A Joytoy’s Journey to become a Hive-Queen [A SCS Fanfic]

Chapter 76 – Making an impact

“Never underestimate the impact a Samurai can make. It doesn’t matter if they’re green enough to be mistaken for a greenhouse, or if they’ve been around longer than most. Push ‘em hard enough, back them into a corner, or, god forbid, threaten anyone important to them, and you’ll learn that the saying ‘Where there is a will, there’s a way’ is to be taken quite literally with Samurai.

Don’t fuck with Samurai. It gets repeated every fucking time ad nauseum, and every fucking time you gotta say it again. If you don’t follow that doctrine to the letter, you’ll never live past your first assignment.

Don’t! Fuck! With! Samurai! Make that your mantra for your life!”

  -  Major Kethar in a briefing for the 12th Defence Corps, 2047

After I delivered roughly 50k worth of points in medical stuff and equipment, mostly by getting access to Pipeline’s catalogues, I swiftly took off once more, returning to our own Hive.

The stop had only taken a couple of minutes, I didn’t want to keep Chloe and Bobby waiting, since I promised them a break. And a break they definitely needed, everyone was damn tired. It wasn’t so much physical exhaustion, although that also played a part, but the fact that we’ve been fighting against the aliens non-stop for days.

In any other situation things probably would already long since been over and done with, but we had some constrictions to work around, which made it all take so much longer. I just hoped that we could clean up soon, even if I still had no idea how to make that happen with so many threats to deal with at the same time.

Arriving over the Hive we were responsible for dealing with, I let my form shift once more, this time taking on a miniature version of Tiny. I could barely reach half the size, even with all the biomass I had available, but that was more than enough for my purposes.

Plummeting down I let out a long internal squeak, with no vocal cords doing so aloud was kind of impossible. Really, we had to do something about that, Tiny needed a voice and soon.

“Alright, everyone, get ready! Reinforcements are incomiiiiing!”

The impact was all that I had hoped for, crashing through the ground and right into yet another cave not far from where Chloe was stationed at. The force alone splattered any alien nearby, and sent a shockwave through the ground, making it rumble.

Being a multi-ton giant scorpion was a damn cool feeling. It made smashing through rock and dirt and aliens of all shapes and sizes very easy and extremely satisfying. The pincers especially were something I would keep in mind for future mix forms.

Of course, this wasn’t really a new experience. We all shared memories, and so I knew what it was like for Tiny. That said, there was a perceivable difference between her memories and my own experience.

Slowly letting myself slip back into the chorus, we continued to smash our way through to the outer edge of the inner circle. For all our grandeur, we knew that we would have to be careful, but we also wanted to test ourselves a little bit.

We probably shouldn’t have been surprised when we began to completely annihilate the aliens, even on the outer end of the inner circle. Maybe this form wasn’t too fitting a comparison. Not to mention, even with the reduced size, the tunnels were quite constricting.

Once the first cave was cleared, we shifted our body once more, this time into something smaller and more nimble. Ever since Kaysa had told Us about the humanoid Hive-Queen form we wanted to test it, and right now we finally could. We had to cut down a bit on the size, since otherwise we’d be too tall for our surroundings, but it was still a very impressive body.

The humanoid Hexclaw Hive-Queen was more versatile and variable than we had first imagined it to be. Many aspects of the form could be adjusted to fit our needs, and so we decided on a twelve limbed approach, eight arms, two legs, two tails. Because of the unique anatomy and body structure, eight arms were surprisingly easy to use; we’d thought they would get in each other's way.

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The form we had taken looked more like a skeleton than a proper human, with many of the arms able to collapse into the ribcage-like design of our chest, which would give it the proper human look.

Okay, we say human look, but really, we looked more like something from those old alien movies, or maybe those swarm types from that one ancient video game about stars and crafting or whatever. We really weren’t up to date with any of it, but the Burdened had done some minor perusing of any such materials for viable combat form upgrades.

