Chương 230: Book 4 - Chapter 20 - Protective Coating

The entrance to the second hive was enormous, large enough that someone could have driven a semi into it. Even after clearing off the surface, there was a slow but steady stream of Model Threes, Fours, and Fives pouring out of the darkness to stop us. That either meant that the hive was in full panic mode and birthing antithesis early to aid in the defense, or the hive itself was large enough to support a birth every couple of seconds.

It wasn't anything to be that concerned about, the bears were more than capable enough to keep those numbers under control, but it was something to keep an eye on.

"I don't think we'll have any problems locating the hive this time," I muttered as I took my first couple steps into the tunnel.

"That's good, because the faster we knock it out, the better," Saber replied as he strode past me. Startled, I almost forgot to signal the bears to advance before running after him.

"I know you're confident with your skills, but maybe we should let the fox go ahead? You know, to prevent a repeat of last time?" I said as soon as I caught up.

"I'm sure the little critter can do its job if it's a couple feet behind me," Saber replied, casually cutting down the closest Model Three as it charged.

"I, on the other hand, can't do my job when there's someone in front of me."

"Okay, fair. You should still slow the pace a little. Hoppy and I can keep up, but Amy's new, and I don't want to get split up down here." The man nodded slightly and immediately strode into the darkness, this time just a tiny bit slower.

"Thanks…" I grumbled.

"I appreciate the thought, but you don't have to worry about me," Amy whispered.

"I can keep up!" Glancing over, I noticed for the first time that the neon graffiti on her armor glowed faintly in the dark. Not exactly subtle, but then again, who was I to judge someone on their fashion choices?

"You may be able to keep up for a while, but you'll be in no shape to fight if you have to exhaust yourself to do it. Make sure to speak up if you need to take a break or want someone to slow down."

"But I didn't really need Saber to slow down…" the girl mumbled.

"I know you didn't," I whispered, leaning in a little closer to Amy.

"I really just needed him to slow down enough that Heavy could keep up." The two of us glanced back towards the tunnel entrance, where the five foot tall polar bear bot was waddling after us as fast as he could. Even though I knew he could crush most antithesis with just his paws, I couldn't help but chuckle at his slow, lumbering gait. Once I was sure Amy was good, I hefted my B3-AR and jogged over to the fox.

Unlike the previous hive, where it was bouncing around chasing sounds behind every wall, it was exceptionally calm here. Even though its head swept back and forth, scanning for any anomalous readings, it hadn't identified a single problem so far. Sweeping in, I plucked my LCARS out of its paws, replacing it with the lighter rifle.

"Thanks for your assistance, but I need this more than you," I grumbled as I gave the weapon a quick look over.

"I really should learn how to aim properly, but why bother when I have a weapon that does it for me?" The fox looked over at me quizzically.

"That was rhetorical." After about a hundred meters, the tunnel opened up into a large chamber. The middle of the room was dominated by something that looked like a massive, black-barked tree. Rather than branches, it had another set of roots that dug into the ceiling of the room, creating a web of vines, leaves, and birthing pods. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Dozens of small, headless, monkey-like creatures skittered across the carpet of greenery. They ran from pod to pod, checking on the contents, occasionally cracking them open and spilling half-formed Antithesis down upon the ground below.

"The tens are in full-blown panic mode," Nora remarked dryly.

"They're no threat. This'll be a quick cleanup," Saber added.

"That might be true, but what worries me is we haven't seen any sign of whoever came in before us, or anything I would consider even a minor threat. What the hell happened?" I snapped.

"Maybe they just got unlucky?" Amy suggested.

"With what?" I huffed.

"Some sort of antithesis?" the girl added, unhelpfully. I knew the situation wasn't her fault, but I couldn't help but be annoyed by the situation. I did my best to keep from directing that irritation towards the others. As we slowly spread out into the room, the bears systematically putting rounds into every single pod in the ceiling, Bob sprinted across the room, skidding to a stop just a couple of feet in front of me.

