I was awake and had just finished eating breakfast with Taylor when sirens started blaring from the top of the building.

  We exchanged equally confused looks with one another.

  “Did you–” she started to ask me, when both her phone and my phone also started screeching with those shrill alarm tones you hear tested somewhat regularly.

  I snatched my phone out of my hair and opened the alert before I went deaf.

  It felt like my heart fell out of my chest and plopped on the floor. I wasn’t alone. The color drained from Taylor’s face as well. She gulped the last of her tea and ran out of the room.

  I looked back at my phone.

  ENDBRINGER ATTACK IMMINENT: EVACUATE TO NEAREST SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.

  Why here? Why Brockton Bay? Why now!?

  I called Melody immediately. She picked straight up.

  “Are you going?” The first words out of my mouth.

  “I-I don’t know, Morgan! What do I do!? We haven’t gone over this yet!” Her voice was panicked-sounding.

  “Okay. Deep breath, Melody. Nobody has to go. It’s entirely voluntary, even for you. And nobody will judge you for staying to protect your family.”

  The phone rustled. “No, no. I have to go. This is what I signed up for.” I heard the resolve in her voice as she said it.

  “Okay. I’m going too. Get Mom and Dad moving to the nearest shelter first. Get suited up, wait out front of the house for me. I’m coming to pick you up.”

  “God… okay. I’m scared, Morgan. My costume isn’t even finalized yet.”

  “I’m scared, too, Melody. Anyone with any sense in their head is. I’ll do everything I can to keep you safe. I have to go, see you soon. Oh! Eat and drink something light, like a pre-workout shake.”

  “...Good idea. See you soon. Be safe. Bye.” She hung up.

  Taylor came back in fully Skittered-out. “I called my dad, caught him before he left the house. He’s heading to a shelter.”

  “Do you want to go with him, or are you coming with me?”

  I pulled a giant bag of tilapia from the chest freezer, tore the end off it, and upended it into my mouth.

  “I’m going. I don’t know what I’ll do, but I don’t think I could live with myself if I didn’t go,” Taylor said.

  I crunched up the fish and gulped it down. Pulled a full bag of sugar out of a cabinet and popped it in my maw like an oversized hard candy and ate it, paper bag and all.

  “What are you doing?” Taylor asked me.

  “Pre-loading as much as I can. Head downstairs, we’re going to go pick up Melody, and then flying to the meeting point.”

  She nodded and jogged out. I grabbed another big bag of protein, wiped it out, and headed downstairs while swigging a big jug of water.

  Grabbing Taylor, I set her up on my shoulders with my tail and took off straight into the air as soon as she was secure.

  As I was blasting over to my parents’ house at breakneck speeds, I consulted with my power.

  I didn’t have the faintest fucking clue what I could do against an Endbringer. I was fast, I was strong, mobile, and tough. But they were notoriously impossible to kill. I wasn’t sure that I’d actually be able to do much against one. I pushed the concept of fighting a giant, unstoppable monster through to my power. It stirred, but seemed to be contemplating. I didn’t get a definitive response.

  I dove down, flared, and dropped to the street in front of my home. Melody was sitting on the front steps. She got up, and I took her in. Or maybe it would be better to say that I took in Eclipse. She had on a full-body suit. It looked like a cross between a wetsuit and an armored bodysuit. Skin tight and form-fitting, it flattered her figure. Armored panels covered the important and high-impact areas, contoured to fit her shape without distorting it.

  Her suit was a dark charcoal color, with silver accents and line work. There was a solar eclipse symbol on her chest in gold, a black circle with a ring of gold surrounding it, a four-pointed star peeking out from one part of the ring. She had on a tactical utility belt around her waist, but it didn’t look complete. Knee-high boots that weren’t overly bulky, but were armored. A helmet that matched the color of her suit protected her head, with a mirrored upper-face visor that hid her identity while keeping her lower face revealed.

  As I was getting her situated for a ride, I told her, “Mel-Eclipse, that is an incredibly good-looking costume.”

  “Thanks… wish I could have shown you under better circumstances, but I am waiting on the rest of it to be done. This isn’t finished, either. The armor panels are temporary padding until the real ones can be made,” Melody replied

  “Alright, Eclipse. This amusement park ride gets really bumpy when I’m going fast. I’m going to strap you in. Make sure everything is secured to you tightly before we take off.”

  “Strap me- ahh!” She jolted as tentacles grew out of my skin and wrapped her up securely.

  “Quit being a baby. You ready?”

  She checked her belt quickly.

  Taylor spoke up. “Apex isn’t kidding when she says it’s a rough ride.”

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  Melody gave the all clear, and I leapt up and took flight.

  “Holy shit!” Eclipse screamed as we tore across the city. I chuckled, despite the grim circumstances.

  She yelled up to me while we were flying. “Is it just me or… do you look different?”

  I turned my head around to look at her. “That’s really creepy that you can do that!”

  I explained, “I changed again yesterday. This is the new me, apparently.”

  “What do you mean you changed? Like, permanently?”

