Chapter Seventy-Six - Fight Fire with Fire
“One way to take care of uncontrolled fire is to use more fire.
At least, I think that’s how it works.
I don’t know. I kill things, I’m not a smart person!”
--US Army, Flathrower tank operator, 2037
***
I took a deep breath, then another when that one didn’t feel so good. There was air in the... air, but it was thin, like breathing around so of the vents near street-level factories.
“Think it’s safe?” I asked Gomorrah.
The tunnel was pretty much cleared, the charred remains of Antithesis slumped here and there, and the walls ever so slightly blackened by the wash of fire that had burst past. I could feel a stirring in the air, wind coming in from the opening into the mines and pushing in towards the hive.
Had the bombs going off created a sort of vacuum? I didn’t know enough to say, really, but that sounded likely.
“I don’t think anything about this is safe,” Gomorrah said. “But I figure it was a lot less safe for the aliens.”
I nodded, then shuffled a bit before tucking my launcher to my shoulder. “Let’s move in, then?”
Gomorrah hefted up her flathrower, the tip of the nozzle burping with a lick of fla. “Take the lead?”
“Yeah, because being in front of the pyro nun is where everyone wants to be,” I said. She gave a look before I chuckled and jogged ahead a bit. My cha cats moved up around us, forming up in a wedge with at its point and Gomorrah in its centre.
We started walking down the mineshaft, at first with easy confidence, but when I started noticing the smoke pooling by the ceiling I slowed down a little.
“Let’s take it easy, yeah?” I asked.
“Certainly,” Gomorrah said.
I flicked my augs around and found Cause Player’s contact. I sent him a quick text.
S.Cat: You ok?
It didn’t take long for him to reply.
CP: Yes.
CP: Thanks for the explosion. It made for a cool scene!
If he was happy about that, then he was fine. At least, that’s what I figured.
We ca around a bend, and I slowed down as I noticed light ahead. A lot of light. Oranges and reds and yellows, splashing against the grey stone walls. “That’s concerning,” I said.
“It’s a fire, way out ahead,” Gomorrah said. “Do you have oxygen?”
“Just a filter,” I said.
“Do you have a catalogue with that kind of thing?”
I shook my head. “Not that I know of. Nothing specialised for it.”
“Give a second then,” Gmorrah said. “I have a catalogue for modular headgear.”
“Nah, it’s okay,” I said. “My helt’s cheap, anyway; it’s due for an upgrade. Besides, you’d get sothing uncool.”
“Uncool?” Gomorrah repeated. She sounded a little insulted.
“Probably all nun-like and appropriate,” I said. “Myalis, are there any really cool helts in my Sunwatcher catalogue? Sothing that’ll let breathe?”
Gomorah scoffed. “You’ll probably go for sothing ridiculous and over the top. With cat ears again.”
“Lucy thinks the ears are cute,” I defended.
I have sothing you might like. It’s a little over three hundred points. It has a full communications suite, thermal and night vision, is armoured and lined with impact-resistant gel, has a filtration system that refills a tank, which in turn feeds you an appropriate amount of air. It’s of course fully sealed. Also, the eyes glow.
“That sounds good,” I said.
New Purchase: Leopard Mark IV Survival System
Points Reduced from... 7854 to... 7554
“Holy shit, I have how many points?” I asked, ignoring the box that appeared by my side.
Was that rhetorical?
I shook my head to clear it. There were a lot of aliens around, and a lot of them got crisped. It made sense. Had I fought and killed more last ti? I couldn’t quite compare the two incursions.
Kneeling down, I opened the box to reveal a face made of so sleek black tal, recessed lenses over the eyes which glowed a faint pink, and a cat-like mouth with two long protrusions below acting as fangs.
It’s in two parts. Press the front to your face, then press the rear section to the back of your head.
Gomorrah stepped closer and looked into the box too. “Damn, that does look kind of cool,” she muttered.
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I tugged my helt off, and regretted not holding my breath when I tried to inhale. The air was thinner than I had thought, and it imdiately started to scratch at my throat and lungs. Probably not great for my health.
I tried not to cough as I pulled my new helt out, flipped it over, and pressed it over my face. The other section fit on the back, and everything closed up with a hiss; so sort of padding grabbed around the neck, and if I wasn’t mistaken, it clasped onto my suit too.
The inside was snug, but soft. Also, really dark, at least until the screens just before my eyes ca on and gave a clear image of the mines around . I could finally see.
“Nice,” I said. I tossed my old helt to one of the cats, who caught it from the air in its jaws. “Keep that around. We’ll give it to Lucy.”
“Better?” Gomorrah asked.
I took a deep breath, then coughed a bit. The air from the mask tasted fresh, like the air inside one of those enclosed gardens, only better. “Much,” I said. “Say, I just killed a lot of aliens, but you helped, how does the split work? Is there one?”
“There is,” Myalis said, not in my head, but out loud. Or at least, through my coms. I had the impression it was to share with Gomorrah as well. “Points gained by Vanguard working together are split amongst all Vanguard based on the amount they accomplish.”
“I assu that the split is fair?” Gomorrah asked.
“Of course. Most splits are even, 55-55, but in so situations the split will favour one Vanguard over another, if they did more to contribute.”
“I’m not good at math,” I said. “But I’m about a hundred and ten percent sure that that doesn’t add up,” I said.
“In order to avoid penalizing Vanguards who wish to work together, the amount of points gained when there are more than one Vanguard is increased. It ans that even if a Vanguard working on their own would gain more points, the amount isn’t as significant.”
“Huh,” I said. “That’s pretty neat.”
“Gomorrah gained so points from your bombing just now, on account of having helped you, and by providing cover fire when you returned. Not as many points as you made, but still a significant number.”
Gomorrah nodded. “I’m satisfied with it. Should we keep moving? The fire looks like it’s calming down. It’s burning itself out.”
“Right,” I said. I took the lead again, enjoying the ability to breath easily despite the warmth in the air. Still had a bit of an itch in my throat though. Figured I’d have to ask Myalis for super lozenges later.
As we moved down and deeper into the mines, I felt the temperature rising. There was a good reason for that.
“Well, shit,” I said.
We stood next to the edge of a fire. Not a big roaring thing, but still a steadily burning fire that stretched out across the floor and onto the walls, and onto the ceiling, the stone lit up in a way that stone usually didn’t.
The fire went on for a while, deeper into the mine than I could see. The air was thick, warm enough that it almost felt physical.
“The air is acidic. Your equipnt should be able to resist most of it. It is settling down though. Given a few more minutes the area should be rely impossible hot.”
“Nice,” Gomorrah said.
I looked at her, then back at the fire. “Is this what you get off on?”
“Oh, shut up, you know my love for fire isn’t sexual or anything. I just like fire. The way soone might like a good al.”
“Uh-huh,” I said. I wasn’t going to poke at that... not right then. Definitely later, though. It was good teasing material. “So how do we get past all that?”
“I can manage,” Gomorrah said. “At least we know that the Antithesis are going to have a hard ti with it. Though I’m sure they could adapt to it eventually.”
“Let’s get to killing them before that happens, yeah?”
She nodded, then raised her flathrower and fired a wave of white flas ahead of us that clung to the ground and sohow pushed away the other fire before burning off with whitish smoke. Where the flas cleared, the floor was left smoking, but fireless.
“Ladies first,” she said.
I eyed the ground, then poked it with the tip of my boot. “This all seems like it’s really, needlessly, dangerous.”
“So it should be right up your alley. Now co on.” She stepped by and fired her flathrower at more of the ground. “Let’s finish this.”
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