The Good Life: Aftermath Pt. 2 (ch. 83)

For a year, Taylor had found her rule over the Commonwealth of Fallout going unchecked and without issue. 

She worked closely with the Institute, which utilized the Nuka-Gen-Replicator to create various role-specific insects to aid in building and maintaining infrastructure. Spiders that produced a liquid web that could then be molded into the shape they needed, which provided ample building materials necessary for expansion. They created radiation-eating grubs, which cleared large swaths of the Commonwealth for habitation, and aquatic mites who cleaned and filtered water to make it safe to drink. 

For a year, she’d solidified her grip over the Commonwealth with deliberate expansion, fostering trade networks and buying up on defenses. Word quickly spread about the empire that she ruled in Law's name, and while some might have found it distasteful, others saw what she offered. Housing, regular meals, clean water -- to her citizens, she offered a standard of living that hadn't been seen in the Wasteland for centuries. 

Some resisted, of course. Those who did were crushed without mercy. Just as the Institute produced insects tailored to bolster the quality of life of her citizens, they also produced insects that were designed for warfare. They created insects with microscopic teeth designed to bore through armor plating and flesh. Or wasps that could flatten themselves to slip through the gaps in such defensesto inject a stinger filled with a powerful paralytic poison. Or beetles that could grow to the size of a minivan, their armor thick enough to deflect bullets and resistant to plasma. 

Within a year, Taylor's hold on the Commonwealth was a vice grip. Just as she had insects designed for stability and war, she had insects to closely monitor her domain. Insects that were designed to track, to overhear conversations, to stand vigil over her territory with an ever-constant watchful eye. The results spoke for themselves. Her rules were harsh and her punishments harsher, but things were going well. Taylor was proud of what she had accomplished, even if she was ashamed of how she accomplished it. 

Which is why it was such a punch in the gut when everything went straight to hell without warning. 

Taylor stilled in her office as she felt a dozen of her insects in the Vault vanish in a flash of heat. She paused turning the page of an old book, the fragile paper tearing under her rough handling as the other insects in the area revealed what happened -- there was a torrent of fire erupting from Vault 111, sending a thick pillar of smoke to the cloudless blue sky above. 

For a moment, Taylor didn't react at all -- she kept any and all expression off of her face so as to not alert the man who sat across from her. Preston Garvey, the former Minuteman. 

‘What just happened?’ Taylor questioned herself, a slow building panic gaining momentum like a snowball being rolled down hill forming behind her expressionless mask. The Dias had just been destroyed. The Dias, the single most important piece of technology in the Commonwealth, which in turn connected them to the wider network of worlds, one of which was strictly necessary to their logistical chain in terms of food… had just been destroyed. 

The Dias had been the single most well protected thing in the world. The Vault was the single most well protected place in her territory. She’d kept a close eye on it at all times, and it was impossible for anyone to reach the Dias without her knowledge. She’d made sure of that. 

And it just… exploded anyway. 

Slowly, Taylor closed her book and set it down, maintaining eye contact with Preston. The man hadn't taken his defeat at Law's hands well. He was willing to fight and die for the cause, but Taylor offered him a much more difficult option -- to work with her to temper the actions she would take. To argue against them publicly and privately. It was useful to show that she wasn't entirely uncompromising, and it allowed her to take a softer approach without impacting her reputation. And, naturally, it made Preston a rallying point for dissidents. 

“Is there something wrong?” Preston asked while Taylor examined him with the insects she kept in her office. She never got any better at dealing with people, judging their intentions and such, so she had insects that had sensitive noses that could detect little things like stress, fear, or even anger. Preston didn't like her- no, it would be more accurate to say that he hated her. He didn't try to hide it even as they worked together. 

She found him quite respectable. He was genuine to a fault and a fundamentally good person. 

He also didn't smell like fear or even particularly stressed to her insects’ noses. 

“There has been… a development,” Taylor allowed, her mind racing. No one had come near the Dias, and any explosion capable of blasting a hole out of the Vault had to come from a massive bomb. Even if she had somehow missed someone sabotaging the Dias, she couldn't have missed someone smuggling in a bomb of that size. Not unless… 

Not unless the Dias itself exploded. That, however, had implications. 

Preston frowned in her direction, sitting a little straighter. “What kind of development are we talking about?” He asked, and it was clear that as much as he hated her and Law, the people always came first for him. There weren't any signs that he knew what she meant, so Taylor felt comfortable with the assumption that he was ignorant. 

