[Okay. Just let me get a cloud of drones running to check the back rooms here…. Okay done.] I swear it probably looked like a plague beast as I just bubbled up a cloud of micro bugs off my skin. They swarmed their way into the back areas and spread out.

[Okay. For you heathen. A ship girl is basically like a Race Queen.] I paused and nobody responded. [Fuck. Okay. Take a cute girl in a military uniform, and skimpy it up a bit to make her sexy. Then take a ship, like a full-sized battleship, and shrink it down to between a meter and two. Split it down the middle and portion out the turrets. The Girl stands in the middle of what are basically a pair, or trio if she’s split it into three with the engine compartment as a backpack, and directs what are effectively drones. I bet if you look hard enough online you’ll find some really old stuff about it.]

[My AI just came back with some actually.] Alex sounded kinda intrigued and excited. [Oh! These are cute! You think the boat-looking sections would be drones?]

[I’d go aircraft carrier or a hybrid aircraft carrier battleship design. Use the aircraft carrier for mini drones to scout and kamikaze or arm them with smaller weapons for dealing with little stuff. Then use the Battleship side for straight-up wrecking plants. Maybe go spaceship design?]

[Are you two done with that Fifth Gen?] Lieutenant Snips cut into the channel.

[Yeah. There’s nothing here. I’ve got micro drones everywhere and besides a few Threes up on some of the higher levels we can deal with quickly. It's just cleanup. I mean we haven’t checked the shelters yet ‘tho.]

[I’ll pop a lure if you’ll let me borrow the catalog? We can deal with it all at once thanks to the central shaft.] I turned to Bomberman and nodded to his request. He summoned one, immediately activated it, and threw it up into the air where it hovered a few floors up. [We should be done for all but clean up in, what five minutes?]

[Another five to get out that door is fucking huge. Why the rush Snips?]

[The Colonel is eyeballing our section.] He hissed into his mic. [I think you’re all being chatty and he’s getting annoyed.]

[The brass can eat my shorts.] Nobody bothered to respond to my statement.

[So, hey. Shoggoth, can your micro drones check the shelters?] Bomberman looked over at me as he pointed up.

[Uh… no. But they can check if they’re compromised to some degree. I’ll send some to do just that. That’ll shorten things a bit.] The swarm that had been gathering from the back areas around the ground floor surged up the central atrium shaft. [Gimme a couple. Behind you.]

He turned and directed his dog to lob a couple of mortars at the doggy plants coming out of a stairwell. I extended a single Burninator, sweeping it across anything that survived the explosives. This continued for a solid twelve minutes before my drones said there was nothing else coming.

[Looks like that’s it, ran a little over estimations but it’s solid. The shelters are all reading as sealed but they’re too thick for my drones to see into but they're too small to interact with the consoles.]

[Good enough. Let’s move on.]

[Wait Bomberman, there should be a central control room on sub-level one. You can check in with all the internal shelters there. Please be thorough, and if they are safe let them know they can come out as long as they stay inside the PRHP.] Snips sounded almost frantic.

I extruded a Hutt-sized face and arms only to match looks with Bomberman and shrug.

[Got it central. Gimme a couple to comply.] Bomberman turned, following the map route to head down.

[I’ll start some resonators to clean up the mess. Well, some of it.] I shrunk and floated up the central atrium, throwing resonators around to get the plant matter melting.

I finished by running out of resonators, long before I even expected Bomberman to return. So I settled in, contracting to a minimum amount of Nanite mass. Playing with shape and context. Now that I could make rigid and fluid structures to intermingle. I quickly found that just being a slime on the ground with a face and basic arms was easier.

“You look like a pile of… Schlock. Is that what you were going for?” Bomberman approached as I was testing my ability to extrude or store things, mostly through the wide rubbery mouth I had made.

“So are you saying I shouldn’t use this one? It seems simplistic and easy. Plus No rigid parts allows me to get into smaller spaces.” I started glorping across the floor in the direction of the main door.

“No. It actually works for you. But not something for socializing. Go back to that beautiful one. It’s nicer to look at.” He chuckled and waved at the door, which started to rise and open.

“No. That’s probably going to be my everyday wear. This is my between-battle wear. I think it gives a better impression. The way everybody rolls with the gimmick, the way you have stuck to yours I feel like I need to solidify this and make it make sense now.” The door stopped just high enough to walk under for Bomberman then started down again after we got out. “Now to split up. You head back the way we came and clear everything we missed. I’ll get past here and we’ll clear this up quickly.”

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

“Okay. First one finished wins? Uh. One moment. Can I get that class two matter rearranger first?” He chuckled and patted his drone. “I’d need scout drones to even compete.”

“Sure. You think I should offer to let Drag-on and Alex use it too?” I turned up at him, being only about a meter tall at this point.

“That’s up to you. Most people only trade. You seem to like to share, so I guess. Just maybe ask for a favor or something in return.” He shrugged and turned to his drone fully.

