Chapter 7: Military

As society reached the 2100s, there were great advancements for the average consumer. For instance, there were smaller smart phones which could double as watches, self-driving trucks that brought the cost of deliveries down. Most homes and apartments worth a damn were ‘smart’ now too, with computer systems that could preheat ovens, start the robotic floor vacuum, or even just kill the lights in a room with a simple verbal command. The average life was improved all around.

However, warfare hasn’t changed that much since the 21st century. Issues like complex, adaptive AI still haven’t been solved. When it came to automated combat, that was the biggest hurdle. You could have drones with software to face-recognize a target and automatically shoot at it with pinpoint precision from 300 feet away, but the darn things couldn’t navigate themselves around an unexpected flock of birds. Consequently, soldiers and manned vehicles were still the dominant ways to engage.

That isn’t to say there were no improvements: far from it. Armor was lighter while being about as strong thanks to materials researching and enhanced manufacturing techniques. Armed drones were still useful when manually controlled and, with how cheap they were to produce now, General Gigo’s forces brought plenty with them. 3D printing technology and other assembly improvements drastically brought costs down across the board, too.

It was still pricey of course, but well within the budget of one of the world’s largest militaries.

One of the most famous developments was laser weaponry. These were still quite expensive, so conventional arms were used most often. However, Gigo spared no expense on this contingent, and 90% of the soldiers here had laser rifles. Moreover, they even had some mobile heavy-duty varieties mounted on some of trucks. Rarely used, they were the stuff of sci-fi fiction till recently.

Eirica Vass was responsible for a lot of the improvements over the years: ironic, since she was to blame for this whole mess really. Gigo still remembers that meeting she held with the him and some of the other top brass to sell this nanite idea of hers. She talked about how it’d make every soldier ‘super’ in terms of strength and reflexes. With no need to sleep, troops could be deployed for days. She talked about how safe they were: no AI needed, they listened to the human brain they bonded with. An ingenious solution to the unsolved problem of artificial consciousness.

At the time, he thought she was full of malarkey, but the others ate it up. He never thought that CEO wasn’t just telling the truth, but, in fact, was underselling the potential.

The intelligence on Saki Satori was far from useful. She revealed more during her taunts at that park than they had known already. Just an Employee at Eirica Co. No criminal background. Her parents died when she was 18; no other living relatives. Nothing was remotely troubling about her other than some sadism-oriented porn sites in her web history.

Yet there she was, one mile-and-a-half tall, staring right at them with a smile that sent shivers down their spine. To think Silicon Valley was harboring such evil...

They had a plan though: two, really. General Gigo was personally leading the thousands-strong force. They’ve observed her abilities from all the surveillance copters and such in the air. The amateur videos and streams the residents of the city recorded helped too. The hope was that the laser weaponry would work by super heating her nanites and destroying them.

If that didn’t work, there was one more plan. Something Gigo didn’t want to do. A new, experimental weapon that would have severe consequences for the city and, consequently, the nation’s economy. Given that Saki seemed to be a far greater threat to the nation than an economic crisis, the government had given him liberty to call it in via an air strike if needed.

He hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

As the titaness stomped over, he yelled through his headset. A well-liked leader, he mixed orders with encouraging words in equal measure. As the rhythmic quakes roared louder, the men under his command prepared themselves.

The park Saki finished with was at the center of the city more or less. At her new massive height, she saw this army form up towards the east and eagerly started walking.

Saki didn’t bother using the streets. Her feet slammed down onto entire blocks and left only deep prints of rubble in their wake. Those inside the structures could try to scramble out, but there wasn’t a single building that came up to her knees, and only a tiny fraction were taller than her foot was long. They’d be able to run out and stare up at the canopy of her sole at best: maybe that spandex legging strap on her heel if they were positioned such.

The troops held their ground. As she got closer they couldn’t help but realize just how big she was. Gigo’s words could only do so much to quell their anxieties. After all, this laser weaponry plan was thought up back when she was only a few hundred feet tall. Every thump of her foot on land meant dozens of lives and millions of dollars in damages. Training never prepared them to battle a super-being.

The giant woman walked right towards the edge of the city to meet them. She looked far from impressed. Saki planted her feet square before the front lines, letting her toes loom over them. It was only now that she was in range of most of their weaponry, and Gigo gave the order to fire.

Saki could only giggle at this. Her mocking laughter ringed their ears like a grenade. “Really? I’m sure the government probably didn’t expect me to get this giant by now, but this is the best they had to offer?” She glared down at the tiny soldiers, each one barely cresting past a tenth of a centimeter from her perspective. The vehicles they had weren’t much bigger, and this massive army of thousands seemed more an embarrassing collection of bugs: albeit in good formation. “I was kind of hoping there was a secret mecha project maybe.” She smirked.

