The System Apocalypse Books 4-6: The Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG Fantasy Series

by Tao Wong

  “I’m not—” I protest.

  “And who’s going to take control of those cities, dictator?” the Latino calls out, hands crossed in front of him.

  “That’s up to discussion.”

  A roar of disapproval explodes when I say that. More questions are shouted, BB smirking as he watches the entire meeting break down. Lana shoots me a look, but I shake my head, instinct telling me that using her ability now would be seen as a provocation.

  ***

  Forty minutes later, we stand around, staring at the few groups that have stayed after the others dispersed. I did my best, as did Lana, but the meeting went out of our control, egged on by BB and a few other malcontents. I couldn’t exactly blame them—having a stranger come in and tell them they sucked was never going to work out well. But someone had to say it.

  “That could have gone better,” I mutter.

  “No shit, boy-o. Told you you should have let Lana talk,” Ali says.

  I end up rolling my eyes slightly while Lana flashes me a sympathetic smile.

  “From what you said, I understand you have certain plans concerning liberating more cities?” the Officer says as he walks toward our group.

  With the meeting over, I’d popped open a Portal for Capstan to head back to Vancouver with a promise to port him the rest of the way home soon.

  “Aye,” I say, glancing at the few interested groups.

  The all-women group clad in Adventurer chic, a weirdo group who looks as if they took their dress code inspiration from superheroes, the Mages, Barista group, and a few more “normal” groups standby. About a third of everyone who came.

  “Well?” the Blue Mage barks, the East Indian almost bouncing in impatience. I absently note that he’s not gotten a genetic cleanse—or if he did, he opted out of getting more height, being a not-so-impressive 5’6”.

  “Calgary,” I answer. “I’ll need to visit Edmonton first, which is human-controlled, and see what they want, but after that, we’re looking at Calgary. That’s currently controlled by two different factions—the Kingdom of Pewsin and Uvrik Corp. The first is a side kingdom of, hmmm, halflings I guess is the closest term. Not hobbits. These guys are vicious bastards. Uvrik Corp is a ‘small’ Galactic corporation with a focus mostly on fortifying foodstuff.”

  “Halflings and a food corporation,” one of the Mages mutters. “I swear there’s a joke in there somewhere.”

  “If you look hard enough, there’s a joke all around you,” Lana says.

  “Joke or not, between those two groups, they’ve got over twenty Advanced Class in play, with three of them in the high Levels. Even a single high Level Advanced Classer can do a lot of damage. We’d need at least three or four of our guys to contain one of them,” I say firmly.

  “Our guys?”

  “Well, if you all agree,” I say.

  “You’re asking us to free a Canadian city,” one of the ladies says, eyeing the three of us.

  “I’m asking you to free a city full of humans. Yes,” I say, meeting her eyes.

  “She is correct that you are asking for much…” the Officer says leadingly.

  I sigh quietly, knowing that there’s going to be politics. Always damn politics. “What do you want?”

  “Your help. Your Skill.”

  I cock my head to the side, waiting for more. As the Officer continues. “Your actions in taking Vancouver from the Thirteen Moon Sect helped Seattle greatly. Your Class, your Skill, and your people could do the same for our other cities.”

  “Yeah, but what do we get out of it?” I say softly, angling for some advantage here. Truth be told, coming down here to get help was part of the goal, so I’m not exactly bargaining from a position of power. But at least, the need is mutual.

  “That depends on how that Skill of yours works,” the Officer says, skin around his grey eyes crinkling as he smiles.

  “Right…” I narrow my eyes as I finally get around to reading his Status. Octavian Wier, Level 7 Officer. “Octavian. Well, that’s something we can certainly discuss.”

  “I prefer my middle name, but it’s Colonel Wier to you. Acting commander of the 7th Infantry Division out of Fort Lewis,” Wier says, seemingly nonplussed by my use of his name. I see a few looks shared around, but not much.

