Bob left messages for the rest of the group to meet him outside the PA building. Buzz was the first one to show up, and he seemed to be bouncing around with some excitement.

“Hi Bob! I got the Splicer class! Abyss, this genetics thing is super interesting. I’m going to have to do some more research in our downtime. Did you know that our avatars aren’t actually real flesh? Everything else is, except players. Well, I haven’t tested the quest NPCs either… But still!”

“That’s neat, Buzz. Splicer, wasn’t that some kind of animal taming class?”

“So much more than that! They alter the fundamental building blocks of life to design their companions! Which, by the way, is how I think those ‘mutant rats’ came about. They’re a near seamless blending of rodent and insect, primarily drawing from rats and ants. Definitely not a random mutation, they were designed.

“Anyways, I’ve got my first companion. I’m only supposed to bring it out in a lab or outside the green zone. It’s not much to look at yet, anyways, but it can fly.”

“That’s neat, Buzz. Do you know what Chunk is picking up?”

Buzz grimaced a bit at the thought of their companion. “No. Probably something dumb that they didn’t think through.”

Bob shrugged. “Well, if she hasn’t made a decision yet, I have some suggestions. So, what all can this pet of yours do?”

Buzz proceeded to tell Bob virtually everything about his new pet, and only stopped when FarShot and ShadowRunner showed up.

“Hey guys! Where were you? We didn’t see you logged on yesterday, and didn’t see any messages or anything. Something happen?” ShadowRunner asked.

“We had a mutual acquaintance that needed urgent assistance in relocating. Sorry, should have logged in for a moment to send you a message,” Bob said.

“Oh. No worries. We found a random group to do a few requests with in the tunnels. They kind of sucked, though. At least we got a couple levels for our new classes.”

“Oh, what’d you pick?” Buzz asked.

“I picked Scout. It gave me some good sensors for picking up enemies further away, and I’ve heard that I might be able to use it and Marksman to get access to an advanced class further down the line,” said FarShot.

ShadowRunner grinned and chuckled a little maniacally. “I picked Demolitionist. So now I can blow up even more stuff! So if we find another Drone Lair I can pretty much deal with it alone, using some of my new toys. It’s going to be awesome! What about you guys?”

“I picked Scrapper. Buzz picked Splicer. We’re waiting on Chunk to show up to see what she got.”

They stood there for several minutes, discussing their new classes, and how they’d work together, as well as the recent patch changes.

After some time, Chunk approached the group, rubbing the back of her neck.

“So, Chunk, what class did you pick?” ShadowRunner asked.

“Uh… Chunk not know what to pick! Chunk think so hard, but Chunk not find answer! Chunk so sorry!”

Bob sighed. “It’s okay, Chunk. Go with Grenadier. I know it will be a little weird for you, but it is going to open up worlds of smash to you that you never even knew was possible.”

Chunk perked up when she heard that. “Really?”

“Really. Didn’t you know that a grenade smashes everything around it when it goes off? And with a grenade launcher you can smash from far away, without having to worry too much about missing.”

Chunk disappeared into the PA building to get her class training. While she was gone, Bob explained the choice to the others. “If it weren’t for the patch, I might have steered Chunk toward a different class. However, having her be able to act as a shield wall while laying down serious area of effect fire… Let’s just say it’s a good mix with our current party.”

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The other three muttered in agreement as they considered his reasoning.

“So, are we going to do more yellow zone requests, or are we going to venture into the orange zone?” ShadowRunner asked hopefully.

“Well… I would like to spend a day or so down in the tunnels. Mostly to compare our current abilities with how we were previously. After that, we can consider venturing into the orange zone. From my research, it sound like the danger levels can vary from similar to the tunnels, to much worse. Lots more mutants out there with a wider variety, as well as sturdier rogue drones, toxic storms, and some areas that are just plain poisonous to be in. We should probably use whatever we earn today to equip ourselves with that in mind.”

“That makes sense, Bob. I think we should go with that,” said FarShot.

