Infinite Taylor
nezexyzzar
Getting out there.
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Infinite Taylor
Fortuna woke up gasping. She grabbed David, squeezing his hand tight as she tried to get her bearings. Her legs were gummy and soft; the air-conditioning was a startling breeze as she pulled the blankets off.
"Hey!" David grabbed her shoulder with his free hand, trying to calm her down. This was the first time he had ever seen Contessa so uncomposed. "Calm down. You're in the base."
She looked around. Metal walls, metal doors. The compound. The med-bay. She was used to the medicinal cabinets at her back rather than on her front. She blinked, trying to adjust to the blinding lights as David squeezed her hand back.
Kurt handed her a glass of water. She looked at it for a moment, stupefied. Something was missing but she couldn't remember what. She reached out in her mind, grasping in the dark for it as she struggled to move her body. It felt strange, inhabiting her body. Everything was familiar yet different, as if she had been on a long holiday away.
Then her power came roaring back awake and her hand moved up to grab the glass. Fortuna brought it to her lips and took a large gulp, savouring the coolness in her throat. She wanted to drink more but there was no time.
Contessa turned her head towards Eidolon. "We're under attack. Switch your powers," she said, before flinging the glass, water and all, right at the door.
A flaming whip sliced through the door at the same time. A puff of steam burst as the glass shattered, while the fire left a searing line through the floor. Eidolon stood up, summoning his helmet to hand while the Number Man was already firing his pistol.
Taylor Infinite stepped through the slagged doorway. She looked congenial, nodding to them politely as she walked unbothered by the mild gunfire.
"Greetings," she said, turning a finger.
Another string of fire cut down, crashing straight into Eidolon. He brought his arms up — they were cloaked with some kind of shimmering liquid — but the whip suddenly exploded instead, blasting him out of the room through the wall.
Taylor didn't let up. Her finger flicked again, this time slicing sideways. Contessa was already lunging off the bed. She tackled the Number Man; her power used the weakness in her legs to let her fall, and they both fell beneath the blistering fire as it swung over them, barely missing.
The Number Man fired his last bullet. The slug flattened against her eye; Taylor blinked curiously as it bounced off, dinging against the metal ground. Her finger was still raised.
She drew a line down the air, pointing straight at them.
Fire rolled over them, rippling over an invisible shield. Contessa squinted, the heat stinging her eyes. Her power told her to wait one beat.
Then Taylor suddenly jerked up, launched into the ceiling. She smashed against it with a heavy thud, denting the metal. She dropped, stopped mid-air as if held up by something, and was flung up again and again.
Handprints dotted her clothes, a whirl of impressions that peppered against cloth and skin as they tried to crush Taylor. The lights shattered as she was dragged through it, dousing part of the room in shadows.
Contessa grabbed the Number Man's arm and moved left.
A fiery lance cut through where they were just a second later. Taylor was no longer paying attention to them; instead, she was looking around, fire streaming from both her hands as she tried to find her invisible assailant.
Dancing between the flames was exhausting. The exit felt like a mile away as they were forced to shuffle back multiple times. The Custodian was helping, trying to push Taylor further away, but she wasn't going to be able to keep it up. Fortuna's power couldn't quite path Hebert, but it could still see the Custodian's fate.
A shot of lightning suddenly bounced off the wall, searing a line through the middle of the room. The Number Man jumped back before the bolt of plasma cut through him; he dived towards Contessa, where she pushed a table over for cover. They ducked behind it just as more lightning crackled and arced across the room.
The mattresses exploded, catching fire as electricity sliced through the bedding. One of the cabinets trembled and suddenly shot into the air. The medicine inside tumbled out as it launched towards Taylor, but it was too late.
She ripped herself off the ceiling with a thunderous clap, striking the ground like lightning. The space around her was forcefully cleared; the beds, what was left of them, flipped backwards in disarray, bouncing off the walls and shattering the glass displays. The thrown cabinet dropped to the ground in molten slag, cut into pieces by the sudden force.
Kurt looked at Contessa as they huddled behind their table. Their cover bore the brunt of the power, pushing them harmlessly against the wall. He slid a new magazine into his pistol, but Fortuna shook her head. It wasn't safe for them to move yet.
Taylor turned, white-hot plasma gathering around her hand as she looked intently at the air, scanning for any bit of imperfection.
She suddenly thrust out a fist. A thick bolt lanced through the air. There was a flash, an obnubilating white that blinded the world before leaving the silhouette of a woman etched against the ceiling.
Taylor smiled victoriously. She stepped forward, hand crackling electric until a craggy root wormed out from her back and wrapped around her.
She froze up for a second, and in that second more roots spilled out from her back; thick winding limbs that wrapped around and over her, reaching into the ground and pulling her down as they burrowed into it. Branches sprouted over each other as they formed a thick trunk, forcing Taylor down lower. Green was sprouting on its branches, the squatting mass on her back blooming into a wide, billowing tree.
Taylor yelped as she crashed to the ground. Fire sprouted from her mouth while the floor bent beneath her. She tried to push up. Lightning crackled along her body, searing red-hot lines up the tree. Leaves burst into flames, falling in a fiery rain as she tried to escape but the tree simply healed, fresh bark and leaves regrowing near-instantaneously while the roots wound tighter and tighter around her.
Eidolon floated back into the room. He was covered in soot, his cape slightly singed at the bottom. One of his hands was outstretched, finger clawed around a glowing green orb. He was shaking with the effort; his other hand came up to grip his arm steady. The tree grew higher, crashing against the ceiling. The metal creaked as it buckled. Taylor gasped as roots engulfed her completely, fire leaking ineffectively between the cracks.
A burst of light snapped through the wood prison. Taylor shoved her hand through the small hole before the roots could cover it up and slapped against the floor. A tremor echoed through the building. The air whistled like something sharp sheared past.
Thin black lines etched across the floor, spreading under them up the walls. They looked like a web of concentric circles, a glyph or a maze. Stillness hung over the air, weightless, like the moment before a rollercoaster crests the tip; then the room shuddered and split apart.
The Number Man saw the changes before he felt it. He tried to stand, but they were already slipping forward as the floor collapsed.
The Custodian caught them mid-fall. She wrapped them in a hard, invisible cocoon and propelled them upwards, through the falling debris as more and more of their base crumbled apart. The destruction was like a wave, working through room after room on the heels of those silent black lines.
Eidolon disappeared under a mountain of metal, his green orb winking out. Taylor fell with him, the massive tree on her back pulling her along as it smashed through the falling debris. She roared; lightning writhed in long, arcing bolts, the wet plasma charring the wood black and grey. Taylor gritted her teeth, straining against her bonds; then a terrible crack clapped the air, snuffing out all sound in that moment. White-hot light cleaved through the tree; it splintered into ash as it hit the ground.
Contessa and the Number Man were deposited on a broken ledge. It was half a room, neatly cut in two. Half a desk was still there, hanging over the edge.
Kurt looked up. It was as if a hole had been carved into their base through more than a dozen levels, leaving a honeycomb of severed rooms. The sliced floors, walls, metal plates and broken furniture tumbled over each other as they settled at the bottom of the pit.
Taylor was walking on air. Stairs shimmered under every step she took, forming a flight up from the bottom. Around her the air was sparkling — little dewdrops that spun and rolled, throwing little dancing spots of light across the ground as they grew bigger and bigger.
"What the hell is she doing?"
"Molten glass." Contessa stared through her eyelashes. She needed to see what happened next. "She's using a few different powers to tune its refractive index."
Taylor stretched her hands out, fingers splayed. The scent of ozone grew overpowering as ten blinding lasers blasted forward. They bounced off the first set of glass orbs to hit the next, and the next, until it connected back onto itself in a blinding lattice that boiled the air.
Then the orbs exploded. The Number Man flinched, jerking back instinctively as an overwhelming light flooded the interior but they passed through him harmlessly. He wasn't the real target.
A soundless shriek cut their ears. The Custodian contorted in agony across a thousand flashing silhouettes, her mouth agape — then Taylor was there, her face serene. With one hand she pulled The Custodian up into the world and with the other she plunged it deep into her flesh.
Kurt had to cover his ears. The Custodian screamed even louder and shriller as Taylor withdrew her arm, the tip of a strange, colourless crystal in her hand. The crystal shifted along its length, warping in on itself like a twisting polytope. The Custodian's skin blistered red and black, turning hard as Taylor continued to pull the crystal out. Tendrils of energy erupted from her body, thin energized lines that drew taut from her flesh to the crystal but Taylor didn't stop pulling.
Kurt looked at Contessa grimly. "Are we dead?"
"Help me up," Contessa replied instead. "The armoury is next door."
The shard came free with a sigh. Lights flickered wildly in a shower of sparks as the Custodian sagged backwards, gasping weakly. Her face was frozen in a rictus of pain as she died.
Taylor dropped the body. She let the shard spin about in her hand, her lips parting into an unbidden smile as she watched the light sparkle and refract off its whirling dimensions. Floating higher on a ball of dripping glass, she pulled her hair up and set it free.
The shard shot out, arcing through the space as it darted straight into the base of Taylor's neck. She exhaled, her eyes fluttering while her skin glowed softly. She seemed completely uncaring of the world around her, totally immersed in the feeling of the new shard.
Alexandria exploded out from the ceiling just as the shard disappeared into Taylor. She stopped mid-air, her face blank as she looked at the destruction — the new cavernous space, the body on the ground — and the shining figure in the middle of it all.
The air split apart with a boom as Alexandria shot forward, but she never landed her punch. She choked, stopping right before Taylor while her legs whipped forward. Something gripped her neck hard; Alexandria clutched at the air in front of her but there was nothing there.
Then she was slammed into the ground, shaking loose some debris around her. Alexandria balled her fists, trying to push herself up, but the invisible force grabbed her again, hurling her upwards. She could see her cape flapping violently in front of her, the ground shrinking before she smashed hard into the ceiling. The metal groaned as it dented in, then Alexandria was flung to the side.
She scraped against the ceiling, grinding a path along the ceiling through the lights and fans and bits of half-wall still sticking out. Alexandria stretched her arm out, clawing her fingers into the metal as she tried to stop herself. She roared, ripping out a chunk of ceiling as she tried to fly down but the force intensified, pressing up against every inch of her body, pushing her deeper into the ceiling. Her head crashed through something protruding as she looped around a corner. Her armour came apart, tumbling to the ground with her cape.
Taylor wasn't even looking up. One hand was lazily raised, turning slowly while she rolled her neck unhurriedly.
"The Custodian's power. She really has it. And she's practicing." Kurt watched powerlessly from the side. His hands automatically tucked the last pin into the sniper rifle in his hand; he cocked it, easily going through the assembly checks before loading the rounds in.
"She's going for the Garden."
"Can she actually control all of them?"
"Unknowable." Contessa glanced at Kurt, meeting his eyes. "No one has ever done it before."
The ground suddenly shifted. Metal ground on metal in an awful racket as a pile of broken pieces started shaking and moving. Alexandria stopped, still flattened against the ceiling as Taylor turned curiously.
Something rumbled underground, just a second before a slab of flooring exploded off the pile towards her. Taylor cocked her head, batting it away easily; then Eidolon leaped up from the hole in the ground with ten glowing orbs spinning furiously around him as he blasted a massive beam straight into her.
Taylor immediately had her hands out, pushing forward. Light and heat slithered a circle around her, plasma rippling over her invisible shield. She blinked and squinted while something sizzled against her shoes; rivers of molten metal, glowing hot, pooled at her feet. Her mouth curled into a frown as they started to smoke and blacken.
Sweat beaded under David's helmet. He gasped, his breath a loud ringing in his ears. Was this it? He could feel Taylor giving ground. Did he manage to find her weakness? He had swapped all his powers to pure offense for this one shot. His arms trembled as he tried holding steady the surge of power coursing through him. The energy was blinding but he didn't dare to look away.
He missed the slow rise of metal all around him, a thousand malleable pieces pulling and twisting into sharp spikes.
They quivered in the air for a deadly second, and then they fired.
Alexandria slammed into him, pushing him to the ground. She leaped over him, tucking him under her as the spikes rained down. They cut through her bodysuit, slicing over her back and bouncing off her skin. She hissed, sucking in a breath as a hundred points stubbed blunt against her body and clattered to the ground. Eidolon shifted under her as more spikes buried themselves around them, the orbs around him dissipating as he tried for another power.
A sharp report of a rifle echoed. Taylor staggered, thrown off-balance to the side as a bullet slammed into her. It bounced off her harmlessly, but it also interrupted her concentration. The metal spikes clattered to the ground as she spun around, eyes narrowed, trying to find the shooter.
The Number Man fired again just as Taylor spotted him. The bullet whipped her head back, but not before she crushed the room with a clenched fist. He leaped off, dust streaming from his coat as he landed smoothly on a lower deck. Taylor steadied herself, shaking off the bullet from her hair. She could feel him with Custodian's power, his footsteps landing in time with his heartbeat.
She thrust her hand forward, grasping at the room he was running to and almost crushing it before another bullet ricocheted off the ground and slammed into her jaw, rattling her teeth painfully and sending her aim wide.
Contessa walked as she cocked her rifle. She pulled the trigger again without looking.
Taylor gritted her teeth. She tried to focus, but the second bullet caught her by surprise again, bouncing from the side straight onto her ear. This time, she yelped, clutching her ear as a sharp ringing perforated her eardrums.
As she stumbled, she missed Eidolon rising into the air, his armour turning black and impenetrable as the void. He reared back as he took a deep breath, and then he screamed. The bottom of his helmet shattered as a soundless wave ebbed out.
Everything in front of him turned to dust. The broken metal plates, the pieces of furniture, it all turned black and scattered, disintegrating into the air.
Taylor staggered onto her knee. She held one hand out in front of her, a shimmering barrier at her hand. The dust streamed around her as she pushed back, but she couldn't block out everything. Parts of her white suit were already turning black, flaking off bit by bit.
A bullet hit her wrist, rocking her hand to the side. Immediately her sleeve rippled, and long dark gashes appeared over her shoulder.
Taylor hissed, irritation crossing her face. She clenched her hand into a fist.
A massive metal blade barrelled out of the side of the cavern, catching Eidolon from the side. He smashed into the ground before he could turn; more spikes grew out, pinning him deeper into the ground. His armour splintered as the tips ground into him.
Taylor stood up. She brushed her shoulder as a metal sheet popped up to her side, blocking another bullet. More sheets sprouted up, growing wide and tall over her, covering her against the Number Man and Contessa. They couldn't see her anymore, but she could still see them.
She turned, focusing on the Number Man first. He was already running, zig-zagging into different rooms but there was nowhere he could hide. He was already in her grasp.
Taylor watched his steps, anticipated his movements, and swept a hand down.
