Is the sun too HOT for you? Scared of burning you delicate skin? Then what you need is Cancer Blocker 2000? A proprietary blend of all natural chemicals that is guaranteed to save your skin!

  Fucking Cancer Blocker? This shit gives people Cancer! Give it a new name by the end of the day, or you will be apart of the testing group!

  -A failed Ad campaign from Sunny Days LLC before they were successfully sued into bankruptcy.

  Per Vanguard tradition, it is a senior Vanguard who names a new awakened, as such, I can guess a few names that Lasso will more than likely try to give you.

  “Please,” I waved my hand in agreement.

  Grey Goo is the obvious name, however there is a Vanguard on the west coast with that name already. Hive Mind is another, as you are planning on getting a Hive Mind Catalog it is appropriate. The most absurd one I could guess is something like Heaven Piercing Giga Drill considering your utter destruction of the above floors.

  I snorted at the last one. “No, none of those are jumping out at me. Is there precedence for a Vanguard to name themselves?”

  Of course there is, but it is rare, comparably.

  “That's fine. I have been thinking of something for a while now. War Games. The reason I wanted to go down this route is because of the RTS games that Cody and I play, as well as the numerous other strategy games I have played. It's why I was the drone controller before, the sense of command and overhead view just felt right.”

  Very well. If War Games is the title you have chosen for yourself, I can send a message to Laser Lasso to inform her of your decision. She will be very disappointed, I imagine, but she will accept your decision regardless.

  “If you would, please. And also let her know that I may need an extraction from this level.”

  Instead of responding, we stayed in silence for just a moment before I received a call from said Samurai.

  “Well there, kiddo. I guess you are a big boy now, taking all the fun out of helping newbie Samurai.” She said in the most sickly sweet voice possible. For a moment, I felt fear.

  “Well, whatever. War Games it is. Or Games for short. Read the packet your AI sent me, and am seeing the reading from below, and damn that's a lot of fire. I know we live in the armpit of the devil, but you don't have to make it worse.”

  I chuckled,”You're right, I didn't have to set the entire sub basement level on fire. But it was faster, and even better, I cleared a lot of antithesis materials out of the way.”

  “Well, next time you decide to set a building on fire, make sure you can either get out yourself, or aren’t in it. I'll be there in a moment, just hang tight.”

  As the call disconnected, I heard a thumping sound come from the entrance, and I froze. The thumping grew stronger, louder, and I could see the door being dented, which was not a good sign. I covered myself in both Defence swarms and sent four Assault Swarms to cover the entrance. I then condensed the other six swarms into sixty Spear drills and got them within twenty feet of the door.

  Finally, the door burst open, and a massive black maw covered in white tentacles burst in from the other side. I fired all drills at once and condensed the other swarms into slam attacks, dropping them at high speeds as the plant dragged itself through the door.

  A majority of the drills skidded off the armored face, while two entered its mouth. The four heavy cubes cracked into the burnt armor, sending shards of bark-like armor skittering across the room. The maw snapped open and closed, pushing the doors further apart, pushing its way inch by inch. The heat from the hallway poured in around it, causing my shields to lose stability at a constant rate.

  After seeing how ineffective the drills were, I had all Assault swarms shift into slam attacks, crushing the head of this T-Rex plant.

  Then, just before the creature fully entered the room, it twitched heavily, then stopped moving. I continued to crush its head, just in case.

  Then, on the ceiling, a huge glowing circle formed, then the center of the circle fell, having been cut through. On the lip above, I saw whom I could only guess would be Laser Lasso.

  Nearly seven feet tall with a big cowboy hat and an even bigger smile. Her armor looked like cloth, but there was a shine to it that cloth didn't have. Her leather pants were bulky, and there were two huge revolver looking guns hanging from her side. In her hands was a rope that was still glowing at the end a bit.

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  “Howdie, Games! I know I said you just needed to wait for me, but you didn't have to invite a friend over!” She shouted down to me.

  Shaking my head and laughing, I called all my swarms back and using defence swarms, floated up through the hole she made.

  As I exited the hole, I saw a huge brass bull standing behind her, taller than she was with horns made of metal. She must have sensed my surprise, cause she chuckled, then patted the bulls nose.

  “This here is Betsy, my partner. She's a wild gal, full of spit and vinegar and missiles. Come on, hop up, she’ll take us up to your family.” Then, she mounted Betsy in one smooth motion.

  I decided not to fight the inevitable and floated up behind Laser Lasso, sitting behind her. As I did, I felt myself adhere to the bull, which was a strange feeling. Then, the bull charged forward, then straight up a different hole. She was fast, yet I didn't feel any wind buffet me. Instead, I just felt a mass of fatigue hit me as we ascended through what I can see as a straight passage up through the roof. Then, we were out, flying higher and higher into the Arizona sky. My face mask was filtering the harsh sunlight, and I looked around.

