When it comes to the question of who won the war, there are enough potential answers to fill an entire novel and then some. With the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction never materialising under Scion, the war that began in 1983 meant that only very limited nuclear exchanges occurred. No capital or even a large amount of important cities were hit, and thus, all of the major powers suddenly had to continue with the traditional way of waging war once their nuclear stocks were depleted. Vivid memories of Soviet tanks rushing across the East German border and the 'West Coast Blitz' remain even today. However, the biggest shock to the American populace was most likely the Treaty of London, which ended the two-year-long war of attrition and put into place the restrictions of Parahuman use in wartime that seem to be broken in every conflict since.
Even though NATO was dissolved, and the Warsaw Pact were technically victorious by controlling the most territory in Europe, their gains were pyrrhic. Less than two years after the end of the conflict, the union dissolved violently, with civil wars in the former Warsaw Pact states being the norm. That is not even counting the East Asian Crisis that occurred some months before the first nuclear weapons were launched in Europe. Thus, the question should not be who won the war, but rather, who lost the least.
Excerpt from the Twentieth anniversary of World War III, historiography and memory of the war, Journal of American Public History, 2003.
Timbits, Taylor couldn't get enough of them. The small, doughy delectable treats were among some of the great Canadian inventions. For all intents and purposes, they were literally just mini doughnut balls covered in the frosting that a regular doughnut had. The part that appealed to people was probably because they were a light snack, they weren't as big as a whole doughnut and you could just eat a few and save the rest for later. However, Taylor was currently going through her eighth box of 20-pack timbits, much to the awe and horror of Castle, who was standing next to her just watching her wolf them down.
"How I envy the young…"
"Hm?" Taylor paused from eating for just a second, looking at the PRT hero in confusion.
"Nothing, you keep doing that. I eat like five of those things and I'm just about knocked out…how the hell do you do it? Where does it all go?"
"My fuselage. It's how I get the energy to fly." It was odd, Taylor could drink jet fuel just fine without the health impacts that a normal human would get if they did the same thing. Old man Zaitsev nearly got a heart attack the first time he saw her do that, and was made to promise never to do it again.
"Huh. Never expected that…still, you sure you're gonna be fine? There's a lot of sugar in those things."
She shrugged, her appetite varied depending on how much she expended her fuel, doing acrobatics, flying long distances and especially using her afterburners depleted it quickly. Over time, the food she ate sort of just filled up her fuselage, albeit very slowly. The more she ate, the higher the recovery rate was, or she could just literally drink jet fuel but that was expensive in its own right.
"I could also just drink jet fuel like I originally asked you for."
"Oh hell no, I am not giving jet fuel to a minor no matter what you say. I think you just about cleared out the nearest timmies with how much you ate…"
Wanker.
She was still at Vancouver International, having collapsed and everything upon landing the airliner meant that she was virtually forced to stay put by Dragon and Director Hui. Funnily enough, they originally wanted to get her checked out by a medic, but she waved them off, a mechanic would have been way more useful to her. Still, after being cleared from a human medical standpoint, there was still the issue of her…rigging.
In a nearby hangar away from the rescue operations, she had manifested her actual fighter outside for better inspection of the damage. Thankfully it wasn't as bad as she first deliriously imagined. It was still dangerous to fly again for sure, but not 'will explode in mid-air shortly after take-off bad' levels. The damage was mostly centred on her engines, though a vital part, Magansk Aeronautical Design Bureau planes were always built tougher than their competitors. She was fine, though perhaps a deep overhaul was needed. Zaitsev was not going to be happy, at all.
"Gotta admit though, feel kinda stupid for thinking your jet girl thing was a joke." Castle said as he looked at the MG-29 in person. Aside from him, only a few PRT troopers were guarding the entrance of the hanger with her, shooing away curious ground crew.
"Why a Russian jet? Did it just come with or did you find it?"
"It came with."
"Huh…powers give out military jets these days?"
Okay, she had to admit that was weird from a Parahuman standpoint. Masters being able to summon things were not rare, but a power that came with a material object, and a jet fighter no less? Taylor would not be surprised if she was a first in that regard. Maybe even a new case file? How did those work in the first place?
Before she could ruminate on it more however, she heard the distinct metal clanking of Dragon's suit. Turning around, not only was the Tinker walking towards her, but so was Director Hui.
"Scarlet, good to see you ag-how many timbits did you eat?!"
Taylor pulled out her mask and placed another one in her mouth before responding. "Not enough."
That wasn't her trying to be rude, but it really was not enough to fill her fuselage back to full.
"...we'll get you some jet fuel later." Like Castle, Director Hui and Dragon had initially balked at giving her jet fuel when she first wanted it, Taylor guessed they finally saw reason.
"In any case, I believe you will be happy to know that aside from the initial hail strike on the flight, there were no further casualties since you arrived." Hearing that from Dragon made her feel a bit more relieved. She was concerned about the rapid descent the airliner originally had, thankfully that had not caused any further injuries.
"Out of all hundred and fifty-five passengers and crew originally on board, all of them are still alive. Based on my analysis, if you weren't there, the flight would have gone down in the forest outside of Princeton. You saved all of them, Scarlet."
"Flattering."
