I get that the stupid plants are a threat. I understand that we do not have the equipment to cleanse our office of spores.

  But why the FUCK did that Samurai just burn the building down!

  'She said something about-'

  That was rhetorical!

  -Area manager of Nonsanto after an Incursion landed in the warehouse full of biomass

  As I exited the shelter, I leaned my head back and released a heavy breath. I unmuted the comms chat, but everyone was quiet.

  “Synaptic, please send a report to Laser Lasso about the shelter.”

  Of course.

  “And, thank you for not notifying me of the kills thus far. It has helped me maintain my rationality,”

  There was a pause. Your welcome, Victor. I should have been notifying you of each Model you killed, but my analysis model of you suggested that such things would only be a distraction.

  I nod in silence. “How many Assault Swarms could I purchase with the points I have now?”

  You may purchase up to ten with the upgrades you have mentioned earlier.

  “Just six for now. Get a nice even ten swarms. And let's go ahead and get those Density upgrades for each of them as well,”

  Affirmative, Victor

  Purchased Class I Assault Swarms 6x

  Purchased Class I War Swarm Nano Blade Enhancement 6x

  Purchased Class I War Swarm Propulsion Enhancement 6x

  Purchased Class I War Swarm Extended Command Module 10x

  Points reduced to 222

  The six new swarm cubes appeared on the ground in their very detailed boxes. They were twice as large as the original swarm cubes, and the swarms I had active got noticeably denser. I adjusted their formations. Two swarms circled me within seven feet, creating a dark bubble of swirling death around me. Then, at the intervals of eighty feet and one hundred and sixty feet, I had the four swarms each circling counter to each other. Even at that distance, the middle circle was visible and just as dense as the two surrounding me, while the outer circle was a bit lighter, but still blocking line of sight to me.

  Through my Scout drones, I adjusted their vision to normal human vision and looked from the edge of my control radius inwards towards myself and discovered that I could not be seen. I was just a walking black sphere of dust.

  Readjusting the Scout Swarm back to default, I made my way down the stairs. Switching stairwells every couple of floors due to the fact that they only covered six floors each. I descended to the forty ninth floor, the next lowest floor I have gone, and swept through like a tornado. No antithesis survived longer than a few seconds. It took me twenty minutes to clear the main area of all antithesis, but I could see scattered groups through Cody’s overlay, but a short calculation had me dismissing hunting them down. It would have taken me an additional hour just to hunt them all down. I didn't have that kind of time.

  “Synaptic, what ways are there for me to lure antithesis to my location? Something to make it easier to hunt them.”

  There are a number of things that can attract antithesis to a location. The most effective is a pheromone lure. It simulates the pheromones a hive gives off when it is in a dire emergency, calling all antithesis in the area towards it. The minimum size for Class I is roughly a three hundred foot radius, while the highest is 900 foot radius, or roughly three city blocks is radius.

  “Maybe later, when I'm not in a building full of them and a hive.” I said, exhaling sharply.

  Might I remind you that, currently, your control radius for your swarms is around eight hundred feet due to your armor. That easily covers half of this floor.

  I paused. I had indeed forgotten that bit of information, and the rest of the antithesis on this floor were indeed within eight hundred feet of me.

  I ordered my outer four swarms to hunt them down, and that is when I saw their new speed upgrade in action. Four distinct clouds of darkness shot off instantly, entering their full speed with no build up at all. It took them minutes to clear the rest of the plants from the floor than return to their orbiting position.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  I was shocked at how efficient they were at hunting, that I decided to change plans for the next floor.

  I stood in the middle of the floor, or as close as I could since there was a structural pillar in the way. I then had them cut their way straight down, creating a few small holes, then I sent eight swarms through the floor.

  Once the first few were shredded, pandemonium decended on the floor. Because the swarms were diffuse to attack as many as possible, which due to their upgrades were fifty Model Threes at a time per swarm, meant that they were very hard to notice. The Model Fours were stabbing other antithesis that were currently being swarmed, a Model Five variant was present, and was flinging spikes through empty air, directly through the swarms. In a matter of minutes, the floor was cleared.

  A though occurred to me.”Could the nanites allow me to float downwards or hover a bit? That way I don't have to worry about taking the stairs and can just decend after clearing each floor by cutting a hole large enough for me?”

