Bringing in more samurai does not always constitute the quick resolution to a problem. In most cases the opposite has been observed. Most samurai have strong personalities and don’t like to be ordered about by other people, resulting in explosive results when samurai try to solve problems together.

  To combat this problem we suggest to leave at least 2.3 kilometres between samurai operating in the same area.

  –Nachtw?chternetzwerk on continued cooperation between different samurai entities.

  Inconclusive. Such a stupid word. What does it even mean, inconclusive, like unsure, how can you be unsure about DNA? I know the body was pretty broken, but still, I would expect Samurai technology to at least give a decent amount of crity about who the body actually belongs to. The thought keeps swirling about in my head as I walk the halls of one of the biggest convention halls of Zürich, heading to our meeting.

  “Boop, got your nose!”

  I look up to see who it is that spoke to me, only to see a beautiful fox girl with white hair and a fluffy tail. She is wearing some kind of military-looking armour and is looking at me with concern.

  “Luna, hey, it's been a while.” I try my best to smile at her.

  “For sure. I need to show up on one of your streams again, one of these days. Now, what’s all this talk I hear about you joining a mercenary company? PsyCo, was it? It’s an… interesting idea at least.” she smiles, but her eyes still are filled with concern. “Are you okay? You look worried.”

  I sigh. I guess I really can't hide it. “It is just that Maniac has disappeared, and I can’t find her. The only thing we found was a body, but once we ran some tests at the b, the results were inconclusive. I really want to know what happened, if only to give my girlfriend some peace of mind.”

  “We will come back to you finally asking her out.” she gives me a wink, before her face turns serious and her ears point ahead, attentively. “In what way is the result inconclusive?”

  I blush slightly “The DNA is mostly a match, but there are certain parts that don't match up. But you know, the parts that don’t match up can be expined by Samurai gene editing she has done since st time we could take a sample.”

  “But you think this is incorrect?” Luna asks curiously.

  “Well, yeah, she does not seem like the type. I don’t think she has many reasons to edit her genes. Like she doesn’t exactly strike me as trans, for example.”

  “She could have done something to strengthen herself, right?”

  “Yeah, but she seems more into the cybernetic aspect. I think she would rather repce her flesh than make it stronger through chemicals, so to say.”

  Luna’s ears move to the side, and her tail slowly starts swaying behind her. “So it is unlikely Maniac did any genetic alteration. How about other people who would closely match her DNA? Any parents or siblings, or some freak coincidence?”

  I shake my head, “The closest on file are her direct family, but they have all been dead for a while now, so unlikely. And she is rather unique in her look, so coincidence seems unlikely.”

  “How so?” she asks, raising her eyebrows.

  “She has golden eyes, and there are not many people with that particur trait.”

  Luna tilted her head in thought. “So to summarise, you have a body that looks like her, and that is most likely her, if not for some inconsistencies in her DNA stemming from genetic editing, which she is unlikely to do.”

  I nod.

  .“Any chance the body does belong to her and you are looking for any excuse to pretend it can’t?”

  “It’s not like that, and from what most people know, she is dead; that is why I put out the kill order for anyone who would openly wear her garb.”

  I look at Luna, willing her to understand. “It is most likely her, and through some quirk, the inconsistency has formed; it is just something tells me that is not correct.”

  Luna raises an eyebrow “And you still sent a kill order, because… ?”

  “Well, you know, people were still using Maniac’s reputation to commit crime, and if she was still out there and wanted me to stop, she would have sent me a message, she is smart enough for that at least.” I try my best not to think about how broken both Cierra and Cire had looked when they had received the news.

  Luna slowly walks closer and pulls me into a hug. “It's hard losing a friend. Especially a fellow Vanguard. If you need anything, you can always call me.”

  I return the hug. “Thank you, Luna. This job is dangerous, and I’m here today to hopefully help others not die.”

  She lets me go, keeping her hands on my shoulders for a bit as she squeezes. “We shouldn’t keep everyone waiting, then, should we?”

  I nod, “Yeah, let's go.”

  We walk the rest of the way to the meeting together, while keeping the conversation light and discussing the different talking points.

  The meeting room itself is a mess of barely controlled chaos. The dread of having the five Samurai of PsyCo working together pales in comparison. Luckily, most of PsyCo Samurai have very mild personalities, and the one exception, Maniac, seems to be very agreeable.

  So far, there haven’t been any issues. The approximately 150 Samurai in this room is a completely different story, however. I am suddenly very gd Luna is standing behind me. Having an older Samurai around always helps. And that is just the people who showed up. Most groups sent several representatives, but only one or two of them participated in the meeting.

  For us it is the same, with both Cire and Silver Scorpion staying at one of the apartments we have rented ,while I go to the meeting. All in all, there are about 356 samurai in Zürich in total. A metaphorical powder keg ready to explode at any moment.

