All the Time to Lose (Wormverse)

Ch 11: The Walking Tsunami

Suddenly, an alert comes through "Leviathan is going to charge! Clear the street!" yells a voice I don't recognize. I am given a ride from an out-of-town cape to the roof next to me. I can see conscious and unconscious capes nearby. I hear over my wrist comm "CLEAR!!"

Then I see it, Leviathan stares towards the end of the street and leans forward, like a dog pointing with its nose. Suddenly, he crouches and dashes at impossible speeds down the street. I can see someone standing on the edge of said building. They don't move as he barrels towards them.

However, just as he reaches the end of the street, but before he can touch the building, he runs backwards at that same speed, slamming him through one after image, only to get pummeled by the second. I glance around at my fellow capes, only to find them just as confused as I am.

I hear someone yell through the comm "He's stuck! Attack!" Almost immediately, a volley of lasers and other ranged attacks hit the giant. Once freed, Leviathan looks around through the constant stream of attacks. He spins, whipping his tail around.

As he does, several streams of water fly at the capes who are shooting at him. He suddenly stops, stares, and shoves his hand down a side street, sending a wave down towards a building with some capes on it. I can see them get clear but Leviathan pursues a group of 3.

I can't imagine why he would. By what I could tell, they were all movers possibly carrying wounded. Was he trying to kill those that he had already knocked down? I get back on the ground and continue to try to help get injured and unconscious capes out of harm's way.

After a few minutes, I hear a voice over the call "Leviathan is heading your way Kaiser. Get ready." I only have a moment to process that I can see Kaiser not 20 feet away from me down the alley before the ground shakes and Leviathan appears. He begins to charge us, but only gets a few inches before he stops.

Even his after image has stopped. It takes me a moment to realize what happened. Clockblocker. The young hero has tagged Leviathan. I immediately call for someone to get Clockblocker away from Leviathan.

Thankfully, Trickster walks up and does just that. A doctor comes over and tends to Clockblocker's injuries as Armsmaster calls out the new plan. We are going to spread out, block his escape and hope that Scion comes to save us. Great. Fat load of help I'm gonna be in that.

~Aeon's P.O.V.~

I watch as Kaiser, Rune, and other telekinetics work to put temporary restraints on Leviathan while Armsmaster set up Bakuda's bombs to go off if Leviathan moved past them. I sigh as I watch how this is likely to play out.

I can't help but shed a few tears for all the capes that have already fallen to this monster...and for those who will. Poor Kaiser. He has such a slim chance of surviving this fight. He is, by no means, a good person, but damn it he is still a person and he does not deserve to be set up like this.

The second I see Leviathan's tail twitch, I focus my energy on him. Specifically, I focus on pushing against his speed, slowing him down. I am able to halve his speed...but he is still ridiculously fast.

I watch as he defeats and kills Fenja and knocks aside Kid Win. I can't even bear to watch as he kills Kaiser. I know he's killing him, but damn it I also know that it's going to be messy. Just before he kills Kaiser though, I get a vision.

Usually, when I see the future, I see possibilities. I usually focus on only viewing the 5 most likely possibilities so my head doesn't hurt for days. This time however, instead of seeing 5, or even the infinite possibilities that I would see if I didn't focus, I only see one.

In this vision, I see a cape in a dark costume surrounded by bugs. I can also see Armsmaster further down the street behind her. He raises his halberd and sends a wave of energy at her, disabling her armband without disturbing her.

Another flash shows me several possible fight scenes between Armsmaster and Leviathan. In each, Armsmaster manages to cut off chunks of Leviathan's tail with his new halberd. However, they vary in Leviathan's response to them.

I focus on them, forcing them to show me what happens in fast-forward. What I see...is not good at all. When I had seen Armsmaster setting up Kaiser to die when he didn't have to, I had hoped that he did so with good reason.

However, in far too many scenarios, Armsmaster refuses to alert anyone to his position or call for backup. The results for those fights are gruesome in their own unique ways. I can't help but gag at a few of the outcomes.

Armsmaster will be lucky if Leviathan lets him live. Granted, in a few of those fights, Armsmaster actually manages to cripple Leviathan. BUT! It appears that, the more damage he does to Leviathan, the worse condition he will be in when he leaves the fight.

I panic and try to think of a way to prevent this. Unfortunately, "Kaiser dead, CC-6." and Leviathan runs off, still carrying Kaiser's torso in his claw. That poor man. I'd been so absorbed in my visions that I didn't even hear him scream.

Suddenly, I start to see spots across my vision. FUCK! NOT NOW! I almost scream at how horrible this timing is. So, instead, I focus one last push against Leviathan, slowing him down as he runs. I hear over the comm "Armsmaster down! CC-7! Leviathan is heading West."

I sigh in relief, knowing that he didn't die. He's a great tinker, but he needs to let go of his insecurities to become an even better hero. It's a good thing that bug girl was there, he'd definitely die if she wasn't.

I get flashes of the same cape from my earlier vision getting injured after drawing Leviathan after them and away from civilians. Then, another where a man in tactical military gear gets killed by Leviathan. There's another where Scion comes and defeats Leviathan for us.

In another, Bitch/Hellhound bravely joins the fight, losing various numbers of dogs depending on the reality. In another, Legend gets knocked out and then half-drowns, sustaining serious mental damage and loses control over his lasers. These images frighten me.

But, what I see next makes me cringe. My visions are expanding, showing me more and more possibilities. I'm having trouble focusing. I glance up to see only more pain, destruction, and death. I see the PRT treating villains poorly in the med bay.

I see Miss Militia dying and Eidolon losing a leg. I even have to see civilians getting mowed down by Leviathan. My head is pounding now and I'm struggling to stay standing. I focus on Leviathan, forcing him to slam himself into his own after images one last time.

My vision swims as I fall to my knees. My head is throbbing and I can barely hear through the ringing in my ears. I make one call over my comm "Aeon down, CC-6." I sigh as I lie down and hope that the pain doesn't last...even though I know it will.

I'm only vaguely aware of someone picking me up and moving me. I groan in pain to let them know I'm alive and in pain, but they proceed regardless. I don't know how long they carry me before they put me down.

I'm placed on a cart of some kind and rolled into a very loud, very bright room that makes me flinch, cover my ears, and squeeze my eyes shut. I can't process what the noise is due to the ringing in my ears.

I groan for a bit at the pain but the person moving me doesn't stop. Eventually, I am lifted and placed on something kind of firm but also a bit squishy. I hear muffled noises, but I don't know what is being said nor who they are directed at.

My whole body is shaking and I can taste bile in the back of my throat. Shit. I think as I roll onto my side. I lift up the bottom of my mask to uncover my mouth. My whole body lurches but I don't throw up, I just dry heave.

That's when I remember that I haven't eaten in days. I continue to dry heave. I can barely make out more yelling and footsteps past the pain in my head. I'm pushed to lie back down and someone shines a light in my face.

I wince and grimace, groaning as I look away from the painfully bright light. With my head turned to the side, I can see a cape being placed in the, thing, next to me. I get a flash of him dying. There's no alternate reality where someone gets to him in time.

He is dying. Every second he is slowly falling into that abyss. I know it will hurt more and will extend the pain in my head, but the vision shows me his wife, pregnant with their first child crying over his grave, and I know I have to do something.

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