A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 49

A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 49

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Arksoul

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Everything’s personal about fighting.

You can lie to yourself, pretend something isn’t true, but in the end it’ll come back to you like a bad memory of something stupid you did earlier in your life. The people you try to make out like monsters are people. Everything that you destroy was built by somebody else. Everyone thinks they’re doing the right thing. No one goes and wakes up and believes that they’re a bad person who should do bad things.

So, of course, I go out of my way to make sure that I’m compensated fairly if I have to harm other people.

If you want me to kill someone, even if they’re someone terrible, you better be willing to shell out enough for me to get a therapist.

Those guys are in pretty high demand and short supply in the post-apocalypse.

Still, there were exceptions to the rule.

For example, if the person in question was sending child soldiers out to die, after breeding them from camps of forcibly indentured/enslaved women?

Yeah, I’m pretty willing to vastly lower my prices.

Hell, I’d sleep better at night knowing that I helped get rid of that kind of person!

Especially when I had to fight their child soldiers myself.

Definitely, at least 50% off the initial asking price.

…

The kids put up a stronger fight than I expected, which was a mistake on my part. Even when I worked with a few child soldiers back in my early days, when I was practically a child soldier myself, teamwork was essential to survival. If you were pumping out child soldiers, then it was only reasonable to teach them to work with another and make up for each other’s weaknesses.

Basic strategy.

Humans have been using numbers and tactics since we learned how to talk to one another.

Therefore, it was stupid of me to not expect the kids I was fighting to not be good at it.

Thankfully, Parvati hacked their communications, the EMP knocked out most of their gear, and I had all the advantages I needed to stay safe and take them out of the fight. Listening to their closed-comms, translated automatically in real time, was the biggest advantage.

“Formation 3! Square!” The team leaders were usually the oldest of the bunch, and they led three others. They were underneath a captain and lieutenant. Four squads of four with two officers. Eighteen total. Usually two ranged, one support, and one person who can hold the front. They used both powered armor, advanced weapons, and powers. Against most superhumans, they’d be overkill, in all honesty. “Watch in every direction! He could come from anywhere besides beneath us!”

Time to disabuse them of that notion.

I took a concussion grenade and teleported it in the middle of their formation at their feet.

It exploded and threw the group apart.

Giving me the opportunity to take their leader and spirit them away to Parvati’s hands.

“Squad three is down! I’m declaring fortress!” That was said by the tallest in their ranks. The moment it was said, they all came together, and those with energy powers started using their power to create walls. In a few seconds, while I zipped away to another part of the world, they came together and erected a dome of energy around themselves. Enough energy to stop an army unloading on them, so it was more than enough to stop my power from getting through. “Take stock! Heal your wounds, repair your equipment, and prepare for another assault!”

Still, while I couldn’t send my power through, that didn’t mean I couldn’t break through.

“Parvati, do you have something that can siege that down safely?”

“There is a nearby team with energy weapons that can deplete it. Sending you their location.”

“Thanks.”

A moment later, and I had that team right beside me on the rooftop I was on, and they were pumping energy into the dome.

“Teleporter has brought in auxiliaries! We can’t hold for long!”

“How long!?”

“Eight minutes… ten if we burn!”

“We need ten!”

“Yes, sir!”

Okay, I had to get through to them in five minutes.

“Need more hands on deck, Parvati.” I called the situation in. I didn’t want these kids hurting themselves to try and beat me. “I know there’s a massive issue in the air and there’s giant monsters around, but I kinda need assistance.”

“Allocating a Deva to your position.” I got some coordinates and a picture of a large, coffin-shaped container in the middle of a dark, reinforced room. That didn’t bode well. If I recalled correctly, Deva were pretty powerful and Indian myth and culture. “I must warn you, Devas are more independent than most of my soldiers for the sake of efficiency. They are also very, very powerful.”

I didn’t like the idea of working with anything or anyone that an AI had to warn me about, but the choice was letting kids ‘burn’ and accepting help.

So, I accepted help.

“Got it. Transporting… now.” I pulled it through to my location and a second later the coffin popped open. I had to pause. Just looking at it reminded me of the artificial god that the remains of the Indian government had been building. Blue skin, silver hair, four arms… but with a gynoid form instead of android one. It wore jewelry as clothes, covering any important ports with strands of gold, silver, and jewels all shaped like leaves and connected like vines. Its eyes opened and something close to a chill went down my spine. There as an inhuman intellect in its eyes. However, I swallowed my concerns as it levitated out of its holding capsule and took in the battlefield. “Hey, welcome to the land of the living. I need you to break that barrier, so that I could get those children out of here.”

I tried to play it cool… and felt like I succeeded just a tiny bit as the ‘Deva’ gestured at the barrier with an open palm and the air ignited between it and barrier. A pillar of bright, blue flame overwhelmed the barrier in an instant… and when it faded, there was only slightly singed kids clumped together there.

I didn’t hesitate to jump in after the energies faded, before they could realize what happened, and used the fact that they were bunched up together to send them all to the holding facility that Parvati prepared.

Alright, eighteen kids extracted from the battle.

Now… just had to worry about the superweapon I’d asked Parvati to provide.

I jumped forward and hoped that it’d sink back into its holding capsule, but I wasn’t that lucky.

“I have granted you your desire. Now grant mine. I act for myself. Not for my mother.” Right, independence. That was a thing. If I were Parvati, I’d put a whole lot of limiters on any artificial, pseudo-gods that I made, but maybe that was impossible. I wasn’t sure why the AI didn’t do that, but it was practical in the extreme, so I could only assume that it wasn’t. “I desire a name. My own. Not one given by the detestable being given to my mother by my father.”

