Anti-antithesis

Samurai come in all shapes, sizes, sexes, and eventually races, other than male, female, and human. A large portion of those chosen to become Samurai have underlying conditions that make them dissatisfied with some aspect of their bodies, or their AI simply slips something past them as they purchase body upgrades, and the Samurai cannot be bothered to remove the changes.

Then there are those who abandon the human form entirely, fully embracing machine bodies or other, more esoteric forms, such as main battle tanks, a hive mind, or a nanite amalgamate. Please keep in mind that just because a Samurai has retained their human form, doesn't mean that they are entirely human, yet they are also more human than many others.

-A Dissection of Humanity: What makes a human and what makes a monster, 2052

Roger

We entered a temporary safe house not far from the previous street as Cody grabbed our info and started to sift through it on an old, felt couch. Buddy moved to the kitchen to check and see what he could make later, considering we were probably going to be here for a while.

Cody started moving through the financial info as Jill lounged on the couch. “You know you don't have to do that, Cody.” She said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “We have actual, reliable backup this time. Lighten up.”

Cody rolled his eyes, not even trying to brush her off. He learned recently that it was impossible, but I also knew he was enjoying the new found affection from our icy sister. “Just because we have backup doesn't mean I should do nothing.”

I chuckled as I took a seat on an old recliner. “We're not doing nothing, Cody. We have plenty to chat about while we wait. Did you see that Babushka added a company dinner for tomorrow night?”

“I saw it.” Buddy called out from the kitchen, the sounds of plastic wrapping being unwrapped following. “Mentions a meet and greet amongst the three branches.”

Cody stopped scrolling as confusion mired his face. “Three branches? Three branches of what?”

I smirked, placing my hands behind my head. “The three branches of Real Dreams Corporation that I set up with Bahamut a few days ago.” Jill and Cody both look edat me with soft glares, causing me to laugh. “Yep. We needed a legal entity to consolidate our families holdings, namely the Tower, the PMC, and Niltmore, with the recent inclusion of the brothel known as The Lower Six. There is also Morrigan and her R'n'D sales that she set up to the Family, plus the merch sales-”

“Wait.” Jill interrupted, her eyes narrowed. “What merch?”

I raised an eyebrow, my lazy smile resting loosely on my face. “You know, merch. Figurines of the Commanders, plushes of the Ravens in customizable outfits, shirts with different logos and faces. The biggest seller right now are Jim's tanks, with twelve inch figurines of Outsider in various poses being a close second.” Seeing her still glowering at me, I rolled my eyes. “No, Jill. There is no merch of us, nor any of Vic. That requires permission and I haven't asked because I know the answer would be no.”

Cody nodded in agreement while Jill took a moment to process. “Well, maybe I wouldn't mind.” She muttered, causing both Cody and I to widen our eyes in shock.

Buddy placed some glasses of water on the coffee table before taking a seat in another recliner. “I suppose it's only a shock since we haven't seen this side of you, Sis.” He said with his signature soft smile.

Jill took her arm off Cody, crossing them while… pouting? Hot Sands, Jill was pouting! “Yeah, maybe. But I suppose I wouldn't mind modeling for merch after getting my upgraded cybernetics.”

I recovered rapidly, flicking through a number of files before finding the ones marked “Jill merch” and flicked them towards her. “Check these out and mark any notes, complaints, or changes in the relevant forms. And please make sure to remember that these figures are not eighteen plus, those are another set."

Jill quickly started going through the files while Cody scoffed, then muttered. “Of course you already made plans.”

“Actually, these are Morrigan's, as I truly did not think she would be interested.” I replied.

“So, what do we know of this cult we are chasing?” Buddy asked, redirecting the conversation as subtly as Victor and his attempt to hide his emotions.

