A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 84

A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 84

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Arksoul

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In the span of an hour, there was only so much help that I could get.

Maelstrom was naturally on board, and it was easy to get her to come to help since  knew where she was, but everyone else I had to find and talk to.

A quick conversation with someone else can end up taking fifteen minutes.

Convincing another person to go ahead and attack the patsies of some imperialists from space?

Yeah, that typically takes time, so the first two people I went to after Maelstrom were Clancy and Qin.

Clancy was easy enough.

“Got a job that involves killing racists that enslave people and sell them off to people in space? You in?”

“Pay?”

“A ton of loot and a whole cow.”

“Carcass or an actual, living dairy cow?”

“Carcass.”

“Can I get a dairy cow?”

“Two carcasses.”

“Fine, I’m in.”

After that, we shook on it, and I went over to China and found Qin at the spot where I usually picked up soy sauce and other seasonings to bring over to the US.

“You got time to kill some slavers working for imperialists up in space?”

“No. I am needed here to deter any attacks.”

“Damn. Thanks for the time.”

“You’re welcome.”

Then, I went over to the Japanese to try and talk to the superhuman genius with clones of herself, but I couldn’t find her in under five minutes, so I just gave up on that idea.

I went ahead and visited the neo-nobility that took up the middle of Canada.

Lady Edel and Headmistress Lucille were my two contacts, and I didn’t find the former, but the Headmistress was in her office.

“Egress—” She was naturally ready to shout at me for appearing moments after I called her for permissions, but I interrupted her.

“The people on your coast are backed by very powerful people up in space. They’ve got fabricators that can churn out power armor, and they’re reinforcing a whole city as a staging point. I’m assaulting it within the hour, and I need volunteers. Whoever participates can take salvage.” Parvati was helping and provided me with pictures. I put it on the desk, and the headmistress went into analyzing them quickly. “Don’t want any kids involved, so if you’re in, I’d appreciate you gathering a group and getting them right here when I come back in twenty minutes.”

“Wait—

“Sorry, talk to Parvati, I need to find more people.”

With that, I left the suited woman and went over to Seran’s office.

Once upon a time, going this fast to so many places would’ve left me dizzy, but I practiced by decorating multiple rooms differently and going into them one after the other. Since distance didn’t matter to me, it was all about differences in environment, and with some exposure training I managed to get a handle on the issue.

“Hey. We’ve got like a few minutes. Jumping some idiots trying to turn North America into a resource extraction site. You in or out?”

Seran paused for a moment.

“Urban environment?”

“Either urban or inside a container ship filled with loads of high tech fabricators and lots of heavy armor.”

“I’ll take the ship. There are a few compounds that need testing. Who do you have with us if someone strong jumps us?” Seran was all business and moving through her office already. She knew how this worked. “Can you take me to the lab?”

“Sure.” I put a hand on her shoulder and went over to the entrance. We were in, and thankfully, we weren’t descending to where she was keeping a ridiculously overpowered artificial lifeform. “What’ve you got?”

“Non-reproducing lifeforms specialized to gum up armor and make it useless. We already have an artificial slime that we dump scrap into to get raw materials. Great for getting very pure materials. I thought to weaponize it.” We walked for a minute and got to a room filled up with pallets. She went over and opened one. Inside were numerous cylinder-shaped items the size of my fist that were vaguely like flashbangs. “Seven-meter range. They cling and eat solid material that’s not clothes or organic.”

“You’ve got one that eats clothes, huh?”

“Adult product for civilian use. For regular use, it breaks down old fabric into something more workable, clean, and without any dyes.” In a world where a lot of cities were abandoned and just fit for looting, that made sense. Heck, find a couple of department stores and you’re golden. “These creatures perish after two minutes, but they can do enough to destroy a suit of power armor in that time. Drop a couple of pallets here and there, even on some vehicles, and you’re looking at a lot less firepower aimed at you.”

“Pretty much perfect for the occasion, then. How many can I have?”

