There was a tension in the air when we came back up, it was quiet.
“You think they thought we’d die down there?”
Humboldt shrugged, “People hear the stories about the Samurai, not everyone believes them. That Captain probably doesn’t believe we could be better than his men.”
“Possible, I’m glad the people are safe, but I want out of here. As you said before, that man is an asshole.” As we approached the bottom of the stairs I raised my voice “Yo, Captain! We fixed your basement problem.”
His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Really?”
“Yes, I honestly don’t care if you believe me or not, you can send someone to check or stay up there. All I care about is whether everyone up there is ok or not. Do you have enough medical supplies and stuff?”
Captain Porter’s face turned red, “Listen here you pipsqueak, I don’t care who you think you are but…”
I fired my CAR into the wall at the bottom of the stairs, the explosion punched a foot wide hole in the wall, which caused the captain to step back, his mouth snapped shut.
“I don’t care if you’re in charge, you feel threatened by me and my friend, or whatever, I came here for the people. Are. They. Good?”
The captain seemed stunned, one of the other officers, a tall beanpole of a man, spoke up instead. “Yes Ma’am. The emergency closets were fully stocked before everything went down. We have plenty of medical supplies and ammunition.”
“Good, we’ll seal the door on our way out. You can come down when you feel brave enough” I turned, waving as I walked away. “Stay safe.”
Humboldt caught up to me before I got to the front door. “Damn, you doing ok?”
“I’m fine. A lot of people think they can get away with treating me like a kid because of my height. I've learned how to deal with them.”
“By blowing up walls to show them who’s boss.”
“No, that’s new.” I turned, showing Humboldt a little bit of a grin, “Although it WAS effective.”
We stepped through the hole in the front door, then turned.
Your Area Denial Catalog contains a portable bulkhead for 10 points, that’ll seal that right back up.
“Alrighty, I can handle this. Nyx, one thing please.”
Purchased - Installable Bulkhead door - 10 points
Points remaining - 608 points
A huge metal plate, the size of a door clanged to the ground in front of the two of us.
Humboldt snorted, “While you’re ‘handling this’ I’m going to report in and let the other Samurai know what’s going on.”
“Wait…” I reached out to stop her, but she’d already started walking away. She tried to be subtle, I could still hear her chuckling at me.
It’ll be fine, it’s lighter than you expect. Just make sure the arms are on the inside, then push it into the opening.
The plate WAS lighter than expected, but it was still a big fucking metal plate so I had to struggle with it. As soon as it was pushed against the opening there was a hissing noise and the entire thing was pulled against the door frame.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
The hydraulic clamps on the inside will keep it secure. Good as new.
“If you say so.” I stepped away, turning just in time to catch the end of a conversation. Well, one side of it.
“No backup at all? … I understand that but … How the hell are we supposed to do that? … Fuck, we don’t have a choice, do we? … We’ll do it. … Stop trying to guilt trip me, we’re already going. I’ll call you when we know more.”
I’m sure, if she had a physical communicator, Humboldt would have smashed it there and then.
“Bad news?”
Humboldt slumped, “It’s not good, no backup yet and they want us to try and find where the Antithesis are building their hive.”
“I have no idea how to do that.”
“Neither do I, I haven’t been doing this much longer than you have, but we need to start figuring it out. If we don’t, things are going to get MUCH worse.”
I looked at the mountain of Antithesis bodies left from our skirmish earlier. “Wonderful.”
“Well,” I said after a moment, “the initial Antithesis came through the lift for the district, we could start there. Not sure if we’ll find the hive there though.”
Humboldt looked at me quizzically, “Why not?”
“Nyx keeps telling me the Antithesis are moving strangely, acting smart, like how the 16s tunneled in. Based on that, I don’t think they’d put it somewhere so obvious. That being said, I don’t know where-else to start.”
Humboldt nodded. “Better to try there than sitting around doing nothing.”
As the two of us prepared to leave, Nyx spoke up, through Spooky.
“Before you leave, I have a suggestion. You earned quite a few points for saving the Precinct, even if it was split between the two of you, it may be enough to salvage that bot from earlier before you leave.”
I stopped, “How…”
“You could use the token and 500 points to unlock Class II modular combat robotics. Then for a hundred points each you could upgrade your bots to Class II, which includes a heavier frame, infrared optics, redundant processor, and most importantly, self-repair functions. It’ll be slow, but get your bears back on their feet. You would have to spend the token to unlock it, but you probably wouldn’t get another chance to salvage your bot. If you leave it here the scavengers will probably be all over it. The new Class II's will cost you 250 a piece.”
“Shit… That means no lures for a while.”
“Correct.”
Humboldt looked at me, confused. “What are you talking about, what lures?”
“I planned on going somewhere safe-ish, like the Shelter, set up my bots in ambush, then set up an Antithesis lure. Bring them to me instead of hunting them throughout the district. I’m pretty limited by points right now though.”
“Fuck, sounds dangerous.”
“Yeah, well, so does finding and destroying an Antithesis hive.”
“Point.”
I stood for a moment, thinking, then sighed, “I don’t want to bankrupt myself again, so just gimme three doses. I’ll use them on the bears.”
Purchased - Class II modular combat robotics - 500 points, 1 token
Purchased - Class II autonomous combat unit upgrade - 100 x 3 points
Points remaining - 103
Three capsules appeared, each one with a three pronged needle on one side. Spooky stepped forward, grabbed one, and stabbed itself directly in the face.
“Nyx, was that necessary?”
“No, but it was effective. Spooky’s optic array has started regenerating.” There was some cracking, then a pop sound. It didn’t sound good, I was glad the facade was up.
“Well, inject number two, I’ll see if I can get number 3 on its feet.” He saluted, I rolled my eyes and headed into the ruined office building we had used earlier.
The bodies of the Antithesis coated the ground, number 3 still lay in front of the window where he fell earlier. Face split open. I shoved the injector into the bear’s arm, then leaned forward to watch.
For a long moment, nothing happened. Then, one of the needles wiggled, was slowly pushed out and fell to the floor. Then another, and another. Soon all that was left was a cracked faceplate, and even that sealed up. Finally, the bear’s face stitched itself back up, then it sat up.
“The miracle of nanotechnology.” Nyx said, using the bear’s voice.
“Well, I’m glad to get this guy back, it hurts when one of you goes down. Head back out to the others.”
The bear ran off, and I followed a step behind.
Out in the street Humboldt stood, staring at my squad, her now trademark smile plastered across her face. “Aren’t you going to give your cute guardians names like Spooky?”
“Hell no, I’ll get attached to them.”
“You just spent 800 points to save one of them, I think you’re attached to them already.”
I didn’t have anything to say to that.