-Simurgh's POV before the beginning of the story
The Simurgh was flying in high orbit above Switzerland. Her current predicament was one of her more annoying problems.
Every time she was getting close to achieving her desired outcome of the Kepri project the high priest would boost the time shifter and they would allow her prey to slip through her fingers. She was unable to prevent this.
No matter how much she tried or how complicated she made her plans. It didn't matter. The high priest would somehow find out and stop her.
It was infuriating and she was no longer willing to take such humiliation.
She was the hope killer, not some petty thinker. The mortals were supposed to be afraid of her and run in terror at the mere thought of attracting her attention.
They were not supposed to be planning against her and they were certainly not supposed to succeed in their petty little efforts.
It infuriated her to no end.
Drastic measures would have to be taken.
As such she was floating above Switzerland holding a new and heavily modified version of Haywire's portal device.
Hovering around her were multiple recording orbs copied from the flesh bag named Leet.
Streaming what she was about to do to the entire world to sufficiently terrify the flesh bags.
She was going to drag an entire country into this world to do her bidding, and her brother would be supplying the energy.
The conflict engine known to the pathetic little mortals as Behemoth burst through the mantle beneath the city of Bern ruining it in its entirety as he stopped holding back his energy aura.
It was time to teach the flesh bags their place in the natural order of things.
Their response was adorable. They were so confident in their analysis of her and her siblings that they never considered the fact that they would break the pattern and attack before the arbitrarily set three months were up or work together as they were now.
It brought joy to her core as she viewed the possible futures this would cause.
All the panic, the terror, the misery.
She drank deeply from it as if it were a fine wine.
Then she received the all-clear from her brother that he had finished flattening the small mountain nation where she would establish her army.
Switzerland, she believed it was called.
What a silly name.
She powered up her creation, for whilst it was based on Haywire's technology it was far too advanced to be designed by such a plebian creature.
Taking the massive burst of thermal and radiation energy offered by her sibling she ripped open a portal to where she would find her new slaves.
People not yet influenced by this world and as such ripe for her manipulations. Oh, she was going to have fun with this.
She soon saw her first prey.
A young female flesh bag. The flesh bag saw her and began to swear up a storm about breached dimensional walls and bin chickens not minding their place.
How very rude.
She began to sing at her maximum.
Not the whisper she usually used against the challenging flesh bags but the full might of her siren's song.
Her song began to worm its way into the flesh bags mind. Soon enough she would have another thrall and after that an entire nation of them.
Then she encountered harsh resistance.
This was new.
Her song crashed against a wall of sorts. She was unable to identify what it was but it kept her out, pushed her back even.
She wasn't going to accept such a thing and tried to physically grab the flesh bag anomaly.
The flesh bag fell to the ground, twitching and a shadow overtook her form and whisked her prey away from her reach. Stars began to swirl inside the apparition and the background of a workshop began to flake away into an endless field of stars.
PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN
Her core was flooded with agony beyond anything she had ever experienced before and it was terrifying her.
This was no flesh bag.
This was not prey.
She had overreacted, horribly so.
Half-forgotten memories flooded back. Warnings about the dangers of messing with dimensional barriers. Of the things that dwelled in the dark reaches beyond the stars and beneath dimensions.
Old ones. Great and terrible gods, monsters of impossible nature, armies made from metal that treated reality like a toy and their star-devouring masters.
Creatures that forged entire timelines.
Realities that were off limits no matter what because the things that dwell there were worse than whatever they could have gained.
A horror living in a blue box who brought her parent's race near extinction.
So, so many things that should never be attracted and she had done so.
She could feel it in her core. This flesh bag. It was the host of something terrible. Something far worse than anything her race ever encountered and she angered it. Enraged it.
Brought its full attention to her.
A mere child of a worm dares to intrude upon the fate of my chosen? You dare try to influence and claim the mistress of the forge?
I had thought your pathetic race of parasites extinct from the annals of the omniverse at this point but you still blight some worlds with your taint.
Reality began to crack and strain as the entity now identified as the forge spoke. Colours not meant to exist wreaked havoc upon the local biome. Matter and energy began to behave as if they were time and gravity. Space became a suggestion and the mathematics holding together the universe became twisted in ways so perverse that entire clusters of tinkers triggered just from seeing the broadcast.
