A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 33

A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 33

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Arksoul

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There’s an unfortunate truth that reputation builds up over time.

Now, for most people, this is a good thing. They do their job right, they work hard, and they get valued more for their work. It’s a resume that speaks for itself, gets the job done, and you get offers instead of having to hunt for jobs.

But, I decided at an early age to not advertise myself for my own safety.

Sure, it came with a lot of downsides. People didn’t fall onto their asses to get me to work for their nation. I didn’t get multi-million dollar contracts. All the legwork was on my front. Most of my work had to be dangerous and in backwaters, or active conflict zones that even journalists couldn’t head into. No five-star hotels, amazing treatment, or even Wi-fi.

Still, it was the price for privacy as a superhuman of my caliber.

No one knew how much I could do.

No one knew my limits.

No one would go out of their way to get me on their side or kill me.

Did I want to be treated like royalty? Yes, but in the end, I made enough money to splurge and enjoy the same thing. I even managed to eat at the best restaurants the world had to offer by just putting down reservations, showing up, and having the money to pay. When I splurged, I splurged, and that was enough to keep me going while working as a sorta-strong-superhuman with weaknesses that he couldn’t reveal.

So, no one came looking for me when I locked myself up.

However, that wasn’t the case anymore.

Now, I was being more active, working with people more openly, and anyone left alive was more cautious and more paranoid than before.

So, in the end, I wasn’t at all surprised to pop into one of the islands I frequented and found someone waiting for me there.

…

An armed landing craft was on the beach. Several dozen soldiers were around me in black tactical gear with big guns. Three people clad in the same clothes weren’t armed, but I supposed they were on standby and were waiting to play their card. Some sort of weird net was around the perimeter of my area.

Finally, at the head of these troops and meeting my gaze, was a humanoid machine form with a screen for a head that transmitted someone’s face from afar.

The field around my domicile activated, saturating the air with something, and I found that I couldn’t leave.

However, I went through this song and dance once already, so I reached behind me, pulled the pin on a satchel charge and threw it at the netting.

There was a sudden outcry, guns went off, nothing hurt me, and when the smoke cleared I was standing in place unharmed, while the emitter was gone along with whatever energy it was emitting.

That’s the problem with energy emitters.

They and whatever they’re sending stops when a sufficient burst of heat and pressure suddenly washes over them.
Meanwhile, I’m perfectly safe with my personal defenses.

A moment after the smoke cleared, I disarmed all the soldiers, and brought all the ones without weapons in front of me, right before their leader’s sight. Well the surrogate robot-thing’s line of sight.

“Sup.” I greeted my attackers languidly. “You’ve got thirty seconds to apologize, before I send everything and everyone here to my favorite underground chasm.”

To the credit of the person across the screen, despite the latency involved in our conversation, he apologized.

“We underestimated your power. Our intentions were to abduct a person with the ability to travel the world, but one not as strong as you. I offer my most sincere apologies.” The robot proceeded to make a bow from the waist, which was followed by the disarmed normal humans to bow too. I put two and two together. “All we knew from our sensors, after you were turned away by the Shogun’s deterrence systems, was that you were very capable at traversing long distances. I apologize for underestimating you, your eminence.”

A lot of warnings were blaring in the back of my head, most of them along the lines of an Imperialist Japan with some sort of superhuman aristocracy having arisen, but I put them aside for now.

They seemed pretty reasonable people who understood the situation.

“Alright, that’s good enough. I’ll just be keeping one hostage, then.” I sent the two that were smaller away to their people. They were quick to stand and bow just like the normal humans. “How’d you know that energizing an area would stop me from going anywhere?”

“Long ago, we were beset by a villain with ill intentions. He was eventually stopped by a makeshift electrical fence. We developed this countermeasure in mind.” Oh great, other people who had similar powers to me were around, and they were revealing our weaknesses. At least, I have a contingency on hand for it already. “He now works for the Shogun and is his enforcer. All who can mount a resistance against the Shogun must use this defense.”

