Path to the Apocalypse

Four people sat in Chris's space in an awkward silence. Once Chris and Beth had explained the true state of Earth, Jo and Salvador were fully on board with the plan to evacuate the City there. But once they'd settled that, with nothing left to distract them, they couldn't keep pushing the whole ‘we're your parents’ issue to the side. “Why is everyone so quiet?” Jello asked, the one person not feeling awkward about all this. She was just happy to meet her progenitor.

“Because I'm not sure how to deal with the fact that my parents abandoned me for a good reason.” Chris sighed.

Jo's expression fell. “We understand if you hate us-”

Chris shook his head. “That's the thing, I don't hate you. Do I wish you didn't have to abandon me? Absolutely, but I get it, you know? You made the best of a bad situation. The problem is that I don't know what that actually makes us. I mean, as much as it wasn't your fault, the end result is that you weren't there to actually be my parents, so it doesn't make sense to treat you like you are. But on the other hand, you are my parents, so I can't just ignore you either. I mean, I could, but since you clearly still care about me, it'd just be rude. I'm sure there's some middle ground in all this that would actually make sense, but fuck if I know how to find it.”

“You could start by getting to know them.” Beth rolled her eyes. “You know, like how every other relationship develops.”

Chris paused. “Well, I can't argue with that.”

Salvador grimaced. “Unfortunately, as much as we would like to be a more significant part of your life, however that may look, we still can't risk either side learning of your origins, so any interactions we have would need to be… limited. We won't have many excuses to meet with you like this.”

“I could give you some minions so I can open portals for you whenever you like.” Chris offered. “Earth has all these tiny bugs that are fantastic for hiding places.”

Salvador smiled sadly. “Unfortunately we're both watched much too closely to be able to slip away like that. A consequence of our previous disappearance. No, we can only risk meetings like this when we have a legitimate excuse to meet with you, like now.”

“Well that's disappointing.” Chris grumbled.

“Incredibly.” Jo growled. “If your grandparents had taken you in like they were supposed to, we could have had this discussion ages ago! We could have warned you about the doppelgangers and elves and prevented this situation entirely!”

Chris grunted in agreement, then frowned slightly. “Though they aren't actually my grandparents, are they? Since you aren't actually a Montero.”

“Actually… in a way I was.” Jo coughed. “You see, my ability to shapeshift isn't as clean as a doppelganger’s. My ability allows me to analyze objects and transform other objects into them through physical contact, such as transforming a block of stone into a computer.”

“Or my arm into air.” Salvador added helpfully.

Jo rolled her eyes. “Yes, but my ability doesn't just copy the form of an object, it copies the state of them. So when I transformed into Isabel Montero, I didn't just copy her form, I copied everything, including her ability and… her memories. Her mind. For all intents and purposes, while I held her form, I was Isabel Montero. Or at least, my version of her, since obviously I'm still in there too, but… well, it's a bit complicated, but you see my point.”

“That's- I'm not sure if that counts.” Beth frowned.

Jo raised an eyebrow. “Let's say instead I cloned her. Would you say it counts then? Because that's essentially what happened.”

Beth blinked. “I- maybe? I don't know.”

“I think it's one of those things that depends on your perspective… or interests.” Chris commented. “I mean, the Monteros wouldn't even claim me when they had no reason to doubt my parentage. But now they'd probably use any shred of connection they could to get a hold of me.”

Salvador sighed. “You aren't wrong.”

“Yeah.” Beth agreed. “But I'm not sure any normal family would be happy to hear their daughter was replaced, even if it was by a perfect copy.”

Jo sighed. “I know what it sounds like, but from my perspective, I was her, just as much as I am myself.”

Beth frowned for a moment, before shaking her head. “I don't know, it just feels weird to me.”

Chris waved dismissively. “It doesn't matter anyway. None of us are claiming any relationship to the Monteros at the moment.”

“No, you're right, I'm just frustrated they didn't take you in.” Jo grumbled. “If they had, we would have been able to at least maintain a slight relationship with you.”

“Yeah, that would have been nice.” Chris agreed.

Salvador chuckled. “You have a gift for understatement, don't you?”

“That is an understatement.” Beth smirked.

Salvador smiled before letting out a sigh as he stood, putting Jello down, the others standing up with him. “Well, as much as I wish we could continue, I believe we've stretched this as far as we can. Chris, I- I honestly can't express how good it is to see you alive and well. We'd almost given up hope that this day would come, but I am so, so glad it did.” He finished, pulling Chris into a tight embrace.

Jo squeezed in to hug Chris herself. “We're so glad you're alive.” She whispered hoarsely.

Chris hesitated for a moment, before sighing and hugging them back. “I'm glad you guys are alive too.” He really was.

