Anti-antithesis

How many ecosystems were killed by the xenos? How many creatures were slaughtered that became fodder for these heretical threats to our children and our future? And yet what are the corporations doing? They continue to poison the world, poison the air in our lungs. And today, we take the first step in retaking our world!

-Final speech from John “Savior” Smith shortly before he detonated a stolen thermonuclear device in the headquarters of DP Energy. 2036

The day came to a close easily enough with us just north of Flagstaff over Mt. Humphries. What was once a beautiful landscape covered in trees and grasses and animals was now nothing more than a lump of brown dirt and red cinder, dotted in mines, tiny mining towns, Targ, and the single large college city. What was once a thriving ecological research institute was now dedicated to pumping out middle managers and middling CEOs, paid for by their corporate owners.

We ended up exterminating thirty six small hives, earning me the two tokens I needed for the body double catalog, while Cari forced me to also purchase Class II Medical Utilities, something I didn't fight her on. She was right, after all, that I had no excuse not to get it at this point.

Cari and I ended up having a heavy conversation about why her family wanted her and why she pushed for marriage so soon. She did admit that, for that morning at least, she wanted to use the status of a Samurai’s fiance to try and force the issue for them, to try and get them to give up. Yet, as Susan’o said, that was not an impediment as I was American and not from a respectable family.

Opal chimed in and said that it didn’t matter if the marriage was cancelled, as I was already accepted into the poly puddle, causing Cari to zangeef her into the deck in anger. While the marriage was, at first, a cover, she was sincere in her desire to stay with me, and that marriage was still useful for numerous legal purposes.

We ended up stopping just before sunset, so Cari, Opal, and I descended to an observation room, while Outsider directed The Pandora to a much safer height of fifteen miles above sea level. It did give us a greater view of the horizon while also putting us firmly out of range of the news vans and most antithesis. We also activated the anti-air defenses just in case, considering Leman discovered something I wish I didn't know.

“Fucking plant cultists, seriously?” I grumbled. Not even this plush platform of serious comfort was enough to distract me from that knowledge.

Cari, who was cuddling me on my right, huffed as well, taking a drink of something that smelled heavily alcoholic, while handing me a glass of the same. “I always knew humanity was fucking stupid, but worshiping those plants? Actually insane.”

Opal, on my left, took a long drink from a bottle of something else alcoholic, probably beer. Hopefully beer. “Yeah, it's something dad told me about last year. He said they were one of the only people I had free reign to kill on sight. Problem is, they're damn hard to find.” She saluted the air suddenly, “Leman's good, though. He sent me his hunting log and video, so that will be something to look forward to.”

As the sun slowly approached the horizon, I let my frustration and disgust fade and simply enjoyed this moment. I ended up finishing the drink Cari gave me, and a tiny, three foot tall penguin hopped over to refill it. It was very strong as my Scouts told me that it was enough for me to get wasted on, yet it tasted amazing, so I didn’t mind

Opal stretched before placing a long, dark, muscular arm behind both me and Cari. “I want to apologize for Alice's outburst earlier. It's something of a… disorder isn't the right word, or is it?”

Cari patted Opal's arm. “I get it. It sounds derogatory, but it is the correct term, even if she prefers neuro spicy.”

Opal nodded, her face slightly red from the alcohol. “Yeah. It's an extreme sexual excitement to explosions and fire, something that borders on mania. It didn't help that she was hard wired into those big, beautiful cannons.”

“Shit, sorry?” I said, my cheeks warm. “Should we not have…”

Cari giggled. “No, it's something we knew and prepared for. Why do you think Opal left for twenty minutes?”

Opal chuckled and I felt it reverberate in my body. When had she started leaning on me? “It's also how our parents discovered our poly puddle. That camping trip unearthed a lot of things, and by morning of the second day, dad and uncle Damian found us all wrapped up in the tent. Well, they also heard us that night as we were definitely not quiet in the slightest.”

