Chapter Thirty-Nine - Getting a Clue

Chapter Thirty-Nine - Getting a Clue

Chapter Thirty-Nine - Getting a Clue

The Vtuber boom of the early 2020s turned into a strange phenomena. At some point it became relatively cheap for brands to have their own Vtuber mascot, either with a real person behind the digitised face, or a carefully curated auto-responding AI.

That led to an entire generation that grew up more comfortable interacting parasocially with vtubers than with real life humans.

--Rise of the Anime Girl, a study in three parts, 2035

***

I took point, mostly because I was the more subtle of the two of us. Going invisible--after pinging Manic to get her augs to display my location--meant that I was... not visible to the aliens.

Whatever. Point was, I was better at the front than the rather loud Manic, who was even now blasting some music from some speakers built into her clothes. I wasn't a music buff, but I recognized Fortunate Son when I heard it. I wasnt sure if it was entirely appropriate to the context but I wasnt going to start a debate Id lose about music.

I checked my map as I walked down the side of a quiet street. The biggest confirmed group of antithesis was just a couple of blocks down, most of them gathering in a five-way intersection right on the edge of the fires that Gomorrah had started.

My plan had once been to take the aliens out while leaving as much of the city intact as possible, but that particular plan was several hours old by this point and with Gomorrah lighting everything up, it was kind of a moot point.

Id hold back from the really destructive explosives, because the splash from those might hit Downtown and injure the folk I was meant to protect, but that still left me with more choices than before.

Okay, I said over the comms so that Manic could hear me. Ive got an idea.

What is it? she asked.

Im going to dip into the area with all the aliens, figure out which hole theyre crawling out of, then set bombs next to those. Well collapse the entire area down, then move in to mop up the survivors.

Sounds like there isnt much for me to do in that plan of yours.

Would you rather hit up a group that outnumbers us a hundred to one head on? I asked.

Huh... alright, fair. Not quite at that level yet.

Me neither, I said before shutting my comms off for a moment. Myalis, can I have some resonators, maybe a few proximity mines, and... I guess some acid bombs. You know the ones that float up and rain acid down on an area?

Im familiar, yes. Are you getting these to prepare yourself?

No, Im giving them to Manic with instructions. If the aliens try to get at her they might cover her retreat.

The only other time Id seen a model eighteen was in the defence of New Montreal. It had dug its way under our defences and came popping out of the backline ready to rip our crap apart. It had taken on a tank and won.

There was absolutely no way our defences right now could handle one of those, even half-chewed up as it was.

What is up with this hive? I muttered.

It might be throwing everything it has at the wall to see what sticks, to borrow a quaint colloquialism.

Right, I said. Bigger aliens like that might take longer for the nanomachines to kill. So theyd actually be effective for a while before dying.

Maybe Gomorrahs fire had been the right solution all along, because all of these hitting the piss-poor defences we had would have caused a huge breach. The militia didnt have the firepower to take the bigger guys out, not unless they got lucky or drew the fight out.

And drawing out a fight was almost always something the antithesis wanted.

Lets go say hi, I said.

The way back down was much easier than the path up, owing to gravity being a friend for once and because I practised with my jump jets by leaping down entire flights of stairs.

On arriving at the ground floor, I checked to see if my stealth stuff was still properly active, then I resisted the temptation to kick open the exit door. Instead I carefully pushed it open and slipped outside.

A model threes head rose and it opened its three-hinged mouth as if it was sniffing the air.

I moved on past it, careful with my footfalls not to disturb any of the junk on the road.

There was a light rain coming down from above. Not water, but ash. Thick grey flakes that settled on everything and cast the world in shades of grey and black. The aliens were just slow enough that the stuff accumulated on their backs and sides, turning them into marble statues of grotesque monsters.

It also meant that I was leaving prints in the ground behind me, the same way boots used to leave prints in the snow, back when snow was a thing in this hemisphere.

I weaved my way around the bigger aliens. I didnt know if theyd have sharper senses or not, but I wasnt ready to bet my life on a not.

Myalis, any clue where these guys are coming from? I asked.

Then one of the doors to a building across the street slammed open and a wave of model threes followed by bigger, uglier aliens came pouring out.

Nevermind, I think I figured it out.

***