Castle nudged her shoulder a bit. "Oh come on, even I can tell she really meant it, hell, we all do. Don't sell yourself short kid, you did a hell of a good thing today, most heroes in the PRT don't get to do, let alone see anything so exciting in their careers."
Director Hui chimed in next, a small grin forming on her face as she did so. "He is right about this, despite the action-filled glamour that television likes to portray us as, it is much more mundane than people think. Regardless, though it was caused by one of those hail storms, it was still a one in a million chance of it happening, the important part was you were there to make sure it wasn't a tragedy. I do have a lot of requests from… people …to talk to you, but I'm sure you don't want to deal with them, correct?"
Taylor tilted her head in confusion, but understood what she meant when Director Hui gestured to the fence outside of the hangar. A media circus was encamped outside of the airport fence like moths attracted to a lamp, and she wasn't sure whether the plane was the lamp or she was.
"...yes, not particularly interested, no."
"I'll let them know, Castle? Press conference in half an hour, it's on you."
"Why do you do this to me? The things I do for this damn department…" As the head of the Pacific North-West walked away dejectedly, Taylor gave him a half hearted wave of goodbye as well.
"We'll get a debrief-statement from you later. I know the medic has cleared you but please seek medical help if you're feeling any injuries later on. Now, I know you have a grandmother as a guardian, but policy requires me to ask if you have any other guardians we may contact in case you are incapacitated. In other words, do you need to call your parents to pick you up?"
Parents. Taylor had a parent. However, thinking about that caused her to scoff at Director Hui's question. "Why would he even…Dad's in the States and he's probably asleep by now-nevermind. I don't, I can get back to Kelowna on my own."
She did not miss the look of concern Director Hui gave to her, but ignored it when it wasn't brought up again. The only interaction the two had was a card and some a gift every once in a while on her birthdays. She knew her father helped pay for her schooling, but that was it. No in person meetings, conversations or anything of that sort. She did know what he looked like, an old photograph of him standing next to a F-4 Phnatom in pilot overalls was kept in her wallet always.
"In that state?" Looking at the MG-29, anyone could see that it wasn't exactly at pristine condition. Burn marks, primarily on the engine area and wings were evident for them to see. It wasn't pretty, but the important part was that it could still run fine, long enough for her to get back at least.
"If I may, Director, I could send one of my suits to escort her back? Just in case she encounters a mechanical failure on the way home. It should not take more than half an hour on cruising speed from here."
Despite the reservations shown on Director Hui's face, she eventually relented not long after. "Fine, just keep in contact on PHO, so we know you made it back safely alright? We're not sure what your physiology means right now, so small problem on your jet could…"
Regular humans did not drink jet fuel and be fine afterwards, nor did they take straining amount of G forces on the regular, nor did they carry air-to-air missiles like they did mobile phones.
"So, am I getting that jet fuel or what?"
Judging by the scowl Taylor received, that was perhaps not the best thing to ask at that moment.
Orange. Blazing orange as far as the eye could see. Kelowna was ruined, buildings to ash, roads to charcoal, not a single person alive in sight. At the top of the town was herself. Same red hair, different rigging, one that screamed familiarity, yet was forbidden knowledge to her. She could not speak, or rather, did not speak.
Her doppleganger, aside from those differences was her unkempt and wild, crimson hair. Upon her flying closer, Taylor realized it was burning. Burning like the world on fire around her.
She opened her mouth to speak, only to find a lance stuck into her chest. Looking back up, she was no longer looking at her doppleganger, she was looking at herself, holding the very same lance.
"This is Crimson One, all bogeys eliminated, returning to base."
It came from her own mouth, she did not feel anything.
Jolting up from her bed, Taylor looked down, only to find her familiar blanket covering her. Slowly turning to face the window, Kelowna below her was not on fire. It was fine, tranquil even.
"A nightmare this time…"
Her dreams usually did consist of fighting, because that was apparently what that world in particular did all the time. She dreamed of skies from Oceania all the way to the Creole Republic. None of them were particularly offputting however, until now apparently. That shade of orange in the skies, it was the result of Cordium expulsion into the atmosphere, it was the only thing that could cause something of that scale.
More importantly, it was depicting Kelowna, not Cascadia, not Magadan or anywhere else. It was Kelowna, in this world, her world. That was only a dream however, such a thing was not possible, Cordium after all, did not exist in her world.
Did it?
That brief bit of uncertainty was soon taken away by a loud knocking below her. There was a brief pang of annoyance as she thought it was some hotel guest that got lost from the main building. Grandma Abbott ran the Dust Mother Hotel , sure, but couldn't she have built where they lived further away from it? Every so often some hotel guest was wandering around in front of her window because they got lost, which usually required some shouting of directions by her to shoo them away. This time, however, instead of some tourist or hiker, the knocking turned out to be from Abby.
"AWAKE NOW?! I'VE BEEN KNOCKING FOR TWENTY MINUTES!"
"Ugh…" Groaning on the window frame, Taylor had sort of expected this as she and Dragon went back, but to see it happening right in front of her face was….
"Don't groan on me bitch! You still owe me an explanation sei baat po! "
Maybe this time she could bribe her off? She did have Dragon's autograph that she was totally meaning to give her…
AN:
Wow gee look at the date, what a short and consistent upload schedule! I do not apologize at all. Happy new year everyone.
Be civil in the comments below.