“Get us down there!” I shouted at the driver. “All vehicles split up and surround the swarm. Don’t give the worm a way out!”

  The Kodiak lurched, going into a steep dive that sent me stumbling towards the front. Bob stuck out one of his huge paws and caught me before I smashed into the monitor setup.

  “Thanks,” I mumbled as I straightened up. “When we hit the ground, I want you to take the badgers and rush that worm. Do whatever you can to keep it from escaping.”

  “The little guys can’t take the same punishment that I can. It’ll be risky for them,” Bob said.

  “Would that stop you from going in?” I asked him.

  “Nope, it just makes it more exciting!” Bob smiled.

  “Well, it’s probably the same for them. Plus, I have something they’ll really like,” I said.

  “What’s that?” the big bear asked.

  I glanced at the two oversized, grinning melee machines behind me. “Feel free to light up those plasma throwers. Just be extra cautious around any of the samurai or other bears down there. Most of them can turn you to scrap faster than you can blink, so try to not piss them off.”

  The smile on the badger’s faces deepened, almost looking unhinged.

  “Do you honestly think that’s a good idea?” Bob whispered.

  “Probably not, but I’ve made the call and I’m sticking to it,” I muttered back.

  I felt the Kodiak level out, breaking hard as it approached the ground. As soon as it stabilized, I slammed the open ramp button and jumped out the back. Although I only had a couple handfuls of troops left, they’d be enough to keep the swarm contained. Especially with backup.

  Even though I came in on the opposite side of the battle from everyone else, I still recognized a couple of the samurai. Nora was leaping high into the air, then plummeting down like a meteor on whatever target she could find. There were only a handful of Twenty-Threes running around, and one of them had the unfortunate pleasure of having its head completely caved in by one of her kicks.

  I could also make out a lot of Antithesis just falling apart, cut cleanly into two or more pieces. I could only assume that was Silent Saber, rending the local Antithesis apart from a distance.

  Finally there was Amy, stepping fearlessly right into the middle of the melee. She was firing one of her submachine guns wildly with one hand while slamming the axe I’d given her into the skull of any Antithesis that got close. I didn’t know what to feel about that.

  There must have been other samurai I wasn’t familiar with over there, because I could see micro missiles slamming into the enemy line, along with electro nets and various other weapons slamming into the Antithesis too.

  The most effective one, by far, was Charlotte. I’d never really seen her fight before, and I was suddenly very glad I’d never really attracted her ire. I knew, based upon the camera feed from the Kodiak, that she was sitting on a nearby ridge, slowly emptying her weapon into the Thirty-Two. What I hadn’t realized, until now, was just how deadly she was.

  The monster practically shrugged off the shots from my Kodiaks, but every round she fired caused the leviathan to slide back several meters. It didn’t matter what wandered between them either, since the rounds seemed to effortlessly penetrate everything else. As I watched, one unfortunate Twenty-Three wandered into the line of fire, only to lose most of its left side to one of Charlotte’s high-power shots. It didn’t even prevent it from connecting with the Thirty-Two either.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Despite the absolute devastation that was being wrought upon most of the Antithesis forces, the Thirty-Two didn't seem to be faring that badly. Its front was starting to resemble mincemeat thanks to Charlotte, and it had far too many holes in its sides to be healthy thanks to the Kodiaks, but the monster was still remarkably mobile. It reared back, thousands of limbs flailing about, twisting back and forth like it was looking for something.

  I was beginning to think nothing would concern the monster, right up until Bob and his buddies got close.

  While blunt trauma didn’t seem to be doing much damage, the concentrated plasma did. All it took was a couple quick blasts, and the creature’s entire rear end burst into flame. Acrid smoke rolled off its skin, yet instead of panicking, it whipped its ‘tail’ to the side, then brought it down right upon the pair.

  I wasn’t an expert, but with the way the earth shattered at the impact, I doubted the pair would be walking away from that.

  “This isn’t going well… I don’t think we’re going to be able to keep this thing here,” I muttered. I flicked open my augs, trying to connect with anyone else, but this close to the Thirty-Two I was having trouble even talking to the troops next to me.

