"Verbal authentication code confirmed. Somatic authentication code confirmed. Genetic authentication code confirmed. Welcome to Venombuster."

The machine, now looking like a particularly bulky belt buckle, transforms the green Venom into Anti-Venom armor, drawing from both the Venom surrounding you and the Venom that flows through your veins.


"Hey, Nomes. How 'bout some nice battle music?" You joke.

"Music is against protocol," Naomi replies dryly.

You approach a bunch of Venom tanks just as the comm lines were filled with white noise. You turn the comms off and jump your motorcycle over the Anti-Venom field the tanks were generating.

You see it-- the Junkie, large and looking much like a large tumor decorated with the actinic glow of Venom, was banging its meaty fists on the Anti-Venom field on the far side of the square. With its incessant hits, you doubt the Anti-Venom field would last very long.

What do you do?

> Go big or go home. Use your strongest, most expensive attack to take it down.
> Pepper the Junkie with smaller attacks until it goes down. Naomi always said to be more conservative with your Venom.

> Write-in

>>1415609
> Go big or go home. Use your strongest, most expensive attack to take it down.

>>1415609
>> Pepper the Junkie with smaller attacks until it goes down. Naomi always said to be more conservative with your Venom.

> Pepper the Junkie with smaller attacks until it goes down. Naomi always said to be more conservative with your Venom.

>>1415609
>>1415627
>>1415674

With expert skill, you pump Anti-Venom into your fists and feet, giving them a distinct emerald-colored aura.

You jump into the air, landing on top of the Junkie, digging your fingers into its hard, sinewy flesh and with a nother smal expenditure of venom, lift the monster into the air and throw at the opposite side of the barrier.

Layered, beehive barriers materialize as the Anti-Venom forcefields strain against the creature's weight.

This vicious attack forces the creature to acknowledge you and it begins to convert its Venom to energy, focusing it into a tight beam.

While you normally absorb Venom directly into your bloodstream, you can't aborb Venom once it's been converted to energy.

You're still in a good spot, Venom-wise. Do you:

> Continue to conserve Venom and dodge. You're sure the barriers will be able to take a hit from that laser.
> Form a barrier of your own. VtAV conversion technology is expensive and there's plenty of Venom to go around.
> Interrupt its attack with a few well-placed punches. This puts you in direct line of fire in case you've misjudged its charging time and you can't form an Anti-Venom barrier quickly enough to react.

>Write-In

>>1415725
>> Interrupt its attack with a few well-placed punches. This puts you in direct line of fire in case you've misjudged its charging time and you can't form an Anti-Venom barrier quickly enough to react.

>>1415737

Hurrying, you push Anti-Venom to your legs to cross the block-long distance. You come to an abrupt stop, stomping your feet onto the ground, changing your trajectory to one headed straight upward.

You punch the creature's mouth closed, knocking it backwards onto the Anti-Venom barrier.

It thrashes about as it struggles to regain its footing, and in doing so, sends you skidding straight into the pool of Venom that had accumulated in the area.

You absorb what you can through your the VenomBuster suit. It's not as efficient as doing so through your skin, but you can't afford to power down in the middle of a fight.

You don't see when the Junkie brings its massive claws down your back, but even through the VenomBuster armor, the attack hurt.

Thanks to the pool of Venom constantly secreted by Junkies, you're topped up on Venom, but with VenomBuster's processing power directed towards preventing you from being crushed, it's having trouble processing the green sludge into Anti-Venom for your attacks.

You need to get out from the Junkie's hold before it completely crushes you. What do you do?

> It's against regulation, but since you're basically a Junkie yourself, you can use a burst of Venom to shove it off you. It's going to fry VenomBuster's circuits for a good second or two, but it's nothing the self-repair function can't fix.
>Muscle enhancement with Anti-Venom. It's regulation and it won't eat as much Venom as a Venom burst, but you're not a hundred percent sure it'll work.

>>1415878
>Stay down and accept death

>>1415878
>> It's against regulation, but since you're basically a Junkie yourself, you can use a burst of Venom to shove it off you. It's going to fry VenomBuster's circuits for a good second or two, but it's nothing the self-repair function can't fix.

