The alarm clock barks at me, screaming me into alertness.
I promptly groan, and then freeze it with my powers, before turning over in bed and putting my pillow over my head.
"Just five more minutes," I groan.
"Dennis," Mom says from the doorway, and like that, I'm up. She's been going through a lot, with Dad in the hospital. I'm not going to add to that list.
"Yeah, yeah," I grumble, as I make my way across the hall to the bathroom. A quick rinse and repeated flybys by the toothbrush deliver a payload of toothpaste onto my teeth, and then it's time for the most important part of my morning routine.
I smile at the mirror. "So, why did the chicken cross the road?" I pause. "To get to the other side!"
Hm. Sufficient energy, timing's all right. Guess I'm good to go. I shoot fingerguns at the mirror. "All right Dennis. Time to hit the road. Today's gonna be a good day."
I don't really believe that it's going to be a good day. I haven't in a while. But the ritual… the ritual is important. Dad taught it to me. Said that he used to do it in front of the mirror too, before he got his own genuine, living, miniature reflection to do it with.
And now it's my turn to do it in front of the mirror. Because my bigger reflection is stuck in the hospital.
Fuck. Come on Dennis, hold it together. Keep on smiling. That's what Dad always said. Somebody has to smile when things are at their worst, and crack a joke even on the way to the gallows. Might as well be us.
So I smile, and make my way down to breakfast.
I'm visiting Dad today, I decide. I might need to ask Gallant to cover my shift for me, but I'm definitely visiting Dad today. Maybe Panacea is… whatever the fuck happened to Panacea, but there are other healers. Other people out there who might be able to help. I just need to keep him alive, long enough for the PRT to send one over. Just… hold the floor. Keep him going. Then… then I'll get more time.
But now, it's time for school. So, I smile, and start going over my jokes. Because someone has to.
---
"So, you heard about the latest bombings?" Bobby asks as he sits down next to me during lunch.
"Yeah, I hear they were quite a blast," I say, leaning out of the way of Bobbi-with-an-I's retaliatory cuff upside the head.
Many people would claim that I only befriended two separate people with identical-sounding names solely so I could pull a who's on first joke. And to be fair, I totally did. But, at the same time, they were still decent enough friends.
"Very funny, Dennis," Chris says with a groan. He had trouble making friends, at first, so I made sure to rope him into my Three Musketeers when I got the opportunity. "but, seriously, what's this about new bombings?"
"The ABB blew up another warehouse," Bobby says. "It was all over the news. PHO says they're still going after the Sabbat."
"The Sabbat isn't real," Chris says, rolling his eyes. "There's absolutely no concrete proof that Lung didn't just snap under the pressure of Josephus going after him and decide to start tilting at windmills."
"I dunno," Bobbi interjects. "Some of the posters on PHO say they've seen the Sabbat in action."
"By, 'posters' you mean 'tinfoil hats,' right?" I say with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, yes, I totally saw the Sabbat! They were charging off into battle to stop an alien invasion by the Greys, and they almost lost, too, but then the cavalry came in: Bigfoot. Riding Nessie. You don't remember it? Well, that's because of the memory-wiping fluoride that the government keeps dumping in the water!
I remember because of the POWER OF TINFOIL!"
"Yeah, very funny, Dennis," Chris says with an eye-roll. But he's smiling. "I guess they are a bit of an urban legend."
"Even so-"
The five minute warning bell sounds, and our conversation is abandoned in favor of snarfing down our food as fast as possible, before lunch ends.
And then it's back to another day of classes. On my way through the halls, I slip Dean a note asking him to cover my shift for me.
He'll do it, of course. I can always count on Dean to cover my shift for me when I'm visiting Dad.
---
I take a deep breath outside the room. All right, Dennis. You can do this. Even if it's not spending time with him, not really, you can still hold out for a healer. Hold the floor. Delay the inevitable. And do it with a smile.
No matter how much it hurts.
I open the door with a smile, one I don't allow to waver when I see him, lying emaciated in the hospital bed. He used to be so much
bigger than this.
"Did somebody order a life extension?" I ask cheerfully, as I make my way towards the bed.
"Hey, champ," he says, smiling back. "Maybe… maybe today we can skip that."
I freeze. "What?"
"Maybe we don't… don't freeze me today," he says, as I feel the world fall out from under me.
