A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 40:

A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 40:

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Arksoul

…

Okay.

Just admitted to being so capable that a supervillain is willing to give me a whole province for a bit of my help.

What do?

A. Retract my statement and pretend it never happened.

B. Ignore the statement and do nothing.

C. Lean into it and try to be a badass.

D. Attempt to do something to distract people from the statement.

B, of course, is the action I chose.

If I ignore the problem, it might go away.

Ahhh, the silence is like a constant stream of knives to my heart and mind.

Fucking hell, I need to explain myself, don’t I?

I cast a furtive glance to both Walker and Parvati, but they both kept their gazes forward.

Just fuck me, right?

“Egress-san, if you would please explain what you were offered… and what you were expected to do. It would please us to know.” Oh, great. The old man is using ‘us’ which pretty much implies that he’s speaking for all that remains of Japan. My stomach felt like it was trying to crawl up my throat to strangle me. I wanted to let it. “The designs of Shin on our country must be known.”

I thought about lying, downplaying what happened, but decided against it.

If they found out the truth, it’ll just make things worse.

“Shin told me he wanted me to transport troops, so that he could hit all the military bases on the island, and then I’ll beat the Shogun’s teleporter. In exchange, he’d give me Kagoshima, its people, its industry, it’s cattle, and all that jazz.” Should’ve probably not added that last phrase, but as nervous as I was… I wasn’t at all in complete control over my own mouth. Hell, I wasn’t sure if I was in control of what I was saying anymore. “That’s about it. After that, I went Walker, got in touch with you guys, and we made contact. Now, here we are, working together, and not returning Japan to an era of warlords, but superhuman this time around.”

I felt like I was talking too much, and Walker stepping on my foot told me that I was, so I stopped.

Normally, I’d take offense to being stepped on, but this time I accepted it and shut my mouth before I messed up any more.

There was a loud silence for a while, until Nori cleared her throat and asked the next question.

“Do you have that capability, Egress-san?”

“You’ll need to be a bit more specific.”

“The ability to rapidly transport assault troops all over Japan, as well as defeat the Shogunate’s own teleporter.”

I looked over at Walker and she sighed, but nodded.

Guess the cat was out of the bag.

Also, this girl was speaking English now. That’s terrifying.

“The transportation part is easy enough. I won’t know about beating another teleporter, until I figure out what kind of teleportation they have.” There’s a few different ones that come to mind. Mine was some form of spatial tunneling. I created a portal between one place and another. The exact mechanics were something I didn’t know, but I connected one place to another by sending out a form of energy between that place and me. The portal was formed, I could go through it, or put a hand through it. Or, I could form it around me and my vicinity and transport a ‘space’ to another place with all its contents. The greatest weakness of the ability was that what I sent out needed to leave from my person and even harmless levels of ionization or electrical fields could block it. I could only assume that my fellow teleporter had similar powers, if they could also be blocked by energy fields. Their limitations, however, told me that they weren’t as good as I was. “Do you know how long they’ve been at it? Their weaknesses? Limits?”

It was Hiro’s turn to chime in.

“The Shogun’s Shadow is a fearsome warrior, specialized in attacking the enemy in the blink of an eye, and crossing the whole country with a footstep. In the last battle we recorded with him, he vanished and reappeared with each step three dozen times… but after the battle he was unseen for days.” This guy’s power was sounding a lot like mine when I first got it. I had to move into portals instead of deploying them around me. No items except what I can carry on my person. If I used it a lot, then I’d need to rest for a day or two, because I’d strain the ‘muscle.’ “When faced by flame or electricity on the battlefield, he leaves quickly after running, and the Shogunate sends in other forces for the battle. All that oppose the Shogun know to use either, lest they be slain.”

I thought about it for a while, before asking a question.

“Has he ever been hit? And, if he is, what happens to what hits him?”

That got Nori and Hiro to exchange glances.

The superhuman genius/submarine captain spoke.

“He has never been hit. Kaze is a master of martial arts and many other disciplines besides. There is no chance to strike at him, as he keeps his distance, relocates, and always ensures that he cannot be attacked.”

Huh.

Well.

In that case… it’s time to play up how strong my opponent is, so that I’ll get paid more for doing less!

Wait.
This might be bait by the politician to get me to do something.

Hm.

“That’s a problem then. I won’t know until I face him myself.” If my hypothetical enemy couldn’t manage to overcome fire, or even teleport people with him, there’s no way he can cover himself up in a protective field. Though I’m basing a lot off of my own training and knowledge, and I could be totally wrong, I could at least have confidence in the fact that I could weather attacks that my opponent would have to avoid. Overall, it’s best that I just keep my cards close to the chest and not unveil anything special. “I suppose that we’ll have to see how things go, if we decide to work together.”

Walker took that as her cue to tap in.

“We intend to work with you and ensure that both our peoples prosper through trade. Unlike Shin, I have no intention of asking for a whole province in exchange for my aid. Both Egress and I take offense to the thought that those with abilities should rule over all.” There we go. That sounds more like the Maelstrom that I know. Your completely normal, lawful good superheroine off to save the world. That might sound like mockery, but it’s not. The world needs a lot more of her than a lot more of me… and we’re both in short supply compared to everyone else. Yeah, an isolationist who just keeps to himself is technically an upgrade to the average person with superpowers. That’s why the world went to shit. “All we ask for in return for our help is assistance in rebuilding our own lands. Your cities and infrastructure remain, and you have the ability to create many things that we need to return to the digital age, in exchange for that we are willing to trade in food and offer a defensive pact.”

