[center][h1][b]The Battle for Denver[/b][/h1][/center]

Behemoth was taking more punishment than in most of his attacks. That fancy lightshow put on by Tulpa even hurt a bit. When the smoke and dust cleared though, Behemoth was still standing, unimpeded. Considerably smaller, no longer forty-five feet but a more modest twenty-eight, and thinner to match. A huge amount of its body had been taken off in the assault, but ultimately the Endbringer didn't seem to care. More attacks thrust into the monster's body, attacks that only minutes before were showing some damage. Only now they didn't seem to so much as scratch Behemoth, much less cause significant damage. To the experienced in Endbringer battles this was an understood phenomenon, but to the first timers it could be a jarring experience: the more damage dealt to them, the more durable they became. It was this simple fact above all others that made them so terrifying. Behemoth would never stop. No matter what they threw at him, eventually it stopped mattering while the beast was free to continue its rampage. Only one hero in the world could put a stop to the Endbringers permanently.

[color=bisque]"Where is Scion?"[/color] Alexandria asked into the comms, pounding Behemoth with another two punches before dodging his counterattack.

[color=silver]"Reports indicate Scion was spotted putting out a forest fire in China two minutes ago,"[/color] Dragon reported back. Behemoth launched another lightning bolt at Alexandria, which was summarily canceled out by a forcefield generated from nowhere. Nearby [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/parahumans/images/0/07/Narwhal.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160122222732]a woman naked save for a psychedelic pattern of colored force fields[/url] and a long horn generated from the same power landed on a rooftop near Alexandria.

[color=bisque]"Good to see you got here, Narwhal,"[/color] Alexandria commented, flying back in for another punch to Behemoth's face.

Once again the sound of thunder cracked against the backdrop of the battle, but something felt off about it. It was not as loud as Behemoth's usual thunderclaps, and the resulting bolt not nearly as large. The energy bolt shot from the ground straight up toward Behemoth's face, striking against the endbringer for a brief moment before dissipating, replaced by a man. Xolotl, lieutenant of the Community, had charged in head first and found his assault completely ineffective. With another thunderclap the self-styled Aztec god transformed and dashed away, landing on a rooftop. When he reformed, he was cradling a stump in the place of his left arm. A reminder of what would happen by attacking the most powerful, complete dynakinetic in the world would do when you were made of electricity.

[hr]

Not too far from the battle, the android Celia was braving the most dangerous rescue environment possible, right near Behemoth where radiation flooded outward. The automaton did not worry for her own safety, lacking the biological components to receive radiation poisoning. If she could rescue any civilians before they took a lethal dose of rads, all the better. With relative ease she lifted up the end of a car, allowing a balding man to crawl away to safety. "Hurry," she ordered. "You're being poisoned."

He picked up the pace, now making a mad dash away. Celia turned her head to observe the Behemoth situation. It had actually wandered back, closer to her position. [i]Dangerously[/i] close. She lacked any organic components and thus could survive the ambient radiation, but that kill aura would snuff out her systems as easily as any organic person. Self preservation coding took over and the android dropped the car, taking a leap back. Her launch was interrupted as she collided with...

"Oof!" cried a young woman, both of them bowling over one another. Chris Lange fell back a few feet while Celia simply halted momentum. "Watch where you're going!"

Celia had no time to waste processing power on why this woman was here in ground zero when she seemed to lack any brute defenses. Her stupidity would be her own downfall. Celia instead took off without a word, but not before Behemoth wandered in close enough for his kill aura to intersect her limbs. Power instantly drained from several processors and power sources. For the first time in her short life, Celia experienced fear and that fear focused her remaining processing power into a single action: [i]run![/i] 

Chris Lange was not so lucky. Lacking the speed and reaction time of a mechanized android, she failed to so much as get up on one knee before Behemoth's kill aura enveloped her. In an instant all energy was drained from the poor girl's body, snuffing out life like a candle.

[hr]

Sheila's ex boyfriend, now the villain Pester, had kept to the search and rescue team exclusively. His minion summoning meant that he could get in and rescue people without having to put himself in any direct danger, which was especially great in the areas Behemoth had already irradiated. He stood on the outside of a building, sides falling apart since the Endbringer had just walked straight through it, a safe distance away. He could sense that a number of civilians had been trapped in an elevator blocked off by rubble. Child's play, really. Concentrating, he projected his minion into existence and ordered it through the big hole in the wall. Satisfied, he sat back and waited for the results.

