I quickly cleared another building while thinking, the line having gone dead. Either distracted or lacking anything to add, nobody was talking.

[Okay. Two more ideas.] Bomberman jumped back in suddenly. [You could do something to up the damage capacity of your monoblade ribbons. On the other end, you could lean into the dimensional weirdness of Eldritch Horrors and start working with space warping?]

[Oh, now that’s a thought, honey. Also, do you use monofilament?]

[I made ribbons, at the center they’re a little thicker than a hair. They have micro muscles laced through them to make them more like mobile tentacles. But the edges have retractable fractal monofilament trees. I think only adding some energy type to them would make it more dangerous. I wonder if there’s anything that’ll add a necrotic effect?]

Before anyone else could pipe up, including Naille, a sugary sweet girly voice piped up. [^There is indeed a catalog that will allow you to add such a feature to your Murder Ribbons.^]

[Murder Ribbons? And what would that be, Bubbles?] Drag-On seemed cheerful about the voice. Probably their AI.

[^The Exotic Venoms catalog could approximate what it seems like what you want at Class Two. It stretches the idea of Venoms at that point moving into things like disrupting the strong or weak force on an object.^]

[Oh like The Little Doctor!] I have no idea how I remember what that is, but I do. [Also, that’s what I call them. Murder Ribbons, shut up unless you have a better idea. I take it you AI are chatting among yourselves?]

[^Not quite to that extent. But enough to give it considerably more cutting power as well as a mild necrotic effect on the surrounding matter. Not a lot, but enough to be able to do significant damage to antithesis in the twenties. And yes, we chat.^]

{What do you think Naille, Venom?} I oozed out into the street and looked around. Only two buildings left at this point. Might as well bust through them before making any choices. {I’m inclined to go that route.}

<>It would certainly line up with what you want for right now. That said, gaining Tokens is not going to be easy from now on. You’ve got a lot of “firsts” that gained them up to this point. There are fewer and fewer firsts as time goes on and you have to get them from hidden achievements or slow boating with obligatory gains later. Overall, it depends. Do you want to try and shoot for a class three now, or broaden your ability to try for one later? A lot of the bigger antithesis will net you thousands of points and a token guaranteed. But you have to survive a fight with it first.

{Alternate options for a similar effect?}

<>Exotic melee weapons would be better. Exotic Venoms is by all metrics a stronger catalog, and you should think about getting the base level, but Exotic Melee would allow you to add thermal effects to your murder ribbons. It’s not necrotic but it would push you into the realm of dealing with low to mid-twenties. Neither would cost a token and both would run you a paltry fifty points each. As an added bonus I can tweak the murder ribbons to be stronger and more capable of cutting with a few other effects from the Exotic Melee catalog.

I fell silent as I finished up the last building. Finally making my way out into the street.

[Okay Folks. My sector is clear and everybody who survived seems to be doing okay. All the Shelters are intact and running at least well enough. As for all your suggestions, thanks. I think I’m going to grab the tier-one Exotic Venom and Melee catalogs for now. We’ll see how things go from there. Is anybody up for joining me in the Orange Zones?] {How much did all the upgrades and blueprints cost?}

<>The blueprints for the upgrades cost one thousand four hundred points. There were rather a lot of them but they were all smaller. Rebuilding is in progress. They’ll need another two minutes to finish.

[I’d love to join you, Shoggoth. But we’re going to be clearing our section forever.] Gravitas did not sound happy about that either.

[How about this,] Drag-On started before pausing for a few moments. [Shoggoth, why don’t you come and join Sufficient Gravitas. Then, when it's all finished, we can all join you.]

[Sounds good to me. I’m still working, but I’ll be done soon. Just not as quick as Shoggy. No… that sounds dumb. Shaggy? No Doesn't fit. God there’s got to be a good nickname for you, you giant ball of goo.] Bomberman sounded about as bored as one would expect.

[I’ll jump over and help bomber finish. Then we’ll both join you. It’ll go faster that way.] I turned and made a beeline for the area where Bomberman had been working. [Where you at Bee? Can I get an update on what you’ve cleared?]

I got an update almost immediately. Quickly choosing a building he hadn’t hit I beelined that way.

[I think Sho would work just fine, Bee Is cute too.] Drag-On was being syrupy-sweet at this point. [Grav for our girl here works too.]

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

[Eh. Sho is okay. But do you all have to call me Bee? Just a single letter? It sounds dumb.]

[No Ess would sound dumb. Bee is okay. Tee would work. Gee is actually good too. Dee is a common nickname for people named David or Daniel.] I started rambling, not even really aware of where this information came from. [Less than thirty percent of letters work, but the ones that do, do.]

[I’d prefer Gee than Grav to be honest. Please use that one Drag-On.]

[Okay Sweety. Gee it is. What does it look like over there you two?]

