Gate: Thus the Brotherhood of Steel Lyon's Pride Fought in Their Land
Chapter Interlude - Lady Aqua
As the goddess of water, the goddess worshiped by the Axis Order, aka Axis Cult, there were a few things that could be said about Aqua. That she was stunningly beautiful was certainly one of them. Even among the women of various worlds she stood as a peerless beauty. Her flowing blue hair was the envy of those who laid eyes on it. Her skill at party tricks and healing magic was unmatched, and the fact that she could send the undead on to their final rewards was unparalleled. Yet, none of that seemed to matter to a certain reluctant human hero that still referred to her as that idiot!
"When are we gonna land?!" Aqua complained for the sixth time, "I thought that it was a short trip to this Boston area."
There was quiet for a few moments, "Please," Rory said, her voice sounding strained, "Please, let me toss her out. She's a goddess, even if it kills her mortal connection she'll likely survive. Just let me to it, please, she's annoying!"
Aqua looked at her, "I'm not annoying, I'm just a goddess, and as a goddess I'm supposed to be worshiped, praised, and held to a high standard that I don't actually have to achieve," she replied as she sat against the wall of the Vertibird, "After all, since I'm a goddess I really don't have to do much other than direct souls."
"Aqua," Kazuma said, his own voice sounding tired, "Please, shut up."
She looked toward him, but like normal he made that face that looked more like he was pitying her. She couldn't understand why. She was a goddess, and even in the mortal realm she was an arch priest! Her powers were secondary to none! Still that look of pity made her freeze for a moment, "Why are you looking at me like you're sorry for me?"
She watched as he shook his head, "I'm sorry for her constant complaining, but we should be arriving soon, right?"
"Yeah," the pilot answered, "I've already flown out here once, and we landed at the airport. That's exactly where we're landing again. Once we do we'll keep the Vertibirds protected. From what I could see there were a few protectron stations around the airport. It shouldn't be hard to get them unlocked and have them work as security until you arrive."
Hearing that gave Aqua the patience she needed to just mildly pout about being seen as an annoyance instead of the goddess she actually was. She settled against the wall of the Vertibird and looked out at the hellish landscape that resided outside of it. Stretches of broken road laid out before her. She could see how busted and burned out it was. Whoever the god or goddess was that was incharge of dealing with the souls that came from here likely was still busy. There had to be millions that died, no, make that billions. It would take a couple of thousand years to get through them all.
Naturally, she wondered if any of them were getting reincarnated anywhere else? But then again, if most of their believers died did that mean that most of the gods and goddesses of this world died as well? That thought bothered her. She admitted to it earlier, but there was one thing that could hurt any deity. Losing believers, either because they simply no longer believed, or because of mass death, was enough to bring most gods and goddesses down. It could weaken them to the point that their divine powers would be solely used to simply keep them alive.
The only ones that would be well fed would be those over the underworld and death itself. Those gods and goddesses would be fine until the souls finally stopped coming. At that point the god or goddess of death would begin to fade, and the only left would be the one over the underworld. Eventually they too would begin to lose their power. Rewarding and torture of souls could only last for so long.
It meant that the god that wanted everything to die, to destroy everything had to be a god of chaos and madness. There was no other explanation of that. If that was the case then there was a very serious problem. Chaos gods were not to be directly dealt with. She'd made the mistake when first received her massive power boost from her believers. She'd directly antagonized a chaos god. It had taken all of her divine power to seal that god back up into its little padded room, and since then she made damn sure that she didn't go near that area again.
She wasn't sure, but that chaos god didn't feel too strong. It didn't matter though. It sensed her. It sensed her and it wanted her. It wanted to completely dominate her. It had taken everything she had to seal it back away. Thus the first commandment of her order was created. If you fail at something, it's okay to seal it away, turn around, and never try again! Just move onto something different and know that it's okay to restart somewhere else!
Her order had adopted it beautifully, and she loved that they had. With as much chaos and madness as there likely had been in this world, and likely still was, she was afraid that this chaos god was far stronger than the one she dealt with. It had taken all of her divine power, when she was in full goddess form, to ensure that he was sealed away. She didn't want to admit it, but the demigoddess might be of more use than she would care to admit.
Looking at Kazuma there was little doubt that he'd be of great help. Sure, he was a shut-in neet, but that was before he was reincarnated. And besides, he had Megumin with him. She actually made him a better person. Maybe his getting laid had done some good. Not that she was going to admit it. Besides, Megumin was barely an adult, and she still looked really petite. If someone didn't know her age… well, then again from what she'd seen of this world that might not be an issue.
At the moment they were simply heading over what seemed to be scattered settlements. She haphazardly looked outside, taking in the sights, but keeping her thoughts about the futility of it all to herself. She didn't want to admit it, but maybe the fact that she was a goddess did obstruct her view of how mortals lived. Of course, it could be argued that while she was stuck with Kazuma she practically was mortal. That thought scared the living hell out of her. The very idea that she could die bothered her.
