“How are your preparations going?” Charlotte asked as she took a sip of her coffee and leaned back in her chair.

  The two of us were sitting in her ‘temporary’ office in the Family’s local branch office. I didn’t like to come to the Family compound that often, but I knew what Charlotte had been going through the last few weeks, and I didn’t mind letting her use me as an excuse to take a break

  Charlotte’s office wasn’t that large, but it was immaculately decorated with various high-class furniture and woodwork. The deep brown woods, which I was fairly sure were real, matched the maroon paint and upholstery, giving it a warm feeling. It was very… Charlotte.

  My friend looked extremely tired, and honestly, I wasn’t that surprised. Even though we managed to eliminate the vast majority of the Antithesis in the first week following the Global incursion, that didn’t mean we’d eliminated them all. There were dozens of hives that needed to be swept and cleaned, along with thousands of loose Antithesis that needed to be tracked down and eliminated. Usually there would be half a dozen samurai helping coordinate these operations, but since most of the experienced Family members were on Mars, all that responsibility fell on Charlotte and her staff.

  I honestly didn’t know how she managed.

  “Almost done. The beavers just need a couple more hours to finish transferring all the Matter Reconfiguration machines up to the Stratocarrier. I’m not planning on engaging any major infestations while I’m gone, so I’m leaving Bandit and Dusty here, along with most of my forces, to help clear the remaining burrows,” I replied. “How are you doing?”

  “The good news is I don’t have to be here twenty-four seven, like I did during the first few days,” Charlotte sighed. “The bad news is our cleanup crews have been stretched to their breaking point, and we’re still getting reports of newly discovered hive networks on a near hourly basis. We barely have enough manpower to keep up.”

  “I didn’t realize that things were that bad…” I muttered. “You know I could delay my trip for another week or two if you still need the manpower.”

  “It’s fine,” Charlotte waved her hand dismissively. “What we lack isn’t manpower, your bears are more than sufficient to fill that role, but dedicated cleanup teams. Broodmother was so good at post-battle cleanup that we barely had anyone specialize in the field. Since the second most experienced sweeper, Twilight Umbra, went to Mars, we were left with only a handful of relatively inexperienced cleaners. We had a couple samurai awaken over the last few days that have expressed an interest in the field, we just need to get them up to speed.”

  “If you say so,” I muttered. “You know, I could always cook up a new bot to help. Something that’s designed to track down and eliminate every single antithesis cell in an area.”

  “Don’t you dare!” Charlotte snapped, her eyes flashing for just a moment, before she calmed down. “Sorry… the lack of sleep has put me on edge. Over the last couple months I’ve realized that we’ve developed an issue around here. We’ve been a little over-reliant on our stronger members and haven’t given our weaker members a chance to develop. It’s great to have that strength during an emergency, but against a regular incursion? It’s not necessary. When Broodmother died, our post-incursion cleanup ability really dropped off.”

  She sighed. “We’re already seeing something similar happening with you and the bears, but at a much higher level. Even the city council is sitting on their hands, refusing to rebuild the defenses while you’re around. If you helped with the cleanup, we could have serious problems if you ever died or went missing.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “That makes some sort of sense, I guess…” I said.

  “That’s why I want to ask you for a favor,” Charlotte declared. “Take the majority of your bears with you when you leave. Leave enough to patrol the undercity, and maybe hide a couple squads away in case we run into an emergency, but take the majority of them away.”

  “Are you sure about that?” I asked.

  “Absolutely. This city has become overly dependent on you and your bears over the last year. Since the situation is relatively stable, and we have had a bunch of new samurai awaken over the last week, this is the best time to take away their safety net and have them learn some self-reliance. Hopefully it’ll also spook the city council into finally investing funds into buying more weapons and hiring PMCs.”

  “If you say so,” I replied hesitantly.

  “I do. Trust me, this is for the best. If you’re worried there may be another emergency, you can park extra troops in your Shelter. Just keep them out of sight, and make sure everyone sees you taking the majority,” Charlotte said as she brought her coffee up to her lips to take another sip before realizing it was empty.

  As she lowered the cup back to the desk, I saw her lips and throat quiver slightly. A second later a new steaming cup appeared on a coaster on her desk.

  “Have you figured out a schedule yet?” she asked.

  “Not really. I’m going to swing out West, visit GreyGoo out in Vancouver, and then swing south and drop in on the Twins down in Seattle,” I said. “After that I’ll probably swing east, heading towards that friend of yours. What was her name? Shadowtag? Out in Indiana.”

  Charlotte nodded. “Tag herself won’t be there to meet you, she went to Mars with the others, but her daughter will be there to meet you.”

  “Hopefully those genetically modified trees they’re working on will fit our needs. We really need a better way to detect the Antithesis before they go to ground or develop a stealth hive around the city. There were far too many for my liking,” I grumbled. “The Strato Fortress isn’t exactly the swiftest vehicle, so feel free to call me if you hear back from any of your other contacts. I’ll be gone awhile.”

  “You still haven’t named that behemoth?” Charlotte asked, sipping her new drink.

  “Well, Nyx made a suggestion, and the rest of my squad immediately latched onto it, but I’m still not sold,” I grumbled.

  “Come on, share…” Charlotte coaxed.

  “Bear Force One,” I sighed.

  Charlotte, halfway through a sip, let out a coughing laugh before putting her cup down. “That’s amazing! You absolutely need to use that.”

  “I’ll think about it,” I grumbled. “Are you sure you want me to pull my forces?”

  “Absolutely. Leave one of your helpers here, and give me their contact information, but no more than that! We need to start teaching everyone to start working without your overwhelming presence,” Charlotte declared.

  “Then I won’t argue any further,” I mumbled. “Here’s Dusty’s contact info.”

  I quickly condensed the bears' comm information down into a single packet and shot them to Charlotte. “Do you need anything else from me before I leave?”

  “Nope. Just go and enjoy your vacation, you deserve it,” Charlotte chirped. “I’ll make sure to call you if there’s any emergencies around town, but otherwise I’ll do my best to keep people from bugging you.”

  “I appreciate that, I guess…” I replied, slipping out of my chair. “I’ll see you in a couple weeks.”

  “Have fun!” Charlotte said, waving lightly as I stepped out of the room.

  I stepped out the door, emerging on the walkway above the Family’s situation room. There were dozens of agents down there, monitoring the situation, running ops, and coordinating with the other samurai. They seemed to be as busy now as the last time I visited.

  Shaking my head, I followed the narrow walkway around and headed towards the exit. I still had a ton of things to do before the Stratocarrier was ready for its maiden voyage, and there was no point in delaying them any further.

  As I slipped off the walkway and into the corridor beyond, I muttered. “Taking a few hundred extra bears on vacation? No problem. What could possibly go wrong?”

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