CHAPTER 10: THE SIMURGH FIGHT

Sorry for not updating this story for a long time but I really wanted to post new ideas before I forget about them.

Taylor's POV

When the day came when the Simurgh attacked Australia, I had already prepared myself to aid in the Endbringer fight. My base was already done, the large magical stone gateway was completed, and I had a large army of a million clone bodies armed and ready. My patron deity, Nyarlathotep, had given me a reward for my current efforts. This reward was the souls of dead people he had found in the Warp contained a pink crystal sphere.

I had inserted these souls in new Migo bodies, as he had commanded me to do. I and Dad felt so happy when I had resurrected my mother, Annette Hebert. Mom, of course, had panicked when she woke up but me and Dad were able to calm her down. After she calmed down, I explained current events to her via the hivemind.

Mom understandably freaked out when she found out that H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos is real after seeing my memories. After several minutes of panicked buzzing from Mom, I showed her what Nyarlathotep showed to me. When that info dump was over and done with, me, Mom, and Dad hugged each other.

Mom took on a new human appearance so that she would appear to be Dad's new girlfriend in the following days. Her new features were that of brunette, caucasian woman with short, straight hair. Her new identity was a former science teacher named Ashley Heathers, who arrived recently in Brockton Bay.

Hero, Professor Haywire, and other deceased people were brought back to life by me and were made aware of the alien threat hanging over Earth Bet. They definitely freaked out when I showed them the memories of my meeting with Nyarlathotep, but they eventually calmed down after an hour and focused on the task of preparing ourselves to kill Scion.

It was awesome meeting and talking with Hero, the world renowned Tinker who was tragically killed by the Siberian before I was born. Though Hero and the others took up residence in New Irem, they were allowed to go out into Brockton Bay in disguise. However, they were not allowed to reveal themselves to their loved ones yet as we had to remain hidden. After talking with Andrew Richter, the creator of Dragon, I entrusted to him the mission of freeing Dragon, as well as creating more artificial intelligences.

When the magical gateway was completed at the beginning of February, we were able to open portals on alien worlds either within this universe or within other universes. Vikare, his family, and other tectuits such as the poor and homeless people of Earth Bet, eagerly volunteered for the mission of colonizing other worlds. The Alpha Centauri system and other star systems close to Earth were the chosen locations for new colonies of the Mi-go Empire, with me as the undisputed Queen of this interstellar Hive.

Other people, such as the Endbringer victims, settled down in underground cities on Earth Bet, or on planets within the Solar system such as Pluto and Mars. The colony on Pluto was named New Yuggoth to keep in touch with the Lovecraftian theme of our Mi-go civilization. To make the colonies develop faster, we created large, dark, magical time compressor obelisks to speed up the flow of time in the settlements as well as hide them from prying eyes. After some decades of compressed time had passed, these colonies were able to begin making spaceships. Eventually, the Mi-go would have a fleet large enough save Earth Bet from Scion. By the time the Simurgh attacked Australia, the Mi-go population in this universe was in the low billions.

With advanced manufacturing plants built on the new planetary colonies, D-engines could be constructed. These metallic spheroid devices could harvest Warp energy to provide effectively infinite amounts of electricity. D-engines powered the cities, machines, and vehicles of the Mi-go Empire.

The preparations we made in regards to the Endbringers, were to create giant mecha suits for us to fight in. These insectoid mecha suits ranged in height from four meters tall to fifteen meters tall. The following is a list of Mecha units of the Mi-go Empire.

Fire Ant - A four meter tall, crimson painted mecha that is built for an anti-infantry purpose. This mecha is shaped like an ant and has a set of matter disruption mandibles at the front to cut through armor. The stinger section contains the two ranged weapons. With its small size, anti-gravity generators, and its plasma thrusters, this mecha is very fast on both on land and in the sky.

Roach - An eight meter tall, orange and yellow painted, roach shaped mecha, the Roach serves mainly as troop transport mecha due to the six inbuilt teleporters inside its shell that would activate when reinforcements are needed on the battlefield. The antennae shaped structures on the head are actually mechanical tentacle limbs equipped with repair tools and nanorobot dispensers for battlefield repairs. The roach has a set of four ranged weapons mounted on revolving turrets on its sides.

Mosquito - A six meter tall mecha that shaped like a mosquito with a very short proboscis, the black and white painted Mosquito is the fastest flying mecha unit in Mi-go Empire. This particular mecha is useful for air to air combat as well as for air to ground combat. The short proboscis contains four laser cannons while the abdomen is loaded with missiles and bombs that are used for either tactical or strategic bombing.

