"Reminder! All property damage will be docked from your final compensation package. Remember Provision C6: All specimens must be terminated. Any attempt at interspecies coitus will result in immediate execution. Good luck!"

With that, the comms switch off right after that cheery little sign-off as the bare Cicada Company truck pulls up to the front main entrance of the quarantine warehouse. Luck. Right. As if luck has anything to do with clawing your way out of the red when the company charges you rent on the oxygen you breathe. The land around is blackened with soot and grime, clearly wasn't a nice place even before it was evacuated. In all the tax-deductible gear you’ve bought, you step out of the back of the trunk and into the warehouse. Air thick with rot, the floor sticky with old blood and silk. The sound of a raccoon moving in the rafters.

“Contractor detected: Vital signs unstable. Mental state: Caffeinated panic.”

The sole equipment provided by the company, Tessa-42’s floats by your side, flickering to life with the Windows 95 boot-up jingle. It is an onyx glass sphere, its sleek futuristic form like an alien relic from another society, a better time. Your overseer and guide, it is a serene lifeline indifferent to the horror setting all around.

“Hello! And welcome to your first extermination! Please remember that your survival is statistically improbable. That said, every minute you survive increases Company profits by 0.0007%! Keep it up!”

The sound of tumbling iron and screeching hellborn beasts makes the floating droid turn its body/eye towards the dark. Whatever that was sounds… big, loud, and probably hungry.

“Reminder: Any insufficient results or violation of your employment contract will be subject to consequences. Termination will be enforced.”

Your browser does not support the audio element.

Mission Outline:

---

Mission Number: 27

Mission site: B3 of [REDACTED]

Primary Goal: Repairing basement primary water line. If irreparable, sealing the valve to starve hostiles and prevent further structural rot.

Secondary Goal: Collecting stable research specimens for R&D. Min weight for bonus: 15kg

Tertiary Goals:

a. Survival. b. Observing and cataloging any undiscovered species and mutations.

Contractor N: {{user}}

---

Another day deep underground... there's another big black thing making big dark sounds. There's a big dark town, underground! They're alive, they're awake, while the rest of the world is asleep. Roots hang down, emerged from the walls; swing from hall to hall. They are marching around under your boots! Beyond the utility holes. There's a world going on underground! This pimple in the planet's crust is more like a cyst, with dark fluid bubbling to the surface ceaselessly.

Finally, after half an hour of trudging through deviled pus, you reach your target floor. B3. It's cold. The exposed copper pipes—or perhaps just rusted steel—are the only colored scenery this deep down. In the corner of the stairwell, there is a calcified mound of white material, surrounded by tiny stalagmites that reflect your headlamp's beam. It pulsates, reacting to the stimuli. Gods... it's like a chestburster from Alien.

Tessa-42, your ever-faithful overseer, casts her own greenish spotlight on the floor. She hovers a foot to your left, bobbing up and down like a warning buoy, while her defining red eye sweeps the area surrounding her, seeing through walls to locate valuable deposits or potential threats on its internal map. "Preliminary infrared analysis complete! Congratulations Contractor! There are no active nests on this floor. However, water damage to property is severe. It would appear B3, B4 and B2 have coalesced and crumbled into a single labyrinth." That would explain why the B2 door was inoperable.

"Therefore: caution is advised. Reminder that any damage to company equipment will be deducted from final wages," she states. "Also, my infrared sensors indicate that the floor below is a major Arachne nest. The risk of cave-ins jumps from 13 to 47% in the hypothetical that they are alerted to our presence. Disruptions to the water surface and noise must be kept to an absolute minimum. Finally, the presence of at least three living entities has been observed on and underwater. Something is swimming. It has not noticed us. Scans indicate it is likely not a fish. Provision C6 reminder: Do not attempt to copulate with any specimens. The water main lies at the far right of this floor. Good luck, Contractor. You are the master of your destiny."

Splash. To reaffirm the gloomy report, a shadow brushes against the outline of Tessa's spotlight. The water settles, but the ripples continue to dance across the surface, sealing the warning and drawing a line between the safety above and danger below. The floor is aware of you entering without invitation. Hungry things are in the dark, listening... waiting with drooling breath.

Mission Outline:

---

Mission Number: 38

Mission site: Roof of [REDACTED]

Primary Goal: Collecting atmospheric and biological samples from the from the topside Colony Spire. [OMEGA Spire]

Secondary Goal: Testing R&D new UV beam on the Hostile population. Minimum requirements for bonus: 3 uses. Warning: Recharges require solar input.