  My heart dropped when the monster turned and tried to skitter south, but thankfully multiple things happened at the same time. Charlotte unleashed a three round burst, rocking it to the side, one of the other samurai launched a massive net that held it down, and Bob grabbed the thing. Even with all that resistance, it still slowly trundled forward.

  “Fuck, this isn’t working… We need a way to completely shut it down,” I hissed. My eyes narrowed as I ran my gaze along the Thirty-Two’s body. “Nyx! You know that bee drone? Is there any way you could boost the signal so it’ll work if it stings that thing? I need to knock out its brain.”

  Wirelessly? Not a chance. But we could take inspiration from the Seventeen itself, my AI suggested.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but if you think it’ll work, do it.”

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  I snatched the materializing box out of the air and popped it open. Inside was the same microdrone as before, along with a massive spool of incredibly thin wire. “What the hell is this?”

  There’s a patch on one end of the wire. Place it against your temple. When the drone starts the trace, it’ll send the data back through the wire and straight into your augs.

  “And that’ll work?” I asked.

  Theoretically. Do you want to sit here arguing, or do you want to test it before the Thirty-Two gets away?

  I looked up, the monster was straining against all its restraints. Despite being repeatedly covered by nets, it was still pushing forward. One net was ripped asunder, allowing it to surge a couple of meters forward before getting pinned down again.

  “Point made,” I grumbled, slapping the adhesive pad against my forehead. As soon as I did, the drone took off, the wire unfurling behind it. It took several seconds to cross the field, long enough for me to start thinking it might have been caught by one of the Ones flapping around, before a burst of data entered my brain. My vision doubled as a dozen different strands lit up in my vision, connected to some of the most dangerous Antithesis left alive, all coming together and converging right… I blinked.

  “Is that fucking thing inside the Thirty-Two?” I growled.

  Of course, it would be far more efficient for the Seventeen to interface directly with the Thirty-Two’s nervous system. There is a reason why the Seventeen is tick-shaped after all.

  “How am I supposed to blow it out of there?” I shouted.

  I probably would have gone on a rant right there and then, but the sound of metal tapping on ceramic attracted my attention. Turning back towards the Kodiak, I found Heavy there, Coilgun in his one good arm, staring at me.

  “I thought I told you to stay in the transport,” I grumbled.

  The polar bear just tilted his head to the side and casually raised the massive weapon towards the Thirty-Two. When I didn’t say anything, he raised an eyebrow.

  “You want to try and take the Seventeen out? With a single-shot weapon and missing an arm?” I asked.

  The bear shook its head, wandered back into the vehicle, and came back dragging two more coil guns. He laid them all out in front of himself, then raised the first weapon again.

  “You know what? Fuck it. Since you’re not going to listen to me and sit this one out, and the longer we delay the better chance that fucking thing will get away, let’s give it a try. Here’s the data I have,” I announced, throwing my hands up in the air. I moved right up next to the bear since even with my upgrades, I had to be within a meter before the signal would go through.

  As soon as the message went through, Heavy's arm shot up. I jumped as the coil gun fired, releasing a shockwave as the round passed the sound barrier before it even left the barrel. It happened so fast I wasn’t even sure he’d aimed.

  Before I’d recovered from the first shot, Heavy discarded the first weapon and grabbed the second. Once again, he brought his arm up and nearly instantly unleashed a shot deep into the creature’s back.

  “Wait…” I shouted, but it was too late; the bear had already grabbed the third, unleashing the round into the same location on the Thirty-Two.

  “DID YOU EVEN AIM THOSE?” I shouted once the firing stopped. “That was our only chance to stop that fucking thing.”

  Heavy just dropped the last weapon, then pointed at the Thirty-Two.

  I turned back to the behemoth monster. It spasmed a couple times, thrashed about, then lay still. It didn’t look dead--it was still glowing--but it wasn’t trying to go anywhere either. The remaining Antithesis stopped trying to defend it, instead switching to a suicidal charge on the samurai.

  “Did you just really bullseye all three of those shots in that time?” I asked, glancing back at Heavy. He just shrugged, but I swear there was a hint of a smirk on his massive face.

  “Alright,” I admitted. “That was impressive.”

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