  “Acting, sure. You’re all that’s left after the hydra rolled over your base,” one of the Mages says with a snort. “That damn monster made its way halfway up the city before we ended it.”

  I glare at the man, shutting him up as the soldiers stiffen. Taunting people whose job is to protect others with the deaths of their friends doesn’t seem either charitable or smart.

  Once I get my silence, I look back at the colonel. “Well, I don’t have much information on the state your country is in, so I’m going to need data at the very least. But if we do this, we’re really going to need your support on our end as well. All of you.”

  I see more than a few pauses, a few looks around, and I sigh. Convincing these people, even the ones who stayed to help, seems as if it’s going to take a bit. Or, on seeing the avarice in some eyes, some bribing. Rather than convincing everyone to get involved here and now, we take names and information with promises of meeting up personally to discuss the levels of their support. Better to do the discussions in person.

  ***

  Octavian’s is the first group we speak with. Rather than going back to his base, we end up at the discarded remnants of a local coffee store. It’s not the best option, but it has chairs and we’ve all got travel mugs of Barista-made coffee, so it seems mildly appropriate. We get there after I’ve sent most of the team home, rather than dragging everyone about. Outside, the pets and most of Wier’s soldiers stand guard, including an interesting pair of Rangers. I’m slightly amused that the older aide keeps staring at me with what I assume is disapproval, but at least he hasn’t voiced it. Either way, I send a note to Ali to dig into the soldiers’ Status information while we talk, curious what kind of goodies they might have picked up.

  “So. Retaking the USA,” I say, starting us off.

  “Yes. Currently, remnants of our chain of command are gathered around Fort Belvoir, where there is a Shop. We’re in contact with them,” Colonel Wier says, a fact that startles me. Long-range communication is one of the things that we all lost, and while it’s possible to replace it, it’s expensive. That he—and the Fort—chose to get it up is startling at first. Then, it’s kind of obvious. “There are three other alien groups in Washington: one Corporation and a pair of alien governments—one a Kingdom consisting of half-giants, and one an Empire of kobolds.”

  “What kind of kobolds?” Ali asks with a frown.

  “Kind?”

  “You humans seem to mix up three different races. Are they draconic, dog-like, or like short, skinny humans?”

  “Uhhh… dog-like.”

  “Pooskeens. From the planet Pos.”

  “Won’t that make them Poskeens?”

  Ali stares at me, hands on his hips.

  “Sorry. Right. Alien grammar,” I mutter, shaking my head.

  “What I’m going to say, I hope you will keep to yourself for now,” The Colonel says softly, visibly bracing himself before he continues. “In Fort Belvoir, we have the current Secretary of Agriculture, the highest elected authority we are in contact with. Along with her, we have a number of congressmen and senators. We have confirmed the death of most of the others in the chain of command including the vice president. Others are believed to be compromised.

  “As such, the Secretary has—legitimately—assumed power. However, a number of army and national guard groups don’t have contact with us or her or are refusing to take orders from us. Some refuse to act on US soil. Others have gone rogue. We’ve got rebel groups, independent operating groups, and a few cities all working by themselves throughout the country.”

  “No one knows who to trust, so everyone’s doing their own thing?” Lana interjects, her brows drawn together.

  “I
n essence, yes. There are police forces and national guard members working independently,” Wier says finally. “We need to put an end to this as quickly as possible, which is why I’m looking for your help. If you can open those Portals of yours, we can shift our men to bolster allied forces and begin negotiations with those on the fence.”

  “It doesn’t work that way,” I say with a sigh. I ponder for a moment keeping the details of my power back, but in this case, I realize I’m going to have to tell him something. “I can only Portal to places I’ve been to before. And keeping the Portals open are extremely Mana intensive.”

  Wier nods slowly, rubbing his chin. “We can work with that. If we allocate specific teams, my men can still provide force multipliers and specialized help. We could even provide you guards and aides now.”

