A couple hours ter, the cavern flooded with Family stists, military personal and dozens of other samurai. As soon as they arrived they began clearing the surrounding tunnels, and creating a makeshift fortified base around the Forty-Four.

  “I wish we had this much backup when that fucker burst out of its pilr,” I grumbled as I watched the human tide mill about.

  “All of these samurai specialize in seard clear, they’re not great at frontline bat,” Grey said quietly. “If they’d been here, they’d likely have died in the fight.”

  “Just like Brood then,” I reminded her.

  To her credit Grey didn’t flinch, she just shook her head sadly. “We were lucky to only lose five people in that fight,” she reminded me. “It could have been much worse.”

  “Maybe… Doesn’t make it sting any less,” I admitted. We stared at the chaos in silence for a few moments, before I brought up the reason I’d e to see Grey. “I’m leaving, with Humboldt, Bright-Eyes and Hoppy. None of us want to sit around iunnels, so we’re going to take everyone’s remains up to the surfad arrange for them to be delivered to their homes.”

  “I’ve heard. sidering how few antithesis we’ve entered during the st few hours, I find it very uhere’s anything else threatening down here, so I’m not going to ask you to stay. Did you already talk to the others?” she asked.

  “We did. Arae and Psmanx are stig around, they want to do more. Magpie nearly crushed me in her good-bye hug, and Dreamer said some poetic shit then disappeared. I still have no idea how to handle her.”

  “No one does,” Grey said with a small smile. “We’re pnning oing up a perma base here, the area is too wide to colpse it all, and the research division wants to study the Forty-Four. Deep Six is widening the access corridors, but I don’t think it’s wide enough for you to get your vehicles out of here yet.”

  “Then I’ll leave them,” I said with a shrug. “I’ll leave a handful of bears to watch them, and bring them out ohere’s enough space. We have access to other vehicles on the surface, we’ll just use those.”

  “Fair enough.” Grey stuck out her hand, and I shook it. “It was good w with you. I doubt we would have pulled through without your help,” she admitted.

  “Likewise. Feel free to stop by if you’re ever in Calgary,” I offered.

  “I just might. Take care,” Grey said before a wave of nanites flowed over her head aablished her helmet. She immediately headed towards the corpse of the Forty-Four, yelling orders at the group standing around it.

  I headed in the opposite dire, back towards the tunnel where we inally ehis hell hole, where the others, and nearly a hundred bears, were waiting for me.

  “Everything squared away?” Sharron asked as I stepped up. She’d retrieved her massive Css II battlesuit at some point, and had it standing behind her.

  “We’re good,” I replied as I surveyed the five boxes id out in front of us. Three were tiny. We had trouble even finding bone shards for Raijin, Temporal, and Broodmother, so we packed what we could, along with their gear, in the boxes. Executable ailence were mostly intact, but little more than heavy metal statues now. “Everyone ready to go?” I asked the group.

  “I still have squirrels trapped iunnels, and I’ve sent some of the newer models to chew them out, but I’m not going to stick around to wait for them. I’ll pick them up ter,” Bright-Eyes, eline as I preferred to call her now that we were out of a bat situation, said. “Let's get out of here.”

  Hoppy nodded, and picked up Brood’s ‘coffin’.

  “You don’t have to carry that,” I told her, “the bears do it.”

  “I want to… she was kind of my mentor, and I want to show her respect,” Hoppy mumbled in reply.

  She looked like she was going to cry, so Sharron walked over and rubbed her on the back. “That’s very kind of you,” Sharron said quietly.

  I sent out a signal and my bears swept in, lifting the other boxes before f several ns. Spooky wandered over to me, so I leaned down close to his head. “Make sure you pay attention to the coffin bearers,” I whispered, “I don’t want any acts.” He saluted briefly, before retreating back to the line.

  “Do you want to lead the march?” I asked Hoppy once everything was set up. She hesitated, but nodded in the end.

  The march back to the surface was a solemn affair. We didn’t really say much as we made our the tuhat Deep Six dug out earlier, it ractically a funeral procession. I’m not sure if Grey let the Family know that we were ing up or not, but almost every person we passed stepped to one side respectfully. It might just have been because we were all samurai, and there was a massive army of teddy bears behind us, but I liked to believe it was out of respect for the dead.

  Once we reached the surface I found there was a small fortification around the entrance, and the vehicles I had called earlier were lined up outside. I noticed in the crowd as we made our way to the entrance. He nodded respectfully, but didn’t approach.

  “Pestilend Raijin are going to Edmonton,” I said pointing at one of the IFVs. “Temporal and Execuable are going to Vancouver, and Brood is ing back to Calgary with us,” I said pointing at another IFV, and then my truck. “Nyx, now that we’re topside you inform the local chapters of the Family that the bodies are ing? They should be shown some respect when they arrive,” I said. “Spooky, you and Bob escort the bodies to their destinations before ing back.”

  “We should take my RV back,” Sharron suggested. “It’s more fortable, and fits everyone. Plus, I think you he spa your truck to transport bears.”

  The area was pletely full. I hadn’t been totally aware of how many bears I’d ordered while in the caverns, but now there were nearly a hundred surrounding us. Even with my truck, and the three other IFVs waiting for us, there wouldn’t be enough space. “We’ll shove as many ht’s Squirrels into the truck as we , and fill the rest of the space with bears,” I suggested. “I trol the driver so it follow us on the way back, then send Spooky to pick up the rest ter. It’s going to take multiple trips anyways,” I said, as Angeline filled up the truck.

  Hoppy was still cradling Broodmother’s box, so I approached her slowly. “Did you want to e to Calgary and help drop off Broodmother’s remains? I have one of my vehicles drive you back to your home city afterwards.”

  “Thanks,” she said with a quiet smile, “but not necessary. I’m from Calgary, so I get a ride from the headquarters, once I know she’s been taken care of.”

  “Oh…” I replied awkwardly. “Okay then.”

  I saw Sharron shoot me a look, to which I mouthed ‘I didn’t know’ behind Hoppy’s back. She maneuvered her massive battlesuit into its ste bay at the back of the RV before popping open the door for us to board.

  I’d fotten how fancy the living room area was in the back of the RV, pared to the living areas I was used to, and Hoppy, Angeline and I ended-up sitting awkwardly around the area while Sharron started the vehicle.

  We sat in silence for several minutes, with Hoppy cradling Brood’s box, before I finally cleared my throat. “You know… I’m sure there will be an official wake, and everyone will mourn there, but how about we talk about the good times we had with Broodmother? I didn’t have many, but I tell you about whe. She certainly knew how to make a first impression.”

  Hoppy looked unsure, but Angeli up straight and nodded. “I have a couple stories too. She was at the Headquarters a lot, and always made time to look after any samurai that popped in. She was like a mure to a lot of us.”

  “Alright,” Hoppy finally sented, slowly loosening her grip on the box. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”

  “Great!” I said, switg seats and sinking into the couext to Hoppy. “Now, imagihis: I’d just finished my first incursion with Squiddy, and was walking around the streets trying to the dregs up, not a clue what I was doing, when a titanic wave of bugs came rolling in. Man, was I ever fused,” I started.

  Angeline and I mao keep Hoppy’s mind off the situation until we finally arrived ba Calgary. When we pulled up to the Family HQ, a lot of the employees were lined up outside, along with a small huard of other samurai. It was holy more than I expected.

  When Hoppy finally stepped out of the RV with her passenger everyone saluted. It was only the start to a fitting send off for one of the city’s greatest heroes.