Alexandria slammed into her as she crushed him, pulling them both into a pile of debris. Light and darkness tumbled over them as they burrowed deeper into the metal. Alexandria could barely move, the exhaustion of the day catching up to her. She lay in the dark, letting the weight of the world press down on her until a pale hand suddenly burst out and grabbed her.
Lightning seared the surrounding metal into slag as they exploded from the ground. Taylor gripped her by her head. Alexandria grabbed the fingers holding her, trying to pull them off, but then Taylor swooped down, slamming her hard into the ground. Her vision buzzed out briefly as bells rang between her ears. Taylor continued, raising her head and smashing it down over and over. Alexandria tried to kick her away, but her limbs felt like rubber. Pain radiated in her skull as the fingers around her face tightened.
Two shots rang out, bouncing between the sheets to hit Taylor. Her grip slackened, just for a split-second, and Alexandria reacted immediately. She forced an open palm into Taylor's chest, pushing her back enough for her to tuck her legs in and shove her boots into Taylor with all her remaining strength.
The tinker only stumbled back slightly. She glanced up, ignoring Alexandria for a moment. Contessa had already slipped away, so Taylor crushed the entire swath of rooms she fired from; everything in a wide radius around it was pulverized and flattened.
She turned back to Alexandria. The heroine was on her hands and knees, gasping as she tried to crawl away. Her head pounded with heat as blood rushed up. She grabbed a rebar sticking out of the ground, trying to pull herself up, but Taylor wrenched it out of her hand. A shoe pressed her down on her back and then—
There was no pain, no blood. Just a small sensation at the base of her neck, and then she couldn't feel anything.
Alexandria flopped flat to the ground, limbs askew. She couldn't move them — she couldn't move a single finger or toe, couldn't feel anything from the neck down. Her mouth croaked wide involuntarily, a stream of saliva leaking from the side. Her eyes darted to the side as she tried to look around, to turn around to see what was in her neck. Something was in her neck.
Taylor stretched, feeling the kinks crack out along her back as she walked away. The Number Man was probably dead, but there was still Eidolon and Contessa to harvest. She turned towards the mass of spikes in the ground. They were still growing, still pushing into the ground. She frowned. Eidolon couldn't have simply died like this, right?
Suddenly, arms wrapped around her waist. They pulled her close even as she tried to wrest away. The world spun like a kaleidoscope as she shoved an elbow behind.
They split apart on a rocky beach underneath a swirling twilight sky.
Taylor looked down, her lips curling in disgust as lobsters tried to crawl over her feet. A flick of fire sent them all scurrying away. There were thousands of them, a rolling mass of grey and blue retreating further up the beach or into the sea.
"Door." She frowned when nothing happened.
"It won't work. This world has a natural bulwark."
"Oh?" Taylor turned around to see David floating down. His helmet was gone. Dry blood caked the side of his face.
"It's over. You can't go back."
Taylor scoffed. "If you can come here, then I can leave. Do you think I can't pluck that power out of your head?"
David bared a grin full of teeth. "To force our way here, I had the power burn itself out ten times over. And then I discarded it, cycling through other powers a dozen times since.
"So, take it. Take them all. You still lose."
A solemn expression settled on Taylor's face. She looked around at the barren islet, the chittering lobsters and the rolling seas.
"Hmm. Interesting," she said. "I'll have to test this theory of yours."
David raised a hand, palm up. "Shall we?"
***
Kurt woke up with a gasp. He hissed with pain, trying to move, but his legs wouldn't obey.
He looked down. They were gone, two stumps ending at the knees, a dirty tourniquet wrapped around them both. He turned around, almost yelling as he saw Taylor Hebert sitting next to him.
She had green hair. It was a different Taylor Hebert. The one he helped Alexandria trap.
"You're awake," she spoke. "I'm Sage."
"You saved me."
"You jumped pretty far out of the way yourself." She wasn't looking at him, instead fiddling with a small cylindrical device in her hands.
He hissed, a spike of pain jolting up his thighs as he shifted the wrong way. Kurt shoved the pain he was feeling away and looked at Sage again. Her eyes were composed, no hint of impatience, no trace of anger. The only sign of emotion was her feet drumming against the floor.
There was an oversized device strapped over her back. Wires stuck out erratically, a mismatch of different parts wrapped together in tape around a glowing core. Kurt recognized some of those parts as tinker devices from their armoury.
Did she manage to cobble together a time machine?
"What do you want?" he asked.
Sage stopped moving her fingers. "Where's your secondary exit? I know you didn't just depend solely on Doormaker."
Kurt shook his head. "It's on the other side of the base. We'll never reach there without... the other Taylor finding us first."
"Eidolon just teleported her away a few minutes ago. Trying to shunt her into some random dimension, I'm guessing. It's a good plan, but it won't delay her for long. She'll be back." Sage stood up and waved the device in her hand. The core on her back glowed as a ghostly green stretcher popped beneath him and levitated up. "So, this is the best time we have. Point the way."
"Wait. Where's Contessa? Alexandria?"
Sage held a hand up. "Nope. It's just you and me, or I leave you here for Infinite to find."
Kurt was taken aback. He examined the Taylor in front of him more closely, at the small, nervous twitches in her body. She was wary of him, of them. The tinker device on her back was for this green construct, not her time technology.
"You know," he started, keeping his tone conversational, "we can be allies. If you're against the other—"
"Just because I'm against her doesn't mean I'm with you," Sage interrupted. She didn't give him a chance to try again. "Let me be perfectly clear. I'm fine with looking for the exit myself."
"The base is huge. You won't find it," Kurt pointed out.
"I'll find it," she disagreed immediately. "It'd take longer than I'd like but I'll find it. You, on the other hand, will die when Infinite comes back. So make your choice."
Kurt gripped the stretcher. It felt like a solid piece of nothingness. "You're asking me to choose between betraying my colleagues and saving my life."
"Well, you didn't use the word 'friends' so I assume you'll be okay."
The Number Man worked his jaw. He grabbed the stumps of his legs.
Taylor never looked away. She met his gaze calmly, patiently until he turned away first.
"Go left."
***
Victoria found Franklin and Legend in a terse standoff. The blue-haired Taylor was snarling, her hands crackling with energy. Behind her, Newton was slumped against the wall, massaging her neck as she watched.
"Hey!" She pulled Franklin back. "We're on the same side here. What happened?"
"Ask him," she jerked her chin at Legend. "Alexandria pulled Sage into a portal. He won't say where or why. He won't even disable the emitters blocking our tech."
Victoria turned to Legend. "Legend. Hi." She forced herself to slow down her words, to stop the fangirling for a moment. "Look, you can trust the Taylors. We need their help. Scion is on the way. We need to get as far away from town as possible."
Legend was looking at them. He frowned when he saw Cardinal. "Glory Girl," he said. He blinked at Victoria's outfit. "What do you mean Scion is on the way?"
Vista came forward. "We know what he is. We saw how he killed everyone in the MS cells. If we're still here when he arrives, we'll all die painfully."
Legend's face was carefully blank. His eyes slid between the two girls, his lips pressed into a thin white line.
Miss Militia prodded. "Sir? I've already told the others to evac to the command tent. Should I cancel that order?" She still had a trace of suspicion; her pistol was subtly pointed at Cardinal.
"He doesn't know what you're talking about." Tattletale breathed out as she studied the Protectorate hero. "He's not in the loop."
Legend, along with the others, whipped around to her. "What do you mean?" Victoria asked urgently, almost unheeding of the Protectorate hero. He was still silent.
Cardinal wasn't paying attention to their squabble. She sat down next to Newton, fixedly not looking at her. Her hand was clenched on her knee, just a warm inch from Newton. She twitched, seized with indecision on how to start.
Newton grabbed her instead, wrapping a palm around her fist. She gently pressed it flat and hooked their fingers together. "Hey," she said lowly, her voice still hoarse from the fight.
"Hey." Cardinal's voice was rough for a different reason. She looked up, blinking rapidly as tears suddenly filled her eyes.
They didn't speak after that. Newton waited for a beat before leaning into Cardinal, resting her head on her shoulder. She seemed content, casual, but her grip on Cardinal tightened, as if she was afraid the other girl might disappear again.
"I'm sorry," Cardinal whispered. The word felt heavy, inadequate. Regret was like a chasm in her heart, a never-ending abyss.
Newton nuzzled into her as she shook her head. "Don't," she replied simply, like it was nothing that Cardinal left without a word, that Cardinal betrayed them with Infinite, that she left Newton alone for so long.
Cardinal squeezed her eyes shut as she broke down crying.
Newton pulled her in, wrapping her up in a hug. "Don't," she said again. "I trusted Infinite too, back then."
"You know?"
"Sage tried to shield me, but I put together some bits and pieces."
Cardinal unfurled slightly. One of her hands ghosted around Newton's waist like an old habit.
"If you ever want to talk, I'm always here to listen."
"Even after everything?"
"Of course." Newton nudged her with her shoulder, forcing Cardinal to meet her eyes. "We made a promise to each other, remember?"
Cardinal chuckled. It was soft but genuine, and a feeling of lightness bubbled up in her for the first time since a long while.
"Hey lovebirds." A flat voice interrupted the two.
Franklin looked down at them exasperatedly. "Get up. He's here. God, I'm happy for you two but I did not miss this."
Behind her, Victoria was goggling, her eyes wide with astonishment. Tattletale looked more sedate, but she also could not completely hide her amazement.
In the distance, the sky was beginning to shift with a golden hue.
"How long till he gets here?"
"At current speeds? 5 minutes." Franklin had a holographic map projecting from her bracer. The blinking dot on it continued to edge closer.
Legend appeared in a flash. "It's done."
Almost immediately, the Taylors seemed to buzz. The lights on their wrist stopped flashing red while a sliver of themselves phased over them as their tech kicked in. Newton and Cardinal looked completely restored, their injuries gone and their suits repaired.
Miss Militia walked up to Legend. "All teams have evacuated to the command tent, waiting for further instructions."
"You should join them," Franklin spoke to her. "Then lead everyone further, as far away as you can."
Militia twitched, but she didn't respond. She stood with her hands behind her back, waiting for Legend instead.
The protectorate hero seemed to be lost in thought. He had been quiet ever since the revelations that he was not completely in the loop, even in Cauldron.
"Follow what Taylor says," he finally replied. "You'll be in charge. Retreat further, keep everyone safe, that's the new priority."
"What about you?"
Legend was looking at Franklin. "You have room for one more?"
Franklin gave him an appraising once-over. "I heard you have a pretty indestructible breaker form. If you dare to test it, you can ride with us."
Vista looked between the two of them. She opened her mouth to say something, but then Victoria elbowed her lightly. She shook her head.
Sophia looked at everyone from the side. She hadn't spoken a word since leaving the alley; she wrapped her arms around herself gingerly as she listened to the others speak. Her eyes had lingered over Cardinal when she curled into Newton.
"Hey." Vista gave her a light prod. "You… alright?"
Sometimes Missy wondered why she kept finding herself stuck with surly teenage girls. And she was supposed to be the kid.
"I'm fine," Sophia mumbled. "What?"
"You were spacing out. C'mon, let's go. Better get clear before everything starts."
Sophia gave one last glance at Cardinal. The Taylors were already in the air with Legend, flying towards the source of the golden glow.
"Have you seen them fight?" she asked. "How do you know they're telling the truth?" she added sullenly, more of a complaint to herself.
"I've seen Scion attack. I've seen the aftermath of their fight." Vista snapped her fingers, reducing the long street out of town to a single step. "I don't care if they can be trusted. What I do know is that you don't want to be caught in between."
As they stepped out of the town, an ominous rumble echoed across the sky. Hannah looked at her hands. The energy — temporal energy — clinging to her seemed to shimmer just a shade brighter.
"So what's the plan?"
Franklin sighed. "Scion can basically destroy matter on an atomic level. Avoid getting hit. Don't die."
Legend frowned. "That's it? But you beat him before, right?"
"Yeah, then he came back to life anyway, stronger even. Now all we can really do is just don't die."
"Don't die until… what? Scion's not an Endbringer. He's not going to go away after a while. Are you just planning to fight until something happens?"
Franklin flashed a wry smile. "Are you gonna panic if I say yes?"
Legend did not return it. He gave her a hard look before turning to the town. "This temporal energy. What happens if he gets it?"
"Scion is using the energy to understand further the principles of our time travel. More energy means more material for research. So nothing might happen. Or this might be the key that unlocks the insights he needs."
"And if he gets that insight?"
"Then he won't need us, or this world anymore."
"So we need to fight." Legend exhaled shakily. A flash of fear, of indecision crossed over him. Then he curled his hands into fists and straightened his shoulders. "Alright. I'll follow your lead."
"Let us do our thing first. We'll tag you in."
Scion cut through the clouds, descending naked on Shining Top. He looked past them, his eyes focused entirely on the town. Already Franklin could make out the scattered bits of temporal energy, sparkling like gold as they gathered in the air.
He raised his hand.
Cardinal stepped over his head in a pounce, a time-hardened sword in hand. She slashed into his chest from the neck, cutting deep into his torso.
Scion seemed to freeze. A tremble ran up to his head where a second face suddenly peeked from the back of his skull. Lasers burned from his eyes, two searing lances so thick with energy they electrified the air.
Cardinal was already gone. She whisked her blade out, hopping down in wide, leaping steps in the air. The beams turned sharply to follow as Scion continued to pull with his hand.
The temporal energy was already a shimmering band in the sky. Tendrils of power flowed up, routing into a surging river that snaked towards Scion. His hand glowed as he started to absorb it.
Franklin arrived in a sudden bolt of thunder, crashing into his side. She struck through his shoulder, driving lightning straight down his arm, disintegrating it from the inside out.
She leaped off immediately, dodging the hand that clawed out of his back to swipe at her. Franklin arced away as Newton came sweeping up. Spheres of crushed rock and debris spun violently around her. With a flick of her wrist, they were set free, flinging straight into Scion, impacting him in a shower of debris. The twin lasers spluttered in the dust, petering out for a moment. Then a red streak pierced through the cloud, shooting out from the other side.
Franklin fired at the smoke. Lightning had gathered in her hands, burning ozone, the thick ropes of plasma surging wildly around her; she let it go, a torrent of power that leaped from point to point into Scion.
He appeared with a giant claymore in his chest, forming an 'X' with the previous cut. His arm was regenerated, but he still had a third hand sticking out from the back.
The lightning rushed through the claymore. It spread like fireworks within his body, a bevy of sparks glowing up underneath his skin. He turned towards Franklin, a snarl twisting his face. The emptiness in his eyes was gone; now they were filled with recognition as he looked at them for the first time.
"LEGEND, NOW!"
A dozen blinding flares pierced Scion's body. The energies from Legend's beams ignited from the inside, a chain reaction that sent a shockwave of cracks scattering through his body.
