The Good Life: Orange Colored Sky (ch. 45) (Patreon)

“This place is a ruin,” Nora observed as we stood the wreckage of MIT. The building itself was shaped like a bracket with what had once been a green park running up the center to a dome. Behind us was the brackish brown river that was filled with radiation and not much else. The dome had collapsed, as had the long arms. I wasn't sure what exactly had happened, but some of the damage looked like it was caused by explosions.

Her tone was unsteady. Not quite happy, not quite excited. Nor was she nervous or afraid. She was dialing the emotions back, and I really wondered who she was before this mess. I knew that Nora was from before the bombs fell -- and I had already made a note to myself about sending someone to grab that cryogenic tech in Vault 111. She had the body of a pornstar, in the same league as Robin. Which was saying something. Robin was one of the most gorgeous women I had ever seen before.

However, Nora carried herself with an air of experience. It was the little tells that gave away that her ‘General’ title wasn't an empty one. How she marched, how she carried her gun -- an assault rifle, like the ones that were in the Gauntlet. And how she watched us warily, offering nothing but small talk that didn't go into any details about anything. Not her past, not her abilities, or what she was packing.

I was vaguely interested in her, but that wasn't entirely why I brought her along. I was having… a crisis, I think.

Nora and her Minutemen were gunning for Nuka-World, and there was no small part of me that itched to have an adversary. An enemy. Exploring the wasteland was fun, but I knew I was at my best when I was pulling the rug underneath someone. Someone to strive for. Someone like Homelander. Nora was a far cry from him, but she was at least something.

Another part of me knew I should kill her or bring her onto my side. Her Minutemen were a threat. I circumvented some of it by getting my hands on the counter agent to the gas, but I knew the smart thing was to take them out here and now before they ever reached the stage where they could attack Nuka-World. We had brought over a chunk of the population, but facts were that most of humanity was still in the Old World. We had a fragile ecosystem and no support.

An attack, especially a coordinated one, could make the whole damn thing collapse like a house of cards.

“That's just on the surface,” I replied, feeling the vast underground complex beneath my feet. I was curious about what I would have done if she hadn't mentioned that she was looking for the Institute. Would I have let her go, or killed her? Even now, was it the right call to see if I could put the best foot forward for the inevitable reveal?

“What does that even mean? The Institute is operating out of a basement?” Rumi asked, her bunny ears free as she cocked her head. “I don't hear anything.”

“Upper most layer is connected to the basement, but they dug down and they dug deep.” I wasn't surprised she couldn't hear anything -- I couldn't get soundwaves to my ears either. “They sealed it off and put some space between the basement and the real thing. I'm not seeing a way for them to get in or out, though.” That was interesting because I didn't feel any secret tunnels or doors that could explain how they were sending out synths to infiltrate the wasteland.

Meaning that they either did have a way in and out, or they created the synths outside of the Institute. Either way, it was interesting.

“Still not sure how you manage to do that,” Preston remarked underneath his breath and I wiggled my fingers at him.

“Superpowers,” I answered simply. My gaze then flickered to Yoruichi, Taylor, and Curie. Taylor, I knew was subtly checking the perimeter. She was a lot more open with her powers after I fed her that fib about the limitations of mine. She was deliberately hiding her insects from us- from me, but when she thought I couldn’t see them, Taylor revealed what she could do. Her range, her fine control, and so on.

Then my gaze landed on Curie. “Given that they seem to be in possession of some pretty advanced tech, I’m thinking it should be me, Curie, Nora… Rumi?” I ventured, looking at her. Her blood red eyes met mine, her nose crinkling for a moment, before she shrugged. About as much as I could expect from her, to be fair. I think she was warming up to me. “Curie is medic, I’m our way in and out, Nora has personal business, and Rumi can punch something so she doesn’t punch me.”

That got a mildly amused exhale from Rumi. I kinda wanted to take Taylor, but her powers would be of limited use. Too much overlap. Yoruichi was in case Taylor got attacked. And Preston, I suppose. I wasn’t so sure about Preston yet -- he struck me as a mild mannered guy, but I hadn’t seen him in action.

Nora considered the team for a moment before nodding. Preston too, offering a half smile, “We’ll hold down the fort, I guess. I hope you find your son, General.” He inclined his head to Nora, who betrayed no emotion for a moment. Then she nodded back.