Immortal things had no business dying, but the chance was certainly there. Still, she decided to ignore it for the moment. Instead she focused on the area below her. Little did she know as she watching the ground below there was something of an escape happening not far from where they would be landing.
Commonwealth - Parkview Apartments
Nancy Zhao looked through the boarded up window and breathed out a breath of frustration. So far her runner was behind schedule, and she didn't like meeting here. Parkview was normally lousy with raiders, but luckily it was mostly uninhabited at the moment. She had the Minutemen to thank for that. They'd been looking for a place to use as a temporary base while assisting smaller settlements in the Commonwealth.
Parkview had fit the bill perfectly, and so it was just a matter of sneaking in when they left. A few basic motion sensors were set up to give her early warning if they were returning. It wasn't that she didn't trust the Minutemen, but she couldn't be sure that they would accept what they were doing. They offered to help the people of the Commonwealth, and they did so at a moment's notice. Unfortunately, not everyone considered the ones they were helping to be people.
"Okay, where the fuck are you Dash?" she asked as she looked outside, "Ben den, Cao ni ma, hurry the fuck up already!"
She quieted down as she saw two forms coming in from the east. It was the right side to be entering from, but was it them? She watched as the forms became a little more visible. She breathed out, and began to move down the stairwell. She got to the bottom of it and opened the door. Dash stepped in, and he looked spooked. She could see the small flesh wound he'd suffered on the way over, "What happened?"
He breathed out, "Good to see you too," he replied as he led the girl inside, "We were ambushed. Fuckin' slavers. They're out in force today. We barely managed to get past them. I thought that the Minutemen were supposed to be handling those assholes."
She looked at him, "They are, and maybe if we allowed ourselves to be known to them we could work together," she replied, "But for now we need to keep a low profile."
She looked toward the girl. From the looks alone she likely couldn't be over sixteen. Of course since she wasn't exactly what she looked that age could be anywhere from three months to sixteen. She gave a faint smile, "I take it that you're G7-81?"
The girl nodded, "I am," she replied, "I, I was used to hunt my own kind."
The fact that the girl had been a courser didn't sit well with her, but if she was here then it meant that she had become aware enough to realize that everyone deserved to be free. She hoped that would be enough to keep her from freaking out and possibly deciding that they just needed to be dealt with. Still, Nancy motioned toward the table, and of course the small collection of two hundred year freshly packaged food that rested on it.
"I got to imagine that you're hungry. I've got some Fancy Lad cakes, a couple boxes of Sugar Bombs, and of course everyone's favorite Cram."
G7-81 nodded and walked toward the table. She watched as she picked up the Fancy Lad Cakes. That was one thing that seemed to be shared between humans and her kind. They preferred the sugary snack cakes to any actual food. Not that Sugar Bombs could be considered real food. They were, at best, a source of quick energy that brought on an epic crash afterward. Still, she'd personally seen that stuff cultivated into some seriously powerful Jet. Apparently some Ghoul was making it over in what was left of the outskirts of Washington DC.
She then looked at Dash who was tending to his arm, "So, was it just you?"
She watched as the dark complected man shook his head, "Naw," he replied as he tended to his arm, "Silent was with me. She got shot in the leg, not enough to kill her, but enough to down her long enough. She let them get close enough to her, and then she pulled the pin on a couple of frag grenades."
Nancy shook her head, "Damn," she said as she sat there, "Hellva a way to go. Glad that she took them out though."
He nodded, "She managed to take out about six of them. Enough for us to get on out here, but not all of them by any means. It's a pretty large operation. I heard someone say that they made their way from the Capital Wasteland. Apparently some group is cleaning the place up."
She leaned back, "Well, it would almost be worth reaching out to our contacts out there to find out more," she replied as she looked toward their guest, "But then ultimately it doesn't matter. We need to be here to ensure that we can free the ones that have become aware enough to escape."
He nodded, "So, who's taking her on to the switchboard?"
She looked at him, "Dash, you know better than to ask."
He studied her, "oh, comeon Nancy, you know me. Who the fuck am I going to tell?"
She studied him for a minute, "Naw, sorry, but I can't tell you. Besides, you need to clear out before those slavers make another pass."
He stood up, "Okay, okay," he replied, "I get it. Sad that you don't trust me after all this time."
The way he spoke seemed too pointed. She studied him, and she watched as he moved. Dash was good at what he did, but could sense something. There was some small part of her that questioned what he was trying to do. He seemed reluctant to just leave, and she could read his body language. There was something else at play, and she knew that. She watched as he looked between her and G7-81. The synth looked confused, but her time working with the railroad had heightened her sense of paranoia.
