The harsh chill of the seabreeze cut through my skin as I stared over the darkened waters of the bay. My ears thrum with the repetitive sound of the waves, churning the surf with an endless, melancholic melody. Sand and gravel crunched beneath my shoes as I stood on the shore, eyes trained on the horizon under the noonday sun, the rays of which seemed incapable of providing me with warmth.

  Seagulls squawked overhead, incessant sounds that either echo warnings of approaching danger or demands for breadcrumbs. The flapping of their wings disturbs the maudlin silence wrapped around me like a coarse blanket picked off the street: wet, dirty, and all-encompassing.

  A perfect analogy of the gloom emanating from the city behind me. A place of death, decay, and torment.

  Dear God, I sound like a sad sack! I think with consternation.

  Then again, my bad mood isn’t without reason. I’d forgotten all about one of canon Worm’s most defining moments: Leviathan’s attack on Brockton Bay.

  To be fair, recent events have kept me really busy, and I wasn’t even entirely sure that this was still going to happen. A lot of fan theories insisted that the Endbringer targeted the city due to Noelle. With her no longer in play, I had to wonder if the macrohydrokinetic would go for another city.

  But, no. A quick consult with Blue confirmed that the bastard was still making his way here.

  It wasn’t anything concrete that I could put into words. The Dragoon Spirits seem to have arbitrary limitations that I still haven’t fully grasped. Controlling all of the world’s oceans certainly wasn’t within Blue’s power. Yet I can’t tell just how far its influence does extend.

  Maybe it's interference from Leviathan? He’s certainly a big enough splashy boi to make any pond difficult to scoop water from with any degree of precision.

  The big question now is what I’m going to do about it. Unlike most of the people in Bet, I do have options. Focusing on keeping everyone else who’ll attend the battle alive with White-Silver would be worth my time. I didn’t have to fight to be useful.

  With that said, I do have my reputation to think about.

  Seraph is already known as a major player who can contend with gigantic threats. Perhaps going out to sea and confronting the Endbringer in his own turf would be a better use of my time? Would certainly reduce collateral damage.

  If nothing else, I could always go with my initial plan to deal with the cosmic horrors masquerading as monsters of myth: just send them to another dimension via Darkness.

  As the recent fiasco with Taylor over the Atlantic had proven, however, doing so could come with its own risks. I don’t know what was attached to the massive eye beyond the rift, but I wasn’t in any hurry to find out. Even if I could bring out Jade or Golden, which isn’t guaranteed, they wouldn’t be able to help me with this particular foe.

  That leaves the Divine Dragoon Spirit – the lazy fuck.

  From what I could tell, the bastard’s asleep. I already asked the active Dragoon Spirits about it, but none of them could give me a clue on how I could wake it up. It stirred while I spoke with Sundancer, responding to my boiling rage, but what did that mean?

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Do I have to get really angry just to use it?

  Sometimes, I have to wonder if I would’ve been better off choosing a different powerset. Who knew using the actual Spirits of actual Dragons could be so complicated? The developers of The Legend of Dragoon lied to me!

  My building frustration was interrupted by the sounds of several feet approaching from behind. Turning my head, I spied Taylor, Lisa, Brian, and Alec in civilian clothes walking over to me. Credit to them, unlike my stupid self, they were bundled up in jackets and coats.

  Whereas I was only wearing a shirt. A thin, tight-fitting shirt. Taylor’s atomic blush would’ve been visible from the ISS. You know, if that existed here.

  Deciding to ignore that bit of complication, I instead focused on Lisa. To my annoyance, she, too, seemed to flush while looking at me. So, I decided to play it safe and focus on the boys, where Brian maintained a stoic facade, and Alec leered –

  “Brian! My man, my brother-in-arms, my compatriot in dark times, come over here a sec, would ya?” I called over, to which the guy in question quirked an eyebrow, but did as asked. The rest seemed surprised at my enthusiastic greeting of someone whom I haven’t really spent all that much time interacting with.

  Once he was close enough, I gestured for him to stand beside me, while I turned back to stare at the sea.

  “What the hell is going on with them?” I asked in a low voice.

  “What do you mean?” he replied, though I could distinctly hear the humor in his tone.

  “Don’t you start,” I groused. “They’re acting weird. Taylor’s blushing, Lisa’s flushed, and Alec’s looking at me like I’m a piece of meat. Did something happen after I left?”

  The deep chuckle I got only grated on my nerves further. “You’ll have to talk to them if you want answers. Besides, don’t we have more important things to talk about?”

  Drat, he’s right. Well, it’s not like I was all that invested in finding out, anyway.

  “Right,” I said, turning sideways to address all of them at once. “I just consulted with Blue again, and the slimy bastard’s definitely coming this way.”

  “Fuuuuuuuck…..” Lisa moaned.

  Taylor’s gone pale, which is a huge improvement from how she looked before. For me. It was an improvement for me. Alec’s also stopped leering. Yet another plus for Alfred (I’m well aware that I’m referring to myself in the third person here. Leave it alone).

  “When?” Brian asked calmly. Huh, the stories never really emphasized how much of a Cool Cat this dude was. Good to know.

  “A few days, at most,” I told him.

  This time, they all joined Lisa’s whining…. Okay, fine. Her completely justified freak-out. Funnily enough, the chorus of bleating whimpers blended perfectly with the rising cacophony from the seagulls. It almost sounded like the buzzards were heckling the group of teen capes.

  “We should warn everyone,” Taylor suggested immediately. “The PRT, the Protectorate, heck even the mayor!” Then, her eyes widened even more. “I have to get my dad out of the city.”

  “What would we tell them?” Lisa snapped. “That waterboy over there felt the disturbance in the Force while casting his mojo at the beach?”

  “You’re not seriously saying we shouldn’t –”

  “Taylor!” Brian barked harshly, causing the girl to stop and look at him. “We are out in the open. Anybody could be listening in.”

  I could only appreciate the caution there. We were in the northern part of the Bay, on an abandoned stretch of coastal land. Not exactly swimming with residents, other than the hobos and junkies hiding out in dilapidated shacks or rotting buildings.

  “Look, we don’t have to make a decision now,” I said. “We still have time. The big lizard’s taking his sweet time, probably to look all ominous and shit, the drama queen. So, how about we go fetch the union boss, and we can come up with a plan back at base?”

  “The who?” Taylor asked, making me blink in confusion.

  “You know, the boss of the Dock Workers’ Union? Your dad?” Was that another fanon thing?

  “Dock Workers’ Association,” she corrected tartly. “And he’s not the head of the whole thing. He’s head of hiring.”

  “Uh… yeah, I knew that,” I hastily tried to correct my slip-up.

  Stupid fanfiction writers! Who confuses Association with Union? They’re completely different things!

  “Running to daddy, are we?” Alec put in his completely unnecessary two cents.

  “He has been around longer than any of us,” I shot back. “We could use the perspective of someone who has seen it all and heard it all. Plus, I’m willing to bet Danny’s got a lot more influence over this city than he’s let on.”

  I meant the betting part literally. Gambling on the man’s supposed reputation from a lot of fanfics might just bite me in the ass, but god damn it, I need an adult! Only in stories could a group of teens save a city from destruction in any kind of clean manner, and yes, I’m counting myself as one of them since I technically am!

  Shit, if I have to go to the PRT with this, I will. My dislike of them be damned. It’s not like Taylor will be against that, anyway.

  “Why’d you think he was head of a Union, anyway?” Taylor suddenly blurted out.

  Oh, God damn it!