The terrain in the caves was nigh impossible to traverse at this point, most of the tunnels were more vertical than horizontal, but with our new body that made not much of a difference to Us. Sure, we probably could have been a bit faster with a more burrowing focused form, but this one was more than sufficient, and we wanted to test our mettle.

We didn’t have to wait long for that, finding quite the large cave with an even larger collection of antithesis biology, partly Hive material, partly bio-farm if we’d have to guess, and an even bigger group of aliens.

We spotted some Thirteens, a few Sixes, one Sixteen that looked kind of strange, a few fives, and a whole host of smaller models. The model Tens, the Hive tenders, that were present were also a bit different, a bit buffer and more aggressive looking. Kaysa told Us that these were V variants, such as the Nine-V with a similar philosophy.

Not waiting for even a moment, we jumped into the fray, our Queen’s Guard close behind Us. For once they were the ones who had to be careful, not that it was too much of a problem thanks to their stealth.

Our limbs moved with an ease even we were surprised by, finding alien after alien, cutting them down, dodging left and right. Like a blitz we went through the flood of antithesis biomass, no matter what shape it came in, leaving only destruction in our wake.

Jumping over a dead model Six, we rushed forwards, cutting down any of the smaller models trying to pounce Us from the sides. The model Sixteen was our main target here, a K Variant like the Nineteen the other group had found. It meant good stealth and impressive strength, but only in bursts. These things weren’t built for an extended fight.

There was something here that was interfering with scanners, though, not that it was much of a problem for Us, but it was interesting to note.

We vaulted over a boulder on the ground, using the momentum to kick a model Four straight in its ugly… face? We weren’t sure what exactly we hit, but we sent the thing flying with large claw marks nearly bisecting it lengthwise. At around the same time, the model Fives were trying to hit Us with their quills, and with a quick thought, one of our right arms shifted into a makeshift biological rifle. 

On paper it wouldn’t be as strong as the Bile Spewers of our upgraded War Drones, but this wasn’t a strictly on paper situation. While we might not have the same oomph to put into the projective, we had the flexibility to shape the barrel and ammunition freely. Thanks to the weapons handling course we had undergone during our Dream Learning session, a minor item we hadn’t really considered that important, the projectile that came out of the barrel at subsonic speeds was quite potent.

It broke apart during flight, raining down tiny, but potent, fragments on the model Fives. The projectiles themselves wouldn’t be lethal, but they did have a toxic payload. Creating toxins with our internal biomass was far from efficient, this shot had cost Us much more biomass than you would expect, but the results spoke for themselves.

We didn’t need to check on the Fives to know they would be slowly dying, so instead we focused on the model Sixteen at the back of the cave, absentmindedly placing a small Devouring Rose behind Us on the way over.

It would serve as a distraction and an additional threat, which would hopefully make our job easier. Considering that the Queen’s Guard were busy keeping the model Thirteens busy, the added support would probably be appreciated.

Landing on the uneven ground once more, our claws ripped through the stone, giving Us the stable footing we needed, which allowed Us to continue our dash without any delay or loss in momentum.

One of our tails, a long and nimble thing with a long blade at the end, whipped around and struck a model Ten-V centermass as it tried to stop Us. Even being a V variant these things weren’t particularly sturdy, and so we pierced straight through its strange, leathery skin, ripping out a good chunk of its body when we pulled our tail back.

Then we were on the model Sixteen-K, our limbs lashing out in tandem, piercing it in multiple locations. It tried to protect itself, but was too slow on the move, which ended with its quick demise, when one of our arms easily cut off what passed for a head.

Not revelling in our victory, since we could see multiple aliens trying to return the favour, we carried on, using the last remaining bit of momentum we had to jump over the falling body of the Sixteen, before we turned, just in time to see a quill coming straight for our face.

Truth be told, we did panic just a little bit when we realised we would not be able to dodge or block, only to feel amused relief when it impacted and barely stung. The quills were annoying because of the neurotoxins they carried, but it did not even manage to pierce our skin, the payloud spluttering useless against our cheek.

