Chapter 32: Emergence

-Alexander POV-

“-And that’s why you should never hold bread above the water when there are fish around,” I finish explaining.

It had been nice, travelling with Renji once again. That first trip after Japan had also been good, but Renji was a little…awkward. Conversations had been stilted, with only myself to truly carry a conversation. And given that I was an introvert -to put it lightly- that didn’t go too well.

Now those same conversations flowed smoother. Renji engaged me in his own topics, and even hit back whenever I teased him.

I had just finished telling him of my Epic Lore TM (Actually just information about a vacation I went on once) when my alarm once more went off.

I frowned in confusion. “Renji, were we cooking something again?”

He looked around himself. “I don’t believe so, unless you’ve decided to try to surprise me with a cake again?”

I cough lightly, turning my head away.

I had never been all that good at baking, and becoming a giant with a quantum super computer for a brain hadn’t made me better. There was the temptation to utilise one of the three glowing orbs in the back of my head to obtain better cooking skills, but I refrained.

Partly because I was trying to be responsible, but mostly because I had no idea what Punk specialisation would help with that.

Alas, I would have to content myself with being amazing at cooking meat thanks to Bio-Punk.

“No, I haven’t tried to bake again Renji, I did promise I wouldn’t.”

Renji nodded his head at that, and then blinked in realisation as he looked up. “Could we already be at our destination? Is that the alarm that’s going off?”

I chuckle lightly at that. We hadn’t been down here that long.

“I doubt it’s that Renji. Let me see the alarm for that should be right-“ I pause as I use my matter manipulation to pull out a ringing alarm “-here?” The sentence ends awkwardly as I abruptly realise we were at our destination.

Had we really been down here that long?

I guess I must have been having too much fun to notice.

“Ah…well, it looks like you were right Renji!”

“Naturally, my liege.”

Renji you sassy bastard!

“Yeah yeah, get it out of your system. We’ll soon have work to do,” I say. My mind whirs to life plans for a new city stirring in my crystalline mind.

“Correction, my creator, you’ll have work to do. I will sit around contemplating crumpets.”

I laughed at that. Renji had really come a long way.

My gaze turns upwards, contemplating the country of my arrival.

India was actually surprisingly decent, for Earth Bet anyway. Oh, It had warlords constantly vying for more power and control but those were minor and currently contained by the Indian Government. Yes, India was going through a bit of authoritarian bent by using an underground group of capes known as the ‘Thanda’ to essentially act as a mix of black ops, secret police and intelligence agency but many freedoms had yet to be stripped away unlike some countries.

In other words India had weathered the arrival of parahumans surprisingly well.

It was still a shithole, but it was a liveable shithole.

With the exception of the city above my head, Hyderabad.

To those unfamiliar with the city, Hyderabad was the largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. Unlike most cities that come under the attention of Leviathan the city wasn’t coastal, and thus wasn’t considered to be a likely target for the Endbringer prior to 2001. Unfortunately for those within the city Hyderabad was situated near the Musi River, as well several artificial lakes.

Leviathan used those to it’s advantage, and by the time the world knew it was attacking the city it was far too late. Defenders arrived only to find a city already half drowned. By the time the Endbringer was fought off the damage was done, and the government of India chose to write off the entire city.

The only mercy, if it can even be called that, was that startlingly few civilians died during this attack, it was even cited as a miracle by many. Of course anyone who’s been paying attention should know that miracles never happen on Earth Bet, the dimension is allergic to them.

It was a trap. Obviously it was a trap.

But this was an entire year before the Simurgh emerged, people didn’t fully grasp just how intelligent the Endbringers could be. Many still don’t, choosing to see them as natural disasters instead.

The influx of people fleeing from the doomed city of Hyderabad was immense. It was a problem that no amount of aid programs or money could instantly solve, as this was a problem that required just as much logistics as it did resources. For a country that had just seen one of its most prosperous cities destroyed, all while still dealing with the many problems that existed before this?