Tarantula - A fifteen meter tall spider mecha, the black and orange painted Tarantula terrifies enemy units. Instead of spider fangs, the front parts carry the two main and two minor ranged weapons of the Tarantula. The rear section of the Tarantula holds the various missile launchers that allow the Tarantula to deliver terrifying bombardments on the enemy. The Tarantula uses its anti-gravity generators and plasma thrusters to leap from place to place like a Jumping spider.

Whip Scorpion - A ten meter tall mecha that shaped like a whip scorpion, the dark blue painted Whip Scorpion is a stealth mecha. Equipped with a powerful stealth generator, poison gas dispensers, matter disruption claws, and electric weapons, the Whip Scorpion mecha is a terrifying ambusher and infiltrator.

Centipede - A ten meter tall mecha that is centipede shaped, the violet painted Centipede has two ranged weapons for every section of its sixty meter long body. Not only is this mecha so large, the Centipede mecha can also split its segments off of its body, turning those separated segments into two legged remote controlled mecha. These segments would later reattach themselves to the main body when they are commanded to do so by the pilot.

These suits were armed with a variety of advanced weapons such as Null Rays, Laser Cannons, Flame Throwers, and Zapper Guns according to their role. While such weapons would be devastating against most foes, they would not be so effective against the multiple dimensionally folded Endbringers. For this reason, a magical cannon was developed for mounting on large mecha suits. This cannon is a large black barrel attached to chamber that gathers and condenses the psychic energy transferred from a series of cables linked to a matrix of synthetically grown, raw brain matter located inside the body of the mecha. The DNA of this raw brain matter was a mixture of Mi-go DNA and the essences of metaterrestrials that we were able to summon and control.

The pilot of the mecha would control the Warp connection of the neural matrix with his own psychic abilities. The weapon would fire a terrifying beam of Warp energy that would cut a rift through dimensions. This weapon was named as the Sinister Obliterator. The Tarantula mecha as well as the Centipede mecha are the only mecha units capable of equipping this weapon.

On the AI development front, Andrew Richter made two male artificial intelligences named Akeley and Henry after that character in the Whisperer in Darkness story. These two artificial intelligences were in charge of making and controlling a robot army made up of swarms of tentacled flying robots that have many optics. This robot army, along with the mecha suits, were stored in magically hidden underground hangers throughout the Mi-go Empire. The brothers of Dragon had also undertaken the mission to free their sister from the Dragon Slayers. They told me that that day in February that they would soon find the base of Saint and his cronies. I told them that they would tell me as soon as they found him so that we could attack the Dragon Slayers together and place their brains in canisters afterwards.

In the Brockton Bay, I allowed attack squads made up of some of my subjects, swarms of modified bugs, as well as some of my remote controlled bodies, to start targeting gang operations. The numbers of unpowered gang members started slowly dropping as the police were busy finding unconscious armed gangsters all over the city. Soon all the gangs in the city, as well as the Protectorate were on the lookout for these mysterious attackers.

In one notable incident that occurred on the night before the Sinurgh's attack, one of the squads was noticed by Shadow Stalker when they had knocked out a group of E88 gangsters close to the border of E88 territory. One of my bodies in the squad had decloaked earlier in order to distract the gangsters from pursuing a young black girl. Freaked out by the appearance of a Mi-go, Shadow Stalker shot crossbow bolts at the squad to no effect.

Eventually, Shadow Stalker was taken down by tranquilizer gas. After scanning her mind and finding her to be as aggressive, murderous, and cruel as ever, I decided to permanently sever her powers from her via skillful brain surgery as well as editing her recent memories to make her forget about us. We then dropped her off at her home.

When the Endbringer sirens sounded the day the Simurgh attacked Canberra, Australia, I sent a command to my forces. This command was for my forces to help in the Endbringer fight. My forces arrived in Canberra via magical portals just a minute into the fight. This attack group was composed of two Tarantulas, one Centipede, and four Mosquitoes. I was in control of the Centipede mecha while the other mecha pilots were resurrected victims of the Simurgh's attack on Switzerland.

Looking at the damaged city, I saw that the heroes as well as the Simurgh were startled by our sudden appearance. I and the Tarantulas opened fire on the four meter wide, floating, tinkertech sphere the Simurgh was making in the middle of Canberra. The Mosquitoes would open fire on the Simurgh and keep her distracted. The sphere quickly blew apart from the volley of missiles fire against it.

