novelzi Chapter 6 – Teamwork makes the dream work!
Chapter 6 – Teamwork makes the dream work!
Chapter 6 – Teamwork makes the dream work!
“If you think one Samurai alone is scary just wait ‘til you see a group of them work together! The shit even newbies can get with a bit of teamwork is fucking terrifying, let me tell you.”
- Anonymous Redditor
The way there turned out to be without surprises, which was simultaneously good, since we weren’t jumped by angry aliens, but also bad, because we had no idea why we found so little.
Despite our lack of more specialised recon gear we both kept a sharp eye on our surroundings, making sure we didn’t miss a thing. The trip itself was spent in comfortable silence, both of us content just enjoying each other’s company. It made me worry a bit that I might have jumped at Chloe a bit too quickly, but that little bit of worry was helplessly overshadowed by all the happy thoughts I had by simply being next to her.
Even from far we could see the building Castas had spoken about, a rather large, half-broken down storage unit that had rust everywhere. Multiple tin wall panels had fallen down and revealed the shoddy metal frames underneath.
The reason we knew it was that one was simple: A huge mass of xenos was in front of it, heaving away at big crates and dead people.
We stayed further away, hiding behind the corner of one of the more modern (modern for the district in any case) looking houses, while we surveyed the alien activity in front of us. Most of the xenos were Ones, Twos, and Threes, the Ones and Twos being those bird thingies according to Chloe. But there were also other aliens about. I saw two model Fours, pulling some of the dead Red Crows members out of the busted down front gate of the storage unit. They were pretty obviously Red Crows by the red bandana around their right upper arm.
There was also a model Six, organising the chaos, again, according to Chloe, plus a giant worm thing made up of multiple segments.
That is a model Eight. It is a rather peculiar model of antithesis, utterly disinterested in any conflict and ignoring anything other than biomass. It will not attack you, even if you provoke it. Killing it isn’t easy, however. Each segment has a brain, a rather rudimentary one, but a brain nonetheless.
“Damn,” I muttered, looking it over.
“Not sure we can kill that thing,” Chloe said. She stood behind me, more or less hugging me from behind while we both peaked around the corner we were hiding behind.
“Plans?” I asked, trying to figure out how we could go about killing this many xenos. I wasn’t exactly suited to big area of denial attacks, that was Chloe’s strong suit.
“I mean...” she started, looking at the buildings around us, “I can see some ways to get up on the roof. Maybe that way we can get closer and surprise them from above? Rain down big grenades, blow the fuck out of them. Not sure what to do about the Eight though, I don’t know if I can take it down.”
“Hm...”
I did like the idea of getting on the roof. That would mean that we would be susceptible to attacks from the Ones and Twos. But we would also be safe from the hordes of Threes, the two Fours, and the Six.
“Kaysa, do I have anything on the Hard-Light catalogue that could help here?”
You do. The Mark III Pristine Fortress costs you 60 points, but it does deliver for the price. It is a variable Hard-Light emitter that can project changeable Hard-Light constructs, which could be used to, for example, crush an enemy within. The constructs are a bit more durable than your Mark II General Hard-Light Emitter, although not by much.
“Can it do like multiple bullets? Or something?”
No. But it can project variable constructs, which makes it a lot more versatile than the Mark II General Hard-Light Emitter. Think big blades, or sweeping shields. While you can only project a single construct, the shape that construct can take is quite versatile.
“Yeah, yeah, I got it the first time.” I muttered with a smile.
If you truly wish to get something that can deal with big groups of antithesis, maybe you would like to upgrade the Mark III Pristine Fortress with the help of Vanguard Chloe?
“Wait, you can do that?” I asked, confused, before looking up at Chloe.
She peered down, confused, “Do what?”
“Like, do item upgrades and buying shit with other Samurai.”
She smiled, “Oh, that. Yeah, you can. I haven’t done much of it yet, but I do know the principle. What are you thinking about?”
With the help of Vanguard Chloe’s Class I Esoteric Single Use Explosive Devices Catalogue you could upgrade it to enable Vanguard Chloe to buy explosives inside Hard-Light constructs. That could mean either a killbox to kill any antithesis inside, a carpet rain of grenades from a construct projected into the air, or explosive shields. In effect, it could turn your Hard-Light constructs into explosive traps. The only downside would be the point cost for each explosive that Vanguard Chloe has to buy to make it work.
I quickly ran this by Chloe, who seemed to be quite enthused. Which was understandable, I was quite excited about the idea myself, truth be told. It did sound like the kind of shit we could abuse quite heavily, if we did it right.
Chloe nodded, “Not a bad plan, actually. How much would it cost?”
80 points with the upgrade.
“80 points, definitely doable. And it should help us get lots of points in return.” I relayed to Chloe, and gave her a warm smile, “What say you? Up to fuck up some xenos?”
She snorted, then ruffled my hair, which had me quite shocked for a moment, but to my surprise it felt actually really nice.
“Sure,” she said, “Let’s do it. But first, let’s try to find a way up to the roof.”
I nodded, maybe a bit red in the face from the unexpected head pats. Then again, she did say that she was the cuddly sort, so it was definitely on brand.
Plans made we snuck away from our hiding spot, before we found an old rusty ladder. It... didn’t look very stable, but it was the only way up, so it was the only option. Before we went up though I first decided to take off my boots. As much as I liked them, they were way too caked with alien goo, and having heels on while on a ladder didn’t particularly fill me with confidence. Since I was already at it I also took the time to take off my blouse, leaving me with little more than a micro bikini top and too short skirt. Chloe was, of course, typical adorable Chloe, blushing fiercely, while I used the cleaner bits of my blouse to clean off some of the goo caked on my skirt.
