23

THU FEB 24

We waited in tense silence as the clock ticked down, starting to flash red at the thirty-second mark, which I guessed meant we should expect our ride any second now. At precisely twelve seconds from zero, my senses detected a new person in the room. I turned to look at him, not sure what to expect, but what looked startlingly like a blue-suited bellhop, or old-timey elevator operator, certainly wasn't it. He was heaving very slightly, stress responses high, but hiding it well enough. He raised his hand to tap his blue beret-looking hat with a jaunty salute, his smile not quite reaching the eyes under his large identity-concealing goggles. It felt like he was taking a second to breathe before jumping back into the thick of things, and I couldn't really begrudge that at all. The rest of his outfit actually reminded me more of my own, than any others that came to mind. A large blue padded coat, with a lightning motif along the seam, where I had my tabard-looking part. The rest of the costume was subdued by comparison, really just matching the colors, adding shin and elbow guards, along with gloves.

"Everyone ready to go?" He called, catching the attention of everyone who hadn't already noticed him. "Gather 'round, tight-ish."

There were a few muttered thanks from the New Wave adults and Protectorate capes, Armsmaster's the loudest of them. "Thank you for prioritizing us, Strider."

I'd actually heard about this guy. He was supposed to be one of the best teleporters in the world, though I thought he was independent? "No trouble at all." He replied, motioning us all closer. He didn't seem entirely honest about it, and I had to wonder if there were favors being traded under the table to get the best ride picking us up. When we'd all bunched into a circle about three meters across, I had a sudden flash of vertigo, and we were outside. The sun beat down oppressively from above, while distant yelling and sirens flooded our hearing. "Good luck." Strider said, then he was gone.

When my eyes finished adjusting a second later, I glanced around to verify what my senses were already telling me. We stood near the edge of a large lake cutting the city in two, a couple blocks away from a heavily damaged bridge that used to span a narrower section of it. From what I could sense, this spot was chosen more for being central to the damage, rather than as a particularly open landing zone. Velocity was already gone, and Miss Militia had started off towards a makeshift command node. Armsmaster hadn't moved yet, but he was already talking on his helmet radio.

An armored trooper holding a tablet computer tromped up from where he'd been waiting nearby. From the looks of similar setups nearby, there were a bunch of 'landing zones' for the incoming parahumans, each with at least one of these greeter troops. "Brockton Bay?" It wasn't really a question. Despite the inflection, his eyes scanned over the crowd and his tablet without any sign of surprise or confusion I could detect. "Movers and fliers know what you're doing?" When he got nothing but affirmative gestures and noises, he turned to Armsmaster. "Comms set up?" The Tinker paused his conversation just long enough to give the man a thumbs-up and a nod. "Good," The trooper turned back to the rest of us. "Get to it, then."

Hookwolf grinned and his body shredded, flaying itself and hardening, adding mass and whirling into a writhing, roiling ball of sharp and deadly, rolling away for about half a second before his preferred lupine form leapt from the mass, sprinting away. I could sense there was very little solid to him, despite being made of metal. It was all ropes and chains and cords of metal, coiling and gripping on each other, pulsing in time in a twisted facsimile of musculature, holding its shape with the few larger solid blades within the mass acting like splintered, disconnected bones.

I barely noticed Kid Win and most of New Wave taking to the air, I was so close to being sick all of a sudden.

"Triage camp is by Capital Hill," The agent continued, mercifully drawing my attention away. I saw him pointing towards the largest pillar of smoke coming from this side of the lake, in the middle of a circular structure formed from the roads around it, like the center of a simple dreamcatcher. I could feel the remains of a much more densely packed version on the other side of the lake, with far more damage than this one had suffered. "If you hit the crater, take a left."

"Come on, Ames." Vicky said, quickly bundling the healer in her arms. As she sped into the air, I caught her saying "Glory Girl and Panacea..." into her radio before distance and the Trooper talking again overpowered the sound.

