The Family started off as a support group for those who fight on the front lines against humanity's extinction. And for the most part, we still do that. The problem is, that humans will adapt quickly to almost any situation that does not outright kill them, and groups of those same humans have a tendency to make things exponentially more complicated than they should be.

  Here in the New Phoenix Branch, we try to actively cultivate a community of sharing and assistance with all Samurai that grace the borders of Arizona, even if all they need is fire support.

  -Vanguard Doma in a Family shortly after the fall of Ft. Wayne

  I checked the Build Menu, now seeing that I had a list of the various raw materials that the sports hover car was made of. Lots of steel, plastic, some very small amounts of gold, and other metals and polymers that had long complicated names. Each item had a drop menu with a further breakdown of their various stats. Tensile strength, compression strength, heat tolerance, conductivity, and so much more. I was going to have to buy an AI assistant as soon as I could.

  I set the Collection swarm to dismantle some more cars and began the process of using the prefab blueprints to make a shelter. It wasn't much, four walls, a roof, and a floor with some lights, beds, and a room for a toilet. The walls and roof were designed to be made of steel and six inches thick with some hidden ventilation, while the floor was made of layers of plastic and polyester. The whole thing was going to take another hour to finish with a constant stream from the Collection swarm.

  It was fascinating to watch the Collection swarms take apart the vehicles and only take what the Builder swarms needed, then those Builders turning the various ingots and melting them together to make the walls. The metal would glow slightly, then be melded into the foundations, slowly raising with no seams or flaws.

  As much as I wanted to go and hunt for more points, I had to stay within range of the swarms for them to work. So, while we waited, we planned ahead.

  “So, you're a Samurai now, which changes quite a lot about where we can go with our lives.” Roger started. “We have no obligations to return to the company, and I'm sure they will be very proactive to get rid of us once word gets out. So, let's brainstorm what we want to do from here.”

  I chime in first,”Before we discuss that, I have been made aware by Synaptic that my augs had spyware in them, as in actual hardware that reported to a server somewhere. This is probably the same in you guys as well.”

  Vanguard Victor is correct. There is a hidden signal emanating from each of you that sends quite a bit of information out. Once Victor was awakened, I took the liberty to intercept this signal and adjust the data being sent. Whoever sees the information will not hear what you are discussing, nor will they know that Victor is now a Vanguard. In fact, they will think he is dead as those spyware augs are gone.

  “Well, that's two problems solved before we even knew they were problems.” Cody responds.

  “Will we be able to head back to the dorm to collect our stuff? While we don't have much, what we do have is important to us,” Buddy asks.

  “I don't see why not.”Roger says,”So long as we hold off on upgrading our augs, we should be able to just waltz in, take our stuff, and leave. Vic can use his Samurai tech to take over the van, thus preventing the company from bricking it. Then, we lay low for a bit, go through our upgrades, and boom! Free from servitude forever!”

  Jill rolls her eyes at Roger's enthusiasm,”Yeah, free to do what, exactly? Get a job at another Corp? Start a gang? We have a very specific set of skills, very little money, and will have no place to live.”

  “And that's why we're spitballing ideas here, Jill!” Roger counters, the smile never leaving his face,”I, for one, think there is one very obvious place we can turn to, or rather, that Vic can turn to that we can follow along.”

  Buddy looks confused as Roger pauses for dramatic effect. “And where's that, Roger?” He asks.

  “The Family! The huge multi city organization built to help Samurai! Vic here can go sign up, say that he has his family that needs to be housed, and bingo presto we have a life line!”

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  Jill grunts in exasperation, Buddy smiles, Cody raises an eyebrow quisically, but I nod slowly.”It's not a bad idea,” I say, quickly scanning the net for info.

  “From what I can see, Samurai family members are taken care of very well. And there are a number of ways for them to join so-called support staff if they wanted to. There are a number of programs they run, from community outreach to contractor services, to various auditing programs. They also run a lot of official merch stores and sell a lot of Samurai blueprints and tech.”

  “Wait a moment, Ant. What's that about auditing?” Jill stops me to ask.

  “They do structural audits, human rights audits, financial audits, surveys of various environments and even sections of mega cities.” I answer, understanding what she is hoping for. “And they do a lot to keep corps in line and clean up after Samurai who deal with corps themselves.”

