I stared at him for a long moment, trying to understand what he could mean. There was no way he was insinuating that I should stay behind. He obviously must have meant something else because that was never going to happen. Even hypothetically, the idea was ridiculous.

  I could feel a warm, slowly rising anger in my chest as I finally spoke again.

  "Excuse me?"

  "We want you to stay behind," He said, Piper nodding behind him.

  "Are you all out of your minds? Do you really think I can just stay here while you guys, while everyone else goes to fight?" I asked, glaring at him. "No, absolutely not. I'm going with you. I… I don't have to be in open combat, I'll admit I could probably do more good healing than fighting, but

  "Arc, listen, we discussed it and-"

  "Oh, you discussed it? Well, in that case, how the fuck dare you?" I asked, my eyes trying to burn holes through his. "If you think for one fucking moment that I would be okay staying nice and safe while a whole fucking city is attacked by some big kaiju fuck, then maybe your not as stable as I thought."

  I raise my hand to shove Smokey's hand off of me, only to utterly fail, his strength somehow trumping mine. We should be more or less even, and yet…

  "William… perhaps you should listen?" Alya said, pulling around to her corporeal form, glancing at the others before steadily focusing on me. "This is supposed to be a Simurgh attack…"

  "And? I can't just not help," I said, glaring at Smokey. "I have the power to help, which means I should. My healing-"

  "Would save lives, sure. But only by putting you in danger. There is nothing you can do to truly defend yourself against the Simurgh," He pointed out, shaking his head. "If she focused on you, you have nothing. She would crush you."

  "And?" I asked, getting louder, once again trying to shove his hand off. "Do you think anyone who goes to an Endbringer fight can boast otherwise? What makes me so different?"

  "Other people can't say that they will eventually be able to beat them!" He shouted back, putting his other hand on my other shoulder and shaking me slightly. "Will, you have focused on helping this city, and it's working. The powers you have chosen have made you adaptable and capable of taking on every cape in this city. But you are not a powerhouse capable of actually hurting the Endbringers."

  "I-"

  "But someday you will be!" He shouted, completely overriding my response. "If you live long enough, someday you will reach the point that you could take down the Endbringers with a wave of your hand! But the only way you can get to that point is if you STAY ALIVE!"

  The tall metal guardian released me, stepping back, his expression still confident and strong. Piper was behind him, and Alya was still floating there, looking nervous but determined.

  "William, so far, you have chosen your powers to be flexible and adaptable. You're powerful, but you are nowhere near powerful enough to kill an Endbringer. You would be nothing beneath one," Piper said, sounding apologetic. "The Simurgh especially… Can you imagine if she affected you? How much damage could you cause? If you just vanished into the woods and came back in a year, with all your charges paid into the darkest magics imaginable? Necromancy, witchcraft, curses, spells to control the mind, conjuring evil creatures, what exactly would your limits be if she got into your mind?"

  The usually quiet guardian's impassioned speech caught me off guard, and I took a physical step back. She stepped forward and put a much more gentle hand on my shoulder.

  "I have no doubt that, now that we are making real progress cleaning up Brockton Bay, you will find time to research and strategize against the Endbringers," She said with a smile. "But for now, you need to stay safe. You might be humanity's greatest hope of eventually beating them. As long as you don't try too early and get yourself killed."

  I looked into her eyes for a long moment, looking over at Alya, then at Smokey and Kali, who had pulled herself into her golem. For a moment, I could feel my frustration rising, threatening to overwhelm me and make me lash out. Then, suddenly, it all cut free, the Jenga tower I had built collapsing as I collapsed in on myself.

  They were right. I was not prepared to handle an Endbringer, and Smirugh was not the Endbringer to gamble on. If it was Leviathan, I might argue more, saying that I was strong enough to run if necessary, but… The Simurgh was too crafty and too good at tricking and manipulating people to guarantee that. If my mind was tainted... I would not stop at joining a band of murder hobos like Sphere was. I would bring the world to its knees.

