“Remember well. Antithesis are not animals. They’re plants, and they’re not just any plants, they’re weeds. Given a chance, they’ll always grow back. Roughly half of the incursions we deal with are the result of a hive that has grown from a few forgotten corpses somewhere in a hard to access place.

So, unless you have special Samurai-grade Flesh Melters to clean up Antithesis biomass, remember your very best friend: fire. You should always carry with you a set of napalm grenades.

Just for the love of God… stay away them when they’re lit.”

-- Excerpt from a PMC’s orientation speech for new recruits.

{Yes,} I chirp back, wiping the tears from my eyes.

My siblings all crawl onto me, rubbing their heads against me while happily purring.

I can’t help but let out a chittering giggle and, after a few moments of affectionately petting their fluff, I feel a rumbling in my own chest. My eyes widen in surprise and my mouth falls open.

‘Am I purring?’

It would appear so.

Our warm moment is interrupted by a faint shuffling, far off down the pipes. I wouldn’t have noticed it before my recent upgrades, but now the tiny noise seems so obvious it’s hard to miss.

My head snaps down the pipe in sync with my siblings’.

‘We should get back to killing plants. If there’s a hive in the undercity I need to remove it, right?’

Indeed, that would be preferable.

I push myself up and slip my gloves on, picking my knives up in the process.

‘Can I have something to hold these?’

You can purchase a Basic Sheath Strap to fix them to your leg for three points if you would like.

‘Yes please.’

New Purchase: Basic Sheath Strap

Points reduced to… 55

A box appears at my feet, and I pop it open to find a simple black, buckled strap with three leather slots for my knives. I fasten it around my left thigh and slide my knives in.

{Let’s go.}

We set off down the pipe, heading towards the undercity once again. I listen to the faint claws as we move deeper, and we reach the source at the entrance to the chamber I set on fire. I peek around the corner to the pipe and see a Three clambering down into the chamber.

We approach slowly, trying not to make any noise, and peek over the edge of the pipe. I see the chamber drop down a dozen metres, and at the bottom is a half-melted pile of scorched plant-mass with several Threes and a Four digging through the ash to try reach the surviving biomass. The plants must have smelled me, because they all look up and meet my gaze despite not having a head light to alert them this time.

‘Grenade please.’

New Purchase: Mark I Needler Grenade

Points reduced to… 50

I twist the orb and toss it into the middle of the xenos before ducking back into the pipe as it goes off.

Targets Eliminated!

Points increased to… 105

I look back over the edge and confirm everything is dead before leaping to a suspended maintenance gangway to climb down. I hit the grated metal with a clang, barely having to bend my legs to cushion the blow.

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‘Woah, I barely felt that.’

The R.A.C Viral Sample was a potent boost to your musculature. Added to the effects from the genetic splicing, and you could even jump to the ground from there without problems.

My eyes light up at the suggestion, so I call my siblings over.

{Jump.}

They chitter in acknowledgement and hop down after me, landing one after the other in my arms, avoiding my hands, before scrambling away to find somewhere to cling to. Chip pushes himself into the pocket of my half-shredded hoodie, which I should really replace soon, while Spot and Stripe claim a shoulder each.

{Hold on,} I squeak before stepping off the walkway and dropping towards the ground.

My fluffy passengers all squeal in excitement, and we quickly hit the ground. I slam into a mixture of ash and scorched plant matter with a heavy squelch, dropping into a roll that scatters Spot and Stripe but saves my knees from too much stress.

“Haha,” I let out a quivering laugh, maybe slightly too high-pitched.

‘That was fun.’

I should have expected you would take that as a suggestion. I’ll be more careful with what I say in the future.

‘Aww, don’t be like that. It’s important I know my limits, right?’

The lack of an answer means I won this one… I think.

I look around at the odd, half-destroyed alien structure burned onto the walls of the chamber.

‘Why is only half the hive gone? Do we need to remove the rest of this?’

The Conflagration Charge I gave you was a single intense burst of heat, it flash-vapourised most Antithesis within its bounds, but it didn’t have the sustained firepower to fully remove all matter from the nest. I would suggest leaving a few Flesh Melters to deal with the clean-up while you move on.

I nod and walk across the chamber, climbing up into one of the pipes dropping sewage into the chamber. I pause in the mouth of the pipe, letting Spot and Stripe scramble up the steep incline for the first few metres before the pipe levels out ahead of me.

‘Flesh Melters please’

New Purchase: Mark I Flesh Melter x 3

Points reduced to… 96

Three cans appear in the air before me, so I scoop them up in my arms. I pop the tabs and throw them one by one, spreading them across the chamber before clambering up the pipe to join my siblings. As we move forward, I hear something moving ahead of us, and the faint sizzling fades away behind us.

We creep around a slow bend and the sounds stops as we see a single Four sitting stationary on the ceiling ahead. I scan the pipe around it, making sure it’s alone, before dashing towards it. I clear the distance between us in the blink of an eye and leap, batting away two tentacles that lash at me before burying my hand into its pelvis and tearing out a chunk of flesh.

I hit the floor and step back as the plant falls.

Target Eliminated!

Points increased to… 111

I hold out my hand and Cyon drops a Flesh Melter into it without missing a beat, dropping my points by three again.

I pop the tab and toss it on the corpse, walking away while Chip wiggles out of my pocket.

‘Am I going to have to spend points on Flesh Melters every time I kill plants? That seems like a waste.’

If you kill larger groups, cleaning the bodies will barely impact your point gains. However, if it still bothers you, you can purchase an organ to produce flesh-eating bacteria specialised for use against the Antithesis.

‘That sounds cool. How useful would the bacteria be?’

Depending on which strains you purchase, you could kill most basic Models with a scratch.

‘That’s definitely going on the list.’

We continue through the pipe, treading quietly and scanning every piece of discarded tech or piled up waste as we go. We reach our target and pause, looking at the small, grated pipe.

I reach out and slide the gate up and out of the way on the only bolt still attached.

All three of my siblings leap up into the pipe, pausing at the entrance and waiting for me as they listen to the scratching sound echoing up from far below.

Looks like we might be dropping into a fight.

I dig my fingers into the walls of the pipe to give myself some grip and slide myself into the narrow pipe feet first.

My siblings climb onto my chest as the grate falls closed behind me, so I push off and start our slide down towards the undercity. It starts off a lot faster than I expected thanks to my new superstrength, but it’s nothing that a quick claw into the pipe can’t fix.

Ignoring the slight damage to city property, I slide down the twisting pipe on my back, quickly approaching the now frantic sounding scratching below.

My feet slam into something soft, and we shoot out of the pipe into another several-metre wide pipe, landing on top of a Three, surrounded by five others.

‘What a warm welcome.’

I slice open the front of the doggo I landed on, drawing my claws from its chin to its chest, before springing towards another plant with a wild swipe.

Spot, Chip, and Stripe all jump at different targets, scratching out their eyes.

I rip my targets head in half as it leaps into my claw to attack me, tossing the body aside before turning to the last doggo with eyes and running at it.

It tries to bite my leg, but I jump over its attack, spinning in the air and raking my claws down its back. I land and slide away, digging my fingers into the ground and throwing myself forward again to finish off the eyeless plants.

Targets Eliminated!

Points increased to… 168

‘I guess you were right,’ I subvocalise while dropping the last corpse. ‘It doesn’t feel as bad to spend three points now.’

New Purchase: Mark I Flesh Melter

Points reduced to… 165

I toss the can and gather my siblings, setting off towards the closest exit onto the street I know of. If the aliens are attacking the undercity, I’ll be more help out of these pipes.