"B-But…" I'm panicking, now. "You don't have much time left! If I don't freeze you, then-"
"Son," he says, and I feel a part of me calm down at his voice. The cancer and the chemo withered his body, but his voice stayed strong, even when the rest of him didn't. "Do you really think that your old man can't watch the news? Panacea isn't… She's not going to heal me. And even if she would, I don't think I'd want whatever that madman turned her into to get its hands on me."
"There are other healers!" I snap. "They could heal you! I'll put in a request with the PRT, and if you can just hold on long enough…"
"Dennis, it's fine," my dad says with a smile. "The time you've given me is already more than a blessing enough. But, we both know that I'm not getting better from this. And… I've made my peace with that."
"But I haven't!" I shout. "I… I don't want to lose you."
I sit down in the visitor's chair, my hands gripping the armrests like a vice. I'm not going to cry, dammit. I need… I need to stay positive. Smile. Be strong because everyone else needs me to-
"Dennis," my father says, with a smile. "It's okay to cry. I can be strong for the both of us."
I bawl like a baby.
"Look. I get it. This whole thing… it sucks. I don't want to die, Dennis," he says, his rail-thin arms holding me as I sob. "But… I guess I'm not afraid to, not anymore. You've given me so much. More time to live. Time to set things in order. Time to see the incredible man my son has become."
And with that, any hopes of me stopping my tears within a reasonable timeframe have been shot to bits.
"But… well, it's a longshot, me getting better from this. And I don't want to spend the rest of my life desperately scrabbling after a little more time. I want to spend it on the people who matter most to me. So, just… for today, please don't freeze me. Let me spend one of my last days on Earth together with my son, the superhero."
I don't know how long I spend like that, crying in my dad's arms. But, eventually, I pull myself together.
"A-All right," I say, suppressing a sniffle. "What to you want to talk about?"
"Well, for starters," he grins, and elbows me. "Got a girlfriend, yet?"
"
Dad," I groan.
"What? You're a superhero, now. Chicks dig a uniform. Back in 'Nam, I was practically crawling with admirers. 'Course, that was well before I met your mother." He seems to think things over for a moment. "You with that flying cheerleader girl?"
"Glory Girl? No, not a chance of that happening. And I don't have a girlfriend, period. No time."
"Says the guy that runs around wearing at least five clocks," he says with a raised eyebrow. "You know, I'm pretty well off, all things considered. Lived a good life. But I wouldn't say no to a couple last-minute grandkids."
"
Dad!"
"Heh. Gotcha." He laughs, and I reach for the call button when it turns into a hacking cough. "No, no, I'm fine. It's fine." He seems suddenly exhausted. "What's it like?"
"What's what like?"
"Being a superhero." He smiles. "Not many chances to ask that question, you know."
"It's…" I think it over. Part of me wants to downplay things, make him think it's no big deal. But he deserves an honest answer. "It's either boring, or terrifying."
"Heh. Like the army?"
"Yeah. Like the army. Usually, they keep us away from danger, and it's all just… smiling and waving. Showing the flag. But sometimes, we actually run into supervillains, and that can be dangerous. I don't really know what the hell is going on with the whole… 'Alliance for Brockton Bay' they've got going on now, but I ran into Hookwolf once, before the Empire vanished. I thought for sure that I was going to die."
"But you didn't," Dad says, looking worried. "You're not allowed to die before me, buster. I called dibs."
I snort. "Sure thing, old man."
And then, I hear the sirens.
"That's…" I feel the blood leave my face. "Endbringer."
"Well, then, champ," my Dad says, and he still smiles confidently, even though I can see his hands tremble. "Time to save the world, again."
I look at him. "Are you going to be all right?"
"I'll be fine. There's a shelter below the building. They'll evacuate all the patients there. Now go on. Your team will need you." I'm almost to the door when I hear his voice again. "And remember! I called dibs! No dying!"
I grin. "Sir, yes, sir."
---
There's already quite the crowd, when I get to the PRT building. The ABB is there, all of them. Lung, Coil, and Bakuda. The Travellers. The remnants of Faultline's crew and the Undersiders.
One of the Travellers is in an iron lung, for some reason.
Villains from out of town have showed up as well, but I don't know who they are.
"Right," I sidle up to Vista. "What'd I miss?"
"Nothing much," she says, trying to sound nonchalant. "The other Protectorate heroes showed up, the assorted villains showed up. The usual."
"Ah, yes. Heroes and villains desperately teaming up to fight of beasts of the apocalypse. That's 'the usual,' all right. No, nothing out of the ordinary here," I snark. "Hey, what's the deal with the guy in the iron lung?"
"Dunno."
