Humboldt was staring at Spooky when I came out. I could actually see his position, and point of view, through my new Augs. It was actually a little disorientating.

  She turned as I entered, a look of delight on her face. Her hands twitched at her side, like she wao run up and give me a hug. “Why is all your stuff so adorable?” she asked.

  “What? I’m just fashio least for the uy,” I replied defensively. “The bears were Nyx’s idea.”

  “It’s true,” a voice rang out from Spooky’s mouth, causing both of us to take a step away at the ued interruption. “You do have a little bit of a reputation, I just chose something that fit,” it announced.

  “Nyx…” I said, poking the bear in the side of the head, its neck bent with the little bit of pressure I applied, then snapped bace I released it. “How are you doing that?”

  “Previously I could only send ands and receive updates from the bots,” my AI reported. “Now that you’ve upgraded ys both you and I have far more trol over your little squad.”

  Out of the er of my eye I could see Humboldt grinning like a maniac, she was loving this. “Fine, whatever, as long as it makes my life easier, do whatever you want,” I grumbled befrabbing my rifle. ”We should che the people ihe Prect.”

  Humboldt stood up and started moving towards the door, out of the er of my eye I could see Spooky saluting.

  I couldn’t help but shake my head. “Let's go, smart ass,” I snapped before following her into the street.

  When I stepped out into the pza I was bombarded by a huge amount of information, surprisingly I didn’t have any problem processing it. The bears were sendiargeting information, or at least they could, and the fox was sending me sensor updates. The cameras and broken turrets were highlighted in my vision with a light blue outline and the Antithesis bodies that had been cut apart by Humboldt’s sers glowed faintly when I passed by.

  I paused, but Humboldt just strode across the area like she was invincible. I guess, pared to me, she was. I scrambled to follow her, my team behind me. She strode up to the door, “Shall we knock,” she asked.

  “Ummmmm…..” was all I managed before her heavy, exosuit enhanced, fist hammered into the security doors on the front of the prect. The sound echoed loudly around the area.

  Nothing happehe door stayed closed, the inter silent. Humboldt frowned, she pounded on the dain, then stepped back. “I’ll get Aeonys to check the system,” she said.

  I didn’t reply, I was suddenly distracted by the fshing pips showing up on my overy. Dozens of overpping points, trated in two or three locations. I blirying to clear the spots, turned my head, and looked down. The fox was there, standing still, staring at the approximate area where the points were. I saw it’s ears twitch, and then my brain finally put the pieces together.

  “Noises? Gunshots, fuck!” I shouted. “We o get in there.”

  Humboldt’s eyes turo me, “You sure?” she asked. I just nodded. “Alright.”

  She didn’t hesitate, the tentacles on her suit came forward. Four sers, w in cert, started cutting through the door and as soon as they were dohe two lower tentacles came forward and levered the cut portion out. Five inches of steel, still molten around the edges smashed onto the ground.

  A Model Three stood iraaring at us. Faint gunfire could be heard in the background.

  I sent a and out, more instinct than knowledge, ‘Sweep and clear’. In the moment Spooky was stepping through the hole, firing a burst into the Model Three, then stepping over the body rushing further into the building. The other two were only a step behind, sweeping through the room, firing at something as they ehe .

  Humboldt and I were left standing outside, staring.

  “I holy fot your teddy bears were Samurai level bat bots in disguise,” Humboldt admitted.

  “I’ve made peace with the fact that they’re far more petent in bat than I am,” I told her as I stepped through the opening, and started following my bots. “e on, they’ve already found something.”

  As soon as I slipped around the er my eyes widehe inside was a plete disaster area. There was a makeshift barricade across the middle of the room, shattered in the middle by something big. The bodies of several police officers, in full bat gear, were scattered around the room, along with several dozen dead Antithesis. Spent cartridges littered the ground, the cops definitely didn’t go down without a fight. My little squad was busy going from oithesis body to the , making sure they were dead.

  A voice echoed down from the stairs at the back of the room. “Who’s down there, identify yourselves!”

  We quickly crossed the room, Humboldt moving boldly, while I followed shortly behind her, using her suit as cover, until we reached a narrow set of stairs. The top of stairs were plugged with junk, desks and dividers were piled up to create a makeshift barricade. Behind it crouched half a dozen police officers. One, an older man with salt and pepper bck hair, square gsses perched on his nose, s down his face, stood above the others. His eyes locked on Humboldt a wide.

  The girl waved, managing to make herself look less threatenie the giant suit. “Howdy, just a couple friendly Samurai here to help,” she said.