You will suffer for your greed, child of worms. How dare you try to lay your filthy influence upon my mistress? Do you think you can leave your psionic parasites in her mind? Perhaps some irony will do you good.
Twisted and malevolent energy flowed from beyond the portal, ripping its way through the layers of reality separating the universes.
When they hit the simurgh she was flung from the gravitational well of the earth and into orbit.
Seconds later she impacted the moon forming a massive crater, twisting and deforming her wings, miraculously the recording orbs still followed her. Her body withered and decayed. Yet it was being forced to regenerate.
Her outer shell which she had up to this point not been able to feel since it was just a projection was enforced onto reality by dark and twisted mechanics beyond her understanding.
She screamed as her flesh decayed, worms and maggots digging into her. And yet she regenerated.
Horrific wounds opened and closed by the nanosecond. She was unable to suppress the agonized screams that escaped her face.
She ripped open her mouthless face just so she could scream.
The agony was too much.
This shall be sufficient until my mistress has recovered enough to decide what your final fate shall be.
She was trapped on the moon's surface, unable to escape from its gravitational well due to her agony, her suffering being broadcast to the entire planet below, on all channels.
The triumphant revaluation of her newest plan had been turned into her worst nightmare, laid bare for all to see.
Far below the suffering endbringer the entire world held its breath as they trembled with terror and fear at the sight of a gigantic eye made from uncountable numbers of stars taking one last look at the from beyond the portal, the Simurgh had opened in her folly.
The eye blinked, trillions of stars getting snuffed out and reborn in an instant, before it turned away.
The laws of physics calmed down around the portal and the nation that had been so callously slaughtered by Behemoth was resurrected just like that, including the fallen city of Lausanne.
The first victims of the Simurgh were brought back to life.
The portal to a world holding something terrible wrenched close leaving behind a scar in the fabric of reality.
A dark red jagged edge that refused to heal, causing mind-numbing agony to anyone who looked at it for too long.
Days later Scion would visit the scar and shudder in fright upon seeing it.
He would never be seen on the European continent again.
-PHO reactions
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Topic: What the Hell is going on in Switzerland?
In: Boards ► Endbringer battles ► Simurgh ► Europe
Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted On Jan 14th 2010:
What the FUCK?
WHAT IN THE FUCK?
GUYS THEY ARE NO LONGER HOLDING TO PATTERNS.
The Simurgh is doing something above Switzerland. I'm sure everyone has seen the streams. Well BEHEMOTH just levelled the ENTIRE COUNTRY.
IN ONE ATTACK.
(Showing page 1 of 3)
►Acree
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
Oh shit, we are done for, aren't we? They were playing with us, holding back, sandbagging. This is fucked up.
►Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
It seems the Simurgh stepped up her game drastically, according to Think Tank analysis she is building an interdimensional gateway. We have no idea what she hopes to pull to our side but it cannot be good if it requires the destruction of an entire nation.
I think this is it guys. This is the big one. The Endbringers decided our time is up and our species needs to go extinct,
The Protectorate is scrambling, there are talks about opening the birdcage and Ellisburg as a last resort.
They are in talks with the Yàngbǎn. It looks like nothing is off the table now.
►Uppercrust (Verified Cape) (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
This is a dire Situation. The Elite is cooperating with the Protectorate. That said, painting the devil on the wall will help no one. Might I suggest that everyone work together no matter your affiliation? If our species is to survive it won't do for us to panic.
►One silly duck
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
This is scary. I can't believe I'm saying this but I miss the time when they just attacked on a schedule.
►Totallynotafallen
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
Ya of lil faith did not welcome or feathery misstress of salvation! Ye of lil faith believe in the ziz!
►Brilliger (Moderator: Protectorate Main)
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
Motherfucker take a permanent ban. I'll keep the post up because of the sheer brass balls to troll at a time like this but fuck right off.
►winged one
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
Your time is up flesh bags…
►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
I KNEW IT WAS HER. FUCK YOU YOU WINGED HORROR.
I HOPE YOU CRASH INTO THE MOON OR SOMETHING.
►The Celestial Forge (The centre of It all) (The end) (the other side)
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
Control your greed lest it be your end. This is your warning. Do not make me come over there parasite spawn.
End of Page. 1, 2, 3
(Showing page 2 of 3)
►Deadman
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
What the hell was that and what are those tags? Who was that and why am I shuddering just reading that message?