They still had the Anchor, which was in the center of Nuka-World. It was a well entrenched position, used most often as a checkpoint between Fallout and El Dorado. So long as they had it, then they weren't completely cut off from the rest of the network. 

And yet, almost before the rubble started falling from the destroyed Vault, Taylor felt something begin to shift into action across her domain. The sea insects that she had floating in the coast to monitor the Deep and his forces started to detect motion as something began to arrive from the depths of the Atlantic. She already knew what they were even before they started to break to the surface, revealing the shells of mirelurks. 

Hundreds of them. Thousands. 

“We're being attacked,” Taylor informed with a detached confidence. The Deep hadn't attempted a wide scale attack in some time. He’d run afoul of their defenses too many times, taking heavy losses over the course of months before he simply slinked beneath the waves. Taylor had hoped that was the last she'd see of him. Now it was clear that he had simply been mustering his strength, building an army of mirelurks to attack her domain once more. 

“How bad?” Preston said, standing up. He was ready to fight. 

“It's the Deep again. I can handle him,” Taylor said as she stood as well. With a thought, across her domain, she summoned her insects. They began to burrow up from the dirt and sand that Taylor embedded them in -- unlike the other insects the Institute crafted for her, these were too dangerous to allow outside of her control. For that reason, they had no preservation instincts to speak of, no digestive systems, and without her direct control, they would hibernate in the ground until they died.

It was a necessary measure, because they were too dangerous to even the post-apocalyptic mutant-ridden Wasteland otherwise. 

Emerging from the ground were her answer to the mirelurks -- a praying mantis like insect, just with bulk and armored plating. It had two sets of arms -- one larger pair to hook and lockdown the pincers of the mirelurks while a second pair of smaller arms were coiled up at the chest. They adopted the punching power of Mantis Shrimp, which would be delivered directly into the mirelurk's softer under shell. 

They were purpose-built predators meant specifically to deal with the Deep and his mirelurk kingdom. 

Within seconds, her insects and the Deeps’ began to clash at the beach. Her insects were outnumbered five to one, thousands to her hundreds, but that was fine. Her Mantis’ would be good to buy time for her other defenses to mobilize -- her militia, which she had trained over the course of a year, in addition to her swarm of insects. Her giant insects would bleed the Deep of numbers, thanks to their designed biology and the fact that Taylor was able to perfectly coordinate their defense. 

One of her Mantis’ were worth two mirelurks in battle, and when she was coordinating them, they were worth three. The Deep was going to win, but only because of weight of numbers. And that advantage was only going to last so long. Taylor didn’t see the Deep breaking through her second line of defenses, much less her third, fourth, or fifth. They wouldn’t come close to her industrial or population centers. 

In short, the Deep wasn’t a problem. 

What was a problem was the timing. This was a coordinated attack. And if someone had the ability to coordinate the destruction of the Dias, then they would know that she could easily fend off any attack from the Deep, no matter how badly he outnumbered her. His attacks were simple and easy to fend off, even before she designed insects to deal with him. 

Meaning that the attack wasn’t done. 

“Muster the militia around Nuka-World,” Taylor ordered, earning a nod from Preston as they both began to move toward the door. Taylor barely managed to take a step forward before she saw a familiar flash of lighting land directly in the center of the room. Taylor winced as her vision went white, but her insects were unaffected as they looked at what the Institute had just delivered her. 

A bomb. 

It didn’t make sense. The Institute answered to Law. They liked him- loved him, even. He gave them unrestrained resources and complete creative freedom for the most part. He was their ideal patron, so it made absolutely no sense that they would betray him like this. 

“Get down!” Taylor shouted, throwing herself behind her desk as her insects spat a spider web foam over the bomb. She barely got over her desk before the explosive detonated, and even with her armored bodysuit it felt like she had been kicked by a horse while heat washed over her. Her insects were incinerated, but they managed to save her life by shaping the explosion so it blew up away from her. The stench of smoke filled her lungs, and distantly, she heard the sound of screaming. 

The blast had pushed her desk back, but she was able to slide it away with a push. Her legs felt like they belonged to someone else as she pulled herself up, finding that her office was completely destroyed with a splattering of fire. Her gaze went to Preston, who laid near the door and…

She closed her eyes and forced herself to focus -- the war front at the coast couldn’t stumble, and because of the bomb, she already lost a dozen of her insects. It was a confirmation that she was still alive, but it was better than the alternative. Stumbling out of her office, she tried not to look down at Preston as she stepped over him and continued out of the building. It was hard to focus and her ears were ringing, but she pressed on all the same as she took stock of the situation. 

