Vice Bunker 39 (Patreon)

Vice Bunker

Chapter 39

-VB-

Despite my initial worries, Alexandria was semi-honest in her request for information. I wasn’t led to a holding cell, improvised interrogation chamber, or led through a line of sight of capes who may be Masters or Thinkers. Instead, she led me to a small cafe attached to the lobby of the PRT New York’s headquarters.

(On that note, I made a note to myself about the disappointment I felt when I saw that a frosty apocalypse New York City did not look like its fictional counterpart in the movie 2012. Mucho disappointmento.)

I was surprised that a cafe was still running, and I told her as much after we sat down.

“Coffee?” she asked me.

“No thank you. It would be a waste; this is a remote controlled body.”

“I see,” she hummed before turning to the waitress. “A cup of espresso, please.”

Once the waitress left, she turned to me.

“I’m surprised you still have a supply of coffee,” I said frankly before she could ask first.

“We have a teleport tinker,” she hummed as she accepted a cup of espresso from the returning waitress. Cute girl. Awfully young to be working, though. Would it even affect her with how her power affects her biology? “She has been instrumental in keeping us and the city operational.”

“The city’s still operational?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“To a degree, yes. Certainly nothing like the bustling trade center of the world that it used to be, but it is,” she replied and then took a sip. “There’s still half a million people here, after all.”

I nearly did a spit-take. “Half a million…?!”

“As I said, it is a sad state,” she hummed but I noted a hint of a smugness. Who could claim to keep that many people ali-?! “Accord laments that he could have done a little more if he were allowed to bunk more people per room.” Ah, Accord. That made a lot more sense. “So what is the situation like in Brockton Bay?”

“Well, the surface is completely uninhabitable,” I replied with a sigh. “Or rather, it isn’t habitable without extreme infrastructure upgrades that may prove to be detrimental if a particularly large meteor hits it. I only know of two bunkers that survived the final evacuation: mine and PRT ENE’s.”

“PRT ENE survived? I haven’t received any news from them.”

“Well, a thick and heavy blizzard is a near constant up there. We haven’t seen the sun since it began.” She remained silent. “PRT ENE’s bunker has … gone through a lot of changes. I had new capes and PRT footsoldiers attempted forced entry and tried to create casus belli. You know, the usual government shit.”

“I wasn’t aware there was a bunker that close to PRT ENE. Or that PRT ENE had a bunker.”

“I think that took control of a civilian bunker,” I shrugged. “Anyways, I dug a tunnel to their bunker, but ended up closing it off when they tried that bullshit.”

“I see.”

Had this been pre-apocalypse, Alexandria would be doing her goddamn best to exert her authority. She wasn’t right now. Did she have too much problems at hand? Did she have a change of mind about how she should operate? Whatever the case, she was extremely passive. “Wait, what does teleportation have anything to do with supplies?”

She finally gave me a reaction. “The equator is mostly avoiding the cloudy skies. We transport packed snow for water, we bring back supplies.”

“Neat. How are you doing with supplies?”

“I’m a Tinker myself,” I replied. “And I made sure to prepare a lot of hydroponics and a really good sewage.”

She set her coffee cup down and looked me in the eyes more directly. “Any new capes?”

“Aside from the cannibals that we wiped out, no,” I snorted. “Did you release the Birdcage inmates yet?”

“We did,” she replied. “Though we simply release them to the surface, not where they wanted to go.”

I paused. “In the middle of this weather?”

She shrugged. “They should be glad they were released. It was Legend’s call.”

“Ah, I see. Speaking of the gay-laser, where is he?”

“... He died.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, the words flowing out of my mouth before my brain could catch up to it. “He died?”

I didn’t believe that in the least. Cauldron could have moved him away to somewhere that needed a charismatic leader. Perhaps an Earth Bet colony where PRT had strong presence in? Yes, that would make more sense. Leave Alexandria here to do the more dirty work. It’ll be really hard to miss people you didn’t even know were alive, and Earth Bet was now a bona fide buffet for Cauldron’s Case-53 experiments.

Yes, Alexandria was a better leader for Earth Bet’s scenario than Legend.

“Speaking of other places… have you heard about any Endbringer attacks?” I asked.

“No,” she shook her head but I saw a small change on her face. Too small for the naked eyes to observe, sure, but this body of mine was nanomachines, son!

“I assume Eidolon is doing alright in Texas?”

“He is also dead.”

Eidolon moved to another world. The Endbringers followed him.

Oh, they might not recognize the pattern or the truth, but I did, and I was just happy I wouldn’t have to worry about the Endbringers anymore.

“Must be hard being the last of the original Protectorate,” I hummed.

“... It is sometimes.”

“I hope you have good subordinates?”

“Yes. Many chose to stay for the sake of the people while others moved on to … colonies.”

“Colonies? Off-world colonies?” I asked, doing my goddamn best to fake it.

But it wasn’t enough. “You know.”

It wasn’t an accusation but a statement.

“A bit,” I shrugged. “I’m not one of yours, though, but don’t worry about that.”

She stared at me. I stared back with my shiny and sexy, womanly nanomachine nanomachine-amalgamate body because my eyes were decorative.

Whatever she thought for a full minute, she ultimately chose to let it rest.

‘So far, it seems like my exploration will remain peaceful. Wonderful.’

Crash!

Blinking, I looked around and saw something rolling on the floor. There were glass shards everywhere, cold wind was rushing in, and -.

Oh.

That thing, that cylindrical high-tech thing, which was rolling and beeping. A bomb! Probably a tinkertech bomb, too.

… Well, I guessed cannibals aren’t bad if this was the shit Alexandria had to deal with. Bunkers were truly the best place to be in this godforsaken world.

Then the bomb went off.