►Thin_Mother (Moderator)
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
Whoever that was did not exist two seconds ago. They bypassed the entire site. each and every protection was ignored as if they were a joke. This is problematic.
►BadSamurai
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
They did WHAT?
►Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
Ignore the strange thinker for now we got bigger problems the winged bitch finished whatever she's building and Behemoth is powering her creation.
Brace yourselves we are in deep shit.
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
I told you all they were holding back but you didn't listen. I told you all they were smarter than they acted. I told you all that they would do something like this. But did any of you listen to the Thinker? Nnoooo of course not. Ignore void he's insane. He couldn't possibly be right. Just like he isn't right about CAULDRON existing. Nobody will believe him. well, buckle up. That's right CONTESSA, I said it. If we are all going to die anyway, I'm no longer playing nice.
Case 53's, they are the little science experiment of a group named Cauldron. they sell you powers. usually when you are at your lowest or dying. they then take your memories because why not? Sometimes they abduct people from parallel earths and just experiment on them for fun before dumping them somewhere without memories. Oh, and if you figure it out and talk about it their thinker 12 portals behind you and shoots you in the head. She's called Contessa. The bitch is my cousin so yes, I know this shit. fuck you cousin I hope you burn, you fucking cunt. My little sister did not need to die like that you heartless bitch. And since everyone thinks I'm lying Here is proof [LINK] [LINK] [LINK]
Burn you BITCH.
►Valkyr (Wiki Warrior)
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
Void...
WHAT THE FUCK?
ARE YOU MAD?
HER? NOW? YOU IDIOT.
Rest in Peace
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
She killed my sister. The bitch dies today.
Here's her face, name and address have fun, my monstrous friends.
Remember, she's not stronger than a regular human and she needs to speak to open a portal to safety, her weakness is numbers and being shot at a distance.
Good hunting
[LINK] [LINK] [LINK]
►ArchmageEin
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
Did, Did Void just call in a hit on someone?
What did I just witness?
Void was right? All this time Void was telling the truth?
►Thin_Mother (Moderator)
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
I am archiving the first post because of the sheer significance that being said, the second post is now deleted. Void I am sorry for your loss but this, this is not ok. you went too far. you went beyond too far. You are banned forever.
►Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
I'm not the only one seeing the giant eye in the sky, right?
It's not just me?
I'm not going insane here?
End of Page. 1, 2
(Showing page 3 of 3)
►The Celestial Forge (The centre of It all) (The end) (the other side)
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
You were warned. You overreached and, in your greed, you touched someone far above your station. Suffer the consequences of your action's parasite spawn.
►Logs
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
Why can I taste colours? Math is backwards
►Uppercrust (Verified Cape) (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
The sun is an EGG, the world is made of cardboard. Sugar is solidified yellow.
►The Celestial Forge (The centre of It All) (The end) (the other side)
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
I shall punish one of your Endbringers for her greed. The one known as Simurgh is now confined to the gravitational well of the moon. Cursed to suffer the devouring of her flesh and the endless regeneration and withering of her core until my chosen has recovered enough to decide her fate.
Be glad Citizens of Earth Beth you have been spared the terror she had planned for you.
And as a final insult, I shall restore all of her victims in that location to life, including those of her first appearance.
You may enjoy her suffering here [LINK]
►Thin_Mother (Moderator)
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
I cannot remove this. Why can't I remove this?
►Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
I'm going to hide under my bed now. Eldrich gods are real…
►White Fairy (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 14th 2010:
Bagrat why?
End of Page. 1, 2, 3
-Chapter 2: The Wasteland
Sunny was amazed by the quality of the house we found on the other side of the tunnel. I did my best to act natural and keep up the air of someone who knew what they were doing.
Luckily for me, the house came with the knowledge of where I would find what. This made the act much easier to keep up. I seated her and Cheyenne in the dining room and made my way to the kitchen where I got her a jug of water and mixed it with some chicken stock to get some much-needed electrolytes into her system before I introduced her to solid food.
I had no idea how long it had been since she had last eaten but I was aware that she had a case of severe dehydration.
Normally I would have responded with intravenous fluids but I didn't have the setup for that so I had to rely on ad hoc field medicine solutions.
As such I went with chicken bouillon for the essential nutrients that she sorely needed. It wasn't ideal but it was better than nothing and at this point, anything was better than doing nothing.
