Chương 398: Book 6 - Chapter 59 - Change of Plans

[Spooky, I really hope you're joking,] I replied through the network. [The Fifty-One-S is already shrugging off everything we can throw at it and putting holes in Bear Force One. How could things possibly get worse?] [Whatever you just did really pissed that thing off. It stopped following the Strato Carrier, and it's heading back towards the ground,] the bear replied. I glanced up at the two dueling aerial titans and frowned. [It is? How can you tell?] [I have access to some of the most advanced Class II sensors you could buy,] Spooky sighed. [That monster is a lot quicker than you'd expect from looking at it. We were just barely maintaining our distance from it before. Now the gap is growing at an alarming rate. It's going back down.] [If that's true, keep your distance and maintain your rate of fire. You either need to regain its attention or chip it down. We can't let that fucking thing run loose!] I exclaimed. [I'm doing the best I can,] Spooky replied.

I cut the line and stared at the ugly gasbag hanging far above us. Since I didn't have anything to use as a frame of reference, it took me a couple of seconds to actually make out that it was getting larger, coming lower.

"Fuck…" I muttered.

"What is it? You've been staring into space for over a minute now," Wild asked.

"The Fifty-One stopped following Bear Force One, which I thought was its primary target, and is coming back down," I explained.

"And I have no idea why."

"Maybe we pissed it off," Wild replied, looking upwards.

"With what? The bioweapons? It's taken sustained barrages from Dial-Up and Lag and Bear Force One and never shown any concern for the damage it's taken. Do you honestly think thirty seconds of infection would be enough to concern it?" I asked doubtfully.

"It's possible if the Gene Tender is up there, directing the thing. Based on what you told us, the Tender would understand how dangerous our bioweapons could be," she replied.

"I guess that's possible," I mumbled as I watched the monster descend faster and faster.

"But if that's true, why would it direct the Fifty-One away from us?"

"That… I can't answer," Wild said quietly. As we watched, the Fifty-One plummeted towards the ground. For a moment, I wondered if we'd somehow hit something critical and mortally wounded the colossus. At the speed it was descending, I wasn't sure if it could level out before smashing into the ground. The creature didn't brake until the last moment, slowing its descent slightly but unable to completely stop.

Just as it was about to slam into the ground, it fully extended its tendrils and pressed them into the ground. The long limbs curved, bending like taut springs, allowing the beast to bleed off the last of its momentum and then use that tension to propel itself forward.

"Is that fucking thing headed towards Great Falls?" I asked.

"What the fuck?"

"You said the Tender was intelligent, right?" Wild asked.

"We've managed to thwart every attack it's sent; maybe it's decided to level the town out of spite."

"Doesn't sound like an intelligent plan," I growled.

"It sounds like something I would do." If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Wild just shook her head. Once the monster leveled out over the devastated battlefield, its tendrils began whipping out, grabbing everything it passed over, and shoving them into its maw.

At this point, the only thing left out there were a few scattered Antithesis, which had managed to struggle to the surface despite suffering from the engineered plague that Bern and Wild had cooked up. The Fifty-One didn't seem to care; everything that came close, from the smallest Model Three to the occasional Twenty-Three, was scooped up and devoured.

"That can't be healthy," Wild muttered.

"How are we supposed to stop that thing?" I asked.

"Do we really need to stop it?" Wild asked in return. I turned and looked at her questioningly.

"I'm serious. Great Falls is my town, and despite all the corporate bullshit, I love it, but we finished evacuating all the people. At this point, all that monster can do is ruin the infrastructure."

"I didn't spend the last week defending the town just to give up on it now," I grumbled.

"I'd love to save it if we could, but we can always rebuild," Wild replied before switching to the comm channel we'd created earlier. [Mud, CBeRN, heads up, the Fifty-One is heading your way.] [What? I thought the plan was for Teddy's oversized toy to draw it up into the atmosphere,] Mud exclaimed. [It was,] I hissed. [Apparently it had other ideas. Now it's hovering across the ground, snatching everything it can get its greedy little tentacles on.] [It is? Fascinating,] Bern mumbled.

