Dinah threw up in the toilet… which wasn't the most dignified thing for the future Overlady of the ABB to do, and she was planning to be the Overlady. While the chances she'd be able to convince her parents were very small, they weren't zero.
Although… she didn't feel much like an Overlady right now.
Leaning back against the cold bathroom wall, she pressed the heel of her hands against her eyes and pulled her legs closer to her chest, trying to hold back the constant, mounting pressure, as if something were pushing from the inside, or her eyes had grown too big for her head.
She had finally given in and let Panacea heal her missing hand, and while she hated to admit it, being able to push against her face with both limbs without the fear of hurting herself was nice.
It didn't really help much, but the gesture blocked light and made her feel like she was doing something.
Dinah wanted her mom… She wanted her dad, too, and Anakin, and her house, her bed, even her giant Mouse Protector and Narwhal plushies, but mostly, she wanted her mom.
"I told you not to do it," Vista sighed with a worried voice, and Dinah knew without looking that the Ward had her arms crossed in front of her chest in a disapproving manner. "Want me to go get someone?"
She nearly groaned at the words, any sound sending another spike of pain through her head, holding back the nausea. She tried to speak, but her mouth refused to work; instead, she shook her head… slowly.
Vista had caught her using her power in the bathroom and had confiscated the bottle of pain medicine before Dinah could take any more, worried about an overdose, but she had been stubborn, trying one last time to see the attack directly.
She immediately regretted that decision.
Before she met Anakin, when she had just gotten her power and hadn't had as much self-control, Dinah had Thinker headaches every day; sometimes, they were enough to blur her vision and make her dizzy, but this was way worse.
Cold sweat ran down her neck, thinking was hard, and every time she tried to get up, the room started to spin, her vision filled with white spots as her headache worsened.
Still, it wasn't the worst thing she had ever felt, getting buried under the hubble when the Travelers had first tried to kidnap her was both scarier and more painful, but not by much.
Unfortunately, Dinah didn't trust the PRT, and she didn't trust the heroes, so she needed to see what was going to happen herself… and for the first time, her power had failed her.
She was used to her power hurting, but it had never failed, not like this.
"I'm tired of being useless," Dinah confessed, opening an eye to stare at the Ward when the nausea passed, and it didn't feel like she had something stuck on her throat. "I told them I could answer more questions, that it only hurt a little, but they wouldn't let me. At least I managed to give Miss Militia a few warnings."
"Yeah, they do that," Vista huffed in annoyance, voice soft to avoid hurting, then she flushed the toilet, and the noise sent another spike of pain through her head. "Did they use the voice?"
"What voice?"
"The 'you're very brave, sweetie' voice, they always use that one with me."
Dinah winced. Yeah, she knew the voice, the social worker who was supposed to care for her when her parents weren't there definitely used it, and gave her the look too.
"I hate when they do that," Vista growled, leaning against the sink. "You know they won't even let me change costumes?" Pulling at the edge of her skirt, she snorted. "They designed this for approachability, as if I want villains to look at me and think 'aww.'"
"What's wrong with your costume? I like it," Vista glared at her, but Dinah was too busy holding back her nausea to notice. "Sure, I loved the Overlady clothes I had, but a combat dress is nice too, and I always thought yours was cute; it just lacks a cape… or a cloak, a cloak is good too."
Yeah, she had chosen to dress like an Overlady, but that's because she didn't want to ruin Anakin's image…
Fine, she couldn't deny her mask was really cool, but a combat dress like Vista's was her second option.
It didn't mean she didn't like some girlish things; she wasn't so simple as not to appreciate other kinds of fashion. Dinah had even dressed up as a princess once or twice during Halloween, and she loved her dolls and plushies, too.
Vista sighed, looking down at the wavy green skirt and elegant boots. "Yeah, I liked it when I first started, and I guess it does provide protection, but I'm not a kid anymore. I just want people to stop looking at me like I'm playing dress-up."
"But… can't you be like Mouse Protector? I'd totally play up my age to ruin a Villain's reputation."
For a moment, Vista just thought about her words, then she started snickering.
"What?"
"Ha… haha. I just imagined Kaiser getting to jail and telling everyone he was arrested by the pretty little princess half his size. I'm almost tempted to try… I can't get them to give me something decent, but I bet they'd change my costume to pink if I asked."
Feeling a little better, Dinah stretched her legs, then she looked up at the Ward. "I'd help you, let you ask questions every day until he's arrested," she tempted, then, seeing Vista's indecision, continued with a serious voice. "Do it!"
Vista snickered again, then shook her head. "No, then I'd have to wait five years before they let me change my costume again. I don't think I can ham it up like Mouse Protector for that long."
"Five years is forever," Dinah sighed. "You could ask to have an alternative costume? I bet they'd like that, and it would make it easier to convince them to let you have a third, or even a fourth, cooler costume. Four different Vista dolls sell better than one."
