Antithesis hive can be found everywhere and are known for being sneaky. They have a variety of methods to hide themselves, from special coatings in their tunnels to fool seismographs, to decently advanced natural camouflage.

  However, in recent months, a certain cult has been discovered to have added a new method for them to hide. Human intervention.

  -Exerpt from Samurai Blizzard's podcast A Stiff Breeze, 2057

  The smell is overwhelming. What I now know to be antithesis pheromones fill the lab. A hole in the far end of the room with a large leaf-like structure poking out of it. There were two Model Threes, large, doglike plant creatures with their signature threw hinged jaws, moving a corpse into the hole when the door opened, the identification software I had IDing the body as Dr.Oblique. They snapped to attention towards the door, and Jill slammed the door shut, taking off running down the hall. The problem was, the Incursion alarm sounded the moment the lab door was opened. This caused the building to go into lock down, sealing all exterior doors and gates.

  I moved the drones to the ceiling, just out of reach of the Model Threes who tried to launch themselves at them. Once they missed, they started to slam against the door.

  Our team is well trained and well specialized for infiltration and nonconfrontation, with Roger being our getaway driver, Cody our information specialist, Jill the infiltrated, and myself connecting to various drones for overwatch. Then, there's Buddy.

  “PANIC BUTTON!” I shout, and Buddy launches into action, all three hundred and fifty pounds of armored him exploding into movement far faster than his size suggests he should be able to. He is rushing towards Jill at full speed, and Cody estimates he will reach her in ten minutes.

  I am focusing on the two Model Threes trying to bash open the doors to the lab, and they are making headway.

  I need to buy them time, I think. Taking control of the drone swarm, I send one after the other slamming into them, then taking off towards the hole. It distracts them from the door, however they are quick to snap up two of the drones, rendering them inoperable. I don't stop, slamming more drones into them, trying to buy as much time as I can.

  I keep one drone on standby, the rest destroyed over the course of a few minutes. Then I hear Jill on comms.

  “Beetle made it to me, but in doing so triggered a security shutter. We are trapped in the staff area. Buddy has his baton, and we are barricading ourselves in a staff lounge. Spider, can you get us out?”

  I can hear the suppressed panic in her voice, the desperation behind her request. She's breathing heavily, but staying rational.

  Cody begins pulling up schematics, and I take my last drone and slam it into a bunch of beakers full of chemicals onto the antithesis. Smoke rises from the silent dog monsters, some of it splashing into their ears and on their faces. They react to that violently, but they don't go down. Their flailing causes the door to cave in, opening them to the hallway, but they seem stunned, not moving around.

  “Jill, the Model Threes are now in the hallway, but I splashed something on them. They are standing still and not patrolling now, so they must have lost you. I am keeping this drone on these two for now.” I say.

  Cody chimes in, sending a map of the floorplan to each of us “There is a manual release for the shtters, however, it is located outside the staff area. Who the fuck designed it this way?!”

  “In case there is an accident that requires hazmat, a thief, or some other reason. Not the best reason, but enough to justify only one opening mechanism instead of two.” Roger says.

  Then, Roger uses his authority to adjust the call, so that only Cody and I could hear, “Problem now is there's a damn hive in this building. Cody, can you get this garage door open? We are not equipped to deal with hostiles."

  The implications of what he is saying hit me hard. Cody did as well, as he froze. I feel my adrenaline spike, “You want to abandon them!” I hissed.

  “Absolutely not! Our combat stuff was left back at the dorm,” Roger counters,”If we want to get them out safely, we need weapons. If I fly manually at top speed and ignore the traffic laws, we can be there and back in twenty minutes tops.”

  “There is no guarantee we can make it to the dorm and back fast enough! Not with an active incursion in this building! I saw a hive leaf, for fucks sake!” I shout. I empty my go bag, activating my normal recon drone. It was a slim, quadcopter design with the main body only having a high definition camera attached. “I'm going in and opening that shutter. You two are staying here and waiting for us to return.”

  I don't stay long enough for Roger or Cody to retort as I take my drone and begin rushing towards Jill and Buddy.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  As I reach the door into the megabuilding, the comms channel goes back to normal.

  “Jill, Buddy, Victor is making his way towards you as we speak with his recon drone.” I hear Cody say,” I will tap into the building's cameras to keep a look out, as well as his drones. Stay in place, see if there is anything else that could act as a weapon. Once he opens the security door, you need to run back here so we can leave.”

  I smile despite the fear. I knew the risk we were taking, but I could not abandon them. Even if we would be coming back with weapons, it just didn't sit well with me.

  Upon entering the main structure, I saw the rare sight of an empty megabuilding floor. I assumed they all rushed off to shelters, but I had no idea where they were. I didn't connect my augs with the building's network, so I wasn't sure, but it didn't matter. We didn't need the shelter if we could just leave. Plus, I knew the hive was in the building, probably in the walls. No way we were staying longer than necessary.

