"Please, Taylor..." Danny whispered as he hugs his costumed daughter fiercely in the master bedroom of their house, his emergency bug-out rucksack lying by his feet. Taylor had flew home as soon as she could after receiving the alert. There, she had found her father already grabbing the essentials like personal documents and papers and packing them into a pocket in his rucksack.
"I- I- I can't just stand by, Dad." Taylor tearfully whispered in return, her mask held loosely in one hand. "It's is heading here. I can't-"
"Taylor." Danny said as he pulled his head back to look at Taylor in the eyes. "This is an Endbringer. It'll- It'll kill you if you go fighting against it."
"Dad! Leviathan will kill everyone whether they were fighting or not." Taylor shot back with some heat. "At least, if we fight, we can keep the number of people who dies down."
"Taylor..." Danny started, before he hesitated. "I- I signed the papers, asking the PRT to exclude you from Endbringer fights." he admitted, not quite looking at Taylor in the eyes. "Please...."
Taylor tamped down a brief flash of anger at the admittance, a part of her understands why her father did it. Now isn't the time for arguments. "I- I-" she took a breath. "Dad, if it was hitting anywhere else, I might have obeyed that. " she conceded softly. "But this is our home." she whispered firmly to her father.
Danny hugged his daughter close again. "You're really going to not stand by while this is happening, huh?" he softly muttered.
Taylor chuckled weakly. "No, Dad." She pulled back and looked at her father in the eyes. "I'm a Hebert. Yours and Mom's daughter. We're pretty stubborn when we set our minds to it." she jested, with a fragile smile.
Danny choked back a sob and ruffled Taylor's hair. "Come back alive, please?" he begged in a small voice.
Taylor close her eyes and looked away. "I'll- I'll try." she said.
There was a moment of silence, before Taylor dug through her back pouch and took out a modified PRT Shield Watch, the device looking bulkier than usual. "Here, take this." she said as she hands it over to the thin bespectacled man.
"Taylor?" Danny asked in puzzlement.
"I know you got a regular one. This is different." Taylor started. "This one makes an impenetrable bubble shield around the wearer. Has a bigger battery too." She looked into her father's brown eyes. "Please?"
Danny gently accepted the device and wore it on his right wrist, mirroring the position of the other thaumaturgic device already on his left wrist. "Take care, Taylor." he said softly.
Taylor took a breath and stood up straighter. "I will. Pinkie Promise." she said firmly, tears in her eyes.
**************************
Starburst landed outside the large hall sitting on a hill on the outskirts of town near the waterfront. The building itself was relatively non-descript. It was simply a large multi-purpose hall built to serve the nearby suburbs, surrounded by parking lots and a field. The PRT took over the building to receive and coordinate the parahuman volunteers that were being teleported in en mass by Strider. Strider was also evacuating any non-essential PRT personnel and civilians on his trips out.
Starburst had been delayed in getting to the rendezvous, helping her father to pack any essentials and locking down the house before leaving. She had quickly dropped him off at his assigned EndBringer Shelter (she'll worry about secret identities after this fight.) before flying over to the hall. The low visibility conditions of dusk was further exacerbated by the light rain that had started to fall.
As Starburst neared the entrance to the packed hall, there was a sharp 'Crack!' in the air and Strider had teleported more volunteers onto the parking lot to the side of the building. The crowd of colourfully costumed late-comers made their way to the building, just as a duller crowd of PRT personnel and scared civilians moved in under the area of influence of Strider's teleport.
When Starburst entered the main hall, she found herself facing one that was crowded with capes, many did she not recognize either by reputation or from her Ward studies with PRT cape identification and threat analysis. It seems capes from all walks of life were crammed into this hall, and more were coming in. Villain, heroes, rogues, all had volunteered themselves to come here, to fight back against the threat of the Endbringers. As she walked past a girl (Wasn't she one of the New York Ward?) with a arbalest strapped to her back, Starburst craned her head toward the stage, sweeping her gaze past a group of Case 53s shifting through the crowd led by a woman wearing a strange mix between a dress and PRT Trooper tactical gear (was that Faultline?) to focus her attention to the Triumvirate cape currently speaking. Legend.
"-thanks to the efforts of Dragon and Armsmaster, we have a couple of hours warning to prepare. They have also developed and deploying mobile Tinkertech emitters to hopefully curtail Leviathan's hydrokinesis-"
'Damn' Starburst thought to herself. She had missed part of the speech. She was about to move closer to hear the rest of the speech better, but something else caught her attention instead. The crowd was parting ahead of her, giving way to a briskly striding Alexandria, with Armsmaster following behind her pushing a trolley cart ahead of him. Said trolley cart has a large trash can sized thaumaturgic crystal battery on it.
"Starburst." Alexandria curtly greeted as she neared the teenage Ward."I understand that you can bestow to others your powers? And that you have a Thinker power geared towards battlefield analysis?" she stated.
Starburst blinked before shaking herself out of her slight surprise of her idols singling her out while Legend was still talking up front. "Yes. I can. But it'll drain me unless I got access to a battery." she clarified quickly.