Dinah resisted the urge to ask about the chances of that happening. With some discipline, she didn't have to use her power with every question that appeared in her mind, and she didn't need more pain right now.
She was fairly sure Vista could talk someone into it anyway.
"You're evil," Vista said with some admiration, then the Ward noticed Dinah had started gagging. "Want some water, at least?"
"... Yeah."
Fifty minutes later, Dinah had thrown up again, still hadn't managed to get up, and she felt stiff all over, but the lights had been turned off, and she was starting to feel better.
Closing her eyes, she felt strength filling her body again, as if Anakin was here to help her with his healing, making the headache better with the wave of a hand. She felt his support.
Vista was sitting on the floor by her side, and while Dinah wanted to stay mad at the Ward, she knew it wasn't really her fault the 'rescue' attempt had gone wrong.
"I didn't even manage to see it," Dinah groaned, words coming a little slow as she had difficulty speaking, "Stupid Endbringers."
"So, it's really happening?" Vista asked, handing her another cup of water.
"About ninety-four percent chance by the end of the week," Dinah said, leaning her head back against the cold wall.
Extending both legs, Vista flexed her green boots one after the other, letting silence stretch between them for a minute as she thought about what was going to happen.
"How does that work? If you can't see Leviathan, how can you tell?"
"It fails if I try to predict the Endbringer, but there's like, a seven percent chance the city is destroyed by water damage by tomorrow, and it grows every day until it's almost certain in a week."
"So it could be something else?… It's not gonna be something else, is it?"
"They're not sure," Dinah admitted, remembering her meeting with Piggot. "When they first asked, there was about a sixty percent chance the attack would happen tomorrow, but an hour later, it dropped to seven and stayed there."
According to Armsmaster, that could mean a lot of things, from the Endbringers Thinker protection messing with the numbers, to her prediction being spoken out loud changing the future, or even someone else being responsible for the attack.
However, when she couldn't use the second aspect of her power to see what happened, Dinah grew certain it was Leviathan.
She had tried to use questions to narrow what was gonna happen, but when that didn't help, she tried her trump card, to find a single timeline she could observe where things turned out fine and try to repeat it in real life… It hadn't worked out, and she really, really wished she hadn't tried.
At least the pills she had already taken were starting to have an effect, her pain getting better… a little bit.
"Why aren't they evacuating the city?" Vista asked, starting to bite her thumb in worry.
"They asked about that, if they evacuate beforehand, it doesn't happen, like, less than a percent."
For a second, Vista just looked at her, then she seemed to realize it. "But the Endbringer would still attack; they always do, only the PRT wouldn't know where."
"Yeah. I could probably find it," Dinah said with confidence. Since she started trying to find Coil, she had gotten pretty good at narrowing things down with questions. "But only if I had time."
She had been able to ask more questions lately, like, a lot more, but there was only so much she could do to find a single city in the entire world… and the target could always change again, particularly if it was the Simurgh's turn.
"I think they'll move me out of the city tomorrow," Dinah eventually said. "I refused when they asked, but they have a good chance of convincing my parents."
"They cared about what you wanted? Since when?"
"It's not like they arrested me, and I'm not a Ward; I'm supposed to go back to my parents tomorrow, and the PRT cares what they think. Heh, they're probably afraid of my fixer if they move me without permission."
The man her dad had hired was kinda impressive; she'd be afraid of him, too, if she were the one being sued.
Before they could continue talking, the Endbringer sirens started blaring around the city, one of them right above the Protectorate HQ where she was, the constant forcefield around the headquarters seeming to reflect some of the sound, making it even louder and sending spikes of pain through her body, causing her to curl up again.
"What? I thought you said it wasn't gonna happen today!" Vista nearly screamed in surprise.
"I don't…" Dinah started to say, trying to get up even as she pressed the heel of her hands to her eyes. "Seven percent… I said seven percent, not zero."
It hadn't happened before, very low numbers never became reality, so she just didn't think of it, but… well, even at less than a percent, someone still won the lottery, with enough questions, it was only a matter of time. Crud!
"Girls, are you there?" Battery asked while knocking at the door, then she entered. "What happened?"
"Her Thinker headache got worse," Vista, the snitch, immediately said.
Dinah gave her a surprised look; she couldn't believe she had started to like the Ward again! It was kinda obvious, but she didn't need to say it.
For a second, Battery gave her a look, the one her mom used when she was disappointed, but it didn't work when coming from someone who messed up her 'rescue' and almost got her killed. Not one bit.
"Alright, the Protectorate has hired a cape to transport everyone to our shelter and your family outside the city. We'll just have to stay together when the time comes."
"I want my mom," Dinah managed to say, the constant sirens starting to make her headache worse again.
"We already sent someone to pick up your family," Battery nodded, helping her out of the Wards' room and into a sofa at the reception hall, where a lot of Protectorate personnel were gathering. "Armsmaster said his monitoring system gives us nearly two hours before the attack, more than enough time for them to get here."
