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Glam talks to Armsmaster about the possibility of maybe being given access to confidential files on the Slaughterhouse Nine and is, somewhat predictably, completely shut down, on grounds that the rules are there for a reason. They try sharing their strategies, Armsmaster thanks them for it and assures them he'll look into the raised matter, but they still need to wait until they're a full member of the Protectorate to take advantage of these resources.
And is that supposed to make them more likely to want to stick around? Ugh.
The three following weeks are fairly quiet and peaceful for a change. No major engagements, the Empire Eighty-Eight has been keeping quiet, the various Asian gangs reduced once more to fighting each other, the Teeth haven't yet rebuilt. Blasto, Lung, and Oni Lee are still awaiting trial, though it's likely the tinker will be given a lighter sentence in some parahuman containment center while the other two will be sent to the Birdcage.
And then, somewhat earlier than would normally be expected, telltale seismic activity is registered in Pretoria, South Africa. The capes wishing to help must make their way to New York, to depart in an hour—small aircraft is waiting at the PHQ for the trip there.
Alexandria, however, seems to have taken this momentary pause in the need for an Alexandria package to fly over to where they're standing. "...are they alright?" she asks Lorica.
"Please don't distract Glam, they need to pay attention to the field and the constructs," says a bot, "and Lorica is directing my other hardware in the field. Just say when, we have a system worked out."
"That's customizable, if there are advantages to particular strategies," says the bot. "Starting inside an evacuated building, running outside, jumping Behemoth, and energetically shredding him is probably the default, but she can appear somewhere else and do something else."
(Behemoth claps in the distance, liquefying half a dozen capes.)
"We're distributing comms," agrees the bot, "estimate five more minutes for ninety-five percent total cape coverage. The exact appearance can also be customized."
"It's probably best if she does look like the real deal so people know what's going on. Estimate for ninety-nine percent?" A sonic boom destroys all the windows around the beast, and she turns around. "We can continue this conversation via comm," she says, and takes off to go after Behemoth again.
"Estimate accounts for capes refusing comms," the bot says over comm. "Marginal improvments after five minutes expected to be low."
Five minutes later, "The office building on the southwest corner of the intersection Behemoth's approaching."
He repeats the warning a few more times, and so does Alexandria in a few different languages. Legend then says, for Lorica's benefit only, "Whenever you two are ready."
And Lorica murmurs softly to Glam that the Siberian's totally going to happen right over there and she's going to leap out and wreck Behemoth.
And the Siberian appears inside the building. She doesn't move or do much of anything for a few seconds, then starts walking outside at a leisurely pace.
Come the fuck on Glam. -That would not be hypnosisy to say. Lorica nudges the bot and the bot comes up with a hypnosisy way to say that the Siberian is going to move a lot faster than that and do lots of damage.
The thing that happens after is not immediately obvious because Behemoth has chosen just that moment to fry every electronic device within three hundred feet.
There's some bots farther away with scopes. They know this sort of thing is a risk. Lorica prompts Glam for copybots.
Then copybots zoom in for a closer view of the Siberian to offer hypnotized Glam.
The Siberian slowed down a bit while the copybots weren't looking, but there's a Siberian-claw-shaped gouge along Behemoth's left forearm. The Endbringer tries throwing lightning at her, and she's completely unaffected by it, of course. She jumps into the air and tears through Behemoth's right leg, taking a chunk of meat off him.
Lorica suggests that the Siberian could probably tunnel straight through Behemoth's center mass.
...and yet, she doesn't. She jumps again and lands on Behemoth's head, then starts digging into it with her hands. He tries to shake her off and fails, so he roars. More liquefied capes (and unevacuated civilians).
They should have run more practice tests with hypnosis. Lorica rephrases the tunneling thing.
That, or perhaps the expectations of the hundreds of other capes watching the engagement are shaking out to this outcome. She continues digging, this time in the direction of Behemoth's center of mass, so the Endbringer digs into his own flesh with his claws so he can take the Siberian off him and throw her at some poor unwitting capes. Then arc lightning, jumping from cape to cape and not immediately killing, just burning them enough that they'll have slow, painful deaths.
The Siberian won't hurt the capes ofcourseshe'sveryselectivelikethat. She will go straight back for Behemoth and deprive him of an arm won't she.