It took two full magaziwenty full rounds, in order to cause the first hive pilr to crumble and fall. I’d started with explosive rounds, thinking that I could easily break it to pieces using ventional firepower, but the shell was much harder than expected. So, for the seagazine I filled it with a mixture of indiary and nanite rounds to up the remnants.
I popped out of the back of the IFV so I could take a look at the damage with my own eyes, and not through the monitor, and found Hoppy standing nearby with her hands over where her ears would be.
“You know that’s not going to do much, you’re better off buying hearing prote for your helmet!” I shouted.
“I have it!” she yelled back, a massive smile on her face. “The bst is just so loud I feel better c my ears anyways!”
“Well don’t let me stop you,” I said l my voiow that I knew she could still hear me. “Do you have any idea what yoing to spend your token on?”
“Legs!” she replied happily. She must have seen the frown f on my face, because she quickly crified. “Close bat Cyberics Css II to be precise. I have some basies right now, but I need something with a little more… kick,” she said, breaking into a giggling fit. It took her a few seds to get trol of herself and tinue. “Bitsy also reends getting some muscle and bone enhas, armor, and a whole bunch of other things too, so I’m still a ways off,” she tinued after she settled down.
“Bitsy?” I asked.
“My AI, Elizebyth,” she crified. “I call her Bitsy.”
“Well, I’ll do what I to get you a couple more. I’m going to quickly check the perimeter before clearing out another ohere are some smart antithesis out there, and I want to make sure we don’t fay reprisals.”
“Sounds good! I’ll follow once I put my legs on!” the girl replied as a box appeared in front of her.
I half-waved as I headed back towards where Bright-Eyes and Broodmother were standing. I could see the carpet of azure biomeical scarabs writhing about, creating a no-man’s ween us and the antithesis. The smaller models were relentlessly pushing onto the carpet of scarabs, only to get instantly swarmed and slowly ed. The rger models seemed to get slowed down by the swarm, but after a blow from Bob or several electric shocks from Raijin, they typically colpsed and were ed.
“Any trouble siook down the hive?” I asked, as I waltzed up to the pair.
Broodmnced over at me, just for a moment, before shaking her head. “The perimeter is holding, thanks to Raijin and your bear. There was a small wave when yinally opened fire, but Bright-Eyes threw some explosive squirrels into the gap, and prevehem from advang too far.”
“They stopped?” I asked, surprised. “Why?”
“Because, like it or not, we’re far from the biggest threat at the moment,” Bright-Eyes replied, pointing across the room. Apparently the other team had also taken down another hive, while brawling their way across the cavern. They were closer now, so I could make out Dreamer’s portal bdes swinging about, and rger meical spiders spraying wide areas with acid. The eeam was at least three times faster than normal, just ripping through everything on the way to the tral hive. “No matter how big yun is, I don’t think it holds a dle to that age,” she said.
“Fair enough,” I replied as I watched the rampage. “Maybe I’ll just head bad deal with one or two more hives, so we try and catch up. Assuming they don’t ftten this entire pce before we .”
“It’s possible, but there’s still a lot of antithesis between them and the ter,” Broodmother said.
“Then the set to work, the better,” I told them.
I was about to return to the IFV when Hoppy ran up to the group. “Hey all… where’s Raijin?” she asked.
Bright-Eyes frowned. “He was watg the left fnk just a few minutes ago,” she said as she sed the area.
“He is attempting to y scarabs, heading towards the roup,” Broodmother reported. “Whatever he bought is als everything around him, so he’s creating an opening in my defenses.”
“Where?” I asked, sing the lines. At first I didn’t see him, but after a minute I realized it was because he'd used part of the cavern terrain to hide his departure. There was a bit of a rocky area on the left side of the lines, which he’d hidden behind.
“Motherfucker!” I yelled, “Hoppy, with me!” The girl squealed in surprise, but followed me as I dashed for the area.
I sent a quiand and my bears reanized. I thinned out the battle lirusting that Broodmother had the main defenses, and summoned my squad to the breach. By the time I arrived, Raijin was almost to the scarabs’ outer perimeter, leaving a trail of dead bugs behind him.
“What the fuck are you doing?!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. The man turowards me, just for a moment, before tinuing to push out. “The bastard gets one upgrade and thinks he’s invincible,” I mumbled.
“Should we follow him, or leave him?” Hoppy asked anxiously. I chewed on my lip for a sed, w the same thing, losing Raijin would be bad. Sacrifig myself and Hoppy to try and save him, even worse. While I was thinking, Hoppy tapped me on the shoulder, and poi something within the horde. “The Twenty-Threes are shifting towards him,” she whispered. “I think they smell blood ier.”
“Shit,” I swore under my breath. “You remember what I said about stig with what’s safe?” I muttered over my shoulder. Hoppy nodded. “Well this is a case of do as I say, not as I do,” I said as I sprinted dowh. With the Twenty-Threes repositioning, I saw a ce to salvage this; an admittedly tiny one. I called Bob over.
Raijin’s ech was impressive. It was frying the Model Threes and Fours before they got close, allowing him to electrocute the rger models. He was making pretty det progress through the mob, until the Twenty-Threes caught up.
Raijin was lucky to survive first tact, as the first Twenty-Three sprinted in. It bowled over the smaller models, throwing them out of the way as it swept down to bite Raijin. Thankfully, a Model Three that had been thrown by the charge knocked him away, causing the creature to miss its attack by a hair.
“Heavy c fire!” I yelled as I dropped to crouch, firing into the mass of antithesis. As the squad started ripping up the minor antithesis, Heavy took aim for the Twenty-Three. The ‘Devastator’ roared, taking off the monster’s leg, but missing anything critical.
While Raijin was scrambling about on the floor, Bob arrived on se. “Retrieve Raijin!” I yelled over the guhe big bear didn’t hesitate, he walked right through the gunfire, hoisted the wayward samurai over his shoulder, and sprinted back. I was momentarily distracted by the fact that all his hair was standing on end, so I nearly missed the sed Twenty-Three breaking free from the mass of antithesis. It snapped, chasing its static-charged prey straight down the cleared path.
“Heavy…” I started, but, before I could finish, a pink missile smmed into the Twenty-Three’s face. It stumbled, tried to stay on its feet, but Hoppy wasn’t having any of it. As soon as she touched the ground she performed a roundhouse kick, knog the moo the ground.
“We should be running now,” she said with a smirk, as the scarabs slowly filled ihway again.
She didn’t have to ask me twice, I sprinted back up the pathway, letting the scarabs cover our retreat. Once we were clear, I had Bob throw Raijin into the clearing, before returning him to his sentry duties. “What were you thinking?!” I shouted at the disheveled man.
“We should be out there! Helping the other team! Not sitting here!” he yelled back at me.
“And we will be, when you’re fug ready!” I grunted.
I didn’t realize Broodmother had e over until I felt her hand on my shoulder. “I’ll talk to him,” she said with a quiet, sad smile. “Thank you foing after him.”
I took a deep breath, trying to get my emotions under trol. “ime, I’ll leave you out there!” I spat at him, before stomping away.
I heard some quick meical footsteps behind me, so I gnced back as Hoppy came up beside me. She slowly rubbed my back as we made our way back towards the IFV, it was quiet for most of the way, but right before we arrived Hoppy spoke up.
“I’m sorry, I’m a bad listener sometimes,” she admitted. I just burst out ughing in response.