"Where are we gathering to fight?" Vista asked.
"'We' aren't gathering anywhere," Battery shook her head. "With nearly a day of warning, we're as ready as we've ever been to face an Endbringer, the Director isn't even releasing the Villains in the cells to fight, much less letting the Wards participate."
Vista just stared at the woman, mouth open in surprise, as if she couldn't believe the words she was hearing, and Dinah nearly laughed at her companion's offended face. Unfortunately, she couldn't; the pain made it too hard.
"Where's Miss Militia?" Dinah asked.
Battery winced, avoiding their eyes for a second. "She's busy right now, helping the Director with the battle preparations."
An hour and a half later, Dinah was feeling better, with large earmuffs around her head, the device borrowed from a shooting range. She just lay down with her head in her mother's lap and felt her fingers gently running through her hair.
Instead of a public shelter, they were in the PRT's own shelter, an underground building where most of the PRT agents were being kept safe, ready to be deployed once the attack was over, most of the wards were with them, kept safe from Leviathan by virtue of being as far away from the water as possible while still being in the Bay.
Hal was standing behind her; the Protectorate had let him have his body back —although he hadn't had time to reinstall most of the weapons— once Leviathan's arrival was certain, and the robot was protecting her like Anakin told him to.
Her dad wasn't with them; instead, he was yelling at a PRT trooper about why they were still in the city, in a secure location away from the ocean, yes, but still far too near an Endbringer's arrival for his liking.
When her parents had first arrived at PHQ, she hadn't even cared about her image or her dizziness; instead, Dinha had gotten up and ran, burying her face in her mom's chest, hugging her as hard as she could.
She had hugged her dad, too, but only three minutes later, when she finally released her mom.
Around them, the fear of what was coming seemed to permeate the air, filling everyone with a sense of dread, so much so that the room, filled with people, was mostly quiet, completely different from the times she went to the shopping mall.
On her head, Dinah could feel her mom's hand trembling slightly, even as she tried to portray strength. "Are you feeling better, sweetie?"
"Yeah," Dinah said without moving her head.
Despite the noise, she had managed to meditate a little before her parents arrived, and that had helped; it still hurt, but everything was somehow easier to bear.
"I'm sorry," her mom said, hand still going through her hair. "We should have pushed harder, gotten you out of the city earlier."
"That wasn't in the plan," Dinah immediately said.
"Sweetie, your plans aren't really… Remember when you wanted to booby-trap the backyard?"
Dinah turned her head away from her mother. "It worked."
"You got completely covered in poison ivy, and I had to stop you from playing with the cactus…"
They had taken her traps out of the yard too, but whoever had invaded their house before didn't know that, and hadn't dared jump the fence again.
Her mom sighed, but she had a fond smile on her face, and her hands had stopped shaking. "... Rory was such a bad influence on you."
The reminder caused them both to freeze; her cousin was an adult now, and he'd be out there, facing the Endbringers.
"They're not going to move us again," her dad said, coming back to them. He glared at the man he had just been speaking with, then shook his head and sighed. "It seems nobody told Strider we were supposed to be out of the city, not just here with the rest of the PRT, and he's too busy bringing capes from around the world; they can't get in contact with him."
Immediately, Dinah suspected foul play, but Coil shouldn't be in the city anymore; he wasn't the last dozen times she asked, so it could just be incompetence.
Her mom's hand froze on her hair, but when she spoke a few seconds later, it was with a calm and even voice, one Dinah just knew she was forcing herself to keep. "What now?"
"Don't worry," her dad said, giving her mom a quick hug, then tousling Dinah's hair. "This is the PRT own shelter, they're even keeping some of the Wards here, if there was any one place in the Bay where we'd be safe, it's here."
Dinah didn't feel up to trying to watch the timeline again, but she was recovered enough that two or three questions wouldn't kill her; she just had to remember to word her questions around the Endbringers.
What are the chances we'll be alive tomorrow?Four point seven, three, nine, nine, seven, two percent.
Chances we'll all be alive if I warn someone in charge? Five point zero, three, one percent.
Dinah swallowed as a small spike of pain hit her, pulsating behind her eyes; nothing she hadn't learned to ignore since getting her powers, but her headache started worsening again.
Far worse was the realization that she wasn't safe; she really should have been used to the heroes and the PRT disappointing her, but…
Again, her trust in adults took a blow, and for the first time since she had met him, she started doubting Anakin… Until now, she had trusted him to be strong; she believed that not even an Endbringer could stop him, but was he just like everyone else? Did he, too, just… pretend to know what he was doing?
Her mom looked down with a suspicious look in her eyes, and Dinah knew she wouldn't be able to fool her for long. Mom was much better than Dad or Anakin at telling when she was plotting something.
