What do you mean they are using tactics? They're plants, for fucks sake!

  -Last recovered communication from PMC Dog Town, 2032

  Dozens of antithesis focused solely on the door to the elevator, not shifting an inch. Perfectly silent, single minded, and entirely unaware of the fine dust that had been slowly filling up the floor for the last five minutes.

  The first plant to shift was a Model Twelve, flicking one of its wings to remove some dust that accumulated on it, followed by a different Model Twelve. Then, a Model Six, a tall, lithe four legged, bear-like creature sitting in the back stood up and went to turn towards a hole behind it leading down, having noticed something, but it was too late.

  Using that as a signal, hundreds of thousands of nanodrones activated at once, drilling through the antithesis they had coated. The Model Six tripped just before the hole, then spasmed with jerky movements as a small white worm was yanked from its neck, flying down the hole as if pulled by fishing line.

  With their Commander gone, the hundred plus ambush predators were melted, shredded into tiny chunks of green blood and flesh, without having a chance to launch a single attack.

  Then, just as suddenly as the violence started, it stopped. The swarms spread out over every surface available on the floor, the food court tables and stalls, burrowing into the hundreds of residential units and the tens of small businesses, finding no other life.

  From the elevator, I stepped out on floating purple platforms, hovering a few inches above the ground. “That was remarkably effective,” I said, observing the handiwork of the Assault Swarms.

  There was no doubt. Class II War Swarms given the time to coat and infiltrate versus a group of low numbered antithesis who were not moving at all? The outcome was to be expected.

  “Well, only so long as the Twelves didn't activate their EMC abilities. I didn’t have the points to upgrade my swarms with EMC shielding or stronger communications equipment. With this influx, I can equip my Defense drones with their upgrade, right?”

  Indeed! A Class II Defence swarm can be equipped with a hermetic shield, blocking out the EMC disruptions from within itself. With the points you earned from this ambush, you may purchase another Class II Defence swarm, equip it with the seal, and purchase a density upgrade in order to engulf up to four of your Assault Swarms at full capacity!

  “Please go ahead.” I asked. “And unlock an explosive Catalog that should be effective against a Model Twelve,” Already, I could feel through the hole in the back a sense of static from my Scout swarms.

  Unlocked: Class I Exotic Explosives

  Purchased Class II War Swarm Defence Swarm

  Purchased Class I War Swarm Density Upgrade

  Purchased Class II War Swarm EMC Repellant

  Points reduced to 182

  A new dense cloud of purple expanded to encompass a massive area around me. I had to condense a number of my swarms into their standby mode due to the limited space in the new shielded space, condensing a platform of hardlight for them to rest upon. I then arranged my swarms.

  Bubble of Defence with a few Scout nanites at the very edge of the inside of the barrier, then four Assault swarms and the Generation swarm swirling inside it like the world's most dangerous snow globe, with me at the center standing on my other defence swarm.

  While I could still see outside the bubble, it was only visual. The biggest downside of this configuration was that I could not send any nanites outside the hardlight bubble, as they would lose connection to me instantly. This means I had to float along like a ball of death, absorbing the enemies into the bubble. It also meant I could not eat the floors, as doing so would open too big a hole in the formation that would not be plugged fast enough before the EMC would take effect.

  With this new formation set, I descended down the hole. As soon as the purple shield became visible from it, bone spikes, spurs, and the flak artillery-like shots slammed into it. It sounded like heavy rain.

  “What would be most effective, Synaptic?”

  There are numerous grenades available with this new Catalog, from acids to napalm. However, for a more immediate removal, there are two I would recommend. The first is a monofilament garrot bomb, which is a set of razor wire that spins at high speed, covering a decent sized area. The second would be a concussion grenade, which has a similar explosive yield to HE grenades without the fire and shrapnel. Each costs ten points.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Concussion first, please,”

  Purchased: Class I Concussion Grenade 4x

  Points reduced to 142

  I had my Defence swarm create a platform for Synaptic to summon the grenades onto. Opening the box, there were four silver spheres with red buttons and two dials on them. I picked one up, seeing the dials were a detonation timer and a detonation mode selector respectively, as the bubble moved towards the two Model Twelives in the back, shredding the Threes, Fours, Fives, and the one Fifteen that could not maneuver out of the way in time.

  I got within twenty feet of the Twelves, then tossed a grenade at one, setting it to explode on contact. The silver orb flew unobstructed through my swarms, then out of the bubble another twenty feet, landing directly on the giant plant bee’s face.

  The detonation was glorious. A wave of pure force compressing its face inwards, a ripple effect noticeable with my enhanced augmented eyes, green blood gushing out from the cracks. The wave squished it, and affected the Twelve next to it slightly, pushing it a few feet back.

