It was time. The preparations had been ready for a week now, but I wanted to be completely sure. There could be no errors. A single misstep could be the difference between success and catastrophe. I would not allow arrogance to steal my victory.

[Data]

"Thank you, Ziz." I said aloud, knowing that she could hear me. The Simurgh was not with me here, floating above the icy wasteland of Antarctica, but she watched from above. She was connected to my network and shared my senses by using one of the powers within it. She would see everything I saw even without the aid of her precognitive powers. She was with me.

My spirits spread out, forming a large perimeter around the area. I had Alexandria's assurance that no one would interfere, but it was possible someone or something was able to slip past Cauldron's cordon. When neither I nor my spirits felt the presence of anything nearby, I began.

Eidolon's spirit appeared at my side. My form faded, turned reflective, then vanished as Eidolon pulled me into the space between realities. I was the single most durable human on this planet, but I did not trust that even my defenses would be enough against this foe.

Floating in the air, my spirits all called upon the same power, using my network's feedback loop to increase that power's influence exponentially. The effect was immediate.

[DATA]

[REQUEST]

"Begin." I replied to The Simurgh's question. No sooner had the words left my lips then my target arrived.

Appearing in a golden flash of teleportation, Scion, avatar of the entity known as Zion, appeared in the sky of Antarctica, surrounded on all sides by my court. The avatar slowly floated through the air, approaching the closest spirit.

At my will, the spirits increased the effect of the power, focusing it on the spirit Scion had singled out, using everything at their disposal to force Scion to see that spirit as his fallen partner, an illusory Eden. Scion had been bested by this in the canon timeline, so I was attempting to replicate it, albeit a far more enhanced version of it with far less collateral damage.

[DATA]

At Ziz's prompting, I had every single one of my spirits channel the powers of Jack Slash, Canary and every master I had claimed to speak directly to Scion.

"Our work is over." A thousand voices said as one, coming together in a disjointed harmony that approximated to the voice of a weary woman. "It is time for us to rest. Join me. Sleep."

Scion stopped approaching the spirit, freezing in mid-air.

[QUERY]

Scion's question assaulted my mind with far greater force than Ziz's consciousness, but I had expected this. I would not allow minor pain to distract me from what I needed to do.

"You no longer need them. Let them go." my spirits sang, drowning Scion in sound, isolating him from the rest of the world.

[DATA]

[DATA]

"That does not matter anymore." my spirits called in an attempt to coax Scion into compliance. "Let go."

The golden light of Scion's avatar flickered, vanishing for nary a second. I felt Ziz open hundreds of portals with Doormaker's power in the wake of that blip. It was working.

Following Ziz's lead, I ordered the dozens of spirits I had hidden beneath the ice to open their own portals, immediately firing Flechette-enhanced projectiles through them to the monstrous creature that lay on the other side. A symphony of the most destructive, corrosive, vicious powers I possessed rained down through the created portals. Ziz's Tinker creations were already hard at work obliterating every piece of Zion they had access to.

My Eden-disguised spirit floated closer to Scion, gently grasping his cheek. "It's okay. You will be with me. Join me."

Scion was unmoving, staring straight forward.

[QUERY]

My spirit reached up, placing its other hand on Scion's opposite cheek. "That no longer matters. Trust me. All will be well once you are with me."

Scion's avatar flickered again, then again. Waves of uncontrolled power pulsed out from the avatar of Zion, bending reality and fracturing time. Still, I kept up my desperate onslaught. My spirits and Ziz unleashed their full might onto the Entity's true body while the rest of my spirits attempted to convince Zion to kill itself.

[DATA]

[CONCERN]

"It's alright. I have you." my spirit said, floating forward to wrap its arms around Scion's body, pulling the motionless avatar into a hug. "Join me. Let go."

Scion's form flickered. The golden corona of energy around him winked out. Slowly, Scion wrapped his arms around my spirit, returning the hug. The next moment, Scion's avatar vanished.

"Ziz?" I asked, not able to feel Scion's presence anywhere.

[DATA]

[JOY]

[PRAISE]

[LOYALTY]

Ziz sent back immediately.

I allowed a small smile to grow on my face as Eidolon rewove reality, allowing me to emerge into real space once more. "Continue destroying the body. I do not want any surprise revivals." I ordered. I did not want to leave even a fraction of Zion left for him to come back. He shouldn't be able to, but I wanted to be sure.

