Crystalized Munchkinry - Act V - Chapter 55 (Patreon)

Director James Tagg had been having an okay day until he received the unfortunate news that the Simurgh was heading straight for the Madison quarantine zone. Due to ingrained paranoia and adequate preparations, he was able to immediately give a few orders to his men, and they began a well-practiced retreat from the quarantine zone.

Though he made sure a few people with megaphones yelled the information to the people who still lived in the ruins.

They immediately abandoned the bunkers and buildings built next to the zone, judging them to be too close to the attack. Instead, they retreated to a spot a few dozen miles from Madison, toward Milwaukee.

When he was assigned to this hellhole, he made sure to survey the surroundings, ensuring he knew every small and large escape route or spot that could be used in case of emergency. And he made sure his men were aware of them too. One never knew with that bitch, Simurgh.

The temporary HQ tent was already up and filled with people handling various equipment, setting up communications, and preparing other devices when he arrived.

"Report!" he exclaimed.

One of his men joined him shortly afterward from somewhere nearby, holding a sizeable tablet. He saluted before speaking.

"Director. Evacuation is complete. Observation equipment is functional. Several people tried to scale the walls, but the automated defenses took care of them," reported the man in a neutral tone.

"Good. How about the white bitch?"

"According to Dragon, ETA is anywhere between fifteen and five minutes. It has been behaving weirdly during this attack…"

"This whole attack is weird as hell!" he said in an angry tone. "Very well, start setting up our artillery. I want it ready to fire in five!"

The other man nodded, prodded the tablet a few times, then looked back at the Director, awaiting further orders. "How about the arrival site for the parahumans?" he asked with slight distaste.

If he could have, he would have handled the entire event with the might of the American army. Sadly, despite his dissatisfaction and repeated requests, he was time and time again denied. Still, one day they would realize he was right, and then he would excise the rot that infested his country.

"Site 47 was set aside for teleporter arrival. Lieutenant Johns is already there with a welcoming team," said the man, unaware of his superior's thoughts, or perhaps just ignoring them.

"Good. ETA on that?" he asked while idly watching as two soldiers lugged in an enormous screen and began setting it up.

"Teleporter arrival any minute. The rest are arriving in thirty minutes by Dragon transport."

"Figures… Call me if this is done," he said while motioning around him. "I will be in the observation tower."

He was in one of the taller guard towers set up on top of a nearby hill, holding a very high-tech pair of binoculars, when he heard his radio come alive.

"Director! It's coming!"

"Preparations?" he said as calmly as possible while turning in the direction from which they expected the Endbringer to arrive. It wouldn't do for the soldiers to see their leader be anything but a bastion of calmness.

"Artillery is ready, Sir! Alexandria is in the tent. The parahumans at Site 47 are preparing to head out. The rest are fifteen minutes out!"

"Good! Send out an alert. I want everybody to be ready! I will be back in a second."

"Yes, Sir!" replied the man, and the radio fell silent.

Tagg raised his binoculars and scanned the rapidly darkening sky. It only took him a few seconds to find the flying terror, her stark white feathers standing out against the backdrop of the red sky. He watched her for a few seconds, but he did not see the anomalous behavior.

Was it something in Canberra that caused it?

He didn't know, and he hated that fact.

With a disgusted huff, he turned around and began climbing down the tower.

Alexandria stood in the middle of the tent that was at the center of activity and watched the arrival of the Simurgh on a giant screen.

A second time today.

It was a really eerie feeling.

What had caused it? Was it something in Canberra? Or maybe the construct Dragon created? Or was this simply a novel way to torment them? Would the other Endbringers do the same thing? And would Contessa ever answer her messages? Because this silence was getting suspicious…

Her frustration was only eclipsed by Eidolon's anger, though at least, thanks to her inhuman control, she could hide it. Eidolon, however, had found himself alone, with no one brave enough to go near him.

She watched as Tagg returned, his guards taking up positions next to the tent door.

