Swarm Ascendant

...and so with most of inner-Copenhagen under water as a result of early onset climate catastrophe, and Stockholm in shambles from a particularly devastating Antithesis incursion, plans were drawn up for an ambitious project to unite the two nations and lay the foundations for Megacity-Scania on the Baltic island of Bornholm...

--"Scania, the early days", page 22

***

As the Valkyrie walked over to me, I got up from my stool and caught myself in time to stop myself from straightening my hair.

"Hello!" came a pleasant male voice from inside the red power armour. It was quite boxy, with golden ornate filigree and a sleek gun mounted on his shoulder on a sort of swivel thing. Gosh, he was tall, and he kept getting taller as he came closer. Well over two meters, perhaps two and a half? And wide, too. Or maybe that was just the armour.

"H-hello there."

I will admit I was fangirling a little bit. That was Red Knight. In the flesh! Well, in the power armour, but you get what I mean. He wasn't like, the most exciting Valkyrie around, but he was right here! Ahhh.

"My name is Red Knight, but you can call me Red. And if I'm not mistaken, you've recently found yourself a Valkyrie, yes?"

I floundered a bit. "N-nice to meet you, Red. Yes, I'm a new Valkyrie, just at the start of this invasion thing, there was this Model Three and it almost ate my arm but then I stabbed it a lot and..." I took a breath. I was babbling. "Ehm. Anyway, it's nice to meet you."

He chuckled. "It's nice to meet you too..."

A pause.

"Oh! My name is Sylvi! I don't have a Valkyrie name yet, I hadn't thought that far, I'm really just getting started and I don't really know what I'm doing yet..."

"I'm sure you'll pick up a theme and a name soon enough. It's custom for another Valkyrie to pick your name for you, but it'd be rude to pick one for you already, when you barely have you feet under you. Are you okay otherwise? I notice you have a bit of a bandage going there, as well as some WoundStoppage."

I nodded. "I'm fine for now, although I'd feel a lot better if I had some armour. And some more drones. And a better way to control them. And a better gun."

"Hah, isn't that the way of it. Always more stuff to buy, never satisfied. I swear, we're the biggest consumerists around. If you're feeling up for it, I think we could get you started on some of those purchases. I was just going to make a last sweep of the area, make sure the local defences are in order, then try to find the Hive that spawned this attack and take it out. How about it, you feel up to join me?"

"Yes! I mean, yes, that'd be very nice. I'm not sure about taking on a hive, but the rest of it seems fine."

"Excellent! Gyaron, would you be so kind as to say hello?"

"Of course. Hello Sylvi, would you mind if I establish a connection with your AI so we can coordinate better?"

"Oh. Sure? Is that alright Eyon?"

[Of course it is alright, Sylvi.]

I noticed my map update, and took a look at it. It had a lot more detailed information on it now, seemingly down to the exact location of each Antithesis in the area. In real time.

"That's... that's a very detailed map..."

"It isn't perfect, it's mostly based on the local surveillance data, so don't rely on it too much. Still, it's a lot better than nothing, huh? So, shall we?"

I nodded again, then followed Red Knight as he headed off at a jog towards the nearest Model Three on the map.

"How did you get here so fast?" I asked after I'd caught up with him. I sent my free-roaming drone to scout ahead, although I felt a bit silly doing it when Red Knight was here. Still, better safe than sorry.

"I was on patrol in the area, looking for hives and generally being around in case of trouble. I was only ten minutes out when I got the report that you had some trouble here."

"That's very lucky."

"Well, I can cover a lot of ground in ten minutes if I really mean to." he said.

We'd reached the door to a greenhouse, and Red Knight pulled it open and strode inside without stopping. I kept a couple of meters behind him. Suddenly, faster than I could track, the gun mounted on his shoulder whirred to life, aimed off to the side and fired two projectiles with a pair of muffled whumps.

Targets Eliminated!

Reward... 11 Points

"Huh?"

"Ah, my bad, I should have let you kill those. I forgot to turn off my turret."

"But I still got the points?"