>>1415878
>> It's against regulation, but since you're basically a Junkie yourself, you can use a burst of Venom to shove it off you. It's going to fry VenomBuster's circuits for a good second or two, but it's nothing the self-repair function can't fix.

>>1415878
>>1416089
>>1416093

As much as it sucks, it's times like tese that you're grateful for not being human.

You bypass the VenomBuster's Anti-Venom defense systems and momentarily shut off the VtAV converter. With a flash of sickly green light, you flood a small radius around you with Venom energy.

For a moment, the area around you ignites in actinic green light, and a force surges outwards that surprises the feral creature.

The Anti-Venom forcefields enclosing the area waver at your use of Venom energy, but not for long enough for the creature to take advantage.

Circuits momentarily fried, the white and green Anti-Venom plating of your VenomBuster armor take on an immaterial, translucent quality. When it gets like this, you can almost touch the venom pooling underneath.

You disengage its arm module sinking your hand deep into the shallow pool if Venom, absorbing it into your bloodstream to replace the amout you lost.

You can't absorb it fast enough, but it does replenish enough that you no longer feel dizzy.

> It's do or die. Time for your super stylish finisher. Hopefully, you land facefirst in some Venom.
> Continue fighting with regulation techniques.
>Try to absorb more Venom for a big attack... But this leaves you vilnerable.

>>1416075

The VenomBuster begins to crack under the weight of the monsters claw. You hang limply from its mutated hands as it repeatedly smashes you against the Anti-Venom barriers like a ragdoll.

Soon enough, both VenomBuster and the Anti-Venom barriers give way.

Armor gone, the Junkie confuses you for a human and starts vomiting Venom directly into your face. You absorb it-- you absorb as much as you can, fuelling your rapid regeneration... But this is so much more Venom than you've ever consumed at a time.

Your human form doesn't hold. You, too, begin to sprout glowing, green, tumorous growths from your body.

Ending M: I was a [M]onster

Ignore the joke ending after the update, guys. That's just me funning.

>>1416139
>> It's do or die. Time for your super stylish finisher. Hopefully, you land facefirst in some Venom.

>>1416139
>>1416142

You unhook the VB Buckle from your belt and begin to pump Anti-Venom into it. The machine transforms and unfolds into the handle of a sword. With more expenditure of Anti-Venom, the handle grows a glowing green blade.

You pump Anti-Venom into your legs, launching yourself forward at the beast, cleanly piercing it with your sword. You pull the sword back and bisect the Junkie diagonally, then diagonally again as glowing lines of Anti-Venom spread through its system.

The Junkie explodes viciously, spreading blood, pus and Venom.

Now comes the least favorite part of your job.

>>1417601

> I was... Inoshima Daisuke.

> God, exams are hell, but I need to keep up my grades to get into a good college. I don't want to grow up being a burden on society after all.

> It started out easy. I'm a natural genius, after all. English? Japanese? Math? History?

> I was at the top of the class in every subject.

> But High School is so different from Junior High.

> See, the problem with being a genius is that you constantly have to outshite everyone in order to keep being called a genius.

> I was put into a competitive class full of bright young geniuses like me. When the lights of our geniuses all shone so brightly, I found out that I didn't shine quite as brightly as everyone else.

>I... I lost my edge.

>The more I dwelled on it, the more my light began to dim and my grades started to slip. Since we were graded on a curve, that meant failing subjects left and right.

> I did my research and found a recipe for a Venom-based drug that increased brainpower.

> It wasn't hard to make. Venom was ubiquitous after all. I simply had to take apart some electronics to retrieve the Venom within.

> I made the formula, but still, I hesitated. Everyone has horror stories of a friend of a friend or someone's cousin thrice removed turning into a Junkie after all.

> I steeled myself and downed the formula in a single gulp.

> It was like the world opened up to me-- Venom gave me a sort of clarity that I've never had before. I soon regained my competitive edge in class.

> I shot up from being dead last to the top student in class. The teachers all congratulated me, glad to see me come out of my slump.

