TBoB - Book 2 - Chapter 68 - What Remains Behind

The clean-up! And they leaving soon. Might be a chapter or two left in book two then... donno. Either right on to book three, or may take a break and do chappies for Tarnished Honor. Haven't decided yet. Let me know what you think.

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When we climbed out of the lower level everything was fairly quiet. There was the occasional burst of gunfire from the surrounding tunnels, but it seemed like they finished clearing up the remaining resistance from the main chamber.

Hoppy was apparently the first to notice our arrival, because she came sprinting over, skidding to a stop a few feet away. She had apparently upgraded her gear since the last time I’d seen her, as she was wearing some sort of enclosed pink power armor. Her helmet still had the same swept back rabbit ear look as the previous model, which made me wonder if it was a feature from her catalogs, or if it was a design choice.

“You look like shit,” she muttered, before slamming her hands over the mouth of her helmet.

“We do! Thanks for noticing,” I mumbled sarcastically. “Trust me, I didn’t plan to spend almost two days fighting through a tunnel system only to end my adventure by bathing in nanites and plant goo, but that’s what happened.” I sloughed off another bit of half dried goop as we slowly headed back towards the Kodiaks, and the rest of the samurai. 

“How are things going up here?” Humboldt asked in a desperate attempt to stop my grumbling.

“Good! We managed to clean up the remaining antithesis up here. Grey ordered up a few crates of grenades to help clear up all the dead bodies, and Spooky is directing the bears to clear up the remains, and sweep the nearby tunnels,” Hoppy said, as she bounced backwards while talking to us. 

“What about the big fella? We’re not going to melt him too, are we?” Magpie asked, glancing at the titanic corpse of the Forty-Four.

“I don’t know, you’ll have to ask Grey. She kind of took control of the situation while you were downstairs, and she’s been trying to get ahold of The Family to update them on the situation,” Hoppy reported, as she did a little spinning hop so she could walk forward again. “Apparently it’s a little difficult to have a discussion through a squirrel.”

“I am aware,” I grumbled. As we stepped up to the Kodiaks everyone turned to look at us. “We haven’t had a chance to clean off yet, thanks for asking!” I snapped. 

“Alright. Time to get you clean, Mrs. cranky pants.” Humboldt said, pushing me between the vehicles.

“I’m not cranky!” I complained.

I could see the disapproving glance, even through Humboldt’s visor. “The only time I’ve seen you NOT cranky is when you’re with Jane and the kids. You’re extra ornery right now,” she said. 

I barely stopped myself from saying ‘Your face is extra ornery’ before I realized how insane it sounded. “Fine… Nyx how do I get this shit off?” I asked.

The easiest way would be an ultrasonic cleaning, but I would not suggest that while you’re still wearing the armor. It would probably jellify your bones. The next best way would be to use a decontamination shower to scrub off the remains.

“Fuck it, lets do that,” I said, which caused Humboldt to look at me strangely.

“It’s so strange to watch you talk to your AI without a bot around, you sound like a crazy person,” she said. “You really should learn to subvocalize.”

“Why would I go to all that effort? Let people think I’m crazy! What the fuck do I care,” I replied. “Nyx shower!”

The small enclosure just appeared in front of me, allowing me to step directly in and let the annoying residue slowly get washed away.

“You remind me so much of a crotchety old person when you get this way, I can’t believe you’re younger than I am,” Humboldt muttered.

“I can’t hear you! The shower’s too loud!” I shouted at her as my irritation slowly drained away with the remains of the hive.

“And now you’re acting like your five,” she continued.

I popped out of the shower, and kicked the very final bit of slurry off my boots. “I couldn’t help it. Even though my armor is environmentally sealed I could practically feel it on my skin. I have no idea how Dreamer managed to handle it. Want to use it next?” I asked, stepping aside.

Humboldt slipped right into the stall. “She has some sort of implant that subtly changes her perception of reality to make it more manageable. I doubt it would work for you, you hate everything.”

“I do not!” I protested. “Just most things!” 

She stepped out of the shower, noticeably cleaner, and shot me a look. “You know, you're not making a great case for yourself.”

