Chap 1 - The Kowalski Family

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩 𝟏- 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐤𝐢 𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲:

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The border of Russia and Ukraine.

Even after years it still a hell of a battlefield that even the toughest Heroes have given up or fallen trying to achieve their own ideal peace in it.

A place where the Villains that wanted to have the drill of continuously fighting both Heroes and soldiers could just go rogue.

Some have even forgotten how many years it has been since the conflicts started. Some even say it was after a certain virus started to die down around the 2020s.

But who knows for certain?

This hell place where villains who had super strength were running around tossing tanks at any jets that tried to shoot down them. Where there were no allies to recognize.

All amidst this, towards the very middle of the border, there was a certain city felling apart that was strangely calm. Usually, these would be the stage for numerous fights occurring one after the other. And if you did ask a random villain why they didn't go there to have their so joyful 'fun', they would just scoff saying who was idiot enough to do so.

A higher influence had already claimed its surroundings or so it seemed. Even if it wasn't present in the country itself, said person held power enough to make no one go close inside its territory, and if they dared to.

High chances were that the other Villains would take them down to the beating of their life before he dragged problems toward their so loved playfield.

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Having a better look right in the middle of the deadly territory, a pointed-up rectangular concrete box, two by two meters could be seen amidst a destroyed city in a relatively good state. It was right behind a worn down house, burned, having traces of bullets and explosions everywhere across it.

Focusing on the box, it was a bunker entrance having a few words carved in the tough-looking metal door, probably by a very sharp blade..

' 𝑲𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒌𝒊'𝒔 𝑩𝒖𝒏𝒌𝒆𝒓 '

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Entering the metal door a set of one hundred stairs awaits, going straight down. Along the walls were turned off lights, probably to cut off some energy usage.

Further down there were a total of five rooms. Two bedrooms having wooden nameplates for each of its owners.

The first was one that had knife markings across it. - ' 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐊𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐤𝐢 '.

As for the second one, it was way more preserved, only having a few metal tarts attached to its sides to give it a frame. - ' 𝐊𝐚𝐞𝐥𝐚 𝐊𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐤𝐢 '.

Moving on, there was another old bathroom, like this whole place only bearing concrete walls and concrete grounds, lights across the ceiling being some of the only lighting sources around it.

By the kitchen whatsoever there was someone.

A bald and tall bulky man who had scars from a long time ago, he is about 194cm(6'4ft). Full blonde beard and fierce ruby red eyes that looked over the pans on the stove, careful to not burn anything so his dear daughter could have a wonderful meal.

Not wearing a shirt, he only sported a pink apron with no details in it. Black military pants and bronze boots. A tough-looking man who seemed to have a heart of gold. Sumass Kowalski.

*𝑪𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑮!!!*

Eyes twitched for a moment, his face turned towards the corner that turns into a corridor. He walked towards it, turning it while resting his hand by the wall seeing the relatively long corridor that gave way to the last room. The Forge.

Sighing while shaking his head before going back to the stove. - " Ever since I passed the place down to her, she has spent most of her time ther'... *gentle grins*... She's a hardy worker just like her mama." - Russian accent at full throttle mixed in his tough and deep voice, the man goes back to his food affairs.

Leaving towards the last place, we can hear the metallic sounds coming from the room the one and only girl he just spoke about as in.

*𝑪𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑮!!!*

Through the corridor and a set of double metal doors, was the Forge.

A place full of tools and everything one needs for smithing for crafting scattered around metal tables. From welders to large weird-looking hammers.

*𝑪𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑮!!!*

And using an anvil as support while hammering down a piece of almost completely cooled down metal was a blonde head girl using orange glowing goggles that she created herself.

Behind the goggles, the same Ruby red eyes from the man earlier could be seen. Eyes that focused entirely on the process she was doing, but today wasn't a productive day. She was only hammering as stress relief and had no further objective.

*𝑪𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑮!!!*

" Still, not enough." - Also having the same thick accent, but a way calmer voice.

The last sparkles flew from the metal as she hit it, the hammer seemed to not dent it anymore given the metal was now completely cooled down. Moving her left arm towards her goggles, we see a strange red prosthetic. It seemed she too had her own stories to tell.