>>1417712

> I continued to use Venom all throughout my senior year with none the wiser.

> Soon enough, I was having trouble concentrating without the Venom. Even with it, I was just back to my old self.

> Against my better judgement, I upped my dosage of the formula.

> After I did that, it got easier to justify upping the dosage each time my grades slipped a little.

> I didn't even notice when I turned into a monster.

You awake, your skin drinking greedily of the blood-tainted Venom. slowly, your eyes flutter awake, a pair of men in hazmat suits looking over you.

"Is that... The VenomBuster? What's he doing?"

"Yeah, that's the guy. It's identifying who the Junkie was."

"Little help, guys?"

The rookie--or at least, you peg him as one given how polite he is-- helps you up.

"It was Inoshima Daisuke. Seven Lights Senior High."

"No way! That young!?" The rookie says incredulously. The senior member of the clean-up team seems surprised as well, but tries to hide his incredulity.

"With a user that young, I'm surprised he didn't just up and die."

The senior member hands you a small tank of clean Venom. You drink it to replenish your supplies, bringing you up to just about 75%.

"Hey, Senpai, are you sure he's supposed to be doing that?"

"Don't you read the manual, you idiot? The VenomBuster doesn't have blood. And it looks like he used a lot of Venom in that fight."

"Oh neat. So he's like an Arrancar Junkie, right?"

"Arra-what? Kid, what the hell are you on about?"

What is up with this kid?

Anyway, now that the Junkie has been done away with, it's time to return to base.

> Go back on your Motorcycle. You don't want to wait around for the cleanup crew.
>> Get Naomi some takeout on the way.

> Wait for the cleanup crew to be finished, then ride with them back to base. You're pretty tired.
>> Watch the newbie. He sounds pretty prone to doing dumb things.

Options with >> are optional sub-votes.

>>1417844
> Wait for the cleanup crew to be finished, then ride with them back to base. You're pretty tired.
>> Watch the newbie. He sounds pretty prone to doing dumb things.

>>1417859

You find the sanitation truck to get a fresh set of clothes. You might be immune to Venom, but as your little Junkie friend demonstrated, nobody else is.

You get a white shirt with the VenomBuster logo on it and a pair of white pants that look like scrubs. The cleanup officer directs you to a changing booth and instructs you to out your clothes into the decontamination bin.

Done changing, you too are handed a hazmat suit. You don't need it, but you're allowed to be a lot less cautious with Venom than other people are and it helps prevent you from contaminating other people while in a Venom-infested area.

It's not hard to find the idiot rookie talking to you earlier.

He's... Okay, he's *very* new. New enough that he's stuck observing because he isn't trusted with any of the equipment yet.

His senior is giving him an earful, explaining this and that, though you can see his attention frequently waver. On one such occasion where he's looking around, his gaze falls on you and gives you an exaggerated wave.

He runs over to you, despite his Senior officer trying to deter him.

"Hey! It's the VenomBuster! I didn't think you'd look so... Human. I mean, that's pretty cool. You're like a superhero, aren't you?"

What do you say?
> I'm not human.
> I'm just an ordinary guy
> Write-in.

There's a moment of awkward silence as the rookie processes what you said. "... Right. Well, my name is Minamizawa. What's your name?"

... You don't really have one. It's either 'VenomBuster' or 'Field'. It stopped bothering you years ago.

"Minamizawa, you idiot. Stop bothering the VenomBuster and listen!"

... Yeah, it's like that.

With nobody else to talk to, you put the VenomBuster module back onto your motorcycle. Since you're carpooling with the clean-up crew, there's no need to keep it around. You set it to autopilot back to the base.

Belatedly, you realize you have comms turned off.

"Naomi? Come in Nomes. I forgot I had this thing turned off."

"What's the status of the mission? Do you have ID on the Junkie?"

Ah, good old Naomi. Straight to the point as ever.

"Yeah. One Inoshima Daisuke. Senior High School student from Seven Lights. Been doping up with V for years."

"Got it. I'll expect more details later. Good job, VenomBuster."

