[Okay, Naille. Explain the sped-up time and how I can manage so many different eyes?] Now was as good a time as any to ask. Might as well.

<>Originally, according to the files I could find and decrypt, you were a part of a cybernetic soldier program. They couldn’t get it to work. This included some early variations on class two cybernetics someone had tried to reverse-engineer from a corpse. They couldn’t get them to work properly so they scrapped the project. The problem wasn’t with the cybernetics but the software oddly enough. You are now using them with proper software, even if they are ungainly. They operate at approximately one-fifth capacity. So you get a semi-leg up on that for a couple of things. Sooner or later you’ll be able to replace them with proper variants and it will work much better. With less chance of cooking your brain. So for now stop using them if you can.

[Turn ‘em off. I can’t help using them. Or at least help regulate them a bit. I don’t want to fry my brain but using them kinda helps.] I felt time shift again back to full. [Also, queue up Class Two cybernetics for my next major purchase.]

<>Out of curiosity, how are you taking this so well? Many humans would seek revenge against a corp that had done what was done to you.

[People didn’t do this. The employees are just trying to live. The corporation did it. So do you hate the body or the mind? If I came across the investors and majority stockholders I’d throw a lure at them and watch the plants eat them, laughing maniacally the whole time. But these people… unless it’s the psychopath who did the surgery. Even then I’d need to know more about their circumstances before going batshit crazy on them. Besides, everything is kinda muted. Like my emotions are really far away.]

<>Surprisingly stable of you. As for your emotional state, it probably helps that you haven’t the glandular capabilities by the looks of it. Even some of the less needed ones in your brain have been removed.

[I had some time to sort my shit out a little. As for the brain stuff. That tracks. Fuckers.]

“Hey, are you good? We’re done here.” I turned to Bomberman who was approaching me as he spoke. “Just need to call in the cavalry and then find transport for everybody.”

“Cavalry? Like literal or figurative?” I glooped out of the door, letting him into the stairwell.

“Both?” He shrugged. “We need to call in the military, they’ll send an escort, and if we’re lucky, buses. If not, we'll have to source our own.”

“Got it. Lemme check the garage, it’ll be on the top five floors. Might have something up there.” I moved to go up, extending a seating space from my armor for him.

“Okay, I’m going to head down and contact the military. Think I saw an external exit on the map a few floors down.” He turned the other way, hopping down a few steps at a time.

“It’s on sixty. It’s a hover car dropoff, not big but it's fully open.” I called back down the echoing stairs.

<>I’m surprised you knew that.

[I memorized each floor as we passed. Just in case I got sent to clean it later.] I kept ascending as I checked absently on each floor for any stragglers. Not that I expected any since we had done a fairly good job of clearing them out.

<>You realize, now that you’re a Vanguard, you’ll never have to work for this company again?

That gave me pause. [So, I’m free?]

<>Yes, you’re free.

{Nice.] I began moving again, focused on the end goal.

Once I reached Ninety Five I found myself passing into a more open-plan stairwell, an airlock set of doors separating the lower levels from the car park section. But that just made it easier to see out onto the floor in front of me. On the other side, I immediately saw a large number of birds. Plant birds.

[What the fuck are those? Woha! That’s a big one!]

<>Model one’s and a pair of Model eleven’s by the look. One’s are pestiferous in quantity but mostly harmless. It’s the Elevens you need to worry about.

[Like, badly, or just focus on them first?] I noticed the time was running at one-to-one at this point, Naille had switched off the bit which made my brain speed and heat up like I asked.

<>Both. Although the model ones will likely attempt to act as ablative armor in favor of the eleven attacking you. Might I suggest a distraction?

[Yeah. What do you think of chucking a lure in there?] I slowly crept from where I was blocking the door into the actual garage.

<>Given the amount of model ones this may be a good idea. It would distract them long enough for you to focus fire on the elevens. Except you haven’t the firepower to deal with an eleven.

[Not even my shiny new plasma gun?] I extruded the muzzle of said weapon, targeting the closer of the elevens.

<>I’m afraid that it will be only slightly more effective than your laser cutter, although it maintains the power at a much further distance. While excellent for single digits, it’s less than effective against any of the stronger enemies you will face. An eleven would be able to close before sufficient damage was done. Had there only been one, I would not hesitate to recommend engaging them. With two, that’s less likely to be an option.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

While Naille had been speaking I had been stalking closer to one of the elevens. For whatever reason it was completely ignoring me. Maybe it saw me as a machine. Maybe it was planning to ambush me in turn. Maybe I was going slow enough it failed to notice. Who knows, birds are dumb.

<>What are you doing?

[Gonna eat it. Then shoot the other one.] I didn’t give Naille time to respond as I revved the grinder and pounced. A deep Thoom sounded from the muzzle of my plasma gun pointed in the direction of the other Eleven.

