"Zeus Energy is reporting a 30% reduction in maintenance costs after implementing their unshielded power cable solution, which leaves power lines exposed in order to deliver a shock to anything that attempts to damage them. In other news, Hester's Recycling Solutions is reporting a net reduction in copper production..."
-East Coast News Network, 2045
----------------------------------------
New Purchase: Double Jump 5000
Points Reduced to…5,446
I looked down at the jump pack I’d purchased from my Class I Auxiliary Armor Utilities catalogue with one question on my mind.
“What’s the 5000 for, anyway?”
“Marketing!”
I sighed heavily at the reminder that capitalism was universal and took a knee, removing the pack from its box. Calling it a jetpack would be something of an exaggeration, hence the term ‘jump pack’. If I jumped, the pack would fire off a burst less than a second long, launching me higher than I could get with muscle power. Since my current model of Dainsleif could only handle one add-on, though, Juny was going to be controlling the timing. If I was going to be choosing between jumping higher and not going splat, I was sticking with the grav-chute.
Mounting it in place was going to require shuffling my gear a bit, though. First I had to take my shotgun off my back and magnetize it to my waist, where it sat a bit awkwardly. Then I realized putting it right below the jump pack’s nozzles was a stupid idea and relocated to the highest point on my back I could manage. Which was about when I realized I didn’t have the flexibility to put the pack on in the suit to begin with and had to ask for help.
“Juny…any chance you can help me put the pack on so I don’t need to get out of my armor?” I asked, feeling defeated. With her usual declaration of ‘Of course!’ the AI manipulated her Eyebot closer to the pack, extending a manipulator arm from some hidden port on the underside. I had to wonder how many tertiary functions she’d snuck into it just so she could play around.
When it was finally in place, I considered my next course of action. I had three options if I wanted to follow the plan I had in mind. The first was to get back in the hovercar and get dropped off on the top of the nearest building in the dead zone, but then I’d have to descend the stairs. Seemed a bit extra given I was maybe a hundred meters away at most.
The second was to approach on foot and emerge from the trees as close to the building as possible. They wouldn’t see me coming, but I wouldn’t be able to see ahead either. I could send Juny ahead to scout, but her camouflage wasn’t built for such a complex environment, so she’d probably either get spotted from above for not matching the tree canopies or spotted from below for not matching the sky.
My third and final option was to approach from the edge of the forest, giving me a line of sight on the building from further away, but letting them spot me ahead of time. Unlike the Eyebot, my armor had no camouflage at all, and the Antithesis had devoured the majority of the underbrush this close to the city, so there was no masking the approach this way.
Ultimately deciding the second option was safest, given Juny’s sensors, I set off through the woods, keeping as many trees between myself and the city as possible. I was moving through a mix of deciduous and pine trees, and the latter provided great cover even at ground level. Then when I was in the right spot, I turned back towards the city and moved closer, doing my best to keep a close eye on anything that could hide Antithesis without jumping at every shadow.
When I was almost there, I picked a tree with a thick trunk, flanked by pines, and advanced with it between myself and the building that was my goal- the second skyscraper from the kill zone, where I could engage the Antithesis from above without being at risk of friendly fire. Creeping up to the tree, I put a shoulder to it and peered out from cover carefully, giving me a nice view of the Antithesis’s unguarded flank.
Which was in fact guarded by at least two Model Sixes, numerous Threes, and a dozen Fives at a minimum. I immediately pulled back behind the tree and hissed a query at Juny.
“How did you not detect those?” But Juny just tilted her bot as a human would their head, indicating confusion.
“Detect what?”
I barely had time to think the words ‘Model Nines’ before something snapped above me, and I crouched out of reflex, moving to cover my head against what my monkey brain assumed was a falling branch. It wasn’t. I felt several impacts on my head and shoulders and heard the screech of organic blades on metal, and then my suit constricted at both shoulders as a response to bleeding, informing me of wounds I hadn’t even felt from blades sharp as obsidian.
As I stood up, catching a glimpse of a Model Nine disappearing back into the canopy where it had been disguised as a branch, another round of hits struck me in the side, plastering me against the tree momentarily. I bounced off, and so did the Model Four that had slammed me with every tentacle it had, using its entire body weight to move my heavy suit so much. I was still reeling from the ambush when another Model Four’s tentacles shot out of a nearby pine tree, but I was able to backpedal out of range in time to avoid the attack.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
This wasn’t a situation with a right option, though, as I found out when Model Fives began pelting my position with spines just as I emerged from cover. Their aim wasn’t stellar at the current distance, but I saw Model Threes surging forward two dozen meters past me, and could only assume another group was doing the same to flank me on the other side.
