left me the issue of what to do with my time. I had hours until Dad would wake up. I suppose I could just sit back down and play around with my water double, go around town- but my Power Testing at the Rig was tomorrow, and I don't want to cause a scene so soon before something so important.

I had already more-or-less decided on what I wanted to do for Power Testing. It'd be obvious that there was some kind of connection between me and Leviathan if I used the full power of my hydrokinesis. The power-set I conceived for myself was somewhat simple: "I am in complete control of the shape and pressure of the water in my body, as well as capable of releasing water from my double in a pressurized stream. I can do simple hydrokinesis in the form of pulling additional water from outside sources towards and into me, as well as making my body float and fly. I can move okay in the air and on the ground, but I can move really fast underwater."

Essentially, things where I didn't have to strain my focus controlling multiple unconnected shapes at once. It was all stuff I could do comfortably, stuff I could keep up with and remember the rules and limits of for as long as my career as a hero lasted.

I thought it was a pretty good power-set for a Cape, and pretty versatile as well. I wouldn't be holding back the Wards by any measure, and I wouldn't be holding back the Protectorate when I graduate from the program in a few years.

I swam for about an hour in the murky darkness, following fish around, before that got boring. I decided to make better use of my time doing... something. I dropped to the bottom, and grabbed some of the water, shaping it into a shovel, and began digging. The shovel was a couple dozen times my size, so each blow lifted tons and tons of earth from the seafloor with each movement. I piled the mud, sand, and rocks high, and began working the foundations of my own island.

I had no idea how to build an island, of course, but I figured I'd start with simply making a hill big enough to reach the surface.

Progress was slow-going. From up close, it seemed ridiculous how much earth I was moving, but when I backed away, darting close to the surface and back down, it became clear to me that if I was going to make an island, I'd need a huge amount of dirt to make it even poke the surface, and that would be if I made a tiny base. I formed more shovels, and decimated the seafloor with my furious digging.

By the time the sun was visible on the horizon to the East, I decided to call it quits for the night, and let myself sink into the massive valley I was carving into the bottom of the Atlantic. I closed my eyes, and shifted my focus back to my bathroom in Brockton Bay.

I was almost excited, now. The work was something to do with my nights, and it'd give me a time frame to base my fights on. When I felt finished with my island, I would set up the next duel. After that, the island would most likely get damaged in the battle, and I would just set up another duel whenever I finish repairing it.

My water double rose from the bathtub and walked out into the still-dark house. Dawn still wouldn't be for another hour in Brockton Bay, I figured it would be safer if I got up before Dad, so that he wouldn't have to panic about water not responding to his cries when he came to wake me up.

I decided to clean the house a bit, working on pulling things into the double and spitting them out. If I could do something with small objects harmlessly, I could do it with bigger things. I mean, eventually I'd need to carry around a wallet in a waterproof bag or something, and there'd be the option of grabbing criminals and just holding onto them, like a living clump of the containment spray the PRT uses.

Dad got up eventually, complimenting me on my work on the house, before setting himself to making breakfast. "Are you excited for your power testing today?"

"I'm moderately excited."

"Only moderately?"

"Well, I'm not sure what they'll make of me. Even for a Parahuman, I'm not normal. For all I know, they'll spend hours just trying to figure out where my brain is rather than doing something useful."

"I suppose. But it's not like there aren't Parahumans who transform their whole bodies into something else. There was that one guy in the Birdcage- that British supervillain... Acidpool, or something. He transformed into a wave of acid, no body, no brain, but still conscious, like you."

"A villain worthy of being birdcaged isn't the first person I want them thinking of, you know." I joked.

"Just an example. There's that boy who's made of metal, I saw him online, the other day. Where's his brain?"

"Probably in his head, just, made of metal."

"Well, maybe your brain is in your head, just made of water."

"I doubt it. This is all new water."

"What?"

"Remember, the sea smell bothered you, so I got rid of all of it and made a new body from tap water."

"You... got rid of your body?" Dad asked, confused.

I grabbed his empty cup, and let a little of my double's hand dribble off into it. He flinched, a little, "Sorry. Didn't realize how creepy that must have looked, but, no sea-salt, right?"

"I... I guess." he nervously handed me the cup back, being extra-careful not to spill it. I reabsorbed it without a problem, "How did you get rid of your old body?"

"I filled the tub with water, and then went over the sewer grate and let almost all of the water go. Then I flew back up into the bathroom, and made myself a new body."

"You can fly?!"

"I guess I haven't shown that off yet."

"No, no you haven't." Dad put his head in his hands, "Taylor, please tell me these types of things before you do them."

"Why?"

"I'd just... appreciate it."

"Are you sure? Because, let's say I'm fighting a villain- Oni Lee or someone-" there's Dad with the flinching again, "and he uses a grenade that blows my water body apart, and I need to gather more water from- the sewer, or someplace, and then after I beat him, because of course I will, I get rid of that one, and then make a new non-stinky body from a drinking fountain." Dad's looks uncomfortable, as far as I can read his expression. "Would you really want to know all that, or would you rather I just said, 'Hey Dad, guess who defeated the ABB's top lieutenant'?"

"I... guess the second one would be more pleasant. But... isn't it scary?"

"Not a bit."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"You can be honest with me, you know. Losing your body has to be uncomfortable."

