You’re almost always going to see one of two types of interpersonal relationships when it comes to Samurai in the Wastes.

  Either they are as thick as thieves and are steadfast allies against anything that attacks them, e.g the various members of the Indianapolis Magical Girl Team.

  Or they will attack each other at the slightest provocation, e.g, Shadowtag and Split-hair.

  The quickest way to smooth disagreements over in most cases is to dangle the promise of killing antithesis in front of them.

  -Excerpt from Cleanze PMC Group Samurai Field Guide, 2057

  I cursed the presence of my helmet. How am I supposed to pinch the bridge of my nose with this thing on?

  Making do with a shake of my head I muttered, “I’m too goddess damned tired for this right now.”

  “I’m sorry?” SkyFire asked.

  “You’re late, and I’ve been on my feet making sure my family is completely wiped out all day- well night now I’d guess. You should’ve been here like four hours ago. Naturally this makes a girl pretty damn fucking tired.” I shoved my way past the trio, “The whole place is a giant hive network, and I want it destroyed as fast as possible so I can go home and sleep.”

  CryoFlare bristled, “Listen here kid, we came here to pull your ass out of the fire. The least you could do is not be an asshole.”

  I stopped walking, doing my best to hold back the rising flame of anger in my chest. “First off, I’m twenty. Using biotech to shave a foot of height works wonders.”

  It was more like four inches, and your future ears will make up for that lost height and then some.

  “That’s not the point Pyri!” I snapped, then shakily took a breath. “Also, like I said, you’re all late. By road Indy is around forty-five minutes away, by air it's even faster. While the points were nice, facing down a Seventeen alone in a zombified pig herd very much so wasn’t.”

  A large glove came down on my shoulder and turned me around. “Listen, you have every right to be angry. We weren’t here when we should’ve been-“

  “Sky you can’t be-“

  “Flare, we absolutely should have been here! The rookie somehow fought a Seventeen and didn’t end up dead.” She looked down at me, “That said, please tone it down a bit. We still want to help take this hive out.”

  “Fine.” I sighed, “I’m also dealing with a bit of bias against you to begin with. Bias not earned from what Pyri seems to think.”

  I took the time to actually look at the trio.

  SkyFire was around my old height of five foot nine and wearing what seemed to be gear more suited to a fireman rather than a Sam with the jacket, helmet, and various tools strapped to her. She seemed to also be sizing me up with her pretty bright green eyes shining behind the transparent mask she wore, and a strand of bleached white hair was sticking out the top. Finally, a large smooth lizard tail trailed behind her, calmly in place despite the tense situation.

  Next up was the Sam who had yet to say anything yet; InqueAbyss was wearing a black and white jester suit with an expressionless mask staring right at me with somewhat unsettlingly empty round eyeholes. Xeir left arm was warped into a blade that looked like it was made of dirty oil, thin ribbons of color slowly moving through the material.

  Finally, dressed in a parka was CryoFlare, who had a long tube shaped weapon with frost coating the area around the muzzle slung over her shoulder. Unlike the other two she was completely maskless with her red hair swept back into a tight bun. Her eyes were a dark green, as opposed to SkyFire’s glimmering irises. Her skin was pale to the point it almost seemed to be blushing blue rather than pink. Besides her hair, the only red on her body came from a smattering of freckles on her face. She was glaring at me like I pissed in her cereal.

  Realizing I had gone quiet for a bit, I continued:

  “She also said something about how you all didn’t know about the smear campaign happening against y’all out here?”

  Sky looked a bit sheepish, “Nah, we know about it. The Family keeps telling us its a problem that needs resolved, but uhhhhhh-“

  “We’re busy, and dealing with it would be tedious.” Inque cut in with a slightly warbly voice. “Speaking of tedium, I stream most of our missions. I haven’t done anything yet out of your family’s privacy, but do you mind being streamed now?”

  I blinked.

  “I’m sorry what?”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Don’t worry about it.” SkyFire assured me. “Prob’ best to leave it alone, Inque!”

  Xey sent a thumbs up in response.

  Sky turned back to me and motioned down the tunnel. “Let’s get moving. Don’t want the plants getting impatient.”

  I nodded while ignoring CryoFlare’s declarations about ‘finally getting some action’, “Sure, also is it really okay to stream Sam combat? Like, isn’t there some sort of secret squirrel stuff xey need to be careful about?”

  She looked back at me with a curious look on her face. “Not a bad question, for our stuff xeir AI automatically prunes it. As for others, it’s a pretty bad idea to do that sort of thing to other Sams without consent, let alone it being a shitty thing to do without consent to begin with.”

  “Also, how did you know about Inque’s pronouns?”

  I blushed beneath my helmet, “I may have despised your group before I got Pyri stuck in my head this morning, but I ain’t no transmisic fuckwit, especially considering it would make me a hypocrite.”

  Sky’s eyebrows went up as Cryo burst out laughing. “Um. I’m guessing that was an unintentional revelation?”