It was just too much.

They tried, they really did. Government spending and charities funnelled money into the gaping black hole that was the current crisis. Foreign aid and expertise poured into the country only to find a problem that was just too big, too distressing.

The government that had presided over the issue was not elected again, many even blamed them for the tragedy in spite of their efforts. Desperate, the people turned to those who spoke the loudest - who spoke confidently and talked of radical change.

They began restricting freedoms in the name of security. They conscripted any parahuman they could find, and harshly cracked down on any sign of civil disobedience.

The displaced and angry people, many of whom were falling through the cracks despite the best efforts of the previous governments, were horrified. Thy had gone from respected citizens, to refugees and then to unwanted wretches in the span of a single year.

Many joined the gangs and warlords who cried out for revolution and change.

Some were genuine and meant well, there were many more who did not – only scheming for ever more power.

That was the current situation of the surface, and it all came back to Hyderabad.

“Welp, time to head out,” I say, idly using my power to disassemble the vehicle we had been riding on.

Totally didn’t do that to see Renji flounder in surprise.

Heh.

Ignoring the withering glare Renji shot my way I began to ascend. The rock of the walls ceiling churning above my head as my matter manipulation ate through it as if it were not even present. Renji floated idly along after me, weightless under the effects of my power.

The light from the miniature sun following us dimmed and fading as we ascended.

What would we find up there?

Hopefully not another horror story, because as much as I didn’t regret what I had done in China it certainly wasn’t good for my heart.

Well, my lack of a heart – given that I’m an Endbringer.

It shouldn’t come to that, though. According to all my research the city should be abandoned. So all this would require is a few privacy wards to be set up, and then I can get to work.

But what should be the aesthetic of the rebuilt Hyderabad?

Hmmm, honestly I’m thinking Atompunk! I couldn’t use it in Kyushu as the style didn’t fit, plus rebuilding a part of Japan using a style of technology that puts nuclear energy front and centre seemed a bit…culturally insensitive?

Or maybe it’s just me.

What I can say for certain is that it definitely wouldn’t have been appropriate to use in Jinzhou. Many of the former prisoners had wasted away next to that irradiated city, and by the time I had gotten to them most had developed various forms of cancer.

Thankfully Hyderabad wouldn’t have this issue.

It had been attacked by Leviathan and, to my knowledge, didn’t have a stigma against nuclear technology.

Yeah, that sounds nice. Let’s bring a bit of 60’s magic to the dreary city of Hyderabad!

Just as I thought this the soil above finally gave way to reveal the blue sky. I smiled as I observed the sunny day, thankful I could no longer be bothered by warmer temperatures. The city was just as I had imagined, the ground was submerged in a muddy brown water, deep enough to reach a normal humans knees.

The buildings were desiccated wrecks, overrun by mould and decay. It was a truly sorry sight, but behind all off that I could see the faded colours – the signs of what had once been a vibrant city full of life.

It would be once again, that I swore.

So, as my eyes wandered over the city full of decay, parahumans and water I-

Wait, hold up.

Parahumans?

Indeed, as I panned my sight back I could see them staring at me, some flying and others crouching atop buildings - all gaping at me.

…FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

-Alexandria POV-

“This is it!” The Tinker manning the sensors called out. “Target is rising and will breach in 5-“

Alexandria readied herself, minutely shifting her body in a way that would seem more threatening.

“4-”

The tinkertech EMP pulse generator was ready to go. If this group had any plans of using their technology to escape it would be activated, rendering them impotent.

“3-“

David was here now, having only arrived in the last five minutes to participate in what he had called ‘a waste of his time’. A sense of exasperated fondness flickered in her chest.

“2-“

Well, he wasn’t wrong. Even having one member of the Triumvirate was overkill.

“1-“

But this was too important. If she could she would have had Legend here as well. Alas, a member of their group needed to remain behind, some politicians got antsy at the thought of having none of the Triumvirate present within America for even a moment. Silly really.

