“Hey Brood,” I chirped as we approached the other two samurai. “Long ti no see.” I could see Raijin’s eyebrows raise at the greeting, but Broodmother’s didn’t look fazed in the slightest.
“It’s been a while Evelyn, or should I call you Teddy now? Congratulations on the na,” Broodmother replied. I couldn’t see her face, which was covered by the sa deep brown helt she was wearing at our first encounter, but I could feel the warmth in her words. “Thank you for the tily assistance.”
“It’s no problem, we were in the neighbourhood anyways…” I replied, which caused Humboldt to smack on the back of the head and Bright-Eyes to giggle.
“Indeed. I see you’ve t Hoppy,” Broodmother said as she gestured at the samurai literally bouncing behind , “this is the other young samurai that accompanied us on the investigation, Raijin,” she said. I took a quick look at the man standing behind her, early twenties, probably of Asian-Arican descent, wearing a leather trench coat and top hat, both of which were absolutely covered in strange, sparking machinery. When he stuck out his hand, I half expected to get electrocuted. Thankfully, I did not.
“So, now that you’ve arrived, and our periter has stabilized, you can let us know what the situation is,” Broodmother said, cracking her helt for the first ti since Humboldt and I arrived.
“I’m not going to lie, the situation wasn’t looking that great when we arrived. The entire team was pinned at the entrance by the sheer number of antithesis in the area,” I reported. “A combination of high-tier antithesis, and rapid replenishnt of the lower models ant even the strike team was having difficulties.”
“Was?” Bright-Eyes asked. I just pointed at the far side of the room where, even at this distance, I could clearly make out Grey’s mass of nanites thrashing about. I was pretty sure I could even make out Whisperer’s elephant, breathing fire. Bright-Eyes stared at the mass across the room for a mont before turning back, “I have no further questions,” she said quickly.
“The entire team was planning on pushing out, and thodically breaking down the minor hives while pushing towards the central spire,” Humboldt explained.
“And why didn’t you go with them?” Hoppy asked hesitantly.
“I wasn’t invited,” I replied flippantly. I saw Bright-Eyes and Broodmother exchange a brief glance, so I waved my hand and elaborated. “My bears might be good at dealing with the smaller models but Bob was the only way I had to deal with larger antithesis, until I upgraded my IFVs. I’m also much more comfortable in an entrenched position than on the move. If I stuck with the group I probably would have had my bears slowly whittled down until it was just Bob left,” I explained. “Coming to et up with you was the best option.”
Hoppy raised a hand. “Ummm… Who is Bob?”
I just pointed out into the sea of scarabs, just in ti to catch Bob cave in the head of a Twenty-Three so the scarabs could consu it. Once he was done, he turned and waved happily in our direction.
“Don’t let the goofy deanor fool you, he’s the strongest thing in my arsenal,” I said.
“So… what now? Do we push out and try to et up with them?” Raijin asked. I noticed the guy was a little twitchy, although I wasn’t sure if that was due to his excitent, or if he was constantly getting electrocuted by his gear.
“We could,” Humboldt said, “With Mother’s scarabs we wouldn’t have to worry about any small fry. However we’d be opening up both our sides and our backs for attacks. Do you think we’d be able to handle assaults from all sides?”
Raijin tensed up. I could see he yearned to say yes, maybe earn so glory, but he wasn’t stupid enough to risk everyone to do it. “No, we’d be overwheld,” he admitted.
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“That doesn’t an we have to just sit idle,” I said. “My IFV has the ability to strike at the nearest hives, and earn so tokens for you and Hoppy, while Broodmother’s scarabs are earning everyone a constant point inco. We’ll spend so ti tooling up, and push out when we’re ready.”
“A sensible suggestion,” Broodmother said. “Neither Bright-Eyes or myself have a good way to deal with those larger models still. We’ve tried to adapt… but we’re heavily specialized in recon, and light on the combat applications.”
“Hey! Don’t sell us short! We managed to handle those Twenty-Threes they sent after us… eventually,” Bright-Eyes cut in. “Granted, putting explosives in my squirrels and having them kamikaze down the tunnels wasn’t exactly the most graceful solution, but it worked in the end.”
“Thank God it did, I’d be dead without them,” Hoppy added.
“So, we agreed? Work on earning you so upgrades, then push out once everything stabilizes?” I asked. “Wonderful! I’ll get my bears on it right away” I added before anyone could answer.
I caught a slight smirk on Bright-Eyes’ face, and the massive frown on Raijin’s, while I sent a command to prep the Kodiak.
Broodmother nodded once, then slid her helt back on. “We’ll leave the hives to you then,” she said before turning to Raijin and Hoppy. “I know it might not seem like the most satisfying way to fight, but there’s a lot to be said for going slow and steady. We’ll get you so higher tier catalogs, and push out when we’re ready.”
“I’ll help Broodmother watch the periter,” Humboldt volunteered. “I may not be able to clear the heavies away as fast as that bear, or Teddy’s tank, but I can keep them off us for a while. Just destroy those things quickly,” she said.
I nodded, before turning back to my IFV. Both Hoppy and Bright-Eyes followed behind , apparently very interested in what I was doing.
“Sooo… you’re the one that runs around with teddy bears? That’s cool! A lot of the people on the web were laughing about it, until the videos got out,” Hoppy said, trying to make conversation.
“Actually wasn’t my choice at the beginning,” I admitted. “The bots are just so fucking ugly that I needed a way to travel around without scaring children, and my AI got cheeky. I’m just too lazy to bother changing it.”
“That’s cool…” the girl said awkwardly.
“So what’s your gimmick?” I asked turning to look at the lanky girl when I arrived at the Kodiak.
“I’ve trained in kickboxing since I was a kid, so I’m planning on investing on leg enhancents to smash the antithesis with,” she said. “These babies let run faster than most cars, and jump up to three stories high. I really want to get sothing that’ll let crack so of those heavier models though,” she gushed.
“Just make sure you purchase so better armor, or so type of ergency escape option before you try it,” Bright-Eyes cut in. “All it takes is a single misstep for you to end up getting injured, or dying. Better safe than sorry.”
Hoppy nodded seriously, before turning back towards again. “So… what’s the plan?”
“Purchase advanced ammunition, pelt the nearest hive with it until it collapses, then repeat,” I replied, popping open the back hatch. Both bears turned to look at as I entered, followed closely by the others.
“That’s it?” Hoppy asked, surprised.
“I know so samurai like to do big, flashy things,” I said, turning to look at the girl, “but I’ll warn you now: the bigger and flashier you go, the more dangerous it’ll be. Sotis you have to do sothing like that, but there’ll always be risks. Fuck… I sent Bob away for five minutes, and almost lost my walls before I ca over here.”
“And that’s why you bought this thing? Right?” Bright-Eyes announced mischievously.
“No….” I replied, defensively. “I DID have to panic buy sothing to deal with that, but I actually spent so ti thinking about this purchase,” I admitted. I noticed Hoppy was glancing between the two of us, so I decided to try and salvage the discussion. “Moral of the story is, knowing your strengths and weaknesses is important!” I announced, “and trying to get fancy, when you really don’t need to, is a good way to injure yourself.”
She nodded, apparently accepting my ‘wisdom’, but I wasn’t sure. This entire thing just showed off why I shouldn’t give advice. “Alright, I’m going to order so rounds. If you’re going to stick around you might want so ear protection, because things are about to get loud.”
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