"Dad, it really, really isn't. I think- I think I'm actually just like, a droplet of water. Maybe a specific water molecule. Or maybe I'm just a point in space, that gathers water around itself. That's the real me." I mean, it might be true. I feel like there's something important inside my body as Leviathan, and it's not a heart or anything. Just... something deep inside me that creates Leviathan around itself. It's true enough, anyway. "Something no one can hit with a bullet, or hurt, or explode, no matter how hard they try. It doesn't hurt getting more water, or letting water go. I told you, that my body is just a shape that I make, right?"

"It's just hard to wrap my mind around, Taylor. Sorry."

"No need to be sorry, just don't worry about me. I'm indestructible."

"Well, be careful anyway. For my sake. If you can dodge around a- laser beam, or something, do it, just in case? You never know."

"Sure Dad." That's true enough. Just because nothing has killed an Endbringer so far doesn't mean nothing can't. Legend's beams are harmless enough, but who knows about any other number of Capes in the world. There's as many super powers as there are Parahumans. That eventually someone could rise to the challenge and prevail- that's the world's hope.

We finish our breakfast and sit around for a bit, listening to the TV, before Dad decides that if we want to be safe and early for my power testing, we should get ready to go. Dad would pick up something for lunch along the way. I dress my double in thick winter clothes- I'm lucky its January, or hiding my identity would be a lot tougher- and we bundle ourselves into Dad's car.

I take off my coat and hat once we're safely on board the ferry taking us to the Rig. Dad mutters something about getting the boardwalk's ferry up and running again. We reach the repurposed oil rig soon enough, and I can feel the water in the air above the ocean that- fizzles, a little, as it passes through the transparent force field that surrounds the Rig. I'm briefly worried that when the opening in the shield made to let our boat pass closes again that I'll lose contact with my water double, but I've never heard about force fields being able to block telekinesis. My hopes are met when the field closes behind us, and I don't feel any different in my level of control.

We sit in the waiting room for about fifteen minutes before a woman wearing a full-body suit of some kind comes out of an elevator. Dad smiles wide, offering his hand- "Battery, I'm honored! This is- this is Taylor, my daughter." Battery. She was a hero I could look up to- nice, smart, she worked hard and handled herself well in every interview and video clip I had ever seen of her. I was already meeting a member of the Protectorate.

I suppose it might be possible she was one of the people in Ireland who were trying to hold me down while I was getting peppered with laser beams, in which case this was the second time we've met. But it's not like I had the chance to talk to her.

"Hey there."

"Hi." I say, "I'm looking forward to working with you."

"Thank you." she smiles, "I hope the same." she turned around, and motioned for us to follow her, "We'll be handling the power testing in a specialized room for it. Just follow me."

We followed.

"How much have you experimented with your powers so far?"

"A bit." I answer, running on the treadmill with newly-formed legs. It was complicated- I should have told them I that my flowing-robes type form was the default, now I was giving mixed readings. I could move the legs as fast as I wanted- enough to go at well over a hundred miles per hour, and I could also move my water double through the air at that speed, or even coasting along the ground at that speed.

The issue is that how fast I can move my temporary legs and how fast I can move my double has almost nothing to do with each other. I could have my double run at full-force, but without willing it forward it would just end up digging a hole wherever it was standing, and I could have the double rush forwards as fast as a bullet without having it move a 'muscle'.

As it was, I was confusing a bunch of scientists. They seemed to be taking it well, though. Like they were used to being confused, like being confused was a fact of life, and that it would be enough if they could just make it have a little sense.

"You're exceptionally strong." Battery commented. "Strong, fast, being able to fly. You'll definitely make a valued member of any team you're a part of."

"Thanks." and it was nice to be praised by a member of the Protectorate, but it seemed like they were focusing on the wrong aspects of all this stuff. I mean, I suppose when Alexandria is one of the most effective members of the Protectorate, it was easy enough to say "Strong, fast, flies, A+", and leave it. I personally thought they'd be most interested in my shape-shifting. Their weren't too many in the Protectorate that I knew about, at least none as protean as me. I thought they'd find my water sensing more important as well, but upon hearing the range I decided to limit myself to, they wrote it off as 'a minor thinker power to get around her blindness'. I suppose I'd just have to show them in the field. But for now... "Do you want to see me go really fast?"

"The instructions were for you to run as fast as possible." a scientist said, with only a little irritation, "If you can move faster then-"

"Well, the legs are holding me back." I answered, "They're really complicated. But if you want to know how fast I can move on the land, I can show you."

"Well that is the reason for all this." Battery said, amused, "Go ahead."

"Are the treadmills insured?"

"Velocity was tested on these, if you break them, it'll be worth it just to see it." she said.

Okay then... ah, I was already presenting myself as a speedster underwater, and I can move the water this fast with my hydrokinesis, so why not?

I have the double become a cylinder, with a bumpy enough surface that it won't just frictionlessly slide over the top of the treadmill. And then I spin.

"Whoo-" one of the scientists whistles, looking at the readings. I couldn't read them myself, but I was glad to have impressed them. "The Wards will have a full-blown speedster then."

"How fast was I?" I halt the motion of my double, and have it hover in my usual humanoid shape above the treadmill, while I let it slow down.

"About four hundred miles per hour." the man by the monitor said. "For comparison, Velocity usually moves at about seventy to three hundred miles per hour, though in controlled settings he's beaten your record there. We definitely have another speedster on hand."

"Is there anything else?"

"Do you think your shapeshifting could alter your results in any of our other tests?"

"Well, it wouldn't really change how strong I am or how much I could lift- though it could let me get a much better grip on things." I say, "I think I can lift just about as much while flying as I can while on the ground, and all my powers are more effective in the presence of additional water."

