Three people sat in metal chairs in a featureless room. Each one showed signs of nervousness. A young woman tapped her fingers on the desk in front of her, a middle aged man bounced his foot up and down, and a boy chewed his fingernails.
Through a door Eldest entered. He sat at the chair on the opposite of the three. He removed his helmet and showed them his face. Like all of his brothers he shared a handsome face with dark hair and bright green eyes.
The middle aged man spoke “So you are human under there. Thought you all were robots.”
“No, we are very much human. Granted we all have cybernetic enhancements of one degree or another but that is neither here nor there.”
The boy spoke up “W-what do we call you?”
“My name is Eldest, don’t bother introducing yourselves I already know who you are.”
He pointed at the boy, “Bobby Silvers” the man “Richard Campbell” the woman “Sarah McConnel.”
“Now I know what all of you are wondering. ‘Why am I here? What are they going to do to me?’ To put it simply. We want you to work for us.”
“Huh?”
“But I thought-”
The man put it best “You've been killing supers left right and center and now you want us to work for you?”
Indeed all three persons across from Eldest were empowered.
“Despite what you may believe, we don't want to kill all supers. Just the ones that think they should be in charge. You three were spared because you weren’t power mad dictators lording your power over everyone else. You are good people.”
They were honestly taken back by this honest praise “But why us?”
“Ah, that is because each of you has a power we find very interesting.”
“Sarah,” Eldest focused his gaze on the young woman barely out of her teens “You are one of the few magic users we have encountered that hasn’t pledged their soul to a demon or something equally bad. We would like to study the mechanics of magic and how it interacts with people. By our scans you are a baseline human but we have video proof of your spell capabilities. Also, you're a geomancer. You can manipulate rocks like clay and we will need your abilities in the future.”
“You want me to fight for you?”
“No. We want none of you to fight for us.” Eldest gazed at the two others making it clear to them. “But your abilities are extremely useful for construction and extraction of raw materials.”
“Bobby, you are capable of teleporting. We would like to study your abilities and see if we can replicate them.”
Bobby nodded his head in understanding.
“Richard, you can convert lead into gold with a touch. Need I say more?”
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“Yeah, yeah. But I can only do a couple pounds a day before my powers exhaust themselves.”
“That is no problem, we plan to have you make materials that are rare and only require small amounts to be useful.”
“Okay you explained to us why you want us but why should we work for you?”
“Besides that fact your lives are in my hands?”
“Besides that.”
“Well, preferential treatment for one. You shall have all the luxuries and amenities you could ever desire. Top notch medical, housing, and food for you and your families. And protection from anyone you could think of. Also, you can walk away whenever you want.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just that. At any time you feel like you don’t want to work for us you can leave. You will of course lose all the benefits we would give you but you can go back to your lives in your hometowns.”
“I’m in.” Sarah said with Bobby nodding his head vigorously.
Richard looked down and whispered “My wife recently found a lump on her breast. I’ll join if you can cure her.”
“It’s a deal.” He raised his hand and shook each of theirs in turn.
𝝮
Eldest smiled at the map display. The last of the petty warlords had surrendered twelve minutes ago and now the state of Arizona was carved up in four. Now they would consolidate their conquests.
Their forces were still spread out over their territory, garrisoning the larger towns and dealing with the dozens of bandit groups that had settled over the area. The bandits were much easier due to how few supers were among them. Most supers either control their own territory or work under a more powerful one.
“How are the engineers faring?” He asked the war room.
“We have begun infrastructure buildup and started construction on several factories for us to begin mass production of drones.”
“Good.” They had thirty eight drones during the conquest and the precious metals used to make them are hard to replace. Currently there are ten drones for every gene brother but he wanted at least twenty. The factories can also be used to produce parts for their vehicles and tools.
“Our outreach programs?”
“A mixed bag sir. While they are more than willing to receive medicines and cybernetic prosthesis, they have largely been unwilling to undergo gene editing for their children. Some have been willing when shown that their child will be born with genetic diseases.”
“Hmmm. Offer screenings for pregnant women so they know what their child will be born with. A parent will torture themselves forever knowing they could have saved their child from hardship.”
“Yes, Eldest.”
“Eldest? We have a group heading to our location from the FNN(Free Navajo Nation)”
A war party?
“Bring them up on the screen.”
The display showed a small group traveling by wagon and horse. Horses had a comeback in a big way after the last bits of oil were used up. Without access to electrical generators horses were the best option for everyone.
The group had a protective screen of young warriors on horseback with repeating rifles in hand. The center of the group was made up of middle aged people who
Very few had feathers in their hair, most had head bands in intricate geometric designs. They wore ponchos over old flannel and worn down jeans and boots. All of them had turquoise jewelry on them somewhere as either a bracelet, necklace, or ring. Many of the older members sported a turquoise ring. Did they replace the traditional gold wedding ring?
“Prepare a convoy to greet them. Diplomatic protocol. I don’t think this group wants to fight us.”
𝝮
Atsi as the youngest of the four chiefs was chosen to lead the diplomatic expedition. Since it was his idea and he had powers to defend himself and his people it felt the wisest move. It didn’t mean he liked the heat and the dust of the open road.
“Chief Atsi, we have people up ahead!”
“Bandits?”
“No, I think it might be those new people.”
Shit “Do they look like they are here to kill us?”
“No. I think they are waiting for us. They have a guy with a white flag waving it in the air.”
Huh, guess they want to talk. “Let’s go say hi.”