  My anger and frustration was snuffed out in a second, and I felt as if my knees might give out. Alya came up from behind and wrapped me in a hug, and I let out a long breath, putting my hand on hers.

  "Fine. Fine, I will stay behind," I said, the tension leaving everyone. "We still need to prepare, and the second the Simurgh leaves, I expect a call. I be helping with healing and search and rescue."

  "Of course, Arc," Piper agreed with a small nod. "Your ability to heal will help a lot, and you can do so with minimal risk."

  "Right… Well, we still need to move," I said, clearing my rough throat and clapping my hands. "So, go, while I call Crow and New Wave."

  Both of the guardians nodded, Piper moving to collect the golems while Smokey pulled out a burner phone to call back the patrol teams. While they worked, I pulled out my own phone, first calling Crow.

  "Tell me you aren't thinking of going?" She asked in a rush, the phone barely ringing before she picked up. "I know you want to help Arc, but-"

  "Relax, I'm not going," I assured her. "Smokey and the others already convinced me."

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  "Oh, thank god," She said, sounding legitimately drained and happy at the news. "I heard the sirens, and all I could think about was… well, bad things. I'm glad you're not going, I would have had to go with you and-"

  "You would have gone with me?" I asked, my eyes going a bit wide.

  "Well, I sure as hell wasn't going to let you go alone!" she said. "And I know you have your people, but you need someone who can do things for your own good. Though, by the sounds of it, I might have underestimated Smokey and Piper."

  "Yeah, so did I," I admitted, turning to watch both of the spirit guardians, mentally debating if I should be angry or proud. "Okay, good, I just wanted to check with you and see what you were thinking. I need to call New Wave next."

  "Alright. And Will… You're making the right decision," She said, trying her best to be supportive. "This… this is all fucked, but you can do a lot of good here, not getting involved with the Endbringers is a good call. I'll make my way to the Rig and join you in support once the winged bitch is gone."

  "Thanks. I'll talk to you soon, Olivia."

  I hung up and quickly called Lady Photon, who picked up the phone almost immediately. She confirmed that New Wave was not going. Apparently, New Wave participated in some Endbringer fights, especially when they landed around population centers, but never against Simurgh, which was not out of the ordinary. Simurgh scared the hell out of a lot of people, so skipping her fights was pretty typical.

  She did say that they were planning on heading over as part of the rescue operation afterward, depending on how the fight went. Panacea was already famous for her assisting in after-battle healing, even though she had only been twice. I confirmed that was likely when I would be joining them as well, and she confirmed they would be waiting at the Protectorate headquarters for news to come in and that they would bring the golems so they could go with Smokey and Piper.

  By the time I hung up, all of the patrol teams had teleported back home using the spell containers I had given and filled for each of them. Each of the Guardians had a bracelet that maintained four spell containers, two with mass healing and two with teleportation. While it wasn't much, I had been short on time for preparing.

  As I approached the group, they went silent, the guardians turning to look at me. I let out a long breath, shaking my head a bit before addressing them.

  "I know we haven't had a lot of time to get to know each other," I said, addressing the four new guardians. "And that is mostly on me. But before you go, I want to remind all of you something."

  I looked each of them in the eye, noting the set expressions of determination, along with an eagerness to prove themselves. This, on some levels, was what I built them for, to fight against things that threatened the innocent.

  "I built each of you as protectors. To defend the weak and put a stop to the abuse visited on them by the cruel and strong. But please, do not forget that you are sentient as well," I explained, trying to keep the begging, pleading tone out of my voice. "You are more than just the echoes tied to your totems. You are real, living beings, separate from the emotions and moments that created your original spirit spark. If you die, a unique existence is gone. I cannot stop you from defending the weak. It is what I created you for, after all. But do not for a second consider yourself fodder or a living shield. You are more than that."

  Slowly, each of them nodded, and eventually, I was satisfied that they had at least understood what I was saying.

