Remember, kids! If you see the note saying the scary aliens are near, make your way as quickly and quietly to the nearest shelter, cause they are made to keep you safe!

  -Educational video for k-12, said through the mascot character "Bluey the Armadillo

  Pulling out of the hug, Roger.claks my shoulders,” Well then! Before you run off to be a big hero, mind giving us some gear so we can defend ourselves?” He asks, a cheeky grin taking over his face.

  “Sure, sure. I assume you have an idea as to what Armor you want? As for weapons, I will get a Kinetic weapons catalogs, so let me know what kind of guns you want.”

  Buddy raised his hand just in front of his face, “I would like the Support Type Armor with a shotgun and a more sturdy baton,”

  That made sense. Buddy looked far more menacing than he acted.

  “Scout type with a hand cannon and an SMG. Please,” Jill said curtly.

  “Soldier type for myself with both a rifle and shotgun, if you would Vic,” Roger said with his cheeky grin not losing any luster.

  Cody was the last one left, and I could see he was still mulling it over. Eventually, he growled in exasperation, running his hands rapidly through his hair, “Sands, I don't know! I'm the guy in the chair, and all these armors are dedicated to front line combat. Synaptic, is there something that would better help me, I don't know, be a better hacker? Some combination of the Scout and Commander types?”

  Not at Class I, no. The Electronic Manipulation Swarm is a Class II swarm. The Scout Type is the closest to what you are requesting due to its higher ratio of Scout nanites. They can act as external processors and better help you comprehend and react to different net and Mesh situations.

  He sighed heavily, acting as if he just learned his favorite froyo place was out of his favorite flavor, “Fine. I guess a Scout type with a pistol.”

  “Should I go ahead and get the upgraded augs for you guys, or are we still holding off to screw over the Company later?”

  “Hold off for now,” Cody replies hastily, “I really want to dig through their servers and remove us from their database.”

  I nod, acknowledging his resolve.

  Unlocked: Class I Kinetic Weapons Catalog

  Points reduced to 1930

  Purchased Class I War Swarm Scout Type Armor 2x

  Points reduced to 1730

  Purchased Class I War Swarm Support Type Armor

  Points reduced to 1630

  Purchased Class I War Swarm Soldier Type Armor

  Points reduced to 1530

  Purchased Class I Street Sweeper Auto Shotgun 2x

  Points reduced to 1470

  Purchased Class I Hole Puncher Semi Auto Hand Cannon

  Points reduced to 1445

  Purchased Class I Fire House Sub Machine Gun

  Points Reduced to 1420

  Purchased Class I Brass Muncher Assault Rifle

  Points reduced to 1390

  Purchased Various Class I Ammo

  Points reduced to 1300

  Purchased Class I Anti-Seven pills

  Points reduced to 1299

  Armor, weapons, and three extra reloads of Ammo for each of them, as well as the just in case pills.

  Like kids during Christmas, they open the new boxes and take time to get used to their new kit.

  A few minutes later, they are sending me off so I can begin the first part of the new plan. Check the shelter on floor fifty eight. The one right in front of the college I nearly died at, and subsequently awakened at. I paused at the landing where I obtained that super shitty axe.

  Synaptic, there are upgrades available for my swarms, correct? What do they entail?”

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  I'm so glad you asked! There are a number of universal upgrades that are shared between each swarm type, and each swarm has one or two unique upgrades. Would you like to know all of them for each, or just the Assault Swarm as it is the most prevalent in this situation?

  It would normally take a few seconds to think that over. Now, it only took half a second to decide, “Just the Assault and Scout for now. I will need to work on the others soon, but raw power and information seems more important in the immediate future.”

  With pleasure! Synaptic's voice, while soft and sultry, always peaked with excitement when making her sales pitches. It was subtle, but it was there.

  The universal upgrades are movement speed, swarm density, swarm Cohesion, repair speed, and Range. Movement speed is self explanatory, increasing the speed from fifteen miles per hour up to a snappy forty! It costs seventy five points. The swarm density and Cohesion sounds similar, but they are distinct. Density increases the amount of nanites in the swarm as a whole, increasing the volume by a factor of two point five times and costs one hundred points. Cohesion affects the swarms' different functions. For example, the Assault swarms drill mode would condense faster and be denser as a whole, in order to lessen energy loss upon impact and maintain integrity against stronger armor. The slam mode is affected the same.

  For the Scout Swarm, this upgrade increases the swarms collection abilities, giving it a rudimentary AI to highlight points of interest in the area or data collected. Cohesion costs one hundred points. Repair speed shortens the time a swarm needs to replenish its numbers back to its current maximum from one minute per percent missing to thirty seconds per percent missing. It costs fifty points. Finally, range works similar to the density upgrade, increasing the controller range by the same factor of two points five! It costs fifty points.