“These were meant to be field tested, so go ahead and take a pallet. I’ll set another one aside just in case. Now, you’re going to need something for heavy hitters, right?” Seran asked and I readily agreed. We walked to the end of the room. There was something that looked close to an angle grinder on a stick. Some sort of spear? “This is an experimental weapon. The entirety of the staff is the power supply. The weapon at the end spins up and creates a plasma disc capable of tearing apart most shields and matter within seconds. Operating time is just under ten minutes, and if you turn it off, it won’t have enough juice to reignite.”

“But the time limit won’t matter much in my hands, or someone who doesn’t have to worry about getting hurt by it.” I looked over the weapon. If it could tear through armor and superhuman toughness, then it most certainly had every right to look a bit goofy. Seran offered it to me, but I shook my head. “Keep in reserve along with the second pallet. An ace in the hole, just in case someone comes along that we need it for. It’ll just be popping over here, then going back, and using it.”

“Right. That’s about all that I have. I don’t want my people involved without a vote, but this much I can give. Most of the stuff here I built myself with my own investments, after all.” Seran looked my way with a serious glare. “But if you need help, we can deploy her. She’s strong, Egress.”

I was already shaking my head no before she finished talking.

“It’s one thing to make your dream lady. It’s another thing to make a person just to have them fight. Hell, I don’t think making someone to make them a sensor suite isn’t right, either.” I’ll cross that line if I must. I mean, I’m already going to Parvati for help. If I was a good person, I’d try to convince Parvati to not make gynoids or additional Devas. Instead, I was almost counting on the AI to keep escalating and improving itself so that this planet had a chance at getting out of the hellpit of violence that it found itself in the last few decades. As much as I didn’t trust Parvati, I wasn’t exactly moving to stop it. I’m willing to let it grow powerful, so that I can live in a less fucked up world. Of course, if I had to, I’ll take Seran up on her offer. “If we have to, let’s ask her for help. If we need to.”

I repeated myself just to make it clear, and waited until Seran nodded.

Right, let’s see how far Parvati’s gotten.

With a thought, I went back across Canada to the new location where Parvati was staging us at.

“Bay 1 and bay 2.” The AI told me from its drone body, and I obliged. Going from its mountain base to Canada in an instant with the large shipping containers in tow, I then watched as small drones flowed out by the hundreds from racks within the shipping containers and began to either fly or crawl towards the buildings and ship that the conquerors of the city used. A shimmering field surrounded them and made them melt into their surroundings. “I estimate thirty or so minutes before their work is completed. Perhaps, you should continue speaking the Headmistress?”

I gave Parvati a nod, before heading back to Lucille’s office.

The fork I left behind to brief Lucille was displaying the real-time output of the drones we just deployed on Lucille’s cleared desk. Quebec was slowly forming in high detail thanks to the swarm of invisible recon bots. Man, those things would be terrifying if they had explosives… or even just small caliber weapons or tasers. If they had long enough battery lives, Parvati can just always observe everyone, and strike the moment a crime is about to happen. One more sign that Parvati’s going to be Big Sister in a year or two, I guess.

“Yo. You wanted to talk to me?” Generally, Parvati had stuff like this in the bag. Most people weren’t paranoid enough to be able to say no to it. Usually because they saw Parvati as generous and well-spoken, just like the best swindlers. To most people, all the technology it offered was just a return to their previous lives, which they were grateful to the AI for. But the AI can churn that stuff out with ease, while we couldn’t. All those gifts just make people less willing to say no to it. So, of course, I was ready for the AI to just absolutely take control of the pseudo-nobility popping up in the middle of Canada. “Anything in particular that you want to know?”

Lucille levelled a glare at me. Despite it only being a few minutes since we last met, her hair was a bit frazzled and she looked very irritated. I suppose that she didn’t like getting this quick strike opportunity on her lap. The fact that she didn’t say no yet, though, made it clear that she just wanted clarifications before committing. After all, the first polity these crazies backed by space tyrants were going to contact were her people.