The Institute had been compromised. Either they had betrayed them, or someone had done something, suborned them somehow, and now they were using the teleportation technology offensively. The how mattered little at the moment, only what she was going to do with it. 

It was a weakness that she was prepared to handle. The Institute were allies, but Emma had also been her best friend…  until she wasn't. Relationships lasted until they didn’t, and Taylor had foreseen the possibility of teleportation being used against them. 

As she stepped into the elevator, she directed the insects that she had nearby to the radio tower that broadcasted the Institute’s signal to the Commonwealth at large. Ants the size of a baseball crawled up, targeting the joints of the radio tower, before they exploded. A thick potent acid began to burn away at the metal, weakening it enough that the whole structure began to come crashing down. 

It would isolate the Institute, and even if they had alternate means of getting a signal out, the range would be greatly diminished. Though, it did mean that she would have to burrow into the Institute to learn what exactly was going on down there -- had Shaun betrayed Law or was this something else at play?

It would take time, and compromise the integrity of the Institute, but that was a cost that they would just have to accept. She urged a good dozen of her bloodworms towards the secret laboratory, where they would start to burrow through the defensive steel plating. At the same time, she had her communicating insects start to buzz as she spoke through them. 

It was a dozen different conversations that happened across her territory. The instructions were different each time, but the general message was the same -- mobilization of their militia as a response across her territory, with further instructions coming as she got a better idea of what was going on. The Deep, during her elevator ride down to the ground floor, was able to overcome her first line of defense with her Mantis’ getting overwhelmed with sheer force of numbers. 

That was faster than she liked, but her Mantis’ had bought her enough time to mobilize the rest of her swarm. She had strategic pockets scattered across the Commonwealth, partly as a defensive measure, and partly as a stick to keep people in line. As the mirelurks crawled over hundreds of their dead, they were soon greeted by a swarm that swept over them like the tide -- they squeezed between the gaps of their armor, and began to ravage the mirelurks from the inside out. 

Despite everything that was happening, and all of her questions, Taylor strode out of the building with a confident stride just as Gauge ran up to her. His lone eye flickered over her before his lips thinned, “You're bleeding.” 

She had no idea what he was talking about until he gestured to his own forehead and only then did she register the slick warm wetness that seemed to cover half of her face. She had a head injury. 

“I’ll live,” Taylor dismissed as she continued to slaughter the mirelurks miles away from where she stood. “Nuka-World is going on high alert. Our defenses have been compromised, but I'm not sure how deeply.” How had she missed something like the Institute being compromised? She didn't have any insects down there as it was too sterile, but she kept close tabs on everyone and anything that came and went from the Institute. 

More than that, the timing was too close. 

Law had made an unscheduled visit mere hours ago. At first, she had been bitterly disappointed that he hadn't gone out of his way to see her. The reason for that was Asami's aid, and the one who maintained the Dias in the Vault, Cate. Law had taken her and made a quick trip to the Institute before returning to Runeterra. Meaning that this attack was provoked by Law, or at the very least in response to him. 

She felt a surge of irritation for the man -- it was bad enough that he didn't visit, but to not even give her a heads up what he was doing? She could have been killed. When she saw him again, she'd tell him exactly what she thought of this mess-

Every thought came to a screeching halt as several things happened at once, each one worse than the last. 

Her insects in the sea detected more mirelurks. Thousands more, and she felt like a bucket of cold water was dumped over her as it became clear that the hundreds that she had slaughtered were just the initial wave of the Deep’s invasion. The sea came alive with activity far and wide, as the Deep made to sweep over the Commonwealth like the tide. It was an invasion far beyond what she had thought him capable of.

Mirelurk Kings were amongst the flood of crab, each one using their sonic attacks to carve lines through her swarm. She felt entire swaths of her insects dying, their internals ripped to shreds by the attack, so she shifted her response. She spread out her insects, clinging to the mirelurks or to the ground. The mirelurks still died by the dozens every second, but they had the raw numbers to keep coming. 

However, unexpected as it was, that problem would have still been entirely manageable alone. Especially as the initial forward bases she had established to stonewall the Deep used the time she'd bought them to prepare well. Security turrets were positioned, as well as a slew of robotic machines, including Securitons and Sentrybots -- manpower was in short supply as it was, so war machines were a natural alternative. Taylor was already organizing a response to the greater invasion when the second terrible thing happened as war machines began to open fire. 

