Adrian made his way back to the place they agreed upon would be a base for this feral hunting mission and entered the building. As he sat down and settled a decently comfortable chair in the cafeteria, he addressed the nanocore, "Initiate Strength Upgrade." The System paused for a moment before the nanobots got to work on increasing his strength. Such a strange sensation, he could feel his muscles being broken down and rebuilt. The pain was immense and body wide. Every fiber of his body was becoming strong like steel. As the fire in his body started to subside it roared up again in a second wave of agony, reinforcing his bones and tendons. He knew that was needed to help compensate for the increase in power overall.
After a long time when he finally came back to reality he was soaked in sweat and breathing hard. Adrian could feel the fundamental changes the nanobots had made to his body. Flexing his hand he marveled at the difference. It wasn't just increased ability but improvements to the general structure of his body. He could hardly be called human anymore, a hybrid of technology and biology. This was something Adrian could never have imagined in life at all, but even less that it would happen to him.
Walking outside he listened to see if he could hear Cedric or any possible threats. The silence was strangely comforting. It's something he'd never experienced living in the city his whole life. He checked his nanobot count.
Strength Upgrade Complete: the body structure and capability has been increased by 20%, amount of nanobots before destabilization is now 60,000
Free nanobots available: 13,583
He now had the capacity to hold much more and so he wouldn't have to worry as much about the nanocore destabilizing. He checked his current upgrades:
Nanobot Core – Status Stable
Free Nanobots: 13,583
Available Upgrades:
Core Upgrade Lvl: 2 Locked [Description: Enhances nanobot core functionality, enabling increased direct querying and increased system stability. Cost: 100,000 nanobots.]
Strength Lvl: 2 Acquired [Next Lvl: Increases muscle density and power output by 20%. Cost: 15,000 nanobots.]
Speed Lvl: 2 Available [Next Lvl: Enhances reaction time and movement speed by 20%. Cost: 15,000 nanobots.]
Intelligence Lvl: 2 Available [Next Lvl: Improves cognitive processing and pattern recognition by 25%. Cost: 15,000 nanobots.]
Healing Lvl: 2 Acquired [Next Lvl: Accelerates tissue regeneration by 30%. Cost: 15,000 nanobots.]
Senses Lvl: 2 Available [Next Lvl: Heightens sensory perception by 20%, including low-light vision and auditory range. Cost: 15,000 nanobots.]
Replication Lvl: 2 Locked [Description: Generates 10,000 free nanobots per day with sufficient organic and metallic materials. Warning: Uncontrolled replication may lead to system instability. Cost: 50,000 Nanobots]
Attribute Scaling: Each 1,000 free nanobots increases all attributes by 5% (Strength, Speed, Intelligence, Healing, Senses). Current bonus: +0% (0,021 nanobots)
He heard what was barely an echo reverberate through the building, but he was sure he heard it. A voice perhaps, but it wasn't Cedric's. His heightened senses allowed him to hear what he otherwise wouldn't have been able to. Adrian closed his eyes to focus more on his hearing and walked slowly in the direction of the sound. Before too long he found himself standing in front of a cellar door which had claw marks raked across it, but the door itself was still mostly intact. He could hear sound coming from the other side.
Adrian said, "Anybody in there?" There was a momentary silence, then a voice came through from the other side. The female voice said, "Hello, who's there?" Adrian breathed a sigh of relief, he hoped there would be people who hadn't changed. He hadn't found any yet since the full scale catastrophe happened. He said back,"My name is Adrian, I am here to help. Is everyone all right?" She replied, "We're ok, for the most part. Some of us are injured but alive. What do you want?"
Adrian said calmly. "I'm here to bring you to a safer place, it's only a few blocks away from here. We are setting it up to be a defense stronghold. We are in the process of clearing the areas around it of ferals. Come with me if you want to live." He'd always wanted to say that line. After a pause, he heard some scuffing like stuff being moved around before the lock clicked open. He pulled the doors wide, causing the light to stream in and seemingly blind the people in the hole.
Covering their eyes, the first thing they saw was Adrian standing there with metal claws and looking like a superhero. They gasped and flinched thinking they might have been tricked and were about to be killed here and now after somehow surviving the initial wave of death across the city. Adrian realised how he looked and reabsorbed the nanobots. Claws disappearing before their eyes.
He then offered his hand to help them out. Putting a finger to his lips to remind them to keep quiet. They nodded and accepted his help. Two women and five kids. They had managed to get to safety each by acting quickly. Seeing the horrific scenes on TV got them moving. The kids noted their parents were showing signs of change. That was enough to get the kids out of their house. They went willingly into the basement hoping the carnage would blow over.
Adrian led them back to the foundry, keeping a keen eye out for any signs of incoming ferals. He hoped that the path was still clear, being he just came through there. As they approached the foundry he ushered them all in quickly and told them to stay silent until they were safely in the cafeteria in the back. Once they had settled down some he shared some of the stored food and water. He gave them space so they could recover from the trauma a little bit. He leaned against the counter on the opposite side, observing the two women and the kids. One of them gave Adrian a thankful smile while finishing up a bite. She grabbed another package of food and walked over to talk with Adrian.