"Hey, there's this new guy here. He's a little cha--" The click of the comms turning off cuts you off. Oh well, you'll tell Naomi about it later.

Most of the cleanup crew are returning to base, leaving behind a skeleton crew until the relievers can arrive.

With the newbie coming back to base, you decide to come along. Best not to tempt Murphy's law after all.

Even in the truck, the reliever is pretty chatty. While the senior officer with him looks pretty exasperated, he's keeping the conversation going by telling stories and prompting other cleanup crew members to do the same.

He spots you near the back with no other cleanup crew members sitting next to you.

"Oh hey, it's VB!"

V... B?

>>1419571

"Your dossier says you like music and pretty girls. Oh, man, I've got just the thing for you."

The rookie, Minamizawa hands you a pair of earphones attached to his smartphones.

>Accept the earphones and give Minamizawa's music a listen.
>... Pass. You have a good idea of just what kind of music it is.
>" I don't make a habit of getting too friendly with guys."

>... Pass. You have a good idea of just what kind of music it is.

>>1420538

You hold your hand up and gesture a 'Pass' at Minamizawa's offer. Pretty girls are right up your alley, and good music is great, but combining the two leads to Idol Music which, for the most part, isn't that good.

[] Offer Minamizawa a listen to the kind of kusic you like instead.
[] Do Nothing

The drive back to base is a relatively short affair. No fanfare is afforded to you-- save, of course, for Minamizawa's incessant fawning but even that is done away with when a superior officer orders him to stop bothering the VenomBuster.

You navigate the base with practiced skill. They keep the place so pristine and white that you have no doubt that someone unused to the layout would get lost easily.

As is protocol, you make your way to Naomi's office to fill in your report of the incident. You'd rather put it off, really, but Naomi's as much of a bitch about protocol as she is smoking hot, and that is plenty bitchy.

Not that you'd ever tell her that you think she's hot, of course.

She doesn't turn away from her laptop as you enter the room, instead gesturing to a table containing several stacks of forms. You take one fom each and begin filling them out.

While filling up your forms, you notice that Naomi has a sizeable stack of sandwiches on her table.

[] Ask for some. You don't need to eat, but it's still nice to do so every once in a while.
[] You've annoyed Naomi enough for today. You suspect she's giving you the silent treatment because you used Venom Burst earlier.

After filling up the forms you:

[] Hit the gym
[] Hit the cafeteria
[] Gossip at R&D
[] Go to bed

>>1422992
] Offer Minamizawa a listen to the kind of kusic you like instead.


[] Ask for some. You don't need to eat, but it's still nice to do so every once in a while.

[] Hit the gym

>>1422992
[] Do Nothing
[] Ask for some. You don't need to eat, but it's still nice to do so every once in a while.
[] Gossip at R&D

>>1422992
>>1423014
>>1423629

You ask Naomi if you can have one of her sandwiches.

"What-- You don't even need to-- Fine. Sure," she stammers. You swipe the top one and take a peek-- looks like an egg sandwich. They're probably all egg, now that you think about it. The woman goes through a carton of the stuff in a day.

You chew through your sandwich as you fill out your report forms. It takes you an hour to get through all of them.

You submit your papers to Naomi, but she stops you on the way out.

"Where are you headed?" She asks.

"R&D. I figured I'd check out if they have any new developments."

"I'll accompany you. I'm curious myself," she replies.

Naomi walks a few steps ahead of you, somehow managing to walk slightly faster than you despite the tight pencil skirt she always wears.

The other employees give the two of you a widd berth of space, but Naomi keeps her eyes ahead, turning in sharp 90-degree turns on the way to R&D.

She heads over to a high-security area that you don't have access to while you pick out your dossier from the publically available documents.

While you're reading, you catch wind of some troubling developments. While people who could turn into Junkies used to be fairly rare, the frequency of their appearance is following a definite upward trend-- something confirmed by the last Junkie's memories. Junkies have gone from a rare boogeyman to something that nearly everyone has stories about.

While you were casting the net of your hearing around, you hear a tiny voice call your attention from behind.

"Uhh, excuse me. You're the VenomBuster, right? Are you available right now?"

