“Sir, we’ve just been sent a report from the CFO flagging up an issue with our budgeting.”

“What can it possibly be? The last report showed no issues!”

“You forgot to assign any funds to the executives’ Christmas skiing trip.”

“Ah, I see… Take it from sewer maintenance budget. What’s the worst that could happen?”

--A recorded conversation between the CEO of Sanicorp and his secretary, New Oxford, 2031

‘Sure, suggest away!’

For fifty points you can unlock the Class I Simple Melee Weapons catalogue, and then for ten points, you can purchase a set of Basic Claws.

‘Claws?’

My eyes light up at the idea, and I eagerly nod my head.

‘I want em!’

Class I Simple Melee Weapons unlocked!

Points reduced to… 10

New Purchase: Basic Claws

Points reduced to… 0

A box falls at my feet, so I quickly sheath my knife and pop it open to find a pair of black gloves with a set of deadly-looking silver blades extending from fingers like sharpened nails. I pick up one of the gloves and move my finger to touch one of the blades, but a warning from Cyon stops me.

I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Those are monofilament blades that will go clean through your fingers. You should also avoid touching your furry friends with them on unless you want to buy some more Nano-Regenerative Suites.

‘That’s awful! Why would I wear them if I can’t give my siblings scratches anymore?’

You can take them off outside of combat if you really need to, and once you earn some more points you can replace them with a more advanced set of claws that can retract.

‘Okay…’

They’ll do for now, I guess.

I give each of my siblings a final pat before sliding the gloves onto my hands. They fit snugly, as if they were made for me, and they tighten around my wrists on their own. I admire the glistening claws before tentatively closing my hands into fists to make sure they don’t pierce my palms.

The black fabric stops the blades short even when I squeeze with all my strength, so I give a satisfied nod and crouch next to one of the dead xenos. I stab the claws into the corpse and rake them along it, parting flesh with barely any resistance.

‘Perfect!’

I glance at my siblings who all watched me test my weapons patiently. Well, as patiently as three hyperactive, drugged raccoons can. I whistle to call them back from copying me and testing their own claws on the other corpses with less success than me and start walking down the tunnel again.

‘Hey Cyon, why are there antithesis down here anyway? Is there an incursion going on above us?’

Your augs are too damaged to allow me access to information from the surface for now, but these Antithesis are coming from below anyway. It would be safe to assume there is a hive somewhere beneath the undercity spawning these.

‘A hive under the city? How? Wouldn’t the samurai living here have noticed that?’

It depends but considering your earlier encounter with a Model Nine and the Antithesis presence in these pipes, it’s probably a stealth focused hive living off the waste of the city.

‘Gross. I may live in the shit heap of the city, but even I draw the line at eating said shit.’

I stop talking to Cyon as I hear more scuffling ahead, crouching in place with my hands splayed waiting for our opponents to come to us. Four Model Threes run into my torch beam this time, and I wait until they’re a few metres away to give the command to attack.

I charge forward, reaching out and grabbing the first three by the head as it tries to bite me and curling my fingers, pushing them into its skull. It struggles for a moment before going limp, but as I drop its corpse, I hear a warning squeak and glance to the side just in time to see another Three leaping at me with Stripe clinging onto its back with her claws in its neck.

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I swing my arm out, slicing two of the three sections of its jaw clean off before the creature slams into me, knocking me back and slicing into my side with its remaining teeth. I tumble backwards, rolling back onto my feet in a low crouch without paying my side any attention and driving my hand forwards into the still charging dog with my fingers extended.

My claw cuts through the roof of its mouth and pokes out of the top of its head, and the xeno stops moving immediately, slumping to the floor. I look over at the two remaining dogs and see them snapping at each other to try and remove Chip and Spot from their backs. I push myself up and run over, slashing the first one’s throat before kicking the second down and plunging my hand into its chest to rip its flowery guts out.

The smell of mould and cut grass fills the air as Cyon announces my gains.

Targets Eliminated!

Points increase to… 40

I let out a breath and glance down at my side, frowning at my ripped hoodie and the blood leaking from underneath.

‘There go my points, I guess. What do I need to fix this?’

The cuts are only shallow, you can purchase a Regenerative Bandage for five points to stem the bleeding and slowly heal the wounds.

‘Yes please.’