"They got hit hard." The man sad with a sad shake of his head. "That's one of the high damage areas, we had command and triage near the parliament building to try and consolidate defenses, but it didn't work, and then we couldn't move the injured." He pointed across the lake, towards the other circle of streets. "Ziz parked over city hall and smashed up a lot of the nearby buildings, that's where most of the damage in city limits is. Bitch also smashed the reservoir dam nearby," He pointed off mostly perpendicular to the first two areas, where I could feel the shallow river valley on the edge of the city, and the remains of the dam that was still slowly crumbling and eroding as water flowed over the top of what was left of it. "which caused a lot of damage downstream, tying up some of the country's emergency services to handle that. If you head off chasing that, we won't follow." He pointed back across the city again, completing the little cross of damage dealt. "Finished off by smashing the relay from the rest of the city's water suppliers, and the bridges to cross the lake with. Those are lower priority, but if you can tinker up a water purifier, that'd be fantastic." The man turned away then, tapping away at the tablet, clearly not expecting anyone to actually help with that. Manpower and Brandish broke off at that point, following after Vicky and Amy.

"I can do water!" I yelled, flinching at my own overeager volume. The man turned back, and I raised a stream of water out of the lake. It was murky from the collapsed bridges and who knew what else, but I split the water as I pulled it towards us, one streamer becoming murkier, and the other nearly clear. "I'm pretty sure I can make drinking water."

Everyone nearby, especially the capes, were paying attention to me, now. "One moment." Armsmaster said, and I wasn't sure if he was talking to me, or whoever he'd been on the line with. He depressed a section of his armor near his lower back, and drew a small cylindrical tool from the section that opened up. He walked up, shoving his entire hand, gizmo and all, into the clearer glob of water. A few seconds later, he pulled it out, glancing at it before looking at some readout or other I couldn't see on his visor display. "It's not pure, but it should be potable." I tried not to wince at the man basically saying 'It'll do.' "I'll get some teams working on building and refurbishing water tanks." He turned fully to me, then. "Terraform, I'll want you back here in a couple hours, to start filling tanks." It took me a moment to realize he wanted a response, and I gave a jerky nod. He turned to go back to what he'd been doing, before he hesitated. "This is a very good thing, you can do." With a nod, he went back to his conversation, pulling his hover trolley along behind him as he made his way over to the tents Miss Militia had left for. I ignored that Brandish had stopped to watch, too. She gave me an odd conflicted look before following a slightly impatient Manpower to where the country's capital building used to be.

Nothing left to do with it, I directed the water back into the lake, both streams flowing into it without splashing. With the display of my abilities over, the rest of the Empire capes drew away slightly. Kaiser raised his hands, and a single massive blade began to creep up from the road next to them. It was weird feeling the thing sprout and widen, then extend, the metal seeming to appear and mold itself from nothing. It only took about six seconds for the thin three-by-four meter metal obelisk to finish forming, slowly digging itself deeper into the road for stability as it went, subsuming the material into more of the same metal.

Then Rune stepped up to it, and ran her finger over a small section of it in a quick but intricate pattern. The blade lifted itself out of the road, leaving a thin but somewhat deep divot, and tilted onto its side. Their capes started filing on, Rune getting on last. Our eyes met as I watched, and she gave me an apologetic grimace before the blade lifted off the ground and cut them from my senses.

As they floated away across the lake, I felt confused. I tried to puzzle out why she'd feel like that, but the effort just made me feel frustrated. The confusion shifted to indignance, fury bubbling to the fore of my mind. I wasn't some weak nobody to be pitied. I was here to save people, and I was going to be amazing at it. I'd wipe that look right off her damned face!

I took a running leap off the edge of the lakefront, the water rising to meet me, freezing to my feet and forming into an ice board. I landed rather softly in the water, coasting forward as I spun slightly, coiling the water underneath me into an artificial current that had me shooting across to the other side. The water at the other side formed into a shallow ramp that had me flying over the quay and between the first buildings on the other side. Just water damage here, nothing structural, I didn't have to worry about stopping. The ice turned to water and I let it drop to the road first, before my feet hit the surface and I transitioned into a roll, conserving most of my momentum and popping up already sprinting.

