First thing in the morning, Adrian headed out to the local neighborhoods for better feral hunting. The area around the established safe zone was all but empty during the day and he wasn't running into enough for his goals. He ran to the edge of the industrial district and scanned the streets looking for a good target. There was a large apartment building with many units, this could house innumerable ferals and would probably act like a hive of sorts, so he targeted individual houses instead.
Walking to the first of a line of connected row houses, he kicked the door open and waited for any response. When nothing came out, Adrian searched the house for useful items to take back with him. He saw the family pictures and what looked like a happy home. He felt a pang of sadness for the world that was lost only a week or so ago. The house had what you would expect, taking a few items he headed to the next one.
As the second row house door flung open a sudden flurry of motion erupted as ferals emerged from multiple directions. Adrian stood firm and took them out one by one with surgical precision, leaving none alive.
Free Nanobots Detected. Assimilate? [Y/N]
"Yes." he said, stepping over the pile of bodies.
Assimilation complete. Free nanobots gained: 5,639. Total available: 19,724
The amount of nanobots he had received was higher than he was expecting. The self replication increased rapidly. After clearing the house, Adrian sent nanobots to the pile of bodies to collect biological materials. With limited resources for his followers he figured he should get what he could from the ferals when the opportunity was there.
Stepping into the street a noise made him jerk his head to the right. It was Cedric coming out of a house with a few survivors. People who had been strangers before the fall who had chosen to hide together instead of facing the disaster alone. Adrian shot Cedric a thumbs up and a nod as they headed back to the base. Every survivor was hope, hope for the future and hope that this wasn't the end.
After Cedric had taken the new rescues back to the base he rejoined Adrian in the house by house search for survivors and supplies. It felt like slow and tedious work, but they cleared every residence. Adrian wanted to avoid the apartment complexes because he felt caution was the wiser course, however the hunger for increasing his nanobots drove him to make bolder and riskier decisions. The apartment complex was calling to him.
He could no longer ignore the pull, maybe there was a reason his gut wanted him where the bigger action was. He turned and headed that direction, letting Cedric know that he was going to take it over right now. Cedric was a bit dumbfounded, "Are you crazy, that place has to be crawling with ferals." Adrian smirked, "I know, that's why I'm going. Plus there could be hold outs of survivors still in there." Cedric understood giving a curt nod, he didn't have the drive to collect nanobots like Adrian did.
Adrian walked slowly up to the front entrance and looked through the window. Seeing all kinds of damage from these things, holes in the wall, broken light fixtures, doors laying open and damaged. A smile crossed Adrian's face as he opened the door and stepped in. Listening he could hear movement but going from apartment to apartment would take way too long, so he whistled loud and hollered, "Come and get it!" and waited for the chaos to ensue.
From all over the building he could hear them, howling and galloping on all fours. The first came from the stairwell, which he made light work of with his upgraded strength. The ferals were getting pretty strong but he was much stronger now. Three more came from doors on the ground floor, rushing at him crazed like starving animals.
He darted at them, dodging the first two in order to take out the one at the back. Slicing through its throat like paper, before tossing the body at the other two. Its useless rag doll body slammed into them knocking them over. Adrian took the chance to move on them before any more showed up. Hammering his fists into their snarling faces crushing their skulls.
Free Nanobots Detected. Assimilate? [Y/N]
"Yes."
Assimilation complete. Free nanobots gained: 5,437. Total available: 25,161
He ran to the end of the hallway and headed up the stairwell, the second floor was empty so he walked through it listening for noises. A sudden pounding came at the door to his left, a feral trapped attempting to get at him. Adrian slashed the door lock and handle, kicking the door off its hinges. That sent it and the feral flying back. He pounced landing on the door that had landed on top of the feral and silenced it with a swipe of his clawed hand. Glancing around, he left the apartment and headed to the next floor.
Free Nanobots Detected. Assimilate? [Y/N]
"Yes."
Assimilation complete. Free nanobots gained: 1,326. Total available: 26,487
Flying up the stairs he came to the third floor entrance and looked through the window, not believing how many were trapped here. A wicked grin spread across his face as he attempted to open the door quietly. He failed miserably as the door latch clicked against the door jam and echoed throughout the stairwell. Eight sets of wild eyes locked onto him, he acted faster than they could process the information. Taking two out without prejudice, the more he killed the easier it was to stop thinking of them as any kind of human. They came at him like a whirlwind, clawed hands and gnashing teeth coming from all directions, Adrian didn't flinch. He let his improved body composition and the new healing capabilities do most of the work. Throwing precise attacks to end them quickly, the ferals dropped one by one, none being able to handle his ruthlessness.
Free Nanobots Detected. Assimilate? [Y/N]
"Yes." he said coldly as he moved through the now empty and stained hallway.
Assimilation complete. Free nanobots gained: 11,519. Total available: 38,006
The rising count only fueled his desire for more, thinking about what his next upgrade should be. On the other hand he was enjoying the bonus from the amount of free nanobots in his system. Almost a 200% bonus to all his capabilities, the rush from the power was intoxicating. The idea of driving his body to even higher levels felt staggering.