Besides, it wasn't paranoia if everyone really was out to get you. She touched the cool handle of the old M1911 pistol. It'd been inside of a lockbox that she found in an old mobile home. The mobile home itself looked to belong to some veteran, and his lockbox had been a small treasure trove of useful items. The pistol was certainly the one that she was the most fond of. Ammunition for it was a bitch to find, but it was also one of the best weapons when it came to dealing with someone, or something, quickly.
"Comeon Nancy, really, who the fuck am I going to tell?" he asked, and she saw his hand moving. She didn't waste time and she raised her pistol, it was already prepared to fire, and he dropped his pistol, "Fuck, what gave it away?"
She looked at him as he stood there, "G7-81 is expendable, but infiltrating your organization is top priority right now," he said, his voice calm and even, "To be honest, I've become rather fond of some of you. Granted, you're very misguided in what you're doing. In truth, you might as well be going around and freeing protectrons and Mr. Handies. It's practically the same thing."
"It's not," she said as she aimed at him, "So, were's the real Dash, or have you been him the entire time?"
She watched as he looked at her, "I am, and always have been, the person I claimed to be. It's just that I am more as well. I am H9-92, a courser designed to infiltrate and collect runaway synths. Of course, I was specifically given commands that allows me to fully infiltrate your organization. I would dare say that I am more refined than most of my brethren."
"There's a scrambler already set up," she said as she looked at him, "Best of prewar, never released to the public, and from what I've seen it's able to scramble the hell out of the signal that you produce for your masters."
His confidence seemed to drift, "I see," he replied as he studied her, "Your weapon is one that I have some experience with. A well placed shot will disable me, and I know how good of a shot you are, but I also know that you want to save every synth, so will you save me, or will you ensure the safety of G7-81?"
He began to move and she changed her aiming. No longer was she aiming at his head, but instead she shot him through the right knee. It was quick and he wasn't able to dodge it. He fell, his leg giving out from under him, "Well, that changes things," he said, a mirthful expression on his face, "I can't afford to be captured."
She watched as he opened his coat to reveal six plasma grenades, "So, shall we dance?"
He pulled the pins, and she grabbed G7-81 by the wrist and ran from the apartment. They had no time, to spare, and she ran straight toward door across the hall. She knew that it was locked, it had been for ages, but she didn't care. She kicked the door hard, felt it give way, and rushed into it with G7-81. She slammed it shut, for whatever good it would do, and kept running until they were at the old tub. She tossed G7-81 into it, and the jumped in on top of her.
There was an earth shattering boom, and she heard the strange sound of everything warping around her. Slowly the tub felt it was starting to dip, and she chanced a look outside. The tub itself was sitting on the floor that was partially gone. The rest of it was a sort of green goo that had fallen below. She relaxed a little and looked at the synth that was obviously shaken.
"Okay," she said, her voice soft, "We're fine. You and I are going to go ahead and go to our next destination, and we're going to do so carefully."
G7-81 looked uncertain, "I didn't know that he was a synth," she replied, "I should have known, I really should have. He was a newer model, I should have realized that he was one."
Nancy shook her head, "You didn't have a chance to know," she replied, "He tricked you. It's that simple, and that's what Coursers do, right?"
She nodded, "Yes, it is," she replied as she got up, "Thank you for helping me."
Nancy nodded, and stopped when she heard something. It was power armor, several suits of it, and they were moving toward them. She motioned for her to be quiet, and she moved silently toward the fire escape. She stepped out, glad that the old metal frame wasn't crumbling and stepped lightly on it. It seemed to hold, so she motioned for G7-81 to follow her, "Okay," she said as they moved, "I don't know who's coming, but I've got to imagine that it's likely no friendlies. We're going to sneak down to the ground, and I'm going to have a look. Depending on what I see we're either going to book, or we're going to try to negotiate."
She moved around the corner and saw a group that she hadn't seen before. Most of them were wearing gray power armor, one of them wore a suit of it painted up like an old Vault jumpsuit, and that one had the number 101 on it. She watched as they neared the apartment, "The explosion was definitely from inside," one of them said, "Orders Sentinel Reeder?"
There was a moment of hesitation, "I want to ensure that there's not something that can interfere with our mission," a raspy ghoul-like voice replied, "Do a check floor by floor, watch for traps, check for raiders. Maybe they did us a favor and blew themselves up."
Commonwealth - Parkview Apartments - Kazuma Sato
There was really one choice to check out the apartment complex, and Kazuma didn't mind it in the slightest. He could see the worry on Megumin's face, but he gave her a smile, "Comeon, we all know that I'm the best suited for this. With my thief skills I can sneak in, not set off any traps, and then sneak back out."
She nodded, "If you get in trouble, get out, right away, and I'll unleash an explosion on that building and just blow it and everything inside of it up."
