The Good Life: Aftermath (ch. 82)

A cataclysm. Mel Medarda could find no better word to describe what Piltover had just endured. It came without warning or cause -- one moment she was in the middle of negotiations with a representative of the Merchants Guild, and the next the ground was quaking with such intensity that the building started to crack apart. Rubble rained down as they were ushered to safety, but not all made it. Because there was no safety to be found. 

Ten minutes. 

So much had changed in a mere ten minutes. Despite their initial concerns, the death toll wasn't a fraction of what they feared it to be. Hundreds had still died, but they’d feared the number to be in the thousands, if not tens of thousands. Some dead were still being found, so the number was slowly climbing higher, but so far they had ‘only’ found two hundred victims. 

The city itself suffered far greater damage across both sides of the river. Entire districts had been essentially annihilated, in northern Piltover in particular. Though the damage to the Undercity was felt more keenly - vital industries were destroyed there, such as fissure mining, which gave the city power. Not that most of Piltover was able to use any as so much infrastructure was damaged. Power and water were cut off, refineries had been destroyed -- the only saving grace was that the Hexgate remained standing. 

“What happened?” Mel found herself asking out loud, seated at the council table, which was suddenly so very empty. 

Heimerdinger sat at the head of the council, one of his arms in a sling. There was a manic intensity in his eyes that Mel had never seen before. “I don't know. This… this wasn't an attack. If it was, then we wouldn't be here.” 

Cassandra Kiramman nodded her head, the only other Councilor to escape unharmed from… whatever had happened. “It was like our city served as a battleground for gods. I've… I've never felt anything like that before. It felt like I was going to be crushed underfoot like… an insect,” Cassandra confessed, a note of real fear leaking into her voice. 

Hoskel leaned forward in his seat, scratching at the bandages that covered one of his eyes, “Was it the gods? I can't imagine anything else doing something like that. That storm came from bloody nowhere, and when it did it felt like the whole world was about to end!” 

He was the last councilor at the table. Salo was in critical condition, his lower body having been crushed underneath a piece of rubble. He might not make it. The final two Councilors, Irius Bolbok and Shoola… both had perished. It was a heavy reminder and why they spoke so freely -- they had barely escaped with their lives, and others hadn't been so lucky. 

“No. I cannot say for certain what or who is behind this, but I can say with certainty that it cannot be any god. If only because it wouldn't be a question of who did this if it were,” Heimerdinger voiced. “However, bringing those who did this to our fair city to justice is a goal for another time. Our people are in shock, in pain, and they look to us for guidance. Restoring power and water are a high priority, of course, but we must also set up temporary shelters. What else?” 

It was Cassandra who spoke, “The damage done to the Undercity has destroyed the air vents my family built. Not only is the Gray being unleashed upon the Undercity, but the lower and mid levels have no way of getting clean air.” 

“The Undercity is the least of our problems!” Hoskel protested as he thumped the table with a fist, “They at least still have power! The docks and shipyards were destroyed, along with tonnes of cargo. Our economy will be in shambles!” 

“The Hexgate remains standing,” Cassandra returned with a quiet sigh. “That gives us leverage. Settlements can be reached with those who had cargo destroyed, and bailouts can be arranged for businesses that risk bankruptcy.” 

“Provided that we can maintain our grip over the Hexgate,” Mel voiced quietly, interlocking her hands as she regarded the last of the council. “Noxus already showed an interest in Piltover. Now we are weaker than we ever have been.” 

There was a loud silence in the room as they considered her words. Heimerdinger in particular looked worried, “Are they not currently already invading Ionia?” 

An invasion that had been long in the making by Boram Darkwill for over ten years. The foundations of it had been laid when she was a fifteen year old girl, before her banishment, as her mother helped lay those foundations. The invasion itself was launched earlier in the year, and initial reports found that Noxus was making steady progress. 

