After clearing the bridge the streets were relatively quiet. The residential building Nyx and Aeonys identified wasn’t that far away, so we made quick progress.

I expected to see a few Antithesis going in and out of the building, instead what we found was a massive hole dug under the street, dozens of different Antithesis protected the entrance while others skittered in and out, pulling bodies into the hole.

“You know, I expected something different.” I muttered. “That certainly looks like a nest or something though.”

Sharron’s eyes flicked back and forth, taking in the entire area. “The one I found was a mess of tunnels, at its core was a giant root structure. I encountered it when it was relatively inactive, but I assume we’re looking for something similar.”

I nodded, “Go in, destroy the giant root, end the incursion, easy.”

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Sharron’s head turn towards me, glacially slow, eyes narrowed.

“Ok fine, not easy, but simple. Finding the hive itself has to be the hard part, right?... right?”

“Just make sure that rifle of yours is reloaded, I have a feeling we’re going to need it,” as she strode forward I quickly checked the magazine, just in case.

The Antithesis surged forward, trying desperately to keep us away from the entrance. They fared as well as the ones on the bridge. Scores were cut down, scores more poured out of the burrow, and then, the assault petered out and ended.

I looked at the relatively small number of bodies and I scratched my head, “Was it supposed to be that easy?”

“No, even in the mine the defense was stronger than that. Perhaps there are more below.”

“Maybe…”

Humboldt marched down into the tunnel, my bears and I a few steps behind. The darkness closed in around us. I would have been blind if it wasn’t for the updates from Bandit, but soon enough even that was insufficient.

“Nyx, I need vision here”, I muttered under my breath.

You’ll need to open a catalog, you want the basics or…

“No, I’ll spend the points, I want whatever I get to last a while. Make it tough. And put it in my hand, I can’t see shit.”

Purchased - Class I Optical Sense Boosting Utilities - 50 points

Purchased - Hardened Multispectral Detection Glasses - 100 points

Points Remaining - 3523

I felt something hit my hand, glasses of some sort. As I put them on I felt them curve around my face, like safety glasses, and after a second they booted up illuminating the area.

The tunnel was rough, it intersected the sewers and the occasional basement. The occasional offshoots we passed ended after a dozen or so feet, so our route was surprisingly Linear. I had a bad feeling.

“Sharron, do you see anything up there?”

“No, nothing” her once confident stride had slowed, apparently I wasn’t the only one worried about the situation.

“Where the fuck is everything” I hissed, “There are no bodies, no Antithesis, no hive… what is this.”

“I don’t know, but we’re already at the end of the road.”

I took a step to the side, to look around her, only to see a blank wall. There were two short offshoots, but no indication of why the Antithesis were digging down here. I was about to take a step forward when I caught motion, just out of the corner of my eye. By that time, it was too late to react.

Two mandibles, each four feet long exploded out of the ground and then the wall at the end of the left offshoot moved. Except it wasn’t a wall, it was the head of an Antithesis that filled the entire tunnel, and its charge caught Humboldt dead on, carrying her into the other tunnel. I was left looking at a wall composed of dozens of legs and super heavy plates where my friend used to be.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, my connection to my bots was interrupted, leaving only me to act. I turned, yanked the Railgun off Spooky’s back, took aim… just as the tunnel was filled with noise.

I could feel the vibration in my very bones, blood started to run from my eyes, ears and nose, my vision blurred. It may have been bad for me, the Antithesis had it much worse. Blood spilled from between every plate, the legs jerked unevenly, some even pulled themselves right off the beast. After a few seconds, everything went still.

For the second time in as many hours, I had to empty my stomach on the floor. Rolling on to my side I gasped, “Nyx, Nanites.”

Purchased Class I nano-regenerative suite - 15 points

Points remaining - 3708

I managed to rip open the package in front of me, and jam it in my arm, slowly my vision cleared, the ringing stopped.

Aeonys just messaged me, they’re alive but trapped at the end of the tunnel and need help.

