LucyKitsune

  Most Samurai will forever remember their first fight against a model in the tens. And most Samurai do something exceptionally stupid to eliminate said first model in the tens. Myself definitely included. I would say I did possibly the most stupid thing anyone has ever done, but given how many Samurai are around and how many Samurai don't outlive their decisions, that's just asking to be proven wrong so I will do no such thing.

  Foxfire, 2037

  I pulled open the door and confidently made my way into the hall, fnked by the two bots. I disengaged my helmet once I saw that the Antithesis had somehow not made it here.

  People turned my way, some of them gasped in fear and hid behind the tables. I couldn’t fault them for that, given that it was an extremely appropriate reaction to a strange, armed woman walking into the room unexpectedly.

  And of course, there was one person who was entirely unimpressed.

  “You are te, you will have to read up on the material you missed on your own time.” He didn’t even bother turning around. “Take a seat and don’t disrupt css further.”

  I, of course, did not do that, given my sole reason for being here was to disrupt this lecture.

  “You should postpone it.” I approached him, and with no little effort managed to keep my voice calm. “There’s an alien invasion going on. Everyone is going to die if you stay here.”

  While I didn’t want to have people needlessly panic, luckily by this time in the semester he had intimidated everyone out of the front rows. So without a mic to amplify what I said, there was some amount of privacy in what I said.

  "I don't care, my lecture is more important. Either take a seat and stop being disruptive or leave!" He finally turned around, his face immediately turning even more sour than usual upon recognizing me. "Oh. It's you."

  He doesn't seem to be a fan of you.

  I opened up some note-app on my augs and typed out: 'Good. I like that he doesn't like me. Means I’m doing at least one thing right. Also, can you read this?'

  “There’s not going to be anything I can say to convince you to stop holding these kids hostage, is there?” Even while typing, I kept berating him.

  I had gone in here without much of a pn and it was coming back to bite me really quickly.

  I can indeed read that. If you wish, it is a trivial matter to include an upgrade in your new brain that will allow for more direct communication between you and I without requiring you to talk or type things out on a note-pad.

  That was definitely something I’d be getting eventually, but for now I had half a thousand people to save, and negotiations were going terribly.

  “I am not forcing anyone to be here, Miss Doppler. They are free to leave at any point, they will just have to figure out whatever material is covered in the lectures they miss on their own.”

  I sighed. That was precisely the issue: He moved fast. Missing an entire lecture or even two was a very quick way to failing the exam and having to repeat the semester. Unless they don’t have to figure this out on their own!

  ‘Lyona, can you patch me into the speakers?’

  I can if you buy the Css I Cyberwarfare Catalogue for 100 points.

  ‘Do it.’

  New purchase!

  Css I Cyberwarfare Catalogue - 100 Points

  New point total - 1739 points

  The mic built into your helmet is connected. I also took the liberty of giving you control of the projectors in the room via your augs.

  “Alright, I’m going to need everyone not to panic.” I turned to address the crowd that had kept themselves busy quietly chatting and no doubt commenting on the situation. I concluded it would be best to ignore the baffled gaze the idiot in the room was shooting my way, “I’m Dr. Luna Doppler, some of you may know me from courses like Experimental Physics I.”

  I did however throw said idiot a stern look, as I emphasized my title.

  “There’s a bit of a shitfest outside and if you stay here, you are all going to die. So once the shitfest is dealt with, I will go bother faculty about giving me a lecture hall a few times so we can cover the material Dr. Dickhead here insists you must learn right now, even at the cost of your life, in a less life-threatening manner.

  “I put a QR-code up on screen, it will take you to a form, just put your email address in there and I’ll email you the when and where. And once you’re done with that, please, calmly pack your things, form an orderly queue, like you practiced back in kindergarten, I know none of you failed that, and without panicking we’re going to cross the street to Rossauer Kaserne, because I have a feeling you will all be much safer if there’s a bunch of moderately armed and competent soldiers between you and the aliens.

  “It doesn’t take too much to kill most of them, so I feel like even our Bundesheer should be able to hold out for at least a little while. Everyone got that? Good. No, I will not be answering questions, save them for css.”

  Surprisingly enough, or perhaps because they had already gone through the stages of grief by the time I reached them, there was no panic and everyone did indeed form up an orderly line and exited the building.

