A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 76

A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 76

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Arksoul

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Supervillains put all their eggs into one basket, because the bigger a project is, the more people are involved, and the harder it becomes to manage.

Think about it.

Supervillains always have some sort of mental health issue or some massive grudge that drives them to do insane shit. If you’re going out of your way to kill millions of people, you’ve got something wrong with your head that’ll make it harder for talented people to work under you. Sure, you can get a few hundred thugs for money, and maybe some crazy scientist or two, but you’ll be administering them all. Middle-managers and administrators are all assholes, but they’re not the type to work to end the world as they know it.

It's the world that gave them a steady career whereas they’d normally not have one, since they’re only talented at telling people what to do.

But back to supervillains and their crazy projects.

They tend to be on shoestring budgets, with a lot of inept workers, and very little brains. Most supervillains must do daring heists, steal a lot of money, or kidnap very good scientists and engineers for their plans. All of which gets a lot of attention very quickly. They must, because they won’t retain employees for very long, and anyone skilled will gouge them for money or just leave. Any organization keen on keeping the world stable and profitable will go after them, so they’ll get private superhuman on their tail, along with any vigilante or sanctioned, government superhuman. Basically, they don’t offer enough to make their dream doomsday weapon due to not being able to recruit who they need to recruit and the deadline that is the rest of the world coming to kick their ass.

Where am I going with this?

Well, supervillains don’t co-opt neo-Nazi organizations, steal peoples for slave labor, or establish logistical lines. They’re crazy, bent on doing something crazy, and barely have any logic to their actions.

So, I can’t call my new opponents supervillains.

They’re more… space warlords seeking to get a foothold on Earth?

Orbital tyrants?

Stellar lords?

I’ll work on the name, but for now, it was obvious that we misjudged the invasion of the neo-Nazi larpers as a threat.

They weren’t a bunch of racists bent on world domination that sold off slaves to people living in space.

They were basically an organization that was fed by and supported in order to establish facilities to fuel expansion in space by people interested in retaking Earth.

A whole patsy organization that hid the real threat.

And, unlike supervillains with their doomsday plots, these guys understood the value of logistics, organizational structure, and how to get people to do what they wanted willingly.

In other words, these guys were real, regular humans without limits and morals and have a goal that they’re willing to do anything for.

So, pretty much the most dangerous opponent type I can face in the planet.

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The massive transport disappeared, seemingly phasing right into open air, and when I extended my senses it hit a thick ‘cloud’ of energy in the shape of a dome.

Something that I’d seen before, but only before the bombs fell.

“There’s optical camouflage active. A massive dome covering a kilometer or two.” Parvati nodded at my statement and we proceeded on foot. I kept an eye out for any signs of energy, but found none. Optical camouflage across a wide area in the middle of Canadian tundra seemed to be enough security for whoever set the place up. Eventually, we walked through what felt like static electricity for a single step, and saw what the transport really went into. “Damn. It’s a whole manufacturing center.”

It was a massive facility. The transport we tracked lowered itself atop a building and dropped off its massive load of ore, and landed beside two other fully-finished transports. The facility it dropped off the materials at was a mass of massive pipes and large metal containers that were practically aglow to my ability to sense energy. Whatever was happening inside that, it was turning ore into refined cubes that were aglow as they exited and carted off to cool by technicians.

Yeah, technicians.

There were people all over the factory in uniforms, talking to each other, and coordinating effectively. They wore safety equipment of high quality. Power armor, some sort of energy shield that kept sparks off them, and even polarizing visors. These people were obviously highly prized and were being kept in good condition, while they operated heavy machinery to turn the mass that they gained into more of the massive transports.

Then, I realized that the massive tower at the center wasn’t just projecting the optical camouflage dome that hid the facility.

It was also a launch platform, a massive coilgun in fact, that shot out large containers filled with the raw materials brought in by the transports.

“This is an extraction center. It’s taking the resources of this land and sending it straight to space with intentions to expand.” Parvati spoke up, while looking from our vantage point. Most of the space was taken up by the facility, there was no wall around it. We easily found a tall outcropping that our camouflage molded into and we could look at everything from. Not that there were any security guards patrolling or cameras. “Those humans operating the facility… they’re all the same height and have similar faces.”

“Some sort of cloning technique of a good engineer? Maybe some sort of eugenics project?” If you took a good engineer and cloned him, then found a way to put the memories in, I suppose that solved the lack of talent you’d get with a harebrained scheme like this. “I see that they’re building transports, but can you see what’s happening in the closed off buildings?”

“Processor production. Silica is flowing into those facilities like water, along with gold and some other metals. With their heat output, they’re using very advanced optical etching technology. Very precise thus requiring computational power, and the etching itself will require power, too.” Parvati shook its head and looked around some more. Forgetting that it could just forward the information to my binoculars. When sufficiently shocked, Parvati acted a lot more human. “I’m detecting a fusion-based power plant. No. There are several distributed all over the facility. This facility may be the most efficient launch method ever devised… and it’s being used to exploit this land.”

“The larpers really are just muscle then. They’re going to push into Canada, build up, and then sweep into the rest of North America.” Both the US and Canada had vast amounts of natural resources. They were barely getting tapped into when global trade fell, since there was still hope that it’d get restarted and some of the golden age would come back. However, after it all ended, there was a lot less people and a lot of land with a lot of resources. I had doubts that the few million people left around the continent could use up everything here for a thousand years. A bunch of people up in space fighting wars to rule over the whole solar system with this much industry and tech? Yeah. They can do it in a century or two, if Earth doesn’t get smashed by their rivals to deny them resources.  “Why do we keep stumbling on massive issues like this?”