At first I aimed myself at the closest destroyed building, where I could sense six body-shapes, two of which still had signs of life. The emergency responders were all clustered around the center of the damage, where there were more buildings down, more people to help... and more able-bodied people to help them help survivors. As much as it pained me to admit it, the more time I personally spent picking people out and dragging them to medical aid, the less I was spending doing what I'd be best for- moving large amounts of rubble.

I dashed past with a wind-assisted sprint, quickly coming to the point where taller damaged buildings were spilling their rubble into the road and making travel more difficult. There were people here helping, but not as many as further on, and fewer capes. Most of them were coming from the north, or going around the lake to come at the problem from the sides, rather than taking the straight path through like I had. I knocked a bit of rubble out of the road to start clearing things, but another couple blocks and there was nowhere for it to go, and I stopped bothering. I was still running, now vaulting up to more stable outcroppings, kicking off and leaping between them on my way past. I skidded to a halt on the other side, where the crews from the north were trickling in. Most of them, and the majority of the capes nearby, were diving into the middle of it, where the worst of the damage and the most downed buildings were. I didn't want to disrupt that yet, not without showing that I could actually help. So I turned to the sides, the outlying damage, tapering off like spokes from where beams or other attacks had been redirected, or buildings thrown by the endbringer. The center of the damage was worse, having debris rained on them from her protective cloak of airborne buildings, or being crushed under the chaotic swirl of material she'd pull up to protect herself or harry the capes with.

That was fine, it meant buildings where people were crawling around or through debris, instead of on top of it. "Careful! Moving rocks!" I called, pulling several chunks people were having to squeeze around away, opening doorways or clearing hallways. After the first couple piles of rubble I shifted to the street, I started finding buildings where moving the rubble might destabilize the rest. I thrust pillars of stone or concrete, whatever was under the buildings, up to hold the structure while I pulled away detached walls, or nearly complete floors with no more walls to support them. Having shown off what I could do, and not seeing much else I could help with on this street, I headed for the bulk of the damage.

The buildings here were a lot taller than I was used to, with the loamy coastal soil of Brockton Bay. Back home 'Tall' buildings were four of five stories, only buildings near the Towers ever breaking ten, hence the name. Medhall stood at a comparatively gigantic 20 stories, well past the limit of what was safe for most of the city's soil. It was surprising to me how much rubble seven, ten, fifteen storey buildings left behind, if you built rows of them, and then knocked them all down. It spread into the streets, consumed alleyways, and left a sea of rubble for blocks in a rough circle.

There were people tackling the rubble from the sides, but that'd take weeks or months to clear it, which the survivors didn't have. So most of the responders, a lot of them looking like desperate or determined civilians, were climbing on top of the rubble to dig down into it. There were Brutes doing the work of five or ten men apiece, Movers diving in and dragging the injured out. I spied a Blaster, destroying larger chunks of rubble when a crew wearing hardhats and safety vests told them it was safe. There were even a couple Shakers, telekitetics or geokinetics like me, levitating larger pieces away. Those I grabbed out of the air to their surprise, pulling them over to a shallow pile on a sidewalk.

"Everyone move!" I shouted, catching their attention, but not provoking the response I was after. I took a wide stance, flashing my hands out palm-first, then repeating the motion and clenching my hands into fists. The rubble under their feet for nearly an entire block shifted upward slightly, just enough to get their attention, or make people stumble a little at worst. I held it there, preventing anything from slipping deeper. "Everybody off! I'm moving it all!"

That got people moving. There were some calls of confusion, some people yelling at me, asking me what I thought I was doing, but no one got very close, and the people on the rubble never stopped moving. I cut off the angrier ones by raising my right hand, still clenched, and drawing dozens, then hundreds, of chunks of brick, concrete, and plaster into the air from places the diggers had vacated.

