“After the 2022 Ohio Incursion and the disunion of the United States, the culture of first responders changed.

Originally those first on the scene looked for survivors and tried to prevent the spread of whatever current tragedy befell the area. Nowadays we have a much more efficient group that responds to crises, the Samurai!

Why bother sending an EMT to save four or five lives when a Samurai can save thousands in the same time and all the people leave much better than before they entered the tragedy.

I even heard rumors of some folks seeking Incursions and the like just to be saved by a Samurai to heal existing conditions.

All in all, it is much better to disband both firefighters and EMTs and focus on preventative measures instead.“

* Email proposal to the Twin Cities of hors sol Saint-Louis and sous terre Saint-Louis, October 2044

***

“Why do I need to know how to kill a Samurai?” I asked, confused.

“Because!” Sky said excitedly as he programmed a couple of targets on the conference room table. “If you know how we die then you’ll know how to avoid being killed.”

Handing me the box of ammo he directed me to run up and down the length of the room and fire into the holograms, ignoring the damage I was doing to the opposing wall.

“Again”

“Again”

“Again”

This repeated for what felt like an hour but it could’ve been that long. After the first half I had to run in different scenarios. The worst was when he jumped in and chased me while I had to hit him and other targets at the same time. I never succeeded in more than half the scenarios and I was severely out of breath.

“Stop and rest.” he finally said and I collapsed to the ground.

“Not there.” He said and grabbed me by the back of my collar and dragged me up and into a chair. One of the few still upright after all the running around the room. He did so with only one arm and with seemingly no strain. What kind of upgrades did he have?

As I tried to catch my breath he began to pace in front of me. It seems I have a lecture incoming I thought to myself.

I was right.

“You are not cheating. I understand it would be confusing if you would get it immediately. Suspicious even. Whatever. What I have to teach you is what to look for in a fight and how to beat your opponent.”

He cleared his throat. “Cheat, lie, and steal.”

He showed an empty hand, then as he spoke his small knife appeared out of nowhere at “Cheat”, at “lie” it flashed into five separate knives, and finally at “steal” my pistol appeared next to the rest.

“What you’ll have to watch for is…the exact things you are going to do to kill them.” Sky said in an exasperated sigh. “It’s hard to explain so I’ll just send you the e-books, audio files, and all other media files related to fights.” Gesturing me up, he waves for me to follow.

I follow Sky as he leaves the room heading away from where the elevators are stationed and head to a set of stairs.

The staircase is dark and it's only when I enter it and it doesn’t light up that I realize my pen light is dead. I take the attachment off my cap and clip it back to the belt so I can recharge it for next time.

Using the guardrail I descend a floor to another boring hallway. All the advertisements and promotional posters are bland and generic, probably tied to the headquarters upstairs.

Heading to what looks like a gymnasium I find a massive group of people. I would’ve stopped and stared in confusion if I was alone but as Sky moved forward I didn’t want to be left behind and quickly followed in his wake.

Nearly a hundred people were all in the gym in various types of clothing with varying degrees of injuries. They looked like survivors of the incursion. When Sky hopped on a small stage I didn’t want to be the center of attention but some others were up there too, important looking people that I could use as a shield from the attention of others.

Using the extra height I scanned the crowd and actually recognized a couple outfits from RuCorp, technicians like me. I didn’t see Urgi, Denstill, or Bremmin but it was likely they were a couple floors above me, not dealing with the Antithesis that I ran across down here.

I watched Sky distractedly direct some of the important looking people to distribute supplies and organize the survivors into multiple groups.

After ten minutes Sky motioned me over without looking my way.

“Remember how a Samurai can gain points?”

Oh boy, a pop quiz. “Yes,” I replied. “By killing Antithesis and saving civilians.”

“Good. Now compared to how to earn points, no one really knows how Samurai are chosen. Even Aerthyos is unaware of the perimeters that the Protectors have set aside. Just keep being in position to help others, to kill Antithesis, and study. No one needs another idiot with the power of an army running around.”

I couldn’t help myself, nor did I want to stop. Not really. So I asked. “How did you get Aerthyos? Is that an upgrade you acquired?”

Sky laughed, genuinely. “What? No. Aerthyos is a class XII Personal A.I. No Samurai ever gets close to being able to getting another A.I. at this level.” Sky reached out and caught a falling box and opened it to reveal a holo disc.

A display of a wafer thin microchip was floating over the disc while rotating.

“This is Aerthyos, a gift that the Protectors gave me and all other Samurai to interface with the system they came up with and answer any questions you might have.”

After looking at my face Sky continued. “No, you can’t talk to him. It gets annoying quickly being the middleman and I don’t let Aerthyos out anymore after the incident with Jericho.”