“Okay. I wouldn’t mind any blueprints you buy that you’re willing to pass on.” I turned back to look at the buildings arrayed in front of me.

{Naille, highlight the buildings I need to check and approximate floors their Shelters are on.} Nine of the buildings I could see highlighted in red, with a darker red stripe on each building at the appropriate level for the floor a Shelter would be in. I mused on the twelve floors that were marked and the best order to take them in.

[Hey, Drag-On, Alex, would you two want to use my catalogs? Maybe buy a matter reconfiguration machine. If so I’ll allow it, provided you share some blueprints in return?]

I wasn’t able to catch the response because all my attention was drawn to the street in front of me. Another centipede type, but about four times bigger, was barrelling down the road at us from a couple blocks up. What really worried me was the veritable army of single digits swarming around and behind it. There had to be a thousand at least.

[Bozhe moi. What the fuck is up with today?] I let slip in the channel even as I began expanding to full size, extruding weapons and firing.

[What’s going on over there?] Drag-On didn’t sound very urgent, only curious.

[We’re swamped. That’s all. Nothing new. I figured things were going too well so far. It’s unsurprising, to be honest.] Bomberman sounded almost bored as he started his drone lobbing explosives down the street. [Some of that last lure grenade must have leaked out and summoned them?]

[You think this is boring? There’s like a thousand of them and another one of those Model Fourteens! And how would it leak? All the doors were shut!] I started frantically reaching for a nearby concrete barricade, which I promptly threw into the arriving mass. [Fuck it. Knife.]

[Knife,] Bomberman asked in confusion.

Instead of answering I lunged into the mass, grinders, and ribbons lashing out as I steamrolled the smaller units and charged into the fourteen. I determined at that point I am definitely a brawler. As usual, I kinda lost track of myself, having the ability to regen my armor as it was ablating made the fight one of attrition. One I was guaranteed to win provided they couldn’t take out more than I could replace.

Apparently nothing lower than the mid-teens was enough to hit that mark. Bomberman did more damage to me with near misses than any of the single digits and the fourteen was too busy trying not to be eaten to eat me back very well. It took a bit, but we finished up without losing anything or taking too much damage. Bomberman wasn’t even attacked directly due to my chaotic counterattack.

[Don’t you dare call that a mad minute. That was twenty. At least.] Almost all my optical receptors focused on Bomberman in a baleful glare.

[Are you back with us Shoggoth? Something of a Berserker aren’t you.] Drag-On was just as calm as before. [These things happen, you just have to go with it. Antithesis are inconvenient like that.]

[It’s more than just inconvenient. That big bastard stomped on me so hard he almost cracked my shell. Also, I think you’re right. I completely lose track in the big fights. Just all rage and violence.] I sighed over coms as I started eating. [Lost about twice my mass. Recouped it during the fight but still. That was a shitshow.]

Bomberman just laughed, loudly. [Kid you just killed a Fourteen and about seven hundred single digits. I barely provided support fire. You’re really taking your stride. Quit bitching and get on with your checks. We have a bunch of them and time is running out on supplies in the shelters.]

[The hell did they zone in on us like that anyway? The streets look dead.] I continued eating mass, pumping out micro drones to store.

[The door probably. There’s negative pressure between the inside and out. Let out all the dead plant pheromones. That plus the noise. Like a giant lure grenade. Like I said earlier.] He chuckled as he started walking away with his dog. [I got my upgrades. I’ll catch you later.]

[S’not like we’re dropping the com link is it?] I retorted quickly, trying to hide how nervous I was. Which had grown to the point I was actually feeling it. I’d had backup all this time and was only just getting to the point where I could feel how scary alone might be.

[No. We’ll stay linked. Just in case somebody finds something interesting. Plus just having company on the line can be comforting.] Drag-On was firm in their speech.

[Not like I’m going anywhere.] Snips sounded downright annoyed.

[Right. I’m going to eat a bit more then move on. Need more micro drones.]

[Why?] Alexandra was definitely confused on the subject.

[That’s simple Alex-Chan! It’s going to use them to scout entire buildings rapidly for antithesis activity. Allowing itself to cover more ground faster. It’s a semi-common tactic. Everybody has their own ways.] Drag-On was certainly a wealth of knowledge. Only fair since they were older and presumably a part of a larger organization. I had heard something about a family, but it was still kind of unclear. [Out of curiosity, Shoggoth, do you remember anything yet? I am to understand you have amnesia.]

[Nothing personal. Just procedural.] I let my annoyance, discomfort, and anger at the situation leak into my voice, not that I had much, as I started outputting hordes of micro-drones, sending them in the directions of each building as cohesive groups of a thousand.

[<>I may have the answer to that. There are several cybernetics that were human-produced, and installed in Shoggoth grey matter. Several areas were damaged severely in order to install them. Those areas cover personal memories and a portion of several other vital areas. None will be recovered in total but it is repaired and in healthy shape now allowing for new memories to be stored safely. We will be lucky to recover twenty to thirty percent of former memories as pieces, but it will take some time.]