A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 41:

A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 41:

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Arksoul

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The day following the meeting, the remnants of the Japanese government boarded Nori’s submarine and left with presents in tow, while we were left with the cleanup.

By ‘we,’ I meant me.

Not that I minded.

Sending trash straight into a volcano never got old.

Maelstrom and Parvati spoke within earshot of me regarding the meeting, though.

“In the end, it’s their manufacturing ability, workforce, and talents that they can truly call their assets.” Naturally, the AI was focused on the more solid stuff. Though Parvati had access to a lot of firepower and could make loads of things, it still needed time for research and development. Shiva geared his AI to be focused on producing, commanding, and maintaining a legion of powerful gynoids. It takes Parvati time to figure out how to make new manufacturing centers that weren’t gynoid-staffed workshops. “With access to all three, rest assured that there will be very few things that can assail me and my allies.”

Damn, it must’ve wanted access to that stuff, if it was willing to remind us that we were ‘just’ allies.

“Their rightful claims over Japan holds merit, along with the fact they are not criminals. In the long term, they present a stabilizing force in the Pacific. Although, they might become a tool of unification for the Asian mainland.” Maelstrom was being Maelstrom and looking at the long term, like this fight was already won and everything was hunky dory with the Japanese Remnants installed into power with our help. I wished that I could be that optimistic. Not. I’ve seen what that mindset does to people when things go wrong. I’ll stay negative, thanks. “There is the issue of their usage of cloning and their lack of manpower, however. They will most certainly be enticed to use their existing technology to create some sort of lower caste of laborers, effectively regressing.”

“The possibility exists, but it can be avoided. I can provide all the labor that they need. Skilled or otherwise.” Now that was a good argument against the possibility of the Japanese using cloning tech to rapidly scale up. That didn’t solve the issue with other countries banding together when they saw the land of the rising sun… rising. “Food will be handled on your end. Labor on mine. They will be able to focus on manufacturing the things that we need to truly jumpstart the recovery process of civilization.”

Damn, these two were a lot more optimistic than I though.

“Uh, guys? We haven’t taken the place yet. How about you two talk about we’re going to get things done, instead of the consequences?” I liked thinking about the rewards of my actions just like anyone else with a terrible job. A paycheck’s a great thing to have in one’s darkest moments. Yes, despite being bored out of your mind, you’re technically earning money. That makes things better. However, if you focus on the paycheck too much, you might forget to do your job. Counting eggs before they hatch and all that jazz. “Our success isn’t exactly guaranteed. They’ve asked for a lot.”

It was the usual situation. We were getting a lot because we were promising a lot in turn. All the fancy tech, new trade deals, and the ability to coordinate with the Japanese government remnants came at a steep cost. We were going to retake Japan, install them into the seat of power, and get rid of their rivals. Discounting the fact that the citizenry might not want them back, since they ran away and hid when things got bad, there’s the current holder of the throne and the other aspirant.

One was a superhuman warlord with an iron grip over the nation, its existing military, and loyal superhuman followers.

The other was a super-villain that literally defeated death and is now some form of uploaded consciousness with unshared assets at his disposal.

Not exactly easy targets, especially since another teleporter was in play, which they both had defenses against.

Presumably.

“You’re right, Egress. We should focus on the here and now. I’ll begin gathering a strike force.” Parvati stated and paused. After transmitting that data back, the gynoid body looked my way. “A new form is necessary. An exchange, please.”

I went over, went to my embassy over at Parvati’s place, and exchanged one gynoid for another.

This one had a dark tan, short and black hair, and more rugged features, and was also covered in modern armor and carried a large rifle.  On its back was a large riot shield, a shock baton was on its leg, and a camouflage pattern was laid over the armor pieces and fabrics. A lot less mechanization than I’d ordinarily expect from a soldier from the subcontinent of India, but much better for our goals.

Besides, the body underneath it all might look like some tomboy athlete fetishist’s wet dream, but it was all bio-engineered gynoid beneath.

“I’ve developed this armor and these basic models to replace human armies and hold back the population, lest they get hurt.” A few thousand of these should be able to topple a modern city. They didn’t need to eat, sleep, or even breathe. In terms of mobility, they could scale sheer surfaces by just digging their fingers into concrete, or just leaping up three stories or so. They were basically power-armored soldiers without any of the bulky additions on the outside. “How many container units can you drop in at our strike zone?”

“A couple dozen in a few minutes, but that’s not my limit. That’s probably the time you have before the other guy comes along.” Transporting hundreds of soldiers through pallets was easy enough, but when someone else could come along and send those guys into the ocean or into a volcano, then things get complicated. “You’ll want to ionize the area first. Barrier fields, maybe.”

“I’ll consult you on a few designs that I have in mind. I imagine that you can brute force your way through weaker fields that our opponent might not?” Parvati questioned, and I nodded. There was a minimum requirement of energy in the air to stop me from getting in and out of places. At some point, all I’d be able to do would be wrap my power around myself like armor without being able to ‘reach’ out. It was still good armor, but it’s difficult to shift from one form of fighting when you’re used to another. I’d prefer to not have to deal with the issue at all. “Good. I expect a thorough answer.”

“You already know how much it takes to pin me down, so sure.” I grumbled. Maelstrom raised and eyebrow my way. “Mind out of the gutter, Walker. I mean that Parvati knows how energized the atmosphere needs to be to stop me.”

“Roughly an entire megawatt. I’m honestly surprised that mere electrified fences can stop you.”

“They wouldn’t if I knew what was inside the building. Just reach between the fields and hope in. The issue is I can’t ‘sense’ past a bit powerless. Remember in the bunker? I had to use your drones since the force fields were so strong?” It was annoying to have to explain my weaknesses, but it was better to have my allies know them than not. They were working with me, and it was very unlikely that they’d be working against me. I wasn’t that stupid and they didn’t have any goals that I was against. “If I had a clear line of sight into those buildings, I could pop in. Or, maybe, if I saw it through a drone or something?”

