A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 29

A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 29

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Arksoul

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Maelstrom.

It’s a pretty scary name for one of the strongest superhumans on the planet, especially when they happen to be one of the nicest.

Kaede Walker, however, chose a pretty bad time to get into the game.

We started around the same time. Mid-teens. While I was trying to piece together a life from the gutter, she stepped into the national stage. Rural white trash from the Midwest. Japanese-American from the West Coast.

Honestly, she’d have done a better job at piecing a life together in my place, and I would’ve lost my mind in her place.

Everyone was scared shitless back then. Everything was in chaos, society was just holding on, and there were more people doing what they wanted than those who were doing what was good for everyone else. Bank robberies on the daily. Hostage taking. CEOs getting murdered in their houses. The politics meant to throw people into disunity and into the waiting arms for two parties turned America into a bloodbath barely held together by a few task forces and good Samaritans.

Then, Maelstrom came to save the day.

Beyond anyone’s ability to hurt.

Fast enough to cross the country and back in an hour.

Strong enough to just take most problems on with her gloved hands and win.

Finally, she had plenty of hidden tricks that she could use when she needed to limit civilian casualties.

A miracle that the US used to pull itself together, put down every roving band of superhuman within weeks, and stabilize everything.

A news anchor called her a “good-natured maelstrom sweeping across America.”

Maelstrom stuck.

While I would’ve broken down into a drooling heap following orders in her place, she took charge, used her influence, and didn’t get involved. Like someone in the right place, at the right time, in a history book… she was hero through and through. Fighting the good fight, saying the right things to everyone, and championing the helpless no matter what. She did more than defeat her enemies, she deterred them from ever existing, and brought up those who hesitated into becoming like her.

America would’ve never been able to export highly-experimental jets from India, if she hadn’t been around.

It would’ve broken in half, or more, and the world would’ve been worse.

Still, though, in the end she could handle one nation and help bring it up.

Her reputation, her history, and her talent were enough for her to save and uplift a superpower from the breaking point to the point of becoming one of the only stable nations with large superhuman populations in the world.

The problem really started when she thought that she could do the same for the rest of the world.

That she could save everyone with help.

That’s when the world decided to hit back and ruin her.

I wasn’t privy to the exact details, and I wasn’t going to ask, but I could see just fine.

Code Walker was broken up, desperately trying to fix herself, and make amends for the horrible clusterfuck that happened years ago.

With that in mind, I went after her with a purely-selfish goal: making sure that she her current state didn’t devolve and turn her into a psychopath.

No one was going to survive that.

…

Walker dropped down and looked around the empty village, while I caught my breath.

“You could’ve called me. I have a communicator.” Walker lightly smiled and brushed back her hair, before crossing her arms. Wearing a half-coat over her shoulders, white gloves, and a suit, she wouldn’t look out of place at any posh boarding school in Europe. That place got strange after superhumans rose up, but that was beside the point. “By doing this, you’ll have all but announced to Lorraine Anderson that you stand against her.”

“She’s batshit insane, so I could probably convince her that I’m not. I’ll just tell her that I saw a disaster coming this way and moved her people aside.” I stole a fruit from a stall. It tasted incredibly sweet, like one of those carefully-bred ones from Japan. Huh, I should check on Japan. That place got pretty crazy too. Hopefully, not all of the old masters died while I was gone. They probably did, since powers were a generational thing. “Anyway, I know I told you that you need to change tactics, but disarming a whole, budding nation isn’t the right way to go about things.”

“Forcing them to the negotiating table, after I have disarmed them all seems to be quite the right way to go.” Maelstrom operated on a different form of logic. This was thanks to the fact that she could literally do impossible things with ease. Her sense of normalcy was completely, utterly detached from the norm. “If they reengage on our agreements, I’ll simply do so again and destroy their industrial base in the process, instead of allowing them to convert them for more peaceful endeavors.”

“Disarming everyone, telling them not to get weapons again, and leaving them at your mercy is a way of making servants. Not allies. This is just imperialism with you at the front instead of bunch of machine guns facing people with spears.” I pointed out, while munching away on the apple. America’s breadbasket was doing pretty well for itself under Andersons’ brand of craziness. Religiously dogmatic zealots they might be, but they sure produced a lot of good food. “C’mon, at least let them marshal an army together and disarm that instead. Force them onto the negotiating table while leaving them with some self-respect, instead of rolling them over.”

“That would be the old way of doing things, Egress. You’re against that if I recall.”

“I said that we should learn and move on from the past. That means we should keep a few things around, because they’re reasonable and work, Walker! Don’t pretend like I’m up for wholesale anarchy! You know I hate chaos!” I sent a glare her way, but she just kept standing on the street imposingly. This village was something that she could wipe out with complete ease. She wouldn’t even have to do anything special. Her flight speed and invulnerability allowed her to plow through mountains with ease. She only needed to dive. “We’re not going all the way back to before customs and rule of law exists. We’re not just going to disregard basic psychology or philosophy either!”

“Such as the philosophy that all are equal, even when that philosophy led us to the end of society?” Maelstrom, as always, didn’t bother with tact. It sure was nice to just be able to say what you wanted without repercussions. Ah, who am I kidding? She knew how to say the words more nicely. She just didn’t bother with me. For what reason, I couldn’t fathom. “With a show of force, I can stabilize this whole continent. I did so before. Then, I will bring together the lost fleets and communities that arose from all our overseas bases.”

“So, after all that I said, you’ve decided that Pax Americana is the zero-point the new society the rest of the world will take after!? Seriously!?” I groaned, got some salted meat from a nearby stall, and helped myself. Maelstrom gave me a glare, until I grunted, reached into my vault, and put a silver coin on the table. For that though, I was making myself a sandwich. No, I’m getting enough for several sandwiches from the rest of the stalls. Silver is still worth a lot, even if there’s no stock market, because I said so! “Please tell me you’re not.”