“Uncle Jeane was scandalized.” Cari cackled. “He wanted to be supportive, but he just couldn't understand lesbians for the longest time. Fuck, do you remember when mother told him she was a guy once?”

Opal barked a laugh. “His damn eyes nearly popped out of his skull! I mean, I couldn't blame him, your mom was hot as fuck when she wasn't in her parka. Seeing his brain short circuit as he tried desperately to understand the why's of the situation was just too funny.”

“And Antie Doma simply shut him up with a kiss.” Cari sighed in amusement. Then, a thought hit her as she sat up slightly, staring me in the eyes with her icy blue reptilian stare. “You are never allowed to sleep with her.”

Her voice sent a chill down my spine as Opal nodded her agreement to Cari’s declaration. “Of course. You already know I shut her down.”

I noticed how red her face was as she stared into my soul. She finally nodded as she laid back down. Opal finished her drink. “Territorial much, Mellow? Well, that's fine, Auntie Doma is a lot to compete with.”

As we watched the sun disappear beyond the horizon, I could feel my body head up from the alcohol as my mind was kinda fuzzy. Huh, I just realized I'm pretty small compared to these women. I knew Cari had a few inches on me and that was nice, but Opal had, like, a solid foot. Not to mention both of them were pretty muscular… Maybe I should work out? Oh, when I use the… shifter thing, I should look alright. Should I grow taller? Nah, this was nice, being squished between these two-

“Hey, Vickie.” Opal snapped me out of my rambling thoughts as I looked at her. Oh, her face was pretty flush. “You're pretty forward, huh?” She says as she glances down.

I scrunched my face in confusion before looking down and seeing that I had been running my hand over her thigh. I went to pull it off, but she placed her hand on mine. “Want to know a thing about me?” She asked, her breath tickling my ear. I looked back up to her and saw her face was very close to mine. “Violence gets me going in very fun ways, and firing those cannons all day has left me wanting. Alice helped, but that was hours ago." I could hear a low, gravely tone in her voice as she smiled predatorily. "Mind helping a girl out?”

*************************************

Waking up in the morning was a challenge as my head pounded something fierce. My body felt heavy and sore, and I had a pressure spread unevenly across it.

Opening my eyes slowly, the darkness of the room was my friend, as my eyes were very slow to adjust. I decided to ignore my eyes and connect to my Scouts, but only for limited visual information, as anything more would be too much. What I saw was pleasant, however.

Cari and I were buried under a mass of fur as Opal had grown large enough to hold the two of us close, with Cari laid on top of me, wrapped around me. I ran my hands through Opal's fur and marveled in her softness and smoothness. It was a great distraction from my pounding headache.

Unfortunately, it seems that my affection towards her has caused Opal to stir, which caused Cari to do the same. I heard groans of pain emanate from the two as, apparently, neither of them fared much better than me. I chuckled softly at that thought.

Then, Opal did something annoying and stood up, leaving Cari and I in the slightly chilly air of the observation dome. “Bathroom.” She grunted out as she thumped her way out of the room.

“Bitch.” Cari whispered. “‘Not even a kiss, or a good 'orning.” She slurred out.

Hearing that, I placed a kiss on her cheek. “Morning love.” I croaked out.

She ‘hmms’ at me, placing a kiss on mine. “‘Orning, love.” She ran her hands along my sides, sending a shiver through me and something else to wake up. She chuckled, then winced. “M’ch as I… w’nt to… Hangover bad for sex.”

“Mmm.” I groaned. “S’naptic. Cleans. Please.” I got out, causing Synaptic to sigh, sending a very fuzzy feeling through my brain. A box popped into existence and Cari fumbled it open, grabbing a pill and taking it. Very shortly thereafter, she let out a moan as I assumed the feeling of a hangover being purged felt amazing.

She opened her eyes properly and gazed at me, smirking as she grabbed another pill. She adjusted herself, pulling herself off our very sticky bodies, to be straddling me properly, propping herself up on her right elbow as she held the Cleanse in her left. “Open up, love.”