Down below, the troops fired their laser rifles at those imposing toes. Each digit could probably snuff out a home or 10 in just one twist. Gigo watched from far at the backline of the assault inside an armored vehicle. His cam-screen let him see it all, and he frowned as this didn’t seem to be working. They managed to get her toes to wiggle though, but it was hard to tell if it was in response to the searing heat of the lasers, or just a deliberate taunt on her end. The ground quaked from the gesture regardless.

Saki felt some warm tingles down by her toes; she wiggled them in response. Watching them stagger was fun, but she didn’t want to overdo it. She had to admit, those lasers felt kind of good.

With a low purr, “You know~, that’s quite a nice massage you’re doing down there. I’m sure you’re trying to vaporize my flesh down there, but you should take at least some pride in getting me to feel something. Here, keep that coming and I’ll even make it easier for you to hit me~”

Saki took a few steps back. They knew from her words she wasn’t planning to surrender, so they braced themselves. The giant dark-haired monster of a woman sat down across a couple of pristine city blocks. Then, she stretched her legs out and slammed her heels down right back at the frontline. Her feet now loomed above them, taller than skyscrapers and a bit more wide.

“Oh, of course!”, she boomed.

Saki willed the nanites to deconstruct that arch-strap of hers, turning the stirrup leggings she was wearing into plain black leggings: to-scale. Her feet were now entirely bare.

“There, now you can get back to massaging me with those attacks of yours. Do your best! This is a treat for me. I never actually got any sort of spa treatment before you know. Just didn’t have the time~”

Gigo was incensed. She was mocking them! She was making a mockery of the entire military. He ordered the mounted laser canons to fire while his troops kept up the attack. The soldiers aimed high at her towering soles. Saki leaned back a bit, her palms digging into the city’s foundation as she lightly swayed her feet and scrunched her toes now and then. A wide array of beams from the troops reached just about up to the start of her arch. Unfortunately the troops couldn’t fire too high with just those rifles.

The ‘laser trucks’, as they were called, were as long as a bus, yet only had two seats at the front. Atop the dull green bed of the truck was a large, cylindrical object which was, in fact, a battery. Reinforced wires ran from it to a large, elaborate, shining gun-like contraption atop the cab. Per orders, they began to charge up and pulled millions of watts from the storage at the back.

The weapons were only fired once outside of test scenarios. A single laser truck had obliterated a small enemy base from 500 feet a few years back. The entire structure was heated to the point of combustion. It was one of the most watched videos on the internet that month.

And now each one of the giant woman’s feet had a dozen of the thing aiming right at them.

“Fire when ready!”, he barked.

And fire they did. Saki knew they were charging some sort of fun toys. She could hear those trucks wind up with a hum; she could even see them via the photo-receptors of the trillions and trillions of nanites in her skin. She wasn’t worried though, not one bit. If anything, she was hoping this would be oodles more stimulating than the current ‘massage’ tactic.

She was right.

Every truck drained those multi-ton batteries dry to fire broad blasts of deep-red searing light straight at her soles. Gigo didn’t like having to indulge her own choice of target, but it was the only bit of her they could reliably hit.

The towering peds were struck at the heel, the arch--the toes too as they didn’t focus fire but rather spread the beams out to try and stop her from shielding one spot. In reality such defenses weren’t even necessary. They did get a reaction though: a moan.

Saki had never felt so pampered! Intense blasts of heat assailed most of the tender spots on her feet. It was a truly sublime ‘spa’ like experience. The warm light permeated every wrinkle and pore of her foot flesh for a truly unrivaled experience.

“Mmmf, good job down there, very soothing~” she said with a laugh, toes clenching in delight. As the trucks started to run out of juice, the beams began to fade. Saki leaned her feet forward a bit. Some of the troops began to panic, thinking she’d crush them. She did come close at points but, instead, she just wiggled her toes into the fading beams, chasing that sensation as it drifted down to naught.

“Only enough for one shot huh. Hmm, you know, those lasers seemed pretty fun, I think I’ll try them out for myself~”

The ground once again trembled as Saki started moving. She started by un-stretching her legs, and thus dragged her feet back towards her body. Her heels dug into the Earth, purposefully, and left deep hundred-feet wide trenches. Then, legs hugging her chest, she simply swiveled around to lay on her stomach. A simple gesture that, at her size, destroyed what little of the city remained by her body with sweeping legs and sides.

Now, it was her face on the frontlines, looming about over 1000ft tall and brandishing that trademark smug smirk. Her legs, longer than 4 city blocks back to back, kicked in the air. Head resting on crossed arms, feet swaying, it was almost as if she was relaxing on a bed with a magazine instead of glaring at a small army.

