So, an incursion, Samurai Woodland Sasquatch Wraith, and now tornadoes and fires. R.I.P. New Pittsburgh.
No one say anything.
It's not so bad yet.
NO ONE SAY ANYTHING.
"It's not so bad yet." HOW COULD IT POSSIBILY GET WORSE?
WHAT PART OF NO ONE SAY ANYTHING DID YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?
The Demon Murphy has been summoned... AGAIN. LMAO.
R.I.P New Pittsburgh
The Army hasn't shown up yet.
No one has seen what Steampunk Shotgun Sally can do yet.
DAMN IT. WHAT PART OF NO ONE SAY ANYTHING DID NONE OF YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND?!
#DemonMurpyR.I.P.NewPittsburgh 2056
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STEAMPUNK SHOTGUN SALLY
While Woodland, Mara, and Reckoner were busy discussing how to deal with the model 7s, I was having a crisis of conscience. Haley had just had one hell of a traumatic experience, and now she wasn't going to have her mother there, to tuck her in or hug her as she cried. Worse, she could get thrown in an orphanage where they MIGHT make sure she gets three meals a day if she was lucky. I called my parents.
"MOM! I need to Haley make sure care of" I was panicking, not good.
"Eliza! Honey, what's wrong?"
"HALEY need safe"
"Eliza, honey, you're not making sense. What's wrong?" as it was a video call, I could she was crying.
"Helena, Elizabeth, just take some deep breaths, okay?" I did as Lynn asked.
"Now Elizabeth dear, just keep breathing and tell me what's bothering you."
"I want to adopt Haley, to make sure she's taken care of and safe."
"I understand, but that's not going to work."
"What? Why? I'm a Samurai, who could keep her safer?"
"Yes, you could keep her safer than most anybody else, when you're around. But who's going to watch after her when you're out on a mission? Who's going to be there when she wakes screaming in the middle of the night because of nightmares, while you are away destroying a hive? It's not going to work the way you want it to BECAUSE you are a Samurai." Lynn was right.
"What can I do then?"
"You can be here for her when you're not on a mission."
"That can't happen if she's sent to a random orphanage."
"Just because you can't adopt her doesn't mean George and I can't or-"
"REALLY?! You would do that?"
"Yes, I'd do that." she said, with a lopsided smile
"THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THAN-"
"You're welcome. Now, aren't you supposed to be keeping my son from being reckless?" I could see Lynn was trying hard not to laugh. I blushed.
"OHHH. You're right! Sorry and thank you." As I ended the call, I felt like everything was right in the world even if it wasn't.
WRAITH
"So, you're saying opening the damn door and shooting everything won't work?"
It would work, but only against the 7s that have hosts already. The 7s still in their natural form would be able to hide amongst the corpses until you left, then they'd be free to leave and take over humans elsewhere. Even if you collapsed the building after shooting everything, some would survive.
"You said that they entered the shelter through the air vents. Couldn't we do the same? Just chuck a grenade filled with gas that's lethal to antithesis in the vents and be done with it." Sally said, when she rejoined the discussion.
Honestly, I couldn't figure her out sometimes. Going to pieces over Haley. I mean, shit, all we had to do is ask either her parents or mine to look after Haley. Then to turn around and come up with an obvious fucking solution to our current problem, that has been staring us in the god damn face and didn't see. Sometimes I wish women came with a manual. Not that I'd actually read it, cause, according to granddad, real men don't need manuals. They figure shit out for themselves. Granddad's teachings had kept me alive so far.
"Sally, if I wasn't wearing power armor I'd kiss you." I said, and she smacked me, then held her injured hand, while glaring at me as if it was my fault she'd hurt her hand.
We climbed all over the damn shelter stuffing a grenade or two down every air intake vent that we found, depending on the size of the vent, to maximize the amount of gas getting sucked into the shelter. We waited for a few minutes until Mara and Reckoner confirmed that all life signs in the shelter had disappeared. We had been hoping that some of the people inside hadn't been fully taken over. Mara and Reckoner had informed us, that if there had been some inside who the 7s hadn't had full control over, when the fucking 7s died, we would have been able to save them. Okay, truthfully, we were hoping for one specific person, and any others would have been a nice bonus. The next step was opening the damned door and planting charges to collapse the shelter so the antis couldn't drag the dead away to feed the fucking hive. That went quickly.