  “Yep. Exactly,” I answered her. “Okay, hang on, we’re coming in for a quick landing!”

  I dropped down out of the sky in a steep dive and landed in a parking lot filled with PRT vehicles. It was a mid-sized building, five or six stories tall, with brown brick and dark windows. Some kind of office space, or maybe a small convention center. Lots of parking. It sat on a hill with a clear view of the ocean.

  I’d no more than landed the three of us and gotten settled in with my wings folded up when the sky above us lit with the glow of flames and the shriek of a turbine engine. Dragon, in a four-legged mech that suited her namesake. Large, much like myself. A little taller and broader than I was, but I was significantly longer overall.

  I walked over to her, plucking Eclipse and Skitter off my back with my tail and setting them down. They split off and headed into the building, following a steady stream of PRT officers and capes, some familiar and others from out of town.

  I was very happy to see Dragon here. And I told her exactly that. Then I gave her an awkwardly-positioned hug.

  Her voice came through the fanged mouth of the suit. “I can say that is the first time anyone has hugged me in a Dragonflight suit, Apex. How are you holding up?”

  I sighed. “About as you’d imagine. Less scared for my own safety than I am for the others I care about. Worried that I won’t be any use against whatever we’re facing.”

  She turned to the ocean, and I followed her gaze. There was one hell of a storm rolling in.

  “Leviathan,” she said, voice solemn.

  My power seemed to draw a conclusion at last and blasted into activity in my head.

  “Dragon, I have to start a change, my power has finally gotten back to me with something. Will you keep an eye out for me?”

  “Certainly, Apex. And I admit, I’m a bit curious myself.”

  I leaned over and gave her a soft head-butt, and she leaned into it. Straightening back up, I sat on my haunches and palms, tuned out the outside world, and allowed my power through to work.

  The familiar sensations of heat and energy filled my body, and I started growing. It seemed largely proportional compared to yesterday. I did notice my torso lengthening a bit more, and the why made sense when I sprouted a fourth set of wings.

  The individual changes I was able to pick up were a bunch of things changing with my internal organs, rows of nasty claw-spikes on the last foot or two of my tail, the extra wings, and my hard armor plates and carapace thickening. Mostly, it was just growing. I met and then exceeded Dragon’s size. I wasn’t precisely sure how big exactly I was when things wrapped up, but it was significant. I was eye-level with the second story of the building, still sitting down.

  I shook myself out like a dog and fluttered my wings.

  Dragon looked over at me and handed me a chunky wristband. I had to let it almost fully out to get it to fit around the wrist of one lower arm. I had Vivian out on my left lower arm, so I strapped it on the right.

  “I’m glad you’re here with us, Apex,” Dragon said after a whole group of capes teleported in behind us.

  Was that–it was. Alexandria, with a group of heroes.

  Wow.

  She walked over to the two of us, and I did my damn best not to fidget like a starstruck schoolgirl.

  She spoke up, and I noted that she had a very slight Hispanic accent. And sounded like a West Coaster. Made sense. Her home area was L.A.

  “Dragon, status?” She gestured out at the sea, where the storm was still approaching–and very rapidly.

  “Approach speed and path are varying; he’s taking a bit of a wandering path. Making it hard to give an exact ETA. Less than five minutes.”

  Alexandria turned to me. “Who are you, and what do you do?”

  I coughed. Tried to find my voice. “I’m Apex. I’m blue and big.”

  Wow. I sound so competent and intelligent right now.

  Dragon cleared her throat and offered me a ladder to find my way out of the pit I’d just face-planted into. “As she said, Apex. No current classifications, but I’d personally say she’s a high-level changer and brute, mid-level mover.”

  Alexandria looked over to Dragon. “How high?”

  Dragon clicked her tongue. Or made the sound of clicking her tongue, at least. “Eight. Plus or minus one, I haven’t seen her in action as she is currently.”

  Eight!? My previous highest score was a soft four as a brute, but they’d listed me as a three.

  Alexandria nodded slowly.

  “She has a good amount of experience as well, although this is her first Endbringer fight.”

  Alexandria looked back at me. “Do the best you can. Do what feels right for you. If you want to fight on the front, if you want to support people, it doesn’t matter. If you’re a big enough threat, Leviathan will come to you directly, so be prepared for that. What do you know about him?”

  “Just the basics,” I rumbled. “Hydrokinetic, tough as hell, packs a wicked punch. Tsunamis.”

  “Pay close attention. He is very strong and extremely fast when he wants to be. Wherever Leviathan moves, he leaves an afterimage of water. The image will continue with inertia based on his movements. If he whips his tail at you, the afterimage will lash out farther than his actual tail can reach. This gives him ranged abilities. The speed and energy of the water make it lethal; it’s like having a speeding cargo truck hit you. It kills most non-brutes outright if it’s a direct hit at close range. It loses force as it travels.”

  She stepped over me and rapped her knuckles on my hard armor. She didn’t wind up, but it was like getting hit by a sledgehammer.

