Summary: Because sometimes people deserve hope. A veteran broken by a war finds hope and Brockton Bay finds a hero. Based on Worm CYOA and Eidolon powerset. Cross posted on SB/FF.

Chapter 1: Part 1: Prologue

(First Person POV)
All things considered, it was a pretty dandy day in the desert. The patrols had come back with no skirmish and I suppose it was good news.

Then why weren't the hairs on my back not backing down?

It felt like a calm before storm.

This war wasn't like the one before. I had spent enough time in Afghanistan to be far from being a greenhorn.

Then why were my hands shaking like crazy?

"Captain?" A private, John, if I remember correctly, must have noticed my paling expressions as he addressed me, concerned.

Instincts came just like they always did. Faithful and without doubt.

"Mobilise." I said with a calm I didn't feel.

"What?" The private asked, not understanding, obviously surprised.

My patience snapped.

"MOBILISE!" I roared feeling something go horribly wrong.

There was a sound like gushing of cola out of a popped bottle.

Then the world exploded.

…

…

In my last moments, I suppose I should have been thinking about how the damn bastards had gotten their hands-on anti-tank weaponry.

Perhaps, even reminisce over my life and wonder if I had mattered.

But I didn't care to be fair.

I didn't care about the weaponry that the enemy had possessed which they shouldn't have.

I didn't care about my impoverished childhood spent in various foster homes and juvies.

I didn't care about my ex-wife nor the asshole of my friend who she had been cheating with since Afghanistan.

I didn't care.

Part 2: Genesis

(World System)
System: Active

Anomaly detected? Confirm

Trasdimensional anomalies? Confirm

Engage Correction? Confirm

Preload Abilities? Eidolon Selected

Target? [Captain James V. Maxwell] selected.
Reincarnation? [Greg Veder/Void Cowboy] selected
Execute Command

When I came to be, it was a bathroom I didn't know as well as a world that I swear didn't know.

The swastika one the bathroom walls were a clue for one.

The blaring sirens in distance I ignored.

The short and weak body was another. Looking in a broken mirror, a pimpled face with blonde hair and blue eyes looked back.

Was this hell?

Now don't get me wrong, as a man in my mid thirties with a bad knee I was far from being healthy as a horse but I could swear that the body I was in was worse than my nine-year-old self.

My first stint in reformation had been after I had thrown a brick at a cop car. It had been a bet but I hadn't known about the cop being still inside.

The judge had been fairly understanding the first time but the pricks in that place had not been.

One of them had looked a lot like this body. Gangly, hairy and no muscles.

He had tried to force my pants off after beating the crap out of me with an iron rod.

Funny thing about rapists? They scream when you shove a fork in their eyeballs.

I had been eventually discharged due to the self-defence clause but the other guy had died from infection few days later.

Absent minded, I reached into a back pocket I could feel with some weight.

A wallet, expensive based on leather, but clearly in state of negligence turned up.

I flipped it open and the face of this body looked back in the ID.

The name Greg Veder, was barely familiar but I ignored it.

It was the school that caught my attention.

Winslow High School, Brockton Bay

Brockton Bay? Winslow? I could swear I had read the name.

The distant sirens I ignored.

"Where the hell am I?" I whispered to myself.

And beneath the surface of my mind, something came up.

A logic, a programme written in alien language with no purpose and every purpose.

What the hell is it?!

And suddenly thoughts and things I didn't know came into existence in my mind as the great logic underneath my mind made logical leaps.

"Worm." Suddenly things made sense, with the reality being worse than fiction.

I was in worm verse.

The war in Afghanistan had taught me about how mind numbing the interval between skirmish could be and I had tried my hand during one of these. Never managing to finish it to be fair. But I had read enough to make one of things clear.

Moments earlier, I had wondered whether I was in hell?

No,

I was in someplace way worse.

In a place where hope died, with body not my own and even a mind that may be compromised.

"What are you?" I whispered again too shocked to feel much of anything else.

The great logic wondered how to answer and a word came forth. A word single but absolute.

"Eidolon?" With word came memories of a man who was strong beyond measure. Whose strength was versatility. I could work with these.

