Chapter 18: Mosh pit!

  “Front line samurais come in several varieties. Some use clone bodies and drones they pilot to never endanger themselves. Others go for mechanized armor made to tank damage like crazy! Some use illusions, super speed and reflexes and blades or whatever to never get hit! Some… are just kind of nuts! Actually, more insane than average might be more accurate? I prefer the last ones!

  They die super fast but they’re always awesome to watch while they last!”

  –Post on a samurai fansite, anonymous, 2052

  ***

  “Those artillery shells pack some pun…” I complained before another one hit and I was thrown back to the floor below. It took a moment or two to regain my composure. Then, I realized that someone was shouting at me on comms.

  “Boss! For fuck’s sake! God please don’t fucking die answer god damn it!” I answered since it seemed they wouldn’t fucking shut up!

  “I’m fine! God fucking…” I realized then what it must have looked like. Heroic last sacrifice to protect the youngest generation. Must have looked cool!

  However, I wasn’t dead and had to ensure their safety. Best option that came to mind? Grab all the attention! I put my speakers on full blast.

  “I’m fucking fine! Evacuate! Go! I’ll take care of the fuckers!” I might not have been fully fine. The impact was brutal and my internals weren’t big fans but I had shit to do!

  My muscles felt just fine though. “That strength mod is almost finished?”

  Yes, for all intents and purposes you have the full upgrade. I suggest administering both doses of nano-regenerative.

  “Yup, good idea. Can you refill them?” I said as I picked up speed.

  Your armor is capable of making the injection to your colonic injector’s storage, you should be able to manage it, but you must place the package I send on your armor then stay still for a few seconds.

  “How is my armor doing by the way? I got a sense for it but I’d like more details and don’t really have time to analyze.” I took a hit on that delicious raspberry vape pen. The second (third?) artillery ball had thrown me down a hallway.

  The memory alloy already repaired any damage. Your front-shielding maneuver worked, with all sensitive materials moved to the back, none suffered any damage. Also, your speed-boosting vape pen is the other one.

  “I know.” I said as I arrived at the center. The floor had a nice alien carpet, and not just the small ones! Lots of bigger bastards, including ranged variants! Although some of those had already died, large holes punched straight through their heads.

  “Good work Johnny Law! I’m joining in, protect the civvies! I’ll try to make myself a big juicy target!” The answer came so fast and at such high speed, I suspected speed mods involvement.

  “Alrighty partner! I’ll snipe the shooty assholes if you can keep the melee bastards from coming up to us!”

  “Deal buddy!”

  I could chew gum and assemble alien tech shotguns at the same time! I was still two floors up and didn’t really give a shit about accuracy at the moment. Compressed buckshot for the win!

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  eI also wanted to make a lot of noise, so I shortened the barrel a bit and overloaded on propellant.

  The result was so fucking sexy! Shooting as fast as I reasonably could while still hitting something, I unloaded the magazine with great glee. No matter how many I shot though, they climbed over each other to get to me and were probably heading for the stairs.

  I knew what I had to do of course. Now I took a hit from the speed vape. “Altany, need a morphic upgrade to the Paw fast, something with vibro-blades!”

  Incoming.

  I didn’t have time to acclimate, so I’d have to do that by testing it in combat.

  New purchase: The Paw, Mark 6 - Morphic/Vibro-Blade Model!

  Points Spent… 435!

  Points reduced to… 205!

  Would I ever get to save for something good? Fuck’s sake. As I caught the damn thing, I took a deep breath, then bellowed with my external speakers at full volume!

  ***

  “Mosh pit!” The sound hit Johnny hard. Those speakers were loud!

  “Are you fucking serious!?” He shouted with incredulity, clearly getting more comfortable with cursing. Mad Panda might be a bad influence.

  Also, clearly insane, since the idiot jumped in the middle of a gosh darn horde! With his mic off, Johnny complained to Bytal.

  “Damnation! Why is he so darn strong? I couldn’t do something this crazy and live!” Bytal obliged him.

  Vanguard Mad Panda has simply spent more points than you have, and his specialty means a strong focus on defense. He has the resilience to fight in this manner because that is what he has focused on.

  He has neither your range, speed, nor accuracy. You are currently sitting on many points and tokens, you could advance closer to his level if you wished.

  His AI had sped up his speech to boosted levels, hence their conversation and pondering happened incredibly fast.

  You are reloaded.

  Didn’t need to be told twice! He aimed for the nastier bastards. The world slowed to a crawl as the silent revolvers fired into the horde behind Mad Panda to give him some breathing room. Then, he unleashed his new and improved revolvers.