[] "Yes. What do you need me for?"

[] "No"
-[] Head to the gym
-[] Head to the cafeteria
-[] Head to bed

>>1424454

[] "Yes. What do you need me for?"

>>1424454
[] "Yes. What do you need me for?"

>>1424454
>>1424463
>>1424718

"Yes, what do you need me for?"

You put your dossier back on the shelf. You've read it a thousand times before and you're not really sure why you keep reading it. You're sure to be the first to know if there are any new developments.

"Just some testing. The VtAV short circuited during your fight with the Junkie. Do you have any idea what happened?"

[] Fess up
[] Shrug

"I see. Well, in any case, we'll need to run a few tests so please follow us to the lab."

Not really seeing any choice, you follow the eggheads to the testing lab. They hook you up to several machines that slowly drain your Venom. Another machine injects fresh Venom into your system.

After the standard battery of tests (which, quite frankly, you've never understood or paid much attention to), the R&D team seem satisfied that you're not going to mutate into one of those monstrous Junkies and send you on your way.

When you return to the lobby, you see Naomi waiting for you, carrying a thick sheaf of papers. They're wrapped with several bands of yellow tape marked "Confidential".

"Where have you been?" She asks.

"R&D ran a few tests on me because I shorted the VtAV on the belt."

"So I've read on your report," she says sternly.

You brace yourself for the inevitable chewing out that you usually get when you break regulations.

"Don't do it again."

You let out a breath. That's much milder than you usually get.

Given the large amount of time between Junkie attacks, you've taken up music and cookery (though anything you cook needs to go through Sanitation before you're allowed to feed it to other people) what do you usually do on your downtime?

[] Write-in hobby
[] Nothing else.

Who do you primarily spend time with?

[] Tendou Minamizawa
[] Naomi Kitayama

>>1427488
[] Shrug
[] video games
[] Naomi Kitayama

[] Shrug
[] Play the Theremin
[] Naomi Kitayama

>>1427514
>>1427488

At some point Minamizawa managed to get you into video games. Why he keeps trying to be friendly with you is beyond you. Instead of it serving as a bonding experience, however, it only managed to hole yourself up in your quarters playing video games all day.

Because you don't need to eat, you've saved up quite a bit of money-- enough to get a large flatscreen and a Genm Gashacube and still have plenty of money set aside.

The past month had you mostly exiting your room just to make snacks in the pantry. It had gotten bad enough that your Operator, Naomi got assigned to be your handler to make sure you keep up with your training.

While she seems annoyed at the additional responsibilities, she takes them in stride, though you can't help noticing that your training had gotten just a bit harsher over time.

It was during one of your gaming sessions that your door suddenly slid open, alarms already blaring outside.

"VenomBuster. There's been numerous Junkie sightings near City Hall. We're deploying," she says in a single breath.

You were so engrossed in your game of Taddle Fantasy that you hand't heard the alarms blaring outside.

Embrarassed, you yank the Gashat from your Gashacube and pocket it.

"Sorry Nomes. Can you wrap that up for me? Thanks," you said, gesturing to the half-eaten Philly Cheese Steak sandwich sitting on a plate on your floor.

You rush out the door, Naomi stepping outside to get out of your way.

People are rushing every which way, but they know enough to give enough space for you.

You hop on your motorcycle and put on your comms.

"Field to Operator. Operator, do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear," Naomi's voice replies over the headset.

"Did you get my sandwich?" You ask.

"Please keep the comms open for mission-related communication only, Field."

>>1431349

You don't get too far from the base before you hear the sound of screaming.

'Several' sightings of Junkies was an understatement. Dog-sized creatures roamed the streets and tried to attack civillians.

There are enough that the Special Junkie Extermination Team are out in full force. Armed with Anti-Venom weapons and body-concealing armor, they're helping keep civilians safe from the onslaught of Junkies.

As you approach them, you gain access to their comms.

"God, why are there so many of them?"

"The last attack was just last month and now..."

"If you guys want to live, then stop complaining and start killing!"

