Chương 180: Book 3 - Chapter 25 - Camp Life

"Why won't these assholes give up?" I moaned as I nudged a ganger with my toe. I'm sure he would have complained if he hadn't been busy cradling his busted nose and messed up fingers. I didn't recognize the gang colors, which probably meant the small group came from a couple sectors away to attack the refugees.

"I still don't get what they're after. Attacking a refugee camp to, what? Kidnap people? Steal their pocket money?" Nora said as she threw the last of the thugs away from the little corridor between the Terminal and the camp.

"I don't know if they even have a plan. I think most of them just hear that some upper-city folk are taking cover down here and figure they'll be easy targets. At least this lot had a plan and tried to attack the people going into the Terminal to get some supplies, rather than the perimeter." I turned back towards the compound, leaving the pile of moaning gangers behind me.

"Too bad for them, I left the Rabbit Response Force there watching for trouble. They're just as effective as the bears at cracking heads, but faster." Nora shook her head.

"I can't believe you named them that."

"What the rabbits? I didn't, Nyx did. I just decided it was easier to go along with it than argue or come up with a new name."

"Right." The taller girl sighed.

"Have you heard the latest development from up top?" I glanced back at her.

"The ambush? Yeah, I heard. The council was already struggling to maintain their defenses, so losing two of their superheavies at once is probably going to be devastating."

"Who would have guessed that Helmar would backstab the council and side with Denver?" I just grunted. Anyone who was really paying attention should have seen that coming. Unfortunately, the council had been way too occupied with the conflict to actually do anything about it.

"I doubt the council will be able to last much longer with their frontline so ravaged," Nora continued.

"Good! I don't have a horse in this race, but I really want to see the end to this fucking conflict," I grumbled.

"We're running out of places to put people." As we sauntered back into camp, the people parted for us. I don't know if it was out of fear or respect, but I appreciated it all the same. I usually had a fucking terrible time trying to get through crowds. The two of us sauntered through the ocean of tents towards the central area where the mess and administration tents were. After cutting across the long soup line, we ducked inside the temporary headquarters.

Angeline was passed out on one of the temporary cots, cuddling with one of her squirrels, while Hel and Sharron were crouched over some paperwork. They looked up as we walked in.

"Any issues?" Hel asked tiredly.

"Just more fucking idiots. These ones tried to hit the people traveling between the camp and the Terminal, but my bots got to them before they could do any damage," I explained.

"How are things going here?"

"Fine. It's been a lot of work, but everything appears to be stable. Everyone has been receiving a small amount of points for their refugee work every day. It's not a lot, but it's been enough to cover our costs. We should be able to maintain them indefinitely, if necessary," Sharron reported. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. I felt my eye twitch.

"Let's hope we don't have to maintain them indefinitely. I don't mind helping these people, but we've only been doing this for three days, and everyone is stressed as fuck. There's just too many people."

"Thankfully, we should have a solution for that fairly soon," Hel announced.

"How? Have you convinced the council to surrender after their last catastrophe?" I asked.

"Hardly," Hel snorted.

"Barricade has spent the last few days repairing the buildings near the eastern gate. Since the combat has moved further into the city, I feel confident that we can start returning some of the people back to their homes. Not everyone, but it's a start."

"Is it going to be enough to offset the new people coming in from the current combat areas?" I asked warily. Hel gave me a tired look.

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"Not unless you're going to lie to me," I replied wearily. With our brief discussion over, I made my way over to one of the couches on the far side of the tent and collapsed into it, face down. The couch was lumpy, firm, and uncomfortable. It made me really miss my couch back home, but right now I was so exhausted I could probably have fallen asleep on a bed of rusty metal. As soon as I closed my eyes, my augs went off.

My eyes shot open, and I silently screamed into the couch for several seconds before finally picking up. [Spooky… I swear, this better be important, or I'm going to fucking recycle you. Choose your next words carefully,] I growled. There was a momentary silence. [Spooky!] [Sorry boss, I was choosing my words. There's something strange going on. The council is running armored vehicles through the undercity again.] [Probably a group that got cut off and is trying to rejoin the main column again. What's the problem?] [That's the thing, Boss. It's the main column that came down. Heavies and all.] My brain malfunctioned for a minute. I shot up to a sitting position and stared at the message.

"What?" I said blankly. Sharron turned and looked at me.

"Did you say something?" I quickly waved her off.

"On a call right now, will fill you in as soon as I'm done." [Spooky, give me the feed, now!] I barked into my augs. A moment later I was looking out of the eyes of a squirrel in sector Fifty-Two. Right in the middle of the road was a monstrous vehicle. The massive hull was twice as wide as a standard tank, and it was three times as long. It was crawling along, supported on not four, but eight tracks, a pair at each corner of the massive vehicle. Finally, it had an elevated turret with two massive rotary cannons.

It was, beyond a doubt, the same monster I'd seen back at the gates. Unlike many other superheavies, it didn't have that many secondary weapons, but then again, I doubted there were many things that could stand up to that main gun. Escorting the superheavy, or being escorted by it depending on your point of view, was nearly two dozen tanks and an equal number of APCs.

"Where the fuck are you going?" I muttered as I watched the slow advance.

"There aren't any lifts in that direction."

"Where is who going?" I heard Nora ask. I shut down the feed for a moment, only to find everyone but Angeline staring at me.

"There's a fucking council armor column rolling through the undercity," I told them.

"They could be moving to flank Denver. But as far as I can tell, they aren't heading towards any lifts." Hel frowned for a moment, pushed off from the desk, and rolled her office chair right over to the cot. She gently nudged Angeline for several seconds until the other woman startled awake.

"Please tell me it's not my shift already," Angeline pouted before letting out a massive yawn.

"It's not, but we need your eyes. What are the council forces doing right now?" Hel asked softly. Angeline frowned, but I could see her eyes flash.

"They're retreating towards the Deerfoot office district… Hey, there's a superheavy missing."

"Don't worry, I know exactly where they are," I said, before shooting everyone a copy of the feed.

"Fuck knows why they're down here." Angeline frowned.

"That's a lot of firepower to pull out of a fight. I could understand trying to flank, but why would you park right underneath the combat area?" I frowned.

"Beg your pardon?"

"They've parked," Angeline reported.

"Not that, the other part," I snapped. Angeline looked over at me, confused.

"They're directly beneath the Deerfoot office district right now. Why would they do that? It's not like they can fire upwards. There's meters of metal plating between them and the surface," the sleepy woman said. An uncomfortable silence fell over the room.

"Nyx, can you give us access to their comms?" I asked. One of the guard bears outside of the tent turned and pushed its way inside.

"Unfortunately, no. The entire column is running dark. Radios, augs, beacons—they're all disabled right now." I hopped to my feet, already reorganizing the camp's defenses so I could get a handful of bears to escort me.

"Where are you going?" Hel asked.

"To investigate," I replied as I made my way towards the door.

"It's too suspicious. Moving a super heavy through the undercity with a comms blackout right before a battle? They're up to something." I paused right before leaving and looked back towards the others.

"Anyone coming with?"