Finally, after crossing many booby traps and one last radio call, we walked out of a side passage into the main gate of the church.
The metal door with reinforced barbed wire and more iron support beams was pretty neat actually. The ornaments and adorns of the already classy gate didn't lose their elegance. The person who modified it knew their stuff.
"Woah…" Oliver and Yami gaped as they saw the steam coming off from a wooden structure near the cathedral. The rather beautiful and elegant home base was seemingly invisible in their eyes as they saw what they wanted.
Hot springs.
They have priorities.
Oh well. While everyone had their expectations, I was also excited to see how the home base compares to the in-game version.
"It would be better for you all to wash up and rest, we can talk about our deal later. So for now, make yourselves at home." Louis opened the doors for us like a gentleman.
And let me tell you, what I saw was a lot better.
The entrance had a ramp which I could deduce is used by Davis and Coco. The tire marks told me that much.
This also meant that the training gear wasn't there. There was a corridor to the side at the entrance which I clearly remember not being there in the game, probably where the training area would be now.
There is also the mistle that should be in the center is now a bit to the side. Probably driving insane anyone with a tick for perfection. But it was conveniently out of the way from the front door so I had no trouble shrugging it off.
As for the rest, it was mostly similar but bigger. Which means better. Always.
For example, Rin's vault is massive. The number of weapons and other gear on display was a treat to the eyes.
Louis' little office was a whole room apparently. From a glance, I could see some actual research devices like microscopes and… a cryogenic vending machine? He has a whole lab right beside the bar…
This man is a genius.
As for the bar… it looked good I guess. I'm not much of a drinking guy. So I don't know much about the brands there. Besides, I'm in a whole different reality. Will the brands even be named the same?
Probably not.
But what really caught my attention wasn't that. Because on my way to the living room to inspect the piano and strategic board, my eyes caught something absolutely stunning after passing the corner where the vault was.
Something that will make every man drool.
The muscle car was barely recognizable as the absolute beast could be seen as a tank at first glance. The beams and ramps that protected the front worked as a drill to drive through anything this unforgiving apocalypse could throw at it. Protective plates that covered the body looked like they could take a nuke and then some. Heavy-duty run-flat tires, a spoiler that will cut in two any schmuck who tries ambush from the rear, more than bulletproof paneling that could surely take a building falling on it, AND A FUCKING CANNON!
Every single thing about this beauty… just imagining the kind of roar an engine capable of moving this little battle fortress will make…
Oh lord, thank you for sending me to this heaven!
"How can people say they have nothing to live for when something like this exists?"
"Seems like Louis stuck his head in a pot of trouble once again who knows where. I don't recognize any of the new faces." And here came Coco from the back of the car. I tore my eyes off the stunning piece of art that could only be produced in a futuristic apocalypse just to see another.
An older woman with gray eyes and light blonde hair in a chin-length bob cut. She has two beauty marks under her right eye with some eyeliner that just added to the charm.
Coco is one of those characters that the fandom community either wants to bang or wants to be banged by. I don't judge…
Who can blame them? It's as if dommy mommy fetish decided to gain corporeal form and walk on this earth with us. And those legs it walks on are damn fine, the leather pants tightly hugging her legs that many men would wish could take its place showed a few bits of skin between tears.
This woman KNEW what she was doing.
Showing midriff with that tied shirt serving as a bra to hold those giant melons, the violet mechanic cap, that confident and calm demeanor. She had everything down to a T.
"That he did, but he found the solution and much more. Don't worry." I assured the woman after we were done sizing each other up.
My insurmountable and unbending iron will came in handy by allowing me to maintain eye contact for the rest of our conversation. You never mess with the merchant in any world and reality.
"Hope you aren't a liar, not everyone recognizes this piece of art. Though I hope you know how you are supposed to only look, you shouldn't be poking it." She warned me. Not that I blame her too. Sure, this thing might be able to take a shortcut through a lost infested street and a building but you still wouldn't want some stranger messing with your ride.
"I know. It's just after seeing the disasters on 4 wheels or less out there, I needed to see something like this. Thank you." I was truly thankful.
"Well, you're most welcomed." She dragged off a little at the end.
Oh, cue in introductions.
"Right, Adam Hart and this is Io." I introduced myself and the silent girl behind me.
"Just call me Coco. I'm a merchant by trade. Though at the moment I'm sorting my inventory, so you can come back later after familiarizing yourself with the other facilities. If Louis brought you here then it's likely that you will stay some time." The woman began to walk back to the rear of the 'car.'
