The Wards watched in fear as the Siberian pulled out the last of the civilians out of the wall. Vantage, the leader, had almost said something, but his words were lost in a terrified gasp as the Siberian glared at the boy to shut him up.As we exited Labyrinth's domain all of my sensors came back online. I quickly checked all of the victims for possible signs of Bonesaw's work, but aside from dizziness due to the hallucinogenic fumes it seemed that everyone was fine.I reconnected to the communication channel."Dragon. Come in.""No signs of Bonesaw or the other members of the Nine- except for a number of reports of the Siberian near your position.""I'll deal with her. The dogs?""We're herding them to the coast to limit damage."I looked towards the coast, where already I could see clouds of sand and dust rise as the battle continued. In the sky, multiple figures floated above. Heroes. I spotted Alexandria."I kept my word," I said to the Siberian, "now, get lost."The projection smiled as it popped out of existence, no sound or fanfare.Labyrinth's domain behind me started to disappear, turning back into the shelter structure. I quickly understood what that meant."Dragon! Tell the ground units to back away!"I leapt in the sky and immediately shot towards the coast. Already the world around the battlefield was changing. Sand turned into grass, tall structures of bone grew out of the ground, taking the shape of an enormous ribcage.The pack of dogs rapidly ran inside the changing reality. Space bent and stretched as heroes on the ground desperately tried to outrun the expanding domain.I landed with the full force of Cariddi's power, the shockwave sending dogs and heroes flying back. Shatterbird's power took hold of the sand all around me, creating solid tendrils that wrapped around the fleeing heroes and launched them backwards, towards the city.The pack of dogs quickly recovered and jumped into action, charging towards me.From the sky, the Uther shot out a net of nanothorn that surrounded two of the large canines, turning them to dust.I unsheathed my own sword and lunged for a third, piercing the chest and stabbing at the dog I knew was underneath the layers of flesh.To my surprise the monster continued to move.The modification is to the base dog, not only what Rachel enhances I realized.Overloading the nanothorn generator in my body and connecting it to the katana, the edge of the blade became a swirling mist of destruction. The whole body of the creature was reduced to red mist in a single swing of my blade.Another of the dogs hit me with its spiky tail, shoving me backwards. Just enough to push me out of the domain as well, as I landed on the sand.The Siberian suddenly appeared at the center of the pack of dogs, hand clutching 'the air'. Her feral smile was directed towards me. She tightened her clawed hand, creating a ripple of cracks all around her that seemed to overlap with the warping reality. Where those cracks brushed against the monsters or heroes, deep cuts appeared over their bodies.Labyrinth's power seemed to interact strangely with the Siberian's presence, beginning to quite literally 'fold' upon itself. As though a heavy weight was placed at the center of a sheet of paper.I shot ahead to try and find my way inside, but the collapse was too fast.Before I could get back inside, like a crunching piece of paper, Labyrinth's domain collapsed onto itself. I only managed to shove my arm inside the domain before it fully disappeared.My arm was sheared off. Cleanly, and without resistance. Not even Cariddi's power provided any defenses against the collapsing reality.A large section of the coast disappeared with it.Together with the tens of heroes and PRT officers who had not escaped in time.
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Even as the Nine left the city, the battle was far from over. Bonesaw's plague continued to ravage Los Angeles. The swarm of plague-carrying bugs self-detonated the moment Weaver got control of a majority of them.But the mutated humans themselves could spread the disease.It acted at unnatural speed. Once infected, layers of muscle and bone would explode out of the victim, enveloping their body and turning them into a four-legged monster, covered in bloodied flesh and snapping maws that bit at the air.Then Rachel's power reached them.Their already menacing body would turn a dark-gray as more layers stacked on top of the inhuman mass, becoming a hulking monstrosity the size of a PRT van. From that point, the original victim became lost: Bonesaw's plague acted as a regeneration factor, and Rachel's power could not be interacted with by any of the many healing or biokinetic powers at our disposal.Worse still, were the times when a parahuman was infected…
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The temperature in the street was freezing. I felt snow crackle underneath my steps as I walked through it.Pillars of ice were strewn all around. Frozen corpses locked inside. Civilians trying to escape, heroes trying to help.At the far end of the street was a floating abomination. Her gray canine body, enhanced by Rachel, was further covered by a layer of frozen armor. She floated just above the ground, to allow her more freedom of movement if necessary. Around her orbited ice fractals. Projectiles, ready to fire and trap any unfortunate victim in a prison of ice.The monster growled through unnatural teeth as she noticed me.Just a day prior, this monster had been Rime. The second in command of the LA Protectorate. Her power had allowed her to keep the monsters at bay for a long while, saving hundreds of civilians. But a moment of distraction allowed one of the infected civilians to make contact.Now all that remained of the hero was a rampaging monster, one that freely used Rime's powers. There was no rescuing her. Rachel's power combined with Bonesaw's plague meant that we had no way to non-lethally neutralize her.As I took another step forward, a projectile of ice struck my shoulder dead on, expanding and trapping me inside a glacier the size of a building. Cariddi's power immediately activated, jets of water slicing through the ice and weakening the prison enough for me to shatter it by strength alone, freeing myself in one swift motion.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!The monster that had once been Rime roared in agony and fury as she created more ice fractals all around. The nanothorns in my blade struggled against the low temperatures around me, and failed to fully activate.That was fine. I was acting as bait.Rime shot a volley of projectiles towards me, and this time I moved to dodge each and every one. One grazed the side of my leg, turning into a block of ice that slowed me down just enough for another of the projectiles to hit me dead on.But as the monster was too distracted with firing her power at me, she did not notice the diving silhouette from above.Alexandria landed on Rime's back with her full force, sending a shockwave rippling through the street. Ice and concrete cracked all the same. She grabbed the monster by the neck and locked her in a tight grip.Then, Alexandria pressed a button on her belt.Blue fire erupted in a loud explosion all around, enveloping the two of them and raining destruction upon the remains of the street.When the smoke cleared, in the center of the crater, only a naked Alexandria stood. There was no trace left of Rime.Alexandria's expression was emotionless. Her empty eyesocket a dark spot. But even the unbreakable hero could not fully contain her emotions at such an act.Rime had once been her Ward. Alexandria had trained the promising hero herself, trained her to take on the role of leadership among the Los Angeles Protectorate.Her body language betrayed her fury.She glanced upwards, towards me, expression still lacking any emotion."Who's next?" Alexandria asked.
