Stray Cat Strut

Chapter Thirty-Five - Death Flags

“Samurai die. Just got to pick the most dramatic moment.”

--The late Silverhound’s final words before the detonation of a low-yield nuclear charge in the centre of the Syrian Level Four incursion of 2034

***

“We need you to help with the AA system,” Simmons said.

I raised an eyebrow at him, but the man didn’t so much as blink. In the end, I broke eye contact first and looked over to where some of his security guys were rebuilding the barricade I’d just passed.

“Didn’t you have some IT guys that could get the anti-air back on?” I asked.

“I did. We sent two of them up. They’re dead.”

I felt my nose scrunching in distaste. “Are there more xenos on the upper floors?” I asked.

“There are more xenos period. Model Ones have started to flock around. If we leave now, we won’t just be dealing with a few larger fliers, but entire flocks of those little shits,” he said. “If we can get the AA to work, it’ll at least serve as a distraction.” He placed a hand on my shoulder and pulled me to the side just as a few survivors moved past with some wheels that look like they’d been torn off the undercarriage of a hovercar.

The older man reached into one of the pockets of his vest and pulled out a small phone, one of the fancy sorts with a holoprojector. He fiddled with it for a moment, then projected a 3D map of New Montreal.

He pointed to one building, a bit shorter than those around it, but still respectably tall. “That’s us,” he said. Then he pointed to something about ten blocks down, where the buildings started to lose some of their height. “I sent some of my boys up with rangefinders. This is more or less where the front lines are set up. If we move straight South we’ll be moving over the army in about fifteen blocks. It’s not too far, a kilometer, maybe one and a half.”

“How big is the incursion?” I asked.

Based on the time since its start, the landing point of the main Antithesis bodies and the position of the armed forces on that map, my simulation suggests a five kilometer wide circle.

I touched my ear with my hand. “So, five klicks in diameter, that’s, uh, thirty kilometers square?”

... My Vanguard is bad at math. This is rather shameful. The surface of a circle can be calculated by taking pi, and multiplying it by the radius squared.

“I don’t need to know how to do the math,” I said. “I need the answer.”

The AI sighed in my head.

It’s approximately twenty kilometers square. Since you don’t seem to care about the math, I suppose big round numbers will have to do. Would you accept multiples of five, or should I stick to multiples of ten for you?

I rolled my eye. “Okay, so it’s pretty big, but not that huge yet, and we’re not in the dead centre.” I rubbed at my neck. “We get the AA on, we distract the local beasties, then we make a run for it, and hope that we can cover a couple of klicks without turning into xeno chow.”

“The terrain complicates things a little,” Simmons said. “We can’t make a straight-line dash to the nearest military position. But we can probably make it there in under two, maybe three minutes of flight time. There’s little traffic out there.”

So far, the plan was okay. There was just one very big, very glaring problem with it. “So when I turn on the AA, they’re on for good, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Which means we’ll have to leave then and there.”

Simmons nodded.

“Then how in the fuck will I get out?” I asked.

The man shifted, and for once didn’t meet my eye. “You’re a clever girl, you’ll figure it out, I’m certain.”

“You’re sending me to die?” I asked.

“I’m sending you to save all those people,” he said while pointing into the parking garage. A glance over showed kids being loaded onto busses, adults tossing things out of hovercars to lighten them and a few passing out what might be makeshift weapons in the form of clubs and metal bars. ṚâΝộ𐌱ЕⱾ

My eye caught on Lucy’s familiar form way off at the back. She was smiling, big and proud while she made wild gestures through the air around her that always ended with her hands snapping back down to make sure her crutches didn’t fall.

Marie was just before her, listening intently, but also blushing furiously. Lucy was no doubt pushing the boundaries of what the girl thought of as acceptable.

“Are you sending me alone?” I asked.

“Can you manage alone?” he asked. “The last three I sent, as a group, they got to the top floor but didn’t make it to the platform before one of them said something about birds. They went MIA right after.”

I glared at nothing. “I’m going to go say bye to the kittens,” I said.

I brushed past Simmons only for the man to grab me by the stump. “Are you going to do it?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’ll do it. Touch me again and I’ll... I don’t know, shoot you or something.”

He let go. “Thank you. Contact me when you set out, I’ll make sure everyone is ready to go.”

“Yeah,” I said. My steps felt a little weird as I moved over towards Lucy and the others.

There’s no need to worry so much. The plan you’ve concocted has a higher-than-average chance of succeeding. And you’re my Vanguard. I’ll make sure you’re equipped for combat out in the open. I’m certain you’ll survive.

“Your confidence is inspiring,” I told Myalis.

I do try.

I reached Lucy, cutting her off in the middle of a story that I recognized as one of the times we’d been caught doing things we shouldn’t have. “Cat?” she asked. “I like your jacke--”

I pulled her into a one-armed hug and tucked my head into the crook of her neck. “Just give me a minute,” I said.

Lucy, being Lucy, hugged back.

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