Then that amusement vanished when a few drops made it into one of our eyes, and the pain set in.

We were just barely able to suppress a scream of agony, dodging to the side out of sheer instincts from our combat training. There was no way for Us to deal with the neurotoxin in any way, so we simply used one claw to gouge the affected eye out, ripping away as much of the stuff as possible, replacing it with fresh biomass. 

Memory item: Be more careful when fighting model Fives.

Of course, our ad-hoc method of toxin removal was far from perfect, and the pain did not vanish entirely, but it was already much better, and so we continued the fight, killing alien after alien, paying careful attention to any other model Five or Fifteen.

And model Nine-S’, but so far there were none present, luckily.

Our storm of limbs and blades took care of the rest of the situation rather quickly, surprising even Us a little at our efficiency. This was not the worst cave we could have faced, the models present more on the smaller side, but there were a lot of them, so it felt like a good test.

Not that we would stop with just that. There was much to do and we were rested and full of energy. Not to mention that we had a few other forms to try out and play around with.

We spent quite some time going from cave to cave at the edge of the Inner circle, taking out many caves and trying out many forms. Some were more effective than others, and we learned quickly that we could be much more efficient and deadly when we combined differing forms for various purposes.

In that regard the Najav and the Hexclaw Hive-Queen were by far our most potent forms. Both were already strong on their own, and the way we could shift size and individual limbs made them a force to be reckoned with. In a way, it was very different from the shapeshifting combat we had envisioned, but it was by far not a bad thing.

The real progress, however, came when we realised that we could integrate our armor’s functionality into our combat style. The Fox-Fire constructs, the Holograms, and the defensive Hard-Light emitters were perfect to support our other attacks, and the PRISM and our polearm were very nice additions to deal with less common situations.

After roughly an hour or so, we stopped, returning to where Chloe and Bobby were discussing something with our Warleader, Bahamut listening in through the comm channels. They had taken a long break, which was certainly needed.

Of course, by this point we were already deeply immersed in the harmony once more, and so we had kept track of the discussion through our Warleader and the bodies still nearby.

“I’m still not sure if that’s a good idea or not,” Bahamut said, thoughtfully. As always she sounded regal and collected, an image of calm royalty.

“I get it, but have ya looked around? We aren’t making much progress pushing deeper. Something has to be done to crack the xenos open a little, otherwise we won’t get anywhere. This expedition should already be over.” Bobby sounded surprisingly annoyed.

“Yes. We all agree on that. But there are larger concerns at play. Florida isn’t that far away and if the antithesis manage to build Hives in the large garbage piles, then they have even more problems to deal with.” Bahamut’s voice was firm, even if she spoke calmly. “Not to mention that we could risk them spreading closer to Atlanta, and they also already have a lot on their plate. Bombing the Hives really isn’t a valid option.”

It made sense, even if we didn’t have much information on the Atlanta or Florida situation. Still, the current status quo just would not work at all. Outside of nuking the place, we simply could not think of anything we could do to get this over with. We were far too spread thin to make any kind of progress.

The problem also could not really just be solved with points. We all had more points than we knew what to do with, but with the ban on anything big and explosive, few of the Samurai present had anything actionable.

“Then what are you suggesting? Could you deal with this? You are quite powerful, right?” Chloe asked, sounding… Thoughtful might be the best descriptor here, although we were fairly sure that there might also be a hint of annoyance in there.

“I could. To a degree. In fact, the Family did say that unless you can clean this up relatively soon, Glubber and I should do our best. My main problem is that I’m not exactly suited to this kind of work, which would very likely end with a lot of carnage. Shiarex isn’t really subtle or delicate in her dealings. And Glubber isn’t that much different from me, although their weird toxins or whatever it is might help. As to what I’m suggesting… Not sure, truth be told.”

Bahamut sounded rather weak at that moment. Her tone of voice did not change much, but we were almost certain that she did feel a bit self-conscious. Was it a confidence issue? We could not say for certain either way, but whatever this was, it felt a bit uncharacteristic for the otherwise so regal Samurai.

