Shatterstorm20444: yo have u heard of that sam in ns?

IAMTHEONE27: which one idiot there r like ten

Shatterstorm20444: the one with the weird aliens

BowToYourKing99: u mean Myriad?

Shatterstorm20444: dunno her name could be right tho

IAMTHEONE27: what about her?

Shatterstorm20444: i just saw that holo from her fight in the undercity that scorpion is hella awesome

IAMTHEONE27: bro thats like from days ago do you live on the moon or smth?

Shatterstorm20444: wow r u able to keep up with everything all at the same time? some ppl have lives dude

CuteyPie_R18_link_in_bio:

FulcrumIsBest: that scorpion is super cool tho ngl

Shatterstorm20444: ikr????

FulcrumIsBest: i heard that her entire swarm is like girls wish she would step on me

- Excerpt from the Samurai Forums

I had to admit, I was excited. Ever since Seraphine became a proper Hive-Mind, and I became aware, I wasn’t able to do much. The only thing I ever really did after the incursion, and the battle in the undercity, was the trip to the Inner City and the megashelter, when I transported Jenna and Seraphine there.

Not that I could blame anyone for it. I was a giant scorpion the size of a doppeldecker bus. Okay, I was bigger, my cephalothorax and opisthoma was the size of a doppedecker bus. If I included my three tails, my eight legs, my two giant pincers, and the long arms hidden behind them, I was closer to a navy patrol boat in size, probably even a tad larger.

Regardless of the details, the fact was that I wasn’t exactly made for every day tasks. And that was why I had kind of become the main node for the Burdened, archiving and organising any information we obtained, hosting maps and information for the rest of the chorus to access. Between all my upgrades that Seraphine had gotten when she first bought me, which in hindsight was a bit of a strange thing to say, it was the best way for me to contribute to the Hive. And I did my best to be useful.

But now I could finally do something else! I could move around and do something! Sure, in a way it sucked that the reason for that was that some idiot was dumb enough to antagonise Seraphine and the redlight district, and honestly, I wasn’t too big of a fan of fighting squishy humans, but at least I could get a workout.

Sort of. The task at hand wasn’t exactly demanding for me. Really, it was not much more than clean up.

Still, it left me with a giddy feeling, while I stood at the edge of the main hangar of the Bastion of Hope. I kept an open line to Evelyn, mostly to organise with her and strategize our approach. Evelyn was a bit daft, which, okay, she was a very low class AI. But it did make talking to her a bit boring.

By this point I knew nearly her entire response routine, even having taken the time to write up my own interpretation of the code that was responsible for her responses, with my own tweaks and ideas. It was just an idle side project, since so far I hadn’t been able to do much else. I had even sent it to Jenna and Cleopatra to check it over, and from what I could gather Cleopatra even implemented a part of it!

She probably had to rewrite it all, my coding skills were limited to what I knew from the Cyberwarfare catalogue Seraphine had gotten to help Sabrina. Kaysa had helped me a bit to learn more, but it wasn’t really a priority.

Kaysa was nice. I liked talking to her a lot, she taught me so many things and she even gave me my name! A really cool name, and one I liked a lot. Tiny was a very nice name.

Where was I? Oh yeah, standing at the edge of the hangar.

Rocking from side to side in anticipation, a bit reminiscent of a scene from a certain anime from like 30 years ago about a girl being reincarnated into the body of a spider, another of my past times, I let out a roar. Okay, to say that I roared was wrong. I had to do some rather complicated things with my internals to produce any kind of sound, since I didn’t have a speaker or vocal cords of any kind. That said, I did figure out that if I pressed air through my biomass and scrap storage at just the right pressure, it produced a rather terrifying sounding howl. And that was better than nothing.

And it was funny to see all the squishy humans run in fear. It made it so much easier for the rest of Us to clean up down there. It meant less dead.

That was a very unfun and sad experience. I didn’t like it when people died, and the stinging feeling I felt when other voices died made me shiver. Hopefully Seraphine could get that upgrade soon that meant that we wouldn’t lose anyone anymore.

