Within the Apple 14C

*****

Xander looked out over the city as he got enough altitude to see beyond the rooftops. Canberra was the capitol of Australia, but he was rather surprised by the small town feel it exuded compared to what he was expecting.

That had to be a thought for another time, however, as he could feel a deepwell of powerful magic growing not that far off.

“Fascinating,” He breathed out as he locked onto the source.

“Not the word I would use,” The man in blue said from beside him, looking off in the same direction. “She’s possibly the worst of the Endbringers. The worst and most malicious.”

“No…” Xander shook his head, “Not malicious. Apathetic.”

“What?”

Xander half tuned, looking at the man for a moment, “Magus. You are?”

“Legend.”

“Well, don’t you have an Ego?” Xander chuckled.

The affable man rolled his eyes, “Wasn’t my choice.”

“Good to know.”

“What did you mean, when you said apathetic?”

“There’s no emotional content to the power, she’s not angry, malicious, joyful… nothing. She doesn’t care,” Xander said, nodding off in the direction of the Angelic looking figure that was floating above the city center.

Legend nodded, “There are some theories that she, that all of the Endbringers, are robots or some kind of automatons.”

“Nope. She’s… maybe not alive, but sentient for sure. Conscious, aware.” Xander told him with certainty. “I’ve seen similar things before. In order to use magic, you need consciousness… that thing out there has that, but there’s something wrongwith it too.”

“That would be an understatement as far as most are concerned,” Legend said, giving him an amused glance despite the situation. “We are on a clock, however, so we had best get to work.”

“Got it,” Xander told him. “I’m going to run recon. Have fun with this clusterfuck, I’ll check in when I can.”

“Wait! You need an armband!” Legend called.

“A what? For what?”

Legend produced one from… somewhere, honestly, given the tight nature of his costume Xander wasn’t about to ask.

“it’s a communications system,” Legend said, handing it over, something in his tone causing Xander to look at him for a moment.

“And?” Xander drawled slowly as Legend had the decency to wince.

“And a micro-explosive to kill anyone who’s been under her effect long enough,” Legend admitted. “She’s a mind controller who likes to turn people into what we call ‘bombs’. They act normally for days, months, years… and then, maybe they snap and go postal, or maybe they just whisper the wrong thing to the wrong person at the worst possible time and…”

He trailed off, but Xander got the idea as he looked at the armband with visible distaste.

“And how do you know if someone has been ‘bombed’?” He asked.

“Eight minutes. If you’ve been under her effect for eight minutes, she’s had time to twist you,” Legend said firmly.

Whatever he was expecting in response to that, it clearly wasn’t Xander bursting out in uproarious laughter.

“What…”

“Eight minutes?” Xander shook his head, “I scanned her power, Legend. She can probably twist everyone in this city in eight seconds. Less if she’s got a plan. You people have no idea what you’re dealing with here, do you?”

Legend stared for a moment, visibly paling, “That’s not possible. Not even for her.”

“That thing out there,” Xander gestured casually, “Is not human. It’s almost certainly a construct, and a powerful one based on the energy it’s exuding. I can already scan the dimensional fracture centered around it, which tells me that we’re dealing with a Multi-dimensional creature here, what some people call a Cthuloid. You can’t understand them, you can’t imagine them, you can only see what they let you see.”

He paused, looking off to the Angelic construct in the distance.

“Don’t try to make them fit your human preconceptions… you’ll only go mad in the attempt.”

*****

Legend had been one of the Triumverate for a long time, since shortly after Hero’s death had irrevocably changed the nature of their group. In all those years, he’d gone to more endbringer fights than he wanted to remember.

Over those years and fights, he’d met a long of young hard chargers who talked a big game and were confident that they could be the ones who’d make a difference with one or another of the Endbringers.

Those were the ones who tended to die first.

He, like the others who’d been briefed on Magus, had originally written the young man off as either delusional or truly dedicated to his gimmick. Both were far from uncommon among parahumans, for good and ill, so it had been a safe bet.

It was a bet he was now thinking might have been the wrong one.

Legend had ignored the use of the word magic to describe the enbringer’s power with practiced ease. Dealing with Myrddin had long since inoculated him to that sort of thing, after all, and he didn’t care what people called their power so long as they didn’t abuse it.

Now, however, he was thinking that there was something more about this one.

He’s already predicted the existence of Scion and his partner, just from a glanceat the Simurgh. We need to know more about this Magus. Quickly.

That bit of prediction, or deduction perhaps, was making him rethink what Magus had said about the Simurgh herself.

Could she truly be sandbagging that much?

For a long time, the very top of the Protectorate and PRT… and beyond… had known that the enemy were holding back. Just how much, however, was what was more deeply contested. Most, like Eidolon, tended to think that they were only pulling their punches just slightly, for varying degrees of the meaning of the word.

He had been holding doubts about that conclusion ever since Newfoundland had been dragged below the seas.

The only thing that kept him from voicing his thoughts more vocally had been that he couldn’t understand why. Why hold back if they could just casually wipe out all the defenders? Why attack at all? What was there to gain?

Don’t try to make them fit your preconceptions… you’ll only go mad in the attempt.

Those words sent a shiver down his spine as he felt like he’d heard the unvarnished truthfor the first time in… decades.

*****