It doesn't matter how well prepared you are. The first time you run into an old stealth hive by accident, you call in help and get the fuck out. Fighting above ground and fighting underground are two different beasts, and too many Sams have died before figuring out that difference.

  -Vanguard Shrew in a conference in Detroit on the dangers of the underground, 2053

  It was five fifty three in the morning in the Tonto State Forest Preserve. The sun had not yet graced the sky with any color, but the stars were starting to fade. The moon was a waning crescent, and offered a bit of illumination in the forest. And in the middle of that forest was Victor, Samurai War Games, me, currently being swarmed by hundreds of antithesis bursting out of the ground.

  After I detected the tunnels below the forest, some fifty feet down, I continued my way to the hive I was originally targeting, shredding any antithesis that crossed my path. The density had increased a bit, but it was still manageable.

  I had a hunch about these tunnels, and if I was right, I would need to call Senestero directly for help.

  Making my way to the hive was simple, shredding it was simple, then I did something different. First, I bought the Hive Mind Augment Catalog and then upgraded my augs with said hive mind aug. There was a rush as I felt my mind expand to encompass the swarms. The Scouts became my new senses, the Assaults my claws and fangs. The Defence, my skin and armor, the Generator my heart, and the Collectors my hands.

  My new augs increased my command capacity to one hundred, which was amazing as I felt a pressure release itself from my mind. And now that I was even more closely connected to the Scout swarm, I could tell something was off with this hive.

  So came the second thing I did was to allow my Assault swarms to dig straight through the hive. I had my Collection swarm move the antithesis hive flesh out of the way, move the rock and dirt out of the way, and dig a hole ten feet wide straight down.

  Then I hit it. The roof of a tunnel collapsed, and the jaws of a Model Twenty Three burst forth, snapping up a good chunk of my swarms. I tore into it, tasting the flesh and blood of the dinosaur-like plant, digging into its mouth and face and eyes. My blades sliced through with little effort, and soon, I ripped its brain to shreds.

  Then, five massive Model Fourteens burst forth from the earth around me, then dove back down creating openings for hundreds of antithesis to pour out.

  Thankfully, I was above them. I did buy another Defense Swarm to link with the one I had, circulating between the two to keep at full integrity. My Collection swarms kept the Generators well fed.

  Then, four more Twenty Threes burst forth from the ground. I had to fly a bit higher to stay just out of their range, but I couldn't pay attention to them as I was firing into the clouds of Ones, and Elevens and Twelves, focusing on the Twelves.

  “Synaptic, call Senestero, make it as an emergency!” I yell.

  The call connects soon after. “This is Samurai Senestero. Tyrt said this was urgent. How fucked are you?” Her voice was gruff sharp and to a point.

  “While out hunting I discovered a hidden network of tunnels made by Fourteens beneath a surface hive. Currently besieged by hundreds of antithesis and multiple Twenties, as well as a cloud of flyers!” I empty my belt, activate the release, and Synaptic adds a new belt instantly, the action not taking two seconds.

  “Shit. Can you make it back to Payson, or do you need evac?”

  “If I push myself, I can be back in fifteen minutes. If I buy something, less.”

  “Fifteen is good, gives me enough time to muster everyone. I will time our fire to cover your retreat.”

  “On my way.” I shout.

  I pull my swarms back to me, condensing them into my shield and push their speed to the max of forty miles an hour straight south west towards Payson.

  I lay on my back against the shield, aiming and firing at any Model Elevens that dive towards me. A few get close, but none break the shields.

  I fly over the trees in order to not be slowed down, and because I was facing upwards, I see the burning payloads of the artillery fly over me and into the antithesis on the ground some distance from me. A few of them hit the swarm of flyers, clearing holes and taking some pressure off me.

  Soon, I clear the trees and see AA gunfire fly around me, slamming into the remaining flyers. I turn around and see that I will clear the walls in a few seconds, so I slow down so as not to over shoot it. And atop the walls, I spot a massive mech.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  It was in the shape of a scorpion, easily seventy feet long and fifty feet wide. Its claws have rotary cannons inside them, and its tail stinger has a huge cannon where its stinger should be. The armor is bristling with smaller guns. And as I fly over it, it opens fire into the hoard that is still in the forest.

  The cannon blasts rattle me to my bones as I land in the Iron Lungs’ camp. Waiting for me is a woman in yellow power armor that has a scorpion tail. Her hair was stark white and she had some wrinkles on her tanned skin.

  She claps me on my shoulder, which is no longer bruised but it still hurts a bit. “Nice find, War Games. I always knew there was something more to this area.” She pulls me into the tent, and the sound from the cannons die down instantly. “Those plants are crafty fucks. How the hell did you discover it?”