  As far as unique upgrades go, for the Assault Swarm they get two. The first increases their cutting speed by a factor of three. This means that, normally it takes a swarm three seconds to deconstruct a Model Three, now it takes one! This upgrade costs one hundred points. The other upgrade is a smart targeting system. This allows the swarm to target specific areas on a target, either picked by you, by scanning the target, or by pulling the information from an internal database if the target has been a type or Model similar to another you have encountered and have either made an attack plan for in advance, or follows the same pattern that they discovered previously. This allows the swarm to locate cracks in the armor of the target, enlarges the access point, and dives deeper into the target to eliminate them quicker. If you manually target a specific part to be removed first. This upgrade costs one hundred points.

  “Wait a moment before continuing, please. Do each of these upgrades get applied on a per swarm basis, or as a full army upgrade?”

  A per swarm basis, of course! You may purchase a blueprint for each upgrade, so that once you have the capabilities to produce your own swarms, you may build them with the upgrades already installed! Each blueprint is ten times more expensive than just buying the upgrade outright, however it will be worth it in the long run!

  I sighed, once more. I needed to get used to this point sink of a sales AI. Even with my new body, if I let her get to me each time, I'm sure my lifespan will still be affected.

  “We don't need to go over the Scout Swarm. Let's purchase four of the cutter upgrades for my Assault swarms, and the speed upgrades as well. And going forward, whenever I buy a new Assault Swarm, please make those upgrades a standard part of their price.”

  Excellent choice!

  Purchase Class I War Swarm Assault Nano Blade Enhancement 4x

  Points reduced to 895

  Purchase Class I War Swarm Propulsion Enhancement 4x

  Points reduced to 595

  There was no noticeable difference in the swarms, but that only made sense. The swarms were made of nano bots, and I would have to focus really hard just to see one.

  Entering floor Fifty Eight, I see that the bushes that acted as low walls were all gone, as were the bodies of the three Model Threes I killed before. There were trails of green, dried blood leading into the hole at the far back wall.

  “They really like to reclaim their dead, don't they.” I whispered. I walked over to the shelter and was met with the thick steel door. There are no marks or dents that might indicate that the antithesis might have tried to get inside. “Is there a normal way to open this from out here, or do I have to carve my way in?”

  “The exterior unlock requires a handshake authentication code that we don't have. I've been working on it while you have been making your way up, but it has some pretty serious ICE blocking it. You may be better off getting Synaptic to open it for you than wait for me,” Cody explains with mild irritation in his voice.

  If you wish for me to open this door, you will require the Class I Cyberwarefare Suite Catalog for fifty points.

  “Please and thank you, Synaptic,”

  Unlocked: Class I Cyberwarefare Suite Catalog

  Points reduced to 545

  A second later, I could hear metal shift and grind against metal, the steel block of a door slowly rising to a full open. With that said, my Scout Swarm only needed a crack to infiltrate the shelter. What I saw inside was less than promising. In fact, it was downright depressing.

  There were over two thousand people inside, per the shelter's logs, and those closest to me did not react to the door opening. They just stood there, perfectly still, like mannequins. "Synaptic, can my Scout Swarm scan them for Sevens?”

  That is one of their unique upgrades, the Bioscanner. It allows them to scan any living entity within their range to determine their current status.

  “Please upgrade them for me,” I say, cutting off her sales pitch.

  Purchased Class I War Swarm Bioscanner

  Points reduced to 445

  Instantly, I could see a readout linked to each person. Age, gender, heart rate and hormonal levels, even preexisting conditions like sickle cell in one of them. The other thing that was highlighted in red text was that every single one of them was infected with Model Sevens, these horrible worms fused onto their spines and brains, effectivly killing their hosts. Once the slab of metal was fully open, hydronic engaged to lock it in place. I had Synaptic mute the comms. I ordered three of my Assault Swarms to eliminate any infected individuals. I closed my eyes and focused on the Scout Swarm feed as I stepped inside to sweep the shelter.

  “Synaptic, please record the names and IDs of each person in the shelter and locate their next of kin. Once we figure out who owns this building and every person involved in this, I want you to drain their accounts and split it evenly amongst them.”

  Of course, Victor.

  In the end, not a single person was left alive or intact. The Assault swarms' new blades turned every individual into a puree, taking the time to make sure I was denying the antithesis their lives and biomass. I took in the entire shelter, internalising the carnage and consequences of some dipshit CEO or board of directors.

  And I felt my blood boil.