“I hope so too.”

Taking that as my cue, I swallowed my giddy excitement and focused on the task at hand before bringing us down into the Institute. I swapped us with some office supplies, a chair, and a houseplant -- and I had to admit, it was really leaning all the way into that sci-fi vibe. At the heart of the underground compound was a central elevator made out of glass.

Everything was very white. There were a dozen floors, each one seemingly regulated for a specific task -- housing, science, food production, utilities, etc. The architecture was distinct in comparison to everything else I had seen from this world- actually, no, it wasn’t. It was cleaner, but it too looked like the covers of old science fiction books where everything was gentle curves and unique structures. And, while the area was overwhelmingly white and gray, there were splashes of green.

A central yard that was complete with a zen garden with some trees. It felt a bit like stepping into a whole new world, I decided. It was a very different environment than what was about thirty feet above. I did see people milling about, and based on a quick count, I saw that there weren’t that many of them. Two hundred people in total, and I got a feeling that was a deliberate choice.

“Oh, how wonderful!” Curie cried, sounding delighted as she floated to a balcony just off from the elevator. “I was afraid of what these people might call science, but this is a proper laboratory!”

Nora glanced around, “It feels sterile.” That was the impression I got as well. Everyone down below was wearing immaculate scrub-like clothing. I didn’t even see any dust. The lawn was perfectly cut, the trees trimmed… It almost seemed artificial. Like it was a diorama rather than a place where people lived.

“Let’s go say hi to the locals,” I said, heading to the elevator, already getting ideas.

“Do you-” Nora started before cutting herself off with a grimace and shaking her head. “No. Forget it. I'll find out soon enough,” she muttered as we all stepped onto the elevator. Pressing the down button, I understood what she wanted to ask. And I was glad that she didn't because I would have had to tell her the truth.

There were no babies in the Institute.

The elevator made its way down and there was some pleasant elevator music going on. Classical. But, when we reached the bottom floor and the doors slid open, I saw a man approaching us. There was a notepad in one hand, a coffee in the other, and he was barely aware of his surroundings until the very last second. His gaze flickered up from the notepad that I saw was covered in molecular structures, even if I had no idea what they meant.

My gaze met his, “Sup?” I greeted him, watching as he blinked in confusion, his eyes narrowing and I could practically see the hamster in its wheel spinning behind his forehead. Then there was a sudden flash of realization, he flinched back, fear etching itself into his expression.

He dropped his coffee. A real waste that was, I thought as he stumbled back. “S-security!” He yelled, turning on his heels and fleeing for his life. “Intruders! There are intruders in the Institute!” He yelled, the commotion bringing attention to us as we stepped out. And, based on the reaction that we got, you'd think we were the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

The oddly quiet and tranquil area vanished in the wake of pure panic as people screamed as they fled for their lives. An alarm went off, dying the area in a red hue. I looked around, focusing on my surroundings, looking for-

“There a point to this?” Rumi asked, her gaze lingering on my back.

“I'm figuring out who is in charge here,” I replied and she seemed vaguely annoyed that I had a good reason for the loud and proud approach. Whispers carried themselves to my ears, and it was as I was sorting through them and zeroing in on the shot caller, I felt… something. And it was weird.

I wasn't that good at feeling radio waves inside my Room. It was only with their absence in the world that I managed to detect them at all. I had played around with bending them in one way or another to a radio, but my success was limited and I focused my training on more beneficial facets of my power. However, I still felt the radio waves inside the Institute and I felt something traveling through them. And it was weird. I didn't know radio waves could feel… fat.

It was with a flash of light that whatever they were delivering had arrived -- a half dozen men in matching leather outfits. I noticed that before the guns, if I were being perfectly honest.

The guards didn't hesitate to open fire and I didn't hesitate to swap our places. Four of the six guards found themselves ripped to pieces by their own bullets and friendly fire. Nora went right while Rumi went left for the remaining two. It was then that I noticed they weren't normal guards. Too fast, I thought, seeing one strike out at Nora, who was also too fast. And too durable, with a lack of pain reaction, I thought when the other guard ate a shattered collarbone and still attacked Rumi.