  Nodding and smirking at the explosion, I grabbed another and tossed it at the other. This one hit its side, nearly ripping it in two. With it dead, the EMC Staticy feeling lessened a bit. The information I bought on antithesis indicated that the effect would be gone in three or so minutes while inside an enclosed space. I decided not to wait and descended down another hole to repeat the process.

  I quickly discovered a pleasant surprise. There were no EMC effects on this floor, instead only a bunch of single digits.

  “Where's the rest of them? I was prepared for this to be a whole thing,” I asked incredulously, rubbing my head.

  It was only recently that this hive had the biomass necessary to create double digit antithesis, if the data we recovered is to be believed. We have seen only two Eighteens, and we know there is one Seventeen. It may have only had enough time to create the Eight Model Twelves we have seen, or they are waiting in the basement levels.

  “Huh. Annoying,”

  Then I got the signal for Laser Lasso saying she was here. Through my Scout Swarms, I opened only the garage door my family should have been in at this time, then decided to activate my sleeping Assault swarms to sweep this floor, then to eat up through the ceiling. Not directly above me, of course, but off to the far side of the floor.

  Spending the next few minutes cleaning up and destroying the floors, I also pushed the debris to the edges of the floor. If I was going to dig through thirty plus floors, the amount of particulates, no matter how cut up, would still build up to become a super thick layer of concrete, steel, and plant goo.

  I then paused. “It would be more efficient to simply destroy the hive, then dig up through the floors and walls in order to avoid the buildup of everything, wouldn't it?”

  Indeed! I wasn't going to mention it since you seemed to enjoy this tactic, but it does seem as though the antithesis have created a series of holes leading to the basement level floors that you could utilize.

  Before I could respond, I got a call from Laser Lasso. “Heya, newbie! Wild work removing four whole floors from a megabuilding Do you think you could disable the shield around the thirty second floor? I could bypass it, but there is no guarantee I would be able to avoid killing those guys on said floor.”

  “Synaptic?”

  The shield generator controls are in the overseer’s office. Give me a moment to maneuver the swarm into it.

  After a moment, And there you go, Laser Lasso.

  “Thanks! Once I have this group rounded up, I'll stay nearby just in case you run into something too nasty for you,”

  “I appreciate the backup, Lasso.”

  I decided to keep the current bubble formation as just in case, but I sent out two Scout Swarms in front of it in order to, well, scout for problems.

  As I descended floor by floor, the antithesis sent wave after wave of Threes and Fours to try to delay me, with a number of Nines hidden throughout, firing pot shots, testing my Defenses. But nothing stopped the bubble.

  After an hour, I was finally on the bottom floor. According to the blueprints, the only way to access the basement levels was through a few different elevators, yet the only one that stopped in B-4 was the main freight elevator. Floors b-4 through b-8 were connected by piles and four of their own internal elevators.

  Before you go down much further

  Civilians saved - 37

  Points awarded- 37

  Point total - 8729

  I scrunched my face at the notification, “I suppose those guys still count as Civilians, even if they are prisoners.”

  Indeed! Even if the civilians are corporate VIPs, wounded PMCs, or an orphanage, each person moved to a safe location or situation as a direct result of your actions will net you points!

  “Very well.” I acknowledge her message, internalizing the fact that, to the Protectorate AIs, all humans weigh the same.

  I move towards the freight elevator and am not surprised when I see that there are numerous fleshy vines overflowing its entrance. I move my bubble over the shaft and begin my descent, blending the roots all the way down to B-4. The antithesis between there and Lasso was going to be able to escape, and flanking me was pointless.

  Entering the basement level, I noticed that the amount of vines and roots exploded in number, covering every inch of available wall, floor, and ceiling. Pausing, I checked the blueprint map and, upon seeing how extensive these utility tunnels are, felt a headache growing.

  “There has to be a faster method than going floor to floor, hallway to hallway to clean all this up.” I grumble.

  There are a few catalogs dedicated to the extermination of hive materials, and there are a few types of upgrades you could purchase for your Scout Swarms if you get them to Class II. Or, you could let the dedicated clean up teams of The Family come through afterwards. If you decide on the second option, I would not recommend gutting the building, as it would make their jobs infinitely harder.

  Once more, my thoughts raced for a moment as I considered if I wanted to spend my points now, or save them for the blueprints I knew I needed to get a fully automated production line for my swarms going.

  “Very well,” I said, nodding to myself, “With a heavy heart, I shall not spend the next day dismantling this tower searching for every trace of antithesis.”

  A wise choice, Victor. Shall I plot you a path to where the main hive body should be?

  “Please and thank you, Synaptic.”