Chương 402: Book 6 - Chapter 63 - Decisions

"Can you repeat that?" Mud growled.

"I'm sorry, I must be getting hard of hearing in my old age, because there's no way you just said what I think you said." I turned and look up, so I could look him straight in the eyes.

"I said I'll be leaving Great Falls within the hour, if I can manage it."

"Why?" Wild asked blankly.

"After everything that's happened over the last few days, you've just decided to leave? There's still Antithesis throwing themselves at the town's walls." As soon as I decided what I was going to do, I gathered Mudflag, Wildwalker, Nora and Bern together to let them know. Dial-Up and Lag just straight up refused to leave their tanks, so I called them to make sure they were in the loop.

"I'm not abandoning the town," I assured her.

"I'll be leaving Deadbeat, Dusty, and Bandit behind to coordinate the defences, along with most of my bears and all the fortifications."

"And where, the fuck, are you planning to go?" Mud asked.

"I'm going after the Gene Tender," I said.

"It managed to slip away while we were occupied with the Model Fifty-One-S and fled to the coast, where it met up with some sort of Antithesis leviathan. I've asked Charlotte, my friend and current head of the Family in Calgary, to rally the aquatic samurai to stop it. However, I visited both Vancouver and Seattle quite recently, and I know that both cities are not only in turmoil due to recent events but are also suffering from factional infighting.

I'm afraid that the aquatic samurai in the area might not respond fast enough, or in sufficient numbers, to catch the Tender.

"And you can?" Dial-Up snorted.

"No offence, shorty, but I've seen that boat of yours move. It's not exactly the swiftest vehicle."

"You're right, which is why I'm planning to pretty much bankrupt myself to perform a complete modernisation and optimisation pass on Bear Force One. I'll be spending extra points to replace the current engines with Class III versions while it's still in the air. It won't be as swift as a Ursa, but it'll be significantly faster," I said.

"Besides, I won't be taking Bear Force One to the coast; I'll be taking a small strike force ahead in a squadron of Ursas."

"And what, exactly, are you planning to do once you arrive?" Nora asked.

"You're not exactly set up for aquatic combat."

"That's true, but I have something that many other samurai don't," I replied.

"Yeah, spite, and a complete disregard for your own personal safety," she snorted.

"Well, I do have that, but I'm talking about numbers. Since the Antithesis are still affected by Bern and Wild's plague, and other samurai are moving into the area, I can stop bathing the crater in M-17. Instead, I plan to take those two dozen dropships, a detachment of bears, and a couple of beavers with me to the coast, and then refit them to deploy sensor clusters up and down the coast," I explained.

"If the other samurai in the area do respond, I'll hopefully be able to point them in the right direction. If not, I'm sure that I'll be able to put together some sort of aquatic troop, or refit the missile launchers to fire torpedoes, or something." I shrugged.

"I'll figure it out." Nora sighed.

"I know you, and how stubborn you can be once you get an idea into your head. There's no way we can convince you to stay, is there?"

"I wouldn't leave if the situation were still dire, but with the Fifty-One-S down and without the Tender to fix the plague for them, the Antithesis are on the ropes. It might take a little while to clear out the tunnels and eliminate all the hive tendrils, but the area will be flooded with samurai soon. My lieutenants are more than capable of directing the troops during mop-up operations. I'm not needed here," I said.

"That Gene Tender, however, is an immense threat, and I can't let it escape."

"You know, you can trust other samurai to deal with problems occasionally," Bern said quietly.

"I can trust some samurai to deal with problems," I corrected.

"I've been a samurai long enough to know that while there are a lot of samurai who are competent and focus on the problem at hand, there are just as many who are more focused on politicking and pushing their own agendas, and unfortunately, there's a lot of that going on in Seattle right now," I said.

"I trust people I've met and who have proved themselves to me. Until then, I don't know who to trust." This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Well, if that's the case, shouldn't you trust the twins to deal with that thing?" Nora asked.

"The twins?" Wild asked, confused.

"Pacifica and Atlantica, they're the joint heads of The Family based in and around Seattle," I explained.

"I met them when I went down there to help with the siege."

"The siege?" Mud grunted.

"Ugh, when the Antithesis broke into Seattle about a year ago," I said.

