Chapter 64: Kaleidoscope

  “In the 1800’s, an interesting adaptation happened with certain types of moths and butterflies. They became much darker due to the massive amounts of soot created by burning coal. Some trees turned entirely black, forcing them to change.

  So, if you’re wondering why you find psychedelic-looking butterflies, just look at what rain puddles look like and you’ll understand.”

  –Biology professor Julia Baker, CIAL, 2056.

  ***

  “Hey, Alex, you remember that batch of edibles you made every now and then, what’d you call them?”

  She looked at me, a bit confused. “Gonna have to be a bit more precise boss.”

  “The gummy bear ones?”

  “Oh! Yeah, my groovy bears, right? What about ‘em?”

  “When’s the last time you made a batch?”

  It took a few moments for her to think on it. “Gotta be at least six months? Why?”

  “There’s no way you mixed batches and gave me one by accident is there?”

  She gasped in offended shock! “Boss! I haven’t mixed batches in ye–!”

  Felix fake couched “Christmas”.

  “--months!” She corrected without any change in tone. “I don’t have any left anyway, why’d you ask?”

  “‘Cause if it’s not from those, then how in the ever living fuck do you explain that?” I said, pointing at the duck dicking tie-dye antithesis!

  I had no fucking idea how, but apparently, these xenos were… dyed? Contaminated? The plant fucks didn’t look so good at least…

  Patches and veins and bone plates were colored in a rainbow of odd shades, making a look with the lights on instead of just echolocation kind of worth it! A model four with multi-colored tentacles slooowwwwly crawled towards us, less murderous and more… ‘Please put me out of my misery’?

  I believe this has to do with illegal ground chemical waste dumping. There is a dye factory nearby, but some other elements are also providing color. Were you to remove your helmet, which I absolutely do not recommend, you may notice the strong scent of sulfur, which probably makes up the vivid yellow you see.

  It may be even more interesting if you looked at them with a wider spectrum. Your eyes are capable of such, would you like to try?

  “Sure, why– fuck!” I shouted as a kaleidoscope clusterfuck of colors exploded in my vision, causing a huge fucking headache! Oh dear lucifer, these fuckers were bright! Since I couldn’t cover my eyes, I had to turn off my visual input for a few seconds.

  “Jesus, you alright boss?” Alex asked, concerned.

  “Yup, just a fucking headach…”

  “Want a groovy bear?”

  ***

  “FOB, killbox established, move back!” I barked in the chat channel with the commanding tone of experience in authority! The enemy underestimated us! Team Bearserkers (I did NOT pick the name) would not lose this match!

  Our token defense forward crumpled, as it was supposed to, but the map had been made to allow quite a lot of chokepoints and ambushes, they’d make it. “Caleb, focus on semi-auto, don’t need kills, just make sure to slow ‘em down, alright?”

  “Yes sir!” The cute voice of my nephew answered from the mouth of a burly marksman, which… Well, it was pretty classic videogame.

  “Jackal, ready for hit and run?”

  “I got in and exfiltration routes, give me the signal.” She said in a low voice, more serious than I’d ever seen her be in a real fight!

  “Rachael, same as Caleb. Mama Bear, how close are you?”

  “Hundred and twenty meters out! In view in less than five!” She shouted, which was pretty understandable given the little army behind her! She came into view and instantly, at least a dozen cartoony antithesis followed her. We were playing mega-shelter defense and had to retreat, having no chance whatsoever at guarding the door directly.

  Killing the big models to their faces was kind of a bad idea, no. We wanted a few angles to come at them from. She’d held them back as we prepared a killbox, but that was a precarious position.

  The cartoony model threes on her heels were rather easily dispatched, but there were a ton of them! One of them jumped on her back and she fell, but didn’t let that shit stop her! Rachael and Nathan fired into the little crowd while Lila demonstrated what a fighting style made to use rifles as melee weapons could accomplish!

  She threw the little fucks around, trapping legs using her rifle before twisting her body to launch them, followed by a few shots and stabs at a few incoming fuckers with her bayonnet!

  She took on a dozen little shits at close range with that weird alien fighting style and a few shots from us. It used the entire gun as a club, staff and spear with impressive efficiency! “Oh my god…” Caleb muttered next to me.

  “Yeah, your mom’s a badass. Now, let’s see what her girlfriend can do.”

