“Those are some ugly looking bears,” I said, while staring at the two new heavy models. The new design was as big as Heavy, but had a huge, bulbous nose, and weird growths on both sides of their heads.

  It’s because those are moose. I thought you wanted each type of model to be unique, so I ged the facades on the heavy model while you were dealing with Leah.

  “I don’t know why you had to make up an animal for that,” I replied, poking one of the head growths. “What the hell are these supposed to be anyways?”

  It’s not a made up animal, it’s real. The moose actually mao survive in the wild far lohan most wildlife. They had enough mass to crush low-level Antithesis that attempted to hunt them, and their four-chamber stomach meant they could digest tiny amounts of Antithesis matter without adverse effects.

  “What’s with the headsticks?”

  Those are called antlers, most animals used them as a way to both protect themselves and to pete for mates. They were much bigger oual animal.

  “Fine… I guess. I’ve never heard of them before, but then again, it’s been quite a while since I’ve had any i in anything outside of the uy. As long as those ‘antlers’ don’t get in the way I don’t have any real pints.”

  Have you figured out how yoing to arm them yet?

  “I was thinking of some sort of stant beam on. Doesn’t have to be super powerful, but if they mop up the small stuff the rest of the squad trate er threats. I even mount auxiliary batteries on their shoulder hardpoint.”

  You don’t have anything like that in any of your catalogs.

  “I know. I also still o unlock the marksman rifle catalog for the foxes. It’s just not a priority right now.”

  I shooed the two big bots away and checked the time. After talking to Barricade yesterday I spent most of the afterno to optimize the squirrel rep system, and maximize squirrel produ. Even though I ractically flooding the streets with squirrels, the roll out was actually quite slow in the grand scheme of things. The uy covered hundreds of square miles, and that required QUITE a few squirrels to cover. The process was w, it was just going to take weeks, if not months, to get ce. It was slow, but every little bit helped.

  I checked my augs, Barricade would be arriving soon. I had to call him back, after Nyx reminded me that the people around here would probably swarm his vehicle and attempt to steal it if left outside, so I arranged for him to e in through the northern door. That was the area I’d earmarked for the initial school area anyways.

  As if ohe nearby squirrels notified me of an approag vehicle, so I sent a couple of bears scrambling over to open the doors. A minute or two ter a nondescript pickup truck hovered in, before parkio Sharron’s RV. The girl must have heard the engine, because she poked her head out the window, before jumping out and standio me.

  “Hey Jacob, long time no see,” Sharron said, as the scruffy Samurai stepped out of his vehicle. The man looked like a stereotypical stru worker, a long brown beard, overalls and fnnel shirt. The big man took two steps forward, a big smile on his face, and stuck out his hand.

  “I heard you were back, girl. I’m sorry I missed you when you dropped by the headquarters a few days ago.” Sharron’s hand practically disappeared into his when they shook.

  After the two were done, Barricade turned my way. “And you… looks like you've been busy tely. You only had half a dozen fuzzy little followers st time I saw you, and now there’s a det-sized force here. You’ve even got some det stru capabilities going.” I too shook his hand, although the man was se I swear I left the ground with every movement.

  “I’m gd you could make it,” I replied. “I’ve got a little bit of a stru dilemma going on.”

  “So I heard… you really don’t have any schools down here? I had Hyphaestus check the city registers, and there’s money allocated to it.”

  “Eh… somebody probably embezzled it. It’s not like schools would st long down here, most kids either o join a gang, or work, just so they eat. They don’t have time to learn.”

  Jacob’s face sched up. “That’s horrible. How is everything so fucked up down here?”

  “Nobody cares. The infrastructure is falling apart, people are starving and killing each other, but history has shown the assholes up top won’t lift a finger uhings get pletely out of hand, or the structural iy of the city is at stake.” I shrugged, “That’s just how life is down here.”

  “I still ’t get over how casual you are about stuff like this…” Sharron said, frowning.

  “Well, pining doesn’t help anything, and I’m doing my best to improve things in my own way.”

  “So… you’re pnning to do the very thing you just criticized?” Barricade asked, eyebrow raised.

  “That’s right. The difference is, I pn on feeding the kids for showing up and studying. Instead of digging through the trash for aire day, in order to find enough scrap to sell for a single meal, I’ll feed them two det meals. I know it doesn’t seem like much from your point of view, but down here it’s a lifesaving deal, in more ways than one.” I sighed, “Holy, I don’t need your help implementing it, I just o find a pce to build the facilities. People feel safer around my bears than the surrounding gangs, even the benevolent ones, so property is at a premium around here. I was going to build temporary facilities here, but I need a bigger area if I want to support more than a couple dozen kids. Plus I need space for food produ.”

  “Those are some big pns from someone so tiny,” Barricade said, befng over at Sharron. “And you support this endeavor?”

  “I think it’s a smart idea. The situation down here is… plicated, and Evelyn knows what the people need more than I do.”

  Barricade looked betweewo of us then sighed, “Fi’s your points. So you need more real estate? Did you think about building upwards?”

  “I sidered it,” I replied. “The upper streets are crumbling and the foundation of most of these buildings is iffy, at best, so building up would be dangerous.”

  “The foundations are… I don’t even know why I’m surprised anymore. Ohis is done I’m going to do a plete survey of the uy’s essential utilities. I holy should have dohat st time I was down here.” He shook his head, “I meant building up from here. The exterior may appear to be crete, but it’s made of a Css III material that’s tougher than steel. You could build upwards from the shelter. If I put some supports through the four inner ers of the frustum, which would have to extend through your spad the shelter below, it would be possible to extend this pce all the way to the pte above.” His eyes gzed over for a mihe same look most people had when using their augs. “If you agree to pay for the materials, or trade the equivalent cost point-wise, I set up about a twenty-floor superstructure. With what you have here you’ll be able to manufacture the floors as needed going forward. How does that sound?”

  I stared at him for a moment. It certainly seemed like a good deal, and it did solve my issue. “Gooood?”

  Sharron frowned, “Why did you ahat with a question?”

  “I’m used to people stantly trying to rip me off… and that sounded like a fair deal. My brain stalled when I found it to be fair.”

  The two other Samurai stared at me for a long moment. “That’s pretty sad,” Barricade said. “Look, since I’m just building a framework it’ll only take a few days, even with the foundation ges. Is there anything else I could help you with while I’m down here?”

  I thought about it for a mihen shook my head. “Not really. There are a ton of problems down here, but I feel bad taking up too much of your time.”

  “You know kid, you don’t have to try and do everything yourself. Even Samurai are allowed to ask for help from time to time.”

  I smiled, “Thanks for the offer, but holy just doing this, and iing the utilities, would be more than enough. I probably wouldn’t have thought of doing that.”

  He sighed, “Fine, but you should really e up and talk to the Family when you have more time. Although we’re focused on helping new Samurai, we’re also ied in keeping the unities we live in safe for normal people.” He pced a hand on top of my head. “You trust us.”“Fine… I’ll make time to head up soon,” I replied.

  “Good!” The man appeared to get back his good cheer, “I’ll head bay pd get the equipment I o start work, and be ba an hour or so. No point putting it off.” He moved over to Sharron and put a hand on her shoulder, “Take care of yourself. Teddy isn’t the only one who tries to take on too much work. Che up top when you have some time, ok?”

  The girl nodded in reply.

  “See you in a few hours then!” Barricade turned, and started walking back to his truck.

  “He’s a good guy,” I mumbled to myself.

  “Yeah, you should holy get out more. Most people up top aren’t as bad as you seem to think, you just o give them a ce,” Sharron replied.

  I just grunted, unvinced.