"How much water can you contain in your body?"

"I haven't tested it."

"Hm... estimate? If we feel its necessary we can go outside and have you draw as much as you can from the ocean."

What would be a good limit on this... a giant water Taylor rampaging through the city- God, frigging Eidolon, that image still feels a lot nicer than it should- would be amusing, but it might raise red flags. Maybe... "I think I can temporarily hold a couple tons, but its most comfortable with smaller amounts. I think I might lose a lot of cohesion and fine control the bigger I am as well." an emergency measure. If I need to be giant water Taylor to save a life, I'm not going to just let a random guy die. I just need to let them know it won't be a common occurrence, "When I was in the ocean, I felt really disoriented until I figured out how to make a small body and separate myself. After that I could go into the ocean without a problem, as long as I focused on myself."

"And what's the smallest amount of water you need to function?"

"I... don't know. Not a lot. Nearly nothing. I can't talk or move anything if it's only a tiny bit though. I think there might be a-" I nearly say core, and its only instinct really that prevents me from spitting it out. That thing- the important thing, in my gut. It feels like a core. "-focus point, that can move around in my water body, and I think all the water gathers to that point.

"Hmm."

"So, is there anything else?" Battery asked both me, my thoroughly impressed Dad, and the moderately impressed doctors.

"We've run her through most of the tests we can think of. If nobody has any other ideas?" a round of shaken heads, "Then I think we can finish up. Thank you for your time, Miss Hebert, Mister Hebert."

One of the doctors brought Battery a sheet, and she slowly read it, by the way her eyes were moving, and then signed off on it. The doctor took it, and then brought out a different sheet for Dad to look over. "So, when does Taylor join the Wards?" Dad asked.

"Fairly soon." Battery promised, "There's a lot of paperwork involved, and we'll need quite a bit of input from you."

"But she'll definitely be accepted, right?"

Battery smiles, "Of course, we even have Wards and Protectorate members meet up with underage Capes who haven't joined and offer. We're always willing to accept young Parahumans. You coming in ahead of time just means we have a chance to prepare better."

I don't exactly let out a sigh of relief, but it's still good to know that it'll be a sure thing, "And my transfer to Arcadia?" I ask. That might still be an issue.

Battery let out a small sigh, "I haven't been fully informed of all the details of your ordeal at Winslow, privacy and common decency, but I understand you might not trust the staff and faculty there. There are also identity issues. We'll be making all the preparations we can to move you into Arcadia as fast as we can. Alright?"

"That's good." I say, trying to sound grateful.

Dad nods, smiling wide and putting an arm around my double's shoulder, "What'd I tell you. Getting out of that craphole for good."

"Shouldn't have ever doubted you." I agree with a smile.

"If we push, we can probably get everything sorted by the end of the week, though we'll need to get you in touch with one of our PR people to discuss your identity as a Ward, and since a secret civilian identity would be difficult, your new identity as Taylor as well."

That was something I wasn't sure about, "Difficult is one word for it. Is there some kind of, tinker skin suit, or something you could put me in?"

"I... no, we don't have anything like that on hand, though if you think it's a necessity we could ask around. No, we were planning on having you attend classes and go out in public with your hero identity. But that's something we'll have you discuss with our PR and Youth Guard operatives. You have something of an unusual case. Most Capes who look so physically distinctive they can't hold a secret identity are Case 53's. Building a new identity already being part of the adapting process for them."

I nod, "Would... I still get to go out in public with Dad?"

"That'd be a choice to make between the two of you." Battery said, "There are dangers involved in being related to a Cape with a known identity- kidnappings of the family of Capes are very rare, and punished heavily even by other villains within the Cape community, but it could still happen." Dad squeezes my double harder, and I have to be careful with the surface tension now, and Battery notices his sudden protectiveness, "However, as your daughter is a Ward, it's unlikely. Villains tend to not escalate as far when dealing with Wards than when dealing with Protectorate."

"Well... what do you think Taylor?"

"I'd obviously like it if we could still do things together in public." I said, "Would it affect your job if people knew I was your daughter?"

"Don't worry about that." Dad said, "I think... we should probably look into how often stuff happens to Cape family members before we decide. I definitely don't want to get kidnapped, and even more than that, I don't want to put you through something like that."

"Okay."

Battery smiles, "Well then, if everything's settled for now, I'll see you out. Thank you for being so patient with all the tests, Taylor... tell me, have you thought about a hero name yet?" she leaned in close, and put on a mock-conspiratorial voice, "Just between you and me, it's best to pick something you like first, and to get it known and in the system, or the PR guys will try and stick you with something dumb." she said as we walked towards the elevators.

"I haven't really given it much thought." I said honestly, "I mean, it'd have to be water themed, but I'd be okay with just about anything."

"Well, if you're sure."


"I'll look for something suitable when we get home." I say.

"Good." she said, "I'll be seeing you Taylor, I hope the Wards treat you well."

"Thank you Battery."

"Thank you." Dad repeats.

"How about... Pool?" he offers. We had since gotten back into the car, and were heading through the city, aiming for home.

"Ugh, no, PHO would have a field day with that one. Just get rid of the L."

"Fine, fine. Hydrate? Hydration? Aqua? Ocean? Fountain?"

"Better, I guess." I said, "Though I'd be surprised if none of those were taken. And Hydrate kind of implies people would be drinking me, right?"

"Mm." he agrees, thinking, "How about something big- like Neptune. I could imagine someone named Neptune fighting side-by-side with the Triumvirate."