She reached forward her hand, aiming to pinch up some of those laser trucks. Naturally they fired upon her if safe, though many of the troops routed away as fingers thicker than a bus closed in their area. Some shouts from their commanders got them back on track, but it didn’t matter. Their shots only warmed her skin as she pinched up 3 of the laser tracks, smiled wider, then sucked them right into her skin.

Well, that’s what it looked like at least. In reality, her nanites formed a thin layer at her finger and pulled the vehicles inside. As they were disassembled, Saki had a mental image of their construction and function. With the heightened intelligence the nanites provided to her, she was easily able to reverse engineer and improve on the design.

With such a thorough understanding of these ‘toys’ they had, Saki decided to enhance herself. She blinked and, the span of that brief moment, her nanites got to work on her eyes.

Once the blink was finished, she stared right back at the middle of the frontline. Dense on the order of a hundred of more, they looked up to see those big brown eyes focused on them. Those dark pupils of hers began to glow blue! The air started to heat up and a familiar hum was heard before deep blue beams shot forth from her eyes.

Saki didn’t just use their weapon against them: she improved on it. Her attack was far hotter than what their trucks could achieve and it scorched a deep hole in the ground. Hundreds of lives gone. General Gigo ordered his man to move back to avoid the crater she just made, all the while her laughter nearly deafened them.

“Oh wow, what a blast that was.”, she quipped.

More reverberations tormented the earth beneath as she pushed herself up on her palms and stood back up to her full looming height while they all tried to focus amid this surreal horror.

She spoke again. “I think I’ll try this out on the city a bit. If you want to stop me, well, you know where to find me. I wouldn’t recommend it though. As thanks for the massage, a chance to run away and live a bit longer is the least I can do~”

She pivoted on her heel and stomped back towards the center of the city.

Gigo had enough, it was time to call in the secret weapon. At his order, three jet plans flew in formation from an air strip a few miles over. Each loaded with a payload that was their last hope.

San Jose was always a big city, and it only expanded as the years went on. Saki still had quite a few square miles to play with. She sauntered back to the center of the city and walked a little bit north--precisely enough to smear two more city blocks beneath her feet.

She continued indulging herself, never once feeling this free, unbridled, and strong her whole life. Not to mention, never once having this much fun. Her eyes began to glow a dim blue as she aimed her gaze straight down at some swaths of humanity near her feet.

Those below looked up in horror as their tormentor had returned from a brief encounter with the military. She was so powerful she just... walked away from them while they did nothing! Their faith in the nation, in hope itself wavered as that heinous giant’s eyes lit up like stars. Moments later blues beams of death shot from each and slowly trailed up the streets. Their speed was faster then they could run, but slow enough they’d feel obliged to anyway: torturous.

Anything in contact with the wide beams was annihilated. One man sprinting towards side of the fleeing mob occasionally glanced back out of curiosity. He saw people trip or otherwise overrun in clumps. Their skin went first, and for a brief second he could see what humans looked like without their flesh. Screams were silenced quickly though as hardly any scorched dust survived contact with her eye beams. It was complete obliteration, heralded by a disturbing, omnipresent hum as the air was ripped apart by the searing light.

Saki occasionally spiced things up. Keeping the pace, she’d lightly turn her head to have the dual beams cut through buildings on either side of her main targets. She delighted seeing the looks of surprise as those on the adjacent streets where people thought themselves safe, only to be suddenly fried into naught. Buildings hit by the beams had no chance at the blistering heat. Far beyond the melting point of any metal, the beams combusted even the strongest buildings on contact. Explosions deafened the masses as they ran fast as they could, hoping to avoid any collapsing buildings or, worse, the agonizing rain of molten metal globs that came with them.

The giant woman grew bored of these particular mobs, so with a quick pivot of her head she looked straight up, laser eyes still firing, to quickly end the little ‘chase’ she was doing. Down below, the mobs could only cry out as the already inescapable beams showed them just how fast they could really go. Caught up in the arcing motion, they were torched.

Saki held her hands on her hips and just laughed. Her derisive mirth was becoming something of a trademark: along side that timbre of condescension which permeated her booming voice.

“If anyone thought me like a kaiju before, I’m sure these lasers eyes really seal the deal~”

Without warning, she lifted up her foot and slammed it forward, crunching two blocks beneath 1000ft of foot and devastating the surroundings with the resulting unbridled quake.

“Rawr~”, she quipped.

Erupting into a gleeful cackle, Saki charged her eyes back up again. As the beams shot forth once more, her mile-plus figure broke into a spin. Much like a ballerina, she whirled around pivoted on a single foot. All the while, twin rays of blazing blue spun about with her. They carved through entire blocks and hundreds of lives: all in tandem with that elegant little twirl. Once her little routine finished, she halted her lasers again, eyes back to their normal color, and looked around with a grin. She stood at the center of equidistant spirals of scorched earth, each furrow carved by the searing radiance she produced.

It was then that the jets finally arrived.