According to the wormworks, Eidolon allowed a person to manifest powers basically. So, let's try this.

With a minor effort of merely wishing it, the surface of my mind seemed to bend itself to the great logic that seemed to by power.

Thinker

An information gathering ability was essential and without any further adieu, I turned the Thinker ability on Eidolon itself.

The great logic seemed to stand still before it seemed to laugh but answered all the same.

Eidolon- Semi-sentient. Any power you may chose, but chose you must. Start the strongest but if strength isn't what you seek, versatility must be your choice. Five at most but none as quality of one. Yet Quantity has quality of its own, isn't it?!

When the trance ended, I was on floor barely holding myself. I had vomited violently over the floor.

Any single power I could wield at any time and none would be able to handle me in that aspect or I could broaden my skill set at cost of decreasing power levels.

I could work with this but what did semi-sentient meant.

In lieu of an answer, the great logic shifted and a power came from depth on its own. Mine to make, mine to use and mine to break.

Blank- Invulnerability to Master/Stranger/Thinker/Trump

…

And just like that a grin came. A semi-sentient defence mechanism? I could run with this.

Now if only the siren would stop blaring like my ears owed it money. "What the hell is it anyway?"

And my thinker power came.

Endbringer

And just like that any mirth I may have felt vanished. This cannot be.

In panic, I reached for my phone and the date confirmed my worst fears.

It was 12 April 2011.

And I didn't need my Thinker Powers to hear the heavy rainfall.

The Leviathan was attacking a month before it should be.

And so, I did what anyone would do.

I ran.

As fast as I ran, my mind ran faster with only one question on my mind.

Why would somebody put me in this situation? The leviathan attacking pre-emptively minutes after my reincarnation? I had not survived so long by believing in coincidence.

And without words my Thinker Ability activated.

Eliminate Anomalies.

Anomalies?

Entities and derivatives

I stopped cold, both from shock and from lacking any further strength to run.

Entities? Someone wanted me to destroy beings as close to god as someone could realistically get?!

"WHY?!" I screamed to the raining sky. I must have made quite a sight, standing just outside a school shouting to the heavens. Fortunately, /Unfortunately, no one was there to see my state on the abandoned streets of Brockton Bay.

And my Thinker Ability activated.

To save the world.

It brought me up short. If that wasn't a good enough reason, I didn't know what it was. If my power were as strong as they suggested. I just might make a difference.

But why me?

And eidolon seemed to almost smile.

Why not you?

What an idiot. I couldn't help but scoff at the idea of an all-powerful being actually being stupid enough to choose me.

Captain James Maxwell wasn't an epitome of hope. He wasn't a hero. He had never been.

I was first and foremost a survivor.

Fighting an Endbringer with little if any handle on my power was counterproductive to that goal.

So, I used my Thinker ability to find a way to get out.

Eidolon seemed to smile mockingly in mind but obliged.

An abandoned car nearby stood out with enough gas to get me out of here. I didn't need directions. The sirens were clear on the exit ways. I wondered if I would actually have enough time.

And my abilities answered.

A creature seemed to come forth from shadows. Gargantuan, agile and reptilian.

Leviathan

At thrice the speed of sound, it covered well over a kilometre a second aiming at a city barely half a thousand miles away.

FUCK!

I wasn't even aware that I had been driving as I swerved at over a hundred kilometre an hour.

How the fuck were they even contemplating fighting that monstrosity?

And even though I didn't want it, my abilities answered.

On a beach, barely a dozen mile away, a man in spandex like jumpsuit said meaningless words to other equally ridiculous looking people.

And a bunch of brats seemed to stand tall despite being afraid.

Stand tall, prepared to die.

The vision cut off as I forced my power down and only my car came to stop did I realize that I had taken my feet off the accelerator.

But I didn't care as a memory came.

A memory, not a vision. My memory not of a freaky alien thingy.

"Tell me dickhead, if my life meant a bastard like you dying, what would my life be worth?"

The old man had been not an Army of Chief or some fancy wig like that. Just a soldier and perhaps the closest thing I had to a father.