"The Triumvirate? Dad, I'm not even a Ward yet." I say playfully. Though... "I do like the sound of it though. Something mythological and powerful. And water related. Maybe a bit more feminine though?" Too bad Leviathan was taken.

"Feminine, feminine. Feminine water god thing... let's see, Annette used to love mythology, I should know this... Nymph? Naiad? Nimue?"

"All N-names?"

"Hey, it's just how it worked out, I think." he said, stopping at a red light, "Okay, not the letter N." he said, it was almost a game, by now. "Styx maybe? Siren?"

"Were there any mythological creatures that were made of water?" I ask.

"Well, there's a water elemental woman... thing, I think was called Undine. I think it had something to do with alchemy though, rather than mythology." he said.

"Huh." I said, before trying to focus on a weird sound. Music? Or engines or something- "Dad do you hear something?"

"Maybe someone has their radio set really loud." To our left, down the road, there's a large amount of honking all of a sudden. And- a crash. More crashes. What the hell? "Dad I think there's something coming up the road."

The light turned green.

Dad pushed down the gas and we moved forward, "What do you mean, something coming up the ro-" he was interrupted by me splashing over him, and trying to form a bubble as our car was flipped over by a speeding giant clunky armored car with a fucking giant drill on it.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Why would anyone try to kill Scion?

He was- well, basically the definition of pure good, wasn't he? I mean, there was a good chance he wasn't in his right mind, as he's only been recorded as speaking once, and spent months naked, and anyone who was doing the kind of work he was- seeing death and devastation on huge scales nearly 24/7 and still just... chug along, always trying to help.

He might not be mentally sound, but he was absolutely a force for good on the planet.

But most importantly, he was the best hope humanity had for beating back Endbringers. When Scion showed up, Endbringers would have a desperate last stand, and then retreat, 100% of the time.

I had no idea on how to respond at first, so I stared at her for a few seconds, trying to process it, before deciding there wasn't much more I could do without more information.

WHY KILL SCION?

Alexandria frowned, "...How likely are you to accept a form of payment to kill Scion, before I explain anything?"

EXPLAIN FIRST.

She sighed, "What about other threats? Besides Scion, would you be willing to aim for specific targets we suggest?"

Okay, this isn't going anywhere, I WANT AN EXPLANATION, ALEXANDRIA. I rise into the air, a pillar of water beneath my feet, until I'm once more towering over her. SCION HAS EARNED HIS RIGHT TO LIVE, FAR MORE THAN EIDOLON HAS, MORE THAN YOU, MORE THAN LEGEND. EXPLAIN. FIRST.

She looks nervous, backing up in the air, wary of my proximity to her. Her face is hidden by her helmet, but I can feel the water in her eyes jerking back and forth, as she nervously keeps tabs on each of my limbs.

"...Can I ask what you know about the situation already?" she asked.

Shit. Is she calling my bluff? Do I even need a bluff? I'm Leviathan, I won't get less dangerous if she knows I don't remember certain things... but if she knows that I don't remember something she thinks I might remember, she'll think she can trick me by being dishonest. There has to be some reason for her not willing to divulge why she wants Scion dead.

Does she think that if I knew why she wanted him dead, why this 'Cauldron' wants him dead, I wouldn't want to hurt him?

That Leviathan wouldn't want to hurt him?

Based on what they think Leviathan wants... does this mean that they think that Endbringers in general want Scion alive- because why would they? He's their opponent.

Or do they think that me in particular; a fight-loving, duel-challenging, worthy opponent-sparing Leviathan would want Scion alive.

If the answer is the second, then I wouldn't have a reason to hurt Scion.

If the answer is the first, I need more information.

WHAT SITUATION?

"What do you know about Scion?"

Ergh.

I TIRE OF DIVERSIONS, ALEXANDRIA. I swish around my clawed hand, and even more water rushes up to join my column, more and more, until there's practically a football field of burbling water beneath us. THERE IS SOMETHING I DO NOT KNOW OF SCION? SOMETHING THAT WOULD PERSUADE ME NOT TO KILL HIM?

She backs off, just enough so that I'm not looming over her. "...Door." the portal behind her opens- andnoyoudon't! With a burst of speed, my hand wraps around her, holding tight, pinning her arms back so she can't pry it open. The 'Door' closes behind her. I barely get a glimpse inside, but it was simply a nondescript room.

EXPLANATIONS. NOW.

The words are tiny, but they're right in front of her, each letter about the size of her eye.

She struggled, trying to pry herself free, before she started flying straight up. It's bizarre, really. The feeling of something in your hand being suddenly pulled upward with such force, without anything visible doing the pulling. I activate my water echo, just enough to create a trickle, and lock my arm in place with hydrokinesis, on top of my regular strength. She's generating so much pull upwards, that my body would have been lifted up with her, if I wasn't holding myself where I was.

Satisfied she can't escape, I decide to try and get my information. This was huge, and she was hiding something from me. Granted, I'm an Endbringer, and there's a good chance, in her mind, that anything she tells me will definitely be used for evil. I need to appear reasonable.

Damn it Taylor.

I need to be reasonable. Alexandria is part of the Triumvirate. She's not evil... And Eidolon would never order me to attack a city... and an organization willing to hire an Endbringer to kill the greatest hero of all isn't evil...

Shit.

ALEXANDRIA, SCION. EXPLAIN. THEN I WILL FREE YOU.
THEN WE CAN DISCUSS TERMS.
EVEN IF YOU DO NOT SATISFY ME IN REGARDS TO SCION
YOU MENTIONED OTHER THREATS?