As much as I would like to see her walk away for reasons unrelated to those tight leather pants, I had to stop her.
"Actually, we really do need something," I put my hand on Io's shoulder, "clothes. Plenty of them, please." The voluptuous body of the silver-haired girl was covered by the hound blood veil, but still left some tidbits uncovered. The torn cloth underneath and some more were still exposed.
"Oh…" the way she looked at me was bothering some… almost as if her image of me improved…
Did she think I had Io dressing like this because I liked it??
Well, she is half right, but it still hurts!
Almost as if reading my mind, she amusedly snorted before answering. "Believe it or not, the clothing department is also handled by the girl in the gear vault." And she got back to her wares sorting.
Huh, didn't see that coming.
By the way, niceeeee.
"-is it doable?" I approached the vault with Io behind me only to hear Oliver talking to Rin with Yami looking at the weapons.
"I'm sure it's possible. And yes, don't worry. I won't be dismantling this hammer." The orange-haired girl spoke with such great confidence that I wondered how it could fit in that little body.
The small ponytail girl stuck in a perpetual petite body still wore a mask inside the base for some reason. But the upper part of her face was visible, I could see her big brown eyes vibrant with energy. She was clad in light military clothing, rather similar to the game. An unbuttoned dark green jacket that showed her sports bra that covered a lot more than the bikini she should be wearing… even if it doesn't have to cover much.
But better flat than fat I say.
Black shorts, gloves, satchels on her legs, elbow and knee protectors along with the black combat boots remained almost the same.
She picked up the hefty hammer with little trouble and put it in the vault where I could see a working bench and forge. There were some other state-of-the-art facilities but I couldn't understand what they were, probably only used to work on weapons that contain BOR cells, like the industrial machine that looks like a giant 3d printer. Aside from that, I could recognize the tanks filled with Ichor and possibly blood from blood beads.
"Oh, you're already here?" Oliver noticed me after his deal with the smith loli.
"Turns out that clothes are handled in the vault," I explained as I took a place at the counter beside him with Io behind me.
Yami looked away from the weapons on display. "Shouldn't the merchant have those kinds of things?"
"Because clothing for revenants needs BOR cells or else you will wake up a naked amnesiac when you die. Besides, she only takes that kind of equipment when she goes outside." Rin comes back from the vault with a box full of clothes.
That… made sense. Waking up in a devastated city nude, with foggy memories, and the cold handle of a sword in your hand will most definitely be a complicated situation.
Naked and afraid.
"You can try them and bring back the ones that don't fit. I'm sure Louis already told you but the bedrooms are to the right of the hot springs. They have showers-" she peered at Io standing behind me, "-in case you aren't comfortable in mixed springs."
Right, the way other people would look at it is as if Io was just too shy to talk… though is more due to her not seeing it necessary or is perhaps just trying to understand how things work around here through me.
"Thanks, um…" I feigned not knowing her name.
"Rin Murasame, I'm sure you already figured but I provide back-home support for all the explorers here. If your gear needs maintenance, you know where to go." She somehow gave me a radiant smile through that mask.
"Adam Hart and Io." I returned the smile and nodded as I went behind my other partners at the back of the church.
Davis was nowhere to be seen. I suppose that a government official doesn't spend his entire day in another base that he doesn't work in. But he should be Louis' connection with Cerberus so I should see him sometime soon. No way the young researcher found his equipment just laying around.
Yakumo was also here, but the way he was looking at us… or at me, he wouldn't be approaching first…
Appearance-wise, he's similar to his game counterpart. Dull red hair tied up into a ponytail and those same pale green eyes with slits. That and the scar across his face made him seem like it would be better for me to wait until later to talk to him.
And he is definitely a tank. Oliver is of considerable stature and has some muscle on him, so you can tell he can survive in this environment. But Yakumo? That man Thrives in here. Jesus, an inch taller than Oliver and he just doesn't have the body of a football player, the man is the entire team.
He's still wearing that dark brown mesh shirt and fingerless gloves. Military pants and combat boots. Overall, simple and effective.
Better leave him for later.
I don't have a way to make him start a conversation like Coco and Rin.
…
"Are you sure about this?" Yakumo questioned Louis who was looking at the city below from the balcony with a vial in his hand.
"Yakumo, do you trust me?" His answer was another question.
"I do… but, honestly, I don't how Coco and Rin didn't show it." Yakumo was surprised at the poker face that the women in the base could put up.
