“You’ve hit level 100,” Felix said, and for the first time since Anya had known the little AI, their cheer sounded forced. She knew things were bad, but if Felix couldn’t even find some pep in the face of the encroaching ocean of murderous fangs and claws and tentacles, they had to be much worse.

“Anya!” Renn said. His clones had fully closed ranks, and she recognized the tell-tale shimmer along his edges as he and who knew how many of his clones occupied the same space. “I just got to level 100! I’m going to put my points into the dominions like we discussed!”

“Dammit,” Anya said, then glanced to the side as the alien horde streamed into the holes of another two digger rockets and destroyed them. They were down to the final two now, and Renn was giving ground from his. The aliens grew closer with every second, despite their constant attacks. Anya had been using distance attacks, staying near the rocket and frying the occasional alien that got too close, but now hundreds of thousands of them were hemming them in, crawling over each other in ravenous surges. She would incinerate dozens, hundreds, and more would just appear behind them. They were gaining ground by inches, but they were gaining all the same.

And worse, more aliens were surviving her attacks. Many of them were huge, as tall as buildings. Not quite as big as Alpha had been, but close. Chitinous, multi-limbed horrors tanked her powerful golden blasts, took Reggie’s volcanic heat, and marched forward. Their organic armor was cracked and burnt, but it still held, and protected the wearers. Anya had started this fight by sweeping her hand and burning multiple targets at once. Now she found herself focusing more and more on singular foes.

True, they could only withstand a second or two of her attention, but seconds were precious.

And that pharaonic cobra thing was still keeping its smoldering ruby eyes on her. She had shot at it several times, launched entire volleys of flaming sabers and javelins at it, and they had all crashed uselessly against a field of baleful crimson light that surrounded it whenever anything got close to harming it. It was taking its sweet time closing in on Anya and Renn, allowing its kin to flow around it like rapids around a boulder as it slithered toward them.

“Anya!” Renn shouted as he stepped back toward her, mere feet away now.

“Just shut up a second!” Anya snapped.

The aliens would fall on the second rocket any moment now. It was going to be destroyed. She and Renn, together, could hold the final rocket for another few minutes, max, at their current levels. Even if she spent all her remaining points as she had, buffing her normal skills, she’d only draw out the inevitable.

The final rocket was still drilling far too slowly. At its current rate, it would need an hour at least to get to 80%, and that still wouldn’t be ideal, just passable. And looking at the hordes of ever-stronger aliens, Anya was beginning to think “passable,” wasn’t any such thing for Earth.

She couldn’t continue as she had and succeed.

She looked at Renn, who faced the horde behind her.

What he had asked of her sounded reasonable, yes. And she suspected he was right, insofar as to how the basics of his plan would work. Hive Mind would link them, allow her to exponentially grow her powers, multiply herself a hundred fold, create an army of Anyas and Renns that would rip the asteroid asunder.

And all it would take was letting Renn into her head.

And then…

Then it was all about trust.

Trusting Renn not to have some other trick up his sleeve.

Trusting Renn when he had said he didn’t want to use violence against the world to change its course.

Trusting Renn that he wouldn’t find some way to make her do something she didn’t want to do.

He’d hit her pressure point well enough. Anya stared down the countless and inhuman eyes all locked on her, and shuddered. It wasn’t for herself, but for Tori, Samaira, Pan, Gary, Immonen, Brody, Cooper, everybody on Earth. Hell, even her asshole mother. The thought of any of them facing this horde, of falling to it, and knowing she could have done something ate at her.

And Renn knew that.

And that’s why he had made his proposition the way he did.

And why he had waited until they were alone in space to do it.

Sure, Anya could have called Gary to ask, or Samaira, or any host she had the contact info for, but it wasn’t the same. And they’d had their own missions and projects to focus on.

Renn’s way sounded like a win not only for the mission, but for getting back home, for making this something other than a one-way trip. If she let Renn in, did it his way, she could go back…and maybe just exchange one problem for another.

“Anya! It’s now or never!” Renn said.

If she had just a little more power just…

“Take the dominions,” Anya said and Renn nodded. He was only going up just over a dozen levels, so the pain wouldn’t be too bad. She saw him curl inward for a second, and then smirked as she sensed heat blossoming in his chest growing stronger. A circlet of light encircled his helmet, and his clones began to spread out a little bit as they pushed back. They weren’t nearly as strong as Anya, but there were a lot ofn them all working together.

“New plan,” Anya said.

“What?” Renn asked, his tone sharp. “If we don’t work together we’re going to die and fail!”

“You’re right. But what you want wasn’t working together. It was control. Just have your boys generate as much heat as they can. I’ll deal with the rest,” Anya said. “Felix! Put every point I have available into Body Duplication. There’s a fourth class unlock at level 100, so pick the one that gives me the biggest boosts and bonuses to that skill.”

“You got it!” Felix said. “What about your physical and mental points? And your stats?”

“Split the skills up evenly among what I’ve already got, and put the stat points into whatever will most benefit Body Duplication,” Anya replied. She was distantly aware that the second rocket was now destroyed and Renn was backing up even closer towards her, his clones starting close ranks again.

“All done! Confirm?” Felix asked, and Anya nodded. The pain spike made her shudder with agony, but it was over almost as soon as it had hit, since it was mostly just in a single skill and not a whole slew of them.

The increases to her existing skills were modest. But her fortification and Perception stats both received significant boost, and then there was her new class.

ARMY-OF-ONE-A specialist at multiplying themselves at maximum potential and creating perfect duplicates for the purpose of warfare. While limited to a small number of skills, those skills have been honed to excellence.

STATISTICAL BONUSES

+15 Fortitude

+15 Awareness

+15 Intelligence

SKILL BONUSES

+30 Self-Duplication Skill (Host Choice)

+15 Endurance/Conditioning Skill (Host Choice)

+15 Awareness/Perception Skill (Host Choice)

STORE BONUSES

+5 Free Consumable Tokens (Host Choice)(5000 RAC limit per Token, can be combined)

+1 Free Weapon Token (Host Choice)(25,000 RAC Limit)

+1 Free Armor Token (Host Choice)(25,000 RAC Limit)

+1 Free Vehicle Token (Host Choice)(100,000 RAC Limit)

Between the points she’d spent, her class, and the bonuses she received from Cosmic Warden, she’d gone from 0 to 53 in Duplication, as well as nearly maxed out her Fortitude stat. It wasn’t terribly dramatic at first. She’d grown used to the familiar surge of heat and light and gravity around her from her dominions. This wasn’t anything like that. But it didn’t need to be.

A second ago, she couldn’t begin to understand how one would go about making a copy of themselves. Now, it was child’s play.

“We’re going to die!” Renn said.

“Maybe, but so are they,” Anya said, and from one of her came many.