Orb Weaver: Storm chapter 3

Glory Girl:

Vicky was flying as fast as she could. Some cars had accidents—the roads were getting more crowded, and there wasn’t any time to wait.

At least Mom won’t ground me.  The adults might be fighting Leviathan, and didn’t that just make her stomach clench, but she wasn’t. Mom had been very strict about that. Because she could tank anything—once, but then she had to wait for her shield to come back and Mom had made her sit down and watch just how fast the Endbringer’s water echo was.

The Investigator was talking away in her earpiece, seeming to know where every possible jam up or wreck was, almost before it happened.

She touched down in front of the current problem, a van that had stalled out. A teen was working on it. “Just give me a—“

“Sorry!” Vicky said. “We’ll get in a ton of trouble if the drill doesn’t act like it’s a real Class-S.” She lifted the van, carrying it to the side of the road. “Just leave it here and get on another car,” she said. “You’ll get a free credit for any repairs once you bring it into a shop!”

“Whoah, Cool!”

Yeah. And if Leviathan shows up here, we’re not gonna have to worry about you bringing the van into a shop.

“Glory Girl, this is the EOC. There is construction equipment on 12th and nobody can find the key. Go move it.”

“Right, save the world, become a road worker.”

There was a pause. “Just don’t let them know you’re not union.”

She blinked. Had that been a joke? But the line was dead, probably talking to someone else.

*****

“Move paramedics to the intersection of Fifth and Hero,” I said. “They are moving an elder care facility and the staff will need assistance.” Normally you’d wait until they had an issue to dispatch paramedics, but that took time. And I was certain that there would be at least a few issues among people, many suffering from dementia, being moved from their safe spaces. Having paramedics on scene would save time. A little time.

Ask me for anything but time.  Things were crawling.  An hour had passed and we’d barely evacuated 9,000 people, even with all of our preparations, the streams leaving the island merging into the larger groups evacuating Texas City and heading into Houston where overbuilt structures and Endbringer shelters would be far safer than the local facilities.

Faster, Taylor. Get this done.  The movements on the screen were like an insect swarm and I kept snapping out instructions, a clipped order from Alexandria leading to two other screens being set up as I took over for part of Texas City, their own EOC evidently overwhelmed. I started dispatching crews into areas where we had people listed who hadn’t responded to the calls.

And on another channel, one that I could listen, but not talk on, I heard the worst news. Leviathan was starting to move in. Tentatively, testing us.

It knows we’re more prepared. How does it know? 

No parahumans were engaging. That far out, only the few who could swim could engage the Endbringer, and none of them would last against the Endbringer. Legend and some of the blasters were holding position, but sharp, short statements let me know that they were organizing, waiting until they could all hit Leviathan at once.

“Launching PARTY FAVOR.” I didn’t know the codes, but it was plain the navy was bringing out everything they had. For the first time in years, they had been given enough time to put up a defense, and they were fighting, normal men and woman against a demon… “No Joy, No Joy, PARTY FAVOR  ineffective. Launching torpedoes. Leviathan approaching Independence and Constellation, engaging…” A few moments later the voice returned, harsh, angry. “No effect, Independence disabled, Constellation lost, no survivors. Leviathan withdrawing to the Alpha Line…” There were other reports, code word weapons used and failing. I was happy none of the men and women in the EOC could hear the reports.

Leviathan is playing with them.  The Endbringer was fast enough that it could shoot through the line… So why not? To get them to expend any tricks now, before it would have to contend with both the navy and Protectorate?  Sadism? A child toying with some bugs?

“All units, stand by for flash and shock, launching MK45s” Moments later, the EOC displays went staticky for a moment.

Nukes, they used nukes did—

“Jesus Christ, how the fuck does anything move that fast—“ the voice cut off in a squawk of static, and another voice came on, voice clipped. “Nimitz, disabled, Barry lost, John Paul Jones disabled, Carney lost—“

“Override, this is Alexandria, all navy ships disengage from the area.”

“Negative, Alexandria, our formation is still combat capable—“

“Leviathan is playing with you. You’ll do more good in the recovery phase.”

“…understood. All ships not engaging in rescue operations, withdraw.”

I could hear the rage in the admiral’s voice, but it made sense. If any of the weapons had worked… but they hadn’t.  During the time I hadn’t stopped giving and typing out orders.

****

“Honey, the nice superhero is going to take you to your hospital…” the woman looked terrified.

No shit.  The kid was 16 and weighed 70 pounds, Aisha bet, the cancer running through her body. A packet of her chemo was given to Aisha, and she nodded at the girl’s mother.

“I’ll be right along,” the woman said.

She knows. Because no way would someone strap a girl in this condition to a teleporting Ward unless Leviathan was really on the way.

“Ready for a ride?”

The girl was barely able to nod.

Then Aisha flung a Number out and twisted, just like at the factory, only Armsmaster had drilled her relentlessly, and she could do up to 120 KM, which sounded impressive until you realized that wasn’t, like even a hundred miles an hour. At least she could carry stuff.

Twist-twist-twist— and she was at the empty parking lot behind a Shakey’s cars cleared, a big VTOL squatting in the parking lot as Medics ran forward. Sure she couldn’t get her to a hospital and get back to move more than a few, but she’d gotten thirty who couldn’t be moved normally here.  The medic grabbed the girl and gently put her on gurney, giving Aisha a thumbs up.

“Krewe, this is Investigator, I’m sending you a list of homes with elderly residents that have not responded to the alert. I want you to check them out, with a Number, not in person. Some of them are armed.”

“Yeah, nothing like getting shot,” Aisha said. “Gotcha, boss!”

***

The car honked angrily. Kanshi frowned under her mask, but didn’t move the paper barrier she’d set up. Aegis flew over to the car and started shaking his head, gesturing at the line of traffic moving down.

“All teams, stand by for pause,” the Investigator said, and then the lights started changing, not so much for the cars, since they had police and parahumans controlling the roads, but to let them know when to let people in. The lights had a sequence to them. Each one changing in time to let side roads in,but not jam the road itself. Kanshi waited until their light changed, then lowered her barriers, cars driving in.

And it was there she saw the lie of it just being a drill die. A woman, with a child, dog, and cat in her car, an annoyed expression on her face, picked up her phone, and spoke into it.

Then her eyes went wide, her face pale as she looked directly at Kanshi and then started leaning on her horn, the car in front of her honking back in anger. People were starting to run down the sidewalk, people who had been sitting this out running from their homes.

It would take one. Just one someone trusted, and felt they had to warn. Then they would call two others, friends, or lovers, but they would also have friends they would warn. One becomes two becomes four…

“Hard override. This is Kanshi. The fact that this is not a drill has gotten out.”

“Understood.”

“Leviathan is not driving for the coast yet.” Alexandria. “He’s preparing the ground.”

Preparing the— Then Kanshi looked up and saw the first clouds forming, as a flag, formerly limp, snapped in the wind.

Leviathan is coming… Kanshi felt her legs start to tremble. Mother’s life, her family, everything she had… he took it. And he is coming here… 

“Kanshi?” She glanced and the Ward, Aegis was looking at her.

“Yes?”

“You don’t look…”

“Merely tired. Thank you.”

“Right, we’re gonna have to work on crowd control now, back up the cops,” Aegis said. “I have an adaptive biology, you don’t. Anyone waves a gun around, leave them to me.”

“Very well.”

They turned back as the first fat drops of rain started to patter the ground.