“-NOW!!!”

The earth heaved and split open, sending dirt flying in every direction. It was surprisingly dramatic for a group that relied upon secrecy, but perhaps their successes had made them complacent. They wouldn’t be the first organisation to have been defeated by victory.

Alexandria’s mouth briefly opened, ready to belt out a call for surrender-

Then there was a wall of blue in front of her.

It was too large to be a person, was it some sort of construct? The shape of it…as well as the proportions were subtly off, and for a moment she couldn’t quite figure out what she was looking at.

Then she saw the hands, and as she craned her neck up she realised she was looking at a woman, the same woman that the leak in Jinzhou had revealed. Except that painting hadn’t done the sheer scale of the woman justice. She was massive, easily reaching the same height as the simurgh herself. How could any person-

No.

This wasn’t a person.

The body was right, provided you ignored the number of arms and the skin colour. But despite that something set her hindbrain screaming at her from the confines of her iron will.

Alexandria had lived a long life for a parahuman, she had journeyed far - and even into completely different dimensions. So what she was seeing shouldn’t be new.

Yet, it was.

It was the face that betrayed it. The close eyed gentle smile that remained static on it’s face even as the earth trembled and the air cracked. It looked around, clearly curious – and even showing faint signs of happiness. But it was too smooth, as if every step had been rehearsed a thousand times over before it had been done. Just like Contessa.

And the face didn’t move an inch.

It set Alexandria’s skin crawling. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t human. There was too much dissonance. The way it moved, the way it emoted, the body language. It was all at odds with each other! For the first time in a very long time Alexandria was seeing, but not understanding what was in front of her.

The rest of her allies were similarly spooked, though presumably more because of the things size. Eidolon, bless his heart, still looked ready to throw down at a moments notice, and that bastion of normalcy -for David anyway- calmed her down enough for her mind to stop running in circles.

It had been easy to overlook but the thing wasn’t the only individual to come out of that gaping depression. At the giant’s feet stood a single man, looking severely underwhelmed at the situation he had found himself in – but Alexandria didn’t miss the way his eyes dressed them down, looking for weaknesses. Those eyes kept returning to her and David, having correctly determined they were the most dangerous ones here.

The blue skinned behemoth startled for a moment, seemingly just now realising they were there. It set Alexandria’s teeth on edge. What was the point of pretending that it had not seen them?! Was it mocking them?

The gentle smile on the face of the giant didn’t change as it stared at her for a long moment.

Alexandria’s irritation and anxiety only grew at that. If only she could tell what this thing was thinking, if only she could pierce that cold smile and find the machinations laid bare before her!

-Alexander POV-

FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!

Renji! Take the wheel!

-Alexandria POV-

The moment ended as the thing broke eye contact -it’s ability to have a staring contest apparently unimpeded by it’s perpetually closed eyes- and craned its neck down to look at the red headed man at their feet.

The man’s already deadpan expression somehow grew deeper in the face of that stare.

Then the giant turned away from her and began floating away. Not flying or anything that could be described with any sort of urgency. Just calmly floating away, as if there weren’t an army of capes ready to fight at the drop of a hat.

Alexandria hid her shock at the blatant dismissal, and turned to face the man below – who had stayed rooted to the spot with the same expression.

The man was broadly shouldered with a strong build. Bright red hair framed an angular and proud face, though the expression currently marring that face could only be called the epitome of vexation.

It was clear that if she wanted answers she would have to get them from him. Nodding to a cape at her side, she made discrete signs telling the man to keep an eye on the giant. The man was clearly hesitant, but nodded back at her and began slowly flying after the gargantuan thing.

“UKNOWN PARAHUMAN!” Alexandria shouted, her long practice allowing the sound of voice to be carried clearly across the street. “YOU ARE IN VIOLATION OF SEVERAL LAWS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO-“

“Could you come down here and say it?”

The man’s voice cut through her warning, clearly unintimidated in spite of the threat and the large force stacked in front of him.

