Whatchu want? Guns? Bullets? Armor? I have it all! I could even provide you with a full fucking tank if you wanted, just give me the word. What? You said you were tired of my personality! Don’t ask me to change unless you’re willing to deal with the consequences.

- Myalis, Catherine ‘Stray Cat’ LeBlanc's AI

—

“You okay over there?” Ratchet asked, as she crossed the room, carefully avoiding the bodies on the floor. “You seemed a little… out of it for a minute.” The woman reached out to put a hand on my shoulder, causing me to inadvertently flinch and move away slightly.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “Apparently I accidentally sliced open that Four’s pheromone gland, and sprayed myself with the contents. Wasn’t a pleasant experience.”

“Holy shit! I didn’t know that could happen. Usually it takes several minutes of exposure to start feeling any effect, I’ve never even heard of someone getting a concentrated dose,” she said, looking me up and down. “Are you sure you’re ok?”

“I’ll be fine, I took something to purge it from my system. I’m just a little… twitchy still.” I explained. “How did the rest of the raid go? Any survivors?”

“Not a single one!” Terrier snapped from inside the shelter. “The fucking weeds even dug out the emergency supplies, and dug up the potted plants before we arrived.” I glanced at the doors. They were just massive heavy steel plates, which looked like they were designed to slide on tracks, but without power it would have taken at least five people to move one. These people probably didn’t have a prayer. I shook my head.

“We probably should clean up these bodies,” Bulldog added. “If we leave them the antithesis will just pick up their dead and recycle them for the biomass.”

“We left the flamethrower in the APC though,” Emily told the team.

“I’ve got it,” I said, “I’m starting to feel a bit better now.”

[Hey Arty, that catalog I bought earlier with the grenades, didn’t you mention it was for disposing of Antithesis bodies or something?]

The Anthesis Biomass Denial Catalog? Yes, it has several options.

[Anything for a wide area? A gas dispersal, or something?]

I can modify the enzyme grenades to be much slower acting, but disperse in a wide area. They’ll need to be in an enclosed area though.

[That’s fine, gimme a couple] I held out my hands and grabbed the pair of grenades as they manifested.

“These’ll dissolve the Antithesis, but they need to be in an enclosed area to use, so we can chuck them right as we’re leaving.”

Emily nodded, “Everyone do one last sweep, then we’re out of here. We still have other shelters to check.”

While the others busied themselves with checking the room I staggered over to where Emily was standing. “Hey, I was wondering… Why do the others have codenames, but you go by your given name?” I asked, holding out the grenades to her.

She flinched. “I have one, but it’s embarrassing.”

“Really?” I couldn’t keep a goofy smile from creeping onto my face, “Do tell!”

“It’s Queen Bitch,” she said, turning away slightly.

My smile fell. “That’s… a little more intense than the rest of the unit, how the fuck did you end up with that?.”

She sighed. “Our old commander was… kind of an asshole. He wasn’t a terrible commander but I got the impression that he was a little intimidated by me, so when he started giving out nicknames I got… that. I wasn’t the only one that felt uncomfortable by it, everyone else just continued calling me Emily after he gave it to me.”

“Why didn’t you just change it after he left?” I asked.

“Partially due to tradition… nicknames are given by your unit, and it’s usually for life, and partially because I got used to everyone else calling me by name.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“If it was me, I would have changed it the second I could, but I can understand wanting to respect tradition. That’s tough,” I said as I pushed myself off the wall. I gently patted her on the shoulder, “Thanks for sharing,” I whispered. The others had left the shelter, and were waiting at the stairs, so Emily and I moved to join them.

“Where next?” Ratchet asked.

“Just a few buildings over. Follow me,” I replied as I pushed open the door, and stepped back into the stairway. Behind me Emily turned and tossed the two grenades behind her. They spewed out a thick, but slow moving smoke that caused the antithesis bodies to bubble and melt. She stayed for just a moment, making sure the gas was working, before jogging to the stairs and slamming the door closed.

The bang caused me to jump, and before I even realized what I was doing I spun on the spot and half drew my sword. The entire squad just stared.

“Sorry. Don’t know why I did that,” I admitted.