"Most of the people I know refer to it as the Siege of Seattle. I have no idea what it was called by the news, or in popular media. Pacifica and Atlantica led the samurai counterattack and stayed to help stabilise the city afterwards. I'm sure they'll be some of the first to respond to the call to arms, but I doubt that two samurai will be enough to track this thing down."

"I think it's a bad idea," Lag grumbled.

"Why? Because you don't think you can handle the situation here without me?" I asked.

"If the situation deteriorates here, I can probably be back within an hour, but I honestly think that the Tender poses a significantly larger threat than what's left of the hive here. If it slips away, and has a chance to build up elsewhere, we could end up facing a Mars level war here on Earth, and I'm not willing to take that risk."

"When you but it that way," Mud muttered.

"I can see why you'd want to go."

"So… this is goodbye? Just like that?" Wild asked.

"Fuck no. I'm leaving the Mauler here, along with all the Baricades, minefields, and miscellaneous defenses. If I relied on the heavy lifters to retrieve all that, it would take months," I said.

"I'll be swinging back this way once I finish dealing with the Tender, one way or another. I'm trusting you all to deal with the remnants."

"No pressure," Dial-Up snorted.

"You can't do it?" I asked.

"I didn't say that kid," he replied.

"We'll have this situation cleaned up in no time."

"Good," I replied with a nod.

"If you need to get a hold of me you can either call me like usual, or just talk to one of the bears. Now that I've improved my command network I should be able to have a conversation with you no matter what I'm doing." I paused, and cocked my head to the side.

"Well, I may not reply if I'm busy beating the shit out of the tender. That will require my full attention."

"You're pretty confident in your skills, aren't you?" Lag asked.

"Honestly, no. I'm a terrible shot and still learning to be an effective leader," I admitted.

"I am, however, supremely confident that I'll be able to get what I need done, done. Whether through improvisation, pure force of will or, as Nora said, spite, I'll get it done."

"You know, you're a little scary when you talk like that," Dial-Up said.

"Yeah, well, you should see me when I'm pissed off," I replied.

"I've been told I'm terrifying."

"So there's nothing that we can say to get you to stay longer?" Wild asked. I shook my head.

"The longer I delay, the further the Tender gets away, and the more chance it'll slip away," I said.

"I'm going."

"In that case, take care of yourself," Wild said, stepping forward and enveloping me in a hug. I wasn't expecting it, so I flailed around for a second before I realised what was happening.

"You too," I replied, returning the hug awkwardly.

"Don't get yourself killed out there kid," Mud said after Wild finally let me go.

"I won't," I said.

"Be careful while I'm gone. The Antithesis might be on the ropes, but this fight isn't over."

"I'm aware," the old biker grunted.

"You two take care of yourselves," I said turning towards the holograms of Dial-Up and Lag standing at the other side of the room.

"Maybe we'll actually be able to meet in person once I get back."

"Yeah, not going to happen," Dial-Up replied.

"What's the matter? Intimidated by me?" I joked.

"No, it's more that we've removed our brains and installed them in the tanks so we can spend most of our time in the mesh," Lag replied. My brain stopped working for a moment.

"Oh, okay then," I replied blankly. The pair laughed.

"Take care of yourself Teddy. We'll talk again, I'm sure of it," Dial-Up said. I nodded towards him before turning towards Nora and Bern.

"I'm guessing that you two want to stay here. I know I kind of sprung this on you two, but you're welcome to come with if you want." Bern shook his head.

"I released a number of plagues in the area, and it would be irresponsible to leave before they burned themselves out. I may put failsafes into them, but I'm not willing to risk letting them mutate," Bern explained.

"And I'm focused on fast-paced close combat. I have no idea what I'd do in the water," Nora said.

"It might be a good time to learn," I said cheekily.

"Yeah… no. I'm still needed here," she replied.

"Don't do anything stupid, alright."

"You know me," I replied.

"That's what I'm talking about," she muttered, before gently reaching out and patting me on the head.

"Seriously though, be careful out there."

"I will, I promised. I'll be back soon," I promised. I took a moment to wave one last time at my friends before stepping away from everyone and walking over to where Bob and Heavy were waiting.

"Gather some troops, and whatever supplies we may need," I told them.

"I want to leave as soon as possible." Heavy smiled.

"Time to go fishing."