“Shut up meathead, this is not the time for your shit.” Jacobs replied. “So, Commander, is it true? Did you really get contracted, or did you just say that to keep everyone’s spirits up?”
“It’s true, for whatever it’s worth. I still need to go outside, into that hellscape, and retrieve some fucked up Antithesis remains before we can leave. We can’t travel in force, not with so many non-combatants still in the building.”
“And those models outside are no joke,” Samuels murmured quietly.
“No they’re not.” Helen agreed, “Jacob I want you to work with Angela and organize things here. Once you get the support staff to the roof you can send Daniels to cover us. I assume she’s got her 50 cal. sniper rifle."
“You know she never lets it out of her sight, I wouldn’t be surprised if she slept with it in her bed.” Samuels quipped. Helen gave her a quick look, but didn’t comment. Considering Daniels personality It probably wasn’t far off the truth.
“Samuels and McMullen, you two are with me. We’re going to retrieve the protector’s precious prize, then get everyone off this rock. Everyone carries a silenced K-340 carbine, I’d like to move as quietly as possible, but if we can’t make it undetected I’m giving you permission to bring your biggest toys. No point in holding back. Once you’re set up, meet me at the staircase.” The two soldiers nodded, then went off to prepare.
Helen took one last look at Angela, who was currently consoling the support staff, before walking to what remained of the building’s staircase. Now that the building was sideways, it was more like a hallway that was open to the outside, with built-in obstructions. A pair of Exterminator auto-turrets were set up on the side of the staircase just below the seventy-fifth floor, set to open fire on any Antithesis signatures. Apparently they’d been busy, there were a couple of collapsed corpses in the stairway too. The creatures made it all the way to the seventy-fourth floor before collapsing, despite the fact that the Exterminators were spewing heavy .50 caliber rounds. Tough bastards.
She sat on the side of the staircase, and began inspecting her equipment. “Loky, what are we looking for? I need specifics.”
The central trunk contains both the main nerve bundle, and a focusing array which looks like a crystalized flower. My guess is the building came down on it, so it’ll be close. The nerve bundle will be encased in an amber-like substance, extremely hard to destroy, so you don’t need to be gentle.
“Anything else?”
It’ll probably be surrounded by caretakers, so expect more old-growth. Mostly threes and tens, but there might also be the occasional six.
“Fuck, and how tough is that going to be?”
If you can take down a twelve you’ll be fine.
“And if we DON’T have anything that big on hand?”
I would highly recommend you avoid it.
“Thanks, very useful.” Helen sighed, and continued checking her equipment until her backup arrived.
When her backup arrived a few minutes later Helen just stood up and hefted her rifle. McMullen was cradling his massive T-49 heavy machine gun in one arm, while stroking his massive black beard with the other. Most people couldn’t lift the weapon, never mind fire it safely, thankfully McMullen was built more like a bear than a man. They’d need the firepower if things went south.
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Samuels had picked up one of the semi automatic grenade launchers, and several oversized reloads. Helen would bet money that all her vest pockets were stuffed with shaped charges and plastic explosives too. The girl had already pulled down her goggles, and picked up a matching bandana to tie around her mouth, so her entire face was obscured.
Both had silenced carbines on their person, and time was against them, so as far as Helen was concerned it was time to work. “We’re looking for a central trunk, or tendril, that’s topped by some sort of gigantic flowery growth. Inside that trunk is some sort of plant brain, I assume buried, but protected by an amber like coating. We need to retrieve that brain to get out of here.”
Samuels shifted from one leg to another, “How do we dig it out?”
“We didn’t have any entrenching tools in the upper armory, but there are fire axes in the building.” Helen pointed to the emergency box mounted halfway down the now toppled stairway. “It’s the best we have, for now. My new passenger may give me better options, as long as we pop some Antithesis along the way. Either way, we need to move quickly and quietly. No unnecessary conversation after we leave here, got it?”
Her two companions nodded, then McMullen ran over to the firebox and retrieved the axe before strapping it to his back. Once he was done Helen used two fingers to signal for them to move out, and the little group left the safety of the building.
The ground outside was covered in a thick layer of ash, and the only identifiable landmarks were the long root like structures which crawled along the surface as far as the eye could see, and half a dozen truly colossal tree trunks. Each trunk was thicker than a skyscraper, and they all curved together and forming a dome like structure above. Everything was black, like obsidian, and had a series of pulsing red veins running through it. A truly alien landscape.
Helen shook her head, shaking off the awe, and looked around; There was no sign of the flower. Samuels tapped her on the shoulders, then pointed down. Although the roots didn’t have any identifiable marking, they did appear to originate from a single point, somewhere on the far side of the building. Helen nodded, and once again signalled for the pair of soldiers to follow.
The group snuck up to the corner of the building, then carefully peeked around it to get a look at the area. This area was more uneven, a few hills blocked line of sight, but about half way down the building Helen could see what looked like petals peeking over a rise. Unfortunately there was a pair of the oversized Threes probing the building between them and the target. One of the creatures was slamming into the protective barrier, ineffectively, while the other appeared to be trying to dig under.
Helen signaled the others, two targets. Samuels left, McMullen right. Aim for head. Count of three.
She counted down with her fingers, and the instant she hit zero all three rounded the side of the building and opened fire. The silenced rounds smashed into the face of both Antithesis, staggering them, but neither went down. The one bashing the building reacted the fastest, so Helen concentrated fire on that one. It was tough, but not enough to absorb the precision fire from two different rifles, directly into the face. The time it took to drop the first allowed the second to close. It bound forward, over the corpse of its compatriot, but now it faced the combined firepower of three rifles instead of just one. The rounds hit home, even when the beast was mid-air; The creature died before it even hit the ground.
Without a word the squad reloaded, then started moving forward. The ash parted like snow at their passing, but almost no noise was made. As soon as they made it to the rise Helen signalled for the other two to wait, then peeked her head over the side.
The first thing she noticed was a massive vine, over forty feet long and five feet wide. The root must have been crushed by the building landing, as the majority of the plant was now laying flat on the ground. At the far end of the vine was a bulb-like obtrusion, topped by a partially smashed crystalline structure. If the thing had been complete it might have looked like a beautiful, perfectly symmetrical flower. Or a satellite dish.
Unfortunately getting to the vine wouldn’t be easy, the entire area was crawling with Antithesis. There were over a dozen of the dog-like model Threes furiously trying to dig up the area around the vine, but they weren’t the only models in the area. There were about a dozen massive, four armed, and headless monkeys assisting in the attempted repair operation. They looked like the model Tens she knew, but instead of being around three feet tall they were about the size of full grown silverback gorillas. These might actually put up a fight, unlike their smaller kin.
Helen slid down the small hill, then made a show of putting away her rifle and taking out her pistol. The other two understood at once, and swapped to their main weapons. Helen nodded, then activated her radio, whispering into it as quietly as possible. “Daniels, are you clear?”