“Maybe it’s a side effect of the pheromones,” Terrier suggested. “Startling easily until it’s completely out of your system.”

“Fuck I hope not,” I grumbled. “I could kill someone with how fast I can draw my blade.” I slid the blade back into my sheath, and turned back around. “Maybe stay a couple steps behind, just in case.”

“No argument from me,” Bulldog, who was the next in line, mumbled.

I slipped back down the stairs, pausing at each landing to listen for movement on each floor, before continuing. Better safe than sorry.

When we stepped out of the staircase I quickly headed back towards the APC, pausing against its heavily armored hull while I reoriented myself. It didn’t take me long to locate the next shelter, it was only a few buildings down, but I was heavily distracted by the gunfire and explosions, just a little further into the district. Every once in a while I could see what appeared to be artillery shells sail across an intersection several blocks away.

“Are there supposed to be any other teams in this area?” I asked Emily as she came to stand next to me. “That sounds like a lot of gunfire.”

“Not that I know, but let me check,” she said before quickly retreating into the APC.

I stood there for another minute or so, watching tracers and shells shoot across the intersection, before a literal wave of antithesis poured into view. A few fell, but it was obvious they were quickly making progress towards whomever was shooting.

“Get in the fucking APC,” Emily yelled from inside.

“Why, what happened?” I asked as I jogged around the side and hopped in the back.

“The other escort team lost their wheels to a rogue five. They thought they could get out on foot, but they were harassed for several blocks before running head first into an ambush. They think there’s a seventeen stalking them,” Emily reported. I noticed Terrier’s eyes go wide when the new model was mentioned. “We’re heading to back them up.”

“Will this thing stand up to that many Antithesis?” I asked as I crouched to look at Jockey's monitor. Just as the front edge of the wave hit the other side of the intersection a half dozen mortar rounds hit the mob, ripping the center out of the charge.

“It doesn’t matter if the APC makes it or not, the other new samurai are over there. Command has given the order, extract them by any means necessary,” Emily explained. “Jockey go!”

As the APC surged forward, the heavy gun ripped apart a few of the antithesis, but it didn’t seem that even the heavy weapon would be enough to turn the fight around. I fiddled with my sword. Watching the action on the monitor, trying to come up with some sort of plan. Unfortunately, I could only come up with one, and it wasn’t exactly a great one.

“Is there any way I can get on the roof, or open a firing port on this thing?” I asked.

“It would be pretty difficult for you to fire through one of the gun ports,” Emily replied, her eyes locked on the battle. “Why?”

“I can’t do shit trapped in here, but I may be able to turn the tide if I can use my bow” I explained. “Is there a way up or not?”

“There is a hatch in the back, but I don’t recommend going out there, the gun is still… Hey WAIT,” Emily yelled when she turned and realized I’d already wrenched the hatch open. “The fucking gun is on auto! It could rip you apart!” she screamed.

“So take control!” I snapped back, “I’m going out there to help.”

I missed her reply, because I’d already half hoisted myself onto the roof, and the massive gun felt like it was blowing out my eardrums with each shot.

[Artymis I need hearing protection, and a quiver full of monowire.]

I really recommend you purchase items BEFORE you jump into the heart of the action next time. It’s easier.

[Now please]

Fine. I can get you mundane sound protection for two or three points, or I can open up an acoustic damping catalog that’ll allow you to hear normally, while protecting your hearing from the effects of gunfire, and some sonic weapons. It’ll be a hundred points, for the catalog, and ten points for the dampeners.

[Just do it already!] I messaged angrily. I was probably chewing through my points, but I didn’t care.

As soon as the box appeared at my feet I flipped it open, only to discover two… unusual jewelry pieces. They were two, inch long cylinders of jade colored metal. I just stared at them, confused.

They clip around your earlobe, approximately level with your ear canal. Once in place, they’ll lock in.

I quickly held the metal pieces up to my ears, and after a slight pinch, the sound of the heavy cannon faded almost entirely. I glanced up, and saw that the APC was just a dozen feet from the intersection, ready to slam into the middle of the mob without slowing down, so I grabbed my bow and braced myself. Looks like we were going in hot.