A glance at the pile of scrapes that were left of the four told me that they weren't normal guards.

“Cyborgs… cool,” I remarked, seeing sparks of circuitry throughout the meat, blood, and bone. I was pretty sure that they were synths, but unlike the infiltration models, these were for combat. Which made it a surprise when Nora out paced the synth, popping him in the knees before burying a knife underneath his chin. Rumi defeated hers with ease, breaking the synth. And, even with busted arms, legs, and collarbones -- the synth kept coming for her.

Chuckling, I turned my attention to the leader. I could practically feel his sudden surge in panic, along with everyone in the room with him. Their best had just been chewed up and spat out. I was a little tempted to drag this out, just to see what else he had to throw at us, but now wasn't the time or the place. Instead, I grabbed four people that were in the room with him and swapped places with them.

The leader of the Institute was an old man. Sixty or seventy years old with white hair and a white beard, but he aged like a gray fox. Even with wrinkles, the guy was undeniably handsome. He wore a white lab coat over a dress shirt and a tie as he sat at a desk, his office in the middle of the compound. There were flickers of alarm across his face, and cries of it from the others, but he forestalled any reaction by holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“We surrender,” he rolled over, his voice tight and controlled. He barely even flinched when Nora stormed forward, all but shoving a gun up this nose with a snarl.

“Where. Is. My. Son,” Nora bit the words out, and I saw the tempest that she kept under a tight lid. There was a faint tremble to the gun and the leader of the Institute looked up at her with a surprisingly gentle expression given the circumstance.

“He's right in front of you… mother,” The leader replied and I felt my eyebrows shoot up at that. I glanced between the two of them, and-

Nora saw it too. “Shaun… You… you look like Nate,” she breathed and I could hear the gut punch in her voice. “You look like your grandfather. I- I don’t-” she uttered taking a step back before looking at the gun she had aimed at her kid. She dropped it like it was hot and it clattered to the floor loudly. I could see the shock setting in and Shaun could too.

“The gap between my… abduction and your awakening was longer than you thought. It's been sixty years. The Institute raised me -- first, I was an uncorrupted source of pre-war DNA, but I eventually joined in earnest by the time I was sixteen. By thirty, I was leading a division and for the past ten years, I have been leading the Institute.” he said, giving a cliff notes version of his life and I could see the blink panic settling in.

Nora looked at Shaun like she had no idea who he was. And since he was around thirty-five years older than her… “The Institute. They murdered your father. They ripped you from his arms after they shot him in the fucking head.” The panic was starting to turn into directionless anger. Fury.

Shaun twitched, “That was… regrettable. Kellogg has long served the Institute as a hammer. I have entertained thoughts of revenge… but the needs of the Institute outweigh my wants.”

A bitter laugh escaped Nora, “You're cold.”

“I'm a scientist, mother,” Shaun offered and Nora shook her head. First to herself, then at him. When she turned to look at me, her eyes were bloodshot with tears in her eyes but she was refusing to let them fall.

“Get me out of here. I need-” she cut herself off, a sob lodged in her throat. I nodded, granting the request and bringing Nora topside. There was a heavy silence in the room and Shaun seemed to be recovering from a serious emotional blow. He didn't seem sad, per se. Just unhappy, with a dash of disappointment and resignation.

It was then that I decided to take a seat across from him, kicking my feet up on his desk. His blue eyes flickered to me, and he seemed to remember he was currently neck deep in shit. He straightened himself, clasping his hands before him on the desk. “What are your intentions?”

I was getting Stan vibes from the guy. Probably not as fun, but in the sense he was trying to maintain a grip on the steering wheel of the conversation. I was keenly aware of Rumi's gaze on the back of my head, waiting and listening. So, I decided to be honest. “I'm not entirely sure at the moment. I was thinking I'd steal your hearts and force you to work for me, but I like your mum and I think she'd be mad if I turned her kid into a slave.”

Shaun struggled to not give a reaction, waiting for me to continue. “So, convince me. Should I just destroy you? Let you go? Drag you all back to Nuka-World? I mean, your mom's hot, but she's not that hot.” I said, not entirely sure if I was lying or not.

“How?” Shaun asked directly and I cracked a smile.