Except they weren't firing on the mirelurks that threatened to sweep over their positions, but on the men and women guarding them. Taylor stilled as she watched dozens of her people die in seconds, completely caught off guard by the machines that were supposed to be on their side suddenly turning on them and opening fire. It was happening across the Commonwealth- it was even happening inside Nuka-World, as the Galactic Zone became a bloodbath as the machines there began to attack her citizens. 

Her machines had been subverted. How!? How was it possible? Taylor reacted instantly, her expression becoming one of immense concentration as she fought dozens of battles at once where she stood. Insects swept over the Galactic Zone, and all the other areas of Nuka-World, using their bodies to jam the weapons as they invaded the circuitry within. 

‘How?’ Taylor questioned, her attention going to the Mechanist. The woman that they had captured and defeated. The one who she had kept a close eye on, her every moment watched and noted by Taylor all hours of the day. It was impossible. It should be utterly impossible. And yet, when Taylor had her insects sweep over the woman, knowing that she was responsible for this -- as her insects burrowed into her flesh, Taylor found the very last thing she expected. 

Synth components. 

The Mechanist was a Synth. 

Someone had switched her out with a Synth duplicate. Taylor didn’t know who, she didn’t even know how as it should have been impossible. She’d gone to great lengths to make sure that this was impossible. She’d triple checked everything, rotated the guards, did random inspections, and everything else she could think of to prevent something like this from happening. Not only was the Mechanist freed, someone else had swapped her with a double. Worse, they had subverted her machines. 

It didn't make sense. It wasn't a mistake on her part. It couldn't be. Could it? She had taken such care to make sure that this never happened that even if she had made a mistake, or even a series of them, the mistakes would have been caught before anything happened. 

And it still happened anyway. 

“I…” Taylor started, unsure what to say even as she fought back. The mirelurks would have to crawl over a mountain of their dead to invade. The machines were being handled, both by herself and the reacting mercenaries. Her swarm was spread thin as she sluggishly mobilized her giant ant colonies that would reinforced her militia across the Commonwealth. 

There were so many problems happening at the moment, but she was still stuck on the Mechanist. Not because her making such a mistake was impossible to fathom but because of how it tied into everything else. Her mind raced as she slowly lifted her gaze to look at the sky above, feeling cornered in a way that she hadn't felt since she was in the locker. 

A cloud seemed to melt away around an airship in the sky above. It kinda of looked like a zeppelin -- only instead of slowly moving through the sky, she saw a dozen Vertibirds detach from the undercarriage and they were racing down towards Nuka-World, each one filled to the brim with men in power armor. Taylor knew what it was.

The Prydwen. An airship that was under construction until quite recently in the Capital Wasteland under the joint efforts of the Brotherhood of Steel and Soldier Boy. It was an airship she knew would be used against them in a attack, so she had kept a close eye on it and introduced means to sabotage it. 

She should have noticed its departure from the Capital Wasteland the day it left.

Instead, power armored paratroopers were raining down upon her settlement while mirelurks swarmed at her border as her people suffered a machine rebellion. All of it was connected. Somehow. She wasn't sure what had been done to her, but the result was a blindspot that three armies just walked through. 

And she was going to make them suffer for every inch of ground they took. 

…

“Are you sure about this, Nora?” Chel asked her in a low whisper as they rested in the palace, a pile of fabrics and cushions all that remained of a fort with her son at the heart of it, sleeping after he got all tuckered out from playing. “Playing this game with Law is… Even if he's not a god, he's not that far off compared to us.” 

Nora laid next to her son, watching his chest rise and fall as he clutched his favorite blanket with an unyielding grip. His black hair had grown out and thickened, and underneath his eyelids were the bluest eyes Nora had ever seen. He wasn't a baby anymore. Not really. He was racing right towards the toddler stage. 

“I know,” Nora admitted quietly. Her feelings towards Law were… complicated. To say the least. One part of her still hated him and everything that he represented. He was callous, cruel, and an all around bastard. But he had also given her Alexander. 

It was a shock that out of everyone, she alone ended up pregnant at the end of that month of debauchery. She had almost hated him for it because it sure didn't feel like an accident with the way he had talked and what he'd made her say. But now… now it felt like a hole in her heart had been filled. 

