Sometimes you need to look at things from a different angle! You say you see the water heater from the basement.

Well from over here I see one of the most powerful potato cannons you’ve ever seen!

-Spark talking to Evie, 2045

Ninety Minutes Ago:

“Why in the sam hell did you attack her like that?” Evie snapped, “After everything she’s gone through today!”

Her mom scoffed, seeing Spark flee had seemingly erased the small bit of self-doubt she had. “Have you SEEN the state of our home?! What would you have done if any of those so-called magical girls showed up and torched half the place?”

“I wouldn’t be so arrogant to think I could punch them in the head, and not get plastered on the walls by a gun they teleport in out of nowhere!” Evie pinched the bridge of her nose. “You’re lucky, you know that right? Spark was in her every right to defend herself from you, and instead she ran away.”

Nyra’s bravado faltered for a split second, “Y-you keep saying that was Spark, well I’m going to need some sort of proof beyond the fact that he isn’t here! For all I know he’s just dead and you’re covering for him! It’s what that witch of an AI would do.”

“Are you even listening to yourself?” Evie hissed, “You’ve never even met Pyri before today! And to imply that I would desecrate my best friend’s memory like that is disgusting!”

She picked up the phone Spark had bought for them hours ago, “Pyri, is she ok?”

[Spark is rattled currently, physically she will eventually be ok, but this event will have lasting negative effects on her mentally.]

That almost made the young woman cry, Spark had been so happy a few moments ago, full of joy at her transformation.

And her mother took that from her.

Would Spark even be able to see herself as part of the family anymore?

She looked downright terrified.

Evie looked to her mother with disdain.

“You did that to her.”

Nyra only rolled her eyes, “I still haven’t seen any proof.”

“Why don’t you feel your neck then, and remember what you told us when you pulled into the driveway?”

She tried to touch her neck only to fail, her hand hitting the bandage instead of skin.

“You said something about a Model One getting to your throat, Spark saved your life on the spot and that was how you thanked her.”

Nyra was pale as a few scant memories finally came to the surface, those of looking at Spark holding up a hand and tubes of stuff popping into existence as if by magic.

“Spark got us all down in the bunker, and then left to kill off the real destroyers of our home.” Evie paused for a moment, “I don’t know the full extent of what she did, but considering how guilty she looked when she walked through the bunker door, she didn’t like doing it at all.”

Autumn, quiet until now, asked, “Pyri, what all was out there?”

[The primary raid force was partially made up of Model Ones, Threes, Fours, Fives, and a few Sixes. However, they also brought something else with them. A majority of the raid force was Model Sevens, which infected your livestock herds to make use of their bodies as pure biomass or biofactory creation while also creating a new hive in the middle of your finishing barns using the manure lagoon as a biomass reserve. This was all directed by a Model Seventeen. Spark had to turn most of the water inside the hive into its basic elements and ignite them in order to purge the hive.]

The AI’s tone turned harsh, [Spark has already gone through more in a few hours than most new Vanguard do in their first days, and she is now driving towards the hive that spawned all this to take it on alone.]

Every face in the room was pale, every single one of them knew what a Seven was and what it could do. The second a single one of those things was found it was killed on site and the entire compound it was found at was watched for several hours afterward to make sure there wasn’t an outbreak.

Evie looked at her mother with disgust, “And now she is going into a HIVE while distracted with your dog shit attitude!”

Nyra scowled, “What do you want from me?”

Summer got up and glared right back, “To say you’re sorry! You shouldn’t have hurt her anyways!”

“Well Summer, you don’t know half of what Samurai are actually like, how dangerous they are to themselves or others. Not like I know them.” She blinked away tears, “Not after she got killed because the almighty Protectors couldn’t protect our world from the antithesis in the first place.”

“Who?” Evie asked, “Who was killed?”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“MY SISTER!”

The three kids and Evie were all frozen. Spark’s mom was almost never brought up by anyone. Actually, Spark didn’t even remember much about her either if Evie remembered right.

“That fucking computer and that whore didn’t even try to save her!” Nyra screamed, “I’ll apologize to the kid for hitting him. sure, but he won’t be staying here anymore.” She turned on her heel and walked away.

“Samurai are magnets for regular people around them dying, and I won’t have one living here.”

