"-Well, it turns out I'm a horrible shot, so maybe."

But he's RUDE and she doesn't LIKE him. This isn't a reason not to help. Especially if more Antithesis come along.

"Do you have any - body armor, any kind of useful gear?"

He snorts. "Lady, I'd be wearing it if we did. City tries to keep the amount of guns and gear on the streets really low. What a great idea! With the best of intentions!"

"You'll get partial credit for Antithesis they kill if you give them weapons. That's happened already, actually. The more distant you are from indirect kills, the less direct it is, the fewer points you'll earn- But having allies using your gear will actually help you unlock more things, ones more suited for you."

She mutters, "Yeah, I know- Well, I wasn't thinking about that, but yeah. Ugh fine."

Then clears her throat. "Fine, fine! I'm a really terrible shot, so whatever. Here. I think these only shoot Antithesis."

"Yeah, that's a Hummingbird. I don't recognize the other one but it's a common feature for Vanguard guns."

He inspects the SMG. "I'm Sergeant Hutch, by the way. Huh, looks like this thing shoots seven point six two. That's gonna bruise the shoulder. Do you think you could buy us a little more ammunition?" He glances behind him. "Or a couple more pistols? We have two more former military, unarmed."

She throws her hands up. "Sure! Whatever. Elyssa, ammo 'em. Ten points."

"Very well. Keeping your final ten as a reserve, I presume?"

Two forty-round magazines for the Hornet. Twelve ten-round magazines for various pistols.

"It looks like we still have a little while before things pick up again. You should catch your breath and we can plan ahead for what to buy. You'll earn points fast in chaotic situations, and having a purchase already decided can be a better idea than going in blind."

Sergeant Hutch distributes the ammo. He keeps the Hornet for himself.

"Thankye mighty much, ma'am. I know I'm being rude- I do appreciate it. I'm just hoping what you said about the cables is right. Should be four minutes, now... If you're not good with guns, I guess you're going to use that sword? You could go get cleaned up- There's a restroom just inside. Drink some water, wash some of that off. I'm sure you'll hear it if the Antithesis show up."

Oh, right, she's carrying a giant sword.

...Blergghhhggh, ew, she's covered in plant blood. And real blood.

"Yeah, I'm gonna - go wash off-"

She goes inside. People all look at her in some kind of way, and back away...

Once she's in the restroom, which is mysteriously empty all of a sudden, she starts running the sink constantly, going through wet paper towels and trying to get rid of the worst of the gunk.

"Elyssa, I don't know what catalogs are best, and I don't know what I need... I need... Something other than guns, obviously."

"You could get a fast-acting skill download relatively cheaply, and learn to aim properly that way. The fast ones can have... Side effects, though. Odd memories."

...The idea feels her with a strange sense of revulsion. It sounds like something the worse Corps do to their security forces, implanting memories and habits to turn them into the perfect killing machines.

"No."

"There are much less invasive ways of learning new skills too. The best kind for minimizing side-effects is called dream learning... But it requires you to sleep and takes hours or days to complete. You don't have that kind of time right now."

"-So, if we play to my strengths, which apparently is swinging heavy things around since that's how I killed a bunch of Antithesis, what do I need? This is a cool sword, by the way."

"If you insist on going into melee, you need some way to protect yourself - armor, improved senses and reflexes, deadlier short-range weapons. Possibly deployable equipment, such as grenades, or enhancements to your body."

"...I can't stand the thought of most cybernetics. My optics are the only one I have, I'm sure you can tell? And they malfunctioned for a few days for once and I lost my fucking eyes, I went blind and it felt like it would stay that way forever, irrevocable, and it hurt so much, it was horrible. I can't stand the thought of more cybernetics now. What if they malfunction again? What if they get hit by an EMP or something? What if they get hacked? And I'm not - opposed - to ranged weapons, I'm just apparently shit at them."