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It took a full day to fully evacuate the city, or at least what remained of it.It would take much more time to fully count the casualties. Already the forums online were filled with broken families desperately looking for missing relatives.Alexandria stood silent as she watched Eidolon and other parahumans create walls to isolate the worst of the city.A new quarantine zone was being formed.I couldn't begin to imagine what was going through the invincible hero's mind. She was intimately familiar with most of the parahuman casualties. Aside from her Wards, that I had rescued, most of the LA Protectorate had been compromised. Either transformed into a monster by Bonesaw's plague, or lost to Labyrinth's domain.The PRT and heroes worked silently as walls of white concrete rose from the ground and were reinforced by the ground crew. Dragon installed mechanical turrets on top of the walls, equipped with containment foam.Behind me, officials discussed the new protocols required to monitor the quarantine zone. Director Tagg had personally flown in to take direct control of the situation.Just like that, Los Angeles was lost.
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There was a grave silence in the room as the greatest heroes of the world met to discuss the situation.We were within the Cauldron's compound, off-world. One of Doormaker's portals by our side allowed Dragon to have access to the conversation.Me, Doctor Mother, Number Man, Eidolon, Legend, Alexandria and Arsenal."In total we have lost fifty-two parahumans. Fourteen were captured by Labyrinth's domain. Twenty were killed during the fighting. The remaining fell to Bonesaw's plague and had to be put down by Blackwall and Alexandria." Number Man explained."Labyrinth's power never had these applications…" Arsenal tried to make sense of what had just happened in Los Angeles. "The scope of it is beyond her already high Shaker 12 rating.""A second trigger event could have allowed her to improve her power," Number Man proposed, "or maybe Bonesaw did something to her.""You think she improved Labyrinth's powers?" Doctor Mother asked.At that point I interjected."No. I'm not sure of the specifics, but what happened is an interaction between Manton's power and Labyrinth's. One bends dimensions, making them fragile, while the other simply tears through them."Doctor Mother looked to the side, towards Number man, who nodded his head. William Manton was a smart man, and the foremost expert in parahuman science. Cauldron had carefully studied the interactions between dimensional powers in the past, and it was no surprise that Manton had found a way to make use of it now that he had access to such abilities."Who did we lose?" Legend asked."Every Los Angeles protectorate hero, and many heroes from out of town. Including my body double." Alexandria answered.An 'Alexandria package' that acted as Alexandria herself when she was needed in the role of Rebecca Costa-Brown. Which meant that the Nine now likely had access to more key intel. I would need to plan around that for the future."We need Toybox's dimensional tech. We cannot allow the Nine to attack us like that again." Eidolon said."We're not giving up Brockton Bay." I quickly countered.Doctor Mother sighed as she massaged the bridge of her nose, "I don't think Toybox would prove to be as useful as Eidolon thinks. And we do have another avenue. One we can now explore with our new allies."Her gaze lingered on Arsenal. And through him, Dragon. The Birdcage.I instantly understood what she was suggesting."No," Arsenal shook his head, "Teacher is too volatile, and his power too controlling. We're not sacrificing people to get an unknown advantage over the Nine.""I agree."We all turned as another voice joined the room, as another Doormaker's portal opened.Contessa."Toybox and Teacher are talking. Through the Dragonslayers."I could hear the metal in Arsenal's gauntlet groan as he tightened his fist."I've already sent the coordinates of their next meeting. They will show themselves to trade with Saint. It will be a brief exchange, in two days.""Then we'll take them down then. Anything else?" I asked.Arsenal took a step forward, "I think it's about time we increase the size of our inner circle. Myrridin, Chevalier and Miss Militia at least.""I'll deal with it." Contessa spoke up, putting an end to that question. "Anyone else?"I looked towards her and sent a list of names to her phone. She nodded towards me."Good. Then we prepare. Arsenal, Legend and I will hunt down Toybox. I wouldn't be surprised if the Nine or the Endbringers attack the moment we let down our guard. Panacea's parahuman production will start in full force tomorrow, starting with mass-teleporting parahumans."Weaver, Alexandria, I need you to be on standby to defend against the Elite. Eidolon, Dragon, you two go on the offensive. Attract the Elite away from Toybox."Let us start."