A soundless roar echoed through the night, quaking ripples through the temporal glitter. Then, almost anticlimactically, he shattered. Fire and lightning bloomed in his wake, dissolving into the wind.
Legend pulled up next to Newton. She was gathering new material, bits of buildings and roads swirling up and crushed layer by layer into the new spheres at her hands. "What happened? Did he just leave?"
"We broke his projection. He'll be back in a minute or so, and then we'll have to do it again."
"So this is the plan? We just do this endlessly until…" Legend trailed off, biting off his words before his frustration leaked through. He didn't understand how they could be so nonchalant.
"Until," Newton agreed. She glanced at him, a knowing glint of understanding in her eyes. "We're used to it. Either a Taylor shows up and saves our asses or we die. There's no use worrying about it."
Before Legend could reply, Franklin called out. "He's back!"
Everyone split apart as a beam cut between them. In an instant, a boiling line seared through the town, drawing a molten river. The buildings and roads roiled liquid, like a soup bubbling too hot, and sank red hot into it.
Victoria set her binoculars down. Even from a distance, she could feel the heat on the wind as it ruffled through her hair. "You were right," she muttered to Lisa. The other blonde sprawled on the table, her head lying against her arms. "Only took a minute before he reformed." She shook her head. "I don't know how they can even win."
Lisa glanced at the flashes of light and thunder in the sky. "They can't. They're just waiting for a miracle. Another Taylor that will show up to save the day."
"You think that's possible?"
"Normal people don't think that way but they're time travellers, so maybe?" Lisa closed her eyes. "I sure hope they're right. Because we're all gonna die if they're not."
"How's the fight going?"
Victoria turned to see Vista walking up to them. "Hey. They still arguing?"
The younger heroine scoffed. "Yeah, it's annoying. The others don't believe Miss Militia about Scion. They're not saying it, but I'm pretty sure they think we've been compromised by Taylor."
"Well, whatever." Victoria slumped back in her chair. "I don't think it matters much how far we are anyway. Look at that."
Scion attacked; a beam from him cut through a mountain, carving a deep gorge into its face. A punch broke night into day for an instant. Newton and Franklin were like insects buzzing around him. They flashed red and blue, blocking him every time he tried to absorb the temporal energy. As they disengaged, Newton and Legend covered them, interrupting his attacks.
It was a tightrope dance. Scion was getting faster, harder to destroy. His beams sliced closer and his counterattacks swept nearer every time. They managed to break his body twice so far, but now they didn't seem anywhere close to it again.
Victoria couldn't see how they could continue to hold out.
Suddenly, Scion vanished. Victoria straightened up, looking around. Did they manage to take him out? But they were nowhere close to it…
Lisa suddenly jerked out of her chair. "Get up, get up! We have to go!" she grabbed the other two, pulling them away.
A scream interrupted them. Then more screams started from the camp. The three of them ran around a tent to see Scion amid a crowd. His arms were out, fingers splayed. Ten men writhed in the air around him, their skins and flesh flaking off into dust as energy leeched off them into Scion.
"Fuck!" Victoria spat out. She nearly rushed forward, but Lisa pulled her back.
"Don't be stupid! We have to go!"
"Wait, where's Miss Militia and Sophia?" Vista cried out.
Another hero ran up instead. He was a grizzled man, his features hidden behind a wide helmet and a pair of dark goggles. Thrust, Missy remembered. He had a changer ability.
Thrust raised his hands. His fingers widened, splitting up his arms as they turned into five-fingered barrels. "Hey!" he roared, "fuckin' drop them!"
He fired. Ten red bolts smashed into Scion, sizzling against his golden skin. The golden man didn't turn around, didn't even spare a glance. He simply folded one thumb inwards.
Then Thrust, and everything behind him, vaporized. The ground was sundered black; the command tent collapsed in flames as half of it disappeared while the truck behind it ignited in a rising fireball. One man crawled along the ground, shrieking wordlessly. His lower half was gone.
The troopers surged backwards, stumbling over each other in panic. Some of them tried to shoot at Scion, but then a second Scion suddenly appeared, striding forward to grab their heads. They lit up in a shimmering flame, the crackle of their bodies covering their horrified yells.
More Scions appeared, striding out from the tents, from shadows out of sight. They flexed their hands, and more people flew into the air, caught.
"Miss Militia!" Vista saw her mentor trying to corral the others, but no one was listening to her. One of them shoved her out of the way. She gritted her teeth. These situations were the worst, when everyone was shouting and running all over the place, disrupting her power.
She slinked between the crowd, using her power in small bursts to force her way through. Miss Militia had her long 50-cal rifle up, shooting furiously at a Scion.
The golden man ignored her, fixated on the troopers he'd caught instead. He tilted his head, as if in curiosity as their bodies burned to a glittering crisp.
Vista grabbed her arm when she reached her. "Forget it!" she shouted. "You can't do anything to him! We have to go!"
Hannah narrowed her eyes. Her gun rippled into a rocket launcher for a second; then it folded back into a pistol as she turned away. She followed Vista behind the crumpled command tent.
"Where's the rest? Did you see Sophia?"
"I'm here." Sophia appeared in a burst of smoke, huffing. "What the fuck is going on?!"
Vista was about to reply when something buzzed at the edge of her perception. Her power. She stomped the ground, pulling them into an island, isolated with a mile stretched in between as a golden hand pierced out of the tent. It was aiming for Sophia's head.
Scion cut through the rest of the tent. He looked at them and took a step. In a blink, he was next to them, hand reaching forward again.
Vista grunted, pushing hard at the earth. The ground unravelled, turning, moving, until the mountains turned to specks and the world became flat, but Scion simply walked along.
Sophia fired with a rifle she'd grabbed; the gun clicked empty with nothing to show on Scion. No wounds, no sign of a bullet even hitting him. Next to her, Militia was still shooting. She had switched to blasting his feet, hoping to slow him down, but other than the pits her bullets blew up in the ground, nothing changed.
"I can't—" Vista managed to say before she coughed out a glob of blood. The world abruptly snapped back as she collapsed; instinctively Hannah went to grab her, but before she could move another step, everything in her body froze. What felt like a thousand tendrils wormed into her skin, pulling her up into the air. Heat filled her up; her insides were pushing into her throat as they tried to crawl their way out.
Sophia shifted into her breaker state; she broke back almost immediately, screaming. Her clothes started to smoke.
Suddenly, a clawed chain wrapped around Scion's hand and wrenched it away. The three of them dropped to the ground gasping.
Cardinal planted her feet against his shoulders and yanked hard, pulling his hand up around his neck. A sai flipped around in her other hand; she stabbed through one of the links, pinning the chained hand to his throat.
Scion whirled around, swinging backwards with his other arm. She flipped over him, bouncing against the air to lunge forward. A katana slid neatly into his head, piercing through the top of his skull. Cardinal kicked him, hard, shoving them apart as lightning came striking down onto the blade.
Franklin streaked past as the projection shattered. "RUN!" she yelled to them before darting off to the other side of camp.
Sophia grasped weakly at the soil, trying to push herself up. She looked around blearily, but Cardinal was already gone.
"Run?" Vista cursed as she forced herself to stand. "Where the hell are we gonna run to?"
Hannah exhaled shakily. "We have to try anyway. Where's Glory Girl?"
Victoria leapt up, yanking a man back just as he jerked up into the air. She tried to grab another trooper, but he was already screaming, his eyeballs bursting into flame as smoke curled from his tactical vest.
"DALLON!"
She whirled around to see Tattletale running towards her. Behind her, Scion waved his hand, dropping the hollowed corpses to the ground. He strode forward; the earth lurched with his every step; then he was reaching out for her, pulling Tattletale back to him.
Victoria burst forward and grabbed her hands, bracing against the ground to yank her back. Lisa gritted her teeth as she clamped on. A hiss escaped her as her body started to shimmer.
"HOLD ON!" Victoria yelled, before darting in. For a second Lisa felt weightless, trawling backwards into death, and then strong arms slid around and wrapped her tight. She breathed in a thick mane of hair as Victoria forced her flight into overdrive.
They shot off, slamming uncontrolled into the ground. Lisa split apart from her as they skidded across the sand. Victoria spat out the dust in her mouth. She whirled around, trying to bounce back to her feet when a shadow loomed over her.
Scion flicked a finger.
She threw her arms up, almost uselessly as a gust of wind buffeted into her, sweeping her hair back. The surrounding ground was charred black, the heat stinging through her clothes. As the ringing in her ears faded, Victoria opened her eyes in disbelief. She was still alive.
She turned her arm over stiffly. The device on her wrist was a sticky mess, the insides melting out.
Scion took a second look at her. He seemed mildly curious, but only for a brief moment.
He flicked his finger again.
Victoria sucked in a breath. She strained against her muscles, trying to move but her body was still frozen, clenched up. Time crawled as the earth cracked and rumbled underneath an invisible weight, rippling closer and closer to her.
Someone shoved her out of the way.
Franklin yelled as she spun backwards, crashing into the ground. Her armour shimmered gold. Lightning sparked from her hand, leaping through the ground and smashing into Scion. Plasma licked across his face, drawing glowing blood as he turned around fully to face her.
Newton appeared behind him, clapping her hands together.
The air warbled. Scion opened his mouth as he was twisted, pinched; for a flash of second, an impossible black spot hung inside his chest, pulling inwards a golden spiral, a glowing accretion that split apart Scion, split apart the world and looked to devour everything into its abyssal maw.
It disappeared in a soundless flare. Newton staggered backwards, blood streaming from every orifice on her face as the remaining bits of Scion dissolved.
Franklin forced herself up, stumbling over to Victoria. "You alright?" she asked as she pulled the blonde up.
"I'm—" Victoria stuttered to a stop when she saw Franklin. Her left sleeve was torn off; glimmering crystal peeked from where flesh should have been. "Your arm…"
"It's fine." Franklin rolled her shoulder cheerily as if to make her point. She sobered slightly when she saw the look on Victoria's face. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna die just yet."
Newton supported Tattletale as they walked closer. She glanced at Franklin, her lips turning thin when she saw her shoulder. "What now?" she asked. "At this rate, everyone's gonna get picked off one by one."
Above them, Legend rained down a cacophony of lasers onto the multiple Scions, slicing and cutting away at his projections. A bright light washed over him; he roared as his legs dissolved, holding on to his power for as long as possible before he finally fell into his breaker state.
Franklin looked grim. "I told Cardinal to round everyone up." She took out a small, innocuous disc.
Lisa widened her eyes. "That's a bomb. You're planning to put us in a time bubble."
"Like the one in Brockton?" Victoria frowned, already shaking her head. "Can you even break us out after that?"
"I'm glad you automatically think there's gonna be an 'after'," Franklin replied lightly, before turning serious. "We can undo our own bubbles. But if Scion tries to interfere, the result might become unpredictable."
"So, either this or death?" Victoria folded her arms.
Franklin met her gaze. "It's up to you."
Cardinal appeared in a red whirlwind. The space around her trembled; then a mass of people tumbled out from her inner dimension, wheezing and gasping for air. Sophia and Miss Militia were in the same pile, with Vista clambering out underneath them.
Cardinal leaped forward, snatching the disc from Franklin. "No time!" she yelled, throwing it out before anyone could react.
A grey bubble popped over them just as Scion flickered by. He thrust his hand out, clawing shimmering fires as his fingers smashed against the frozen bit of time.
More Scions walked up as the three Taylors slipped out from the bubble. Everyone else was safe inside.
Franklin glanced at the other two. "Don't die."
"I'm not the one who got hit," Newton sniped back without heat.
Cardinal shook her arms and legs, letting the jitters settle as adrenaline numbed her chest.
The golden men raised their hands and fired.
***
David grunted as he smashed into the ground. Aftershocks shook the atoll as it cracked cleanly into two. Seawater sloshed up from beneath, washing over his feet as the land sank.
Before he could even move, Infinite was already looming over him. She grabbed his neck, choking a gasp out of him, and then the ground retreated away.
Everything hurt. He shifted, feeling his bones creak, bits of pain shooting erratically all over his body. Instinctively, his power switched, and fresh air filled his lungs in a single breath.
His broken cape hung awkwardly from one shoulder. David could feel it, the uneven weight pulling at him, the fluttering cloth heavy and wet. A crack. His armour shifted unevenly on him. The broken pieces of his chestplate started to fall, tumbling over his body, scattering into the ocean.
He couldn't move. He didn't want to move. His arms dangled while his spine bent backwards as they flew higher and higher, until the ocean's roar dwindled into a distant, breezy purr.
Infinite hovered languidly, her hand still tight around his neck. She knew he was breathing but she didn't say a word. The sun at her back was like a cloak, shrouding all of her in a twilight shadow except her eyes.
Her eyes shone like gems, twin points of light that seemed to look through him with a glance.
David knew he was going to die. Somehow, the thought didn't fill him with dread as he expected it to. Maybe he was too exhausted to feel anything anymore.
Nothing he did could touch her. Lasers, energy bombs, even matter transmutation; every attack of his merely pushed her away. When he poured all his power into one final blast, all it did was rocket him into the ground. Infinite still floated, unhurried, unafraid.
The horizon curved as the sky turned to stars. The air hung thin and cold, the noise of the world draining away into the infinite void.
She lifted him closer, fingers cradling his face. He could feel them running through his hair, her thumb tracing a line over his temple.
"Any final words?" Infinite finally spoke.
His lips parted, but no words came out. David could only croak as she started digging in. The point of her nail was sharp and unrelenting.
"You made a valiant attempt." She leaned in close, whispering into his ear. "Now, you can rest."
Pain. Something warm dribbled down his face. David gasped as the pressure on his head grew more piercing. His vision grew fuzzy and the stars grew bright as Infinite pushed a thumb into his mind. The end of Eidolon, he thought.
Once, he believed himself to be the most powerful person on the planet. Untouchable, until the Endbringers appeared, and even then...
The Endbringers. He didn't know why he was thinking about them now as he died. Dying. The Simurgh's unmoving, unceasing face appeared in the corner of his eye, her wings blocking out the sun.
Everything turned dark.
Infinite stiffened as an enormous hand scooped around her, yanking her away brusquely. She threw her hand out, a dark writhing tendril shooting out from her palm towards Eidolon but The Simurgh already wrapped a wing around him. It bounced off harmlessly against her feathers.
The Endbringer flicked a hand.
The wind swirled around Infinite, buffeting her backwards, downwards. Her hair whipped around her as she tumbled through the sky. She forced her eyes open, wrenching at the air as she tried to stabilize herself before she noticed the sea moving.
The water was receding. The ocean flowed backwards through the craggy floor while millions of lobsters scurried in panic as they found themselves suddenly exposed. They were like a shifting blanket, chittering over each other as they ran.
Infinite turned to see a massive wall of water cresting over her. White foam folded over the top as the wave rumbled forward, sweeping through the sand, the scuttering lobsters.
