Chapter Forty-Seven - Safe, Not Sound

Chapter Forty-Seven - Safe, Not Sound

Chapter Forty-Seven - Safe, Not Sound

We are here today to lay a good person to rest.

Its... its something Ive heard before. They always say that the person who died was a good person. Its usually a load of bullshit. Not today though.

Sprocket Rocket was a good person. A real fucking hero. Sure, he was... he was a bit nuts, and he was a reckless kind of guy. But fuck if he wasnt spectacular. So many people owe their lives to him. I... I might too.

Im sorry, big bro. Your dreams not going to die with you, alright? I promise.

--Longbow, at the funeral of the samurai Sprocket Rocket, 2048

***

I ran to a stop on the edge of a rooftop. Some boring rectangle of a building, with nothing to make it stand out except an odd number of AC units on the rooftop. Behind me, on the road Id just jumped over, were a couple of hundred aliens currently enjoying some acid rain coupled with a sprinkling of more traditional explosives.Findd new stories at novelhall.com

The property damage I was leaving behind was going to cost billions, I suspected.

Grasshoppers tally probably wasnt going to be far behind.

Looking down at the street below, I could make out entire chunks of concrete missing, some looking like theyd been punched right off the walls. Other areas had a sprinkling of bullet holes punching into the buildings, the roads, and through the corpses of dozens and dozens of antithesis.

It was a charnel house down there. Aliens laying in heaps, having fallen where they ran. Not as much blood as I might have expected. Each alien that was dead had a hole poking right through their skull, usually between the eyes.

I imagined that all of those holes in the walls were created after a round went through some aliens brain.

Which way? I asked.

Myalis reply was to create a red circle which hovered over everything off to my left. There were more bodies that way, not that the bodies would remain there forever. The antithesis were starting to poke into the road from the sides, some of them moving with a bit more caution, others running in while their skin sizzled under the effects of my acid.

I tossed a pair of acid bombs up and over the road. Theyd dissolve the bodies, maybe keep some of the aliens from following.

Running along the rooftops, I traced the path that Grasshopper had left. At some point she ran into an apartment building. Judging by the semi-circle of bodies piled up by the entrance, she had stayed there for a while.

Some of the bodies were shoved aside on one side. I squinted, then zoomed in with my cybernetic eye. Lots of footprints in that spot. Easy to make out since theyd stepped through a puddle of antithesis blood-stuff.

Was she with a group of civvies? I asked.

Unknown. Its possible though. Let me verify... yes. Grasshopper received a report that a civilian safehouse was in this area and wasnt going to be able to withstand an artillery assault.

Ill ask her AI to open parts of her armour.

Grasshoppers armour unfolded around her face and upper chest. It jammed around the middle, where it was obvious something had struck her.

I didnt waste any more time, pressing the tubes in close before backing off as the machine got to work. I need cat mechs. Give me like, six of them. Secure the area around here.

Six boxes appeared and robotic cats unfolded themselves from inside them and immediately started to patrol the room, some of them moved outside and out of the range of my hearing. Thatd keep any of the smaller aliens at bay for a bit.

How is she? I asked. I pulled Grasshopper back so that she was laying down flat instead of up against the wall. The arms sticking out of the back of her armour helped a little, repositioning themselves to make it easier.

Shes unlikely to die at the moment, though her injuries will make combat difficult. Do you want me to call for additional assistance?

I considered it for just a moment. Yeah, do so. We need to get her out of the front lines. She can recover better without having to worry about some alien popping out of nowhere to eat her. Probably somewhere a little less dirty too.

Myalis brought up a scan of Grasshoppers body. It looked like all of her veins and muscles and bones, with more and more details being filled in as the nanomachines I was pumping into her travelled across her body and catalogued her injuries. It looked like one leg was broken at the shin and her knee on that same leg was fucked. There were a few ribs that werent in the right spot too. Lots of internal fuckery around her abdomen.

What hit her? I asked.

The model fourteen. A moment of inattention or hesitation and she was struck hard enough to be injured. Her armour fortunately took the worst of the damage.

I looked around. There were a few little healing pack things on the ground that werent mine. Had she been trying to heal herself while laid out here? Shes tough, I said. Shell make it.

Yeah, Grasshopper agreed.

Hey! I gasped before leaning in closer. Youre awake?

A little, she said. That was unpleasant. Is that you, Stray Cat?

I nodded, then realized her eyes were screwed shut. Yeah, its me. Lemme get you some pain killers. Something to get you back onto your feet.

Ill be peachy, she said. I like that word. Its tasty. She gasped. Cat! The people. Go check on the people. Theyre behind me. I sent them away. Had to keep them safe. Please!

Her eyes opened, and she locked onto me, pleading.

I nodded. Alright, I said. Myalis, turrets. I dont want anything nasty interrupting her healing.

Then I ran off, because helping people was something I could do better than waiting around for a friend to get better.

***