  “Good. You’ll be able to take hits from it. Keep the paths in mind. If you don’t intercept or block the water he flings at others, they might die.”

  I nodded sharply.

  Dragon spoke up. “The armbands. The screen shows your position and the last known location of Leviathan. There are two buttons. The left button lets you send messages to other armband wearers. I’m modifying your privileges to give you transmission rights.”

  Alexandria turned her head quickly towards Dragon. “Why?” she asked, her tone a touch demanding.

  “It’s a complicated story, but Apex used to be one of ours. I trust she won’t abuse it.”

  “Interesting,” was all Alexandria said.

  Dragon continued. “The right button is to ping your location. If you’re wounded or in danger. Or if someone else is, at that location. If you need something else, press both buttons and tell the armband what you need. My software will route and prioritize the message.”

  I tapped a claw on the pavement. “Dragon… I’m sorry if this is inappropriate to ask, but… Will you try and keep an eye on my sister when I’m busy? I’m going to try and watch her too, but…” My breath hitched in my throat. “She’s not even had her powers for a week, and this is what, her third day as a member of the Protectorate?”

  “Who is she?” Alexandria asked.

  “Eclipse,” I said.

  “High-level shaker, immobilizing field?” I was shocked Alexandria knew that, but I nodded.

  Alexandria considered a moment, then turned to Dragon. “Mark her as a VIP asset. Her field should be able to grant virtual immunity to Leviathan’s water attacks. Be a good anchor to base blasters around. We’ll have to see if her field can affect Leviathan himself.”

  “Alexandria, I–thank you.”

  She turned back to me, all business. “Understand that I’m doing that because it suits the mission objective first and foremost.”

  “I understand,” I told her, “but still, thank you. I think she’ll do better with others around her, and a clear objective, like keeping them safe.”

  Alexandria nodded curtly.

  My armband display came to life and asked me to state my name. I pressed the communication button and told it, which sounded like Dragon, my name.

  “Warning. Tsunami inbound. ETA 30 seconds,” Dragon stated, like she was narrating a news headline.

  I looked out at the ocean. I saw it. A low wave, only a foot or two high, but moving very fast.

  I moved without thinking. I leapt onto the hillside between the convention center and the shore. I didn’t have long at all to try and act. I punched my hands and feet into the soil, embedded my tail into the concrete foundation of the building, and snapped my wings out to their full length.

  They were fucking enormous right now. They scaled up larger than my body had, by nearly a factor of two. Each one had to be pushing fifty feet in length. The spots they connected to my back, my anchors, had similarly swollen to huge sizes with my flight muscles.

  The wave was starting to slow as it hit the shallows. Slowing down and climbing. The seawater was filthy with sand, thick, silty, and black.

  I braced and flapped as hard as I could, directing what felt like hurricane-force winds in a tight forward cone. With eight wings thrumming, I was having a hell of a time staying planted, even with all five limbs straining.

  Whump. Whump. Whump.

  The tsunami rushed in, and it and my air blast met. Water whipped and sprayed where the two collided, and the wave parted in a bowl shape. The bottom of the wave was still approaching, but it was maybe a foot tall and slowing rapidly. The upper portions were being blown back and to the sides.

  Fuck! It’s working!

  Shouting and force fields went up in and on the building behind me. Capes started streaming out the doors.

  “Stay inside!” I roared moments before the wave hit. It mostly passed us by, clipping the far right side of the building and washing over the parking lot to the left. The building was spared a direct hit. I cut my wings and folded them back up behind me. I had to keep them safe.

  Heroes and villains both streamed out of the building in force now. Rain was coming down hard. Torrential rain, a typhoon-level amount of water falling from the sky. It lowered visibility dramatically.

  There!

  Rising from the water to an upright gait was the monster himself. Leviathan. Three stories tall, with odd proportions. Long calves and forearms, hunched-over shoulders, with a bulky neck, shoulders, and upper torso. Thin, sleek limbs and a long tail, maybe fifty feet in length. He walked with a languid wobble, arms swaying as his chest made figure eight patterns in the air with every step. A solid wall of water followed behind him like a silhouette, about the same dimensions as he was in terms of depth before it fell to the ground.

  Just the sheer volume and mass of water that was streaming down around him from his afterimage was destructive. His water echo crashed through building walls, lifted and carried vehicles, and collapsed streets where underground tunnels were carved below them.

  Behind me, flying and teleporting capes were transporting others to the rooftops of nearby buildings, getting them set up to attack from fixed positions. I saw a tight formation of a couple of capes moving as a group. They were clustered around my sister, maintaining physical contact. A front-line force was charging out in front of me.

  Leviathan leapt into action, and good god, he was fast. He charged at the front line, and one tail whip lashed water out, like Alexandria had said. I wasn’t going to be able to get between it and the front-line fighters in time. No way.

  It crashed into several of them, and my armband started announcing the names and grid coordinates of people injured. Seven down with two fatalities. Just like that.

  Fuck.

  I charged into action. Hesitation now meant people dying.