It swallowed her up. The currents rolled her upside down, tugging her in every direction. Infinite gasped, gills popping up along her neck as she activated a changer power. She batted a lobster away as she tried to regain her bearings but the water was too murky. Silt enveloped her, the eddies in the water making swirling shadows in them. Her fingers clutched onto the water, a burst of telekinetic power holding her in place while another power lit up within her to pinpoint the surface.
Before she could move, a great shadow lunged out. A massive tail knocked into her, crushing her telekinesis and whipping her further into the depths.
Lightning curled from her fingers, cutting through the brine. It illuminated Leviathan for a second, half shrouded in the swirling silt, four glowing orbs watching her calmly as the crackling energy petered out. Infinite whirled around, adrenaline prickling down her back. She saw him a second too late; his claws smashed into her side before she could raise her hands. As she spun away, his tail flicked out, slapping her down.
Infinite bounced against the seabed. She flipped around, standing shakily on the sandy ground; she could feel the lobsters swarming, their feelers and legs skittering over her. She looked down at her shirt and blazer. They were torn. Three ragged gashes sliced through the side.
Something loomed over her. Infinite lunged sideways, trying to dodge, but a wave pushed her back to Leviathan. His foot came down. Infinite yelled, bubbles beading from her mouth as she tried to push back; but he pressed in harder, forcing her into the dirt, turning and twisting his foot deeper.
Above, The Simurgh suddenly turned towards the churning ocean.
A grey sphere seized the water.
Leviathan was already leaping away but it was too late. His foot was left in the grey, cleanly severed.
Infinite stepped out of the dome. She tore off the tattered remains of her jacket, letting the undercurrents carry them away.
Leviathan swam around her, his unblinking orbs meeting her eyes. His tail swished side to side behind him, sweeping up the sand and rock and lobsters as his leg regrew out.
They disappeared in a snap.
A bubble popped up in the middle of the sea, holding still one of Leviathan's arms. He tore away, flashing through the water but Infinite caught up immediately, standing in his path with another grey sphere to wrap around him.
The sea roared, a thousand different currents surging through the water. Leviathan jerked back, dashing a mile backwards. His head and shoulders were gone, his remaining arm hanging on a thread.
Infinite followed. The sea tried to push her back, but she simply spread her palms and it froze. Every step she took held the waters still, a grey corridor that heralded her way through the dust and silt.
A song rippled faintly down to the depths. Infinite paused, craning her head upwards. The Simurgh was a white, fluttering blob at the surface of the ocean, but Infinite knew she was staring at her. She could feel her gaze crawling over her skin.
Something was wrong.
Water boiled to salt as the ground suddenly erupted. Lightning as thick as a bus sparked off the glowing magma and smashed into Infinite, blasting her through the sea. Her clothes were ash, flaking off as she tumbled and spun, and then Leviathan was at her side, his regenerated eyes burning as he sliced down.
Infinite clenched the area around her shut. The claw caught her for a brief second before it froze; Leviathan was already retreating without his hand. The ocean swirled, and he disappeared into the murky silt.
Behemoth burst out underground, lightning completely washing over the grey sphere of frozen water. Infinite narrowed her eyes. Did he think he could break down her time bubble?
No. They were working together. The Simurgh had Eidolon. She was trying to distract her. Infinite activated Broadcast, trying to read them, but the Endbringers were strange. Their connections felt blocked, like they were being routed through something else.
Someone else. Someone they came for.
The lightning continued to burn blindingly, boiling the sea. Infinite glanced upwards at the white, fluttering dot before shaking her head.
"Ah," she murmured to herself as she raised her hand. "Maybe I should have brought a gun."
She reached for a power. Green, nebulous energy flickered to her side. The shapeless cloud twisted and turned before whipping round, expanding into a thick, translucent sphere. Inside, finer shapes phased into existence layer by layer, slotting neatly into each other. Green wires snaked through it like veins, linking each component to its neighbour until they were all connected to an innocuous orb in the centre.
And as the device formed, Infinite flickered in and out of existence. She shimmered, glowing temporal energy gathering around her body, swirling into her hand until it seared brighter than the lightning glow around her.
She pressed that power into her device, into the sphere that looked like a bomb, into the orb that primed the core.
It ignited.
The world flashed white as the ocean for a thousand miles across evaporated. The seabed turned to glass, to a glossy black surface etched with the outline of a star.
Infinite stepped down on the smoking remains of Behemoth. Only a slagged torso remained, still pulsing with energy. Lightning streaked across her naked body, but she stepped through it, ignoring him as she stared skyward towards The Simurgh.
Leviathan caught her with a swipe just as she leaped. Infinite bounced away, only to reappear back in the same spot, twisting around to lunge at him.
The afterimage collapsed when her hand plunged in. Leviathan turned around, watching carefully from a distance. He was fully regenerated, but his body looked emancipated, hunched like a starving beast. His claws dripped into the water trickling in. In the distance, the ocean rumbled with a sound of inevitability.
Infinite returned his gaze, stepping languidly to and fro over the beating remains of Behemoth. Radiation sizzled against her skin.
Then she leapt. Leviathan darted in again, but this time, she was ready. Without the water, he was too slow to avoid the bloom of grey spreading over his entire body. Only a tail and leg remained free, wiggling stiffly as Infinite slipped out from the bubble.
The Simurgh turned calmly to meet Infinite as she flew up. Her arms were still hidden behind multiple wings, but Infinite could feel Eidolon there through Broadcast.
A subtle pressure throbbed within her skull. The Simurgh looked at her, unspeaking, with a blank expression as if carved out of marble. Infinite activated her changer power and shut off her ears but she could still feel her singing rattling through her bones.
"Who would have thought it was Eidolon all along?" She held her hand out to The Simurgh. "Give him to me and I will make sure he lives. Otherwise…"
A green cloud flickered at her side again, this time shaping into a cylinder, into a cannon, layer by layer with wires all linked up to the same orb.
Infinite raised an eyebrow. "I doubt your siblings can survive a second strike."
The Simurgh blinked. Her hair floated around her, the gossamer strands like a delicate veil dancing in the breeze. She tilted her head sideways, just slightly, her eyes never leaving Infinite as the tinker started gathering temporal energy.
Infinite met her gaze calmly. The power in her palm shimmered and glowed intensely. "I rather not do this. After all, all of you are mine," she said. The cannon's maw widened, its inner components shifting and unlocking as it spun up. "Or is that the reason why?" Her tone turned hard. "Do you prefer Eidolon as your master?"
The moment she slammed the temporal energy in, a circular sigil suddenly appeared on the ocean surface below her. The cannon fired, a blaze of searing light sprouting from its barrel; the sigil lit up, sparks burning along its lines as ink coloured the spaces in between; a large pot-bellied creature with the head of an oni appeared next to Infinite with a splitting implosion, clapping his hands together onto her.
The scene froze as Infinite whipped around, Khonsu's hands almost on her. The Simurgh peered at the field intently, as if seeing through to the real battle inside. She could chart her new sibling's path; she could predict this Infinite through the shards she'd picked up; but as the temporal energy inside grew stronger and more profuse, The Simurgh found her vision of the future turning hazy, slipping out of her grasp.
A thick lance of energy burst out from the side. The air shimmered and broke as the sigil faded. Khonsu fell, his arms cradling a gaping hole in his spherical belly, his head separated and stuck in the air in an unmoving bubble.
The Simurgh spread her wings, darting away from the beam when she realized — where was Taylor Hebert? Her head whipped up as the line of crackling energy abruptly bent.
Infinite ran ahead of the beam. Grey panes hung underneath her every step, stopping, tilting, refracting the beam just slightly off its previous path.
She looked up at The Simurgh as she turned half a circle. Her eyes were ghostly, shrouded in temporal power; then the energy shot around, piercing through The Simurgh, through her wings and through her body.
These all happened in an instant.
Infinite landed on the Endbringer as she staggered backwards. She hopped off her chest, landing on her arm, and dashed down towards Eidolon, blasting through the wings fluttering in her way while The Simurgh moved her other hand to stop her.
She was too late. Infinite reached Eidolon first, plunging her hand into his head. Her hair fluttered in the wind as The Simurgh froze, her fingers just an inch away from her.
Infinite stood up. She separated her arm from Eidolon's head with a wet squelch. Blood dripped down her arm as she shook tremulously. She closed her eyes, tilting her head back as little shivers of light streaked along her body.
"Oh," she breathed out, her eyelids fluttering open. "What do you know?" she said as she turned to The Simurgh. Power gathered over her again, her pink hair glowing iridescent. "Found it."
With a crack, she split open the universe and left.
***
Doctor Mother stood up when she saw Contessa. It was the most disordered she'd ever seen the other woman in a long time. She was covered in dust, her hat missing and her hair askew.
"What's the situation now?"
Contessa shook her head. "Eidolon took her away, but I don't think it'll hold. She'll find her way back soon. We need to leave."
"Alexandria? The Number Man?"
"Alexandria is… currently incapacitated. The Number Man has been usurped by the other Taylor Hebert." Contessa paused as her gaze turned distant for a second. "Right now they just left through the Texas backdoor. We should head there as well."
The Doctor pinched her brow, a deep frown crossing her face. "We can't just leave Eden to her."
"We don't have a choice. I can't path her. Even now my shard… every path is to escape. It's almost like it's panicking."
"Oh? Am I so scary?"
Taylor Infinite smiled as they whirled around. She dropped Eidolon unceremoniously on the floor before walking over to the large observation window, unheeding of the blood or her nudity.
"Wow," she breathed. She pressed a hand to the glass as she peered out over the dark and gleaming landscape. The sky was a void, a blank space with no stars or light but still the land shimmered with slivers of rainbow iridescence, erratic little buzzes that could be mistaken for life.
This was Eden.
Infinite turned around, her hand leaving a bloody smear on the pane, over the Garden, like a wound that was to come.
Contessa gripped her pistol tightly. For a second, a path blazed in her mind: to draw her gun 42 degrees at her head, underneath her earlobe, and pull the trigger; but in the next instance, that path vanished as the weight in her hand turned slightly lighter.
Infinite wagged a finger at her, her smile turning brighter as bullets fell tinker-tack from her other hand. She sashayed nearer, one foot crossing over the other, like a panther stalking its prey. Every step she took closed off one path and another, and another, until for the first time in a long time, Contessa had peace in her mind.
She stood right in front of her, fingers combing through her hair, one thumb pressed against her temples. Fortuna closed her eyes.
"Taylor Hebert." Doctor Mother glanced at Eidolon, at the gaping hole in his head. "You don't know what you're messing with. The more powers you take, the more unstable your body will become."
Infinite gave her a dismissive look. "Yes, I've seen the results of your work. So many lives ruined and you can't even figure out the stability problem. Please."
She turned back to Fortuna. "This will only hurt for a moment."
A silvery shard burst out of her eye. The Doctor caught Fortuna as she staggered back clutching her bloody face. Infinite sauntered backwards, her attention entirely on the spiralling top-like thing she cradled. It spun thin and long, then fat and short, light catching on its fractal surface.
Slowly, Infinite brought it to her chest. She pressed it in, her palm flat against her sternum.
Doctor Mother watched grimly as Taylor floated into the air. Dots started to shine all over her body, with lines connecting them up her arms, her legs, to various points on her chest, and her sternum, until her whole body looked like a patchwork of light, strung together on a web.
She turned to them, one eye burning bright. "Ah," she gasped, she murmured, her voice echoing with many tones. "Now for the main course."
The window behind her shattered into fine dust while all the lights in the laboratory exploded in showers of sparks. Taylor flew out towards Eden with her one fist in the air; she spoke a single word.
The sound covered the world in a single bound. It was long and short, a whisper on your skin and a scream through your head. The Doctor clenched her teeth, her bones rattling so hard it was painful. It felt like a brand steeped with authority, resonant in every language, surpassing just a singular meaning. It was loud, overwhelming, so forceful that the sound wrenched her mind wide open and poured itself inside, drowning all other thoughts until all she could hear was that single word echoing over and over again.
COME.
The world lit at her command. A thousand different beams, a hundred thousand shards flew straight into the sky, casting a technicolour radiance over the midnight land. In the lab, vials shattered as lights streaked out of them, bursting through the freezer doors towards Taylor.
They gathered around her like a storm, like a swirling galaxy of stars. The sky buckled under the surging power, cracks thundering as more shards continued to swarm in. The Doctor had to avert her eyes; by now Infinite was just a tiny shadow amid the searing brilliance, a dark dot on the purest canvas.
She stretched her hands out, as if in welcome. She shone like the sun as she took them all.
Doctor Mother groaned. Her watch slid noisily against the linoleum as she tried to push herself up. She couldn't remember when she had fallen to the floor. Was it before or after the ringing had faded from her ears?
She froze when she turned around.
Taylor Hebert was squatting over Fortuna, one finger pressed against her head. She no longer looked human; her skin was an illuminant silver, stretched taut over her muscles, making her seem like a spindly creature playing pretend. Only her hair remained pink, dangling around her face, a dash of colour on her brow and eyes and between her legs.
Fortuna lay still on the ground. Her eyes were wide open, healed but empty as they stared unblinkingly at the ceiling. Occasionally, her mouth twisted in a grimace, in step with the muffled pops and cracks echoing from her bones while her body shifted and shuddered. Her skin slowly turned from olive to green, then blue, then red; her hair morphed into tentacles before sprouting into feathers. Slime still clung to the plumage.
Infinite suddenly looked up. Her eyes were polished chrome, like shimmering pools of mercury, and when the Doctor caught her gaze, she could only see herself in them. Infinite lifted her finger, but Fortuna continued to shudder and frown in her sleep.
Doctor Mother felt the hairs on her neck prickling, telling her too late to run.
A small ball of light zipped into her body. She grabbed her chest, pulling at her clothes, but there was nothing. Just normal skin, flesh, against the fabric, against the buttons drawing taut down her shirt. The Doctor squirmed as her blazer pulled tightly around her shoulders. Her wrists started to feel choked by her sleeves while her skirt cut uncomfortably into her stomach.
Her heart was like a war drum, beating, gnawing in her ears.
She collapsed as her clothes started to rip apart at the seams. Buttons popped off her shirt as her chest distended out; she pawed at her skirt, frantically trying to undo the buckle but her fingers felt swollen and thick. The bits of fabric still hanging around her cut into her flesh, like a noose squeezing tight. Her watch snapped. It splattered onto the ground like ooze. The last she saw were the various lab equipment collapsing, melting to the floor before a layer of flesh bulged over her eyes and darkened her vision.
Dimly, she heard footsteps padding past her; the air buzzed electric. Doctor Mother tried to reach out, to raise her arm an inch, but the weight of herself pulled down against her. She slapped the ground instead. She stopped moving. Her chest heaved with the labour of her breath.