“They didn't dedicate all of their strength to the invasion and even if they had… Noxus has plenty of warriors to spare,” Mel stated grimly. “Piltover was already a prize before the Hexgates. Now, when we are so weakened? I would be shocked if an ambitious warlord didn't try to conquer our city.” Her mother, for one. 

“We must prepare,” Heimerdinger voiced, knowing that she was right. After all, her family did hail from Noxus, and exile or not, Mel knew her country better than anyone. 

“How?” Cassandra questioned, cutting to the heart of the matter. “Our city has been devastated. That monster Sukuna still lurks beneath our feet. I expect we'll see a vast migration of people leaving the city out of fear that what happened will happen again!” 

“Hextech,” Hoskel offered his solution. “Jayce is still alive, isn't he? Have him develop weapons for us. Something that will give Noxus second thoughts about launching such an invasion.” 

Mel's lips thinned, “Jayce is staunchly against turning Hextech into something that can harm. What's more, his partner Viktor didn't escape unscathed by the disaster.” Jayce wouldn't leave his bedside, and he wouldn't consider turning Hextech onto weaponry. It stood against everything he hoped to achieve with Hextech -- to harness magic through technology for the benefit of all. 

Idealistic, but that was part of his charm. 

“Then what? What do we do?” Hoskel snapped in her direction. 

Mel found that she had no answer.

“Our first priority is reconstruction,” Heimerdinger voiced after a telling silence. “Our city has suffered a tremendous blow, that is true. However, we are not defeated and we can rebuild! Perhaps, seeing that, overly ambitious forces will think twice before pouncing.” A bit idealistic, but regardless of if it was or not, they would need to rebuild. 

That was a question of how, and how much it would cost. 

“Vought Industries has floated the idea of advanced robotics,” Cassandra said, her lips thinning. “There are hundreds of the Mr. Handy models within the city- or at least there were. They're capable of maintenance, so they could be repurposed for construction.” 

“I'm not certain if we can put any faith in Vought Industries,” Mel replied. Her spies across the city reported the same general story -- before the monstrous storm that nearly blew Piltover away, every single drone in the city had activated of their own will. Or by someone else's. “I won't make undue accusations without proof, but I do find it quite… suspicious that Vought technology activated itself during the disaster.” 

“That… dome thing,” Hoskel backed her with a nod. Too much was unknown at the moment. What they did know was the drones had formed a dome in an isolated spot at the edge of the city, and within it, two forces of nature fought. It wasn't Sukuna the Cannibal, as he was reported fighting in the Undercity against another powerful creature. One was a giant man dressed in a red, white, and blue costume while the other was masked. 

Why they were fighting was unknown. What they were fighting over was also unknown. 

“Is Law even alive? He was with Asami during the attack, and her remains were found,” Mel asked, feeling a pang of pity for Jayce. The man was quite fond of Law. He admired him for being a firebrand, which was the very same thing that made Mel so cautious in dealing with him. She also felt a pang of pity for Heimerdinger, whose face dropped at the idea of one of his students perishing. Especially so young with what seemed to be a bright future ahead of them.

“We haven't found a body, so it's too early to make any assumptions,” Heimerdinger started before he clenched his eyes shut. “Nor can we assume that he's still alive. Repurposing the Mr. Handys is a start, but they alone cannot rebuild our city. We need more.” He was right on that mark. The reconstruction of the city was going to be a long term project. As it was, it would be months, if not years, before they had finished clearing all of the rubble.

However, there was also an opportunity here. “We lift the restrictions on Hextech,” Mel said, looking to Cassandra and Heimerdinger specifically. Cassandra would support the notion, Hoskel would be against it, but Heimerdinger could go either way. 

He flinched back ever so slightly, and that told Mel which way he was leaning, so she quickly continued. “This was not a magical attack, as far as we are aware. This was a battle between people, for what reason or cause I cannot imagine, but they were people all the same.” This disaster, no matter how extensive, was not the Rune Wars that Heimerdinger feared. “Hextech is our best answer to rebuilding our city within the timespan that we have. Jayce and Law were already working on a widescale project for the Undercity. We should begin construction of it immediately to handle the Gray, and have Jayce develop more inventions to aid in the reconstruction.” 

