Chapter Fifty-Six – Wait for it

Chapter Fifty-Six – Wait for it

“One of the more interesting facets of modern class stratification is a person’s relationship with advertising.

The richer you become, the less advertising you will see. Ads will be swept away by subscriptions and expensive ad-blockers. Which means that any ads that don’t want to offend those people unused to seeing any ad at all, must be discreet and careful enough to slip by those expensive filters.”

–2031 Marketing Con, Streamed online conference, 2031

***

“Yo,” I said, one hand rising lazily to wave.

Gomorrah nodded. “Hello,” she said.

We were on two sides of a hip-high fence one of the PMC groups had put up between their section of the defences and another group’s. It just so happened that the fence split off the section I was responsible for from Gomorrah’s.

“New armour?” she asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, a building fell on me. New arm, new armour. You know how it is.”

I couldn’t see her face, but I could tell she was concerned. Something about the way she shifted just a little. “Are you alright?”

“Oh, yeah, no, the arm I lost was my cybernetic one, so it didn’t actually hurt. My flesh-arm’s still there. At least for now. The new one can vibrate, so maybe Lucy will insist that I replace all of my limbs, you know?”

Gomorrah sighed. “If you’re making crude jokes, then you can’t be that badly hurt.”

I grinned right back. “What about you? Have fun burning the xenos?”

She nodded once. “Yes. Yes I did. I never really went all-out with a flamethrower in such a crowded city before. I… I didn’t know how satisfying it would be to see entire blocks light up, with little aliens running out of the fire already near death. It was… beautiful, in a way. Purifying.”

My grin became a little fixed, and I’m pretty sure I noticed some of the PMCs who had been sticking around backing off. I’d overheard some of them boasting between each other that they were lucky that they had the pyro nun on their side while the competition had to deal with me. I think they were reconsidering.

“So, how are we going to fry the fucks who come over here?” I asked. “I’ve been deploying mines. Or those cat mechs over there have.”

“I think that as long as we put enough pressure on it, the wave will buckle around the points with more resistance and focus in on any spot where there’s less,” Gomorrah said. “I’ll be out on the front, cooking anything that gets too close. You won’t have to worry about this flank.”

I nodded along, then glanced to the other side. Gomorrah was on my left, if I was facing the now-ruined city. Which left the unnamed samurai to my right. Their sliver was relatively thin, which probably meant that the Family didn’t expect them to be able to take on a bigger burden.

“I’ll go see the new kid, talk to them a little and find out what they can do.”

“You’re not so old yourself,” Gomorrah said.

“You’re not wrong, but then look at me in the eyes and tell me I can’t handle myself.”

She nodded. “You can handle yourself,” she said. “You watch my flank and I’ll watch yours. Same as usual?”

I nodded right back, then extended a fist to her. She stared at it for a moment before bumping hers against mine. “You got it. By the way, want my cats to dig a few surprises ahead of your chunk of the wall?”

“I wouldn’t mind, as long as whatever bomb you burry there won’t impact my own abilities.”

“They shouldn’t,” I said, thinking over what my mine-layer cats were setting down. “If you feel like burning some aliens that get past the mines on my side, don’t hold yourself back on my account. I’ve got more points than I know what to do with right now.”

“Thank you,” Gomorrah said.

“Oh, by the way, how’d the jetpacks work out?” I asked before I turned away.