Fortuna woke up gasping. She grabbed David, squeezing his hand tight as she tried to get her bearings. Her legs were gummy and soft; the air-conditioning was a startling breeze as she pulled the blankets off.
"Hey!" David grabbed her shoulder with his free hand, trying to calm her down. This was the first time he had ever seen Contessa so uncomposed. "Calm down. You're in the base."
She looked around. Metal walls, metal doors. The compound. The med-bay. She was used to the medicinal cabinets at her back rather than on her front. She blinked, trying to adjust to the blinding lights as David squeezed her hand back.
Kurt handed her a glass of water. She looked at it for a moment, stupefied. Something was missing but she couldn't remember what. She reached out in her mind, grasping in the dark for it as she struggled to move her body. It felt strange, inhabiting her body. Everything was familiar yet different, as if she had been on a long holiday away.
Then her power came roaring back awake and her hand moved up to grab the glass. Fortuna brought it to her lips and took a large gulp, savouring the coolness in her throat. She wanted to drink more but there was no time.
Contessa turned her head towards Eidolon. "We're under attack. Switch your powers," she said, before flinging the glass, water and all, right at the door.
A flaming whip sliced through the door at the same time. A puff of steam burst as the glass shattered, while the fire left a searing line through the floor. Eidolon stood up, summoning his helmet to hand while the Number Man was already firing his pistol.
Taylor Infinite stepped through the slagged doorway. She looked congenial, nodding to them politely as she walked unbothered by the mild gunfire.
"Greetings," she said, turning a finger.
Another string of fire cut down, crashing straight into Eidolon. He brought his arms up — they were cloaked with some kind of shimmering liquid — but the whip suddenly exploded instead, blasting him out of the room through the wall.
Taylor didn't let up. Her finger flicked again, this time slicing sideways. Contessa was already lunging off the bed. She tackled the Number Man; her power used the weakness in her legs to let her fall, and they both fell beneath the blistering fire as it swung over them, barely missing.
The Number Man fired his last bullet. The slug flattened against her eye; Taylor blinked curiously as it bounced off, dinging against the metal ground. Her finger was still raised.
She drew a line down the air, pointing straight at them.
Fire rolled over them, rippling over an invisible shield. Contessa squinted, the heat stinging her eyes. Her power told her to wait one beat.
Then Taylor suddenly jerked up, launched into the ceiling. She smashed against it with a heavy thud, denting the metal. She dropped, stopped mid-air as if held up by something, and was flung up again and again.
Handprints dotted her clothes, a whirl of impressions that peppered against cloth and skin as they tried to crush Taylor. The lights shattered as she was dragged through it, dousing part of the room in shadows.
Contessa grabbed the Number Man's arm and moved left.
A fiery lance cut through where they were just a second later. Taylor was no longer paying attention to them; instead, she was looking around, fire streaming from both her hands as she tried to find her invisible assailant.
Dancing between the flames was exhausting. The exit felt like a mile away as they were forced to shuffle back multiple times. The Custodian was helping, trying to push Taylor further away, but she wasn't going to be able to keep it up. Fortuna's power couldn't quite path Hebert, but it could still see the Custodian's fate.
A shot of lightning suddenly bounced off the wall, searing a line through the middle of the room. The Number Man jumped back before the bolt of plasma cut through him; he dived towards Contessa, where she pushed a table over for cover. They ducked behind it just as more lightning crackled and arced across the room.
The mattresses exploded, catching fire as electricity sliced through the bedding. One of the cabinets trembled and suddenly shot into the air. The medicine inside tumbled out as it launched towards Taylor, but it was too late.
She ripped herself off the ceiling with a thunderous clap, striking the ground like lightning. The space around her was forcefully cleared; the beds, what was left of them, flipped backwards in disarray, bouncing off the walls and shattering the glass displays. The thrown cabinet dropped to the ground in molten slag, cut into pieces by the sudden force.
Kurt looked at Contessa as they huddled behind their table. Their cover bore the brunt of the power, pushing them harmlessly against the wall. He slid a new magazine into his pistol, but Fortuna shook her head. It wasn't safe for them to move yet.
Taylor turned, white-hot plasma gathering around her hand as she looked intently at the air, scanning for any bit of imperfection.
She suddenly thrust out a fist. A thick bolt lanced through the air. There was a flash, an obnubilating white that blinded the world before leaving the silhouette of a woman etched against the ceiling.
Taylor smiled victoriously. She stepped forward, hand crackling electric until a craggy root wormed out from her back and wrapped around her.
She froze up for a second, and in that second more roots spilled out from her back; thick winding limbs that wrapped around and over her, reaching into the ground and pulling her down as they burrowed into it. Branches sprouted over each other as they formed a thick trunk, forcing Taylor down lower. Green was sprouting on its branches, the squatting mass on her back blooming into a wide, billowing tree.
Taylor yelped as she crashed to the ground. Fire sprouted from her mouth while the floor bent beneath her. She tried to push up. Lightning crackled along her body, searing red-hot lines up the tree. Leaves burst into flames, falling in a fiery rain as she tried to escape but the tree simply healed, fresh bark and leaves regrowing near-instantaneously while the roots wound tighter and tighter around her.
Eidolon floated back into the room. He was covered in soot, his cape slightly singed at the bottom. One of his hands was outstretched, finger clawed around a glowing green orb. He was shaking with the effort; his other hand came up to grip his arm steady. The tree grew higher, crashing against the ceiling. The metal creaked as it buckled. Taylor gasped as roots engulfed her completely, fire leaking ineffectively between the cracks.
A burst of light snapped through the wood prison. Taylor shoved her hand through the small hole before the roots could cover it up and slapped against the floor. A tremor echoed through the building. The air whistled like something sharp sheared past.
Thin black lines etched across the floor, spreading under them up the walls. They looked like a web of concentric circles, a glyph or a maze. Stillness hung over the air, weightless, like the moment before a rollercoaster crests the tip; then the room shuddered and split apart.
The Number Man saw the changes before he felt it. He tried to stand, but they were already slipping forward as the floor collapsed.
The Custodian caught them mid-fall. She wrapped them in a hard, invisible cocoon and propelled them upwards, through the falling debris as more and more of their base crumbled apart. The destruction was like a wave, working through room after room on the heels of those silent black lines.
Eidolon disappeared under a mountain of metal, his green orb winking out. Taylor fell with him, the massive tree on her back pulling her along as it smashed through the falling debris. She roared; lightning writhed in long, arcing bolts, the wet plasma charring the wood black and grey. Taylor gritted her teeth, straining against her bonds; then a terrible crack clapped the air, snuffing out all sound in that moment. White-hot light cleaved through the tree; it splintered into ash as it hit the ground.
Contessa and the Number Man were deposited on a broken ledge. It was half a room, neatly cut in two. Half a desk was still there, hanging over the edge.
Kurt looked up. It was as if a hole had been carved into their base through more than a dozen levels, leaving a honeycomb of severed rooms. The sliced floors, walls, metal plates and broken furniture tumbled over each other as they settled at the bottom of the pit.
Taylor was walking on air. Stairs shimmered under every step she took, forming a flight up from the bottom. Around her the air was sparkling — little dewdrops that spun and rolled, throwing little dancing spots of light across the ground as they grew bigger and bigger.
"What the hell is she doing?"
"Molten glass." Contessa stared through her eyelashes. She needed to see what happened next. "She's using a few different powers to tune its refractive index."
Taylor stretched her hands out, fingers splayed. The scent of ozone grew overpowering as ten blinding lasers blasted forward. They bounced off the first set of glass orbs to hit the next, and the next, until it connected back onto itself in a blinding lattice that boiled the air.
Then the orbs exploded. The Number Man flinched, jerking back instinctively as an overwhelming light flooded the interior but they passed through him harmlessly. He wasn't the real target.
A soundless shriek cut their ears. The Custodian contorted in agony across a thousand flashing silhouettes, her mouth agape — then Taylor was there, her face serene. With one hand she pulled The Custodian up into the world and with the other she plunged it deep into her flesh.
Kurt had to cover his ears. The Custodian screamed even louder and shriller as Taylor withdrew her arm, the tip of a strange, colourless crystal in her hand. The crystal shifted along its length, warping in on itself like a twisting polytope. The Custodian's skin blistered red and black, turning hard as Taylor continued to pull the crystal out. Tendrils of energy erupted from her body, thin energized lines that drew taut from her flesh to the crystal but Taylor didn't stop pulling.
Kurt looked at Contessa grimly. "Are we dead?"
"Help me up," Contessa replied instead. "The armoury is next door."
The shard came free with a sigh. Lights flickered wildly in a shower of sparks as the Custodian sagged backwards, gasping weakly. Her face was frozen in a rictus of pain as she died.
Taylor dropped the body. She let the shard spin about in her hand, her lips parting into an unbidden smile as she watched the light sparkle and refract off its whirling dimensions. Floating higher on a ball of dripping glass, she pulled her hair up and set it free.
The shard shot out, arcing through the space as it darted straight into the base of Taylor's neck. She exhaled, her eyes fluttering while her skin glowed softly. She seemed completely uncaring of the world around her, totally immersed in the feeling of the new shard.
Alexandria exploded out from the ceiling just as the shard disappeared into Taylor. She stopped mid-air, her face blank as she looked at the destruction — the new cavernous space, the body on the ground — and the shining figure in the middle of it all.
The air split apart with a boom as Alexandria shot forward, but she never landed her punch. She choked, stopping right before Taylor while her legs whipped forward. Something gripped her neck hard; Alexandria clutched at the air in front of her but there was nothing there.
Then she was slammed into the ground, shaking loose some debris around her. Alexandria balled her fists, trying to push herself up, but the invisible force grabbed her again, hurling her upwards. She could see her cape flapping violently in front of her, the ground shrinking before she smashed hard into the ceiling. The metal groaned as it dented in, then Alexandria was flung to the side.
She scraped against the ceiling, grinding a path along the ceiling through the lights and fans and bits of half-wall still sticking out. Alexandria stretched her arm out, clawing her fingers into the metal as she tried to stop herself. She roared, ripping out a chunk of ceiling as she tried to fly down but the force intensified, pressing up against every inch of her body, pushing her deeper into the ceiling. Her head crashed through something protruding as she looped around a corner. Her armour came apart, tumbling to the ground with her cape.
Taylor wasn't even looking up. One hand was lazily raised, turning slowly while she rolled her neck unhurriedly.
"The Custodian's power. She really has it. And she's practicing." Kurt watched powerlessly from the side. His hands automatically tucked the last pin into the sniper rifle in his hand; he cocked it, easily going through the assembly checks before loading the rounds in.
"She's going for the Garden."
"Can she actually control all of them?"
"Unknowable." Contessa glanced at Kurt, meeting his eyes. "No one has ever done it before."
The ground suddenly shifted. Metal ground on metal in an awful racket as a pile of broken pieces started shaking and moving. Alexandria stopped, still flattened against the ceiling as Taylor turned curiously.
Something rumbled underground, just a second before a slab of flooring exploded off the pile towards her. Taylor cocked her head, batting it away easily; then Eidolon leaped up from the hole in the ground with ten glowing orbs spinning furiously around him as he blasted a massive beam straight into her.
Taylor immediately had her hands out, pushing forward. Light and heat slithered a circle around her, plasma rippling over her invisible shield. She blinked and squinted while something sizzled against her shoes; rivers of molten metal, glowing hot, pooled at her feet. Her mouth curled into a frown as they started to smoke and blacken.
Sweat beaded under David's helmet. He gasped, his breath a loud ringing in his ears. Was this it? He could feel Taylor giving ground. Did he manage to find her weakness? He had swapped all his powers to pure offense for this one shot. His arms trembled as he tried holding steady the surge of power coursing through him. The energy was blinding but he didn't dare to look away.
He missed the slow rise of metal all around him, a thousand malleable pieces pulling and twisting into sharp spikes.
They quivered in the air for a deadly second, and then they fired.
Alexandria slammed into him, pushing him to the ground. She leaped over him, tucking him under her as the spikes rained down. They cut through her bodysuit, slicing over her back and bouncing off her skin. She hissed, sucking in a breath as a hundred points stubbed blunt against her body and clattered to the ground. Eidolon shifted under her as more spikes buried themselves around them, the orbs around him dissipating as he tried for another power.
A sharp report of a rifle echoed. Taylor staggered, thrown off-balance to the side as a bullet slammed into her. It bounced off her harmlessly, but it also interrupted her concentration. The metal spikes clattered to the ground as she spun around, eyes narrowed, trying to find the shooter.
The Number Man fired again just as Taylor spotted him. The bullet whipped her head back, but not before she crushed the room with a clenched fist. He leaped off, dust streaming from his coat as he landed smoothly on a lower deck. Taylor steadied herself, shaking off the bullet from her hair. She could feel him with Custodian's power, his footsteps landing in time with his heartbeat.
She thrust her hand forward, grasping at the room he was running to and almost crushing it before another bullet ricocheted off the ground and slammed into her jaw, rattling her teeth painfully and sending her aim wide.
Contessa walked as she cocked her rifle. She pulled the trigger again without looking.
Taylor gritted her teeth. She tried to focus, but the second bullet caught her by surprise again, bouncing from the side straight onto her ear. This time, she yelped, clutching her ear as a sharp ringing perforated her eardrums.
As she stumbled, she missed Eidolon rising into the air, his armour turning black and impenetrable as the void. He reared back as he took a deep breath, and then he screamed. The bottom of his helmet shattered as a soundless wave ebbed out.
Everything in front of him turned to dust. The broken metal plates, the pieces of furniture, it all turned black and scattered, disintegrating into the air.
Taylor staggered onto her knee. She held one hand out in front of her, a shimmering barrier at her hand. The dust streamed around her as she pushed back, but she couldn't block out everything. Parts of her white suit were already turning black, flaking off bit by bit.
A bullet hit her wrist, rocking her hand to the side. Immediately her sleeve rippled, and long dark gashes appeared over her shoulder.
Taylor hissed, irritation crossing her face. She clenched her hand into a fist.
A massive metal blade barrelled out of the side of the cavern, catching Eidolon from the side. He smashed into the ground before he could turn; more spikes grew out, pinning him deeper into the ground. His armour splintered as the tips ground into him.
Taylor stood up. She brushed her shoulder as a metal sheet popped up to her side, blocking another bullet. More sheets sprouted up, growing wide and tall over her, covering her against the Number Man and Contessa. They couldn't see her anymore, but she could still see them.
She turned, focusing on the Number Man first. He was already running, zig-zagging into different rooms but there was nowhere he could hide. He was already in her grasp.
Taylor watched his steps, anticipated his movements, and swept a hand down.
