“Three hives down, only a couple dozen more to go,” I grumbled as we made our way back out of the hive.

  Once Saber had retrieved Trench’s remains, the cleanup had been quick and painless. Stuff flesh melters into every possible crevice, and watch everything turn to goop. I kept expecting the Model Seventeen to jump out and try to ambush us at any moment, but it just never happened.

  I might have started to second-guess what I saw during that fight if it wasn’t for the fact that all the Antithesis that retreated from the failed ambush also disappeared. Even if they were led by Sixes, a couple hundred Antithesis wouldn’t just vanish, abandoning the hive to invaders.

  “I assume you’ll want to take Trench’s remains right back to the Family’s headquarters,” I said to Saber as soon as we stepped topside. “I’ll make one of the Kodiaks avaible to you.”

  “Thank you,” the man replied quietly. “What are the rest of you going to do? Continue hitting hives?”

  “I have no idea,” I admitted. “I’d really like to know where all these Antithesis are disappearing too… but considering we have a thousand other, more significant issues to deal with first. I’ve got eyes all over the city, but we should probably give Stalking a call and see where she needs us, since she’s the one organizing most of the defenses.”

  “The bears haven’t identified any major issues?” Nora asked.

  “Nope, nada, nothing, quiet as quiet can be,” Bob replied seriously.

  “Bandit has reported that most of the seed pods have been destroyed, and the samurai within the incursion zone have moved on to extermination operations. The perimeter has shrunk significantly, and he’s released a number of Kodiaks to the surrounding towns,” I reported. “And what Bob meant to say was the towns haven’t encountered any major attacks, and once they receive those reinforcements, he can begin pushing out and clearing the surrounding hives.”“Like I said, no problems!” the bear announced.

  “It sounds like things are finally stabilizing,” Amy decred happily.

  “Stable and cleared are two very different things,” Helen sighed. “I’m afraid it’s going to take a couple of weeks to not only clear all the hives but also sanitize the areas so the Antithesis can’t establish themselves.”

  “Weeks?!?!” Amy gasped in disbelief.

  “Most of that would be the cleanup crews going through the infected areas with a fine-toothed comb to remove all traces of the antithesis. The majority of the fighting will be done within a couple days,” Nora assured the girl.

  “Anyways,” Saber said, raising his voice. “I really should be going.”“Right, sorry,” I muttered apologetically. “You can take the leftmost Kodiak. The bears aren’t great conversationalists, but if you tell the pilot where you want to go, and it’ll find a way to get you there.”

  Saber turned to leave but paused and turned back towards the group. “Before I forget, thanks for the save earlier. If it wasn’t for you, I would have ended up like Trench; I owe you all one.”

  “You’re welcome,” Nora replied respectfully. “Just keep yourself safe over the next few days. I think we’re going to need all the help we can get.”

  Saber nodded solemnly before finally turning away and heading towards his transport. I waited until he disappeared behind the vehicle before swinging around to look at my remaining comrades. “Everyone good to continue? If you wanted to take a break, now would be the time to do it.”

  “I’m starting to feel a little tired, but I can continue for now,” Amy decred hesitantly.

  “Well, don’t be afraid to speak up if you start to fg. Now that I have a couple of free transports, I can afford to evacuate you out of the combat zone whenever you need,” I said. “And don’t feel pressured to try and keep up.Most of the more experienced samurai have cybernetics, synthetics, or bionics that allow them to keep fighting far longer than a regur person. You still need to build up to that point.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Amy solemnly promised.

  “Fine… since we’re all going to continue on, let's pce a conference call to Charlotte and Angeline, or I should say Stalking Shadow and Brighteyes,” I crified for Amy. ”Between the six of us, we should be able to figure out the best pce to deploy our little samurai cadre.”

  Instead of waiting for an answer, I immediately put together the call. Having five simultaneous calls ringing inside my head was headache-inducing. Thankfully the connections to Nora, Amy, and Helen were picked up quickly. Charlotte and Angeline took a little bit longer, but we did eventually get our little meeting together.

  [Teddy, please tell me you have good news.] Charlotte’s tired voice echoed across the line as soon as she picked up.

  [I can give you mostly, but not entirely good news,] I replied quietly.

  There was a slight pause. [Who?]

  [Trench Stormer, Saber is on his way back with the body, Psychosis is still with us,] I reported.

  [Fuck! As if we didn’t have enough problems today,] Charlotte hissed.

  [What? Losing three Samurai wasn’t enough?] Nora asked in surprise.

  [The count is still three,] Charlotte expined. [Hubcap tried to rush to the center of the incursion, to rescue a new samurai who was pinned down, and both of them died before they could clear the area.]

  [Fuck!] I said, echoing Charlotte’s early expletive. [Well, we’ve found your lost mbs, and now we’ve got a small posse out here. Where do you need us the most?]

  [Did you have any problems while you were out there?] Angeline asked. [I’ve got some vision, but haven’t been able to sneak any squirrels into the hives, so I can’t tell what the situation is.]

  [They’re a clusterfuck of traps, variants, and retively strong models,] Nora replied. [I’d recommend only trying to clear the remaining burrows in groups of two or more. The Antithesis managed to ambush three independent operators already, we don’t want to give them a chance to up the body count any further.]

  [Oh, and the Antithesis have also been acting cagey out here, retreating into the tunnels and refusing to engage instead of committing to suicidal charges like usual. I don’t like how un-antithesis they’re acting,] I added.

  [Noted. Where are you going next?] Charlotte asked.

  [That’s kind of why we called, to see where you think you need us the most,] Helen asked.

  [The situation’s bad everywhere,] Angeline muttered. [What we need isn’t reinforcements, it’s a break.]

  [Maybe we can help give you that break,] I said. [Have the Pods been cleared?]

  [Most of them, what are you thinking?] Charlotte asked.

  [That it’s better to clear one problem than chip away at two. I could establish one of my fortresses in the middle of the incursion zone and use my lures to pull as many antithesis into it as possible. Should speed up our efforts. Once the area is clear, we can throw all our forces into defending the towns and clearing the hives,] I suggested.

  [You want to abandon clearing the hives, and give them time to develop?] Charlotte asked.

  [Most of my forces are dedicated to containing the incursion. We could keep clearing the hives one by one, but I feel like it would be faster to just swamp them in waves of bears when I have the forces.]

  Charlotte sighed. [What are everyone else’s thoughts?]

  [I think it could work. My squirrels aren’t great at clearing huge hordes, but if Evelyn can pull the majority towards her I can do a lot of cleanup. It would also give a central pce for the rest of our forces to meet up, and rest if necessary,] Angeline said.

  [I vote for Teddy’s pn, if only to ensure that I don’t end up on the wrong side of her bears again,] Helen added. I shot her a dirty look, and she just smirked back.

  [Fine. I’ll let the others know.] Charlotte finally agreed. [Let me know when you’re set up, and I’d appreciate it if you could share the location of the Lures. I’d like to send a couple of the newer members to either escort the lures, or participate in the defence, so they can farm some early points.]

  [Can do. Shouldn’t take that long to set up. I’ll give you a call when it’s done,] I said. [Talk to you soon.]

  [Later,] Charlotte replied tiredly.

  “She sounded… rough,” Amy said once we disconnected.

  “She’s not only organizing the defenses but also managing all the Family operations in the city. It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if she didn’t have to coordinate with all the other cities that are getting hit too. She probably hasn’t been off the phone all day,” Nora muttered.

  “Well, shall we see if we can help alleviate a little bit of her stress?” I asked. “Who wants to build a fort?”