When I had offered to carry the bomb far away, so that it may explode safely, he had given me a finger and ran off with the bomb, damning the orders of the captain.

Old fucker made barely few kilometres before the dirt bomb exploded.

The radiation had been enough that I couldn't even retrieve his remains.

Couldn't even say goodbye.

And so, as I drove straight towards the beach, towards the Endbringer and the death that lay for me there, the old man's gentle smile never wavered from my mind.

Nor did the grin on my face

And somewhere in mind, eidolon smiled an honest to god smile.

Part 3: We came like romans

Taylor Herbert, going tentatively by the name of Skitter could barely hold herself up. The chilling rain didn't help the already grim atmosphere.

Less than half of the cape here would be going home intact. A quarter in coffins.

For once Tattletale was not saying anything.

Death has a funny way of shutting people up.

"Can't get anything?" Grue asked Tattletale. The villainess shrugged.

"Endbringers are out of my powerset directly."

"Anything indirect?" Taylor asked.

"Nothing of use." The answer expected, disheartened her all the same.

"IT IS COMING! HUNDRED FEET WAVE!" Dragon screamed from the arm bands that was their communication basis.

Hundred feet? Even as the Triumvirate engaged along with every single long ranger, Taylor could only focus on one simple fact.

Leviathan had never made waves that tall in history. Ever.

"It is escalating! Something is wrong! Something has provoked it. It had been holding back so far! All the other Endbringers are holding back as well!" Numb, Taylor slowly turned to look at the Tattletale who had jammed her hand at the armband conveying the message to entirety of the force.

The drop-in morale was palpable.

But still it was nothing compared to the hundred feet waves actually appearing. The morale seemed to almost die completely.

And then Legend screamed and at his command gigantic shields of laser and tinkertech seemed to come into existence. Eidolon followed as numerous layers seemed to pile upon the massive shield.

Hundreds of capes worked in tandem, being coordinated by Dragon as the layers piled one.

Finally, it seemed to complete mere moments before the gigantic volume of water stuck. And held.

The relief came and then came joy.

But before any jubilation could take place, a small crack appeared and was promptly sealed but there was no cheer this time either.

In the small gap of time, a figure a mere third as large as the waves stood in front of them all, yet far from being its size was order of magnitudes more dangerous than the Tsunami.

"It has intentionally done that." Horrified, Tattletale transmitted on the radio. "With Legend and Eidolon busy in maintaining in the shield lest the Tsunami destroy Brockton Bay and drown the capes, two third of Triumvirate is essentially out of equation. This level of strategic thinking…."

We are doomed.

All hope seemed to evaporate even as Alexandria engaged Leviathan. Vista was oddly by her side, a strategy devised by Dragon. A spatial warper and a dangerous Brute-Thinker combination.

It seemed to be working as Leviathan's every attack missed while Alexandria's every attack connected.

"Change! It has learnt your pattern." Tattletale communicated but it was too late.

Within five second, Leviathan had analysed the entirety of the Alexandria's fighting style and punched with a force that defied explanation.

It connected and Alexandria coughed blood.

Alexandria, the strongest brute, the strongest female fell down on her knees after one hit from the otherworldly entity.

"VISTA! EVACUATE!" It was dragon.

The cape was young, not foolish, as she compressed the space behind her while expanding the one between Leviathan and her.

The leviathan broke the sound barrier overcoming the space faster than she could expand.

That's when it seemed to stop all of a sudden and brace himself.

Just in time for a Ford truck come crashing into the being at speed of light.

…

…

"What the Fuck?" Dragon's words summed up the feeling of the entirety of the force.

Nobody responded.

Part 4: Hey Man, Pick up on someone on your own size

Even as I decided to basically do a Leviathan assisted suicide, I wondered how will I reach in time. I was already playing catch up against something that could outrun a bullet and looked juiced up enough to bench press the Mount Everest.

And just like that eidolon smiled.

Physics Breaker- Your immediate surrounding is your realm to rule like a king. Your rules to make and yours to break.

Even as the absurdity happened, the fabric of space-time manifested in my time. I shelved my shock even as I used my Thinker Power to focus where Leviathan was.

