I stared in disbelief at the oversized tick. It hadn’t survived due to the Twenty-Eights throwing themselves in the way or some otherworldly resistance, but due to the culmination of its scheming and a tiny bit of dumb luck.

  I’d thought it was a little suspicious that the Thirty-Seven had tried to escape across the surface instead of summoning a horde and trying to find a place to bunker down. It turned out this had all been part of its plan, and it had to be out in the open for the escape to work.

  An entire flock of fliers had descended upon the area mere moments before the UHR fired. A group of Elevens, the massive four-winged vultures, swooped down, sinking their talons into the brain while the smaller model Ones swarmed the area and provided cover.

  The daring aerial escape almost worked. The Thirty-Seven did manage to get off the ground, just not fast enough to completely evade the UHR’s fire. Instead of getting hit dead center, the massive shell just grazed the creature’s underbelly, ripping it open and spilling its juices all over the road. It was a grievous wound, but unlikely to be fatal.

  I watched as the Elevens used their momentum to swiftly carry the wounded mastermind across the battlefield, showering everything in blood and viscera. Even though they’d managed to maintain a fair amount of speed after their dive, the Elevens struggled to regain any sort of altitude, just barely managing to gain enough height to clear the surrounding buildings and veer away before they reached our position.

  “Motherfucker! Did that really just happen?” I shouted as the monsters disappeared from sight. “After all our work, that fucking thing is getting away!”

  “I tried to shoot down the Elevens,” Amy cried, “but they were just moving too fast, and with the swarm of Model Ones clustered around them I couldn’t get a good shot on them.”

  “I know it’s not your fault,” I grumbled. “All the bears were firing at them too. It’s just… fuck!”

  “We don’t have time for your rampant profanity right now,” Charlotte exclaimed. “We might still be able to catch the Thirty-Seven, or at least follow it, if we jump in one of the Kodiaks, but we need to move. Now!”

  “Ummmm… That might not be necessary,” Angeline mumbled.

  Nora pivoted on her heel and looked at the smaller woman in disbelief. “What? Why not?”

  “Because they’re already coming back,” Angeline answered simply as she pointed at an empty patch of sky above one of the nearby houses.

  Sure enough, a second or two later the small flock of fliers, and their oversized passenger, came soaring back towards us. Even though they’d managed to somehow convert their speed into height, climbing several hundred meters, I could see that the flock was in rough shape.

  The thick cloud of Model Ones had been nearly completely removed, and the Model Elevens were struggling.

  “What the…” was all I managed to mutter before a deafening crack split the air. Several of the Model Elevens exploded, nearly ripped in two by the tremendous power of whatever shot them.

  With the loss of so much lift, the group immediately began to spiral. I could see the remaining Elevens struggling to both maintain hold of their passengers and slow the rapid descent enough that they could drop it off somewhat safely.

  Their efforts were in vain.

  A second shot rang out, splattering the remaining Elevens and sending the Thirty-Seven into a freefall. I watched with a combination of horror and delight as the oversized tick spent several seconds tumbling through the air before slamming into the street, right in the middle of the horde, its body bursting open like an overripe fruit.

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  “As impressive as that was, I can’t help but think our victory was a little anticlimactic,” Amy muttered.

  “Who cares if it’s anticlimactic? It’s dead!” Nora whooped. “What the hell happened anyways?”

  “Reinforcements!” Angeline chirped as a massive shadow slowly crept over the street.

  I looked up as a massive elongated airship slowly maneuvered over the street, positioning itself above the horde before disgorging a swarm of massive metal pods from its underside. The pods smashed into the Antithesis, crushing and disorienting the aliens before splitting open and releasing their deadly payloads.

  As the bears sprang out, cutting down the surrounding aliens and adding their firepower to the surrounding squads, everyone slowly turned and looked at me.

  “Anything you want to say about this?” Nora asked.

  “Ummm… I wish I could, but this is as much of a surprise to me as it was to you. I thought Spooky and the Marsupial were still in Quebec,” I replied.

  “Spooky has been posting hourly updates on the command network, letting everyone know his progress. He even posted a high-priority update a couple hours ago letting everyone know that Montreal had finished building their wall, and he was heading back,” Deadbeat said. “I’m guessing you didn’t read any of those.”

  “You can post updates through the command and control network?” I replied blankly.

  “Why am I not surprised?” Nora snickered. “You’re the only person I know that could somehow lose a massive airship and have it work to your advantage.”

  “I didn’t lose it. I knew exactly where it was; with Spooky,” I grumbled. “And the last time I talked to him, he was halfway across the country. Sorry for being distracted by all the weird shit we’ve had to deal with around here the last few hours.”

  “I’m just glad we didn’t have to spend another couple hours chasing the Thirty-Seven back and forth across the city,” Bern declared. “I have a feeling that I’m going to have enough on my plate tracking down the hive that birthed all those monstrosities before it can release another wave.”

  “Ugh… I totally forgot we still had to deal with the hive complex. There are miles of tunnels down there, and it’ll take us hours to find it,” I moaned.

  “No, it won’t,” Angeline chirped. “Without the Thirty-Seven to direct them, the Antithesis aren’t trying to intercept every single squirrel I send their way. I’ll find that overgrown vegetable patch in no time!”

  “Well… good, I was worried that I’d have to organize the bears and have them perform a comprehensive sweep of the underground area,” I said, walking over to the side of the road and sitting on the curb.

  “I hate to break it to you,” Charlotte said, “but we’ll probably still want to perform that full sweep. If another one of those thirties gets loose, it could cause significant damage. It’s in our best interest to try and block those monsters in and eliminate them here.”

  I stared at her for several long seconds. “Deadbeat can do it.”

  Charlotte just snorted in response.

  “I’m serious!” I declared. “I’m far too tired to take on another adventure right now. I was up all night tracking down that fucking worm in Okatoks, and tracking down the brain took far longer than I expected. I have commanders for a reason, you know.”

  “You’ve more than earned a break. We just need bodies to clear the tunnels, and if your mini commanders can handle that, that works for me,” Charlotte said.

  “Good,” I said, jumping to my feet. “Anything else you need my help with before I take off?”

  “Just one thing,” Nora said, throwing a thumb towards Amy. “We need to give the kid a moniker.”

  “A what?” I asked.

  “You know, a samurai name. It’s traditional for established samurai to choose the name of their juniors. We should probably have done it when this all started, but since things were far more hectic than usual, it slipped my mind.”

  Amy bounced forward. “Really? No joke?”

  “Nora is correct. This is really something we should have done a couple days ago,” Charlotte said. “Anyone have any ideas?”

  “Punk Rock!” Angeline yelled. “Fits her aesthetic.”

  “I think there are, like, three punk rocks right now,” Nora muttered. “How about Neon Axe?”

  “What kind of name is that?” I grumbled.

  “She likes to use axes,” Nora replied, with a shrug. “Besides, I don’t hear you throwing out any ideas.”

  “I’m opposed to the whole idea, especially after all the messed up names Mirage tried to give me,” I mumbled.

  “He spent a fair amount of time thinking of those names, you know,” Charlotte said.

  “Well… they fit the theme, but they didn’t fit me,” I said. “I still pass.”

  “Fine,” Charlotte said, before looking the girl over for several seconds. “How about Lamb Chop?”

  “Lamb Chop,” Amy repeated, testing the name out before breaking into a big smile. “I like it!”

  “Good, because it fits you,” I said, stepping up and petting her on the back. “Welcome to the club, kid.”

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