Chương 50: Chapter 48 - Heavy Weapons

"So… how many points would it take to make one of those weapons a reality?" Around four thousand points. I sighed.

"How is that, in any way, possible for me right now?" That's why I said 'in theory'.

"Fuck." I stared down the relatively empty street, when another idea came to me.

"Nyx… say I knew where a couple weapons were located, they just needed to be recovered. Do I have the tech for that?" That depends, where would you find said weapons?

"On the other side of that building," I said, pointing at the office I was using as a makeshift bunker, "attached to a massive mech." Nyx went quiet for a moment. That would work, we could jury rig some carriages for them, but you'd need some sort of repair or construction bot to pull them off.

"Good, let's hope that oversized shrimp ran off like the rest of them." I turned, only to find my team finally catching up to me.

"You're late." Spooky just shrugged at me in return. My eyes narrowed, I wasn't quite sure I liked how their personalities were developing.

"Can I remove that bulkhead from the hallway?" I asked as I stomped back into the lobby. Sure, from this side anyways. Pull the lever to the right and the reinforcements should retract. I eyed the giant metal plate, anchored by spikes that had shot into the surrounding ceiling, floor and walls, then grabbed the giant lever in the middle and yanked. The spikes retracted almost instantly, leaving me supporting the entire weight of the door.

It's a good thing I had upgraded my muscles, otherwise I might have been crushed under the weight. With great difficulty I pushed the plate forward, letting it crash to the ground. As the dust settled I glanced over at Spooky, "Alright smart ass, you first." The bear saluted me, then pushed through the opening. The street was quiet, there were a couple lower models moving around, but the bears quickly dispatched those as we approached. Thankfully the Shrimp had already run off.

I checked the cockpit first, it was thoroughly smashed. There wasn't anything suspicious leaking from it but…

"Is he still in there?" I asked. Probably, I cannot contact his AI. It's possible that he had an emergency teleport, or something similar, but those systems are expensive and rare. I shook my head, "Well, if he did survive somehow I'll just have to return his property later. I need it now." I turned, looking at the two huge weapons the mech had instead of arms. The left arm appeared to be some sort of rotary cannon, one that fired tank munitions.

Unfortunately the weapon had been horribly maimed when the mech fell on it, the barrels were bent and crushed, I wasn't going to be able to salvage it. The right arm, on the other hand, was completely intact. I squinted at the weapon, "Nyx is that…" Yes, it's the XR's big brother, the UHR-878. You have an emplacement version available in your catalog. The thing was huge. Fifteen feet long, nine of which consisted of a split barrel wrapped with hundreds of magnetic accelerator coils.

The other six feet were covered by a complex connector that seemed to be designed in order to handle recoil and connect the gun to the mech. I grinned stupidly at the weapon.

"So it should be relatively simple for me to salvage that and reuse it, right?" It wouldn't be simple, but yes if you pretty much bankrupted yourself you could buy the hover carriage and generator required to support the weapon. You wouldn't be able to afford the bot required to remove it though. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Fuck, I was really hoping to do this quick before the Antithesis came back. Is there anything I can… no fuck it, I have an idea," I announced.

"Call the truck." Pardon?

"We'll strap the gun to the bottom of my truck, cut the arm off, then move back and work on it a little farther away." That's a surprisingly solid idea. I narrowed my eyes.

"Surprisingly?" You're not known for having amazing plans.

"I'm better at adaptation, I told you that. I need a cutting tool, I'm assuming that I have access to something that'll work. Give it to Spooky along with whatever strapping we need to move that gun." Spooky held out his arms and caught some sort of circular saw, then was almost buried in straps and chains. As soon as my truck arrived I climbed up onto the gun and started attaching the supports to the bottom of the trailer, looping them under the gun, then connecting the other side.

The work went surprisingly fast, it only took about five minutes, I was a lot more agile than I used to be. As soon as I was down again I gave Spooky the signal to remove the arm. The saw cut surprisingly well, it must have been from my Thermal Weapons catalog because it glowed while cutting through the upper arm. Just when I thought I was going to get away with my spoils unnoticed, the Fifteens returned.

Turns out the Class II upgrade for my bots not only made them much tougher, but it also made them MUCH better shots. The earlier skirmish had carried on for a few minutes while my bears were exchanging fire with the Fifteens, this time the Antithesis artillery died almost as fast as they appeared. Unfortunately the Fifteens weren't the only Antithesis that appeared, threes and fours began to flood out of the farms and onto the street.

Mentally I checked in on Spooky, just as the last connection to the mech fell away. Time to go. I ordered the bears into a fighting retreat, back to the parking area. Unlike my previous stand, the wave of Antithesis that swept up the street didn't get close. Heavy and Dusty fired in short bursts that cut through small groups, while Bandit, Deadbeat and Spooky fired single shots at the closest targets. I'd almost forgotten how efficient my boys were compared to the line troops.

We got about a block when I found Bob, he was embedded in the side of a car and his entire front was caved in. I couldn't tell if he'd recovered at all, or that was the original damage from the Shrimp, so I just ordered the three bears I'd just bought to pick him up and carry him. As much as I wanted to check on him, and get him back on his feet, I had other things that I needed to deal with first.

By the time we'd retreated the five blocks back to our original parking area the Antithesis had thinned out considerably. That was as much to the horde spreading out into almost every building along the way as it was to the sustained firepower of my team. I set up my team in a defensive formation, had the bears put Bob someplace safe, then turned to my prize. It was currently being held aloft by my truck, I just needed something to mount it in.

"Nyx, what do I need to do to put this thing into action?" I asked as I inspected the weapon. Remove the remaining arm part, leave the recoil dampening array. It just requires removing the bolts connecting everything together… I need to buy some Class 0 tools, then I'll borrow some of your bears.

"I can do it, probably." Maybe, but the bears are stronger than you, and I know what I'm doing.

"Fine." I admit, I pouted a little. My new toy was so close and Nyx wasn't letting me help. I guess it was better in the long run, as the two bears quickly removed a half dozen bolts and let the cut arm fall away. Alright, so since you have a transport catalog I can buy a towable hover chassis for the gun. You also need to open a power generation catalog to power the weapon, I recommend the Class I Advanced Power Generators Catalog, and compact biomass generators.

It's morbid, but you have to admit that using Antithesis is efficient.

"Yeah, well, Whisperer uses dead Antithesis as weapons, burning them for fuel isn't a big thing. How much?" Fifty for the Catalog, two generators at one hundred each, and a thousand for the carriage. I paused, "That last part seems expensive, why?" It needs built in recoil damping and stabilisation features. You'll understand when it fires.

"Fine," I agreed grudgingly, "Let me see it." Purchased Class I Compact Power Generators Catalog - 50 points Mark I Compact Bio Generator x 2 - 200 points UHR-878 Railgun Towable Hover Platform - 1000 points Points Remaining: 273 points The emplacement materialised around the gun. It hovered above the ground, approximately twelve feet long and tapered from five feet wide at the front, to eight feet at the back.

There were two large blocks mounted beside the gun at the back, Approximately three feet long, a foot wide and two feet high, probably the generators. The entire thing had a series of massive swinging arms which ended in massive spikes. I had no idea what those could be for. The sound of gunfire brought me back to reality. The Antithesis on the street hadn't let up, and the rest of the team were probably dealing with much worse. Time to see what kind of damage this thing could do.