Vice Bunker 2 (Patreon)

Vice Bunker
Chapter 2

-VB-

“It’s… surprisingly well made,” dad remarked as they, along with Manus the owner of the bunker, walked out of one of the rooms in the lower floors. “It’s a little bit chaotic, but I can definitely see that it’s well made.”

“Of course,” the creepy cape chuckled as if the idea that he would make anything less than great was ridiculous. “While I had to make the bunker quickly, mostly because no one would accept me into theirs, I made sure to follow all of the guidelines, engineering, and architectural expectations I could follow. I guarantee you, Mr. Hebert, that not even a nuclear bomb right on top of the city will affect this bunker.”

Dad grinned weakly at the thought of a nuke landing on the city because it might not be man-made, but nukes did rain down everywhere on Earth these days. It was only thanks to sheer luck that no meteor larger than a small house landed in or around the city.

She didn’t smile or grin like dad did, because he wasn’t there to see their neighbor get crushed like she saw it happen.

If she had to join a bunker made by a creepy guy to avoid that particular ignomous fate, then so be it.

“As you can see, my bunker is excellent. What it lacks is people to live in them to ride out the coming apocalypse,” Manus hummed. “I would be happy to have someone like you, Mr. Hebert, a figure of the community, join me. It is actually because of who you are that I also wish to offer you a job!”

“I’m sorry but -”

“I wish for you to find other people to bring into my bunker. People who are good and hard workers that will work together with each other when the inevitable end comes and whose children will find a new world. I, of course, cannot have the likes of the the Empire, Merchants, or ABB inside, though I certainly do not discriminate based on skin color, only one’s natural tendencies, skills, and cooperation.”

Dad seemed to like what he was hearing. “So you just need me to find people… who works well… but would not have been invited to other bunkers.”

“Yes~,” the cape chuckled, and his chuckles sounded like hisses. “Honestly, I cannot manage the entire bunker by myself. I cannot clean it, fix it, and I certainly can’t entertain myself on the same re-runs of Friends.” He and dad laughed at that, not that she understood what they were laughing about beyond the fact that it was some kind of an old TV show. “So how about it? Interested?”

“I am… but why did you give the business card to Taylor?” he asked pointedly, and she tensed up.

“She didn’t tell you?”

Oh no.

“Tell me what?”

“She’s a cape, just like me.”

You son of a -!

-VB-

While I left the Heberts to hash out their problems, I worked on the bunker.

This bunker was … actually not a bunker. It wasn’t made in the traditional sense nor was I certified to make it.

No, I made it using my real body.

This humanoid body with tentacles-for-legs was an avatar. It did everything my real body could, but it was both disposable and weaker.

How much weaker?

I bored the tunnels of this bunker, including the finishings, using my tentacles when the geology of this part of New Hampshire stated that the rocks here should be calcareous quartzite, which rated 7 on the hardness scale and was thus on par with its namesake, quartz.

Apparently, the hardness of the rock wasn’t an issue because I melted through them like a hot knife through butter. It was actually a combination of [Unlimited Potential] and my second form working in conjunction. [Unlimited Potential] improved and maintained any kind of physical power without losing the dexterity and the ability to remain delicate when necessary. I did have a hard time initially when I tried to dig myself out.

Danny noted how chaotic but well structured the bunker was, and that was not by chance; I had to make a structure capable of withstanding my tentacles latching onto them as I lifted myself out of the hole I found myself in.

Well, I actually stowed that plan once I realized that this version of Earth Bet I was in was a mess to say the least.

String Theory, who failed to use her tinkertech weapon and got Birdcaged in canon, managed to actually blow up a chunk of the moon when her demands weren’t met. As a result of this, the moon lost a fifth of its mass and volume. Thankfully, the moon didn’t lose orbit; it actually stabilized its constant fall away from Earth and into a more stable and rounder orbit while the remnants of the moon started falling towards Earth.

Lucky for Earth, it took a lot of time.

Unlucky for Earth, the people were too busy blaming each other to actually do something about it.

Yeah, the Moon Boom happened like a year before my arrival, and they still haven’t done anything. The politicians and normals were probably hoping Scion would do something about it.

Too bad I deleted the Golden Idiot when I dropped in.

It had been part of the perk from the modded Worm Lewd CYOA that I had been working on the night I had been kidnapped.

Yes, I’m calling it kidnapping because, even if I was given a variety of powers, it had been done without my consent. What’s been done to me wasn’t going to change; I could tell that this was how I will stay from now on. I could, however, complain to myself.

Couldn’t I at least say goodbye to my family and girlfriend? That’s the least whoever did this to me could have given. It didn’t even have to be -!

I stopped myself in both bodies and took deep breaths in, because the shimmering anger over that particular grievance had been rising inside me again. If I let it keep on rising, then I would just remain constantly angry until I got to vent.

And in the current state that I found myself in, there were only two methods: sex and violence.

