84 – Life outside the Cafe
Swamp Thing stood, rooted within the lower levels of a Green Vault, hidden underground beneath Gotham itself. This vault was constructed from the combined effort of Ivy, Swamp Thing, and the Green. It was a gigantic series of chambers constructed out of specialized roots that would block out radiation. It was one of dozens Ivy and Swamp Thing had planned for construction and would act as underground ecosystems where they’d gather many species of animals to evolve and live naturally, unbothered by humanity and its tampering with the natural order.
Placed at the center of each chamber were Ivy’s GECKs. They were not as efficient or cost-effective, but they worked and did not need to be fixed. However, the subterranean ecosystem was a...testing ground of sorts. To work out the bugs and negative aspects of Ivy's GECKs and see whether they'd work as intended or not. That is why Swamp Thing was connected to the roots that made the walls and ceiling of the subterranean expanse. Through the roots, Swamp Thing was able to observe all of the Flora and Fauna they brought down here with the help of the Green and monitor the Green Vault's atmospheric composition. Ivy wanted to know everything, so Swamp Thing watched and observed.
At first, everything seed to go fine. The GECK got to work on filling the expanse with all of the gases found normally in the atmosphere and necessary for the survival of a wide range of life. From there, it began seeding the expanse's sky with clouds to bring forth water, raise humanity, and lower its surprisingly hot temperature.
Then, the GECK used the clouds to seed grass and other Flowers across the expanse. From there, it ford a lake of clean water around itself and began revitalizing and enriching the soil. Swamp Thing couldn't make heads or tails about how Ivy's machine worked other than its purpose was terraforming. So far, it seed to work perfectly, despite a few issues with it over-enriching the soil and adding too much water to the air and ground.
For now, Swamp Thing would continue to watch over this Green Vault that would house generations of life, hidden unimpeded from the surface world.
...
anwhile, in the sewers below Gotham, life has changed dramatically for those who had no ho and found themselves on the streets. Countless small and large communities found themselves built over the course of several weeks as more holess vagrants from across the states were sent by their cities to Gotham. Because of that, Gotham had the largest number of holess walking in their streets than any other city in the United States.
These cities were built through the combined effort of Waylon and the holess, who considered him a friend. Buying everything he needed from the Cafe, Waylon turned these communities into true underground cities beneath Gotham in the sewers, and despite what most would think, the sewer slled perfectly fine due to Waylon's effort and the placent of cities. There were hundreds living beneath Gotham, living in completely self-sufficient cities with power, water, heating, food, and even a few sparse doctors. For those living in these underground cities, life was even better than so that lived above ground and it was a purely barter-based economy as many of them lacked jobs. Due to Waylon's continuous efforts, he has obtained a massive amount of Karma to help expand and improve the cities even more, as he planned on adding autonomous defenses, lead outlined walls, and vault doors to stop the seeping of radiation if a Nuclear War were to happen.
Waylon has seen the horrors of the wasteland, seen both the best and worst of humanity and realized that he is not invincible. So, he has done everything possible to improve himself and better protect the people under his charge. He was now the supposed king of the sewers, and now that he no longer acted like the monster he used to be due to the years he spent in Fallout, he was much more respected and amicable, though he still had his gruff deanor.
...
anwhile, a particular man sat in a cave on a hill outside of Gotham. This man was, of course, Bruce Wayne. At the mont, his eyes were focused on the caras overlooking Waylon's sewer cities and the project of whatever Ivy and Swamp Thing were cooking even deeper beneath Gotham. The only reason Bruce managed to detect what Swamp Thing and Ivy were doing was because of Bruce's paranoia and placing over two dozen Ground Penetrating Radars to keep watch of Gotham's underside. How did he know it was Ivy and Swamp Thing? The answer was simple: caras.
Unless Ivy was visiting Waylon, there was no reason for her to travel down into the Sewers, seemingly never coming out from any visible entrances and exits. Whatever they were doing down below Gotham had Bruce concerned, as it was massive in size, rivaling half the city in size in width. Even then, Bruce's GPRs couldn't pierce whatever it was down there, so he had no idea what they were doing.
"Sir?" A voice spoke up from behind.
"Yes, Alfred?" Bruce answered.
"You have only been ho for a few days. You need a bit more rest before you get back to what you are doing," Alfdred warned.
"I can't. I was gone for over a week, and the cri rate has skyrocketed. I need to get back out there and stomp this in the bud before it gets out of control," Bruce explained before climbing out of his chair.
"Well, then, at least before you go, you should at least eat your dinner," Alfred 'suggested' with a hard stare, not accepting no as an answer.
Sighing but cracking a smile, Bruce agreed, and Alfred led Bruce upstairs into the mansion and to the dining room.
"I found a better source of new ingredients of great quality, so the al is even more excellent, sir," Alfred proudly stated.
Sitting down in his seat, Alfdred retrieved a nearby platter and placed it before Bruce, his eyebrow raised from Alfred's statent. Alfred had been a master chef ever since he beca a butler for the Wayne family all those years ago. Bruce grew attached to Alfred's cooking, as he had yet to find anyone capable of reaching Alfred's level.
Due to his talent, Bruce supplied him with the best ingredients in the world. There shouldn't be anything better.
"Where did you get these ingredients?" Bruce asked as Alfred lifted the lid that covered the platter. The lid revealed a beautiful display of food and a tantalizing sll that made Bruce pause.
"Oh, I got them from your friend at the New World Cafe, Zeref. I believe his na was," Alfred said, thinking, which made Bruce pause mid-reach of the nearby silverware.
"Can you repeat that?" Bruce asked.
...
anwhile, in the basent of an abandoned factory, Kyle was tampering with the panel of a Protectron. Protectrons were bipedal clunky robots commonly found across the Fallout Wasteland. Protectrons served as all manner of things, ranging from EMTs, Police Officers, Firefighters, and Construction workers to even things like bartenders, waiters, park staff, and so much more. Protectrons, while clunky and slow, aning that they had enough space inside their torsos and cone-shaped heads to allow for thicker plating and shielding. Of course, the Protectrons built by Kyle were not so advanced yet, but they were functional enough to help Kyle with his various projects.
The factory that Kyle called ho was fully operational but lacked one crucial component: materials. If Kyle had the materials, he could have started mass-producing and selling robots for high dollars, earning enough to make a loop with so profit to pursue other projects.
Kyle has started running low on karma and cash, so he is currently working on sothing cheap to produce that could be sold for a decent amount of money. That item? Sothing that Kyle had no doubt that the US governnt or so other organization would pay top dollar for, a Laser Rifle. In this world where ballistic weapons were the main weapon used by every power in the world, but a Laser Rifle? That would massively increase the power of any power interested in it.
At the mont, Kyle had a dozen of these rifles placed in a crate, ready to be sold imdiately if he so wished. Just had to find a good buyer. Maybe Zeref might know soone in need of so good weapons? Perhaps soone would even be willing to contract Kyle to make more.
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