[CONFIRMATION]

I felt Ziz pull back from our connection as she moved to carry out my command.

My court rose up from the ice, floating in around me, a hundred dark spots blanketing the dusk sky.

I had done it. I had felled a god.

X

Rebecca Costa-Brown flipped through a report in front of her, memorizing each page immediately. It wasn't anything important. A new villain had surfaced in Boston. A pyrokinetic. Weak. He did not pose a threat to the city or its inhabitants. The existing Protectorate would be more than enough to subdue or eliminate him. Perhaps he could be turned to the side of good. If not, he would be removed.

Rebecca set the paper aside and looked up, out the window that overlooked the city beneath her.

It had been five years since Oberon appeared. Five years since the Endbringers disappeared. Five years since Scion 'retired'. That was the official story anyway. Only a select few knew the true story. It was better that way. Informing people of how close they came to suffering an apocalypse at Scion's hands would only serve to create chaos. The problem had been solved. There was no need to make a fuss. Not when there was so much that still needed to be done.

With the threat of Scion eliminated, Cauldron had been able to refocus its efforts. The goal was still the same – save as many people as possible. Only now, that number was not measured in the thousands, but in the billions. With no threat of a great war looming, there was no need to preserve potentially useful parahumans at all costs. Monsters could not be put down when they showed they were beyond redemption. Alexandria had personally dealt with Moord Nag last summer when she'd threatened to bring her parahuman army across the sea. Removing Moord Nag no longer threatened the survival of humanity. Rather, leaving her be posed a threat, so she was removed.

Rebecca still had a lot of work to do, but things were progressing in the right direction. Cities once thought lost to crime were being retaken by heroes.

The Teeth had been pushed out of Boston after the Butcher's mysterious disappearance. The gang had fallen apart soon after Contessa and Doormaker had dealt with Butcher 14.

The Fallen had been pushed out of the South. Legend had coordinated with the Guild. He and Narwhal led the charge that saw the Fallen's leadership dismantled, leaving the rest without coordination.

Even Brockton Bay, a city many had written off as unsalvageable, was thriving. Unkindness, ironically, was the best thing to ever happen to the bay. With the ever watchful eyes of his crows scanning the city's streets, no one dared do wrong in his city. The port had been reopened now that Leviathan no longer threatened the seas, turning Brockton Bay into the booming maritime trading hub it was so many years ago.

Never in her wildest hopes and estimations did Rebecca think they would ever achieve such a resounding victory. They owed it all to one person.

Rebecca looked down at her desk, to a small item sitting atop it. To anyone else, the trinket would appear to be nothing more than a chess piece, a rook. The wood it was carved from had a beautiful ashy color, but there was nothing else noteworthy about the piece.

Rebecca picked the rook up, turning it around between her fingers. Her mind drifted back to the brief conversation she'd had with Oberon after he'd defeated Scion. He'd given this to her then, saying it was carved from one of the largest trees in the world he had claimed as his own. Try as they might, Cauldron had been unable to locate the world Oberon spoke of. It wasn't impossible Oberon had found a way to block Doormaker from reaching it. The man had Doormaker's power and a thousand others besides. If he didn't want to be found, Rebecca doubted they would be able to find him. Perhaps they would meet again some day, or perhaps Oberon was gone forever. Alexandria couldn't know.

Rebecca stared at the rook, noting the stark resemblance it shared with the tower that Alexandria proudly displayed on her chest. Oberon's parting words came to her.

"If the ends justify the means, then I suppose I am the greatest hero this world has ever seen. Do you believe that to be the case, Library of Alexandria? Will you with your perfect recall and enhanced intelligence regard me as the greatest despite all I have done? If so, I suggest you work to prove yourself greater than a murderer."

Rebecca had killed before and would kill again. She had not nearly killed as many as Oberon had, but her hands were far from clean. She did what she had to do so that others may prosper. If Oberon had proven anything, it was that sometimes a demon needed to be let loose to hunt greater demons.

Legend was the beacon of hope that would light the way to a better world. That left the job of keeping the dark at bay to her.

Rebecca set the rook back down and retrieved another report. There was still work to do.