There’s an old saying, ‘No plan survives the first engagement.’ If that’s true, why plan at all? Actions speak louder than plans!

- Collateral Damage after his rampage through the Vancouver Industrial Sector.

—

“What the fuck was that?” Bulldog growled after everyone caught their breath. “I’ve never seen the antithesis act like that!”

“It was the Seventeen, it’s been hunting us since we swooped in and picked up Skyler,” I reported. “Apparently it sees us as a threat.”

“Fuck…” Ratchet muttered.

“So what do we do? Retreat back to the command post?” Trevor asked. “I’d suggest trying to hunt it down, but I’ve heard stories about the squads that try that, and we have an injured civilian on board.”

“First, we make some space,” Emily replied. “Unfortunately it seems to be between us and the sector exit, so we’re doubling back. Skyler, Reina, let’s talk.”

I carefully slid past Howie, careful not to bump Trevor or his charge, and made my way back up to the front of the APC. When I got there, Emily glanced between Skyler and I. “This is bad, extremely bad. The orange zone expanded enough to reach the other sector exits, which has put them on lockdown. If the Seventeen is hunting us our only way out is back out the same way we came in, so we need to either evade that thing or deal with it,” she said quietly. “Please tell me you have some ideas”

“Ideas? That thing would have killed me if you guys hadn’t swooped in to rescue Steve, Trevor and I, and even though I’m stronger now, I still don’t even know what the thing looks like,” Skyler hissed in frustration. “If there hadn’t been a way through that building, we would have all been dead back there!”

I reached over and grabbed her hand, giving it a quick squeeze of encouragement. “We don’t have any ideas right now,” I told Emily, “but give us a couple minutes to talk to our AIs. Maybe we can work something out.”

“Fine, but try and make it quick,” Emily grumbled. “Jocky is doubling back to give us some time, but if that thing chases us we’ll quickly get pinned between it, and the orange zone.”

I nodded, then turned back to Skyler. She was still trembling slightly, so I pulled her into a light hug before opening our shared channel.

{Rei: Tell me everything you can about Seventeens. They must have some weakness that we can take advantage of.}

{Athy: Of course. First thing you should understand is although they’re extremely smart there are limitations to what they can do. They command the lesser antithesis not through some auditory cues, but through a direct connection. They produce a special version of the model Seven, which they implant into other antithesis.}

{Arty: These Model Sevens are not independent, but connected back to the model Seventeen through extremely strong, and thin, nerve strands. These strands not only limit the effective range at which they can affect the other antithesis, but provide a way to find the Seventeen.}

{Athy: And once you locate the Seventeen you shouldn’t have much trouble dispatching it. It’s only about the size of a small dog, and relies upon other antithesis to defend itself.}

{Rei: How far can it extend these nerve strands? And how many antithesis can it control at the same time?}

{Arty: It depends on the specific version of the Seventeen, but most can only extend a couple hundred feet, and control about two dozen models.}

{Sky: Bullshit! There were hundreds of antithesis back at the Tanaka Industries building.}

{Athy: That’s because Seventeens fight smart, not hard. This model probably implanted most of its control worms in Sixes, Twelves, and Fourteens. Then it used the Sixes to direct smaller models, while providing heavy support with the larger models.}

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{Rei: I’m not really hearing a weakness yet.}

{Sky: Wait… If it’s only commanding Sixes, that means it needs time to gather forces, and set up these ambushes. It can’t just throw them together.}

{Arty: Correct. I would guess it spotted the APC as it approached the Tanaka Industries building, and spent as much time gathering local antithesis as it could before you emerged.}

I glanced over at Skyler, still not quite grasping what she was talking about. {Rei: How does that help us?}

{Sky: It probably stretched it’s controlled models out over a large area, to look for us, so if we somehow manage to surprise it we’ll only have to deal with the directly controlled models.}

{Rei: It was probably directly controlling that Model Fourteen.}

{Sky: Yes, well, that’ll have to be something we deal with, but it’s better than dealing with the entire local population.}

{Rei: That’s true…}

{Sky: I have an idea. Athyna, a moment please?}

Skyler disconnected from the group chat, and started discussing something with her AI. After a few seconds, she turned towards Emily. “Okay, I think I have a solution.”

Emily raised an eyebrow. “Alright, shoot.”

Skyler slipped over to the map display. She inspected it for a few seconds, then pointed to a location several kilometers away from our current location. “We should head around here, then stop the APC for about ten minutes.”

Emily glanced my way, obviously confused. Unfortunately I couldn’t exactly help her with this one. “How will that help us?” I asked.

“I’m going to upgrade my drones with precision sensors, then release them as soon as we stop. If the Seventeen has any of its slaves in the area, it will definitely come investigate, and when it does I’ll start tracking the control tether back towards the source. If nothing shows up in ten minutes, we’ll move and try again,” Skyler explained.

“And because it needs to gather forces before an attack, if we minimize the amount of time we stay in one area it won’t have the time to put together another attack,” I filled in, finally getting Skyler’s plan.

“You’re sure about this?” Emily asked cautiously.

“Our AIs have confirmed it. The Seventeen can only control about two dozen models, so it’s probably directing Sixes and Teens. It could charge it with one of the larger models at that time, but it wouldn’t have the time to swarm us,” Skyler confirmed.

Emily sighed. “Fine, it’s worth a shot,” she said before turning to give Jockey some orders.

Skyler nodded, then crouched down as a small stack of boxes appeared at her feet. She didn’t even look up as she grabbed each one, before passing them up to me. “Here, hold these.”

“What are…” I started.

“The sensor upgrades, remember? No point in trying this if we can’t find our way back to the source,” Skyler reminded me. She stood up, and called her drones over.

Since there wasn’t much space in the APC they had to hover above Howie as Skyler worked. She took the boxes from my hands one by one, popped them open, and pressed something that looked like an old school spherical surveillance camera to the bottom of each drone, right next to the hacking interface. They made the same sizzle as before, as the sensors bonded to the drone’s chassis and connected to their systems. It only took her about a minute to complete, and once they were all done she stepped back, satisfied.

I watched her with a goofy grin on my face, and arms full of empty protector packaging. “I love when you’re so confident,” I whispered.

Skyler turned to me, a massive smile on her face, “I know,” she replied.

“We’re coming up on the location now!” Emily declared as she stepped away from Jockey. “I’m going to time you, ten minutes from the moment we stop.” She turned towards the back and raised her voice. “I want everyone at the windows! If you see anything you YELL, got it? Bulldog, open the door long enough for the drones to get out, then seal it again.”

“Windows?” I asked as the APC skidded to a halt. Bulldog had already cracked open the back ramp, allowing the drones to fly out.

Emily didn’t answer, instead she walked over to the side of the APC and grabbed a small piece of metal about eye height on the wall and slid it to the side, revealing a thin pane of glass. “We keep them covered with these armor panels, because even bullet proof glass is a weakness in an armoured vehicle.

In nodded, then once again slipped past Trevor and headed towards the back. Once I had enough space to stand, I reached over and opened the nearest window.

The streets were extremely dark, and even with my glasses it was hard to make out anything through the thick glass. I did catch a glance of one of Skyler’s drones as it floated over one of the buildings, but it quickly disappeared.

The APC was quiet for several long minutes until Skyler finally spoke up. “I’ve found one,” she said. “I don’t think it noticed the drone, but I can definitely make out the nerve strand. I’m sending all of my drones back towards the source.”

“Now what?” Steve asked.

“Now we go hunting,” I replied quietly.