No, closing her eyes, she remembered how he felt, how even Lung hadn't worried him, Anakin would be fine, she had to believe that, but her parents were another thing, those she would have to protect.
"Are you alright, sweetie? How's your head?"
Dinah took off her earmuffs and lifted her head from her mom's lap. "It still hurts, but only a little bit." It hurt more than just a little bit, but now it was just a headache; there was almost no nausea, dizziness, or cold sweat. "Say, can I go talk with Vista? I swear I'll take Hal with me."
For some reason, her mom wasn't as reassured by that last bit as Dinah thought she should be, giving the robot a suspicious look, but then her eyes softened. "Sure, go have fun with your friend."
Dinah chose not to contradict that assumption, the same way she decided to ignore how her mom collapsed against her dad's chest when she thought Dinah wasn't looking anymore; her face turned to a mask of fear.
Dinah was afraid too, but at this point, she was kinda used to it, spending a month terrified of Coil getting to her did that, and she was tired of letting others save her.
Plus, being afraid was hard, almost as hard as being helpless; it was much easier to focus on doing something. Getting up, she adjusted and turned to Hal. "Let's go."
For a second, nothing happened, then Hal's eyes seemed to regain focus, and he nodded, walking out from behind the chairs. "Very well, oh mistress mine, I shall continue to watch Bumfights later."
"What?"
"It is an abandoned series of videos, demonstrating the very depths of organics opportunism and hypocrisy, something ethically unsound even by you meatbags' pitiful standards.
"I am of two minds about the show. Sadly, the participants were not warriors, resulting in pathetic flailing with no purpose or lethality, so I can't fully enjoy the spectacle, but I also can't help marveling at the butchery of your kind's dignity. Predictable, meatbags are very good at that, but amusing nonetheless."
Dinah nodded and decided she didn't really want to know more about it; the name was pretty self-explanatory anyway. Gritting her teeth, she asked another question.
Chances the shelter will survive until tomorrow if I'm not here? Eleven point nine, two, nine, one, one, seven, nine percent.
So, she was the target, or at least a significant reason… did that mean it wasn't the Endbringer? It didn't matter; she was going to do something about it anyway. More importantly, the pain jumped up by an order of magnitude. Dinah guessed she only had two or three questions before she became completely useless.
Closing her eyes, she tried to do as Anakin had taught her, to center herself and do some of the breathing exercises he showed, and that made the pain a little bit better.
Dinah really wanted to be like Anakin, to be able to solve everything herself, and walk into every room knowing she was the most badass cape there, but she wasn't like that, not yet; she'd need help if she wanted to do anything.
Maybe she could get to her future minion? Two Thinkers working together were far more effective; it was why Coil was after her in the first place. Had they taken her out of the city already?
Vista was standing with Clockblocker, the other Ward who had participated in her 'rescue' attempt, and nobody could miss the way she was fuming instead of being concerned, probably for the same reason Dinah was moving; it was easier.
"Can I talk with you?" She asked as soon as Vista looked at her.
"Sure, I guess you're feeling better?" Vista asked, turning away from Clock to look at her.
The older Ward gave her a wary look, but Dinah still wasn't at her best, so she wasn't presenting as impressive a figure as she was used to. "Hey, what happened? I thought they were going to send you out of the city."
"Nobody told Strider that," she huffed, crossing her arms and making a mental note to ask if somebody had sabotaged that. Right now, she didn't have any questions to spare.
"Huh, you know, when you're not threatening people or trying to kill villains with laser swords, you're actually a cute kid."
"Piggot is going to have a fit," Vista said, adjusting her helmet. "She really wanted you out of the city."
"Piggy isn't going to do anything," Clockblocker said. "Seems like the stress got to her, I saw her collapse a little after the sirens started."
Dinah glared at the older teen, but he was a boy; he was bound to be stupid for a few more years. Ignoring him, she turned to Vista. "Where are the rest of the Wards?"
"Galant was out of the city when it started, lucky bastard, while Aegis and Kid Win are with their families at another shelter," Clockblocker said. "Shadow Stalker isn't in the Bay anymore, and we couldn't talk with the others. It's just us here."
"Can we go somewhere quiet?" Dinah said, then looked around. "Now?"
Vista lifted an eyebrow, looking around the deadly quiet room, everyone too tense to talk. "... I guess."
There was a room nearby, an empty storage space with only a few bare shelves and plenty of space for four people to stand. Clockblocker followed them, and Dinah wasn't about to leave Hal behind.
Looking at Vista, Dinah considered her… friend. Before she triggered, she had admired the Ward; her power was really unfairly strong, even if the PRT kept her from really using it, plus, Clockblocker could be useful too; he had saved her life.
After putting it at risk in the first place, so she didn't feel like she owed him anything, but it had happened.
"The shelter isn't going to survive until tomorrow," Dinah said, putting both hands behind her back and tryed to portray strength.. "I have… foreseen it."
