Chapter Sixty-Nine - Nice_Stray Cat Strut

Chapter Sixty-Nine - Nice

 Chapter Sixty-Nine - Nice

 If youre going to kill a Samurai, you had better do it quick. If youre not fast about it, then theylle right back at you, better armed and a whole lot more pissed off. 

 In fact, the best way to remove a Samurai as a threat, if you find yourself unable to kill them outright, is to ce the things they care about in jeopardy. 

 It is always easier to y around them than through. They are the queens on the chess board, but that doesnt mean you cant take out their pawns.

 --Professor Patterson, Military Historian, June 2029

 ***

 The Model Eleven was, in a few words, one dead motherfucker.

 In my pre-Samurai life, all of five hours ago, I had often wished that I could visit some bodily harm to some people and asionally to some things. Im pretty sure those were natural urges, the kind that didnt fit well in a more-or-less civilised society.

 But now I had a rocketuncher and every right to blow up the thing pissing me off.

 I walked over to the nearest window overlooking the rain-slicked street and looked around for the gigantic alien. My new eye helped by circling the beast in a small but growing red circle. Growing because the bastard was flying right towards me.

 I shouldered my new toy, letting the surprisinglyfortable resting pads shift onto my shoulders as I did a bit of mental math.

 The alien wasing at me, making a shot fairly easy. There was a ss panel before me that would undoubtedly set off the rocket in my face if I fired into it. And the alien was carrying a car.

 Thatst one had me blinking dumbly even as the Model Eleven swooped upwards with a flick of its just wings. Its ws tore themselves open through the carcass of a heavy-looking car, letting go of it just before the alien itself flew past above.

 I said something that would have set Lucys ears on fire as I jumped away from the window and tried to sprint away.

 The side of the bridge shook as half a ton of hover car rammed into and through it, sending ss and ster and bits of wire flying all over. The lights in the bridge which had still been on flickered off atst and for a moment as everything shifted underfoot, I was afraid that this bridge would copse too.

 When the emergency lights at either end of the passage came on and bathed everything in a nice ominous red it was enough for me to see the nice big hole left in the side of the bridge, a hole plugged by an unshapely wreck of a car.

 Holy shit, I said.

 Models above the single digits tend to be either particrly dangerous, or hyper-specialized towardspleting a single task exceptionally well. I would usually advise against facing one until you were better prepared, but I think you might be able to seed here, though at fairly great risk.

 I swallowed past my nerves and started to look around to see if I could spot the bastard through one of the windows. Yeah, I said. I didnt expect the car.

 Twin-digit Models tend to be a great deal more intelligent than their single-digit counterparts.

 You dont say, I said. The Model Eleven was circling around at the far end of the street, a big ck speck against the grey-on-grey of the buildings there.

 Indeed. When using the rocketuncher, pull the trigger to the halfway mark until the reticule locks onto the target. At the tone, pull the trigger all the way. The rocket has a gyroscopic turning system and enough maneuvering thrusters that even someone with your aim will hit a marked target.

 At least I didnt need to work hard to find a ce from which to fire at the Model Eleven. It had opened up a nice big hole that I could stand in to aim.

 I reshouldered theuncher, found the trigger set right where my index wanted to rest naturally, and aimed it as best I could towards the too-big bird.

 A few panels opened up at the back of the tube at the same time as an ovey appeared in my vision. It had arge box with the words ce Target Within above it.

 I shifted just a bit, then pulled the trigger back until I met some resistance. The box shed, a smaller box appeared over the Model Elevel, then faded as it dipped beneath another passage only to return a momentter.

 The resistance in the trigger disappeared and I pulled it all the way back.

 The rocket came out of the tube with a dull thwump andunched itself forwards all of three meters on a downwards arc.

 For just a second I thought Id messed something up, but then the rocket came to life with a roar and shot across the sky trailing a thick line of smoke.

 The Model Eleven, the clever bastard, dipped to the side and behind one of the bridges in its path. I could just barely make out the crunch of itnding hard behind cover.

 The rocket angled away from it, then its thruster stopped. The missile spun ny degrees in mid-air then fired off sideways and into the Model Eleven just as it reappeared in my line of sight on the other side of the bridge.

 The explosion--a ball of orange mes that could have swallowed a semi-trailer--was immensely satisfying.

 Seeing the ckened and torn corpse of the Model Eleven falling to the ground and crashing atop an abandoned car was enjoyable enough to send shivers down my spine.

 Target Eliminated! 

 Reward... 100 Points

 I tossed the tube of the now-spentuncher aside. It would have been neat to carry it around, but it was a bit heavy and unwieldy to bring with me.

 That was the nastiest alien Ive dealt with so far, I said.

 Model Elevens can be quite the threat. If the incursionsts long enough they will begin to range farther out while carrying pods of Antithesis hive material. Eliminating this one was a job well done.

 Hmm, I agreed. Then, because I deserved a break, I leaned against the nearest wall and took a moment to just breath and allow the adrenaline making a mess of my everything to just leak out. We should go find Gomorrah, I said.

 I can connect to her AI and inform him that youre still alive.

 Him? I asked.

 It chose to identify as masculine based on Gomorrahs profile.

 I blinked, noted that AIs could do as they pleased, and shoved off my resting ce. Moving now that things werent exploding, falling, or both, was surprisingly hard. It was like the morning after a day at the gym, or a night spent stretching with Lucy. Everything was sore and some bits just in hurt.

 Im going to need some more healing, I said as I started to make my way towards the door with all the vim and vigor of someone sixty years my senior.

 I think at this point it would perhaps be wise to invest in some internal augmentations. There are ways to improve your muscture and to harden your skeleton. Not to mention recing your organs with far superior versions.

 Going to rece my skull next? I asked.

 Your head is the only part of you that doesnt need to be any harder than it is.

 I chuckled until I realized that chuckling hurt. I dont know how keen I am on going full cyborg, I said. You got any... Babys First Cybeic Augmentation package? You know, some entry level drugs?

 The augmentations you can purchase are hardly drugs. Merely improvements on your weak, squishy human body.

 Well see, I said. First I want to get back to Gomorrah, Im sure shell be overjoyed that I didnt bite it. And then well figure things out from there.

 As you wish.

 Could use something for the soreness though, I said.

 You should consider yourself lucky that yourst treatment of Nano Regeneratives is still running its course. It has been healing you as you go, albeit rtively slowly.

 Nice, I said. Any way to get some sort of auto-injector of some sort?

 Im certain something can be worked out. You could also purchase an internal nano-machine factory that turns the food you consume into micro-machines that constantly repair your body. Its rtively small, meant to sit just below your stomach.

 Sometimes you creep me out, you know, I said.

 Perhaps. Most Vanguard eventually adopt a few methods to prevent themselves from dying too easily. It is, as you may have noticed, a somewhat high-risk position to be in, even with all the advantages you obtain.

 I thought about it, actually thought it through, while making my way over the bridge. If I passed away, the kittens would be in a bit of shit. I couldnt afford to die just yet. Yeah, I said. That might not be the worst idea.

MillionNovel

Chapter Sixty-Nine - Nice