Maybe it's not evil. I can be optimistic, sometimes. I can at the very least give my childhood idol a chance to explain herself. Maybe Scion is secretly evil? Crap. Would I rather live in a world where Scion is secretly evil or Alexandria is secretly evil?

She stops struggling. "Contessa? Anything?" she whispers, almost sub-vocalizes.

There's- hmm, not enough water in her helmet for me to hear the reply through the earpiece. The water inside her head is too diluted with other junk to really make for an accurate listening experience either.

"...Other threats, would include your fellow Endbringers, if you're willing, and some Parahuman groups. S-Class and A-Class threats. Including ones not known to the public. Certain ones anyway."

SUCH AS?

"In particular? We don't know yet. Most active A and S-Class threats are ones that we're able to function around, and who might prove invaluable in the future. If they prove that they can't be used for the benefit of humanity, that might change... if you're willing to capture foes rather than outright kill them- I'm not sure how you judge someone to have 'earned' their life in your eyes- that would be extremely beneficial."

That... that was more something I could agree with. I'm a little bit nervous about that 'invaluable' thing, but I can understand why they might think that. If monsters like Mannequin or Nilbog could have their powers be directed towards helping improve life for people on Earth rather than just killing people, it'd be wonderful. If there was a way to force them to stop squandering their abilities, that is. Maybe some kind of mind control? I can't remember at the moment whether that actually exists.

THAT SOUNDS INTERESTING I admit. HOW ARE YOU PLANNING ON CONTROLLING THEM?

She's quiet, "...We have methods."

Fine, be that way. I WOULD REMIND YOU, THAT I AM NOT LETTING GO UNTIL YOU EXPLAIN WHY SCION MUST DIE.

She's quiet again, and it occurs to me that she might- hmm. The communicator in her helmet is so quiet that I can just barely tell that anyone's even speaking with her. I push her under the surface of the great water column I created. Only for a few seconds, before pulling her back out. I am not torturing Alexandria... but she can think I might. It also gets enough water into her helmet that I can hear-

"-ay calm, okay. Still nothing in regards to Leviathan, but mention the compensation. Just a hunch, this time. Forget the Scion angle for now. We can bring it up again in more controlled conditions, he's showing interest in the other work. Bring up compensation." a female voice is saying quietly through the other end of the line.

"That won't help me get out of his fucking hand Contessa."

"Just trust me, if we need to, we'll get Eidolon over there. Doormaker is ready in less than a moment's notice. We'll just have to give him a good shock, and you'll be free."

"And if he drowns me?"

"It won't come to that. Compensation. Come on Alexandria, this would be worth the risk."

"Leviathan." She says, at full volume, "I'd like to remind you that Cauldron has significant resources. There's very little that we can't pay. I understand money would hold no interest to you, but there must be something. You've told us of an interest in fighting a wide variety of opponents. We could provide that for you. Any kind of ability you want to face off against. As well as almost any number of opponents, within reason."

I WANT EXPLANATIONS.
SCION.
CAULDRON.
WHATEVER "SITUATION" I SHOULD BE AWARE OF.
TELL ME.
NOW.

Come on, just go for it.

"Contessa-" I take hold of the helmet with my other hand, and rip it from her suit. She's not injured by having the helmet pulled off, but I'm forced to take an even stronger grip on my own body, and her, with my water as she tries even more desperately to fly from me. "You can't ally with him, understand?" she cries, "He needs to be taken down. He represents the greatest threat to humanity. You said you were bored with the mindless destruction, correct? That you want worthy opponents. You don't want humanity to go extinct. Scion could make that happen. Will, if we can't kill him first. He's not a hero, he's just pretending. He's- he's something more alien, more disturbing, more murderous than you." she's seething now.

Fuck.

What?

I mean, what?!

How do I even react to that.

MORE DETAIL. But I'm not sure I want more.

"No, you let me go, and then we can negotiate further."

EXPLAIN CAULDRON, EXPLAIN THE SITUATION.

"Cauldron exists to stop Scion. We saved the world from his kind before, and we will again. We'll have to." she says, sighing, "And that's all I'll explain, unless you prove that we can trust you, and that you can aid us."

"Hey Taylor."

"Hey."

"Did you sleep well?" Dad asked, walking into the living room where my double was sitting on the couch, listening to the TV at low volume.

"Of course." the double replied.

I'm not tired. Just... stressed? Anxious? Confused? In the end, I released Alexandria, and watched as she disappeared. With the message that if Cauldron needed me for something... they were free to at least ask. I said it in a more menacing way though. I can't help but feel I made a mistake, but I'm not sure whether the mistake was not taking their offer of giving aid against S-Class threats, or if it was letting Alexandria go before she gave me something more concrete.

I don't know enough to judge what they told me about Scion, and there's no way I can double-check with anyone. If I asked him, I'd probably just get my ass kicked as Leviathan, and ignored as Undine. He doesn't talk. And even if he were willing to talk, what could he do? Cross his heart and say "I'm not here to make mankind extinct"? What would make Scion's word more reliable than Alexandria's?

"Have you given any more thought to the secret identity?" Dad asked.

"Could we sit on that for a while? I mean, it would affect you more than me."

"But it's your decision. I'm not going to make you give up on your name just because it'd be inconvenient. Besides, I want to be able to go out in public with you sometimes."

I had the double smile at him- no wince, so I'm getting better. Either that, or he's gotten used to it, "Well, it's not like we have to make a decision on it right now."