I was tempted to give it a name, but I wasn’t going to throw my lot in with the walking weapon of mass destruction.

“Make one for yourself, then. No one else gets to do that.” I ain’t taking responsibility for this. All I did was ask for help to get kids out of the line of fire. That was the reason why I transported a ridiculously powerful gynoid obviously modelled after an artificial god. That is the end of our relationship and our interaction with one another. “I’m going to save more kids. Parvati?”

“I am locating possible adolescents now. Can you tell the Deva to accept communications?”

“Why would you even given it the ability to refuse?”

“I am attempting to create powerful individuals who are capable of acting in locations where my signal is blocked. That requires greater freedom and autonomy than my usual combat forms.”

“You didn’t have to make them a god! We literally sent the last AI construct with godlike abilities off into deep space, remember!?”

“This one is far less powerful than that. Her appearance is meant to inspire the populace and act much like Maelstrom for India. She was also the only model available with the power and precision you needed to get through that barrier in a timely manner.”

“Fine, fine. Whatever. You do what you want in your own backyard, dammit.” I grumbled and looked up only to find the artificial god looking at me with gold-colored eyes. An AI using myth and religion to control the populace through social modification. It sounded a lot worse when I thought about it. “Parvati told me to ask you to accept its communications.”

“I refuse.”

“Then, good luck with your life, I’m leaving now.”

It reached out for me, but I left before it could.

I’ll leave that issue for Maelstrom to handle.

There was still a whole battle going on.

…

Interlude: Rai

…

I was ashamed to awaken after the battle.

Despite the terror I felt, despite the might of the foe I faced, my continued existence after my defeat was my own fault.

I should’ve at least had the strength to make sure my foes couldn’t use my body to their own ends. If I were stronger, I should’ve at least ensured the deaths of my squad, so that they didn’t contribute their bloodline to the enemy. However, I dishonored myself completely, as I was now at the enemy’s mercy, restrained, and incapable of taking my own life or ensuring that they couldn’t force me to bear powerful warriors for them.

My power mixed with the might of the teleporter we’d faced spelled disaster.

I was to become a mother of monsters, and a deep shame filled me at the thought.

I needed to find a way to remove that possibility as soon as I was able, but I was restrained fully against a firm mattress.

There was a gag on me, too, which prevented me from biting off my tongue.

The intentions of the teleporter and his companions were as clear as day, especially as I realized that my body was washed and cleaned and redressed in a simple, white gown. There were also fluids flowing into my body from a bag on a tall stand, which I recognized as the same as the mothers kept deep in the palace. Unlike those blessed women, however, my fate was not to serve the Shogun, but to raise monsters against him.

All I could think of now was how many years it would take before I could earn enough trust to take my life.

And, how much fortune it would require, for me to not bear a child in those years without my power.

Suddenly, as I began to plan to rid myself of dishonor and shame, the door to the plain white room opened.

A… woman with dark skin entered the room in a nurse’s uniform.

A caretaker.

Nothing for me to fear.

“Good morning, my name is in Parvati.” She spoke in Japanese. I wondered if she had some means of clouding my mind and manipulating my body, but she moved only like a well-trained person without Talent. She looked at the bag of fluids feeding me, and the machine that was providing data to me, and wrote on a simple piece of paper whatever data was being provided. “My apologies for the restraints. Many of your fellows tried to end their lives upon capture. We could not risk you doing the same.”

Some pride welled up within me at those words.

My comrades tried to do the right thing. None surrendered and betrayed the Emperor. Or, at least, those that did were in smaller number than those who didn’t.

“Your powers are not being actively suppressed. Your ability to emit incredible amounts of electricity and speed up your reflexes, while also shielding your body from the strain, is now beyond your reach.” She tapped her neck, and I realized there was some sort of collar around it. “The unique chemical signals between your brain to your body that allows your power activation is being blocked by a counter-agent being constantly applied. Side effects of the drug include nausea, but there are no long-term issues.”

I had tried to use my power the moment I had awoken.

The mind was linked with the body to use Talents. Those who had Talent, but without loyalty to the Emperor, had their minds separated from their bodies. Their bodies still carried their power and blood thereafter, and they could be absolved of sin and shame by their children. My parents were such people. Though I did not know them, I bore their shame and sin, and now my chance at absolution seemed so far away.

“Rest assured that you will be treated with dignity and care. Three meals will be provided daily, if you agree that you will not harm yourself. Amenities shall be provided to better your current lifestyle, as long as you comply with orders.” The room changed as she spoke. Strange objects of glass and metal came forth from slides on the walls. They were screened, I realized, as they began to show moving pictures and give off sounds. Such were luxuries only the nobility could afford, yet they gave them prisoners? How much power and might did our foes have? What were their plans for me and my body? “Your companions attested that their bodies will be used to breed soldiers. We have no such plans for you. Even if you continue to refuse to comply and be rehabilitated, we will at most remove your ability to your powers and release you to your homeland.”

The thought of my Talent being taken away from me frightened me, but I could sense no lie regarding her words about the fate of my bloodline.

Which confused me greatly.

Were these not demons from outside Japan?

The people who wished to enslave us and use our bodies to their wicked ends?

Those who would take the world entire if we did not kill ourselves upon our capture and ensured the deaths of our fellows?

Why did they treat us with so much care?
Why were we being granted privileges and amenities only for the nobility?

The words of the Shogun resounded in my mind. I should not trust them, but what I saw now was in defiance to what I was told to expect.

I could not deny my own eyes, as only a fool would do that, but everything I saw was nothing like I was told.

Confusion filled my body and soul.