  After my impromptu speech, I began the process of teleporting everyone over to the Protectorate headquarters, where apparently, people were meeting. First, I brought the guardians before ferrying over each of the golems. When I was finally done, we had a small army of metallic golems and clothing-clad guardians. The PRT stationed at the light bridge, which led out to the Protectorate oil rig, were tense, even as we were loaded up into vehicles and quickly brought out to the Rig.

  Within a total of five or six minutes of the Endbringer sirens going off, we were standing on the roof of the Rig, with around twenty golems and six guardians, led by Smokey. About a few minutes after we arrived, New Wave flew in, landing on the roof and making me realize that the bubble shield that was usually around the Rig was gone. I greeted everyone with a nod while Smokey corralled their golems, getting them lined up and in order. Before they could join the group, I spotted that two of them had name tags attached to them. I couldn't see what they were labeled as, but I was pretty sure that the Dallon family had gotten a bit attached to theirs.

  The golems had all lined up, ready to go, while the guardians talked among themselves, discussing strategy and the fight that was to come. I only half listened to it, mostly because the more I did, the harder it was going to be to let them leave on their own. I did hear that they were mostly discussing that they would focus more on evacuation rather than combat, since none of them had a brute or blaster level high enough to do much damage to an Endbringer.

  New Wave had taken a spot a dozen or so feet away from the helipad, which, as far as I could tell, was where the teleporter scheduled to pick up the participants from Brockton Bay would arrive. Armsmaster was already by the steps, standing stoically, waiting without moving. Beside him, decidedly less stoic, was Dauntless and Velocity. The Wards were far from the platform, as was Miss Militia and the rest of the Protectorate.

  Miss Militia, after spotting me, made her way to me, nodding to the guardians as she passed.

  "Arcanum, I wish I could say it was good to see you, but under the circumstances…"

  "I understand, Miss Militia," I said. "It's… a lot."

  "It is," she agreed. "Are you participating?"

  "No," I responded simply before elaborating. "Smokey and the rest convinced me not to. I… I don't like it, but they are right. I'm worth more as support than I am direct combat, and the risk of being corrupted…"

  "You don't need to explain yourself," She assured me, nodding once in understanding. "I can't judge anyone for skipping any Endbringer fight, especially the Simurgh. But your golems and your guardians, they are going?"

  "Yes. And I will be joining in for healing later," I assured her. "As will Crow, she is on her way here."

  "That's good. The clean-up is often as bad as the actual fight," She admitted. "Especially for Simurgh. I-"

  Before she could finish, a dull thunderclap rolled over the Rig, and suddenly, a man appeared on the helipad, almost snapping into existence. He was dressed in a black and blue uniform, with what looked like a mailman's cap and a pair of goggles covering most of his face. The uniform was well made, standing out without looking garish, and worn with precision, which told me he was very particular about it.

  "Fifteen seconds!" He called out immediately, turning to examine his surroundings, before focusing on Armsmster. "We leave in fifteen seconds!"

  Armsmaster, Dauntless, and Velocity all quickly climbed onto the helipad. A trio of people I didn't recognize, probably out-of-towners, also climbed up before Smokey and Piper began to lead the guardians and the golems on.

  "Woah… Okay, that's a lot of metal…" the teleporting Parahuman muttered. "Everyone is going to have to stay very still, or the ride is going to get very bumpy."

  Smokey nodded, and once they were in place, he ordered the golems to freeze, bypassing their normal ambient uncanny valley prevention movement, locking them all in place. Striders nodded in approval before looking around.

  "No one else? Good, alright people, this is gonna feel rough," He said, shaking his head, rolling on the balls of his feet before bracing himself. "Next step, Canberra, Australia. Try not to vomit in your helmets."

  With another dulled thunderclap, the cape snapped away, as did everyone on the helipad. For a very long moment, I stared at the spot where they had been before closing my eyes. I resisted the urge to curse and shout, instead looking around, my eyes eventually settling on a bench. I made my way to it and sat down, eyes locked again on the helipad.

  Eventually, Crow showed up and sat down beside me. She put her hand on my back as we waited together.