"I'm quite partial to hammers myself, but y'know the saying. Bitches love Cannons."

- Emmelyn "Lime Light" Seras, to Spark “Groundwire” Graham during the December 2056 Indianapolis Incursion

—

A quick check of the second shelter revealed that it was both full of civilians and completely secure. It was a lot more difficult to maneuver Howie to the panel and power things up, but it was worth it in the end. Since there wasn’t anyone important inside, and we couldn’t let everyone out at this time, we just did a quick check then headed back outside.

“We’re good?” Emily asked after Skyler and I finally stepped outside.

“Everything seems fine inside. They’re packed in pretty tight, but the door is secure, so that’s something. We’ll have to send a message to command when we get back to the APC, so they can send someone out to evacuate everyone when the incursion is finished,” Skyler reported. “Anything happen out here while we were in there?”

“It’s been quiet,” Bulldog replied. “No antithesis or androids have wandered by, but we do occasionally hear things breaking in the distance, so they’re still around.”

“We’ll deal with them if we encounter them, but our priority is the shelters,” Emily reminded everyone. “You two ready to head to the next location?” she asked Skyler and I.

I nodded slightly, then pulled up the map again. If we continued following the support roads around to the far side of the park, where the last shelter was located. It was located directly behind the food court we passed earlier. “Sky, can you send your drone over to check the place out?” I asked.

She nodded, then made her adorable little concentrating face for a minute or so. Then she frowned. “I can’t, there’s something over there disrupting my drone’s signal.”

“More of the model Nines?” I asked.

{Arty: Nines typically only have weak ECM, which disrupts local electronics. To project a field large enough to disrupt the drone it’s more likely a model Twelve, or Fourteen.}

{Sky: Another one?}

{Athy: Model Twelves aren’t actually that uncommon during an incursion, they act as transports for the smaller models, and collect biomass to transport back to the proto hives.}

{Rei: It’s a good thing we have Sky and Howie then. Not being able to spot them from a distance sucks, so we’ll just have to be extra vigilant when we approach the area. Sky, can you mark the area you’re losing the signal on the map?}

{Sky: Oh, good idea. Done! Sending it out to everyone}

As soon as the squad received the updated map, they looked at us questioningly. “There’s something disrupting the drone in that area,” I explained. “So we need to be extra vigilant in that area.”

“You heard the lady, keep your eyes up!” Emily barked.

“It seems to be centered in the food courts, so we should be able to avoid it if we walk the perimeter to get to the third shelter. We’ll have to deal with it if we want to get back out the main gate though,” Skyler remarked. “Can the APC deal with a model Twelve if we call it in?”

Emily shook her head. “Not in a stand up fight. The main gun is relatively low caliber, and better at dealing with smaller models and fliers. It might be able to penetrate that heavier armor occasionally, but it would need a long time to do serious damage,” she replied.

“Then we need to rely upon Skyler and Howie then,” I muttered.

Or you need something capable of penetrating that armor, Artymis reminded me.

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“True,” I whispered back before raising my voice. “There’s no point in worrying about it until we know what we’re dealing with, though, and we still have that third shelter to check first,” I announced. “Follow me.”

As I headed down the supply road, I couldn’t help but notice that the shadows were a little bit longer. The incursion had hit in the mid afternoon, and after an hour or two of combat, we were starting to lose the light. I picked up the pace when we made it to the far side of the park, jogging down the last stretch towards the shelter. Skyler grabbed me just as I got my first glimpse of the shelter access.

“The interference is moving,” she hissed.

“Towards us?” I whispered back.

Skyler’s eyes unfocused for a moment, then she nodded. “I didn’t notice before, but the disruption is stronger in this area than when I did my flyby earlier,” she replied.

“Then we play it safe,” I declared. “We’ll try the same plan as last time, lure the creature out for Howie to deal with.” I turned towards the squad, “We hold here. Whatever is in the food court is closer than we’d like, so we’re going to try and fight it here.”

“Spread out,” Emily immediately snapped. “Prepare for covering fire.”

[Artymis, lure please.] I waited for a moment, then reached down for the new arrow in my quiver. I slowly unslung the bow, and set my arrow. “Ready?” I asked Skyler. She paused for a moment, then nodded. As soon as she did I let the arrow fly.

It didn’t take long for the unbelievable riot of noise to attract attention. A pair of Fours burst through the door first, stabbing wildly with their tentacles before they were brought down by a combination of my arrows and rifle fire. They were quickly followed by half a dozen Threes, which died the same way. It was only then that the wall exploded outwards, providing next to no resistance against the massive bulk of the model Twelve that had been hidden within.

Howie instantly started firing, pounding the heavily armed antithesis with repeated, merciless mortar fire. It almost felt too easy, dealing with such a massive, well armed antithesis this way.

As I watched the Twelve slowly succumb to the relentless artillery fire, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned supernaturally quick and time slowed as I watched the wall to our left bowed outwards.

“Back!” I managed to yell as the wall collapsed, revealing a second twelve trundling out mere feet away from my location. I drew my penetrating arrows and fired them repeatedly directly into the creature’s head as fast as I could. They sank several inches directly into the creature's skull, but apparently didn’t reach far enough to do any serious damage.

I watched with perfect clarity as the Twelve focused directly upon me, flared its nostrils in irritation, and charged. I tried to dodge to the side, abandoning the bow and drawing my blade, but the monster tracked me unnervingly well.

My shield flashed, then instantly collapsed as it smashed into me head first. Pain bloomed out of my ribs, but despite the haze, I managed to remain aware enough to grab onto the creature’s face and hold fast. If I let go, I’d be crushed by its stampeding feet. I could even feel the vibration from its stomping through my body as I was dragged around.

As the creature ran past the squad, I was vaguely aware of people yelling, but I was far too preoccupied by the creature wildly shaking its head, trying to throw me loose. My grip was starting to fail, so I did the only thing I could and started plunging my blade directly into the monster’s head. I didn’t expect much, but surprisingly the blade managed to penetrate deep into the skull, so I stabbed again and again.

For several long moments, the two of us were locked in a desperate struggle to survive.

The Twelve stumbled, its legs on one side collapsing and causing the massive beast to fall, and skid to a stop. It was only then that I finally stopped stabbing long enough to look at my foe. I’d turned the side of the Twelve’s face into a chopped salad that was practically unrecognizable.

I slowly pushed the massive head off myself and stood up, legs shaky, breathing heavily. “Fucking hell,” I muttered as I clutched at my bruised ribs.

The next thing I knew, Skyler grabbed me, her hands quickly wandering around looking for injuries. “Please tell me you’re alright!” she pleaded.

“I think I’m fine,” I replied, unable to keep the surprise out of my voice. “I am alive, right? I didn’t get trampled back there, right?”

“No, you didn’t, somehow. Let me tell you, I almost had a heart attack when that thing smashed into you. Are you sure you’re okay?” Skyler asked as she put her hands on both sides of my face and brought my head closer. “You don’t look that great.”

“She’s probably in shock,” Trevor said as he stepped close. “She probably should sit down.”

“Right, let's do that,” Skyler immediately agreed, as she pulled me towards a nearby piece of wreckage.

“It’s dead, right?” I finally asked, glancing at my girlfriend. She nodded slowly. As the stress and adrenaline slowly drained out of my system, my legs went limp, and I stumbled over to the rubble to sit down. “Thank fuck,” I whispered.