Alexander wasn't Shaun. He wasn't her and Nate’s child. But he was still her baby. All the things she’d dreamed of doing with Shaun before the bombs fell and he was taken from her… she got to do them for Alexander. 

“Law won't punish inaction. He’ll reward action, and he’ll punish failure, but he doesn't care about inaction.” Nora said, tucking a lock of her baby's hair into place. Not that it mattered -- Alexander had a perpetual case of bed head. “Asami is desperate. I'm not sure what set her off, but she's not going into this with enough confidence to convince me she can pull it off.” 

Asami had swung by to recruit her and her world to the cause of taking down Law. Nora had known a conflict between the two was inevitable almost from the start, the only thing surprising about it was that it took a year for things to pop off. So, when Asami showed up saying that it was now or never? That told Nora that she was on the back foot. So, she'd refused the offer with a promise she wouldn't pass word along to Law. 

Whoever won or lost, it didn't matter to her. Not really. She had carved out a life for herself in the sixteenth century, and she didn't want anything more for herself or her son. Or didn't want to ask for more, at any rate. Simply because it would come with strings attached.  

“If you're sure…” Chel replied, sounding uncertain. That was fair. Nora felt much the same. Complicated feelings for Law aside, she was thankful to him. He gave them this world -- a world free of pollution and radiation. Her world had been dying decades before the bombs fell, and this felt like a clean slate for Earth, even if it wasn't her own Earth. Nora had no idea if they were building a better future for all, but she was content just for a better future for her son. And, regardless of the circumstances, Law had given her Alexander. 

She just kinda hoped she'd never have to actually see him again. 

“Divine Nora,” Nora heard a breathless messenger start outside her door, his voice filtering through a sheet. “The portal has opened and the Destroyer of Worlds has returned to us!” 

No such luck, it would seem. 

Chel immediately perked up, touching up her appearance and adjusting her clothes - a higher quality version of what she used to wear but in black and gold thread - while Nora gently gathered up her son, who barely stirred. Chel had accepted staying with her in this world as a means to be useful to Law, and while they became friends over the year they had been together, it was pretty clear what Chel wanted -- she wanted to explore beyond this world, and she didn't mind attaching herself to someone like Law to do it. 

Chel quickly smoothed out Nora's hair as well, adjusting her top, Nora having taken to wearing loose white robes with the chest left open in private, and within minutes they were walking down the steps toward the Anchor. Three figures stood before it, and one could almost mistake Law for the lesser threat. 

The people of El Dorado were gathered around the Anchor and they were bowing to Law and his companions. Sukuna wasn't someone she had seen in person, but she had seen the photos. He was seven and a half feet tall, with bubblegum pink hair, four blood red eyes, four arms, and a mouth at his stomach that was plainly visible since he was only wearing a pair of white pants. He was so inhuman looking that she knew just the sight of him would have undone any and all progress Nora had made trying to convince the people of El Dorado that Law wasn't a god. 

They were joined by Tzekel-Kan, who stood smug in the exact same clothes he'd worn when he left this world as he drank in the adoration. Not because it was aimed at him, but because it was aimed at Law. He looked like a man who had been proven right and knew the world knew it. 

“Yo,” Law greeted her casually as the people shuffled out of her way. He wore a charming smile alongside a fancy outfit consisting of a black vest over a white dress shirt with a cravat and black slacks. But even beyond being well dressed he was… different somehow. She wasn't quite sure how to describe it -- it wasn't just that he was taller, or a bit more handsome. It was… for as long as she'd known him, Law had a presence that couldn't be ignored. Whenever he entered a room, it was only natural to glance his way. But now there was something more to it, like a pressure on her skin. “Sorry for dropping by unannounced, but Asami finally took her shot at me. Know anything about that?” 

“She tried to recruit me,” Nora admitted, coming to a stop before Law. There was a dangerous glint in his eyes at that set her on edge. “She didn't offer me anything that you already weren't. I refused and decided  to sit this whole mess out.” 

Law laughed, “Fair enough!” Nora relaxed when he didn't take offense or seem to particularly care. But then his gaze flickered down. “So, this is him, huh? Our kid?” 

“...It is,” Nora admitted, shifting Alexander so Law could get a better look at him. She searched his expression, looking for something. What it was, Nora wasn't sure but she might have found it when a flicker of emotion passed over Law's face when he went to poke Alexander’s cheek, only for his finger to be caught in his son’s vice grip. 

“...Cute little guy,” Law said, extracting his finger from his grip. 

