Chapter 48: GTFO!

  “ Evacuating civilians can be a pain in the ass! I mean, seriously, when a samurai tells you to get the fuck out of there, just fucking go! I might just start castrating the idiotic cunts that get in the fucking way. It’d make an example and, well, it’d make sure they’d exit the fucking genepool!

  Actually, they’re doing a fine job of that all on their own.”

  –Jackal, post-incursion interview, 2056.

  ***

  “Evacuate right fucking now!” I shouted with quite a lot of panic. I should’ve insisted the moment I got the readings, fuck! This fucking tunnel held tons of fucking civilians real fucking close! I… I couldn’t fail again, not again, not this soon, fuck!

  My enforcers were on the ball at least. Each and every single one turned their guns on the wall. “Katy, stealth and back. Francis, two meters behind. Rosalie, overwatch. Synthia…”

  I was cut off by the wall coming at me fast! Thankfully, I’d invested into strength!

  Unfortunately, not enough.

  I ended up holding a giant slab of concrete and slowly losing. The structure over me ended up thrown away, probably causing a few fucking injuries. Probably no deaths, Carol was here! She could handle this, for sure!

  It pushed me back far enough that I almost bowled Francis over! “Fuck a duck I need to upgrade my chicken fucking muscles!” I muttered as my alloy musculature and bones groaned in protest. My gauntlets thankfully modified themselves instinctively, creating a larger surface area. I sure as fucking hell didn’t want to be buried right now!

  Shooting erupted all around me and here I fucking stood, stuck and getting crushed by dumbass horse cock sucking concrete!

  “We got you boss!” Francis said before him and Dubois appeared next to me and started pushing.

  “Décrissez à droite! / Get the fuck away on the right!” After a few seconds of waiting, all of us heaved as hard as we could to get the fucking thing to the right and fina-fucking-ly free me!

  It collapsed the shoddy floor and almost pulled us under, but since the apartment wasn’t far off the ground, we just hopped onto the section of wall. Finally, I could look into…

  H.R. Geiger’s tentacle nightmare. Antithesis, what the fuck else would it be?

  A model six had clearly done the ramming and been shot down, but now a half-dead model thirteen whipped at my people while a second one came down the long straight tunnel.

  Since my railgun had already deployed, I shot it very, very fucking hard with some grapeshot followed by some hyper-compressed buckshot from the Tunneler! Then, I did it again… and again and– for fuck’s sake how tough are these fuckers!?

  The other one was getting close way too fucking fast! Shooting wouldn’t be quick enough to stop it from hurting my enforcers, two of which were already fucking injured, so I only had one option. Not surprising, really. I was really good at one thing above all: being in the antithesis’ fucking way! Had to say, I loved my job sometimes.

  My mental coprocessor engaged at full power along with everything needed to propel me forward. I switched out the Tunneler for the super Paw. Hack and slash time!

  In mid-air, I kept it behind my back, offering no hint as to my range. At exactly the right time, it slashed horizontally, the vibro-blade perfectly aligned in the longest possible configuration, like a massive naginata. The model spasmed as my awesome possum weapon sliced through it like butter, shortening quite a few tentacles and giving me an opening.

  Before my ‘axe’ even exited the bastard, it shifted into a long-handle sword. I used the motion of my first swing to pivot, destroy a tentacle with my tail then slash diagonally across its body again.

  Arriving on target, I used our relative velocities to stop the damn squid in its tracks with a devastating back-kick with as much surface area as I could create! My stupid tail got there first though, the deadly appendage almost as long as my whole damn body!

  The thing did have its advantages. Sure made taking care of Jack a lot easier, for one. Also, now that I learned how to properly use it offensively, I could admit, it had a lot of power! While my leg ensured the damn thing stopped, chainsaw fur pulped a long, deep line accross whatever the fuck you’d call that fucking thing’s equivalent of a forehead!

  With my leg halfway buried, my axe turned into a tomahawk and opened a wide gash right above the hole I made, widening the vulnerability, as my tail pulped the fubar squid’s eyes. My Grave-Digger assembled in one hand as the other moved at max speed! The blade became as long as the handle, making a heavy, reinforced crude machete that tore through flesh violently instead of cleanly cutting.

