Hi Mom,
Made it through.
Met a nice guy.
No, not that kind of guy.
Though he is easy on the eyes. But I don't think so. At least not yet.
But now we're out now, and he's going to go on and do great things. That’s what Samurai do.
And I'll be left behind. I don't have anything to give to him.
I wonder if I'll ever see him again?
Sorry, I'm just being maudlin.
I've got to go wrangle some people and make sure they all get home safe.
I love you. I miss you.
-- Ginny via email
***
I leaned against the stairwell wall and soaked up the simple joy of how easy it was to have a text conversation in something like real time without pulling out my tablet. I also glanced over my other messages. I had a bundle from my sister, and that was about it. Some spam texts, mostly.
“Are you going to stay down there? Or come up?” Ginny asked. She, Kaitlyn, and Tara were standing at the top of the stairs together.
“Just checking my messages,” I said. As I took the last couple stairs, Tara tackled me. She wrapped her arms around me and buried her head in my chest. I held out my arms for Kaitlyn and Ginny, and to my surprise, they joined the hug, gripping me tightly. I hugged them back, unsure what to say other than “You’re out. You’re safe.”
We stood that way while the stress of the day bled away. Tears stained my shirt, and I think I heard a few sniffles. Kaitlyn was the first to break out of the hug. “I need to go. You should come out and say goodbye to the others you rescued.” I nodded. Ginny soon nodded and went outside too, but Tara continued to cling to me. I looked around and saw that there were a half dozen people in armored vests, helmets, and the uniform of a local PMC patrolling the ground floor of the store. A few more stood over the stairwell, watching down past the second landing for more antithesis.
“Are any of the drones still down there?” She nodded against my chest. “Jonnie said that we might get some more Anti’s still. Can you set up a patrol? And maybe we should keep an eye on the horde.” She nodded again. Her grip relaxed. I wasn’t sure if her personality was due to the stress and trauma of the situation or if she had longer-standing issues, but if she needed my support now, my mother would shame me if I denied it. I’d noticed how having the drones to concentrate on seemed to stabilize her.
In my glasses, I watched her guide my drones around. I was impressed by how much she’d improved in one day.
--Nearly all from her, with some support from the native software. She’s actually quite talented at this. Give her a couple cyber upgrades, and she would make a great Eye for you.
--Short for Eye in the Sky, the person that manages your surveillance and drones. Vanguards often build support teams to dump work on so they can concentrate on what matters. It’s early for you to start the harem, but all three of your girls would make good additions.
Her sending had overtones of both humor and seriousness in it.
--As a Vanguard, you have a whole host of opportunities to practically print money.
Tara distracted me from that thought by letting go. “I have to pee,” she stated with her customary abruptness.
One of the PMC members, who had been hovering a discreet distance away, cleared his throat. “There are facilities set up outside if you want, ma’am.” He pointed a thumb over his shoulder towards the front door.
Tara ran off, and I turned to the man. “I’m guessing you want a status update?” I spent several minutes getting debriefed by the soldier and making sure he knew what to expect. I had the feeling that he already knew most of what I said, but that he appreciated the confirmation. I certainly found it helpful. It had been a long and stressful time, and talking through the events helped me put them into perspective. I ended the conversation with a promise that I’d stay through the final wave, just in case.
Feeling assured that the area was more or less safe, I headed out of the building. Looking past the clothing, I realized that it was dark out. Several light towers had been set up, adding their harsh white light to the ever changing neon ad-glow reflecting from the rain-slick surfaces. The plate glass window I had entered through was still open. Somehow, it seemed more fitting to come out the way I entered, so I jumped through the opening.
A loud cheer rose in response to my exit. Most of the people that we had rescued were still in the area, along with a leavening of firefighters, police, and more soldiers from the PMC. Hearing the applause of the people lightened my heart. I recognized a few people, and the young girl whose leg we fixed ran up and hugged me. I waved to everyone, a little confused about what to do next. As I returned the hug, I heard the girl say, “Thank you for saving me. And for fixing my leg.”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
I knew there were no adequate words for the situation and simply said, “You’re welcome.” After a minute, I asked her. “Do you have people to watch out for you?”
“My mum’s coming. And the rescue people said something about talking to my school’s counselor.”
Ginny was standing behind and to the side of me. “There are several social workers here, making sure people have a place to land.”
The little girl let me go. “Stay safe, Mister Samurai.”
“I will. As safe as I can be.” I promised.
I reached out a hand to Kang, who came forward and shook it. “If you want a recommendation with a PMC, you can use me as a reference.” I told him.
“Oh, no. I’m going back to office work. But I might splurge on a membership at a shooting range. Some of the shots you made,” he said, shaking his head.
“You have good form. Get a little practice, and you’ll be someone to be reckoned with,” I replied.
He wandered off, and another person walked up to thank me. Soon, a line was formed, with everyone wanting to express their thanks. At the end of the line were the pregnant former cultist and her husband.
“We’d been arguing about baby names, or were before, you know. And I think we’ve finally decided on one. Marcus for a boy and Margo for a girl, but we’ll call her Marquis,” she said.
