A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 51 (Patreon)

A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 51

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Arksoul

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If a drone could look depressed, Parvati was making a good attempt at trying.

Couldn’t exactly have a mental breakdown now, though.

“Hello? What’s up? Why is that thing over here and glaring at me? Reminder: there’s a massive fight going on and kids are literally burning out.” I gestured at the energy barrier that I’d tried to overcome a few times, while Parvati had gone ahead and tried to negotiate with its creation. Going straight through by channeling my power didn’t work, and they were able to go past the pain of their power being tested by all sorts of projectiles. If I kept up the pressure, a kid will die trying to keep holding out. “The barrier needs to go in one, solid hit to save those kids down there.”

“I am here to demand you acknowledge my name, Egress. Only then will I offer you my aid for rightful recompense.”

Oh.

I can work with that.

“I’ll give you a safehouse on the other side of the world in what used to be South America. It’s got a gadget in it that’ll let you contact me. One round-trip per month.” I’m an old hat on the bargaining table. Worked with a whole lot of people who weren’t just bloodthirsty, but also high-functioning psychopaths. And, I extracted money from those people. More money than they wanted to part with, usually. This is my territory. “How does that sound?”

“A welcome offer in exchange for my power and ability. First, though, I desire a name which shall echo through the world. One that you will speak with the same breath as Maelstrom without an ounce of chagrin.” Marketing, huh? This Deva, or whatever it was, knew how this world worked. You’re not getting far without a good name. It’s your calling card, the thing that pops up in people’s head right next to your face and what you’re able to do. Having a shitty name is a good way of killing your business off in its crib. “I see that you understand my goals. My wish is to rise into the ranks of individuals such as yourself and her. A title of grandeur is necessary and you have already chosen your name very well.”

“You know what, I’m willing to work with you on that, but let’s do it after saving the kids. You’ve got my word you’ll get my help… and it’s not something you should just pick off the cuff.” Marketing class from community college… go! What? It’s a deductible on my taxes and I don’t spend all my time eating food, working out, training, and entertaining myself. If you don’t use your head, you lose it. “There’s a load of things you need to consider. The people you want to help, the people you want to work with, and all sorts of other things. Not something you should consider in the middle of a fight.”

“…I see. I did not consider that, but it is an acceptable compromise. I shall recruit you for both the domicile you offer, the transportation you are willing to give, and your advice on choosing a name for myself.” The Deva nodded and crossed her arms. One pair, while the other two went wide and from her palms came forth pale flame. She lifted cleanly off the ground and I took note of the fact that her dress was in fact just the same flames she was using to hit targets. Marketing agencies would fight each other to the death to get her contact number. I guess being built by a madman scientist’s personal AI/artificial wife lent itself to looking good. “I will destroy the barrier now.”

With a gesture, the flames in her upper pair of hands turned into spears and smashed into the energy fields surrounding the latest batch of child soldiers. Not even a moment after contact did the barriers break… and I zipped right in to send them all on their way to safety. One more squad of child soldiers relocated from the battle… and there were no more signs of any more of them popping up. However, there was new information sent to me by Parvati.

“What’s this?”

“Some of the children are more forthcoming with their statements. We have found the breeding camp used by the Shogun to produce their children. It is mobile.”

“Can this guy get any worse? He literally has a rape wagon on steroids. Keeping his population starving, making mass soldiers, and now a mobile breeding facility?” I checked the coordinates and went to pop in alone when I suddenly found my surroundings saturated with power. Great. The newly-borne artificial god knows how to lock me down. This is why I hate working with people. “Uhhh? Can you let me go? I still have people I need to try and help.”

“Take me along. My wish is to become renowned and praised for virtuous acts. This shall be a good cornerstone of my reputation.”

“Oh, right. Makes total sense. Sure.” And, with that said, there wasn’t any twisting of the elbow or further demands. The Deva just wanted to tag along to the Shogun’s most well-concealed, and possibly best-defended asset. I’m not going to say no to some additional help, especially help with a lot of firepower. “Let’s go.”

The field faded instantly and I went over to the coordinates… and realized why the Shogun was fine with wrecking the above ground.

“Parvati, I think we’re going to need a few divisions of troops.”

“I concur.”

I knew that Japan had massive underground infrastructure, but what I was looking at now was just ridiculous.

Massive, industrial elevators were interspaced every kilometer or so in an utterly massive cavern. Gigantic pillars, pure white and probably made by a superhuman power, held up the ceiling and the city above. I’d wondered where the massive titan the Shogun used had been hiding, and where all the military forces that suddenly sprouted up from came, but here I had my answer. They were hidden and protected from surface-level attack in this massive, underground sub-district.

Piping and wires extended from the pillars and elevators onto clusters of prefabricated housing. There were entire buildings here that were connected by roads carved into smoothed stone. There were greenhouse spires here too, some mid-construction, but one or two that were operational and glowing in the cavern like buildings straight for the future, with light and hydroponics feeding the crops. Superhuman labor was the only way this was possible... and that just made things make even more sense.

“The Shogun intended to make this place the birthplace of a superhuman civilization.” The Deva stated simply.  She crouched close to the ground and touched the smoothed stone. How many of the kids that we relocated were used as manual labor to build this? Hell, if the Shogun chose only the strongest to be soldiers, then this is where the rest went. “An entire world in the palm of his hand and his city above its protection… or the heaven that all here would wish to be present in.”

“It’s a fucked up madman’s dream. That’s what it is.” I was all for underground shelters and self-sustainment. But forcing people to live in it, without preparation and their consent? This is just a prison with the Shogun acting as its warden. Did he just intend the kids popped out of his breeding camps to fill this place up and serve him whenever he called upon them? I didn’t know. “Anybody here? Wait. Parvati, can you check the roofs? It’d be right up that guy’s ally to put bombs up there.”