They would have a vastly easier time convincing him to do that than to build weapons. However, in the back of Mel's mind lurked the truth. Anything that could be used to clear thousands of tonnes of rubble could just as easily be turned into a weapon. 

And in doing so, they would open a box that Mel suspected they wouldn't be able to close. 

“I… I will speak to him,” Heimerdinger voiced, and his acceptance was joined by Cassandra nodding her head while Hoskel clenched his jaw. He was unhappy, but he accepted the resolution. In his eyes, it would be the lesser of two evils. 

“Manpower,” Hoskel started instead, swallowing his protests. “Even with Hextech and the Mr. Handys, we're going to need manpower. A complete mobilization of our population.” That was an unusually good point for him to make. 

“That's easier said than done,” Mel admitted as they considered their options. The last census conducted in Piltover gave them a population of just over seven hundred thousand people. The Undercity had never been properly counted, but it was estimated that they had nearly five hundred thousand. In total, that would put them at over a million citizens -- if they could get one in ten people to work on clearing the rubble and rebuilding…

Hoskel clasped his hands together and leaned on the table, “There is a workforce that we can… conscript.” 

Heimerdinger rose an eyebrow, evidently curious while Mel's twisted into one of distaste. “Who might that be?” Heimerdinger asked, genuinely clueless. 

“The population of Stillwater prison,” Hoskel stated, making Heimerdinger flinch back. “There's around six thousand criminals incarcerated there. I propose that we offer a contract -- let the nonviolent offenders work and in exchange, we reduce their sentence.” 

“Almost all of the criminals in Stillwater are violent offenders,” Cassandra pointed out sternly. And almost all of them were from the Undercity. 

Hoskel offered an indifferent shrug, “Then we strengthen the guard watching them. Of course we don't extend this opportunity to the worst of them, but the rest? Let them serve their time by contributing to our city instead of rotting in a damp prison.” 

He made it sound sensible, but everyone at the table knew what this could all too easily turn into. How it could be perceived. 

Regardless of that,  it came down to practicality, and Hoskel wasn't wrong. 

Wordlessly, Mel raised her hand. Cassandra flinched back ever so slightly, her jaw clenching. Hoskel followed suit, raising his hand as well. 

Cassandra and Heimerdinger shared a look, neither of them saying a word but communicating all the same. They were wrestling with it… but Mel knew what the vote would be even before Cassandra raised her hand. 

A quiet sigh escaped Heimerdinger, “There will be precautions to prevent any abuse. Nor will we force them to work. We shall offer a fair agreement to them.” He said, but Mel knew he was trying to convince himself more than them. 

And so the decision was made. 

…

‘Opportunity,’ Silco reflected, ‘You can never guess when one might appear.’ While what was left of Piltover's elite nursed their wounds, Silco stood before the devastation that tore through Zaun. The buildings that were sliced so cleanly that if he could stack them back up, they'd fit together perfectly. The bridges that criss crossed across the fissures Zaun was built in were destroyed, carving a long way down from the Promenade down to the Sump. 

Zaun hadn't escaped unscathed. For every Topsider, two Fissurefolk had perished in the ten minutes that changed everything. A miraculous number given the scope of the destruction, but a grievous loss all the same. Their infrastructure, however, was largely spared. From where he stood, he could see the Gray leaking and smothering the lower parts of the city like a fog. It was entirely too familiar. Luckily, Silco had his old caches of masks that he had his people distribute. A bit of goodwill alongside a reminder of what Piltover did to their air. 

“We underestimated Sukuna,” Silco noted, a cigar between his fingers. “Severely.” The Cannibal had been a problem that Silco had been content to let fester. His presence had people scared, and when people were afraid, they sought safety in numbers -- so they rallied around him. And Sukuna himself served as an excellent reminder of the dangers of magic, stalling further development of Hextech Topside.

