Chapter Sixty-Eight - Paperworker

“The Family is many things, but most of all, it’s a place for the buck to stop.”

--Agent Argent, 2032

***

I jumped off my warmech and landed in a crouch, boots muffling any of the noise I should have made dropping to the ground like that. My coat flapped a bit, so I straightened it as I stood up. “Crackshot, nice to see you again,” I said.

“Miss Stray Cat,” he said with a nod. “Pleased to see you too. Didn’t know you’d be here when they sent me over, but I’m happy to see you again.”

“You know her?” the girl with the ice-themed gear asked. I think she pitched her voice low enough not to carry, but that didn’t really matter to me.

“Crackshot and I have a bit of history,” I said. “Was it me or Gomorrah that gave you the name?” I asked.

“Ah, that was you,” he said with a grin. “Pleased with it so far too. So thanks for that. And yeah, Miss Stray Cat helped me a heap when I was just starting off. Still haven’t spent all the points I made during that big wave.”

I nodded along and buried my envy. I’d made some points back today, but I was probably going to leave Burrlington with about the same amount I’d gone in with.

Then again, that might change. Some of the gear I’d bought was going to generate some small trickle of points as long as the city kept up its defences. In any case, that was a worry for later. “So, who’re your friends?” I asked.

“Oh, right,” Crackshot said. “This is Shiverin.” He gestured to the small woman standing next to him. She blinked, raised a hand, then waved, all with quick, jerky motions that came off as extremely nervous, like she was some sort of human chihuahua. “This is Rod.” He gestured to the chick in the racing outfit who nodded once. “And that’s Hairy.”

Hairy smiled at me, and I decided to studiously ignore him.

“Well, welcome to Burlington,” I said. “Things have been... all over the place, honestly, but overall, not that bad. Is one of you the underwater specialist?” I asked.

I got four head shakes there. “Family mentioned that someone called Drowning Man was heading over from the other end of the great lakes. Supposed to be here tonight or tomorrow morning,” Crackshot said.

“That’ll do it. They’ll have their work cut out for them. There’s a fuck-huge hive in the lake. What do you guys know about the situation here? And are you four... taking over from here, or am I just getting my hopes up for some time off?”

Crackshot rubbed at the back of his neck. “Well, we’re supposed to be under Drowning Man’s command. I think he’s coming over with his own team to take over from there. Don’t know how the handoff’s supposed to work though. The battalion here’s all Family-related folk.”

I could feel a fresh headache coming on already, and part of me could already picture what was going to happen.

The militia here got along... somewhat well with me. They genuinely seemed to like the local samurai as well, since they were locals and they’d worked together. They also got along well with the Kittens.

The Kittens here were all gung-ho about helping, but they were also big on community stuff, and since the Militia was homegrown, they got along well despite a few grudges. The Kittens were very obviously built to support the Militia, and that made them get along.

Now we were bringing in outsiders who seemed to know what they were doing, and who I would bet were going to rub the fact in.

Thank fuck it wouldn’t be my problem to sort it all out.

“Well, that sounds awesome. Nice to meet you all. Hope you enjoy your stay. If you want to get ahead and make a few quick points, just hop on over the wall. There’s some aliens out there if you’re willing to search around for them.”

“I don’t know if we’re that equipped,” Crackshot said. His eyes wandered over to my warmech.

“Oh, you don’t need anything like that,” I said. “That’s because I was out near the shore. Just... don’t go near the shore. Not that you can, it’s all on fire now.”

“On fire?” Shiverin asked.

“Gomorrah was around. Anyway! You’ll want to figure out whoever’s in charge of the Kittens. They’re the nice folk in the cute outfits with the ears. Try getting Intel-chan’s attention too. He, or she, or whatever they are, has a pretty good idea of where the next fire that needs putting out is.”

“You’re not sticking around?” Crackshot asked.

I shrugged. “I might. I might not. The fun part of not being part of any organisation or anything is that I get to do what I want. And maybe what I want is to sleep in my own bed.” I patted him on the shoulder. “But don’t worry. I’ll listen to the news. If you’re in deep, deep shit, then give me a call, yeah?”

“Right, yeah, of course,” he said.

I nodded to him, then headed back to my mech. “Good luck!” I said as I grabbed onto the side, then pulled myself up. Soon enough I was laying back down in my cockpit and gingerly jacking myself back into the mech’s control system. “Hope they manage.”

I suspect they will. And the added challenge of not having someone as aware of the issues as you are, will allow them to grow even more.

“That’s a nice way of putting it. Kind of a shitty justification, but nice-sounding,” I said as I turned the warmech around and started heading deeper into downtown.

It’s the same justification that other Vanguard used for not assisting you, and so far it has proven worthwhile, hasn’t it? You have faced great challenges and have grown from them.

I supposed I couldn’t shit on the idea that hard, but it still felt a bit raw.

I arrived at the mall in short order. My mech wasn’t quite as fast as a car could go, but I had the fantastic ability to ignore what little traffic there was. Cars tended to move aside when they saw a giant mechanical warcat running in their general direction. I didn’t waste the time heading over either. I placed a few quick calls to Intel-chan, informing them that there were new people to coordinate with. Then I checked up on Sprout and Arm-a-Geddon, just to make sure they were still alive.

At some point, Manic had joined them out in the field, so that was good to know. It probably meant that her little excursion had been a success then.

Good news all around.

I brought the mech to a stop in front of the mall and climbed out of it, this time being a whole lot more careful while unplugging myself from the mech’s control system. Surprisingly, doing things the ‘right’ way didn’t lead to sudden massive headaches, which was nice to know.

By the time I dismounted, Lucy had come down and was waiting for me by the entrance. “Cat!” she cheered.

Instantly, all of the sour thoughts I’d been having were wiped away, and I found myself smiling like a moron. “Hey,” I said as I jumped off the side of the mech. “Look, I got a warmech!” I said while unclasping my helmet and removing it.

Lucy laughed as she pulled me into a hug. “You did. And it’s already messy and covered in dents. If I ever buy a car, you’re not allowed to drive it.”

I scoffed. “And here I was going to let you ride my giant cat mech,” I said.

“If I want to ride a Cat, then I have plenty of options,” she purred, and my smile turned from moronic to goofy for a moment. “How did things go?”

“Not bad,” I said. “Bunch of Family troops just arrived. Our reinforcements.”

“Aren’t they early?” she asked.

“Maybe, but I won’t let them know it,” I said before stealing a kiss. “Hey, I was thinking, maybe we could head home?”

“Right now?” she asked.

I nodded. “Sure, why not?”

Lucy laughed. “Why not? Cat...” It was her turn to steal a quick kiss. “You can’t just drop a heap of responsibility on a girl’s lap, then ask her to run off into the sunset with you right after. At least give me a few hours to make sure the Kittens here will be fine?”

“Ah, yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

She grinned. “You’re the best. But you’d be even better if you lent me Myalis to help with all of this paperwork.”

I’m afraid you can’t ‘lend’ me to anyone. On the other hand, if you help her yourself, I can assist you in assisting her.

Which meant doing some of the paperwork myself.

The shit I did for Lucy. Unbelievable.

***