"I need a dumping zone!" I flicked my head back, to indicate behind me. Everyone on solid ground, the ones who weren't staring dumbfounded at the levitating stone anyway, started shooing people. It was chaos for a couple seconds, before they fell into agreement and cleared one side of the street for me. It wasn't a lot of space, and it was going to run out quick. "Can we get some trucks or something?" I asked.

"Already on it." One of the hardhats called back. He wasn't the only one on the radio, I saw a few capes speaking into wristbands, and members of other crews on handsets. I didn't hear anything from my armband, but I heard some tinny noises from other ones. I guess they filtered who got what messages somehow, and to be fair, I didn't need to know everything that was going on in the whole city.

By the time I'd deposited the first load of rubble, the climbers had mostly cleared a couple building-sized swaths of area, so I used both hands and lifted. Solid-looking masses of loose bits came up, small non-stone bits of stuff that hadn't been particularly attached to the building materials dropping out of it, the largest bits being office chairs that were light enough I let them fall, and a desk I managed to catch with another chunk of brickwork before it landed. There weren't many people left alive under so much rubble, but uncovering them was my priority. "Get them out and move!" I shouted, a slight pant of effort cutting into my voice. "I'm holding the stone rubble steady, don't worry about it shifting!" I took a moment to breathe and focus. "There's more people down there!"

The hardest part was dealing with how many things I was controlling at once. The things I was lifting and moving, and all the bits of rubble I was holding still enough to be safe, it was a lot. Compared to that, the density and weight of the materials weren't much of a factor. The chunks I was lifting were rarely more than a ton each. The effort needed was slowly easing as I got used to it, but it was still the most tiring thing I'd done since getting my powers.

Eventually we settled into a bit of a tempo, fewer and fewer normal people rushing in when I cleared rubble. They left it to the Movers, and those Brutes whose strength came with additional speed or agility. If it took them longer than a few seconds to find someone in the open, I'd taken to holding bits of brick or plaster in the air right above them like a marker. Things slowed down when it started getting dark, but they passed out flashlights and set up larger floodlights where we were working. Sadly there weren't enough large trucks in the city to make a difference with the rubble hauling. I was moving enough to fill dozens of pickup trucks in minutes, the coordination needed to make those logistically feasible just didn't exist right now. Faster to just move the rubble a bit farther down the road, at least until we'd cleared enough space to start filling it back up. It got to the point where we were clearing a whole building's worth of rubble in a few minutes, and there'd only been a few blocks where buildings had actually been destroyed, rather than damaged.

Never let it be said that the endbringers weren't destructive, but of the three, the Simurgh usually left the fewest destroyed buildings behind. Who cares about destroying homes or businesses when she destroyed your minds? She was the Hopekiller, after all.

I'd known they were there, but the first visible sign of the Empire capes were the Valkyrie twins. They were at full size, something like ten to twelve meters tall. It was hard to tell with one of them leaning over, and the other crawling, using their height to reach over and into the rubble like living cranes. Rune was levitating large chunks of rubble away, but mostly using that original blade they'd flown in on like a giant backhoe. All three of them kept checking with Cricket, I guessed something about her powers let her detect people like I could. Kaiser was mostly just standing around being visible, occasionally using thick 'blades' that were too wide to properly cut anything to lift and shift larger pieces of rubble. I didn't see any of the others, but I had to assume Othala had gone to heal, and Victor might be with her.

They all stopped to back away and watch as me and my crew rolled through, doing more work in minutes than they'd managed in the couple hours since we'd gotten here. They were all wary, which made me feel good. There were other emotions, but the outlier was Rune. After she'd felt wary and confused while she watched me work, she started to feel... pride? And... hope? I had no idea what to make of it, and put it out of my mind, concentrating on my work.

It only took another half an hour or so to finish sifting through the destroyed buildings, about twenty minutes after my armband let out an 'it is now 5AM EST' courtesy notification. Everyone was happy at our progress, but the celebration was short lived and I'd shied away from it anyway. There were still damaged buildings elsewhere, and while most of the city still had power, there were sections that needed repairs to bring the lights back on. Almost as soon as we were done, I'd started making my way back to where we'd been dropped off. When I got to the lake I hopped in, making another ice board and surfing across, though much slower than the first time.