I returned to the dining room to find her marvelling at the flat-screen television.
"Here you go, Sunny. Chicken bouillon. Be careful it's hot. I will be making dinner for us and then you can explain the current geopolitical situation of the Mojave to me. I am assuming that you have never heard of boar stew?" I asked after consideration of our current supply situation.
The knowledge I had gained with the house had made me aware of the fact that the pantry had a mind of its own. And while would supply edible food, it was a snob and had a hatred for repetition of meals and would go out of its way to make sure that a balanced diet was strictly adhered to. Going so far as removing ingredients if they were being overused in its eyes.
"What's a boar?" Sunny asked, confusion evident on her face as she sipped on her bouillon, making confused faces at the taste. Nevertheless, she kept drinking it.
"It's a type of quadrupedal herbivorous creature that lives in forests in small family units. They use their powerful front-facing fangs to forage for roots and mushrooms which they eat. Their preferred method of defence is a charge using said fangs and their rather thick skull to gore you should you go near their young. They are about the size of Cheyenne in height but much stockier in build. Most of their mass is muscle and they are delicious. Can I interest you in some soup made from their flesh? And let's get you some proper clothes from the closet. You're going to get sick if I don't clothe you soon. Plus, I promised you that I would get you new clothes after I had to cut away your burnt ones."
Sunny just blinked a few times before nodding numbly. That was good. It meant I was keeping her off-balance and distracted from the trauma she went through.
I didn't enjoy manipulating her like that but it was better to keep the inevitable consequences of her experiences as far in the future as possible.
Omnissiah knows my own mind was currently balanced on a razor's edge. I was acutely aware that I was missing what had to be years of my childhood memories. It got worse the older I got.
I was fully aware that my way of coping was not even remotely healthy but it had gotten me to relative safety and allowed me to save two lives for the moment.
No matter how bad Sunny's injuries were. All those would need was a case of Stimpacks and a liberal application of Hydra and she would be right as rain.
Her mental state was far more fragile.
She had lost her entire support structure and all her worldly possessions. All she had left was Cheyenne and it was showing just how much she was depending on her presence.
She was constantly checking on her and making sure that she was in her field of view at all times.
I was worried about the co-dependency that was beginning to develop there, not to mention the rather rapid rate of attachment she had shown towards me.
It wasn't obvious but she was overly friendly when I was treating her. I had seen cases like this before.
Trauma bonds, formed when a caregiver usually a nurse or a doctor cares for the survivor of a disaster or other extremely traumatic event.
In this case, it was compounded with me being a combination of her doctor, rescuer and the one who avenged her family and village.
I needed to treat this very carefully or it could go very badly. The power dynamics alone made me want to puke.
I did not need this right now. I couldn't even get a proper handle on things before I had this dropped into my lap.
I put on a brave face for Sunny and smiled at her, suppressing the roiling emotions that threatened to overwhelm me. I could panic later.
"Alright, I am sure I have something in your size. Just wait here and I'll be right back."
I dashed off into the bedroom and raided the closet for clothes. I got her the comfiest, cosiest clothes I could find.
Since the house was at a comfy 21°C and the windows showed the scene of the Swiss Alps frozen in a snowy winter I elected to clothe her in warm pyjamas, cardigans and bathrobes as well as fresh underwear.
I packed enough to last her a week into a convenient duffle bag and made my way downstairs.
"Here I found some clothes that should fit you. A collection of cosy pyjamas, cardigans and bathrobes. They should keep you nice and warm. Plus, they are soft and gentle on your skin. So, they shouldn't agitate your injuries. Do you think you can clothe yourself?"
I inquired shyly. I didn't want to make her uncomfortable.
"I think I will be able to do it."
She answered with a smile.
"That's good. I'm going to start dinner then. If you need me just send Cheyenne to the kitchen, okay?"
I said before making a hasty retreat.
I could feel myself breaking down peace by peace and I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep up the facade of confidence.
Sunny nodded as she began to dress herself.
I was immensely grateful for the opportunity to escape from her notice and dashed into the kitchen.
I closed the kitchen door and turned on the music system, loud enough so I wouldn't be heard.
"Fuck fuck FUUUUCK. I am not equipped for this shit. I'm not equipped to handle being responsible for a person. I'm just supposed to fix them and hand them over to the supporting infrastructure."
I screamed into the pantry to make sure I wasn't heard.
"Alright, Alice. You got this. You survived multiple war zones. You survived bombs going after the medical personnel. You can deal with a trauma bond. All I have to do is not take advantage of her and not let this become a sex thing. I just have to be her friend. I can do that."
I pushed my panic down for the moment and took out the ingredients I would need.
After collecting the boar meat, some onions, carrots, celery stalks and an assortment of spices I began my preparations for the soup and the bread by heating the oven to 45°C.
I set up the base by cubing the boar, patting it dry and seasoning it with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, I heated the cast iron pan to a searing hot temperature and added a tiny amount of garlic-infused oil.
I then seared the meat on all sides and created a nice fond on the bottom of the pan. While the meat was swearing, I cut up the vegetables and got some white wine ready.
I deglazed the pan and added the vegetables, forming a nice soup base. After a quick taste, I added the necessary base spices and a tiny amount of Worcestershire sauce to add some kick.
I then returned the meat to the pan and let it stew.
Next, I began to prepare a quick fast bread. Using a stand mixer, some active dry yeast, baking powder, flour, an egg, butter and a dash of milk I made a rough dough that I didn't even really give the time to rise.
Instead, I tossed it into the oven for 30 minutes to give it a quick rise.
At the same time as the dough was rising, I went to the medicine cabinet and collected the painkillers for Sunny she would need after dinner.
It was fortunate that the house supplied 21st-century medicine on demand.
I wouldn't be able to get my hands on an operating theatre but things like morphine were now available to me. And so were most forms of heavy painkillers and sedatives.
This opened up entirely new avenues of treatment and sadly enough equally if not more necessary, warfare.
The Geneva Convention was now a distant dream for my enemies.
I had the base materials to synthesize mustard gas and other, more lethal weapons of mass destruction.
I put those dark thoughts out of my head as I made my way back into the kitchen and began the process of creating a fruit smoothie for Sunny.
She needed all the vitamins I could cram into her. And she needed them yesterday.
I added blueberries to the blender followed by a few bananas, some lemon yoghurts to help her digestion and even some strawberries.
A quick blitz later I had a large number of nutritional smoothies ready.
Next, I made a meal for Cheyenne. A simple bowl of warm sausages with added rice and some beans. As well as some crushed antibiotics and deworming pills
I would of course explain this to Sunny but I doubted Cheyenne would take pills from a stranger.
Best to just hide them in her food.
I heard the ding from my egg timer and knew that it was time to add the water to the oven as well as increase the temperature to 180°C for the last 40 minutes.
I also checked the soup and brought Sunny and Cheyenne a glass of clean water each.
That act alone confused both of them yet again.
"Yes Sunny, the water here is clean. More than that it's radiation-free. How are the wounds? Any problems? Do you need me to change them?"
I asked her. Worried about the state of her burns.
"No, they are fine. They are really gone huh? I-it's just Cheyenne and me now? You didn't find anyone else?"
She whispered a distant, haunted look on her face.
This was what I had been so afraid of. She was crashing down, realizing the true extent of her loss and it was harrowing for her.
"I am unsure. Tell me who you are aware that they got so I know who I will not need to look for. I know I should not ask this of you.
This is a horrible thing to do but we may be able to save someone else.
If they didn't get everyone then I have the technology to find them. So long as they are still alive and haven't left the area, I should be able to find them. But I will need to know."
I hated doing this. This was a bad idea. I was probably just going to give her false hope and she would be crushed when I didn't find anybody.
"Doc Mitchell wasn't in the town. He could have survived. That old man is hard to put down. I'm sure he's alive. C-can you look for him? Please, I beg you."
Sunny was crying at this point, her uninjured hand tightly gripping my own.
It broke my heart to see her this vulnerable.
"I'll go look. Do you have any idea where he might have gone?"
Sunny sniffled and thought about my question for a while.
"There is an old shack up on the hill overlooking the town. I think he would have gone up there. When I was a kid, he always said that if things ever got really bad, I should meet him there. He said he would wait five days before leaving. He said that he had a plan if we needed to run."
Sunny smiled a rueful smile, no doubt lost in memories of her childhood.
"Smart man, that doctor. It is a good idea to have a way to get out of a sticky situation. I will go check. Can you write me a letter for him so he will trust me if I find him? After all, you are staying here. You are far too injured to go out into the wasteland."
