Yeah, Tom.
You know how we work for Bestlé.
Yeah, Tom.
And how they have declared war on literal superheros?
Yeah, Tom?
Are we the bad guys?
sigh Yeah, Tom.
-Conversation between two PMC soldiers on the ride to New Phoenix, 2057
Many thoughts flashed through my mind at that revelation. They had infiltrated the city this easily? How did Black Log not detect this, wasn't he the tech expert? Who else has been targeted?
At that last thought, I called Black Log directly, which, to his credit, he picked up immediately. The avatar in question looked like a serial Meshizen, a skintight bodysuit and a helmet that reminded me of those two robo-DJs from the twenties. We both sit in a virtual conference room, very similar to ones I have seen in The Family HQ, which was a new, strange experience.
“Hey, War Games.” He starts, his tone tinged with frustration, his helm emoting a pout.`IwI' “Glad you called, I was just about to call you. Just finished scrubbing the footage and discovered two things.” I feel the need to interrupt, but I don’t. He sounds like he's also very pissed at the situation.
“First was that the footage was doctored internally, which is frustrating because that means I have to do a purge with Doma gone, and I don't have her social warfare skills to make that easy. Secondly,” he stressed that word, “I have discovered a large, hidden transport vehicle at Prickly Park… near where you are, so you also found it.”
I nod, “Just now, actually. Synaptic is certain that it belongs to Bestlé, which brought a more terrifying thought to mind. How many other families have been targeted, or have already been captured?”
I see Black Log’s avatar stiffen briefly, his face doing an O.O. A moment of silence passes before he returns to the conversation. “Four dead zones were discovered to have been activated in the last twenty minutes, including the one you just left. They were smaller, less obvious, and thus I missed them.”
I could feel my face contort slightly in anger. “Unacceptable, Black Log.” I growl. “I trusted you to keep my family safe, we all trusted you.”
I see him recoil at that, N_N. “Yeah. Yeah, I know.” he sighed heavily. “I will link up with Bahamut and work with him and… Outsider? To overhaul my entire network, as well as accelerate the network they are setting up. For now, I have alerted High Noon to where Beslté’s extraction vehicle is. He will not allow it to leave.”
High Noon. That was a Samurai that had a small public presence, yet was one everyone knew because his home was the second most recognizable structure in New Phoenix, the first being the Wall. He had a massive, very thin tower of gleaming blues and silvers in the center of the city, reaching high above everything. Three miles tall with his house at the top in a bubble, his main methods of combat included using a huge fuck off sniper to deliver accurate strikes of varying payloads to anything below. If a hive was on the streets, it didn't sta that way for long, yet if it was inside a structure, he normally relied on others to deal with it. Collateral damage and all that.
“I will be at the park in three minutes.” I send him a packet of information containing everything we learned. “Be on the lookout for vans like this. The one I'm chasing has Jill in it, and Synaptic has warned me that it may be equipped with ‘anti-capture’ tech.”
He stays silent, either processing the news or searching for the other vans. o_o “Good news is the extraction vehicle is not large enough to contain the four vans, meaning they will have to unload their prisoners,” I growl at that word unintentionally, “Which means High Noon will be able to disable the vehicle once they begin. Second good news is that all four vans will be arriving at the park at the same time, meaning that they will be unable to hide them further. Bad news is you will be the only one on site to deal with the ground troops, as everyone else is too far out.”
“That's fine.” I say grimly. “So long as they are human, they will die quickly.” I leave the call.
I see the gate to the surface approaching as the two wolves and the Ravens remain within fifty feet of the van, and my shuttle seventy feet back as I activate one of the new upgrades, causing the shuttle to fade from view. Adaptive camouflage coating as well as sound dampeners for the engines, with additional coolant flowing just beneath the armor, making the shuttle invisible to sight, sound, and thermals.
The van flies out and approaches the open space in the park as the minions stay low and hide themselves in the trees, as the shuttle speeds up and maintains a distance of twenty feet. I see three other vans approach rapidly as I open the rear ramp. Feeling the EMC field covering this section of the park, I program some orders into my swarms.
Disable any persons wearing heavy armor by cutting their achilles tendons and distal biceps tendons, shred any weapons that are not ours, and prevent any loss of life of unarmed individuals. I don't want to kill them currently as I don't want to accidentally kill any innocents, just in case they decide to armor their captives or something. I feel the orders settle and send the swarms to saturate the extraction vehicle and an area of one hundred feet around it. I lose connection to them immediately, but I see them move to follow their programmed orders while I hover just above the clearing, my new bottom weapons primed to fire. Cari moves to the back ramp in her slitherian form, getting ready to jump out.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Before I could question her on her plan, the other vans arrive and land, with eight people in armor flowing out of each van, escorting a number of civilians with their heads covered and obviously sedated. As they begin dragging their captives to the vehicle, the front of it collapses as if something huge and heavy landed on it, flattening it, before two more objects hit the wings, shearing them off. The optical camouflage fades and I see what looks like an old private airplane with a back ramp opened.