I pressed the top button on my armband. "This is Terraform. Armsmaster said he wanted me for something?"

A couple seconds later, the armband dinged. "Please proceed to the marker on the map, Terraform." The pleasant female voice requested. I looked at the little screen, where there was a map grid, and a little arrow pointing to a point not currently on the mostly-blank grid. I turned the thing, and the arrow moved after it took a moment to update itself. I suppose I was in the middle of a lake, there wouldn't be much in the way of additional landmarks...

"That is kinda' neat, though." I muttered, and sped up in the direction indicated.

As I got closer to the waypoint, I began to notice that not all of the lights I saw were from the streetlights or the floodlamps. Tiny, abnormally bright lights dotted the shore as well, resolving themselves into welding torches as I neared the lakefront. I hopped off my iceboard and took in the scene. There were tanks large and small everywhere on the quay, a good chunk of them that weren't made to hold water at all. Some of those were in the process of being scrubbed out with all manner of tools and rinsed with lakewater, whatever they had to do to remove whatever had been in there previously. The welding torches I'd seen were busy working away at making new 'tanks', boxy things that didn't look fit to store water at all, from the outside, at least. From the snapshots I was getting of the process, it looked like they were welding together plates of thin sheet metal, reinforcing the edges, and then adding in another layer of metal, before... filling the gap with containment foam? I didn't know how sturdy the stuff was when it'd set, but these were big boxes, a couple meters to a side. That was a lot of water, when full. Maybe I'd been underestimating the stuff?

"Hey, uh..." I was about to ask after Armsmaster, but it dawned on me that all of these people were gathered up here waiting on me, working and building and cleaning, all on my word I could do something and Armsmaster's that I wasn't wrong. That, and I could feel him kneeling inside one of the partially constructed boxtanks. My throat constricted, mouth suddenly dry, and I forced myself to swallow to try and regain my ability to speak. It suddenly felt very warm in my coat. I didn't know he'd be working on this personally! "Armsmaster?" Try as I might, I failed to keep a slight stutter out of the name.

He popped up, catching sight of me and nodding. "Terraform, good." He knelt back down to finish what he was doing, and I plodded around to stand nearby. Five seconds later he was done, standing up and calling someone over, handing the improbably small welding torch off to a man in a stripped-down trooper outfit, without the helmet, armor, or weapons. Then he turned back to me. "We'll have you start over here." He pointed and turned, assuming I'd follow.

Naturally, I did. He led me to one end, and told me to fill up the first of the big tanks. I lifted a thick stream of water into the air and had it spiral into a screw shape, then started forcing all the not-water out of the stream, to splash back into the lake. The remaining clean water flowed into the tank, and I guessed we were getting a few gallons of water every second. "I... wasn't expecting you to handle this yourself." I said, trying to strike up conversation when I had the flow steady. It was just a matter of continuing the motions and maintaining it, now. "Is this really going to help that much?"

He frowned, and I felt a flare of indignation. "Yes, it is." He shook his head and sighed, his emotions evening out again. "The city is without water, and may be for some time." He waved his hand at the tank. "Every hundred gallons is another family that will feel less like rioting in a week. It means we can more easily prioritize shipping in food and medicine. Fixing the water supply is our highest priority, after the basic fencing, even higher than the permanent walls." I'd been trying to ignore that part. Everyone here, at least everyone who lived here, was going to be trapped. Walled in, and left here. I still wasn't sure how I felt about that. "...high priority doesn't mean quick or easy solutions, though."

"Right. Yeah." I muttered, not really sure what to say. I felt like, for all I'd done, it hadn't been enough. But I was tired, and wasn't sure what else I could do. I was only one person, I couldn't fix everything. This would have to be enough. "Hey... thanks. For setting this up."

