The Good Life: Aftermath Pt. 3 (ch. 84)

Giant robot. A giant robot. It was a giant robot. The thought banged around my skull like a bell, and I found myself just… happy. Since I took that deal and became Law, I had experienced all sorts of things. I had done all sorts of things. I had felt the greatest of joys by fulfilling childhood dreams, I had fallen in love, I had hedonistic orgies with beautiful women… and I had felt the lowest of lows. Holding Homelander's corpse in my arms, the endless boredom of cleaning up after the apocalypse, or the tedious waiting for Asami to make her move... 

I tried to appreciate what I had at all times. I knew exactly how much life could suck. So, I did my best to be thankful for what I had -- the worlds that I conquered. The enemies I made. But sometimes, when your life is just so awesome, great starts to feel normal. Mundane. It's still great, of course, but it lacks that wow factor. I hardly realized that I was doing it until a moment like now, when I gazed up at a giant robot, and was forced to reflect on a simple fact. 

My life was awesome. 

“Dibs! I'm calling dibs!” I quickly declared, mostly to Sukuna, who despite all his casual disinterest and bravado, had the same exact glint in his eyes. The appeal of giant robots was universal and timeless. And, to prove it, Sukuna tsked under his breath as we both stepped through the portal. I glanced over my shoulder at Chel and Nora, who carried little Alexander. “Keep the portal open, would ya’? This shouldn't take too long.” 

“Remind me why we're bothering with this dump?” Sukuna questioned, crossing his upper and lower arms while Chel tossed me a thumbs up. 

“Because it's part of my evil empire, Sukuna. Technically speaking, this was the first world that I conquered. And you never forget your first,” I replied with a grin, wordlessly creating a Room as the giant robot smashed its way through a building. Around me were the sounds of panic and fear… and the buzzing of insects as a wave of them swept forth, slamming into the giant robot with physical force. It was a bit like seeing an insect hitting the windshield of a car going eighty miles an hour, only in reverse. 

The wall of insects forced the giant robot back a half step before its visor began to glow red. A noise of awe escaped me as the giant robot shot a laser beam out of its face. I loved my life. I loved my life so much. You couldn't give me anything in the world to not be me. I even had the power to divert the truly atrocious smell of cooking insects as the heat ray punched right through the mass of insects. 

Sukuna let out a sigh of immense suffering. “Fine. But I don't care about collateral. It's not like this place could get any worse,” he added, and I would accept what I could get from him. As we approached, I saw a number of the bugs split off to head for us. I almost thought it was an attack until they stopped and began to buzz words out. 

“Emergency. Invasion from Deep and Soldier Boy. Institute compromised.” The swarm of insects informed us, and I hummed thoughtfully. That wasn't as surprising as I would have liked it to be. Pretty much since Asami took her shot at me, I figured something like this was going to happen. She evidently had more success than I would have liked given that we couldn't connect to the Vault Dias, but I could only really blame that on my own passiveness. 

I’d known about the Deep and Soldier Boy for a year now, but I didn't do anything about them because it felt like it'd be more fun to see whatever they had planned. And I was right. They were invading with a crab army and giant robots -- they had exceeded my expectations, honestly. But, I could recognize that I had left a threat to fester and now it was kinda blowing up in my face. Just a little bit. 

“Sukuna, could you deal with the Deep? Please?” I asked, and Sukuna made a show of hemming and hawing about it before he shrugged. It looked a little weird with four arms. 

“Fine. So long as I get to eat him -- Fishman is becoming a favorite of mine,” he said with a savage grin. There was a point in time when the very thought of someone else killing a member of the Seven would have horrified me. Made me green with jealousy. The Deep wasn't one of my favorite heroes, but he had been a longstanding member of my favorite hero team. 

But my opinion had soured on the Deep even before we fought for the first time and he just tucked tail and ran. He was a generic dude bro. To make matters worse, I had finally fought against a real hero that was everything Homelander pretended to be and more. All Might. Even comparing the two few like an insult to what All Might was. 

“Sure thing, do what you want to him,” I replied with an indifferent shrug of my shoulders. I didn't even care enough about him to want to see him die. As for Soldier Boy… he was a bit more interesting, I think. I'm ninety percent sure that he wasn't a fraction the man Vought made him out to be, but what I had seen of him painted him as a patriot. And that was at least something. 

