Bikini Kaiju - Ch 14

Ash had a front-row seat to a meeting that she was sure would go down in history. More than front row: an aerial view. At the heart of proceedings, riding in the chest pocket of Sloane’s cropped denim jacket, which felt made for a person. She could hear the giant woman’s heartbeat, and rose and fell with her breath, as world leaders agreed that the stirrings of inequity in unchecked communities was inspiring the return of destructive forces, and they all pledged to do better, to improve, to make everything alright. It was moving so fast, but the gist of it was filling her with warmth and pride. After Heckard Nyman’s initial announcements, the President of the United States explained how fruitful their discussions had already been and how much faith he personally had in Pelican Crystal’s innovations. The presidents of the European Union and the Chinese Coalition echoed this, before they handed things back to Nyman for some particulars. Somehow, the tide was turning: these people understood, at last, the real threat of the kaijus, and after decades of dormancy, letting the Sentinels live as parasites, this company, and this new giantess, were here to set things right. Proper monitoring. Financial reviews. Investigations into past crimes.

Steel Ruth’s disgusted departure and the pinched looks on the other two’s faces showed how serious this was. They would be held accountable and they hated it. Good. She hoped they’d get everything coming to them.

“Part of the funding that we divert away from the STT,” Heckard Nyman said, revisiting the details of their grand scheme, “will also be allocated towards rehabilitation and rebuilding. We will finally resolve the topic that most politicians do not dare touch: refugee cities and the movement of peoples. Since the early days of the kaiju attacks we have seen communities destroyed and the ongoing failure to rebuild them. We can do better than The Borough. We must do – there can be no doubt that it is such concentrated and unchecked population centres that have attracted the return of these attacks.”

Washington Fury cleared her throat at that, eyeing the man suspiciously. She had a mixed past with the refugee cities, having spoken out about them before herself, but also having grown defensive of them and helped rebuild. The Borough, the biggest of the new metropolises, which had first emerged when people fled New York after the greater Reptscalian attacks of the early 1970s, was now estimated to be one of the five most populated urban sprawls in the country, but it was an impoverished and allegedly lawless community.

“I know this is dear to your heart in particular, Ms Washington,” Nyman went on, “and we look forward to working together with you to finding lasting and meaningful solutions.”

Not much she could say to that. Ash enjoyed the giant’s uncomfortable expression.

“But, yes, it all starts with conversation. Communication. We have developed new technology precisely for this. Sloane, if you would be so kind.”

Ash was jostled, bouncing against Sloane’s chest as her giant host reached into one of her jacket pockets. She presented in her palm a set of shiny metal rings, simple but thick bands, shoulder-width for a person but just right for a giant.

“These smart rings will allow us to keep in touch with an efficiency unseen before. A hotline that allows for so much more than mere talking. We can monitor health and well-being, to keep our Sentinels in the best conditions. We can also use this new technology to generate real-time imagery of our Sentinels in action. With their permission, of course.” Nyman gave an odd, stilted laugh.

Sloane held up one of the rings for everyone to see, and slipped it onto one of her fingers. She rotated her hand, showing it off, as people took photos and cooed below. Then she lifted it to her face and said, “Testing. Can y’all hear me?”

Her voice, already huge, was amplified through the speakers, startling and then delighting the large audience. A few people clapped. Then she tapped the ring, winked, and appeared on the other side of the White Fort – a transparent, shimmering duplicate of her, waving in exact time with Sloane herself. This thrilled the audience even more, drawing greater applause. The hologram disappeared and Sloane offered the other rings to Washington and Ramona. The giantesses frowned at them, but Ramona shrugged.

“Don’t mind seeing two of me,” she said, taking a silver ring and slipping it on. She poked at it, rotating it. “Come on, how do I repro –” Something clicked, cutting her off, as a second Ramona appeared in the field, and it looked away, mimicking Ramona looking at it, then they both laughed.

The image cut off again as Nyman announced, “This new projection technology will allow greater Sentinel presence, more interaction than before, with less danger to everyone involved.”

“What’s wrong with the old video calls?” Washington said, though she was sliding a ring on her own finger to test it. She held it up, checking how it looked.

Nyman laughed again, and was about to respond when the ground shook with the familiar movements of a giant. Everyone’s attention was drawn out of the White Fort, towards the horizon, the direction Steel Ruth had stomped off in. Sure enough, the stroppy idiot was marching back, a titan crunching through the countryside like she owned it. Good, Ash thought. Let her show everyone how difficult and dangerous she was. They would see what Ash had always seen.

“Ah. Our beloved Sentinel captain is returning,” Nyman said into the mics, over the more nervous murmurs of the crowd. Ruth was coming fast, hands in fists, no mistaking her ill intentions. Yet the speaker sounded calm. “It is important that we work together for this new future. We at Pelican are both willing and able to find roads that benefit us all.”

