A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 57 (Patreon)

A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 57

…

Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Arksoul

…

“Earlier, you were speaking to Maelstrom regarding your mortality.”

“Yeah? You got something to say about it?”

“I can perform genetic recombination and gene therapy on an industrial scale, as well as create entirely new bodies. If you begin to find issues with your body, come to me, so that they may be solved.”

“Guess you don’t want to lose your ability to send things up into space cheap, huh?”

“No, I do not.” Parvati shook the head of the gynoid it was possessing. The party at Clancy’s place ended with him taking the one we brought along for the evening, or possibly for an extended period of time. I could only hope Qin’s daughter didn’t take issue with that. With my luck, though, I was sure it’ll be a shitshow. I brought this new body over at the AI’s request. “And, you will be integral to revitalizing the global economy. Without your aid, it would take hundreds of years to revitalize the global economy. With it, we can do it in five decades or less.”

“Is there even enough demand to support a global economy?” This body was clad in all white with reasonable features, rather than overexaggerated for the sake of making my fellow men go crazy and make dumb decisions. Much easier to talk to for me… though a few women from Clancy’s town were eying the new body up. Guess short hair, tan skin, tone, and a uniform have its own appreciators. “There’s no point in trading if the markets don’t exist. All you’ll be doing is exploiting the locals and having them extract resources.”

“I have no desire to be an imperial power, Designation: Egress. If I did, I would have worked with Shiva in his plans to conquer the world entire.” I guess saying no to world domination cleared Parvati from the suspicion of becoming a far-flung tyrant. “And, from my analysis with the satellite you placed into orbit, I have found plenty of markets. I estimate over two billion survivors of what occurred years ago, and numbers are rising at a rapid rate.”

Was it lack of contraceptives or just a need for more bodies for everything?

I really hoped that it was the latter.

“And, what’ll they be giving in return for modern conveniences and no need to worry about food any longer? What’s going to be the unit of exchange between everyone that doesn’t give anyone the short end of the stick?”

“My plan is to institute a form of currency based around energy itself, as it is the most valuable commodity.”

“Ah, so you’re planning to control the world through soft-power.”

That earned me a glare… to which I raised my hands.

“Hey, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I’m a filthy capitalist at heart. If we can lash together society across the world by making a universal market and currency, I’m all for it… as long as people get to decide on everything else.” I couldn’t read Parvati’s mind, but I’d bet on that being the AI’s plan. A ‘gentle’ form of world conquest.  “Punish the people who try to make war by excluding them from the market or calling in assassinations if needed. Sounds good to me, honestly.”

“…My intentions are to stop millions of deaths from lack of access to power, medicine, and food, Designation: Egress.”

“Yeah, sure, but it’s still leverage in the end. Leverage you’ll use, because it’ll also prevent lives from being wasted.” I might not look like it, but I paid attention to geopolitics and studied it on my own time. College courses on the situation that actually gave out real information, rather than politicized garbage were far too expensive to consider. Time-wise, of course. I had the funds, but all the time I’d spend sitting in classes was time I could spend preparing and getting more funds and supplies. “Look, Parvati, you don’t need my permission to do these sort of things. You’ve got the benefit of the doubt, thanks to all you’ve done already, especially with the prisoners and refugees from Japan.”

I wouldn’t believe these words coming from anyone else, but Parvati was someone I’d give the benefit of the doubt.

I looked the gynoid in the eye to make what I was thinking clear.

“I’ll work with you, as long as you pay me right, and I’ll gladly take what you’re offering in terms of medical support. Set up a surgery room where I can pop in if things get really bad, prep a spare body for my brain, and if you end up saving my life I’ll owe you big.” Like I said, I’m capitalistic as hell. I wasn’t going to say no to extending my life and keeping myself in my prime. I was willing to pay nearly anything for that. Still, though, I wouldn’t be much of a businessman if I just threw myself at Parvati the moment the AI offered it. “You can contact me with a job, I’ll take it, and we’ll work with each other… just make sure that you can see what you’re doing in the eyes of human beings. Not just yours.”