  My tail stabbed deep into any spot I couldn’t reach quickly and efficiently, creating tunnels of destroyed flesh. Anywhere left untouched? My handgun took care of them with hornet’s nest slugs, each with a little addition for fun: a delayed fuse to ignite a white-phosphorus and thermite core in the main projectile. Perfect for leaving a lasting impression!

  There was no awkwardness, no fumbles, just pure instinct, great technique and unstoppable violence. Thank you, martial art download!

  I stood halfway inside the god damn thing when it died, a sphere of pulped, slushed, sliced, scrambled, burned or simply destroyed plant meat surrounding me. “Fucking hell, those assholes are tough!”

  Well, more precisely they have many redundancies. It seems the training module has integrated well into your fighting style. However, I would recommend your Tunneler for those incoming.

  I looked up to see a crowd of model threes and fours. While reassembling my awesome shotgun, I took stock of the situation and observed the cave. My coprocessor still ran at full speed. Not much time to make life-or-death decisions. I’d made those before without it, but I’d take any relative second I could get.

  The walls were covered in disgusting pulsating… vines? Veines? Wait, Altany called those roots, right? They looked too… squishy and gross for that. Static, pulsing tentacles sounded just as likely an explanation.

  Whatever, that way lies madness! The tunnel walls themselves appeared to be dug out of dirt for the most part, although the material switched to bedrock further down yet had a lot less roots… That meant they might stabilize this specific part of their tunnel system, shit. Might not want to use super-napalm just yet. Definitely later though!

  Maybe I could glass the fucking tunnel, boom, instant reinforced tunnel! I’m… maybe fourty-three percent sure that’d work?

  I paid more attention to echolocation. The tunnel branched near the Badger’s homebase, which meant we’d have to split if I went deeper, not good. Given the amount of roots, the beaten path and flat-ish ground… yeah, this section wasn’t new, or at least I didn’t think so. Maybe five meters wide and four tall? Not square, probably dug by one of those worm models.

  It made sense, if I had plenty of time to plan a subterranean attack, I’d make sure my way in wouldn’t collapse on me…

  …And I’d make sure it wasn’t my only angle of attack.

  “Watch out for other tunnels! Garry, send your drone swarm in here and out there! I want to know the moment there’s another attack, understood?” I waited for the usual ‘yes boss!’ before moving on. I did not want any fucking civilian deaths. Even if they weren’t my people, they were still innocents and my responsibility to protect. I couldn’t… I couldn’t fail again, not now…

  “Francis and Vincent, secure that side passage!” That one was thinner, probably not where we’d find the core of the hive. “Rosalie, follow but at a distance, camouflage on, prepare some high powered rounds to take out the bigger fuckers so I can focus on the swarm. Katy, stay invisible and watch our backs! If anything gets past me or tries to sneak up on us, destroy it. Try to stay unnoticed, I’ll distract them.” Everyone acknowledged, so far so good.

  “Everyone else, stay outside and ready to rock, spread out some for quick response. If there’s another branch to secure, I’ll call you in, but stay ready to protect the civvies from other angles of attack, got it?” Ah, the beautiful chorus of ‘yes boss!’, the sound of my awesome enforcers ready for anything! Gotta love it.

  I opened up on the model threes coming my way with a one to one ratio of hyper-compressed and super buckshot in two rounds bursts. It did the job, usually killing a few each time. When a model five’s head that had turned the corner blew up, probably thanks to Rosalie, I knew I could advance. “Dubois, m’en va détruire le coeur d’l’ostie d’caliss de ruche, protège ton monde, m’a m’occuper d’?a! / Dubois, I’ll go destroy that mother fucking hive’s heart, protect your people, I’ll take care of this!”

  “Vas-y mon grand! / You got this big guy!”

  “Lila, anything up there?” I asked while adding Jackal to comms. Probably should’ve done that earlier…

  “Yeah boss, two model eights dug up, created tunnels. Jackal and I killed them and we’re making sure nothing comes up.” Lila answered. I didn’t like the idea of her in grave danger but I’d have to fucking deal, like always. After a few intense firefights I got used to it.