He looked at her, "Yeah, if there's something that might go boom in there and kill everyone out here, that could be a bad idea. Why not let the Brotherhood just storm in and do their thing?"
She looked at him, "Kazuma, I am Megumin! The greatest archwizard of the Crimson Demon Clan!" she said taking the striking pose that was taught to all of the crimson demons, and something he still found adorkably cute, "As the single greatest arch wizard, do you doubt that I have the find tuned ability to keep from exploding mere manmade explosives? Do you truly doubt your wife?"
He laughed, "I don't," he replied before he kissed her, "I do however doubt that my wife has the self control to keep her blast to a minimum and not go all out."
She rolled her eyes, "Okay, yeah, you got me there, but come on, it's practically a ruin!" she said as she pointed at it, "I mean it's obviously easy pickings! I can level it with the smallest of my explosive spells. If you're in trouble let me make a crater where it now stands! I'll make sure that anything inside of it, other than you, won't see another day."
He smiled at her, and then heard someone clearing their throat, "Just to be clear," Paladin Jefferson said, "She has the ability to cast a spell that can completely destroy that building?"
Kazuma smiled at him, "Well, actually, she can cast a spell that could level a giant castle with no problem," he replied as he looked at him, "I mean, a couple of years ago that would have been a stretch, but she's improved her spell since then. I'd say that her spell is about equal to a forty megaton nuclear warhead."
There was a moment of silence before Sentinel Reeder moved toward them. He stood in front of Megumin, "You are not to cast that spell anywhere near any working fusion generators," he said with his voice firm, "I mean it. We do not need a repeat of the great war."
She looked at him, "Of course I won't cast it as long as we're close," she said, her voice even, "Now, if we're clear, and there's a large group of undead, orcs, or any other monsters then I'm going to unleash it and kill all of them at once. And then Kazuma can carry me back afterward. Maybe he can shower me with some love and affection for doing a good job as well."
Everyone was quiet for a moment before Sentinel Reeder looked at Kazuma, "She listens to you, right?" he asked, "Because if so then explain to her how everything in this world is ran off of nuclear power, and unleashing a spell like that without taking the location into account is a bad idea. I doubt that she wants to kill innocent people, and there is a very good chance that will happen."
Kazuma looked at him for a moment, "Wait, wait, you mean everything here is ran off of nuclear power?" he asked as he looked at him, "I'm kind of a novice at this stuff, but wouldn't that mean that you somehow managed to develop microfusion? As in somehow you managed to create cold fusion?"
There was silence for a moment, "How much do you know of it?"
Kazuma looked at him uncertainly for a moment, "I know that in my world Albert Einstein came up with the idea of cold fusion," he said, "But everyone else said it was a pipe dream. That there was no way it would work."
Sentinel Reeder breathed out, "The same happened here. Albert Einstein came up with the idea, but other scientists devoted themselves to proving that it could be done. By the twenty-first century we had achieved microfusion. Nuclear power was incorporated into everything. Every car, every house, and every business ran off of nuclear power. Fusion generators were set up in large businesses to allow them to run even when the grid went down. Most cars could be used as a backup generator for most houses."
He shook his head, "And most of the oil was gone. We'd developed synthetic oil, long ago, and we had been using it. In truth, all we'd really done was return plastics to their most primary state, and then we repurposed it into usable oil. We had believed that all other countries had moved the same direction."
Kazuma looked at him, "They didn't, did they?" he asked as he studied him, "Some country decided to not move into the atomic age, right?"
Sentinel Reeder seemed to study him for a moment, "The People's Republic of China refused to move toward the direction until it was too late. They were too reliant upon their oil reserves, and then those ran out. They attempted to take the oil reserves around the world, but most of the others had long since run out. It was only the United States that had a large reserve of oil left. Enough to keep China's power going for another few years."
Kazuma felt like his entire stomach fell out, "They started the war," he replied as he realized what happened, "What about Japan? I'm sure that they tried to stop that, right?"
He waited for an answer, but only saw a head shaking, "Japan was bombed by the Chinese early in the offensive. The entire country was wiped off of the map in the first few months of the war. Everyone, and everything there was dead in a matter of minutes. We attempted to send aid, but by the time we were able to there was nothing but a radioactive wasteland left. There may be ghouls there now, but likely that's all that is left."
Kazuma nodded, and he turned around, "I'm sorry to hear that," he said before he looked at the apartment, "I really am."
"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you," Sentinel Reeder replied, "But, there are a few Japanese American descendants around, and I'm certain that if you looked hard enough you'd find them."
He smiled, "Good to know," he said before he moved forward, "So again, I'll check it out."
He moved in, and he didn't know that they were being watched. He didn't know what was going to come next, but he was going to make sure that at least this part was clear.