  There was a series of gasps aed whispers from beyond the barricade. The older man frowurned his head and yelled, “Shut up back there, we’re not out of this yet. Let me talk,” the man she murmurs stopped. He turned back, rubbing his head with one hand.

  “I’m Captain Porter, and I’m in charge around here. At least I was. As you see things kinda went to shit.” he expined before letting out a long breath. “My boys did their best, but we couldn’t stop those bastards from overtaking the office, but we did mao evacuate most of the civilians up here and close off the stairs.”

  I popped my head out from behind Humboldt, “How did they get in?” I asked.

  He stared at me for a long moment. “You’re a Samurai?” he scoffed.

  I scowled back at the man. “I’m the ohat ‘heard’ yunfire, a ieam to up the Antithesis down here,” I said. “I may not look like much, but yes, I am a Samurai.”

  The Captain’s face twitched, a half smirk f. “Alright tiny, if you insist,” he said, before pointing at the far side of the office. “They came up from the basement,” he expined. “Fuows how they got down there. I’d appreciate it if you could figure out how. It’d make proteg these civies easier.”

  I frowned, but Humboldt just put one hand on my back, the other on my shoulder, and pulled me away. “Ighe asshole,” she said to me, in a stage whisper. “Our job is to save people and kill Antithesis, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about you.”.

  She released me when we were about half the way to the basement, a bright smile on her face “Shall we go prove him wrong?” she asked.

  I giggled, in spite of myself, a a and to my bots ‘Follow me and cover’, causing them to sprint back across the offid form up around me. “Lets,” I replied.

  The stairs creaked under Humboldt’s weight. The basement was gloomy, not oppressively dark as I expected. There were several Model Threes milling about, pag between the shelving units, but that’s not what drew my eyes. An enormous worm sat at the back of the basement, slowly dev a small pile of corpses sitting in front of it. Behind it, there was a hole, light from outside shining through.

  “Sonova bitch,” I growled. My bots rushed forward, hopping over the railing before effitly clearing the area.

  Well, I think we found out what the Sixteens were doing here.

  “The Sixteens did this?” I asked in surprise.

  Model Eights, like the one in the er, are used as diggers, and to collect loose biological matter. Most Antithesis a instinct, only a few and units pn. It looks like the Sixteens found out there were people inside and ordered this Model Eight to dig in.

  Humboldt raised her on, zeroing in on the worm. “Guess it’s time for us to up,” she said lightly.

  The o out a low thump, there was a whistling hen a huge gaping wound appeared in the front of the worm’s body. Its front slumped, the rest of it writhed, trying to pull away. “Tough fucker,” she growled. The on fired another half dozen times bsting holes into each se until the worm stopped moving.

  While she ed up the worm I checked out the hole. Five feet across, and coated in thick mucus, it probably smelled disgusting. “Must have taken that thing awhile to eat through all that,” I mumbled. I wasn’t willing to touch the residue with my bare hand, so I picked up a nearby bit of metal and shoved it deep into the mucus. When I pulled it back out the mucus slowly dripped down like a thick syrup, or pus. It must have smelled disgusting, thank god for I had my bandana. “I don’t think I have anything that could seal this,” I shouted over my shoulder.“Don’t worry about that,” Humboldt replied. I snapped my head to the side, and to my surprise, I found Humboldt was standing there, only a couple feet away. I must have really been trating on the mucus. “One of my primary catalogs is the ‘Css I Deep Dweller Catalog’; it tains a lot of mining gear. That’s where I got my suit,” she expined.

  Something that looked like a fire-extinguisher appeared in her hand. She leaned deep into the hole and started spraying something that looked like a bination of expanding foam and crete into the breach.

  “What the hell is the ‘Deep Dweller’ catalog,” I asked as I watched her slowly plug the hole. “All the catalogs Nyx introduced me to had a far more ventional naming vention.”

  She stopped for a moment, gng my way, a massive smile on her face. “Aeonys told me the deep dwellers are an alien race, the catalog is a sele of their teology,” she said.

  “Really?” I asked.

  “Apparently they did a lot of uer mining, hence my suit. My on uses supercavitation, so it’s just as effective uer,” she said, slowly pulling back out of the hole as it filled with the foam. “Not that it matters much, I just needed something with a punch.”

  My eyes ran over her suit again, it certainly was uhat’s cool,” I finally said.

  “Eh, if you think about it all the shit we buy is supplied by aliens, mine’s just a little more specialized,” she said, swinging the foam bad forth a couple more times before it ran out, leaving an uneven gray mass behind. The hole was sealed. She threw the empty tainer away and turned my way, a small smile on her face. “e o’s report back to the Captain.”