I tried not to look disappointed but failed because Sky laughed at me.

“Don’t freak out kid when the microchip is teleported into your brain and you get the infamous Vanguard greeting. When that happens, come tell me and we can celebrate.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“I’m… not a kid.” I say, a little annoyed. I guess I had a youthful demeanor?

“Samurai count in samurai age, you aren’t even a samurai so you’ll be a kid until you have a year or so of A.I. brain time.” Sky laughed, his jovial tones switching to a semi-serious lecture.

“For samurai, 5 years old is middle age, and like the real world most don’t make it there. The real scary ones are those who were recruited to the cause during the first incursions back in the 2020s. A 30 year old samurai is chalk full of experience and points. Enough to change the world.”

As he explained he seemed to pause and then added, almost in response to an unheard question. “Yeah, it’s said that a samurai helped fund Macroon, unsure what happened to them but it’s likely they died while it was still under construction.”

After a minute of silence I turned to move, no idea what was going through his mind.

“Oh, before you go.” Sky said, tossing me the holo disc. “You have an hour to prepare before we go.”

Shrugging I headed out to find a group to protect or a place to study because I didn’t see any Antithesis.

While I walked I readjusted the 10 mm magazines on my belt so they were rebalanced and didn’t dig in on my side. I had ammo but that didn’t mean I would waste it firing randomly about.

I went to the far wall, weaving through the crowd slowly because they didn’t seem to want to let a technician through. Perhaps I needed another disguise. Well…technically the technician uniform isn’t a disguise as I was a technician.

Yet, I use it as a disguise.

Hmmm. Another question for a therapist that I’ll never ask.

Not that any of the affordable therapists worked. Only the expensive one in fancy offices on the upper floors gave applicable advice.

Back when I was… Back then I had access to Dr. Steri, and she helped me through the incident. But after I took her advice to distance myself from my work, which I took very literally, I couldn’t see her anymore.

Living on the 5th floor really puts a damper on visiting a therapist on the 21st floor.

Maybe it was the smell.

Focusing back on my clothing issue I made a list.

First, I need to find what I want to wear and if there are any I can take without force.

Second, I need to look important. Or at least dangerous.

Third, Make a list that is longer than two steps.

At the outreaches of the crowd I see some people lying around, what look like homeless workers in their dirty suits.

They would normally have a small space under their desks to sleep in to improve efficiency for the company or corp that employed them. But depending on their shift it would be in the middle of the night for them right now so it was understandable that they would sleep in a safe space when they could.

The outer wall had a few select rooms for privileged clientele to change in before exercising. I tried the door but it was locked.

A warning and fine flashed before the automated lock.

I pulled out a tool and had the screen set aside before it finished the credit amount listed for disturbing the peace of Mulu Inc. Hygiene and Fitness Programs.

The security was actually very good, I spent a minute working through the different processes and safeguards it held but I had a trick that they couldn’t prepare for.

I removed my bulky gloves, using my skin to run along the circuitry to feel the current. As a kid I would remove the casings of anything electric and feel how it flowed, and over the years I learned why it flowed in different directions and when some electricity was consumed to power, say, a chip that regulated the speed of the fan.

In doing this I could pinpoint where the power was going and what to remove to speed things along.

Finding the small sensors and regulators I pulled the hardware apart carefully and made it unable to prevent my entry. Standing up, I heard my knees pop before I opened the door and slid in, locking the door manually from inside.

I found a small but clean space with a row of lockers, shining with brand new aesthetics, a faux-wood bench and a steel table. Perfect.

Popping the lockers open I found expensive clothing meant for exercise. Looking at my jumpsuit in its worn condition and bulk I knew I would really regret fighting any more in this thing.

Pulling the different cloth off I found a mirror and turned the reflective surface off. No need to see the creature I’ve been hiding all this time just because I had a clean surface to reflect. Scratch that, especially because I had a clean surface to reveal what I was.

Sighing as I was about to head down a familiar self hatred thought train I pulled the clothing out and set them on the table.

Taking the bulky gray-blue jumpsuit off wasn’t difficult. The shoes were covered in alien blood so I used the jumpsuit to wipe them off. The heavy work boots were useful with grip on the catwalks and were insulated to prevent being electrocuted but they weren’t as stylish as what Sky had.

Turning to the clothes while dressed in only my undergarments I started to piece through them. Nothing would be perfect, that’s life. But I could probably lay them or modify them with a couple of my tools.

One of my favorite tools I had in the toolbox I had was electrical tape. It was a dark color so it didn’t clash in repairs and it protected many loose wires. I also had some cutting tools but I wasn’t sure how well they would work on clothing.

First thing I found was a pair of combat pants, the expensive kind that was unisex and dark so it would pair with anything. Pulling the pants on I grabbed a compression long sleeve shirt, using it to hide almost all of my skin in dark cloth.