  Once I reached the stairwell to the upper floors, I paused, seeing something that genuinely shocked me. An emergency fire ax actually in its casing. Seeing as how the builder skipped on the shutter unlocking mechanism, this was a welcome surprise.

  I approached to remove it, after all, an ax was better than no weapon at all. Then I saw the catch.

  “In case of emergency, please enter your payment details and pay 5000 credits to rent the axe for 1 hour. You will be charged for the full hour even if you only use it for a few minutes. You will be charged each hour until the axe is returned to this case. In case of the destruction or loss of the axe, you will be required to pay 50000 credits.”

  “Fucking fuckers.” I swore. “Cody, can I get a dead account for this? No way I'm paying that.”

  Cody worked fast, details of a stolen account were added and the case opened. As I grabbed it, my excitement dropped to disappointment. This axe felt cheaper and lighter than rebar. I sighed, then made my way up the two flights of stairs.

  Entering the college floor, it was quiet and abandoned. The stairway opened into a large plaza-like area with plenty of seating and shrubs acting as half walls, with a few poles displaying holo ads scattered around. I could see a shelter entrance to the right, fully locked now, and to the left was the entrance to the technical college. A massive granite and steel archway with opaque glass panels covering the walls to either side of the thirty foot opening.

  As I went to make my way to the entrance, I scrambled to hide behind a bush instead, as through my augs feed of my drone I saw three Model Threes milling around in the area, attacking the bushes.

  “Fuuuuuuuuuck” I whispered. Through the feed, I saw the three monsters were spread out, at least thirty feet away from each other, each focusing on uprooting a bush to drag into a hole in the wall on the far side of the plaza.

  I turned the drone towards the entrance of the college and saw that, while there was no shutter, the entrance was blocked by a bank of metal detectors and ID scanners. Meaning if I wanted to enter with my axe, drone, or myself as I don't have an ID, then I needed to take care of the antithesis, as they would rush me no matter how quiet I wanted to be.

  New plan. Circle to the left, as that one was the furthest from the other two. Kill it quick, use the bush as a buffer for one of them, kill the second. Hope the axe holds and kill the third. I look at my weapon, then place both hands on it to try and bend it. After putting a bit of force behind it, it doesn't bend, so that's a good sign.

  I take a deep breath to stabilize myself, keeping the drone camera pointed at the antithesis, and make my way to the left. Turns out, focusing too much on a feed in your augs means you can't see what's under your feet. I learned this the hard way as I stepped on on a fucking Styrofoam cup.

  I was twelve feet away from the nearest Model three when it heard me. I saw it perk its head towards me, then cautiously walk towards me.

  I could feel my heart in my chest pounding, the blood rushing to my head. The monster moved past the corner right in front of me, so I swung with all my strength, slamming the axe into- I missed with the blade and slammed the haft of the axe into its head. I heard, no, I felt the skull of this thing crush and deform beneath the axe.

  It collapsed instantly. The other two reacted instantly, turning towards me. One near the hole sixty feet away, just having dropped a bush into, the other twenty feet away. They rushed me at the same time.

  I struggle to stand, my feet slipping on the blood of the now dead Model three. I get up fully just before the second one reaches me, and I swing with all my might sideways from right to left. This time, I strike true, the blade slicing through the front of its face, then it got stuck, and the momentum of the Model three keeps it moving towards me.

  The hit knocked it to my left a bit, so it didn't slam into me, but my axe was now fully embedded into its head. Weaponless, the final antithesis was tens of feet from me. I dodged to the right, dashing towards the only thing within range for me to grab, a freestanding ad pole. The Model three skidded past me, slipping on the blood of its now dead comrades.

  Grabbing it, the pole had a bit of heft to it, but I had no time to get a proper grip as the Model three lunged towards me. I propped the pole between us and its momentum slammed the pole down its throat. The pole was thick enough to be stuck there, weighing it down, but not deep enough to kill it.

  I shoved the pole into it a bit further, then dropped the pole and ran towards the antithesis with my axe in it. Grabbing the shaft, I yank with my entire weight, all 5’4 one hundred and twenty pounds of me. It was enough after two yanks.

  The axe blade was dull now, but that's okay. I ran towards the still living Model three, it was almost free of the pole. I yelled as I slammed the blunt axe into the Model three repeatedly, bashing it over and over until the axe head snapped off the handle, flying behind me and bouncing across the concrete flooring.

  I breathed heavily, trying to take deep breaths as my arms felt numb.

  System Initialized!

  Congratulations. Through your actions you have proven yourself worthy of becoming one of the Vanguard, a defender of humanity. I am Synaptic. I will assist you to uplift humanity so that you may defend your homeworld from the Antithesis threat!

  Rise, Victor Optic, and become a protector of the weak!

  I take a moment to process the new voice in my head. A solid ten seconds go by, just me breathing heavily.

  “What… the FUCK!” I finally exclaimed between heavy breaths.