"Before the antithesis, one of Wisconsin's primary industries was farming, especially dairy cows. Very quickly it turned into a massive feeding ground, and the antithesis very nearly overran the entire state. After the dust, those who survived either fled to other states or congregated in what quickly became the three remaining large settlements in the region - Madison, Milwaukee and Eau Claire."

  — The Modern History of Wisconsin, published by Epic Statecraft in 2040.

  Quinn stood up, dried her tears - apparently she had started crying and hadn’t noticed, and moved towards the door.

  “So, Darling, did you have any particular thoughts as to what direction you wanted to take your burgeoning capabilities?”

  “Yes, I did actually.. “ Quinn stopped, as she realized the conversation nearby had died out and people were staring.

  “Quinn, are you sure okay?” Elliot was there, putting a firm hand on her shoulder. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m fine Elliot, was just having a low moment, Irys talked me out of it”. She moved to gently push past him. If she was going to do this, she needed to keep the positive momentum going, keep herself above water.

  “Okay, I’m here if you want someone else to talk to.” He paused, considering what to say “I uh, understand if you don’t want to talk to me about it though”

  “No, it's okay, just.. Not now. Keeping moving is the best strategy right now” This got a hesitant nod in response. “Anyway, I was actually about to talk to Irys about what to spend my points on, I had some ideas, starting with some way to get something between me and the antithesis.”

  They headed out the door to a wave from Tim while Quinn kept talking.

  “Irys, that catalog I bought that I used to repair Cassie, can it make any.. Alterations?”

  “Actually, yes. I had suspicions you might want to do so, the Yrassian Conclave catalog you already purchased has a number of options for such - what did you have in mind?”

  “I saw the armory as we came in had riot shields - could we weld them to the front of the cockpit? They seem, like, solid enough to stop an antithesis right?”

  “You could indeed, the Class I Adaptive Welding Swarm could do such a modification given the pieces were manually held close enough in place. It would however make it near impossible to see - the monitors and cameras in the office could likely make a rudimentary sensor system system with the additional purchase of a Class I Yrassian Mechanical Adaptation Swarm to perform the appropriate wiring. Usually you’d require a catalog to do the necessary design work, but I can substitute for now with the scan you took earlier.”

  Elliot interjected “You also want a better weapon. The big club thing did some work, but you should buy a gun if you can. What about using a gun through Cassie?”

  Quinn grimaced but thought about it. She’d been fine with the kanabo, she could probably handle a gun as long as she wasn’t technically the one shooting it.. Best not to think too hard about it.

  “I think so, would you have suggestions? You seem.. somewhat familiar with them. What’s up with that by the way?”

  Elliot gave her a wry grin, his sea blue eyes twinkling “Maybe we can swap stories later, but I’d suggest something with lots of ammunition and heavy, might as well make use of the fact you’ve got a mech carrying it.”

  They discussed options a little further as the pair returned to the shelter foyer. The unpleasant pantsuit woman did not appear to be present any more, but the security officers were all still standing around, with one seeming to be specifically hanging out near Cassie in the corner. She caught sight of Officer Jensen talking with a couple of her subordinates near the armory and walked over. Taking a cue from one of her subordinate's eyes wandering, Jensen turned to greet them.

  “Greetings Ma’am, Sir. What can we help you with?”

  “Could we get into the armory, we’d like to borrow a few things.”

  Officer Jensen gave little away with her expression, but there was an edge of uncertainty as she replied. “Of course Ma’am, but if I can be frank - I doubt anything in there can measure up to Sam gear.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Quinn shook her head “I don’t want guns, I was hoping to get a few of the riot shield, how many would I need Irys?”

  “About four would suffice.”

  “Four of them. Oh, and also two monitors and a few cameras from the office.”

  “And two suits of armor?” Elliot piped up.

  Jensen mulled these requests for a minute, before apparently deciding that what the mad samurai got up to was her own business, and turned to apply a retinal scan to the armory while directing another guard to fetch the electronics from the office. Apparently pantsuit had retreated to the office, as soon there was angry ranting about ‘Office Sabotage’ and ‘Talking to upper management after this blows over’ before the guard came out of the office with equipment in arms, pantsuit trailing behind raging about not being respected. She noticed Quinn, screamed in frustration and stormed off towards the dormitories.

  With the various pieces collected together, Quinn relayed Irys’ instructions to fit the four shields together into a two by two grid, and then had two of the officers lift two of the shields at an odd angle while Quinn made her purchases.