  As Lila started running at us once more, both her and Jackal answered in unison “We’re just dating!” I think they both blushed too! Thankfully for them, we were all distracted as Jackal jumped in behind Lila to handle the little shits up close as she ran. The techy longsword in the game did great work, and after a few waves she’d upgrade to a monoblade! Still, she used it with scary as fuck ease!

  When the first bigger model came in, she ran to a side corridor and closed the reinforced door. Now, the fuckers were ours! They ran at us and died in droves, Vincent having a ton of fun with exploding the bigger fucks! Jean-Pierre and I stayed up front to give them something to run at and took care of them in close quarters. On either side of the hall and behind us, everyone unloaded ungodly destruction upon the enemy!

  Georgia, our brand new hire, also had a ton of fun.

  Family gaming night was going great!

  ***

  “So, Altany, I want a close range weapon.” I asked, standing in what we deemed a live-fire test area. Technically, this was a portion of the garage with massive columns that could take a hell of a beating. We’d made sure that a lot of them could be destroyed before shit went sideways, and in truth, they were all redundant. Why? Overengineering probably. I’d even added a few more with points just to have hard to destroy targets.

  Hey, it felt good to beat the shit out of something! It helped deal with frustration and with my strength? Yeah, they didn’t make punching bags that could handle me.

  You are aware that ninety-percent of your weaponry can be considered as such, right?

  “Yeah, I know, I mean… Like, really close range, punching range! My super-paw can count in that category but even then, without much space to swing, all I have are vibro-blades, which work but… Fuck, I don’t know, I just want a super-punching weapon! It’s not that weird is it?” Thankfully, Altany was good at deciphering my messy rants.

  I have many options! One that fits your catalogues and is, in fact, impossible without them, is a reverse gun.

  I blinked in confusion. “A… reverse-gun? The fuck does that mean? It shoots guns?”

  In short, yes and no. It is a firearm meant to propel the barrel instead of the ammunition.

  “I have no clue how that’s supposed to help me.”

  The gun is your arm in this context.

  That… somehow kind of made sense. “So… a gun that’s attached to my arm?”

  Yes, the barrel and breach mostly. Rocket engines burn propellant to create high-pressure, high-temperature gas in a combustion chamber, which is then expelled at supersonic speeds through a nozzle, pushing the rocket forward.

  This system is efficient for middle to long term propulsion, but firearms work by propelling a low-weight projectile with rapidly expanding gas in a combustion chamber, pushing the ammunition through the barrel, imparting energy extremely quickly. Due to Newton’s third law, the firearm is pushed just as hard, but spreads that energy across the entire weapon, which is vastly heavier. This system utilizes energy with much higher efficiency, but mostly only works for extremely short-term acceleration.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  However, due to a better understanding of physics, we can utilize a spatially-locked anti-projectile. It would usually stop when in contact with the target and become impossible to move for a certain period of time. If, in this case, the projectile were to become spatially locked the moment the weapon is fired, what would happen?

  I tried to work out the physics in my head, but given my level of education, that was a tough ask. “The gun would blow up, like in a bugs bunny cartoon?” Hey, those were public domain, of course they’d be popular with poor people!

  Fair. If the chamber and barrel were made of Mole-Bear alloys which could handle the pressure?

  “Well, the gun would be shot backwards?”

  Yes, in a vastly more energy efficient way than if you were to create a rocket-punch device. With the projectile spatially-locked, the vast majority of the chemical energy released would focus on pushing the device away from the anti-projectile, meaning extreme acceleration.

  “Jesus… So, you want me to integrate a reverse-gun into my arms?” That could be… pretty damn cool, actually!

  Yes. The end of the barrel would be adjustable, depending on the distance you need. Be aware, this may be somewhat… damaging to your biology.

  “Wait, even with all of my upgrades and shit? I mean, I’m pretty tough at this point!”

  Depending on the strength of the materials and amount of propellant used, it could push your arm to accelerate to hypersonic speed.

  That… “Holy goat fucking hell…”

  Exactly. This could be fairly difficult for your body to handle, but given that pushing your arm this quickly would drag your body along, this means a punch with a metric ton of weight behind it, which you would add your muscles to if you time your strike well enough. This device is fairly expensive, and so is the ammunition. You’ll have to practice in the mesh if you want to perfect the technique without emptying your points.

  “What are my points at?” I asked, a bit concerned.