“Right.” My humor dropped as I leaned forward. I rubbed my brow in annoyance, thinking about this cult. “Fucking-. Yeah. I got an update about them from Outsider through Synaptic. Apparently, this cult is a bit more widespread than we thought. Those idiots Leman went hunting, who filled a van with explosives, were connected to a branch that was in the undercity. The explosive was a unique blend of proto-Samurai chems that would have self replicated if it hit the hull of the Pandora, using the carbon in the alloys as further fuel. They had a meeting set in the Rainwater collection and Water purification facility, where Leman saw them unleash a bunch of Seven Variants. He killed them all, but discovered that the leader was a humanoid Seventeen with cybernetic augs that were implanted, not integrated. Outsider followed the digital trail and it coincided with the building we just hit, leading me to believe that this cult might be bigger than we thought.”

Cody did a long, exasperated exhale while Buddy simply nodded with a slight frown. Jill waved her hand in dismissal. “Doesn't change what we have to do, does it? The next link in the chain might not even be in the city. Worse case scenario, the next link is an actual compound, which means we call in Samurai backup. Best case is we pass the mission to another team that investigates the next link that eventually leads to actionable intel, at which point we go in guns blazing with Vickie.”

I went to respond, something about how we might not be able to be a part of the strike team if an actual hive is involved, but the last thing she said short circuited my brain. “Vickie?” I saw Buddy mouth ‘Vickie’ as Cody rolled his eyes again.

Jill just smirked. “Yeah, Vickie. Something Alice called him yesterday that felt right. Like, Victor just sounds too formal to me, too impersonal, and you and Cody already call him Vic or bro, so Vickie.”

Cody narrowed his eyes at Jill. “Are you trying to make our brother a sister?” He asked slowly and softly, just above a whisper.

Jill snorted and put Cody in a head lock, rubbing his head with her knuckles. “No, you brain rotted shit. It's a cute nickname, that's all.”

I laughed at Cody’s misfortune, clutching my stomach at trying to imagine Vic as a girl, then laughed harder. Buddy patted my back as I doubled over, and I have never been more thankful to have enhanced lungs and abs than I am right now.

It took me a few minutes to calm down long enough to form coherent thoughts, sighing contently as I gave Buddy a side hug. “Thanks, Bud. But, yeah, no way he goes full fem on us.”

Jill looked confused at me. “Why not? Sure, he may not have the gender dysmorphia that Auntie Bo mentioned she had, but I would bet my new limbs that he just doesn't care about his body. Plus, if Cari asked him to...”

Now it was my turn to look confused. “Elaborate, please.”

Jill released Cody as she sat up. “Come on, Roger, it's pretty obvious. Look at how quickly he auged his brain. Synaptic didn't have to convince him, he didn't have a crisis of humanity that I know for a fact you have had when you thought no one was around, he simply heard that it would benefit his ability to survive and kill xenos and asked how much he needed.”

Buddy frowned as I realized that Jill was a sneaky shit, something that I would have to work harder to detect. “But then what about his body upgrades?” He asked, distracting me from my thoughts.

“Easy. Synaptic mentioned how uncomfortable he would be until he got those upgrades, so he was in no position to question or customize.” She said, then, her face showed some discomfort and she shivered slightly. “I had Synaptic set up a mesh Sim for me, so I could experience what he went through and... Yeah, if I didn't have those swarms to focus on, I would have gone insane, and I only sat in the sim for a few minutes. He had to hold on for over an hour.” I saw how she shuddered heavier, then shook her head. “So, yeah. No room to think about anything else.”

“Okay, but that's still only one event.” I argued. “I wouldn't say that's enough to go on to say he doesn't care about his body.”

Jill nodded. “Yeah, I can understand why you're still skeptical. I'm more extrapolating from the amount of brain augments he has done, as well as how hard he is pushing for this bioshifter thing.” She got a bit somber, then. “Plus, how many bullets has he taken for us that he didn't need to? For me? And what excuse did he give each time? It was cheaper to heal flesh than metal, he said. And with how skinny he was…”

Cody gave her a side hug as we reminisced. Crazy kid always was the self sacrificial sort, wasn't he. Fuck, did he really not care about himself at all?