"You're our savior Adrian. We would surely have died in that godforsaken hole if you hadn't come along. My name is Sarah, and I am forever grateful to you for your help." She said and hugged Adrian before he could react. He stood there with his arms out, surprised, before hugging her gently back. He said, "It was nothing, I'm just glad you were all able to survive long enough for me to get to you. This will be your home at least for now if you wish, we could use the help around here. We are working on getting it prepped for more survivors like you. If there are any." The last part said with a low tone. He was not expecting to find many more in the near future.
Sarah withdrew her hug realizing she might have held it for a little too long, she just felt she couldn't express her thanks enough, "Well considering the situation we don't have much of a choice. What do we do first?" Adrian smiled and said, "just make yourself comfortable. There is a basement area that is ready to be made into a sleeping area. It will serve as a good protection spot in case we get overrun." Sarah nodded, appreciation flowing from her for the rescue and place to stay. Adrian opened the hatch in the floor and showed Sarah what she had to work with.
The flashlights didn't fully penetrate the darkness of the dank room. As they walked around, Sarah made some mental notes on how to set things up for temporary sleeping arrangements. Her and the kids didn't need much, and this was way better than their previous hold out location. It would feel more like a home than a shelter when she was done with it. Adrian nodded in approval at her ideas and left her to get started. Before he left, Adrian grabbed his pack and a few cans of spray paint he found then headed out to look for Cedric. His plan was to mark buildings based on the possible supplies and materials they might have.
Walking through the streets, the area around the foundry was all but clear. Any ferals that came would be from farther out and wouldn't be a surprise. Adrian entered a building next door to the foundry and walked through the building slowly. There were chemicals in there used to make plastics along with some molding and mixing equipment. This would be helpful in the future, but it's not what he needed in the near term. So he headed to the lunch room looking for any kind of food available. There were a couple vending machines with snacks, and a refrigerated one that might not be good since it hasn't had power for a bit.
He smashed open the vending machines with his bare hands easily, taking no damage at all, and filled his bag with the contents. Chips, candy, crackers, some jerky, the usual things. He took the refrigerated items too just in case they could still be eaten, hoping to not have to worry about food poisoning at a time like this. Rummaging through the drawers yielded him napkins, sauces and some plastic eating utensils. He planned on carrying out whatever he could find that would help make life seem normal for the rescues, if even for a moment.
Next he went through the cupboards and found a large first aid kit. That held many needed things for the injured people he would no doubt come across through his searching. As he was kneeling in front of an open cabinet, he heard the shuffle of feet on the floor, disturbing debris. Adrian froze, slowly growing his claws, ready to face whatever it might be. As the door opened he lunged, hoping to catch them by surprise only to see Cedric's face, eyes closed and hands up, saying, "It's me, it's me." Hoping he was quick enough to stop the attack. Adrian's clawed hand stopped inches from his face.
He dropped his hand chuckling and said, "We need some kind of code word if you are going to be sneaking up on people like that." Smiling as Cedric let out the breath he was holding. Cedric shook his head knowing he almost died from being too sneaky. Adrian said, "You find anything interesting? I got some supplies that could last us a little while, though we have some guests to worry about now." Cedric raised an eyebrow, "You found other survivors?" Adrian just nodded. As soon as he finished packing up the loot they headed outside and started walking back to the foundry. The sun was getting low on the horizon and it was probably a good idea to get back for everyone's safety.
Walking into the cafeteria, most of the kids were laying their heads on the tables, some snoring away. Finally feeling safe enough to rest, and not being able to hold off their weariness. Sarah smiled at them, saying "And who might you be." Cedric offered his hand and introduced himself. As he glanced at the new arrivals, he shook his head and said. "Welcome to the team I Guess." Sarah smirked, saying, "Not like we had much choice but we are glad to be here and happy to help in anything that is needed."
With that the Nanocore Bastion system popped up:
Bastion System initiated: Followers 8
Tier 0 – Shelter
Adrian was excited to see he was close to being able to actually use the bastion system. More survivors were bound to be out there. He came up with a plan to use the spraypaint for also marking the path to the shelter they were setting up. Hoping it would bring in people that were scavenging and needing help. The more people they could get in the better at the moment. They could use more like Cedric as well if they weren't hostile. As night fell it was quieter outside than before, showing that the area had been mostly cleared of local ferals.
Adrian explained his idea to the group of using the spray paint to mark buildings with what assets are inside. And also painting directions to the shelter that other humans would be able to follow to their fort. He wanted to pull any desperate stragglers that had to make that hard choice to either go out to look for supplies or die in their holes.
Exhausted, the new arrivals all huddled together in a corner for sleep while Cedric and Adrian slept near the stairway, between them and the entry in a display of the stronger protecting the more vulnerable. This was only the beginning and hope was still fresh. Adrian felt the pressure settle on his shoulders of the weight of what was needed from him now.
Tomorrow they would start again, taking it one day at a time. They would improve the chances of survival for them and the human race itself.