I took an Ursa down the Grand Falls instead of my regular Kodiak. Having the rolling side doors made it easier for me to get a good look at the aftermath of the battle with my own eyes, rather than relying on the cameras and reports from the bears on the ground.

  I knew the Antithesis had been aggressive, but it was only after seeing the mounds of dead Antithesis pressed against the base of the walls that I realized how bad things had actually been.

  If we’d only been a few minutes later, or if I hadn’t committed my entire force to defending the town, there was a good chance that the Antithesis might have penetrated the wall. That would have been a disaster.

  We’d been so focused on defending the town that I hadn’t even noticed if the Anitthesis had concentrated their efforts on the wall or if any of them had bypassed our defenses and wandered off to hide somewhere. I’d have to send out some scout teams to check.

  After doing a lap around the town, I ordered the pilot to land as close to the city’s main gate as possible.

  “Heya, Boss,” Deadbeat yelled as she ran up to the descending craft. “I have a coupleof people to introduce you to.”

  “The locals, I assume,” I said as I jumped out. “How are they holding up?”

  “Well enough, considering the circumstances. They’re not too green, but they’ve never seen half of the models that showed up today. It was a bit of an eye-opener for them,” she explained.

  “I’m not super surprised. I think most samurai can go their entire career without ever running into a Model Twenty-Three, or Twenty-Eight, never mind that googily-eyed freak that showed up,” I said. “Even we’ve never seen them attack in such numbers before.”

  “At least we weathered the storm,” Deadbeat smiled.

  “For now,” I muttered. “It looks like things might get worse before they get better.”

  “Please tell me you’re joking…” she groaned.

  “I wish,” I replied. “We’re really going to need to dig in if we want to have a prayer of repelling what’s coming next. I guess that’s something we should discuss with the locals.”

  “This way!” the little bear exclaimed. “They’re still surveying the battlefield.”

  She led me out of the main gate, which was little more than a set of metal security shutters that blocked the road, and out to where the worst of the fighting had occurred.

  The bears were busy running around, throwing nanite flesh-melter grenades into the piles of antithesis to clear the battlefield, but I focused on the two humans out and about. The pair was bent over the body of a Twenty-Eight, discussing something quietly.

  “Ugly fucking thing, isn’t it?” I asked as I wandered over.

  The girl, who was dressed a little like a fantasy druid, jumped, while her partner, dressed in biker leathers, barely glanced my way.

  “You're the one in charge of the bears?” the man grumbled.

  “What gave me away?” I chuckled. “Was it the bear-eared cloak or the muzzle on my helmet?”

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  “Both good indicators, but honestly, the fact that you’re willing to casually wander out into this hellzone on your own says way more about you than what you’re wearing. Even the PMC has been hesitant to come out and help with the cleanup,” the man paused. “Not that I blame them, it’s a real horror show out here.”

  I held out my hand. “I’m Evelyn Claire, but everyone calls me Teddy.”

  “I know who you are,” the woman declared. “I’ve heard the news and gossip feeds about the samurai with an army of Teddy Bears up in Calgary. I honestly thought it was hyperbole before today.”

  She pushed herself out of a crouch, brushed off her hands, then accepted my handshake. “Alice Green, AKA WildWalker. The grumpy mustachioed one to my left is Jake Kruger, AKA Mudflap. We’re what passes as the local samurai around here. Welcome to our quaint little battle zone, I guess.”

  “Nice place. Little crowded for my tastes,” I said, gesturing to the Antithesis at my feet.

  “Sorry, tourist season,” Mud grumbled.

  “We appreciate your timely arrival,” Wild said. “We were expecting one, maybe two pods to land in the area, not this shitshow.”

  “I know, no one expected this. It seems like half the pods changed course once they entered the atmosphere. You were just lucky I was already nearby, preparing to intercept two of the larger pods, when the shift occurred,” I said.

  “At least it’s over now. Things can’t get much worse than that, right?” the girl said hopefully.

  “Actually… they can and will. The big pods have merged into some sort of mega hive, and it’s spitting out some real monsters,” I told Wild.

  “Worse than these?” Mud asked, kicking the Twenty-Eight.

  “Probably. It’s hard to tell since my AI Nyx doesn’t have a designation for any of the ones crawling out of the pit. They appear to be something new,” I explained.

  “That’s not… normal, right?” Wild asked.

  “It seems to happen more often than you’d think, but it seems way more common for stronger Models, and I don’t think I’d ever seen a mutation come through an incursion rift,” I said. “Maybe there’s something special about those Models that makes them easier to send through.”

  “That’s interesting and everything, but that really doesn’t help our current situation, does it?” Mud growled.

  “No, it doesn’t,” I agreed. “What I recommend is we fortify the area, create a kill zone, and try to hold out until the heavy weapons arrive. We might want to think about evacuating the civilians, too.”

  “We don’t have the resources to evacuate everyone, and even if we did, I doubt the corp would allow us. They have this thing about maintaining profits, even in the midst of a crisis,” Wild grumbled.

  “Fuck them and their profit margins,” I hissed. “Lives first. I’ll dedicate a group of bears to ferrying everyone who wants to leave to the nearest safe city. It’ll take some time, but I’m sure we could get everyone out before things get too messy.”

  “How will we go about fortifying the town? I could plant some vine walls, but they’re designed to hold off the smaller models, not monsters like this,” Wild said, gesturing to the Twenty-Eight.

  “I have modular walls on my ship. I can’t guarantee they’ll stop a rampaging Twenty-Three or whatever other monsters the Antithesis are cooking up, but they’ll be tougher than the town’s current walls. I doubt I have enough to completely surround the town, but it should be more than enough to catch any frontal assaults. If you wanted to add your vines to those, it would probably help keep them grounded,” I said. “What I’m more worried about is the corpses. This hive structure apparently specializes in breaking down and recycling any biomass in the area.”

  Mud stood up a little straighter and looked at me for the first time. “How?”

  “It’s sending out this… mold stuff… which apparently breaks down anything organic it comes across and sends the nutrients back to the hive. If it manages to grow all the way out here, we’ll probably be fighting an uphill battle,” I said.

  “Oh! I can help with that!” Wild exclaimed. “Most of my catalogs are focused on natural Antithesis deterents. I’m not stupid enough to believe my plants can stop an Antithesis incursion, but they’re enough to prevent any Threes or Fours from wandering freely around our area. Plus, I have a lot of options to clean up the mess afterwards.”

  “If that’s the case, please feel free to work your magic,” I said, waving at the field of corpses. “As you can see, I have some basic recycling tech, but nothing super advanced or effective.”

  Wild nodded, frowned for a second, and a box appeared at her feet. She bent down and fished out a small bag full of tiny seeds, which she just threw up in the air and let get carried away in the wind.

  I stood there, staring at her in mild disbelief, waiting for something to happen.

  Mud must have seen my face ‘cause he grumbled, “Just wait.”

  After a minute or so, the Twenty-Eight and all the other surrounding Antithesis started to deflate like old balloons. Their skin sloughed open, spilling out what looked like dirt and rotting vegetation.

  “Mulch seeds,” Wild finally said. “Recycles Antithesis to more natural elements. Completely removes the spores and dangerous elements.”

  “Efficient,” I grunted. “And hopefully cheap, because we’re going to need a lot of them before this is all over. “

  “Don’t worry,” she said, with a smile. “I’ve got plenty of other tricks up my sleeve.”

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