As much as I wanted to enjoy this view and situation, my head was pounding harder as my blood was rushing through me. I opened my mouth as she reached in and placed the Cleanse under my tongue. It dissolved instantly and I felt it rush through my head, the pain fading away as a wave of euphoria replaced it. I also moaned, but my lips closed around Cari's fingers, still salty from last night, which caused her to smile deeper.

Before we could do anything else, Opal thumped back into the room and grabbed the last Cleanse, taking it and releasing her own, growly moan. She looked down at us and saw our current state and smiled as she shifted back to her normal size, sans fur. “Round two?”

“Any risk of pregnancy?” I asked with difficulty.

She chuckled as Cari adjusted. “Nah, Samurai grade blockers to help with period cramps.” Opal said as she got into position. “Plus, a little late to be asking, Vickie.”

“Short round two.” I plead, my body still too sore to take the lead.

******************************************

It was nine in the morning as we flew back to New Phoenix to keep my meeting with Harmony in the Hotel. Opal stayed behind to keep killing hives with Jim while Cari joined me, and Baba Yaga would meet us there to act as an intermediary and direct the journos.

Cari glanced outside the windows of my car while keeping a hand on my leg, smiling softly. “I have always loved the desert, you know. Mother showed me some pictures of what Arizona looked like before the plants arrived, and there were these hidden spots in canyons and creeks that were filled with trees and were these little refuges from the heat. There were so many small creatures and birds that made the desert its home. I know Morrigan is working on some projects to revitalize the desert, but maybe we should also ask Synaptic for some options.”

From the car speakers, Synaptic’s voice sounded. In terms of instant revitalization, while there are some options, they are prohibitively expensive. What Morrigan is doing will work, and she has a list of Catalogs that would assist her in her task. There are other Vanguard across the world that are doing the same research in different ways and you could contact them to collaborate with them. However, I would be remiss if I didn't remind you that one of the things that the War Swarm is known for is revitalization of worlds that they fight on. It is a constant battle, however, as the antithesis will be a threat until the end of time, or until the Protectors are successful in eliminating them at their roots, so any revitalization efforts must be done under that assumption.

I sighed at that though, but I chose to not think about it and instead placed a hand on Cari's, tightening my grip on the wheel. “What's the list that Morrigan wants?”

Surprisingly, she has only requested three things. A catalog containing the gene blueprints of the various earth species that existed before, an organic augmentation catalog in order to both program and grow augments in species, as a measure to make sure they do not hunt humanity or everything else into extinction, which needs to be Class II in order to imprint them into the genetic level. And finally, Class II advanced genetics, preferably Class III. The genetic blueprints can be bought for five hundred points and the Class I Organic Augmentation for one hundred and twenty points. I will omit the other costs as you do not have the tokens now.

“What all does the blueprints contain?” Cari asked, then she smirked. “How far back does the library go? Could we clone a mammoth?”

Technically, yes. Mammoth DNA was discovered and cultivated in the Twenties. Wastefully, you humans made a burger out of it instead of anything useful. Now, if you wanted to remake Jurassic park, that would be very difficult, but doable with some active genetic modifications. But the majority of the catalog contains the genetic blueprints for every animal, plant, cellular, and fungul species alive by the end of two thousand and eight, as that is when your “Seed Vault” was finished, giving us a good starting point to collect as much as we could before the antithesis threat spread too far.

“Does that include the ocean?” Cari asked, her smirk growing into a full on shit eating grin.

Of course it does. In fact, that was the hardest thing to gather from, considering how many tiny, genetically diverse yet similar creatures inhabited your depths? she sighed heavily. Not to mention the Leviathans and -

“Oh look, we have arrived!” I said a bit too forcefully, causing both of them to laugh at me. Thalassophobia is no longer irrational, you fucks.

A good deal of phobias have some link to you past, and seem perfectly rational to those who suffer from them. That doesn't mean you cannot come to terms with the fear and create safe and healthy coping mechanisms. Please talk to someone, maybe a psychiatrist, if your phobia interferes with your normal life.

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