The Good Life: I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire~! (ch. 35) (Patreon)

The world had gone kaput. The news couldn’t say as much due to the fact all the nukes going off had ended up frying any electronics with a circuit board, but everyone knew it was true. The nukes only rained down upon the world for around two hours total, starting with the nuke that went off in Berlin, but in that short amount of time, the world was bathed in hellfire and radiation.

As far as the movies had been concerned, that was it. GG. The only people that could possibly survive the ensuing nuclear radiation and what have you would be the ones in dedicated bunkers. The doomsday preppers. But, as it so happens, that wasn’t the case. The nukes, as far as we could tell, were focused on population centers like cities. While it was true that most people in the world lived in cities, there was a good twenty to forty percent of the population who lived in more rural areas.

I would go as far as to say that, even acting on the assumption that every major city suffered at least one nuke, around half of the world’s population was still kicking around. More would die in the following weeks due to radiation though. And even more would die due to the following nuclear winter. But, the point was, as of right now, there were still a lot of people left.

Things had descended into complete anarchy for the most part, but there were still organizations left as well. The movers and shakers, the ones that issued the orders for the bombs being dropped, had done so from their nuke-proof bunkers. There were breakdowns in communications, sure, but ever since the first nuke was dropped, the governments of the world had plans to survive the aftermath.

What the movies got wrong about the immediate aftermath of the end of the world wasn’t the mass death. It was the immediate breakout of the wars that followed. Resource wars. Only the definition of what was considered a ‘resource’ had been greatly expanded. Power plants,factories, deposits of strategic materials, and important landmarks like cities for scavenging. Everything that a governing body would need to cement itself as a notable power in the fallout.

Because, when society collapsed, the thin veneer of civility fell away. It was unnecessary. The truth of the world asserted itself once more -- that the rules of society were whatever those with power decided they were. I  was sure that it would be everything but smooth sailing though. There would be military coups. There would be units and populations that go rogue, ending with the collapse of nations. There would be wars that were settled with more nukes being thrown because what was one more at the end of the world?

It was true everywhere. On the world stage, but it could be seen most keenly inside of New York. Somehow, word got out that New York was the only city left on the eastern shore. As devastated as it was, it was considered a lifeline. People came in a trickle, desperately hoping for salvation, only to find the half ruined city that had suffered from every battle that came before. Gangs were quick to form and establish themselves, carving out little pieces of territory for themselves from both refugees and the locals.

My Eight was the closest thing to structure that the city had as violence swept through New York, harsher and more intense than it had ever seen. We had around five thousand grunts when the world fell, and thanks to Robin’s quick thinking, we had a nice stockpile of resources. But most importantly, we had gotten our hands on the military hardware that was left in the city when they were trying to suppress us.

We carved out our territory -- Manhattan Island. Everything on it belonged to us. But everywhere else in the city was fair game, and it was utter pandemonium. People fought over crates of water, canned food, and tore each other apart in the streets for any reason at all. It was savage chaos at its absolute worst, people doing whatever they thought that they had to in order to survive, and they would do it without apologies.

It would only get worse as scarcity started to settle in. When the divide between those that had too much and those that didn’t have enough grew. When desperation set in and those with resources learned to enjoy the absolute power that they had. My bet was that it wouldn’t take too long. Humanity was only three missed meals from anarchy, after all.

It benefited us fine, in the end. Because, for now at least, we were the ones with the resources. People flocked to the Eight, to me, because we had water, food, shelter, weapons, and me. I was the last one standing, in the end. Word had already spread how I… beat Homelander. And people knew that I was the one that brought the world to its knees. That said, our position on the top wouldn’t last forever.

Most people blamed me for the current state of the world, and given that everyone else involved was dead or worked for me, I was held responsible for the world ending. The only thing holding people back was fear. But, sooner rather than later, people would start to tug at the boot on their necks.

I didn’t particularly mind. Or care, for that matter.

“We’ll be heading out,” I told the grave that I stood before. “A whole new world to explore. Asami has been cagey with the details, but it looks like it’s going to be a rough one. I hope it is. This past week… it’s been hard,” I admitted, my lips thinning before I let out a sigh. “You were my goal. My target. My idol. I wanted to beat you so damn badly… and it always seemed like some far-off, impossible goal… It never even occurred to me to think about what I would do after you.”

The survivors mourned for the fallen world. I mourned my fallen hero.

“I’ve been fooling around with the survivors a bit, but it’s not the same. They don’t really fight me. They’re too afraid of me -- because of you, oddly enough. I’m the man that beat you. I thought that would feel different,” I continued, another sigh heaving out of me. I was happy. I had achieved my childhood dream. It just felt bittersweet, in a way. Like I was saying goodbye to a lifelong friend. “I wish you could have come with us. With me. But, I think we both know how that would have gone down. In the end… there was only going to be one of two endings. With me in the dirt, or you.”