"Boss, Boss, Boss, I found something!" he declared excitedly.

"What?" I grumbled.

"Over there! Can you spot it? One of these things is not like the others?" he replied in a sing-song voice. It took all of my willpower to keep from snapping at the bear, and I instead turned to look where he was pointing. All along the side of the room were a series of dark orange, bowl-shaped flowers filled with acid. They were spaced fairly equally, with one every few feet. I quickly scanned the walls where the bear was pointing but didn't see anything odd.

My first instinct was to turn back around and let Bob know how unimpressed I was, using a ton of colorful language, but instead I took a deep breath to calm down and take another look. I nearly missed the shape, even after looking twice. It blended in perfectly with the surrounding wall, and I would have taken it as a rock, except the exterior was covered in a series of shallow bite and scratch marks.

"What the hell is that?" I muttered, the irritation instantly forgotten. Nora, who was the closest to me, paused and looked at me.

"What is what?" she asked, attracting everyone else's attention.

"There's something wedged against the wall, between the third and fourth flower," I explained, slowly wandering closer. As I got closer, it became quite apparent the object wasn't natural. It was a similar color to the surrounding rocks, but metallic, and it wasn't embedded in the wall but lying flush with it.

"Anyone lose a… something?" I called back to the others.

"That's an emergency safety pod, you gremlin! Let me through," Saber exclaimed as he jogged over.

"It comes from a catalog that's recommended to all new Family members. When activated, it cocoons the user in a layer of armor plating that's nearly impervious to anything smaller than a Model Twenty-Three would have problems penetrating. Gives you a good place to dress your wounds when you're in a tough spot."

"Nearly impervious?" I muttered, eyeing up the pod. If the pod hadn't been designed to resemble the surrounding rocks, that meant the odd shape and various indentations probably weren't natural.

"How do we get the occupant out?" Nora asked.

"The pod can be easily broken from the inside, but there's also a solvent from the same catalog that we can apply to crack the casing in case of emergencies," Saber explained. Reaching down, he grabbed the top of a box as it materialized at his feet and fished out the spray can inside. After quickly coating the top of the cocoon with a layer of the thick spray, Saber delivered a quick blow to the coated surface, causing it to shatter. As soon as it shattered, the figure inside bolted upright, pistol in hand.

It was only after she saw Saber that she started to relax.

"Fuck me… I'm glad to see your face, Dan. I thought you were those things, trying to break in again," Helen managed to wheeze out between bouts of coughing.

"Good to be seen. What happened to you, girl? How'd you end up in the pod? Why haven't you been answering your calls?" Saber asked.

"I'm in here because I had to regenerate my collapsed ribcage after one of those fucking things hit me. My AI put me in a coma so I didn't die in the process," Helen grumbled.

"Wait… what things?" I asked as I scuttled forward.

"Oh, Evelyn, you're here too? Well, I guess I appreciate the…"

"What… things…" I repeated. Helen gave me a strange look.

"The Twenty-Ones. The room was full of them when I came in earlier, and they've been beating against my pod every couple of minutes. You must have encountered them on the way in." I slowly backed away from Helen, stood up, and turned towards the room.

"Fox, I need a full sweep of the area, now," I snapped.

"Bears, create a perimeter, now!"

"You haven't run into them yet? They're still here?" Helen hissed as she struggled to escape the small pod.

"It's fine. They can't hide from the fox's sensors. It'll find them," I assured her. Behind me the fox slowly skulked about, head oscillating back and forth, stopping occasionally to investigate things. It got about halfway across the room before coming to a full stop and slowly looking straight up at the roof. As soon as it did, the bot's head deformed, and it collapsed to the ground. The Twenty-One's camouflage only shimmered for a second as it crushed the bot.

All around the room I caught several other shimmers and thuds as more Twenty-Ones dropped from their hiding places. A lot more.

"Well, at least it found them," Amy quipped a moment before the creatures charged.