“Enough of this bullshit!” Ruth shouted, voice shaking the building below, rattling the recording equipment. “I want answers. Tell us what else you’re engineering.”

Ash swayed as Sloane stepped forward, sweeping a foot over the gasping audience to position herself at the compound’s edge, blocking Ruth’s approach. The other giantess wasn’t slowing, muscles flexed.

“Yeah, you and me,” Ruth growled. “I’m gonna beat your girl down this time – I know you deserve it.”

“I wouldn’t advise trying,” Sloane said, calm as Nyman, but Ash tensed in the pocket. Ruth looked mad, and she was a huge threat.

“Advise this.” The giantess drew back an arm as she stepped up to the edge of the compound, the White Fort’s perimeter wall barely up to her shin. Sloane didn’t move as the punch came in with terrific speed and power – but a short distance before her face, it cracked into the air as though hitting an invisible wall. A spark of lightning erupted around Ruth’s knuckles and threw her back. Ash craned her head to follow it, wide-eyed, as the electric charge spread in a dome, right over Sloane’s head. It pulsed out again, invisible, but had revealed clearly enough that an invisible barrier encased the entire White Fort estate, apparently linked to the walls.

Ruth flew over the adjoining field, airborne for a slow moment before her behind crashed into the earth, breaking the ground apart in a great crater. The world shuddered under her weight, a nearby road buckling and tossing cars in the air, and her arms and legs followed for minor impacts. She skidded back, tearing through more ground, groaning. Alive, but almost incapacitated by the short blast. The drones recording everything glided down towards her as people scattered around Sloane’s feet as though to see over the wall.

“Everyone please remain calm!” Nyman called out, his voice no less jovial than before. “She has only received a mild shock. I assure you we are all quite safe – as is dear Ruth.”

“The fuck was that?” Washington said, stepping aside with a quake of her own. She was looking up, around her. “How’d you do that?”

“Little bastards,” Ramona snarled. “You don’t hurt Ruth.”

Sloane turned, holding up her hands in a placating gesture. “We didn’t do nothing, you saw that. She was coming at me.” She twisted around again as Ruth righted herself, hazily moving onto her hands and knees. Sloane stepped over the wall, out of the compound, the shield apparently deactivated again. She crouched, stretching a hand forward. “Let me help you up, sweetheart. No hard feelings.”

“You motherfucker,” Ruth snarled hatefully, and moved to swat Sloane’s hand back. As she did so, the other giantess caught her wrist. With her other hand, she slid the last of the rings she’d been holding onto Ruth’s middle finger, an action so fast and unusual that Ruth merely frowned for a moment. Then the Sentinel shook herself out of it, tearing her hand free and reaching with the other to remove the ring. “What the hell are you –”

Before her fingers could touch it, something pulsed through her and Ruth gave a startled cry, falling to one knee. She gasped for breath, stunned anew.

“Holy shit!” Ramona said, going to snatch at her own ring – but a pulse hit her, too, and she gave a pained, high shriek that shattered lights and camera lenses below. Startled, but not as badly shocked as Ruth, she stepped aside and narrowly missed stepping on a handful of techs scampering out of the way.

“Tell me you didn’t…” Washington rumbled, looking down at Nyman on his podium like she might be tempted to squish him. Still, he was totally calm, assured of his own safety.

“It’s all a good thing, you guys,” Sloane told them, brightly. “What the people want. It’s about what we can do for them, and this is just our way of saying we’re committed to that.”

“You made us put these things on,” Ramona snarled. “You didn’t say shit about it. You lily white little bitch. I oughta –”

“You oughta calm down is what you oughta right now,” Sloane said with her tinkling laugh. “Don’t go suggesting to these fine people you’re not all here with the best intentions.”

Reminding the giants of their audience stilled things for a moment, and Sloane’s kind smile was the cherry on that. Ash twisted about excitedly in her pocket, trying to take in every inch of this scene, from Ruth fuming on the ground to the pair by the White Fort, motionless, cowed. There had been times in history when the Sentinels had variously taken beatings, been injured and driven back, but never, Ash thought, had she seen anything with the ability to control them like this. For once in their lives, they were forced to stop and listen.

Her heart swelled with the possibilities. Yes. At last someone was standing up to them – and it was plain as day that if they resisted now, they would be seen for the monsters they were. But it was already apparent they wouldn’t dare, not here, not now.

“Our discussions have been going incredibly well.” Nyman spoke up. “And we do look forward to an exciting future, working together, for the betterment of everyone. We are so glad, and the world thanks you, all of you Sentinels, for your cooperation.”