“The synths. Tell me about them. What's their deal?” I asked, curious. Because, as I saw it, they were doing a pretty shit job with them if they were trying to take over the wasteland with infiltration and stealth. They'd be better off unleashing those guards on the wasteland and carving out chunks of it.

Shaun pursed his lips, his gaze flickering to Curie and Rumi, before settling back on me. “Immortality,” he decided to answer and I tilted my head. “That is the ultimate goal of the synth project. It wasn't when the project was started -- the construction of the Institute required hard labor that our predecessors were ill equipped to perform.”

I didn't give much of a reaction, simply gesturing for him to continue. “The second stage was to create mechanical soldiers to secure resources from the wasteland. It was upon the completion of the second stage that my predecessor decided to take the synths a step further -- development of linguistics and personality programs. The creation of AI…” Then Shaun grimaced.

“Ten years ago, when I became the leader, I shifted our aims for the project. A synth body is virtually indistinguishable from that of a regular human.” Shaun began, and I took my feet off his desk, betraying my interest.

It was Curie that spoke, “A marvelous idea! You wished to transmit your mind into that of a new body!” She said, twitching with excitement.

Shaun looked at her and nodded slowly. “First, we attempted to surgically remove the brain and put it into the body of a synth with matching biological data to prevent rejection. However, while we observed promising results there, the brain is an organ that too will eventually decay unless actively preserved. Our aims then shifted to mimicking the consciousness of an individual… but testing indicated that it was only a copy of the individual. An AI with their memories pretending to be them. What we sought was true immortality.”

I could see where the tech tree was spitting out some branches. The infiltration synths were a by-product of Shaun and the Institute trying to copy themselves into synth bodies.

“Any luck?” I prompted, earning a small grimace from Shaun. Suppose that answered that.

“We will achieve our goals eventually, but I fear it will not be in my lifetime,” Shaun admitted. “I am… dying,” he admitted, and that explained switching tracks to achieve immortality. “An aggressive form of cancer in my brain stem. Inoperable,” he added, his hands tightening. He didn't want to die. And I couldn't blame him. I'd be pissed off too if I died just before people figured out the cure for death.

I gave a noncommittal hum to that, my finger tapping on the arm of my chair. The technology sounded nice. Very nice. Especially when I detected a super mutant suspended in fluid down below. I knew what their ultimate goal was with the technology. Immortality wasn't enough. They wanted to crack the code to create the perfect bodies. Bodies that were perfectly adapted to living in the wasteland. And when that body wore itself down, or they needed another for a certain task, they'd just make a new one.

Their goal was to change bodies like one might change their clothes.

“Curie?” I asked, not looking at her. “Can the drug you made cure cancer?”

“Of course it can! It was one of the most important afflictions that we wished to cure!” Curie chirped happily before pausing. “Oh my!”

I cracked a smile at her realizing what we had as much as I did at the sudden hunger in Shaun’s eyes. He had his doubts, I'm sure. He would want to review the data first. But, when he saw what we had, that I could save his life…

The Institute was mine. It just didn't realize it yet.

…

Asami's heart pounded in her chest as she watched a thick plume of smoke rise high into the sky, and on her cheeks she could feel the intense heat of the fire. Distantly, Asami could hear the relief efforts going on, people fighting the fire with a hose tapped into a fire hydrant. Every other part of her felt numb from shock.

It didn't make sense, Asami thought to herself. How did it make any sense to destroy critical reserves of food, water, medicine, and fuel? How could anyone justify it? How could the very same people that hated her for necessary rationing of supplies then go around and destroy those supplies… and then blame her for a tightening of rationing?

All of it had been kept in a secure building and it had went up like a dry twig. She stood in the street across where a good tenth of where their supplies had been, a distribution point. Where they would give food. Clean water. Where they were teaching people how to create water purifiers that could clean irradiated water -- designs taken from the New World, as Heartless called it. Where they were creating the anti-radiation drugs to give away.

“This is madness,” Asami breathed before her gaze drifted away from the burning building. No other word could encapsulate what this was as her gaze fell to a blockade that was set up. Soldiers maintaining a perimeter against a roaring crowd. Hundreds of filthy people, thousands even, that seemed to be pouring out of the safe houses that she had established. Yet, over the sounds of people fighting the fire, Asami heard their chant.

