“…let me ask you something. And this is a question I want to pose to all of our viewers at home…” It always starts off with a question, never an accusation. 

An outright accusation is a great way to wind up ‘accidentally’ smeared underfoot. “Do you think we are really better off with Valkyries?” Collins open ended question generates a murmur and a few uncomfortable looks from his co-hosts on the broadcast. “I mean with all the money the government pours into these big girls, you would think we wouldn’t have to worry about Leviathans any more.” 

“W-Well… Collins I think that is an unfair question.” Even the most media illiterate viewer can see the unease written across Amanda’s expression. It’s a testament to her skill as a reporter she hasn’t asked them to cut to commercials yet.

Although even if they did she knows the network wouldn’t allow it. Collins infamous viral rants are what keeps their little news station afloat.  “We have Valkyries because traditional warfare wasn’t working against Leviathans.”

“That’s what we’re told by the mainstream media but frankly, I think it’s a load of horseshit,” Dramatically the camera pans towards the greasy haired, old-fashioned radio host beloved by the rust belt working class and traditionalists. “A study was recently published suggesting that most Valkyries have never even seen combat. Can you imagine that?!”

“D-Do we have a credible source on~?” It’s too late to stop the flow. Collins is like a dam and can’t be shut after enough water has seeped through. 

All Amanda can do is watch as he does what he does best. Run his big fat mouth. “Just last week it was reported that one of the Seven Sovereigns, Akira, arrived hours late to an emergency situation because get this, she was having makeup applied and didn’t want to leave her cosmetic booth!” Why did he have to specifically name one? Why couldn’t he have just left it open for the viewers to yap about? 

From the corner of her eye, Amanda notices the stunned expressions of the editors who kept track of their online visibility. They were trending online now. Nothing more can be done to stop it anymore.

Resigning herself to her fate, the older reporter clasps her hands together and allows everything to focus on Collins. “…and when this oversized titty streamer finally did show up, she caused so much collateral damage one has to wonder if we would be better off if she and all the rest of the Valkyries just stopped this nonsense, and started working some real jobs. Can you imagine the state industry if they were building skyscrapers, ships, and putting some actual elbow grease into their~!”

“And that’s all the time we have today folks!” Amanda finally finds the courage to interrupt her louder colleague. With the fakest, most painful smile she’s ever mustered she steals the spotlight. “Join us tomorrow at five for your morning news broadcast! We’ll see you next time on the Morning Show!”

Akira exhales deeply as she steps out of the sauna. Her tired muscles ache after a long day spent on her feet. Perhaps she’ll have a few dozen peons sent to her personal chamber to rub them. 

No sooner has she emerged from the steamy chamber, her nude body still dripping with warm condensation when there’s a giggle from her colleagues. “What’s so funny?” Bakuzan saunters towards her with a billboard sized phone currently tuned into a news station. 

She’s not anywhere as big as Akira, but compared to the mite-sized workers toiling on the spa room floor she may as well be an office building. “You made the news! Everybody’s talking about it.” Valkyries are in the news everyday, she doesn’t see why it’s such a big deal until Bakuzan hands her the phone. “It’s gone viral.” 

“…and when this oversized titty streamer finally did show up…” Collins' voice rings throughout the spa room amidst giggles from the other Valkyries. It’s bemusing to see the normally haughty Valkyrie -a Seven Sovereign no less- react like this.

Akira’s eye twitches ever so slightly, betraying her displeasure. She trades the phone in exchange for a towel, which Akira wraps around her midsection as she storms out of the spa. “What’re you gonna do?” Bakuzan calls out.

“Nothing. And neither will any of you.”

Whenever a Leviathan attacks, citizens are usually forced into a series of life or death choices with no time to think them through. Do you leave the fragile protection of a building and run, or do you stay inside and try to hide? 

