assistirfilmes Chapter 60 – Who would have thought that gangs could be polite company?
Chapter 60 – Who would have thought that gangs could be polite company?
Chapter 60 – Who would have thought that gangs could be polite company?
“In recent years we observed a rising trend of more influential gangs encroaching on corporate business. While these gangs are in most cases supported by larger entities, some manage to grow to such size on their own merit. Needless to say, seldom do they exist for long.
Should you find one that has been around for a long time, it is highly advisable to treat cautiously with them. Either put up a polite front and find a weakness to exploit, or deal with them in decisive fashion. Failure to do either will quickly end up with your corporation being brought down.”
- ‘A corporate guide to deal with filth’, Issue 27
It took Us quite a while to calm down properly. Our offence had been halted, the rest of Us setting up in defensible positions. The district began to feel a bit like a graveyard, the sounds of combat silenced, giving off that feeling of the quiet before the storm.
Neon Sutra had gotten the hint, excusing themselves after their talk with Jenna. Not that we blamed them, something they couldn’t understand happened to one Samurai, only for two more to show up as backup. We would have run for the hills as well, if we’d be in their shoes.
Chloe’s presence next to Us helped Us find our balance once more. The pain was still there, that feeling of emptiness, but it no longer hurt as badly. Our mood was immensely sour, though.
Not that we had been in a good mood before, but right now, after the horror had subsided, rage started to bubble up from deep inside Us. No matter how much we thought we prepared, we were never ready, and it seemed that any time we actually tried to do something, something else went wrong.
Maybe it was just the experiences of the past couple days that had Us this riled up, but for some reason we couldn’t shake the feeling of anger and hatred that we felt, both directed at the ones responsible, and, to a degree, even at ourselves.
Originally we wanted to be circumspect, to keep the damages to a minimum, but the more we thought about what transpired, the less we could bring ourselves to care.
The collective decided that we would squash these fuckwits with decisive force, no more prisoners, no more holding back. No more sending those of Us who weren’t specialised for it out to scout. Our mission in the old industrial district was important, yes, but right now this mattered more to Us, and so we pulled all the Meerkats back, using them to scout out Kanvai District.
The Sabertooths and the Siverins began to move, spreading across the district to form a defensive line to mark the territory we had cleared. It did spook a couple of the smaller gangs, but most of them left Us alone. Those who didn’t were met with a swift and decisive end.
We still weren’t willing to use the corpses of those we killed as biomass, that was just a step too far. But we did begin Hexclaw production back on the Corvette, procuring cheap biomass from Kaysa and sending it back with the shuttles. It wasn’t a perfect solution and brought our points to near total depletion, but we needed more specialised drones.
Amidst our restructuring another caste was born as well, one we probably should have gotten much sooner. The Warleaders were kind of important to the Hexclaw hierarchy, and while we were still human, we also were Hexclaw, to some extent.
The leader of this new caste took the name Bellona, one of the War Drones. She selected two direct subordinates, which would help Us organise better. On paper we didn’t need that, Hexclaws could organise and coordinate almost flawlessly across the Hive. But there was a limit to that, considering that our Hive was based on a human mind and personality.
It was the first real indicator that we were fundamentally different to Hives like the Devourer of Worlds, one we had so far been aware of, but had not internalised yet. And one we paid a steep price for.
The two subordinates of Bellona took on the name Kharon and Thanatos. They were tasked with leading their own platoons, each of them immediately beginning to build their command structure. It was not like earthen militaries, we were part Hexclaw after all, but it was different from how the Devourer of Worlds functioned.
Eventually we came out of our funk. In the meantime the rest of Us had already finished their preparations, restructured and repositioned, we now formed a properly united front. One that was fundamentally different from our previous approach. As one we moved, slowly but surely scanning every part of town. It would take time, of course, and we couldn’t all spend time picking off stragglers. But it already helped in reducing casualties.
We decided that we should head over to Black Lotus. Simmons had told Us that they would know more about our adversary, and we wanted to get as much information as we could to properly stop them. To that end we began to make our way over, Chloe and Jenna in tow.
Jenna had brought her Sentinels, slowly unloading them all to reinforce our troops. They acted as our defence, a task they were specifically built for. It helped greatly in reducing unnecessary deaths.
All that said, we still suffered losses, few as they might be. After our initial shock at the experience, we now had a better handle on things. And while the feeling of loss would never be something we could get used to, we at least were no longer incapacitated by it.
Much to our surprise, Black Lotus was already expecting Us. Or maybe they were just expecting anyone who could help deal with this mess. We weren’t sure, the people who greeted Us with polite words didn’t specify, nor did we find it important to ask. While they were obviously a gang, they were different from the usual fare. Their cybernetics were more high class, their clothing more uniform and expensive, the way they carried themselves reminded Us more of a PMC than of a traditional gang.