“A form of electronic pulse would greatly help us, then, if not for the hardened nature of the electrical grid.” Yeah, that was an issue. The proliferation of electronic gadgets that turned things off really had most governments and militaries reinforce their protections on their gear and buildings and infrastructure. Nowadays, if an electricity system existed, it was reinforced against EMP as standard. “But, the lack of electricity could still be a benefit to us. Maelstrom, how do you feel about disabling power systems?”

“Destruction is out of the question. Who knows how much the populace relies upon it. However, if it is for a short period of time, and with some technical assistance, I would enter a facility and turn it off. It’s likely that any strategic location will have backup generations, however.” Walker, naturally, was against the thought of causing blackouts given the harm they could do the populace. She made a good point about any target we’ll be going against having generators, though. It was likely those generators would be small, highly-efficient nuclear reactors. Maybe even fusion cells. Japan had the money and the tech to make the switch before civilization broke. “I suggest finding another method.”

I had to admit that it was pretty nice to not have to deal with all the problems by myself, while Maelstrom and Parvati put forth their arguments and plans.

The one benefit of being involved in a team is that you don’t need to think as much.

…

Weaknesses.

Unfortunately, most of my opponents don’t exactly leave them unguarded or advertise them. It’s a terrible state of affairs. People go out of their way to make my job harder, and clients never pay more when extraordinary circumstances occur. Even if something pops up that’s not part of their briefing and pitch, they won’t even consider throwing a bit more cash my way for handling the problem.

Basically, I’m just complaining that the world should be more considerate and give me an easier job or two whenever possible.

That didn’t look like it was going to happen anytime soon.

“Man, these guys are well prepared.” I hated to admit it, but the base that I was looking at was worse than the bunker where the Indians were literally trying to make a god. Most of the protections of that place had been concealment. Underground, hidden turrets, captive staff, strong surveillance, and a literal army hidden underground. Since Japan was earthquake and tsunami prone, a massive bunker system was just asking for trouble, so they didn’t bother with concealment. Instead, they had a whole, fortified district. Layers and layers of checkpoints, open fields, energy shield layers, and more. “How much money do these guys have?”

“My estimates on the economy of this land is that it decidedly mid-industrial revolution. Very low levels compared to modernity, but very high compared to the agricultural and scavenging economies most nations now have.” Parvati was talking directly to me via an earpiece and its physical presence was an assortment of dragonfly drones. Not dragonfly-designed drones, but actual drones the size and shape of dragonflies. Most people wouldn’t even blink at seeing them, and they were wicked fast. If the AI ever decided to arm them with some sort of micro-explosive and sent out swarms of them, most of the planet would be fucked. “They also seem to have functional facilities that produce electronics and other modern assets.”

“Of course they do.” I grumbled and looked around until I found what Parvati was talking about. Within the layers of defenses of the district, there were small outcroppings of warehouses surrounding longer, larger structures that took up whole city blocks. Assembly lines lay within, and they were probably churning out weapons and armor. In this day and age, even a facility that can mass produce assault rifles would be considered invaluable, but most of the soldiers were in power armor and toting miniaturized assault cannons. “What are these shields, anyway? How are they affording the energy cost of this place?”

Energy shields were powerful and amazing. A common crook that got their hands on a shield emitter usually shot up in wanted list and threat meter real quick. When society’s monopoly over violence gets overturned, shit goes sideways much more quickly than anyone expects. An average dude with a gun and who can ignore MBT runs tends to fuck up a lot more than most people think.

“Unknown, but I have a theory. The current ‘Shogun’ maintains a superhuman force composed of most known types save for one: those that project energy. It's possible that they are being used to emit energy for use, instead of using them as weapons.” Well, damn. That was an economical use of power that I didn’t expect. Well, I didn’t expect it now. I put a lot of thought on how to use my power, and it would’ve been a waste if I hadn’t used that energy to think about possible ways other powers could be used. Anyone with obscene strength can easily work in construction or demolition. Flight would make tons of money just taking people up and down on some clearing in the middle of nowhere. Super geniuses could literally own the world through patents. Energy emitters were the easiest. They’d just stick their hands out or stare at something that can charge up a battery. Bam, they make money. Almost as easily as I can, actually. “That’s the sole explanation I currently have for this immense amount of energy expenditure. I would struggle to do the same, and I can create fusion-based power sources.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound good.” I picked up what Parvati was implying. For a super-intellect like her, one clear way to determine how strong an opponent was by looking at their literal power level. If someone can spare enough power to enrobe a whole city district with layers of destruction, they most certainly had power to spare. “Good news though: I can see straight through them and when something passes through, I can jump through.”

“An excellent advantage, but it seems you’ll have to focus on infiltration with little support, once again.”

“We’re not exactly swimming with other people who can do. Besides, all I need to get out is pick a direction and run. I won’t be underground and threatened by suffocation and cave ins.” Augh, that thought wasn’t pleasant at all. I could theoretically cover myself in my ability and take a swim through the ground. The issue was that, as much juice I had, it wasn’t enough to move a cave-in’s worth of mass. Several thousand tons of rock and earth, if I can’t just jump out for whatever reason, can kill me. Hell, a room filling up with tanks and tanks electrified water would do the trick. Yeah, most of the way I can die are fucking terrifying. “So, let’s figure out a route. Several actually. An escape tool would be great, too.”

“I’ll fashion a device that can make a tunnel, however briefly, through the fields that you can use to escape just in case.”

Parvati’s promise hung in the air, while I nodded and refocused.

Alright.

Time to get back to work.