Chapter Fifty-Six – Small and in Charge

Chapter Fifty-Six – Small and in Charge

“There are all sorts of reactions to someone seeing a Samurai show up, and generally, these reactions will depend on circumstance.

And finally, relief, most often felt by those fearing for their lives when a samurai appears and decides that whatever is currently a threat needs to be removed.”

–Except from a sociological study on the predictable responses to a samurai’s appearance, 2028

***

I took a deep breath and tried to look confident. Then I recalled that the folk I was dealing with were little better than corporate goons. Worse, they were corporate cops. That was like dealing with a toddler that had taken one or two concussions too many and who’s only skill was to figure out exactly how much of a minority someone was or how poor they were before shooting them. I didn’t need confidence to deal with these dipshits, I needed a bigger gun.

Walking over to the barricade they’d made with their cars, I stepped onto a bumper, then the hood before jumping over to the other side. There were eight of them, a couple more than I’d counted at first. Mostly men, with navy blue uniforms and bulletproof vests and tacticool handguns and a shotgun or three.

“Which one of you’s the asshole in charge?” I asked.

“I am,” One of them said. He had a little logo on his shoulder that the others didn’t. The police station’s symbol, then the logo of the local mining company, then some badge.

“Wrong, I am the asshole in charge now,” I said. “How many cops do we have, minion?”

Alright, so it was rude and stupid, but the look on the guy’s face was worth it, and I needed to cut past the bullshittery as soon as I could.

“Um,” the captain–I assumed that was his rank–said. “We have twenty-four officers in this town, ma’am. Seventeen of them are here. We have a squad-car down the road with two more on their way in, and four others are at the clinic.”

I nodded. “Myalis, I need a map of this place, please.”

“I like the location label,” I deadpanned. The huge yellow ‘You Are Here’ was a bit much. Still, that gave me an idea of what the town looked like. It had a decent footprint, but most of the buildings were on the smaller side.

“Ma’am?” the captain asked.

“Right. The highschool’s the new rally point. Is there enough room here for every civilian in town?”

“The building capacity is just under two-thousand,” he said.

“Fuck capacity, I mean how many folk can we cram in here so that they’re not in our way while we’re trying to save them all?”

One of the officers, a younger woman, cleared her throat. “I think we could maybe move three-quarters of the town in here, but it’ll be really tight. Some of the classrooms have locked themselves, that would give us more room.”

“Alright. You.” I pointed to one of the cops. “Find the principal, or whoever’s in charge of the school. Tell them to unlock everything. I’ll be moving all the cars outside around and forming a wall with them.” I had the idea from their little barrier. “I’ll be giving you guys some turrets too. Find roof access and place them up there, they should auto-target the nearest Antithesis. Do not try to steal my shit, or we’ll be having words.”

The man nodded and shot off, the others seemed to untense a little. Good for them, I supposed. Having someone show up and start cracking the metaphorical whip must have been some sort of comfort.

The captain’s mic crackled and he pressed a hand to his ear for a moment. I’d need to tap into that later, but I had other things to do first.

“Myalis, I need good turrets. Won’t be able to reload them.” I eyed the map, then looked up at the school. Two floors, made of reddish brick and with some smaller windows on the second floor. The roof looked to be flat above. “Maybe three of them? We can cover this side of the building ourselves.”

That sounds reasonable. I suppose you need turrets that are somewhat mobile and easy to set up?

“Yeah, can’t have anything too hard to move.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Ma’am?” the captain said. “Uh, corporate just gave us orders.”

“Orders?” I asked. “And they are?”

“We’re to move some VIPs from here to headquarters, then deploy along the walls to protect the building.”

I blinked, then eyed the map again. “Is headquarters the one with the walls?” I asked.

“They’re anti-rioting walls,” the female cop said. “With sonic and water-based weapons. There’s a safehouse in it.”