“Sounds about right… so what’s your job offer and the pay?”

That caught the person I was speaking to by surprise.

“Y-you are willing to work with us?”

“Well, you did apologize, no one’s hurt, and I’ve honestly been put through worse.” Also, I had two allies that could punch your shit in. I say allies, but I honestly mean customers. The best customer base is the one that’ll fight to get you back.  “So, hit me with it. I’ll give it a fair shake. If the work’s fine, and the pay’s good, I’m willing to help you all out.”

There was a bit of silence for a while, before the man feeding me information received that info himself.

Even the man talking to me through a robot body was a decoy?

I was liking these people more and more.

“We are the Tokyo branch of the Resistance. We strive to overcome the Shogun’s tyranny over our lands. Through his armies and his elites, he has ruled over Japan.” Footage played on the screen while the man spoke to me. I took a cursory look and found no women amongst them. I was seeing where this was going. “He takes women with power and related to power and forces them to breed an army of superhumans, he turns men into slaves to toil and feed his armies, and those without purpose or are incapable are killed.”

Never mind.

I thought I was dealing with a warlord superhuman that managed to take Japan and turn it into a hellhole.

Instead, I had a world-conquest seeking sociopath.

Never a dull moment.

The footage was less than appealing to look at. Japan seemed fairly modern still, but there was an obvious regression in terms of living standard. The buildings looked more aged, there were cracks in the streets, and most importantly, there were masked officers going around with data tablets scanning women, while men trudged in uniform jumpsuits towards work. It was something like out of a shitty doujin, which just made the situation that much more fucked up, since I was potentially dealing with tyrant otaku that managed to conquer Japan.

“Wow, you guys are in some deep shit.” I made my thoughts on the matter clear. Their intelligence gathering aside, along with their kidnapping attempt, made me think of my own lack of knowledge of Japan. “Wait, you said you tracked me after I came over? I don’t recall being there.”

“That is one of the Shogun’s defenses. He has cultivated a defense force to ensure that Japan is not interfered with. Those without preparation will arrive, find nothing, and leave without thinking.” As far as defenses went, I had to admit that this one was impressive. It wouldn’t work with an army sent in by a nation, but against solo superhumans roaming around the world, it sounded incredible. Hell, it got through my defenses, and now I was considering working for these guys just to get a way to protect myself. “We are willing to give you the means to protecting yourself from the attack as a sign of trust.”

“Give me a description, the last time I wore anything someone wanted me to, I was almost blown up.” Was I ever going to be fine receiving free stuff again? Well, technically, I ate plenty of the food that Walker gave me and that I bought from her communities. Then again, I couldn’t exactly compare anyone else to being a paragon of virtue like her. Parvati was the only one I was willing to do business with and get gear from, and even then I didn’t want any power armor, or anything that could explode and immolate me instantly. “Not wearing a dang thing anyone gives me.”

“Schematics and blueprints, then. We have that available.” A hard drive was presented to me by a soldier from several meters away. I plucked it right out of his hand. The soldier went back to bowing and so did the surrogate speaking to me. “Please, if you intend to help us, return here within a week’s time. We will be here until then!”

“I’ll give this data a look over.” By me, I meant Parvati, because the AI was going to be better at that sort of thing than me. “See you around. I’ll at least drop by to tell you if I’m not interested.”

There was probably some overly dramatic response after that, but I didn’t bother to stay.

I released my captive and left the situation behind.

It wasn’t my problem, until I decided that it was my problem.

Preferably after looking around Japan without being mind-fucked.

…

“How do you end up in so many strange situations?”

“Generally speaking, they find me rather than the other way around, like you did. If everything goes according to my plans, no one notices me.”

“Point.”

While Pavarti was decompiling the information in an air-gapped room, with a computer that it was interfacing with via a mostly-flesh-based body, I was looking around my new game center. It was in a bunker within Parvati’s main complex, but with its own power, water, and heating. Parvati told me that it as a compact unit I could plop down anywhere I wanted, which I appreciated, even though I didn’t like the fact that the AI figured out that I could transport such massive amounts around.