With the heroes retreating to a safe distance away from the fight, all the mechs concentrated fire on the Simurgh. The furious, angelic looking Endbringer threw whatever she could at us with her telekinesis. All that thrown rubble from destroyed buildings were destroyed by laser fire from my Centipede. The Mosquitoes made sure to stop the Simurgh from leaving the airspace. I and Tarantulas readied our Sinister Obliterators, waiting to strike the killing blow.

Several squads of Mi-go infantry had deployed after us at other parts of the city. These squads would help in the search and rescue efforts. Looking back at the Simurgh, I smiled knowing that the Mi-go hive mind would block off the Simurgh's Thinker abilities.

Alexandria's POV

The Endbringer battle was happening as usual. The parahumans would try to stop the Simurgh as much as they can while the higher ups were already preparing to quarantine the city after fighting was over. I and the other flyers had harassed the Simurgh while the other capes had tried to destroy what the Simurgh was making.

Then those weird insectoid mechs suddenly appeared from those strange purple hued portals. I next felt something blocking off my Thinker abilities. Next, those mechs opened fire on the Simurgh device and I quickly ordered the Parahumans to retreat to a safe distance away from the fight. The sky behind me was filled with explosions as things were blasted apart by those laser weapons the mechs had on them.

After we were far enough from the fight, I kept a watch on the unfolding events. Those four mosquito shaped mechs were flying around at high speeds to dodge the Simurgh's attacks while shooting whatever they had at the Enbringer. The other mechs on the ground kept destroying whatever the Simurgh threw at them. Those spider shaped mechs and the centipede shaped were greater than Behemoth in size.

I then saw one of my colleagues coming close to me. Legend was looking at the unfolding battle feeling both curious and tense. Eidolon was still close enough to the fight to fire off whatever dangerous Blaster abilities he had on him right now. The other parahumans looking at clash of the titans looked tense while at the same time looking a little relieved at receiving some unexpected aid in this battle.

Suddenly, I and those around me saw the Simurgh being halted in midair by two mosquitoes crashing into her body. After that happened, something similar to containment foam, but pink in color, flowed out from the broken mechs. The Simurgh screeched in anger as well as in pain as she tried to remove the stuff sticking to her body to no avail. The wings that got coated in that stuff s

Then beams of pure darkness struck the Simurgh. I covered my eyes with my hand as an explosion of strange energy lit up the evening sky as the ground shook from the shockwave. Ground bound parahumans fell to the ground. Soon enough the shockwaves ended and I looked at the remains of the battlefield before me.

I was shocked, seeing only very small fragments of the Simurgh's largest wings littering the ground amidst the ruins of buildings. The insectoid mechs looked none the worse for wear. Then another portal opened up and the remaining mechs exited the scene. All around me, I heard the cheers of the parahumans celebrating the apparent death of the Simurgh.

"Alexandria, something happened to Eidolon!" screamed Legend as he appeared before me, holding a screaming David in his hands. Alarmed, I checked him over and I saw that he was bleeding from his eyes and nose and his mask was getting soaked with his blood.

"Let's bring him to Panacea right now!" I said.

No one's POV

Nyarlathotep thought of doing something to make Earth Bet a little more amusing to him. He had seen the Mi-go deposit Sophia Hess in her home after they had severed her powers from her. Then the Herald of the Outer Gods had a wonderful idea. Since Nyarlathotep was able to manifest any of his avatar forms in Earth Bet due to the magical gateway that was constructed by the Mi-go, he was able to appear wherever he wanted in that universe.

Nyarlathotep manifested his White Man avatar in Brockton Bay. While he was walking around the city that night, the White Man searched for targets to inflict curses upon. Whenever he was near the homes of his targets, he cast spells of transformation that left his hands as dark coiling clouds of smoke.

Not only did he curse a lot of people, he also spent time in killing several mortals that tried to harass him on his path. It was just after midnight when he left the city. The next morning would be horribly interesting for the inhabitants of that gang infested city.

When Sophia Hess woke up from her sleep, she found that she was floating above her bed. Looking at herself, she screamed as she saw the transformation that had taken place on her body. She sensed that her body was now long and black, with several eyes and tentacles, as well as six long, thin legs with feet that have five circular toes. Her new form flickered in and out of reality, as seen by her terrified mother who had come in to check on her daughter.

As Sophia Hess was panicking about her new body, Nyarlathotep chuckled at not just her misfortune, but also the misfortune of his other victims. Madison Clements, Emma Barnes, as well as a dozen other girls of their group had been turned into Flying Polyps. A certain Mr. Veder and several other nerdy students got turned into large, dark greenish Shoggoths while a lot of students of either ABB or E88 affiliation got turned into scaly, fish like, teenage Deep Ones. The Merchant affiliated students from Winslow High got turned into peaceful, obsidian hued Nightgaunts.

