“Are you serious about this?” Mirage asked. The first thing I did after leaving my meeting with Helen was tact Broodmother in order to update the Family, and other local samurai, about the situation. That resulted iting pulled into a bloated ference call with pretty much every samurai iy.

  “No. I just thought it would be funny to make up a story, and bother every other samurai iy with it. Of course I’m being serious, jackass,” I replied. I was currently sitting across from Sharron, on one of the couches in her RV. This was a samurai issue, and if I went ihe residence, I’d probably end up ranting loud enough for the rest of my family to hear.

  “Evelyn, I realize you’re stressed right now, but your sarcasm isn’t helping. You said you mao get Helen to agree to avoid your se of the city, and back down once you could protect the ey of the uy from the antithesis. Do you think we trust her to keep her word?” Broodmother cut in, before Mirage could retort.

  “I don’t know,” I said after a few seds. “She didn’t seem eager to carry out her pns, but resolved to carry through if the situation came to it. Would she be willing to e into flict with another samurai in order to carry out her goals? Maybe.”

  “We should get rid of her. She’s a threat to the city,” someone said. I didn’t reize the voice.

  “Settle down Zero, it’s not that simple,” Broodmother said calmly. “If Helen is using influeech, her followers are probably fanatics. If she disappears, or dies, they’ll just carry out her pns anyways. If anything, that could aggravate the situation.”

  “Why the hell did you make that agreement anyways?” Mirage asked angrily. “You ’t protect half the city with thirty bears, how did you pn on trig Helen into believing you could protect the ehing?”

  “I have two hundred and four bears, that’s seventeen full squads,” I replied quietly, “and I’m produg twelve a day. In addition I have several hundred surveils bing the area, so if there’s an incursion my troops could react fairly quickly.”

  The call went quiet for a minute, long enough to think I might have been disected, before Whisperer spoke up. “Holy fuck. I knew you were produg troops ile, but I didn’t expect your produ to increase to that level.”

  “It’s still not enough to fully cover the uy. It’ll take me months to produough troops to station bears in every sector. Plus, I’m keeping all my transports on standby, in case Helen actually starts something.”

  “You don’t pn on abiding by the agreement then?” Broodmother asked, surprised.

  “Fuo!” I replied, “I made that agreement to keep things cordial while the two of us were meeting, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let her start a fight that may kill a bunch of i people.” Somebody on the call snorted in amusement. “Anyways, now that everyone knows the situation, is there ahat help me deal with this mess?”

  “You t on me,” Sharron said through the call, even though she was sitting only a few feet away. “Unfortunately I don’t have a ton of utility, only direct damage. I help you put down an attack, but not much else.”

  “Oh oh oh, me!” I’d reize that voice, ahusiasm, anywhere. “I send you more surveilnce help,” Angeline decred proudly. “I’m not great at direbat, but I help offload some of the strain of keeping an eye oire uy.”

  There was another moment of silence before Broodmother spoke up again, “Most of us are light oility, heavy on the bat potential. Stalker is our local stealth expert, but she’s currently up in Edmonton, on a busirip. We’ll ask her to iigate Helen’s operations whes back. If she find a way to shut down Helen’s operation, without massive fallout, we’ll put together a strike team.”

  “What about Barricade? Building some of the shelters down here would really help stabilize things,” I asked.

  “That’s what he’s been doing, ever since yht the situation to our attention,” Mirage said, with a sigh. “After he finished rebuilding your little headquarters down there, he started w oher registered shelters. It’s been slow work, he’s only mao get two more operational.”

  “I thought he was w on projects topside,” I replied in surprise. “If he’s setting up more shelters, that’ll cut down on the number of troops I need in the long term, but it’s not something we rely on in the short term.”

  “True. I wish we could provide you with more support in the short term, but I think the best we do is make our presence felt, and dissuade Helen from taking any rash as. I’ll arrange for a couple of us to make forays into the uy over the few weeks. Ence Helen to keep her head down,” Broodmother said. “Anyone else have suggestions on how to improve the situation?”

  “We could tae of the other cities, see if they have a couple specialists they could spare,” Whisperer suggested. “If we get the shelters up and running faster, et Teddy some more backup, it would certainly help stabilize things.”

  “I’ll make some calls when we’re dooday,” Broodmother replied, “anyone else?” The call was quiet, so she tinued. “Very well. It’s not ideal, but at least we’re aware of the situation, and have made an initial pn of attack. Evelyn, I’m sorry, but it’ll be on you to mahe situation for now. We’ll get you extra support as soon as we , just keep us informed.”

  “Yeah, sure, no pressure,” I said, sarcastically.

  “I’m sorry we have to leave this all to you, my dear, but you’ve proven yourself multiple times now. We have faith in you,” Broodmother said, before diseg.

  One by ohe other samurai disected from the call, until it was just Sharron and I, alone in her RV. “So, I have the faith of the other Samurai iy, but what I don’t have is the resources, and troops, to actually deal with the situation,” I said, ying ba the sofa.

  “We’ll do what we ow, and hopefully hold out long enough for the reinforts to start rolling in. Do you have a pn?” Sharron asked.

  “I ’t fortify every sector, so I’ll start deploying squads iral locations,” I said, trying to work through the logisti my head. “Since I only have a handful of IFVs, I’ll have to set up some quick respoeams. If there’s an emergency, and the foot troops are out of position, I send the cavalry.”

  “What about Helen?” Sharron asked, as she leaned bato her chair.

  “As long as she doesn't make any hostile moves, I’m tent with leaving her and her little cult alone for now,” I replied. “You heard Broodmother, killing her may just trigger her followers to act. I think the lohis stalemate sts, the better my position will be. I just need more time to produce squirrels, for surveilnce, and troops. If she makes a move, I’ll do my best to ter it, but without knowily what her pns are I think trying to be proactive is a bad move.”

  Sharron nodded. “Sounds reasonable. Just let me know what I do to help.”

  I y there quietly for a minute, before sitting up and looking Sharron in the face. “Actually, what I really need is for someorust to keep an eye on Jane, An, and the kids. I’m keeping an eye ohing with my squirrels, but I have so muy pte that I’m afraid something might shrough.”

  “You think Helen would actually try something?” Sharron asked.

  “I don’t know. I got the feeling she was willing to do whatever was necessary to get the job done, and if I’m in the way… she may try to kidnap my family in order to have leverage over me, and I’m NOT going to let that happen.”

  Sharron sat forward. “Hey, no problem, you t on me. I’d hate it if something happeo those kids.”

  I slowly stood up, and looked towards the residence. “And don’t mention this to the family for now. I have enough problems right now, I don’t o deal with them panig.”

  “Yoing to have to tell them sooner or ter. You may not be aware, but you’re not the most subtle person. They’re going to know something’s wrong,” Sharron said, standing up to join me.

  “I’m sure I’ll think of something to say, just ter,” I replied, heading towards the RV door.

  The fight over the uy had just begun. I just hoped it ended up being a long, and ultimately b one.