"Well..." Dad trailed off, "I was just thinking."

I was surprised, honestly. He was right, in that we haven't been doing much socialization lately. Not to mention it might push the entire Cauldron and Scion business out of my mind. "Are you... absolutely sure you want to be known publicly as-"

"Your Dad? Of course." he said with a grin.

I didn't have the double sigh, I still wasn't good at that, but I could make its shoulders rise and fall in a huff, "I just think we should be more serious about this. We can't ever take it back if we do."

"Maybe I could wear a mask?" Dad said, and I wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

"If we went anywhere with you masked, and me being me, they'd assume they were about to be robbed." I say, thinking, "Well, either way. I think I'd rather get a start on the day before we decide anything big. Get some breakfast in you."

"I am hungry." he said thoughtfully, heading to the kitchen.

I ended up going back to listening to the TV, when Dad came back in, excitedly holding the paper. "Taylor, you made the news."

"What?"

"Well, you did stop a robbery, and captured two supervillains by yourself." he said, sounding proud. "They even have your hero name. Undine."

"Is the picture any good?"

"It's one of you carrying the tinker car and the two of them back towards the intersection to pick me up."

"Does it... say anything? About afterwards? Why I had you on my back?"

"Hm... 'According to witnesses Undine then returned to the intersection, a restrained Uber, Leet, and the destroyed remains of their escape vehicle in hand, to check on the victim of the worst car crash. The victim, who was unharmed thanks to Undine's efforts, has chosen to remain anonymous according to the PRT.'"

"Well, it was nice for them not to tell anybody."

"It's not on the front page, Uber and Leet tend to be small time, but they gave it some space to talk about 'Brockton Bay's newest young heroine'." He smiled, "It's not much, but it's all good. It should be something you can talk about with the other Wards, at least."

Fuck, the Wards. The Protectorate. How long would it be before I work with Alexandria or Eidolon again? I mean, they're both big-shots who live on the other side of the country, but it's bound to happen eventually. All the Protectorate heroes meet the Triumvirate. It's practically a perk of the job. Would Eidolon be able to affect me through my double? Could I stand to work alongside Alexandria before I have this Cauldron business sorted out? That is if it even can be sorted out?

I keep the dip in my mood out of the double's expression easily enough, "I bet they all have better stories than I do. Most of them have been doing this for a while, haven't they?"

"A good long time, some of them." Dad said, returning to the kitchen to set the paper down.

That night, I debated whether I should try and surface, talk with Alexandria some more, or if I should hide at the bottom of the sea.

Spending a little time thinking about it all, I've decided that this is just about the biggest problem in my life currently, and possibly ever. There are very, very few things that are still dangerous to me, and this involves all of them. The other Endbringers, Scion, Eidolon, and the possibility of fighting other S-Class threats.

Getting more information is key, but unfortunately the only source I know is Alexandria. If I tried to look around for Cauldron as Leviathan it would be nearly impossible, who would talk to me? If I did as Undine, it would be extremely suspicious, after all, Alexandria will essentially be my boss. If it gets around I'm looking into her probably evil organization, she might try to take me out.

Not that Alexandria herself is a threat.

But a possibly evil shadow organization is exactly the kind of thing that would use my Dad against me. If they're using portals, and I can't figure out a way to get to him, they could hold him hostage against me as Undine pretty easily. I'd say it would be the best reason to keep my identity a secret, but the Protectorate already know who my Dad is.

I created a better mining tool, a conveyor belt the size of a highway, the belt dotted with shovels. The water construct was massive, and had a few moving parts, but ultimately it was less complex than my double's face. It tore up the seafloor like a warm chainsaw through butter, but after less than an hour of tweaking it, I got bored watching the mud cloud.

I spent the rest of the night working on shaping my mountain- crushing, lifting, trying to build some kind of structure out of my mound of wet rubble.

I popped my head out a few times, but Alexandria never appeared again, nor anyone else.

The nights continued like that for a time.

Chapter Text

In the end, we decided to go with the path of least risk, and least resistance. It's not like we went off together often anyway. And who knows? Maybe we would be able to figure something out eventually. I kept my secret identity.

The first meeting with the Wards went... okay. Kind of awkward, actually. I'm not sure what I was expecting- I wasn't a big Cape Fan, not more than any average joe off the street. I thought superheroes were cool, and seeing them occasionally running down the street chasing a criminal was exciting when I was human, now that I was only able to see them through water sensing, they felt like any other kid. Just with bulkier clothing.

I wouldn't say I hit it off with the group, but it wasn't so bad. Vista was glad that another girl was on the team to replace Shadow Stalker- Who was apparently transferred to another town unexpectedly. I guess Vista had been feeling the absence. I'm not especially good with kids, but she was the most sociable, except for Clockblocker, who was just as crude and talkative as in the few interviews I've caught. None of them tried to torment me, though, so the Wards were already looking better than the entirety of Winslow.

My ultimate conclusion: I could work with them, I guess.

But I've been thinking harder about the entire issue. Knowing that two thirds of the Triumvirate shouldn't be trusted has ruined a lot of the faith I had in the Protectorate program. I can't exactly see a better avenue to take as opposed to being part of the Wards, not if I want to keep a semblance of a regular life.

That night, when I open my real eyes and stretch my real body- whether it needs it or not, I just like the sensation -I look upon my handiwork.

The island was practically complete. It was boring, repetitive, dirty work, and I'm quite satisfied with how it turned out. All it needed now was a way to make it presentable. The actual space isn't much- the top of the island only about the size of a soccer field, but it'll be enough to toss around on, I think.