With the point's we earned from killing two thousand plus 7s, Sally bought a pair of green armored opera gloves. I finally bought a rifle that I could use with the power armor, and an upgrade that would allow me to see behind me in areas that didn't have camera surveillance, and some sensors that would allow me to do the same while in the power armor. So far, I had no reason to need either, but better to have and not need than the other way around. Sally also bought an upgrade to her goggles that would let her see in total darkness. She had read many stories in the media, of Samurai needing to enter caves, tunnels, and even sewers, to kill hives.
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As we made our way down the street, we had to stop and stare at a fucking tornado that just stayed in one place. Beyond that there was a skyscraper fully engulfed in flames but none of the buildings around it were catching fire. I looked at Sally to see her looking at me. I shrugged and started down to road to our left. We really didn't have time to deal with whatever the hell that mess was. We stopped about half a block later and watched, as a shitload of 3s, 4s, a 5, and a couple of 6s poured out a building on the next block.
We took some time to discuss how to deal with the problem that had just presented itself to us. She would shoot a 6 with her blunderbuss in rifle mode while I took out the damned 5. She would then switch to shotgun mode to start dealing with the shit storm of 3s and 4s. I would deal with the remaining fucking 6 then switch to my smg to help finish off any remaining 3s and 4s. She could switch firing modes faster than I could switch weapons. On a countdown we fired at the same time.
I might be just a little jealous of her blunderbuss. One second there was a 6, the next it was raining fucking green goo. I mean I was able to drop the 5 in one shot as well, but there was just a corpse and no rain of green goo. I lined up a shot on the remaining 6 and fired, dropping it. As its corpse hit the ground, she fired into the crowd of 3s and 4s. Holy Fucking Shit. Is it too late for me to get my own god damned blunderbuss? The 3s and 4s were shredded like a roll of toilet paper a damned cat had gotten ahold of. I switched to my smg like the plan called for, but there was nothing left to fucking shoot.
We cautiously approached the hole in the wall that the damned antis had flooded out of.
STEAMPUNK SHOTGUN SALLY
Reckoner had assured me that my blunderbuss would be effective against 5s and 6s in rifle mode, and shotgun mode would be sufficient against groups of 3s and 4s. Reckoner might be the king of understatement. As we approached the aftermath of our fight. Woodland spoke up.
"Sally, turn off your stealth. People already fucking know my name and what the hell I'm capable of. There are several god damned surveillance drones focused on this area. I want you to take the credit."
"Woodland, two of these kills are yours though."
For some reason he started laughing.
"You're right, but I want you to deactivate stealth first."
I did as he as he had suggested. While he dragged the corpse of the 5 over to the 6, sat down on it and deactivated his own stealth. I realized that he had done that to claim his two kills.
"That should be good enough." He said, then disappeared from everyone else's view. One of the upgrades in Billy's catalogs allowed him to see things that are using stealth, as long as its system of stealth is equal to or of lesser quality than his own. He allowed me to buy it, and spent points on it himself, to ensure that if he got a more sophisticated system than what he currently had, I'd still be able to see him. While stealth was useful to ambush the antis, it wasn't something I'd be using all that much. Most of the things in my catalog were loud and flashy. Some stealth items had been starting to show up recently though.
"Reckoner, are those new items, or did I just not see them before?" I asked.
Reckoner assures you they are new. The Vanguard that created your catalog has discovered some old video games in which you play as steampunk assassins. One has you play a pair of twins, and another has you play as an exiled protector of a princess, and as the princess once she's older. She was so overjoyed when someone started using the catalog she had created, that she decided to look into other steampunk settings and update it and give you more variety.
"Not sure how helpful a blade hidden on my forearm will be helpful against antis, but then some of my enemies are human so better to have and not need, right? Will it work with the gloves I'm currently using?"
Reckoner can tell you that yes, the blade will work with the gloves and the blade is covered in a substance lethal to Antithesis. You can put one in each glove if you wish. A hatch will be added to the gloves that will open when the blade is activated. Reckoner wishes to state that if you wish to go that route, you may want to buy armor in a less eye-catching color.
"Let's get the blades. I'm not actually planning on assassinating anyone, so I'll stick with my current look. If nothing else, it'll give me something to use if I'm somewhere and can't have my obvious weapons." Instead of boxes the blades appeared inside the gloves. It took a minute to get used to the added weight.
