The ‘Rain’ had stopped earlier, it no longer ran down the middle of the streets, but it hadn’t completely cleared out of the district. There were a few canals, like the one in front of me now, which were still struggling to drain the runoff.

“Well, at least we know that even the Antithesis aren’t stupid enough to try and cross that shit directly.” Further down the canal sat an overpass, which the Antithesis were using to full effect. I’d probably have walked directly into the swarms constantly crossing it, if the fox hadn’t stopped me. Instead my squad and I sat on the 3rd floor of one of the pre-fab residential buildings overlooking the area.

There’s a third one. Nyx muttered, as a model twelve crossed the bridge.

“And another pair of sixes, what’s that twelve?”

Fourteen

“Shit, we’ve only been here five minutes. I’d suggest blowing it up, but the precinct is on the other side, and there’s half a dozen other bridges in the district, we’d only be slowing ourselves down.”

We do have the XR-42

“Single shot, and it took a minute to cool down enough that I could move it. Not great for fighting on the move.”

It did come from the weapon emplacement catalog

“I know, I’m not complaining.” I could see the Antithesis outside pushing back and forth across the bridge, organised chaos at work. “There’s a lot of points available out there, I’m just afraid if this turns into a fight we’re just going to get tied down here for a while.”

And you’re worried about the precinct.

I let out a quiet hmmm in agreement.

Well, I’m not sure if you were serious about your original plan, considering your purchases so far it seems like you’re heading that way, and if so I have a suggestion. The Class I Area denial catalog which contains Razor Wire, tank traps, and, most importantly, assorted mines.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Useful, but I don’t think I’ll have the time to set that shit up in the middle of a firefight.”

You don’t need to, I can deploy the mines automatically as long as they’re within a short distance of yourself.

“Doesn’t stop the Antithesis coming from the other side of the bridge.”

True.

My eyes went from the churning mass below to the far side of the bridge.

“How far away can you deploy something?”

***************************

A model six collapsed, holes in the side of its head, the threes and fours surrounding it were caught in a hail of lead a second later. A momentary opening, that’s all I needed to reach the bridge.

“Nyx!”

Deploying Conventional AP mines, I’ll continue to deploy them behind you as you advance.

As the bots pushed forward, trying to clear my way across the bridge a series of explosions started going off behind me. The mass of Antithesis on the far side of the bridge turned, and rushed in.

“Nyx, I hate to rush you…”

There was a deep whine from the top of some sort of convenience store ahead of me, then a long burst of gunfire cut into the Antithesis struggling to push onto the bridge, severely depleting their numbers.

Good call on deploying a bear with the M-93 Ripper to cover your advance.

With the heavy machine gun covering our advance from in front, and the mass assault rifle fire from my bots, the far side of the bridge was cleared by the time we arrived.

“I hate that I needed to waste the points, but it was probably necessary.”

Actually, even with the mines, which cost three points each, you’re in the black right now.

I spared a glance at the bridge behind me. The Antithesis had made it about half way across, the entire other side was littered with corpses, some quite heavily dismembered.

“Can we destroy the bridge to prevent them from using it?”

Not with what you have now, Area denial not demolitions.

“Fuck it then.” My little group ran for the nearest alley before the Antithesis could clear the obstructed bridge.

I glanced at the convenience store, a single bear sat on top covering my escape. I hated to leave the little guy behind, but it would buy my team time to escape. “Give the Ripper a few extra reloads.”

I saluted the brave bear before skulking further into the alley.

That went surprisingly smooth.

“Yeah well, we got lucky that no model twelves showed up as we crossed. Lets hope our luck holds out.”