  “No thanks,” I say with a shake of my head. “No offence, but I work better alone.”

  Wier just shoots a look at my team but I refuse to back down from that statement. For one thing, it’s the truth, damn it. For another thing, anyone he sends with me is just going to act as a spy and nanny, and I neither want or need either.

  “If we help you, you and your people will help us free the Canadian cities. All of them,” I say.

  Wier cracks a slight smile, leaning forward. Now that I’m actually negotiating, he knows he has me. The rest of this is just a matter of numbers and plans, of how we’re going to do this rather than if. And really, I never was going to turn him down. For the next hour or so, we negotiate men and numbers, timelines, and other details. We leave a lot unsaid or to be confirmed, a lot to be determined later or open for amendments because we both understand how Murphy can be a bastard. But in the end, we have a rough agreement, one that starts with him helping us first before we shift to some American cities. When we’re done, we shake hands as you do. And that’s when we get a surprise.

  Settlement Agreement Reached

  Would you like to confirm the agreement (see attached)? There are significant penalties to reputation for breaching such an agreement. Additional penalties may apply (see agreement).

  (Y/N)

  I blink, staring at the new notification. Wier shows surprise too, obviously getting a similar screen.

  “Well, that’s interesting,” Ali says, staring at the screen as well.

  “You didn’t know about this?”

  “Never had a Companion who was a settlement owner, so no.”

  “How do I add penalties to this then?”

  “You can’t. Looks like you need the Skills or an upgrade to your City.”

  “So no penalties. Huh.”

  “This is interesting. But I don’t need a System to keep my word,” Wier says.

  Even if he does say that, I note he acknowledges and accepts the System agreement. I do too a moment later.

  “Nice. Now for the next conversation,” I say, smiling. “Not to be rude, but…”

  “I understand. It’s a pleasure doing business with you. We’ll be in touch for further details.”

  “I’ll need to visit your base at some point.”

  “Of course,” Wier agrees readily. One of the things we had to cover in our discussion was the limits of my Portal Skill. “Just let us know.”

  “I will.” I flash him a grin, making a note to get work on a communications array sorted.

  Interestingly enough, what Wier did wasn’t purchase the array from the System but the plans. He shared that with us, so now all we had to do was get some high Level Mechanics and Engineers on it and we’d finally have a communications array stretching across the province.

  ***

  “Who’s next?” I ask Lana and Ingrid after we leave, the young ladies on Lana’s overgrown, pony-sized puppies. Ingrid knows where we’ll have to go, and Lana was the one who set up the meetings.

  “Mages.”

  “Ah…” I can’t help but grin at that.

  Look, the Microsoft campus was the kind of place where any programmer would have loved to have worked. Just short of the Google campus really. But that was a fairy tale dream for someone of my talents. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t bad, but ‘not bad’ doesn’t get you into the big leagues.

  “Down, boy,” Lana says, shaking her head. “Try not to get a nerd boner while talking to them, will you?”

  “Funny.” I consider the meeting. Obviously Gates won’t be there, or Balmer. If they were, we’d have seen them at the meeting, but… “I didn’t recognize most of those Mages at the meeting.”

  Ingrid nods. “No surprise. They lost a lot of people when the System came along. These days, the team you saw, they’re the front. I hear their real leadership team is out there, but I’ve yet to see them. Way I understand it, they’re busy Leveling.”

  Under that somber spell, we make our way to their headquarters and are met just before we enter. The same group we saw at the meeting greets us. Now that I’ve got a bit more time, I look over the mixed race group and spot someone who’s likely of Vietnamese / Laos descent, a couple of Indians, and a few Caucasians.

  “Mr. Lee,” the Blue Mage says, offering me his hand.

  Realizing I might actually have to talk to him significantly more, I spend the time analyzing his status as I get off Sabre and set it to follow me along.

  Charles Cutler (Blue Mage Level 6)

  HP: 560/560

  MP: 1840/1840

  Conditions: None

  “Nice to meet you.” I glance around. “Are we not being invited in?”

