<13:24, BallsDeep69> "Yeah, the death of the xenos after you become a samurai!"
<13:25, LordTouchMe> "Way to ruin the moment, Gregory..."
-- Chat log of pyers talking about the game Samurai Rush, leaked in a data breach. 2053
"We are almost done." Shinobu said as I saw diagnostic codes fly by on the left side of our Aug's HUD.
"It's okay Boo, we've only been sitting here for half an hour." I replied sarcastically.
"Sorry, the malware that runner hit our poor bot with was a little more stubborn than I initially thought." She said apologetically.
"A phone? in 2057?" I gnced up and saw a girl snicker as she passed the front door of the little Mesh Café, prompting me to roll my eyes.
"Pretentious snob, everyone knows that that's a rich people thing..." her friend replied.
"Just ignore them Boo."
I just sighed, closed my eyes and hung my head in quiet resignation as the st of the diagnostics finished.
"Nonon, are we done?" I asked as she scrolled back up to a few things that caught her eye.
"Yap, Bob's all good now," she replied happily. "Aaand ejected safely. You can jack us out."
"Finally!" I sighed with relief as I disconnected the cable and let it zip back into our wrist, I stood up and stretched.
Shinon and I had a good little system going on whoever was fronting had the phone, and the one stuck inside had Aug privileges, unless when we needed to do actual work. We were lucky enough to have "won" one of those fancy thought controlled ones and after Nonon got her paws on it, she purged it of all bloat and spyware that was on it and some weeks ter, even wrote a homebrew OS for it. It was pretty much the only nice thing we owned. Well, besides all the things Nonon managed to scrape together and repurpose.
I gnced at the clock as I put the chair away, noting that it was still an agonizing 3 hours until our shift ended. Despite my groaning I actually enjoyed the job, we were in charge of keeping the Café's tech from ft-lining people and keeping out the spyware that didn't belong to the owner of the pce. He even gave us a gun. Tho’, it's mostly for intimidation since we are getting charged by the bullet... the stingy fuck.
I made my way to the back to get a drink from the overpriced vending machine I had to fix weekly. From people with chrome punching it, to the enterprising net-runner experimenting on it, -only getting charged 250% of the market rate for the drink... - my thoughts were interrupted by Nonon.
"Boo, did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" I asked as I took a sip of the probably cancer causing drink, then promptly spit it out when I heard the screams. "Fuck me, Shinon! What the hells is going on?"
"One sec, let me use one of my backdoors," she said then a few moments ter, a video feed rapidly flicking through different cameras opened in the upper left of my vision. "No... Not these.. not that either... Ah! Shit..."
"Fuck me sideways," I muttered as I saw the familiar image of an Antithesis in the shape of a pnt based, really twisted tiger shark with legs instead of fins, probably some fucked up version of a Model Three, ran after and chow down on one of the girls from earlier. "Shit, they are close," I swore, ran for the emergency lockdown button by the office door and smmed it, fine be damned.
The front shutters started to close slowly as all the people mid-dive were ripped back out of the Mesh into meatspace.
"What the fuck!? I was on a high streak!" one middle-aged guy shouted, throwing a full dive helmet aside.
"Shut up, Model Threes in the mall." And as if to accentuate my cim, another scream cut through all the noise.
"Follow me to the Shelter," I said as I cut through the gathering crowd of disoriented people and pushed open the emergency exit, setting off the fire arm in the café.
We made our way to the shelter. Meeting up with a few other groups on the way, we all prayed to whatever deranged deity was out there that there was a shelter. Every building over a certain size by w should be equipped with an incursion shelter. By w... that some builders cutting corners just ignored, prompting some samurai to put their foot down. Some decided to put the proverbial foot on the balls of those ordering said corners to be cut and embezzling the money. Our luck was not so bad, I thought, as we piled into the slightly too small space. This mall had a functioning Shelter, built to keep people alive for 8-10 hours. If built to code... which we discovered was not the case when the heavy armoured door ground to an abrupt halt as the power went out.
"Of fucking course," I muttered as the video feed was repced by bck nothing.
"Shinobu, the cameras went out too."
"Figured."
I was the st one in, and looking at the maybe foot wide gap, I could just about squeeze through it, meaning one of those pnt fucks would have no problem getting in either.
I sighed and shook my head in resignation. "There is no other way, is there..."
"Shinobu, what are you..." Shinon trailed off as I made for the gap.
"Where are you going, are you insane?!" Came the question from someone, and when I gnced back, I saw the tear stricken face of the girl whose friend we saw the Model Three chomp on.
"I'm going to try and close the door from the outside or at least barricade it with something."
"But!" she tried to protest, but I squeezed out before she could get in a word edgewise.
"Okay, let's do this," I said, voice barely above a whisper as I took hold of the bars on the outside and tried to pull it close, but could not move it an inch. "Shit... Okay, pn B."