Parvati rattled off some coordinates, and soon enough a container full of drones were going all over the place to check it out. I noticed that this container was half-full of the drones, because it was one of the command types. I didn’t know what kind of signal transmitter Parvati had that allowed it to send a signal through so many meters of rock across the world, and I wasn’t about to ask. That sort of technological capability was something that I was going to just pretend that I didn’t understand the importance of… so that I can get lucky and get one for myself for free somewhere down the line.

But moving on to more important matters, while the scanning was getting done.

The Deva was finished looking over the road for whatever clues it was searching for.

“I feel leftover remains of imparted energy fading in this direction. The faint heat of friction and its fading leads me to believe that a massive vehicle has gone that way.” Okay, Parvati gave the Deva it intended to free itself the ability to detect energy on level pretty close to subatomic. I guess, you need some pretty powerful sensors with a lot of range if you’re meant to be an artificial god. I’ll file that fact away as something to be terrified by later. “I estimate that it is now five hundred meters away.”

She looked at me.

Oh, guess that’s my cue to use my power.

Yeah, I’m not liking working with this creature.

Alright, hold on and get ready to be shot at. Jumping in 3. 2. 1. Now.”

An instant passed and the world shifted around me, the Deva, and Parvati’s main unit. And, after that instant, a wall of white flame formed in front of us that began to block thousands of bullets and more than a few blasts of red energy that almost got through the barrier.

Yeah, I get it, everyone knows that sheer volume of fire is capable of making me retreat, if not capable of killing me outright.

Unfortunately for the defenses, they were prepared for a high-end superhuman with obscene power, but not Parvati’s creation.

“Begone.” The Deva said simply and flicked a hand at whatever was firing at us, probably capable of seeing through its own field of energy somehow. Whatever it did past the barrier it made resulted in a series of explosions and the screech of metal skidding across the concrete, then the sound of alarms and footfalls of powered armor. “Egress, I am aware you have no wish to be party to the deaths of others. I would rather kill them for what they protect, so if you wish for them to be spared… now is the time.”

The ball’s in my court if I want these guys to live.

Yeah, that’s fine.

“Drop the barrier for a second and I’ll get it done.”

“Good.”

The wall of pure, white flame was sucked into the Deva’s hand and turned into a small sphere the size of a tic-tac.

Didn’t pay attention to what she did with that much firepower, since there were more than a three dozen men in powered armor brandishing energized melee weapons coming at me. Their armor was stylized to mimic Samurai armor, but just stylized. The demonic visages were painted on or accessories on helmets, a few panels of colored fabric or thatch armor here and there, but beneath it all was powered armor. Armor that was energized on the outside to protect against teleporters and other esoteric effects.

Not something new to me, though.

I removed the ground at their feet, a chunk the size of a building, as they charged at us, and most fell into it in surprise. Those that didn’t opened up boosters and tried to bridge the gap, but I placed the building-sized chunk in front of them. They crashed into it, just as I made it disappear again, and then… sent some water in there. Not enough to drown them, just about knee-deep, and that’s when the usual thing happened.

Energized fields being projected on top of armor tended to overheat and overload when saturated with water.

The fizzle of ozone scented the air and the next thing I knew I could target them.

Off they wait to the containment areas that Parvati set up, sans their weapons.

I put the block back and looked over to my companions.

“All clear, let’s head in.”

They followed after me into the de-tracked and defanged land-crawler.

“Oh, uh, can you go ahead and make sure that no self-destruct command can be given, just in case?”  The Shogun struck me as the sort of guy who’d deny this ‘asset’ to anyone else, thinking that they’d do the same as him. Newsflash, you freaking psycho, no one else would. Parvati bobbed and went forward in its quadrotor towards the vehicle, while the Deva followed after with some sort of cord extending from its wrist. “Thanks.”

They started interfacing with the nearest outlet they found, while I went inside.

There were a few white-clad people yelling at me in Japanese all of a sudden, many of them armed, but I sent them off for Parvati to deal with while taking in the ‘inside’ of the massive vehicle.

“Holy shit.” There were over eighty women in hospital gowns and in different stages of labor. Some of them with bellies so large that it's indisputable that they were carrying more than children, and by the caesarean scars most of them sported, it was obvious they forced pregnancies weren’t something they could survive. That wasn’t the worst of it, though. My blood ran cold when I realized just how young some of them were. Thankfully, none were children, but the Shogun was a military general from pre-collapse Japan. He’s in his sixties. Some of these girls were barely twenty! “Parvati, tell me you can deal with this.”

The quadrotor body of the AI came forward at my call and took in the sight. It went unnaturally still, and the iris of its eye was wide open and unfocused, as if taking all that we saw in.

“…I am capable of doing so. There will be no need to keep the physicians who allowed this to happen. I shall incarcerate them immediately.” Good. Good, that’s a little weight off my shoulders. I didn’t want those people working with these victims. I checked the nearest one. Hooked up onto multiple IVs and unconscious, her vitals read that she was healthy, but I could plainly see that she was… atrophied. There wasn’t a name for her, either. Just a wrist band with the month she was expected. Her body was unkempt and if not for my mask, I was sure that the room would smell of unwashed bodies, despite being so pure, white and sterile. “I need to access one of those monitors. I will fabricate a similar facility and transport them.”

For a second, I was willing to let her do just that, but this place was the best place right now to keep these women safe.

So, I bit the bullet.

“No need. Give me secure coordinates and I’ll send this entire thing over in one piece.”

Parvati was quiet at that statement.

By my estimates, I just told her my capacity to transport things were five times what I showcased before.

Still, as much as I liked to keep my secrets, I wasn’t a monster who’d risk these poor people’s lives after everything that happened to them already.