"Shit, why did you have to say it like that!" Clockblocker sighed, then looked towards the door. "We have to warn somebody."
"It doesn't help; the authorities believe we're safe here." Dinah looked at them and just shook her head. "They are mistaken, but even if warned, the numbers don't change."
"Why come to us?" Vista asked. "You think we can do something about it?"
"PRT prohibited us from joining the fight," Clockblocker said. "And what are we even supposed to do? I freeze a few things, maybe the odd criminal shoe, not an Endbringer."
Dinah winced again, and she felt her neck becoming stiff, her headache becoming a pulsating wave of pain. She only had one question left, but at least she had some hope. "You underestimate your importance. Survival improves by over thirty percent if we fight."
Vista stared, "Are you… Are you doing a voice?"
Dinah paused. "... No."
"She is," Hal betrayed her. "I told you, Mistress, the voice is somewhat effective while in costume; in civilian garb…" he just shook his drone head, and Dinah glared at him.
He was right, this was so much easier when she had a costume and a laser sword, even her prosthetic helped. This is why she insisted Anakin give her a mask.
"Piggot ordered us to stay; she specifically forbade the Wards from participating. "Clock looked between the two girls, then ran a hand over his eyes and shook his head. "We're so screwed if we do this."
"The PRT can't discipline the dead," Dinah helpfully pointed out.
"... Good point."
"Thirty percent isn't a lot," Vista said, biting her lower lip hard. "How many questions do you have left?
"One," Dinah confessed, the pain making her temporarily drop her acting. "... Maybe two, but I will be incapacitated after."
Outside the shelter, the rain grew heavier, and Dinah just knew the attack finally happened; she swore she could feel the entire city changing, even if she couldn't really feel it.
More than that, she knew they were running out of time; it was something without explanation, but she felt a sense of urgency like when she had been trying to escape Coil, as if something bad was going to happen and she could do nothing about it.
Turning towards where she thought the ocean would be, she spoke. "Hurry, it has started."
Clock looked at the door, then traded a glance with Vista, "We should at least talk with someone, maybe get help?"
After so many disappointments, Dinah didn't think the adults could help; when she was trying to escape Coil, the realization that her parents were powerless to help her had hit her hard.
Her dad was supposed to protect her; he was supposed to be her personal superhero. Her mom was supposed to be safe, always to believe her and know how to solve everything…
But they weren't that, Dinah still loved them, but they didn't have all the answers, and they were just as scared as she was when it came to the Villain. After spending days with Anakin, she was starting to think that even the authorities weren't any better.
Worse, because they were adults, they'd never admit that, not in front of them. So it was up to her to do something about it. "And how much time will that take? Would they even listen?"
At her side, Hal snorted, and Dinah just knew the very thought of 'meatbags' making correct decisions amused him.
"I'm going," Vista said with a tone that left no room for discussion, then she turned to Clock. "If you're not coming, give us five minutes before reporting, you know she's right, by the time we convince the PRT, the attack will be over."
"Fine, you win, I hope you're happy," Clock sighed, but he was the one who started walking towards the door first. "Come on."
As they were leaving, Hal opened a compartment inside his chest and handed Dinah her training lightsaber. "Here, they didn't want me to have any weapons, but I managed to steal this in the confusion."
Almost jumping, Dinah snatched the weapon, her hands gripping the handle with newfound strength. She smiled up at him. "Thanks."
"I took the liberty of unlocking the safety features, Mistress, so, as much as I'd enjoy it, do avoid hitting any organics with the blade; they would no longer survive the experience."
Deep underground as they were, they couldn't hear the fight, or even the heavy rain as it fell on the city, the shelter an isolated oasis that almost made Dinah think she was wrong about the future.
She supposed she could be wrong; there was a small chance they'd be safe, after all, but she wasn't willing to bet her parents' survival on another low number.
Giving one last longing glance towards the gathering spot where their families were, Clockblocker shook his head and moved in the other direction, turning to the left, then away from the room.
The hallways were illuminated by sidelights every twenty feet or so, white lamps strong enough that they almost made her forget they were underground… not that underground, just two floors, according to Vista, but still deep enough.
Sneaking through two rooms in a hurry, they almost got caught by a passing PRT trooper coming from another direction, but Vista twisted space, shortening the space between the trio and the end of the corridor, then enlarging the gap on a locked door so they could slip inside.
"I thought they'd have more guards," Dinah whispered.
Clock snorted. "In all fairness, we're the only ones stupid enough to want out of the Endbringer shelter."
"They only guard the door to the stairs," Vista said, glaring at her companion. "Everyone else is helping keep the civilians calm."
Peeking around the corner, they saw the set of stairs leading up to the ground floor, an airtight, three-inch-thick metal gate blocking the entrance and keeping the shelter safe from Leviathan's water.
Three troopers were guarding the gate, and despite being alone, they didn't seem that distracted.
"Can you…" Dinah asked, looking at Vista.
