TH - Book 2 - Chapter 45 - Chemical Cleanup

The creature stared at us for several long seconds, before it began slamming its abdomen forcefully on the ground. Even though we were several floors up, and the catwalk wasn’t directly connected to the support pillar, I could feel the vibrations through the catwalk. If it could shake our platform at this distance, the area directly around it must have been extremely volatile. It would be difficult for me to get close.

“You can let me down now,” Skyler announced, tapping me lightly on the head to get my attention.

“Sorry, I was just evaluating our new friend here,” I said before crouching down to let her off. “I don’t know how it went undiscovered with all the aerial recon the samurai were doing over the last few days.”

“I was thinking about that while we’ve been running around down here,” Sklyer replied. “I bet it was running around in the tunnel system the entire time. It probably made it easier to both send and receive signals, plus it could monitor the digging effort from down there.”

“Makes sense,” I admitted. 

We stared at the churning antithesis below us for several more seconds before I asked, “So, how do you want to deal with this? Wait until Grey catches up? Just chip away at them with your drones?”

Skyler shot me a disappointed look. “You might not have noticed, but we Morty and the others behind quite awhile ago. They’re not exactly the swiftest drones, even with the upgrades, they barely move faster than a walk, remember?” 

“Ohhhh…. Right,” I mumbled. “So it’s probably going to take them a couple minutes, huh.”

“More than a couple,” Skyler grumbled. “They’re way behind us right now. Grey, likewise, is on the way but she said it’ll probably take her close to twenty minutes to get here.”

“Well, it’s not like we don’t have the time, the Model Seventeen isn’t going anywhere. Those Model Fours are going to be an issue though,” I said, gesturing to the support.

A dozen or so of the sticky footed tentacle beasts had trudged half way up the support, ever so slowly making their way towards us. It would still take a minute or two for them to get in range, but they were coming.

“Please, it would take a lot more antithesis than that to threaten us these days,” Skyler scoffed before stepping towards the edge of the catwalk and taking a few potshots at the climbing creatures. 

One of the tentacled beasts died immediately, its body falling lifelessly from the pillar, while she wounded another. The injured antithesis managed to hang on for a few seconds before plummeting below. It smashed into the wooden shanties, causing them to shatter, before landing heavily in the middle of the remaining horde. The body probably even crushed a couple other models on impact.

“See! I’m not even a great shot,” Skyler quipped.

“You’ve made your point,” I admitted, as I slipped my bow off my shoulder. “We can discuss how to handle the Seventeen while we deal with the pests.”

“Bet I can kill more than you!” Skyler declared, taking another shot before I even finished setting up.

That didn’t stop me from taking her challenge seriously. Although my bow wasn’t semi automatic, like her rifle, I was a lot more accurate, and nearly every one of my shots was lethal. Skyler, meanwhile, just sprayed the entire pillar, going for weight of fire over accuracy. By the end I couldn’t tell which of us won, not with the number of antithesis Skyler had at least winged with her shots.

“Call it a tie?” I asked as the last Model Four plunged down to the platform below.

“Sure!” Skyler chirped. “Did you come up with any ideas on how to deal with the big guy?” 

“Not really. As you know I’m not really set up for long ranged combat, and you’re missing your drones. I don’t really want to give the Seventeen time to think of a way off that platform,” I grumbled.

“We could just chuck enzyme grenades off the side of the catwalk until we think of something better,” Skyler suggested. 

“Isn’t that a little… I don’t know, unfair?” I asked.

Skyler ran a hand through her hair. “Reina, those are killer alien plants with no morals, conscience, or sense of fair play which we’ve been chasing around this damp underground for literal hours,” Skyler hissed. “Drop the damned bombs.”

“Yes ma’am,” I snapped before turning towards the edge of the catwalk. “Athyna can I get a couple enzyme grenades?” I glanced down. “Maybe a couple dozen.”

{Arty: I could do that, but how about a high yield dispersal device instead?}

“Will it survive the fall down to the antithesis?” I asked skeptically.

{Arty: Very few Class I weapons would be damaged by a small fall like that, but this particular device is designed to be dropped from high altitude anyways.}

“You make it sound like a bomb,” I mumbled.

{Arty: That’s exactly what it is. It has around five times the yield, for around three times the cost. It should be enough to coat the entire support, but since it won’t last long before it dissipates. You want one?}

“Absolutely, let’s give it a try,” I agreed. 

