Chris looked over the eleven patients he'd grabbed as they came to, a mix of young soldiers and assistants which seemed to confirm his idea that the higher levels had some kind of protection against radiation. Obviously these people weren't the only ones who would have been exposed. Unless, of course, all the higher levels were already dead… something to ask Gretchen.
"Where- are we?" One of the assistants mumbled, looking around. This was definitely not the Northern Wastes. He looked down at his suddenly perfectly healthy body. "Oh, shit, are we dead?" He asked with an almost defeated sigh. It wasn't exactly a surprise. The last thing he remembered was Dr. Gretchen upping his medication and slowly going to sleep… something about a medically induced coma to ease his suffering while she continued to look for a solution. He guessed she'd failed.
"No, I-" Chris began before pausing as he remembered the last time he'd healed a large group of people. He wasn't opposed to getting new subordinates, but he'd prefer it to be a conscious decision, rather than some gut gratitude reaction. "Uh… would you guys mind stepping through here real quick?" He asked, opening a portal to the underground base by Nobilis.
"Who are you?" One of the soldiers asked, frowning suspiciously at him.
"I'm Chris." Chris answered.
They all stared at him for a moment. "Chris who?" One of them finally asked.
"Chris Vincent?" Chris frowned. "Does my last name really matter, though?"
"We don't care about your damn name, we want to know who you are! Like, are you some kind of arbiter of the afterlife or something?!?" A soldier asked in exasperation.
"No, nothing like that." Chris shook his head. "I'm- fuck it." Chris sighed, opening portals beneath them and dumping them in the underground base. "Okay." He began as he appeared beside the pile of groaning people. "I'm just the dude who healed you because you were dying from radiation poisoning. I suppose you could call me an Eternal, but I don't see how that explains any more than my name, so just call me Chris."
"Why the fuck did you need to drop us into some pit to tell us that?!?" One of the soldiers complained.
"Because I figured you guys would be grateful I saved your lives, and I didn't want you getting connected to my world on a technicality." Chris replied. "Also, this isn't a pit. It's where I live."
They looked around as they disentangled themselves, and… it did look like someone's home, or at least a comfortable looking common area. "You saved us?" An assistant asked nervously as she stepped forward. "Why? How?!?" According to the doctors, their cells were degenerating at a rapid pace, and even advanced healing magic only made things worse!
"For how, I just put you in my world and fixed you. I can do that. Not entirely sure why, honestly…" He frowned slightly. The whole immortal part of his world was still a little weird. He understood why he couldn't die, but why could nothing die? Why was his world so… death averse? How did it automatically fix people like that? Questions to consider. "As for why…" He continued, shaking his head. "Because I could? It wasn't exactly difficult for me."
"But what do you get out of it?" One of the soldiers asked suspiciously.
Chris cocked his head. "Your lives?"
They all paled. "You- you want our lives!?!" The assistant asked in horror.
Chris frowned. "I think there's a misunderstanding here. I mean that what I get out of it is your life. You keep living, rather than being dead. That's it."
The assistant blinked. "Oh. Then… what now?"
"I can take you back to the place I found you, though given the level of radiation outside it, I would recommend it unless you have a way to contact someone who can get you out of there. Though that seems redundant since you're already out of there… option two is dropping you off at Fort Frozen Hearth, option three is dropping you off at Nobilis, and option four is joining the Eternal Army." Chris explained. "Here are some pamphlets. Feel free to take some time to consider your options."
*
"Captain, the Eternals are here and they wish to talk with you. I put them in the conference room." One of Gloria's Lieutenants announced.
Gloria froze. Greg was here? "Ah, yes, I'll… be there shortly."
"Yes, ma'am." The Lieutenant saluted, leaving to inform the Eternals.
Gloria stood to her feet, smoothing out her uniform as she let out a nervous breath. She hadn't seen Greg since their date and… she still wasn't sure which way she wanted to go. A part of her still said getting into a relationship with Greg was absolutely insane! He was some kind of Multiversal god or something, and he already had a freaking family! They were in another World, but still! And that didn't even get into all the Eternal Army crap! Could she really date someone who was forming a military force completely independent of the Unified Empire? However, another part of her couldn't stop thinking about their date… about how it'd felt to be held by him… about kissing him.
Gloria let out a frustrated groan, burying her face in her hands, feeling torn between her personal desires and duty. Honestly, if it weren't for her position with the Legion, she wouldn't care about everything else. No matter what Greg was, he was still Greg. Multiversal god or no. She could even get past Tessa by considering her more like some past relationship. But with her position… Greg was like a foreign official, and any relationship they had would compromise her loyalty to the Empire. If the two ever came into conflict, which was not an unlikely scenario considering who and what he was, particularly with the whole Ruin thing, she'd have to choose between the two. Which meant, realistically, she had to make the choice now. Was pursuing a relationship with Greg really worth giving up her loyalty to the Empire?