I heard the sound of a bomb going off, and I looked in that general direction, seeing a trail of smoke drifting up to join the others. Central Park was a ruin. The fight had torn it to pieces. But, all the same, it seemed like a nice spot for Homelander’s final resting place. I had put up a headstone for him, unmarked. It felt wrong, but I knew that if people knew who was buried here, they’d desecrate his body.

My gaze lingered for a moment, waiting for more signs of action. “I suppose this is goodbye, Homelander. I… won’t be coming back here. To this world. With you gone, there’s nothing left for me,” I confessed before I started to pull away from the grave. I hesitated for a moment before my lips pulled up into a small gentle smile, “It was a lot of fun. I’ll miss you.”

Robin, Cinder, and Yoruichi were waiting for me. Robin wore a compassionate look, understanding how hard saying goodbye was. Cinder’s gaze lingered on the grave, and I could tell that she was curious, and doubtful. She thought something else was buried in the grave, unable to understand that I was paying respects to my enemy. Yoruichi, however, threw her arm over my shoulder and pulled me in.

“No need to be so dour, Law. Smile because it happened,” she said, leading me away from the grave.

“Are you quoting Dr. Seuss at me?” I asked dryly, earning a beaming smile in response.

“There’s wisdom everywhere if you have the mind to see it,” Yoruichi said, sounding like she was quoting someone else. “It’s the closing of a chapter in your life, not the closing of the book. You’ve just flipped the page to a brand new part of the story,” she continued, still sounding like she was quoting someone.

“Wow. Whoever said that sounds pretty wise,” I remarked before the friendly arm over the shoulder quickly became a headlock. And then a noogie. I’m pretty sure that I could have easily broken out of it, but I appreciated the gesture for what it was -- an attempt to get my mind off of Homelander’s death. And she was right. This was the final chapter of this part of my life, and with the turn of a page, I would be off on a brand new adventure.

Yoruichi seemed pleased with herself as she half dragged me to Asami’s building. It was at the very heart of our territory. In the past week, rough barricades were being put up -- parked cars, fencing, that sort of thing. Asami, for the most part, was organizing it -- setting up water purifiers, organizing patrols and the like. Manhattan had eleven bridges connected to it to act as chokeholds, but that was still a lot of territory to cover. Especially when the Eight was needed to police the island itself to maintain order.

Things were fine now, but it would collapse sooner or later. Asami was rapidly accepting new people into the mix, giving everyone jobs to organize the settlement. Construction workers, to convert the skyscrapers around us into livable homes, doing things like repairing the shattered glass on them and checking if they stable. There were also scavenging parties to continue plundering the island for all of its worth and setting up secondary settlements at key locations. And there was probably more.

I allowed her to direct the Eight. Or, rather, Robin did. Asami might not care much for me personally, but she was an excellent organizer by any metric. With her and Robin working together, the settlement would last a lot longer than it should. Asami seemed determined to hold it together, but at least Robin saw the writing on the wall.

Our entrance was noticed and I felt dozens of gazes turning to us. Some of them were my soldiers. Others were terrified refugees who thought I was going to kill them because I could. I ignored them all as we headed into the building, the lobby was set up to be a town hall of sorts, and calling it overcrowded was being generous. There was screaming, shouting, crying, and begging.

I ignored it all in favor of heading into one of the elevators, inputting a code, and heading down into the basement. A short ride down, the doors opened and I saw the Dias in all of its glory. Asami, along with a handful of others that I didn’t recognize, were pouring over the terminals. Asami looked like she hadn’t slept a wink in the past week with dark bags over her eyes.

“You’re here,” Rumi spoke up from her position at the entrance, wearing a tank top that revealed a large bandage on her side. Injuries that she sustained from Cinder and Homelander. She was a fast healer, but it would still take her some weeks for her ribs to mend. The words, surprisingly, weren’t directed at me. They were directed at Cinder.

“As are you. Unfortunately,” Cinder added a little jab, her face twisting into a mask of displeasure. Rumi snorted, her red eyes narrowing at Cinder.

“Oh! Catfight!” Yoruichi blurted, her eyes lighting up and looking like she was about to jump into it. Cinder sent Yoruichi a sharp look underneath the guise of indifference before looking away. Rumi, on the other hand, smiled and started to get up, only to hesitate for the briefest of seconds as she failed to keep the brief grimace of pain off her face. “Ah, maybe I should have waited for you two to keep poking at each other before jumping in?”

Rumi snorted, “S’not like you won’t have plenty of chances You really didn’t hold back on wearing your allegiance on your sleeve, huh?” She asked, directing the last bit at Cinder, making her sneer. “Hey, I’m not judging. Just can’t stand a two faced traitor.” That, I saw, struck a nerve with Cinder.

