"While Valkyries are usually made of stern stuff, there is no denying that they occasionally see some things people would prefer not to. This can lead to some bad outcomes (See section 8) if their mental health isn't cared for in a proactive fashion (See section 6), so it is recommended that every effort be made to..."

--Scanian Valkyrie Relations Primer, page 41

***

The Spyfly was kind of cute, in a bizarre exaggerated way. It had huge eyes for its size, and was still striped in yellow and black, but was much bulbous and less sleek than my other drones. It was also kind of fuzzy, the why of which I wasn't sure about, but I wasn't going to ask Eyon about it just now.

Anyway, now relatively confident I wouldn't end up as a chew toy to the next bush I walked past, I was...

I kicked the dead Nine.

...I was ready to proceed to...

I kicked it again.

As I was saying, I was ready to proceed towards the school, so started at a jog, new Spyflies scanning the street slightly ahead of me.

"Are you okay out there?" Titanite suddenly asked over the voice comm.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm alright. Had a run in with a Model Nine, but I'm fine."

"Ouch, those can be tricky. You sure you're good?"

"Just scratched my armour up a bit." I grumbled.

"Okay. Well, according to your map I've just about cleared up this place, should be ready to flag it as safe for extraction."

I flicked through the surveillance system in the School as well as my Wasps, noting a lack of any live Antis around, then looked at the military heat map. The area we'd been through had changed from a dark orange to a cheerful green, and there were a number of pins noting civilian presences with numbers and approximate status, including one for the school shelter.

"Do we need to escort them to safety?" I asked dubiously.

"I think we just clear the area then let the local military know it's safe to come pick them up."

"Alright." I arrived at the school, and expanded my search of the wider area around it. I took a deep breath to steel myself. "I think you should head to the next hot spot. There's another shelter further in that could also be in trouble." I had the location blink a few times on the map.

"Okay, I see how it is. You don't want me around so you just send me off into danger." She quipped.

"Last time, you ran off, and headed straight for the nearest danger on your own." I didn't quite snap.

"Oh. I'm sorry. This power armour kinda changes your perspective on what is dangerous." She apologized.

"Yeah, it's... Look, I know you're much more effective up close than I am, and probably as safe there as anywhere, but I still don't like it very much."

"Well, as long as I have you telling me where everything is, I don't think I'm in much danger at all."

"I'll make sure to do that, then. Anyway, the area up to the Shelter looks pretty clear, but I'm seeing some Model Eights around, and I don't like it."

"Okay. We'll be fine, you'll see." She said, then turned and stomped off at an pretty amazing speed.

Model Eights were large, five to ten meters or more long, fat worm-like biomass harvesters with pretty much no combat ability. Still, their presence meant the Antithesis had found a source of biomass, and had a place to take it. Probably. As I had some Yellowjackets approach the shelter and saw the state of it, that probably became more and more certain. The shelter doors were decidedly not closed. Further back, gunfire started ringing out as Titanite engaged the Antis, the occasional distinctive sizzling whump of her disintegrator cannon punctuating the fight.

I didn't want to look into that shelter. More than anything, I wanted to go look somewhere else. But, there was a tiny chance...

I flew a Yellowjacket in there, and found a charnel house, bodies stacked across the floor, with two massive eights gorging themselves in their slow, ponderous way. Eating the dead, to take back to a hive to be repurposed into more Antithesis.

I felt my gorge rise, quickly removed my helmet and threw up. So many people dead. I heaved up the contents of my stomach, while instructing my nearby Yellowjackets to attack the Eights. They set to it, while I closed my eyes and spat bile, trying to clear my mouth. It didn't help. I could still see it all, so many times over.

Meanwhile, the Eights refused to die, their segmented bodies dying one segment at a time but still carrying on. In a fury I sent in more of my swarm, descending on them in force, stabbing at them all along their length until finally they eventually stopped moving.

Flying more of my swarm in there didn't help my mood any. As my fury was spent I was left with an even clearer view of the many dead, each body, each face seemingly looking up at me with an accusatory, hollow stare. "Where were you?" They seemed to say. "Why weren't you here?".

I shuddered and started to weep, surrounded by the grotesque stillness of a shelter, a place of supposed safety, stacked with the dead, lying in pools of blood in their various more or less contorted poses.

Titanite finally reached the shelter, pausing in the door as she took in the scene.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Sylvi." She whispered.

One-hundred and fifty some drones were hovering in the air evenly spread out above a sea of blood and flesh and sad, empty, dead faces.

"Sylvi. Look at me."

One-hundred and fifty some drones turned to face her.

"Come here. Land on me." She coaxed.

I did so, slowly at first, a few drones at a time, but building up and soon approaching her en masse.

She turned and left the dead behind, that lifeless pile of wasted potential, and took me back into the sunlight.

I was still lying on the street, weeping, clutching my knees to my chest, but now at the memory rather than at the overwhelming reality, and slowly I came back to my senses.

As I blinked and cleared my eyes some time later, it was to the concerned face of Katherine looking down at me, exposed from the suits head. She had extended her suit's hand towards me, but was awkwardly opening and closing the massive fist in the air a short distance away.

"Hey there. Are you okay? I'm sorry, I'm not really made for delicate operations right now."

"I'm..." A shuddering sob racked my body. "I'm not. But I think I'll have to be, to prevent even more..." I sucked in a breath. "Yeah. Give me a minute."

She rose back up, then reached out her suit's hand to help me up. I grabbed on a bit weakly, and was hoisted into the air and back onto my feet.

"That was... How did that happen?" I asked as I rubbed my eyes, still weeping.

[Records indicate that the regular maintenance of that particular shelter has been neglected for some decades. It is likely that the mechanisms meant to keep it closed failed.]