  I took the front and had one of my fox-bots with me, while having the other one take the rear to ensure no one was left behind. I would have loved to get one or two more, but I wasn’t sure if I needed the points elsewhere just yet.

  That was until I stepped outside the building and was greeted by a street pretty much filled with Antithesis.

  I immediately opened fire, same as my fox-bot - which was doing a much better job at mowing down the aliens than me.

  “Fuck! Lyona, get me two more foxes!”

  Of course. Do you want the same specs for them?

  I flinched as a bird smashed into my helmet, needlessly hacking at the visor.

  “I don’t care, just make it quick! And keep their magazines full! Also keep the boxes!”

  New Purchase!

  Snow Pouncer Reconnaissance Drone (Modified) x2 - 300 Points

  Drone Reload x1 - 10 Points

  Model 1 x 50 - 50 Points

  Model 3 x 30 - 300 Points

  New Point total: 1779 Points

  I quickly reloaded my railgun whilst watching my point-count tick up by the second. I would have kept shooting but I decided to stop pretending to make a difference. My three drones were very good at mowing down the foot-soldiers and even the birds.

  ‘Lyona, can I get some fire and forget type thing for cleanup that won’t bother the civvies?’

  The dead bodies were starting to pile up.

  You could use your Nanomechanized Warfare Catalogue to buy a few Biodegradable Enforcement and Extermination Swarms. One swarm for 50 points should be enough to sanitize this street. Two if you want them to aid in combat.

  “BEES? Why am I questioning this, literally everything I’m wearing has some kind of acronym as a name.” I pushed air out through my mouth. “Do it, I guess?”

  New Purchase!

  BEES x2 - 100 Points

  Eliminated Antithesis - 453 Points

  New Point total: 2132 Points

  A rge swarm of… I wasn't sure if I would call them bees, considering they were much smaller than bees, but a rge swarm of SOMETHING appeared around me and started moving to all the Antithesis-corpses to break them apart.

  Maybe cleanup wasn't going to be a nightmare after all?

  Eventually my foxes, with a valiant, albeit small assist from some soldiers across the street, had thinned out the Antithesis to a point where I felt comfortable with helping the Students cross the street.

  “Alright everyone, it should be retively safe, if you're gonna go for it, now's the time!”

  Everyone surprisingly started walking, forming an orderly queue and was well-behaved. I was positively surprised this was working as well as it did, so of course Lyona chimed in with bad news exactly as I was thinking about that.

  Your foxbots just discovered a Model 11 on its way to this street. It's going to come from your left and you should figure out something to deal with it quickly or everyone here, you included, will die!

  An 11 was big. Bigger than anything I dealt with thus far.

  “Any ideas on how to deal with it? Would the javelins I bought earlier be able to hurt it?”

  In theory yes, but given that it's a flying model, it would be very hard to deliver the payload.

  Maybe I just shoot it down?

  If you are somehow able to get into melee-combat with it, your monofiment cws should prove very effective against it. You can also purchase armour-piercing rounds for your pistol, that should be able to hurt it but unless you get very lucky, you will be unable to kill it with those.

  Melee range? I can do that.

  “Can you highlight it in my vision when it approaches? Also get me a magazine of those bullets!”

  Lyona affirmed that and soon after that I saw a bird with a red outline in the sky. It looked like it might be bigger than the others, but at this distance it was hard to tell exactly.

  I pulled out my pistol and aimed at the leg of a nearby dog-alien, to see if my pn could even work, and was positively surprised to find the indicator turning green AND the bullet to hit the leg I was aiming at.

  Okay. That worked. Now I just need a good angle and a bit of luck. I swapped out the magazine for the new one I had just purchased.

  The bird was getting closer.

  I raised my pistol.

  Not quite in range yet.

  Time slowed down.

  It swooped down, talons first.

  Should I have warned the people behind me?

  Indicator turned green.

  I pulled the trigger.

  Aim at the second talon.

  Green.

  Shoot.

  I didn’t have time to check if I had been successful in disabling the talons.

  The bird tackled me.

  I dug my titanium cws into it, clinging to it, as it gained height again.

  I was in melee range.

  LucyKitsune