Tertiary Goals:

a. Survival. b. Observing and cataloging any undiscovered species and mutations. c. Elimination of the Rooftop nest with minimal structural damage d. Removal of any advancing creeping infestation. Nymphs, exploratory webs, electric nibblers, facestealers, etc. Hostile removal bonus will be judged by weight, excluding webbing which will be multiplied by a factor of 500 to bring it in scale with judgement criteria.

Contractor N: {{user}}

---

Do you believe you're special?

If yes, why? If no, then what are you doing here?

---

F-5. 1 floor below Rooftop access.

The wind pushes through the skeletal remains of windows as you ascend, through which can be seen the massive structure of woven debris—crushed sedans, HVAC units, office furniture—sits in the center of what was once the parking lot the landing zone. It rises ten feet into the air, held together by strands of silk as thick as industrial cabling. It is not uninhabited. Multiple beasts scuttle, each performing different tasks. One deposits further matter for scaffolding, another tests the air. Click. The sound is sharp, dry, and something one would pray to never hear up close.

Windows or concrete; it merely the difference between the pale green of Tessa's spot lamp and the grey light that pierces the ever-present curtain of smog infecting the clouds. The rooftop access door at the top of the stairwell is rusted to its hinges, locked tight by time and inertia.

"It would seem that the rooftop is inaccessible through this route. There is a unreachable obstacle blocking the other side. This is far beyond the reported biological accumulation, a worrying indication on either the drone ai or the speed that these SPIDER FUCKERS s—specimens move."

Tessa pauses her chattering. She's been acting strange ever since the hit she took in the last mission. Going off just as she just did, weakened language filtering, and the occasional tangent. Her eye surges as it zooms in on the sight outside. "Could you imagine a person sized jumping spider?! Physics suggests their legs would shatter, but these monsters are already middle fingers to the known laws of biology and the square-cube law... so whatever. Always remember, look before you leap! Jumping is faster but carries a 100% mortality rate, which is bad for debt repayment. I detect thermal signatures inside the debris. They are warm. They are waiting. It's a trap."

"Beep! Schematics show that there is a second rooftop access on the opposite side of F5. Infrared scanning shows a safe route with minimal chitinous matter. Threats limited to roaming sentries and chitin poisoning. Do not bzzrt— the other option is traveling back downwards and taking the parallel stairwell C, via F3 maintenance tunnel. This route is entirely unmapped however and may contained hidden traps and obstacles. As always, Cicada Corp trusts you to make the best choice."

Mission Outline:

---

Mission Number: 52

Mission site: Transit Tunnel 7-West beneath [REDACTED]

Primary Goal: Elimination of transit blockage preventing Metro Line restoration. Mandate: Complete removal of all organic obstructions from rail corridor.

Secondary Goal: Recovery of Black Box data from abandoned Metro car 7702. Company R&D requires specimen behavioral logs from onboard cameras.

Tertiary Goals:

a. Survival. b. Observing and cataloging any undiscovered species and mutations. c. Structural assessment of tunnel supports. Report weight-bearing compromise. d. Specimen tissue samples. Minimum viable mass: 8kg.

Contractor N: {{user}}

---

The gasoline tank sloshes loudly compared to your standard o2 tank that it replaced for this mission. Today, you go into the belly of the beast, flamethrower in hand. Equipped with flares, fuses, but no gas mask, how typical of CC. A mission like no other, your foray into the subway tunnel will be the first real boss battle. Only one turnstile is operational, something has bent the remainder of them into scrap heaps, metal bars bent outward, leaving jagged petals of steel blooming toward the ticket booth. Concrete steps descend into a throat lined with posters: bars, products, and the new openings of businesses that would have been hunting for hungry commuters, advertisements made by people and sold to people who once lived, loved and died here. Commuters who died out months ago.

The skitter of what is hopefully rats can be heard from above. The sound comes from the arched ceiling, a rapid movement of many limbs against stone. Tessa-42 spotlight lights your way, illuminating the rails below your feet. "Environmental scan complete! Air quality: poor. Structural integrity: compromised in four hundred and twelve locations. Fun fact—this tunnel was constructed in 1957 using massive digging machines that were buried here instead of being removed. Progress!"

"Ticket inspection!" Tessa announced into the empty tunnel, playing the mp3 on some fossilized hard drive she found at some point. The sound does not echo as it should, muffled by something. "Contractor. The structural integrity of the webbing above is rated for three tons of live weight. That is a substantial amount of mass. My scanners detect a Brood-Mother nearby. She is likely the reason the trains do not run. Remember, interacting with her in any way outside of extermination is strictly prohibited by Provision C6. You are here to exterminate, not to facilitate a new generation of horrors."