  I saw the city sprawl out beneath me, massive spires of silver and blue and red, then the border wall, the mile high concrete landmark that surrounded the city to keep out the worst of what exists in the desert.

  Then, just as I was getting used to altitude, Betsy dived straight down at ridiculous speeds. I let out a small yelp and grabbed Lasso, yet she just laughed.

  Finally, we were on the roof of the building next to the van. I felt the adhesion effect let go, so I used my jump jets to get off quickly before Lasso did something else. I landed next to the van which had its doors opened, and I saw everyone safe and sound within.

  “Alright, kiddos! I've sent you the coordinates for The Family’s HQ and let them know you are planning on stopping by soon. I've got to wait here for the cleaners, so don't wait for me. Looking forward to working with you, War Gamer!” Laser Lasso waved at us from atop her bull, then Betsy’s face opened up and creates a new hole with a laser, then dove into it.

  I stare in shock for a moment, then hop in the van and close the doors. “Hey guys. Glad we made it out.”

  Buddy clapped my shoulder, and I saw that they were all in new clothes, not the horrible jumpsuit we have to wear, while Jill was still in her combat mode.

  Her suit, while form fitting, made her look more androgynous than anything else, with minimal detailing other than the fact that its color was a dark blue.

  I sat on the bench and strap myself in, then Cody chimed in, a smile on his face ”Hey, War Games. God, that's so twenty-thirties. You ready to be the Edge Runner? Maybe hack the webs?”

  Roger chuckles while Buddy just smiled. Jill still had her helmet up, so no idea what she was feeling. “Nah, nothing strenuous for me for now. I just want to lay down and sleep, but I know we have two more stops we have to make before we can sleep. Plus, it's only one pm.”

  “You sure you're up to heading back to the dorm?” Roger asks.

  “Yeah, sooner we get our stuff, and the sooner we hack the company's server, the sooner you guys get your upgrades and we get a new life.” I replied.

  “Fair enough. Setting course for home. Once we get in, pack your stuff as fast as possible, then load back up. Miss Synaptic, can we rely on you to do the snooping? I trust Cody, but we all know he can't get through all the security.”

  Of course.

  As the van took off, Buddy turned to me, “Synaptic, a small question that may make me sound heartless, but would you be able to hack into all the dead from the tower and obtain their credits for us? Just the ones without next of kin. Oh, and the security officers that were captured.”

  No need to worry, Buddy. I have already done that as Victor worked. Currently, your hidden group account has over six hundred thirty five million credits. This does include the building executives who were directly involved with this project, which was about eighty percent of them.

  That number stunned us, so much so that the rest of the ride was done in silence.

  Pulling into the dorm garage, the others ran back to the dorm room, and I purchased a few backpacks for them, since while we don't have much, what we do have is too much to just carry out without them.

  While I sat in the back of the van with my many swarm cubes, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the silence.

  Five minutes later, everyone regrouped in the van with backpacks full of what little stuff we wanted to keep. Souvenirs of jobs, our combat gear, the gaming system Cody and I made. While I would be sad to leave behind my books, Synaptic assured me that I could rebuy them for a few points. Plus, I had pictures of every page in my augs, so it was no real loss.

  As the van took off from the garage, a warning message was sounded in the team's augs. I didn't see it, but I knew what it said.

  Return to the Dorm at once. Failure to return will result in pursuit squads being deployed and fines being applied to your accounts.

  “Synaptic, Aug upgrades for everyone please. Roger, pull over to the side of the road so you don't end up crashing.” I say.

  “No need to worry about traffic, Victor. This was an Incursion spot not long ago, so every other car has left. Plus, auto-pilot is wonderful.”

  Purchased Various Augmentations 4x

  Points reduced to 30025

  Boxes landed in each of their laps, of which Jill was the fastest to rip hers open. Inside were two disks, which she grabbed, placing one on her left temple, and the other the base of her neck. The others followed suit a bit slower.

  Then, after a few moments of silence, Jill yelled at the top of her lungs, “FUCK YOU YOU CORPORATE PIECES OF SHIT! IM GOING TO BURN YOU TO THE GROUND AND LAUGH!”

  This catches all of us off guard. Thankfully, Roger did indeed engage the auto-pilot, so we did not swerve into a building.

  We just stare at Jill as she laughes like a giddy little girl, which then turns to sobs. Buddy embraced her, giving her a shoulder to cry on, even through she still had her face mask on.

  “Hey, Synaptic.” I whisper, “I know we had them fill out questionnaires. How much for the everything they asked for, not just the minimum that Roger asked about?”

  Fifteen hundred points will be enough for all of them. That said, it will take a full two days for each of them.

  “That's fine. Ear mark the points for those.” I finish, then, to Roger, “Find us a hotel for the next two days, Roger. I want you guys to go through your upgrades now. We can go to The Family after you guys have done it and we've all had a chance to shower.”

  Roger latches onto the distraction, “Hotel. Yeah, I can do that. Let's do a big fancy one I have always wanted to go to. It even has complementary breakfast!”