As I looked her in the eye, I wasn’t sure how to take her comment or how I felt about the couple. I was very aware of how fickle fate could be and how circumstances could force you into a bad spot or decision. That said, I still felt some wariness towards the couple. Some of that, I acknowledged, was due to guilt by association. But there was no way to know the truth about how they became involved, and their excuses seemed thin.
The line about losing their RIS ID they'd given back in at the cultists prison was sketchy. Anyone could lose their ID; my sister once lost hers four times in two weeks. But each time she was able to get it replaced in a couple of hours, most of which was spent on the bus. The Bureau of ID Management was one of the most efficient parts of the government bureaucracy.
On top of that, the reason they said shelters rejected them didn’t make sense to me. All things considered, I had difficulty trusting them, but I had no wish to harm them either.
“Then you should take good care of the little one. Maybe talk to the social workers about how to get your feet under you. You have a new chance now. This is your moment, and I hope you have the wisdom and courage to seize it and build a better life.”
Off to the side, a police officer stood, and I caught his eye. “Excuse me, it looks like this officer wants to talk to me.” I turned away from the couple and stepped towards the policeman.
As we got close, I extended my hand. “I’m Marcus. Thanks for helping out here and keeping us all organized.”
He shook my hand and his head. “Sergeant Hammond. And I’m not the one organizing things. It’s that hellion you brought out with you, Ginny, was it? She’s the one that whipped us all into order right straight.”
I glanced around and took in the crowd. Strangely, it had a familiar order to it, and I could easily see how Ginny would have arranged it. “Actually, I wanted to ask you something. When this all started, I rescued a busload of children. I sent them off into the building there.” I gestured toward the building opposite us. “Is there some way I can find out what happened to them?”
“Let me check the database.” He gazed off into the middle distance, his fingers and eyes flicking to and fro. “Ah, there it is. They were cleared out safely and made it home. I don’t think they even knew you were a Samurai. The teacher asked about you and logged a request for you to reach out to them if you were found and survived. She noted that it would reassure the children to know you were okay.”
He provided contact information for the school, and I promised I would contact them. He nodded and was called off to some other critical something. I looked around, not sure if there were any other details I needed to look into. I recognized the listlessness I get when I’ve been on a task for too long and need a break. I still had energy and could push on if needed, but motivationally, I was done with this whole situation and ready to move on.
“And here we have our hero. A local elevated to the ranks of the elite in a time of need who has rescued all these people. How does it feel to have completed your mission?” A dark-skinned lady with long, straight hair stepped up and pushed a microphone into my face.
When several drones closed in to float around us with bright lights, I realized this was a reporter. The cameras all showed little red lights, indicating they were recording or broadcasting. I pushed through the haze of mental fatigue to come up with an answer. For want of a better answer, I replied truthfully. “Tired, mostly, but also relieved. I am glad that we were able to get these people safe, both from the cultists that had captured them and from the antithesis they were going to be sacrificed to.”
“I understand that you only became a Samurai today; how did that happen?”
I wondered how this lady had already gotten so much information about me until I spotted a familiar red-head behind the reporter. Kaitlyn’s augs were also glowing with the recording light, and she had the steady gaze of a person recording. “I hit a moment, and I chose. Not whether to be a Samurai, you don’t get to choose that. I chose to stand in the gap. I had a split second to stop that Model Six from flattening a bus full of kids. I didn’t know if I would survive. Frankly, I didn’t even think about survival. All I knew was that the antithesis had to be stopped, and I could do it. I’m fortunate that I survived.
“And I’m doubly fortunate that I have the training to follow through and finish the job. I had other moments in there.” I gestured to the still-ruined window and the stairs below. “When I heard someone else’s gunfire. When I was told about the prisoners. Some moments take a split second, others a lot longer. Some moments you have time to think and ponder to find a good or better solution—how to get people out of their cells and not get discovered. Others don’t have that luxury, and if you hesitate, you miss it. For those, you need to have already decided, if only in the back of your mind, what you will do. I hit that tiny split-second moment, and there wasn’t any question of consequences or survival. I saw a gap and stood in it.” I shrugged.
“It is those moments that you find or that find you that let you make a difference in yourself and in other people’s lives. To keep them alive or make the world better. We all have these moments, and we have to decide before we get there what we will do.” Behind the reporter, I saw Kaitlyn still smiling but also making a cutting-off motion. I realized that I’d been letting my mouth run on before engaging my brain, and I stopped. “I’m sorry I’m rambling on here. It’s been a long day.”
“No worries, that was fascinating. So what will you do next?”
“Next? This is still happening. The hive is still there, and we will probably have more antithesis on the way. After that? I’m going to go home and sleep. Tomorrow will be its own thing, and there’s no telling what it will bring you.”
“One last question, and I’ll let you go. I hear that not all Samurai pick their name right away. Do you know what yours will be?”
I looked around at the people I’d protected and smiled. “I’m Xenovir, and I stand in the breach.”
She turned away from me, figuratively and physically. “And there we have it, folks, Portland’s newest Samurai. An interestingly philosophical one, but a new defender of the city. We’ll have to keep an eye out for this one, and I’ll be sure to keep you advised. I’m Anandia with KOIN-6 news.” The drone’s lights all cut off, and they drifted away.