Parvati took a moment, probably an eternity for the construct, before she responded.

“Very well, then, I shall be contacting you with the specifics of my plans in a few weeks. Your willingness to work for me in this project is much appreciated.”

Alright.

Just signed onto an AI’s plan to dominate the world through trade and soft power.

Hopefully, this wasn’t going to blow up in my face.

…

Surprisingly, we managed to triangulate Qin and Clancy’s kid before she managed to bulldoze through something that would make her enemies.

Unfortunately, it was thanks to Anderson, and she demanded the right to come along in exchange for the information.

Personally, I didn’t want anything to do with my zealot ex-girlfriend, but she presented a way to possibly cut the problem short in a peaceful manner.

Meaning that Maelstrom was all for it, and next thing I knew, we were meeting with Anderson outside of Clancy’s camp.

With the ruler of the camp looking absolutely haggard, while Parvati’s gynoid stood straight and proper next to him.

Quite close to him and getting glared at by a few of the natives.

Yeah, dude, what’d you think was going to happen with you ‘fighting’ against a bio-engineered super soldier that’s also a cyborg, built to last, and built to twist men around their fingers?

You’re lucky that you’re not dead.

Also, you idiot, you’ve just fucked the social dynamics of your little kingdom.

“Walker.”

“Anderson.”

Anderson was clad in gleaming, silver-finished powered armor that wouldn’t look out of place in grim and dark future. The armor was massive and bulky, with in-built weapon systems, and a massive sword hung on her back with a power cord at the hilt. If I had to guess, she was looking for technology to utilize to achieve parity with Maelstrom.

If you can use that powered armor to blitz through the whole United Stats and wreck every city in under a day, I think you can say that the armor has a chance.

Honestly, I’d go for guaranteeing damage over guaranteeing survival, but I guess I’ve always got the option to run away while everyone else doesn’t.

Anyway, I was staying out of sight and out of mind, but listening in from the situation from afar to not ruffle any feathers—

“Allow me to guess: Egress still believes that he can avoid any say and any responsibility.” Ouch, Anderson.

“He has chosen to be contractor. Someone who is worth listening too, but who can also be ignored at will.” Oi, Walker. Are you defending me or putting me down? Actually, you know what, keep doing what you’re doing. I’m perfectly fine with not being on anyone’s side. Sob. “He’s nearby and interested in what Qin is doing. Apparently, he’s worked with both the mother and father of the superhuman that you’ve found. The father is the leader of this town.”

“Somehow, Egress finds himself into mess after mess, despite being so adamant on staying isolated.” I knew she was goading me to speak up, but I wasn’t about to rise to the bait. Therefore, I could only surmise that Anderson was trying to feel out what exactly my relations were with Walker. She’s my employer, lady. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Trouble finds us all in the end. His ability to be everywhere just makes it so it can find him more easily.” Well, uh, shit. I didn’t think of it that way. My most peaceful years of living were when I just stayed in one place and just enjoyed my food supplies and picked up hobbies like cooking, baking, and taking care of my dog. Oh, and enjoying a state-of-the-art entertainment system with terabytes and terabytes of content. Yeah, I hadn’t had to deal with much, until I left my safehouse. “But that is beside the point. The child searches for her father. Do you know what her intentions are?”

“The girl can barely speak English and she’s strong and skilled.” That last part was pretty bad. A lot of superhumans were strong, but adding skilled on top of that usually elevated people far above the average reach of their peers. It’s the difference between someone who just got a gun and a trained shooter. Both are deadly, but one’s far more so. “We don’t know how, but she’s heading this way and will be here in a few days by foot.”

From the Gulf of Mexico to the Midwest in a few days?

This girl really is Clancy and Qin combined.

Anyway, despite looking haggard as hell, Clancy managed to speak up.

