Chương 140: Book 2 - Chapter 58 - Sparks and Scarabs

"Hey Brood," I chirped as we approached the other two samurai.

"Long time no see." I could see Raijin's eyebrows raise at the greeting, but Broodmother's didn't look fazed in the slightest.

"It's been a while Evelyn, or should I call you Teddy now? Congratulations on the name," Broodmother replied. I couldn't see her face, which was covered by the same deep brown helmet she was wearing at our first encounter, but I could feel the warmth in her words.

"Thank you for the timely assistance."

"It's no problem, we were in the neighbourhood anyways…" I replied, which caused Humboldt to smack me on the back of the head and Bright-Eyes to giggle.

"Indeed. I see you've met Hoppy," Broodmother said as she gestured at the samurai literally bouncing behind me, "this is the other young samurai that accompanied us on the investigation, Raijin," she said. I took a quick look at the man standing behind her, early twenties, probably of Asian-American descent, wearing a leather trench coat and top hat, both of which were absolutely covered in strange, sparking machinery. When he stuck out his hand, I half expected to get electrocuted. Thankfully, I did not.

"So, now that you've arrived, and our perimeter has stabilized, you can let us know what the situation is," Broodmother said, cracking her helmet for the first time since Humboldt and I arrived.

"I'm not going to lie, the situation wasn't looking that great when we arrived. The entire team was pinned at the entrance by the sheer number of antithesis in the area," I reported.

"A combination of high-tier antithesis, and rapid replenishment of the lower models meant even the strike team was having difficulties."

"Was?" Bright-Eyes asked. I just pointed at the far side of the room where, even at this distance, I could clearly make out Grey's mass of nanites thrashing about. I was pretty sure I could even make out Whisperer's elephant, breathing fire. Bright-Eyes stared at the mass across the room for a moment before turning back, "I have no further questions," she said quickly.

"The entire team was planning on pushing out, and methodically breaking down the minor hives while pushing towards the central spire," Humboldt explained.

"And why didn't you go with them?" Hoppy asked hesitantly.

"I wasn't invited," I replied flippantly. I saw Bright-Eyes and Broodmother exchange a brief glance, so I waved my hand and elaborated.

"My bears might be good at dealing with the smaller models but Bob was the only way I had to deal with larger antithesis, until I upgraded my IFVs. I'm also much more comfortable in an entrenched position than on the move. If I stuck with the group I probably would have had my bears slowly whittled down until it was just Bob left," I explained.

"Coming to meet up with you was the best option." Hoppy raised a hand.

"Ummm… Who is Bob?" I just pointed out into the sea of scarabs, just in time to catch Bob cave in the head of a Twenty-Three so the scarabs could consume it. Once he was done, he turned and waved happily in our direction.

"Don't let the goofy demeanor fool you, he's the strongest thing in my arsenal," I said.

"So… what now? Do we push out and try to meet up with them?" Raijin asked. I noticed the guy was a little twitchy, although I wasn't sure if that was due to his excitement, or if he was constantly getting electrocuted by his gear.

"We could," Humboldt said, "With Mother's scarabs we wouldn't have to worry about any small fry. However we'd be opening up both our sides and our backs for attacks. Do you think we'd be able to handle assaults from all sides?" Raijin tensed up. I could see he yearned to say yes, maybe earn some glory, but he wasn't stupid enough to risk everyone to do it.

"No, we'd be overwhelmed," he admitted. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"That doesn't mean we have to just sit idle," I said.

"My IFV has the ability to strike at the nearest hives, and earn some tokens for you and Hoppy, while Broodmother's scarabs are earning everyone a constant point income. We'll spend some time tooling up, and push out when we're ready."

"A sensible suggestion," Broodmother said.

"Neither Bright-Eyes or myself have a good way to deal with those larger models still. We've tried to adapt… but we're heavily specialized in recon, and light on the combat applications."

"Hey! Don't sell us short! We managed to handle those Twenty-Threes they sent after us… eventually," Bright-Eyes cut in.

"Granted, putting explosives in my squirrels and having them kamikaze down the tunnels wasn't exactly the most graceful solution, but it worked in the end."

"Thank God it did, I'd be dead without them," Hoppy added.

"So, we agreed? Work on earning you some upgrades, then push out once everything stabilizes?" I asked.

"Wonderful! I'll get my bears on it right away" I added before anyone could answer. I caught a slight smirk on Bright-Eyes' face, and the massive frown on Raijin's, while I sent a command to prep the Kodiak. Broodmother nodded once, then slid her helmet back on.

"We'll leave the hives to you then," she said before turning to Raijin and Hoppy.

"I know it might not seem like the most satisfying way to fight, but there's a lot to be said for going slow and steady. We'll get you some higher tier catalogs, and push out when we're ready."

"I'll help Broodmother watch the perimeter," Humboldt volunteered.

"I may not be able to clear the heavies away as fast as that bear, or Teddy's tank, but I can keep them off us for a while. Just destroy those things quickly," she said. I nodded, before turning back to my IFV. Both Hoppy and Bright-Eyes followed behind me, apparently very interested in what I was doing.

"Sooo… you're the one that runs around with teddy bears? That's cool! A lot of the people on the web were laughing about it, until the videos got out," Hoppy said, trying to make conversation.

"Actually wasn't my choice at the beginning," I admitted.

"The bots are just so fucking ugly that I needed a way to travel around without scaring children, and my AI got cheeky. I'm just too lazy to bother changing it."

"That's cool…" the girl said awkwardly.

"So what's your gimmick?" I asked turning to look at the lanky girl when I arrived at the Kodiak.

"I've trained in kickboxing since I was a kid, so I'm planning on investing on leg enhancements to smash the antithesis with," she said.

"These babies let me run faster than most cars, and jump up to three stories high. I really want to get something that'll let me crack some of those heavier models though," she gushed.

"Just make sure you purchase some better armor, or some type of emergency escape option before you try it," Bright-Eyes cut in.

"All it takes is a single misstep for you to end up getting injured, or dying. Better safe than sorry." Hoppy nodded seriously, before turning back towards me again.

"So… what's the plan?"

"Purchase advanced ammunition, pelt the nearest hive with it until it collapses, then repeat," I replied, popping open the back hatch. Both bears turned to look at me as I entered, followed closely by the others.

"That's it?" Hoppy asked, surprised.

"I know some samurai like to do big, flashy things," I said, turning to look at the girl, "but I'll warn you now: the bigger and flashier you go, the more dangerous it'll be. Sometimes you have to do something like that, but there'll always be risks. Fuck… I sent Bob away for five minutes, and almost lost my walls before I came over here."

"And that's why you bought this thing? Right?" Bright-Eyes announced mischievously.

"No…." I replied, defensively.

"I DID have to panic buy something to deal with that, but I actually spent some time thinking about this purchase," I admitted. I noticed Hoppy was glancing between the two of us, so I decided to try and salvage the discussion.

"Moral of the story is, knowing your strengths and weaknesses is important!" I announced, "and trying to get fancy, when you really don't need to, is a good way to injure yourself." She nodded, apparently accepting my 'wisdom', but I wasn't sure. This entire thing just showed off why I shouldn't give advice.

"Alright, I'm going to order some rounds. If you're going to stick around you might want some ear protection, because things are about to get loud."