[When Vanguards work together they split the points, getting 55% each. The extra is to encourage teamwork and prevent rivalry and competition over kills.]

"I see. Thanks!"

We spent the next half hour running around between greenhouses, killing Anti-dogs. Red Knight had already secured the rest of the civilian population and told the small military contingent to hunker down near the shelter, so we were pretty much just on cleanup duty. I killed a few using up my two half-spent Hummingbirds, and picked up another spare, but mostly it was just a matter of jogging past and letting Red Knight's mounted turret do the work.

I could get used to earning points like this.

Eventually, we, and by we I mean mostly Red Knight's AI Gyaron, were 99% certain we had gotten all of them, and were heading towards the shelter to officially sound the all-clear.

[I feel like I should mention that you can now afford some decent Armour, should you wish it. Alternatively, your offensive options are also somewhat lacking, at least if you wish to be self-sufficient in that area. Have you given the matter some thought?]

"I think... Actually, Red Knight, do I need to purchase something specific to us to be able to take on this Hive? Like a bigger gun or something?"

"To be honest I'd rather you protected yourself right now, Sylvi. And if you want, I'll lend you a gun, too."

"Oh! That'd be perfect. Then, what armour can I get with the points I have now?"

[How many points do you wish to spend on it?]

"All of them!" I replied with conviction.

[Excellent. Here, have a look.]

A bunch of different outfits started to scroll through my aug vision. And kept scrolling.

"Wait, how many different outfits are there?"

[I'm generating them as we speak, adjusting based on your reactions.]

The outfits kept scrolling, starting with a large variety, but gradually narrowing in on a sleek, angular design, with segmented armour plates.

"I like that one." I said.

The designs narrowed in even further and finally settled.

Yes.

The final design had slightly bulkier boots, a full-face helmet and segmented armour plates over what looked like all the important bits, in mostly black but with yellow armour plates and highlights.

[The Exo is rated as bulletproof up to light calibre rifles, and I took the liberty of adding a filtration unit and low light vision in the helmet in anticipation of your coming excursion into a Hive. It also features active sound and light suppression.]

"Excellent!"

[Do you want to get it now, or should I wait until we are in a more private space for you to change into it?]

"Oh. Oh yes, that's probably for the best."

A minute or so later we finally reached the shelter area at the center of the farm compound. There was some walls and small towers with people manning guns who waved at us as we approached. Red Knight must have noticed me getting antsy, because he shooed me into an administrative building nearby, before continuing over to probably handle all the boring important business.

I didn't even send in the drone ahead of me as I entered the building and shut the door behind me.

Poor security, maybe, but I couldn't wait.

"Eyon, please."

[Of course.] I swear I could hear the smirk.

Catalogue Unlocked: Class I Light Armours! - 100 points

New Purchase: Lightly armoured suit 'Exo' - 160 points

Points reduced to... 1

It appeared in a box next to me, and I reverently opened it. This was more like it.

The material was something like a hard ceramic for the armour plates on a soft undersuit of... rubber silk? It was weird, but in a good way. I ran my hands over it for a moment, admiring the way the black and yellow seemed to shimmer into a rainbow when the light caught it at the right angle. Oh yes.

I ditched the at this point rather tattered overalls and my boots, and slipped into the new suit. For armour, it sure was comfortable. Snug, allowing full movement and neither warm nor cold, just... comfortable.

The helmet had a black faceplate with a faint hexagonal design across it, and a pair of little stubby fins and yellow highlights. It looked serious and dangerous and I loved it. I fit it on over my head, and it locked around my neck with a slight hiss. It was almost like I wasn't wearing a helmet at all, my vision was hardly obstructed except at the very edges. A ping let me know the helmet had connected to my augs, and I saw several new options there, from low-light and thermal vision, to a targeting assist to others I didn't recognize. I flicked through them for a bit, then decided I could play with my new toy later.

I then picked up my Hummingbirds and found I had a holster clip thing on each hip that they slotted nicely into. Very convenient.

I then collected my drones, stepped out of the building and headed over to see if Red Knight was done with the boring stuff, feeling almost like an actual Valkyrie.