A couple hours later, the cavern flooded with Family scientists, military personal and dozens of other samurai. As soon as they arrived they began clearing the surrounding tunnels, and creating a makeshift fortified base around the Forty-Four.
“I wish we had this much backup when that fucker burst out of its pillar,” I grumbled as I watched the human tide mill about.
“All of these samurai specialize in search and clear, they’re not great at frontline combat,” Grey said quietly. “If they’d been here, they’d likely have died in the fight.”
“Just like Brood then,” I reminded her.
To her credit Grey didn’t flinch, she just shook her head sadly. “We were lucky to only lose five people in that fight,” she reminded me. “It could have been much worse.”
“Maybe… Doesn’t make it sting any less,” I admitted. We stared at the chaos in silence for a few moments, before I brought up the reason I’d come to see Grey. “I’m leaving, with Humboldt, Bright-Eyes and Hoppy. None of us want to sit around in these tunnels, so we’re going to take everyone’s remains up to the surface and arrange for them to be delivered to their homes.”
“I’ve heard. Considering how few antithesis we’ve encountered during the last few hours, I find it very unlikely there’s anything else threatening down here, so I’m not going to ask you to stay. Did you already talk to the others?” she asked.
“We did. Arachne and Plasmalanx are sticking around, they want to do more. Magpie nearly crushed me in her good-bye hug, and Dreamer said some poetic shit then disappeared. I still have no idea how to handle her.”
“No one does,” Grey said with a small smile. “We’re planning on setting up a permanent base here, the area is too wide to collapse it all, and the research division wants to study the Forty-Four. Deep Six is widening the access corridors, but I don’t think it’s wide enough for you to get your vehicles out of here yet.”
“Then I’ll leave them,” I said with a shrug. “I’ll leave a handful of bears to watch them, and bring them out once there’s enough space. We have access to other vehicles on the surface, we’ll just use those.”
“Fair enough.” Grey stuck out her hand, and I shook it. “It was good working with you. I doubt we would have pulled through without your help,” she admitted.
“Likewise. Feel free to stop by if you’re ever in Calgary,” I offered.
“I just might. Take care,” Grey said before a wave of nanites flowed over her head and re-established her helmet. She immediately headed towards the corpse of the Forty-Four, yelling orders at the group standing around it.
I headed in the opposite direction, back towards the tunnel where we originally entered this hell hole, where the others, and nearly a hundred bears, were waiting for me.
“Everything squared away?” Sharron asked as I stepped up. She’d retrieved her massive Class II battlesuit at some point, and had it standing behind her.
“We’re good,” I replied as I surveyed the five boxes laid out in front of us. Three were tiny. We had trouble even finding bone shards for Raijin, Temporal, and Broodmother, so we packed what we could, along with their gear, in the boxes. Executable and Pestilence were mostly intact, but little more than heavy metal statues now. “Everyone ready to go?” I asked the group.
“I still have squirrels trapped in the tunnels, and I’ve sent some of the newer models to chew them out, but I’m not going to stick around to wait for them. I’ll pick them up later,” Bright-Eyes, or Angeline as I preferred to call her now that we were out of a combat situation, said. “Let's get out of here.”
Hoppy nodded, and picked up Brood’s ‘coffin’.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
“You don’t have to carry that,” I told her, “the bears can do it.”
“I want to… she was kind of my mentor, and I want to show her respect,” Hoppy mumbled in reply.
She looked like she was going to cry, so Sharron walked over and rubbed her on the back. “That’s very kind of you,” Sharron said quietly.
I sent out a signal and my bears swept in, lifting the other boxes before forming several columns. Spooky wandered over to me, so I leaned down close to his head. “Make sure you pay attention to the coffin bearers,” I whispered, “I don’t want any accidents.” He saluted briefly, before retreating back to the line.
“Do you want to lead the march?” I asked Hoppy once everything was set up. She hesitated, but nodded in the end.
The march back to the surface was a solemn affair. We didn’t really say much as we made our way up the tunnel that Deep Six dug out earlier, it was practically a funeral procession. I’m not sure if Grey let the Family know that we were coming up or not, but almost every person we passed stepped to one side respectfully. It might just have been because we were all samurai, and there was a massive army of teddy bears behind us, but I liked to believe it was out of respect for the dead.
Once we reached the surface I found there was a small fortification around the entrance, and the vehicles I had called earlier were lined up outside. I noticed CBeRN in the crowd as we made our way to the entrance. He nodded respectfully, but didn’t approach.
“Pestilence and Raijin are going to Edmonton,” I said pointing at one of the IFVs. “Temporal and Execuable are going to Vancouver, and Brood is coming back to Calgary with us,” I said pointing at another IFV, and then my truck. “Nyx, now that we’re topside can you inform the local chapters of the Family that the bodies are coming? They should be shown some respect when they arrive,” I said. “Spooky, you and Bob can escort the bodies to their destinations before coming back.”
“We should take my RV back,” Sharron suggested. “It’s more comfortable, and fits everyone. Plus, I think you need the space in your truck to transport bears.”
The area was completely full. I hadn’t been totally aware of how many bears I’d ordered while in the caverns, but now there were nearly a hundred surrounding us. Even with my truck, and the three other IFVs waiting for us, there wouldn’t be enough space. “We’ll shove as many of Bright’s Squirrels into the truck as we can, and fill the rest of the space with bears,” I suggested. “I control the driver so it can follow us on the way back, then send Spooky to pick up the rest later. It’s going to take multiple trips anyways,” I said, as Angeline filled up the truck.
Hoppy was still cradling Broodmother’s box, so I approached her slowly. “Did you want to come to Calgary and help drop off Broodmother’s remains? I can have one of my vehicles drive you back to your home city afterwards.”
“Thanks,” she said with a quiet smile, “but not necessary. I’m from Calgary, so I can get a ride from the headquarters, once I know she’s been taken care of.”
“Oh…” I replied awkwardly. “Okay then.”
I saw Sharron shoot me a look, to which I mouthed ‘I didn’t know’ behind Hoppy’s back. She maneuvered her massive battlesuit into its storage bay at the back of the RV before popping open the door for us to board.
I’d forgotten how fancy the living room area was in the back of the RV, compared to the living areas I was used to, and Hoppy, Angeline and I ended-up sitting awkwardly around the area while Sharron started the vehicle.
We sat in silence for several minutes, with Hoppy cradling Brood’s box, before I finally cleared my throat. “You know… I’m sure there will be an official wake, and everyone will mourn there, but how about we talk about the good times we had with Broodmother? I didn’t have many, but I can tell you about when we met. She certainly knew how to make a first impression.”
Hoppy looked unsure, but Angeline sat up straight and nodded. “I have a couple stories too. She was at the Headquarters a lot, and always made time to look after any samurai that popped in. She was like a mother figure to a lot of us.”
“Alright,” Hoppy finally consented, slowly loosening her grip on the box. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”
“Great!” I said, switching seats and sinking into the couch next to Hoppy. “Now, imagine this: I’d just finished my first incursion with Squiddy, and was walking around the streets trying to clean the dregs up, not a clue what I was doing, when a titanic wave of bugs came rolling in. Man, was I ever confused,” I started.
Angeline and I managed to keep Hoppy’s mind off the situation until we finally arrived back in Calgary. When we pulled up to the Family HQ, a lot of the employees were lined up outside, along with a small honor guard of other samurai. It was honestly more than I expected.
When Hoppy finally stepped out of the RV with her passenger everyone saluted. It was only the start to a fitting send off for one of the city’s greatest heroes.