Alexandria slammed into her as she crushed him, pulling them both into a pile of debris. Light and darkness tumbled over them as they burrowed deeper into the metal. Alexandria could barely move, the exhaustion of the day catching up to her. She lay in the dark, letting the weight of the world press down on her until a pale hand suddenly burst out and grabbed her.
Lightning seared the surrounding metal into slag as they exploded from the ground. Taylor gripped her by her head. Alexandria grabbed the fingers holding her, trying to pull them off, but then Taylor swooped down, slamming her hard into the ground. Her vision buzzed out briefly as bells rang between her ears. Taylor continued, raising her head and smashing it down over and over. Alexandria tried to kick her away, but her limbs felt like rubber. Pain radiated in her skull as the fingers around her face tightened.
Two shots rang out, bouncing between the sheets to hit Taylor. Her grip slackened, just for a split-second, and Alexandria reacted immediately. She forced an open palm into Taylor's chest, pushing her back enough for her to tuck her legs in and shove her boots into Taylor with all her remaining strength.
The tinker only stumbled back slightly. She glanced up, ignoring Alexandria for a moment. Contessa had already slipped away, so Taylor crushed the entire swath of rooms she fired from; everything in a wide radius around it was pulverized and flattened.
She turned back to Alexandria. The heroine was on her hands and knees, gasping as she tried to crawl away. Her head pounded with heat as blood rushed up. She grabbed a rebar sticking out of the ground, trying to pull herself up, but Taylor wrenched it out of her hand. A shoe pressed her down on her back and then—
There was no pain, no blood. Just a small sensation at the base of her neck, and then she couldn't feel anything.
Alexandria flopped flat to the ground, limbs askew. She couldn't move them — she couldn't move a single finger or toe, couldn't feel anything from the neck down. Her mouth croaked wide involuntarily, a stream of saliva leaking from the side. Her eyes darted to the side as she tried to look around, to turn around to see what was in her neck. Something was in her neck.
Taylor stretched, feeling the kinks crack out along her back as she walked away. The Number Man was probably dead, but there was still Eidolon and Contessa to harvest. She turned towards the mass of spikes in the ground. They were still growing, still pushing into the ground. She frowned. Eidolon couldn't have simply died like this, right?
Suddenly, arms wrapped around her waist. They pulled her close even as she tried to wrest away. The world spun like a kaleidoscope as she shoved an elbow behind.
They split apart on a rocky beach underneath a swirling twilight sky.
Taylor looked down, her lips curling in disgust as lobsters tried to crawl over her feet. A flick of fire sent them all scurrying away. There were thousands of them, a rolling mass of grey and blue retreating further up the beach or into the sea.
"Door." She frowned when nothing happened.
"It won't work. This world has a natural bulwark."
"Oh?" Taylor turned around to see David floating down. His helmet was gone. Dry blood caked the side of his face.
"It's over. You can't go back."
Taylor scoffed. "If you can come here, then I can leave. Do you think I can't pluck that power out of your head?"
David bared a grin full of teeth. "To force our way here, I had the power burn itself out ten times over. And then I discarded it, cycling through other powers a dozen times since.
"So, take it. Take them all. You still lose."
A solemn expression settled on Taylor's face. She looked around at the barren islet, the chittering lobsters and the rolling seas.
"Hmm. Interesting," she said. "I'll have to test this theory of yours."
David raised a hand, palm up. "Shall we?"
***
Kurt woke up with a gasp. He hissed with pain, trying to move, but his legs wouldn't obey.
He looked down. They were gone, two stumps ending at the knees, a dirty tourniquet wrapped around them both. He turned around, almost yelling as he saw Taylor Hebert sitting next to him.
She had green hair. It was a different Taylor Hebert. The one he helped Alexandria trap.
"You're awake," she spoke. "I'm Sage."
"You saved me."
"You jumped pretty far out of the way yourself." She wasn't looking at him, instead fiddling with a small cylindrical device in her hands.
He hissed, a spike of pain jolting up his thighs as he shifted the wrong way. Kurt shoved the pain he was feeling away and looked at Sage again. Her eyes were composed, no hint of impatience, no trace of anger. The only sign of emotion was her feet drumming against the floor.
There was an oversized device strapped over her back. Wires stuck out erratically, a mismatch of different parts wrapped together in tape around a glowing core. Kurt recognized some of those parts as tinker devices from their armoury.
Did she manage to cobble together a time machine?
"What do you want?" he asked.
Sage stopped moving her fingers. "Where's your secondary exit? I know you didn't just depend solely on Doormaker."
Kurt shook his head. "It's on the other side of the base. We'll never reach there without... the other Taylor finding us first."
"Eidolon just teleported her away a few minutes ago. Trying to shunt her into some random dimension, I'm guessing. It's a good plan, but it won't delay her for long. She'll be back." Sage stood up and waved the device in her hand. The core on her back glowed as a ghostly green stretcher popped beneath him and levitated up. "So, this is the best time we have. Point the way."
"Wait. Where's Contessa? Alexandria?"
Sage held a hand up. "Nope. It's just you and me, or I leave you here for Infinite to find."
Kurt was taken aback. He examined the Taylor in front of him more closely, at the small, nervous twitches in her body. She was wary of him, of them. The tinker device on her back was for this green construct, not her time technology.
"You know," he started, keeping his tone conversational, "we can be allies. If you're against the other—"
"Just because I'm against her doesn't mean I'm with you," Sage interrupted. She didn't give him a chance to try again. "Let me be perfectly clear. I'm fine with looking for the exit myself."
"The base is huge. You won't find it," Kurt pointed out.
"I'll find it," she disagreed immediately. "It'd take longer than I'd like but I'll find it. You, on the other hand, will die when Infinite comes back. So make your choice."
Kurt gripped the stretcher. It felt like a solid piece of nothingness. "You're asking me to choose between betraying my colleagues and saving my life."
"Well, you didn't use the word 'friends' so I assume you'll be okay."
The Number Man worked his jaw. He grabbed the stumps of his legs.
Taylor never looked away. She met his gaze calmly, patiently until he turned away first.
"Go left."
***
Victoria found Franklin and Legend in a terse standoff. The blue-haired Taylor was snarling, her hands crackling with energy. Behind her, Newton was slumped against the wall, massaging her neck as she watched.
"Hey!" She pulled Franklin back. "We're on the same side here. What happened?"
"Ask him," she jerked her chin at Legend. "Alexandria pulled Sage into a portal. He won't say where or why. He won't even disable the emitters blocking our tech."
Victoria turned to Legend. "Legend. Hi." She forced herself to slow down her words, to stop the fangirling for a moment. "Look, you can trust the Taylors. We need their help. Scion is on the way. We need to get as far away from town as possible."
Legend was looking at them. He frowned when he saw Cardinal. "Glory Girl," he said. He blinked at Victoria's outfit. "What do you mean Scion is on the way?"
Vista came forward. "We know what he is. We saw how he killed everyone in the MS cells. If we're still here when he arrives, we'll all die painfully."
Legend's face was carefully blank. His eyes slid between the two girls, his lips pressed into a thin white line.
Miss Militia prodded. "Sir? I've already told the others to evac to the command tent. Should I cancel that order?" She still had a trace of suspicion; her pistol was subtly pointed at Cardinal.
"He doesn't know what you're talking about." Tattletale breathed out as she studied the Protectorate hero. "He's not in the loop."
Legend, along with the others, whipped around to her. "What do you mean?" Victoria asked urgently, almost unheeding of the Protectorate hero. He was still silent.
Cardinal wasn't paying attention to their squabble. She sat down next to Newton, fixedly not looking at her. Her hand was clenched on her knee, just a warm inch from Newton. She twitched, seized with indecision on how to start.
Newton grabbed her instead, wrapping a palm around her fist. She gently pressed it flat and hooked their fingers together. "Hey," she said lowly, her voice still hoarse from the fight.
"Hey." Cardinal's voice was rough for a different reason. She looked up, blinking rapidly as tears suddenly filled her eyes.
They didn't speak after that. Newton waited for a beat before leaning into Cardinal, resting her head on her shoulder. She seemed content, casual, but her grip on Cardinal tightened, as if she was afraid the other girl might disappear again.
"I'm sorry," Cardinal whispered. The word felt heavy, inadequate. Regret was like a chasm in her heart, a never-ending abyss.
Newton nuzzled into her as she shook her head. "Don't," she replied simply, like it was nothing that Cardinal left without a word, that Cardinal betrayed them with Infinite, that she left Newton alone for so long.
Cardinal squeezed her eyes shut as she broke down crying.
Newton pulled her in, wrapping her up in a hug. "Don't," she said again. "I trusted Infinite too, back then."
"You know?"
"Sage tried to shield me, but I put together some bits and pieces."
Cardinal unfurled slightly. One of her hands ghosted around Newton's waist like an old habit.
"If you ever want to talk, I'm always here to listen."
"Even after everything?"
"Of course." Newton nudged her with her shoulder, forcing Cardinal to meet her eyes. "We made a promise to each other, remember?"
Cardinal chuckled. It was soft but genuine, and a feeling of lightness bubbled up in her for the first time since a long while.
"Hey lovebirds." A flat voice interrupted the two.
Franklin looked down at them exasperatedly. "Get up. He's here. God, I'm happy for you two but I did not miss this."
Behind her, Victoria was goggling, her eyes wide with astonishment. Tattletale looked more sedate, but she also could not completely hide her amazement.
In the distance, the sky was beginning to shift with a golden hue.
"How long till he gets here?"
"At current speeds? 5 minutes." Franklin had a holographic map projecting from her bracer. The blinking dot on it continued to edge closer.
Legend appeared in a flash. "It's done."
Almost immediately, the Taylors seemed to buzz. The lights on their wrist stopped flashing red while a sliver of themselves phased over them as their tech kicked in. Newton and Cardinal looked completely restored, their injuries gone and their suits repaired.
Miss Militia walked up to Legend. "All teams have evacuated to the command tent, waiting for further instructions."
"You should join them," Franklin spoke to her. "Then lead everyone further, as far away as you can."
Militia twitched, but she didn't respond. She stood with her hands behind her back, waiting for Legend instead.
The protectorate hero seemed to be lost in thought. He had been quiet ever since the revelations that he was not completely in the loop, even in Cauldron.
"Follow what Taylor says," he finally replied. "You'll be in charge. Retreat further, keep everyone safe, that's the new priority."
"What about you?"
Legend was looking at Franklin. "You have room for one more?"
Franklin gave him an appraising once-over. "I heard you have a pretty indestructible breaker form. If you dare to test it, you can ride with us."
Vista looked between the two of them. She opened her mouth to say something, but then Victoria elbowed her lightly. She shook her head.
Sophia looked at everyone from the side. She hadn't spoken a word since leaving the alley; she wrapped her arms around herself gingerly as she listened to the others speak. Her eyes had lingered over Cardinal when she curled into Newton.
"Hey." Vista gave her a light prod. "You… alright?"
Sometimes Missy wondered why she kept finding herself stuck with surly teenage girls. And she was supposed to be the kid.
"I'm fine," Sophia mumbled. "What?"
"You were spacing out. C'mon, let's go. Better get clear before everything starts."
Sophia gave one last glance at Cardinal. The Taylors were already in the air with Legend, flying towards the source of the golden glow.
"Have you seen them fight?" she asked. "How do you know they're telling the truth?" she added sullenly, more of a complaint to herself.
"I've seen Scion attack. I've seen the aftermath of their fight." Vista snapped her fingers, reducing the long street out of town to a single step. "I don't care if they can be trusted. What I do know is that you don't want to be caught in between."
As they stepped out of the town, an ominous rumble echoed across the sky. Hannah looked at her hands. The energy — temporal energy — clinging to her seemed to shimmer just a shade brighter.
"So what's the plan?"
Franklin sighed. "Scion can basically destroy matter on an atomic level. Avoid getting hit. Don't die."
Legend frowned. "That's it? But you beat him before, right?"
"Yeah, then he came back to life anyway, stronger even. Now all we can really do is just don't die."
"Don't die until… what? Scion's not an Endbringer. He's not going to go away after a while. Are you just planning to fight until something happens?"
Franklin flashed a wry smile. "Are you gonna panic if I say yes?"
Legend did not return it. He gave her a hard look before turning to the town. "This temporal energy. What happens if he gets it?"
"Scion is using the energy to understand further the principles of our time travel. More energy means more material for research. So nothing might happen. Or this might be the key that unlocks the insights he needs."
"And if he gets that insight?"
"Then he won't need us, or this world anymore."
"So we need to fight." Legend exhaled shakily. A flash of fear, of indecision crossed over him. Then he curled his hands into fists and straightened his shoulders. "Alright. I'll follow your lead."
"Let us do our thing first. We'll tag you in."
Scion cut through the clouds, descending naked on Shining Top. He looked past them, his eyes focused entirely on the town. Already Franklin could make out the scattered bits of temporal energy, sparkling like gold as they gathered in the air.
He raised his hand.
Cardinal stepped over his head in a pounce, a time-hardened sword in hand. She slashed into his chest from the neck, cutting deep into his torso.
Scion seemed to freeze. A tremble ran up to his head where a second face suddenly peeked from the back of his skull. Lasers burned from his eyes, two searing lances so thick with energy they electrified the air.
Cardinal was already gone. She whisked her blade out, hopping down in wide, leaping steps in the air. The beams turned sharply to follow as Scion continued to pull with his hand.
The temporal energy was already a shimmering band in the sky. Tendrils of power flowed up, routing into a surging river that snaked towards Scion. His hand glowed as he started to absorb it.
Franklin arrived in a sudden bolt of thunder, crashing into his side. She struck through his shoulder, driving lightning straight down his arm, disintegrating it from the inside out.
She leaped off immediately, dodging the hand that clawed out of his back to swipe at her. Franklin arced away as Newton came sweeping up. Spheres of crushed rock and debris spun violently around her. With a flick of her wrist, they were set free, flinging straight into Scion, impacting him in a shower of debris. The twin lasers spluttered in the dust, petering out for a moment. Then a red streak pierced through the cloud, shooting out from the other side.
Franklin fired at the smoke. Lightning had gathered in her hands, burning ozone, the thick ropes of plasma surging wildly around her; she let it go, a torrent of power that leaped from point to point into Scion.
He appeared with a giant claymore in his chest, forming an 'X' with the previous cut. His arm was regenerated, but he still had a third hand sticking out from the back.
The lightning rushed through the claymore. It spread like fireworks within his body, a bevy of sparks glowing up underneath his skin. He turned towards Franklin, a snarl twisting his face. The emptiness in his eyes was gone; now they were filled with recognition as he looked at them for the first time.
"LEGEND, NOW!"
A dozen blinding flares pierced Scion's body. The energies from Legend's beams ignited from the inside, a chain reaction that sent a shockwave of cracks scattering through his body.
