TBob - Book 2 - Chapter 55 - The Dynamic Duo

Hmmm... a Humboldt and Bob chapter? The dynamic is kinda awkward. In a good way? Donno yet, but since this is the first true backlog chapter in awhile I have some time to get feedback and fix it.

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I just kind of stared at Evelyn’s bear casually walking through the ocean of antithesis, waddled through our defensive lines, and stepped over to me. Bob had just completely ignored anything smaller than a Model Twelve on his walk over, including a Model Four that had gotten snagged on his left arm, and which was repeatedly stabbing him ineffectively in the face.

“You got a little something, just there,” I said pointing at the rogue antithesis. 

He stared at the thing for a moment, then casually brushed the Four off his arm like it was just a fly. “Thanks Squiddy!”

“Don’t call me that,” I mumbled as I incinerated the Model Four with one of my prehensile lasers. “You know the plan?”

“Nope! Boss just said to come back you up,” the bear replied cheerfully as he rocked back and forth on his heels.

“Well… you see that pillar over there?” I said gesturing to the nearest hive. “We’re going to push our way over there and take it down.”

Bob turned slightly, looked at the wave of antithesis between us and the pillar, and cracked his knuckles. “Sounds good! Follow me!” he said, slowly heading towards the pillar.

“Don’t you want any more information? Shouldn’t we plan this out first?” I asked, pushing my suit into a slow jog so I could keep up. 

“Will your plan involve more than me punching things?” Bob asked in return, glancing at me over his shoulder.

“Maybe…”

“Then no thanks. You plan, I punch!” he replied as he once again reached our defensive line. He slipped between Executable and Grey, somehow squeaking between their attacks, only to cave in the head of a Model Twelve that had managed to get close. “Come on! Time to go!”

I noticed that Grey gave me a strange look as I stepped past, it felt like she was judging me a bit. “Don’t blame me, he’s Teddy’s creation,” I muttered, as if to justify myself.

Once I was beyond our lines I swapped the tentacles from targeted, to free fire mode. I wasn’t planning on ripping apart any large antithesis, Bob could do that, I needed to clear enough of the chaff to not get bogged down. 

My tentacles instantly went to work, incinerating everything at mid-range with the multi-focal lasers, while anything that managed to get close received the sharp end of the vibro-blades. 

“This is much easier!” Bob declared, as my lasers disintegrated the antithesis at his feet. 

“Well maybe you shouldn’t just focus on the large models, and deal with the smaller stuff occasionally,” I snapped at him.

“It’s less efficient! And I do deal with them, eventually!” he shot back, lifting one of his feet to show the layer of antithesis gunk absolutely coating his legs.

“I can’t believe we’re having this discussion while being besieged by thousands of antithesis,” I grumbled. “How about we concentrate on getting to that hive, and completing our mission without getting killed.” 

All around us the antithesis were pushing in. The smaller models weren’t making progress against my lasers, but occasionally a Model Twelve, or Fourteen, would push forward and take ground. One particularly tough Fourteen managed to absorb my attacks, and get close enough to strike at me, only for Bob to backhand the monster away.

“You’re right! We have a job to do!” Bob declared. He didn’t acknowledge what he’d done, he just turned and started wading through the ranks again. 

This time, I stepped into line behind him, allowing my tentacles to reach past his shoulders and rip through the smaller antithesis in our way while Bob crushed the larger models. Once we got into rhythm it only took a couple minutes to approach the nearest hive pillar. 

Bob stopped just short of the gigantic structure. A dozen meters across, upon closer inspection it looked like a ton of interwoven vines, than a single structure. Dozens of half formed antithesis fell from the pods, released by the headless four armed antithesis tender models, in a last ditch effort to stop us.

“Now… what are we doing here again?” Bob asked.

“We need to take it down to earn another token, so the team can upgrade,” I explained to the bear. “I just need to figure out how to do it…”

Bob shrugged, turned back towards the tree, and smashed it as hard as he could. There was a horrible sound, like a combination of ripping vines and screeching metal as he embedded his arm up to the shoulder in the hive. When he withdrew his hand, I could see the gauntlet was heavily bent by the impact, but slowly reforming again. Whatever was in that hive had to be significantly harder than the model Twenty-Threes. “I’m out of ideas,” Bob admitted.

“Just watch my back, I’ll figure something out,” I said, pushing forward to check the hole he managed to make. The tree fibers were woven tightly together to create a sort of protective outer layer, like carbon fiber, but inside I could see fast flowing fluids. Possible nutrient delivery systems.

“Aeonys, I need something to kill this tree. Suggestions?” I asked my AI.

[Although a flesh melter may work, I’d be concerned that the Hive may try to purge the nanites before they complete the job. I recommend weakening the system first.] Aeonys’ voice echoed out my suit’s speakers.

“Sooo… explosives?” 

[Yes explosives]

“Fine, give me something big enough to disrupt the system, and a nanite chaser.”

Purchased

AMD 160 Shaped Charge - 20 Points

Flesh melter grenade x 5 - 15 Points

Points Remaining: 55,432

[You know, you should probably start considering some purchases] Aeonys said as I grabbed the two packages at my feet. [If that Fourty hatches, you’re going to want every advantage you can get.]

“Not that I disagree, but can we discuss this when we get back behind our own lines? I’m kind of dealing with something here,” I said, shoving the bomb, and the rest of my arm, deep into the hive to plant it. It took me a few seconds to find something to hook it on, but as soon as I did, I shuffled back. “Bob time to go,” I yelled, pushing the oversized teddy bear.

“Go where?” he asked, slightly confused.

“Away! The bomb’s been planted. We need to get out of the blast zone!” I replied, trying to pull him away from where he was standing.

Instead of following, Bob just placed himself directly between my armor and the tree. “What are you doing?” I hissed.

“Damage control!” he replied. With only seconds left on the timer I left him, and tried to waddle further away. I didn’t get far, before an explosion devastated the hive, sending razor sharp wood shards in every direction. When I turned back, the entire bottom of the hive was gone. Nutrient liquid was spraying everywhere and the top was creaking, straining under its own weight.

Bob was standing there, between me and the tree, wood splinters embedded up and down the front of him. “See damage control! You didn’t get a single splinter in you!” he declared. As I watched some of the largest splinters, including the one in his eye, slowly pushed out of his body and fell to the ground.

“That wasn’t necessary! My suit can almost take as much damage as you can, I just wanted to get to a safe distance to minimize damage!” I shouted.

“Oh. Well. No big loss.” he replied with a smile.”We done here?”

“Not yet. We just need to melt out the rest of it,” I said with a sigh. “You want to throw these?” I asked, passing him the grenades.

“Do I ever!” Bob said with a smile. He carefully took the grenades out of my hands, stepped directly below what remained of the hive, and started chucking them up.

“Your casual indifference with your own safety is kind of frightening,” I said as I watched him.

“It’s part of my charm!” he replied.

Once the last grenade had been thrown, the rest of the hive began to breakdown, showing us in debris. “Now we’re done!,” I declared shielding my head out of instinct. “Now quick, back to our lines.”

“Can do!” Bob just sauntered past me, and started walking back towards the other samurai. I thought I’d have to rush to catch up again, but he stopped after a couple steps, staring back towards the cavern entrance. “Say…” he said, “Did the bosses’ base always look like that?”