And it didn’t help Us much either.

So far we did not pay too much attention to the way the other Samurai were conducting themselves, we kept in touch and made sure nobody missed anything, but other than that, we had so far not spent too much time inspecting anyone in detail. But, considering that Bahamut was quite known and powerful, we would expect others to look up to her. Seeing her like this, sounding almost uncertain, would probably not end well for morale.

It was a strange thing to think about, since up until now we had not noticed much of a shift in morale. That could change, though. And demoralised Samurai were not something we wanted to deal with.

“Brainstorming time, then. We have to find something to do, before we have even bigger issues. Worst case, the place will be bombed. It would not be beneficial, but that is simply something we will have to deal with when that time comes. Other than that, we could try to use more toxins, although if we use the same toxins too much the antithesis might become resistant to them.” We looked around the group.

“They kind of are already,” Chloe replied with a grimace. “Nym said earlier that she’s running into some problems regarding that.”

We nodded at that, already informed but unsure if the others were. “That leaves nanites, flames perhaps. If we could draw ourselves back and organise a proper assault we can very likely deal with one Hive at a time. The main issue we have with that idea, is that we are kind of the focal point of keeping this Hive in check. And not to toot our own horn, it does not sound very likely that someone else can do the same job as well as we could. So, unless someone could come along to do that, we will have to stay here. The same goes for Neuron Salvation and Nym, now to a much bigger degree with the resistance starting to kick in.”

“And Legion isn’t in a much better position either,” Bobby added, “Sure, she might be more focused on the overall defence, but without her we’d have to pay double attention to each Hive. Wouldn’t wanna let go of that safety net only to find ourselves falling to our doom when the xenos get out. So she’s even less likely to do much to help with cleaning up.”

“I do have some bigger Sentinels by this point and a surplus of forces, but they aren’t a lot. A few hundred drones at best, not something I’d think would be able to deal with the center of a Hive,” Jenna chimed in.

“Do you think you can take a Hive on your own?” Chloe asked Us, although we were quite sure she did not mean it seriously.

“With the Hive-Queen? Perhaps, but it is very risky. We would give us 50/50 odds, on a good day. Far worse on a bad one. And with the tendency this situation is heading into, we would not feel confident in either. We thought about maybe combining our Protector with the Hive-Queens efforts, but even then we do not feel very confident. The models deeper down are far stronger, and with the mystery model still going around, we cannot be sure what else we could expect.”

“Perhaps we should wait for the other Samurai to arrive,” Bahamut said thoughtfully.

“Wait, another Samurai is coming? Who is it and what for?” It made sense that Chloe had missed that piece of information. We had heard some tell of it during our chats with others, but even we lacked sufficient details.

Bahamut turned her attention to Chloe. “Someone from Indianapolis. They’re called GroundWire and are supposed to put down the defences once the place is cleared out. Our timetable got pushed back quite a bit with the Hives acting up, so it looks like they’ll be here early. I’m not quite sure if and how they could help, but it’s better than nothing.”

“If they can make sure Myriad or Salvation could move, that might be all we need. What are those defences gonna look like? You said you wanted to make sure nothing nests here again, right?” 

“Forests of some sort, from the looks of it,” she told Bobby with an audible shrug, “I’m not exactly familiar with the concept, but it appears that they have some sort of plants or trees they can put down that help fight off any antithesis trying to munch on them. It’s not exactly useful for immediate help, but over the long haul they are quite potent.”

“That might be able to help,” we mused, already thinking through a number of different scenarios. “If they can take over some of the defences, Jenna can move her forces closer in towards this Hive, keep it in check, and give Us the opportunity to move. It all depends on how fast those defences of theirs would work.”

“We can ask them tomorrow at the latest. They should arrive either this evening or tomorrow morning, depending on their timetable.”

That at least was something. We were not too worried about surviving until then, the main problem was not sustaining the status quo, it was changing it. Hopefully with this we would finally have an answer for those problems.

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