Chapter Fifty-Seven – Greedy Bits

Chapter Fifty-Seven – Greedy Bits

“Sometimes, the greediest thing you can do, is to give unto others.”

–Riches to Rags, a guide on Corporate Living

***

“Minion Captain,” I began. “Why is this taking so long?”

Initially, things had moved pretty quickly. People had started to rush about, the cops barking orders that were repeated by others. There seemed to be a local fire-brigade out and about, some twenty volunteers who were helping to organize things, and some others were assisting them too.

I supposed that moments like these were make-or-break for a lot of people.

I had stepped out, and with Myalis’ help, bought three cat mecha.

They were useful, mobile, and able to attack and defend fairly well as far as I could tell. That, and we could use them to corral people. They could even ‘speak’ in that they had speakers built in that I could shout at people with.

I had considered turrets, but turrets could have been made by just about any corp out there. They didn’t serve to remind people that there was a samurai on the scene, it just said ‘hey, the cops have even more guns than usual,’ and that was the opposite of reassuring. They also weren’t mobile, and while they had more firepower-per-point, I figured being able to move was more important.

New Purchase: P.U.S.S. Model Y – Security Mechs – Combat Models – Three
Points reduced to… 35

We’d just need to stay mum about the name.

So, things had started off well. The cat-bots were suitably impressive, there weren’t any aliens coming around to chow on the civvies, and things were moving.

“Well?” I asked my newly appointed minion.

The police woman hesitated. “We’re nearly done. We were going to just move everyone as one big group, but, ah, we ran into issues?”

“Issues?” I repeated.

She shrugged. “People want to arrive at the headquarters in order of seniority. Others want to make sure the children are safest. There’s some fighting upstairs.”

I wanted to pinch my brow. “Everyone knows that if we don’t get moving soon, everyone here will become alien chow, right?”

She took a moment before nodding.

“Right,” I muttered. I stepped past her and into the lobby. “Myalis, can you connect me to the intercom?”

Certainly.

I cleared my throat, and the sound of it carried across the entire lobby. I could even hear it on the floors above. “Okay everyone. Form a line right here in the lobby, three people thick. Keep your children close, and try to help those you can, we’re leaving. Not in ten minutes, not in five. Right now. If I have to come back to pick your sorry ass up later, I will be making you regret it.”

It took a second or two for people to snap to it, but soon enough we had a line forming up with minimal shoving and pushing.

“Alright! Let’s move,” I said.

I took the lead, and noticed the cops running ahead a bit and forming something of a cordon. One of them had already moved some of the cars that would be in our way.

The cat-bots paced along the sides, glowing mechanical eyes glaring out at the town and back-mounted guns shifting around.

“Minion Captain, take the lead,” I called out to the police woman before stepping to the side when we reached the field behind the school.

The line stretched back a ways. It wasn’t exactly inconspicuous to have that many people walking along, and there was plenty of coughing and a murmur of nervous conversation, but no one was screaming or shouting.

I wasn’t going to jinx myself by saying that it was going well, but so far, I could see the plan working.

A hum from above had me looking up to see Gomorrah’s Fury hover near the school’s roof. I waved her way, but doubted she’d noticed.