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■■■ 𝐁𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤.■■■

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{ 𝟏° 𝐏𝐨𝐯; 𝐊𝐚𝐞𝐥𝐚 𝐊𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐤𝐢; 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐨𝐦 }

*𝑪𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑮!!!*

With the sound of metal ringing through the dark room only lit up by my forge, I keep hammering a piece of iron.

Stopping briefly in between swings to wipe the sweat off my forehead and quickly push my strands of blonde hair aside to get it away from my red goggles. My hair is in a ponytail but it still falls down at times.

*𝑪𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑮!!!* - " Still, not enough." - My thick Russian accent kicks in as I push my red goggles up my forehead, hammer in hand and the piece of metal laying above an anvil, now cooled down meaning I would need to repeat the process of getting it to a malleable temperature once more.

Sighing and turning around I take out my dirty apron and throw it above the table where my working tools are at. Also ripping off the old piece of cloth keeping my hair tied, also throwing it together with the apron.

Hammer still in my left hand, I throw it up while spinning it. Catching the tool in between throws making loud metallic noises whenever my hand picked it up to toss it yet again.

It reminds me, and stopping mid-throw as I arrive in front of the room's exit metallic door it kinda forces me to stare at my left hand.

A red-dyed prosthesis of metal, having some parts glowing orange, thanks to some LEDs we found around the Bunker. Made it myself after some time, my prominent hand is my right one so it wasn't much of a loss, but still…. It is the most painful experience I have ever had to this day…..

It was one of my projects, it would be incredibly powerful… If I didn' act stupid, and try to straight up use, the 𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑻𝑶𝑻𝒀𝑷𝑬 𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑰𝑶𝑵!!!

"But….."

Clenching the hammer's handle tightly I can see the huge finger dents it leaves on it, it's pretty powerful.

My coordination using my left arm was always mediocre, so using it to work around my forge would just make me look like a rookie or worse.

It still has quite the punch now at least, will be good to get heavy things around when paired with the full exoskeleton. Got a few scraps of steel and silver to upgrade some of my projects before exiting to my plane in a week.

The exoskeleton still in its very early stages, I need more boards to make it more adjustable. But for now, only the arm paired with the prosthesis' own boards seems to work fairly well. Oh, I have one for my normal right arm in the works that will only strengthen my muscles so they can withstand more.

Maybe…. Uhhhhh.. An improvement of two times in stamina and strength if I remember correctly. Good for long project sessions… Hmm.*nods*.

" Kaela! Get'ur smithy ass over'ere! Dinner's done!"- Hearing a grumpy voice coming from outside the metallic door I'm standing in front of gets my attention away, it was my Papochka(dad).

He probably finished setting up everything… Which means I have been hammering this piece of junkie metal for at least an hour…..

" Goin Papo! Jus' gotta take an quick bath!"- Pushing the metal door up with my normal right arm, I cover my eyes seeing the strong blinding lights from the ceiling.

As it dies down and my eyes adapt I see the bunker's tough concrete walls, the larger corridor that leads to my forge, and on the other end of it was a sharp turn that got going straight to the kitchen.

Yeah, we live in a bunker, Papo made sure the place would work out for us back then from what I understood. Don't know how much it was or how tough was to clean it, as he refuses to talk anything about it, but it must have been pricey with two c's and tough with two o's.

Walking down the corridor looking down at my clothes, dark spots everywhere from both the coal I had to move around to start my forge and the sparkles from hitting the metal, those are pretty dangerous. Papo almost got it in his eyes once while smithing a scythe to cut down grass.

I'm not wearing anything fancy, just a long-neck long-sleeved gray shirt, black loose pants, and dark brown boots, it's pretty comfy and protective.

Finally stopping my inspection and getting to the corner that turns towards the kitchen, seeing a scene that if I happened to be an outsider who has witnessing it first hand would surely make me burst out laughing.

A very well-built tall bald man one could say by only looking at his back, having a full yellow-blonde beard. Some scars spread across his muscular body, some from his work, others from the bad guys he fought in his glory days…. Papo doesn't talk about those as well, it seems to get him sad every time…

He was shirtless singing one of his old-man songs, shirtless in front of the stove, only a pink apron protecting him from the small flame as he finished cooking an egg.

Not even looking towards me, he just nods his bald head towards the wall on my left. Looking at it on some nails we put as support, were a towel and some new clean looking clothes.