Sukuna's grin widened before he vanished in a burst of speed before I did much the same, teleporting over to a still upright building to see that the fight between Taylor and the giant robot was ongoing. And she wasn't just fighting the giant robot either. 

My gaze drifted up to the zeppelin thing overhead, where the vertibirds came from. They darted around like gnats overhead, men in power armor firing into the buildings where the militia rallied and defended. Meanwhile, there were more men in power armor on the streets, trading fire with militia that also wore power armor. The whole of Nuka-World was a war zone. 

Only it wasn't just a handful of guys in power armor I swiftly realized, bringing my attention to a few familiar faces over in the Safari Zone. Some people I had largely forgotten about if I was being perfectly honest as they also battled an ending swarm of insects as they seemed to be heading toward the Nuka-Gen-Replicator. 

Golden Boy, who burned brightly like a star with his flames. 

Kimiko, the girl that I had saved from Voughts organ harvesting side gig. Well -- technically Mirko had rescued them, but I'm the one who nudged her in that direction. The regenerator was just taking the pain as she was feasted upon by insects with the damage healing as fast as it was done. 

Then there was another that I had noted to have potential, but she had stayed on Asami's side of the portal so I just never saw much of her. Marie Moreau. I don't think she ever chose a hero name. I remembered her mostly because she had been one of the few that I ensured survived the slaughter of Homelander's traitorous army because she was willing to pick a fight with me as much as she was Homelander. That, and she had blood powers, much like Victoria Neuman. 

Fighting them wasn't going to be anywhere near as exciting as the giant robot, but the Nuka-Gen-Replicator was too useful for me to allow to be destroyed. So, with a thought, I popped over to see their approach. Taylor reacted instantly, clearing the swarm away to repurpose it to fight the giant robot. 

And, just to give my arrival some ambiance, I stole away the air that the vertibirds used to keep themselves afloat and sent them smashing into the ground behind me. 

“Oh… fuck,” Marie immediately hissed the moment she looked up, seeing me standing on an enclosure. “You're supposed to be dead.” 

“I figured, with Asami trying to kill me. She came close, but no cigar,” I replied conversationally. My gaze darted between the two with Golden Boy covered in flickering flames as Kimiko restored the last chunks bitten out of her body. “Been a while. Nice to see you again. I'm guessing that the plan was something along the lines of divide and conquer? Kill me, cut off Fallout to isolate Taylor, yada yada yada?” 

Their fear was palpable. Even Kimiko looked up at me with a pale face, her hands moving as she asked a question. I still didn't speak sign language, so I looked to the others for a translation. It was Marie who offered it, kicking her lips nervously before she spoke, “Did you kill Asami?” 

“Nah -- I sent her packing, though. She got her licks in, I'll give her that. But, unfortunately for all of you, she missed her shot at the king,” I said, offering a thin smile. Kimiko was visibly relieved but Golden Boy found his voice, his flames intensifying as he stepped forward. 

“Is that what you're calling yourself now? A king?” He questioned, a certain edge in his voice. 

“I mean, if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck…” I trailed off, my smile growing a fraction before I made a pinching motion with my hand. Much like a candle wick, the flames around Golden Boy were snuffed out. He recoiled at how easily I dismissed his power, and I felt fear spiking through him. “So, I guess this is the part where you either die valiantly or kiss the ring. Honestly, I'm good with either. Asami has me taking this whole multiversal empire thing seriously, so I'm sure I can find a place for you somewhere.” 

Marie snarled up at me, “I'd rather die!” She exclaimed, thrusting a hand at me. She was trying to control my blood to pop my head like an oversized zit. It was the same trick that Victoria had tried to pull before, though I hadn't known it at the time, and I dismissed it as easily as I had last time. 

Her confidence fractured when I merely raised an amused eyebrow. She tried again. And again. Until she then cut open her own twists with a razor on hand and, I had to admit, it was pretty interesting to see blood move like an extension of her body. She sent what amounted to a blood spear at me, and her expression twisted into one of despair when I just kinda… side stepped it, making like a liter of blood splash on the roof. That was a little gross. 

“Hm. How about some leverage, then?” I asked, looking at Golden Boy. “You still dating Cate?” I asked him and his flinch was answer enough. “Do I really need to make the threat, or can you fill in the blank for me?”  