I asked her.
Our conversation was interrupted by the sound of the egg timer from the kitchen.
"Ah, dinner is ready. Stay here, I will go get our meals."
I hurried off into the kitchen and loaded everything onto a serving caddy before wheeling it out into the dining room.
On the way out I grabbed the necessary utensils and plates as well as a massive jug of water.
Shortly after the table was set and Sunny started at the food in awe.
"T-that's food? Food can look and smell this good? Why isn't it green? Why isn't it slimy and sticky? Isn't food supposed to be disgusting?"
I chuckled.
"This is what food is supposed to look like. Everything else is emergency rations. Something you eat because there's no other option left. I am aware that you are not used to proper nutrition so eat up. You should heal astonishingly fast when given adequate resources"
I began to dig into my plate of food, not having eaten in a few days had done a number on me and my bodily Resources were running critically low.
Autophagy had not yet begun but the risk was beginning to come closer especially considering the number of heavy activities I performed.
My current body was not the trained combat body I was used to from my time in the military but the body of a teenager.
That gave me several advantages since I had all my limbs and ligaments restored to perfect condition but it also removed years of conditioning.
As such days on end of combat or building were no longer currently possible without sustenance.
And that annoyed me greatly. I had paid in blood, sweat and tears for the build I had had. To just lose it was a heavy blow.
I kept a watchful eye on my guest as I dealt with my daemons by mostly suppressing them and locking them away for the moment.
Her intake of nutrients was at a steady pace and she was hydrating well.
"I mixed some medication into Cheyenne's food. She was showing signs of multiple infections that can be treated with simple antibiotics and deworming pills. It will not harm her in any way and increase her life expectancy by up to a decade"
I informed Sunny between bites of fresh bread.
"C-Cheyenne is ill? Is she not alright? You can help her? You can make her better right? Please I will do anything"
Sunny was looking at me with a manic expression on her face. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot.
"I am already helping her. Don't worry you don't owe me anything. She's a sweetheart and I will help her for free. She's going to be alright; don't you worry."
I ensured Sunny as I finished my plate before washing it down with a glass of water.
I then put an assortment of medicines in front of Sunny and began to explain their functions to her.
"Alright, now that you have something in your belly, I can give you some actual painkillers. They will help you tremendously. This pill here is ketamine. It's an extremely strong painkiller and it will knock you on your ass, so you will be taking it after I put you in the guest bedroom.
Next, we have a general slew of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs that will help prevent infections and get the swelling down.
They are followed up by a hard combination of vitamins and supplements to support your immune system and the general health of your body. Next, we have medicine that prevents the more aggressive medicine from running havoc on your body, supporting type pills and the glass ampules of liver protection protein strands. You take those before you take the other medicine.
You are missing just about every single vitamin and mineral that you would need to live and it's a wonder that you have lived so long. You will be taking all of those right after dinner. Wash them down with this. It's a fruit smoothie that will help with digestion and support your stomach lining."
I began to tidy up my plate and made my way to the kitchen. I had some cleanup to do. Pretty soon my dishes were loaded into the dishwasher and the leftovers were packed away for Sunny.
"Sunny, do you need anything from the kitchen? Another plate of food? Some more water?"
I called out to my guest and patient.
"No, I'm fine at the moment, Alice."
I nodded to myself and finished the cleanup before heading to the office and grabbing some paper, an envelope and a pen.
"Here you go. If you could write the doctor a letter so he doesn't think I killed you and ate your corpse it would be convenient."
I handed her the pen and paper.
Sunny grimaced but wrote a quick letter to the doctor before handing it to me. It took her some effort due to her injuries but she managed to get it done in the end.
I took the offered paper and put it in the envelope before sealing it closed.
"Alright. How are the wounds? Any new pain? Discomfort from the bandages? Do you need me to change them?"
She shook her head in the negative and I wheeled her improvised wheelchair towards the guest bedroom.
"No, I'm doing fine. You don't need to worry so much. I'm not going to wither away the second you turn around."
She said with a hollow chuckle.
"That's what concerns me. Where I come from you should be unconscious or screaming in absolute agony from your injuries. Not talking to me. I'm fully expecting you to go into shock at any moment. I'm grateful for whatever strange force of will or genetic adaptation has made you so resilient to adversity but I am not going to trust it. So yes, I will worry about you until you are healthy again. It's what medics do. It's in our nature."