"But... how. Why?" I looked at Katherine, who looked equally lost.

"Iryn said the shelter maintenance wasn't kept up. But that makes no sense."

New Purchase: Class II Yellowjacket Mk 4 Warfare Drone x3 - 270 points

Points reduced to... 554

Three Yellowjackets appeared next to me, and I instinctively connected with them.

"Oh, right. Thanks Eyon." I said as I tried to clear my eyes.

[You're welcome.]

Then I received a connection request from Red Knight, which I accepted, adding him to the call with Katherine.

"Hey there, you two. How are you holding up? I noticed you standing around and thought I'd check in." He said.

"It's..." Katherine began. "Look, we just ran into the remains of an unmaintained shelter. Would you know what's going on?"

"Ah. I see. It's a bit of a long explanation." He paused for a second, before continuing. "Do you mind if I tell you about it later? It sucks, but it has already happened, and there are people out there who need us right now. Living before the dead and all that."

I saw Katherine nod with something like renewed determination.

"Okay, we understand." She said.

"Good. That's good. I've cleared up the area over here, and am going to start pushing in your direction. Do you mind working towards me? We'll meet up and redeploy afterwards."

"We can do that. See you soon." She said.

"Yeah, see you soon." He said and ended the connection.

Katherine turned to me. "Are you okay? Ready to save some more lives?"

I nodded, a bit uncertainly.

"Listen, I'd offer you a hug, but it takes me like five minutes to get in and out of this thing. I'll still do it if you need one, though."

I offered her a small smile. "Thank you. But I think I'm better now. And thank you for taking me out of there, I haven't forgotten that."

"Hey, that's what friends are for, right? Looking out for one another?"

I smiled genuinely at that. "Hey Katherine."

"Yeah?"

I stepped up to her, then hugged her suit's left leg, a bit awkwardly. I could barely reach around it. "Thank you."

"O-of course." She coughed, and I heard her mask slide back into place, although not fast enough to hide her blush from my multiple points of view. "So! You ready?"

I let go and stepped back. She looked ridiculous, with a couple of hundred Wasps and Yellowjackets sitting all over her huge frame, like a black and yellow fuzz.

"Yeah. Let's go." I answered, and went to pick up my helmet, then considered. "Eyon, got anything to clean my mouth?"

New Purchase: Nutri-pack - 1 point

Points reduced to... 553

A black and yellow striped juice box appeared in my hand, and I stabbed the straw into it.

"Thank you." I said before I slurped it down without really tasting it.

I finished it off, then put on my helmet and turned to Titanite, and took a deep breath, having finally calmed down enough to function more or less normally.

"A-alright, let's clear the path north and meet up with Red Knight." I said and lifted off. For a moment Titanite was a mess of wings, then I started cycling the swarm through my backpack for a refill now that they were all here anyway. They barely fit in there now, with the added Yellowjackets, so it was a bit of a squeeze moving them all past each other.

[You're low on some of the Neurotoxins. A refill of the backpacks reserves costs 20 points.]

I see. Can you buy that whenever it is necessary without wasting all my points on it?

[Of course.]

Please do so.

New Purchase: Exo Logistics Attachment Resupply - 20 point

Points reduced to... 533

Titanite meanwhile, had turned and started heading down the middle of the street, advertisements shining down on her from the nearby walls. She made quite the striking figure, I thought.

I followed along, spreading my swarm out once more, checking streets and buildings as I went. Suddenly, something stood out to me, through the senses of one of my Spyflies. A pile of garbage, a common enough sight around here, some twenty meters ahead of me, and which Titanite had recently walked past, was somehow more fuzzy than it should be. I squinted at it, then painted it as a target to my stinger and shot it a few times. The pile came alive, shuddering upright on spindly legs, garbage morphing into claws as it staggered towards Titanite's back. She spun around and slashed at it with her yellow blade extended, cutting it in half, then stepped on it and mulched it further. It squelched as she stepped on it a few more times to make sure it was dead.

A Model Nine, but this time I'd spotted it in time. Good thing, too, I wasn't sure if my armour would have held up to one more wrestling session with one of them.

"Wonder why it decided to wake up then, instead of when I was next to it." Titanite said.

"Because I spotted it and shot it." I replied.

"But, it didn't die. Did you miss?" She asked, confused.

"No, I... Look, it would have died in a few more seconds."

"...If you say so. Look, you can buy a new weapon from my catalogue, if you need an upgrade. I have several plasma cannons and rail-guns and all sorts of things."

"I'm good. Thanks for the offer, though." I grumbled.

We carried on, with my swarm clearing out a few stragglers, mostly Threes and, once, a set of Fours hiding in ambush under a roof overhang, until eventually we had cleared this part of town to a reasonable degree, and closed in on where Red Knight was similarly done with his slice of the outlying incursion.

On the way there, Eyon bought me two more Yellowjackets, which I included in the swarm almost on instinct.

Red Knight flew in to meet us in his red and gold IFV, the bottom splattered green like he'd parked on an Anti. Which he very well might have, come to think of it.

He parked and stepped out of the vehicle, then looked us over. "Hornet, what the hell happened to you? You look like you tried hugging a blender."

"Nine. It got the drop on me. I upgraded since, so hopefully it won't happen again."

"Good. I like you being in one piece. Titanite, you look to be in good condition?"

"Yeah, no trouble here. Worst scratch I got was from an auto-turret."

"That's good. Well, I mean, it isn't great, but if that's the worst that happened I guess we'll take it." He said.

"Oh, we did run across some Eights. Didn't see where they were going, though." Titanite said.

"Hmm, that is troubling. Usually, where there's an Eight, there's a hive not too far away. I guess we'll have to check that out first, before we start pushing back into the heavily infested zone."

Wait. Heavily infested?