Golden Boy sagged, earning a sharp look from both Kimiko and Marie. His resolve wasn't as firm as theirs. A little disappointing, but I understood. 

“Smart choice. Now, I'm going to tell you how it is -- I won this round, but if you're smart, you'll survive another day to play again. You're cut off from any reinforcements and, let's be honest here -- there is nothing you can do to kill me. And even if you could, you stand no chance against Taylor and Sukuna. This whole gambit could only work in our absence. So, you lost. Take it on the chin, accept it, and do the smart thing.” 

I wanted them as leverage, honestly. Nobara, Maki, Megumi, and Rumi were solid enough hostages to use against Asami, but Asami had also written off the entirety of Runeterra to lull me into letting my guard down out of boredom. Having a few others in my back pocket couldn't hurt, but more than that, it robbed her of allies. 

Asami was going to realize that the gambit didn't work eventually, but not immediately because she didn't know we had an alternative way to power the Dias. Losing the Deep and Soldier Boy? I could see her writing them off. But Kimiko, Marie, and Golden Boy? They had been on her side since day one along with Rumi. That was going to hurt. 

All the better if I could flip them to my side. Corrupting Taylor had been an amusing little hobby, but it planted the seed of an idea to use it offensively. 

Kimiko flipped me off with a resolute grin while Marie looked like she was going to pass out from blood loss, but fire still burned in her eyes. Golden Boy's expression was one of conflict, completely unsure on what he should do. 

So, I decided for them. 

With a little bit of applied gravity, I twisted Kimiko's head right off. Marie flinched at the sudden spray of blood, but she reacted well. She grabbed hold of the blood that had been in Kimiko's body before throwing it at me. It was a desperate and pointless action, and Marie seemed to accept that as I seamlessly shambled with Kimiko's body, catching her head with a hand, and driving a fist into Marie's gut that folded her around it. Following it up with a knee square to the nose as she went to vomit, I knocked her right out. 

Golden Boy flinched at my arrival, igniting into flames once more. Yet he didn't attack and I felt whatever was left of his resolve shatter when I calmly placed a hand on his burning shoulder, the flames not bothering me in the slightest. “Who are those guys in the power armor?”

Golden Boy wouldn't meet my gaze, but he answered all the same. “The Brotherhood of Steel.” 

Cool name. “I take it you know what I want you to do, then?” 

“... You want me to kill them,” he said in a low whisper, as if saying the words out loud would make them real. 

“Atta boy,” I praised him, giving his shoulder a little squeeze. “Keep the damage to a minimum if you could. Probably be easier to cook them alive in their armor, honestly. Do that, and take that neat looking blimp for us, and you'll be reunited with Cate. And don't worry -- I haven't done anything to her.” The yet was unspoken, and it wasn't there in the first place. But Golden Boy heard it all the same, offering a single jerked nod to show that he understood. 

I gave him a quick pat to send him on his way before I looked down at the head in hand. Kimiko was still alive, though her brain was in some kind of coma while her neck was trying to regrow the rest of her body. That was kinda neat, but it looked like it was going to take awhile. Meanwhile, spiders began crawling over the unconscious Marie, binding her hands together and covering her eyes. So, she had picked up on Marie's powers being based on line of sight? 

Not bad. 

I was actually a little surprised at how well Taylor had come into her own. She might not have even needed us to help, even if this disaster was going to be far less messy with it. 

“DEMOCRACY IS NON-NEGOTIABLE! IT IS BETTER TO BE DEAD THAN RED!” The giant robot thundered in the distance, following what sounded like a nuclear explosion. Looked like he stepped on a fusion generator, making the lights throughout Nuka-World flicker. I looked over at it to see Taylor was slamming another wave of insects into it, the pincers chewing through the gaps in the armor plating. And as much as I would love to fight a giant robot, I was more interested in seeing how she would take it down. 

The answer was ‘practically’ -- the insects crawled into the machine, chewing through wires or exploding with acid on the inside. They gunked up joints, causing the legs to lock up. There was an explosion of heat that erupted from the inside of the machine that reduced some of the armor to molten slag, and sent the giant robot tumbling face first.

Right into a prepared trap, I saw, as the giant robot hit the ground and it buckled underneath the heavy weight. The ground gave way, sending the robot tumbling into some kind of bug den that ran a good thirty feet under ground. The result was that the robot was face down, legs up, and giant ants immediately began to swarm the fallen robot as it jerkily tried to push itself up. It wasn't how I would have dealt with the giant robot, but Taylor didn't have my powers so that was fair. 