“Death to tyrants! Death to tyrants! Death to Asami!”

She watched them screaming at them- at her, until they were red in the face, spit flying from their mouths. They couldn't be reasoned with. They were so blinded by their hate they couldn't see that there was no one fighting for their survival more than she was. That their survival was hanging by a thread, and they just kept yanking at it.

Asami heard a crack, and felt like she had been kicked in the chest. She dropped to a knee before Golden Boy positioned himself between them while Kimiko dropped down to make sure that Asami was okay. It was only then that Asami realized that she had been shot. Her gaze dipped down to her chest, a ballistic vest over her wine red blouse.

/We need to get you out of here./ Kimiko signed at Asami, pulling her away from the scene but Asami glanced over her shoulder to see that the protesting crowd devolve into a full scale riot. They were throwing themselves at the guards, and-

“It was a trap,” Asami breathed. They had burned the supplies to draw her out for an assassination attempt. And Asami found herself more angry that they would destroy valuable supplies than she was that they tried to kill her. Whoever ‘they’ were. Kimiko shoved her into a car that peeled off down towards their main base. Asami looked over her shoulder, watching as the checkpoint was being overwhelmed.

Golden Boy was standing firm, but Asami knew that he didn't have it in him to burn a bunch of scared desperate people alive. And, Asami suspected, the ones that orchestrated the attack knew it too.

Frustrated tears burned in her eyes but Asami blinked them away, focusing on the task at hand. /We need to pull reinforcements from the New World. Otherwise, we're going to lose control of the city./

/Control is already lost,/ Kimiko signed back and Asami closed her eyes. She knew that was right. Their control was tenuous at best, and every day for weeks, it had been slipping from their grasp. They couldn't suppress a full scale riot, especially if the riot spread to other sectors.

/We pull back to the Tower. We can defend that much. We may have to let the anger die out,/ Asami cursed. Either way, they would need reinforcements. And Asami found herself suspicious that this would happen once Rumi was gone. Maybe they noticed that Rumi wasn't as active, but even that would be taking a risk. The only way they would act would be if they knew that she was gone.

Meaning someone on the inside had tipped off her would-be assassins. Heartless? As much as Asami wanted to blame him, it didn't fit. It wasn't his style and he didn't gain anything from it, not even amusement.

She was mulling over the issue when they arrived and Asami found herself activating the Dias. It was an unscheduled open, which would delay their next shipment of supplies. The reactor in the New World helped stabilize the energy demands, as did the wind farms and solar panels, but it meant they had gone from a portal every two weeks to a portal every week.

It was a necessary measure, Asami told herself. If something wasn't done, there wouldn't be an Old World to go back to.

Asami was greeted with the dry dusty air of Nuka-World. It was nighttime, she noticed and the usual greeters weren't there. However, she pressed onto Heartless's building that was marked with a large heart inside a circle with a slash through it. There was a guard outside the doors, wearing the clunky mechanical armor that had been found on this world. Power armor. “I need to speak to Robin.”

Robin and Cinder were in charge, and Asami was loathe to speak to Cinder, even in the most dire of circumstances.

“Boss Lady is inside,” the man said, letting her in. He must have made a note the moment that he saw her because a pretty young woman with a bomb around her neck was there to greet her.

“This way, please,” She smiled and Asami felt her stomach clenched at the sight of the collar. Damn Cinder, Asami thought, and not for the first time. And damn herself for being unable to argue against Heartless. Because, he had been right. Even with the vile act, they still weren’t able to produce enough to feed millions of people.

The woman led her into an elevator, but they stopped too early to arrive at the penthouse. No, instead they arrived at the floor that was reserved for VIPs. If her stomach clenched before, then it was doing flips now. The stench of sweat and sex greeted her but Asami kept her expression blank, even as she stepped into the den of debauchery.

There were dozens of people around that Asami could recognize. They were the ones that had been taken to do the runs on her side of the portal. It had started off with a few, but it had rapidly increased in scale. Another issue to worry about, Asami thought -- if her side of the portal faltered, then the New World was going to suffer supply shortages. Supplies vital to turning the wasteland into a place that could support millions of people.