Nori and Hiro exchanged glances at that.

“The people of Japan are more than willing to accept such terms.” Of course, they’d be willing. They new government will essentially control the food, and be able to provide jobs to the people. This was a surefire method of returning to a form of currency, instead of just bartering for everything, and once currency was back… then the government would have another hold on society as a whole. Everyone knew this. “But we cannot in good conscience accept a defensive pact. We are lacking in strength and power, as well as reach. We will be unable to assist you, should a crisis arise, and so we must offer something else.”

That was a smooth way out of getting military aid off the table, but it was something that we planned for.

“Understandable. Increased trade in lieu of defensive agreements is more than acceptable.”

I leaned back and let loose a breath of relief.

I’ll let the rest of this just play out on its own.

…

There was a lot of food to enjoy, but I found myself taking a lot of the sushi. Though I didn’t have much of preference for the food before, having it after several years of pork, beef, and chicken was something else. I'd found fish like mackerel to be too oily even with wasabi and soy sauce, but even though that was the only fish provided on all of the sushi, I was taking platefuls of the stuff.

Guess that I need to set up a fish section for my shelter in the future.

“Are you even close to having your fill yet, Egress?” Parvati interrupted my eating. The meeting winded down once desert was served. Hiro and Walker were discussing the finer details, but the basics were set in stone already. The papers were being produced and ready to be signed. We’d have to inform the public back home, but I doubted that people will say no to getting rid of excess foodstuffs in exchange for getting digital products back. Lots of the devices back home were running off of duct-tape, sheer-willpower, and a haggard force of stretched-thin super-scientists who were already working on more important projects. “You’re being unusually gluttonous today.”

This gynoid was blonde-haired and blue-eyed, presumably to look as all-American as possible. On the thin side, but with some muscle, she looked like some small-town, farming girl dressed up in her dad’s suit that was just tailored for her. A perfect disguise and statement piece for the whole affair, if I’d ever seen one.

Man, it’s really useful to change your body however you like, though the fact that Parvati stuck solidly to female forms told me more about Shiva’s preferences.

Couldn’t we have at least made the super-AI capable of choosing its own gender?

I don’t want to be around if Parvati gets dysmorphia issues and finds that it can’t change because of root-programming.

But, back to the situation at hand.

“I’m at about 70%. Transporting stuff takes more out of me than I usually think.” I keep an eye on my weight. After a lot of training, I could use my power in a variety of ways for a prolonged period of time. Endurance wasn’t an issue. Refeeding, however, was. Back in the day, the energy cost to my body wasn’t that high, because I couldn’t do much or go for as long. Now, I kept an eye on my energy levels, how much body-fat that I had, and if my muscles deteriorated. If I wasn’t careful, I could lose all my body-fat in a day and end up emaciated. If I went to my limits, I’d be sacrificing muscle mass for fuel. Not pretty. Energy bars were on my person at all times for a reason. “I figured that I’d eat a couple steaks at home, but this is pretty great.”

“Hm, their curry is not as spicy as I’d like. It’s almost too sweet.” Parvati muttered and poked at her own plate. The area was being lit up from streetlights running off of gas motors. California’s oil-fields were more than enough for the massively decreased population of the west coast. The Japanese curry was indeed ‘cleaner’ looking than the Indian one and built for the Japanese palate. I preferred the Indian one myself, if I had to choose between the two, but both were good in my book. “I do not find the raw fish that good, but the sushi rice is appealing.”

“I’ll take the fish, if you want the rice.”

“Done.” The AI accepted my offer quickly. Before I knew it, I had a small pile of sashimi and it had several small pods of sushi rice. Interesting style, but it wasn’t like food was being wasted, so who was I to judge. We ate together in silence for a little, before the AI decided to speak. “I was considering your question earlier regarding who would be the victor in an altercation between myself and Nori.”

“Oh? Hit me with it.”

“I believe that I could win, but only with my current advantages. If we had the same number of bodies, had the same resources, and the same amount of time, the battle would go to her and her clones.” The AI stated simply. I wondered how many simulations it went through to get to this conclusion. Parvati was always thorough. “I am well-established now, but if given only a month to prepare and with only the same number of basic bodies, I can be overwhelmed through creativity and numbers.”

“Sounds… reasonable.” I was tempted to ask for the numbers, but I knew that Parvati would provide them happily. I didn’t want to spend my evening with the AI looking over my shoulder while I trawled through spreadsheets. “What if I help you out? Nonlethal aid only, of course.”

“Then, victory is assured. We would only struggle against Maelstrom and others like her.” Parvati’s answer was swift and followed with a decisive nod. I didn’t even have a second to doubt it. The AI stated it with such firmness that it was almost as if it was stating the sky was blue. I guess that I’ve given it a better impression than I thought. My power was that useful, I guess— “You are practical and logical, but also clever and cunning. Many of my tactical and strategic shortcomings no longer exist with your aid. Even without your power at my disposal, even if you refuse to kill, you provide a keen mind and a wealth of experience that I don’t.”

Huh.

Didn’t expect to get complimented for that, but I guess it makes sense. I do have the mindset and the experience needed to supplement an AI’s mind.

Damn, it’ll be a problem in the future, if Parvati hires more humans and uses them to board up its weaknesses though.

I might be contributing to the rise of our future, AI overlord by giving it this much insight.