"No," Vista whispered, crouching beside her. "My power doesn't work well when there are people in the way."
"I thought you were not Manton limited anymore?" Clock whispered back.
"Yeah, and that's much, much worse," Vista winced at the thought, then turned towards Dinah. "Besides, the door has no gap. What's the chance people here will drown if I break the door?"
Even Dinah knew Endbringer shelters couldn't really stand up to an Endbringer, although everyone liked to pretend they could. Still, unlike normal buildings, they were made to withstand accidental blows from both the creatures and the parahumans fighting them.
It meant any shelter was proof against flooding, and even radioactivity, although the Bay's were built more for the first, proximity to the Ocean making that more likely.
Taking a deep breath, Dinah leaned against the wall and used her power. "Four point seven, seven, nine percent."
"Alright, we'll do like with her," Vista said, narrowing her eyes and starting to bend space.
Dinah only noticed the barest hint of the Ward using her power, space distorting like the air above a campfire. A second later, she was staring at two pairs of legs only a few inches in front of Clock.
"... Are you insane? I'm not putting my hand through that," he whispered, voice even quieter, getting a glare from both girls. "You just said it was really bad! Twice, may I remind you!"
"I am perfectly willing to deal with them," Hall offered, eyes shining red. "With Panacea in the city, I'm sure they'll only be crippled for a short time."
"Freeze the troopers, Clock," Vista said with a hard voice.
"... We're so getting expelled," he whispered angrily, then squeezed his eyes shut and extended his hand, freezing both men before they could notice, then pulling his arm back as fast as he could.
"Let's go," Vista said, dropping her power and running towards the door.
Dinah got up, the world seeming to swirl around her, and both Hal and Clockblocker extended a hand for support.
"You ok?" The Ward asked.
She just swallowed, blinked slowly, then nodded, and the three of them quickly ran towards the gate.
Clockblocker's power was strong, with the possible exception of Anakin —because Dinah couldn't believe he'd even be affected by something like this— he could freeze anyone or anything in time, making them impervious to harm, but also unable to move or even think, a pause button.
The problem was that he couldn't control, or even know, how long it would last, from a few seconds to minutes.
Stepping ahead of the two PRT statues, Vista looked at the gate and tried to search for any spot she could enlarge to squeeze through. "It's really sealed tight."
"I don't think they keep the key with them," Dinah said, but started patting the officers anyway. She wouldn't be able to pull a key or control out, but she could feel the shape through their clothes to check. They didn't have it.
Grabbing her lightsaber, she prepared to ignite it and cut her way.
Vista didn't let her. Instead, the Ward focused on the gate, and Dinah saw the same disturbance in the air starting to surround the sealed gate. Then, only a second later, it fractured, space breaking like the surface of a mirror, shattering into a dozen pieces, the gate coming apart as if cut by a fine blade.
"Holy…" Clockblocker started to say with an awed voice.
"I do hope you're not restricted to inorganic matter," Hal commented, picking up a piece of the gate and appreciating the cut. "That would be a true tragedy."
"Cool," Dinah said, although she was a little disappointed she didn1t get to use her weapon.. "I didn't know you could do that!"
Dinah liked her power, she really did, but things like this made her feel really jealous.
"I couldn't," Vista said, then stepped over the remains of the gate and up the stairs.
Emergency lights illuminated the stairs, giving them a yellow color as they climbed to the surface, Clockblocker taking the lead, his taller legs letting him take the stairs two at a time.
Glancing back, Clock said. "What if they come after us? My power lasts anywhere from thirty seconds to ten minutes."
"Then you'll simply freeze them again, meatbag," Hal said with derision, then seemed to grow happier. "Alternatively, my offer to take care of them still stands."
"Right," Vista said. "Or we could simply ignore them; they're not going to shoot Wards, and now that we're on this side, I can just stretch the distance so they never catch up."
"I would not be so certain they won't shoot, organics have a tendency to react badly when under stress. Inevitable, I suppose, considering your inferior hardware."
There was a second gate at the top, but it offered no more resistance than the first; Vista managed to shear it apart with a brief effort of will, then they heard the tempest, rain, and wind fighting to see who was louder. a thin layer of water, only an inch thick, started to drip, then run down the stairs.
The scream started before they were out of the stairs.
It wasn't anything physical, but a high-pitch screeching noise Dinah heard directly in her mind, like an incessant ringing that made her stumble. She felt something inside her fighting against it, but it felt like a toddler fighting a Brute for all the good it did.
Vista stumbled, then went white, and Clockblocker grabbed at a nearby wall for support, his hands shaking. "Do you guys hear that?"
Dinah nodded, and she felt fear, more fear than she had ever felt before, even her growing headache was forgotten… as was her trust that Anakin would be safe.
Vista broke into a run, dashing up the stairs as fast as she could, then out of the building in a near straight line, space bending to let her move through every corner and door as if they didn't exist.