[b]"Hehehehehe,"[/b] came a rather childish chuckle from behind. [b]"I told you we'd fine a good cape here, daddy. Can I fuck him up?"[/b]

[color=7d0552]"Not yet, child,"[/color] replied another voice. [color=7d0552]"Remember the truce."[/color] Pester snapped around to see who was there. He met eye to eye with none other than Troll and Patriarch. Here? Now? What were they up to? Nothing good, he'd wager.

"What are you doing?" he asked cautiously.

[color=7d0552]"The same as you,"[/color] Patriarch replied. [color=7d0552]"Search and rescue. And I imagine we're a great deal more effective as I command huge swaths of this city, while my daughter here can locate virtually anybody. We, well, I mean no harm. Here's an offer of my goodwill."[/color]

He held out an open hand, offering to shake. Pester eyed it warily for a moment, ultimately deciding not to take the risk. Patriarch had tipped just how his powers worked in that broadcast, and he wasn't going to get brainwashed. "I'm good, thanks. But there's a bunch of people trapped in an elevator in there if you want to help."

[color=7d0552]"So rude,"[/color] Patriarch shrugged, pulling out a walkie talkie. He barked a few commands into it, and soon enough a whole crew of normal looking citizens came into view from around the corner riding ATVs. The sight distracted Pester from the villains standing behind him, so he never saw the nod Patriarch gave to Troll.

[b]"Sheila's dead, you know. Crushed under Behemoth's foot. [i]Splat![/i] Stuck there like a gum wrapper, hehehehehe!"[/b]

Pester gave pause. He didn't turn around, he didn't look back. Was that true? She died? His heart broke in an instant, all sound melting away. All sound, that was, except for the crunch of gravel, the telltale signs of footsteps. He spun around just in time to see Patriarch's outstretched hand mere centimeters from his face. No longer robbed of his senses, Pester had to make a split-second decision. Would he demanifest his minion in order to resummon it for protection, thus abandoning the civilians? Or take his chances kicking Patriarch's ass himself?

Leaving those people in danger wasn't an option. One foot swept up fast and hard as he could, aiming straight for Patriarch's sensitive tool. [b]BANG![/B] Pester fell to the ground, his kick incomplete, blood draining from his chest. Troll giggled, haphazardly waving her gun around. [b]"Looks like the cum rag forgot about me! Now you can do whatever you want with him, daddy."[/b]

Patriarch turned slowly to stare down his lieutenant, eyes piercing through the mask. He held his cane out as if to strike her, and she cowered appropriately, whole body trembling. [color=7d0552]"He is of no use like this. He'll probably die before he can be made useful... But he did make us aware of several people just inside the building. Get up, girl. We're refocusing."[/color]

[hr]

Behemoth continued to carve a bloody swath through the city of Denver. More capes attacked, trying to knock him down or hurt him, and few even made it long enough to land a hit. Fewer still managed to deal any sort of measurable damage. Even with the extra weapons provided by Muramasa, distributed by Margrave, most of them couldn't even deal scratch damage to Behemoth. Meanwhile, absolutely nothing indicated that he would stop his rampage anytime soon. Nothing indicated his powers were even slightly fatigued. Sinkholes from below, arrows from afar, tornado vortexes, it didn't matter. Behemoth let out another bloodcurdling roar, the force of which was so powerful that two nearby capes were killed from their bones splintering. 

The Endbringer made its way toward an office building, pushing through a series of forcefields erected by the Canadian hero Narwhal. The attack was not tactical, nor planned by the monstrous creature, but the building it attacked was of some importance to a specific group within Denver: the mafia. As reports came through the comms, Purge sighed in resignation. There was nothing he could do except to continue cleaning up the debris blocking the way to civilians. But Vanish had other plans.

[color=lightgreen]"Boss,"[/color] he said, speaking into a private communication device linked directly to Purge. [color=lightgreen]"I'm going to stop it."[/color] 

[b]"You know you can't stop it, Vanish! Cut our losses, get out of there!"[/b] Purge yelled back.

