Chương 403: Book 6 - Epilogue

"What's the matter, Boss? Feel guilty about leaving?" I heard Bob ask. I opened my eyes and looked at the big bear, who was standing completely steady despite the intense turbulence we were experiencing. The Ursas may have been much faster than both the Kodiaks and Bear Force One, but from my brief experience so far, it seemed they were also less stable. I missed my Kodiak.

"Not really," I replied casually.

"I'm sure that everyone understood that chasing the Gene Tender was the right choice. Even though we're not set up for aquatic operations, we need to do everything in our power to bring that thing down before it can escape and settle down somewhere else."

"And what if we can't?" Bob asked.

"Then I'll have to ramp up bear production," I muttered, "because what we experienced in Great Falls will be happening on a global scale."

"Oh? In that case, I'll warm up my fists. It sounds like we'll be needing them," Bob replied before bouncing up and down and punching the air like a boxer before a match.

"Did you not hear me? That's the worst-case scenario," I said, glaring at the bear.

"Do you really have so little faith in my skills?"

"It's not that," Bob replied.

"I just like punching, and an invasion of that level sounds like a true test of my pugilist skills." I opened my mouth to reply, but then thought better of it. I had a feeling that any attempt to correct Bob's attitude would only leave me frustrated or confused.

"Do you have a plan?" Heavy asked. The polar bear had taken a seat on the floor and was using one of the benches as a makeshift workbench to perform maintenance on his weapons. It looked like he'd been concentrating intently on his work, so I didn't realise he'd been listening.

"Refit the Ursas so they can drop sonar beacons, try to create a perimeter that the leviathan can't slip out of without being detected, then slowly close the noose. Once we discover the Antithesis's location, we bring Bear Force One over and blow the shit out of it," I replied, leaning back against the wall again.

"And if it's as strong as the Fifty-One-S?" Heavy prompted.

"Then we keep hammering it for as long as it takes," I said.

"I honestly think Bear Force One would have been able to take the Fifty-One if given enough time. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to test that because the fucking thing decided it wanted to try and harvest biomass and metals instead of fighting." This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"So, if this one wants to run, or it escapes beyond your perimeter before we manage to get it down?" Heavy prompted.

"Then we might be in trouble. I'm really hoping that there'll be a samurai fleet already trying to track this thing down when we arrive, so we don't have to do all the work ourselves," I told him. Heavy stopped building and turned towards me for the first time.

"Why does it sound like you don't expect that to happen?" he asked.

"Oh, I expect there to be a fleet out there searching; I just don't know how large it'll be," I replied.

"Remember when we stopped by Seattle a couple of weeks ago? One of the locals threatened to fire at us if we got too close to the city. Two factions were vying for power, and I doubt they'll work together, even to take care of something as dangerous as a Gene Tender. We probably won't have a proper fleet until we get backup from Vancouver or California."

"And by that time, the Leviathan might escape the area," Heavy said, finishing my thought.

"Yeah. It's not all doom and gloom, though. Even if we don't get a ton of backup from Seattle, the vanguard of the Mars fleet should be entering orbit in a day or two. I don't think there was much aquatic combat up there, but hopefully the heavy hitters will have some tech to help us," I muttered before sitting up.

"Fuck… Now that I think about it, all we need to do is find this fucking thing and let Mirage know. He did say that the weapon they fired at the Fifty-One was designed for precision removal. Since the Mars samurai know how dangerous Gene Tenders are, I doubt it'd take much convincing."

"If we can find the thing," Heavy grunted as he returned to his work.

"I have a feeling that's not going to be easy."

"You're probably right," I said as I leaned back again and closed my eyes.

"Still, we can always hope. Maybe we'll take care of this thing within hours and be back to Great Falls in time for dinner."

"Not with the way you tempt fate," Heavy snorted.

"We're going to be here for the long haul." I opened a single eye and glared at the back of the polar bear's head.

"I haven't said anything yet," I said.

"You will, you always do," Bob said.

"It's what makes life with you exciting!"

"The Antithesis don't magically get more powerful just because I make a comment," I growled.

"That's all superstition."

"Maybe," Heavy said, "but you have to admit that historically you've always stepped into deep shit almost immediately after making one of your declarations. I used to think it was just because you threw yourself into the worst of the fighting, but now I'm not sure…"

"Fate doesn't exist, and if it did, it loves me," I said. Heavy paused and turned to look at me with a quizzical look on his face.

"How do you figure that?"

"We may step into shit, but we always manage to soldier through and emerge stronger for it," I said.

"If fate really had it out for me, I would have died months ago."

"Toxic relationship," Heavy grunted.

"Now that's the truth." I chuckled. A warning flashed through my mind, the Ursa squadron had just cleared the last of the mountains and was quickly approaching the coast. The terrain looked fairly rough, but there were a couple of clear areas where the attack craft could land. I directed the vehicles towards the largest one, then pushed myself to my feet.

"Well, it looks like we've arrived," I announced to the pair.

"Get ready; it's time to see what fate has prepared for us this time."