Chương 179: Book 3 - Chapter 24 - Collateral Damage

"Do you really think that bringing people down here is safe?" Jane asked as we watched the bears put up some temporary fencing the other samurai had provided. The Stacks were still a mess of collapsed buildings and debris, so I had a squad of bears wandering around with disassemblers, cleaning everything up.

"Safer here than up there," I grumbled.

"You didn't see the shit they were throwing at each other. They only stopped because one of the megabuildings collapsed on their front lines. Despite taking heavy losses, both sides are already spreading out, looking to start round two."

"Doesn't that mean evacuating more people?" Jane asked.

"Are you going to be able to keep up?"

"No. And we don't intend to. Hel had her AI hack into the emergency response system and extend the evacuation area. Anyone even remotely close to the combat is being advised to evacuate before they get caught in the crossfire," I explained.

"We're telling anyone that needs assistance to contact the Family."

"And how many people are in the evacuation area?" Jane asked suspiciously.

"Too damn many," I grumbled.

"Let's head back now." Even with my full forces back within the city, it was going to take quite a while to clear out the former rail yard; it was just too much space. The area would be able to handle a massive amount of refugees, but something told me it still wouldn't be enough. Halfway back to the truck Bandit pinged me. [Boss, we have problems.] [What is it now?] I groaned. [They're down here,] he replied before sending me a surveillance feed from Sector fifty-five. [Both of them.] I watched as a small column of battle tanks spread loosely through an undercity neighbourhood. The tanks took turns approaching the side street and exchanging fire with an opposing column a couple streets over. Neither side seemed to have any regard for the people, and despite there being people in the streets between them, they didn't stop firing. After a couple seconds, one of the tanks missed its shot, hit an apartment building, and caused part of the already unstable building to topple into the streets.

The columns just moved to another street and continued firing.

"Motherfuckers," I hissed.

"They'll bring that entire neighbourhood down. Jane, I need to take care of something." Jane barely had time to raise a hand before I took off running.

"Okay…?" I heard her call after me. A quick command summoned a handful of Kodiaks from around the area. Squads of bears lined up, waiting to load up, and my team gathered around me.

"Spooky, you keep the cleanup process moving here. We're probably going to need the space fairly soon. Bandit, flood that area of the undercity with squirrels and have them broadcast an evacuation alert. There are probably a ton of people that don't have augs capable of receiving citywide bulletins." As soon as the Kodiaks landed, I jumped on the nearest one, still giving commands.

"Nyx, get me into their comm systems. I want to have a word with these assholes." My augs crackled to life, and dozens of overlapping conversations filled my mind.

"Cut their outgoing, except for the two command tanks." I hissed, pressing a hand to my forehead. That few-second burst was enough to give me a headache. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. [Attention jackasses. I do not give a shit about your conflict, but you are fighting in a residential area. Cease your fighting and allow the civilians to evacuate, or I will intervene.] [Who is this? How did you get on this channel?] One side snapped.

[Be aware, any attempt to interfere in Council operations will result in extended jail time] [Fuckers are on our comms, cut them!] The other yelled at the same time. The Denver column has cut power to their comms but are continuing to fire.

"Motherf…" I hissed. I sent a quick command for the Kodiaks to take off and head to the combat zone before concentrating on the one person still on the line. [Listen up, jackass. My bears and I are inbound to evacuate the civilians in that area. If you're still fighting when you get there, I'll do everything within my power to stop you, until the evacuation is complete.] [Bear girl?] the person on the other side of the line said, but I just kept ranting.

[Once I'm done evacuating, you can go back to your little war again, but I'm not letting innocent people get hurt by your stupidity. Got it?] The voice on the other line started yelling. [Fucking stop firing! Pull back! A samurai's coming. Do not fire until she's gone!] [Thank you for being reasonable,] I said simply before cutting the connection.

"Nyx, land squirrels on the opposing tanks and broadcast the same message. I'm not going to let them use cut comms as an excuse," I growled. Since the fighting was occurring in sector fifty-five, pretty much right underneath the eastern gate, it didn't take long to arrive in the area. The council troops had stopped firing, and it looked like they were pulling back towards the lift they'd used to get into this area while the Denver column was chasing them, firing wildly.

"I thought I asked you to put squirrels on those tanks, to broadcast to them directly, Nyx," I huffed as I watched the camera feed. They shot them off.

"Of course they did! You know what? Fuck them. If they don't want to talk, I'll use a language they understand," I yelled.

"Bob, stop that fucking advance." The big bear turned to me, saluted, then stepped off the still lowering ramp. Bob smashed into the ground below, landing just a couple feet ahead of the lead tank. If they saw him, they didn't try to avoid him or slow down. Instead they drove into him at top speed. Not a smart move. The front cracked at the impact, crumpling around Bob's immobile form. The rear of the tank flipped upwards, unable to deal with the complete loss of forward momentum.

When the back of the tank reached the apex of its jump, Bob placed one foot on the angled front plate and one hand on the cannon, halting it in place.

"Mine now," he growled. As he pushed upwards, the barrel slowly bent, and the turret connections strained under the pressure until finally snapping free. With a casual kick, Bob sent the tank sliding into the vehicle behind it before resting the turret on his shoulder. The tank commander slowly crawled out of the destroyed vehicle, blood pouring down his head, obviously shaken.

"What the hell is this?" he managed.

"You really should have listened to the warnings," Bob growled. Somehow the rest of the tank column managed to slow down enough to avoid smashing into the slowly growing pileup. The third tank in line slipped to the side and brought its cannon to bear.

"Don't even try…" Bob started before being lost in the flash of an explosion. The commander tumbled out of his wrecked vehicle, stumbled to the side, and watched in horror as the oversized bear stepped out of the blast relatively unscathed. Its outer covering had burned away in several places but seemed to be regrowing before his very eyes. With a growl, Bob lunged forward, grabbed the third tank's barrel in both hands, and twisted it until it faced back towards the turret.

Satisfied, he stepped over the still-active tank and pounced on the next. What followed was a frenzy of screeching metal and cannon fire. By the time I set my feet on the ground, the fight was already over. The streets were littered with wrecked tanks, stunned soldiers, and debris. Bob came running over, carrying the confused commander by the back of his jumpsuit like some oversized kitten.

"What is this? Who are you?" the confused man asked.

"My name's Teddy, I'm a samurai, and this is an evacuation," I said, as I leaned to one side to see behind him.

"Although it might not be as urgent, since your side is unable to keep fighting."

"How dare you do this?" the commander yelled, suddenly struggling to get loose of Bob. I signaled the bear with my eyes, and he dumped the man on the ground. I stood over him, only slightly taller than his seated form.

"How dare I what, exactly? How dare I try to protect civilians? How dare I ask for a short ceasefire? How dare I fucking care? You're entirely to blame for this entire situation." Behind him I could see a couple of the tank crews staring at the pair of us, scared and confused.

"Let this be a lesson to all of you," I said, raising my voice.

"The samurai in this city may be a neutral party right now, but if you keep threatening civilians and ignoring our warnings, we won't be. Let your commanders know there will be no more fighting in obviously occupied neighbourhoods. If you do, I will not go easy on you." I stared down at the commander, who flinched.

"Got it?"

"Got it," he repeated much more quietly.

"Good," I growled as I walked past him.

"Now fuck off."