  “No, no, nothing like that. We just wanted to make sure you had a proper escort,” Charles says, rubbing the top of his bald crown. For all that he might be folliclely challenged, the fortyish man seems to be in good health, with no sign of a gut and even some definition around his arms. “We’ve already voted and decided to give you all the help you need.”

  “Pardon…?” I freeze, staring at Charles.

  “You owe me fifty,” someone says in a thick Indian accent, but I’m still staring at Charles, waiting for his explanation.

  “We’ll help you. There are limitations—we won’t reduce our guard below what’s safe for us—but if you need it, we’ll throw whatever help we can. You can consider us Allies,” Charles says again.

  Settlement Alliance Offered (John Lee & the Mages of Seattle)

  An offer of alliance has been offered. An alliance will automatically classify all trade between settlements as alliance trades for the purposes of taxes, tariffs, and duties. In addition, this open alliance offer includes a mutual defense treaty. Failures to uphold this alliance will result in penalties to reputation. Additional penalties may apply (see details).

  Note: As you are in a State of War with the Thirteen Moon Sects, the Mages of Seattle will automatically be considered at War upon agreement to this alliance.

  Agree? (Y/N)

  “Ali? The details?” I say, my eyes wide as I scan the information. I absently note that Charles has already read and dismissed his notification, a glowing little mark indicating that they’ve accepted their side of the agreement showing up on my own blue screen.

  “One second. It’s lengthy. Damn, but I wish Kim was here,” Ali says, his eyes darting over the information.

  After a moment, I share the screen with Lana, whose eyebrows rise then furrow as she reads. The lady has a business degree, so she might catch something Ali or I don’t.

  “This is generous.” I stare at Charles. “Why?”

  “Simply put? We understand your motivations.”

  “My what…?” I stop, realizing what he means. “You’ve been buying information on me from the Shop.”

  “Yes. Ever since your friend”—he waves at Ingrid, who is busy chatting with another young lady in the group—“came to us about you and your plans, we’ve been researching you. It’s been entertaining and enlightening. We understand your goals, and we agree with them.”

  I open my mouth to ask why again but stop, realizing that’s probably rather insulting. Why can’t other people want to
do good? Yet a cynical part of me really questions their ready agreement.

  “We also think you and the Colonel will need our help. We have a number of Seers and Diviners who can fix some of your problems, guide you around potential issues,” Charles continues as we walk into the campus, a slight twitch of his lips as he notes my expression of surprise.

  I’m getting a little annoyed at being tracked so much, but I push it down. “That’s good.”

  “Now, I understand you were a programmer before? Have you ever been to our campus? It’s not what it was, but we’d like to think it’s still pretty amazing,” Charles says, waving. “In that building, we’ve got our Alchemists, Potionoligists, and…”

  I shut up, listening to him while Ali and Lana go over the documents. We’ll probably agree if they don’t see any serious landmines. At this point, we can’t turn away any Allies, even if I find the entire thing a little fishy. So I shut up and listen, content to probe between descriptions.

  ***

  Hours later—more hours than we should have spent with any one group—we’re finally out of the compound and on our way to the next group. We obviously agreed to the alliance, after Lana and Ali checked the terms and came up with nothing too troubling. A few probing questions got us a little more information about their thinking too.

  “Did you notice that we never got to meet more of their people? Not even their main team. And I get the feeling they’re still holding a bit to the old corporate bureaucracy,” Lana says, finishing my unvoiced thought.

  “Aye.”

  “They are a corporation. Soul sucking bastards that they are,” Ingrid says, shaking her head. “But the way I understand it, their main team are still below our Levels.”

  “Huh.” I grimace. “Well, at least we know our Levels are one of the reasons they want to help.”

  “I’m not sure I like that,” Lana says, lips thin. “Killing, killing sentients, for experience—”