“It’s my job to kill aliens, and provide for my family. If someone doesn’t want to deal with me, that’s their problem,” I said with a shrug.

Humboldt sighed. “We should probably go let Dreamer and Magpie know you’ve set up a shower here, then check in with Grey,” she said as she headed towards the back of the Kodiaks. “Keep you busy enough to stop you from going full grump again.”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” I snorted.

As we stepped out back Dreamer’s eyes immediately lit up. “Shower time? Did you get my favorite body wash?” she asked as she rushed up to me. 

“That’s… umm… up to you,” I managed to stutter as she put her face just inches from my helmet.

“Okay! Thanks anyways!” she replied as she immediately disappeared towards the shower area. A second later Magpie followed grumbling about not having a rubber duck.

I stared at the pair as they disappeared before turning back towards Humboldt. “I’d rather be grumpy, than whatever Dreamer is,” I told her.

“It’s called joy,” she replied, “You should try it sometime.”

“Smartass,” I mumbled as we wandered around looking for Grey. We found her in the back of one of the Kodiaks with Bright-Eyes, talking to a squirrel. 

“A couple hours? That’s it? I thought the backup team would take a day or two to arrive,” Grey said.

“The east coast teams are still further out, but we started putting together teams to both sweep the tunnels and clean the polymer out even before you were ready to go,” the squirrel replied. “If you’ve really killed a Forty-Four, and cleared out the main hive, we’d like to get the support teams in there ASAP.”

“Is that fucking wise? We still don’t know what’s running around in these tunnels,” I blurted out.

“Who’s that?” the squirrel asked, as it turned my direction and stared blankly.

“Teddy, one of the samurai from Calgary,” Grey explained, shooting me a disappointed look. “She’s not much for manners.” 

“Manners don’t get shit done when your opponent is trying to eat you,” I snorted.

“As long as the worst of the antithesis are cleared out, then the support teams will be fine. They’re all led by samurai from the local chapters. They may not have prepared to deal with the Forty-Four, but they can all deal with the smaller models left inside the tunnel system,” the voice said.

“And what about those of us that actually dealt with all this shit,” I asked. “And those who died here?” I continued quietly. 

“We were of course saddened to hear that so many of our samurai brethren died during the battle,” the squirrel said, with a voice that was devoid of emotion. “So we’d like their bodies returned to the proper chapters so they can be returned to their loved ones, and we plan to set up memorials for the lost.” There was a momentary pause, then the voice continued. “As for the samurai on site, we’d like you to stay at least until the support teams arrive, but we also know we can’t order you to do anything, so it’s up to you.”

I shot a questioning glance at Humboldt, who nodded slightly. 

“Fine,” I finally agreed.

“Thank you,” the voice said, still completely deadpanned. “Now if you’ll excuse us, I have some Family business to discuss with Grey Goo.”

“Whatever…” I grumbled, before nodding towards Grey and stepping out of the vehicle.

Bright followed Humboldt and I out, apparently giving Grey some privacy. “Who the fuck was that?” I asked, leaning closer to her. “Didn’t sound like they gave a fuck about what happened here.”

She shrugged, uncomfortably. “I don’t know. It’s someone from WAY up the chain, that’s all I know. They’re not even using a squirrel on their side, just connected directly to my tech. I suspect that it’s one of the founders, one of the Class Fives, based on how Grey was talking.” 

“Doesn’t make their tone any better. Should show a little more respect for the dead,” I muttered.  

“The entire discussion was in that tone,” Bright said. “I don’t know if that was because their communication method strips emotion out, or…” 

“They’re just an emotionless son of a bitch,” I finished. She nodded. “Well fuck em!” I suddenly declared. “I’m going to spend the next couple hours sending bears to scout around, but if they don’t find anything I’m out of here the instant the support teams arrive. I’d rather make sure Brood and the others get home, than babysit a bunch of late fucking arrivals.” I paused and looked at the others. “Let the others know that if they want a ride, let me know. I’m tired of this shithole.” 

The other two women nodded in response.