I found a windbreaker but it was too small, even my smallish build had limits. Another great jacket was almost real leather but it was nearly twice as large as me. Anything that didn’t fit went back into the lockers to clear the table and I wasn’t a slob.

What was left was a cap like my old one, a dark blue short sleeve half jacket thing, and another compression shirt.

Throwing the half jacket on to hide my chest felt good, another layer of armor against the world. Equipping my utility belt that was full of ammo felt heavy, almost enough to pull the pants down. The opposite of what a belt should do.

Taking the jacket off. I cut the other compression shirt to act as a sort of suspender that blended into the first and taped the belt, pants, and shirts together with the dark electrical tape.

Throwing the half jacket back on I was about to turn on the mirror again when I saw my hands.

While it was great to feel the world bare handed, it was dangerous as I was overly sensitive and also, I hated seeing my pale skin. Never seen real sunlight, the clearly unhealthy pigment looked starved for vitamin C, D, and basically all the rest of the alphabet.

I was about to put my gloves back on when I realized I could do better. Checking the tablet, I saw I still had time.

Realizing I had the tablet, I looked up typical equipment people had when heading into combat. I didn’t have any real armor but the gloves did work and I checked the inside of the half jacket and found a pocket big enough for me to store the Hammerhead so I had a somewhat workable holster.

The next was that people actually wrapped their hands, typically in case they used them in melee but…it was a good idea.

But first I disassembled the gloves. Easy enough with the tools I had because I was the one that made them in the first place.

Yes the gloves themselves looked company issued but I was bored one week and decided to try to make a custom jumpsuit. The first and only thing I modified was the gloves before I was distracted by the next project.

The gloves were used for two things. Insulation and detection. I had them layered because it was easier and fit the look of the bulky company gloves but now I could just combine them for a more form fitting…fit.

Instead of the gray-blue of RuCorp I used the inside sleek white color, fitting them together in a lacework of small hardened pieces of plastic and servos.

Finishing it with a couple minutes left I grabbed the remaining bits of the compression shirt I cut apart and wrapped my hands, using electrical tape to connect it to the intact compression shirt, hiding all skin below my head.

Covering the black bandages with the white gloves I felt sleeker, lighter. With the heavy gun in my left breast pocket, I felt lethal.

Turning to the mirror it lit up with a slim figure in different shades of black, from the heavy work boots in dried, smeared alien blood to the dark blue half jacket that acted more of a half vest than anything.

I froze for a second when I saw my face, I forgot to replace the respirator and I saw it all.

The almost innocent, awkward introvert was nearly forgotten.

My cheeks were worn, sharp where there once were soft edges.

A hollowed face. My yellow eyes glowed, catching the light and pierced me with an accusatory glare.

Was I enjoying myself? I was Pele’s Ascendency, the tragedy made flesh. The ignorant fool chasing the dream. Flying too close to the artificial sun in a hover car made of wax.

I pulled the Hammerhead in a violent motion, nearly pulling the pocket with it until I met those accusatory eyes with the gun steel of the pistol.

I saw a slight hesitation in the glare at the sight of the gun, I knew in my mind that there was no adversary but my heart pounded until finally I used the hesitation to look away.

Breathing heavily I grabbed a hat, the old one was more squarish than the new but I didn’t care.

The last piece would be the respirator but I paused. The monitor told me that the respirator didn’t work. That the filters didn’t filter the paranoia gas… Perhaps I could try a lighter compression mask to hide the bottom half of my face without the extra bulk.

I checked for clothing before, not accessories. I found some hair bands but my short dark brown hair didn’t need to be pulled back any more than what the hat did. I did find a gaiter that I pulled on and made sure it was tucked under the turtle neck of the compression shirt.

The only line of bare skin still visible was the strip around my eyes but I couldn’t block them. I tried one and it was like having someone place their finger between my eyes constantly, the feeling was both uncomfortable and grating over long periods of time.

Glancing back at the mirror I could see a lithe figure with a bulky belt at the waist to pad my hips and a jacket to cover my shoulders to make them appear bigger.

Good enough, I was distinctive enough to single out but nothing screamed “look over here”

I still wanted Sky’s shoes though.

Placing everything back as it was I exited the changing room to find the groups lining up near the southern edge of the room. Right on time.

I drove forward with a purpose to get to the front and this time, people moved.

I guess the clothes do make the person.

At the front I found a couple security looking individuals checking their weapons and Sky leaning against a wall, his helmet tilted forward as if napping.

Exactly one hour after he told me to go prepare, his head snapped up and he pivoted in place before kicking the doors open and marched out, blades appearing in his hands as he advanced.