A soldier retreats, the actinic green of his Anti-Venom knife fading to translucency then disappearing entirely.

He fumbles to replace the Venom cartridge on his weapon while another soldier provides covering fire.

Your expert eye can tell that, while he's been practicing on how to replace his cartridges, he's never done it in a high-stress situation.

[] Help clean up the Junkies in this area, raising morale but losing a good deal of time in arriving to the epicenter of the Junkie Swarm.
[] Head straight to City Hall. The Extermination team should be able to handle themselves.

>>1431367
>[] Head straight to City Hall. The Extermination team should be able to handle themselves.

>>1431451

You only give the Extermination team a passing glance. The Junkies, while numerous, actually seem very weak compared to the massive Junkies that you usually fight. They've trained for this. They can handle themselves.

As you speed your way to City Hall, you transform into your VenomBuster armor. What you see at City Hall is not pleasant.

City Hall itself has turned into a tumorous mass of Junkie-flesh. Sacs of fluid hang from the side, incubating new Junkies and occasionally popping, adding one more adversary to the fray.

Even with Anti-Venom barrier generators,the smaller Junkies are numerous enough that they nearly spill over outside the arena that the barriers form.

The Anti-Venom tanks are dangerously low on their Venom supply and the Venom shortage only gets worse as time continues.

The Cleanup team is forced to use costly Anti-Venom pulse waves just to prevent the smaller Junkies spilling over.

Members of the Extermination team are on standby to off the smaller Junkies that DO manage to pass through the barrier.

[] Get the Intel sitrep from Naomi. The way Venom energy jams comms might mean it'd be hard to understand her and her info might be a few minutes obsolete.
[] Get the Field sitrep from Minamizawa. His info should be more updated, but he's an excitable guy and might end up exaggerating some aspects.
[] Jump your motorcycle above the barrier
-[] Cut a path through the minor Junkies with an Anti-Venom knife.
-[] Ride on top of the wave of Junkies and book it to the tumor-building.

>>1434486
>[] Get the Field sitrep from Minamizawa. His info should be more updated, but he's an excitable guy and might end up exaggerating some aspects.

>>1434557
>>1434486

You spot Minamizawa in the crowd of Cleanup crew grunts. It's rather easy to, comsidering he doesn't seem to be wearing his helmet.

"Hey... You!"

... Not your finest moment.

Minamizawa's face lights up when you call his attention.

"Put your helmet back on, geez," you say, causing him to deflate rather quickly. Still, Minamizawa complies, his outfit inflating as his air purification module pumps clean, venom-free air into the enclosed space. "Minamizawa, give me sitrep," you say.

He shrugs.

"We don't know. City Hall suddenly turned into this... This thing and started pumping out Junkies. Venom supplies are running low and we can't use the Venom from the Junkies without ruining the equipment," he says.

"Anything unusual?" You ask.

"I mean other than City Hall suddenly turning into... This?"

"Cut the crap, rookie," you say, annoyed.

"W-well, it's the darndest thing! Junkies are supposed to be emitting a radio-wave blocking field, right? Well, you'd expect that we'd have no contact with base, right? It's totally the opposite, though. Comms are only a little bit choppy," he explains.

You're not really sure what to do with that information. You contact Naomi on the comms, which confirms what Minamizawa told you. Lines are only a little bit choppy.

With nothing else to do, you start riding towards the former city hall. To be honest, you're not really sure HOW you take down this Junkie-- It's just too massive.

What do you do?

[] Hack away from the outside. This is relatively safe, if a bit Venom-intensive. You'll have to periodically break away to kill some of the Junkie spawn to recharge.
[] Infiltrate the Junkie-building and see if you can find a weakness. This is pretty risky.
[] Shove a hand into the mass of flesh. Your ability to read Junkie memories might be able to help, but you'll need some backup if you want to do this and not too many will be willing to dive into the epicenter of the Junkie wave.

>>1439173
>[X] Infiltrate the Junkie-building and see if you can find a weakness. This is pretty risky.

>>1439173
>[] Infiltrate the Junkie-building and see if you can find a weakness. This is pretty risky.

Next update when this falls off the board.