“Some people think that once the xenos are dealt with shit can just go back to normal. Like damage to infrastructure and the loss of life can be sorted out in quick order. Sure, the Samurai and their fancy ass weaponry saving the day and heading home might make some think the catastrophe is dealt with, but who will rebuild the houses that were damaged, maybe destroyed? Who makes sure water and electricity comes back online? Nah, the real work only starts when the Samurai have made sure people won’t get their faces chewed off by alien invaders. We are the real heroes, the ones who build up that which was destroyed. So maybe next time you yell at some poor sod making sure your water keeps coming, think about that.”

- Interview with Stephen Lamen, Owner and CEO of “Lamen Industrial Services”, 2046

As discussed Chloe and Dominium Fortress took point, fighting their way through the few aliens trying to stop us. Since we were now moving into tunnels with limited space I kept most of my drones outside, only taking Snuffles and my Queen’s Guard with me. Snuffles job was to keep our rear clear of any aliens that managed to get through our defences, while my Queen’s Guard surrounded me and Jenna.

Her Sentinels were too large to follow, so they too stayed at the entrance as well. I had asked her if she didn’t want to stay up there then, considering that she couldn’t help much down here, but she just said she felt safer with us. Which I could understand, I was in the same boat.

The tunnels were relatively straight forward, leading down on a slight incline and not particularly deep. Not long after we started our descent we found a larger cavern that had obviously once been some kind of room of some sort, now dilapidated and run down. In the middle of it was a large pool with some disgusting looking viscous liquid inside.

“Digestion Pools,” Shrapnel explained, “The antithesis uses them to dissolve the biomass they find.”

I perked up, “Hey Kaysa,” I asked aloud, “If I throw a drone in there with the same biology of the Rose, would it hurt the hive?”

To a degree, yes. It would at least hinder further production of additional models.

Nodding to myself I continued, “Need one of those then. Maybe a couple. Make ‘em cheap, they’re only meant to be fed to the hive anyways.”

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Points reduced to: 11454

Five eggs appeared and hatched in short order, revealing drones similar to the one birthed by my Progenitor drones. They stood up and bodily threw themselves into the pool while we walked past.

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Dominium Fortress asked, “It’s still biomass.”

I shrugged, “It is, but it’s the kind that’ll stop them from making more models. Basically I threw them rotten food.”

Without any more comments we continued, all of us too exhausted for small talk.

Behind the cavern was another short tunnel, although this one was filled with two thirteens which were quickly chewed through by Dominium Fortress and Chloe.

Not long after we arrived in the large chamber that the Hive had nestled in, hive biology spread all around the room, growing up the wall and across the ceiling. The monkey-like model Tens that took care of the place threw themselves at us in an attempt to stop us, but a Hard-Light shield from me, with firing holes for Dominum Fortress and Chloe rendered their attack all but useless. Moments later their bodies were spread across the entrance.

“Holy fuck,” Shrapnel said and pointed towards some massive birthing sacs at the opposite side of the cavern, “What are those.”

Chloe, Jenna, and I all grimaced.

“Fucking model Twenty-Ones,” I muttered, making Shrapnel and Dominium Fortress tense up.

“We’ve seen them before in the first hive we tackled alone”, I explained, still vividly remembering the one that survived after the original Snuffles sacrificed herself to deliver Chloe’s bomb that eventually burned out the Hive.

I hadn’t even finished the sentence when my assassins dashed forward again, tag teaming the biggest of them with a flurry of vicious attacks. It made me glad that I had spent the points I did on them, they could deal with a Twenty-One if they could get the drop on it, and these ones weren’t fully grown yet.

Before the first one had even fully died, they moved to the next, but the third was already busy waking up before they had dealt with the second one.

Dominium Fortress hefted her huge fuck off gun and put three rounds through the alien that was still in the process of getting up. It didn’t kill it outright, but it was too wounded to move any further. A moment later my assassins descended upon the wounded antithesis and ripped it to shreds, before they turned to the rest of the birthing sacs.

Jenna and I joined in on the slaughter, Hard-Light projectiles finding purchase in the still unborn alien bodies.

Shrapnel caught a grenade out of the air and flung it into the room, then repeated the motion twice over. A moment later the familiar shrill of a fleshmelter rang through the cavern, melting the few models that were in the process of being born.