A soundless roar echoed through the night, quaking ripples through the temporal glitter. Then, almost anticlimactically, he shattered. Fire and lightning bloomed in his wake, dissolving into the wind.
Legend pulled up next to Newton. She was gathering new material, bits of buildings and roads swirling up and crushed layer by layer into the new spheres at her hands. "What happened? Did he just leave?"
"We broke his projection. He'll be back in a minute or so, and then we'll have to do it again."
"So this is the plan? We just do this endlessly until…" Legend trailed off, biting off his words before his frustration leaked through. He didn't understand how they could be so nonchalant.
"Until," Newton agreed. She glanced at him, a knowing glint of understanding in her eyes. "We're used to it. Either a Taylor shows up and saves our asses or we die. There's no use worrying about it."
Before Legend could reply, Franklin called out. "He's back!"
Everyone split apart as a beam cut between them. In an instant, a boiling line seared through the town, drawing a molten river. The buildings and roads roiled liquid, like a soup bubbling too hot, and sank red hot into it.
Victoria set her binoculars down. Even from a distance, she could feel the heat on the wind as it ruffled through her hair. "You were right," she muttered to Lisa. The other blonde sprawled on the table, her head lying against her arms. "Only took a minute before he reformed." She shook her head. "I don't know how they can even win."
Lisa glanced at the flashes of light and thunder in the sky. "They can't. They're just waiting for a miracle. Another Taylor that will show up to save the day."
"You think that's possible?"
"Normal people don't think that way but they're time travellers, so maybe?" Lisa closed her eyes. "I sure hope they're right. Because we're all gonna die if they're not."
"How's the fight going?"
Victoria turned to see Vista walking up to them. "Hey. They still arguing?"
The younger heroine scoffed. "Yeah, it's annoying. The others don't believe Miss Militia about Scion. They're not saying it, but I'm pretty sure they think we've been compromised by Taylor."
"Well, whatever." Victoria slumped back in her chair. "I don't think it matters much how far we are anyway. Look at that."
Scion attacked; a beam from him cut through a mountain, carving a deep gorge into its face. A punch broke night into day for an instant. Newton and Franklin were like insects buzzing around him. They flashed red and blue, blocking him every time he tried to absorb the temporal energy. As they disengaged, Newton and Legend covered them, interrupting his attacks.
It was a tightrope dance. Scion was getting faster, harder to destroy. His beams sliced closer and his counterattacks swept nearer every time. They managed to break his body twice so far, but now they didn't seem anywhere close to it again.
Victoria couldn't see how they could continue to hold out.
Suddenly, Scion vanished. Victoria straightened up, looking around. Did they manage to take him out? But they were nowhere close to it…
Lisa suddenly jerked out of her chair. "Get up, get up! We have to go!" she grabbed the other two, pulling them away.
A scream interrupted them. Then more screams started from the camp. The three of them ran around a tent to see Scion amid a crowd. His arms were out, fingers splayed. Ten men writhed in the air around him, their skins and flesh flaking off into dust as energy leeched off them into Scion.
"Fuck!" Victoria spat out. She nearly rushed forward, but Lisa pulled her back.
"Don't be stupid! We have to go!"
"Wait, where's Miss Militia and Sophia?" Vista cried out.
Another hero ran up instead. He was a grizzled man, his features hidden behind a wide helmet and a pair of dark goggles. Thrust, Missy remembered. He had a changer ability.
Thrust raised his hands. His fingers widened, splitting up his arms as they turned into five-fingered barrels. "Hey!" he roared, "fuckin' drop them!"
He fired. Ten red bolts smashed into Scion, sizzling against his golden skin. The golden man didn't turn around, didn't even spare a glance. He simply folded one thumb inwards.
Then Thrust, and everything behind him, vaporized. The ground was sundered black; the command tent collapsed in flames as half of it disappeared while the truck behind it ignited in a rising fireball. One man crawled along the ground, shrieking wordlessly. His lower half was gone.
The troopers surged backwards, stumbling over each other in panic. Some of them tried to shoot at Scion, but then a second Scion suddenly appeared, striding forward to grab their heads. They lit up in a shimmering flame, the crackle of their bodies covering their horrified yells.
More Scions appeared, striding out from the tents, from shadows out of sight. They flexed their hands, and more people flew into the air, caught.
"Miss Militia!" Vista saw her mentor trying to corral the others, but no one was listening to her. One of them shoved her out of the way. She gritted her teeth. These situations were the worst, when everyone was shouting and running all over the place, disrupting her power.
She slinked between the crowd, using her power in small bursts to force her way through. Miss Militia had her long 50-cal rifle up, shooting furiously at a Scion.
The golden man ignored her, fixated on the troopers he'd caught instead. He tilted his head, as if in curiosity as their bodies burned to a glittering crisp.
Vista grabbed her arm when she reached her. "Forget it!" she shouted. "You can't do anything to him! We have to go!"
Hannah narrowed her eyes. Her gun rippled into a rocket launcher for a second; then it folded back into a pistol as she turned away. She followed Vista behind the crumpled command tent.
"Where's the rest? Did you see Sophia?"
"I'm here." Sophia appeared in a burst of smoke, huffing. "What the fuck is going on?!"
Vista was about to reply when something buzzed at the edge of her perception. Her power. She stomped the ground, pulling them into an island, isolated with a mile stretched in between as a golden hand pierced out of the tent. It was aiming for Sophia's head.
Scion cut through the rest of the tent. He looked at them and took a step. In a blink, he was next to them, hand reaching forward again.
Vista grunted, pushing hard at the earth. The ground unravelled, turning, moving, until the mountains turned to specks and the world became flat, but Scion simply walked along.
Sophia fired with a rifle she'd grabbed; the gun clicked empty with nothing to show on Scion. No wounds, no sign of a bullet even hitting him. Next to her, Militia was still shooting. She had switched to blasting his feet, hoping to slow him down, but other than the pits her bullets blew up in the ground, nothing changed.
"I can't—" Vista managed to say before she coughed out a glob of blood. The world abruptly snapped back as she collapsed; instinctively Hannah went to grab her, but before she could move another step, everything in her body froze. What felt like a thousand tendrils wormed into her skin, pulling her up into the air. Heat filled her up; her insides were pushing into her throat as they tried to crawl their way out.
Sophia shifted into her breaker state; she broke back almost immediately, screaming. Her clothes started to smoke.
Suddenly, a clawed chain wrapped around Scion's hand and wrenched it away. The three of them dropped to the ground gasping.
Cardinal planted her feet against his shoulders and yanked hard, pulling his hand up around his neck. A sai flipped around in her other hand; she stabbed through one of the links, pinning the chained hand to his throat.
Scion whirled around, swinging backwards with his other arm. She flipped over him, bouncing against the air to lunge forward. A katana slid neatly into his head, piercing through the top of his skull. Cardinal kicked him, hard, shoving them apart as lightning came striking down onto the blade.
Franklin streaked past as the projection shattered. "RUN!" she yelled to them before darting off to the other side of camp.
Sophia grasped weakly at the soil, trying to push herself up. She looked around blearily, but Cardinal was already gone.
"Run?" Vista cursed as she forced herself to stand. "Where the hell are we gonna run to?"
Hannah exhaled shakily. "We have to try anyway. Where's Glory Girl?"
Victoria leapt up, yanking a man back just as he jerked up into the air. She tried to grab another trooper, but he was already screaming, his eyeballs bursting into flame as smoke curled from his tactical vest.
"DALLON!"
She whirled around to see Tattletale running towards her. Behind her, Scion waved his hand, dropping the hollowed corpses to the ground. He strode forward; the earth lurched with his every step; then he was reaching out for her, pulling Tattletale back to him.
Victoria burst forward and grabbed her hands, bracing against the ground to yank her back. Lisa gritted her teeth as she clamped on. A hiss escaped her as her body started to shimmer.
"HOLD ON!" Victoria yelled, before darting in. For a second Lisa felt weightless, trawling backwards into death, and then strong arms slid around and wrapped her tight. She breathed in a thick mane of hair as Victoria forced her flight into overdrive.
They shot off, slamming uncontrolled into the ground. Lisa split apart from her as they skidded across the sand. Victoria spat out the dust in her mouth. She whirled around, trying to bounce back to her feet when a shadow loomed over her.
Scion flicked a finger.
She threw her arms up, almost uselessly as a gust of wind buffeted into her, sweeping her hair back. The surrounding ground was charred black, the heat stinging through her clothes. As the ringing in her ears faded, Victoria opened her eyes in disbelief. She was still alive.
She turned her arm over stiffly. The device on her wrist was a sticky mess, the insides melting out.
Scion took a second look at her. He seemed mildly curious, but only for a brief moment.
He flicked his finger again.
Victoria sucked in a breath. She strained against her muscles, trying to move but her body was still frozen, clenched up. Time crawled as the earth cracked and rumbled underneath an invisible weight, rippling closer and closer to her.
Someone shoved her out of the way.
Franklin yelled as she spun backwards, crashing into the ground. Her armour shimmered gold. Lightning sparked from her hand, leaping through the ground and smashing into Scion. Plasma licked across his face, drawing glowing blood as he turned around fully to face her.
Newton appeared behind him, clapping her hands together.
The air warbled. Scion opened his mouth as he was twisted, pinched; for a flash of second, an impossible black spot hung inside his chest, pulling inwards a golden spiral, a glowing accretion that split apart Scion, split apart the world and looked to devour everything into its abyssal maw.
It disappeared in a soundless flare. Newton staggered backwards, blood streaming from every orifice on her face as the remaining bits of Scion dissolved.
Franklin forced herself up, stumbling over to Victoria. "You alright?" she asked as she pulled the blonde up.
"I'm—" Victoria stuttered to a stop when she saw Franklin. Her left sleeve was torn off; glimmering crystal peeked from where flesh should have been. "Your arm…"
"It's fine." Franklin rolled her shoulder cheerily as if to make her point. She sobered slightly when she saw the look on Victoria's face. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna die just yet."
Newton supported Tattletale as they walked closer. She glanced at Franklin, her lips turning thin when she saw her shoulder. "What now?" she asked. "At this rate, everyone's gonna get picked off one by one."
Above them, Legend rained down a cacophony of lasers onto the multiple Scions, slicing and cutting away at his projections. A bright light washed over him; he roared as his legs dissolved, holding on to his power for as long as possible before he finally fell into his breaker state.
Franklin looked grim. "I told Cardinal to round everyone up." She took out a small, innocuous disc.
Lisa widened her eyes. "That's a bomb. You're planning to put us in a time bubble."
"Like the one in Brockton?" Victoria frowned, already shaking her head. "Can you even break us out after that?"
"I'm glad you automatically think there's gonna be an 'after'," Franklin replied lightly, before turning serious. "We can undo our own bubbles. But if Scion tries to interfere, the result might become unpredictable."
"So, either this or death?" Victoria folded her arms.
Franklin met her gaze. "It's up to you."
Cardinal appeared in a red whirlwind. The space around her trembled; then a mass of people tumbled out from her inner dimension, wheezing and gasping for air. Sophia and Miss Militia were in the same pile, with Vista clambering out underneath them.
Cardinal leaped forward, snatching the disc from Franklin. "No time!" she yelled, throwing it out before anyone could react.
A grey bubble popped over them just as Scion flickered by. He thrust his hand out, clawing shimmering fires as his fingers smashed against the frozen bit of time.
More Scions walked up as the three Taylors slipped out from the bubble. Everyone else was safe inside.
Franklin glanced at the other two. "Don't die."
"I'm not the one who got hit," Newton sniped back without heat.
Cardinal shook her arms and legs, letting the jitters settle as adrenaline numbed her chest.
The golden men raised their hands and fired.
***
David grunted as he smashed into the ground. Aftershocks shook the atoll as it cracked cleanly into two. Seawater sloshed up from beneath, washing over his feet as the land sank.
Before he could even move, Infinite was already looming over him. She grabbed his neck, choking a gasp out of him, and then the ground retreated away.
Everything hurt. He shifted, feeling his bones creak, bits of pain shooting erratically all over his body. Instinctively, his power switched, and fresh air filled his lungs in a single breath.
His broken cape hung awkwardly from one shoulder. David could feel it, the uneven weight pulling at him, the fluttering cloth heavy and wet. A crack. His armour shifted unevenly on him. The broken pieces of his chestplate started to fall, tumbling over his body, scattering into the ocean.
He couldn't move. He didn't want to move. His arms dangled while his spine bent backwards as they flew higher and higher, until the ocean's roar dwindled into a distant, breezy purr.
Infinite hovered languidly, her hand still tight around his neck. She knew he was breathing but she didn't say a word. The sun at her back was like a cloak, shrouding all of her in a twilight shadow except her eyes.
Her eyes shone like gems, twin points of light that seemed to look through him with a glance.
David knew he was going to die. Somehow, the thought didn't fill him with dread as he expected it to. Maybe he was too exhausted to feel anything anymore.
Nothing he did could touch her. Lasers, energy bombs, even matter transmutation; every attack of his merely pushed her away. When he poured all his power into one final blast, all it did was rocket him into the ground. Infinite still floated, unhurried, unafraid.
The horizon curved as the sky turned to stars. The air hung thin and cold, the noise of the world draining away into the infinite void.
She lifted him closer, fingers cradling his face. He could feel them running through his hair, her thumb tracing a line over his temple.
"Any final words?" Infinite finally spoke.
His lips parted, but no words came out. David could only croak as she started digging in. The point of her nail was sharp and unrelenting.
"You made a valiant attempt." She leaned in close, whispering into his ear. "Now, you can rest."
Pain. Something warm dribbled down his face. David gasped as the pressure on his head grew more piercing. His vision grew fuzzy and the stars grew bright as Infinite pushed a thumb into his mind. The end of Eidolon, he thought.
Once, he believed himself to be the most powerful person on the planet. Untouchable, until the Endbringers appeared, and even then...
The Endbringers. He didn't know why he was thinking about them now as he died. Dying. The Simurgh's unmoving, unceasing face appeared in the corner of his eye, her wings blocking out the sun.
Everything turned dark.
Infinite stiffened as an enormous hand scooped around her, yanking her away brusquely. She threw her hand out, a dark writhing tendril shooting out from her palm towards Eidolon but The Simurgh already wrapped a wing around him. It bounced off harmlessly against her feathers.
The Endbringer flicked a hand.
The wind swirled around Infinite, buffeting her backwards, downwards. Her hair whipped around her as she tumbled through the sky. She forced her eyes open, wrenching at the air as she tried to stabilize herself before she noticed the sea moving.
The water was receding. The ocean flowed backwards through the craggy floor while millions of lobsters scurried in panic as they found themselves suddenly exposed. They were like a shifting blanket, chittering over each other as they ran.
Infinite turned to see a massive wall of water cresting over her. White foam folded over the top as the wave rumbled forward, sweeping through the sand, the scuttering lobsters.
