Chương 29: Chapter 27 - Dealing with the Locals

I wasn't stupid enough to go directly to Leah's place to explain, I called instead. It wasn't going to prevent me from getting yelled at, but it did prevent me from getting bonked. It wasn't like she was going to hunt me down or anything, probably. [Teddy…] I could hear her gritting her teeth. Oh, she was mad. [Morning Leah, hope everything went well yesterday after I left.] [I have a clinic full of refugees, alien monsters knocking on my door last night, and someone who promised me they'd keep in touch completely disappeared. How do you think I'm doing?] She was really mad. [I have an excuse! I was super busy! I had to check on both the Terminal and the Precinct, then I met another Samurai and we shut down the hive together so the Antithesis don't propagate.] [Hmmmm] [And I'm not even done. I'm heading out to try and clear up the dregs so people can get back on the streets. I wasn't avoiding you, I swear.] [Fine. You're still doing okay, right?] Her voice went soft, [You're not injured or anything right?] [Perfectly healthy, not a scratch.] I sure as hell wasn't going to tell her that was because of Samurai technology and not because I avoided getting hurt. [Good, well, you keep that up. I don't want to have to patch you up when this is all done.] [I promise. I'll stop by when this is all over so you can check me over, I just need to take care of this first,] I said.

[Fine, you better not forget this time, or I'll make you regret it, Samurai or not.] I winced at the threat, she'd do it. [I promise] [Hmmm… ok then.] Her voice softened, [Stay safe out there Teddy]"I… she hung up." Leah was scary, it's true, but she also had one of the biggest hearts in the entire district. When I got hit by a stray bullet when I was younger she was the one that patched me up, for free. She even installed the Augs for all the kids. They may be crap Augs, but better than any of us could afford.

I'm pretty sure the reason Leah put up such a tough front, is everyone would try and take advantage of her if they knew she was such a softy. I just shook my head and marched on. I just could see that pile of rubble we called the shelter now, that enormous pile of wasted space where this all started yesterday. I sighed. What's on your mind?

"I have so much to do right now. First, I have to figure out how to hunt down the remaining Antithesis, then I want to get this shelter built, and find a space where I can build more bears." What if I could help alleviate some of your stress and have the Shelter rebuilt by conventional means, maybe add some space for yourself, and have Indico pay for it?

"And how the hell are you going to convince Indico to do that?" It's less convincing, and more reallocation of the company's funds. I paused, "You couldn't even find a door switch yesterday, and now you're saying you're capable of industrial espionage. I find that hard to believe." I would need some of the tech from the Class I Network Intrusion catalog to make this work, but this wouldn't have been possible with your old Augs. Even an AI like me is limited when everything has to be done over text.

"Is that really necessary at this point?" It looks like some of the Indico executives inflated the cost of the project, then embezzled funds.

"Of fucking course they did. You know what, do it, screw them. They could go bankrupt for all I care." I started pacing. Fuck corpos. Purchased - Class I Network Intrusion Utilities Catalog - 100 points Purchased - Mark I Remote System Access Protocols - 50 points Points Remaining - 5258 I'll arrange someone to clean up the lot, then we can discuss options afterwards. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Whatever, let's deal with the Antithesis first. They're less infuriating and I really want to kill something right now," I growled. Do you have a plan? You want to buy some foxes to clear buildings with?

"No, I want to avoid buying more bears for now, I'll just get attached to them too. I've never had too much money, so if I purchase something I feel guilty throwing it away. I'm hoping that if the bears are built for free, it'll be much easier for me to see them as disposable. How many points do I have anyways?" 5258 points and two tokens I stopped pacing, rage suddenly leaving me.

"Seriously? How?" That twenty six pulled in a ton of sixes and sixteens to protect itself, then there were all the Antithesis in the tunnels, and the bonus for destroying a hive, even if it wasn't full grown.

"Well, that's great, but what could I do with it all? I don't have a space to build bears yet…" You could go back to the lure idea, it would cost you a token though. I thought about it, "What's the range of one of those?" About a six block radius, the lure imitates the pheromones a hive puts out when threatened.

