Chương 42: Chapter 40 - Low Places

Hel just sent out the word to move out. Expect the journey to the city to take twenty minutes, and we'll start encountering Antithesis in ten.

"No problem, the bears are already set up, two in every bus. I have no idea how they planned to keep eighteen buses safe with just the super heavy, four apcs and the mobile base." They didn't, they were planning on relying on Samurai from the beginning. I grunted in response, I guess that wasn't too surprising. Five minutes into the trip the gunfire started, sporadic to start, but by the time we were in sight of the city it was constant. The city itself seemed enormous.

Unlike Calgary where the the city was at ground level, and the undercity an excavated space, Seattle's undercity was at ground level with the main city lifted way above sea level. The undercity was entirely enclosed by thick concrete walls, while the upper level was open to the air. The road we were following to the undercity was an eight lane highway, which passed through an enormous metal gate, which of course was left open. Antithesis were just pouring out of it.

"How is the column holding up?" I asked. Pretty well, we've only run into lower numbers so far. The hard part will be securing the shelters.

"And how are my points, I can't imagine they're building up too quickly with all these other Samurai around." Actually, when you work with Samurai points are split evenly, with a slight bonus given to encourage cooperation. With an even split you'd be earning 16. 6%, but you get a bonus for working with other Samurai and with the bonus it's about 18. 3% of all kills.

"Neat, so how close am I to new equipment?" E xtremely, I would recommend waiting though, we're approaching the first shelter, you'll want to be in top shape for that.

"Why, it's not like muscle upgrades will take me out of commission for a while, right?" my AI didn't reply.

"Nyx…" You should concentrate on the task at hand, and maybe let the others know you're going to do some upgrades on the way to the next shelter.

"I don't like the sound of that," I grumbled. Worry about that later, first checkpoint ahead. The column pulled into the parking lot for some sort of shopping center. The buses parked three abreast, while the tank, apcs and Centurion continued to patrol. I jumped out of my truck and ran up to the front of the building, where Hel and Mirage were standing. Hel was yelling at the soldiers in the area.

"This is the largest Shelter in the area. We expect about a thousand people. The Antithesis aren't going to let up so we need the area fortified before we crack the door." As I approached, she turned towards me.

"Teddy, is there anything you and your bears can do to help secure the area?" Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"Probably, I haven't fully explored my area denial catalog, if nothing else I can pop down mines," I replied. She nodded.

"While you do that the soldiers are going to start setting up a perimeter. I want to be set up, and ready to crack the door in five minutes." As soon as I nodded, she walked away, yelling commands to the other troops. I quickly surveyed the area, trying to come up with a plan. We needed to protect a fairly large area, and leaving even a single bus outside the perimeter would probably result in it getting swarmed and destroyed.

"Nyx, does the area denial catalog have anything we can use beyond the mines?" Plenty, concrete dividers, barbed and razor wire, sandbags, and various equivalent barriers.

"Fuck, really? Are they expensive?" Not really, you could get one foot of sandbag wall and razor wire for a point. Blocking off the area would cost you three hundred points.

"Do I have that much? I thought I was broke." Quite a few Antithesis have died from your bears and the other Samurai, even with the point split you've built up quite the reserve. I expect you'll recoup the costs while defending this location.

"Do it then." Purchased - 300 ft of Sandbags and Razor wire - 300 points Points remaining - 684 Someone behind me gasped as a sandbag wall surrounded by razor wire materialized. I turned to see a squad of soldiers unloading some sandbags out of the back of a bus, they appeared confused. Guess I just stole their jobs, my bad. Before they could recover I ordered my bears to set up behind the defensive line. The Antithesis were already starting to approach the area, drawn by the comotion.

Sharron casually wandered my way, weapons ripping apart the closest aliens.

"I see you're showing off in front of the army boys." I shot her a dirty look, "You think I'm showing off? You're killing Antithesis without even looking at them!." She laughed, "The new suit definitely helps." I watched as her two top tentacles, much larger than the ones on her old suit, shot out multiple lasers each and dissolved an entire group of Model Threes. She must have noticed me watching.

"Variable focus laser arrays. Each has five lasers that can be fired off scattershot, but they're devastating when focused on a single target."

"That's horrifying," I exclaimed.

"Only to the Antithesis." She smirked, "I'm going to check the rest of the line, call if you need help." I stepped up to the defensive line once she wandered away. The number of Antithesis assaulting our lines were already starting to build up, so I brought up my CAR and scanned the lines. All I could see were small groups of Threes and Fours, nothing that required heavy firepower. Not yet.

"Nyx, do I have enough points to purchase that XR Railgun blueprint?" More than enough.

"Then do it. Can you let the others know I'm sending Bob to requisition some materials from the stores around here? I want to start getting those guns to my bears before we need them." I'm not sure if that's completely necessary, considering who you're with. As Nyx said that Centurion drove straight through the mob of Antithesis, a pair of chain guns on his tank cutting down whatever Antithesis weren't crushed underneath the wheels.

"Better safe than sorry," I told him quietly.

"We're just getting started here. Who knows what'll show up." Purchased Blueprint XR-42 Heavy Railgun - 500 points Points remaining - 314 Hel just sent out an alert, they're cracking the shelter now.

"Good, I don't think anyone wants to be here any longer than necessary."