"Should I start sleeping with one eye open?" Woodland asked, I slapped him again, this time without hurting my hand. The gloves were worth every point.
We entered the building the antis had come out of.
WRAITH
We took an elevator up to the top floor, and cleared each fucking floor of antis as we descended, using the stairways. I remained in stealth, and Sally remained visible. She complained that I was using her as bait, which wasn't true. I pointed out all the cameras lining the hallways, and pointed out again, that people already knew I was dangerous. The more footage there was of her fucking up the antis, the less anybody would be inclined to fuck with her. She alternated between using her sword and blunderbuss. I really only had something to do on floors she used her sword on. We ran into a damned 8 on one of the floors, one shot from Sally, and three bursts from my smg and it was dead. Did I mention I'm a little jealous of her blunderbuss? We made it to the basement and found a hole in the ground. This led to a discussion about who would take the lead down there.
"You have the power armor you should go first." Liza said.
"The fact I'm in the power armor makes me think you should go first. I don't like the idea of getting hit from a round of your blunderbuss."
"Oh, yeah, I guess it would be difficult to shoot around you. Didn't you just get sensors that allowed you to see behind you as well? So, nothing would be able to ambush us from behind."
"I also happen to be tall enough in it to be able to shoot over your head, should we encounter something your blunderbuss can't one shot."
"Still, I don't like the idea of going first."
"Sally, you can activate stealth before we go down there. There aren't any damn cameras to impress down there."
"OH! In that case, if the antis won't be able to see me, this might be fun."
She activated her stealth, and we proceeded into the hellhole.
The tunnel was wider than I thought it'd be and taller as well. Even being nine feet tall in my armor, there was still a couple of feet between the top of my armor and the ceiling of the tunnel. There was a steady stream of antis coming, not enough to overwhelm us but enough to slow us down considerably. Twenty minutes and we had traveled about a quarter of a mile. At Liza's normal walking pace we'd have been able to cover half a mile during the same time. It was mostly 3s, 4s, and a couple of 6s with a very rare five thrown in. We found out that, while not as effective as rifle mode, the shotgun could cause a 6 to stumble. Did I mention I'm a little jealous of her blunderbuss? Something that did that much fucking damage shouldn't be silent. Mara informed me that any weapons available to me that could do the same would be very loud. Damn Steampunk fuckery.
A group of antis, 3's and 4's around a 6, had come running up the tunnel. Sally fired into the 3s and 4s and some of the pellets reached the 6 causing it to stumble and slow down. I dropped the 6 with my rifle before it recovered. That had been the way we worked. She'd clear out all of the small ones while I took the big ones.
After another hour the tunnel widened, and we found something neither of us could one shot. It had three heads and tentacles. I shot it, Sally shot it, it got close enough that one of its tentacles struck Sally and wrapped around her. She cut herself free with her new blades, as the tentacle was blocking her from getting to her sword. I had put my rifle away and extended my chainsaw blades and tore into the thing and after trimming, some of the tentacles weren't rotting. I was finally able to remove the last head. I looked at Sally. Her posture told me she was upset.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, it's just once you started fighting with those blades there was nothing I could do to help. Do you really need my help down here?" Confused at where this was coming from, I answered honestly.
"Do you think I'd have made it this fucking far, this quickly, without you and your blunderbuss? Or that I'd have been able to fight whatever the hell this thing was the way I did, without the shot you fired and the shit ton of damage you inflicted, with whatever the hell your blades are coated with? We make a great team. You keep the little ones from biting my ankles like crazed, rabid chihuahuas, and I focus on the larger prey." That last bit caused her to chuckle.
"Besides, I have a feeling we'll be needing the louder, flashier items in your catalog soon." I said as Mara told me what the hell we had just fought was, and its god damn purpose.
Steampunk Shotgun Sally
Reckoner wishes to inform you that what you just fought was a model 13, a hive defense model.
"That thing was a thrice damned hive defender?" Maybe Woodland's way of speaking was starting to influence mine.
Yes, it was. Reckoner wishes to state that Woodland Sasquatch Wraith is correct. If you two should happen to find the Hive you have already items available to use to take it out. He would have to purchase the next tier of his explosive catalog and that would require a token.
We walked for maybe half an hour more and the tunnel opened into a... cavern for lack of a better term. It was filled with antis and structures with pods growing off them. We had found a hive. This could be going better.