The entrance to the PRT shelter was under a small government building, not even two floors tall; it only had a dozen cubicles with computers, a reception area, and two private rooms, barely bigger than her house.
However, it had all been reshaped by Vista's power, looking more like a short hallway now, with the exit only a couple of feet from the stairs instead of hundreds of feet away.
Outside, the storm had gotten worse, and the streets were filled with water, enough to get her shoes wet when Dinah stepped out. Heavy droplets hit the pooling water with surprising impact, and she could barely see anything through the fog and rain.
But she could see the meteors, hundreds of small trails of fire falling towards the city. In her head, the eerily musical screech got stronger.
"Tell me that's not who I think it is," Clock said, almost yelling to be heard through the sound of the wind.
"Simurgh," Vista said, and she used her power to give them a better look at the descending Endbringer.
"Okay, great, cool, that's just wonderful, two apocalypses at the same time, love it," Clock swallowed hard, not looking at anyone as he pointed up. "Alright… alright, hey, nobody panics, but I think I know why the shelter doesn't survive until tomorrow."
Under the Simurgh, a large ball of metal fell straight towards them, growing alarmingly larger by the second.
All around them, the telltale signs of Vista's power started showing, buildings twisting and turning like reflections in a funhouse mirror, some of them broke like the gates when Vista stretched them too fast, but others started forming a barrier around them, then the air above seemed to shimmer, the rain changing direction, falling sideways away from the building and giving them a few dozen feet of clear sky.
"Ignore the song," Vista said, but she seemed to be speaking more to herself than anyone else. "I'll… I'll turn the meteor away," she said, her eyes never leaving the new Endbringer. "Then I can let you touch her, freeze the bitch in place until someone can deal with her."
"Sure, that sounds great, easy even," Clock said, but his legs were shaking. "Just tell me whe–"
Dinah saw Clockblocker's eyes widen with fear, days of training her reflexes with Anakin making her immediately duck and roll to the side, even as he threw himself at her and Vista, starting to yell something she didn't catch.
Hal moved, the robot stepping in front of Dinah for protection, then grabbing something off the ground and throwing it at Clock as hard as he could.
Vista started to move, her focus on moving space making her react too late as Clockblocker finally touched her, then everything hit at once.
A large piece of rubble, bigger than her head, flew straight at where Dinah had been, then curved in the air and tried to follow her, only to get smashed aside by Hal with a wave of his arm as he ignored the one that targeted him, letting it smash harmlessly into his head.
Another piece smashed into Vista's head and exploded into pieces, but the Ward didn't even move, her body frozen in place by Clockblocker's power.
Yet a fourth piece flew at Clock's head, but was intercepted by a piece of curbstone Hal had thrown, most of the rubble being destroyed, but one large shard still hit him in the chest and bounced up his helmet, the impact cracking the reinforced glass of his face protector and sending his body flying back.
Clockblocker hit the ground with a splash of water, his armor having blocked most of the blow, but he was still wheezing for breath and holding a hand to his chest, completely dazed by the blow.
Despite her survival, something in her mind seemed to scream danger, so Dinah threw herself forward, another piece of rubble coming from Hal's blindside to smash into the ground where she had just been, splashing water and pieces of the asphalt almost four feet into the air.
Jumping to her feet, she ignited the lightsaber, the blade evaporating a projectile to her right side as she took a proper stance, her feet widening and displacing water.
Some of the resulting pieces still hit her, tiny rocks smashing into her body with enough strength to leave all sorts of cuts and bruises, but she managed to protect her head, and everything else was shallow enough she could ignore.
Breathing hard and with her heart nearly out of her chest, Dinah pulled her soaked hair out of her face with her free hand and looked around. Hal was moving at full speed, his arms striking at flying bits of the street as they tried to get to her, dealing with the vast majority of them.
He wasn't enough, so she dodged to the side, lightsaber cutting up, burning through another piece of the street even as a shard of glass pierced her arm, and a car's rearview mirror smashed into her knee.
She fell face-first, lightsaber creating a cloud of vapor as it came in contact with the water, but she quickly turned it off, rolled to her feet, and ignited it again, but there was nothing else to fight.
Up above, the Simurgh was creating decoys as she seemed to struggle against something, large masses of metal and concrete taking a shape Dinah couldn't differentiate from the Endbringer, at least not through the rain.
Breathing hard and feeling her head seeming to pulsate with pain, every step sending a jolt through her wounded leg, Dinah walked towards Clockblocker.
"No- Note to self," the boy gasped, trying to get up as she helped him. "Don– don't call the Simurgh… a bitch, coff… seems she didn't… didn't like it."
Above, the meteor continued to fall, and Dinah didn't have any way of stopping it. On the street, the water was only getting worse, going from only a few inches to above her ankles extremely fast.
Without Vista, the rain started to fall on them again, the buildings snapping back into place to leave them completely unprotected.
