When I pulled the gate open I found Humboldt there, preparing to knock. The two of us stared at each other for a long moment.

“I thought you were buying one of those massive railguns,” she said.

“I thought you were taller,” I shot back. Her previously massive, ten-foot-tall, tanky power suit was gone, replaced by something that was a lot more form- fitting. It looked like a regular suit of power armor, but with her trademark tentacles mounted on the back. “Are you downgrading for some reason?” I asked.

“Fuck you! This is an upgrade. Class III Deep Dweller Catalog doesn’t focus on adding more armor like the Class II, it focuses on miniaturizing the same tech. Faster, lighter, but with a similar level of protection,” she told me indignantly. “What about you? Buy the wrong catalog?”

“I decided on a slightly different option,” I told her. “Magpie convinced me to invest in something different when Grey started crushing large swaths of the enemy lines.”

“She’s not the only one,” Sharron mumbled. “Now that everyone’s put their points to work, the team wants to push towards the other hives.”

“And you came because they want my help?” I asked.

Sharron looked at me sheepishly. “Not you… Although I’m sure they wouldn’t complain if the two of us joined. They asked if I could swap out for Magpie.”

“Present!” the grey-armored samurai called out as she hung upside down from the battlements, “Swanky ride! Is it to go meet up with Bright-Eyes and her team?” she asked as she rolled from the wall to my IFV.

“Nooooo…. Were we supposed to do that?” I replied blankly.

“A squirrel did come see me while you were repairing the walls,” she admitted.

“And you didn’t mention this earlier why…?” Sharron asked, aghast.

“It slipped my mind. I was playing golf at the time,” Magpie admitted.

“Fuck…” I muttered. “I hope they’re ok.”

“They’re samurai, they’re fine,” Magpie assured me. “At least they were twenty minutes ago.”

“Maybe we should go check on them,” Sharron said, nudging my shoulder. “Since you have a way to get around to them.” She turned towards Magpie, who was busy trying to dislodge some part of my brand new IFV. “Pestilence wanted you. They’re going to make a move on the Hives soon.”

“Wonderful! I’m sure Dreamy will be pleased with the action. Are you two going to be fine on your own?” she asked.

“Yeah… I was going to stay here, but it might be worth going to check on the other team,” I admitted. “Take the white squirrel with you so we can keep in touch.”

“Can do!” Magpie replied with a salute. A second later the thruster on her back activated, shooting her up into the air. She swung down, and snatched the white squirrel from the back of my base, before flying away.

“I feel bad for that squirrel,” I said as I watched her go. “If it was a real animal it would be traumatized by everything we put it through.”

“Who cares about that…” Sharron snapped. “You just volunteered us to fight our way to the far side of the cavern and meet up with the others. Do you think we’re up for that?”

“Not fight, fly,” I corrected her. “And yes, I think we’ll make it in the Kodiak, probably… Nyx?”

“The Kodiak is capable of shrugging off both strikes from the Model Elevens, and direct hits from the Model Fifteen projectiles. Nothing else will be able to reach it during the trip,” a voice echoed down from the wall.

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“See, there you go,” I said.

“And what about your base here? As soon as you pull Bob back from the front line, or evacuate the walls, it’ll be overrun,” Sharron said.

“They’re just walls. Magpie knows we’re leaving, so the others won’t be surprised if they’re overrun,” I countered. “Assuming she remembers to tell them,” I added under my breath. “All we need is a minute or two to load everyone inside then we’re good. Locking the gate should give us enough time,” I assured her.

“I’d trust your judgement, if you hadn't almost been overrun less than twenty minutes ago,” she replied flippantly. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“But I survived!” I said. “All it cost me was a dozen bears. It’s actually good, now everyone fits in the IFV.”

“Don’t try and put a positive spin on it,” she said quietly, shaking her head. “If we’re going to do this, let's get a move on. We don’t want to keep them waiting.”

“Right,” I replied, pulling Sharron into the base. I noticed that her arm didn’t even twitch when I pulled, I doubt I could have moved her at all if she didn’t cooperate with me. As soon as we were inside I sent a signal to Bob, who immediately came sprinting back, the antithesis at his heels. He slammed the gate closed, then literally picked me up and made a break for the back of the IFV. All along the walls my bears were once again abandoning their positions, shoving their way into the back of the Kodiak.

It was a tight fit. The Kodiak, like the Grizzly before it, was designed for one to two squads of bears and their support gear. Thankfully the Kodiak didn’t have a lure installed, otherwise I’m not sure if Bob, Sharron and I would have fit. Once everyone was in, the back of the vehicle slid closed, and it lifted slowly off the ground.

I swapped one of the monitors over to the exterior cameras, just in time to catch the antithesis breaching the wall. The patches I had applied earlier barely slowed them down, and it was only a matter of seconds until the Model Threes and Fours poured into the courtyard. By the time they did, we were well out of reach, and accelerating away.

I had the bots follow the cavern wall, so the antithesis could only attack us from one side, as we searched for the other team.

“How are we supposed to find them?” Sharron asked, squinting at the monitor we were using. “They could be anywhere.”

“I don’t know. Maybe look for a massive carpet of scarabs, squirrels, or… lightning strikes?” I said as a bright flash lit up the monitor. “The antithesis don’t do that, do they?” I asked suspiciously.

“I’m pretty sure they don’t,” Sharron confirmed.

As we slowly approached the area where we saw the lightning, I could start to make out details, and the situation wasn’t great. Broodmother was slaughtering the small fry, and maintaining a perimeter with her carpet of scarabs, but the larger models were pushing in. One of them seemed to be shooting massive bolts of electricity out, occasionally frying one of the larger models, but it wasn’t enough to keep everything back.

“Bob, out!” I ordered as soon as we were close enough. Without a moment’s hesitation the big bear stepped out the back of the craft, dropping directly into the wave of Twenties pushing in. While he started his work, Spooky found a flat place for us to land.

As soon as we touched down a young woman blurred towards us at an unimaginable speed. “Holy shit! What an entrance! I’m glad you’re here I’m….” she was cut off as the Kodiak’s main gun opened up with a nearly deafening crack. I stumbled out of the back of the Kodiak just in time to see it bisect a couple of Twenty-Threes that were getting too close. The cannon fired continuously for about thirty seconds, until Dusty was apparently happy with the perimeter he’d created.

“Fuck… What did you say?” I asked the slightly shell-shocked woman, while finally ordering the rest of my bears to create a perimeter.

“I’m Hoppy,” she announced quietly.

“Nice to meet you Hoppy, I’m Humboldt. The grumpy one is Teddy,” Sharron said, slowly holding out a hand so as not to scare the girl further.

“I’m not grumpy!” I mumbled as the two shook.

“You’re here! And not a moment too soon!” I heard a familiar voice say. A moment later Bright-Eyes came running across the small area, scooping me into a crushing hug. “I’m so glad to see you!”

“Me too!” I managed to squeak out.

“Mother and Raijin are still monitoring the perimeter, they wanted to make sure the situation stabilized before coming over to say hello,” she explained while hugging Sharron.

“Do you know each other?” Hoppy asked. I took a moment to look the woman over, she was wearing a pink and white running outfit, with a helmet which had two long antennae which looked like swept back bunny ears, and cybernetic legs. It didn’t take a genius to realize how she probably got the name.

“We’ve worked together before, in Seattle,” Bright-Eyes explained, which seemed to impress Hoppy. “Come on, we should go talk to the others. You can catch us up on the situation.”