“This fire is out of control,
We’re gonna burn this city, burn this city!"
--Deleted recording of Trash Bandit and Shadowflame performing a duet at a Round Table karaoke night, 2035.
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New Purchases!
Class II Esoteric Single-Use Explosives Devices – 1600 points, 1 token
Class II Prolotor Bacterial Genetics – 400 points, 1 token
Total: 2000 points, 2 tokens
Remaining points: #####
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Yet another half useless purchase report scrolls past my vision as I bounce over a poorly-placed Five trying to crawl into the pipe, twisting its head off with a twirl on my way past.
I fall into the open air and sling a whip towards a metal gangway high above, catching myself and giving myself a second to look around. The ceiling above me is missing, exposing the hive to the outer world and the positively stunning view of the undercity’s dull metal roof, covered in artificial lights that make you want to carve out your own eyes after a few days, high above.
The hive itself looks about as I’d expect from a cesspit spawning an alien invasion, with a worryingly-large growth pod pulsing like a beating heart in the centre.
‘Do we have to blow it up?’
If you want to upset Gwen, you have the option of waiting until that Model Twenty-One is done growing. Otherwise, I’d advise purchasing your first Bio-Organic Ordinance Mark Tx-S5 for thirty points, dropping it here, and getting your kicks from one of the Model Twenty-Ones trying to invade the city above instead.
‘Fine,’ I pout. ‘Buy the BOOM TSssss.’
One of Cyon’s favourite portals the size of my head appears beside me, glowing with a dangerous blend of green and red light. An orb of gloriously-shiny metal dramatically emerges from it, falling into the plant life below.
I swing back into the pipe I came through and slash a few more Xenos on the way out. I lose their attention quickly thanks to Sim’s help and slip through the plants’ ranks, leaving the pipe and following the helpful glowing arrows Cyon’s spawning that point towards the other vats.
Avoiding as many of the smaller Models as I can, I make my way through a pipe into the second vat. The entire space is filled with pods spawning worms of various sizes, an odd combination of Sevens and Eights.
Dropping another bomb and grabbing a Zoomie-filled lollipop – mmmmmhhh, sour apple – I quickly move on to the third cesspit, finding several Sixes guarding three pods growing Seventeens.
Well, ain’t that cute…
Bomb!
The fourth chamber just has a whole load of Nines growing from every surface. Kinda boring after the others, but they get a bomb all the same!
Finally returning to the main chamber, I zero in on my siblings, finding them ten metres from the central trunk, sneaking beneath a cluster of doggos. I swing over, dropping another bomb as I get close.
‘Is one really enough for this room?’
Yes.
I definitely don’t notice a second shiny orb falling into the crowd on the other side of the plant pillar, and if any of my siblings claim otherwise, they’re liars and frauds!
Stripe climbs onto Spot and Chip’s shoulders as I approach, and she grabs onto my foot when I drop low in my swing.
I dip my tail to my foot, letting them climb onto it before I hit the big tree. My feet stick, thanks to Sim, and my claws dig into the tough bark easily, so I scramble up quickly.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
When we approach the hole towards the surface, the plants coating the walls try to stop us, probably seeing through our stealth thanks to the damage I’m doing to the hive… I don’t bother changing my approach, because Chip and Spot spray rockets and fire at the walls, clearing the pesky weeds as Stripe snipes the few that try descending the trunk towards us.
We leap out into freedom and meet the barrels of a squad of Stripes: Awning, Halo, and Regi. They lower their guns and squeak out a slew of greetings, turning to run back to the lab with us.
We run through the overgrown surface structure of the processing plant, shooting and slashing the stray plants roaming the main pathway to the front gates. We collect several more clones, some familiar and some not, and arrive at the lab to find a lot more raccoons than I remember having.
We weren’t down there for that long… right?
“How far do we need to get before I can set those off?” I ask Cyon, jumping up to grab hold of the lab and letting my numbers concerns slip from my memory.
Along with that group of hairless Chips… Yet another adorable mutation.