Staring from the frozen Vista to the recovering Clock, Dinah wanted to cry, her lips squeezing into a thin line. She refused to; instead, she pulled Clock's arm over her shoulders and helped him move back towards the building.
Hal tried to lift Vista, but she was completely frozen in time, not even a hair moving, no matter what he tried, so he approached them and took the boy's arm from Dinah. "Let me."
"What now?" Dinah asked, massaging her knee with a hand. Even now, her headache was still terrible, and she didn't think she could ask another question without collapsing.
"Into the building," Clock gasped. "I'll… try to freeze it… just before the meteor hits."
Moving with blinding speed, Hal intercepted another two projectiles as they targeted them, leaving a small dent in his metallic shell. "You know, this would be much easier if your organization hadn't taken away my weapons," he grumbled in a supremely annoyed voice.
Above in the air, the Simurgh started moving, dodging something they couldn't see, probably more capes coming from the waterfront.
"Wait," Clock said, then coughed again and pulled a wire from a device under his wrist. "Wrap it… around Vista, I don't know when she's going to break free… but I'm not feeling real lucky today. I bet it's gonna be just as we're about to be hit; this way I can freeze her again."
Dinah nodded, then turned off her lightsaber and pulled the wire all the way towards Vista's frozen body, making sure to keep an eye out for any other projectile the Simurgh could use, but the Endbringer was either busy or had achieved her objective.
Clockblocker was sitting on the ground right inside the building's entrance, his eyes never leaving the sky as he watched the meteor, one hand on the wall while the other grasped his wire with a dead grip, his broken facemask reflecting light in an odd way.
Up in the sky, the Simurgh continued to fight something, and Dinah just knew it was Anakin, several of the Endbringer decoys getting crushed as Ani had done to Hookwolf, their bodies being used as projectiles against her.
One hand gripping the doorframe, Dinah squeezed almost hard enough to hurt herself, praying that he'd win.
After what felt like hours, but was probably only a minute, Clock touched the wall, freezing the building in time, and Dinah hoped it was enough.
Then they saw the meteor swirling around only a few seconds before it hit them, moving as if batted aside by a giant, invisible hand. The falling metal smashed into the ground blocks from their location, and the entire city shook from the impact, every window except those in the building they were on shattering in a shower of glass.
In the sky, a dozen other large balls of fire changed directions, all of them seeming to fall towards them.
Clockblocker laughed, then pulled himself up using the wall for support. "Of course she has more; why wouldn't she?"
Closing her eyes, Dinah swallowed, taking deep breaths as she tried to ignore her pain and think.
Despite the new dangers, relief hit her, enough that she wanted to cry, and she nearly collapsed against Hal. Even far away, Anakin was still protecting her; he still cared. For a moment, she almost allowed herself to relax.
She wasn't alone; she didn't need to do everything herself.
Then she opened her eyes again, her head throbbing, sending pulses of pain that came from behind her eyes and spread through her body.
Yes, she couldn't help him fight Endbringers, not directly, and she couldn't even help protect the building more than she had already done, but that didn't mean there was nothing she could do.
"What happened?" Vista yelled, finally breaking free of Clock's power and running back inside the building, one hand wiping some dust from her wet hair. "I saw you…"
"The damn bi-," Clockblocker started to say, then coughed. "-autiful Endbringer didn't appreciate you calling her names."
"I almost…" Vista stared at him, then she swallowed hard, seeming to realize how close she had come to dying, then she immediately started using her power again, looping space around them so any impromptu projectile wouldn't hit. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
"I'll take care of the next ones," the girl said with conviction.
"Did everyone in PHQ and the PRT building come here?" Dinah interrupted. "What about the prisoners?"
"... They're here, the PRT moved them into new cells as soon as they heard about the possible attack. The Director wanted them out of the city, but the evacuation team prioritized civilians; there wasn't enough time. Deputy Director Renick is in charge."
Dinah glanced at the stairs, then turned to Hal. "Can you contact them underground?"
"Yes, the shelter utilizes mostly wired communications, but the patrols are using TTE radios, and their secure channels are anything but… Although I suppose they're safe enough against organics."
Vista grimaced, even as she continued using her power. "Piggot didn't want the Nazis to go free."
"Nobody does," Clockblocker nodded, finally recovered enough to step away from the wall, although he was still holding his chest in pain. "But the second Endbringer kinda throws that out of the window, doesn't it? You think you can talk Renick into releasing the capes?"
Dinah nodded, squeezing the grip of her lightsaber as she stared up at the battle between Anakin and the Simurgh. She trusted him to win, but that didn't mean she couldn't send help. "I will, if they value their continued existence."
_________________________________________________________
If you like this story, you can read two chapters ahead on my P.A.T.R.E.O.N.
Also, think about reading one of my other works or giving me a tip if you have some spare change by supporting me on patr eon.com/CapCaverna or ko -fi.com/capcaverna