It swallowed her up. The currents rolled her upside down, tugging her in every direction. Infinite gasped, gills popping up along her neck as she activated a changer power. She batted a lobster away as she tried to regain her bearings but the water was too murky. Silt enveloped her, the eddies in the water making swirling shadows in them. Her fingers clutched onto the water, a burst of telekinetic power holding her in place while another power lit up within her to pinpoint the surface.
Before she could move, a great shadow lunged out. A massive tail knocked into her, crushing her telekinesis and whipping her further into the depths.
Lightning curled from her fingers, cutting through the brine. It illuminated Leviathan for a second, half shrouded in the swirling silt, four glowing orbs watching her calmly as the crackling energy petered out. Infinite whirled around, adrenaline prickling down her back. She saw him a second too late; his claws smashed into her side before she could raise her hands. As she spun away, his tail flicked out, slapping her down.
Infinite bounced against the seabed. She flipped around, standing shakily on the sandy ground; she could feel the lobsters swarming, their feelers and legs skittering over her. She looked down at her shirt and blazer. They were torn. Three ragged gashes sliced through the side.
Something loomed over her. Infinite lunged sideways, trying to dodge, but a wave pushed her back to Leviathan. His foot came down. Infinite yelled, bubbles beading from her mouth as she tried to push back; but he pressed in harder, forcing her into the dirt, turning and twisting his foot deeper.
Above, The Simurgh suddenly turned towards the churning ocean.
A grey sphere seized the water.
Leviathan was already leaping away but it was too late. His foot was left in the grey, cleanly severed.
Infinite stepped out of the dome. She tore off the tattered remains of her jacket, letting the undercurrents carry them away.
Leviathan swam around her, his unblinking orbs meeting her eyes. His tail swished side to side behind him, sweeping up the sand and rock and lobsters as his leg regrew out.
They disappeared in a snap.
A bubble popped up in the middle of the sea, holding still one of Leviathan's arms. He tore away, flashing through the water but Infinite caught up immediately, standing in his path with another grey sphere to wrap around him.
The sea roared, a thousand different currents surging through the water. Leviathan jerked back, dashing a mile backwards. His head and shoulders were gone, his remaining arm hanging on a thread.
Infinite followed. The sea tried to push her back, but she simply spread her palms and it froze. Every step she took held the waters still, a grey corridor that heralded her way through the dust and silt.
A song rippled faintly down to the depths. Infinite paused, craning her head upwards. The Simurgh was a white, fluttering blob at the surface of the ocean, but Infinite knew she was staring at her. She could feel her gaze crawling over her skin.
Something was wrong.
Water boiled to salt as the ground suddenly erupted. Lightning as thick as a bus sparked off the glowing magma and smashed into Infinite, blasting her through the sea. Her clothes were ash, flaking off as she tumbled and spun, and then Leviathan was at her side, his regenerated eyes burning as he sliced down.
Infinite clenched the area around her shut. The claw caught her for a brief second before it froze; Leviathan was already retreating without his hand. The ocean swirled, and he disappeared into the murky silt.
Behemoth burst out underground, lightning completely washing over the grey sphere of frozen water. Infinite narrowed her eyes. Did he think he could break down her time bubble?
No. They were working together. The Simurgh had Eidolon. She was trying to distract her. Infinite activated Broadcast, trying to read them, but the Endbringers were strange. Their connections felt blocked, like they were being routed through something else.
Someone else. Someone they came for.
The lightning continued to burn blindingly, boiling the sea. Infinite glanced upwards at the white, fluttering dot before shaking her head.
"Ah," she murmured to herself as she raised her hand. "Maybe I should have brought a gun."
She reached for a power. Green, nebulous energy flickered to her side. The shapeless cloud twisted and turned before whipping round, expanding into a thick, translucent sphere. Inside, finer shapes phased into existence layer by layer, slotting neatly into each other. Green wires snaked through it like veins, linking each component to its neighbour until they were all connected to an innocuous orb in the centre.
And as the device formed, Infinite flickered in and out of existence. She shimmered, glowing temporal energy gathering around her body, swirling into her hand until it seared brighter than the lightning glow around her.
She pressed that power into her device, into the sphere that looked like a bomb, into the orb that primed the core.
It ignited.
The world flashed white as the ocean for a thousand miles across evaporated. The seabed turned to glass, to a glossy black surface etched with the outline of a star.
Infinite stepped down on the smoking remains of Behemoth. Only a slagged torso remained, still pulsing with energy. Lightning streaked across her naked body, but she stepped through it, ignoring him as she stared skyward towards The Simurgh.
Leviathan caught her with a swipe just as she leaped. Infinite bounced away, only to reappear back in the same spot, twisting around to lunge at him.
The afterimage collapsed when her hand plunged in. Leviathan turned around, watching carefully from a distance. He was fully regenerated, but his body looked emancipated, hunched like a starving beast. His claws dripped into the water trickling in. In the distance, the ocean rumbled with a sound of inevitability.
Infinite returned his gaze, stepping languidly to and fro over the beating remains of Behemoth. Radiation sizzled against her skin.
Then she leapt. Leviathan darted in again, but this time, she was ready. Without the water, he was too slow to avoid the bloom of grey spreading over his entire body. Only a tail and leg remained free, wiggling stiffly as Infinite slipped out from the bubble.
The Simurgh turned calmly to meet Infinite as she flew up. Her arms were still hidden behind multiple wings, but Infinite could feel Eidolon there through Broadcast.
A subtle pressure throbbed within her skull. The Simurgh looked at her, unspeaking, with a blank expression as if carved out of marble. Infinite activated her changer power and shut off her ears but she could still feel her singing rattling through her bones.
"Who would have thought it was Eidolon all along?" She held her hand out to The Simurgh. "Give him to me and I will make sure he lives. Otherwise…"
A green cloud flickered at her side again, this time shaping into a cylinder, into a cannon, layer by layer with wires all linked up to the same orb.
Infinite raised an eyebrow. "I doubt your siblings can survive a second strike."
The Simurgh blinked. Her hair floated around her, the gossamer strands like a delicate veil dancing in the breeze. She tilted her head sideways, just slightly, her eyes never leaving Infinite as the tinker started gathering temporal energy.
Infinite met her gaze calmly. The power in her palm shimmered and glowed intensely. "I rather not do this. After all, all of you are mine," she said. The cannon's maw widened, its inner components shifting and unlocking as it spun up. "Or is that the reason why?" Her tone turned hard. "Do you prefer Eidolon as your master?"
The moment she slammed the temporal energy in, a circular sigil suddenly appeared on the ocean surface below her. The cannon fired, a blaze of searing light sprouting from its barrel; the sigil lit up, sparks burning along its lines as ink coloured the spaces in between; a large pot-bellied creature with the head of an oni appeared next to Infinite with a splitting implosion, clapping his hands together onto her.
The scene froze as Infinite whipped around, Khonsu's hands almost on her. The Simurgh peered at the field intently, as if seeing through to the real battle inside. She could chart her new sibling's path; she could predict this Infinite through the shards she'd picked up; but as the temporal energy inside grew stronger and more profuse, The Simurgh found her vision of the future turning hazy, slipping out of her grasp.
A thick lance of energy burst out from the side. The air shimmered and broke as the sigil faded. Khonsu fell, his arms cradling a gaping hole in his spherical belly, his head separated and stuck in the air in an unmoving bubble.
The Simurgh spread her wings, darting away from the beam when she realized — where was Taylor Hebert? Her head whipped up as the line of crackling energy abruptly bent.
Infinite ran ahead of the beam. Grey panes hung underneath her every step, stopping, tilting, refracting the beam just slightly off its previous path.
She looked up at The Simurgh as she turned half a circle. Her eyes were ghostly, shrouded in temporal power; then the energy shot around, piercing through The Simurgh, through her wings and through her body.
These all happened in an instant.
Infinite landed on the Endbringer as she staggered backwards. She hopped off her chest, landing on her arm, and dashed down towards Eidolon, blasting through the wings fluttering in her way while The Simurgh moved her other hand to stop her.
She was too late. Infinite reached Eidolon first, plunging her hand into his head. Her hair fluttered in the wind as The Simurgh froze, her fingers just an inch away from her.
Infinite stood up. She separated her arm from Eidolon's head with a wet squelch. Blood dripped down her arm as she shook tremulously. She closed her eyes, tilting her head back as little shivers of light streaked along her body.
"Oh," she breathed out, her eyelids fluttering open. "What do you know?" she said as she turned to The Simurgh. Power gathered over her again, her pink hair glowing iridescent. "Found it."
With a crack, she split open the universe and left.
***
Doctor Mother stood up when she saw Contessa. It was the most disordered she'd ever seen the other woman in a long time. She was covered in dust, her hat missing and her hair askew.
"What's the situation now?"
Contessa shook her head. "Eidolon took her away, but I don't think it'll hold. She'll find her way back soon. We need to leave."
"Alexandria? The Number Man?"
"Alexandria is… currently incapacitated. The Number Man has been usurped by the other Taylor Hebert." Contessa paused as her gaze turned distant for a second. "Right now they just left through the Texas backdoor. We should head there as well."
The Doctor pinched her brow, a deep frown crossing her face. "We can't just leave Eden to her."
"We don't have a choice. I can't path her. Even now my shard… every path is to escape. It's almost like it's panicking."
"Oh? Am I so scary?"
Taylor Infinite smiled as they whirled around. She dropped Eidolon unceremoniously on the floor before walking over to the large observation window, unheeding of the blood or her nudity.
"Wow," she breathed. She pressed a hand to the glass as she peered out over the dark and gleaming landscape. The sky was a void, a blank space with no stars or light but still the land shimmered with slivers of rainbow iridescence, erratic little buzzes that could be mistaken for life.
This was Eden.
Infinite turned around, her hand leaving a bloody smear on the pane, over the Garden, like a wound that was to come.
Contessa gripped her pistol tightly. For a second, a path blazed in her mind: to draw her gun 42 degrees at her head, underneath her earlobe, and pull the trigger; but in the next instance, that path vanished as the weight in her hand turned slightly lighter.
Infinite wagged a finger at her, her smile turning brighter as bullets fell tinker-tack from her other hand. She sashayed nearer, one foot crossing over the other, like a panther stalking its prey. Every step she took closed off one path and another, and another, until for the first time in a long time, Contessa had peace in her mind.
She stood right in front of her, fingers combing through her hair, one thumb pressed against her temples. Fortuna closed her eyes.
"Taylor Hebert." Doctor Mother glanced at Eidolon, at the gaping hole in his head. "You don't know what you're messing with. The more powers you take, the more unstable your body will become."
Infinite gave her a dismissive look. "Yes, I've seen the results of your work. So many lives ruined and you can't even figure out the stability problem. Please."
She turned back to Fortuna. "This will only hurt for a moment."
A silvery shard burst out of her eye. The Doctor caught Fortuna as she staggered back clutching her bloody face. Infinite sauntered backwards, her attention entirely on the spiralling top-like thing she cradled. It spun thin and long, then fat and short, light catching on its fractal surface.
Slowly, Infinite brought it to her chest. She pressed it in, her palm flat against her sternum.
Doctor Mother watched grimly as Taylor floated into the air. Dots started to shine all over her body, with lines connecting them up her arms, her legs, to various points on her chest, and her sternum, until her whole body looked like a patchwork of light, strung together on a web.
She turned to them, one eye burning bright. "Ah," she gasped, she murmured, her voice echoing with many tones. "Now for the main course."
The window behind her shattered into fine dust while all the lights in the laboratory exploded in showers of sparks. Taylor flew out towards Eden with her one fist in the air; she spoke a single word.
The sound covered the world in a single bound. It was long and short, a whisper on your skin and a scream through your head. The Doctor clenched her teeth, her bones rattling so hard it was painful. It felt like a brand steeped with authority, resonant in every language, surpassing just a singular meaning. It was loud, overwhelming, so forceful that the sound wrenched her mind wide open and poured itself inside, drowning all other thoughts until all she could hear was that single word echoing over and over again.
COME.
The world lit at her command. A thousand different beams, a hundred thousand shards flew straight into the sky, casting a technicolour radiance over the midnight land. In the lab, vials shattered as lights streaked out of them, bursting through the freezer doors towards Taylor.
They gathered around her like a storm, like a swirling galaxy of stars. The sky buckled under the surging power, cracks thundering as more shards continued to swarm in. The Doctor had to avert her eyes; by now Infinite was just a tiny shadow amid the searing brilliance, a dark dot on the purest canvas.
She stretched her hands out, as if in welcome. She shone like the sun as she took them all.
Doctor Mother groaned. Her watch slid noisily against the linoleum as she tried to push herself up. She couldn't remember when she had fallen to the floor. Was it before or after the ringing had faded from her ears?
She froze when she turned around.
Taylor Hebert was squatting over Fortuna, one finger pressed against her head. She no longer looked human; her skin was an illuminant silver, stretched taut over her muscles, making her seem like a spindly creature playing pretend. Only her hair remained pink, dangling around her face, a dash of colour on her brow and eyes and between her legs.
Fortuna lay still on the ground. Her eyes were wide open, healed but empty as they stared unblinkingly at the ceiling. Occasionally, her mouth twisted in a grimace, in step with the muffled pops and cracks echoing from her bones while her body shifted and shuddered. Her skin slowly turned from olive to green, then blue, then red; her hair morphed into tentacles before sprouting into feathers. Slime still clung to the plumage.
Infinite suddenly looked up. Her eyes were polished chrome, like shimmering pools of mercury, and when the Doctor caught her gaze, she could only see herself in them. Infinite lifted her finger, but Fortuna continued to shudder and frown in her sleep.
Doctor Mother felt the hairs on her neck prickling, telling her too late to run.
A small ball of light zipped into her body. She grabbed her chest, pulling at her clothes, but there was nothing. Just normal skin, flesh, against the fabric, against the buttons drawing taut down her shirt. The Doctor squirmed as her blazer pulled tightly around her shoulders. Her wrists started to feel choked by her sleeves while her skirt cut uncomfortably into her stomach.
Her heart was like a war drum, beating, gnawing in her ears.
She collapsed as her clothes started to rip apart at the seams. Buttons popped off her shirt as her chest distended out; she pawed at her skirt, frantically trying to undo the buckle but her fingers felt swollen and thick. The bits of fabric still hanging around her cut into her flesh, like a noose squeezing tight. Her watch snapped. It splattered onto the ground like ooze. The last she saw were the various lab equipment collapsing, melting to the floor before a layer of flesh bulged over her eyes and darkened her vision.
Dimly, she heard footsteps padding past her; the air buzzed electric. Doctor Mother tried to reach out, to raise her arm an inch, but the weight of herself pulled down against her. She slapped the ground instead. She stopped moving. Her chest heaved with the labour of her breath.