I had taken great care to create nice memorial entries in our database for those we lost, making sure to include all the things they liked and putting up a chorus wide mental reminder to cherish those things on their behalf. Even now I was still polishing those entries, wanting to make sure I got everything just right and the way they would have wanted.

It did make me kind of pissed, though. Typically I thought of myself as a bit of a pacifist, at least that’s what I wanted for myself, but right now I had absolutely no compunctions about paying the idiots back that had taken those we lost away from Us. They were the ones to mess with Us first, and if they wanted to start a war with Us, a war they would get!

From my vantage point I watched the Bastion of Hope close in on Kanvai District. Being up this high made the difference in design for most of the building quite obvious. And I could also see all these tiny, squishy humans that were crapping their pants in fear. Not that they were much bigger when I was up close, considering just how big I was.

It took Evelyn a moment to find a proper landing spot. She didn’t actually land the Corvette, the thing was much too big for any kind of street to hold it, and the building complex she found to touch down on probably wouldn’t be able to hold the weight of the thing. But at least I could get out without needing to jump, demolishing a street, and probably a building or two, in the process.

I did make sure to get off of the building quickly, though. I really wasn’t sure how much weight it was rated for, and I was certainly not a lightweight. I also didn’t want to squish any innocent humans under a couple thousand tons of crumbling concrete.

Climbing down the side of the building, vertical travel like this being child’s play for me, I was already under attack from some of the squishy humans. Not that it did much, my carapace was much too tough for that kind of firepower. I was built to serve as a walking fortress, or break fortresses if need be. Hell, most bombs wouldn’t do much to scratch me, much less some puny, low caliber rifles, high tech they might be.

With an idle thought I returned fire, the myriad (hehe~) of Hard-Light emitters scattered around my carapace lighting up in a veritable light show of death and destruction. Someone had put up laughable makeshift barriers, and many of the squishy humans tried to hide behind them to escape my onslaught. Of course, that didn’t help at all; my weapons simply punched through the things and killed those behind it easily.

The rest of the street was much like I had expected. I had run some scans of the area while Evelyn was preparing to land, and from all the different cameras, and the host of sensors I had at my disposal, I had managed to put together a rather accurate map of our surroundings.

After I made sure that nobody else would be trying to take ineffective potshots at me, I opened my maw and let out the War Drones I carried. They quickly got into position behind me, reinforced by four shuttles worth of additional drones. We had decided to send everything we had, from War Drones to the basic Hatchlings. Only those entirely unsuited to combat were left behind, a token force to protect the Corvette, not that it was needed, and to keep an eye on everything.

Not wasting any time I made my way through the streets, caring little for the cars in my way. On any other day I might have tried to prevent collateral damage, but today I really wasn’t in the mood.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Occasionally I returned fire, when another group of squishy humans tried ineffectually to stop Us. I did make sure my return fire didn’t demolish anything not responsible for my ire, though. Angry I might be, but I didn’t want to let that out on the homes of those that had nothing to do with it. Cars were one thing, while it would suck, they could be replaced relatively easily. Houses? That was a whole nother ballpark to lose.

That said, it was not as easy as I wanted it to be. The streets were damn narrow, and while I tried to not demolish any houses too much, I couldn’t entirely prevent damage when I pushed my way through. My legs were just too wide for that kind of thing.

It also didn’t help that we hadn’t been able to deploy closer to the building that this Sebastian guy had told Seraphine about. Sebastian seemed really nice, and I wish I could talk to him a little. Really, I wish I could hug him, but he was squishy and I would probably kill him if I tried. Which was sad.

Nice people deserved hugs!

Less nice people didn’t. And mean people deserved a full volley of Hard-Light lances and a load of 22mm armor piercing incendiary rounds to the face.

While I pushed through to our destination, the rest of our War Battalion following closely behind, Snuffles and her squad of Reavers, acting as Feastmasters, were busy behind me, disposing of the bodies. Not that we ate them, they were still human after all. But leaving them in the open street would probably scare off others. It also helped that some of them did have some interesting gear on them, which could help with finding out where they got their gear and information from.

I was ripped out of my thoughts when a volley of rockets was launched my way. Raising my pincers to shield both myself, and the rest of Us using me for cover, I didn’t expect the sudden jolt of pain that shot through me. What the hell was that?!