  They were darn beautiful! The damascus steel had style. All gas-sealed now, giving him more velocity and damage. Yeah, he’d gone for the big bore beauties. Also caved in and bought the High-Velocity Esoteric Ammunition catalogue.

  He’d spent more points on recoil control but nothing new there. The new catalogue wouldn’t cover normal bullets, not enough speed, so his new guns had to improve.

  That meant his babies unleashed so much more destruction! The rounds flew so fast, even with boosted speed he barely saw them expanding in flight. It sure made for a hell of a show. So did the impact.

  Actually, not expanding, simply unfolding. Made of super alien materials, they became crosses in flight to inflict tons of hydrostatic shock and massive wound cavities! On entry, they made a cross shaped hole. When they exited, they made a cross of gore ten times the size!

  That guy gave him a lot to think about. The concept worked for him. Speed. That was his thing, his gimmick! The whole thing with quickdraw was being quick!

  He’d improved his hands and arms much more than the rest of him. Recoil absorption and counter-acting systems, very necessary for these guns, but also a ton of speed. A bit of aim assist but he’d been a great shot already.

  Bytal highlighted targets and his arms moved faster than he did.

  Johnny had always liked shooting, but now he loved shooting at super-speed! There was a sport, science and an art to it, as well as strategy! First two shots aimed lower, then the next two in the path of the recoil and so on.

  Even if they kicked like a mule, the angle made both move in the right direction. Just small minute adjustments needed. His revolvers traced lines of exploding xeno heads.

  Thanks to those alloys, Johnny got seven shots per pistol. On the seventh, a twirl brought them back into their holsters quickly, using the kickback for motion, before he moved on to the next two.

  ***

  Lila looked at that new samurai with more awe than she’d care to admit. Sure, Her cool as hell gun was fucking awesome, but this kid…

  The last volley only looked like a ton of exploding xeno heads at insane speed. Fucking hell, her SMG didn’t shoot that fast!

  Now she could see him draw, shoot and holster those super pistols ridiculously fast!

  “Fucking samurais, man…”

  ***

  “Bytal, can you give me the sword lessons stuff while I’m shootin’?” Johnny asked, a bit exasperated.

  Mad Panda didn’t kill that many xenos but tanked shots that should have come for them. Without him, Johnny couldn’t have taken as many shots.

  He’d have to run, find cover, avoid the melee types!

  Some of the ranged variants came out of the woodwork on multiple floors, aiming down at him. So, Johnny aimed at them.

  Jealousy does not become you. In the time it took for you to empty all six of your quickdraw pistols and destroy all forty two targets, Vanguard Mad Panda only eliminated twelve targets.

  “Sure, that’s because he’s in melee. That shotgun does a lot of damage, that morphic armor can tank a lot and I’m sure he’s augmented to all hell…” He grumbled while actually giving it some thought. Was he jealous?

  Okay, maybe he was…

  Why? The attention? No… Because Mad Panda looked more awesome? Johnny wanted to be awesome!

  Maybe he wanted attention too, a bit, but not as much…

  “Okay, okay, you’re right. I’d like to be more awesome, maybe…”

  You are very awesome.

  The words weren’t as deadpan as usual and he blushed. “Uh, sure, thanks. Still, what can I do to bring my thing to the next level? Got any ideas?”

  I have many, but the question is, what do you want? Do you wish to kill more antithesis? In that case, you could get systems to help with ammunition.

  Do you wish to kill bigger, stronger models? You can increase your damage output with higher velocities, especially with a dedicated rifle.

  Do you want to be faster? We can modify your body, or even swap your limbs with prosthetics…

  The moment he heard it, he knew! That would be how he’d get closer to that beast!

  “Prosthetics! Dear lord, yes! I don’t want cool armor to protect from blows, I don’t want to get hit! I need to be more mobile, faster, stronger! Augs might be nice but they limit you to the human body! If I’m going to get to that level, it’s prosthetics.”

  “Better guns are always better, but if I’m shootin’ ‘em, the biggest area to change is me!” It felt like a dam bursting! A smile finally graced his face. No more jealousy!

  He could get to his next level! Not to do what Mad Panda did, but what Johnny Law could after spending that many points!

  He’d been a bit… unsure of himself after leaving Texas. Sure, he was a samurai, but not a powerful one. He had a gimmick but it wasn’t fully realized.

  Until now!

  “I need a damn good prosthetics catalogue! Hell, I got a couple tokens saved up, don’t I? ‘Time to use ‘em! Let’s make me really fast!”