I was maybe picking up bad habits because not only did the rodeo work again, but I was too much for it to move far or well as a flying creature. On the other hand, the Plasma Caster worked better than either of us suspected. The Model Ones didn’t even have much of a chance to react before I had melted a hole in the fucker as big as a grown man's fist. I was, of course, less than five feet away from it and it was actually a little surprised by my sudden assault.

Once the pair were dead my points ticked up nicely by two hundred. On the other side, I was swarmed by Ones. Hundreds of the little fuckers pecking away at me. Coming down from other floors through the open entries on each end of the parking area.

[Fucking fuckity fuck!] I lashed out with every means available, smacking them with liquid armored pseudopods, plasma, railgun rounds, plasma welder, and laser cutter. [Grenade me! Lure!]

I almost lost the lure as the box appeared and I smacked it with a flailing tentacle. I frantically used two tool tentacles to pry it open, activate the grenade, and throw the whole thing deeper into the parking garage. Seconds later they were swarming a car it had slid under. Made taking them out with concentrated fire easier. Took at least five minutes to take out all the Ones that swarmed into the space. Nothing else had approached thankfully. I would have been fucked with a swarm like that and an Eleven or two.

A quick check of my points as I took a breather once everything stopped moving made me want to scratch my head. [Why did that grenade only cost ten points?]

<>It was only a class one grenade. Much less effective, so much less cost. I doubt you cleared as much as you may think. Still, over five hundred Model Ones is quite the victory.

[And the Token?] I shifted forward, looking for any that needed a double tap, before just deciding my weight would paste them so I ‘stepped’ on any I could reach.

<>You killed your first double-digit solo. Not only that you got two of them within seconds of each other. More than enough of an achievement to deserve another token.

Points: 932

Token: 1

[Nice. Should we open the cybernetics for the better type two?] There were a lot of birdies that needed to be squished, I had to shove a hover car out of the way to get them all.

<>Might I recommend you open up the next tier of Void Walker instead? It will give you access to better MAC weapons as well as modifications to make your current frame stronger as well as more dangerous.

[That good? I mean being able to think and move faster seems really useful.] I determined that I had squished enough to be sure and redirected to the stairs, there were no busses or large cargo vehicles on this floor. They’d be more likely on the top floors.

<>While useful you would not be able to utilize it yet. Your thought can increase but your frame is too low level to be able to keep up. Much like an organic unmodified body. So before you go and upgrade your cybernetics, you should make sure you have a base that can keep up.

[What’s it going to cost me.] I pushed up the open stairs to the next floor.

<>Class Two Void Walker is seven hundred points and one token. Inside you’ll find better capabilities with everything you utilize regularly. Including upgrades for your laser cutter that will give it more cutting power at further ranges or higher cutting power at closer ranges.

[Fine.] I didn’t have an argument against that. [Doesn’t look like there’s anything on this floor either. Just sedans.]

<>Void Walker class two purchased. You have points left to look at a new arm or two?

[Would I replace the ones I have or do I have ports for more?] I skipped the next floor when it became apparent there weren’t any larger vehicles there either. [Gimme another lure grenade.]

<>You can replace the smaller clusters or any individual of the larger ones. Grenade incoming.

I snagged the box and opened it, ditching the box in favor of the grenade. There were two floors left, one regular and then the top of the building. I pitched the active grenade into the last covered floor, pausing to see if anything came out of the woodwork. I thought for a moment as I waited.

[Any way I can combine stuff to make the armor extrude tentacles on its own? Why buy new ones when I can reconfigure the Nanos to do more? Get that much closer to an amorphous blob.]

<>Well. Technically, yes. But they would have no real purpose and the strength would be low. You would need to improve your Nanotechnology catalog. Instead how about we wait on arms in general and move into weapons? We can get an upgrade from your SMG to something a bit more focused and hits harder.

Nothing drew my attention so I moved to go up to the roof. One corner was cut off by wrecked fencing that surrounded a bunch of trashed communications antennae. The rest of the floor was basically empty. There were three sedans and nothing else.

[Well this is a bust. I wonder if any other buildings might have some buses or something?]

<>I’m afraid none of the nearby companies have any registered and there are no city sources nearby either.

[Worth a shot. Here’s hoping the military brings their own.] I turned and made my way back down, looking for Bomberman. [If they don’t this is going to be a giant pain in the backside.]

I knew he wasn’t on eighty, so I kept going down. Unless he went to the other stairwell on the other side of the building I’d find him going down. But I got to Sixty and checked the landing, but he was gone.

[Okay, where the hell did he go? Naille see if you can find him with the building security. Call the military too maybe?] I just settled in on the drop-off landing.

<>Cameras show he’s on his way to the ground floor. I can connect you. As for the military, I’m actually getting an incoming call for anybody at this location. Shall I connect you?

[Yeah. Try and connect me to both?] I looked over the edge at the drop. [Then we need to think about close-range combat.]

[What do you need kid?] Bombermans voice sounded winded even over subvocal comms.

[Why ground floor?] I zoomed in on the street sixty floors down. [I don’t see anybody coming?]

[No but I got word we’ve got another wave of ground enemies coming.]