Prologue

Prologue

Delilah cut the call with Cat and suppressed a sigh. Catherine was… being herself, and took the news that Earth was about to be screwed over with all of the grace of someone who really didn’t give a fuck.

It was almost refreshing, in a way.

Delilah’s own worries paled in comparison to how little Catherine cared, because as far as she could tell, Catherine assumed that things would either work out, or they wouldn’t and they’d all be too dead for it to matter.

It wasn’t a way of thinking that Delilah could ever hope to emulate, but it was still comforting to witness, in a way.

She glanced to the side, where Princess was sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest in the passenger side seat. She wasn’t wearing a belt, but Delilah wasn’t going all that fast, and she wasn’t planning to get into any sort of accident in the first place.

The young samurai… worried Delilah a little, especially with the news Cat had just dropped on her. “Atyacus,” she subvocalized. “Can you do a little digging into Princess and Knight? Confirm what Cat discovered.

Of course. You must be aware that there is only so much metaphorical digging that I can do. The privacy of other vanguards takes priority over the curiosity of the one. However, I can let you know what is a matter of public record.

Delilah nodded slightly, a very shallow nod, but one that her AI picked up anyway.

Tiffani Dupont, also known as Princess, has been a vanguard for a little over three days. She was contracted soon after the death of her father, the previous mayor of New Montreal. Her identity as a member of the Dupont family was sealed until the time of the mayor’s death.

“How?” Delilah muttered.

There are certain provisions in place that members of the political elite can use to keep the identities of family members, the location of their homes, and other confidential information private. One of these was employed on young miss Dupont until the moment where she became a vanguard. There are traces that the privacy shield was removed by another AI.

So, likely Princess’ own AI had removed whatever the mayor had put in place. Did she want to make her public identity easier to find after the death of her father? She wasn’t wearing any facial coverings. No mask, no helmet, nothing. It contrasted pretty hard with those samurai who did want to keep their identities to themselves. Like Knight.

Delilah sighed again, and this time she noticed Princess glancing her way. “Is everything okay, miss Gomorrah?”

“It’s fine,” Delilah said. “We’re here.”

She pulled God’s Righteous Fury to a stop on the side of the road. There were a few other cars here, left abandoned on the sidewalk without a care. Saint-Jérome wasn’t all that unfamiliar of a city.

Not that she’d ever been here, exactly, but Delilah could remember being raised in a much smaller city than New Montreal, before she was sent off to the convent. One city was much like the next. Apartment buildings crammed in as close to each other as possible, with the occasional commercial building, parking lot, or city-infrastructure shoved in where they could fit. She’d even driven past a park. A little one, with exactly twelve trees and seven vending machines.

“Alright, all out,” she said as she pulled herself out of the Fury.

Hedgehog jumped off the roof of her car and landed with a slight bend of the knees. “What’s the plan from here on out?” he asked.

Delilah wished, in moments like these, that she had Cat’s grace when it came to giving orders and the like. Not that Cat was good at it. It was just just that her… closest work friend had a fantastic ability to bullshit her way through problems that Delilah completely lacked.

“We’ll be moving northwards, and slightly east. Cat’s team is following the 117th north as well. We’ll meet by the far end of the city,” she said.

“Got it,” he replied. “Well, I’ll see you there.”

Delilah reached out towards him, almost in time to stop him, but the samurai moved on towards the nearest side street, walking with a quick, determined stride.

She hesitated, then let it drop. The city wasn’t entirely swarmed by aliens. If anything, this was as close to an ideal learning ground that a new samurai could ask for. Lots of weaker enemies, with no time to establish themselves or set up traps, and a literal army riding up behind them when things went wrong.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

There was something to say about learning by tossing someone in the fire. There was probably a lot more to say about carefully training a person up through limited risk and with careful preparation. But that wasn’t how Delilah had grown as a samurai, and she’d turned out just fine.

“Did you want to stay close?” she asked Princess.

Princess nodded. “Yes please,” she replied.

“Do… you have any weapons at all?” Delilah asked next.

The younger woman nodded, then reached into the ruffles of her dress and pulled out a rather ordinary, all-grey handgun.