[Naille, just put together a digimap and send it to them in real-time.]

[Oh that’s handy! You seem to have combat information networks down as well?]

{Do we?}

<>They are a part of Combat Drones. Although rudimentary, I was able to cobble something stronger together from some of your catalogs. Nothing as good as taking a dedicated catalog, but still convenient. I also used one available via the local military data net as a basis. I think I improved it quite a bit.

[My AI Naille cobbled together something from Combat Drones, and electronic warfare stuff to kitbash something close enough for now. Apparently, and he’s quite proud of this, it’s based on the one the local military is using.]

[Handy. It’s almost like I can see through the buildings around me, but not?]

[Yeah. I’ve been enjoying the ability for a while now. Way too useful, especially with the drones giving me more data so I can see details.] I looked up at the building I had entered, drones in almost every room giving me an X-ray view of practically the whole thing. [I can see where every angry plant is and know that I’ve got them all by the time I’m done.]

I started setting up for Project Blender, my new murder ribbons pinging as available as I did. The red glow around the edges was a nice touch. Came off as a bit infernal but would be fine for now. I was hoping for something black or purple to give off a deep space vibe.

[Out of curiosity sugar, why can I see the insides of any building you’ve been in? Did you leave drones behind?]

[Uh. Yeah. Seemed prudent to prevent reinfection of the area. I can always make more drones from the bodies of the dead plants so why not leave the scouts behind? Besides they’ve got limited lifespans so, meh. I take my mini me’s with me when I go tho.]

[Mini Me?] Alex sounded absolutely baffled with her insertion.

[I make small corgi-sized drone versions of myself to send to the Shelters to check them. I’ve got three, and they’re a pain to make so I’d rather not leave them behind.]

[So wait, you can make drones of yourself. Can they fight?] Bomberman literally stopped what he was doing and turned to look in my direction. I trained an optic in his direction, looking back through the buildings thanks to the augmented reality of our tactical net.

[Yeah. Technically. I guess I never really thought of that? I should rebuild them with ribbons at least.]

<>Just a warning, Drones don’t receive the same amount of points as direct control. The further they are from you the fewer points you get. Also, did you want to save that token or purchase the sensors?

{Not now. I’ll think about it more.} [Naille just said you make fewer points with drones. Still gonna arm the little blighters even if my building clear method is good enough. But having a ribbon each will certainly make them more viable.]

[Why not just build bigger ones, spread them out, and hit multiple buildings at once? That way we get through this faster. The points are piddling anyway.]

[Gee, clutch for the win! You should do that Ess.] Bomberman paused a moment. [No. Not gonna use Ess for Shoggoth. It just sounds weird.]

{What is the viability of doing that?}

<>You can certainly do so. But you’ll need to go back to the scene of the last massacre and get more materials.

[Gonna have to slow down a bit then. I’d have to go back to get more mass to have the materials for it. They also wouldn’t be as resilient as me, I’m made of sterner stuff than what is available for materials around here.]

[Why bother going back Sugar? Just eat some trash from the Corporations. Nobody’s going to complain about a desk, chair, or table. Hon, we’re Samurai. We do what we want, the Corporations just smile and ask if they can give us anything else.]

[I… guess? Is that true? Are we, like, above the law?] I let my whole ass confusion and doubt into my voice, shifting it to a tiny tinny childlike tone by the end.

[Yeah, basically. I mean some do way worse than that. But unless it’s during an incursion it’s kinda frowned on to just go ham on other people at all. Even Corpos.] Bomberman was hesitant, but firm as he spoke. Almost like he was trying to tell me to be more civil about things and follow the moral side of the laws while saying to fuck the corporations wherever I could.

[Got it. Fuck the police!] I giggled in an array of tones, volumes, and pitches. Anybody who looked my way could see me eating everything I could get my tentacles on that wouldn’t destabilize the building or cause problems for fleeing people later.

I finished after eating two floors worth of materials but I had a second body.

The interesting thing was I could switch between them. Just like I could put attention on each limb, I could see through all the eyes of all of me. Even when separated. So I tried using it to make a third. That did not work. Making anything was a no-go. So I supplied it with enough disposable equipment to do a couple of buildings and a pair of Mini Me’s before sending it off. My main body did the same again in a new building. Clear it, Use as much as needed to make a third wander off for more.

I didn’t stop, just single-mindedly expanded until I had hit every building Bomberman hadn’t, then I moved into Drag-On and Sufficient Gravitas’ area.

[Wow, look at the kid go.]

[Now now Sweety, don’t bother them. Let them cook.]

[Just how many Shoggoths are there?] Gravitas looked on, obvious awe on her face as she watched three of me move into separate buildings from a roof.

[There are currently seven of me. Correction, eight. Soon to be a ninth when I clear the next building.]