[color=lightgreen]"I haven't had these powers long enough to know what I can and can't do. All  know is that your plans are worth my life."[/color]

[b]"Get the fuck out of there Benito! Get ou-"[/b] He was cut off as Vanish turned off the signal, then dropped it to his feet. With a crunch it was crushed beneath his boot, immediately followed by another crunch as Behemoth stepped onto a nearby car. Vanish looked up at the approaching Endbringer, resigned to his fate.

[color=lightgreen]"Hope this works."[/color] He placed both hands against the building, commanding his power to work. Slowly but surely the concrete and bricks began to disappear in a radial effect spreading out from the epicenter of his touch. Fast at first, the effect slowed significantly the more and more it spread to cover the large building. [color=lightgreen]"Come on... Come... Ooooon~!"[/color] The Italian man forced his power harder than he'd ever done before when something clicked. Suddenly the process sped back up, quickly enveloping the entire structure. All that remained was a vacant lot with a single villain standing at the edge.

[color=lightgreen]"Heh... Heh..."[/color] he panted. [color=lightgreen]"I did it..."[/color]

The sound of thunder punctuated the man's relief, lightning putting a swift end to his joy. All that remained of Vanish was a charred skeleton next to a large building which sprang back up into existence. As if to mock the dead man's efforts and determination, Behemoth released a wave of blazing flames, enveloping the structure in a raging inferno. No longer interested, the endbringer turned its attention  back to the capes engaging it in battle.

[b]Boom![/b] A rocket exploded right in Behemoth's face. The monstrosity didn't even flinch, but that certainly got its attention. 

"I've been away, but Denver is still my home!" A man dressed up in a cowboy getup stood tall and proud a few hundred feet away from Behemoth. His arms, clearly mechanical, had split into no less than six smaller arms, each one wielding a deadly weapon. "And I've made meself some upgrades, pardner."

Arsenal had returned to face down Behemoth in his own personal standoff. The nearby Triumvirate, Alexandria, Eidolon, and Legend each looked upon the young man with fear or disappointment. Legend even cried out to Arsenal, knowing all too well how this would turn out. But Arsenal chose not to back down. Bullets and lasers blazed a path of glory straight to the Endbringer's chest, pounding into Behemoth like an entire army. More rockets launched, locked onto Behemoth's energy signature. The arms constantly rotated, switching out the weapons being fired while automatically reloading the empty ones. The whole time Behemoth simply stood there, taking every single bullet, every single laser, every explosive, almost like it was making a statement. That statement was "your attacks are useless."

After a solid minute of hitting Behemoth with every single thing he had, Arsenal finally ran out of ammo. Even the laser guns had run out of power, cells drained of energy. Behemoth looked down at the cowboy cyborg with no emotion. It was only then that Arsenal had realized what a horrible mistake he had made. He turned tail and ran.

Lightning struck. Arsenal was no more.

[hr]

In the main medical camp not too far away from the PRT headquarters, Director Kens let out a groggy moan. A nurse immediately rushed to his side. [color=brown]"Uuugh. My everything hurts."[/color] he moaned, eyes still closed.

"Director, you need to rest. You pushed yourself with this injury far too much already."

The director nodded, still keeping his eyes closed. [color=brown]"Yeah. I understand."[/color] Suddenly, the boom of thunder jolted his eyes open. The director attempted to sit up, but was kept restained by the nurse. He glanced around quickly, trying to take note of the situation. This wasn't the PRT medical bay. So then where was... ?

[color=brown]"Report the situation,"[/color] he ordered, the man's normal "authority" voice kicking in. The nurse nodded weakly.

"It's Behemoth, sir. While you were out, Behemoth launched an attack."

[color=brown]"Jesus Christ. How long has this been going on?"[/color]

"About forty minutes now, sir."

Forty minutes. The death toll would already be high, no doubt. And Behemoth was the most durable of the three. He could keep going and going. [color=brown]"What about Scion?"[/color]

"Sir, last reports about Scion's location came in three minutes ago. He was last seen in Brazil, stopping the flooding of a small village."

[hr]

Injured: Xolotl, Celia, Pester
Dead: Chris Lange, Vanish, Arsenal