I raised an eyebrow, then looked over the edge again. A big ball should be enough to encompass the flyers and explode them into small bits. Then I could use another smaller ball to encompass the model Six, before I used a cube to get the two model Fours. I wasn’t an expert, but I hoped it would be enough.
Nodding at my plan I looked at Chloe, “Get ready to buy lots of big grenades, okay? I’ll start projecting constructs around them. Hopefully we can be quick enough about it.”
She nodded with a smile, then looked down.
Raising my left arm I pointed at the flyers. “Ball,” I whispered, and just as I imagined a big ball appeared around them. I didn’t even have time to appreciate how smoothly it had gone, when a loud explosion rang out inside of it, utterly annihilating the aliens and shattering my construct.
Not wasting any time and seeing the Fours already getting ready to dash I entrapped them first. “Cube!” A big cube formed, then started to shrink to pull the aliens together, before another explosion shattered it, and the aliens inside.
By this point the remaining xenos were already dashing about, but I didn’t let myself get distracted and pointed at the Six, “Ball!”
Again the same routine happened. The thing exploded in a myriad of bits, although it wasn’t quite dead by the time my construct had shattered. I didn’t worry too much though, it looked utterly fucked up, so I thought quickly and pointed into the air, “Circle!”
A giant circle appeared overhead, and as Chloe started buying more and more explosives, they started to rain down onto the biggest groups of aliens. Kaysa was probably deliberately placing the explosives, since soon enough most of the Threes were dead, with only a couple of them still running around. Dismissing the circle I pointed at the Eight, “Take care of the Threes, please. Cube!”
Chloe didn’t wait for even a moment, before she started firing down onto the xenos below us, quickly killing most of the remaining ones, although three or four managed to get away.
Simultaneously I started to shrink the cube around the model Eight, which was still happily munching away on whatever cheap rations it was finding in the storage container it was busying itself at.
Soon enough the construct started to push the alien inwards, then further, then even further. By the time I got the notification that I had killed it, it was not much more than a messy cube of green goo, roughly two meters on a side.
“Eww... That’s... disgusting,” I muttered, dismissing the construct.
Chloe nodded, not really looking at the thing. “Yeah... Let’s get this over with quick, yeah?”
We both made our way back to the ladder, after we had made certain that wherever the last model Threes were hiding was outside of our view or range, and with another set of gymnastics, I started to make my way down the ladder, Chloe following close behind. As much as I wanted to enjoy the view above me, I really didn’t want to slip on the ladder, so sadly I had to focus on going down. Once I had arrived on the ground, I looked around, making sure we weren’t about to be surprised.
Chloe did the same, then looked at me with a smile, “Shall we?”
I held up my hands and walked over to my discarded blouse. With a few quick motions I cleaned my feet up as much as I was able to, before I grabbed my boots again and put them on. I really didn’t want to walk into mulched alien bare foot.
Finally ready I nodded at her, and together we moved closer. Of course I stuck close by her side, both of us weapons ready. When we entered the big opening where the xenos had been, we quickly found the remaining couple Threes, and the remaining Threes found us. A quick shootout later they were dead. I really liked having two emitters available to me, something that hadn’t even occurred to me on the roof.
“What should we do about this mess?” I asked, looking around, “We can’t just leave it.”
Chloe shook her head, “We can’t. Go ahead and check the warehouse, I’ll deal with the bodies.”
While I didn’t like going into the building alone, I nodded. She was close enough to help me if things went sideways. Just to make sure though I conjured a protective bubble around me before I started making my way into the warehouse.
The inside were... I wanted to say dilapidated, but that would have been an insult to dilapidated buildings. In short, it was a mess. Pieces of the ceiling had come down over time, crushing some of the shit deeper inside of the building. Near the front were a couple palettes that looked like they had been put here a bit more recently. Most of them were disturbed by aliens, but two were still untouched. From one the size of them would be more than enough to supply the shelter for weeks.
The only problem was, I had absolutely no idea how to move it.
“What should we do?” I asked, more to myself than anyone else, while I crossed my arms in front of my modest chest.
You could use the Pristine Fortress.
I raised an eyebrow, then the other. That... wasn’t actually an entirely stupid idea. I had used the same principle with my protective bubble, and it wouldn’t be hard to adapt it.
“Okay... I need like... a forklift shape, or something.”
I pointed my arm at the thing and let Kaysa work her AI mathematics magic and soon a construct appeared, enabling me to lift the thing. To my surprise it didn’t fully stay in position relative to my wrist, instead it followed the motion, but moved much slower than my own hand. Probably some tech restriction, or some easy to use bullshittery that Kaysa had come up with, it didn’t matter much to me.
“Will the charge hold until the shelter?” I asked, while I was already on my way outside again.
It should. Even if it couldn’t you have enough points for a replacement battery.
I checked my point total and saw a proud 269 points being displayed there.
Outside Chloe was halfway done... melting? The bodies around.
“Everything okay?” she asked me with a smile when she saw me come outside, throwing a grenade to one more big pile of alien.
I nodded and looked around, “Yeah. Damn, you work quick.”
“Well, flesheater grenades are useful. Just give me a moment to finish up, okay?”
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