Chapter Thirty-Three – Stealth, But For Real This Time

Chapter Thirty-Three – Stealth, But For Real This Time

“While it’s true that every Samurai is very much unique, you can still observe some patterns in their collective behaviour.

Those who purchase new equipment frequently.
And those who find a tried and true style, and keep to it until they need to adapt.”

–Excerpt from ‘On the Habits of Gods,’ 2046

***

Gomorrah parked near ground level, right up against the side of a building and halfway into a traffic lane. Something in her car had all the trucks behind us funnel around to give us some room.

“So, you’ll go up, and I’ll see about clearing an escape route?” Gomorrah asked.

“That’s the whole of it, yeah,” I said. I stepped out of God’s Righteous Fury, then took off my coat. It had a few holes in it; annoying ones that I found way too obvious even when the rest of it was invisible. “Can you stay here for a bit?” I asked.

“I can,” Gomorrah said. “What’s up?”

I flung my coat onto the passenger seat, then stretched a bit. “Need new gear.”

“Do you have the points for it? Also, that jacket had better not be dirty,” she warned.

“It’s probably not,” I said. “And yeah, got… just shy of eight thousand to spend.”

“Christ.”

I leaned down to look into the car. Gomorrah had a hand over the mouth of her mask. “You stub your toe or something?”

“That’s a lot of points. Why haven’t you spent them yet?”

“Catherine,” Myalis said from the car’s speakers. “Is exceptionally frugal for a Vanguard. Foolishly so.”

“That AI would have me burning all of my points as soon as I get them,” I said. “Money and points are for saving. You never know when you’ll need them. Like right now.”

Gomorrah leaned back. “Well, hurry up. And please don’t take off any more clothes than you already have.”

“No cameras on the outside of your ride?” I asked.

“There are plenty. I don’t want to soil them with images of you undressed.” Gomorrah flicked a switch and the door next to me snapped shut with a hiss.

I showed the side of her car my finger, knowing that she could see it in full 8K from where she sat. “Rude,” I said. “So, Myalis, I need gear.”

I’m always ready to accommodate. You’re looking for stealth-specialized equipment?

“And a new jacket,” I said. “I think I’ll give that other one to Lucy? The bullet holes give it a certain look when it’s not invisible.”

Shall I inform Lucy that you want to see less of her?

It took me a second to get it, but when I did I snorted. “Good one. But nah.” I waved Gomorrah off and started for the entrance. “I need a cool coat. That’s like, Samurai 101. But before that, got anything like a disguise… thing?”

How very precise. But yes, I do have many things like a disguise thing.

“Not my fault my language is so great.”

Your language is a festering mess. It’s a miracle I can even understand it. And I’m smarter than most of your species combined. The pitiful nature of humanity aside, I have one suggestion in particular that I think would suit you well. It’s a small module that is worn on a belt. It deploys micro-drones with projection units. They can overlay a full-colour, high-resolution image over a surface, including your body.

“So you can make me look like a potted plant?” I asked.

You certainly have the intelligence of one already. You would fit right in.

“Walked into that,” I muttered as I moved over to the nearest entrance. The building’s first floor was a dilapidated mess. Myalis unlocked the door without having to be asked and I stepped into an abandoned lobby. A glance at the graffiti covered elevator doors and I made my way over to the stairs. I’d ride up once I was a few floors away from the ground and there were less suspicious elevators around.

The projectors can render a fully-realized image atop your body. A projection of details that aren’t real. Essentially, you can look like someone else, as long as that person is reasonably bigger than you are.

My eyebrows rose. “That’s impressive,” I said.

It won’t work on many Antithesis models, so it is somewhat uncommon. Many cameras and scanning devices will see right through the hologram as well.

“Still,” I said. “How much?”

Fifty points.

I nodded. “I’ll take it.”