The Wandering Astarte (Multiverse)

Chapter 9

Carlos POV
 
Apparently, I am not surprised if Jessica manages to get another companion as we move forward.
 
The companion in question was a girl named Veronica, who had rag clothes all over her body, a decent yet powerful primitive power fist, and a questionable background, which I found amusing and seemed related to the Brotherhood of Steel.
 
I secretly spotted her as she glanced at me from time to time, especially my armour and weapons. Her eyes were filled with curiosity and awe, and no doubt the technology that I wield fascinates her.
 
I can't fault her; the armour and weapons I wore were not your average post-era tech.
 
As night came, we set up camp before we continued. Legion managed to secretly tap into her communications with the Brotherhood.
 
No doubt she will send her discoveries about me and the technology that I wield.
 
While tapping her communication, Legion managed to get a lot of detail about this so-called Brotherhood of Steel.
 
The word alone gives me Mechanicus 'vibe', which I think was the right word, as I met them during one of the primarchs while she gave me a tour into one of their forge worlds.
 
I only scoff and appreciate their teachings and their ways of saving whatever technology here lies on the wasteland.
 
Though what made me infuriate them is that they don't give some of the technology, the safer ones, to the localities to improve the wasteland a little. While I understand their objectives and vision as a whole organisation, that doesn't mean you have to store all the technology in the vault like a greedy Mechanicus tech priest on Mars.
 
Thinking about it, why do the Tech Priests of Mars harbour such technologies? Some of them originated in the golden age of mankind.
 
No wonder they just went into a conflict with the NCR because of their obsession with the old technology, which was primitive by my standards.
I scoff when they reply to her to gather as much data from me as she can so that they can pry my suit and weapons to study further the technology once a squad is assembled to confront me. Pity is the only I can say when we are going to meet.
 
I was surprised when the girl, Veronica, argued with her superiors about the possible consequences of making me an enemy and made valid points. As they argued back and forth, in the end, Veronica gave up and reluctantly complied with the orders of Elder Norra McNamara.
 
As she returned to camp, she hid her disappointment in front of me and my companions while Jessica asked her about herself.
 
Soon all went to sleep, except me, as I went into the wilderness not far from the camp to hunt down wild animals and mutated insects that came near.
 
I was amused when I found a group of Legion wearing full armour, and one had a bearer of the flag with the bull symbol on it. No doubt their leader sent their assassins to us after killing his followers at Nipton.
 
I hid in the darkness as I waited for them to get closer to my position; they would have a nasty surprise.
 
3rd P.O.V
 
As the group of Legion Assassins came near Carlos's position, he surprised the heavily armoured one (the leader) with a punch into the head.
 
The head of the armoured legion was turned into red paste and his helmet into pieces of scrap.
 
The group was shocked as they were under attack by Carlos, but they held their position as their shooters fired at Carlos with their rifles while the armoured ones engaged the space marine.
 
Sadly for them, their efforts would prove futile as Carlos kicked and punched the melee legionaries, turning their insides into red mush or their bodies into red paste due to his sheer superhuman strength.
 
As Carlos dispatched the armoured legionaries, a bullet hit his helmet, which was unfazed before he brought out his plasma pistol and fired at the shooters one by one, either being turned into ashes or shredding some parts of it.
 
Once done, he observes the carnage before him; it was not a battle but a massacre, with bodies with chunks of flesh and pools of blood scattered around, with some parts of metal from their armour littered around.
Carlos noticed a movement from one of the corpses; a bloody hand emerged as an injured armoured legionar tried to crawl its way.
 
Carlos slowly walked towards the lone survivor, as each step he made made the ground tremble a bit as if it were being pounded by a mallet.
 
The survivor widens his eyes as he hears the footsteps of the monster. He desperately crawls his way to safety before he feels a cold, hard metal touch his neck before he is thrown away and lands a metre away from Carlos.
 
The lone survivor looked at the man as fear gripped his heart as he saw a large spaceship stand over him. Carlos looked like death as he looked down on the survivor.
 
'M....ons.....ter!!! ' The survivor thought as he breathed heavily.
 
"Pl.....eas..e, s..pa...re m...e."
 
A swift cut from Carlos sword cut one of his arms as it flew from the sky before landing on the right side of the survivor.
 
"AHHHHHH!!!!!" The man screamed in pain as it held his cut arm.
 
Before he could reply, his two legs were crushed slowly and painfully by Carlos as he looked at the man, cold and stoic.
 
The man cried in pain as the heavy metal boots of the space marine slowly crushed his feet.
 
"STOOOPPP ITTTTT!!! STOOOP ITT!!! ITTTT HURTTTSSSS!!! AHHHHHH!!!" 
 
He cried as he felt the pain further.
Carlos didn't stop as he continued to press his foot into the man's legs until a satisfied squish and cracks were heard.
 
He watched as the man squirmed and cried in pain as blood spilled on the cold earth. He watched the man for hours until he lost consciousness from blood loss, and there was no doubt he would die soon after.
He looked around before he asked Legion.
 