  Current point total:

  3685 points…

  That last hive had been a bit… lackluster. All those chemicals really fucked up the antithesis, meaning not a ton of enemies. I wanted to upgrade my catalogues but at the same time, even though I’d arrived at almost ten thousand points not that long ago after a few hives, it all went to Cleanse for addicts, sex-mods to help the ex and current prostitutes, wall reinforcements for the whole building, trees for the concourses, all that shit.

  I only had this much to spend because Lila, Robin and a few enforcers gave me an earful about spending on myself! ‘Couldn’t blame ‘em, I had a habit of focusing too much on others, and I could admit that –Thank you therapy AI–, but still…

  “Alright, how much?”

  It depends. I could create a version of this for 1550 points, but the functionality would be reduced. It could double the speed of a strike, but not much more. For better results, including not impeding your mobility, I would recommend at least 2300 points.

  I thought about it for a bit. “Why’s it so expensive?”

  The materials to create a barrel capable of handling the pressure while being small enough to not impede your movements are quite pricy. Making them capable of disassembly and reassembly on demand increases the price significantly as well.

  Alright, that made sense. I could always go hunt more of the fuckers, it was okay to spend on myself, right? Yeah, I… I wasn’t an asshole for spending on better making points that could go to the building! It made sense. This’d be a good way to spend points in the long term. “Okay, make it good with a budget of… three thousand points. How much is the ammo?”

  Understood. The ammunition is quite expensive, fifty points for each anti-projectile. They must be of a material that will not yield to the pressure, which makes them quite difficult to create, while also being esoteric projectiles that spatially lock upon firing.

  New purchase: Rubidium Aggressive Weaponized Recoil System, mark 7*6!

  Points reduced to… 725!

  I gave the air a flat look. “Rubidium? Isn’t that reaching like… A lot?” I absolutely noticed the damn thing spelling out ‘rawr’, which was just a level of cringe I could not abide.

  It is an element you do not wish to get close to, highly reactive to water and air. Would you like to debate naming conventions, or would you prefer trying out your new weapon?

  “Fair.” A box appeared in front of me, looking more like a chest with a color scheme similar to mine. Actually, with the length… “Fuck me, did you really make it look like a red panda’s body?”

  I put neither head, tail, legs nor fur. This is quite restrained in my opinion.

  Well, better not criticize it, she might get pissed and actually put ears and a tail on the next one, in front of everybody no less! Very reluctantly, I said “I appreciate your restraint, thank you for all your work.”

  Inside, I found two long metal pyramids with barrels sticking out, each the length of my forearm. The installation was pretty easy, but the moment they were in place I got another hit of armor movement adjustment programming slapping my brain around. Thankfully, it also somewhat informed me on how to use them.

  At the ready, the barrel stuck out beyond my elbow. It blocked my shield or Grave-Digger, but making them retreat to my upper arm was pretty quick. The barrel split in two to flatten, which, given the pressures and energy involved, really fucking impressed me!

  The armor movement to make sure nothing got in my way became more complex with every upgrade. Maybe I should remove a few things? Nah. All it did was fuck with my brain for a few seconds while installing new shit, I could still fight just as well!

  The triangular extension on the outside of my forearm could utilize my Tunneler’s propellant, except that it used a fuckton of it! I loaded it mentally without thinking it through, the anti-projectile already in place. “Alright, let’s try this thing!”

  So, I walked up to a support pillar of super-concrete, and punched with all my strength.

  Two things happened almost immediately. First, a crater a meter deep was created, concrete exploding in every direction. The destruction was impressive as fucking hell!

  Second: I immediately dislocated my shoulder.

  People without martial art training didn’t quite get that your chest, back and legs went into a punch, and in this case, all of them provided extra power as they caught up to the acceleration. They provided more strength, sure, but they did that through a dislocated shoulder! “Fucking donkey dick chocking cunty piece of cum gargling shit sucking fuck…!!!”

  I kept swearing up a storm for a good long while!

  I recommend practicing in the mesh. The self-injury is unnecessary with proper technique, or common sense for that matter. I would also recommend not testing with high-charges first.

  The unsaid ‘dumbass’ came across loud and clear!

  ***

  Lila was so fucking horny! God she wanted to ravish Jackal, spend days locked in a room and do all she could to make her go insane! Maybe that was Louis’ influence but fucking hell it’d been a while! Fuck, Jackal was so hot…

  “Get your shit together…” She muttered to herself, the object of her fantasies leaning on her on the couch as they watched some movie she couldn’t focus on.

  “Hm?”