He was quiet, lost in thought for a few seconds, before he nodded. "It's fine." He paused again. "I've been working under the assumption that you'd want to head home, either for school or to sleep. There will be transport back to Brockton, in about an hour. Education is important, and not being missing after an attack helps preserve civilian identities. I won't stop you if you want to stay, though. I'm going to keep working here until you're done, then I'll be joining the engineers, fixing or bypassing the water relay station."

No pressure, huh? I shook my head, switching the stream from one tank to the next. I could already tell I was going to be filling these up faster than they could make them. Eventually there'd be a bottleneck. I could give it an hour, and see how I felt. Between the lack of sleep and all the effort from earlier, I was ready for a break... and I wasn't sure I'd want to come back. "I think... I'd like to go home then, yes."

I expected him to feel disappointed, but he just nodded. "I'll let them know." He turned, but hesitated, pausing to watch me. I was still swirling my arms, twisting slightly and swaying on my knees, to keep the water flowing efficiently. "That's going to get monotonous. I'll see if someone can find you a radio." He nodded to himself and headed back to the welding teams. Rather than dwelling on it, I decided to see if I could increase the flow a bit.

A few minutes later, when I was nearly done with the third tank, one of the agents running gofer tasks set one of those large portable radios down nearby, tuned to some rock station or another. I wasn't sure how I felt about the special treatment, but it helped to think it was probably boosting morale for the rest of the crews, too.

---

In the end, I wound up filling all the tanks in less than an hour. The rest of the time was spent washing out refurbished tanks and filling them with water, and waiting for the crews to finish up the last makeshift tanks they were working on, and filling those, too.

It felt really sketchy, flushing out those sewage pump trucks for drinking water... but those things had thousand gallon tanks attached to easily mobile trucks. Emergencies will, as emergencies do, I supposed.

When we were done, one of the guys who'd been in the welding crews did some math in his head, and guessed we'd stored up something like thirty thousand gallons of water. Apparently those big boxy tanks were about a thousand each, and they'd made twenty-two of them. Three trucks with thousand-gallon tanks, a couple more with half that, and a smattering of barrels and other tanks made up the difference.

The radio had only helped so much, after an hour. I hadn't actually had a rest since I'd gotten here, though the effort involved in the waterbending was much less than the earthbending before it, It wasn't nothing. I was tired, hungry, irritable... at least I wasn't bored anymore. Armsmaster had left before I was finished filling up the tanks, but I'd have more chances to thank him again around Brockton. As it was, I was down to filling little tanks and huge jugs when the notice that the teleport to Brockton Bay was coming up came over my armband. The crews and I danced around thanking each other for a minute or so before I left to follow the little arrow on the armband.

I wasn't in a hurry, and was thus unsurprised when I was the last to show up. Kid Win and Shielder looked and felt like shit. They definitely needed a break, and I wouldn't be surprised if they flat-out skipped school today. Rune wasn't faring much better, but perked up when she saw me. I still had no idea how to feel about that, but luckily she was standing off to the side away from the heroes again, so I could keep my distance. Amy was tired, but otherwise seemed fine, while Vicky was putting up a brave face, even though today was weighing her down much like the others.

The thought of standing around in silence was entirely unappealing, however. "Hey, how is everyone?"

Amy shrugged, and the boys groaned. Rune felt like she wanted to speak up, but hesitated. "Oh, I'm fine." Vicky lied, chuckling and forcing a smile. "How are you? We heard you've been busy!"

Oh geez, they heard about all that? I mean, I knew getting my name out there was a good thing, but I didn't want to be involved in the inevitable gossip! "Er, yeah. Kinda?" I demurred.

"Own it, new girl! You did good." She failed to bite back a yawn, but her mood was infectious, picking up everyone's spirit slightly. "Just wish we didn't have to go to school..."

"They don't let you have the day off?" I asked. Everyone's armbands chirped simultaneously, informing us it was 7AM back home, but we mostly ignored it.

Vicky shrugged. "Parents gonna' parents."

I turned to Amy, who looked about ready to fall over. "Are you going to be okay?"