Nora frowned at him, feeling… she wasn’t sure what she was feeling. “That’s it?” She asked him, the question far more loaded than the two words would imply. 

Law offered a thin smile that almost seemed sad, “I don’t know what kind of impression you have of me, Nora, but I’m not exactly the product of good parenting.” That was an understatement if she ever heard one. “It’s best for you both, I think, if you don’t have anything to do with me.” That…

That mirrored her own thoughts almost word for word, she realized. And, for some reason she couldn’t quite explain, that made her sad. However, she wasn’t going to argue the point. Not when she agreed with the sentiment wholeheartedly. Law leaned back and the moment faded as he spoke, “Anyway, I’m not here for a reunion. Asami tried to cut my network -- yours too,” he informed her, making her lips thin. “She’s done something in Fallout, so until we figure out what, that means no weapon shipments for you.”

Figures. For a year, they had been blazing across the Americas, conquering tribe after tribe with their vastly superior weaponry. She had been gearing up for another campaign with the intent to push all the way up to Canada and fortify the coastline in preparation for the arrival of the colonial powers. Disrupting her ammo shipments would stall her expansion. 

“What do you need?” She asked with a quiet sigh, already knowing that she wouldn’t like this. 

“I don’t suppose you have around…” Law started, glancing over at Tzekel-Kan, who bowed his head. 

“One thousand, oh Destroyer,” Tzekel-Kan supplied in a reverent tone. 

“One thousand prisoners that you don’t need,” Law finished, glancing back at her. “Asami doesn’t know it, but we have an alternative power source for the Dias. It’s too far from Runeterra to Fallout, but from here to Fallout the cost is a lot more manageable. Otherwise, we’d need like, ten thousand sacrifices.” Law said, his casual tone reminding her why she didn’t trust him. Didn’t like him. 

Law really was the monster that Asami portrayed him as. 

But Nora was done shaking her fist at the universe, demanding that it be better. Her son was all that mattered. 

“We do,” Nora admitted. The Spanish had a colony in Cuba that she had captured and relocated over to the mainland. She hadn’t decided on what to do with them as of yet, but they seemed like they could be a useful bargaining chip if she ever had to negotiate with the colonial powers in Europe. “But not for free, though. There's something I want in return. For Alexander.”

“You mean the serum I had Shaun working on? That’s already on the way,” Law replied and Nora found herself breathing a little easier. She had done what she could to curb the worship of her, mostly Alexander, but that was clearly a failure given that she was called ‘Divine Nora’. She was worried that when people saw that Alexander was a normal baby, who pooped, cried, stumbled and fell just like any other, that they would become… disillusioned. “I have a second dose coming your way, if you want it. A third, even- Don’t think I’ve forgotten you, Chel.”

Chel smiled beautifully, fluttering her eyelashes as she smiled. Before the two could start eye fucking in earnest, Nora sighed. “Alright. Fine. Do what you want with them, in that case.”

It felt like a defeat, but it was a feeling she was well used to at this point. Even if she wanted to stop Law, she couldn’t. So, why fight against the inevitable? She’d made that mistake before and now she was proving that she’d learned from it. 

The entire process was done quickly and Nora didn’t care to watch it. A thousand prisoners were shoved before the Anchor, Tzekel-Kan painting symbols on the ground in blood. A thousand Spanish men and women were on their knees, gazing up at Sukuna fearfully, thinking that he was the Devil in the flesh. They probably weren’t too far off on that mark, Nora figured when he raised a finger up and drew a line in the air. 

In response, a thousand heads were severed from their shoulders. The cut was so clean that their hearts didn’t seem to realize that they were dead, so fountains of blood shot up, splashing all over the place. However, whatever Tzekel-Kan did, it worked. Despite them lacking the power for it, a portal opened up in the Anchor, connecting to another in Fallout, at the heart of Nuka-World. 

And it opened just in time to see Liberty Prime fall from the sky to crush a building underfoot. The air was filled with panicked screaming and the buzzing of insects. Law didn’t seem at all bothered as he stepped through the portal, looking up at the several hundred foot machine that was designed to fight communism two hundred years ago. Nora could never forget the first time she saw it, and that had just been a demonstration during a parade before it was sent back to storage - as far as she knew the best scientists on the government's payroll had failed to find a strong enough power source that was also portable enough to let them actually deploy it against China by the time the bombs fell. 

Clearly, Asami had succeeded where they had not.

Law had a different reaction than the one Nora had so many years ago. 

“Giant robot? Cool.”