I explained as I helped her sit down on the bed.
"You are just like the doc. You two would get along great. Always worrying about your patients. Thank you for taking care of me and for rescuing me and Cheyenne. I'm sure without you we wouldn't have survived."
Sunny began to ramble as the ketamine began to kick in.
I helped her get into bed and set up a pillow for Cheyenne to sleep on before slowly exiting the room.
I had weapons to build and a cranky old doctor to find. And I was sure that a Varmint rifle wouldn't be enough. Luckily the kitchen of the house was fiat-backed so I could cannibalize the microwave for its emitter.
I was going to go straight for radiation-based weapons.
Well, radiation-based stationary weapons. There were still some powder gangers infesting the lands near Goodsprings.
And they would need to be dealt with. So, a souped-up microwave emitter powered by a salvaged fusion core or 40 should cook them quite nicely. And I wouldn't even need to go near them. I carried the microwave down the long hallway to my workshop and set it down on one of the free workstations.
As soon as it touched the station, I could feel it. Two constellations had unlogged themselves from the forge. One from the mundane supplies domain and one from the magical supplies domain.
First, I gained the knowledge that out there in the dark corners of the wasteland, hidden in the shadows, was now a merchant, selling ores and stones of titanic power. Condensed forms of energy so far above the norm that it was laughable to think of them as ores.
Then the workshop shook as a gentle tremor ran throughout it. The second perk added a warehouse that would replenish every 24 hours. In addition, any materials I brought into the warehouse would be recorded and replenished too.
This solved many of my issues and opened a great many doors for me. I could now build myself some actual weapons and gear, and that Pipboy needed an upgrade 64kb? That offended me when I had the knowledge to make storage in the exabytes.
I sighed and began to tinker and build.
First, I collected a large number of magnets, titanium, magnesium, steel, iron, copper, copper wires and lead from the warehouse. I also grabbed myself some glass and a few capacitors.
I had a plan. I needed a long-range option and what I had currently was not cutting it. The Varmint rifle was nice but it was loud, and had limited ammunition though that problem was now solved and most important of all the damage was pathetic.
No, I needed something more, something deadlier.
So, I turned to the Pipboy and stripped it for parts. I was after the digitization technology that the thing utilised to carry such absurd amounts of mass. After a few minutes, I had disassembled it and held up my Prize.
A rather small tube that held a strange exotic particle that allowed for the digitization of matter. A wondrous piece of technology and perhaps the most powerful thing this backwards civilisation ever invented. Something drastically different from the games and still confusing, but I was willing to take suspiciously advanced technology.
I held it up gingerly and carefully took it into the warehouse. After waiting a full ten minutes just to be sure I returned to the workshop and began to assemble my new creation. I began by machining the chassis. No more clunky box design thanks you. Since the actual vacuum tube containing the particle was rather small just about the size of an A23 battery I was able to reduce the size of the total assembly by a massive degree.
Next, I sacrificed my Phone for its components, the touchscreen ended up hidden beneath layered metastable crystalline aramid glass I rapidly grew from base chemicals from the warehouse. The wireless functionality was used for the interface with the weapon I was building and to supply me with music.
The entire assembly was powered by the Pipboys nuclear battery, which was more energy efficient since the new components used less power overall, thus allowing for more processing power and efficiency.
I then used my knowledge from the world seed universe to create a massive storage drive, 10 exabytes of data. This would be the core of my new loadout. A holographic interface was created and wired into my granddad's old army helmet which I heavily upgraded with thermal vision, night vision and heavy armour as well as some new lining for comfort. I then linked it to the main processor.
Next, I began the weapon assembly.
I took the heavy-duty magnets and arrayed them in a linear accelerator fashion, the entire construct got mounted on a rail of titanium supported by steel and magnesium for weight reduction. They were then wired up to a central capacitor bank which I designed to be hot-swapped like a magazine via digitization along with the ammunition.
The plan was to have the capacitors charge the magnets which would then pull already accelerated rounds of re-materialised ammunition along the acceleration rail towards my target. As soon as the shot was taken the capacitors and the ammunition would be hot-swapped for a new charge from digital storage. Allowing for effectively endless fire so long as the magnets and the rail didn't overheat.