  A heavy smirk forms on Jill's face, and I can see Cody get excited. “So what I am hearing is that there is a legit, Samurai backed way to fuck with Corps with no real consequences and get paid to do it? Hey Roger, I am throwing my vote towards The Family.”

  “Does that mean we could get access to high level tech and software and permission to dig as much as I want?” Cody asks, knowing the answer already.

  If it is “high level tech and software” you want, Victor is a wellspring of such things so long as he spends the points. But if your intention is instead to be allowed to “dig” into any shady corporation you can see, then The Family does indeed have precedent for protecting people connected to Vanguard, and even Vanguard themselves, who do such actions. Synaptic chimes in.

  “This means we can do good with our training, and stay together?” Buddy asks, his smile growing.

  “Exactly, Buddy! And cause we're direct family to a Samurai, they can't just order us around and make us work all the time!”

  “While I'm sure they won't make us do anything, they will more than likely suggest heavily and often,” I say, curbing their enthusiasm.”And I doubt I will be able to say no to too many of their requests if they are covering for Cody.” I smugly look at the man in question.

  He glares at me through his heavy bangs,”They won't need to clean up after me if I'm really good at it.”

  We all laugh at him, and he joins in after a bit.

  “Alright, guys. So we have a path to take, now we just need to make it out of here in, well, mostly one piece. I'm sure Vic and Miss Synaptic will have plenty of stuff to keep us alive if we get into an accident.”

  At that, I glare hard at Roger,”While you might be correct, don't you dare think that gives you any leeway to get injured on purpose. I am the Samurai here, and I will soon be getting a new body. I can afford to get hurt cause I will heal faster and be more durable. I will not forgive anyone who loses their edge because I will do whatever it takes to fix you up. We all leave in one piece, go back to the form, grab our stuff, and live new lives. Got it?”

  Roger looks crestfallen for a bit, and the others also look melancholic,then Roger nods his head.”Your right, Victor. My bad. That's not something to joke about”

  “Good.” I say, loosening my face. I had to force myself to glare like that, cause Sands even that action wigged my brain out. I need to go hunting soon.

  “Hey, so if we are cutting ties with the Company anyways, It wouldn't be out of line for us to, I don't know, dig through their servers and such to figure out who we are actually working for? Maybe figure out why we are in this megabuilding to begin with? And, you know, maybe reappropriate their funds to us? How many stories out there of Samurai who get passed at a Corp and just steal all their assets?” Cody asks coyly.

  I can feel a smile try to form, but I don't let it for obvious reasons.”I suppose that means I will need to get a cyberwarefare Catalog, won't I Synaptic?”

  It would certainly help. While I am capable of certain actions independent of you, in order to take more direct approaches, I am required to work through your augs and software. And the good news is, just by purchasing a Class I Cyberwarefare Catalog, of which we have options, I will gain permission to take more direct approaches. And if you want to take those actions yourself, or allow Cody to, there will then be tools at your disposal to purchase!

  I can't help but chuckle at her sales pitch, “Add it to the shopping list, Synaptic,” I glance at the Builder swarm’s timer, and it says that there is nine minutes and forty three seconds left.

  “Alright, the shelter will be finished soon. Once it is, I will be back once I have enough points to finish my body upgrade, then I will be focusing on clearing this building.”

  “While you're out, we will be watching you through the cameras and try to offer whatever support we can. Don't push yourself, stay safe, and make enough for all of us to keep up with you, alright?” Roger says.

  We spent the rest of the time coming up with contingencies and plans, and they eventually convinced me to buy a catalog for guns and armor before coming back so that they can protect themselves while I'm on my crusade.

  The shelter is finished soon after, a large steel brick surrounded by the remains of other people's hover cars. They wave me off as we make sure Cody still has access to his tech in the van, and I march towards the stairwell.

  We decided for me to make my way down towards the thirties, towards the thick of the antithesis. I have four Assault swarms capable of incredible violence, and I have to keep the other two swarms active around me due to the fact that they each weigh fifteen pounds, we discovered, and I do not have the muscles currently to carry thirty pounds of anything for long. Not yet anyways.