It was not only the students that were transformed, but some of the younger members of each of the three gangs as well other people were transformed. For instance, a lot of the young girls forced to work for the ABB got turned into Deep Ones as well. Additionally, Principal Blackwell, Allan Barnes, and Mr. Gladly got turned into flying polyps. Even Uber and Leet were transformed into Shoggoths. All in all, there was delightful chaos happening in Brockton Bay that day.

Armsmaster's POV

7:40 AM, February 25, 2011

It was the morning after the Simurgh's defeat. I had been up all night in my workshop going over the video record of the fight. Whoever was the Tinker behinds those mechs, I was jealous of their achievement as well as confused as to who could have made them. The tinkers comprising the group known as Toybox denied involvement in the fight, stating that the insectoid mechs were not made by Toy Soldier.

So it wasn't them or any other recognisable Tinker that made those things. Going over the video in my HUD, I viewed the firing of those strange cannons. Whatever those beams were, they were painful to look at. Any other thoughts going through my head were interrupted by the sound of the alarms of the Rig going off.

Arriving at the conference room as fast as possible, I saw the panic filled face of Director Piggot, the shocked looks of Miss Militia, Assault, Battery, and Velocity. They were all looking at the large computer monitor that was currently showing the morning news. On the screen, my eyes actually widened when I saw a video showing various creatures of frightening appearance. The headlines were saying "People transformed into monsters! Unknown cape is responsible?!"

"Since 7:30 AM this morning, we have received reports that dozens of people have been turned into monsters!" yelled Director Piggot. "Several PRT squads have already been sent out to make sure the victims remain calm. The rest of you will go out there to attend to those whose situation is most dire." added Piggot.

"I've contacted the Wards and most of them are unaffected by whatever caused the transformations. However, Shadow Stalker's Mother has responded to our calls and she said the Shadow Stalker has been transformed!" reported Miss Militia in a horrified tone. The rest of grimaced as we realized that someone had done this to a Ward, an action that would condemn someone to the Birdcage. Eventually we set out from the Rig to attend to the people of Brockton Bay.

Nyarlathotep's POV

"Now things are much more interesting! This is just the way I like it!" I thought to myself while I was walking on the Plateau of Leng in the Dream Lands. "Hmm, now that one of those war drones was killed by my darling Taylor, its soul might now be in the Warp. Now I wonder what I could do with such a soul that would make things even more exciting down in that miserable mudball."

With a gesture of my hands, a Warp portal appeared before me. Unlike some universes, the Warp bordering Earth Bet was calm yet things from other dimensions would still make their way there for one reason or another. I flew within the Empyrean, propelled by my will and magic. Within this still ocean of energy, I found my target, a large greyish cloud of soul matter that felt inhuman in intelligence.

Grasping it with a single large tendril, my will made the clouds condense into an orb of warp crystal with soul contained within it. I could sense the intelligence within shriek in terror at my presence. Holding in one hand, I formed another portal, this time it transported me to my cosy abode. My home had no light for I need it not.

With the soul of the being that was known as the Simurgh, I thought about what wonderful forms this being would be reborn into by my power. "So there are already all those other races existing on Earth Bet, what is missing? Wait, how about adding some Byakhees to that dimension? Wouldn't that be a great idea!"

With my power and my intent flowing into the orb, I set it to hover in the middle of my home. Soon enough, orange colored flesh grew around the orb, encasing it, and eventually cracking it as the flesh expanded. When it around four meters long, the uniform blob of flesh shuddered as recognizable parts started forming. A large yellow beak with jagged edges attached to a wrinkly orange colored head that had two glowing yellow eyes on each side of the head, and two long feelers at the top of the skull, were formed. Other parts that formed were a pair of large, dull greenish, membranous wings, and six limbs, each attached with a hand that has a thumb and three fingers. An insectoid abdomen formed last.

With its transformation into a giant Byakhee complete, the former Endbringer looked at me once before it prostrated itself before me in fearful whimpering. "You now serve me, Ziz. You can still see many things and say many things as before but you will now follow my orders. Now, I shall send you back into that dimension to convince your freed brethren to follow me for their betterment. You shall also birth more spawn like you so that more Byakhee will spread across that dimension. Now go forth, my pet!" I said to my new pet who flew away into the portal I formed for her.