One of the few benefits we don't outright state we offer is mental health help for any and all Samurai. It is listed in the benefit package, mind you, but just not something we draw attention to for a variety of reasons. Mostly Samurai MurderDeathKill, as when we explained that it was an option, she took great offense to the insinuation that she needed help and threw the rep she was speaking with out of the sixtieth floor window. He was caught by another Samurai, thankfully, but after that we stopped mentioning it as to avoid such misunderstandings.

  -Interview with Samurai Black Log about the benefits they offer for a recruitment ad, 2054

  As I opened my eyes in the morning, I was greeted to the sight of Cari's ample, bare chest as she had wrapped her torso around my head. I felt her tail coiled on top of us, acting as an additional blanket under the comforter. Her scales against my skin felt cool and smooth, and her hair tickled my arms that were wrapped behind her.

  I closed my eyes and just listened to her breathing, feeling her here with me. Then a problem made itself known as my bladder demanded attention. I sighed softly, trying to figure out how to extricate myself from Cari without waking her. Unfortunately, I saw no way to accomplish such a feat, so I shifted my body a bit, placing a kiss on her collarbone. I felt her whole body shiver as she constricted around me a bit more, her breathing indicating that she was waking up.

  “Cari, love. As much as I am loath to part with you, I really need to pee.” I say softly.

  She groans softly as she unwinds herself from me, pushing me towards the edge of the bed. “Cm’ ‘ack soon.” She mumbles. I feel the slightly chilly air hit my skin, waking me up fully as I crawl to the edge of the now huge mattress. I finish my business as fast as possible, wondering where my clothes went as I leave the bathroom. Before I could reenter the bed, I see Cari has just left it and is making her way over towards me with a sheet wrapped around her. Her face is obviously trying to stay as asleep as possible, but she is slithering quickly. I can tell her destination is not me, so I step aside, allowing her to pass by, but not before she pauses and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

  I expand my awareness to my armor, summoning it to me. A thick cloud of dust billows out from under the bedframe, forming into my normal housewear, grey sweats and a t-shirt with the words 'I bet the odds, so can you' above a black jack table. I move to the couch in the corner as I check my notifications from the Screen. Riot suppression went well, with Rogal having been deployed to deal with… a dollhouse…

  My mood fell pretty hard after reading that fact, but I was glad to hear that all the victims were rescued and that our med bay had the equipment necessary to remove those Sands awful chips. Roger was working with them now to figure out if they had a place to return to, and if not offering them a safe space to live in our tower. I approved of this action as I moved on to the rest of the report.

  Rogal moved to subdue four of the remaining riots after the- the gang was called the Red Danger Noodles? I could not have held back my laughter if I wanted to, seeing their name. I actually went in and read up on their profile ‘cause that was too precious.

  As Cari exited the bathroom still wrapped in the sheet, she made her way over to me on her human legs, curling up on the couch and leaning on me. “That's quite the laugh you had earlier, yet now your face is so scary.” she said with a teasing voice, poking my nose. “What's going on?”

  I sighed and leaned into her, wrapping my right arm outside the sheet. It was thicker than her night gown that i saw abandoed on the floor, but not by much. “Just reading the report from The Screen and their actions last night. I wish I had held off.”

  “Show me.” she said, her voice soft, yet firm.

  I nod slightly as I flick her the file, including the information on the gang that I had renamed Red Bastards internally. Horrible people like that didn't deserve such a good name.

  I could hear her breath hitch as I assume she got to the part about the dollhouse, then I felt her heart rate pick up as she read the gang’s wrap sheet. Once she finished, she sighed heavily. “It's a shame Rogal captured them all, considering the death penalty is still abolished in Arizona. Any way we could gain custody of them to deal with them?”

  I chuckled at her, amused at her bloodthirst. “Dont worry, I sent a request to Bahamut to take care of it. Morrigan has a need for what she calls Class-T personnel or something, in order to test various things that require living people.” I open up a project file she has named “Not the Bees!” and send it to Cari.

  It's a bioproject to revive and modify a few of the thirteen hundred bee species that used to call Arizona home. The idea is to make them be defenders as well as pollinators, targeting the antithesis while leaving everything else alone. Their hives would be used to produce honey as well as act as scouts for antithesis hives, while the drones would be capable of killing anything less armored, like Ones, Threes, Fours, Sevens, and Nines, while slowing down the armored ones.

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  Latest project report states that the venom of the bees is very effective against any biological targets, but the bees target everything other than flowering plants and the penguins. They even target the other robotic minions that are not penguins.

  I could feel Cari chuckling as we watched a swarm of five inch long bees land on a rockhopper penguin and try to carry it to their hive and away from the Class-T person they were standing next to. Analysis showed that they were trying to protect the robot from a perceived threat, marking the penguin as a larva that needs to be protected, and the Class-T was melted in short order.