Hopefully the damage wouldn't be too severe. I didn't know what I would use a giant anti-communist robot for, but I'm sure I would think of something eventually. 

Still, with the robot down, and Golden Boy off killing the ‘Brotherhood of Steel’, the balance of power had been entirely flipped. The insects throughout Nuka-World were readjusting to the eliminated threats and doing mop up. So, I found Taylor in a bunker nearby and I popped over, taking Kimiko's head, Marie, and the insects that were binding her with me. 

Taylor had grown up a bit in the past half year since I last saw her. She was taller, for one, at around six feet. Yet she had grown into herself, so she didn't appear to be that same lanky and gangly girl. Her expression was of intense concentration as she stood before a table that covered the entirety of her territory. She didn't seem surprised by my arrival, but she seemed to be bracing for something. 

She licked her lips, “I-... I failed,” she blurted, and as much as she had grown up, I saw that she was still that same awkward teenager. “I failed you. I missed this entire invasion. The Mechanist managed to escape, and we lost the Vault, and the Institute-” she started, and I could see she was fully prepared for me to lay into her. 

I tossed Kimiko's head over on a couch, checking out the concrete walls for a moment. “Did you ever meet Cate at any point?” I asked her, and the question seemed to catch her off guard. 

“I did?” Taylor answered, sounding uncertain. 

“That would explain it -- Cate tampered with your memories. I think she did the same thing with Shaun,” I said, and the tension bled out of Taylor. It was curious, though. If Cate had gotten to Taylor, then why not just make her kill herself or something? Did she just not have the guts to use her powers like that? Or was there something else at play here? 

“That would explain everything,” Taylor hissed, her brow furrowing while her mouth pressed itself into a thin line. “I put in so many precautions, I thought it was impossible for me to miss this kind of military build up. But, I still-” she started, but I silenced her with a kiss. 

Taylor was putty in my hands, and the effect I had on her years ago hadn't diminished in the slightest. But, while I would like to bend her over the table to give her a nice reminder, the battle wasn't quite done yet and she couldn't afford the distraction when we were fighting on multiple fronts. 

Breaking the kiss, I gave Taylor a wink as she took a moment to catch her breath. “We'll finish that later. Leave the Deep to Sukuna. I'll handle the Institute. Has there been any sign of Soldier Boy?” 

Maybe the kiss was a bad idea because it took Taylor a moment to shift her brain back into high gear. She shook her head sharply, “There hasn't been any sign of him.” 

Hm. “Keep an eye out,” I instructed. “And put those two somewhere they can't get into any trouble. I'll have plans for them for later,” I said, waiting just long enough for Taylor to nod before I Shambled my way towards the Institute. 

I decided to experiment a little bit on the way -- my fight against All Might had been a fantastic trial by fire, but I was still adjusting to my new control over my Rooms. So, I decided to play with the shape of them a bit. 

It was easier than I thought it'd be, I found as a Room began to stretch out towards downtown Boston. The max area my Rooms could cover remained the same, but I found I could significantly push that area in a single direction, allowing me to cover miles with a single Shambles. It might not have been the perfect serum, but Singed had done fantastic work. I really needed to get that guy a gift basket or something. 

I wanted to recruit him. Pretty badly, honestly. 

And, it would seem that the Institute had a lot of space suddenly made available. Below the old Boston university, I could sense what was going on. It was a war zone, with the synths rising up, and they had contained the survivors to a single room that they were in the process of smashing through. 

I was relieved to see that Curie was okay. Shaun was wounded, though. The rest of the Institute I cared significantly less about, besides that one geneticist that knew how to make the most of the Nuka-Gen-Replicator. 

With a quick Shambles, I brought the surviving members of the Institute up, rescuing them. Their initial reaction was confusion, but it was Curie who put the pieces together first.

Her expression immediately brightened, “Monsieur Law! You are here! You have saved us?” Curie exclaimed, rushing forward and throwing her arms around me. She had apparently become a hugger. And her lab outfit was a second nurse outfit underneath a lab coat? Honestly, she rocked it. 

“Seems like I was too late to save everyone, though,” I noted, looking at Shaun, whose insides were trying to become outsides. He'd be fine. Probably. “What happened, exactly?” 