She huffed, irritably. "I don't want the day off. It's bad enough I'm going to be sleeping through my hospital hours, I don't want to skip school, too." She rubbed her face and shook her head, muttering about coffee. "Going to see if I can head in to the hospital before school, tomorrow."

I wasn't sure that was healthy, but I wasn't going to tell her not to help people if it made her feel better. Had to see if she'd take this weekend off from healing, though. After another minute or so waiting, we heard a loud, weirdly resonant whine, before an obvious tinker appeared a few meters away.

He fiddled with the bulky device he was holding, then checked a tablet computer that'd been hanging from a line attached to his suit. "11PM to... Brockton Bay?" He called out, glancing around.

I waved him over, and he cheered. There were two steriotypes for Tinkers. The Armsmasters; athletic, action-oriented combat Tinkers in their sleek armor, with their powerful weapons... the other one fit this guy perfectly. He was a dumpy looking fellow, thick limbs and heavy gut covered in a safety-orange jumpsuit half-covered in sown-in gadgets, tech boxes, and control boards, and festooned with lanyards dangling various tools so they'd always be at hand. It made him look dorky and harmless.

Which I guess was kind of the point.

We could see him grin, as he waved and waddled over. His overbuilt sci-fi goggles only covered his eyes and most of his nose, along with the tops of his cheeks. "Hey, there! I'm Sonic. This everyone?" He glanced around as we nodded and hummed affirmatives, checking his tablet again. "Alright, then. We'll be making a few jumps to get where you're going. Let me know if you need a sec, my tech makes some people queasy after a jump or two."

He checked the tablet again, grabbing the device he'd been holding when he appeared and fiddling with it. He started muttering coordinates, checking back and forth, which wasn't entirely reassuring, but I hadn't thought he was lying about anything he'd said. "Gather up." He said, and when we were all almost touching, even Rune, he prodded the device. It hummed, picking up in pitch and volume until it was nearly a painful shriek in our ears. The world went fuzzy, disassembling around us as my sense of balance cut out. Then everything snapped back to normal, and we were standing in a well-lit empty room.

I stumbled away, leaning over and trying to catch my breath. I'd never been motion sick before, but I imagine this is what it must be like. My senses spread out, and I could tell we were in a city, in a fairly well staffed and maintained building... a PRT building? My senses spread further, and I got the feeling we were on a huge island. I clenched my eyes shut while the others hovered nearby, asking if I was okay. It looked like... New Zealand?

I shook my head and straightened up. "I'm fine. I'll be fine."

Sonic shook his head, and I could feel him rolling his eyes at my bravado. "Okay." He fiddled with his teleporter again, taking another twenty seconds or so before he called us around again.

It still hit me hard, but I handled it better this time. We'd landed in Hawaii, this time. Half a minute later we'd jumped again, to somewhere in California. I bit down the bile threatening to escape. One last jump and we found ourselves back in the lobby of Brockton's PRT building. I clasped my hand over my mouth, staggering back and leaning over. Amy rushed to my side, slipping her hand onto the back of my neck, and I felt my stomach settle itself.

"Thanks." I choked out.

"I warned ya'." Sonic chuckled, and I shot him a glare. "I'm gonna leave, before she gets mad at me." He was still chuckling, even as he stepped away and fiddled with his machine. The hum built to the shriek again, and he was gone.

Kid Win hobbled off further into the PRT building, while Shielder found a chair to slump into. Vicky was fussing over Amy nearby, while I just stood there catching my breath. The lobby was empty, and I had to wonder if that was because it was early, or if they kept it closed to the public on days like today. Rune hadn't moved much since we arrived, and seemed to be working herself up. She stepped closer, and I turned to face her. She looked young. Younger than the rest of us, all smooth cheeks and pouty lips, with her mask covering the rest. A few tufts of hair had worked their way free, dangling around her neck from within her hood. I was surprised they weren't blonde, instead a mix of eye-catching Empire red and an otherwise rather charming violet. "Uh, hey." She said, trying to sound stronger than she felt. "I, uh." Her eyes caught Amy silently glaring, and Vicky looking about ready to snap at her. She sighed. "Never mind." She turned and walked away, shaking her head and huffing out another sigh. By the time she'd made it out the door, she'd worked herself back up to feeling tired, but determined.

