Chapter Seventy-Nine – More Than the Machine

Chapter Seventy-Nine – More Than the Machine

“This is a world where your value as a human doesn’t contribute to your own happiness, but the wealth of others.

The only thing you can do is make them as miserable as you.”

–Mario Russo the CEO Bomber, 2029

***

“Eyes open!” One snapped. It was the first time he sounded actually concerned. “Medic, check on Charlie Four.”

A soldier ran over to the dead man on the ground, but… yeah, there wasn’t much that could be done there. That dude was very dead. Then they surprised me by taking apart the upper chest section of Charlie Four’s armour. A few disconnected bits later, and the medic has Charlie Four’s head entirely removed and was placing it into a foldable bag.

A cyborg? Not just a small one either, but a full-body conversion? Fuck, that was something I didn’t see often.

I shook my head and refocused. The Family’s guys could be the most badass fucks I’d ever seen, but that didn’t help too much now. One of them had still gone down to that Model Thirty-Three and it didn’t look like we’d hurt it much.

“Invincible, you okay?” I asked. I was practically standing on top of him.

“Yeah… more or less?” he grunted as he tried to sit up, then fell back down. “Oh, fuck, I think I broke a rib. One sec… yeah, my AI says I broke two, and my clavicle, and some bones in my hand.”

“You’ll live?” I asked.

He muttered something that I couldn’t make out, and a box thumped to the ground next to him. Then the back of his armour opened up slightly and a small four-legged drone fell out and ran over to the box. It returned with what looked like a Nano-Regenerator suite that it climbed into his armour with. “I’ll live,” he confirmed.

That drone wasn’t a bad idea. “Myalis, gimme… six cat drones. Cheap ones. We need to find where that thing went. And maybe… can you equip them with a little surprise? Some HE bomb or something?”

Certainly. Six Cat Drones coming right up.

They were delivered in three boxes with flaps on the sides. No one chose to comment on how they looked a little like a cat carrier. The sides opened and a gaggle of little cat drones darted out. They had small cylinders on their backs, covered in yellow-black warning stripes.

One of the screens in my mech flicked over to a six-square view of what the drones were seeing. “One, you got visual on that thing?” I asked.

“No,” he replied. “We’re bringing our quadcopters down to get a better picture of the area. Our electronics aren’t picking anything up.”

I frowned. There was some fuzz in his speech, like he had a bad mic or something. “Myalis, is it me or is there something fucking with the comms?”

You’re correct. There’s more interference than previously.

I looked around, and finally noticed that there was probably more dust in the air that could easily be attributed to the alien crashing through the walls of that shop. The damned thing had spewed out dust all over, then, something that messed with electronics? That seemed possible. It could also be something to help its stealth. I’d noticed it going all chameleon on us when it pushed out the back of the store.

“Can you give me a rundown of a Model Thirty-Three’s abilities?” I asked.

Certainly. They’re generally considered a hunter-type Model. They have higher-than average intelligence.

“For an Antithesis?” I asked.

No. Just in general.

“Ah.”

They have relatively decent stealth capabilities and can regulate their temperatures as well as turn their skin different colours and textures. Not so different from some octopi. Otherwise, the model has an average amount of strength for a Model in the third tier, with average durability, but excellent self-healing abilities. Given a few hours, a Model Thirty-Three that’s near death can essentially regrow itself.

Well, damn. “We need to find this thing fa–“

One of the screens to my right went dark. A split-second later I heard a loud boom and a plume of dust rose out from maybe a block away.

I switched to the same channel as One and the other soldiers. “Looks like it found one of my drones,” I said.

My others moved in closer and came upon a street with a new crater blown out of the middle. There were a few bits of alien goop around, but no big corpse. The five remaining drones started to run around the area, searching front yards and scanning the fronts of ritzy apartment buildings.

One spoke up. “Let’s move into the area. This position isn’t defensible. I’d rather keep moving.”

“Got it,” I said.

“Yeah, sure,” Invincible replied. He sounded a little shaken up from it all, but I didn’t blame him. That had been a close call. If that thing had a better set of jaws or his armour wasn’t as good, then he’d be mulch right now.

The soldiers formed up again. The quickest way to the next block over was just down the street, then around and up. The block was higher than where we were, with a guardrail overlooking the shops and resort in some spots.

The troops moved at a slow, careful pace, guns pointing ahead, steps slow and deliberate. I could almost imagine them breathing slowly and steadily. They were pretty brave, I’d give them that. Their guns looked decent, but they’d barely scratched that big thing. I’d be about to quit unless I was given a rocket launcher if I was them.

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The quadcopters flew in closer until one was hovering just a couple dozen metres above with the other two further back.

I noticed motion on one of my drone cameras, then faster motion as it was picked up and thrown.

“Careful!” I shouted.

The cat drone was flung into the air, right at the quadcopter. It… harmlessly flew past. I was expecting a big explosion, but I supposed that bombs were generally a little safer than that.

The choppers above were able to trace the area the drone had come from. Within seconds a trio of missiles were screaming across the air to ram into the side of an apartment building with an explosion that burst windows and scattered concrete.

The soldiers dipped to a knee as debris flew past, then the choppers opened up with some machine guns, peppering the space where the Model Thirty-Three had been with massive figure-eights.

Another drone went dead, and I realized that it wasn’t where they were shooting.

But it was closer.