ShadowRunner pouted. “Yeah, I just really wanted to see what the orange zone is like. I heard they used to live out there before some kind of calamity, so there’s a ton of ruins, mutant forests, and all kinds of crazy shit.”

“Don’t worry, Shadow, I’m sure Bob just wants us to familiarize ourselves with our new classes before we go off and fight a bunch of new enemies in a new environment,” said Buzz.

Bob nodded in agreement.

“It does make sense. Besides, we could use some money to beef up our equipment before going into a more dangerous zone,” said FarShot.

ShadowRunner nodded in agreement. “I did only have a little bit of money left for spending on my new class…”

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Four hours later and the team was deep within the tunnel system. They’d cleared another tunnel blockage, which was an immature mutant rat nest, then went on to demolish a rogue Drone Lair in its early stages. Chunk’s new grenadier class let them drop an incendiary grenade into the nascent nest from a distance. ShadowRunner had stealthily made his way into the Drone Lair and demolished it thoroughly, which left little for Bob to scavenge.

Still, it had not prepared them for their most annoying opponent yet: the mutant cockroaches. They were not especially difficult, but most definitely annoying

Even before their class upgrade, they’d seen hundreds of the skittish things and even killed a few of the more aggressive ones. They were hardy creatures, and only FarShot’s rifle could reliably penetrate their thick chitin at significant distances, especially considering the oblique angles at which their shots were striking. Even so, they could take a great deal of punishment before expiring, capable of surviving for hours even after losing their head.

One of the requests they’d picked up was to clear out a mutant roach infestation under the industrial district. As it turned out, the normally skittish roaches became fiercely territorial around their nests.

As the group approached the nest site, they were charged by hissing roaches. Chunk broke up the occasional wave with a grenade being put down range. More than a few times she had to switch back to her club to smash any of the bugs that got too close.

Luckily, the mutant roaches seemed to lack even the little bit of strategy the rats had displayed, and swarmed at the group piecemeal rather than in large waves, so the group was proceeding forward at an unsteady slog rather than sitting behind Bob’s fortified defenses and allowing the waves of enemies to break on their defenses.

Buzz was finally making real use of his Medic abilities, applying rapid treatment to the wounds caused by the cockroaches bites and the lacerations from their spiky legs. His new pet also finally made its appearance. It looked like an over-sized wasp, approximately a foot and a half long with vibrant yellow and red stripes. It would swoop down on the roaches, pick one up and begin jabbing it with stinger while still in midair on its loudly thrumming wings.

“Hey, Buzz, what happens if your pet dies?” Bob asked during a lull in the fighting as the Medic moved to loot the battlefield.

“I’ve got a couple dormant spares in my inventory. I need to get an upgraded Bio-Link so I can control more of them, since right now I’m limited to one at a time. For now, if one dies I just deploy the next. Until I start getting more intelligent pets that are capable of learning and responding to more complex commands, these guys are basically expendable. I should be able to get most of their bio-mass back if they die as well. Once I learn more about this whole genetics thing, I should be able to tinker with and customize them even further. Some of the stuff I’ve come across hints that I’ll be able to augment them with tech implants as well.”

“That’s neat, kind of like my turrets, but organic. I wonder if I’d be able to do the opposite? Augmenting the technology with biological components. Once we’re more knowledgeable we should try collaborating on some creations.”

The two continued their discussion of the technicalities of their respective professions well through the next two waves.

Their conversation ended as they discovered the source of the cockroach infestation. Before them lay a corridor filled with fist sized eggs, teeming with cockroach nymphs of varying sizes.

“Chunk, care to do the honors of burning this shit down?” FarShot asked.

“Chunk be happy to,” she replied, throwing an incendiary grenade into the midst of the nest.

The grenade exploded with a bright flash of heat and flames, but the fire did not spread from the point of detonation.

ShadowRunner sighed. “Explosives time, Miss Chunk.” Chunk sighed and made sure her grenade launcher was loaded with high explosive rounds.

“Huh. I suppose this sort of situation is what that ‘flamethrower’ weapon in the shop was made for…” Buzz mused.