I have no doubt that upper city civilians would ake a step out of their shelters until the Incursion was pletely ed up, or they were retrieved by a Samurai. Dowhere were already people oreets. The extremely desperate, and those that wao take advantage of the chaos, were ba the street the sed the Antithesis weren't smashing the door down.

  I was mildly surprised that the first group I ran into was not a group of looters, but a well armed group of youths dressed in white, or what used to be white, jackets. I knew I was in Saiory, I just didn’t expect to see them oreets.

  The girl saw me first, the color drained from her face before she smacked the boy o her. The entire group stood and watched me approach, apprehensively. To their credit they didn’t reach for the pistols and shotguns they had sitting around. I wasn’t used to having people fear me, it was a novel experience.

  One of the boys, the tallest one, put up his hands. “We’re just here to keep the peace, we’re not starting anything.”

  I raised an eyebrow, “You’re brave to be out oreet with the Antithesis still running around. Are you sure you want to be doing this?”

  The girl piped up, “We’re no pussies. This is our turf and we o protect it. The st thing we want is to see some parasites e around to steal from, or kill, our people.” The others stood up a little straighter. I khe Saints were proud, I didn’t expect them to risk their lives to protect the people ierritory.

  “And that includes killing the Antithesis?”

  I saw a couple of them exge gnces, but the girl nodded. “If we have to.”

  “Well, good for you. Most people wouldn’t raise a finger around here.” I g their colle of pistols and sawed off shotguns, standard down here but far from an effective arsenal. “I’m going to clear out the Antithesis in this area, you should hold up until I’m dohen you go back to yuard duty.”

  “You think we ’t handle ourselves? Screw that, this is our territory.” I gnced over at the kid in the back, he couldn’t be older than thirteen. Probably had never seen a real fight. He had a shotgun hanging loosely from one hand, which gave me an idea. I sent a quiand to Heavy, who ran forward. The teeed, but not fast enough to stop the bear from grabbing the barrel of the shotgun and yanking it.

  There was a sharp crack. The tee white when he realised the shotgun had just fired directly into the bear’s head. The rest of the crew froze, probably afraid I’d take offense or something.

  After a moment the first of the buckshot ushed back out of Heavy’s face, the tis rained down on the asphalt.

  The kid let his shotgun drop to the ground, he sure didn’t seem as fident as he was thirty seds ago. “See how easy my bear closed in on you, and how he shrugged off your shot? A lot of Antithesis models do a lot worse. Just take cover for about an hour, tell the rest of yang to do the same a me do my job. When it’s all over you e back out and patrol. Trust me, if someories anything while I’m clearing they’ll have a much bigger problem than you. Okay?”

  The tall boy made a signal, and the entire group started moving away. I could vaguely hear their versation as they left. “Leah, call Tristan and tell him the fug Samurai is here and everyone in the area should get off the streets.”

  After that versation, the streets were retively clear. I did see a hunched over shape run away from a dumpster as I passed. I didn’t get a good look, but it robably someone so desperate for food they had to risk a run in with the Antithesis. Hopefully they still had Augs and would see the warning before I set up the lure.

  “Nyx, how long will it take to totally clear the district at this rate?”

  About five days, assuming we don’t get interrupted.

  “We will, for every area trolled by a det gang like the Saints or Scorpions, there’s one trolled by a bunch of violent assholes. We’re either going to have to avoid them or force our way through.”

  I’m sure you’ll figure it out.

  “Your fiden me is inspiring,” I replied, deadpan. “Send out the message, the sooner we finish here the better.”

  **********************

  Putting the lure in the middle of a crossroads made the set up easy. O down each road, with Bob, Bandit and I in the middle. It should have been easy pared to the shit I dealt with yesterday, but I still hadn’t learned not to drop my guard.

  Five minutes in I sensed something was wrong from Spooky’s dire.

  I turo find a Model Six barrelling dowreet, Spooky stuck firmly to its head. I hesitated, a bad shot from the CAR could damage my bear instead of the Six. Thankfully Bob did not hesitate. With one cw he decapitated the Six, and with the other he pulled Spooky free. Spooky dangled like a dejected kitten from the huge paw, his rifle smashed by the earlier impact.

  I suggest you look at upgrading their ons sooner rather than ter. Your CAR handles heavy Antithesis fairly easily, but the Bckpaw cks the peion power.

  “You think?” I gnced over at Bob, “Put him down already, and cover that road until he’s ready.” Spooky fated into the ground as Bob wandered off. I shook my head.

  “Do you have any suggestions? I’m ly an expert on firearms. I want something I just roll out to all my bears going forward without w about them.”

  You have a couple options, but if you really want to future proof I would suggest unlog the Css II Battle Rifles catalog. It has a few solid options to upgrade both the bears and yourself.

  “I want to build the bears and their equipment iure, I thought I wouldn’t be able to build Css II tech.”

  In some cases that’s correct, the less plex devices be built with lower level maes. Less plex, like firearms. Plus, if you’re worried about the tokens, you should know you’ll be earning another one soon.

  “For what?”

  After Incursion up. Most Samurai earn Tokens by clearing up hives, but post Incursioions are just as important, if not more so. Those Samurai that are willing to spend the time to sweep up the dregs o be rewarded too.

  “Ahh, I guess that makes sense,” I nodded my head for a few seds then paused. “Don’t most Samurai do up operations?”

  It requires a u of equipment or skills, you’re currently developing so you could do either type of operation.

  “.” I paused, “What were we talking about again?”

  Rifles, I suggest the Css II B3 Heavy Assault Rifle for your troops. Belt fed, one hundred rounds, high peion. The only downside is you’ll have to buy the ammunition with points. It’ll handle every single digit model, and sustained fire deal with some low doubles.

  “How much?”

  Three hundred and a token for the catalog, fifty per rifle. The blueprint will cost you five hundred eventually.

  “Fine, get a rept for each.”

  Purchased - Css II Battle Rifle Catalog - 300 points

  Purchased - B3 Heavy Assault Rifle 5x50 = 250 points

  Points Remaining - 3508

  One of the new rifles Spooky’s feet. It didn’t look much bigger than the Bckpaw, the rounds did though. The bear picked up his neohrough a couple checks that I barely followed, then ran off again.

  “I hope that was worth it.”

  The sound of the gunfire in the distance ged, it became deeper, more menag somehow.

  It was, trust me.