“My intention is to secure the former nation’s borders, try to rebuild my home, and after that… watch and wait for the world. I have no interest in establishing hegemony. Not now and not ever.” Maelstrom sighed and lowered her guard just a tiny bit. It’s good to know that she’s against sticking her nose into everyone’s business now, even if she wanted a massive hunk of a continent to use as her safe space. With her powers, it was a good trade. “Also, as you already know, India is the exception rather than the rule. The rest of the world has accelerated into the dark ages. Can you imagine how difficult it will be to bring forth a society fit for the current status of humanity with the rest of the world starving and killing each other for food?”

That… that was a good point.

A good enough point that I had to spare some time making her a sandwich too, because I had to come up with an argument.

“You’re right. There’s probably a lot of people out there killing each other for food right now, but the ends don’t justify means.” I went to community college. A pretty good one, but I wasn’t exactly well versed in philosophy. Just enough to understand what I’m feeling and how to act like a human being by learning from what’s known. Not on the forefront of culture or anything like that. “You’re still going to go out of your way to bring down a nation with its own ideas and culture. Fighting is the last resort. Diplomacy is always the first thing you should go with… not instigating a battle.”

It seemed like a pretty flimsy argument, so I was surprised when Kaede Walker sighed at my words.

That worked?

How?

“Fine, I will attempt to negotiate.” Walker moved forward and I thought that she was going to take the sandwich I’d offered. Instead, she walked past me, her waist-length black hair trailing in the wind as she passed. My eyes went towards the direction she was walking. Anderson was descending from the sky with a cadre of superhumans. Not nearly enough to bring Walker down. Not even close. “Pull me out of here, if things go sour, okay?”

Given the look of betrayal Anderson was sending my way, her eyes going from sorrowful to vengeful in a second, I was ready to get out of dodge with Walker before the zealot’s armored soles touched the ground.

“Egress. Maelstrom. You are both trespassing on holy land, and you have displaced its followers from their righteous work.” Golden eyes blazed beneath pure-white that framed her face. In her right hand was a blazing sword, and in her left was a massive tome. Her cadre of followers wore power armor too and had blazing wings of flame. Anderson, naturally, used her pure-white wings instead. “State your intentions and prepare to be judged.”

Walker didn’t miss a beat.

“I came forward to urge you to battle, defeat you, and begin the path of reuniting the whole nation.” The truth, plain and terrible, left her lips. Everyone present knew that she could do it. No one here knew Maelstrom’s achievements. “Egress intercepted me and told me that I’m being foolish. He told me that I should instead negotiate and see if there can be common ground between our people.”

“Common ground? Between our holy land and your territory filled with reprobates and sinners?” Anderson growled, but she didn’t step forward. She kept her distance, which was a good sign, even though she had a sword in hand and a bible in the other. Typically, not a good combination if you wanted to live peacefully. “Your lands have accepted villains and tyrants and technophiliacs who would debase the human form, or condemn us to a future decided by the weapons that destroyed the world once already!”

“I am their warden, and I make it so that they work to rebuild everything that has been lost. They are repaying what they owe to society under my watch.” Maelstrom was the only one who could pull those words off. Dozens of superhuman criminals doing community service? Yeah, Walker was the only one who could make that happen. “This is a time for understanding, for cooperation, so that we can all come together and build a new society that won’t suffer from the same mistakes.”

“By eschewing justice? By turning to the technology that would bring harm to us all? By trusting those who should not be trusted?” Anderson growled back, but she was aware of the situation. She was talking and making her point clear, instead of coming to blows. Her people, who were afraid the moment they laid eyes on Walker, were nodding and accepting their leader’s words. “Our holy land will not be despoiled by such things. Leave us… and we will acknowledge the Rockies and the lands beyond it as your territory, Maelstrom.”

Half of the US sounded pretty good to me, but I was just a guy who could be anywhere he wanted and send things to other places.

Maelstrom, much like her namesake, was a force of nature that you couldn’t fight against even as a superhuman.

“I cannot accept that. This land divided will not stand.” Alarm bells were ringing in my head, and I aimed to move close to Walker, but I found that I couldn’t. She was using her power to saturate the area around her with energy. Gravitic, most likely, but I wouldn’t put it pass her to have some more esoteric bullshit hidden. As it stood, I couldn’t interrupt her declaration of war. “So, I challenge you. Meet me where Las Vegas used to be. Bring all that you wish to bring to bear against me. I will fight against you.”

“…I and many others will give our lives to protect our nation. You’ll have to kill us to surrender. Do you believe you can kill hundreds of thousands, Maelstrom, without going insane? Even if your body is invincible, your soul is not.”

For a moment, I feared that Maelstrom was already insane and that I hadn’t just realized it.

“America is not one place. It is many states and cultures together. I will not have you abandon your customs and traditions. All I want is for my home to be able to stand up from the ashes whole. From sea to shining sea, a single nation united. My home… whole.” Maelstrom spoke and lowered her defenses, while placing a hand against her heart. I appeared next to her and put a hand on her shoulder, but I didn’t leave right away. This sounded… okay. “Come and fight me with your champions. If you defeat me, I’ll accept your terms and stay on the west, past the Rockies, and leave your people alone unless you intrude upon our land.”

Anderson was taken aback by the words, but Maelstrom’s reputation helped her now.

She spoke out and condemned the whole world in her pursuit of the truth.

No one would even think that she’d ever lie.

Anyway, there was a chance for things to devolve when Anderson opened her mouth again, so I made a quick exit back to friendly territory after that.

If Anderson had any complaints about the terms of the deal, she’ll tell us at the City of Sin.