And, it was unlikely that contact method was going to be nice, peaceful, and full of understanding.

Pfft.

“I have been brought to speed. I have questions regarding this mercenary you’re bringing in. Clancy.” Parvati obliged and brought up a picture of the dude when Lucille mentioned him. The fact that the AI had a gynoid stationed over there became apparent. I hadn’t seen him in full regalia for a fair amount. While he’s tough and strong, he didn’t skimp on carrying armor and weapons. He basically wore a modified bomb disposal outfit and changed up the plates into tungsten. In it he was covered in a full ton of armor, and he used a 20mm autocannon like a rifle. Whatever the rifle couldn’t kill, he could bullrush and crush. “Can he be trusted? Parvati states that he is a warlord in the Midwest of America who has taken on many wives. His rule is unopposed, even if there’s a system of voting in place.”

I had to raise an eyebrow at the question, even though she couldn’t see my face.

“You’re worried about him being brought into the fold because no one opposes him as their leader? Your people are a superpowered aristocracy. His people actually have a vote, you know?” Lucille grunted at my statement. Probably, she saw the situation with her people as normal. How people could transition from a democracy to an aristocracy within a generation, I didn’t know. Probably had something to do with how the new people in charge saved the rest of the population, or just killed off all their competition. “Now, as for the womanizer part, I say you don’t let any lady near him. He’s an absolute horndog. If you keep away, and say no, he’ll respect it. He must. I’ll kill him if he doesn’t. Actually, Qin probably would first.”

“Qin?”

“Another mercenary contact. She’s off in China setting up an Emperor there.”

Lucille looked at me for further explanation, but I just gave her a shrug.

“You’re not getting that information for free. Buy a couple tons of soy sauce and chili oil and you’ll probably get to talk to her. They love maple syrup.” I checked the time. The conversation was a few minutes long by now, but no one else came to mind for the assault. Maybe, I’ll check if the Japanese lady was interested. I’d forgotten her name, but having a submarine helping us keep the boat locked up would be great. “Is there anything else? Clancy’s all up for killing and looting. He’s professional and won’t do anything to you, if you don’t do anything to him.”

Mercenaries, even super-powered ones, don’t get far without professionalism and an end goal. Qin and Clancy were like me. The two of them had goals, never crossed the line in the sand, and made sure to stay professional when working. No attempting to network or curry favor with one another, besides having beers or eating out after working, and we didn’t bother each other. We took on average jobs with average pay for mercenaries, never the impossible shit that got people killed, and none of us got hopped up on stimulants or other drugs.

Clancy’s out there making babies, and the whole power dynamic with his facility and his powers is fucked, but I asked Parvati and there weren’t any signs of abuse and no hard feelings if the women involved left him.

That’s about as clean as I could expect from Clancy and most superpowered young men.

“…I’ll keep your statement under consideration. I’ll be participating in the battle and bringing along former students. Graduates who are wed.”

“Make sure that those weddings are happy ones.” I told Lucille plainly, and idly gestured at Clancy. Parvati again obliged and provided a picture of him out of armor. Tall, buff as hell, and obviously without a malicious thought in his head. The build and strength of a superhuman barbarian, but with the brain and self-control of a himbo. Yeah, I don’t recommend bringing young ladies around this guy. “You might accidentally ruin some family alliances.”

Lucille just groaned and shook her head.

“I may as well bring someone who is unwed and with poor prospects to attract his attention.”

Normally, I’d be all for that idea, but…

“Maelstrom will have words with you, if you try pulling states away from the US. Just keep that in mind, if you’re sending someone our way. You’re giving them away, not taking Clancy for yourself.” I told Lucille and received a nod in turn. Her thoughts were obviously turned towards making the situation work. “I’ll be back in half-an-hour. Gather everyone up or at least get them ready at coordinates for pickup. The attack’s in an hour.”

After recon is done, it’s time to blitz the place with all the firepower I could get my hands on.

So far, it looked pretty good, but I still had some time.

Time to try and get some more.