Scene 26 - October 22nd

Exterior City, Continuous

Abraham Armstrong

I lay back, trying not to move my leg any more than necessary. “Console, status update,” I ordered.

“I have no eyes on the battle at present,” he noted, “but Vulcan is only 30 seconds away. I’ve notified the medical team to be prepared to treat your knee and sent a message to Anima, but she probably won’t be in until tomorrow.”

I nodded. “...I should give you a view of what’s going on, shouldn’t I?”

“Please.”

With a grunt of effort and a spike of pain, I propped myself up on my elbows and focused on the battle, allowing Starling to view the mayhem through my cowl’s camera.

My wonderful girlfriend was still deftly swooping around the tentacle-adorned tree monster, neatly avoiding the tendrils as they attempted to grab at her. As I watched she was caught by one wing and swiftly trussed up by two more tendrils, and I tensed in worry, but a moment later she was a rhinoceros and the tentacles, were forced off of her suddenly far larger form. She shifted back into a bird before she hit the ground, and continued harrying Legion without pause.

Unlike me, Zookeeper was lucky enough to have regenerative powers. Specifically, injuries she received in one form didn’t carry into any others - they persisted if she returned that that shape before she had had time to recreate the form, but she kept a large enough collection of the most useful shapes that it was rarely an issue. The injury she had likely suffered as a hawk a moment ago were now gone, having become what I thought was an owl of some sort.

Meanwhile, Rube simply stood and watched - the asshole didn’t seem inclined to contribute. He glanced up at the sky, and I followed his gaze to see a star that seemed to be getting brighter rather quickly.

“Starling-” I began, intending to ask if he was seeing it too, but I was interrupted by a thunderous crack like a cannon going off as what I could only assume to be a small meteor struck the tree squarely in the trunk, setting it on fire and destroying at least half of the branches when it exploded on impact.

Rube observed Legion for a moment as she released a deep and pained scream, then nodded decisively. “My work here is done!” he declared, then turned on his heel and left.

Behind me, I heard another loud retort, but one I recognized - the sound of Vulcan using his incredible strength to run, each step cracking the asphalt beneath him. He barreled into Legion as well and the flames swiftly began to die down as the metal man absorbed the heat, frost beginning to form over her monstrous body after mere moments.

He began tearing her apart with a startling amount of ease - perhaps she was still stunned by the meteor Rube had apparently summoned. She began fighting back after a moment, tentacles sliding ineffectively off his steel hide, then twisting around each other to thicken and attempt stronger blows, but to no avail.

Within a few moments, it was over.