On the beach already.

So, I let go of my Thinker Ability to focus on Physics Breaker and reduced the resistance between the truck and Leviathan to zero.

I will think of a way to fight it on the way.

Off course, the problem is reducing the resistance or inertia of the truck to zero meant that my truck automatically moved at speed of light with it being the highest possible speed in the universe.

Eidolon reacted when I couldn't

Time seemed to come to a halt as the very space-time fabric bent to accommodate my wishes and I could barely hold onto it, feeling like I was holding back a Tsunami.

Time was of essence as within seconds I rushed out of the truck, just as my control snapped.

The world began moving again.

I am not doing that again. That was my first opinion.

My second was….

"That is one very ugly lizard."

Vista didn't know how to answer that

The Leviathan was already back up, scratched at places but healing well nonetheless. Its eyes gleaming with intellect and curiosity. From the way it excluded everyone else, my instincts told me it was here for me and I didn't need a Thinker Ability to feel its bloodlust. That the war had taught me well.

"You are unmasked." Vista said in lieu of anything real to say.

So that's what I have been forgetting!

"And you are five-year-old." Correct or not, I wasn't about to let what seemed like a kindergartener get one over me.

The Leviathan amazingly stood just analysing me.

"I am thirteen!" Clearly it was a sore spot.

"Because that makes it so much better!" I snarked. I was feeling like a paedophile just from standing in her presence. What idiot thought dressing up thirteen-year olds in spandex was a great idea?

They needed to be arranged a meeting with FBI.

"Look, why don't you go and play house with your friends or something." I wondered if I was being polite enough as I gestured in the direction of the rest of capes.

She looked like she was about to blow a fuse but somehow managed to calm herself.

I was impressed, I had not achieved that level of self-control till…well never to be honest.

"Take this." She tossed me an armband which I caught easily and teleported away.

I put it on, wondering what it had been.

"Who is this? "A voice asked. Dragon I presume.

"Bond. James Bond."

Honestly, if I was going to die, might as well die like I lived.

Like a fucking asshole.

"Funny." That was a truly awe-inspiring sarcasm in her voice that I wondered for a moment if that was really her power.

"I didn't know 007 looks so much like Greg Veder from Winslow High School Records." Dragon equipped even as I tried to intimidate Leviathan into submission.

Key word tried.

On the other hand, the bastard was intimidating me without even trying. That's what I get for trying to stare down a thirty-foot alien thingy.

"Isn't unmasking against your rules or something?" I asked not really thinking much.

"That would be if you were wearing a mask."

I wondered if I could copy her sarcasm powers but gave it up as bad job considering how weak Eidolon probably was in comparison. Their PRT rating would definitely be over 9000.

"Do you have a plan?" She asked me.

"One. "I replied.

"Do you mind if I keep transmitting our conversation to the force?"

I moved towards Leviathan slowly as the beast braced itself for a fight.

"Go ahead." I humoured her.

"How likely is your plan to work?" Dragon asked me.

"I give it fifty-fifty"

I was directly in front of Leviathan, yet I could feel the intent gaze of the forces. A plan that had a fifty percent chance to defeat an Endbringer?

"YOU!" I roared at the monster.

And it actually looked even more menacing up closely.

"FUCK OFF!"

I flipped him off.

Eidolon my power stared

Eidolon the cape stared

Legend the cape stared

Even the rest of capes, hearing my words through the communication, stared.

Even the fucking leviathan seemed to stare for a moment before he roared.

Faster than I could process, it punched at me with enough force to flatten a mountain.

This time consciously, I forced time space fabric to accommodate my wish.

Time slowed down, not down to a halt as I couldn't bear the strain but enough to comfortably dodge the attack.

I pondered dropping Blank to boost my Physics abilities but I was pretty sure that Leviathan was some sort of Thinker and worse I didn't want to play with Simurgh's word mind games.

"Plan B it is." I said, even as the Leviathan realized that it had missed.

"Is it as ridiculous as your first one?" She seemed torn between deciding whether she should tear my head off or her own.

