Chapter Thirteen – On the Up and Up

Chapter Thirteen – On the Up and Up

“These fucks! Do u know how much I sacrifice to keep this company rolling?

Selfish.”

–Former Nimbletainment CEO’s last Tweet, 2028

***

“You got those security feeds?” I asked while looking around us. The garden pillars cut off my line of sight, I couldn’t see as far as I wanted down any direction, not unless I happened to be in one of those spots where things lined up just right, then I could see all the way across the facility.

Just connected to them. It looks like there was some hesitating from the head office as to whether or not to give you permission, but it was overridden.

“We might actually be working with someone clever,” Gomorrah said.

“Well, you’re used to working with me,” I said.

She snorted. “Exactly. Working with someone clever will be a new and interesting opportunity.”

I laughed while I continued to scan ahead of me. We were nearing the sections that Jake had mentioned the antithesis has been seen in. At least, if I had figured out how the sections worked. We were in section G, according to the signs on the pillars we were passing.

Atyacus and I are pouring over the feeds from the last few days. There are several thousand cameras all across the facility. It seems as though they’re quite worried about employees stealing plants, or resting during non-break minutes. In any case, we’ve found three locations that are likely to be the places where the antithesis are entering the facility.

“Three spots, huh?” I asked. “Can you mark them out for us?”

Done.

I blinked as an overlay popped up over my cybernetic eye’s vision, it turned all the buildings ahead of us into wireframes, then highlighted three spots in a dull orange that I guessed could only mean one thing.

“The breaches are a couple of hundred metres apart,” Gomorrah said. “Do you think we should split up?”

“There’s three of them and two of us,” I said.

“I can send the Fury to the middle one. It can shoot down any antithesis trying to sneak in or out while we clean up the other two locations,” Gomorrah said.

“Alright, fair enough. I’ll get the bigger breach then, since you’ll be covering the other two.” I pointed to the south-most hole in the fence.”

“That seems reasonable,” Gomorrah said. “Stay on the line with me the entire time? If we bite off more than we can chew, we’ll be able to run over to help each other.” She raised her flame thrower and started to adjust a few little knobs hidden inside a panel on its side. “Are you ready for a fight?”

“In a minute,” I said. I didn’t have my crossbow or my grenade launcher. Both were back home. I liked them as weapons, but they both had a few disadvantages that… well, they weren’t perfect weapons. What I did have on me was my trusty Trenchmaker, currently loaded with high-explosive rounds.

I tugged the gun out of my right thigh holster and checked it real fast before putting it away.

My other holster had my Claw. The bulbous gun was loaded with tightly wound monofilament rounds that would shred anything apart. I aimed it ahead, making sure that the overlay worked before I tucked it away. It could teleport its payload into anything I aimed it at, which was pretty helpful against bigger enemies. I probably wasn’t going to see anything big enough to be worth using the Claw on for a bit.

A shrug of my shoulders had both of my back-mounted railguns unfolding themselves and shifting so that they aimed over my shoulders. I checked their ammo counts, made sure they were topped up, then nodded to myself.

The only other weapon I had on me was my sword. I hadn’t parted with that thing since I got it. Not that I’d had many opportunities to use it since. It was just too fucking cool to leave at home.

“I think I need a new main weapon,” I said.

“You should probably work that out sooner rather than later,” Gomorrah said. “What are you thinking about?”

“Uh, I don’t know. The grenade launcher’s versatility was nice, but it’s too… clunky? The crossbow was fun too, but it was shit when it comes to crowd control. I need something silent that can still pack a punch.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Gomorrah hummed. “Ask Myalis about a shotgun, maybe. The shell-type can change the range, and you’ll have a lot of options. They can be pretty satisfying too.”