Sex was unavailable for now, so violence was the only option I had right now, and violence was a no-no when the only available targets were the Heberts.

“Mr. Marris…?”

I turned around and saw Danny.

“Ah, Mr. Hebert? How can I help? Did you finish your conversation with your daughter?” I asked with a polite smile that I knew came off as an evil and soulless grin.

I’ve seen my new-self smile in the mirror.

I screamed at my own smiles, okay? I saw my smile and thought that I was about to die. I was that scared!

So maybe I shouldn’t be smiling.

I fought down the smile for a simple upturns of the corners of my lips. There. Should be better.

Danny looked distressed, and I hoped I hadn’t added too much to that.

“I… I still need to talk with Taylor, but thank you for bringing this to my attention. Of course, I accept your offer to join you in your bunkers.

“Wonderful!” I said and smiled again. Crap.

His smile was a little fragile.

“I hope there’s nothing … weird going on in here?” he asked me warily.

“Well, I am a cape, Mr. Hebert,” I chuckled as I fought to kill my smile. “We’re all weird and combatative.”

“... Could you explain why, if you know?” he asked, and I could hear the desperation in his voice. “I don’t understand Taylor, at all. And it’s causing problems.”

“Of course!” I replied as I wrapped a tentacle arm - crap. I quickly fixed that and wrapped a human arm around Mr. Herbert’s shoulder as I walked him around the bunker. “First off, powers are alive, Mr. Hebert.”

He looked horrified.

“Not another human in most cases. Some are closer to insects in their thought capacity. Some are closer to humans. Most are like simple animals. Rats, cats, sparrows, and such. They seek data that conflict or problem solving could generate, because they themselves are kind of specialized towards special effects and not non-linear logics and out-of-the-box solutions. They can tell you the exact composition of an interstellar engine, if that is their purpose and specialization, but if you ask the same power how to design an aesthetical shell around that engine, they will fumble and crash.”

“Huh.”

“But some powers, those I would classify as ‘nobles’ and ‘royals’ are closer to us humans in their ability to think creatively on top of everything else. For reference, powers like that Glastig Uaine, Eidolon, and Panacea are such.”

“... Should I be worried that you know so much?”

I could tell he was being a little serious there.

“No, no, no. You can think of me as a third-party to the entire fiasco that Earth Bet has with its parahumans. I do not seek conflict nor do I want data. I just want to be safe.”

He nodded. “I can understand that.”

“Wonderful. Now, before you go, I must ask you this,” I said as I looked at him in the eyes. “How open are you to getting body modifications ranging from super strength, super durability, high endurance, cold tolerance, and the like that does not change how you look or fundamentally operate as a human being?”

He looked ready to reject, but I saw how he realized he had a parahuman daughter, and rejecting this kind of offer was … not wise.

Not when he could use it to protect Taylor.

“Would it do anything to me?”

“Oh no. Actually, you can consider it as part of the bunker package. There will come a time when dangerous situations visit the bunker. This can be because a mountain sized asteroid struck North America or we ran out of food. By the way, we have enough food to last us at least a century and I am planning on installing hydroponics as soon as I can.”

He looked relieved at that.

“You and I are pragmatists and realists, Mr. Hebert. How else would you have kept a crumbling union together for over two decades?”

Danny looked proud at his accomplishment being acknowledged, but I recognized it because I was abnormal and capable of seeing tiny details thanks to the mechanical sides of my power within me from the [Technology] side of my power source and not the tentacle filled [Great Old One] power source. It was the same power source that let me grow artillery cannons from my cybernetic core flesh that I used to put down Lung.

“Then you understand that the situation above ground is unsustainable. Sooner or later within the next year, the devastation wrought by the falling moon fragments will make most of the planet uninhabitable as a new ice age sets in, never mind the kinds of damage hill-sized asteroids will do to the continents.”

“I do, I do,” he replied with a grimaced. “I…” He took a deep breath in. “I’ll agree on one condition.”

“And that is?”

“Invitation to the rest of the Dockworkers Union.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Mr. Hebert, I trust you because of what you have done and because you did not participate in the Riots.”

He froze stiff.

“The rest of the Dockworkers… I do not trust them, especially when I am offering to give each and every incoming resident of my bunker some kind of upgrade to help them better survive what is to come. If you make them your condition, then I will have to reject. Are you sure about that?” I asked, kicking the ball back into his court.

“... What if I … verify the people who haven’t been in the riot? People who are honest?”

“I can accept those, but just like you, they will have to acknowledge that I am the owner of the bunker, I run this place on my own money, and this means that democracy is not a part of the bunker.”

I had already explained this to him, and he had agreed by accepting to join me.

“I understand.”

“Wonderful.”

We shook hands.

And sooner or later, I’ll have Taylor lured down to my real body…

Sex was unavailable right now, but I would have some sooner or later.

Speaking of sex, I had someone to visit soon.