*

David rubbed his temple. “So you're telling me that we have two nations getting ready to invade, and there's nothing we can do about it? So now you want to evacuate to Earth?”

Chris nodded. “It seems like the best course of action we have. At least, based on the game, trying to fight would end… poorly.”

David grunted. “Based on the fact they live on the surface, I already could have told you that. Are you sure they're coming?”

“We obviously can't be positive, but after my display during graduation, I can't believe they'd just ignore us. They'd at least research me, and once they found my records with the Ability Management Department… well, what would you do if you found out a tribe had someone like me in it?”

David snorted. “If I was them, I'd be working on collapsing the top four levels of the Maze so you couldn't get out, not coming down here to try and capture you. Possibly even try to spatially lock this entire area, or better yet, scoop it out and throw it into hell. Even attempting to control you is a fool's errand I would never be a part of. Particularly not through force.”

Chris blinked. “Well… that actually makes sense.”

David sighed. “Unfortunately, I can also see some power hungry politician completely ignoring that advice and coming down here anyway, because the fact that you aren't that powerful yet will convince them they can control you.”

“And that also checks out.” Beth grumbled.

David frowned. “So the question becomes, how do we evacuate to Earth without starting a different war? After all, even if the people of Earth don't have abilities, they still have guns.”

“And something called a nuke, which just kind of… ends an area.” Chris added. “Not something we want coming at us.”

“Also the fact that they have eight billion people over there.” Beth grimaced. “Just the nation we're in contact with has almost ten times the population we do.”

“Not a war we want to fight.” David agreed. “So how do we convince them to let us come over peacefully?”

Chris cocked his head. “They like gold?”

Beth rolled her eyes. “They like gold because it's rare for them and hard to get. If we tried to flood the market with it, they'd probably hate us for making all their gold worthless.” She paused. “But the fact that our abilities allow us to produce resources that are difficult to obtain for them would probably make them more inclined to accept us… plus our healing abilities and teleportation network.”

David shook his head. “Offering benefits is a start, but what we need to do is figure out what the foundation of our proposal will be. Are we refugees looking for a new home? Are we settlers looking for land? Or are we temporary visitors?”

Chris raised an eyebrow. “Temporary visitors?”

David grinned. “Remember what I said about doing everything I could to make sure you don't get out? As much as I'm sure Earth is a fantastic place, just giving up on the City doesn't sit well with me. Instead, I'd like to think of this as… a strategic retreat, pulling back so we can gather our strength and return when we're in a position to fight back. Or rather, when you are in a position to fight back. Your growth is inevitable. One day you will be strong enough to put both these nations in their place, and then… we will return.”

Chris frowned. “But who knows how long that will take? I think if we approach this as something temporary and it ends up taking longer than we planned, people will start to resent us.”

David cocked his head. “That's a good point. Plus, even when we return to the City, we aren't going to want to lose access to Earth. So we're going to want to negotiate for a permanent territory… which means we need to pin down exactly what land we want.”

“Not the middle east.” Chris commented. “That place is a mess.”

Beth rolled her eyes. “I think we should aim for the more inhospitable areas of the planet, land the people of Earth can't use, but we can develop using our abilities.”

“If we had the time, I'd suggest we simply build underground.” Chris muttered. “I'm not a big fan of the sky.”

Beth blinked. “You aren't? Why not?”

“It's too bright, there's all this wind, and it drops things on you.” Chris listed off. “Completely unreasonable.”

“But what about sunsets, stars, and clouds?” Beth countered.

Chris raised an eyebrow. “What about them?”

“They're pretty!” Beth insisted.

“Sure, but it takes you all of a minute to appreciate them, and then you're back to dealing with brightness, wind, and water falling from the sky.” Chris grumbled.

“Is it really that bad?” Beth asked.

“I mean, no, but I'd just rather not deal with it.” Chris shrugged. “Underground seems better to me.”

“Maybe we can consider that a long term plan, but we need a place we can put our people right now, not in a couple decades.” David interjected, getting them back on track. “So where on the surface can we go?”

“If we're looking to get land from one of their nations, I'd suggest either Canada or Australia.” Beth replied. “A large part of Canada's land is what they call ‘tundra’ which is essentially a frozen desert, while a large portion of Australia is a hot desert. Both nations speak human, or as they call it over there ‘English’, and they're both developed and relatively peaceful. The United States of America is also an option, with both desert and tundra within their territory, but they're a bit more warlike, so I'd be worried about them seeing us as military assets, and I don't think we want to involve ourselves in Earth's wars unless we absolutely have to.”