Before we could stew further, I got a call from Eye Spy, the Samurai Black Log paired us with for this operation, one of his "Brothers in Intel", as he called them. I signaled to the others and answered the call, connecting to a speaker.

“Good work today.” He said, his voice strict, yet not demanding, cutting through any small talk or pleasantries. “I have six links to follow up on, yet only one seems like something you could act on now. Just outside of New Phoenix to the east, there is an old motel that had a scrubbed link to the office you raided. Records state it was abandoned some four years back and is owned by the city, yet there are some slight power anomalies from three weeks ago. Might be squatters, might be a black site. Your file suggests that you are capable of moving between infiltration and heavy combat quickly, so the option is yours.”

Cody pulled up a map of the area and highlighted the motel. It looked like it was set in a drive through town a few miles outside old Phoenix, gas station, motel, small grocery and a few houses around, all long since abandoned.

It was a two story, long square building with twenty rooms to a floor, all facing an inner courtyard. No basement or pool, and it was inspected four months ago by city officials, verifying no antithesis activity in the area and structural stability. The report did mention that there were signs of activity from the Mad Pack a month before the inspection.

Jill shook her head slightly. “Lots of open space, only one real way in on foot. Definitely a secret underground bunker there.”

“Easily.” Buddy agreed. “Looks like a favorite set up of Damphir Bunkers.”

“What, what are you guys talking about?” Eye Spy responded. “How are you so confident there's something there when I mentioned it was only a possibility? And who the hell is Damphir Bunkers?”

Cody flicked Eye Spy a file, one I knew he made using years of experience and first hand knowledge. “Damphir Bunkers. A clandestine construction company that we have been hired to both pen-test their shit from them, as well as to break into their shit from others. They like these types of abandoned locations. Missable, bland, yet highly defensible and easy to monitor. Have you confirmed with the Mad Pack that they stopped by that location before?”

Eye Spy took a second before answering, though we did hear a quiet ‘how the fuck did we miss this?’. “No, but they don't normally log the places they stay unless it's to report antithesis activity, or to report that there is no longer antithesis activity, as they have removed it.”

Cody clicked his tongue. “Less certain now, but they have been known to use Mad Pack activity to disguise their heavy machinery usage.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Either way, I think we should go in and clear it. We know their methods pretty well, and I know Jill is itching for more of a fight than the one she had earlier. We are not walking into an ambush, so our risk is already low, not to mention that we have Samurai back up if we find a hive.”

Buddy nodded. “We can also call Morrigan to have her supply us with those flesh melter things I see Samurai use ahead of time. A Raven could meet us on the way.”

I snapped my finger at Buddy. “Good call. These Class II armors can hold a lot of stuff, but we don't actually have anything to deal with antithesis bodies effectively. Eye Spy, please mark us as en route to the motel.”

“Damn, you kids are scary.” Eye Spy said while chuckling. “Alright, you have the mission. Do you need discreet transport?”

I shook my head. “No need. I called my car over and it has very good stealth features. We will call you once we arrive and link our feeds so you can keep an eye on us.”

“Sounds good, Roger. Stay safe.” He responded as we ended the call.

“Well.” Buddy said, slapping his thighs as he stands. “Let me whip up some sandwiches for the road. Morrigan will send us twenty flesh melter grenades with instructions on how to use them safely.”

“No pickles!” Cody called out, to which Buddy waved him off.

Jill looked at me as she stood. “Do you expect us to run into any plants?” She was doing a decent job of hiding her smile from the others, but I still saw it, causing me to smile myself.

“I hope not, yet if we are dealing with cultists, there might be some Sevens on site. Maybe captured Threes.” I responded, stretching as I stood. “Does that mean there won't be a fight? No, I fully expect for a fight to happen. Let's just hope they haven't updated their security protocols in the last two months, otherwise Cody will have a harder time yoinking their shit.”

Cody rolled his eyes. “Might I remind you that I have upgraded my code pretty well in the last two weeks? So long as they don't have an actual Samurai backing them, their shit is mine.”

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