Chapter 23: Clean Up

-Alexander POV-

Watching Lán sè effortlessly mow down the invading army and its associated parahumans was a spectacle for the eyes. The perfect flowing motions of the shimmering dragon contrasted perfectly the ruined corpses left in its wake.

Perhaps if I was more of a poetic sort I would pontificate more on the beauty of my creation.

I was simply glad I no longer had a gag reflex.

I never knew a person could resemble a crushed strawberry before, and I could’ve gone without gaining that knowledge.

Plus the smell, eugh!

‘They never tell you how they shit themselves after death’

It was dirty. It was disgusting, and I now realised that anyone who believed there was any dignity in death was a fucking moron.

I leaned back from the wall, mercifully shielding my eyes from the sight.

Renji was still watching though, were those fucking stars in his eyes?!

“Truly, my liege, your creations are wonders to behold!”

Yeah, sure Renji whatever you say.

I pointedly ignore the rest of his muttering, something about the ‘economy of motion’ and ‘efficiency of the kill’. Jeez, I’ve really made a battle maniac.

We weren’t alone up here either.

A large crowd now watched from the battlements, holding whatever weapons they could scavenge in such a short period of time. They had rushed here quickly, likely desperate to protect their new home. Those weapons now hung limply in their hands, clearly no longer needed.

Most simply watched in awe as the mailed fist of the C.U.I that had been sent to crush us was reduced to mincemeat. A few hollered and cheered every time a soldier was gored upon the fangs and claws of my creation.

A bit bloodthirsty, but I couldn’t blame them much.

Lán sè broke the typical mould of my creations as they were not based upon any one person, fictional or otherwise. Instead they were a composite lifeform, taking on the legends of every dragon I could name.

Which was a lot.

Naturally he was a pain in the ass to make.

The body alone took more resources to make, but it was the mind where I really had to put my nose to the grindstone. Due to being a composite entity his ego had been pulled in many different directions, and was faced with many differing personas.

I had gently cut out what I didn’t want and promoted the growth of traits that I found ideal.

Lán sè was made to be a heavenly protector. He would never give out words of wisdom but he would bring comfort in his own way. His strength and quiet nobility would ease the hearts of the fearful and allow them to build their future without the fear of invasion.

Some might think that the brutal murder of ones enemies wouldn’t engender the feeling of being protected, but the survivors of the C.U.I’s purges clearly thought otherwise.

And besides when he wasn’t defending Jinzhou he was sunbathing in the park like a lazy cat, accepting treats and head pats like a proud king accepting spoils of war.

Very gap moe.

A final flash of light erupted from behind the wall, no doubt the plasma breath I had given the dragon eliminating the last of our enemies. I was vindicated in that conclusion as a final cheer shook the wall, evidently very pleased and relieved they wouldn’t have to be the ones defending their new home.

I began floating back down the wall, ignoring many of the worshipful glances being thrown my way.

“ALL PRAISE THE GLORY OF YA LI SHAN DA,” came a booming voice upon the battlements and prompting a second cheer that was somehow even louder than the last.

My speed tripled as I hurried away.

Nope! Not confronting that today!

-Doctor Mother POV-

She breathed in the cool air as she began organizing her notes for the final time.

Enzyme YZ-21-04 was promising, projections indicating a fall in mutation rates by as much as 0.4%! It would have to be thoroughly tested of course, but it was yet another step forwards in the slow and gruelling work that Manton had previously been in charge of.

The man had been a genius, it was just a shame his irrationality and inability to let go had set him against them.

The squeak of a chairs wheels and the quiet thump of Contessa falling upon a chair caused her to look up, eyebrows raised at the dishevelled and tired form of Contessa.

“That bad?” The question she asked only caused Contessa to let out a small groan of frustration before she looked up.

“We’ll need to think up a new plan,” Contessa said, eyebrows creased in frustration. “The predicted war between the C.U.I and Japan is no longer likely to happen, and so our plan to prop up Ibaraki Douji and her sister is no longer required.”

Well that was a shame.

“If this group continues to operate then any long term plan regarding Asia is unlikely to succeed,” Doctor Mother pointed out. Contessa simply nodded, already more than aware.

“Should we eliminate them?”

The question had been lightly thrown out by Doctor Mother, a question that had been repeated in this room many times before.

To her slight surprise Contessa glared at her before shaking her head.