Gloria shook her head. Logically, the answer was obvious. She'd sworn oaths to the Empire! It'd always been her dream to be a shield against the depredations of the monstrous races! To give all that up just for some guy, no matter how charming he was, would be the stupidest thing she could ever do! So why couldn't she actually bring herself to push him away?!? She just- it was the first time she felt like a man was interested in her for her. Not for her looks, or her position, or who her family was, but just because he liked who she was… was her loyalty to the Empire really so cheap that she could be pulled away just because a man showed a genuine interest in her? She grimaced as she realized that the fact that she was even having this struggle proved that it was. The fact that the Empire had rewarded her loyalty with a shit posting in the middle of nowhere probably didn't help either… Gloria hardened her expression. No, she just needed to bite the bullet and shut things down. She had to.
"Hey, Gloria." Greg greeted her with a smile as she entered, and her determination melted.
"Greg." She nodded back, struggling to keep herself under control. "What brings you all here?" She asked, looking around and frowning at a confused looking woman. "Who is this?"
"This is Gretchen… I think she's a doctor or something? But more importantly, we found her in a hidden base near where someone tested a nuke, presumably the people she was working for." Greg paused. "Unless she's some kind of hidden mastermind…" He turned to narrow his eyes at her, before shrugging. "But I doubt it."
"A- a nuke?" Gloria asked, confused.
"A nuclear bomb. Big explosion, mushroom cloud, radiation, all that crap." Greg explained. "Pretty much the go to weapon of mass destruction."
"You- you know about the weapon?!?" Gretchen gasped. "Is- is that why you kidnapped my patients!?! So you can steal our designs!?!"
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"Okay, first off, we didn't kidnap anyone." Greg retorted, glancing over at Gloria. "Her patients were dying and we saved them. Secondly, we have zero interest in building our own nukes. Pure destruction isn't exactly our thing."
"If you didn't kidnap them, then where are they!?!" Gretchen snapped.
"In the base by Nobilis, reading pamphlets." Chris replied.
"I think you're a bit obsessed with those pamphlets." Thomas muttered.
Chris shrugged. "They're convenient."
Gretchen frowned. "Why are they reading pamphlets?"
"They're informative." Chris grinned slightly.
"Anyway, the point is they're safe, and no one is trying to get any information out of them." Greg interjected, before pausing. "Well, we would like to know who you were working for and what their plans for the bombs are, but other than that, yeah, no interest in anything you know."
"And why would you want to know that?" Gretchen asked suspiciously.
"Cause nukes are bad news and while we can't exactly blame anyone for developing them, any plans to actually use them would be… concerning." Greg's expression twisted. Andrew nodded, shuddering at the thought of the Raiders using nukes instead of simple explosives.
"And who are you to have any say over whether or not these 'nukes' should be used?" Gretchen retorted. She didn't exactly disagree that the weapon seemed more dangerous than previously thought, but she didn't like the way this man spoke as if he was some kind of authority on the matter.
"We're the Eternals." Greg smirked. "It's our job to keep people from being assholes and people who use nukes as anything other than a deterrent are definitely assholes."
"Is that what we do?" Andrew raised an eyebrow. "I thought we just fucked around and tried not to get into too much trouble."
"I'm pretty sure it's part of fucking around." Thomas commented.
"No, no, it directs our fucking around." Greg corrected. "If we're going to do shit, we might as well do shit for a reason, you know?"
"Plus, it's a good idea to remind ourselves not to be assholes as well." Chris added.
Gretchen looked between them all nervously. "What- what's an Eternal?" She asked.
"Essentially a god with too much time on their hands." Gloria sighed.
"Is there any god that doesn't have too much time on their hands?" Greg cocked his head. "Kinda seems like part of the whole deal. Otherwise you're just an overpowered employee."
Gloria shot a scowl at him, before turning back to Gretchen. "Basically, they have a say because they have the power to back it up. If they want to stop people from using nukes… Well, they can at least try."
"Honestly, I'm not sure why you're fighting us on this one." Greg commented. "You saw what the radiation did to your patients, right? Do you think anyone deserves that kind of treatment?"
Gretchen hesitated. Wanting the monsters gone was one thing, but wanting them to suffer? No, she would never want someone to suffer. "I- I suppose not… but that doesn't mean I agree the Empire should submit to your judgment!"
"So it is the Empire developing the bombs." Greg chuckled. "Good to know."