While Eidolon bristled at her side, Alexandria was already changing tracks. The man in front of them, whether through confidence or foolishness, was clearly not going to be threatened easily. She briefly debated simply ended this now, and interrogating the man later.

But the many armed abomination - still idly floating towards an old and broken bridge - stayed her hand.

She gently flew down to meet the man, showing no reaction when her boots sank into the muddy water.

Being face to face she was relieved to note that, unlike the being accompanying him, this man was not beyond her ability to read. There was some strangeness to him, expression being ever so slightly off, but nothing she couldn’t account for.

“My apologies for that, as you can probably tell we’re all a little on edge.”

The smile on her face was picture perfect, and even the cadence and tone of her voice was perfectly designed to lull the man into a false sense of security.

The man’s sharp eyes didn’t waver from her throat, his arm subtly reaching for his blade.

Alexandria sighed internally at that. She likely wouldn’t be able to ask too many questions before violence broke out. A shame.

“Are you a member of the group that raised Kyushu from the sea? The ones who restored Jinzhou?”

There was every chance he’d lie, or try to obfuscate. Many did when they felt they had something to hide. It wouldn’t matter, they had the evidence. So even if he did-

“I wasn’t present at Kyushu, but yes.”

-Or he could just outright admit it. That worked.

A rumble caught her attention and she stepped to the side slightly, just enough to see past the man in front of her.

The bridge, once a broken monument to the decrepit city it resides in was now writhing, twisting and undulating upon itself as mass poured from the river and was added to it. The giant stood before it, arms wide – as if to embrace the shaking mass.

In spite of the raw power of such a display the sound of it was oddly muted, each piece of matter joining to the bridge with a subdued clunk.

Then it was done, and in it’s place stood a bridge that threatened to take her breath away.

This was not the flowing lines and natural beauty of New Fukuoka and it was not the austere majesty of New Jinzhou, it was altogether different.

The bridge now stood as an eccentric blend of retrofuturism. The bridge stood larger than it did before, with the worn down stone being replaced by a smooth grey metal. The sides of the bridge were lit by bizarre lanterns glowing a chevron blue.

The thing seemed to admire the bridge for a few seconds, before turning to a nearby house. The same process began once more, material flowing like taffy as the house was remolded.

Alexandria stared for a moment, before a burst of relief hit her.

It was a drone!

A drone designed to help build things!

No wonder it showed such a limited set of emotions! The ones it did have were likely only added in to help ease the mind of any who saw it.

Of course. How simple such a thing should have been to figure out! Alexandria wanted to shake her head in mirth.

The rush of clarity did bring a smile to her lips while her eyes sharpened, and now she no longer had a reason to play nice.

Her arm whipped out, fingers digging into his oesophagus as she began to choke him slowly. His eyes bulged for a moment, showing his clear surprise at the sudden shift.

His sword was swiftly drawn from his scabbard, only to break upon her other outstretched hand.

Her smile was cold now as she stared at him. The feel of his throat was non-standard. Implants? Possible, either way they wouldn’t be enough to stand up to her.

She’d give him one chance.

“Surrender,” she demanded, the smile slipping off her lips as her voice took on a cold authoritative tone. “Turn off the drone, and tell us where your co-conspirators are and you’ll be granted leniency.”

The man glared back at her, clutching his broken sword in a death grip.

“You dare!” The man’s growl was almost bestial in it’s fury. “You would not only threaten me, but also call my liege a drone?!”

What?

Her grip slackened slightly at that.

The man wasn’t lying. She could see that, could read him like an open book. The man’s rage and offense was clear to see. The drone – no, what she had assumed to be a drone was the one in charge here?

Her thoughts raced, running in circles as she contemplated possibilities. She was so immersed in her own head that she didn’t notice the silence. Didn’t notice Eidolon tense at her side. Didn’t notice the army at her back flinch ever so slightly.