"I guess I could just relocate it and repeat the process," I said, considering. The lure is about a foot in diameter and three feet high, it also weighs several hundred pounds.

"Then Bob can relocate it, unless you have a better idea." You could contact Humboldt and ask for support. I considered it, for a moment, then shook my head.

"They sent her down here alone, despite it being the epicenter of part of the incursion. If they cared, they would have contacted me, or sent an expert already." Fair enough.

"Just gimme a lure, my mood is bad enough as it is." Purchased Class I Antithesis lure catalog - 500 points, 1 token Purchased Large Antithesis lure - 1000 points Points Remaining - 3758 I looked at the block that had appeared in front of me. It looked like an old square air conditioner or something. A simple on/off switch on the side. You want me to warn the locals?

"Please do, if you can. Most of them should be hiding right now, but who the fuck knows. I'll setup the bears, then I can finally work off some of this frustration" The lure was huge. It looked like an oversized garbage can, but with extra flashy lights and dials on the side. With trepidation I flicked the on switch and stepped back, waiting to see what would happen. It took a few minutes for the Antithesis to show up, but once they did it was a constant flow of low numbered Models rushing in for the next hour.

It was almost enough for me to work out my frustration, almost. Liquifying the bodies afterwards was cathartic.

Of course, my newly recovered good mood couldn't last more than five minutes before I was interrupted. It was the shouting that alerted me, followed by the rampant swearing, followed by the shooting. Warning shots I'd guess, either that or they were a worse shot than I was. Seeing the entire group of six people were dressed in deep brown jumpsuits trimmed with red, the gang colors of the Wreckers, I could guess what this was about.

The fact that the leader had a massive claw prosthetic instead of his right hand was also a clue, Ripjack didn't go out for casual walks, at least as far as I knew. Fucking gangs, I was never going to get anything done if they kept fighting each other, or decided to be completely stupid and interrupt me while I was working. I stood up, waiting for the gangsters.

"Nyx, can you record this?" Sure. It took a minute for the group to get to me, about half way was when the shouting started.

"You! Girl! You're the one that sent those bears to mess up my boys. Do you know who you're messing with? I'm going to kill you and tear your toys apart." Behind Ripjack were five of his gang members, trying to look imposing, and failing. Hard to look imposing when the oldest couldn't be more than a year older than me. They were all holding old pistols, rusty as fuck, I'd be suprised if at least one didn't misfire. The entire group looked like they were seconds away from dropping everything and running away.

It didn't matter, Ripjack had more than enough courage for all of them. Thankfully he stopped a couple steps away from me, I didn't want this to be too quick.

"Bitch! You injured a bunch of my boys, and you cost me east canal street." I could see the veins bulging out of his neck, he was probably on something.

"So, what kind of idiot orders an attack in the middle of a fucking incursion? You're lucky your boys were only wounded. You woke me up, asshole." A wave of confusion, and mild fear, went through the Wrecker youths. I doubt they'd ever seen someone stand up to their boss like that. He probably failed to mention their friends were injured by fully automatic weapons, the same ones spaced loosely around the area.

"Now, what I want is for the gangs to give me time to clear up the district before you go about killing each other. No fighting. Got it?" Ripjack tensed, I knew what was next. He was famous for beheading people with that fucking claw, a maniac no one wanted to deal with. As soon as he twitched I sent a command to Bob, 'remove the arm' The act was quick and painless, at least for me. Less so for him as Bob's claws connected mid forearm and effortlessly sliced Ripjack's arm into four equal pieces.

He went down screaming, his gang ran off without him.

"Now," I continued, not really caring about the screaming man on the floor, "I really don't care about most of the gangs around here. You can fight over territory or slaughter each other, just later. Until I'm done cleaning up, fuck off, or I'll send my big friend to deal with you personally, got it? Good, this is Evelyn Claire, samurai, signing off." I stared down at Ripjack, "He's not going to die from that is he?"

No, the damage was entirely to his prosthetic, there was some pain from the neural feedback but no real damage.

"Good", I turned and left Ripjack where he was, no longer my issue.

"Bob, pick up the lure. Nyx, send that recording to every gang member you can find in the area, they're not used to people standing up to them but hopefully they'll get the idea and go fuck themselves."