TBoB - Book 3 - Chapter 24 - Intercity Cooperation

Hoppy was up to her knees in antithesis when I found her. Well, to be more precise, she was standing with one leg buried up to the knee in the head of a Model Twelve. 

“Having fun?” I asked as we rolled up.

“It’d be good stress relief, if the fate of the city wasn’t at stake,” Nora replied as she carefully pulled her leg out of the dead antithesis. “Do we have a plan?”

“Kill the plants before they can break the perimeter,” I replied simply as the bears shredded a small group of fours down the street.

Nora smiled. “Solid plan,” she said as she hopped up next to me. “So straight to the middle?”

“Straight to the middle,” I agreed as I mentally nudged Dusty to continue forward. Even though part of me wanted to rush directly to the epicenter, the streets were rapidly filling with antithesis, and I didn’t exactly want to leave them to run amok through the surrounding buildings.

Thankfully both the bears and Hoppy were fairly accurate shots, and my rifle was self guided, so we could fire on the move and still make decent time. We were just starting to approach the central area when Sharron contacted me.

[Sup Squiddy?] I asked as soon as I picked up.

[Sounds like someone’s in a good mood. I thought you’d be panicking considering the entire city is currently relying upon you to keep the antithesis contained.] she replied.

[I’ve left Spooky in charge of that, and I’m doing my best not to think about it, but thanks for reminding me,] I said snarkily. [What’s your status?]

[Hel has rallied whatever samurai she could at the Family hq, and we’re starting our push now. It sounds like you’re not going to get that much support on your side, so if they push out it’ll be towards you,] Sharron reported.

[Wonderful! And I thought my day couldn’t get any harder. Thanks for the heads up though.] I replied snarkily. 

[We’ll work as fast as possible and work towards you, just be careful,] Sharron said quietly.

[Careful? That doesn’t sound like me.]

Sharron laughed. [No, it certainly doesn’t. Just don’t do anything TOO stupid.]

[I’ll try,] I reported. [Gotta go, Hoppy and I are about to engage another group. Talk soon!] 

[Later,] Sharron replied as she disconnected.

A Fourteen slipped around the corner ahead of us, followed by a massive wave of smaller models. As I brought my LCARS up the Grizzly’s coilgun took a huge chunk out of the Fourteen, leaving the smaller models. As the IFV slid to a stop, Hoppy bounced off and ran straight for the mob, her gun blazing. The bears and I did the best to carve through the mob, but with Heavy stuck in the back, Spooky watching the perimeter, and Dusty driving, we were down quite a few guns.

I watched as Hoppy paused long enough to setup a round kick to the first Three in the column; As soon it connected the entire horde went up in flames.

Those that didn’t die immediately staggered about for a few seconds as the fire consumed them. “I didn’t know you could do that,” I said in awe.

“I CAN’T do that,” Hoppy replied, stunned.

“I did that,” a third voice announced. I turned towards the alley just as a samurai I didn’t recognize stepped out of the shadows, hands in the air. “I mean you no harm!”

I could tell that he was a samurai because he was dressed like a corporate sponsored super human. He was wearing a suit of light exo armor, which was painted in a combination of dark blue and orange, and his entire arm was covered in corporate sponsors. He was also carrying a fairly chunky rifle, and had three drones carrying massive crystals following him.

“That’s good,” I said after looking the man over, “because if you did mean us harm, the bears would have put holes in you already.”

The man smiled, and slowly lowered his hands. “Are you in charge of the defenses?”

I narrowed my eyes. “What gave you that idea?”

“The bears mostly,” he replied with a shrug before hanging the rifle off one shoulder. “Look, I know you have no reason to trust me, but I want to help with your antithesis situation.”

I stared at the man for another few seconds until it finally clicked. “You’re from Denver,” I finally said. “I saw you on the TV this morning.”

“That a problem?” he asked, taking a subtle step back towards the alley.

“Fuck no! I don’t give a shit where you’re from, we can use all the help we can get,” I declared. Hoppy nodded in agreement. “I’m Teddy, and that’s Hoppy,” I said as I jumped down from the Grizzly. 

“The name’s Arclight,” the man declared. “The others were convinced I’d be shot on sight if I showed up in front of any of the locals, but I thought it was worth the risk.” Arclight smiled, “How can we help?”

“We?” Hoppy asked. “How many of you came from Denver?”

“Five, including myself.” Arclight shuffled uncomfortably for a moment. “I’ll admit, we came to support the attack on the city, but that doesn’t mean we’ll ignore an incursion.”

“And I’ll be honest, I don’t give a shit whether you take over the city or not, my only priority is dealing with the antithesis,” I replied. 

“Really?” Arclight asked.

“Fuck… most samurai don’t give a shit, that’s why you’ve only been fighting a handful of idiots,” I said. “So what exactly can you guys do to help? Can you help clear the west side?”

“Absolutely!” Arclight declared, nodding vigorously. “I’ll let the others know.” 

As he turned around to make a call I glanced over to Hoppy. “How old do you think he is?” I asked quietly.

“Does it matter?” she whispered back.

“Not really,” I answered. “But he comes off a little… I don't know, trusting? Excitable? Idealistic?”

“What’s your point?” Hoppy asked.

“He doesn’t seem like the type that would join an attack on another city,” I replied, just as Arclight jogged back towards us. 

“My friends will start sweeping this section immediately!” he declared. 

“We appreciate it,” I said. The three of us stood there, looking at each other for a long moment. “You have a way to get around, or would you like to ride with us?” I finally asked awkwardly.

“Oh? Would that be ok?” Arclight asked hopefully.

“Sure, I guess. We really need to get going so…” I started, before Arclight jumped and started jogging towards the Grizzly.

Hoppy and I watched him climb awkwardly onto the vehicle before jumping up after him. As soon as I did I signalled Dusty to advance again.

The IFV accelerated smoothly, heading closer to the nearest pod drop zone.

Arclight made clearing the small stuff significantly easier, but he seemed to have problems with anything heavier than a six. After several minutes of on again, off again combat I decided to finally ask the question that was burning inside me.

“Soooo… why the hell did you decide to attack Calgary? Don’t take this the wrong way but… uh… you don’t seem the type?” I finally said without directly looking at Arclight.

“You don’t know?” he asked surprised.

“Know what?” I asked blankly.

“A couple months ago Great North, Telnet and Helmar almost doubled the price of the parts we were importing, then after Global-Rare Earth went under they doubled it again. Apparently they wouldn’t drop the price unless they got a percentage of all Applied Systems sales. Most of our economy relied on getting those parts at a reasonable price, and we didn’t have access to the raw materials to produce them locally, so we had to source them from Cascadia at a premium.” Arclight paused to take a huge breath in. “That would only last for so long, so APS decided that if the Calgary council wanted to perform a soft take over of them, they might as well try and perform a hard take over back.”

Hoppy and I stared at Arclight for several long seconds, causing him to fidget. “Lies, betrayal, and backstabbing. I’m not surprised in the least,” I finally said.

“You’re not,” Arclight asked, surprised.

“No, and that’s why I refuse to get involved with shit like that,” I said. “You never know who’s telling the truth. For all we know Applied systems did something to aggravate the board first.” 

Before Arclight could reply a massive horde of antithesis exploded out of a sidestreet and started rushing our location. I sighted the nearest bunch and squeezed off a burst. It didn’t take long to realize that Arclight wasn’t fighting. I smacked the kid in the side to rouse him. “No time to think about it now, we have more important things to do!” I shouted. 

He looked at me blankly for a moment, then nodded. It was time to work again.