  The current swarms you have do not have that capability. However, there is an upgrade for your Armor that can accomplish that task. A Jump Jet system can be integrated into Armor, allowing you short, controlled descents, as well as enhanced jumping capacity. Each refil of fuel is enough for thirty seconds of sustained flight, and costs ten points per refil. Later, in Class II, there is an upgrade that allows the armor to possible create its own fuel through the consumption of matter. The Jump Jet costs one hundred and fifty points.

  “Good enough for me. Could you set up a document with all the upgrades available to the different armor sets and send it to the team? That way they can figure out their own upgrade path and let me know later. Then, please purchase the Jump Jet System,”

  Done and done, Victor.

  Purchased Class I War Swarm Jump Jet System

  Points reduced to 2352

  I felt the back of my armor and my boots shift to accommodate the new system. In my augs menu, I find a few options that allows me to set an auto slow fall detection, as well as a physical activation posture to allow me to launch myself, or to do it via mental command. I set that to mental command for now, as it might help me dodge easier if I need to. There is also an option to give permission to Synaptic to auto refill the system once it runs out.

  I turn that on.

  I order one of my swarms to carve a hole through the megabuilding floor between any root structures, which was rather thick. Almost half a floors worth of space taken up by wires, pipes, and vents.

  Once the hole was carved, I stepped forward and fell. The rush of the fall caused my stomach to leap slightly, a far less impact that what I expect I would have felt if I tried this yesterday.

  Once I entered the next floor this way, the jump jets activate and I came to a slightly hard landing, but my new body and armor absorbed it perfectly. I once again marveled at the tech of the Protectorate, then began the process of slaughter once more.

  This process was repeatable all the way down until the thirty sixth floor, earning me a massive amount of points. I would not be able to continue this strategy, unless I was willing to alert the hive structure itself that I was here, as the roots covered every inch of flooring between this floor and the next.

  I was also able to check two more shelters, however only one had people in it, all infected. The other was fully empty with a few massive holes in the floor, obviously they were already harvested.

  After clearing the shelter, I sent in the report to Laser Lasso, after which she game me a call.

  “Heya, newbie,” She started, her tone a bit more subdued compared to our first talk. “I see you're only a few floor above the security station, and you've been making incredible progress, far faster than I assumed you would have by now. It's a shame about the shelters, but there's nothing we can do for them now besides cleaning up the plants that ate ‘em.”

  “Yeah, I know, Lasso,” I say sharply, the irritation and anger I have been harboring boiling over, “Thousands of people, dead in a matter of hours! All because of some human assholes for reason I cannot understand! And the worst part is, there was nothing I could have done differently to have saved them! Those shelters were prefilled with Sevens well before the Incursion happened, so thr moment those doors sealed, it also sealed their fates! Fucking Sands, Lasso!”

  She doesn't say anything to that, just let's me vent. Once I finish, she says calmly “I get it, kiddo. I really do. I still remember the first shelter I couldn't save. I arrived a few minutes after a Model Twenty Three had smashed through the gate, ripping everyone inside to shreds. I agonized over what I could have done differently for months. And I learned that there was nothing I could have done at the time. So instead, I worked to close the gaps, shore up my weaknesses, and invest in helping the newer Samurai so that things like that happen far less often. This situation was one where no one could have saved them, because your right. Some corporate asswipes fucked things up royally. And that's why we need that information from the security servers. Based on what I heard from Black Log, a Samurai focused on information tech, those servers aren't on the net. They're a closed system.”

  “Listen, kid. You are moving faster than I thought. I was expecting to mop up this Incursion in another couple hours, then make my way to you as you entered the security box. That way, you could fight a bit, earn some good points, and then open the shutter where your small group of survivors is located. I would get them out and then punch my way to you and work with you to take out the hive. That is still my plan, your just moving so much faster than I thought. I've seen the camera feed you linked in your report, and the only reason all those plants are still in the building Is due to the lock down and the Class II materials locking them in. There are a number of double digit plants I have seen, Twelves and Fourteens and a few Sixteens. Your still rocking Class One tech so far, yeah?”

  “I am. I recieved a token after clearing this floor, so I could upgrade to a Class II swarm. Synaptic, my AI, has mentioned that doing so will drain me of a majority of my points.”

  “That makes sense, you run a drone build. Army types always are a point sink, especially when upgrading their stuff. Good news is, you will earn those all back easily if you can fully clear that building. The cameras cut off for the floors below twenty one an hour ago, so that nears either heavy ECM, or a smarter plant was born. Maybe both. Upgrade your tech to Class II, and prepare for the worst. I will be at the tower within two hours. Gotta go. You got this, newbie,” then the lime drops.