I woke up early in the afternoon feeling refreshed. The cot had been a lot more comfortable than I expected, and I’d managed to have a good rest, even after sleeping in my armor. After stretching out my sore muscles, I stepped outside to check on the troops.

  Even though the bears were still guarding the walls, things were quiet. Either the bears had managed to completely clear up the streets, or whatever Antithesis were left out there were too smart to be tricked by the lures. Either way, my little fortress had done its job.

  As soon as I stepped foot outside of the Kodiak, Bob came waltzing across the intersection towards me. “Afternoon, boss, sleep well?”

  “Better than expected,” I admitted. “Did anything interesting happen while I was down?”

  “Nothing much. The antithesis were already getting pretty sparse when you went to sleep, and they completely stopped showing a couple hours after you went to bed. I’m still running the patrols, but if there’s any antithesis left out there, they don’t want to come out to play,” the bear replied.

  “In that case, call the patrols back. There’s no point in having them wander around aimlessly anymore. Maybe Bandit could use them to clear the hives or protect the towns,” I said, before glancing around suspiciously. “Where is Bandit anyways?”

  “He decided to move out to Chestermere. Said he wanted to be closer to the frontlines in case the Antithesis moved towards the towns,” the big bear explained. “I asked him, why Chestermere? the other towns are just as likely to be attacked. He told me that Chestermere was the most central of the three towns, so it was the best choice. Then I pointed out, if he wanted to be central, then staying within the city walls was better. That’s when he stared at me for a while, hand on his head, before saying good-bye.”

  “I really didn’t need to know all that,” I said wearily, holding my head. “I just wanted to know where Bandit was.”

  “Chestermere.”

  “Yes, I got that part, thanks,” I grumbled. “I’ll check-in with him in a couple minutes, but first… Nyx!”

  Nyx’s panda-colored avatar stuck its head out of the nearby Kodiak, a small sly smile on its robotic face. “Yes?”

  “I’m sure you already know what I’m going to ask, but where am I on points?” I yelled.

  “Just shy of fifteen thousand after all the cleanup. Is there anything specific you’d like to pick up today?”

  “Don’t be a smart ass. You already know what I want, the Class III bot upgrade,” I grumbled. “Where’s Deadbeat?”

  “Why Deadbeat? Dusty and Heavy both still need an upgrade too,” Bob asked curiously.

  “Well, I expect Heavy would actually cost a little more, and I expect he’ll take after you, be a bear of action. That’s not what I need right now. What I need is a commander,” I explained. “I guess it could be Dusty, but honestly? I never see him when I’m walking around the Shelter, and he’s usually driving the Kodiak, so I forget he’s around sometimes. I’d like to know where he goes, but that’s a mystery for another time,” I grumbled.

  While I was explaining myself, Deadbeat came running from behind the small line of Kodiaks in the center of the intersection. The sickly green bear with x’s for eyes rounded the corner at a run, teetering slightly due to the top-heavy backpack before charging forward again.

  “Why… Did we make the supply backpacks so large again?” I asked hesitantly.

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  “Because you wanted to make sure the bear squads not only carried enough ammunition to fight an extended engagement but also had emergency medical supplies on hand in case they ran across civilians in need,” Nyx explained.

  “And what does that have to do with carrying a comically large backpack?”

  “Do you know how much ammunition the B3-ARs go through over a ten-minute engagement? How about an hour or a twelve-hour siege? Even though the Kodiaks contain ammo stashes, you usually require the bears to be out and about for extended periods and they go through a lot of ammo,” Nyx said, wandering closer. “Plus, I did an in-depth psychological profiling of most of earth's residents and found they’d be much less afraid of one of your bears when they carried comically large equipment and stumbled occasionally.”

  “I honestly don’t know if you’re joking, and I should laugh, or you’re completely serious, and I should be afraid of you,” I muttered.

  “It’s probably better that way,” Nyx smirked. “Now, you’d like a Class III autonomous combat unit upgrade?”

  “Absolutely,” I grunted, holding out my hand.

  Purchased - Class III autonomous combat unit upgrade serum - 10,000 points

  Points remaining: 4871 points

  The heavy-duty injector landed squarely in my palm, my arm dipping slightly with the weight. I brought the injector around in a single smooth motion, jamming it deeply in the side of Deadbeat’s head.

  “You know, you can apply the auto-injector anywhere. You don’t always have to jam it violently into their craniums,” Nyx groaned.

  “Well, that might be true, but it’s kind of a tradition now, you know?”

  “It’s a pretty messed-up tradition,” my AI grunted.

  I didn’t reply because I was too focused on Deadbeat’s upgrade. Unlike Spooky and Bandit, Deadbeat’s facade seemed to be getting an upgrade along with their hardware. The sickly green slowly shifted into a mellow blue color, and the X’s faded from Deadbeat’s eyes.

  The little bot stood there, twitching for nearly a minute, before finally falling still.

  “Greetings commander, how can I help you today?” Deadbeat asked in a pleasant, female voice.

  “You’re female?” I asked, surprised.

  “Technically they’re genderless automatons,” Nyx informed me, before stepping back slightly. “I’m not sure why you’re surprised. You’re the one that kept them around, repairing them instead of replacing them. You didn’t gender most of them until they fully developed their own personalities, so why wouldn’t some of them develop as female?”

  “I… never considered that,” I muttered, before turning back towards the bear. “Well, Deadbeat, it’s nice to finally meet you. I hate to push you right after awakening, but could you take over command of the Incursion containment? Bob’s been complaining about the responsibility, and I may need to take him into combat later, so I’d prefer if he wasn’t distracted.”

  Deadbeat shot Bob a disapproving glance before nodding. “Consider it done.”

  “I appreciate it. If only all my bears were as helpful as you,” I grumbled.

  “We all have our strengths and weaknesses,” Deadbeat replied quietly.

  “Is that a new bear? It’s so cute compared to your other ones! Is it wearing scrubs?” Helen’s voice rang out from behind me.

  “That’s Deadbeat, the logistics and medical bear of my team,” I informed her.

  “Wasn’t Deadbeat the puke green one?” Helen asked suspiciously.

  “I’m not anymore,” Deadbeat announced indignantly. “It wasn’t a very fetching color.”

  Helen raised an eyebrow. “I think your bear might have a better vocabulary than you,”

  “She’s probably smarter than me too,” I admitted, “and honestly they should be for ten thousand points.”

  “Ten thousand?!?! Why? Can she one-shot model twenties or something?” Helen asked incredulously.

  I sighed. “No, they’re my command staff. I need Deadbeat and the others to help me keep the troops organized; there are just too many for me to control by myself.”

  “I just figured once you ordered them to go do something, they just went and did it,” Helen said.

  “I wish it was that easy,” I muttered, shaking my head. We stood in silence for several seconds before a thought popped into my head. “Hey, the siege ended a couple hours ago. What are you still doing here?”

  “Oh, I was waiting for you,” Helen casually exclaimed. “Whenever anything big goes on around here, you tend to be at the center of it. I figured if I stuck with you, I’d be able to get in on the action.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” I grumbled.

  “Maybe, but your record speaks for itself. I’m willing to waste a little time and stick around while things are quiet on the off chance I’ll see something exciting.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” I growled.

  Behind Helen, Deadbeat started frantically waving, trying to attract my attention. I considered trying to ignore her but decided against it when I saw how frantic she was.

  “What is it?” I asked dejectedly.

  “Bandit just sent out an SOS--the Antithesis are on the move,” the bear reported. “He has swarms moving towards both Airdrie and Chestermere.”

  Helen’s face just lit up at the news. “Best decision I’ve made all day.”

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