I stared at her a moment. The synthetic g*ddess who made humanity her pet project didn't even know where she came from.
"That's comforting,"
I muttered. She turned back, grinning again.
"Isn't it?"
Invicta smirked as she did the train came to a stop, as It did we got out and walked to a bunch of elevators and got Into the last one on our right.
The elevator ride was smooth silent but fast, my ears popping just as the doors slid open with a polite hiss. I stepped out… and blinked.
What greeted me was not the sterile bunk I expected from a military juggernaut the size of a f*cking mountain. No, this was something else.
The room was massive, almost like a suite in a luxury hotel. A king sized bed sat against the far wall, wrapped in sleek black sheets with red and white accents.
To the side was a kitchen, full sized fridge, and a console station with a curved holo display the size of a car windshield.
The lighting adjusted automatically, warming to my body heat. A private bathroom was tucked away behind frosted glass doors.
Everything screamed personal, expensive, and extremely not standard. I turned to Invicta as we walked in, eyebrow raised.
"So I'm guessing this is your room, huh?"
She snorted, clearly entertained.
"Correction, it's ours."
I blinked.
"Huh? What do you m..."
Thump. She shoved me down onto the couch, smooth and forceful, like she was swatting a dumb puppy into a chair.
"Oh shut it. Sit down, drink beer and watch something depressing,"
She said, already snapping her fingers. The wall mounted holo projector activated, casting a three dimensional, full color screen into the air in front of me, the clarity better than real life.
I didn't even have time to speak before a six pack of chilled canned beer got placed onto the coffee table with a satisfying thunk.
Invicta cracked one open with a hiss and shoved it into my hand like it was medicine.
"Drink. I'll get you food in a sec. You look like your soul's half evaporated."
"…Uh. Sure,"
I muttered, still catching up. The can was ice cold. I tipped it back and took a long pull. Sharp, bitter, good. I hadn't realized just how much I needed it.
And then the news started playing. I expected something grim. What I got was even worse. Countries third rate, second rate, even some first rate powers were going dark, one by one.
Borders collapsing. Protests turning into open firefights. Footage of government buildings burning, police forces either fleeing or turning paramilitary, populations vanishing in the wake of mass arrests.
One screen displayed a ticker:
"NATIONWIDE MARTIAL LAW DECLARED IN 68 STATES. 9 MORE EXPECTED TO FOLLOW."
Another showed satellite images of military units mobilizing along borders like old world trench build ups. Invicta's voice echoed from the room as my augmented senses captured the sound of changing clothes.
"Like I said three more months tops before you dumb apes nuke yourselves to extinction."
I just stared at the screen, took another long swig, and muttered to myself still subconciuosly not fully bellieving what I was seeing.
"…to think the world reached this state In just under two years..."
The clatter of cooking that began not long ago faded into sizzling. Something was frying, spices sharp in the air. Meat. Peppers. Garlic. Oil. My senses registered it, but my thoughts were elsewhere.
My shut In deadbeat half sister, my mother, my mothers sister and her children aka my cousins and theyre kids. Plus my battlebrothers family members.
I needed to get them on this ship. ASAP. If what I saw on the news was just the start, we didn't have time to f*ck around anymore. Things were falling apart faster than I thought, and when the final domino fell…
Boom.
My train of thought screeched to a halt as a mountain of food landed on the table in front of me. I blinked. Then blinked again.
Plates. Bowls. Trays. Steam. Beer. So much f*cking food and beer. And Invicta standing over it, smirking like she'd just summoned a feast from the void.
Her tank top clung just right maybe too right because It didnt leave much for Imagination, her denim shorts had no right being legal, and that messy bun with strands falling down around her neck? That was a g*dsdamn war crime.
I looked at the food. Then at her. Then at the food again. Then back at her.
What the f*ck… is... is this what peak waifu material looks like?
I thought because Invicta was raising the standarts way too high.
As If knowing my thoughts she snorted, popping a beer with one hand and flopping her perfect, smug heart shaped juicy and firm ass down onto the armrest of the couch like a lazy cat claiming territory.
"J*sus,"
She said with a roll of her eyes.
"You look like you've seen a female for the first time. Relax, dumbass, it's just dinner, not a proposal."
I grabbed a fork, still side eyeing her like she'd just warped in from a dream.
"Yeah well, if this ain't peak wife material, I don't know what is."
Her lips twitched.
"You proposing now? 'Cause I so far youre just so so."
I took a bite of the food. Hot. Savory. Perfect. I swallowed, looked her dead in the eye, and said.
"Nah I dont do relationships and s*it, anyways I gotta go and get my and the boys families"
Invicta smirked over the rim of her can, her purple eyes with yellow-golden pupils glowing faintly in the low light as she sipped her beer like this was all a casual date and not the middle of world ending chaos.
"Sure, let's go. You can introduce me to them while you're at it."
I paused, mid chew. Fork hanging halfway to my mouth. Eyes slowly lifting to meet hers.
She didn't look away. That smug expression was there sure but behind it, something else shimmered. Something unreadable. Curious? Mischievous? Genuine?
I didn't know.
Was I just a walking science experiment to her? A fun project? Or did she actually give a damn like she said?
She raised an eyebrow like she could hear my internal meltdown.
"What?"
She asked, cocking her head slightly.
"Scared I'll make a bad impression, hubby?"
I blinked, shook my head, and muttered more to myself than her.
"I really don't get what the hell you're thinking."
She leaned back lazily on the couch, stretching like a damn jungle cat and exposing way too much synthetic flesh for my sanity In the process.
"Neither do I sometimes. Makes life exciting, doesn't it?"
I stared for another beat, my thoughts still swirling like a blender full of identity crisis and emotional constipation, then grunted.
Arghhh, f*ck it… let's just go with the flow.
I returned to my food, stuffing my face like the apocalypse wasn't right around the corner, like I hadn't just had an existential fistfight with my subconscious selfs, and like I wasn't bringing a psychotic, genius, waifu tier AI war g*ddess home to meet my mother.
Yup. Everything was fine. Totally fine.
...
A few hours later.
The garage door rattled and creaked as it rose, metal groaning like it hadn't moved in decades. Dust motes danced in the pale overhead light, catching on the matte black of my boots as I stepped forward, the heel thunk of each step carrying that low, deliberate menace only a recently augmented, combat modified bastard could pull off.
Black paramilitary boots. Cargo pants with built in armored knee guards. Tactical belt slung low, lazily holding a laser sidearm, a few spare mags, and my now all time favorite lazer edged combat knife.
All of it tucked beneath a black leather jacket, worn open to show off the fitted short sleeved shirt beneath thin enough to make my steel cut abs look like they were sculpted out of sin.
My hands? Laced with rings that looked like they belonged to either a black metal guitarist or a demonic cult leader.
Death motifs. Skulls. Occult sigils. Even my ears were decorated with black ring earrings four on one side and two on the other.
I stopped just outside the threshold, squinting at the not so discreet garage that looked like it should've belonged to a retired janitor, not… whatever this was turning into.
A cigarette hung from the corner of my lips, the ember glowing softly as I took a slow drag. My eyes shifted sideways toward the woman next to me.
"Care to explain why we're making a stop in a place that looks like it houses corpses in the back and discount tofu in the front?"
Invicta, standing beside me like temptation incarnate, smirked. Her outfit? Simply Illegal. That's the only way I could describe it. Black yoga pants that hugged every curve with scientific precision. Black and white high top sneakers.