Orb Weaver: Storm, Chapter 2

The Wards would assist the police in our ‘drill’ while I helped with the overall evacuation.

The Wards minus Vista. With the time we had, emergency services would be clearing major roads in Texas City and other regions, the empty stretches open for her to use her power to turn miles to feet.

For Galveston, the main goal was to get people off of the low-lying island, into the inland regions, where shelters were more survivable, if marginally so.

First schools and hospitals. Then care homes…  And it wasn’t just Galveston—once they were off the island, they’d have to be moved further inland… and not just here. This was being replicated all up and down the Gulf Coast.

Other parahumans were being held back, safely out of the danger zone. Firetruck, formerly Squealer, and Bulwark were with disaster relief, who would move in after  Leviathan left. Moving them in before just risked them becoming more victims. Oddly enough, Madison was being held back with them—she would be useless as a fighter, but I supposed it was decided that right now, she could at least be used to move big rocks after Leviathan left. And as one of the few brutes who was here, but not qualified to face Leviathan, she'd be most likely to survive to move those big rocks.

Of the non Wards, Kanshi and Glory Girl were coming along with us.

Why Kanshi?  I shook my head in irritation. Being stupid wasn’t what I needed right now. The fact that we were assisting with an evacuation and wouldn’t be facing Leviathan directly wasn’t important—the fact that Kanshi, a member of the ABB, was even in the same zip code as Leviathan would massively improve her rep, making her the second ABB member to face Leviathan—and call attention to the fact that the Empire wasn’t here.

Now, I had to figure out how to actually help… The call sounded and we walked up to the stage, Strider waiting for us.

A moment later, we were in bright daylight under a cloudless sky, in front of the Joe Max Taylor Law Enforcement Facility.

“This way, ah, Investigator,” an officer said, frowning at my obviously youthful appearance.

Remember, most of leadership is attitude. Take charge, but do not seem like you are uncertain or arrogant. One of my books.

“Take me to the EOC. I will need people to relay information to police on the site. Do you have liaisons for the Wards and independents?”

“Uh, yes.”

“Excellent, if the PRT hasn’t informed you yet, we’ll be using private boats to move as many people as possible off. We need all the officers, so any boats that are unintended, find someone who can drive them and use them.”

He blinked as I kept walking, following the signs.

“We need a war—“

“Endbringer alerts suspend that requirement,” I reminded him. “Despite the fact that we are not certain if Leviathan will be attacking this location, I think that is close enough.”

The PRT officers had to be elsewhere. The size of the evacuation was… mind boggling, and this was just a small part of it.

The EOC wasn’t large, but the desk waiting for me had four large monitors, a keyboard and dispatch network. I sat down and looked at it, frowning for a moment. One monitor showed the island’s street routes, the one next to it allowed me to call up streetcams, and the other two allowed for other information, most notably transcripts of 911 calls, and the rest of the data that went feeding into the EOC. 

“It can be a little overwhelming—“

I cut him off. “It’s fine. I need a police unit dispatched to sixth and Main, it’s likely there will be a traffic build up there, and people need to be kept moving.” Everyone was silent, and then I spoke again. “I am The Investigator, and my power makes me effective at taking in and synergizing large amounts of information. I can ensure that this evacuation is conducted quickly, and everyone will be off the island before any possible attack.”

They’d better be.  A direct hit from Leviathan would mean nearly certain death for anyone on the island.

“Okay,” the director said. “If the Protectorate sent you here…”

He is scared. No Terrified. It was an article of faith that only parahumans had any hope of protecting the people from the Endbringers.

I would have to ensure that I did not fail to deliver on that hope.

“Glory Girl,”  I said into the coms.

“Yeah?” Her voice came back, the sound of wind blowing past the microphone. “I’m flying—“

“Right now, you will be used for street clearance. If a car breaks down, move it off the road, immediately. We cannot allow for  any traffic jams.” As I was talking I was flicking through their evacuation procedures. I shook my head. “I want officers at Penske truck rental, Enterprise Rent-A-Car,” As I listed them off,  I kept my fingers flying over the keyboards, all four monitors providing me with the information I needed, even if they weren’t doing it as fast as I could if I had twenty or thirty bug setups, dammit… “We will use the vans and trucks for high school and Jr. high school evacuations, which will allow us to use the buses for elementary schools. This will allow us to evacuate all school aged children in one surge.”

“But—we have five…”

“We may have as much as five hours, or longer,” I said, not bothering to look at the speaker. “But Leviathan could decide to drive right for us and be here in an hour, and more importantly, the fact that this is a real Endbringer attack will get out… I expect that some in this building may have notified loved ones, swearing them to secrecy, so they don’t risk being left behind.”  I had bugs on the officials and officers and the way some moved… “And that will cause panic on the streets. I also need a list of all private day cares, especially ones that may not be officially listed…”

There was a method to my madness. I wanted the kids out now because the moment people realized Leviathan was inbound, their first impulse would be to go to their children, and that would turn the roads into an impassible snarl. If the kids were off of the damned island before the secret got out, at least I could get any panicked groups moving in the right direction.

The roar of jets, muffled in the building sounded. All up and down the coast, the Navy and Air Force were stacking bombers, fighters, anti-submarine aircraft, hoping to get a chance to hit Leviathan before he hit the coast.

I looked at the screens, the data on them, the maps, traffic cams showing police cars moving, people looking and pointing at the flying heroes, the loudly proclaimed “S-class drill” news stories reminding people that this wasn’t real, they were perfectly safe, but if they were made part of the drill, treat it like it was real…

Telling the truth, in this case, would just get people killed. But the screens reminded me of controlling my swarms, endless individuals that made up a group. Granted, I didn’t have complete control over them, but…

I could do this.

“Let’s get started. I will call out the list of schools, and I need reports on when we have the vans ready to go. If we need more teachers for the elementary schools and daycare centers, we’ll double them up with the evac the older students…” I started calling out orders, asking for information, and soon men and women old enough to be my father or mother were answering, no doubt wondering how I could listen to six people at once.

Good. If they were wondering, they wouldn’t have the time for terror.

A flicker on my PRT tablet attracted my attention.

ALERT: Projections indicate Galveston region now at 45% probability of Endbringer landfall. Time to landfall: Estimated 4 hours 40 minutes, +/- 1 hour.

And there were some very good reasons to be terrified. I shook my head. Terror was counterproductive. It was time to get to work.