"That sounds horrible. I'm sorry you had to go through that... Vanguard technology is a lot more reliable than whatever human corporations produce, and nothing would be hacking you on my watch except, maybe, other Samurai who specialize in it... But I understand if the idea is just too repulsive. Emotion does not yield easily to logic sometimes. There are also bionics, and purely biological solutions. I'm sure you know about species-focused catalogs- Quite a few of them are biologically focused and quite adaptable too."

"I want to stick to biology for stuff I stick in my body. I want to replace these fucking eyes in time, too."

"That's quite doable. I have a catalog in mind- The Anura Biosculptors. Do you care much about how your equipment looks? They cared a lot more about pragmatism than appearance by the time the Antithesis were a serious threat. It's flexible, with the common theme being that almost all their equipment is grown from animals. Much of it is alive. There are biological land mines, bone armor, biological augments that will make you personally faster or stronger or smarter, power armor that integrates muscle so it's more natural to move around in, living guns that shoot Antithesis-eating grubs, and more."

"...That... Sounds kind of metal, honestly. It's all simple to use? How ugly are we talking, here? It's not like I have to keep using it for everything if I hate it, right?"

She's still cleaning herself off but has made good progress.

"Yes, you can always just not use it going forward. And yes, the equipment is designed to be easy to use. A lot of it is very slightly smart- About the level of an insect, but primed to learn to work with you, and to hate Antithesis with a burning fury."

She puts up some photos. They're... Not that bad, honestly? A lot of it looks vaguely uncanny, amphibian-like skin or rodent-like fur with random eyes or mouths or horns or little skulls. Chitinous or shell-like armor plates. The biological gear would be a little hard to mistake for Antithesis. It's all blue and white with hints of red, rather than black and green.

"The appearance is customizable. You could make them look mostly natural, or focus on a particular aesthetic, for a small extra point investment. There are good options for subordinate units- Minions. Most importantly, it's one catalog that does a lot of things acceptably well- Even if it's more expensive than the average catalog. If you don't know what kinds of things you'll need in the hours ahead, that's often a good choice for new Vanguards. There are other options, of course, but not an infinite amount of time to go over them in detail."

She tries to imagine herself using the things on screen. Throwing a bug-like object with a bulbous blue fluid sac labelled 'anti-antithesis enzyme grenade'. Wearing the bone-plate armor that looks like something out of an old cartoon, almost. Having the 'muscle and bone lace' reinforcing her whole body like a suit of armor that's always on. The 'grub gun' is - eugh - too many teeth and rodent skulls, but it does sound gruesomely effective, and the Antithesis deserve gruesomely effective things.

...She kind of likes it? It's- These things would be hers, part of her, properly. Strength. Smarts. Regeneration. Extra organs. New kinds of senses, like an animal-person. A werewolf. Maybe even shapeshifting?

"-I can't really justify spending points on looks during an emergency. Getting faster and stronger and tougher sounds nice. I could grow animal parts and have them actually be useful. That... Might be nice. I, uh... Ahem. Like that stuff. Wait, what's that about minions, is it fuzzy little pets? I don't want to feed fuzzy little pets to the aliens!"

"You could grow functional animal parts, yes. They're actually more amphibian-like. The external appearance is fairly customizable, though, even if the internals aren't... And you'd be feeding the antithesis to them most of the time. What's your concern? It would be pretty effective and cover a lot of weaknesses. Minions are great."

"You said they're kind of smart! I don't want to throw smart things into the jaws of death for my own benefit! Or anything that could be described as a pet!"

"Ah... Would it help if you had a, so to speak, backup of your helpers? The item I'm thinking of is essentially a central brain that remote-controls the bodies like a simple AI- Though it is alive- So when they're destroyed, it's no worse than losing a life in a video game. It's fairly expensive. Five hundred points for the most basic model. But something to look forward to, perhaps?"

"...I'll think about that later. Five hundred is a lot. Where am I going to get that many points?"