I whirled around scanning the rest of the lobby space for things to pile up against the crack in the door. But all I found was cheap pstic benches and a bin that has not been emptied in some time.
"Boo, I heard something."
Straining my hearing I could make out the soft sound of wet feet hitting the tiled floor.
"Fuck," I whispered as I drew my company-issued pistol.
The thing was about as cheap as they come, probably recycled polymer and discounted bullets at best, hopefully with enough oomph to stop a Model Three. Neither of us is good with guns, but we can at least hit the broadside of a barn at a dozen paces. But Antithesis are not barns. Especially when they are charging at you, full tilt.
Just as I rounded the corner gun raised, I let loose three rounds at the pnt shark dogs. The first one caught it in the leg, the second whizzed past the first hitting the other one in the head, dropping it dead. And the third hit the wall at about waist height. I took a moment to realign the gun and squeezed the trigger again just as the Model Three's triple jaws opened to chomp down on me. At point-bnk range, it was hard to miss and the impact of the round sent rotting seaweed-smelling pnt matter flying everywhere. Its death however did not stop its momentum and I could just barely jump up, legs wide open as the alien corpse slid past under me on the tiled floor with a squeak. I turned around and poked the corpse with my foot, just to make sure. I heard the sound of gss breaking.
Looking up I saw another Model 3 plummeting down in a shower of gss shards, and stopping with a wet spt, shortly followed by howling as a man fell out the same window while pulling a... tentacled something with him. I winced as they nded on the hard, tiled floor shortly followed by a sword comically impaling the mess of tentacles, but it was clearly still alive. I raised my gun and squeezed the trigger once more but all I got was a click.
"Cheap piece of..." I swore at the jammed gun then snapped my attention back to the... whatever the hell looked like 3 giant squids having an orgy, with what looked like a khopesh sticking out of it started to move.
With no better option, I threw the gun at it and ran towards the side of it with the sword sticking out, grabbed it and tried to wrench it out, hopefully doing as much damage as possible.
Needless to say, it did not like that, and it shed out at me with a tentacle. Ducking, I slipped in closer and swung at the base of the offending appendage. The bde bit into it, and the limb went limp.
I took a measured step back, and levelled the sword at the creature.
"Boo, that sword… It's samurai tech!"
"Oh, is it now?"
"Yeah, but I can’t tell what the hell it does, it's all locked down."
"I..." I cut my reply short as I rolled to the side to avoid another strike. "See." Then took another stab at hacking off a tentacle.
The dance continued for what felt like ages, but probably was only 30 seconds, when suddenly the end of a sword poked through the creature about where I guess it's pelvis would be, and then it just slumped over.
I lowered the sword, pointing it off to the side, and to the back like how I was taught all those years ago. The peace sted for only a moment.
"WATCH OUT!" Shinon shouted just as I saw movement out of the corner of my eyes.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl. I tried to quickly raise the sword and block the incoming threat but ended up being too slow, so with no other options left, I let go and jammed my right arm right into the jaw of the Model Three, hoping it won’t be able to bite down on it very well. In the same motion I caught the sword with my left hand and jammed it through the bottom of the fucker's head, just as it chomped down on my arm. The sword met next to no resistance as it pierced right through the head of the alien pnt and my forearm, straight into its brain.
The world came back into focus with a searing pain at the back of my head. Everything went white as I hit the floor. My arm, still stuck in the jaws of the shark dog, mostly bitten off and held in pce by the sword, was torn off just a moment before the skull-splitting pain stopped, and repced it entirely. Everything went bck just as I heard someone shouting about medic stuff.
----
When we next opened our eyes, we were lying on hard pstic, looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling. But that's not what had our attention. That honor went to the notification boxes filling our vision.
WARNING!
INCURSION DETECTED, SEEK SHELTER!
"No shit..."
Congratutions. Through your actions you have proven yourself worthy of becoming one of the Vanguard, a defender of humanity. I am Cinydr. I will assist you to uplift humanity so that you may defend your homeworld from the Antithesis threat!
Rise, Shino-, bu? Shinon? And become a protector of the weak!
"We must be glitching," Shinon said. "Boo, heard that too?"
"Yeah."
"Hey, you, you’re finally awake!" a man spoke up with a deep rumbly voice.
"Who?" She snapped our head to the voice and instinctively tried to hack into his augs, then winced and brought our left hand to the freshly closed wound where our right arm should be.
I would advise against that little one.
"Welcome to the club, and please stop that," he smiled.
"Wait," still feeling disoriented, Nonon said. "Let us switch, my sister is better at social stuff."
"What do you mean..." he asked with confusion audible in his voice.
"I'm ready when you are, Shinon."
"Okay," she said, closed our eyes, then started our usual breathing exercise and over a few minutes we traded pces.
"There," I said, then hissed in pain as I tried to move the freshly torn off arm. "Fuck... I forgot about that"
"Please don't do that again, Sis"
Ah, I see.