"Legion, may I ask if you are still connected to the satellite above?" he asked.
 
"Yes, my lord, I still have full control, along with some interesting satellite weapons," Legion replied.
 
"Good, keep them for now. No doubt those will be useful later; now give me the coordinates of this legion base."
 
"It will be done, my lord," Legion replied.
 
Carlos then went to the bodies of the dead as he cut them into pieces and put them in a large, makeshift sack while red blood dripped through the poorly made sack, except for the unconscious, barely alive survivor.
 
Then he grabbed the unconscious survivor and impaled it with a makeshift spear.
 
There he tied the large sack to the spear, making it secure before he waited for the Legion to locate the Legion's base.
 
"My lord, I have the location of the base. Send it to your hud now."
 
Carlos saw the details and location of the said base without ado. He gripped the makeshift spear, and with his enhanced speed and strength, he threw the spear along with the impaled legion assassin, and huge sacks of cut bodies flew and vanished on the horizon.
 
I was about to return to camp when suddenly the whole world shifted in front of my own eyes.
 
"Legion? What is going on? I am sure I didn't activate the portal without ensuring the safety of my companions."
 
"My Lord, there is something pulling us out of reality. I can't."
 
Legion was cut off before he continued whatever he was saying.
I furrowed my eyebrows as I looked around before a bright light burst all around me, which covered my eyes.
______________________________________
 
3RD POV
 
On the mountains, far from civilization, and at a certain spot, a bright spherical light vanished, leaving Carlos feeling a bit dizzy before his senses returned.
 
He grunted as he looked around before hiking towards the mountain to see where the light had taken him.
 
Soon, he reached the mountain's peak and saw a vast forest covering the lower base of the mountain.
 
Surveying the area, Legion spoke through his helmet, "My lord, I have detected satellites orbiting the planet, though a bit primitive yet advanced compared to the last ones I decrypted. Should I start infiltrating?"
 
Carlos, initially silent, replied, "Very well. You may proceed, as long as we are not found or exposed to the natives."
 
Legion hummed positively before leaving Carlos to his own devices. While waiting, Carlos began exploring the area with caution and secrecy.
 
After 2 hours, Legion returned with information retrieved from the satellites, causing Carlos to raise an eyebrow as he read.
 
"So, you're saying we're on Terra?" Carlos asked.
 
"Yes, my lord, but an alternative version of it," Legion replied.
 
"The multiverse is filled with mysteries," Carlos muttered in interest before examining the information in his HUD.
 
Two superpowers—one aiming for world dominance through 'communism,' and the other through eliminating 'communism' via sheer 'democracy.' Carlos raised an eyebrow at these governance concepts and their philosophies, which are somewhat reminiscent of the Imperium's style but mixed together.
 
"If I may, my lord, what kind of government would you prefer if you established one in the future?" Legion asked.
 
'Government? I have never thought about it. I much prefer being straight-forward, and no funny business is my motto,' Carlos pondered.
 
"I have none so far; I didn't particularly think much of it, but maybe soon, but not for now," Carlos replied.
 
"Well, that is... interesting."
 
Setting politics aside, Carlos then skimmed the collected data. He found their military arsenal intriguing.
 
Despite being primitive and obsolete in his eyes, it would prove beneficial when he returned to Jessica's world and probably established a nation, or maybe united mankind. Still, the people in this era had achieved teleportation, a power that could make a tank nearly indestructible, towers that could slice a tank into butter, and many other advancements.
 
As Carlos stored the information away for the meantime, he asked Legion, "So what now? Any suggestions before we return?"
 
Legion gave a hum before responding, "It's best if we collect the technologies on these parallel earths; I find these technologies would prove useful when we got back."
 
"I see. Well, then, any idea where we should start?"
 
"According to the data log that I manage to gather, we are in France under the control of the Soviet Union after their initial offensive against the Allies, which caught them off guard. There is an abandoned Soviet Union MCV not far from our position. From what I gather, I find these vehicles fascinating; they can build structures on their own without the need for power if we can provide the necessary resources that we need to build a temporary base before initiating the plan."
 
Carlos eyebrows rose, and he thought that luck seemed to be on their side for now. MCV? A strange vehicle that can construct structures at ease without the need for manpower is truly a magnificent piece of human technology.
 
"Did any of the Soviet Forces attempt to recover these 'MCV'? I doubt they just left it there for any Allied stragglers to use it against them."
 
Legion again scanned the data on the servers in Moscow before he answered Carlos's question.
 
"None so far, the officers in Moscow deemed it lost or destroyed as it was ambushed by Allied forces during the initial offensive of the Soviet Union. Mostly the upper echelon of the military were focusing on driving the last Allied forces around Euripe to Britain. I manage to edit just in case some officers might find it and attempt to recover the said MCV."
 
Carlos nods as he walks towards the MCV pinpointed into his HUD by Legion.