That theme also continued with the border of Black Lotus’ territory. Typically most gangs clashed quite heavily, but few would dare to get too close to Black Lotus, and so there was about a block of unclaimed territory between Neon Sutra and Black Lotus.
“But why?” This didn’t make much sense to Us, considering that we had no interest in Little Town, or anything else other than making the redlight district a better place to live.
So far we hadn’t actively antagonised anyone, even making a point of being disinterested in anything other than the redlight district. The one gang that had come to Us, Blazing Inferno, we had sent to speak to Jenna. Neon Sutra we had refused outright, unless they had some substantial benefit to offer, and even then we wouldn’t offer them the same protection.
We also couldn’t remember ever dealing with anyone from other districts, outside of them perhaps visiting Us in the brothel. While our memory wasn’t perfect, we couldn’t remember any time we might have offended any client severely enough to warrant this kind of reaction.
So this had to be a recent thing. But the reason for it eluded Us.
“As I said, these people seem to be quite arrogant and egotistical. It is the theory of our illustrious Oyabun that they might feel threatened by your presence. Your growth, and the growth of Lady Legion, has been explosive and sudden, within days both of you managed to get an army and a flagship of considerable power. Add to that the fact that Lady Bloodhound, while up until recently without a known Samurai name, is a known figure, and one that has been a Samurai for quite some time. All that together makes it likely that they fear for their influence in this part of town.”
That did make more sense, even if we still found it to be a rather silly notion. Then again, most people, especially people in power, weren’t known to be too humble or smart. If they were as arrogant as Sebastian believed them to be, it might fit. Still, it did leave a few questions unanswered.
“Aren’t there other Samurai around? We can’t imagine we’re the only ones.”
He nodded. “There are. Two that we know of call this quarter of New Savannah their home. The first is a man in his early twenties, going by IPv12. He doesn’t appear to care much for local politics, preferring to remain within the mesh, only really surfacing when antithesis are threatening the city. The second is a young teenager from the looks of things. We don’t know much about her, but it seems likely that she was bought up by some shell company belonging to the people responsible. The files we found mention a certain ‘Project Purple Star’, from context it appears that they want to use her to obtain more protector grade technology. That seems to be a theme for them, with much of the technology they deploy being based upon reverse engineered Samurai technology. It could very well be that the young Samurai is helping them, albeit unknowingly, in all likelihood.”
That had Us frown.
“All that said, there are few that would pose a threat to them. And other than your presence, there would be very little reason for them to strike out against the redlight district. The Kanvai district, the Chasm, and the Dry Market would be much more useful targets for them.”
“Fucking grand...” we muttered with a sigh.
“Indeed. That is all we have to share with you. I have sent you all of that in the informational package, for you to peruse at your own leisure. Of course, should we obtain more information that would be of use to you, we will contact you, should you so wish.”
We nodded at that, “We would appreciate it. What would you want in return?”
Sebastian laughed easily, “Your Majesty, this is as much to your benefit as it is to our own. Your involvement in cleaning up the infiltrators is payment enough. It saves us time and manpower and doesn’t risk our position in local politics. Really, we can’t thank you enough for the help.”
“Fair enough. You have our gratitude. If you ever need something from Us, feel free to contact Us. While we won’t promise to act upon every request you might have, we will take the time to give it the thought it deserves. Please inform your Oyabun that we appreciate the help and that we are in your debt.”
“It was our pleasure,” he said with a smile, getting up. “I am certain that Watanabe-sama will be delighted to hear that we were able to be of help. Now, I would not dare to keep you any longer. On behalf of Black Lotus, I wish you a successful hunt.”
He gave Us another bow, just as we got up as well. After a few more polite words, our guides led the three of us into the direction of the building that he had told us about. We could have just taken the shuttle, but from context we were certain that they wouldn’t appreciate Us bringing in our forces into their territory. And they have been helpful, we didn’t want to repay that with what could be understood as treason.
“Any thoughts?” we asked as we walked, having pulled Chloe and Jenna into a call.
“It stinks of stupid power plays,” Jenna said, disdain obvious in her voice.
“Yeah. Honestly, I would have expected people to be smarter than this. Then again, intelligence is a virtue that most don’t share. Or common sense, for that matter,” Chloe said, sounding equally displeased.
“Let’s get this over with. Tiny is in position and will deploy soon. Time to fuck these idiots up and show them that the saying ‘don’t fuck with Samurai’ exists for a fucking reason.”
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