Apologies, Tiny. I should have warned you. These are not earth standard weapons. From optical analysis, they seem to be an earthen remake of the Single Use ‘Simurgh’s Tear’ AA Rocket Launcher available from the Class I Single Use Esoteric Explosive Devices Catalogue. While not quite as powerful as that weapon, it is more potent than any earthen alternatives.

That was good to know and I sent Kaysa a thank you note. Now knowing what the highest threats were, I turned slightly, as much as I could anyway, baring my side for a full broadside volley of Hard-Light lances. At the same time I lifted my left pincer and pointed the flamethrower built into it at the adversaries, while I used my second pincer to shield myself.

Screams followed the wave of pure fire that I sent across the streets, cooking whoever was trying to attack Us, while the remainder were pierced by a number of Hard-Light projectiles. A myriad of projectiles, you might say, hehe~

It did clear up our opposition quickly, and I continued my trek through the narrow street, simply smashing through the flimsy barricades they put up. Really, I didn’t even feel the resistance they put up.

Of course, some managed to escape the devastation, be it by luck or skill, and those that I couldn’t reach without turning buildings into heaping piles of scrap, were dealt with by the rest of Us quickly.

The entire spiel repeated a couple of times, before I eventually pushed through to the large intersection that led to the building we were trying to reach. I had already seen from the distance that this was the most reinforced location, with a number of defensive measures waiting for Us.

Almost immediately I was fired upon, both bullets and rockets coming my way. The rockets hurt a bit, and they did leave some rather nasty scratches on my pincers, but I did my best to ignore the pain and push into the intersection proper. Forgoing defence for a moment, I raised my right pincer and began to unload the 22mm heavy autocannon onto the defenders, focusing primarily on the APC’s equipped with the rocket launchers.

It dealt with the opposition quite nicely, and once the main threat was dealt with, I switched to focusing primarily on my Hard-Light emitters, since my autocannon had the nasty habit of destroying everything it hit, including the buildings around.

Suddenly another wave of dizziness and cold rushed through me, around the same time a gunshot rang out a little further away. One of our War Drones had her head disintegrated into nothingness, and I howled in anger once more.

Turning, I unloaded every weapon I had on the building from where the gunshot came from, obviously a sniper of some sort. The entire thing exploded in a shower of pulverised concrete and glass, killing whoever had just murdered another one of Us instantly.

Doing a quick scan of our surroundings, trying to find any more surprises, I was reasonably sure that nobody else would manage to get a drop on Us. Satisfied with the outcome, I took a moment to add the one we just lost to the memorial archive. I would polish it up later, once the entire mess was dealt with. Sadly I didn’t have the time to do so right now.

My mood was even more foul now, and for the last push I didn’t care about collateral damage at all, simply forcing my way through the street leading to the building in question, taking a good chunk of the surrounding houses with me.

Of course, they tried to stop me. I ignored the ineffective weapons and returned fire with everything I had, exploding, scorching, or simply killing them with Hard-Light projectiles as quickly as I could. It took longer than I would have liked, they really had reinforced that last position.

Then I was a bit surprised by a volley of Hard-Light projectiles from my right, followed by a rather large arrow that hit the building and exploded, taking a good chunk of the glass and concrete front with it.

In my concentration and anger I had missed Seraphine, Chloe, and Jenna arriving from one side. It did make me feel better, though. Not wasting any time I charged the building, crashing through the first three floors and leaving an opening big enough for the rest of our forces to stream through, quickly followed by Seraphine, Chloe, and Jenna.

Since I couldn’t do much else I stayed where I was, turning and fighting off another wave of idiots who came up from behind Us. From the looks of things, they were likely survivors of those we had killed on our way here. Another brief light show halted their assault and I took a moment to question just how stupid they had to be. At some point I would have expected them to learn that shooting me with those tiny rifles wouldn’t do anything.

The answer was drugs, apparently. At least that was Snuffles hypothesis after she and her squad had cleaned up the bodies. It would make sense, I supposed.

Another group came rushing in, this time opposite from the direction Seraphine had come from, and I nearly killed them all out of reflex, if it wasn’t for Kaysa.

