Chương 57: Chapter 55 - Disposal duty

| slowly waved my scanner over another one of the devices Maggie had left, waiting for the results to come in. The pile contained a wild assortment of things, from relatively useless things, like a collapsible electronic cat entertainment system, to the frightening, like the sonic grenade strong enough to powderize concrete in a ten meter radius. Cleanup was slow because I needed to buy a scanner to identify everything. Normally it wouldn't be an issue, the problem was Maggie hadn't stuck to just mundane catalogs.

Instead she had invested in some really esoteric catalogs, including those of multiple other races, which meant the scanner had to slowly identify each device's source, before it could identify the purpose. The repetitive process was slowly driving me nuts. Thankfully Sharron called, which was a welcome distraction. [Hey Sharron, what's up?] [Just checking in, we just received a visitor. Atlantica and Celestia wanted to talk to her in private for a minute.] I sighed, [Let me guess, Magpie. We've met, I'm still recovering from the experience.] [She's pretty intense, isn't she?] Sharron's laugh echoed across the Aug connection. [How are you doing out there? We noticed a considerable decrease in the number of Antithesis in the area after your stunt earlier.] [First of all, it wasn't a stunt, and second I'm fine. I put down a lure after flash frying that hive earlier, and the Antithesis are just throwing themselves into my defenses.] There was a pause, [And… you're safe where you are?] [Relatively. It turns out my catalogs are exceptionally well suited for a stationary defense. There were a few close calls, but nothing I couldn't handle. I'm pretty much just farming points now.] The scanner beeped, the device I was currently investigating was designed to detect and map utilities throughout a building. Why would Maggie even have that? [Well good. I'd hate to hear you died while pulling aggro away from our group.] [Don't worry about me, how is your search going?] [Good,] Sharron replied happily.

[We've eliminated three so far, and Celestia has identified two more. Considering we're finding one to two per tower there's probably four or five more after that.] [Well, hurry it up then,] I grumbled. [Once we clean up things here we can start clearing up the dregs around the city and letting more people out of the shelters.] [Can do!] The line went quiet for a moment, [Sounds like we're moving to the next site, and Magpie is coming with. Stay safe out there Evie.] Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. [You too.] I had been so distracted by the devices in front of me that it took a few seconds after the call ended for my brain to catch up.

"Evie?" — Disposing of everything took another ten minutes. Turns out there wasn't anything too dangerous, it was mostly junk which all went into the creation engine. The only things that I held on to were the sonic grenade, and a recycler charge, which broke down items in the local area into their component elements. Helpful for gathering material for the creation engine, devastating if it randomly went off on one of my walls.

Finally freed from the job of checking random junk, I immediately went around to check on my defenses. The area was still clear, for the most part. There was the corpse of a model twelve on the north side; it had waddled through the first two barriers before catching an XR railgun round to the face. It was a little disconcerting that the monster walked right through two barriers without any serious damage, but it wasn't that surprising either. The grids were only designed to take care of the smaller models.

While I was watching, one of the APS grenade launchers fired, landing a flesh melter right into the middle of the mass of dead Antithesis. Within moments the street was clear again, ready for more aliens to push through.

"Everything seems to be running smoothly, have there been any issues?" Nothing out of the ordinary. There's only been a single double digit model, the Twelve, which isn't that surprising because most of the hives are up in the farm towers, which makes it hard for larger models to get around. It does make me wonder where all the variants went. You've encountered a few already, but none of them are around the hives.

"Except for shrimpy," I said, correcting my AI. Yes, the shrimp. I looked toward the point that was marked in my Augs. The shrimp was over near the farms again. It was hard to tell what it was doing without vision, so I quickly sent one of my remaining drones over to take a look. I found the Antithesis coming out of a massive culvert right at the base of the tower. The creature was looking a little worse for wear.

It lost one claw in its first engagement with the team, and its armor was heavily pitted by the acid after trudging through the sewers. Despite all the damage it didn't seem to have any difficulty moving around. After a minute or so of observation the Shrimp finally caught sight of the drone, and both eyes swivelled to watch it. I pulled the drone back slightly, and the massive Antithesis followed, eyes never leaving the drone.

I tried pulling the drone back farther, and the creature still followed, which gave me an idea. I felt a smile cross my face, "Nyx, I'm not sure why the shrimp hasn't tried to get back here after escaping the sewer, but I think I can lure it back here with one of the drones. We just need to set up a proper welcome for it." You probably destroyed its sense of smell with the acid, which is why it's running around aimlessly.

It's a lot tougher than I expected, the fact that it can still see after being bathed in acid speaks to its fortitude. I suggest you over prepare for this engagement.

"That I can do." I eyed my defenses. There was still a horde trying to push in through the north, and bringing the shrimp through there would cause issues, so the East or West would be better choices. The defenses on those sides weren't bad, but they weren't in any shape to take on that Behemoth. A few obstacles here, a couple glue mines there, and a VERY big gun just out of reach, and I'd finally be rid of that oversized pest.

I glanced through the drone's sensors one last time, a grin growing across my face as I saw the Antithesis still following it around.

"See you soon, you oversized son of a bitch."