  “Chill your dill Mad, we fucking got this, go kill the cunts.” Jackal said non-chalantly, reassuring me a bit. She was a samurai, the cyber-warrior could handle a damn tunnel and protect my almost-sister. They’d be alright.

  Although, there was one very concerning thing in what she said… “Chill your dill? Trying something out?” I said with a chuckle. “Experimenting on us, eh? The cruelty! That’s the kind of shit you keep for the enemy you maniac! What with the friendly fire!?”

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  I actually got a laugh out of her! She looked the type that had a hard time smiling, “Needed an alternative for ‘cool your tits’! Don’t fucking like it?”

  “Jackal, sweety, no one involved, you included, didn’t feel pain going through that. Plus, hey, I got tits! Might not be pronounced, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have nipples for Robin to play with!” I declared between three round bursts of super-buckshot.

  That got another laugh! I was on fire today! Alright, mental health break done, xeno-murder happy time now!

  I kept moving and firing but ended up dealing with less of a carpet than during my building’s incursion. The model threes were much bigger, there were more model fives and –oh shit! “Altany, need to single shot that thing!” I said as a model thirteen turned the corner pretty far down.

  Of course, brace please.

  I did as instructed but stayed standing. Rosalie pumped a few shots into it but even though she fired some crazy shit that compressed massive chunks of the bastards into little balls, it didn’t slow. Thankfully, my railgun powered up hard and launched… I had no idea.

  This is mach 4.6 compressed conical-flechettes. Essentially a similar shell to your second hyper-sonic, but focusing less on velocity and more on numerous smaller projectiles in a tighter pattern. If we cannot be certain of the brains' positions, why not hit everywhere? It has less weight, making the firing much smoother.

  “Nice.” It certainly did the job, turning the speedy tentacle nightmare into minced meat in a single shot. I started back up again. To my surprise, a few subsonic shots whizzed past my head and hit… something.

  “Model nine according to Altany, boss. Stealth bastards, saw inconsistencies.” Katy said over comms, still silent and invisible.

  “Damn nice work Katy, that could’ve been nasty.” I said, genuinely meaning it.

  “No problem, boss.” She said, a smile in her voice. Honestly, that’d been a damn nice find.

  This place looked like a tentacle nightmare house. The roots extended all over, on every surface. The stone cave could never have been formed naturally given the claw and teeth marks all over. It gave the whole venue an aura of savagery. The fact that my awareness came mostly from echolocation and muzzle flashes did not help.

  Not long after, she took another shot, then another. The girl had a gift for spotting model nines and apparently, Altany was fostering that talent. Hey, it’d get her some points. Actually, I saw an opportunity for more!

  “New branch! Katy, hold it down for now while Rosalie covers the both of us. We’ll stop until someone can come down. Who’s available out there?” Katy had her SMGs, which did well enough for a small side-tunnel.

  She had issues dual wielding them and I couldn’t blame her. Still, when she needed to spray large bore esoteric ordnance downrange in large quantities, they did the job! They’d been meant for the twins, one for each, but adapted with stealth coatings. A bit bulky, but not too heavy for her new arms. She had a few ‘fucking fuck!’ mags inside her legs for emergency dual-wielding reloads.

  For the moment, she only used one which, given the size of that tunnel, made more sense. It certainly gave better accuracy! Had to admit though, bitch got scary in the mesh, dual wielding in non-stealth scenarios! Roger apparently gave her some lessons. Two SMGs spitting massive bullets super fast, well controlled by cyber-arms? Deadly.

  The girl didn’t have a very ‘mass alien killer’ specialty like Francis, so I wanted to give her some opportunities when I could. God that woman had bloomed incredibly when given the chance! From scared traumatized survivor to battle-ready warrior in only a few weeks! Time compression in the mesh or not, she impressed the ever living shit out of me.

  I could see it in her eyes, a warrior’s soul stuck in there all along. There was a reason I’d chosen her to watch my back!