I have a feeling that I'll only get one or two actual fights out of this before my hard work is obliterated.

I climb to the top, and for the first time in days, I am above the surface of the water, looking out at the sea from above rather than below.

The first few times, the Triumvirate arrived only a few minutes after I surfaced, but I got rough with Alexandria. They may be more cautious this time around. A swish of my tail ripped mud from the ground, water filling it at the same time. I shaped the mud into the frame of a chair, and I sat down, crossing my arms and staring out at the sky.

God, I feel like I look like a douche.

I didn't have to wait for long. Less than fifteen minutes passed, before the Triumvirate had shown themselves once more, the three flying in from the distance. Legend's constant light-show clearly marked who they were.

EIDOLON, ALEXANDRIA

GET OUT OF HERE

Both the heroes froze in place upon seeing my water words, and I began to feel the horrible tingling sensation of dissatisfaction on Eidolon's part. He was still trying to mind control me? Really? Luckily, either he was getting less pushy, or I was getting better at resisting him. I barely felt any inclination to murder thousands at all.

"Legend-"

"Don't worry Alexandria." Legend replied, "Eidolon made it one-on-one. I'm sure I can put up a good showing."

"I am stronger than you, you know." Eidolon commented, "And the last time, Leviathan said that he wanted to fight a greater array of Capes- he's already faced a mover/blaster combination the last time. For all we know, he just wants you out of the way."

Legend frowned, and looked at Alexandria, "Why do you suppose he doesn't want you to come closer?"

YOU HAVEN'T SPOKEN ABOUT OUR TALK THEN?

All three heroes seemed to flinch at that, and Legend looked at Alexandria in confusion, "You tried to recruit him?"

"If we could get the Endbringers to fight-"

"What happened to not discussing Cauldron on Earth Bet?" he hissed, quietly.

"If we could have taken the Endbringers to another Earth, it would have been so much easier, wouldn't it? You know how Doors react to that much energy." she hissed back just as quietly.

"That was a huge risk, why didn't you discuss it with the others?"

"We did." Eidolon said quietly.

"And not me?"

"You were unavailable, and we didn't know the next time Leviathan would surface." Eidolon said, "Besides, establishing contact was important in a low-risk situation. Of the three of us, Alexandria is the least threat to Leviathan."

I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THE DEAL.

Alexandria looks to Legend, "Legend, I want you to talk to Contessa."

"What deal? What did we offer?" he hissed, "You can't leave me uninformed like this."

"Let her explain it." Alexandria said, "Eidolon and I have already... spoken... with Leviathan, we'll be the best at negotiating with him."

WELL THAT'S TOO BAD.
I ALREADY SAID
EIDOLON ALEXANDRIA, GET OUT OF HERE
NOW

"Leviathan." Eidolon calls, and I'm getting more irritation and frustration, from him, and why won't it just- ARGH! Okay, fuck Eidolon. I increase the pressure on my water echo, and use the water to lift myself, launch myself, towards the three of them.

NOW

The water word forms in front of me, each letter having a larger volume than the three of them put together. With a thought, the word flies forward like a meteor, and all three of the Triumvirate react, trying to break off direction, Legend's blasts are already peppering my side, boiling away some of the water keeping me aloft, but it's easily patched with the constant stream of it my water echo produces.

I send my NOW for Eidolon, and the effect that's keeping him afloat seemingly increases, his cape writhing as he increases his speed and maneuverability. But I am faster. I might be the fastest.

The water hits him, and immediately encases him. From the outside, it's a simple globe, but on the inside, it's practically a fabric, coating him, tying him to the edges of the sphere, restricting his movements and his breathing, as I send water pouring down his mouth and nose. Despite his situation, the... psychic feedback or whatever it was from him fades with a sense of satisfaction.

Alexandria tries to tackle me in mid-air as I focus on Eidolon, but I dart my hand out and catch her leg. It's like she's made of diamond, honestly. She doesn't bend, and she doesn't break, but I can keep her still. I begin coating her with water as well.

Interesting. She needs to breathe too. She struggles against my bonds, but I can tell she's panicking. Her flight pulling her and me upwards is a powerful force, but I'm able to more-or-less cancel it out by forcing the water coating us both to remain in place. It's the most stress my hydrokinesis has had to resist so far, and it's actually holding up fairly well.

BOTH OF YOU GO. LEGEND STAYS. I WANT MY FIGHT. I ALREADY FOUGHT BOTH OF YOU.

IF YOU NEED AN ANSWER, IF THERE'S SOMEONE YOU WANT BEATEN

SOMEONE SO STRONG THE TRIUMVIRATE CAN'T FIGHT THEM?

I WOULD APPRECIATE THE CHALLENGE.

With a toss, Alexandria is free of my hand, and I release the hold of my hydrokinesis on her. She's unable to stop the force of her panicking flight quite so easily, and her body goes careening off into the distance. She's a speck a moment later, but I can already tell she's regained her control. I release Eidolon soon after, flinging him into the distance. I'm sure both are coughing like hell right now, but both are more-or-less uninjured.

I look to Legend, and he's hesitating. He's the only one of the triumvirate without a face-plate, and thus also the easiest to read. He looks at where I am, and he grows slightly more nervous by the second. This... is the first time they've seen me- seen Leviathan, outright fly, huh? I begin to lower myself to my island, and create the words FIGHT ME.

"What happens if I don't?" he shouts.

