Hope your points don't run out before the end.
Can't take points with you into the dirt,
So might as well buy that new rocket uncher first!"
-- Excerpt from a Samurai fan song, 2057
It's been half an hour since we sealed and gassed the shelter. Not much happened, aside from us getting a ping that someone was in front of our door at home so we continued on.
We slowly made our way out of the mall to the parking lot on the roof when I felt something off and held my arm out in front of Bdes.
"What is it?" He asked.
"I don't know," I said as I stared at the dark, cramped staircase leading to the parking garage. "Something just doesn't feel right."
Just as I said that, a tentacle whipped out of the darkness, aiming right at my face. All I could do was lean to the right and hope that I was fast enough to dodge. Again, time seemed to slow down as if everything was moving to mosses. I watched in horror as the barb at the end of the tentacle missed my eye, nicked my cheek, and then took most of my left ear off. Flinching, I brought up our borrowed sword with all the force I could master. The bde met the tentacle, and bit into it, but the offending appendage had already started retreating and wrenched the sword out of my hand.
The world sped back up as I lost my footing and fell backwards and fell into Bdes knocking him over as well.
"We need to close that off for now! Cinder?" Nonon spoke up as I tumbled and got back up.
Shinobu, here!
New Purchase: Graphene Garrote Web Kunai.
Points Reduced to... 2754.
A kunai, with a ring at the end of the grip, appeared right in front of us just in the right pce for me to catch it and send it flying into the darkness. It made it a few meters before it seemed to explode with only the ring remaining, suspended in the air. It happened just in time too as another tentacle came flying at us.
I braced myself but as it reached the floating ring, it was cut into ribbons, like an egg with one of those old egg slicers. Sighing with relief, I looked down at Bdes.
"Shit." I said as I saw the gaping hole in his chest then pulled a Wound stop and Hemo-Restore from my thigh bag.
He is still alive, just barely, we need to act, and fast!
"Give me whatever we need to save him!" Nonon shouted.
Nano-Regenerative Suite coming right up!
Points Reduced to... 2734.
"Nonon, take care of Bdes, I've got this." I shouted, dropped the meds and picked up Bdes' spear then sent it flying at the hiding Model Four.
It passed through in between the strands of the web and pinned one of its tentacles to the wall.
"On it!"
Five spiders popped out of our new arm, leaving it a little more skinny, and scurried over to the medical implements. I spared a gnce at them, only to see them open the box and pull out some tubes.
"Cinydr, I will need a weapon."
New Purchase: Css One Void Terminus Naginata.
Points Reduced to... 2639.
Hold your arm out.
I did as I was told, and the weapon appeared right in my hand as I grasped for it. Just in time too, because the web closing off the stairwell gave way after the 4th tentacle strike. I gnced at the new icon toggle that just popped up on my HUD and flicked it with a mental command.
The "bde" of my new weapon warped like the air shimmering above the hot pavement, then a bck void took its pce with a hiss as it sucked air in. Not sparing another thought on it, I bolted up the stairs at the struggling Four. After the second step, the world around me seemed to fall away, and all that existed were the tentacles rushing towards me, and my bde cutting said tentacles clean off with each step. When I finally was in stabbing range, I plunged the bde deep into the groin of the alien and wrecked the bde up putting a big gash in it. All of this was surprisingly effortless, like I was cutting through warm butter and not alien pnt matter.
The test wound being too much, the bundle of tentacles slumped over. I sighed, and after taking a look at the bde glowing with pinpricks of starlight, I flicked the toggle again. The dark bde flickered out of existence. All that remained was a curved rod with some rings around the length of it.
"What the hells kind of weapon is this?" I asked as I made my way back down the stairs and slumped against the wall.
It's from the Fixed Point, Lethal Transition Melee Weaponry Catalogue. Normally it would require an activation phrase, but since your mental processing power seems to be much faster than an average human, I opted for the toggle in your HUD.
"We can do some serious shopping after this." I said as I looked at the point total in the corner of my vision. "But first, I need a bite."
Here, I think you will like this sweetie. Cinydr said as a nutrient bar, with its packaging covered in paw prints fell in my p.
"Yeah, 2649 points seem like a lot." Nonon confirmed.
"How is Bdes?" I asked, as I unwrapped it and took a bite from the bar, then murmured. "Tasty."
"Out cold, but will live. I think we should hunker down here, and wait for him to wake up." She replied and sent the spiders skittering around to keep an eye on things.
And we did just that. We just chatted quietly about all kinds of things, and put some pins on pns for the future. Like getting armor and some upgrades to our body, so it can keep up with the speed of my thoughts and perception and maybe even get them both to be even faster.
"Cinder, I wanted to ask this but always forgot."