"Alexandria," he greeted her in his usual gruff tone.

"Director Tagg," she returned neutrally. While she didn't like the man, it was not a good time to play games. "Are you also here to watch the landing?"

The Director just grunted while turning toward the same screen.

Both of them stared at it, not daring to look away for fear of missing something, while around them PRT personnel and the few Thinkers who managed to hitch a ride on a teleporter ran around, trying to take care of everything.

The screen showed the Simurgh flying toward the zone, completely ignoring the defenders. Thanks to the drones, floodlights, and observation posts his men had managed to set up, no matter where she went, they always had a clear picture of her. And thanks to some kind of Tinker bullshit, not even the rapidly approaching night was a problem.

As the Simurgh began to descend, she heard a yell behind them.

"Director, Dragon is here! Channel 7!"

She used her helmet to change over to the channel and glanced at the Director, wondering what he would do.

"Dragon," began the man, his voice still gruff and more than angry. "What are you bringing to this party?"

"Director Tagg," greeted the woman. "I'm currently deploying shield and S&R drones, and a Titan-class mech is already ready to drop as soon as the Simurgh touches down."

"Hmm. Will that work?"

"I hope so."

Tagg just snorted in answer. "I assume you know how to link to our equipment?" he asked while still staring as the Simurgh theatrically flared out her wings and touched down in the middle of the zone. If she saw correctly on another screen, it was exactly in the center of the zone.

"Yes, Director," came the calm voice from one of the speakers in the room, spooking several people. "Simurgh arrived. Beginning Titan-class mech drop. Please make sure to avoid the impact site."

On one of the screens, she could see the same giant mech she had seen at Canberra heading toward one of the parks of Madison.

How many of these things had she made?

Cursing her momentary distraction, she returned her attention to the main screen. There, she could see the Endbringer dramatically raise her hands, her wings splayed out around her, while something began to rise into the air from the ruins.

"What are those?" she asked.

Instead of getting an answer, the screen automatically zoomed in, though she suspected it was Dragon who was doing it.

The sight that came into focus chilled her blood.

It was technology.

Everything from car motors, toasters to unidentified device remains was floating toward her.

She was building something.

That was not good.

Especially because Madison was home to the remains of several Tinker-tech devices housed in the old vault, and several of them were capable of facilitating travel between dimensions.

The last time she had access to that technology, she wrought untold damage, so she wondered what she would do with it now…

Would she use the same technology, or was she after something else that was left in the vault?

She was broken out of her thoughts by a yell from one of the stations. "Sir, no Scream!"

"What?" exclaimed the man still standing next to her. "Confirm it."

"We did, sir. Legend even did a flyby. No Scream."

She ignored the cursing next to her as she watched the flying debris begin to accumulate in front of the Endbringer in a ball. She could see metal twisting and moving about, slotting into place; devices breaking apart and joining together.

"Right, I think it's time to do something about this."

And with that, she strode out of the tent and flew up into the sky, intent on stopping whatever plan the Simurgh had concocted.

"Dragon, ready to start?"

"Yes, Alexandria. Initiating contact in ten seconds." Came the prompt reply from the AI.

And despite the situation, Alexandria couldn't help but get excited at the thought of a giant mech duking it out with the Endbringer.

Legend was pretty sure he wasn't alone in being awestruck as he watched the giant dragon-themed construct rise slightly into the air, silently, and fly toward the Endbringer with incredible speed. He suspected that if it had enough space to accelerate, it would have even broken the sound barrier.

He watched as the robot struck the Endbringer, generating a giant boom and dust cloud. He could hear several people cry out in fright, and even some in pain due to the sound.

"Hold attack until the dust settles," came the order from Tagg through his communicator.

It only took a few seconds for the dust to settle enough to see if Dragon managed to strike the tech ball that the Simurgh was building.

However, to his immense disappointment, he saw the Endbringer standing with her back toward the mech, her numerous wings acting as a wall. A second later came the confirmation from Dragon.