Alexandria simply nodded and gestured to the thaumaturgic battery that Armsmaster was pushing closer. "Will this suffice?" she said, eyes fixed into Starburst's. "I want you to grant to me the Thinker power. The contribution could be useful." she said firmly.
Starburst had only time to blink and look uncertainly at the battery before a movement in the crowd nearby caught her attention. She turned and saw Tattletale, now dressed in PRT Trooper tactical gear plus her mask, muscling her way through the crowd. "Wait." she panted. "Do it on me as well."
"Tattletale?" Starburst asked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
The fair-skinned blonde grinned at her. "The PRT agreed to let out whoever's willing to help, and they needed everyone they can get."
"Everyone?" Starburst echoed.
Tattletale nodded. "Yup. The rest of the Undersiders are on Search and Rescue. Lung, Bakuda and some of the Travelers are on frontlines. Except for Nolle. She's still in her cell on the Rig with Canary. I'm here with the rest of the Thinkers to analysis Leviathan and provide battlefield intelligence." she explained.
"Ahem." Alexandria sternly 'cleared' her throat. "Starburst. If you please?" she pointedly asked.
Starburst jerked her head to the impatiently waiting heroine and blushed slightly in embrassment. "Oh, right." she muttered. With a touch of hesitation, Starburst flipped the switch to 'discharge' and placed her hands on the now sparking terminals.
It didn't hurt, but it felt like Starburst was on a massive sugar rush, with energy practically surging through her. She felt like she has so much energy that she could scale mountains or run marathons without breaking a sweat. It felt like there's a massive torrent of energizing, purifying water coursing through her body. With some effort, Starburst tore her thoughts away from how the power from the battery felt and focused on the task. The power matrix bloomed in her mind as she focused on it, willing it to be bestowed onto the waiting capes.
[-establishing virtual [SHARD] matrix for parallel operation alongside host [SHARD] confirming formation of data gathering receiving arrays and processing capabilities-]
When Starburst felt the power had snapped into being onto Alexandria and Tattletale, she wrenched her hands away from the terminals with a gasp of effort. She looked up (Huh, her own Radar has activated.) as Armsmaster quickly switched the battery to 'recharge' mode, panting slightly. "That was.... something." she remarked. "Doesn't hurt, but quite a rush."
"That was quite a lightshow just now. Your eyes lit up like a pair of flashlights." Tattletale said to her with a bit of concern in her voice, her mask and eyes now hidden behind a deep purple band of light. "I must say, this thing is pretty user friendly." The blonde commented.
Alexandria simply nodded in satisfaction as she studied her own band of smoky black light that's barely visible around her helmet. "Good." she said. "Now, I want you to be evacuated out of here by Strider."
"What?!" Starburst cried out. "But you can't! I want to help!" she protested.
"You're too valuable!" Alexandria harshly snapped back. "If you die here, thaumaturgic tech will be stalled for who knows how long. The tech is more valuable than being on the frontlines of this!" The heroine reasoned resolutely.
Starburst gritted her teeth in anger as she thought furiously. Her Dad is one thing, but this is another! She was about to retort when Armsmaster cut in.
"Excuse me." Armsmaster addressed his superior. "I believe Starburst would be of better help being here." The Tinker calmly said.
Alexandria fixed her gaze at the man suited up in bulky powered armor. "Explain." she commanded.
Armsmaster nodded. "Starburst's Trump power can create power matrices tailor made to meet any threat." He took a breath. "Based on preliminary research, her power assembles new power matrices much faster, perhaps almost instantaneously, when she is in active conflict with said threat." He turned towards Starburst. "I believe that your Trump power is unoccupied at the moment." Starburst mutely nodded, confirming Armsmaster's guess.
"Not only that," Tattletale interrupted. "I think her power needs some sort of exposure to the threat in question to work faster." At the Triumvirate member's questioning stare, Tattletale cheekily grinned. "Call it a hunch."
There was a moment of silence as Starburst held in her words and Alexandria thinks about it. Finally, she sighs. "Fine." She passed to Starburst an armband (Wait, when did she...?). "Screen shows map and current positions. Two buttons. Press left one to communicate to Dragon. Right one to broadcast to anyone in the immediate area. Press both at the same time to issue an emergency broadcast to everyone. Don't abuse it." Alexandria briefly explained. "I want you to be at the sidelines, providing search and rescue and helping to hem Leviathan in. Indirect support. Do NOT engage it directly." She sternly instructed.
Starburst meekly nodded as she put on the armband, and identified herself to the Dragon made Tinkertech when prompted. "So, what should I ask for?" she asked.
Alexandria looked at her sternly. "Ask for a power that will eliminate any threats like the Endbringers or worse." she answered curtly.
'Or Worse?' Starburst thought as she blinked at the heroine, before she shake off her minor shock. 'Worry about that part later' she thought as she opened her mouth to voice out the request-
Starburst, Tattletale and Alexandria's heads snapped around to stare out in the direction of the bay, their Radars blaring several warnings into their eyes.
Starburst's Radar helpfully highlighted, even through the concrete structure of the building, the massive wall of water rushing into the lagoon of Brockton Bay. And swimming beyond that first wave that was labelled "Environmental Hazard: Enhanced Tidal Wave", was a angry hostile red arrow tag, labelled "Endbringer: Leviathan."