  In the end, I picked three newbie enforcers and Synthia. They also needed points! I’d brought most of them out here, partially out of panic but also to get them up to speed. Synthia would ensure things didn’t go sideways. I refused to lose an enforcer if I could help it in any way, shape or form! Couldn’t coddle them, they had a job to do, but that didn’t mean I’d throw them to the wolves with a pocket knife.

  The team might be overkill, that girl kicked major ass, but they’d be safe-ish. I took my duty to those who trusted me very fucking seriously.

  After their arrival, we kept going forward and, by some mix of miracle and situational awareness, when Rosalie got ambushed, she noticed and fought back.

  Had to say, I never understood the appeal of fencing. Always looked like one of those sports that wouldn’t work in real life. Apparently, I was an idiot!

  Rosalie’s weapon was made to mostly resemble a model 1886 Lebel rifle converted to straight-pull (Seriously, there was a limit to aesthetics) including a bayonet! Probably because of the name. Instead of the ‘Rosalie’ bayonet, this one looked like a pretty short, thin sword which telescoped out when removed. Oh! Also, it was a mother fucking vibro-blade!

  After she passed by a hidden tunnel, a model three jumped at her and in a beautiful display of speed and reflexes, she cut it in half with the bayonet! In less than a second, that fucking thing became a sword and she started fighting small models with it. With its low weight, it allowed her to wave that thing around incredibly fast! Thanks to the ridiculous ease with which vibro-blades cut through anything, bitch got deadly.

  As part of her reward for what she did in the shelter, I’d given her some type of super-undersuit. Since the woman wasn’t a fan of self-modifications (with one notable exception), the undersuit took on physical support duty. It somehow increased her speed, strength and reflexes. Altany had explained that it had probes connecting to her muscles and nerves inside or something. Whatever, it clearly worked great!

  Twenty seconds later, someone else took her place. “You alright?” Wouldn’t move without her ready to assist. Even now, I had to spend a bit more ammo on the bigger bastards.

  “Tout va bien, allez! / All’s well, let’s go!” She proclaimed before drilling a very wide hole in a model four! Don’t mess with someone holding a helical-coilgun, noted! Had to thank Johnny for that one.

  “Altany, got an experiment for me?”

  Of course I do. Here’s an interesting one: the colloquial human appellation is the ‘rods of god’ slug. I adapted the design to make them more effective.

  Without questioning anything, I switched magazines and immediately saw a difference! Every single alien that received my little gift stopped in their tracks, some even reversing their momentum! “God damn…” Depending on the impact site, they drilled straight through, leaving a thumb size channel through their body!

  The first enemy hit always dropped dead, even if they logically shouldn’t. The second ended up tossed around as if they got hit by a truck! They were rough to shoot, even with the ridiculous amount of mitigations in all my equipment!

  It is technically a mechanical slug. The center holds eight pins parallel to it, made to continue forward on impact. The core is made of hyper-dense materials which unfold for maximum surface area. They are not meant to penetrate but only to act as a kinetic strike. Anything that can withstand the impact will receive more kinetic energy than if hit by almost any human handheld ammunition.

  Each pin is tapered into a sharp point, which penetrates most things. This is aided by the projectile's combined momentum, which makes most surfaces buckle. Upon impact, a short fuse is lit and the pins explode into an impressive spray of internal shrapnel. Few enemies can survive such things.

  This is a 20mm slug, but weighs in excess of 175g, higher velocities will create very severe recoil, so please be careful. By the way, the maximum weight and speed your slugs can achieve has increased after you improved the barrel. Please do not break your clavicle trying to test the limits.

  Thinking on it almost made me stop shooting. “Jesus… Well, creating new and innovative war crimes before the Geneva convention catches on is the Canadian way! Damn fine work!”

  Thank you. Creating the right ratio of explosive to container solidity was a challenging task. It entertained me for dozens of milliseconds! Too hard and the explosions wouldn’t create shrapnel, too soft and they would not penetrate the target and fragment early. It’s…

  I might have tuned out a bit of the explanation… What I knew for a fact was that every target I hit dropped dead real quick! I didn’t mind the lack of spread since I was using my speed-boosts and aim-assist systems to take quick, accurate shots instead of my usual rain of heavy ordnance.

