TBoB - Book 3 - Chapter 29 - Checking in

You have a couple incoming calls. One is from the Family, the other is from the city council, Nyx said.

“Tell them to fuck off! We’re in the middle of an incursion, I’m busy!” I replied.

You’re lounging on top of the Grizzly, taking pot shots at the few remaining antithesis. You’re not busy.

“I’m directing my troops,” I replied defensively. “And considering that we’re in the middle of an incursion, and the antithesis could be anywhere, I don’t want to be distracted,” I told my AI. “Besides, I don’t want to talk to either of them.”

Right. I’ll ask them to call back then.

I sighed. That meant I’d actually have to deal with one, or both, later. Something I just didn’t want to do.

As my boys finished throwing fleshmelters at the remains of the spires that the marsupial had broken up earlier, Hoppy bounced back over and vaulted back on top of the Grizzly. “So what’s the plan from here?” she asked. 

“Well… the perimeter is fine, now that we’ve got PMC backup to help close off the roads. All bears report that antithesis numbers are manageable, so I’m less concerned now than I was at the start of the incursion,” I explained. “We could continue just cleaning the landing sites, but I thought we could check in on the others, now that things have stabilized a little.”

“Should we call the Family, see if anyone has reported any issues?” Hoppy asked.

I tried to keep my expression neutral but I know my face fell, just a little, after she asked. “Sure… how about you handle that,” I said.

“Fine, I’ll handle the chores,” Hoppy snorted. “While I’m doing that you can move us towards the next pocket of antithesis. Might as well keep busy if they don’t have any jobs for us.”

I nodded, and mentally recalled my squad. Bandit took a minute to feel the ground, and sniff the air, before indicating we should head north east. While the boys were rushing back, the remaining troops were returning to their pods. Even though the marsupial could normally fly down and retrieve the pods, the road was far too narrow for it to fit. So the vehicle dropped as low as it could, then lowered some extremely long tow cables. It might take awhile to winch everything back, but it would be able to retrieve all the pods, even in this dense environment.

After everyone climbed aboard the Grizzly we set off, towards our next target.

We only made it a couple streets over before Hoppy turned towards me, a disappointed look on her face. “The Family has requested that we redirect to the south east, to help someone that’s been pinned down,” she said.

I studied her face for a moment, trying to figure out if I should actually ask or not. “Who?” I finally said.

“Helen,” Hoppy replied. “She apparently got separated from Hel and Humboldt, and since they don’t have a transport, we can get to her faster.”

“Of course it’s fucking Helen,” I grumbled. “I don’t suppose we can pretend that we didn’t get the message?” Hoppy just stared at me for a few seconds, eyebrow raised, then slowly shook her head. “Yeah, I figured you’d say that. Fine, send me the location.”

As soon as I received the message the Grizzly turned sharply, heading towards Helen’s last known location. It wasn’t actually that far from us, a few minutes at the most. As we weaved between the buildings, flying about thirty feet up to avoid the ground units, I noticed a slowly increasing number of antithesis. “Did they say what Helen was trying to do exactly?” I asked as we passed a particularly large group heading in the same direction we were.

“Just clearing. Nothing specific,” Hoppy said as we swooped over a small group of Twelves. 

“I don’t even know how she fights,” I grumbled. “From what I understand she used most of her points on perception manipulation tech. I’ve only ever seen her fire that oversized pistol of hers.”

“I think we’re about to find out,” Hoppy replied, pointing to a building ahead of us. The entire street was completely packed with antithesis. I was surprised to see several models get crushed in the churning mob, something I’d never seen before. Even in the narrow confines of the caverns.

I glanced over my shoulder at my team, “Bob, take a walk. See if Helen’s still alive in that mess,” I said. “The rest of you, start thinning.” 

Bob didn’t even wait for me to finish, he just smiled and walked right off the side of the Grizzly. The antithesis might have been chewing themselves up, but Bob did much worse. Each swing of his massive paw sent dozens of antithesis flying. I swear I could hear him laughing as he did it.

“If he ever goes rogue, I fear for the city,” Hoppy muttered. I didn’t disagree with her. 

The Grizzly made a wide turn, and came down beyond the edge of the mob. Before it touched down Heavy jumped out of the back, and landed hard on the street below. It took a few seconds for his heavy cannon to spool up, but when it did he started mowing down the nearest antithesis.

“Great, now Heavy’s doing it,” I grumbled as the Grizzly finally touched down. “Bob’s been a bad influence.” 

The rest of the squad scrambled down, and rushed to take their positions around the larger bear, but he was surprisingly fine for being so close to the aliens. Despite taking heavy losses the antithesis hadn’t turned to engage him, they just continuously pushed towards the building. 

“I’m no expert, but shouldn’t the antithesis move to protect themselves?” Hoppy asked as she moved up next to me.

“They absolutely should,” I confirmed. “Even when I use my lures, they’ll try to engage nearby threats.” 

As soon as I said that, Hoppy slowly turned towards me, and I lowered my face into my waiting hands. “You have Antithesis Lures?” she asked in surprise.

“I do,” I admitted after a second. “I don’t have the blueprints, so they’re mounted in the back of the original six APCs. Which I was just using as transports and keeping off the front lines. I totally forgot.”

“Don’t you think they’d be…” Hoppy began.

“I’m already recalling them to the battlefield. One of them will be with us in a couple minutes,” I said, finally looking up again. “We’ll drop off another with Hel and Humboldt once we extract Helen from whatever is going on here.”

“Right,” Hoppy said. She didn’t say anything else, but I could hear the grin in her voice. 

“I have a terrible memory sometimes, and the last time I used them was Seattle,” I tried to explain.

“I believe you,” she replied without looking at me.

I groaned, then lifted my rifle and began firing randomly into the antithesis before us.

It took a few minutes, but I finally got a call from a familiar number.

“Helen,” I said coolly as I picked up. “How are you?”

“I’m quite busy Teddy, as you already know. Please tell your oversized bodyguard to STOP trying to pick me up and carry me into that horde!” she screamed across the line.

“Fine… What the hell ARE you doing in there anyways?” I asked as I silently sent a command to Bob, asking him to chill out. “Everyone lost track of you and when I came looking I found a bunch of messed up antithesis outside.”

“I’m using an offshoot of my persuasion tech Tedward. I normally have my rig send out a signal that makes the antithesis more likely to ignore me, right now I’m sending one to aggravate them,” Helen explained. “I’m currently sitting in the stairway, using the door as a chokepoint as I slowly thin them out.”

I took a quick look at the intersection crawling with antithesis before I replied. “I don’t think your thinning fast enough,” I said, sending her a picture of the area.

The line was quiet for a minute. “I thought the area of effect would be a lot smaller than that,” she admitted.

“Shut it down for now, so we can cut our way towards you,” I instructed her. “Once you’re out we can either use one of my lures, or your fancy manipulation tech, to pull them into a kill zone.”

“I can handle this,” she insisted.

“Even if a pack of fours climbs up the size of the building, and flanks you?” I asked.

There was another pause. “I’m shutting it off now,” Helen said quietly.

“Good. Without you calling in additional antithesis Hoppy and I should be able to cut our way to you in a couple minutes,” I reported. “Stay alive until then.”

“I can handle that,” Helen replied. “Thanks for coming,” she added quietly.

“You’re welcome,” I replied equally quietly before cutting the line.

A few seconds after we stopped talking the antithesis stopped running blindly at the building, and many turned to rush towards the team. I raised my rifle and shot the head antithesis right between the eyes. “Alright,” I shouted, “let's clear this scrubwood.”