You don’t need to go too far. Those charges are more biologically deadly than explosively. They’ll collapse most of the plant, but you should be technically safe from where you are no-
Before she can finish telling me this is a wonderful idea, I hit the trigger in my head.
A loud crack hits me as Sim tightly wraps my ears, protecting me from the soundwave. My symbiotless raccoons bury their heads in their neighbours fur, humming with satisfaction at the rumble of destruction that follows, despite the initial crack.
I watch with glee as there’s a bright flash, followed by a thick, fast-moving, toxic-green mist that seems to cling to every surface it touches, dissolving the visible plant life within seconds. Before I even have time to blink, the buildings holding the processing plants that I never even looked in and the towering waste vats that stretch up from the ground behind them collapse in on themselves, their already compromised structures succumbing to the explosion.
Me and my nursery are completely unharmed on our floating truck, staring at the aftermath with matching grins as part of the ground crumbles beneath us.
“I wanna do a bigger one,” I mutter as my tail swishes back and forth behind me, brushing past several raccoons’ heads and drawing out low chittering giggles of glee.
While I completely support that, you may want to start moving while you perform your purchases. I did say technically for a reason!
She’s right, that toxic mist is moving kinda quickly…
“Would it kill us?” I ask while sending a message to Pin in the driver’s seat, telling her to get us out!
You? Not even close. Your siblings though? Also, probably no. It would irritate their systems a little still since you haven’t purchased an upgrade that affects their immune systems yet, but the bacteria, while very aggressive, won’t target them with as much zeal since they’re coded for Antithesis removal. Oh, and it’ll only spread for a block or two.
“Oh, not that bad then,” I sigh with relief, lying down on the lab’s roof and relaxing into my swarm for snuggles. “Can I have my summarised combat report now please?”
Yes, you can have that detailed report.
“Simple.”
Embellished?
“Short.”
Killjoy.
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Congratulations! You hate fun!!!!
Plants killed: You don’t care!
Points gained: Not telling! [44955, 5 tokens]
Points spent: 3560, 3 tokens [Yeah, feel bad about that! (I’m kidding, please keep buying mutations.)]
Points total: 41509, 3 tokens
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Woah! That’s a lot of points!
“We’re rich!”
{Yippeee!!} my nursery sings in chorus, sticking their little paws in the air before breaking out in giggles as the lab swerves to take a corner.
While not exactly rich, you do have a lot of points to play with!
Cyon says, forming her avatar in the air above me, sitting on what looks like a miniature cloud of the green mist we just fled from.
You ready for some shopping?
{Sure,} I chirp, reaching out to scratch one of the chubby hairless babies under the chin. {And I’ll bite, what’s with these guys? New mutation?}
Yep! They don’t grow fur, but their skin is slightly tougher and more elastic to make up for it.
{Cool. Right, I can afford that bacteria catalogue now, right?}
Indeed you can! Class III Prolotor Bacterial Genetics will cost you eight thousand points and three tokens.
{That’s… Not that bad? Seems kinda easy.}
Cyon flashes me her pearly whites in a mischievous grin, letting out a faint, chirping giggle as she speaks.
Token gain may be a little subjective based on a vanguard’s AI.
Her giggling vanishes as she jumps to attention, blatantly trying to distract me.
Also! Your proclivity for Prolotor Catalogues has given you an advantage with upgrading Classes quickly. One of the main requirements to purchase a Class III Catalogue is that you must have several related Catalogues upgraded to Class II. You have Prolotor Drugs, Viral Modifications, Bacterial Genetics, and Viral Cloning all there already!
Huh…
Pin slows the lab down and parks us in line with the roof of a sturdy-looking factory building, letting some of our nursery spread their legs now that we’re out of the BOOM TS’ blast radius.
{Does that mean I could upgrade all of them to Class III if I got enough tokens?}
Not quite. You can take one more of them to Class III, but then you’ll need to buy some more related catalogues for any more. They don’t all need to be Prolotor either, but I won’t stop you!
{Got it. Buy that catalogue then, and let’s start planting more bombs!}