“No we do not.” David agreed, considering their options. “I think we should approach all three of these nations, if we can. If these United States are warlike, then we don't want to risk offending them and have them come after us anyway. In fact, it would be a good idea to come to some sort of agreement with all of them, even the ones we don't end up living with. The more allies we have over there, the better.” He paused for a moment, before nodding. “Yes, this is a proposal I can take to the Mayor.”

“Now the question is how do we avoid everyone freaking out over the doppelgangers and the elves.” Chris commented.

David blinked. “Right, that's why I haven't already told him about this.”

Beth grimaced. “If the public even catches a hint that there may be other races hiding in the City, it's going to be a disaster. No one is going to be able to trust anyone!”

“Worse, if those races find out the City is evacuating before we're ready, they may speed up their invasion plans.” David frowned. “If they're really coming for Chris, there's no way they'd just let him escape.”

“So we need to make sure as few people as possible know about this until everything is actually ready.” Chris muttered. “Once we get everyone to Earth, it won't particularly matter if there are spies, because they won't have any way to report to anyone, since the only way back to Azza is through me.”

“People still aren't going to be comfortable with the idea, but they won't be as scared of the idea.” Beth agreed. “Particularly since they're going to have to focus on settling Earth.”

“Another benefit in choosing someplace somewhat inhospitable.” David commented. “Okay, I have some people I need to talk to, and you need to figure out the best way to get in contact with these other nations. This isn't something that can be handled by a single squad anymore, and it's going to take a lot of work.” He glanced at Chris. “We're also going to need to work on getting you stronger. The sooner you can face these nations, the better.”

Chris nodded. “Right now I have two main limits on my strength. The first is the size of my space, and the second is the degree of mutation I'm capable of. To increase the strength of my space, I need to absorb energy, but I've noticed a somewhat… worrying pattern. See, the strength of my space isn't exactly based on its size, it's based on the cubed root of the volume, but the rate of expansion seems to be linear. So in order for me to double the strength of my space, I need eight times more volume, which means eight times more energy, and if I want my space to be equivalent to the peak of omega-tier, I'm going to need it to be a million cubic meters in volume, and I have no idea how much energy that will take. Even worse, since my space's strength isn't adjusted for my physique, in order to match the surface nations, I'm going to need to go beyond omega-tier, which I'm not even sure is possible, and it's going to require me to expand my space even more.”

David frowned. “That is concerning… but it just means we're going to need more time than we thought for you to grow. How about your mutation?”

Chris sighed. “That's also based on energy, since I need to find concentrated areas of ambient energy to fuel it, and since the doppelgangers also mutate, I'm going to be competing with them for it. And so far, the areas we have around here can only get me to high-tier ability, mid-tier physique.”

David clicked his tongue in disappointment. “Yet another hurdle.” He paused. “Is the energy you gain added to your previous amount or does the area simply bring you up to its maximum level?”

Chris blinked. “I'm not sure… I'll talk to Jacobs about it. I might need to test it.”

“Hopefully it accumulates or your growth in that department will be based more on luck than I'd like.” David commented. “Still… even with those hurdles, I can't imagine anything stopping you from becoming powerful. At most this will just delay things.”

“True.” Chris agreed. “Though I am a bit worried about psychics…” After Beth's panic over the idea that his memories had been altered when he first discovered Earth, Chris had started to think about it and he'd realized psychics were his only real weakness. He couldn't be killed, and even trapping him would be difficult, but someone could absolutely fuck with his mind, and that made him… nervous.

David shook his head. “A mind isn't something anyone can alter on a whim. Let's take your own ability as an example. You have one of the strongest dominator abilities I've ever seen, but even you can't just snap your fingers and dominate someone! The mind naturally resists alterations like that and if someone has the time to try, then you have the time to fight back or escape. Trust me, I've dealt with more than a few psychics in the Maze, and the problem is rarely them, it's the creatures around them. If you give them time to work, they can be terrifying, but there isn't much they can do in the time it takes you to put your fist through their skull.” He paused for a moment. “That isn't to say you shouldn't do everything you can to avoid enemy psychics, you just don't have to be terrified of them. If a psychic is trying to do something to you, you're going to know they're doing something to you, and you'll have time to react.”

“I suppose that's something.” Chris muttered. “Is there anything else then?”

“No, that should be all.” David sighed, getting up to leave. “I just have to do politics now.”

“So do we.” Beth grumbled.

“What do you mean ‘we’?” Chris raised an eyebrow. “I'm stuck in here, remember?”

“Oh, nuh-uh! You aren't getting out of this, buster! You can talk through Dyrdek or your portals if you have to!” Beth retorted.

Chris clicked his tongue in disappointment. “Fine. But I'm not doing any more press conferences.”