“No, that would be a terrible idea,” Contessa bit out, chewing her lips in frustration. “Tinkers have always been one of our greatest hopes against the enemy, given that they rely on what the entity doesn’t have: imagination.”

Doctor Mother knew this. Cauldron wasn’t unaware of the hubris of trying to kill an entity using their own weapons. That was why they frantically searched through Eden’s corpse, hoping to find an unrestricted agent that would normally never be given out. A shard capable of wounding or even killing Scion.

A silver bullet.

That was the main plan, but there were others.

Tinkers were one of those. Those parahumans were given knowledge and the ability to build technology centuries more advanced than current day technology. Furthermore they could improve upon it given time and study.

Even better Tinkers could also collaborate with other Tinkers to produce weapons neither would have been able to make alone.

It was a given that these agents had restrictions, but unlike the vast majority Tinkers could improve and come up with new solutions and tinkertech, potentially solutions that might otherwise be restricted.

Tinkertech collaborations were even better as it introduced an element of randomness and conflicting restrictions, according to all the research Cauldron had done in the past.

It was unlikely, but there was indeed a chance that Tinkers could help build the silver bullet they were searching for.

Ah.

“And because this group helps improve all Tinkers with the advanced technology they’ve included in their works it would be irresponsible to kill them,” Doctor Mother concluded.

Contessa nodded tiredly.

“Capturing them would be more productive, that way we could drip feed their technology across the world to Tinkers and scientists both.”

Doctor Mother grimly smiled at that, allowing a group free reign to cause chaos across all of Asia was never going to be allowed. They had already caused more instability than some S-class threats.

The problem would be capturing a group that they had next to no information on. A PRT black ops squad had already been sent to observe the new city. Hopefully they would be able to ferret out any information on this group for their analysts to chew over.

“Well, at least we know how they’re getting around now. They also seem to favour past Endbringer fight sites. The moment they leave we could likely predict where they’re heading to and set up an ambush there.”

As far as plans went it was remarkably simple for their organisation, but given the lack of information it was prudent to not overcomplicate matters.

“If it is an abandoned site we could litter the place with traps,” Contessa noted, looking slightly less annoyed at that.

Doctor Mother smiled at that, before pausing as a thought occurred.

“So how did your mission go to apprehend Sun Wukong?”

Contessa stilled at that.

Doctor Mothers hand, which had been reaching for her Coffee stilled with her as the doctor stared at Contessa with some concern.

“Contessa?”

The hatted woman mumbled something, looking away slightly.

Now even more concerned Doctor Mother sat up and leaned across the table slightly.

“Contessa?!”

“I…encountered difficulties”

Well that boded poorly.

“What sort of difficulties?”

Contessa shifted in her seat nervously, her hands fretting about. It occurred to Doctor Mother then that Contessa more resembled a girl caught with her hand in the cookie jar than the bogeyman feared by all who were aware of her existence.

Slowly Contessa reached up and removed her hat, revealing the bright purple bruise discolouring her forehead. Clearly she had been hit by something large and heavy across her forehead.

“So this parahuman managed to hit you when you went to apprehend you?”

Contessa somehow seemed even more embarrassed at that as she shook her head.

“I asked my agent for a path to capturing Sun Wukong, the next thing I knew I woke up on the floor having been knocked out by something,” Contessa stated, sounding as confused as Doctor Mother felt.

“And it was Sun Wukong that did this?”

“Possibly, I tried to ask my power for a path to figure out what had happened but my power refused to answer.”

Doctor mother stared, slightly dumbfounded, before reaching down and chugging her coffee all at once.

AN: Slightly shorter chapter this time as I need to go to sleep early today since I’m leaving the country (again). Also I feel like it ended at a good place. The invasion (if you can even call it that) of Jinzhou has ended in a one sided slaughter. More people are coming around to the religion worshipping a benevolent city building goddess who creates dragons. I wonder why?

Cauldron is busy plotting and have decided to ambush Alexander at his next destination, I’m sure that will go well. Also more news at eleven: Sun Wukong really likes hitting people with his staff. Even if they’re across dimensions. Especially If they’re across dimensions.

Alexander: This story is a serious examination of Earth Bet and the folly of expecting good intentions alone to produce good results.

Sun Wukong: This story is about me beating the shit out of people.

Thanks for reading!