“Looks like my daughter’s got Qin’s senses. Qin can track people down that she’s seen before, even through pictures. It made her real deadly with her speed and toughness.” When I worked with the two of them, Clancy broke down barriers, Qin did the hurting, and I delivered them in and out of trouble. Guess their kid had both their power sets. “Is she armed? We can capture her just fine, if she’s not.”

“That’s where the issue lies. She using a Donor Weapon.” That wasn’t a phrase that I didn’t like in the least. In fact, I didn’t like it enough to pop on over to the front to see Anderson’s evidence, which came as a hologram from a projector mounted on her wrist. I could feel her glaring at me, but I didn’t care. There was a blurry image of a very tall young woman with straight black hair running through a forest, but I focused on her hand. On the outside, it looked like a very long, elongated suitcase, but the fact that there was a power cable attached to one end to a battery cell she was carrying on her back clarified the issue. Parvati flew a drone by my side. “She hasn’t used it or unleashed it, but by its size and shape, it is a powerful one.”

Parvati cut in.

“I had heard that this was being practiced by several of the Asiatic Warlords, but this is my first time seeing this weapon.”

“Consider yourself lucky. They’re horrible.” Donor Weapons were made up of bits and pieces of carved up superhuman, stuffed into a miniature life support system, and their power activated in a controlled manner when you put an electric flow through it. It could be someone who can throw around energy bolts, someone who could make powerful shields, or someone who could form blades lethal to anyone. The first one of its kind was a dead superhuman strapped to some jumper cables and was used to replace the main gun of a tank… and that fucked up thing levelled a few city blocks before it was destroyed. “Hey, Clancy, sorry but if your kid decides to use that thing...”

“I’ll handle the matter myself, Egress. It’ll be on me.”

I looked over at him.

His eyes were hard and jaw set.

The last time he looked like that a lot of bad people had a really terrible day.

Yeah, best to leave things to the big guy.

“Right. I’ll see what I can do if you buy it, though. Keep her alive, of course.”

“I appreciate it, Egress.” Clancy gave me a little nod, and that was that. Everyone else present looked at us like we were aliens. What? Did y’all think that we can’t have a serious conversation? Or, maybe, you guys think a conversation like that should take more than a few sentences? I’ll have you know that keeping serious things simple is the best course of action. “Qin must be after that weapon.”

“…I would think the same, but we’ve just captured an image of their ship. Look.” I blinked at what was presented. It was a massive cargo ship, or it used to be, and was heavily converted. Solar sails, wind turbines, machine gun nests, and most of the cargo hold was holding a small town. If you told me a small village was living on it, I’d believe you. A thousand people could live on the ship with ease. However, what was worrying, was that a lot of the normal troops were carrying around the same weapon that Clancy and Qin’s daughter was. Donor weapons by the hundreds… and uniform in shape. I put the pieces together. “These weapons are mass produced now, possibly through—

“Cloning.” Maelstrom finished. It was good that we weren’t looking at soldiers using barely-living people as weapons. However, it was still horrible. “They’re using superhumans like resources, just like in Japan… if a bit better.”

I grimaced at the reminder at what the Shogun did, creating breeding camps to create himself armies and creating gigantic bodies with immense powers to hold his consciousness.

If these Donor Weapons used clone bodies, and the clones were grown quickly and didn’t develop personalities… I guess, maybe, it was better than what we saw under the Shogun?

Still, though, I really wasn’t liking the proliferation of biological weaponization.

First it was Parvati and its gynoids with plenty of flesh and blood.

Second was the shitshow with the Shogun.

Now, it was weaponization of clones made from superhumans.

I really didn’t want to know what came next… but I had an idea on how to nip this current issue in the bud.

“Alright, fine. I’m willing to meet with Qin, just so I know what the hell is going on. Who’s coming with?”

Of course, it was a stupid question, but I had to ask even they all wanted to come.

I didn’t want anyone complaining about being forced to come along.