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 theyll come 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 place the things they care about in jeopardy.

    It is always easier to play 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 occasionally 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 rocket launcher 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 surprisingly comfortable resting pads shift onto my shoulders as I did a bit of mental math.

    The alien was coming at me, making a shot fairly easy. There was a glass 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.

    That last one had me blinking dumbly even as the Model Eleven swooped upwards with a flick of its just wings. Its claws 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 glass and plaster and bits of wire flying all over. The lights in the bridge which had still been on flickered off at last and for a moment as everything shifted underfoot, I was afraid that this bridge would collapse 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 particularly dangerous, or hyper-specialized towards completing 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 succeed 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.

    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 place. 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 plain 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 musculature and to harden your skeleton. Not to mention replacing your organs with far superior versions.

    Going to replace 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 Cybernetic 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 your last treatment of Nano Regeneratives is still running its course. It has been healing you as you go, albeit relatively 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 relatively 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.