Most in the news station chose the latter option. The deafening screeches of the eel-like Leviathan slithering through the cityscape are too much to bear. Her enormous body is half woman from the hips up, but below where legs should be there is an extraordinarily long tail that propels her between buildings like a serpent. 

With each motion the ground shakes and a thick viscous trail of highly acidic slime and ooze is left behind to seep into the concrete foundations of each and every building, melting through any organic or inorganic material in its path. A few drops darken a splotch in the ceiling and Amanda hurries to get out of the way before the leak turns into a downpour onto one of her hapless colleagues.

He screams and flails about helplessly to the horror of the others stuck beneath their desks or huddled in supply closets, flicking small droplets of the substance everywhere. A little splash connects with Amanda’s cheeks and she mewls where it feels as though a cigarette has been pressed against the tender flesh. Meanwhile the man doused in the Leviathan’s slime is quickly melted into a foul smelling puddle on the floor.

Suddenly, the windows of the Morning Show newsroom darken as the Leviathan appears, the heart achingly beautiful face of a gorgeous young woman isn't enough to disguise the wicked cruelty in her enormous eyes. The entire building tilts as her colossal weight is pressed against it, her nude form and perky breasts shattering through some of the lower floors. 

Furniture slides from one side of the office to the other, slamming into coworkers and into cubicles to smash them to pieces. 

Simply by leaning against the seventy story building, the Leviathan is pushing the skyscraper over like it’s made of cardboard. Over the sound of steel support beams snapping beneath the immense pressure, Amanda hears the final prayers of her longtime colleague Collins beneath his breath. There’s a noticeable dark spot on his trousers.

Perhaps her biggest regret is that she’s going to die here with him rather than with her family. Amanda closes her eyes and braces for the fall to occur, but it never happens. Instead there’s a sudden jerking feeling that rattles her bones and sends the furniture tumbling back where it had originally come from.

Amanda opens her eyes to see the Leviathan has vanished from the windows, instead replaced by a different set of massive eyes that gaze into the newsroom. At first a wave of fear and confusion washes over the survivors, until they recognize the beautiful heterochromatic eyes of a Valkyrie gazing into the room.

Someone quivers in relief, tears falling freely as they realize they’re being rescued. “S-She really came!” Akira observes the relieved reactions of the Morning Show staff members, many of them drop to their knees either out of gratitude or relief.

The bluenette’s gaze eventually fixates on Collins, who manages to pull himself back to his feet amidst a storm of broken tables and chairs from office furniture and camera equipment. Nervously he meets her expression, recognizing the titanic woman as the same one he had openly lambasted on his talk show just days prior.

Akira dwarfs the seventy story building; she has to get on her haunches to peer inside a structure no bigger than a shampoo bottle to her. It’s safely tucked in her hand, she caught it right as it was beginning to fall over from the shrimp-sized ‘Leviathan’ that had snaked its way deep inland to attack the city. That same Leviathan is currently squished into fish guts and entrails beneath Akira’s foot.

Her expression lightens and she smiles at the Morning Show staff, including Collins. The city is saved, and she managed to save the biggest building around. Collins lets out a sigh of relief, he’ll be sure to make a heartfelt apology on behalf of~

Suddenly the momentum of the building resumes, even faster than before. Relief becomes horror and fear once again as Akira releases her protective grip of the building, allowing it to fall over and crash into the cityscape. Entire streets and smaller boroughs vanish beneath a wall of smoke and debris, extinguishing countless lives in mere moments.

Akira watches the catastrophe playout in bemusement, before she rises to her full height which casts the entire countryside in shadow. She raises her foot and firmly places it on the ruins of the building that had just fallen, shattering the earth and indeed half the city in the process. In a few more steps she tramples over the rest of the small midwestern ‘civilization’ until all that’s left are bootprints. 

“Whoops.” She murmurs with a shrug, before beginning her trek back home, crushing a different suburb with every step. Leaving only a trail of destruction in her wake, an ominous reminder to the world that the protection of the Valkyries was not a privilege to be taken for granted.