It had been the smart call, but one that had its cost. 

“Whatcha’ wanna do about ‘em?” Jinx asked, kicking her feet back and forth as she dangled them over the abyss they gazed into. “To be honest… I don't like our odds if Sukuna comes knockin’.” 

“Neither do I,” Silco admitted, taking a deep drag from his cigar. “He's in a position to make demands, but he never bothered. Either we're already giving him what he wants, or we don't have anything to offer.” A very dangerous position to be in. Sukuna had proven too powerful for Silco to realistically deal with and he wasn't able to negotiate, which left Silco feeling… 

Helpless. 

It wasn't a feeling he particularly enjoyed.

“At this point, we have to hope that our relationship… or lack of one, remains consistent.” Meaning Sukuna didn't bother them, and they didn't bother Sukuna. “However, our enemies upstairs… we have the opportunity to redefine our relationship with them.” 

Jinx tilted her head back, looking at him with only vaguely interested eyes. “The fissure mines are going to be out of commission for months. Piltover itself has three months of reserves in store- or, at least they did. It's quite possible that those reserves were destroyed.” 

A slow smile spread across Jinx's face, “That's unfortunate for ‘em.” 

“A pity that they didn't embrace fission technology when they had a chance,” Silco returned, something dangerously close to a smile finding its way to his lips. He would pressure the miners -- have them go on strikes in protest of the conditions that they now found themselves forced to work in. Meanwhile, Jinx would ensure that the stockpile was destroyed by any means necessary. 

Electricity. Piltover had always been dependent on Zaun to keep the lights on, but they’d kept them firmly under their thumb. 

Silco hadn't been prepared for the opportunity that dropped into his lap, but it was one he was prepared to seize with both hands regardless. Zaunites would adapt to their new circumstances, as they always had before. For the very first time since Zaun was founded, since they’d found the very first fissure to mine -- they had all the cards. And Silco had the will to play them. 

“We cut off their power to bring them to the table. They'll finally realize that they need us,” Silco continued, smoking his cigar. At long last, it was Piltover that would learn what it was like to live with a boot on their neck. 

“And then what?” Jinx asked him, and Silco considered it. Was this the time to push for independence? Piltover was at its weakest, but Zaun wasn't at its strongest. And, try as he might to ignore it, Piltover wasn't the only enemy of Zaun. Like blood in the water, the monsters that lurked beneath the surface would come circling. 

Even before the Hexgates, Piltover had been a coveted port as its canals saved countless merchants from having to sail all the way around the continent to get to the other side. The Hexgates, however, turned Piltover and Zaun into the center of the world. And Darkwill was a glutton with eyes even bigger than his stomach. 

The invasion of Ionia had been well telegraphed years in advance, as Noxus conquered up to the coastline, and built way stations for resupplying troops overseas. The invasion had been obvious for anyone who recognized the signs. Most just hadn't believed them. 

For all Noxus claimed to value strength above all, there were plenty Noxians content to get fat off the spoils of their ancestors. Darkwill was one of them, a man playing lip service to the kings of old who made Noxus such a force to be reckoned with. A smart man wouldn't divide his attention so easily, and while Darkwill possessed a certain cunning necessary to maintain his position… He could and he would. 

Because just as the Hexgates could send a merchant vessel across the world in seconds, so too could it send a warship. 

A thought struck him and this time, Silco didn't even bother hiding his smile. “From what I've heard, there's been a few openings in the Council.” 

There was a cunning glint that entered Jinx's eyes before she started laughing. 

They were too weak to break from Piltover just yet… but, should he play this right, the Council would unwittingly open the door and pave the way for his ultimate ambition. 

…

“You came back at just the right time,” I greeted Robin in Asami's hideout, bringing her in with a quick Shambles. “How was your trip? Exciting, I hope?” I said, throwing on an easy smile. 

“It was, though not as exciting as your day,” Robin replied in a breezy tone, an amused smile tugging at her lips. “I also see that you took the serum. How is it?” She asked, and I would have to get the story about her trip some other time, I suspected. She looked good, though. Her skin had a healthy tan to it, and she wore what I recognized as traditional Ixtali clothing. 

