Chapter Fifty-Three – Mop Up

Chapter Fifty-Three – Mop Up

“No no, there’s nothing to worry about, mister mayor. We have a dozen samurai guarding the city. I’m certain we’ll be able to prevail against any threat against New Montreal.”

–Laserjack, to the mayor of New Montreal, 2057

***

“Who goes in first?” I asked with a gesture to the parking garage entrance. It wasn’t anything special. A cement ramp leading down to a hip-high barricade that could sink into the ground when someone paid the entrance fee. The lights were off inside, which wasn’t surprising, none of the lights I could see outside were on.

The area had either been cut off, or some of that earlier shelling had done a number on the power grid. There were probably hundreds of generators around, but who would install one in a glorified parking lot?

“I’ll take point,” Emoscythe said. “I’m used to closer-range engagements than you are, I think.”

“Fair enough,” I said with a sweeping gesture to the hole. She nodded to me and stepped ahead. “Myalis, get me a couple of cats. Maybe with spotlights or something. I’m sure Emoscythe can see in the dark, but I like light more.”

Understood.

Emoscythe glanced over her shoulder as two cases thumped lightly onto the ground and a pair of cat mechs slid out from within. “Drones?” she asked.

“Yeah. They’re handy.”

She nodded. “They can be, yes. Don’t rely on them overly much. They eventually become a point-sink when dealing with higher-tier adversaries.”
“How’s that?” I asked.

“You risk spreading your points out too much. Ten ten-thousand point drones is impressive. But a single samurai with a hundred-thousand points worth of gear would be a lot more effective. And there’s a point fall-off with drones. Not when you’re right next to them, but when they’re operating independently. They’re like giving normal people weapons. You’ll only receive a fraction of the points. Good for plugging holes in defences though, especially if you find a way to keep the drones on theme.”

She reached down and patted one of the drones on the head. It was, in most respects, a normal cat mecha, but this one had really big eyes that glowed like headlights and the gun on its back had a light attached to the side of it which turned on with a thump and acted as though a very narrow sun had just risen in the room.

I squinted at a sea of cars and aliens.

Emoscythe and I paused near the base of the ramp and kind of just stared as more and more glowing eyes opened up in the shadows.

The two lights from my drones scanned across the lot, making the many, many aliens they swept across flinch back. I loosened my shoulder, expecting a charge at any moment.

Instead, the aliens started to shift and move around the edges of the room.

“They’re going to try and pinch us in,” Emoscythe said. “This isn’t normal behaviour. There’s something important to them here.”

“Let’s take it from them,” I said. “They’re trampling on our shit, aren’t they? It’s only fair.” It was like an eye for an eye, but I was a vindictive bitch and I’d be taking a lot more than that. “Where do you think they’re hiding whatever’s so important here?” I asked.

The floor trembled.

It was a subtle thing. Just a slight rumble that I might not have noticed if I wasn’t paying attention to it. If the place had power and the vents were on, then I probably would have missed it entirely. A few puddles of spilled oil, water, and soft drinks shivered as another thump made the floor shift.

I prepared for trouble. Gun up, eyes searching the room for whatever was making that noise. It wasn’t any of the antithesis looking at us. The biggest there were a few of the chunkier model fives hanging out in the back.

Then I saw it. One of my cat mechs turned, its spotlight splashing onto a black wall. The wall moved, and I realized that it was flesh and fur. As the alien turned, I could make out some more details. It was partially hidden behind a delivery van, but the van wasn’t nearly big enough to hide all of its bulk. The model turned, six legs bigger around than I was in all of my armour, working in tandem.

Its face was… disconcertingly human-looking, with a fixed neck that kept the face tilted towards the ground. Two long mandibles came down from over its shoulders, big and sleek, but with a pair of three-fingered hands at the end and a joint in the middle so that they could flex.

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The monster was holding onto a person’s body in one hand. It brought it up to its mouth and chomped down with flat, cow-like teeth that nonetheless crunched through bones the same way I might chomp into a chicken nugget.

“What in the fuck is that?” I asked.