They walked by people passed out in lounge chairs, a clip on their finger monitoring their vitals as they injected, inhaled, and swallowed every drug Asami could think of. She saw cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, molly, painkillers, and New World drugs like jet. To say nothing of the alcohol. The guide took her deeper into the den, and Asami found where the stench of sex was coming from with the opening of a door marked with Law’s name. His personal room?

A dozen women were in the room behind it, and she saw some of them huffing a pinkish smoke. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two familiar faces -- Cait, and Piper. Both were naked, with Piper bouncing in the lap of Cait, riding a dildo while Cait smacked her on the ass with one hand before taking a inhale of more pink smoke with the other. At the other end of the room she saw Victoria Neumann, the disgraced President and Stan Edgar's secret daughter figure bent over an ottoman huffing pink smoke like it was oxygen in an airless room while an attractive Asian woman Asami didn't know thrust down into her from behind, with a woman Asami barely recognized as A-Train’s former girlfriend Popclaw laying on her back getting spit-roasted by a pair of women wearing strap-ons nearby.

And at the center of it all was Robin, who had a clipboard in hand, appearing almost bored of her surroundings, her attention focused on a bloodstain on the floor. Had there been a fight?

“Has it finally happened?” Robin questioned, not even looking back at Asami.

She worked her jaw for a moment, putting the stench of sex, the constant feminine moans and the walls lined with drugs, whips, chains, and sex toys out of her mind. “We’re on the brink. We have a full scale riot on our hands. We need reinforcements.”

“They’ll do little good. The core reason for the riots is still there,” Robin said, turning around and Asami had to wonder how a woman as beautiful as Robin ended up with a monster like Law. “Even if we give them food, water, and medicine -- they’ll still be angry. They know there is another world that they can escape into, and it doesn’t matter what we tell them. They’ll believe this place is a paradise and they’ll hate us for keeping them out.”

Her tone was clinical and uncaring. As if meant nothing that millions of people were going to destroy their only hope of survival out of imagined spite. “Then we migrate. How many can Nuka-World handle?”

“We’re over capacity by a hundred and twenty percent,” Robin stated and Asami knew that. She knew it in her bones. She had poured over the numbers as much as Robin had, if not more. There just wasn’t enough food and water. At least in the Old World, there was still mass scavenging that could be done. “It’ll be a month before the expansions will be properly set up, and that’s for the people we already have.”

“I-” Asami began, frustration welling up in her chest. “Then what?” What was the plan? She wanted someone to tell her because she had wracked her brain for months, and everything she came up with…

“Asami. You already know the plan,” Robin informed, her tone not unkind and Asami looked away.

An invasion of the Commonwealth. They would take and secure settlements, forcing them to accept their people if not outright exiling people from their own homes. All in the name of resources.

Robin approached, laying one hand on her shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze. “Sometimes you are presented with choices that you hate, but you can’t refuse to choose. In that time, pick the option that you think you can live with.” It was more than what she expected, if Asami was being perfectly honest, but she was left in a daze as Robin left her behind. Asami looked at the women around her, all of them so high out of their minds that they probably had no idea what was going on. And she had to admit, that sounded appealing at the moment.

Instead, Asami left the building and wandered to the dried up riverbed that was meant to flow under a bridge. Her mind was racing, pouring over alternatives that could create the ideal scenario. No invasion. No mass death. No starvation. No riots. But, from where she stood, she only saw death. It was just a matter of on what scale.

“He’s going to win,” Asami breathed, so exhausted she couldn’t even cry. Heartless was going to win. He was going to take over the Commonwealth. He was going to use that evil bitch to enslave it. Enslave the people that would survive under his non-existent mercies. And then he was going to move on. He was going to use her creation, her Dias, to spread across the multiverse like a plague.

And she helped him. She called him a necessary evil to get herself home. She wanted to go home so badly that she willingly turned a blind eye to everything he had done and worked with him. The shame was almost too much to take-

“He doesn’t have to,” Asami heard from below, making her flinch before looking down. There, she saw a floating eye-bot, a round ball with a few antennas. The voice that spoke was a masculine one. “I have been keeping a close eye on you, and I know that you are no ally of the fiend Heartless and his associate, the Antagonizer.” What?

Asami blinked, her mouth suddenly dry. “Who are you?”

“I’m the Mechanist… and I’m here to help!”