But she did notice as the throat of the man she was holding suddenly became as solid in her grip as steel. She furrowed her eyebrows, a brute power? She squeezed slightly harder at then, and then more when she realised their was no longer any give to what had once been supple and weak flesh.

“Alexandria,” Eidolon warned, seemingly focused on the distance.

No, not on the distance.

She looked up to see the many armed aberration staring at them, neck bent at a disturbing angle as she gazed upon Alexandria, and for reasons she didn’t understand the sight sent a shiver racing through her spine.

Then her eyes were forced back to the red haired man, widening in surprise as the air around her grip seemed to thicken. It slithered like something alive as it began slowly but surely prying her hands off of the man.

Alexandria resisted, putting all of her strength into resisting the mist.

It was not enough.

He fingers were bent back, and the man was sent hurtling back through some unknown force and landing right in the palm of the blue giant.

Alexandria stared at her hand. Had she just been overcome? In raw strength?

Her mind raced as she played the scene back in her head. Whatever this thing was it didn’t just control rocks and metal. It had wielded the air around them as a tool, to the point of using something so diffuse to win a contest of strength with her!

The man’s words were true, whatever that thing was it wasn’t a drone. But what coul-

Her thoughts were cut off as the lowering of the thing’s arm caught the sunlight as it placed its companion down – and her breath caught in her throat, this time in horror.

Because she had seen that quartz texture before, had seen the way it caught the sunlight enough times in her nightmares that she could recall it even if she somehow lost her powers.

It was the same skin as the Simurgh. The same as Leviathan. The same as Behemoth.

The pieces all began to line up.

The fact that Kyushu and Jinzhou had both been followed by periods of intense chaos and large losses of life. They had weakened entire institutions the world over.

The being’s overwhelming power and complete dismissal of them as a threat.

The inability for Thinkers to predict them.

“Oh.”

A chill began to bloom in her heart, a fear that would have had her heart racing if it still beat.

There had never been a group of Tinkers had there?

The lack of a black box, the unsubtle ways of travelling, the seeming foolishness. It had all been a horrible trap.

Designed to get them exactly here.

Because this thing was-

“An Endbringer,” She whispered. Apparently not loud enough because Eidolon had tensed even further at her side. The other heroes, unsure of what was going on but clearly taking cues from them, also shifted.

“What? An Endbringer?!” David said, and this time the other heroes heard him and the once confident heroes almost shrunk back at the realisation of what they were fighting.

“Yes,” she confirmed, the cold rush of fear still seeping through her bones. “We-we need to get a warning out, buy time until we can get some reinforcements.”

But even as she said that she knew it would not be as easy as she made it sound.

They had ensured absolute privacy would had for this confrontation. Stranger powers, body doubles and bribes had all been used to ensure they wouldn’t be interrupted.

They had even placed severe tinkertech jammers throughout the city to stop the -now revealed to be non-existent- Architects from contacting anyone, which were strong enough that even Dragon was cut off from the outside world – though thankfully they had made Contessa ensure a backup Dragon wouldn’t emerge from her servers by doing so.

“We need to distract it long enough to-“ Alexandria began to bark orders, but David was already racing ahead the moment he heard the word ‘distraction’.

The distance between the two was eaten up in a matter of moments as David’s outstretched hand bloomed with a black light.

The un-light which burst from his hand seemed to drink in the surrounding light hungrily as it snaked it’s way towards the Endbringer.

The being in question only had a moment to look surprised before quickly placing the red-headed samurai behind it -shielding it- before it hit the monster.

And as the battle was joined, Alexandria had a sinking feeling this was not a day which would end in victory.

AN: Holy smokes, this might be the longest chapter I’ve done yet! So, the battle is joined and now the group set up to ambush Alexander has learned of his true (?) nature. Alexander, for his part, just wanted to avoid interacting with a bunch of crazy people, then wanted to stop Alexandria from choking out his bro and suddenly he’s being forced to throw hands.

Thanks for reading, please comment!