What is it, sweetie?
"Would it be possible for me to get my own body?" She paused for a second, to collect her thoughts. "Like I don't mean flesh and bone body, but like a swarm of drones. Simir to how our arm is now."
Yes, it is possible and both of your requests can be achieved with a Css Two Vulpecu Swarm Control Unit and the Mk5 Vulpine Armored Drone War-Swarm. The Control Unit is an impnt and will need the proper facilities to install or an increased point cost for a field instaltion. The Swarm is a set of drones, much like the Drone Kit serving as your arm at the moment, but they can assemble in a configuration to allow you to form a body out of them, or to form a protective armor around the main body.
"Oooh, that sounds like exactly what I want!" Nonon cooed excitedly.
And for the acceleration of perception, there is the Perception Accelerating War-Swarm. It's a set of nanites that will over time rewire your brain to allow for faster communication between the neurons.
"Why is it a 'War-Swarm' then?" I asked between bites.
Even after the changes have been made to your brain, you can manually activate the swarm, and allow you an even higher rate of perception, however, extended use can lead to overheating that can compromise swarm integrity.
"I see." I murmured then gnced at Bdes who started to stir. "Let's put a pin in those for the moment."
I got up from where I was sitting, then crouched next to Bdes.
As soon as he opened his eyes, I smiled at him, "Hey, you. You're finally awake. You were trying to cross the stairs, right? Walked right into that Model Four ambush, same as us."
He just groaned. "You are right, this is horrible to wake up to..."
"Told you." I said smugly then offered him a hand, which he took with a wince .
"What happened?" He asked as he nursed his freshly healed chest.
"Like I said, Model Four. You got a tentacle to the chest that was aimed at my face."
"How the turns table..." He chuckled to himself as he dusted off. "Thanks for patching me up.” Then he looked at us and frowned. "You should do that too, the ear looks... bad."
"Eh." I dismissed him with a wave of my hand. "We will when we get home."
"Okay, Let's go." He said and started up the stairs, then stopped at the bend where the Model Four was hiding and looked at the spear still embedded in the wall. "Nice throw." He grunted as he tried to pull it out of the wall. "How did you manage to get it so in there? I swear I could hang off this thing." And he did just that.
"Huh... That's..." I frowned. "Looks like there is a little more power behind our new arm than I thought."
Yes, the small swarm that is serving as your repcement arm is significantly stronger than the one you fed to that Model Three. Cinydr said. You should follow your sister's example and upgrade other parts as well, but preferably in safe conditions. We don't want to feed the Antithesis now, do we?
That st part gave me a pause. Even if her tone was like that of a mother chiding a small kid, what she said did have merits to it. We both knew that flesh was weak and fallible. And that it would be the first thing to give out at the wrong moment.
"Is there a way we can replicate the armored spider drones?" Nonon asked.
Yes, you can buy a catalogue for Matter Reconfiguration Machines, and the blueprint for the drones, but all that is out of your price range at the moment.
"Okay, put it on the list for now, and we have a printer at home that should be able to make it." I said.
"Omm..." Nonon spoke up. "Guys? I think we might have to bite the bullet on the armor and get it now."
"Why is that?" Bdes asked as he finally managed to pry the spear out of the wall.
"Here." She said, then shared the image from the scout drone with us.
"Fuck." Was all I could say as the image filled my vision. "That's a Model Eight, a bunch of Threes and what in the nine hells is the six-legged tank thing."
"Model Six. Looks like a base variant too." He went silent for a second then continued. "Yeah, Isys guesses there is more than one hive nearby, one being an aquatic variant."
"That's where the sharks come from, and the Six from the normal... The Sevens looked like maggots, that's a variant too right?"
Yes, they are one of the aquatic variants.
"Wonderful..." Nonon sighed.
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose as we made our way back down to the nding.
"Cinydr, how much is the total for the impnt and drones?"
You will need to upgrade your Moon Gazer Technologies catalogue to Css II, which will use up your token, and cost 400 points. The Swarm Control Unit would normally require another impnt for the detection of thoughts and intents, but the one you have installed already is a Vanguard-grade impnt, and it covers the same functionality. So that will not be needed. All together, the catalogue, Control Unit, Armored Drone War-Swarm, and field instaltion kit will cost 2450 Points.
"Gods." I sighed. "Fuck it. Let's go."
Very well.
New Purchase: Css II Moon Gazer Technologies.
Points Reduced to... 2248.
Tokens Reduced to... 0.
New Purchase: Css Two Vulpecu Swarm Control Unit and Field Instaltion Kit.
Points Reduced to... 1148.
New Purchase: Mk5 Vulpine Armored Drone War-Swarm.
Points Reduced to... 148.