“It is inherent to the current situation. Everyone is gathering power and establishing themselves, as the troubled times are over. Like a forest regrowing swiftly and with more strength after coming alight.” Parvati waxed lyrical and I answered with a grunt. A faint smile formed on the features of the AI’s gynoid body. “It is human nature to move forward. Sadly, human memory is short… or selective. This path will only lead to more conflict and destruction in the future, if nothing is done.”

“Yeah, there’s no need to convince me. I’m pretty sure this whole incursion and exploitation plan will get everyone riled up and ready to fight.” Maelstrom won’t allow North America to be exploited, and neither will she abide by slavery. Anderson’s a religious fanatic, but not one of those that believes that slavery is part of society. Clancy will take one look at the bunch of guys who look down on anyone not with fair skin, then at Qin and his daughter, and probably have a fit about them being on the same continent as his family. That’s just off the top of my head and with people from the states. I’m sure that everyone around the world will hear about people from outer space coming in to remove resources for their own use and band together. “You know, this might be a way to unite the rest of the planet. Or, you know, at least keep everyone from killing each other before the orbits are secure.”

“That would be too dangerous. They have orbital supremacy. If they find the whole world united against them, then they will make a show of force that will cow the entire world. Only weapons of mass destruction can manage such a feat. They’ll rule over ashes with glee, with all that they care about up above.” Parvati shook the head oft the gynoid accompanying me. It focused its gaze on the exploitation site. “No. If we are to move against them, then we’ll need to take the orbits. You and Maelstrom will be instrumental in the act. A network of battle stations combined with some ground-based defenses should be enough, then we can move towards addressing the threat.”

“Sounds good, but if things go bad, you just need to find where they are in space and I’ll…” I dragged my thumb across my neck and Parvati grimly nodded at my statement.  Maybe, I was overselling my abilities. But with the right preparations, I can put a lot of things all over the solar system. Space is massive, but with Parvati already making a sensor net and stealth in space being nigh-impossible, we just needed enough eyes pointed in every direction till whoever’s doing this is found. Then, it’ll be a matter of scavenging or grabbing superweapons and breaking up ships by dropping them in close enough. Heck, if we had a big enough gun down here, I could just send the rounds right into the ship even if it’s covered in an energy field. “Just set me up next to a big cannon in a deep bunker and we can clean everything up.”

“I shall keep that in mind, Designation: Egress, but I’m sure that cost would be too high for either of us to pay.” Parvati stated, and on that I had to agree. I mean, I’ll probably be good for destroying a few dozen ships filled with a bunch of people who want to turn Earth into their personal resource site. However, it’ll fuck me up in the long term. I wouldn’t be able to pay the mental bills for that sort of thing, even with everything Parvati could probably offer. I’d be straight up fucked in the head, and that’ll bring everything good I’m doing to a screeching halt. “At most, I’ll have you transport massive amounts of drones to asteroids or resource-rich areas around the system, and seek your assistance in establishing myself to contest Earth’s orbits.”

“That’ll probably be for the best.” I agreed evenly, before casting another look at the facility. It was tempting to burn it down, but… “We can let this place build up after we start the attacks. Make them think we don’t know it exists, then when they start sending out their transports or changing them to hit back, we blow it up.”

“I agree. Let us focus on rescuing their prisoners. I have finished composing a treatment for the workers at the strip mine and have temporary accommodations for them set up.” I took that as a cue to mentally mark this location and jump away back to the mine. It was still hard at work, just like when we left it, but the patch of land we left at was cleared out of the body that we left behind. It was a veritable landing area for the troops coming in. Parvati gave a single nod my way with the infiltrator body, before leaving, and the better-equipped combat gynoid came forward and didn’t miss a beat before continuing the conversation. “I have forwarded the information to Maelstrom and Seran, as well as Anderson. They are now preparing for what is to come.”

“Didn’t ask anyone for help?”

“They would slow us down.” That statement made me raise an eyebrow, but it only lasted until I went to the normal shipping area that Parvati used when I transported stuff for it. My question was answered as soon as I arrived. Ten full shipping containers waited and they were filled with the advanced war forms the AI preferred to not use in mass, but as elite groups. That wasn’t the case here. Every single unit waiting to be transferred over were the Kali units that Parvati’s creator designed and produced to take over the planet. Fast flyers with incredible agility and strength and toughness, as well as the ability to project energy through their eyes and palms of their hands. Pretty much vaguely-human-shaped aerial superiority units. “My daughter should be coming as well.”

“Someone has intentions to turn this planet upon which I reside into little more than a mine for resources. Of course, I shall move against them.” Advika stated and walked our way. The Deva went through a few modifications since I last saw her. Wearing a purple, sleeveless  top and high-waisted white pants along with some flats, she seemed normal if not for the white flame ring that circled behind her. She also looked like she made herself a bit smaller and human, if still too beautiful to ever be human. Humans didn’t have ruby eyes or platinum hair, let alone a figure like hers without serious surgical and genetic modifications. She didn’t hide her power. She flaunted it. Right at me. “Hello, Egress, have you been enjoying playing shopkeeper with mother?”

“Sup. Been a while. Sorry, can’t talk. Busy.” I gave her an idle wave, which apparently wasn’t the right move. The Deva took flight and floated over beside me. She was giving off major clingy vibes for some reason. I had suspicions, but I didn’t want to acknowledge them due to fear of being right. Parvati trying to push me towards the Deva wasn’t helping, either. “If you’re coming along, turn down your flames.”

I ignored both Parvati’s nudging and Advika’s pout in favor of saving the enslaved people working at a strip mine.

Prioritization is key with this sort of thing.

From what I know, though, they’ll take it as a challenge to be prioritized more highly, rather than insulted by not being paid attention to.