Chapter Thirty-Eight - Fire and Hammer

“Crowds were the weapon of choice in the early 2020s, and for a while they continued to be so.

But then some figured that it really didn’t matter as long as you controlled the narrative, and by the end of the 2020s, the average response to a crowd of dissidents was lead and gas and prisons from which they’d never leave.”

--A History of Protest, Second Edition, 2036

***

I wasn’t going to be stupid about this.

Well, not too stupid. Charging out of some perfectly safe walls to go mess up an antithesis hive basically solo wasn’t the epitome of intelligent choices.

Gomorrah’s little fire, which was still raging on just outside of the walls, was more or less under control, and had probably worked wonders for stalling the antithesis. They were stupid too, but not so stupid as to just jump into a fire for fun.

So, if I was going to go out there... that would mean that I wasn’t in the city if something went... when something went pear-shaped.

Actually, that sounded like a pro, not a con. “Myalis, I need to get in touch with a couple of folk. Can you link me up to Intel-chan and Manic?”

Certainly. Dialling now.

Intel-chan picked up on the call within a half second, and Manic wasn’t too far behind.

“What do you want, Stray?” Manic asked.

“Ohio!”

I grinned. “Hey, we’ve got some good news. Reinforcements are coming.”

“Less points for me,” Manic grumbled right away.

“In two days,” I continued. “So between now and then, we’re all on our own.”

“That’s not ideal,” Intel-chan said. “I bet we’re not getting much help either.”

“Right on the money. I don’t know exactly how much help they’re sending, but I’ll bet my left tit it isn’t enough. So I figured if no one’s going to help us, we can only help ourselves. I’ll be setting down some additional defensive shit down here. Gun emplacements, mortars, that kind of thing. Intel, can you get the militia to set them up where they’ll be the most useful?”

“Can do! You’re not going to give them to the kittens?”

I shook my head. “Nah. These are bigger guns, the militia has more training to use them, and I don’t want to make it look like I’m playing favourites, even if I am. Just make sure they’re not abusing the privilege, because I can and will take their toys away and give them to people who’ll actually use them.”

“That seems fair,” Intel-chan said. “Honestly, the boys will just be happy to have cool samurai tech to play with. It’ll boost their mood.”

“Right, that’s cool. I’m also thinking of giving the militia some meds. Things that’ll keep them wide awake for a nice long while. I think I can buy that kind of thing for cheap. It might keep everyone on their feet until the reinforcements arrive.”

“This is all nice and shit, but why am I on this call?” Manic asked.

“Because while the nice militia folk keep the city cosy and safe for us, we’ll be heading out to exterminate some hives. I don’t mind doing it solo, but having two makes it all a lot safer, and it’s not like there’s a lack of shit to kill.”

Manic took a moment to respond, and I had the impression she was chewing over the decision. “Why not take one of the others?”

“Gomorrah needs a break. Arm-a-Geddon is helping in River Heights. Sprout’s not equipped for this kind of thing,” I said. “And... well, what are you doing?”

“Just killing any of the little shits I’m running into. Wouldn’t mind going for something a little bigger myself.”

“Cool. Stick around where you are, I’ll be with you in like, half an hour. Intel-chan, you still there? Yeah? Okay, tell the militia that I’ll be dumping some tools here before heading out.”

“Okay!” Intel-chan said.

I moved off to one side, where I had a bit of space to work with, then I started buying stuff.

It wasn’t anything too complicated, and mostly Myalis picked things out for me that had a nice correlation between usability and cheapness. I didn’t pay too much attention, honestly. Sure, the gear was cool. The machine-guns were water-cooled and fired bullets the thickness of my thumb, and the mortars had little screens attached to them tied to a GPS system and they could self-adjust to aim more precisely, but those were all secondary details.

I was spending more brain power wondering how we’d hit the hives on the other side of the wall than I did worrying about the cost.

Strange how once I had been a lot more cautious about wasting even a single point when I didn’t need to. Maybe I’d start spending points on myself too one day.

In the end, I bought ten machine guns and five mortars, along with enough ammunition to keep them all going for a good long while. They’d supplement the defences the militia had already set down.

I decided to let someone else figure out where to place them. A few trucks rolled in, and I nodded to the militia folk jumping out to check on the gear and pack it up. The last thing I added to the pile was a small case of medication. They were all tablets with an unholy mix of caffeine and other drugs that would keep someone wired and awake for days on end. It’d probably shave a few months off their life too, but it was better than dying right away, I figured.

The fires were still spreading when I crossed the front lines and reached the part nearest to Manic. The noisy samurai was past the wall, holding in place about two blocks down. When I crossed over the wall and started walking, I quickly found the route she’d passed through.

Her sound-based gun had a particular impact when it struck, and it was easy to tell where she’d passed from all the shattered glass and the particular way the dust covering the roads had moved in great rippling semi-circles.

“Hey!” Manic called out to me as I came around a corner. She was sitting atop the wreck of an abandoned car, one arm raised in greeting. The area around her was filled with shredded antithesis remains. “You showed up.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Been getting lots of visitors?”

“A few. They don’t like my taste in noise,” she said with a dangerous grin. “Bit too metal for their tastes.”

I laughed. “They don’t like my toys either. Strange how picky these aliens are, huh?”

“I’m sure your toys aren’t to most people’s taste,” Manic said.

That... actually hit close to home. Mister Tentacles was a fine gentleman, but I imagined that he was probably a bit much for the average person.

“So, what’s the plan?” Manic asked.

“Didn’t bother coming up with one,” I admitted. “I was thinking we ask our AI where the biggest gathering of aliens are, then we blow them up.”

Manic jumped off the roof of the car and stood to her full height. “I’m down for that. I’m guessing if we kill them all they won’t be a problem anymore.”

“I doubt we’ll manage to kill that many,” I said. “But if we kill enough of them, then we’ll be able to hold out. Once the Family sends over someone who can burst the underwater hives, then we’ll just have to mop up the rest and then I can finally get back home.”

Manic nodded along. She didn’t volunteer to go take a dip in the lake, so I figured she was about as loath to do that as I was.

I noticed that her equipment had changed a little. She was wearing different pants, these with pads on the thighs and over the knees, as well as a new jacket that seemed a little bulkier than her last. More armour? She still wasn’t covering all of her head, but I imagined that would come with more points to spend. “So, Myalis, where’s the biggest heap of them?”

A number of them are on the edge of the fires that Gomorrah started. They aren’t moving away from the fires, but are congregating on the edges and seem to be looking for a way past them. Fortunately, they haven’t started looking for a way around the fire yet.

That would stretch the front, which wasn’t something we needed or wanted.

Unfortunately, Gomorrah’s fires aren’t great for the delicate electronics in the area, and as it progresses, I’m losing access to traffic and security cameras.

“Huh... we might be able to play the hammer to the fire's anvil,” I said.

“I wouldn’t think fire would work well as an anvil, but I get what you mean.” Manic checked the charge on her sound blaster and then shouldered it. “We heading out, or what?”

“Yeah, let’s go make up some of the points I’ve been spending,” I said.

***