"That plan was not ridiculous."

Any further conversation was put on hold as the beast sped up forcing me to do the same and dodging with progressively narrower margin. It was getting faster unlike me.

To be fair Plan A had a fifty-fifty chance. People did fuck off when someone with a gun told them to.

A gun, that was what I was missing. I cannot believe that despite being an American, I forgot something so vital.

The Founding Fathers would be ashamed of me.

So, I reached down and quickly grabbed some pebbles.

And threw one at the beast.

I wasn't that bad of a pitcher but even I couldn't throw a pebble fast enough to cause grief to an Endbringer.

So, I reduced the resistance between the pebble and the Leviathan to zero.

The pebble stuck him at the speed of light.

The explosion was unexpected, even as I allowed myself to be carried by the shockwave, easing my control over time and exerting more over my own body as I forced the shockwave to carry me away rather than ripping me apart.

"How would you rate this one?" I asked Dragon.

It took her a few seconds to answer and as the dust settled I could see why she was so shocked.

The leviathan was missing an arm. Fast, he had predicted the path of my attack from my hand movements probably as while Leviathan was fast, he wasn't fast enough to dodge attacks at relativistic speeds.

I could hear the capes cheering but I could only feel the hair on back of my neck. Standing straight as I looked into the murderous eyes of the Endbringer.

FUCK!

I pushed my time control to near max and was still slow as the Endbringer moved far faster than it had moved so far and stuck full force.

I completely let go of my time control and again forced the absolutely ridiculous amounts of force to carry me rather than rip me.

But now it displaced me rather large.

Even mid-flight I forced the inertia to increase in middle of flight, slowing me down but I was still sent rolling into the middle of the capes. Dragon must have worn them as I clearly rolled into a narrow opening into the group of capes.

…

"Is he alive?" A voice asked from somewhere.

"He is too much of an idiot to die."

That was Dragon's voice, probably measuring my heart rate but I was impressed with her thinking abilities. My ex-wife had taken years to realize that fact.

"Dragon." I said and for a moment I was taken aback as I felt the rest of capes seem to cheer. For me.

Fucking amateurs, I thought even as I couldn't help a grin.

"Yes."

She was trying to sound she was not relaxed but the hard to get routine would never distract Capt. James Maxwell!

"I figured out Leviathan's weakness." I said as seriously as I could. This was the information that could save lives.

Everyone seemed to strain to hear and the world seemed to stop as I formed my words.

Then I screamed.

"THE LEVIATHAN HITS LIKE A FUCKING GIRL!"

…

…

"He is flat out crazy." Oni Lee said.

"Agreed." Kaiser said even as I charged at the Leviathan.

Part 5: Smoke and Ash is left in our wake

Despite how I may act, the fact of matter remained that Leviathan was dangerous enough but fortunately, I believed I have enough grasp of my power to defeat the monster.

Step 1. Aim

Step 2 Reduce resistance to nearly zero

Step 3 Accelerate to a respectable speed of Light

Step 4 Just before striking, increase inertia except your left arm

Step 5 Watch as the you punch a hole through an Endbringer even as it sent flying far away into the shields.

Unfortunately Step 6, celebrate was disturbed as a horrible scream erupted.

From my mouth.

Looking down, I saw my left arm being nearly ripped to molecules, Eidolon being the only thing which had held the arm together with a makeshift use of Physics Breaker to increase the durability.

I panicked and forced a regeneration ability.

I carefully let go of my Physics Breaker feeling the regeneration speed up humongous.

"Greg." There was an odd note of solemnity in Dragon's voice.

"Please tell me I killed the Leviathan."

"It isn't dead but you defeated him." I looked and while it was alive, it wasn't moving either.

Few more pebbles should do.

"Then why is nobody celebrating?"

The hairs on my neck had never sat down.

"Look above!" Somebody shouted, from behind me.

I did.

And said, "Hey, did it hurt when you fell from the heavens?"

And that's when the Simurgh smashed me with a telekinetic force like a hammer of god and my world went black.

Author's Note:

So the idea wouldn't stop bugging me. Tell me what you think and should I continue?