Two boxes appeared next to us on top of each other. The bottom was about as big as your standard suitcase, while the smaller one was just a little bit bigger than our phone.
The small one first. Cinydr said. You will find a small syringe filled with a metallic-looking liquid in it.
Exactly like she said, it was filled with what looked eerily like mercury.
Now, this will be unpleasant and Vanguard Bdes will need to help.
"What do I need to do?" He asked.
"I hope it doesn't work the way I think it is..." I muttered.
I'm afraid it works exactly like that. She sighed. You will need to insert the needle between Shinobu's eye and its socket, up to the mark on the indicator then slowly deliver the contents.
"Jesus fucking Christ..." I shuddered. "Why the eye!?"
Unfortunately, the most direct route to your brain is along the optic nerve. And this is the most cost-effective method of field instaltion.
"Want me to take over?" Nonon asked.
"No, it's fine..." I spped my cheeks and then winced because chrome hand sps way harder than meat ones. "Ow..." I rubbed my cheek. "Let's get this over with…" I said, then sat down against the wall in the corner to make it easier to keep my head steady.
"Here goes nothing..." Bdes picked up the syringe and knelt down in front of us.
Three nightmarish minutes ter, the empty torture implement y discarded in the corner. And I just sat there, hugging my knees as the nanites did their thing when a window popped up in my vision.
Vulpecu Swarm Control System Initialized.
Installing Drivers 1/127
The number rapidly ticked up, accompanied by a progress bar, and Nonon opened a terminal window to see what it was doing.
"Oh, interesting, it seems to adapt the drivers in real-time to my OS." She mused. "And based on some of the things I saw, this thing can do a lot more than just let me control some drones. Like it will let me set up automated routines and alerts! OH! And I can designate other devices as something to control! Like, I can read what the sensors of our bike see and even control it outright!"
She rambled on for what felt like ages, but I tuned her out and walked over to the big box.
"Omm... Bdes? I have no idea if this is gonna be full of spiders too, soooo."
He visibly shuddered, turned away and plugged his ears. I waited a few seconds, then flipped the lid open. And it was a good thing I waited. As soon as it was open, what looked like thousands of bck fox spiders flooded out of it and up my legs and all over me. I watched as they formed into ptes around my legs, chest, arms then finally my head and face as the world went dark for a moment as line after line flew by in the still-open console window.
Initializing War-Swarm...
War-Swarm Initialized.
Swarm Integrity... 100%
"Omm..." Just as I was about to speak up, the line 'All systems nominal' caught my eye and my vision returned. "Oh wow. Everything is so clear!"
"Hmm... Boo? I think we actually need gsses... Or new eyes... Let's go with that. Seems more future-proof." She said. "Anyway, we can put something like new eyes on the list for ter. Bdes, you can turn around, also how do we look?"
He tentatively turned around, stared a little, then spoke up. "Now you look like an actual Samurai."
Right as he said that, a picture clearly taken with his augs filled my vision. In it was the figure of a young woman, in form-fitting armor made to look like one of those old historical samurai armors from Japan. It had sleek bck ptes with a pulsing reddish light filling the gaps. The helmet instead of the horn-like things, had two big vulpine ears clearly housing some sort of sensor array. The only outlier from the overall bck exterior was the white Kitsune mask with a red waning moon on its forehead, along with the usual red eyeliner around the aggressive-looking eyes and whisker-like motifs on the cheeks.
"Okay, that looks really coool!" Nonon's approval was almost a squeal. "And I can do stuff like this, Boo, take a step back."
"Okay." I did as she said, and my vision flickered for a moment as the aug overy disconnected. I stepped out of the now freestanding power armor and watched the back close up, then with blinding speed it whirled around and scooped me up in a hug.
"I have a BODY!" Nonon almost shouted as I squeaked in surprise. "And there are enough sensors in it that I can actually feel stuff with it tooo!"
"I'm gd you are happy." I choked the words out.
Sweetie, be gentle with your sister, she is having a hard time breathing.
"Oh. Yes, sorry." She said and released me. "Omm, since we are 3 people here with bodies now, I think I will need weapons too." She put a hand on her chin in thought. "Hmm… Cinder, can you get me a pair of Kamas? Oh, and you can forgo the box."
No problem sweetie, coming right up.
A moment ter I saw our point total drop down to 48 and Nonon snatched her new weapons out of the air, giving them a few experimental sshes, both with the bdes turned on and off.
"Mmm, this will do perfectly. Thank y-." She cut herself off, as one of the ears twisted towards the stairs leading up. "We've got company, another Four is coming this way."
"Let's give it a warm welcome, shall we?" Bdes said and started walking up the stairs.
I shared a look with Nonon, grinned, then we followed after him.