  “Uh, yeah. Shit, sorry,” I shake my head, getting my nerves under control. I summon my Scout Swarm. I don't diffuse it, but rather let it flow as a tight orb just over my shoulder. “Got an upgrade for these guys, a seismographer thing. When I had the artillery drop some antithesis melters, I saw their readouts be a bit off. So I connected to them haptically, and had them fire some HE Sabo rounds in a few places to get a better read. Then I saw, felt, the tunnels below. I dug through a surface hive to the tunnel, and a Twenty Three popped out. Followed by everything underground.”

  “Hah! Fucking Sands, kid. You're either really brave or incredibly stupid. Next time you discover ant tunnels like that, call it in immediately. No Samurai would doubt such a claim, and this will require calling in reinforcements from The Family.” She shakes her head,”Well, with all this thumping, can you check to see if there are any tunnels below us here?”

  I push my Scouts into the earth outside the tent. I feel the vibrations of all the cannons and look down.

  “All I feel is that gaping hole to the west. The ground here is very compact, so the vibrations are very clear. Nothing in the cleared area around the town.” I report, pulling my Scouts back to me.

  “Good. If they had tunneled here, I would never have let Shrew live it down. I'll make a call now. Jasper! Take the kid to a tent, let him get some rest.” She yells at a young skinny guy, then turns to me, “Get some sleep if you can, buy some more upgrades since you're the one who found this place, you will be shortlisted to help clear it.”

  She walks out of the tent, yelling orders at people. The skinny guy, Jasper, waves me to follow him, “This way, Samurai.”

  He led me to a small, single person tent that had the same sound proofing that the command tent had. Inside was a cot, a light bulb hanging from the top, and a minifridge filled with water and MREs.

  “I kinda fucked up there, didn't i?”

  While you may have been able to handle it differently, hindsight is twenty twenty, as they say.

  I sigh and sit on the cot. I drain a water bottle and rip open an MRE labeled Lasagna. It's a strange mush that tastes vaguely of tomatoes.

  “Alright. If I am going in there, I will need more swarms. Please unlock the Neural Translation Interface and Hive Mind Catalogs to Class II, as well as the Command and Control augs up to Class II, then buy the upgraded augs. I will figure out the exact ratio of swarms to get after.”

  Unlocked Class II Neural Translation Interface

  Unlocked Class II Hive Mind Augment

  Unlocked Class I and II Command and Control augments

  Purchased Class II General tier Command and Network Augment

  Points reduced to 31094

  Tokens reduced to 3

  One box landed on the mini fridge, inside was a single black brick.

  I combined the two into a single item, as it will be faster to do it all at once.

  “Thanks, Synaptic,” I say as I press the brick to the back of my neck, the familiar pressure of nanites at work starts at once.

  Once they finish, my mind feels a bit clearer, but the biggest change is the limit of how many swarms I could now control.

  50/1000

  Range 2000ft radius

  “Wait wait wait! One thousand?!” I shout.

  Yes, you have three Class II mental augments in your brain right now. If you also had the Class II Bionic Neural Enhancer, that number would be five thousand.

  “But I will be out for a while, right?”

  Indeed. Another hour.

  I paused for a moment to think, then said, ”Earmark the points and token for it. I need more swarms.”

  At this point, I have a nice buffer for control, and I will soon have a nice steady influx of points, so I should be able to set up a supply line.

  First, immediately combat strength. Based on what I have seen, I can get ten Assault swarms powered by one Generator Swarm supplied by one Collector swarm. I can get four groups for twenty six thousand five hundred points right now.

  I can then get one more group of Fabricator and Recombinant swarms and four more Collection swarms for three thousand. With four groups of logistic swarms, I can manufacture one swarm every twenty minutes.

  No, scratch that. If it was one every minute, I could do that, but I don't have the leeway for that. The production speed upgrade would be another five hundred points, which would bump production to five minutes a swarm. Faster, but that's still one hour per combat swarm. Or, that's fifteen minutes per logistics swarm. After an hour, I could bump that production speed to thirty minutes per combat swarm.

  “Purchase two sets of ten upgraded Assault swarms, one Generator Swarm, and one Collection swarm. Then two more sets of Fabrication swarms and Recombinant swarms with speed upgrade blueprints, finally four more Collection swarms. Oh, and the Neural Enhancer, please.”

  Unlocked Class II Bionic Neural Enhancement

  Purchased Class II War Swarm Upgraded Assault Swarm 20x

  Purchased Class II War Swarm Generator Swarm 2x

  Purchased Class II War Swarm Collector Swarm 6x

  Purchased Class II War Swarm Fabrication swarm 2x

  Purchased Class II War Swarm Fabrication speed upgrade blueprint

  Purchased Class II War Swarm Recombinant Swarm 2x

  Purchased Class II War Swarm Recombinant Processing speed upgrade blueprint

  Purchased Class II Bionic Neural Enhancement

  Points reduced to 344

  Tokens reduced to 2

  The tent is suddenly entirely full of polyhedrons of various colors. A thought hits me and I laugh super hard. I feel a quizzical feeling from Synaptic. After a while, I calmed down enough to speak. “Sands, Synaptic, you've turned me into a dice goblin!”