Upon closer inspection these guys looked a bit more competent, not random gang goons, instead more like a proper PMC. A guess that was confirmed when I spotted Cheryl, now fully geared up. It appears that our cavalry was here. Even if it really wasn’t necessary.

It was nice to meet her again, though, and with a quick thought I sent her a call request. She was startled for a moment, before she picked up.

“Hello!~~” I said cheerfully.

“Hello?” Cheryl sounded a bit confused, looking around.

“I’m Tiny,” I said, giving her a wave with one of the lengthy arms that I typically hid behind my pincers. “Fortress breaker and protector of our Hive. I’m here, the giant scorpion!~”

Finally she turned and looked up at me. “Ah… Okay. A pleasure, Tiny. We weren’t sure if you needed help, but looking at things, I guess you didn’t.”

“We’re good~~ Really, it was easier than I expected. Then again, these are just gang goons, so they aren’t really a threat. Even if they probably got some drugs. That’s our theory anyway.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Cheryl muttered. “We’re gonna set up and secure the perimeter. Anything you need help with?”

Her question was underlined by the shattering of glass, a scream, and a body falling out of the fifth floor. One of Us appeared at the now broken window, looked down to confirm the guy she just threw out of it was dead, before she turned and vanished once more.

“We’re still clearing the building. So far, I don’t think we need anything else. Thanks for coming, though~~ I’d offer some tea, buuuut I’m not really made for that. Probably an upgrade worth considering for the future.”

“Yeah… Since I already got you on call, we finished getting everyone back to the redlight district. Castas and his boys have it all in hand, they didn’t lose anyone in the original attack.”

“Good to know! I’ll let the rest of Us know, once things have calmed down a bit. Seraphine is pretty pissy. Best not distract her~~”

I was distracted by a rather large explosion in the far distance, way past the district. Turning in the direction it came from, I saw a rather big pillar of smoke slowly rising into the sky.

“The hell was that?” Cheryl asked, also turning, trying to figure out where the explosion had come from.

It appears that Bahamut has just arrived near the Chasm. While I cannot give you any detailed information, according to popular Samurai sighting forums she was observed leaving the Inner City a couple of minutes ago.

“That is curious… Any idea of what she might be doing?”

None. From the reports she did seem rather agitated, however.

“Anything you know?” Cheryl turned back to me, looking up.

“Bahamut is busy doing things. No clue what, though. We’ll probably learn about it soon.”

Then I got a call from Snapshot. Well, okay, Seraphine got the call, but she forwarded it to the rest of Us, and since I was not doing anything else, I picked it up, adding him to the call.

“Hello~~ Seraphine is busy right now, dealing with some fuckwits. How are you doing, Snapshot?” I asked, cheerily.

“Uhm… Hey. Who are you?”

“I’m Tiny! I’m the big scorpion!”

“Ah… Okay. And who’s this?” The question was obviously directed towards Cheryl.

“That’s Major Cheryl. She’s helping Us in the redlight district. Now, why did you call?”

Snapshot paused for a moment, probably contemplating if he should speak with Cheryl present. Eventually, though, he sighed.

“I wanted to let you know that we found a lead on the whole lure thing. Bahamut is on it, said something about personal business. Not sure what exactly is going on, but if the data I got from her AI is anything to go by, XetaCorp, or at least some survivors that were part of XetaCorp, are involved.”

“Fuck… That probably means I’ll have to deal with more paperwork soon,” Cheryl muttered. “Well, nothing for it.”

“Lots of paperwork.” Bahamut did not look pleased when she left,” he said with a sigh, before returning his attention back to me. “Anything you figured out in the old industrial district?”

“Nope~ We had to pull our scouts out. Chloe said that she wanted to look into it tomorrow, since Seraphine will be busy with her job. Can’t tell you anything more, though, sorry.”

“It’s fine. Maybe Bahamut will have it dealt with by then. Anyways, good luck out there with whatever you are doing.”

“Just cleaning up a district and killing a couple dozen idiots who thought it was a smart idea to fuck with a Hive-Mind. Exciting stuff!”