  New Purchase: Class I Adaptive Welding Swarm x2

  Points reduced to... 123

  New Purchase: Class I Mechanical Adaption Swarm x2

  Points reduced to... 63

  First was what looked like a small egg with handles on either side. She held it over the riot shields and pulled the handles, and a glob of black liquid glopped out. It immediately started moving on its own, separating into several streams and moving into the gaps between the shields before solidifying, and within ten seconds the shields were fused into a large rectangular plate with a bend in the middle. Next came the cameras and monitors, held in place while Quinn sprayed another handled spray bottle over it all. As she watched, the monitors and cameras were first sealed into place with the same matt black look that some of Cassie’s replaced components now had. Next, thin lines of gold snaked from monitors and up the metal and through to connect to the cameras, before developing a dark purple coating.

  The next step was to buy a weapon, but before that Irys had a question for Quinn

  “So, Darling, you only have 63 points remaining, which is enough to buy a basic weapon catalog and tier 1 weapon. As much as I am loathe to suggest an alternative considering you have yet to acquire any sort of offensive catalog, we could set you up with one more nanite swarm that will act as armor for some of the less.. Covered areas of the mech, and that will allow you a buffer for further purchases in you need them in a hurry. We can still get you something quite effective from the tier zero available given you will not be wielding it personally.”

  That didn’t sound like the worst idea. Being taken down by some model three gnawing on exposed wiring would be a kind of stupid way to go.

  “Yeah, let's do that. By the way, how am I going to get in the mech when we put the cover on, will it be able to swing open?”

  “Oh no darling, we’re going to have to seal you in there.”

  “Wait, WHAT!”

  “The nanites can release at a later time, you will be able to disembark if needed”

  Quinn sheepishly explained to the officers and Elliot what the plan was. This revelation however, seemed to help Elliot make his decision

  “Alright, that settles it, I’m coming with you, Quinn.”

  She gave him an incredulous look.

  “If you’re going to be stuck in Cassie you’ll need someone to do the human sized things, and having someone able to watch your back while you tromp around in the mech will prevent you from getting surrounded.”

  He wasn’t wrong, but. “Elliot, I’m going to be in an armored ish mech, you’d be able to be hurt by near anything.”

  He cut her off “I know, but if you’re risking your life I want to help, and besides, I’ll have a samurai who can patch me up if I get clawed a little bit. I’ll be careful, and we can retreat back here if things get more dangerous for me”.

  Quinn capitulated “Fine, but I’m buying you armor when I can. Irys, can you buy me a heavy weapon you think would work for Cassie to use, and the armor nanites?”

  “Of course”

  New Purchase: Class I Mechanical Armor Swarm x1

  Points reduced to... 33

  New Purchase: Class 0 Raging Tsunami Flechette Thrower

  Points reduced to.. 28

  A gun with what looked like a short barrel, flanked on the top and bottom by the same strange oval like structure of Elliot’s gun in deep blue, with a cylinder shearing into the top of the arch of the bottom oval. Quinn wasn’t sure she could hold the thing in both hands, but thankfully that was what Cassie was for.

  “This is the Raging Tsunami Flechette Thrower, in simpler terms it's an oversized automatic shotgun with 80 drum fed flechette rounds. The recoil is massive and its not really movable by any normal human, but that’s hardly a problem here. Have our assistants here place it under Cassie’s arm, and the Mechanical Adaption Swarm will link it right up!”

  With one of the officers and Elliot helping they got it placed, and another application of the spray set it in place and snaked a wire into the cockpit, where it formed a crude red button on the side of the right joystick. The armor nanites were sprayed onto the mech, and soon small black hexagonal plates were covering a number places where once was bare machinery. Elliot and Quinn both got helped into the security armor, and then finally all that was left was for the set to leverage the plate into position and for Elliot to use the last adaptive welding swarm to seal the plate on. A moment later, the remains of the nanites connected the screens to the mechs battery, and the view from outside Cassie flickered into being in front of Quinn's eyes.

  “Feeling okay in there?” Elliot yelled from right next to her, a little bit painfully.

  “Yes, it's a little bit claustrophobic, but I can hear you just fine still, no need to yell.”

  He gave her a big, obvious thumbs up from in front of the cameras.

  “Looks like it's clear right now” Officer Jenkins supplied “But we've seen activity since you got in. it may get hot quicker than you'd expect, be on your toes Ma'am.”

  Quinn bobbed the cockpit up and down, and with that the vault door hissed and swung open once again, and Quinn, Cassie and Elliot stepped out into the incursion once again.