The box that appeared at my feet was about the same size as a shoe box, and when I flipped it open, I found a football shaped canister with a handle at one end. I carefully removed the device and checked it over. There weren’t any readouts, or a ton of switches, just a single trigger on the handle and a bunch of vents.

“What’s that?” Skyler asked.

“A high yield dispersal device, supposedly. It’s apparently better for covering a wide area,” I reported. “I’m just trying to figure out how to use it.”

{Athy: Just dangle it over the edge, pull the trigger, and let it go.}

“Neat!” Skyler chirped. “You mind if I try?” 

“Go for it,” I replied, passing the device to her.

Skyler strode over to the edge, and leaned out as far as she could. It was far enough that I got nervous and grabbed her hips to prevent her from falling.

“Time to create some mulch!” she declared, pulling the trigger and letting the device drop.

About halfway down the bomb started spiittng out gas, and by the time it hit there was already a decent amount of green mist in the air. When it connected the platform was almost entirely engulfed in the thick, sickly colored gas. 

At first it was impossible to tell what was going on, the gas was just too thick to get a good look, but after a few seconds a commotion arose on the platform. There were no cries of pain, but I could hear a lot of movement, shoving, and the occasional wet snapping sound. The shuffling noises increased for about a minute, before the platform got extremely quiet.

The gas hung around for four or five minutes, before finally wafting away from the platform below. What it left behind was a mess. Anything smaller than a Model Six had completely dissolved, breaking down to the point that there wasn’t anything left but piles of goo. Some of the larger models were somewhat recognizable, having one or two features still intact while the core had been completely melted away.

The only creature which appeared to have survived was the SV-Seventeen. The oversized Stag Beetle wandered around like it was in a haze, its abdomen cracked and leaking fluid.

“That was… slightly more effective than I expected,” I muttered.

“Yeah, but that stupid bug survived,” Skyler pouted. “Should we go down there and finish it?”

“Only if your drones are still a ways off. I doubt it’ll survive much longer, but we’ve seen the antithesis walk off supposedly lethal wounds before. I don’t want to take any chances.”

“I could just shoot it from here,” Skyler suggested, taking aim at the antithesis and unleashing a burst at the controlling creature below.  Instead of penetrating the thick shell, the rounds just ricochet off, smashing into the surrounding area. “Or not.”

 “I’ll get it,” I mumbled. “I just need to get down there.” 

“I know just the thing!” Skyler declared. “Artymis one rope and ascender please.”

As soon as the box appeared at her feet Skyler flipped it open and took out the contents. She deftly tied the rope to the railing before passing me a harness attached to a handheld device.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“An ascender. It clips on to a rope and allows you to either… well… ascend or descend them. Just pull the thumbstick back to go down, and push it up to go up,” she explained.

“How do you even know about this?”

“Because I occasionally talk to my AI about equipment we may need in the future, you should try it sometimes,” Skyler said.

“When would I have time for that? I barely have time to sleep?” I asked helplessly.

Skyler didn’t reply, she was too busy hooking me into the harness, and when she was done she clipped one line to the rope, and the other to the device. “There, ready to go.”

“Great,” I mumbled. “I’ll be right back.”

The device was as easy to use as Skyler said. Despite not being much larger than a pistol, it not only held my weight, but smoothly descended the rope. As soon as I hit the bottom I swiftly disconnected from the rope, drew my sword, and swiftly turned to face the Seventeen. 

It turned out I didn’t have to be that swift, or cautious, because the Seventeen didn’t even seem to notice my presence. As I stalked closer I realized the reason it hadn’t reacted is all its soft tissues had dissolved away. It’s eyes were open pits, and it’s legs were broken and bleeding. Whatever seismic sense organs it used to have had almost certainly been pulpped. 

That didn’t mean it was completely crippled, because once I got within a few feet the creature’s head swung towards me, searching. In a single quick motion it brought its abdomen up and sent it crashing down again. Instead of creating massive vibrations, the shell on the abdomen shattered, spilling its innards across the platform.

That’s when it collapsed into its own pooling blood, and laid still. That did stop me from stalking closer and plunging Rending Wave into its head half a dozen times until I was completely convinced it was dead.

“Finally,” I mumbled.