  I thought over what I said for a moment before slapping the front of my helmet, “Not again…”

  Inque giggled quietly as xey passed me, “Don’t worry about it, none of us will attack you for your identity. What are your name and pronouns? Or at least your Sam name anyways.”

  “Uhhhhhh, thanks, and I don’t have a Sam name yet, but y’all can call me Spark and I go by she/her pronouns.”

  “Alright then Spark,” Cryo cut in, “What can you do? Gotta follow the naming tradition after all.”

  I looked to Sky for help, “It’s tradition for senior Sams to give the newbies their names. You can decline a name idea, or name yourself though.”

  With a nod I gestured to my back, “I’m mainly doing stuff with electricity, and I plan on learning how to build my own weapons. I also plan on eventually trying to implement an idea I had a few years ago.”

  “Go on.”

  I looked down at the ground, “Well, uhm. It's about using a Sam’s ecological catalogues to create food forests designed to repel antithesis and fight global pollution and climate change, but primarily provide food to the less fortunate.”

  “A noble goal. And no Cryo, you can’t ask her for corn chip trees.”

  The sound of grumbling behind me brought an impish smile to my face.

  Finally reaching the intersection, we came to a halt.

  “Okay Spark,” Sky prompted, “Where to next?”

  I pointed down the tunnel to the immediate right. “Well, judging by the direction the roots are pumping fluid, I’d say this way”

  “Not bad, also we’re splitting the points ten percent for us three, ninety for you.”

  “Huh?”

  “It's how the AI encourage teamwork!” Cryo shouted from the center of the ash pit… that she was currently playing in. “The basic formula is to add a five percent bonus for the number of participating Sams and then split evenly, but if everyone agrees we get to modify that split.”

  Inque picked the explanation up from there. “And since you’re still brand new to this, we’re giving you a nice jumpstart."

  “I- uhhhh, thanks?”

  Sky clapped my shoulder, “Don’t mention it. Wouldn’t be very supportive of us if we took all the points for ourselves would it?” She motioned forward, “Why don’t you take first crack at the upcoming crowd? Give us an idea of what you can do.”

  I nodded as I met her eyes, only to be snapped out of it by CryoFlare. “C’mon newbie, time’s a tickin’, and I’d rather not have to give you drugs to stop you from crashing. Sky! Some info would be nice right about now!”

  Sky’s axe disappeared right before a bulky piece of equipment dropped into Sky’s arms from nowhere, purple smoke wafting off it. “Gimme a few moments to get a proper scan in before you start fighting.”

  Stepping forward I raised my Trench Stormer, “Before it becomes relevant, how resistant are y’all to electricity?”

  “I’m completely immune due to my nature,” Inque replied, “Sky has decent protection in her fire jacket, and Cryo-“

  “-has nothing.” Cryo finished. “How likely is it that you will shock us?”

  “On purpose? Zero.” I said as I began walking down the tunnel, “But electricity tends to have a mind of its own at the best of times. You might want to get some protection just in case.”

  “Ah I see how it is,” Cryo drawled, “You want to see me in a skintight bodysuit, don’t you?”

  I turned to stare at her, taken completely aback. “You- I- No!”

  She only smiled in response.

  “Ignore her,” Inque sighed, “She’s just being a bit of a pest today.”

  Nodding slowly, I resumed walking forward towards another sharp corner a few dozen feet down the tunnel.

  Vanguard SkyFire is sending a data stream created by her Biotracker to you, would you like for me to implement the info into your HUD?

  ‘Do it.”

  My vision was soon filled with little hollow reddish-orange triangles. Most of them were lurking just around the bend clearly lying in wait for an ambush.

  There unfortunately isn’t info about Model type, the tracker being used isn’t a high enough Class for that feature.

  ‘No problem, makes it more fun anyway.’

  Coming to a stop just a few feet away from the turn, I pulled a grenade from my pouch and went to throw it until a hand clamped down on my throwing arm..

  “Are you out of your mind?” Cryo hissed.

  “It’s an electrical grenade, not any kind of explosive you ding-dong” I snapped while wrenching my arm out of her grip. I took a quick breath before winding up and throwing the ‘nade without interruption. It bounced off the wall and around the corner before detonating,the slight glow of the electricity peeking around the corner.

  I walked forward shotgun raised and rounded the corner to find a small horde of Model Nines dead on the ground with a group of Fours starting to rush towards me. I felt a grin pulling at my lips as I fired multiple webs of electricity down the tunnel. The horde folded against the pressure almost instantly.

  I turned back towards the trio, “Tunnel’s clear.”

  Inque stepped past me and began slashing apart corpses with that weird arm sword. “I’ll take point as usual I guess, please don’t shoot me.”

  Cryo had a feral grin on her face no doubt reflected under my mask. “Newbie, you’re gonna be a lot of fun to work with.”

  I shrugged, “Sounds good, seems like it’s y’alls turn to show off your stuff now.”