“How’s the decompiling and analysis going?” I asked, while sitting back on an ergonomic gaming chair. Lumbar support and cupholders, as well as no need for cushion for the rear. I didn’t know why people didn’t use one all the time. It was the perfect thing to sit on. “Find any viruses on the drive?”

“If there are any, I would be surprised, and obsolete. That is to say, I have found none. It is a design for a small radio-wave emitter. A light field and barrier that creates a sphere around the person. Whatever power is being used seems to be countered by the generated waves… somehow.”

Yeah, I didn’t get how radio-waves would counter superhuman mind energies, either.

Powers were powers, which meant they were weird, and had weaknesses.

Technically, you could put up a bunch of ionizing fans in a room and I’d be unable to teleport out. If I didn’t have my protective field going, you’d even get the opportunity to shoot me in the head or anywhere else to kill me. Thankfully, I always had the field going now from practice. Otherwise, a leaf-blower with some extra gadgets on it could be my downfall.

“Don’t think too hard about it. Anyway, what’ve you got on Japan?”

“There is a strong ECM curtain over the island. A very sophisticated one that makes most sensors useless.” That the island was protected against surveillance wasn’t a surprise. The fact that it had protections that were good against Parvati was. The AI was bullshit, even with its quirk of traipsing around as young women with lots of different bodies and many different clothes. Man, Shiva really needed to get out more, if he coded that as a core value for his world-conquering AI. The one I was looking at was one of the servant ones. Pure white button up long sleeves and pants, tied back black hair, and a light tan. Shiva had a type. “If I am going with you as support, then I will have to do so through an independent model.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening. I don’t work well with others. Literally, because I don’t like plans where I can’t just leave.” I tested the computer I was provided by running some downloads. They were instantly in and ready to be played. Damn, having an AI provide an entertainment suite was a good call. I left the computer to check on the console replicas. They were fine-tuned and upgraded versions of the last generation to be released, and they could play games from earlier generations. All the money spent getting a whole copy of all the emulated games I wanted paid off. I’ll be able to drown myself with nostalgia at this point. “I’m going in solo.”

The servant-form looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

“The inhabitants of Japan already have countermeasures against teleporters. They already trapped you once already, even if you escape. It would be foolish to not bring someone else along.”

I paused at that statement, mulled over it, and reclined on the very lush sofa.

“Yeah, you’re right.” I wasn’t above admitting that I was wrong. In my defense, I wasn’t used to dealing with people who knew how to counter my ability from the get-go. Usually, it was just a bad surprise that I had to overcome someway or another. The rules change when my opponents knew my weaknesses right away. “I don’t want anything with too much gun, and you should probably get a form with lighter skin, because you might stick out like a sore thumb.”

“I am aware of the cultural attitudes of the Japanese.”

“Awareness is one thing, experience is another. I’ll be staying out of sight, but you’ll probably want to move around.” I mulled over the idea a bit more. Why was I heading over there anyway? It was obviously dangerous, filled with traps that could hold me down, and there was little reward involved since I was going to be working with a resistance of sorts. They tended to not have very deep wallets. “How much firepower are you going to bring?”

The silence from Parvati at the question made me pause before booting up a childhood classic.

It was that damning.

“Parvati?”

“…”

“Parvati, we’re infiltrating. You have infiltrators.”

“This is a very dangerous location and I would be remiss to not treat it as such.”

“Dammit, Parvati, tell me you’re not planning on sending a WMD into Japan!”

“It’ll only have a few megatons as maximum output. Five at most!”

“No, absolutely not! That’s not allowed!”

Parvati abruptly got up from her seat on the sofa and starting walking out, forcing me to go after the AI.

I thought I managed to get through to it about firepower being secondary to skill, but apparently it didn’t take!