“Alright, Bloodhound, bombs. Make it big, we can’t risk anything else to go unnoticed,” while Shrapnel spoke he pulled out two weird devices and placed them on the ground.

One looked like a pike that once embedded into the ground extended some metallic sensors, while the other was a box with various lamps that started blinking in rapid succession. After a couple of moments they connected to my network, then transmitted a slew of information to Snapshot. Once they were done, he piped up.

“Can’t find any traces of underground hives. Feel free to blow it up and get out,” he reported.

Shrapnel nodded, satisfied with the results.

Chloe had already been busy with placing a bomb bigger than even Dominium Fortress’ mech in the middle of the room, protected by Snuffles and my assassin, and of course her own automated weaponry.

It didn’t take long for her to finish up, while the rest of us dealt with any birthing sacs or models that managed to slip out before dying.

“Let’s go,” she said once she had made her way back to us.

Nobody commented and as one we turned around and started the hike back, still alert for any surprises. Well, the others were alert, it was a bit hard for me to concentrate on anything that wasn’t walking at this point.

Luckily the way out was just as uneventful as the way in. No alien had managed to get past our defences at the entrance and I was glad for it.

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“Kind of anticlimactic,” I muttered, then yawned, “Not that I’m complaining. The sooner we can head home the better.”

“I feel you,” Chloe said in agreement, sounding equally exhausted.

A sudden thought crossed my mind and I turned my attention to Kaysa in my virtual realm, “What happens to my drones when I fall asleep? Since they depend on my direct oversight.”

Most of them will go into dormancy , unless given any commands beforehand, although your Queen’s Guard can work as a sort of relay to keep them active.

That was trouble. I had now close to five hundred drones, not to mention the ones my Progenitors were still churning out. If they all just fell dormant on the spot that would be quite annoying and a massive waste of resources. And honestly, I wasn’t sure I could stay awake long enough to have them all group up beforehand.

“Grand… Anything I can do so they can clean up down here without having to worry about them accidentally eating some poor sod left in some ditch somewhere?”

You could buy a drone specifically made to organise the Hive in your absence. It would effectively work as a relay between your Hive and me, although I will only have limited control over it.

“A sort of interpreter, huh. Sure, just get one. Same general design as my Queen’s Guard, don’t spare expenses. I have the points and I want to make sure nothing goes sideways while I sleep.”

Just for your knowledge, the basis for this drone will not be a Hexclaw War Drone, but a Hexclaw Hive Princess. For your current endeavour that will make no practical difference, but it is an important distinction.

I perked up at that, a half remembered conversation with her coming to the forefront of my mind. “Wait, didn’t you say that if a Hexclaw Hive-Queen dies a Princess takes over?”

Yes, which is why it is an important thing to note. In your case the Hexclaw Hive Princess can control the Hive should you die, but it will only have limited abilities to have additional drones produced even with the Progenitors you already procured.

“To ensure that it doesn’t get out of hand,” I nodded, “You mentioned something along the lines before.”

Exactly. It will be largely independent of you, although you can still order it around like the rest of your drones.

“Anything I need to worry about on that front? Can it disobey me or something?”

No, the Hexclaw Hive Princess is still part of your Hive and of you and therefore under your authority.

I stretched, trying to keep myself awake, “Then fuck it, get it. Future me can worry about any complications, I’m too fucking tired to bother.”

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Points reduced to: 13545

The egg appeared just as we were about to leave the cavern with the digestion pools, and soon another drone similar to my Queen’s Guard stepped out of it. It looked almost identically, the only difference being that the clothing looked a little more regal.

“My Queen,” the voice that rang out in my head was… weird, almost insectoid, but definitely female.

I stopped dead in surprise, turning to my new drone. It took me a moment to even parse what had just happened.

“Something wrong?” Jenna asked, stopping next to me.

“You can talk?” I asked the drone.

“Yes, My Queen.” the voice repeated.

I took a moment to digest that. That was… definitely different. I could feel the separation between me and her, much stronger than the feeling I got from the rest of my Queen’s Guard, but other than that I couldn’t make out any obvious differences.

Her thoughts were a lot more articulate, almost sentient, although they were all directed towards organising the Hive and fulfilling my wishes.

“Huh… Can you talk aloud?” I asked, deciding that I would think more about that once I had some sleep in. I was too tired to worry about the implications.

“Yess, My Queen,” she replied, her voice now a bit more guttural and dangerous sounding with a distinctive hissing aftertone.

