Stray Cat Strut

Chapter Thirteen - On the Up and Up

“These fucks! Do u know how much I sacrifice to keep this company rolling?

Selfish.”

--Former Nimbletainment CEO’s last Tweet, 2028

***

“You got those security feeds?” I asked while looking around us. The garden pillars cut off my line of sight, I couldn’t see as far as I wanted down any direction, not unless I happened to be in one of those spots where things lined up just right, then I could see all the way across the facility.

Just connected to them. It looks like there was some hesitating from the head office as to whether or not to give you permission, but it was overridden.

“We might actually be working with someone clever,” Gomorrah said.

“Well, you’re used to working with me,” I said.

She snorted. “Exactly. Working with someone clever will be a new and interesting opportunity.”

I laughed while I continued to scan ahead of me. We were nearing the sections that Jake had mentioned the antithesis has been seen in. At least, if I had figured out how the sections worked. We were in section G, according to the signs on the pillars we were passing.

Atyacus and I are pouring over the feeds from the last few days. There are several thousand cameras all across the facility. It seems as though they’re quite worried about employees stealing plants, or resting during non-break minutes. In any case, we’ve found three locations that are likely to be the places where the antithesis are entering the facility.

“Three spots, huh?” I asked. “Can you mark them out for us?”

Done.

I blinked as an overlay popped up over my cybernetic eye’s vision, it turned all the buildings ahead of us into wireframes, then highlighted three spots in a dull orange that I guessed could only mean one thing.

“The breaches are a couple of hundred metres apart,” Gomorrah said. “Do you think we should split up?”

“There’s three of them and two of us,” I said.

“I can send the Fury to the middle one. It can shoot down any antithesis trying to sneak in or out while we clean up the other two locations,” Gomorrah said.

“Alright, fair enough. I’ll get the bigger breach then, since you’ll be covering the other two.” I pointed to the south-most hole in the fence.”

“That seems reasonable,” Gomorrah said. “Stay on the line with me the entire time? If we bite off more than we can chew, we’ll be able to run over to help each other.” She raised her flame thrower and started to adjust a few little knobs hidden inside a panel on its side. “Are you ready for a fight?”

“In a minute,” I said. I didn’t have my crossbow or my grenade launcher. Both were back home. I liked them as weapons, but they both had a few disadvantages that... well, they weren’t perfect weapons. What I did have on me was my trusty Trenchmaker, currently loaded with high-explosive rounds.

I tugged the gun out of my right thigh holster and checked it real fast before putting it away.

My other holster had my Claw. The bulbous gun was loaded with tightly wound monofilament rounds that would shred anything apart. I aimed it ahead, making sure that the overlay worked before I tucked it away. It could teleport its payload into anything I aimed it at, which was pretty helpful against bigger enemies. I probably wasn't going to see anything big enough to be worth using the Claw on for a bit.

A shrug of my shoulders had both of my back-mounted railguns unfolding themselves and shifting so that they aimed over my shoulders. I checked their ammo counts, made sure they were topped up, then nodded to myself.

The only other weapon I had on me was my sword. I hadn’t parted with that thing since I got it. Not that I’d had many opportunities to use it since. It was just too fucking cool to leave at home.

“I think I need a new main weapon,” I said.

“You should probably work that out sooner rather than later,” Gomorrah said. “What are you thinking about?”

“Uh, I don’t know. The grenade launcher’s versatility was nice, but it’s too... clunky? The crossbow was fun too, but it was shit when it comes to crowd control. I need something silent that can still pack a punch.”

Gomorrah hummed. “Ask Myalis about a shotgun, maybe. The shell-type can change the range, and you’ll have a lot of options. They can be pretty satisfying too.”

“I thought you’d suggest a flame thrower,” I said.

“No, that’s my gimmick. Besides, having two of us so focused on close-range wide area-of-effect weapons might mean that we’ll be leaving some huge gaps in our defences.”

“Aww, you’re thinking of us as like, a battle pair or something,” I said.

Gomorrah shook her head. “We’ve been working together a lot, it’s only normal. Besides, the average samurai that works solo can’t specialise as much if they want to cover every possibility. Together we can afford to spend more points on specific parts of our kit if the other’s covering the weaknesses that that would leave.”

“Awfully clever,” I said.

“One of us has to be.”

I let out a long breath. “Okay, so your burns aren’t just physical today. Damn.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I’ve been a little tense.”

I waved it off. “It’s fine, I know you’re not being a capital-B bitch.” I slowed to a stop at the next intersection between pillars. It was where I’d get the straightest path to where I wanted to go. “Alright, I’m heading out here. Keep in touch.”

“Likewise,” Gomorrah said. She gave me a final nod, then stomped off to the left.

I flicked open my aug menus, then toggled on the invisibility on my suit and coat. My outfit wavered, then disappeared. All I saw looking down was the grey cement that covered every inch of the facility ground.

Reaching down, I tugged my Trenchmaker out and held it by my side as I walked on. It was probably weird that I wanted my boots to make big clunks as I headed down towards my goal.

“So, you thinking about weapons?” I asked.

I’m thinking about many things, but yes, weapons are one of those. Are you in the mood to buy something now?

“Let’s see how tough the aliens here are. I’ve got the impression that we’re dealing with small-fry.”

That should be an accurate impression, yes. The hives that have just awoken likely haven’t reached the point where they can produce anything that’s a real threat yet.

“How long do we have? Until we start getting the scary aliens, I mean?” I asked.

If we rely on the general projections for hives that have lots of biomass and room to grow? Then one full day before the hives can start producing models above ten. Two days for models above twenty. Likely five to ten days for models above the thirties.

“Thirties,” I repeated. A shiver ran down my spine. Gomorrah and I had had a hell of a time against a model in the twenties. “Gonna need a big gun for those. Hopefully we’ll make enough points in the next couple of days to be able to deal with them.” If things scaled the way I thought they did, I’d be a snack for a model thirty if one showed up now.

I was a good fifty metres from the orange zone when I heard a scuffling.

I stopped, dropping into a crouch while holding my breath back. Something had moved. I focused on my hearing more, trying to pinpoint the exact location of... whatever it was that had scrambled like that.

There were plenty of things generating white noise around. Sprinklers hissing, ventilation shafts rattling inside the pillars, some fans humming along somewhere else. A lot of sounds that I hadn’t paid any attention to until I had to listen past them.

Where had the...

I glanced up and to my right as I caught a shadow moving.

There was a pillar nearby, with the usual glass walls that allowed natural light in.

A model three was tearing apart the plants on the edge of the glass, little clawed paws digging away at everything like a street dog on meth. I stared for a moment until I noticed the large form of a worm moving up deeper in the pillar, its mouth wide open so that a few other model threes could toss in mouthfuls of plant matter and bags of what I guessed were fertiliser.

I opened a line to Gomorrah. “Hey. Found some alien buddies. They’re going all black-friday on the fertiliser over here.”

A distant and familiar roar, like liquid fire being hosed around by a pyro-nun, echoed through the field of greenhouses. “I’ve found some too,” Gomorrah said. “Just kill them all.”

“Alrighty then,” I said as I started towards the pillar.

***