What I propose is to interview as many Samurai as possible what have confirmed or even suspected alien racial technology about said race, so that we can make unique marketable merchandise based on actual aliens!
-Approved proposal from Nimbletainment R&D, that was soon shut down after Samurai Red Menace was antagonized about her tail.
There was an interesting fact I learned about the antithesis from the one catalog I have about them. While they have preferred form and types and patterns, those forms can have myriad variants with even more specialized upgrades.
In the tower where I awakened, I saw a thin Five with more potent toxins and long ranged Nines which was not the norm.
So while I won't say I was surprised to see a different variant in this hive structure, I am surprised to see plants wearing metal armor. The armor was form fitting, covering joints and the normally obvious weak spots, even reinforcing the eyes. When Phantom went to slice into the leg of a Twenty Three, their reaction betrayed their surprise and annoyance at the fact that their blade didn't slice as deeply as they hoped.
Now, I could chalk that up to this being their first Twenty Model and not knowing how stupidly dense their legs are, but then I felt the feedback from Leman that gave me pause.
“These things are about sixty percent denser than normal, General. “ He growled, arm deep in the skull of a different Twenty Three.
Sixty percent denser, shit that's a hell of an upgrade. I relay that to everyone, then Blizzard steps forward. “How affected by temperature are your swarms?”
I checked the packet Morrigan set up for me about the different stresses they could survive. “Unless your planning on dropping the temp in here to below seventy five degress…. Kelvin? Then they will be fine.” I say. The fuck was Kelvin, Morrigan?
Blizzard nodded. “That's a good buffer.” She says as she approaches the front line, two sprayers in hand.
She stands next to Vulkan as he slams his hammer down and a blade of plasma cuts across the hoard, and opens fire. Or, I suppose she opens cold?
That was bad, Victor. You deserve to know that. The phrase you are looking for is ‘then she steals the heat.’
I would roll my eyes at her, but they cannot move at the speed of thought. Synaptic releases my perception as two streams of deep blue vapor sprays through the tunnel. Instantly I could feel the chill on my armor, the readout rapidly dropping from the ninety degrees Fahrenheit to below zero in seconds, stabilizing at negative two hundred and fifty degrees! The antithesis slowed considerably as the water within them probably flash froze.
Then one of Leman's wolves bit into a thick Model Five, and the area where its thermal fangs bit shattered. Metal shards spraying everywhere, bouncing off and breaking down further upon the wolf's fur.
“Heavens, woman! Warn a man when you plan on freezing the tunnel like that! I didn't have my face mask on! What would you have done if my nose froze off?” Herlock shouts. Blizzard does not respond.
We proceeded at a steady pace through the tunnel, making it to the bend after ten minutes of slogging through the semi frozen plants.
Then Outsider made a chilling announcement. “It is a good thing Madam Blizzard forced you all to put on a mask. I am detecting an airborne toxin that the dead antithesis are releasing. The concentration is not lethal as of yet, freezing it did wonders, but I calculate that in twenty four more minutes it would be lethal to any normal human and be capable of corroding most Class 0 metals.”
“Saints alive!” Hunter exclaims, then he turns to me. I see his mask is a relatively normal looking gas mask. “Games, may I run back to your shuttle to change into more protective clothing? This outfit is not environmentally sealed.”
I nod and he runs back, followed by Herlock.
“Your name is Outsider, correct? Can you formulate a countermeasure for the toxin?” Blizzard asks, spraying a bit more blue into the tunnel.
“Not at this time. Morrigan has my sensory data and is working on it. The biggest potential problem is that if this concentration becomes too high, it will be able to affect Class I or II materials.”
“Shit. Could you forward this to the other teams? They need to be made aware if they are not already.”
Outsider nods, and I look up. “What's to stop us from creating vents in the area straight up? It would give my shuttles an easier and shorter trip, while also lowering the concentration in the air.?” I ask.
“I could think of a few reasons, such as it won't degrade over time without a neutralizing agent, which would make cleaning up a nightmare.” Blizzard says.
Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
“Alright, scratch that idea. Synaptic, could we purchase a neutralizing agent?”
There are a few things that would work, however you do not have the Catalogs for them, while Vanguard Herlock Sholms does. In fact, to speed up Morrigan’s research, I would recommend unlocking Class II Chemical Engineering, as having a steady stream of the agent would be more cost effective than buying it every thirty minutes.
“I just finished speaking with Fleming. He is interested in the toxin, and is on his way over now to investigate it. If he, Herlock, and Morrigan work together, they should be able to produce a countermeasure much faster.” Blizzard says.
Unlocked Class II Chemical Engineering
Points reduced to 44570
Tokens reduced to 0
“You catch all that, Herlock?” I shout towards the shuttle.
“Yes, that I did.” He responded.
As he returned, I saw that the only thing that changed on his outfit was a backpack that seemed to be generating a repulsion field. Big Game Hunter returned with a much more modern-looking suit of safari-looking gear. Skintight off white body suit with a clear face mask, a heavy jacket and pants that were no longer heavily padded, and heavy combat boots.