“I am most uncertain, Monsieur Law! One moment I was peacefully conducting an experiment on a test subject, and the next the synths began to attack everyone. They were being led by an unpleasant man. He called me ‘toots’ and ‘sweet cheeks’.” 

Yup, that sounded about right for what I sensed in my Room. 

Still, a synth uprising was unexpected. It was like a bunch of toasters declaring a rebellion. While I fully acknowledged their ability to think independently, the fact of the matter was that their emotions had a bunch of sliders and preordained limitations on how much they could drift from their base personality. I thought that rebellion would be beyond them. So, either I needed to revise my opinion or something else was up. 

“In that case, I'll be sure to explain to him the severity of his mistake,” I reassured her, making Curie smile. “Taylor is mopping up the grunts that attacked us, so you should be safe. I'll take you to a medical station.” I said before I brought the lot of them over to the nearest emergency aid station. 

Then I brought myself down to the room that the synths were cracking open. The air was distinctly sterile, but it carried the faintest stench of blood. I took a seat in a chair, waiting for them to get through. And I found that I didn't have to wait too long as a fist slammed into the metal door, then again, before fingers wedged themselves in the seam. With a screeching of metal, Soldier Boy revealed himself as he pulled open the doors. 

His eyes widened the moment they landed on me, so I gave him a little wave and a smirk. “Not who you were expecting, hm?” I asked, tilting my head as the synths poured into the room, all brandishing weapons with a frenzied hatred shining in their eyes. That seemed wholly unnatural, telling me someone had been fiddling with their emotional sliders. 

“So. Asami screwed the pooch, did she? Figures that broad didn't have it in her. Complicated plans never work out how you want them to,” Soldier Boy said, sounding unbothered with my presence, but he was wound up like a spring. He knew what it meant for this little rebellion of his. 

“To be fair, she almost got me,” I admitted. “So, you've been in her back pocket for… how long now? Years? Honestly, I thought Homelander killed you until I saw your face at a security checkpoint.” It was strange to see Soldier Boy again. There was a point in time when I would have been over the moon to meet him in the flesh. And, even now, there was a hum of anticipation in my blood at the idea, but it was muted compared to what it had been a few years ago. 

Soldier Boy's jaw twitched, “He nearly did. I had to swim across the Atlantic.” Huh. “Of course, it didn't take much convincing from Asami. The two of you ended the whole goddamn world! Even now, you have the President of the United States on a fuck machine! So, yeah. The moment Asami told me she could get me through the portal, and to bide my time until she was ready? I agreed.”

There was a vitriol in his voice that couldn't be faked. He hated my guts. And I used to dream about moments like these when I was a kid, clutching at a too thin blanket in the cold on the streets. It didn't have the same impact as I thought it would. It couldn't. Not after an encounter with a true hero. 

“I appreciate that,” I admitted, standing up from my seat. Soldier Boy tensed, but he held up a hand to stop the synths from firing with a hand. “Because of you and Asami, I've realized I've got to start taking this seriously. I've realized that it's time for me to do some growing up. Unfortunately for you…” 

I shambled Soldier Boy before me and I thrust my hand under his ribs. Flesh tore and I groped for an organ in particular -- his heart. I could feel it pounding in disbelief in my palm and his eyes went wide, blood dribbling from his lips. Soldier Boy, who had been the pinnacle of my world's strongest heroes… wasn't even a speed bump to me anymore. 

“That means I've outgrown you,” I told Soldier Boy in a low whisper, ignoring the eruption of gunfire unleashed in my direction as I yanked my hand back, tearing out Soldier Boy's heart. He dropped to his knees, trying to raise his shield to deliver at least one blow, but that just made more blood gush from his chest. He fell to the side with a thump and I dropped his heart on the floor. 

“Now,” I said, looking at the synths. “Would you care to rethink this ill considered rebellion of yours?” I asked, feeling light as a feather. It felt like I had just closed a chapter in my life and found myself at the start of a new one. I hadn't felt like this since I’d first made that deal and became Law. It was a refreshing feeling that left the whole world- the whole multiverse full of possibilities. 

“W-We are the New Americans! Give us liberty or give us death!” One of the synths answered for them all. 

“Well… have it your way,” I replied, stepping forward. 

The Institute then became filled with screaming.