[Perhaps we injured it more than we thought. Since the Antithesis have no sense of self-preservation, just the preservation of their race, it would make sense for the larger Apex models to consume the smaller ones if it allowed them to survive, and forward the invasion.] [Well, it's currently eating half-melted, plagued Antithesis,] I said. [I'm not sure how conducive that it to survival.] [Perhaps the Fifty-One's digestive system is hardy enough to handle dangerous foods,] Bern mused.

[Or maybe the Tender isn't with it, and it doesn't know better,] Lag suggested. The group went quiet for a moment. [I don't like that ….] Wild finally muttered. [Who cares whether the Tender is with the Fifty-One or not right now,] Mud growled. [What matters is stopping that monster before it rolls over the town.] [If you have a suggestion, we're all ears,] Dial-Up said. [That thing has shrugged off everything we've thrown at it.] [I'll ride out with my bikes, and throw everything I can at it. Try and slow it down,] Mudflap replied. [Don't be stupid. Bear Force One has been bombarding the Fifty-One ever since it appeared and hasn't even managed to slow that monster down. Do you honestly think your bikes are going to be able to do anything?] I asked. [It's better than sitting around and letting the town get destroyed,] Mud growled. [The civilians are already gone, and we can always rebuild the buildings; it's not worth it,] Wild repled.

[We, uh, might want to ask the security forces to get out of the way though,] Bern said. [They've done a good job of supporting our efforts; it would be a shame to leave them hanging after all this.] [I'll send some Kodiaks and Heavy lifters to get them, and their equipment, out of the way,] I said. [They've already done enough.] [Are we really going to leave the town to get destroyed?] Mud asked quietly. [After everything we went through over the last week?] [I don't think we have a choice,] I replied.

[We don't have the firepower to deal with that thing.] [Teddy, what the fuck are you doing down there?] Benedict shouted out of nowhere, interrupting our discussion. I was so taken aback that I had to double-check that I hadn't accidentally swapped channels. [Uh, hey Mirage. I'm pretty sure I didn't include you in this channel, how did you…] I started. [I asked my AI to help bypass the protocols. It was important enough that your AIs didn't intervene,] he replied, cutting me off.

[More importantly, what's going on down there? When you said you needed to find a Tender you didn't mention the Fifty-One flying around down there.] [That's a new addition,] I replied. [If you can see it, I'm guessing you convinced someone to provide us with satellite coverage.] [I did, but the satelittes are still repositioning. The Fifty-One is just so large we can see it on the ship's sensors,] Benedict replied.

[Please tell me you're able to handle it before it manages to turn the entire west coast into an Antithesis jungle.] [We're working on it,] I replied defensively. [It's not exactly the easiest target, even with all the weapons at our disposal.] [You're right. Sorry, I've grown so used to the tech on Mars that I've forgotten you don't have access to the same equipment. give me a moment.] I frowned for a moment, and I considered giving Benedict a piece of my mind, but before I could, he was back on the line.

[Move that ship of yours out of the way, and if you can help provide any targeting data, it would be useful,] he said. [What are you going to do?] Bern asked while I silently ordered Spooky to move, gathered sensor data from both Bear Force One and the surrounding Chameleons, and sent it to Benedict. [Black Daliha has given us permission to use the ship's subspace rupture cannon. Stand by,] Benedict replied. [What the fuck is a 'Subspace…] I started, only to be interrupted by a brilliant flash appearing around the Fifty-One. As I blinked the spots out of my eyes, I was just barely able to make out a storm of swirling blue and red lights before the light cut out again. I blinked again, this time in disbelief. Everything the light had touched was gone, ripping a perfect sphere out of the middle of the Fifty-One. Since the only parts of the creature that avoided the blast were the very front and very back of the creature, it fell to literal pieces.

My mouth flapped open and closed a couple times before I finally found my words again.

"What the fuck!?!?"