"Huh."
New Wave is over in their corner, sans Panacea. Legend is making the rounds, while Alexandria talks with Armsmaster. Eidolon's over in the corner, staring stoically out the window.
"So do you think that this is everyone?" I ask. Before frowning. "And… is that a case 53?"
I point at the giant, seeming human-insect hybrid in the corner.
"No, that's Panacea," Vista says, and…
Oh God. That's Panacea? Quickly, mouth! Spew forth a joke, so that I might focus on that, and not my horrified nausea!
"Damn. She
really let herself go."
Well done, mouth.
Vista snorts and punches my shoulder.
"We got everybody here?" I ask.
"Well, there are a few stragglers, but I think this is most of us," Vista says. "I don't think that there are any other teams that plan on attending."
And with that, the doors to the lobby swing wide open, providing further support to my theory that there is in fact a God, and he loves irony.
"SORRY WE'RE LATE!" the intruder, a man clad in pitch-black Tinkertech armor, says. He strides in at the head of… Oh my god.
The group he arrives of is
massive. At least forty capes. Maybe even fifty. Among their ranks are the capes of the empire, their swastikas replaced with the same cross-heavy iconography that the rest of the rank and file wear. Other missing capes are among them, all wearing the same getup. I think I spot Shielder, too.
Armsmaster steps forwards. "And you are?"
"The Sabbat," the black knight says, standing tall and proud. "And when the Leviathan comes, he will not find us wanting."
Oh. Oh, God. They're real. They're real, and they outnumber both us and the ABB
combined.
"So," Coil says. "All it takes is an Endbringer for you to show your faces?"
"Why wouldn't it?" the black knight asks, looking over the ABB. "After all, I see you're all here as well-" He freezes when he sees the man in the iron lung. "Wait,
you're alive? How? I STABBED YOU THROUGH THE HEART!"
"Spite." The man in the coffin answers.
The black knight shakes his head. "Yes, we're here. What's the plan?"
"We wait a few more minutes, to allow others to show up, and then Legend briefs us," Armsmaster says, stern and no-nonsense as ever.
"Well, we'll wait," the Black Knight says. And with that, the Sabbat splits off into three groups. One looks brutish, and animalistic. The second are dark and shadowy sorts, who seem almost machine-like in their motions. And the third is the knight himself, who stands alone.
Well, I guess this is my only chance to ask.
I walk up to the knight. "So, the Sabbat. What's it like, bumping elbows with Bigfoot and Nessie?"
"Alright," he says easily. "Bigfoot's a decent chap, but Nessie counts cards whenever we play poker."
"She did seem like the type," I say, pleasantly surprised that he actually knows how to take a joke. "So, did you make the armor yourself?"
"Nah, but we have a bunch of tinkers on staff," he says easily. "So, what's your handle?"
"Clockblocker," I say, offering a hand to shake. I can hear Vista freaking out in the background, but I don't freeze him. There's a time and a place, and all that. "Yours?"
"The Black Knight," he says. "I was originally thinking 'Vader', you know, to go with the armor? But even the mighty knights of the Sabbat fear the wrath of a copyright infringed."
"Well, I can't fault you for good taste," I say. That gets a chuckle out of him for some reason. "Can it do the breathing?"
"Obviously! What kind of savage do you take me for!"
Our conversation (and information gathering session, on my part) is interrupted when Legend steps up to begin his speech.
"Thank you all for-"
And that's when everything goes horribly wrong. Because that's when the bomb goes off under Legend's feet.
When the dust clears, he's a glass statue, and so are the capes around him. Alexandria and Armsmaster were on the outskirts and have been partially turned to glass.
Everyone's in shock, nobody quite believing what just happened. No one quite grasping the overwhelming, incontrovertible truth that one of the Triumvirate is dead.
And then, the silence is broken.
"That was one of Bakuda's bombs!" one member of the Sabbat shouts, the muscular woman with shark teeth.
And that's when all hell breaks loose.
Everybody's shouting and accusing each other at the same time, and I can barely hear anyone.
I'm still in shock. The Truce is broken. The Endbringer Truce is broken, and Legend is dead.
And in this chaos, in this pandemonium, who's to hear one distant voice shout out, "Wave!"
And then it hits, and the world is awash with blood and brine.
---
I pull myself up from where I managed to land.
I can hear them fighting in the distance. Not sure if it's against Leviathan, or each other. Even so, I pull myself to my feet, and make my way towards the sounds of conflict, to save who I can.
Because
someone has to.