Stray Cat Strut Chapter Thirty-Eight - Basement

Chapter Thirty-Eight - Basent

Theres a whole new category of entertainnt called simply Samurai Entertainnt. Sotis its shortened to SE, or See, as in the verb to see.

The genre mostly consists of following samurai the way that paparazzi of the past followed celebrities. The big difference is that most samurai dont care for the attention, and most celebrities don't saunter onto battlefields on the regular.

--Modern Stream Entertainnt, Genre Guide, 2031

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Paul clambered down the stairs with all of the attitude and ill mood of a five year old who had just been told off. If I wasnt such a bastion of moral integrity and good spirit, I would have mocked him for it.

Wait...

Who shat in your shorts, Pauly boy? I asked as I followed him down the steps.

He paused so that he could level a glare at . I dont like you, he said.

Well shit, there goes my mood for the next week, I said.

Cat, maybe less quipping and more walking would be in order? Gomorrah asked.

I shook my head. Sarcasm and snark are the only things I had for a long ti, you know? When you dont own anything, you cling onto whatever you have, I explained.

Yes, but youre a samurai now. You can hardly be said to have nothing. You have your equipnt, plenty of resources, a girlfriend. Even a ho, she said. Perhaps you can finally do away with the snark?

Huh, I said. Does having a ho make a part of the bourgeois?

You dont actually know what that is, do you? Gomorrah asked.

I dont, but sothing deep inside still makes want to bla them for all of my woes.

Paul tsked. Youre exactly the kind of thing we left the city to avoid, he said.

Did he just literally objectify ? Just get us to the basent so that we can do our jobs, I snapped.

And then what? Youll leave us all alone? he asked.

Yeah, thats the idea. We have other hives to break, and other people to save. I still think youd be clever to move back to the city. Theres more of us bougie-types to keep you nice and safe. If you want to use that boomstick of yours, Im sure theres so militia out there thats desperate enough that theyll hire even you.

Fuck off, I want to defend and mine right here. This is my ho. I worked hard for it. Did you ever work hard for anything in your life? he growled.

I was very close to pumping a few rounds into Pauls legs, then leaving him behind for the antithesis to take care of. But theyd probably use his at to grow so sort of terrifying boss-tier monster that no one wanted to deal with, so I refrained from doing that for the mont.

Paul stomped across the factory floor and swept right into the kitchen area at the back. He stopped there, before bending down to pull at a strap sticking out of the ground. It opened a large trapdoor, with cent steps leading down and to a tal door.

Thats the basent, Paul said.

You know your way around in there? I asked.

Im not guiding you through, he said.

We just need so directions, Gomorrah said.

Paul rubbed at his nose. Theres a large boiler room one building over. The basent opens into it. If you follow the big steam pipes youll always find your way back to that one. Its more or less central to the whole factory. Theres a loading dock on the far end thats barricaded up, thats a pretty wide room. And then theres the big old building by the waterfront. That ones nearly always flooded.

Thank you, Gomorrah said.

She stepped down first, then fiddled with her launcher. Judging by the switched tanks, she just went from non-lethal to burn-everything fuel.

You can run back, Paul, I said.

He sniffed, shouldered his gun, then stomped back across the factory floor without so much as a how do you do. I heard him clambering up the stairs a minute later, and put him out of my mind for the mont.

So, whats the plan in there? I asked.

Do you have sothing that allows you to breathe in a low-oxygen environnt? Gomorrah asked.

Thats a terrifying question to be asked. Can I know why? My helt did have a rebreather. Id used it plenty in the sewers.

Because if there is any oxygen in the tunnels then theres a good chance Ill be using it as fuel.

I crossed my arms. And I cant use explosives?

You have other tricks up your sleeves, and fire doesnt create as much of a problem as your bombs would, Gomorrah said.

The door at the bottom of the little stairway was a thick tal thing, with big steel bars holding it in place. It took so effort to twist the handle around to unlock it. Then Gomorrah put her shoulder into opening the door and it swung open onto a tight corridor. Cent walls with ducts above and a large pipe fixed to the wall by rusty brackets. It had once been covered by so sort of cloth wrapping, but age had made it sag and rot off.

Nice place, I muttered as I stepped in behind Gomorrah. I swept my gun over space behind us, just in case, then turned back around towards where Gomorrah was facing.

Not very flammable, Gomorrah said.

Is that a good thing, or not?

Its good in this case, she said. Co on, Ill take point for once.

We started down the tunnel until we ca to an intersection. Paul had failed to ntion that the basent was basically a rats nest of narrow passages. I had expected it to be more like... a few rooms connected together by so corridors. But it seed as though the basent was more of an accessway for machines and stuff that wasnt around anymore.

A little ways in we arrived at a large room. There were old crates up against the wall and a loading area at the far end.

I glanced around and dismissed all of that in favour of staring into the floor. We had to go down a couple of steps to get to the ground, steps which disappeared under a layer of black, motionless water.

Bet it slls wonderful down here, I muttered.

Movent, Gomorrah said.

I snapped my head up and looked. I couldnt see anything at first, not until I noticed the ripples in the water.

They ca from a stack of crates in the middle of the room. Old wooden boxes with mould growing up their sides. And right there on top of them was what looked like a pile of rags.

Thats a model nine, I said. I could see its little beady eyes between two folds. The little shit was waiting for us.

It is, Gomorrah said. This isnt a stealth mission though. She raised her flathrower, and I winced back as a jet of high-pressure liquid fire roared out of the gun and onto the model nine and the crates beneath.

The rotting old wood might have been damp, but that didnt save it from Gomorrahs wrath.

The entire room, as big as it was, turned into an oven in the ti it took to blink. The water on the surface bubbled and hissed, steam rose into the air, pulled into the gushing flas, then disappeared with a squeal.

The crate and the alien on it didnt exist three seconds after Gomorrah opened up on them. She pulled her finger off the trigger, and a single burning corner of the wooden box--still on fire--flopped into the water with a hissing splash.

Do you see any others? she asked.

Are you going to do that to all of them? I asked. Next ti I got a suit, I was getting one with better temperature controls. It was beyond uncomfortable in here. Might as well dry off the floor while youre here.

Gomorrah took that suggestion to heart, and soon the flathrower was being swept left-to-right across the floor. The water in the room rushed back from the flas but whenever Gomorrah moved the water would pour right back into the void. The air was filled with a foggy steam by the ti Gomorrah gave up.

I think the entire basent is filled, she said. I might run out of fuel before it runs out of water.

Then well be getting our ankles wet, I said. Well live. Though Im worried that the antithesis will have invented so sort of ankle-biting fish-thing just to fuck with .

Arent cats supposed to like fish? Gomorrah asked.

Now whos being snarky, I muttered.

We started splashing our way across the room, on the lookout for the next alien to burn.

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