  ***

  Lila observed the samurai speaking faster than usually possible. Did he upgrade his mouth too? Interesting, but not at the moment. “Hey, buddy? You busy? We sort of have a situation?”

  The enforcers were a bit lost on what to do since the last civilian reached the other end of the corridor. Did they help Louis down there? How? They weren’t really alien mosh pit material.

  All of them focused on ranged variants for now. There were a lot of them to shoot, damn!

  “Hey Louis? All the civvies are safe, want to get back here?”

  “No! Fuck that fuck mother… Use the distraction! Altany! Give them an itinerary! Argh! Suck a dog dick you dog faced son of a fucked up bitch!” She finally noticed the blood after hearing him.

  His morphic armor blocked the worst hits with the most metal. However, that left small parts vulnerable, and since Louis got hit everywhere, some shots and bites got through.

  “How long can you survive on your own Mad Panda?” The other samurai asked a smart and terrifying question.

  “We’ll fucking find out won’t we? Ah! Fucking gaping pig cunt! How did… is that poisonous Altany?”

  Yes, it is. I believe my vanguard can maintain this fighting pace for another ten minutes before perishing. More if I take over communications and he focuses on the aliens trying to kill him.

  “Thanks Altany! Please give me an antidote or some shit and some fucking nano! Fucking hell why does…” Her boss said while clearly forgetting to switch channels.

  The mad Panda absolutely unloaded everything in a circle around him, including a bunch of those white phosphorus rounds! He then slapped something into his battered armor and perked up.

  It didn't take long for the circle to fill back up, but at least the armor reformed into shape.

  “Gotta upgrade to help, means I need somewhere to lay down on the ground. Altany, mind if I borrow that emergency install nanite catalogue?”

  Alright, Lila had a course of action now, a way to help!

  “Cowboy, over here! All enforcers! Search and rescue! Speed over subtlety, boss is making a distraction! Don’t fucking waste it, Come on!” Everyone started sprinting down their designated routes. All of them got selected for a reason, after all.

  They were all good people with good priorities. The boss was distracting the xenos so they could save people? Then that’s what they’d fucking do!

  My Vanguard has offered a hundred points to help you get done faster, as well as both emergency installation nanites and, in his words, ‘whatever the fuck will get that asshole’s ass moving’. This includes Mole-Bear alloys. I am currently helping Bytal update the designs. Done.

  Suddenly, music started playing from Louis’s speakers. Of fucking course...

  This should help distract them.

  She’d never heard him play that stuff before. “Is this your type of music, Altany?”

  It is appropriate for the circumstances. I also enjoy the asymmetrical nature of heavy metal. As an AI, everything I create is perfect. This music conveys emotions and concepts alien to me in the detail, but relevant in the overall message.

  It is profoundly imperfect, yet accomplishes the task in a way no AI driven music generator can. I believe, in your culture, you would say it gets the heart pumping.

  Well, the angry man shouting ‘die mother fucker die’ over and over definitely got her in the mood for some violence. Hopefully she’d get the chance after Johnny got done.

  Turning around, she saw… a table? A bed? A bath? The proportions looked all off.

  This is a surgical suite, improved several times over to get vanguard Johnny Law ready to fight as fast as possible. Several hundred points were used to accelerate the process. He did make a critical mistake however.

  “What’s that?” She asked with a bit of amusement despite herself.

  He refused to be sedated to cut down on time.

  Oh, this’d be fun. Lila watched as the samurai got naked. Nice ass. She’d need to see a salute to determine about the other parts. Got burned on that one before!

  The moment Johnny was in position, thick bands of metal wrapped around him, completely immobilizing the poor man. An injection went into his neck and he relaxed. Painkillers were nice and all but…

  Then the arms with the lasers started to flay him! From the center of his chest outward, they scraped his ribcage and removed his pectoral muscles.

  Lila couldn’t look away, it was… morbidly fascinating. The kid started screaming, because of fucking course he’d scream! So would she!

  The horrible process continued, light erupting around several major muscle groups. Actually, guessing from the amount of meat that fell off, she wondered if the machine didn’t remove all of his back muscles. His sides got carved a bit as well.

  Then, an arm inserted something in his neural port and he went limp. After that, the discarded members just…

  she had no fucking clue. Reduced to ash really, just without visible fire or burning. Then, a set of shiny, almost blindingly white new members appeared.

  The attachment process looked bizarre. Clearly those emergency installation nanites.

