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, Flamethrower 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 some 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 flamethrower, the tip of the nozzle burping with a lick of flame. “Take the lead?”

“Yeah, because being in front of the pyro nun is where everyone wants to be,” I said. She gave me a look before I chuckled and jogged ahead a bit. My mecha cats moved up around us, forming up in a wedge with me 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 came 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 me a second then,” Gmorrah said. “I have a catalogue for modular headgear.”

“Nah, it’s okay,” I said. “My helmet’s cheap, anyway; it’s due for an upgrade. Besides, you’d get me something uncool.”

“Uncool?” Gomorrah repeated. She sounded a little insulted.

“Probably all nun-like and appropriate,” I said. “Myalis, are there any really cool helmets in my Sunwatcher catalogue? Something that’ll let me breathe?”

Gomorah scoffed. “You’ll probably go for something ridiculous and over the top. With cat ears again.”

“Lucy thinks the ears are cute,” I defended.

I have something 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 time? I couldn’t quite compare the two incursions.

Kneeling down, I opened the box to reveal a face made of some sleek black metal, 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.

I tugged my helmet off, and regretted not holding my breath when I tried to inhale. The air was thinner than I had thought, and it immediately started to scratch at my throat and lungs. Probably not great for my health.

I tried not to cough as I pulled my new helmet out, flipped it over, and pressed it over my face. The other section fit on the back, and everything closed up with a hiss; some sort of padding grabbed me 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 came on and gave me a clear image of the mines around me. I could finally see.

“Nice,” I said. I tossed my old helmet 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 assume that the split is fair?” Gomorrah asked.

“Of course. Most splits are even, 55-55, but in some 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 means 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 some 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 equipment should be able to resist most of it. It is settling down though. Given a few more minutes the area should be merely 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 someone might like a good meal.”

“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 time 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 flamethrower and fired a wave of white flames ahead of us that clung to the ground and somehow pushed away the other fire before burning off with whitish smoke. Where the flames 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 come on.” She stepped by me and fired her flamethrower at more of the ground. “Let’s finish this.”