84 – Life outside the Cafe

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 seemed 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 formed 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 seemed 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.

...

Meanwhile, in the sewers below Gotham, life has changed dramatically for those who had no home and found themselves on the streets. Countless small and large communities found themselves built over the course of several weeks as more homeless vagrants from across the states were sent by their cities to Gotham. Because of that, Gotham had the largest number of homeless walking in their streets than any other city in the United States.

These cities were built through the combined effort of Waylon and the homeless, 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 smelled perfectly fine due to Waylon's effort and the placement 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 some 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 demeanor.

Sitting down in his seat, Alfdred retrieved a nearby platter and placed it before Bruce, his eyebrow raised from Alfred's statement. Alfred had been a master chef ever since he became 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 smell that made Bruce pause.

"Oh, I got them from your friend at the New World Cafe, Zeref. I believe his name was," Alfred said, thinking, which made Bruce pause mid-reach of the nearby silverware.

"Can you repeat that?" Bruce asked.

...

Meanwhile, in the basement 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, meaning 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 home 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 some profit to pursue other projects.

Kyle has started running low on karma and cash, so he is currently working on something cheap to produce that could be sold for a decent amount of money. That item? Something that Kyle had no doubt that the US government or some 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 moment, Kyle had a dozen of these rifles placed in a crate, ready to be sold immediately if he so wished. Just had to find a good buyer. Maybe Zeref might know someone in need of some good weapons? Perhaps someone would even be willing to contract Kyle to make more.