Before the armored figures could react, they all collapsed as their legs gave out from them, their weapons dissolve before they hit the ground, and they are unable to soften their fall as their arms go limp to their sides. Cari jumps out, landing quickly onto a tree and slithering rapidly to the group of captives as I move to land nearby, disabling the camouflage of the shuttle.
By time I disembark and make my way to Cari, I see she is cradling one of the people that was captured, whom I see is Alice, though her current appearance is different from when I last saw her. Her skin is no longer slightly tanned, but covered in rough, taut reptilian hide, and she has a large lizard tail that was missing chucks cut and blasted from it, bleeding slightly. Interesting, but not my focus as I move to the van I was chasing.
Peering inside, I see a dome of black and red swirling around the center of the van’s floor. I try to connect to it, but the jamming is still too strong.
Get in the drivers seat and connect your port to the console. I will move from there.
Dashing to the front seats, I ask,
You have a direct link cable at the base of your skull on the right side of your neck. Reach back and it will eject automatically so long as you reach with the intent to use it.
Hopping into the front, I do as ordered and pull out a cable from my head! The tip of it is simply a small, black cube, but I don't question it as I jam it into the console’s open ports. I feel a connection form as the cube shifts to fill the port, and shortly after the jamming signal weakens significantly.
Jumping out, I feel a small connection to the swarms in the area, so I command the Scouts to interface with the other vans and execute the same command Synaptic just did, with her pushing the instructions to them. I arrive at the cabin door and reach out to connect with Leman, and feel the link form, letting him know that it's safe now. I see the dome shift, pulling back and revealing Jill, still in full armor with her right arm gun extended, and fully asleep, with no blood visible . “Watch her, Leman.” I say as I rush to Cari next.
Nano restores and hemo restores will take care of most of the damage, and a Cleanse will be needed to purge the anesthetic.
“Do it.” I saw aloud.
A black cardboard box that I haven't seen in a few days appears to my left, the intricate patterns on its ribbons seemingly having gotten more refined. Cari opens the box with her tail and removes the inhaler, pressing it against Alice's face and forcing the nanites to work. I grab the Cleanse and administer the injection, while Cari grabs the hemo restore syringe and applies that.
Alice’s eyes flutter open, their pupils reptilian in nature briefly, but firey orange instead of the icy blue of Cari’s. Her eyes flit between myself and Cari, staying on Cari as she smiles softly. “Good to see you, Mellow. Glad to see you're safe.” she says.
Cari chuckles as she rubbed her hand in Alice's head. “Of course I'm fine, Camp. I bagged myself a Samurai, after all.”
Alice begins to laugh weakly, then looks around the clearing, raising her eyebrow. “Damn, Victor. The hell did you do to that plane? And why are those guys still alive?”
It's my turn to chuckle as I stand up, turning to face the plane. “This is your father’s handywork, Alice, not mine.” Her eyes widened. “And they are still alive because I haven't had the chance to kill them yet. If you want to, feel free. These guys here,” I wave at a group around her, “are the ones who took you, if you want to deal with them. I need to turn off this fucking field, give me a moment, please.”
I walk to the plane, unable to see Alice's response. Inside, I see a large box with lots of wires and an antenna sticking out of the top, and I pull out my Twin Adders, firing four shots into it to shut it down.
The moment the field clears, I am slightly overwhelmed by all of the connections that relink themselves with me, but the disorientation fades quickly. I send a quick update through my network, giving an all clear signal while I turn and see Alice and Cari are on a call.
I receive a call from Black Log and reenter the virtual meeting room. “All clear here. Four vans, six people saved, twentyish people captured. Do you have a use for them, or do I need to clean them up?”
“Nah, don't need them. Anything I may want is in the jet and High Noon might have crushed that, so oh well. You have three very angry, very concerned Samurai incoming, so maybe don't kill your prisoners just yet.”
I tilt my head questioningly as i make my way to Jill, a new Cleanse in hand. Black Log waves his hand. “Family of Bub and Shrew were captured as well, so they are on their way. Shrew may be a few minutes late based on where she is, but she is on her way.”
Injecting Jill with the Cleanse, I nod to Black Log. “If they are working to capture hostages now, that means their main force should be close, right? Please, do not tell me you have missed them too?”
He shakes his head. @~@ “Thankfully, no. Five minutes ago, I detected their column entering Arizona from New New Mexico. Based on their speed, they will be here in ten hours.” He opens a satellite feed for me, showing a massive convoy of vehicles moving west. Dozens of mobile command centers, ten super heavy tanks, hundreds of troop transports, and twenty missile carriers, with plenty of other support vehicles mixed therein.
Jill looks around groggily as I pull her into a hug, giving Leman a signal of approval, appreciation, and thanks. He chuffes, then hops out of the van, moving to organize the prisoners.
They were using old highway 10 that would take them through New Tucson, then north towards us. I did a quick check on my inventory of shuttles and swarms and compared it to the column. “Might be a long fight, depending on their AA options, but doable. I will deploy on an hour. Should I expect any help?”
Black Log just shakes his head, chuckling. UmU “I can guarantee two Samurai will assist, and I see the Mad Pack has shifted their movements from out past Targ, going from west to south. So they are a six hours out.”
Hearing that news brings a smile to my face, and before I could say anything more, I see two very interesting vehicles begin to land.