The rest had stopped as well, now looking surprised and shocked at my new drone.

“Alright,” I muttered, rubbing my face, “We’ll be done here soon. Have the drones clean up the xenos. Collect all the dead antithesis, but don’t touch any of the human bodies. Mark their position and let the retrieval crews know. Probably send the medical corp for that, I dunno. Anyways, have Snuffles and the other Progenitors chomp down the dead aliens, then… I don’t know, to be honest. We’ll head topside, so probably keep the district safe or whatever. Kaysa can give you directions.”

With that I started walking again, not bothering to wait for an answer and the others followed suit.

When we left the hive behind and regrouped with our army still standing guard I took stock for a moment, just to see what still needed handling. Most of the xenos were dead by this point, and the few survivors were ineffectually trying to get past our army.

Without comment we made our way back to our defensive position, not wasting time on trying to pick off the odd antithesis. We had enough drones to work on it after all.

Once we arrived at the Legion Enforcer and our defensive line Jenna and I pulled all our drones out of the area near the Hive, before Chloe set off the bomb.

The world shook and a wave of heat blasted past us, even at this distance. The hive, my Devouring Roses, and every alien still around the area was devoured by a fiery explosion. Ruins crumbled and I could see at least one building that had been on the verge of collapse finally give in to the seductive thrall of gravity, but I couldn’t bring myself to give even a fraction of a fuck.

It took a while before the chaos died down, allowing us a look at what had before been the nesting place of the last major antithesis hive. Nothing important seemed to be damaged, although the massive crater and the mushroom cloud that dispersed at the ceiling did make that a rather weird thing to say.

Not that I had any energy left to care, so I simply turned away, yawning once more.

“I’m so done for today,” I muttered, “Can’t wait to head home and hit the sack.”

“We’ll stick around a bit to see if anyone still needs help,” Shrapnel explained with a yawn of his own, “Although I’d be glad to see some sleep myself.”

“My drones will help with that for the time being,” I muttered, “Just talk to Kaysa or…” I stopped for a moment, waving at my Hive Princess, “Her. Not sure what to call her yet. Anyways, I’m out. I can barely stand by this point. Thanks for the help though. Don’t think we could have managed without you.”

“No worries,” he replied, “Killing xenos is always fun. And of course, helping people is what Samurai do, right?”

We all nodded, although none of us had the energy to comment on it.

“Bloodhound, Legion,” Dominium Fortress to each with a nod in lieu of a goodbye, before she turned to me. “You’re not half bad either. We’ll see you around.”

And with that they turned around and left, leaving Chloe, Jenna, and me behind.

I was left blinking at her comment, a bit surprised. So far she hadn’t seemed to like me much, but I was glad that she seemed to warm up to me.

Whatever, that was for future me to think about.

“Now how to get home,” I muttered, stifling another yawn.

That… might be difficult.

“What is it now?" I asked a little agitated, really not caring for any more complications.

The complex in which your apartment lay was overrun by antithesis and heavily damaged. It is currently off limits until it can be repaired. I didn’t want to bother you with it until now, as it wasn’t of importance.

I groaned loudly, “Oh for fucks sake! Can there be, like, one piece of fucking good news?"

“What’s the problem?" Jenna asked.

“My apartment’s trashed.”

“Oh… That’s not good,” she said.

“No shit… And I don’t exactly have the money for a hotel.”

“You could crash with me for the time being,” Chloe offered with a smile in her tone.

“You know, I might take you up on that,” I said, then yawned again, “Just don’t wake me up tomorrow. Or the day after. I could probably sleep for a week straight at this point."

Chloe chuckled at that, “Noted.”

“I, uhm…” Jenna started, then paused, looking at the ground for a moment, before she glanced at Chloe, “Mind if I join you? I don’t think I’d be comfortable being alone at the moment.”

Chloe just shrugged, “I have more than enough room. Just a heads up, my parents live right next door, so you might meet them.”

“That’s going to be fun,” I said, maybe a bit more sarcastically than necessary and I felt bad immediately, “Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. I’m just tired. Thinking is hard right now… Between all the drones and the other shit to keep in mind, ugh… Not to mention I haven’t been sober this long in a long time.”

She nodded at me, “It’s okay, I understand. Let’s see if anything else is needed then head back.”

I didn’t make it that far, basically falling asleep standing on my feet.