The outcome of her trip was important for reasons beyond her personal satisfaction, though. For Hextech to develop further, we needed more runes. And the more runes we learned, the more I could play around with my Rooms. I hadn't started applying magic to my Room’s yet, but I had nearly enough Soul Threads for me to take the first step towards it. 

“It feels good,” I admitted, clenching and unclenching a hand as I kicked my feet up on the Dias command console. “I didn't get the perfect version, so I got something like eighty percent of what I could have gotten, but I didn't get any drawbacks either.” I’d mostly gotten used to my enhanced body during my fight with All Might, but I was still struggling a bit with fine motor control. 

I’d underestimated what super strength would feel like. I thought it would be something like having unlimited power under my skin that was constantly trying to escape. Instead, it was almost… nonexistent? There was no sense of strain in doing anything, which made it hard to gauge how much strength I was really using. It was the same with my durability -- I felt normal, but stuff like getting shot only gave me a sensation of impact as the bullets bounced off my skin. 

It was going to take some getting used to, but I looked forward to mastering my body once more. Every aspect of it felt like it had been perfected -- from my senses, to my strength, to my healing and durability… my dick had even gotten bigger. 

Robin hummed, her gaze slightly judging. “I warned you to be careful with her,” she admonished and I could only sigh. 

“Yeah… yeah, you did. I thought I was, but Asami really surprised me. I didn't think she had that dog in her,” I admitted freely. Since the very beginning, I knew we would come into conflict. The moment that we didn't need each other… it was a forgone conclusion, because I wouldn't let her take back the Dias and she wouldn't let me use it how I wanted.

But Asami had impressed me with how she'd conducted herself in the aftermath of my world ending. How she tirelessly worked for the greater good of all, regardless of how ungrateful the people she was saving were. She did all that she could and more, swallowing bitter pill after bitter pill if it meant the death toll wouldn't climb any higher than it already had. So, I plotted. I schemed. It only took a few light touches to send her in the direction that she was already heading. A few light touches and a stinging defeat. 

Responsibility was an anchor around Asami's ankle. 

Asami felt responsible for me. She’d made a deal with the Devil to get home. And that deal had consequences beyond her imagining. Now, she had tried to make up for past mistakes by taking me out -- but she failed. She failed, and the consequences didn't fall on her shoulders. 

The hammer girl, Nobara, I’d taken as a hostage, but she wasn't the only one. Rumi was taken as well. Maki, if she managed to survive her wound, was also in our possession. While that Megumi kid was in the hands of Sukuna, who didn't have a gentle bone in his body. 

She took her shot, and she’d missed. 

And she would never forgive herself for it. 

“But we survived. Well, mostly,” I amended. Cinder was at a hospital getting treated on my dime. She’d survived the asskicking that Starlight gave her, if only barely. That must have been quite the sight to see, because Starlight surprised me. I’d thought Cinder had truly broken the woman down until nothing remained but a willing servant to her tormentor. Cinder must have been even more shocked. “We'll get Yoruichi back, and soon.” 

I might have to borrow some of Sukuna's cultists, but I could get TZ to sacrifice some of them for a boost in power to the Dias now that he was back. I really didn't like the idea of Yoruichi being stuck wherever she was for a full year. 

“Once we do, I’ll have gotten everything I wanted from Asami. She's going to spend the rest of her life bringing the best parts of the Multiverse to my door. So long as I manage to outpace her estimations of me? Of us? It's free entertainment.” 

To that, Robin strode forward and I soon found her sitting in my lap as a finger traced my jawline. “You seem happier.” 

“I am,” I confessed. “I was half-assing being a villain. Building up a little multiversal empire was a fun hobby, but I didn't really care about it. But Asami has proven inspiring.” 

I was going to build something. Something bigger than me. I would become everything that Asami feared I could become. 