“What would you know of allegiance, hm? You’re little more than a junkie looking for their next fix of adrenaline. What was it you said, ‘I should have been a villain?’” Cinder quoted and Rumi was everything but repentant.

“I’m surprised that you remembered that bit. Seeing as I said it as I was laying your ass out,” Rumi shot back.

My gaze flickered between them like I was watching a tennis match. I hadn’t realized it before, but this was the first time that we were all under the same roof, wasn’t it? I could practically feel the divides forming -- Rumi and Cinder were like oil and water, Yoruichi was trying to shake them up to make them mix or explode, while Robin was watching on with dull exasperation and amusement.

“Allegiance, huh?” Yoruichi remarked to Cinder, saying nothing else because nothing more needed to be said. Cinder talking about loyalty was the height of irony. But Yoruichi decided to spread the love, “And that’s some tough talk for someone kicking their feet up.”

Rumi narrowed her eyes, “I’m willing to rebreak my ribs to shut that mouth of yours,” she threatened. Rumi’s strongest reaction to the world ending was that she had missed out on it. Not that she didn’t seem pretty sore about the whole ‘end of the world’ thing, but she seemed content to shrug her shoulders and roll with the punches when it came to things she couldn’t do anything about.

“It looks like you’re needed,” Robin interjected smoothly, bringing my attention to Asami, who wore a frown as she regarded me. Upon our gazes meeting, I saw her steel herself before she marched over. The arguments fell away, everyone curious about what was coming.

Especially when Asami looked like she was delivering bad news. “We can use the Dias,” she informed, and at least it wasn’t the worst case scenario. “We have enough power for that.”

“I’m hearing a but?” I questioned, making her incline her head to me.

“But, we don’t have much. The electric grid wasn’t designed to take an EMP. I’m rigging up a makeshift alternative, but… that’ll take time. Time that we don’t have. We’re rapidly reaching the point of critical mass in terms of population compared to our supplies -- There are still millions of people left in New York and there are more on the way,” she informed in a grim tone. “Meaning… that we realistically have two choices. We can continue to save power to reach out further beyond to an ideal world. Possibly one of ours.”

The words hung in the air.

Then she continued, “The land would be more developed to handle a refugee crisis of this scale. Additionally, it would have the resources necessary to power what we’re calling the Anchor. It stabilizes the portal, and if both sides are providing power to maintain it, then it can be sustained for much longer.” Those were the pros.

We all heard the other but coming even before she said it. “The issue is that it would require time. Time and power. It takes at least two weeks of power to activate the Dias for a portal that lasts five seconds, and the cost increases the further away we get. And there is no guarantee that we will find a world that fits our needs on the first go. It… would likely need trial and error.”

Hm.

“So, when you said that we had two choices, it’s only really one, huh?” Rumi remarked, wincing ever so slightly as she sat forward. She did the math. The collapse was inevitable. It was going to happen no matter what. We simply didn’t have the infrastructure to handle millions of people panicking about the end of the world, the resources to sustain that number for any length of time, or to handle the inevitable medical needs that would arise.

Time wasn’t something that we had a lot of. So, the first option had a very high asking price for trial and error, crossing our fingers to get an ideal world that ticked every box.

Asami looked at Rumi for a moment, then her gaze went to the floor as her frown deepened. She didn’t want to admit it, but she nodded all the same. “We have a confirmed world. It’s the nearest one to us, so the cost would be relatively low. We have enough power to open a portal twice, or sustain one for roughly a day. However, it is… less than ideal.”

I nodded, “It looked like a shit hole.” I confirmed, making Asami blanch.

“The samples that I collected… the world suffered a nuclear war some two hundred years ago,” she informed us, and I barked a laugh. That earned me a dirty look from Asami, but I couldn’t care.

“So, we’re trading one nuclear hellhole for another?” I asked, finding myself absolutely enthralled. I had saw a glimpse of that world. The crumbling buildings, the sandy dirt, the dilapidated roads and a faded flag still flying. I imagine that our world would look much the same in two hundred years.

“The other world has long since gotten over the worst effects from its nuclear war. The temperature has stabilized and ambient radiation levels are within normal range… we can survive there, temporarily.” She continued as if I hadn’t said anything, making me tilt my head.

I could see everyone mulling it over, so I spoke. “We can use the resources from here, and bring them over there to establish something more sustainable. Food. Population control. It looked like a fucked up America to me, but if they had nukes, they probably had electricity. Could hook this Anchor thing into a reactor to sustain the bridge.” It was pretty clear why she favored the second option. It was safer, even if it was harder.

The plan was evident enough. Use the new world as a beachhead, of sorts. Send in people, have them find and establish infrastructure -- fields for food, buildings for shelter, clean water -- and then start sending the refugees through en-mass to lessen the strain on the New York side of the portal. New York could probably handle a million people, and if the New World could handle a million, then sustainability was in the cards.