***

Current Time:

I didn’t know much about how to explain just how screwed I was. I had no cover against a group of fliers I couldn’t just knock out of the sky with whatever weapon I had on hand.

And those fliers were already mid divebomb.

Setting my shotgun to net mode I fired off as many shells as I reasonably could while trying to get out of the way of the wall of plants. I was able to shoot down a large amount of the things, but the Eleven let the Ones in front of it take the brunt and only ended up with locked up wings as a result.

Those wings didn’t let it turn out of the dive forcing it to slam into the combine with a sickening crunch.

Still running, I tried to send a round towards the Eleven in an attempt to get rid of the largest threat. Only for a One to fly into my arm, knocking my aim off and sending the spray into the air electrocuting nothing.

Without thinking I lashed out with a fist and socked the One in the head. Its skull caving beneath the hard plating protecting my fingers.

Before I could take in how fucked up my life had gotten in the past few hours, the Eleven pulled itself out of the wreckage. One of its two upper wings was broken beyond repair as it glared at me with utter malice.

No, not at me, at my hand, currently covered in blood from the Model One I just killed.

It started dragging itself towards me with the remaining limbs it had. Unwieldy, but effective.

It closed the gap while opening its mouth, showing off those long gleaming teeth that looked sharp enough to cut through anything it wanted to bite through.

I fired another shot that went over the thing’s head again as I ran away. It was getting faster as it got used to the action of dragging itself along the ground.

One shot left, make it count dear.

I almost began to panic as ideas cycled through my head until I realized something.

The Eleven was grounded.

Pulling the mode switch all the way back, I aimed at the ground and fired.

“Wait for iiiit…”

The Eleven continued right through where the pellets had all gone. Thinking I had just missed again.

I proved it wrong with a second trigger pull.

The Eleven was caught entirely in the trap I set right in front of it, its muscles locking up and sending it right into the ground where it continued to cook.

Looking around I found no other live Models amid the wreckage, but just to be sure…

“Pyri, is that all of them?”

Yes. Take a breather for a moment dear, also have a table.

Combat Log! Model One x427 427 Model Three x54 540 Model Eleven x7 700 Swarm Destruction 1 Token Class I Resonator Mark I-D x8 40 Reward: 1627, 1 Token Total: 3102, 1 Token

My eyes bugged out of my head, “T-thats double!”

Yes Spark you doubled your point count. Congratulations are in order for your performance. Not too many humans could stare down a swarm like that alone and not flee entirely.

“Yeah yeah, I’m all sorts of brave. Can you just give me a juice box and two new drums once I reload my shotgun?”

Only if you accept the compliment.

I made a face, “You can’t actually withhold purchases from me can you?”

Technically, yes. if I feel reasonable judgement that you are not of sound mind. and the purchase would make any issues worse with no benefit.

I blinked, “Honestly, I thought you were pulling my leg, but I guess that makes sense. Well, except for the fact I am clearly of sound mind.”

I can’t argue with that as a joke, but I would still like for you to accept the compliment.

“Okay Pyri, fine, I did good. Are you happy?”

Why yes, I am quite overjoyed.

New Purchases! Nutri-Pack 1 Specialized Buckshot Drum Magazine x2 6 Total Cost: 7 Points Reduced To: 3099

I snorted as a box with my stuff appeared next to me. I quickly reloaded my empty gun, and put the safety on, before opening the box up and clipped the new drums to my chest.

My helmet soon came off, and the smell of burnt moldy grass hit me like a truck.

Gross.

My shotgun was quickly strapped to my back, and I picked up the juice-box and walked over to the overturned cart. My rifle was laying in the corn chaff where I had dropped it unharmed. Surrounding it were those damn screamer boxes.

“Okay Pyri, what even are these things?” I asked as I put my rifle on my back and let the frame fasten itself on.

Those are Class I Resonator Mark I-Ds. They emit a sound tailor made to liquefy biomass they’re set to target. In open areas antithesis tend to avoid or destroy them.

I looked over at a nearby One, it was indeed melted like it was in a cartoon where it was excessively hot out.

Sipping on my delectable juice-box became only slightly more difficult.

“Pyri, do you have any idea how much closer the hive is?”

If the position the aerial swarm was circling was directly above the hive, I would say you’re close enough to start expecting hard resistance, especially considering the amount of models you killed here.

In other words, you’re standing in their metaphorical driveway.