“I must say, those Catalogs of yours are something wonderful, Games. The nanite customization is something I don't think I could do without going forward. Plus, dimensional storage pockets! By the Saints I cannot wait to see what I can do to upgrade King!” Hunter said, the smile on his face filled with glee.
He rushed to the front with his punt gun that had a conspicuous glow running down the edge of it.
“I must concur, my good fellow! I spent the rest of my points after this pack to get that mobile chemical lab, and I must say I cannot wait to test it out with this assistant of yours, Morrigan! She has such a wonderfully inquisitive mind, she has sent me dozens of formuli that we cannot wait to test!” Herlock exclaimed, a hose running from his satchel onto a gauntlet on his arm.
I hear a unique sound from the front line. It reminds me of a plasma discharge but bassier? A bit more reverb, maybe. I then hear Hunter laugh loudly from down the tunnel.
I turn away from Herlock, “Have fun with Morrigan, I guess.” I say, making my way to the front.
I saw that we had advanced a bit further down, and that the corpses of the antithesis were more often than not in various stages of being shattered and frozen. I see lines of Collection swarms disassembling them at a consistent, noticeable pace. They were doing a good job keeping the hallway clear, as well.
I then notice some movement through the walls, some four hundred feet to the left and slowly closing in on our position. The only reason I see them is because of Outsider diffusing her eyes everywhere.
They glowed, outlined in red. I saw massive Model Twenty Eight digging its way towards me with a line of Fifteens and heavy Fives. I lined up the coil gun on the Twenty Eight and fired.
The recoil of the gun was heavy. The Iron River that fired hundreds of rounds a minute was nowhere near this heavy. I was almost pushed back a step as I didn't brace well enough. The projectile burrowed through the wall, melting it slightly through friction alone. Then, it stopped in the wall one hundred feet from the Twenty Three, exploding thereafter.
I hear a light giggle from Synaptic, then a new targeting software activated on my augs. It showed the Twenty Eight was outside of my effective range, and would enter in two minutes. I decide to ignore it as I fire straight down the same hole, braced better.
This time, the projectile made it to the flank of the tunneling antithesis instead of the head I aimed for before. I saw the outline of it shift as a leg fell off, slowing it down. But it still dug forward.
So, I adjusted my aim and fired twice in rapid succession, and this time I nailed the head of the Twenty Eight. I see its outline stop moving, then the other antithesis turn around and move out of range of Outsider.
I nod to myself, then turn as I see Blizzard looking right at me. I could, once again, feel the question in the air. “A Model Twenty Eight was tunneling towards us, so I shot it.”
She nods, then turns down the hallway, blasting it with more ice liquid.
We descended another two hundred feet, I occasionally blasting through the walls and floor at tunnelers, when we were joined by Fleming. He pulled Herlock away from the front and to the shuttle, where I felt them enter a subsection on my network, one reserved by Morrogan. The toxin they were working to neutralize was now slightly visible in the air, but only noticeable because of Outsider.
Another twenty minutes passed as we descended, and I was now firing into the walls at a constant rate. Each tunnel was now being dug by the far faster Fourteens, and each required two shots to kill due to how their bodies functioned. The main tunnel was constantly being filled with Fives and Sixes, with Fifteens peppering our line from behind the larger antithesis hoard.
Phantom had to step back from the front line and snipe them, as while Rogal could block the quills, Jim was being blocked by our front lines, unable to fire without hitting our allies. And the toxins thickened to the point that the damage was being registered on Rogal's shields. It was not enough to overwhelm the regeneration, but he calculated that in another twelve minutes, it would equalize with the regeneration, then soon be outpaced.
“We've run into a snag. This isn't a toxin, but microbes, each feeding off of each other to produce a toxin. The more they are, the stronger the toxin. A neutralizing agent would be overwhelmed after a minute and need to be reinforced, so we are working on something else. Hold on for a bit longer.” She said.
“Status report.” Blizzard said through comms, she heard what Morrigan said, obviously.
“I'm holding up well enough, upgraded King to have better defenses and bought that backpack Herlock has. It will push back the toxin, but if it's microbes in the air, they will eventually push through due to sheer mass.” Hunter said.
Spooky here. Similar situation.
“The shields will hold for another eleven minutes.” I say.
“Right. In six minutes, everyone fall back to the shuttles. Once everyone is loaded, War Games, fire a missile into the tunnel. That should clear things up for us and give the others more time to make something.” Blizzard ordered.
And so we held the line, pulling back slowly towards the shuttles as I pulled them forward.
At the six minute mark, everyone was loaded up after the shuttles purged themselves of the microbes. The ramp was sealed, and I fired a missile down the tunnel as a few Fourteens burst through the walls. The effect was instant. Hundreds of antithesis crushed, from Threes to Twenty Threes, the microbes as well. Then, the tunnel I fired into collapsed.