  “Vicious fucker, aren't they.” Cari said adjusting the sheet to envelope me in it with her. She was still naked underneath as she pulled me into her embrace. “But I fully support this project. Repopulation of any wildlife needs to be able to fight off the antithesis, plus the elimination of any rapists like that T-Class is a nice bonus.”

  “Umm hmm.” I hum, feeling her body pressed into me. “Reports request an organic cybernetic catalog in order to continue this project, as well as the other biological wildlife projects. Shame Morrigan has to wait a month before she can request catalogs again.”

  “Oh? And what did she do to earn herself such a punishment?” Cari asks, basically purring in my ear.

  I have to fight to stay focused. “Nothing. She, um. She promised to not ask for anything ever again. But after a bit of teasing, I limited it to simply being a month.”

  Cari giggled as she adjusted herself to straddle my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck as she looked into my eyes, the hunger returned. “I suppose a little teasing never hurt anyone. Much like now, in fact. You have hours before you are required to be anywhere,” she leaned into me, whispering in my ear, “and I'm not quite done with you yet.”

  ***************************************

  By the time my appointment with Augustus arrived four days later, I had just finished chugging a simple breakfast shake as I connected to the Meshnode that is his office. It was simple, beige walls, popcorn ceiling, very soft carpet and a few different seating arrangements.

  I chose the large bean bag thing that was simply labeled the Squish. A round, white ball of semi-fluid comfort that seemed to conform to the best way to comfort me.

  Dr. Augustus was a small middle aged man with graying, slicked back hair who preferred to sit in a highbacked red chair. He wore glasses that fit his face nicely, and wore a simple light purple cardigan. He was a very advanced AI program protected by dozens of Protector AI in order to guarantee the privacy of any Samurai who worked with him.

  He waved me to sit as he said. “Good afternoon, Victor. You seem to be in quite the good mood today. Would you care to share, or do you have something else you wish to discuss today?”

  I exhale heavily. “A lot of things happened in short order again. Sands alive, is it too much to ask for a break?” Augustus simply smiled as I gathered my thoughts. “I- I think I will save the good for later. It's the thing I'm most secure about now, so it will be a nice event to fall back on if I get too… spiraly.”

  “Very well.” He says, leaning back and crossing his right leg over his other, hands clasped in front of him. “In my recent file for your public actions, it seems that you had quite the battle with other humans and… their projects, that all seemed from a rather harrowing kidnapping attempt, all in the span of three hours. Would you mind describing your thought process through this event?”

  Leaning into the Squish I focus my mind back to when I heard from Synaptic that they were under attack. “The first thought through my mind was who is suicidal enough to try and grab them with Jill present. Heh, it's always Jill who protects us, who we relied on to get us out of the most dangerous situations. So when I arrived and saw the carnage she left, the only thing I thought was ‘that seems right.’. And then I heard they grabbed her, and my mind went blank. I… I remember hearing Buddy shout at me as he pointed to one of Leman’s minions, and I charged at it, knowing it would lead me to her. The entire time, all I was thinking was that I needed to go faster, that I couldn't lose her. Once we reached the point where she was loaded into a van, I felt despair like I had only ever felt once. Then I felt Cari with me as Synaptic worked to calm me down, and I felt rage overcome me as I plugged into my shuttle.”

  “Why rage?”

  “Because once I connected to a machine that was bristling with heavy weapons that could move faster than the speed of sound, I knew I wouldn't lose her, that she would be safe once I caught up to her. And that whatever idiot had grabbed her was already dead as Leman was with her. I had this naggling feeling that something was wrong as Leman didn't get her out, but I chalked that up to the EMC interference, which was correct, in the end.”

  Augustus nodded and typed something on a keyboard that only he could see.

  “As I flew after Jill, I could feel Cari with me. She didn't say anything, yet her presence was a needed grounding point. Without her there, I might have been far more murderous and put Jill in danger. The vans were rigged to explode if any number of factors were met. In fact, I think I simply put away my emotions once I learned that there were four total kidnappings from Black Log.

  “Fucking Black Log! That idiot!” I shout as I sit up quickly. “How the fuck did the IT security specialist Samurai get punked like that! How the hell did he let some fucking goons sneak into the Family HQ, kidnap three other families right under his nose? Even I know that high end corps have rudimentary AI set to detect shit like what happened, so how the fuck doesn't he! Why didn't his AI alert him to what was happening? Why didn't the others alert their Samurai? Why was Synaptic the only one paying attention!”

  I could feel my blood rushing through my head as a small screen popped up in front of my eyes, indicating a breathing exercise to calm me down. In for five seconds, hold for two, out for six. I followed along for ten repetitions and felt my anger subside. I leaned back a bit as Augustus pulled out a phone. “Would you like for me to invite Synaptic to this session so she could answer those questions? Or would you rather move on?”

  I exhale heavily once more and licker my lips. “Yeah. Could you… could you invite her in?”

  patreon! It is 10 chapters ahead of public release and I will do my best to keep it that way.