  Our friendly neighborhood unpotted plants acted very differently compared to the Peach-Trees incursion. Fewer models, but much bigger and more powerful. Each model three looked about the size of a wolf if I remembered my feed right. There were more model fives, forcing Katy to stay behind me to avoid shots. Thankfully, the new slugs always dropped their targets, even the frequent model fours!

  Instead of ‘spray-and-pray’, every ounce of boosted speed went towards aiming, my armor moving faster than my hands. As we approached the hive, more and more smaller models entered the mix. It became such a problem that I switched to half hyper-compressed buckshot in two rounds bursts, my Tunneler roaring its ‘popom-popom-popom’ warcry.

  I kept velocity low to help accuracy, but even with it in normal shotgun range those shells kicked hard. Every heavy slug threw charging enemies backwards, making their buddies stumble before I put them down. The HC buckshot felt positively easy to shoot in comparison!

  Every flash revealed more enemies, every super-sonic crack showed me a detailed picture with echolocation. Still images of a frantic battlefield, like strobe lights to both senses.

  That also meant a good image of the tunnel network! Had to admit, echolocation was very fucking useful (no one tell Altany). A few more teams were called up, staying stationary to keep a line of retreat and prevent hidden little fuckers from ambushing them as we kept moving deeper and deeper into the cave of tentacle nightmares.

  From the intel Garry sent, there were actually a few more tunnels that opened up when the hive woke. Thanks to efforts from the Badgers and my newbies, civilian injuries were fairly low. Still, Carol had her work cut out for her. When I originally asked her to come, she didn’t hesitate for a nano-second.

  At least, the extra tunnels and side passages’ traffic stayed low. Apparently, for some unfathomable reason, the hive must have been preoccupied! That gave everyone else an edge to keep them back.

  In truth, the feeling of doing my job right helped my mood quite a bit! Being the enemy’s main focus? Attracting their attention so that civilians and my friends would be safer? Perfect. Exactly what I wanted to do in life, really! Just had to endure and get lost in the fun of shooting aliens.

  Sure, the visceral feeling of ripping aliens apart thanks to advanced feedback satisfied on a deep, primal level, but shooting them with ridiculously effective ammunition felt amazeballs too! I loved that feeling the aim-assist module gave me of quick target acquisition and destruction! Quick aim, quick shots, quick kills!

  Had to say, those slugs also felt just right. Their power mixed with actually feeling some solid recoil? Perfect. Therapy AI might have a lot to say about my erection. It could go fuck itself!

  The deeper in we went, the more frantic the antithesis became. Some even had some kind of wet sheen over them… “Altany, any idea where the water might be coming from?” Were we under a river or something? Could this place start flooding?

  No, it appears you’ve proven enough of a nuisance to force premature births. This is a good sign. The hive’s heart should be nearby.

  Well, that was good! Especially since we were getting close to running out of cute little newbies to throw at the enemy… Wait, isn’t that what a bad guy would say? Shit, did I…

  My train of thought derailed in a massive fiery crash when something grabbed my mother fucking leg!

  I might have screamed a bit… or more than a bit. I’d immediately planted as many spikes as I could and grabbed the side of the tunnel but since the goat plowing piece of shit pulled me up and in, it did a whole lot of nothing! Fucking hell I needed more strength! Beating world records could get bent!

  In the end, in my armor, I might have been twice the weight I was without, but it wasn’t that much! The pull didn’t hurt me, my defenses were too good for something like that. However, as it pulled me in, I noticed a few important bits of information!

  First, I found the heart! Yeah! At least I hoped the black pulsating fleshy tentacle-tree with disgusting fruits full of antithesis was the heart. All in a circular chamber, maybe twice as high and six times the width? Lots of space to assemble a nice carpet of leaves to burn. Not a problem, right?

  Second, there were a lot of model thirteens… Definitely a problem. A fuck-ton of problems all rolled into one.

  Third, and the last one for a couple seconds, I had a model six charging towards me… while the tentacle threw me at it…

  Fuck you physics. Fuck you with a rusty baseball bat…