I found Sharron lounging by my truck. Well, lounging was a strong word, she couldn’t exactly lean against anything without crushing it, I guess it was more standing casually. She waved at me as I arrived.

  “You know what this is about?” I asked.

  “Not really, let’s just put together a group call.”

  I nodded, a few seconds later we were connected to the twins. Atlantica spoke up before either Sharron or I could ask any questions, [Hey you two, took you long enough to get back to us. Look, we’ve all but confirmed the worst case scenario, the Antithesis are in the farms and using the mass to flood the streets with units. It's making it extremely hard for us to clear the shelters. We’ve pulled in some support, but it’s not enough. Your column is the closest, and you two are the best choices for backup. I’ll send you some coordinates, get here ASAP!]

  The line went dead.

  “Not much of a talker is she,” Sharron scoffed.

  “I wish she would have let us ask questions, but I guess that’ll have to wait until we arrive. Are you going to ride in the back?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I don’t want to have to get suited up if things are bad at the landing zone.”

  I just nodded, then ordered my bears into the back. Once we had everything secure we set off. The rendezvous wasn’t far off, unfortunately that didn’t mean the trip was uneventful. Halfway there something smashed into my windshield.

  “Nyx… is that a fish?” I asked, staring at the strange roadkill.

  First of all, they’re closer to skates or rays in this form, and second of all those are O-Ones. Capable of both swimming and flying, although they’re not as maneuverable in the air as their Model One cousins.

  “Why is it on my windshield?”

  The hives are starting to flood the area with more models, things will only get worse if they’re left alone.

  “Fuck.” Staring into the distance I could see a massive flock of O-Ones gathering between us and our destination. “Is there anything I can do, they’re going to swarm my truck?”

  I can fold the sides of the trailer in half, providing a secure place for your bears to shoot from.

  I frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”

  It didn’t come up, your bears were escorting the buses.

  “Whatever, just do it.”

  There was a slight whirring, then the sound of dozens of rifles opening up on the flock. It didn’t prevent the occasional O-One from striking my truck, but it did alleviate the pressure. A few minutes later I saw a couple cars at the side of the road.

  Along with one massive mech.

  It was twenty-five feet tall, but looked hunched over. The pilot’s area sat slightly ahead of the main body and instead of arms it had the Samurai equivalent of naval guns. It also sported dozens of smaller guns placed strategically around the frame.

  Under the mech’s protective overwatch, the twins were busy pulling out various devices out of their trunk, and releasing hundreds of orbs into the air.

  It was the first time I’d seen the twins in their full outfits, they had rectangular helmets on top of their armored wetsuits. It gave their outfits a retro 70s sci-fi look. Very cute.

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  Whisperer popped out of the other vehicle, carrying some sort of bulky rifle, and she fired three shots, each into a different thick pile of Antithesis bodies. Almost immediately the bodies started to dissolve, but unlike when I used the flesh-melters, the mass of flesh started to coalesce. Slowly, over a few minutes, the bubbles shrank and gained definition until they finally ripped open, revealing a set of massive animals; One wolf-like that was around eight foot at the shoulder, one panther-like that was about six foot tall, and something that resembled a smallish mammoth, which was still around twelve feet tall. I just stared, it was both impressive and terrifying.

  The animals jumped into action, smashing the closest Antithesis. They were definitely stronger than the lower models, barely getting scratched, and whatever wounds they took seemed to knit back together less than a minute later.

  As soon as we landed Sharron and my bears disembarked to help secure the area, while I eyed our final destination.

  The central support pillar was several hundred feet in diameter, and surrounding it at regular intervals were some massive concrete and glass cylinders. Each was split into eight equal sections vertically, approximately forty feet high each. Some of the tanks still had functional lighting, which allowed me to see the devastated giant kelp forests in some, and silhouettes of swimming Antithesis in others. I frowned, there were a LOT more tanks with Antithesis than kelp.

  Atlantica waved me over to where everyone was gathering. The woman pulled an absolutely massive gun out of her trunk. She must’ve had some pretty impressive muscle replacements to carry it effortlessly.

  Her sister, in contrast, had a fairly standard looking rifle.

  “Humboldt, Teddy, this is Whisperer, specialising in biomass re-appropriation, the one in the mech is Blackdog.” We nodded at each other while Celestia continued, “The plan is to clear farm four, the closest farm, first then move clockwise. We want this to be quick and clean, got it?.” Everyone nodded at that.

  Blackdog started advancing, his heavy weapons blowing huge holes in the Antithesis lines, my bears followed behind, mopping up whatever remained.

  Everything was going well until we were only a block from the farms, that’s when the Fifteens started emerging from the tanks. The mech provided excellent cover, but the twins still had to get off the street to avoid getting clipped by the artillery.

  I was using Bob as mobile cover, methodically directing my bears to clear out the Fifteens when something moved behind the Antithesis line, something big.

  The thing jumped from the top of the aquafarm, landing in the middle of the street right between Blackdog and I. It was massive, nearly fifteen feet high and over thirty-five feet long, its six thin legs bent deeply to absorb the impact of the fall. The stupid thing had a vivid, nearly fluorescent colored shell, and two wrecking ball sized claws.

  Bob took one step towards it when there was a sudden crack, followed by a wave of pressure and heat. It took me a moment for my brain to process what happened, in a single instant one of those claws had lashed out. Bob was gone.

  My reflexes, honed by years on the undercity streets and augmented by Protector tech, kicked in and I sprinted for the nearest doorway. Thankfully it seemed the giant Antithesis couldn’t immediately throw another one of those punches, because I wasn’t instantly atomized. Instead I felt another burst of heat and pressure as the followup blow just barely missed me.

  Apparently I wasn’t worth chasing because after a few seconds I could hear Blackdog’s secondary weapons bouncing off the Antithesis’s shell, while the beast repeatedly smashed into the mech’s armor.

  Just as I hit the doorway, smashing it off the hinges despite my small size, there was the ear splitting sound of shearing metal. I swung around just in time to see the mech collapse, one of the legs ripped off by the repeated onslaught.

  Tiny round drones were exploding around the Antithesis’s carapace, and Humboldt’s lasers were scorching its armor, but the creature just continued its assault. It might have looked stupid, but it had been smart enough to drop close to us to immediately engage the massive ranged mech in close combat. If it kept this up for much longer, there was a chance it would smash the cockpit. I had to act before then.

  I sent a quick command to the bears, causing them to stop firing their B3-ARs and rip out the XR railguns. The frontline knelt down, allowing the backlike to place the weapons on their shoulders, helping to steady the rifles while they took aim. There was a thunderous noise when they all opened up at once.

  Most shots bounced, or did superficial damage, but one lucky shot caught the Antithesis in the shoulder, severing one of the massive claws. Unfortunately it didn’t stop the onslaught, and that one remaining claw was still devastating. I had to turn away when the creature finally landed a blow on the cockpit, causing it to cave in. The mech lay still after that.

  I slunk back, further away from the street. With the mech down, and that behemoth still on the loose, it looked like the Antithesis had managed to stall our assault before it even began.

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