"Sorry," I muttered. "I don't know what's up with her."

"Probably looking to recruit you." Vicky said in a dark tone, prompting me to turn and face them instead of watching the door. "You need to be careful about that."

I glanced at Amy and chuckled. "I don't think I need to worry so much, I'm tougher than I look, and I'm making my own team." I turned back to Vicky and smiled, hoping it came through in my voice. "I'll be fine."

"So," Amy broke in, changing the subject. "anyone want me to flush their toxins, so you're less tired?"

"GOD, YES." Shielder roared from the other end of the room. I wasn't aware it was possible to zombie-shuffle through the air until I saw him floating over to his cousins. Vicky giggled and Amy let out a long-suffering sigh, so I guessed this was pretty typical for him. Amy laid hands on, and he perked up. "Thanks, Amy. You're the best." He floated away humming that coffee jingle, and Amy groaned loudly. Vicky just giggled harder.

"I'm doing you last." She told her sister, causing the blonde to pout. She turned to me and I shook her hand, feeling a lot of the weariness bleed away. It wasn't all gone, but it felt more like I hadn't slept well, rather than spent four hours hard at work after a third my usual night's sleep.

"Thank you." I said, waiting as Amy poked her sister in the nose and 'piggy-faced' her, while Vicky whined and had to put up with it to get her healing. When they were done, Amy grinning smugly while Vicky pouted harder, I asked, "Are you going to be okay?"

Amy shrugged. "I've had worse. Just need to fix my coffee-blood levels, and I'll be fine."

I wasn't so sure, she felt weary, like she wasn't quite sure, but I had hope she'd pull through the day. I chuckled at her joke, at any rate. I nodded to the door, and we started walking, Vicky floating behind us until we got closer, when she sped up to get the door for us. It felt nice, walking down the steps in that comfortable silence. Amy smiled as she trailed behind us, glancing between us. Vicky was in pretty good spirits too, turning and kneeling, offering her arms. "M'laaady." She hummed.

Amy climbed in, chuckling as Vicky lifted off. She raised her fist into the air and cheered "For Coffee!" before the two started accelerating off, laughing.

I smirked, shaking my head. Yeah, we really needed that, after Canberra. I started jogging for home, picking up speed until I was sprinting. I didn't have any clothes on under my costume, so I didn't bother stopping to change. Instead I looped around and waited until no one was looking, before sneaking into the back yard. I made my way inside and found dad nursing coffee, waiting up. He startled at first, until I took my mask off. Then we hugged, he told me I looked good, and he wandered upstairs to pass out.

It wasn't too strange to call in to work on Endbringer days. Some places even expected it, and he could always make the work up on the weekend. I wasn't too worried.

I popped some leftovers in the microwave and went upstairs to change into some running clothes. I might as well keep up my jogging, right? I prepped my backpack with a change of clothes for school, then headed down to eat my food. I was still tired, but caffeine fixes that well enough. Thinking back to earlier, I chuckled and nodded to myself. Amy would probably appreciate more coffee, regardless of how much she'd already gotten.

That decided, I grabbed up my stuff and stretched before headed out. Instead of school, I made a detour, heading for a coffee place near Arcadia. When I got there, I slowed down, taking in the slow morning bustle with my senses. People were flocking to the shops and not bothering to stay, having places to be. There was a girl leaning against her car in front of the shop, a pretty blonde, probably waiting on her boyfriend. I eyed her up and down as I got closer. A very pretty blonde, who definitely had a boyfriend. I caught her bright bottle-green eyes as mine drifted back up, and she smiled at me. I blushed at having been caught looking, and glanced away. When I was about to pass her to get into the shop, she stopped me.

"Hey," She called, pushing off her car and stalking up to me. "I'm Lisa." She lied, smiling brightly.