An unstoppable calamity that brought devastation to every world that I visited. I would take the very worst parts of those worlds and incorporate them into my empire. And I knew exactly where to start. 

Robin offered a thin smile, telling me she didn't quite understand, but she was willing to humor me. That was okay. She'd see it for herself firsthand. However, something else stole my attention as I felt Sukuna enter my Room and I Shambled him over. He wore a satisfied grin on his face, his four blood red eyes raking over me. 

“You seem stronger,” He noted, his grin growing. 

“Right back atcha’,” I returned, leaning forward with Robin still on my lap. I wouldn't mind a rematch against Sukuna now that he was inching closer to his true strength. Then again, if I beat him too easily, he might cry. 

“Learned something interesting- a couple of things, actually,” Sukuna remarked as he turned his attention to the Dias. I perked up a little, as did Robin, as he continued. “Those brats -- Megumi and the other two -- they're from my world, but not from the same time. To them it's been about ten years since we left.” 

Interesting. Only a year had passed since we left that world. Time generally moved in sync across the Multiverse, in my experience… but was that really true? Every world I’d visited had an Anchor embedded in it, all except for Sukuna's. It was untethered. Was that the reason for the difference?

Except, when I visited other worlds to put down an Anchor, there wasn't a discrepancy in the time between the Dias closing and me activating the Anchor. It took a couple of hours for me to set up the one in Fallout, and back in my old world, only a few hours had passed. Unless there was some time wobbly nonsense going on, the next possibility was…

“She has a better Dias,” I ventured, looking to the one across the room. “It's always been a bridge across time and space. I just never paid much attention to the time bit.” However, then I titled my head. “If that’s the case, though -- why weren’t Satoru and Geto here?”

“That brat that interfered with my fight against Oden, Yamato, or whatever that woman called herself -- he wasn’t there either,” Sukuna agreed, both of us watching the Dias like it was about to give us the answers. “The Ten Shadows brat wasn’t meant to fight me alone. Gojo and that other one were meant to be there with him.”

Meaning that the upgraded Dias Asami had built wasn’t perfect. I had made Asami pull the trigger on this attack early by stealing the Dias blueprints. If this upgraded Dias was perfect, then that wouldn’t have mattered. She would have had all the time in the world to gather up her forces to take us down. Instead… instead, she came at us with what she had. 

It was too early to tell how exactly it worked, and I wouldn’t be sure until I built the upgraded version myself, but… it was probably closer to a time dilation effect? Or maybe picking when the Dias opened, as well as where. 

“In that case, let’s call it a silver lining -- it would have been a shame to kill them before we got to that Culling Game,” I remarked as Robin and I stood up. Sukuna grunted dismissively; he was far less enthused with the idea than I was, probably because his expectations were a lot lower. And, another silver lining, if the Dias worked like I thought it did, then there was no risk of us accidentally missing it. “But, that’s not why I asked you here.”

Sukuna hummed, “It’s just as possible that they were brought elsewhere.” Unlikely considering the fact that Gojo, Geto, and whoever else Asami managed to find would best be used against us. But it was still possible. Not to mention, it was even likely that Asami had sent people to Fallout and maybe El Dorado. She’d made a remark that made it sound like the rest of my budding empire was experiencing some trouble. 

So, with this world locked down, we were going to head back and see what kind of trouble that was. 

Robin began the activation sequence as Sukuna and I walked to the Dias -- the rings began to spin, building up momentum. There was a telling hum as the reactor started gearing up to meet the power demand. We waited a moment for the portal to open…

But it didn’t. 

Another few seconds went by, and there was still no sign of the portal. 

“Uh…” I started, glancing over my shoulder at Robin, who met my gaze from the readout at the console. Her lips thinned, and she shook her head ever so slightly, giving a damning verdict. And, despite myself, I felt a shiver race down my spine as I considered what that meant, looking back at the Dias once more. 

It couldn’t connect to Fallout. 

Meaning something happened to the Fallout Dias. 

“That’s not good.”