  “Nothing.” She said, not sounding as casual as she wanted. It was their fifth date, all of them pretty close to each other. Caleb was with Louis and the kids, so they had to apartment to themselves. She didn’t know how to start fucking romantically, or was it the same? Probably not, right?

  Jackal didn’t buy it. “What’s up?”

  A deep breath later, she remembered something Robin said about good communication. “I… I’d really like to kiss you.” She said, looking into Jackal’s eyes.

  The badass girl looked a bit apprehensive, but also excited. “Then do it.”

  Her heart fluttering constantly, Lila moved her face closer and closer to that beautiful woman. She hesitated, but soon, their lips met, and they started making out!

  It. Was. Amazing!

  Lila’d kissed before, made out with people, but there was an… energy, a spark, a burst of something inside her chest, something more, it felt incredible! Her entire body reacted like never before, stronger, stiffer, wetter…

  She ended up straddling Jackal, her knees next to the woman’s hips. Her hands started on the woman’s ribs, but soon wandered to her chest. She still wore a sort of undersuit, but even through very thin armor, the feeling was electric! Jackal shuttered under her, but good shuttered! Probably, her mind was hazy.

  Lila’s own chest leaned into hers while a hand moved to the zipper she’d spotted on the pretty girl’s back. As it moved down, Jackal stiffened. Something was bothering her, and it brought them to a stop. “Hey, you okay?”

  “I’m fine!” Jackal said, a bit too quickly. Their mouths met once more, but something was bothering the girl.

  “Hey…” Lila put a hand on the other woman’s chest and, very reluctantly, pushed her back. “... it’s okay if you’re not comfortable. I… don’t want you to do something you’re not okay with.”

  Her date looked a bit awkward as she explained. “I have a lot of scars…”

  Lila blinked, then, in a single movement, took off her shirt. She wasn’t wearing a bra. Jackal went crimson, which made her butterflies intensify. “See this one? I got it from a ganger that didn’t like my backtalk. Fucker broke a rib.” Her hand moved from the scar on her rib to another, just bit higher. “This one? Stabbed during the revolt, hit my lung. Took a bit to recover.”

  Then, she pointed to her left breast, which instantly stole all of Jackal’s attention. “This one, a model three’s claw, bled like a mother fucker. Want to kiss and make it better?” She asked with a sly grin.

  Her date did, in fact, like to kiss her booboo. She also liked to play with her nipple, which did incredible things to her! A slight bite made her entire body react massively. She successfully removed the girl’s top off, and she also wasn’t wearing a bra! They made out, played with each other a bit, their minds a bit gone with the make-out session.

  It all stopped again, to Lila’s extreme sexual frustration, when she grabbed the girl’s ass. She really worked hard at not sounding frustrated! “W-what’s hum… what’s up?”

  Again, the woman stiffened under her, now filled with embarrassment. “I… I just…” Their heart rates slowed as they both waited for Jackal to find the words or her courage or whatever. Lila’s crotch refused to let her calm down fully however! Fucking hell she wanted this woman so fucking bad! “I’ve never had sex with… hum… anyone…”

  That… Okay, that put a stop to her dirty thoughts. “Hum… Okay. Alright, okay, okay, hum…” Fuck, she needed to find something to say that wasn’t just ‘okay’ or ‘alright’! Maybe she should have stopped straddling her, but there was still hope this could go back to something fun! “There’s hum… nothing wrong with that. I’m sorry if I pushed too much…”

  The other woman’s eyes widened. “No! No no no! I-I liked it, I’m not… I want to do stuff with you it’s just I don’t… Look, I don’t trust easy and the place I came from, well… I avoided this shit at the point of a knife and never trusted someone enough to really, like, have sex, and yeah it’s hum…”

  Lila shut her up with another kiss, which did wonders for interrupting a rant. A few seconds later, she moved her face back. “Jackal, if I need to satisfy myself with sex toys for the next year until you’re ready, I will. You’re the first girl I dated, and I wish I could have avoided the sex I had before Robin came along. I’m not good at this shit, but I know I want you to be happy. Whatever you choose, whatever you’re ready or not ready for, I’m here, and I’m not going to run because you have a few hangups, alright?”

  Jackal’s eyes met hers and she looked so much younger and more vulnerable! After a nod, the virgin’s words came much easier. “I… I’m a bit scared, if I’m honest, but… I trust you. I trust you, so… can… can you show me?”

  An entire kaleidoscope of butterflies filled her stomach, then invaded her body. “I’d be happy to.”