"Unsuccessful first strike. Simurgh turned around."

"Attack is a go. Primary target is the ball it is building. Currently no Scream, so no time limit," came the order from Tagg, and he could already see several parahumans heading for their target.

He sighed at their impatience, closed his eyes, trying to center himself for a few seconds, then he also headed toward the Endbringer.

Tagg watched as Dragon's awe-inspiring mechanical construct struck the Endbringer again and again, only for the Endbringer to react insanely fast and turn its back to it. This caused every attack, be it physical, plasma, fire, or even simple weapons fire from the construct, to dissipate against the monster's feathers.

It was extremely frustrating to watch. Though at least the mech managed to land a hit on it, unlike the parahumans. The Simurgh simply danced between their attacks, causing them to miss or sometimes even hit each other or the mechanical construct.

Every attack aimed at the still-moving and churning ball of technology was blocked by its hands or by a parahuman who flew through the space at exactly the wrong time.

The only good news was that it wasn't using the Scream, and it was concentrating so much on the construction that nobody had died yet.

"Carjack down AD-5. Current down AD-5," came another notification.

"What happened?" he barked out, his eyes still on the screen.

"Apparently, Carjack found a gas canister, threw it at the ball, and Current detonated it. Simurgh threw the entire thing back at them," came a voice from somewhere in the room. "Dragon's drones have already retrieved them."

He snorted, then had an idea. "Somebody send a message to Piggot. It's time she does something useful instead of whining about her budget. Tell her to send over Panacea and whoever is not cowering under their beds."

"Yes, Sir."

No matter what they did, what he did, nothing worked. Not even Dragon's stupidly powerful mech. Every laser it fired missed or hit one of the parahumans, making Dragon scale down their lethality, or, if they went near the ball, the Simurgh hit a piece in exactly the right place to either break it or fuse it to another.

It was beyond frustrating.

And he could see, and almost feel in the air, that the others were feeling the same way. The notifications kept coming, though thankfully nobody died. They kept shooting, but nothing was accomplished.

Dragon's transports were a few minutes out with the rest of the force who volunteered to come help from Australia, but he doubted they would be of any help.

"This is Director Tagg," came from his communicator, the Director's gruff voice still as calm as it had been at the beginning. "Leave the area. Artillery fire in thirty seconds. Those with ranged attacks, fire on my mark."

Blanketing the area was not the best option, but maybe it would work. He grimaced at imagining what the people were going through on the ground, but he had no time to help them. Dragon told him, when he brought this up on the way here, that she would have her drones look for them and protect them, so he would just trust her.

"Fifteen seconds."

He flew higher while watching as several fliers picked up their earthbound counterparts, while several other fliers mimicked him.

"This is Dragon. I will attempt to restrain it."

He watched as the black mech charged at the Endbringer, trampling several ruins further into the ground, with its arms wide open.

"Five."

He charged up his hand with a laser that would melt the metal in the ball, and he could see several ominous glows around the other fliers, who were also preparing their best shots.

"Four."

Several hundred small drones rose into the air, most of them illuminated by the glow of the shields they were projecting. Probably to contain the explosion.

"Three."

A giant, coruscating, virulent-green globe appeared over Eidolon's head, who was standing in the air with both arms raised, visibly strained. It started out as the size of a child and quickly grew big enough that several adult men could stand inside it comfortably.

"Two."

Dragon's construct began to move toward the Simurgh, ready to restrain it.

"One."

He glanced around, and he could see the worry etched onto people's faces.

Maybe he should have given another speech?

"Fire!"

And with that, he released the energy suffusing his hand, watching almost in slow motion as it, and countless other projectiles, headed for the mysterious ball that the Endbringer was building.

He could also hear the sound of artillery fire in the distance, while Dragon moved with incredible speed to envelop the false angel in a deadly hug.

As soon as his laser neared its target, time sped up again, and he was blinded as the myriad of projectiles hit, instantly joined by deafening explosions as the artillery shells struck, obscuring the scene.