Looked at the solid flesh wall blocking my path and slumped. “Perfect.”

It took about ten minutes for the bots to dig through the couple feet of dirt between me and Sharron using the entrenching tools I bought. Her tentacles were pinned behind the suit, useless, so I needed to use my Ax to cut away one of the mandibles that had her trapped. It took a couple swings.

Once she was loose I could finally see the damage to her suit, the cockpit was cracked slightly, and shallow divots ran down both sides of the suit where the mandibles had gripped it. It was more damage than I’d ever seen, or expected her to take. The damage wasn’t the only thing that was new, two stubby weapons were mounted on the suit’s shoulders.

Ironically Sharron seemed to be more concerned about me than herself, “Fuck Evelyn, are you ok? I’m sorry about that, I needed something to kill that thing, I didn’t realize the collateral damage from the sonic cannons would be so bad.”

I shrugged, or at least I think I did “Ehhh… I’m starting to feel a little run down, but I can keep going. I would like to stop throwing up now though, I don’t have that many nutriblocks left.”

Sharron paused, then turned to look at me, “Don’t tell me all you eat down here is nutriblocks.”

“Of course not, I do get the occasional burger or synth poultry nuggets when I have some extra cash.”

Her face fell, and she grabbed one of my arms. “Come here you,” she pulled me to a clear section of the tunnel then pointed at the floor, “Sit.”

I did, then, as I watched the cockpit of her suit split open allowing her to climb out. For the first time I caught sight of her body. She was slender, wearing a light jumpsuit, and tall, close to six foot. Some people have all the luck.

She must have caught me glowering, cause she turned to look at me, an eye raised. “What?”

“Nothing.” Internally I was pouting, I just wasn’t going to show it.

“Right. Aeonys two meals please.” She raised her hands and two little boxes appeared. She handed me the top one. “Eat”

I eyed the box suspiciously, pulled down my bandana, then cracked the top. A heavenly scent arose accompanied by a burst of steam. I gasped, “What is this?”

She snorted, “Chicken and vegetables, I’m not going to let you continue without eating something proper.”

I stared at the wall of Antithesis flesh as I shoveled spoonfuls of food into my mouth. I swallowed a mouthful of ambrosia, then pointed “That’s not a hive.”

Sharron laughed, nearly spitting out a mouthful of food. Spooky stepped forward, “That’s correct, it’s a model fourteen. It usually fits the roles of heavy tank or transport, it’s also one of the models that doesn’t stop growing when there is sufficient biomass, it just adds new segments.”

“So they were just growing this thing as, what? A backup? More efficient transport?”

Spooky shrugged, “I’m unsure, but this one was massive. You were both awarded extra points due to its length.”

I swallowed another mouthful. “We can’t push that thing into a canal, is there anything we can do about it?”

“There is an Anthesis Biomass Denial Catalog, we can deal with that after you eat.”

I nodded, then turned back towards Sharron, my cheeks full of mixed vegetables. I reluctantly swallowed them down, “Is your suit ok, it looks like it took quite a beating.”

She nodded, “The seals held, besides the crack most of the damage is relatively superficial. I’d rather not spend points unless I have to.”

I cocked my head to the side, she must have foreseen my next question because she answered it before I could ask. “I’m saving up for the next tier of suit. I’ve unlocked the catalog, I just need the points.”

“How much?”

She chewed a few more times, then swallowed “Ten thousand.”

I spit out my food, “How much? That’s insane!”

She shrugged, “It’s not that much for a veteran Samurai. These sonic cannons are the first upgrades I’ve really needed for my suit. The next level is their actual combat model.”

Looking over at her suit I was once again reminded it was nothing but a mining rig, I tried to imagine what a combat model would do. It was terrifying.

Sharron scraped the last bits of her lunch into her mouth, then stood up. “Come on, we need to finish cleaning up around here then search the other sites. We still have a hive to find.”

I just licked the last remnants off my spoon and nodded.