Gretchen flushed in embarrassment. "So what if it is! Do we not have the right to defend ourselves?!?"
"Oh, absolutely you do, but there's such a thing as proportional force, don't you think?" Greg replied. "Stopping your enemy is one thing, torturing them is another. That's why we have the Geneva Conventions."
"They don't have that here." Chris pointed out.
"We do, actually." Gloria frowned. "The rules for fair and ethical combat proposed by Nathan Geneva? Treat prisoners well, don't target civilians, that kinda stuff?"
Chris frowned. He hadn't found anything like that in Quinn's memories… maybe it was just a military thing? "So we don't really have to worry about the Empire using the nukes then? They would definitely be against the Geneva Conventions."
Gloria sighed, shaking her head. "No, It's more of an interesting historical artifact of military ethics from before the Unification, and no one has ever suggested they might apply to our conflicts with the monstrous races."
Chris clicked his tongue. "Damn. Now we have to investigate." He glanced at Gretchen. "I assume you don't know what the Empire's plans are for the nukes?"
Gretchen hesitated, before letting out a sigh. "It was only said to be a way to possibly end the monster threat… forever."
"And that didn't set off any warning signs for you?" Andrew asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.
Gretchen frowned. "No? Who wouldn't want to see an end to the monsters?"
"The monsters, probably." Thomas replied, a slight edge of sarcasm in his tone.
Gloria frowned. "You- you aren't actually defending the people who treat us like some sort of livestock, are you?"
"Their right to live? Yes. Their right to hurt others? Absolutely not." Greg replied.
"There is some debate over how to move forward when the two conflict though. If you have to hurt others to live, what do you do?" Chris continued. "Really depends on whether you think all life is equal or not."
"Even on that level, a single… uh, mating by a goblin can result in dozens of goblins." Andrew pointed out. "One life used to create dozens… if it's all equal, is it worth it?"
"I feel like I should mention that our ultimate goal is to use the system to turn all the monstrous races noble." Thomas interjected with a cough, noticing the obvious discomfort Gretchen and Gloria were feeling at this conversation. "We just need to make sure it won't destroy the World first."
"Wait, what?" Gloria blinked.
"Worlds have a certain balance to them and if that balance is disrupted, there are certain… individuals who might take issue with it and decide to… reset everything. Which generally involves killing everyone and starting from scratch." Thomas explained, his expression twisting. "All the monstrous races turning noble is exactly the kind of thing that would draw that sort of attention and get everyone killed, so… Well, we haven't actually figured out how to figure out if there's anyone to be worried about yet, but once we do, we'll take care of it."
"If we can." Chris added. "Immortals in their own World are apparently the closest thing to omnipotent a being can get." He paused. "As a being that owns his own world… it isn't something you want to fight. The one dude is still trying to dig a hole through a planet."
"Wait, that guy is still there?!?" Andrew asked incredulously.
"I give him the option to leave every day. I've had Monroe talk to him. Nothing. He just keeps punching rocks." Chris shook his head.
"Wait, so you're suggesting there's some sort of omnipotent being out there who wants to perpetuate the conflict between monstrous and noble races?!?" Gloria exclaimed.
"We're saying it's a possibility, yes." Greg nodded.
"And if there is… there's nothing you can do?" She asked, looking between them all.
"Well, we could shove everyone into Chris's world…" Thomas suggested. "Then it's essentially world owner versus world owner."
Chris snorted. "I'd like to see them try to steal my people."
"That doesn't stop them from doing it all again, though." Greg frowned. "Sure, we save all the current people, but that does nothing for the infinite masses yet to come."
"Okay, but how are we supposed to stop them? You can't kill an Immortal. It's in the name!" Andrew frowned.
"Well, if you could somehow disconnect them from the Core…" Thomas muttered.
"That is kinda your thing." Chris pointed out.
Andrew blinked. "That- I can't even kill a fucking Ruin! How am I supposed to deal with an Immortal?!?"
"You grow." Greg chuckled.
"Okay, hold on, let me get this straight." Gloria growled, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You want to keep the Empire from nuking the monstrous races because you can turn all the monstrous races noble, but you won't until you figure out whether there's an… Immortal? controlling all this, at which point you'll put everyone in Chris's world and do it anyway?"
"Essentially?" Greg nodded.
"So then why don't you shove everyone into Chris's world now and skip the middle portion?" Gloria asked.
Greg cocked his head at her. "What do you think the Eternal Army is?"
"We try not to force things on people." Chris added. "Bad habit to get into."
Gloria blinked. "That's- fair." She nodded slowly. "So that's your ultimate goal? To fix the World?"
Greg shrugged. "Wouldn't you if you could?"
Gloria paused. "I suppose I would."