From there, recovery. Possibly for both worlds. The building of industry would enable us to build another Dias, and when the required time had passed, I imagine Asami wouldn’t feel so guilty for leaving this mess behind when it was possible for everyone to find more civilized worlds to inhabit.

“There’s only one real choice,” Cinder stated her opinion.

“Hate to agree with Cinder, but she’s right on this one,” Rumi sighed, sounding genuinely disappointed that she was agreeing with Cinder.

Yoruichi simply shrugged, telling us that she would go with the majority. Robin, however, chuckled morosely, “I wonder what horrors await us in the New World?” She questioned, telling us her vote.

Mine was clear as day, “Decision made. What do we need to do?” I asked and Asami seemed vaguely relieved and at the same time, that much more tense. She looked away from us and to the Dias.

She hesitated to answer for a moment, “We’ll need to send in a small team first. Ideally, they can establish a landing point -- shelter, water, food, and… most of all, power. With the Anchor established, we can then send in the bulk of the force that would then go on to establish the settlement-” She began, only to cut herself off when my hand shot up, and despite all my lingering feelings, I found my heart pounding in anticipation.

“I’m going first,” I decided, and I could tell that caught Asami a little flatfooted. “My powers are pretty much perfect for it,” I added. Quick travel time, area of effect inspection of terrain and otherwise hidden dangers, and so on.

Yoruichi laughed, “You just want to be first.”

To that accusation, I offered an unashamed smile, “Absolutely.”

“Then I’ll be second,” Yoruichi decided. “Just in case,” she added and I nodded, glad for the company. Adventures were something that should be shared with friends.

“I’ll go as well.” Robin said, but before I could nod again Yoruichi chimed in.

“No, someone needs to keep things running here, and you're the best suited for that.” She pointed out, causing Robin to frown. That was a good point. Mirko and Asami could probably keep the Diaz functional if a riot broke out or something, and that was all I really cared about, but Robin would keep the riot from happening in the first place.

“You just want to have Law to yourself for a while.” She accused halfheartedly.

To that, Yoruichi offered an unashamed smile. “Absolutely.”

And, with that, it was decided. I was quickly given some equipment -- a backpack with some survival necessities, but most important was the Anchor itself. I thought it would look more impressive, but instead what I got was a segmented ring that was inlaid on what looked to be a segmented platform. I’m guessing that it had to grow a bit because otherwise, people would need to crawl through the portal.

I changed my clothing as well -- a skin-tight black undersuit that would regulate my temperature, and over it was dark clothing that reminded me of a cross between a windbreaker and a tracksuit complete with a hood. A familiar-looking mask covered my face for air filtration and eye protection. With my diamond sword at my waist, I was as ready as I could possibly be for venturing into a new world. Especially with Yoruichi at my side, dressed in a similar outfit.

We stood at the entrance of the Dias, feeling a hum of anticipation in my blood. There was a flurry of activity around the room as the procedure for activating it began. The first ring began to slowly spin, and as it did so, I glanced over at the others.  Rumi crossed her arms watching in faint interest while Cinder offered what I guess I could call a reassuring nod. Robin, however, seemed vaguely apprehensive about me stepping into a new world.

“Don’t worry,” I told her, my voice ringing out across the security glass. “They won’t know what hit them,” I reassured her. To that, I saw Robin relax ever so slightly. Rumi, on the other hand, seemed absolutely bewildered by the relationship between Robin, Yoruichi and me, looking between all of us with an expression of increasing incomprehension. It’d be fun to tease her on that, but I had something else to look forward to.

“First ring is locked,” Asami announced as I began to slowly walk forward, my heart starting to hammer at my ribs. “Second ring, locked,” she continued as the rings folded into each other as the third began to spin. The process repeated again and again and again, keeping pace with me as I approached the largest ring of them all. “Final ring… locked! The portal will open in three… two… one!”

As Asami called out, the dull metal backdrop of the other side of the spinning rings vanished, replaced with the picture of a dusty looking field with some satellite arrays in the distance. It wasn’t the same location that we had seen last time, I thought, not missing a step as I approached the portal. I even spared a thought that this was some elaborate plot of Asami’s to try to kill me, but she wouldn’t take the risk with something like this. Too much on the line.

With a content grin, I took a step through the portal and the lab vanished entirely. Glancing over my shoulder as Yoruichi stopped beside me, I saw the lab that we had left behind. The portal began to shrink, but the very last thing that I saw was Robin’s face. Then, without so much as a word… the portal vanished entirely and we were left standing… somewhere.

I took in a deep breath, the first breath of air on a new world, before I looked around for a landmark. It only took me a moment to find one -- a large arch with a busted out neon sign, complete with a bottle mascot. I tilted my head at the sight of it.

“Nuka-World?”