Chapter Forty-Six - A Call
“There are a lot of people that show up when an incursion starts. You might wonder which idiot runs towards the unending aliens swarm, other than a dutiful Samurai, that is.
You just need to look at the payouts to see. Insurance companies hire out PMCs, or have their own military branches that secure buildings, real estate, and VIPs. dicare groups want to rescue as many injured as possible. Police forces, especially those who charge by-the-saving are always quick to act.
The big boys though, the ones who are always on the scene first? Those are the private PMCs. Every block they clear, every building they save, every alien dead, ans a whole lot of credits changing hands.”
--Colonel Robert Oxford, September 2043
***
I’d gotten stared at before. I was a teen who was missing an eye, an arm and who had ugly burns across her half her face. Worse, Lucy, the girl that I spent most of my day with, was the sort of pretty that could start problems.
I’d been the focus of attention that was unwelco and ambivalent. I figured I was used to it.
The amount of stares directed my way when Deus Ex shot past the front barricades--and the rows of tanks and milling soldiers--and ca to a hovering halt so ten ters off the ground above a sea of displaced civilians and rushing soldiers was so far off the scales that they were sending shivers down my spine.
She did sothing that had us dropping down only to stop the mont her heavy boots crashed into the pavent.
The teen looked around, ignoring all the people that had backed off to get out of her path. She pointed off towards a row of tents going up alongside the road. There was a wooden barrier and a line of soldiers between us and the tents and pre-fabs and army trucks. “See that van?” she asked.
“Yeah?” I said as I locked onto a row of semis.
The tentacles holding in place let go. I jumped off in a hurry.
“There should be so gear in there you can take. Simple shit. Just take whatever and replace it as soon as you can with real gear. I’ll ping whoever’s in charge and tell them to add you to a S and R squad.”
“A what?” I asked.
She looked at , my face’s reflection off the visor of her helt looking down at with a mirror of confusion. “Try not to die, alright?” She pivots around, her chanical contraptions displacing the air with a dull thrum, then begins to hover an inch off the ground. “Oh, and don’t worry about those you saved. They’re probably fine.”
“Wait!” I called out.
She actually waited, which caught flat-footed for a mont.
I wasn’t one to give much of a shit about social hierarchies and the like, but even my thick skull could get around the idea that a Samurai was above a normie.
“The kittens. The orphans I was with. Where are they?”
Her shoulders drooped. “I’ll make sure they’re looked after. You just worry about the opportunity you have today.”
And with that, the girl twisted around--the back of her platform opening up to reveal a whole crapload of glowing thrusters--and shot off back towards the front line of the incursion.
“What opportunity?” I asked.
I think she’s speaking of the opportunity to obtain more points. Joining a Search and Rescue party wouldn’t be a bad idea.
I looked at all the faces taking in. So curious, so ambivalent, others hungry in a way that made uncomfortable. I wanted to get out of there, but I didn’t know where to head to.
Was Lucy alright? Were the kittens? I had to...
I was an idiot.
With a few flicks of my eye, I opened up a ssenger app and opened it to my most spoken-to contact.
Cat: Lucy, you ok?
I licked my lips as I waited for a reply.
Lulu the greatest: CAT! Yes were ok!
Cat: Where r u?
Lulu the greatest: At a hotel. We were going to a shelter. So guys brought us to a hotel instead. Said it was because of a samurai. Did u do it? HBU? Are you okay? Kittens are fine too!
Cat: I’m fine. I was saved by a laser loli. Talk later?
Lulu the greatest: stay safe!
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