I... don't want to bully him. Of the three triumvirate, he seems the least assholish. He hasn't tried mind-whammying me, and while it's pretty clear he's in on the entire 'murder Scion' conspiracy Alexandria was running, but at the same time, it's clear he hasn't been briefed on everything. I don't know. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt, I guess. THEN YOU'RE FREE TO LEAVE. BUT I EXPECT AN OPPONENT NEXT TIME. OR ELSE I MAY START TO BECOME BORED.

"What would a 'challenge' actually entail? You mentioned the last time that you wanted to fight 'all kinds of people'. Weak, strong, fast, smart... there's not much that a- thinker, for instance, could do to you. What would you get out of it?"

SOMETHING INTERESTING

Legend looks at me, and frowns, deep in thought. "Would you... be willing to play a game?"

What?

WHAT?

"I don't know- something like chess? I'm not good, actually, if there's anyone you wouldn't want to play it's Alexandria, but would you except that kind of challenge?"

I ACCEPT ALL CHALLENGES.

"Hm. When is 'next time' by the way?"

WHEN IT SUITS MY FANCY. YOU ARE WATCHING ME ANYWAYS. YOU'LL KNOW. PERHAPS TOMORROW, PERHAPS LATER.

"I'll keep that in mind... Leviathan, could you-" he stops, glaring down at me, "Never mind. We'll have someone to meet your next challenge. There won't be any need to go attacking cities."

I DO NOT ATTACK CITIES ANY LONGER. IT HAS BEEN DONE.

"Not... at all?"

I HAVE GROWN BORED OF IT. I DESIRE NEW CHALLENGES. FROM NOW ON, I WILL THINK BIGGER, OR SMALLER. BESIDES, I KNOW NOW WHAT YOU TRIUMVIRATE TRULY FEAR. I HAVE BEEN TOLD OF CAULDRON. IF THERE IS ANYTHING I WISH OF YOU, I CAN SIMPLY REVEAL WHAT I KNOW.

I swear, his heart nearly stops. The words are blasted into steam less than a second after they finish taking form. The light emanating from his fist still glowing strong, "You have no idea what you'd be risking. What we're doing- it's for the net benefit of humankind."

YOU'RE ENTIRE ORGANIZATION IS PARANOID

Legend frowns, "You'll get your challenge, the next time you surface."

GOOD.

Legend is gone the next moment, a flash of light streaming across the horizon.

I step away from my island, and let myself sink for the night. I decide to spend the next few hours reinforcing the island, widening the arena itself. When dawn cracks, I curl up on the seabed, and reach out to Brockton Bay, forming Undine, which is easier to think than 'water double', and beginning my morning schedule.

When Dad wakes up, I ask him if he knows how to play chess.

Chapter Text

"What's wrong?" Legend asked.

"Leviathan used the wrong 'your'." Alexandria said, horrified, as they watched the recording of their meeting together.

"So?"

"I mean- it raises so many questions, doesn't it? This is huge."

"It's just a minor typo, isn't it?"

"No, you don't understand. We didn't know if Leviathan understood language at all for the longest time, and now he's writing messages in English of all languages. This could be the secret to the Endbringer's origins! If the Endbringers were intelligently designed- and they likely were, then it's likely that they were simply programmed with any number of languages- Leviathan has responded to taunts in the past, even before all this strange new behavior."

"Makes sense."

"But if that were the case, it wouldn't make a mistake like this, in this way. A computer wouldn't make a typo. Leviathan learned English. How?"

"He- I guess he's attacked english-speaking countries more than once. And he could hear our whispers. For all we know-"

"That's verbal. And even so, screams of horror, even from thousands of people at once, wouldn't be enough education to learn an entire language by. Somehow, Leviathan learned to read, and write. Enough so that he can do so naturally, in only a few seconds with his hydrokinesis. And that writing his messages with water is mostly instinctive- it only takes him a few moments, and he can make typos. It's more like typing than drawing, he can put the words out so fast he doesn't realize his mistake..."

"Alexandria, I'm more personally worried that Leviathan has learned how to fucking fly, rather than why he used the wrong 'your'." Legend sighed, "Unless you think you're onto something major here."

"Who would teach an Endbringer how to read and write? How did it learn? Why would it learn? Ever since Leviathan's bloody debut, he's been underwater for almost 100% of the time. This could be the secret to the Endbringer's designer or controller."

"All he did was use the wrong your! Leviathan can fly now, and also told me that he would be willing to play chess! How is that not more important at the moment?!"

"Chess! Of course, who would bother teaching a death machine how to play Chess? Perhaps..."

"Look, I'm going home. I need a drink... do the computers in the building happen to have an online chess game pre-loaded or anything?"

"We're not going to make you play chess with Leviathan Legend."

"Why not? It's less dangerous than fighting him. Especially because, you know, he can fucking fly now."

"What if you lose?" Legend blinked.

"Uh..."

"He'd squash you. Now, I want you to ask yourself. If you failed badly at chess, or if you held out in a real battle- something you've done dozens of times against Leviathan already... which one is more likely to let Leviathan consider you 'worthy of living' like he told Eidolon?"

Legend sighed, "Damn it."

"We'll get a thinker to do it. If need be, Number Man could direct someone via remote viewing."

"Not Contessa? She'd be amazing at chess."

"Without Path to Victory? It doesn't affect the Endbringers."

"But- it's just chess."

"Legend, believe me. We've had matches where she's promised not to use Path to Victory. She's shit at chess without it."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, but don't tell her I said that."