  From her angle, as the synth-muscles were slowly put in place, she could see them attach themselves to the bones, like pulling a band aid but in reverse. “Fuck me sideways with a donkey dick…”

  She looked down and oh! There was her salute, nice! Something with guys, lots of pain, adrenaline and cortisol going through the body could cause erections. One of the reasons for doing BDSM.

  Shame he was so gay… Oh well. Even if Robin wasn’t as big, she preferred his shape. Louis however…

  Johnny gasped loudly, making her jump. She’d been staring at a guy’s junk who had no interest whatsoever. Skivvy as fuck, really! In her defense, the dude got naked in front of her. Still felt fucky…

  The process seemed to be over, those nanites were probably doing something inside to finish up. The poor kid didn’t handle it well, eyes rolled back, shivering and convulsing just a bit. After a moment, Altany piped up.

  Lila, would you kindly slap him?

  “To wake him up?” She wasn’t against the idea. Slapping a cop sounded fun!

  That too.

  With a smile on her face, Lila obeyed the command of the all powerful AI. She decided to blame everything on her if called out for this clearly necessary and not at all fun activity.

  ***

  A sound reverberated somewhere… was he in… what…

  Would you kindly lower the strength of your strikes? Giving my vanguard a concussion would be counterproductive.

  “Oh alright, spoilsport…” The voice came from… somewhere above him… wait… That…

  *SLAP!*

  His hand shot out and caught the hand an instant after it hit. “It’s all Altany’s fault!” Came an eternity later… or was it a second? He… He had augmentations for… time, yes… They were linked to…

  Traitor.

  That wasn’t Bytal. Hey… Yeah, Bytal… Operation…

  It seems you are still calibrating, my apologies, I could not see this issue while you were unconscious. Let me help.

  “Sssuuuuurrrreeeee” escaped his lips so fast… or slow or both or neither or…

  The world snapped into place! He took a deep breath. Had he not been breathing? “Fuck!” A pounding headache came and went almost instantly.

  “Can I slap him again?” Came from above him at what he now understood to be normal speed.

  “No!” Johnny answered at the same speed. Progress!

  “Aaaaaooonnn…” The weird lady got off him, clearly disappointed. He sat up in the… bed? Operation suite, right, right, he had been…

  “Darn! How’s Mad Panda doin’!?”

  My vanguard is currently reaching exhaustion and has received several injuries, but they are repairing. If it is not too much trouble, I would ask that he borrows from your catalogues in the near future for better lungs and an improved heart.

  He’d been laying down on the job! “Altany! Plot me a course for kids on this level that are hard to reach! I just got fast enough to jump the gap if needed, I’ll carry them and back, plus whatever civilian I can. I’ll give air support while above.”

  Johnny Law activated his boosts to dress back up. He wanted to feel self-conscious about having been buck naked in front of Lila but no time for that. Plus, it’s not like they’d ever sleep together.

  “Bytal, you had an idea for a better rifle? Now’s the time!” He got on his meager armor and coat, putting all ten pistols back in place.

  Then, he realized that his cowboy boots wouldn’t fit. His new feet had three claws with pads under them that were made for super friction or some sci-fi thingamajig. They could turn back to being regular-ish but still…

  On top of that, his lower legs could be, and currently were, double jointed, like a horse’s legs. It increased his speed significantly and somehow didn’t feel weird. Brain augs bullshit or just really alright with self-modification?

  He’d find out soon enough. Not like changing prosthetics would be hard and these could turn normal!

  Yes, I believe this will suit you very well. The Helical Helios Mark 12 has a lot of power for its point cost. It is a helical coilgun, a hybrid of rail and coil in which the current runs through the projectile, using it as part of the acceleration.

  It has the ability to reach much higher velocities with less power, but the payload will be limited. Lever action rifles lend themselves very well to the design due to the alignment requirements.

  The barrels do not suffer as much damage over time as railguns. Mole-Bear alloys will also help this component require a lesser investment.

  In short, higher velocity for less points. Your esoteric high-velocity ammunition catalogue will be hampered slightly due to the internal rail components in projectiles.

  Since no propellant is needed, you’ll be able to store greater quantities in the internal magazine. Fourteen 10mm rounds, each as long as the full length of a 9mm parabellum cartridge.

  The rifle will look like a model 1886 Winchester lever-action rifle if you wish.

  That sounded great and thanks to his boosts the explanation didn’t take long. “Sounds good! Pistols will wait.” He’d just spent thousands of damn points plus a few tokens on this. Time to make up for it!

  Also, would you like some morphic cowboy boots? It would be rather inexpensive. You may also want pants that will do the same.

  Ok, yeah, he had the points to also look amazing.