"Yeah, I sure as hell won't," I said, then tuned to... "Sorry, what's your name and what in the hells happened?"
"Ah, the name's Bdes, and you just helped me kill a Model Four." I gnced at the pile of tentacles, and on closer inspection, it did look like a fucked up Sea Anemone but with two stumpy legs. "And then a Model Three jumped at you... You shoved your arm in its jaws and stabbed it straight through the noggin."
You saved 93 people, killed 3 Model Threes and a Model Four with assistance. After deductions, you are rewarded 76 points plus 100 points granted to every new Vanguard. Your current Shared Point Total is 256.
"Cinder, was it? What are points used for and how does one get more?" Nonon asked.
Vanguards working together would earn 55% of the total amount. Points can be used to purchase catalogues and items from those catalogues. Your situation is a little unusual, sweetie, because there are two of you and you both are Vanguards you technically have separate point pools to work with.
"I see, does that mean that if I want something that Boo unlocked, she will have to buy it for me?"
No, because of your unique situation, you automatically share unlocked catalogues.
"55%… hmm," I murmured as I sit up while Cinydr and Shinon continued to chat. "Sorry about that, my sister is not too good with in-person stuff," I said, finally taking a closer look at the other Samurai.
He was wearing a white skirt-like cloth. The bare dark skin of his chest on dispy save for a white sash hanging across it from shoulder to waist, like some old-timey Egyptian warrior in sandals. And I swear his biceps had abs.
"What do you mean sister?" Bdes frowned, then his eyebrows shot up. "Oh. There are literally two of you in there? That's a first. But where are my manners." He bowed slightly with his right fist above his heart. "Thank you, for distracting that Model Four. You saved my hide there."
"You're welcome, I guess," I sighed and turned to look back at the door of the Shelter. "What about the civies?"
"Safe and sound. They were evacuated not long after you passed out."
"I'm Shinobu by the way, and as you probably heard, my sister is Shinon. And thanks for patching us up."
"I didn’t have to, Shinobi. By the time I was gonna get a Nano Regen it closed up completely." he said after a moment with a shit-eating grin.
"Ah, yeah I forgot we had that… wait, Shinobi?" I frowned
"Oh my god! He is a dork!" Nonon excimed.
"Yeah, Shinobi. Your new samurai name," he nodded, crossing his massive muscly arms in front of his chest.
"You can't just go around naming people..." I protested. "And why in the hells Shinobi of all things."
"Hehe, Shinobu, and Shinon," he started to expin. "Shin no bi, because there are two of you. And just drop an n for wordpy. And before you start protesting, it's tradition for samurai to give a name to the nameless, Shinobi."
"Fine," I sighed. "Shinobi it is then. Anyway, how fucked are we?"
"Well, you two are down an arm, and that's gonna be expensive to repce. I remember how few points you have at the start, but you will need an arm so I can spot you a weapon."
"Thanks, that'd be nice. Let's see about getting us re-armed then."
I would recommend the Css I Moon Gazer Technologies catalogue for 120 points. It focuses on modur body enhancement and drones. Your Neural Link Interface is already compatible with most basic functionality. And a set of drones to act as an arm for the time being. That will cost 130 points.
"Drones?" I asked frowning. "So this won't be an actual arm."
Yes, but actually no. You don't have the points to buy a repcement arm that I think would suit your fighting style. The drones however will allow you both control over it once the required Neural Link has been purchased for another 50 points
"I like the sound of that. Oh! We could have a bunch more of these drones and have basically an android body for me to control! Let's go for it!"
New Purchase: Css I Moon Gazer Technologies.
Points Reduced to... 232.
New Purchase: Modur Drone Model Kit Mk III.
Points Reduced to... 102.
New Purchase: Vulpine Instinct Neural Link Interface.
Points reduced to... 52.
Sweetie, would you close your eyes for a moment? This will be unpleasant for a moment.
"Omm... Sure," I did as Cinydr asked.
The next thing I know is that I'm hurling up the cheap burger we had for lunch as we reeled from the sudden wave of vertigo, even though it only sted for a few seconds.
"Fuck me... That was..."
I'm sorry. She apologized.
"It's fine," I said, wiped my mouth with the sleeve of our ruined hoodie then asked. "We have 52 points left, can we get a weapon catalogue with that much?"
Yes, you can. The Fixed Point, Lethal Transition Melee Weaponry catalogue is 50 points.
She said, and a pstic box thumped on the bench next to me. It was as big as one of those old-timey ptops you see in movies from before the Antithesis showed up.
“Okay, let's get that catalogue.”
New Purchase: Fixed Point, Lethal Transition Melee Weaponry.
Points reduced to... 2.
"Here goes nothing, I guess." I said and pulled the case open. Only pausing for a second at the Kitsune Kabuki mask stencilled on the cover.