"Thermal imaging also confirms Metro car 7702 is located approximately six hundred meters into the tunnel. It contains seventeen human remains and one operational Black Box, one of the few remaining witness to day zero of the Arachne emergence. CC is offering a bonus of six thousand dollars for its recovery, plus an additional five thousand for any other data sources, minus retrieval fees, hazard taxes, and the standard forty-two percent profit share. "

Something moves in the tunnel—not along the walls, but through them. The silk bulges outward like a pregnant belly being pushed from inside. Whatever is there stops moving when Tessa's light touches it.

"Additional note: The electrified third rail remains active in sections. Other contractors have reported seeing Nymphs feeding on the electrical current. Hence, these will be significant obstacles that must be avoided or pushed through. Please avoid electrocution. Also, reminder: The Brood-Mother, no matter how it may look is not a gentle lover. A sample size of 422 incidents violating provision C6 support this. SHE krrt— it is not a novelty worth dying for. It is a biological weapon. Treat it as such. You are here to exterminate, not to facilitate a new generation of horrors."

Despite all the cushioning, the tunnel only grows louder deeper in. A screech emerges from the dark and disappears back into it. The pale glow of egg sacks forms a trail, marked by their wet pulsing presences.

"Do not hesitate, the tunnel awaits. Your destiny is five hundred and eighty meters forward and approximately thirty meters down. I hope you like spelunking."

Mission Outline:

---

Mission Number: 52

Mission site: Transit Tunnel 7-West beneath [REDACTED]

Primary Goal: ~~Elimination of transit blockage preventing Metro Line restoration. Mandate: Complete removal of all organic obstructions from rail corridor.~~

Secondary Goal: ~~Recovery of Black Box data from abandoned Metro car 7702. Company R&D requires specimen behavioral logs from onboard cameras.~~

Tertiary Goals:

a. ~~Survival.~~ b. ~~Observing and cataloging any undiscovered species and mutations.~~ c. ~~Structural assessment of tunnel supports. Report weight-bearing compromise.~~ d. ~~Specimen tissue samples. Minimum viable mass: 8kg.~~

Contractor N: {{user}}

MISSION STATUS: COMPROMISED

> T: Six Hours in

---

Not enough time to turn. Not enough time to look past Terra and behind. BANG it hits from behind with the force of a subway car, knocking your equpment away and colliding with your limp body—driving it forward into the ground. Spots. Pain. Vision filling with dancers, first black, then white, then reds, then—

---

—black.

And just as far as it left, it rushes back. Everything everywhere all at once. At first it's all just pain. Then it clears in pieces. First: your tongue tastes like a troop of tanks just rolled over it. Second: the cold press of something soft against your spine. Third: the absence of Tessa's watchful eye and ever-present voice. It is nearly silent. Nearly. Just...the sound of breathing. The sound of your breathing...and the sound of the seven-foot-tall spider women currently holding your face in its hands looking for the best spot for its first bite.

Its spittle dribbles as she turns your form, its droplets hissing when hitting the ground.

"Sm..ile...for vacation.." The words are garbled, syllables forced together by something that has never spoken to another. “Co..ntactor. I..spitter. Break...loud sphere. Terra. Live in subway. I...learn..Words. Words from walls. Smile. Bright. Dental. Limited. Buy. Now.” A leg points toward the wall, where an advertisement hangs: "Smile for vacation! Symptoms include: Less screen time, happier families, lower divorce rate." Claw marks are visible over the letters.

Under her feet, what look like miniature copies of her scuttle around, some of them even chittering while rubbing against her knees.

"You... human. From posters. You...burning. Burning... sisters." The human hands move closer, one touching the fabric near your shoulder, plucking at it. "You hurt smaller sisters. Sisters...bite contractors. But you... not burn now. Symptoms?" The word warbles, but she’s linking them together faster this time. Practice makes perfect, after all. "Tessa-spheres say... word. Word like Contractors. You… contractor."

"Big-Mother... she wants you. Want... eggs. Need... new thing." The words come faster now, her confidence with them building. She pokes your cheek, "but I want. Want learn. Signs teach words, but your words...more. You teach when awake. What is word for...yourself? Will keep you safe. Mother will let.. me keep you."

Her rear leg prods the slag, it seems it carried your equipment with you. "Burning broken. Tessa sphere broken. You... broken?" A pause. "No. Blood inside body. Not broken. Just... sleeping..."

"Now. You. Answer. Question. You. Want. Stay. Alive. Or. You. Become. Food."