First things first, I shot the closest Model Four as I planted a foot behind me hard and pushed off it, returning to cover with only a couple of dinged spots on my armor. Now that I knew the pine tree to on the other side of my cover was occupied, I raked it from top to bottom, filling the air with wood chips and pine needles to keep the other Model Four company on its way to the ground.
I didn’t have time to do the same for the Model Nine I knew was still above me, looking for a chance to strike- not with Model Threes moving to surround me and restrain my while I was pinned down by Fives. Instead I recalled something I read once that said the best way to fight back against an ambush was a counterattack and yelled for a smoke grenade, one SMG already being slapped into place on my thigh.
The grenade materialized into my hand as I lost five points, and I immediately hit the helpful red button and hurled it past the tree, following it up with my body the instant it filled the air with an impenetrable shroud. A thump behind me told me I was just in time to avoid a follow up attack from the Model Nine.
“Wire frame!” I shouted, figuring Juny would be able to tell what I meant. Sure enough, a wire frame representation of the ground and building ahead popped into existence, superimposed on the smoke filling my view. None of the Antithesis were visible, but that wasn’t a surprise, as they were definitely being masked by the scales Juny had told me Model Nines shed a few hours ago.
Model Five spines speared the ground all around me as I ran, but the weak points in my armor were hard to aim at while I was in motion, much less when I was moving through an obscuring cloud of smoke. I snapped a few that had fallen into my path just by colliding with them, my mass and the toughness of my armor coming out on top over the natural weapons.
When I was close to the building I jumped and triggered my grav-chute, reducing my effective mass and buying me a few more feet of height before the Double Jump 5000 kicked on. I heard an explosive clap of sound behind me and felt a kick against my shoulder, and then I was soaring through the air, wisps of smoke trailing behind me as I emerged from the cloud. I had no control over my trajectory at this point, but I had timed it mostly right, placing myself on course for a second story window.
The place where a floor to ceiling window used to be, that is. The Antithesis had prepared the location by shattering the windows on this side, giving half a dozen Model Fives a height advantage by placing them there with their view unobstructed by glass. They were already turning when I hit the ground hard, stumbling because the arc of my jump had ended up a bit higher than I would have liked.
My motion tracker caught something pass over me in that instant, although I couldn’t discern whether it would have struck armor or bodysuit without the stumble. I knew stopping here would just leave me vulnerable and caught myself with one foot, the Dainsleif’s weight proving enough to crack tile, then followed that stomp up by running forward into the room beyond.
This floor seemed to be an employee cafeteria or something, and the kitchen would have made great cover if it weren’t on the other side of the floor entirely. I arced to my left instead, the change in direction causing several thrown spines to go wide, and rushed down the Model Five furthest to that side. Running and gunning was still more than I could manage all at once, but I pulled the trigger anyway, filling the floor, ceiling, and the empty space once occupied with glass with bullets. At least a couple of them struck home by the time my magazine was dry, dropping one Model Five to the floor as green goop leaked from its corpse.
The dead alien made for good cover from the rest. I skidded to a stop, accompanied by the screech of thin rubber soles on tile, and ducked behind the body, trading my empty weapon for the filled one. Leaning out of cover, I shot at the next Model Five in line as the others moved to clear their lines of fire. A stray shot blew one of its legs out from under it as another provided a thorough lobotomy, and it toppled over, blocking the next one in line for a moment longer as a result.
Clearing the remaining four out was a simple matter of killing them as they came around the bodies of their fellows. They just couldn’t whip their spines at me faster than a bullet could reach them, and coordinating their movements didn’t help them much this time.
Finally having a brief moment of respite, I backed away from the windows the Fives on the ground were already starting to launch spines through. That was hands down the most coordinated attack by Antithesis I’d experienced. Their timing was worlds better than the botched flanking attempt I’d survived in the tunnels, and it made me wonder if the Model Three horde I’d dismissed as confused was actually an attempt to make me lower my guard and keep me distracted while they prepared this.
I couldn’t be sure though, as there were too many rogue variables in the mix. They couldn’t know where I would be headed, or be sure I wouldn’t get back in the hover car. Had the Antithesis spread out across this area, preparing multiple ambushes just in case? Did they track me with Model Ones and Nines and rush into position at quickly as possible? It was even possible the group I was fighting now had been held back from the earlier assault specifically to be used against me instead, rather than engaging me at a disadvantage.
In the end, what it all boiled down to was that I’d just gotten outsmarted by a head of broccoli, which I wasn’t going to be living down any time soon. But I didn’t have time to dwell, as they weren’t going to give up now, and there were surely a lot more where these few I’d killed had come from. They were going to follow me into the building, but after I killed them, maybe I could figure out how they were coordinating and kill that too.