New Purchase: Regenerative Bandage

Points reduced to… 35

Another box falls at my feet, and I open it up to find a squishy, rolled-up sheet of white fabric.

Peel off the backing and stick the bandage over your cuts.

I follow Cyon’s instructions, lifting my hoodie and unrolling the bandage before peeling a thin film off and pressing the soft fabric over the thin weeping cuts. It feels a little tingly, but I don’t feel any pain, probably due to the Mind Krank.

Right, note to self, don’t kill them so slowly. It’s not a good idea to stay in one place for so long.

I can still hear the sounds of movement approaching from down the pipe, so I don’t bother moving and wait for them to arrive again.

I should probably think about some armour next. I don’t want to waste all of my hard-earned points on healing myself every fight.

‘How many points will I need for armour?

It depends on what you want. Are you after heavy armour to protect you from attacks at the cost of mobility, or light armour to absorb glancing blows like that one.

‘Something light. I don’t want to spend points on healing after every fight, but I don’t want my movements limited at all.’

In that case, I would recommend Class I Combat Garments for fifty points, and a Basic Skinsuit for a further fifty.

‘Skin suit? As in those skin tight bodysuits that they wear in those old superhero comics? I don’t think I’m comf-’ I stop subvocalising as five more Threes run into the light, with something larger looming at the edge of the light, clinging to the ceiling behind them.

We can talk about this later, focus on not dying for now. The Antithesis in the back is a Model Four. It releases a biological agent that causes paranoia, but you and your siblings shouldn’t have to worry, Mind Krank will keep it from affecting you at all. Though, I still wouldn’t recommend letting your siblings near it.

I nod and whistle a low, warning tone while reaching back and pulling my knife from its sheath. I throw the knife before the first Three can reach us, sending it spinning through the air and into one of the beast’s two vertical eyes successfully.

I dash forward after the knife sidestep the first living dog, slashing a claw along its side and drawing blood but not killing it as I back hand another in the face, knocking its head aside and digging my fingers into the side of its neck, ripping away a chunk of plant flesh. Leaving both of them to bleed out as my siblings distract them, I jump and drive my knee into the skull of another, sending myself tumbling over it and swiping along its back as I do, ripping the scaly-black plating clean off.

I hit the floor and roll, rising just in time to grab the throat of the last dog as it snaps at my head, clenching my hand into a fist before ripping it out and dropping the beast immediately. Rising to my feet, I glance back at my siblings and see them playing with the last dogs, taunting and leading them along as they leak plant matter to the floor.

I turn my focus to my last target and finally see the creature in full. It looks like a grotesque, writhing mass of green and black tentacles ever so slowly advancing across the ceiling towards us.

‘How ugly.’

I walk towards it while flexing my fingers, waiting for it to attack. Suddenly, three tentacles lash out towards me, two of them tipped with razor-sharp spikes. Thanks to the Mind Krank, I’m able to see them approach, so I hit back, swiping my claws and just about deflecting the two bladed tentacles that hit with surprising force.

So much so that my arms would be aching if it wasn’t for the Mind Krank. This stuff is great!

‘Where’s it’s brain?’ I ask frantically while grabbing the bladeless tentacle and digging my claws in.

The pelvis region, but I would suggest against appro- Never mind.

The Four yanks its tentacles back, taking me with them as I kick off the ground. I let go of the tentacle with one of my hands, twisting to avoid a few others that the creature sends towards me. I feel a heavy impact on my side, luckily not the bandaged one, but otherwise continue towards the beast’s body unscathed.

I land against its body and slash wildly at the tentacles trying to surround me, severing most of them at the base before they can even get close and aiming for the bladed ones first. The Four thrashes wildly as I cut down its limbs and I spot a gap that I immediately drive my arm through, plunging my hand into the flesh at its waist before ripping a chunk out.

It freezes up and lets go of the ceiling, dropping both of us towards the floor as I kick off of it, tumbling away and bounding along the pipe. I stand up as quickly as I can, barely feeling anything from the many bruises I definitely just gained and running at the creature to continue my assault. I slice off tentacles and rip away flesh until it stops moving and Cyon declares the battle over.

Targets Eliminated!

Points increased to… 100

I collapse to my knees on top of the brutalised plant mass that used to be a Four, panting with a wide grin as adrenaline courses through my veins.

‘I can afford armour now, right?’