He scratched the back of his head with a grimace as he recalled the feeling he felt from Adam's stare.
"I know what you mean, I also did feel the same when I met eyes with him in the underground. But Coco and Rin have more experience dealing with people. Besides, I did warn them before we came in." The researcher had thought ahead. Yakumo was left out only because he was on an expedition by himself, just as Louis was.
Everyone at the base had vast amounts of experience, so they could very well distinguish the feeling of gazing at the eyes of a Royal Lost.
"It would've been better to be informed beforehand too. We should improve the transmission of the radios. Hope Davis comes back with some good news about that." Just coming back from an expedition to find out about the new people in the home base was a surprise to him.
"Perhaps."
"Is that his blood?" The ex-mercenary wandered about the vial filled with red liquid in the hand of his friend.
He knew that as a researcher, Louis would be curious about Adam's peculiar blood code. Something he shares with Karen.
"It is." He played with it a little more. Adam had asked for a few things on his way to the home base. Mainly books and other documents to know the world's history along with some other media, and so Louis proposed an exchange just in case Adam didn't take his offer.
Though from what Louis had seen from man, that was unlikely but better be sure.
"He is our best shot at finding the source. He has the power to revitalize the mistle and blood springs." He dropped the bomb nonchalantly.
"... come again???"
…
Does Satan live in my fu*king eyes?!
What the hell?
I looked at my eyes properly for the first time.
Looking at the mirror in my hand gives me a better visual than what a poodle of water in those caverns could offer. Much better than those shattered glasses on the ruined government facility too.
With the absurd visual prowess, these eyes gave me I could analyze them to the utmost detail.
The border of my irises has some sort of black spikes pointing at the center, making it look like a maw greedily devouring all the light it could to impart my vision.
The weird ring surrounding my slit pupil also was something else. I could see veins connected to it. Almost like a lid that protected my eyes.
The dark pupil contracted and dilated as I tried to understand my own eyes, watching the teeth like spikes coil as I evaluated every detail…
This is so freaky.
At least my sclera isn't dark like the character I had in the game. But still…
I understand why people don't approach me. Damn.
It isn't just my eyes too.
My eyebrows, nose, jawline, and most of my features were sharp or stern.
This sucks because now that I think about it I won't be able to grow a beard. I mean, revenants don't age.
My blonde hair also changed to dark brown. I can hardly believe that it has the same style as the one I used to have. Pretty weird seeing that it only changed colors after transmigration.
At that moment, I looked away from the mirror since the sound of running water stopped coming from the bathroom.
Hope that she knows how to take showers. As much as I wanted to join the guys in the hot springs in a jolly celebration of making it out of that place, I wanted to make sure that Io knew basic decency.
And here it comes, the moment of truth. I saw the door open.
And-
"-Oh God grant me strength."
She wore an unbuttoned black jacket over a tight white blouse with camouflage pattern pants and combat boots. She also wore high gloves that covered most of her forearm along with satchels on her legs, similar to Rin, and a black mechanic hat just like Coco.
She was stunning in everything she could wear, even if it doesn't make sense, that I'm sure of. But my eyes were drawn to another place.
"Io…" I took a deep breath so my blood could actually go to the head above my shoulders.
"Do you know how to use a bra?" I questioned my lovely attendant.
"Yes." She nodded and strolled out of the bathroom.
"Why aren't you wearing one." She came to a stop when I asked…
*boing~*
and they bounced…
I struggled to pay attention to the subject matter that I had pointed to… or maybe I was concentrating on it too much you could say.
"...They are stuffy." She held the brasserie in her hands with a contemplating stare.
"So you don't like them?" All the horny aside, I was genuinely interested in what might be the first opinion she has on her own.
"Should I wear them?" And she actually did a head tilt.
"NO-YES-Nnn… I mean, just, like, lemme use this head." I massaged my temples to let my brain know I needed it to guide Io into adequacy.
Alright, I need you, buddy, don't listen to the one down there…
Okay. Now.
"Io, you see, the reason women wear bra-"
I stopped mid-sentence because an epiphany struck me. It was as if God allowed my lesser mind to glimpse at his grandiose wisdom for creating this world.
Revenants don't age. Possibly don't grow beards, or even hair longer than they already had before becoming one.
They don't get wrinkles. They remain their age forever.
Therefore, breasts don't sag!!!!!
OOOHH MY GOD!!!
"IO, You. Are. Perfect."
"I regard you highly as well."
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Word Count: 2,954
I was mind blown too tbh.