He wandered through the building slowly now, taking his time to clear the place out completely. He saw a head pop out of an apartment door and look around before squealing and shutting the door again. Adrian couldn't help but chuckle as he knocked casually, shouting, "Everyone alright in there?" After a brief pause he heard, "Go away!" he knocked again and jokingly said, "Housekeeping?" raising his voice to add to the absurdness. He saw the light in the peephole change as he put his eye up to it, pretending to look back at them. A second later the lock disengaged and a man peered out cautiously.
"You're not like them are you?" he asked hoping he wasn't just tricked by one of these mindless monsters. Adrian shook his head and said, "No, at least not exactly. My name is Adrian and I'm working on clearing out your apartment complex. Is it just you in there?" the man nodded, his eyes still darting around like he could be attacked any second. Adrian said, "Ok stay here, it's safe enough at the moment and I'll come back to get you when it's ok to take you to the strong hold location we started." The man's eyes widened, tears welling up at the feeling that he might actually make it out of here alive. "Lock your doors and stay quiet, hopefully there are…more than just you alive around..." Before Adrian could finish his sentence the door was quickly closed, locks clicking back in place and the sound of furniture sliding against the door. He just smiled and moved on.
Floor by floor he killed them, their numbers dwindling in due time, each of them ending the same way, dead by Adrian's own claws. His nanobot numbers climbed until he was on the verge of needing to upgrade again:
Free nanobots available: 53,729
Looking over his available upgrades he was torn between speed and intelligence, both could prove useful but which would be better now. Finding an open and empty apartment, he went in and locked and barricaded the door. He settled into an easy chair and made his decision, "Upgrade intelligence." The system obliged, his brain was flooded with nanobots, changing his neurons and creating innumerable connections throughout. It felt like his brain was attempting to escape his skull, a pressure worse than any migraine he'd ever had from working as a police officer.
Blood, laced with toxins, seeped from his eyes. His nanobots expelled from his body a lifetime of chemical exposure. Then like a receding tide, the pain eased and relief washed over him. He paused and looked around with new eyes. Thoughts crystalized and connected in ways they couldn't have before. His previous plans for survival were enhanced. Images and ideas flashed by faster than ever, already fleshed out and ready to implement, their vividness feeling like he could project them into reality. As his mind worked on organizing and filing his information properly, he realized that upgrading again would be smart while he could.
Intelligence Upgrade Complete: the cognitive processing and pattern recognition has been increased by 25%, amount of nanobots before destabilization is now 200,000
Free nanobots available: 38,729
As fast as the prompt could be read, he said "Initiate speed upgrade." the nanobots took to his nervous system. Creating a new upgraded version, allowing the electricity flowing through his body to move at an incredible speed. He felt like he was being electrocuted, his body twitched and convulsed, his arms flailed in a blur, his movements damaging the chair he was in. When it was all over he rested, catching his breath as his eyes were closed still reeling from his brain reorganizing.
Speed Upgrade Complete: the reaction time and movement speed has been increased by 20%.
Free nanobots available: 23,729
A few minutes later he was ready to get back to work. He stood to move towards the door and stumbled from the new speed upgrade which caused him to crash into the furniture in front of the door. Laying in a crumpled pile he could only laugh at himself before standing, flinging the furniture behind him and opening the door. He cracked his neck and took off down the hallway at blinding speeds, fast enough to blur his vision. He hoped the next senses upgrade would help with that eventually.
He cleared the steps to the next floor in a few quick leaps flinging the door open and walking calmly into the hallway. He figured there wasn't going to be many more ferals here, with all the noise he was making on purpose he thought most of them had been drawn out by now. The ones that had access to him anyway. So he ran through the rest of the building to the top floor only finding a couple more in the process.
Free nanobots available: 28,821
Feeling satisfied with today's upgrades, he started on the next steps, looking for survivors still in the building. He walked, knocking on doors as he went hoping to maybe find more hidden ferals if nothing else. Fortunately there were five survivors including the man he had talked to already. The survivors took some convincing, but when they saw the mess Adrian had left behind they felt going with him was the best option.
They headed back to home base together, thankfully the small group was able to make it with no incidents. Everyone filed in and when Adrian closed the door he saw that there were now seventeen people. The group mingled as the new people were fed and received any necessary medical treatment.
Followers: 17
Tier 1 – Outpost
Upgrades Available:
Makeshift Clinic (Nursing skill unlocks)
Workshop (Engineer unlocks)
Garden Plot (Gardner unlocks)
Watch Post (Military unlocks)
The popup surprised him, there were actual upgrades available now for the Bastion System. It wasn't as easy as just utilizing nanobots, he needed real expertise from survivors to get it started. As he thought about it, one of the survivors came up to him, thanking him profusely offering any help they could offer. Adrian said "get some food and rest while you can. We have a lot of work to do. Cedric and I have cleared the surroundings of ferals, so during the day we can start to reclaim some of the area locally. But the plan is to always keep the Bastion being our main defensive area in this war."
Relief and hope was palpable in the air, this group would fight back. Their defenses could grow quickly now.