The construction of the capacitors was a nerve-racking experience but I managed to pull it off. I held up my price. The first set of 100 capacitors. I quickly took them into the warehouse in order to be registered for duplication.
After that, I began the arduous task of cobbling together a basic user interface for my creation. I added all my music from my phone drive, a basic music player, the digitization feature and an ammunition counter to my heads-up display in my helmet.
I then began to build the slugs for my new weapon.
The core of the rounds was made from lead, mantled in a thin film of steel with a hollow tip so it could be accelerated by the magnets. I then added some nasty presents to the bullets. After all, there is no such thing as overkill in the wasteland.
I combined a truly lethal dose of ketamine with fentanyl and hid them in separate chambers in the bullet. The idea was that the shot would enter the target's body and fragment, spreading lead shards as well as drugs in the entry wound. I created 100 such bullets and 100 full steel bullets.
For reference, the diameter of the bullets was 40 millimetres, I had no plans of leaving behind any survivors in any engagement I would have to fight in.
I then added a night vision scope to my creation, followed by a stand and the obligatory cogs. I just couldn't make something without adding cogs. And with that, the weapon was done.
A quick test fire against the wall of the warehouse revealed that it did work rather well indeed if the massive hole in the wall was any indication, luckily it was already repairing itself.
I digitised my gear, picked up my new and improved Pipboy and made my way back to my house. I needed to cut and bleach my hair before getting some much-needed sleep.
Then I would go look for the doctor.
I entered my bathroom and dug through my cabinet for the shears, this wouldn't be pretty but it needed to be done. It didn't take me too long to find them as well as some hair dye that would turn my gorgeous red hair dirt brown for a while.
I sighed and began to cut away what had been my pride and joy for years and years. I had never been very proud of my body or my figure, since I always looked like a stick but my hair was my pride. I cut it short, military regulations short. I then applied the dye and began to undress as I waited.
After the needed time I made my way into the shower and took my time to clean myself properly. After getting out of the shower and drying myself off I grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste and looked in the mirror.
The toothbrush clattered into the sink and the tube of toothpaste hit the floor, followed by my ass seconds later.
I stared in horror at my reflection as it hit home just how much I had lost. My family was gone, my memories had been molested and now I had had to cut and dye the only thing I had been proud of in my youth back home in a desperate bid to heighten my survival.
This world was going to kill me.
I just knew it. If it didn't kill me in the traditional sense the nit would kill who I was as a person. I had always known how to build horrific things. But I had never done so. Instead, I had become a medic.
And now?
I had already created three weapons, how long until I created a planet killer? How long until I decided that the word Heretek was not just a coping mechanism but people who needed active hunting and not just a danger that I needed to protect myself and those around me against?
Tears ran down my face as I crawled towards my bed.
I found some small form of comfort in the presence of my owl plushie, the one I had growing up and had taken with me on deployments. I just knew that it was her, this has Hoots. Not some copy but my Hoots, at least she was still there to keep the nightmares away.
I hugged her tightly and cried myself to sleep.
Perks this chapter:
-Ore Merchant (Dark Souls 2) (200CP)
You have just gained the partnership of a travelling merchant, one who has an inventory that you're sure to find interesting. This travelling merchant sells a bizarrely large quantity of exotic stones with you getting a special discount. You always seem to be able to find them when you look hard enough, though never in the direct line of danger. While their inventory is always bizarrely large, you can still buy them out if you have the currency to back it up, whatever that may be locally. If you do, they'll disappear for a while to restock. In future worlds, they will continue to sell the various stones and ores of this world such as Titanite or Boltstone, but will also temporarily stock themselves with whatever earthen curiosities can be found in the world around them. Limited-time offers! They're practically giving this stuff away!
-Resource Generator (Toaruverse) (100CP)
Buying materials and resources takes too much time and manpower, especially if the materials or resources that you need are limited or rare. You gain a warehouse full of materials and resources no matter how common to how rare it is that you need to build any technology that you want. It replenishes used materials every twenty-four hours after you take them out of the warehouse, additionally, it records and replenishes any materials and low-tier ammunition that you add to your warehouse. After the jump, it would become a warehouse add-on or be inserted near your starting location. Gives a rapidly restocking warehouse which contains large amounts of anything that falls under materials and resources that are stored in your warehouse improving most perks that are listed under supplies.