  No, I needed to look at the positives. At least people showed up in the first pce. Plus, with the amount of manpower and points we invested in the security of this pce, nothing should happen. We have shields, turrets, and even a forcefield underneath the city to block out any attackers from below. At least that was the official story. No one would be stupid enough to attack a city with about 400 Samurai in it. All the shields and force fields were there to contain the explosion when someone inevitably ignited a spark. Not that I hoped it would come to that.

  I look around the room, and there are samurai of all types around here. The Family is here; for some reason, some of their representatives are gring at Luna. Additionally people from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong and the Keiretsu are here, and I can even spot some Valkyries. Besides the normal groups, lots of solo operatives and people from smaller groups are here, like the girl in the corner pying with several raccoons or a clown trying to entertain some stern-looking people from the Nachtw?chternetzwerk.

  The tter of whom are looking at Luna also, presumably for help, but a quick gnce behind me reveals that she either doesn’t see them, or pretends not to see them. And then you have the truly dangerous ones: The Dread Queen, an undead monstrosity, takes up one side of the room, no one daring to get close except for Mother's oldest daughter, Apocalypse, who is happily chatting away with the monstrosity.

  I have a miniature heart attack as I spot Alie Atomica standing next to a burly guy, the small Russian girl not attracting that much attention for the amount of danger that she poses. All those dangerous and great people, I am supposed to talk to. No biggie. I guess I do talk for a living, so this should not be impossible. I feel a hand on my shoulder and once more turn around, to see Luna giving me an encouraging nod.

  I am also a pretty old samurai, so that should give me at least some respect, right? I mean, I might not be as powerful. spending a lot of points on streaming and helping out newer samurai. I clear my throat, activating my microphone and my directional sound amplification audio set up.

  “Hello, everyone, I am so gd that everyone could make it.”

  Some of the people grunt in assent while others just gre at me, upset that I interrupted their conversation.

  Well, we don’t have all day to muck about and socialise. The faster we get this done, the faster we can all leave this pce before something serious goes wrong and the whole city explodes.

  “Okay, the first talking point is the distribution of samurai equipment, especially to corporate entities that don’t always have the best interests in mind.”

  One of the Chinese samurai scoffs at me. “Oh yeah, so now you are going to determine who we should hand our guns to. I am sorry to say this, but that is not happening. We need to supply our countrymen so that they can take care of themself.”

  I nod, “I was not really talking about guns, though I would like those to be monitored as well, but I also understand that that is not always possible.”

  I reach into my pocket, taking out the chip and putting it on the table, or rather on some kind of hovering device allowing it to float a bit above the table in clear view of everyone.

  “What I am talking about is things like this. Chips that can control somebody's body and mind completely, making them a prisoner in their own body.”

  The man who had spoken up frowns at me but does not eborate further. Instead, the Dread Queen walks forward, a bony hand reaching out and grabbing the chip. With a voice like the scratching of a chalkboard, she speaks.

  “This little thingie subsumes someone's nervous system, completely taking it over. The victims have no choice but to watch as someone else pilots their body. Nasty piece of tech.”

  “Isn’t your technology the same?” Apocalypse says in a chipper voice as she leans in closer, the samurai close by getting out of her way.

  “No.” the Dread Queen says, disappointment fshing on the zombie's face “Unlike my technology, this thing requires their victims to be alive. It parasitises their nervous systems, and without that, it would not work. In comparison, my technology only works on dead bodies.”

  “I see,” the girl says with a small nod. “Then I am in agreement with Miss Sparkles. Using this kind of stuff is already questionable, but selling this to the corporations should be outright banned.”

  “What and your freakshow of a family is going to enforce it?”A voice yells in the back, but it is hard to identify the original speaker.

  Apocalypse visibly stiffens and grinds her teeth. “First of all, my family members are not freaks, they're people with hopes and dreams just like the rest of you.” she hisses out “Secondly, what if we are? Are you going to stop my mother?”

  “Ptinum Saviour, calm down, please,” Luna speaks up. “I am in agreement that these should be banned, and all copies out there should be destroyed. There is no reason to pick a fight over people agreeing that svery is bad.”

  “We agree as well.” a woman from the Nachtw?chter Netzwerk speaks up. I think her name is Night Ranger, but I am not sure. With their assent, more people speak up and agree as well.

  When nobody else speaks up, I continue.

  “This is the only item that PsyCo wants to ban. If any of you have any items that you want to also have put on that list, please speak out. Now is your chance!”

  As I wait for someone to speak up, I notice something on the external cameras: one of the buildings a few blocks away has exploded and is burning, and towering fmes are going everywhere.

  Suddenly, the entire floor shakes as buildings start to shift and colpse. I summon my armour while at the same time checking the external devices, noticing that the shield underneath the city is gone and that most of the city has started to fall. In the few seconds I have left, I decide to create a shield around me and one of the raccoons that was standing at my feet.

  The building that we are in drops several meters. The structure only survives because of the quantity of defensive measures that have been taken to ensure its safety. As I check around the room to see if everyone is okay, a message pops up in my vision.

  incursion detected