I threw myself to the side to avoid the spray of bullets that erupted from the room. Heavy’s optics winked out, completely destroyed by the initial volley of gunfire, so I switched to Spooky. All my bots were firing into the room, ineffectively. I could see the shapes move forward, slowly, it was only when they ca closer to the door that I got a good look at them.
Each one was supported by four massive legs, what I originally thought were locker doors were in fact massive riot shields that hung from one arm, their other side held massive belt fed machine guns.
“Those cannot be standard security.”
They’re not, those are military grade Anti-Antithesis weapons. They’re off the grid, so I can’t shut them down either.
“Wonderful” I saw Humboldt level her cannon and fire off a shot. The warbot in the middle caught the shot on its shield, which dented, but was otherwise unhard.
I signaled for the bears to scatter, I had a feeling that they’d do little more than provide a minor distraction at this point, and I called Spooky to . As soon as it arrived I yanked the railgun off its back and peeked around the machine I’d taken cover behind.
One of the warbots started turning in my direction, so I aid for it, center mass, and pulled the trigger. The resulting boom was deafening. I just dropped the railgun and ordered Spooky to grab it again, it was useless to until it cooled down.
I scrambled into cover behind a new machine, pulling up Bandit’s point of view. The shot had caved in the shield, and caused the chest area to crumple, but it didn’t fully penetrate. A fucking anti tank rifle. I scread into my hands.
Aeonys just contacted , Humboldt wants to pull back but she’s concerned your armor won't hold up to those bullets.
“No shit, please tell you have an idea.”
I do, but I’m not sure you’re going to like it.
“Try !” I shouted over the noise from the machine guns.
Now is not the ti to swap to heavier armor, so the best option would be getting a bodyguard from the Class II modular combat robotics catalog. There is one perfect choice from the higher end, the XAR-4506 assault bot, pretty much a Samurai upgrade of those warbots over there.
“And the downside?”
It’s most of your current balance, two thousand.
“Fuckity fuck fuck,” I growled. With all the bullets ricocheting around it only took a mont for to make up my mind. “Do it, and get the bears to retreat outside.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from ; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Suddenly, a giant silhouette sprung up behind . One arm swept under my arms, lifting up, I watched the other arm stretch out and a giant riot shield extended from the forearm. Then there was the sensation of movent, I could see the ground moving below but the giant shield blocked my view. After a few seconds the air changed, outside. I was unceremoniously deposited around the corner from the door and, for the first ti, I got a good look at my new helper. It was a huge, well over eight feet, black bear. This one wore sothing like SWAT armor, the riot shield it previously deployed folded into a single plate on its forearm.
A second later Humboldt and my bears ca barreling around the corner, Dusty was practically carrying Heavy since his repairs hadn’t completed yet. As soon as they left the warehouse the gunfire stopped. Perhaps the warbots were programd to protect the vault and not chase intruders. For a mont, I was just glad we got out of there alive, then I got pissed.
“That was intentional, it had to be! Those fucking plants lured us here to die,” I shouted angrily.
“Calm down, maybe there’s another explanation.”
“Like what? Those Antithesis ran directly into that secure area even though there was nothing to gain. I swear I thought the Sixteen looked at earlier, now I’m sure it’s true. If I hadn’t had two thousand points to spend I might not have made it out of there.”
Sharron stood up straight and gave the bear a look, “Two grand for that? What does it do?”
“It has a shield, but beyond that… fuck knows!”
Spooky stepped in front of the giant bear and began to speak. “The XAR-4506 is designed for Close quarters combat. The shields on its arms allow it to close with a target, then it uses power claws to rip the target apart.” The bear raised a paw and a set of 3 foot tal claws extended. They looked similar to the cutting tools found in the scrapyard, until they began to glow bright orange. “I took the liberty of upgrading them with thermal blades.”
“Great, I’m glad to still be alive, but it doesn’t solve the problem of being outwitted by plants,” I growled. “How did this happen?”
“Aeonys and I have been discussing, and we have a theory.”
I found a cinder block nearby and sat down, “Please enlighten us.”
“We think there might be a model Twenty Six running around. Both of us excluded the possibility of a Twenty Six from our earlier calculations because they’re rare, extrely rare. The vast majority of the ti Antithesis just throw their unending numbers at a target in order to overwhelm a target. Occasionally, they try to do sothing clever. Twenty Sixes have the ability to plan and reason. They hide, and coordinate with future incursions, making things exponentially harder to deal with.
It also explains why you’ve seen so many Sixes and Sixteens, they’re all part of the sa line. Commanders that act as the eyes, ears and hands of the more advanced model.”
We were quiet for a mont, “So, what, the Twenty Six discovered we marked those Model Twelves and sent them to a bunch of dead ends?” asked Sharron.
“That does seem to be the case. Thankfully Twenty Sixes rarely leave the site of a hive, unless it’s being abandoned. If you find the hive you’ll find the Twenty Six.”
I threw my hands in the air. “Oh, no problem then.”
Humboldt shifted slightly, so I scrambled to protect my head, this ti no blow ca. Instead she sighed, “So what now?”
I stood up, “We check out the lift area, it’s where the Antithesis first got down here, maybe we can find so trace there.” I glanced back at the loading bay, which was blessedly quiet, "but first let's get out of here.”
She did not argue.
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