Taking a step closer and wanking it off the nails, I look one last time at Papo. Having a regretful look returning once more...- " You're sure about me goin' Papo? I did receive that invitation bu-"

*𝑩𝑨𝑴!*

Stopping, I lower my head after he bangs the frying pan on the stove. Already having put the egg on a plate on his side where the counter was at.

" Kaela…. You hav' seen enough for a youth… Around 'ere, solely the dead ground reign'…. More villains appear every day trying their luck, so dear… Ur Papo don' want to see his little kukla(doll) grow up her whole life in a rat hole like this'...." - Looking at me over his shoulder… Those ruby-red eyes gently stare at me.

Head still down, I start thinking of just going to the bathroom. But Papo sighs, and after hearing a few steps a large gentle hand reaches above my head, messing around my already dirty and messy hair.

" I know, your' goin' to be fine. My little kukla can make things like that incredible replacement on your left arm from just some broken spare gun parts and iron, all by herself, just goin' to some placey where they teach a bunch of' senseless brats on how the world works shouldn' be hard, ight?"

He gently taps my left hand, he speaks so high of me… Even after I lost my arm in that experiment… All he did was tell me how there would be times like that, failure and the price that it comes with…..

It would help me understand the world around us and help me move forward like a 'true war bear', whatever he means by that.

Nodding slightly while humming, I still don't feel right… Goin' somewhere where peace is everywhere because of a bulky blonde man in a costume, and others similar to him…. Papo could probably beat him, but after I told him that once he only laughed. - ' shure, shure!' - sarcastically...

Still don't know what's funny… That blondy bulky isn't that strong, right?

" Get' that looky out of your blonde face and take your' bath, you must be hungry."- Patting my head once more before turning around to start fixing the dining table.

Looking up rapidly running my hand through my hair, I smile. Guess the only thing I can do to make him happy is turn into a hero and have access to all their materials, then come back to help Papo again!

Definitely gonna steal all the metals they give me access to, Papo will definitely love it as a gift! 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕!

" Kay, will be right back." - Turning around, towel and clothes in hands I open the old metal door that gives way to the bathroom and our bedrooms.

*𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐄𝐄𝐄𝐀𝐊!!

Walking and closing the door behind me, the thing makes quite a loud screeching but you get used to it.

Going through a short corridor full of concrete walls everywhere, you can tell by the cracks that the place has seen better days like the rest of our bunker… Gonna miss it….

" Oh, that was fast. Hmm,*nods*."- Reaching the bathroom door, it looks in a better state than the one in the kitchen.

Pushing it gets me a screeching that was only slightly loud.

Catching the view inside the bathroom all there is, is a metallic square shower hanging on the concrete wall by my right, a clean white sink having a white thick mirror compartment to store our brushes and such, as well a white toilet to the left. All very clean as Papo did the cleaning daily since he gave Forge all to myself as my twelfth birthday gift.

Lastly, there were some other things scattered around, like some buckets full of soapy water to clean out clothes when needed, we use a generator so electricity is almost all used on powering our lights and not much more else.

I don't know how others would see this kind of life as hav' been living here for as long as I can remember, but I enjoy it.

Strolling in and shutting the door behind me as I take off my clothes, quickly throwing them in a blue basket that was by the door's side.

Hanging my new clothes and towel on the nails above the sink. Raising my left arm to my chest height and unlocking some mechanisms I had put around the half of my forearm to keep it in place.

Pulling the metallic and orange led prosthesis off using my right arm and resting it on top of the mirror compartment doing the same with my goggles, and finally walked over towards the shower, spinning the valve and feeling the cold refreshing water rain down on my sore body muscles.

Closing my eyes, I just appreciate the experience while moving my head up to feel it directly onto my face.

" Just hoppin' they hav' new components ther'…."

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{ 𝐀/𝐍: 𝐎𝐡? 𝐘𝐨? 𝐘𝐞. 𝐘𝐞𝐩, 𝐚 𝐌𝐇𝐀 𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧-𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞? 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐬𝐨 𝐧𝐚𝐡, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐡 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐨.

𝐀𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐤? 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐢𝐭'𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡. 𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐚 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐲? 𝐍𝐚𝐡, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐰𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞. }