Cancer Apocalypse Part 2

Cells have the sacred task of working to keep the body alive.

Such action is also to ensure their own survival for as long as possible.

But in situations like these it was better to abandon the mission and focus on surviving first.

After all, they could not keep the body functioning if they all perished.

Once the white cells had formed a defensive line against those monstrosities, all the red cells had become stuck in front of the entrance to the heart.

And it was for this reason that the place looked like an ocean of red as there were many red cells coming from behind which found that the flow they were so used to had stopped.

AE-3803 had finally made it out of the tunnel and had made sure to get as far away from the crowd as possible.

Being crushed could hurt her new baby.

Still, it wasn't hard to hear the chatter of other erythrocytes.

"What's going on?"

"We can't stop the blood flow like this! We have to distribute the oxygen!"

"DON'T GO IN IT'S DANGEROUS!"

"IT WILL BE MORE DANGEROUS WHEN THIS BODY FREEZES! AGAIN!"

"The white cells will take care of it! Don't risk your life pointlessly!"

AE-3803 rubbed his forehead.

It was understandable the level of hysteria that was being caused.

If the heart stopped delivering oxygen to the other cells a collapse of the entire society as it was known would occur.

It was for this reason that she could see some of her fellow reds deciding to move forward anyway despite the danger in order to try to complete their function.

Would... would they eventually be forced to do so by high command orders?...

AE decided to de-stress by ordering some food.

And a lot of it she required as she had to eat for two.

It is often said that if you are repeatedly subjected to a situation hundreds of times you eventually become desensitized to it regardless of how traumatic it may be.

He had stopped feeling discomfort every time he woke up inside a cloning tube.

He had stopped caring if his old friend U-1146 was the only other life form that didn't see him as an abominable beast of filth and pure hatred.

Eventually being forgotten in the infinite void wasn't even relevant anymore.

And having suffered the pain of beatings, sword cuts and knives on a constant basis he had reached a point where he didn't even pay attention to them.

At that moment there was only one thing on which he would put all his effort and immortal determination.

To eliminate these insects that had interfered so much in his plans.

"PERFORIN CANNON PUNCH!"

That thing again?

Well, his muscles were inversely proportional to his thinking capabilities.

And no wonder... these were all slaves programmed from birth to follow orders without question.

Well, Cancer could also try new things.

His arms spread out at great speed, forming a barrier of cancerous "skin" as other arms emerged from his arms.

Cancer had surrounded himself with a barrier of arms and hands.

The hands in direct contact with the ground held him as tightly as possible.

The "air fist" then impacted against the barrier... and the barrier did not move at all.

Memory-T and U-1146 gritted their teeth and widened their eyes at the situation.

The skin barrier then began to compress in on itself... and then the arms separated from Cancer as these began to form their own bodies.

"You better think of something else, your stupid magic fists are a thing of the past!" Cancer narrowed his eyes and then extended his left arm to attack them from afar.

The knives were still annoying, that was something the body's "fallen angel" had to admit, but certainly with this new vessel to control he could certainly suppress the pain and ignore that.

Cancer then simply threw them against a wall with his power.

Memory-T and U-1146 barely had time to react to avoid being crushed by other fists.

"This... this isn't going well." U-1146 clutched his shoulder.

"Ah no shit!" Memory-T rolled his eyes in frustration.

The macrophages, for their part continued to fight those abominations.

The problem was that the more the battle continued, the more the poorly made clones continued with their task of creating what appeared to be some sort of tissue around the walls of the heart.

The macrophages then opened their eyes in horror as they understood what the cancer plan was.

A simple but effective way to kill the entire body.

The leader of the macrophage squad decided that this could not continue, so she then used all the strenght she could to attempt to cut up the next cancer cell that was going against her.

The heart cancer cell snarled as a spiked ball pierced his stomach.

The macrophage was about to sense a bit of hope when suddenly the monster employed its hands to grip the weapon's handle.

"Huh?! Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" The cancer cell forced the macrophage closer and then proceeded to "hug" her and then buried its teeth deep into her neck.

"AAAAAAAH! HELP! HELP! HEEEEEELP!"

Her companions tried to drag her away by grabbing her arm and pulling, but at this other cancer cells also grabbed the victim and using their monstrous power and their unchangeable ability to never give up, being monsters with no will of their own, made them sneak all their hands into the macrophage's body and pull harder.

AAAAAAAAH! AAH! AH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Biting and more biting.

That was what she felt in almost every point of her being as the horde completely surrounded her.

Her companions looked on in horror as certain limbs of her body were torn off, after which other cancerous cells began to consume them.

Both Memory-T and U-1146 had observed such a scene as well.

Cancer chuckled to himself.

He could have used the shock they had to continue attacking, but given his personal history with these two Cancer wanted to cause them as much suffering as possible.

"A poetic ending... isn't it?" he raised his face slightly upwards, but continued to look down in a clear sign of contempt. "These monsters enjoy eating bacteria in large quantities... bacteria that just want to live like me... but of course... you guys don't care about that, do you?"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Memory-T shouted using the loudest tone of voice he had ever used. "PEACE BETWEEN US WAS NEVER AN OPTION!"

Cancer, for once, had to admit he agreed with that. "True... those who cling to useless existence will never be able to understand..."

Cancer and his monsters became even more ferocious as they began their next charge of attack. "I WILL TURN THIS WORLD INTO A MONUMENT TO NON-EXISTENCE!"

The scream of the horde after that was the most horrendous thing any of them had ever heard.

And after that chaos took over the battlefield.

Multiple macrophages suffered similar fates to their companions.

Others were dragged away in the direction of where Cancer was building its new lair.

Neutrophils and Killer T Cells fared no better.

Biomass.

Biomass.

Biomass.

Just what these hungry cells needed...

And there was so much to get here...

They would give their enemies the same fate they had reserved for bacteria and viruses.

Revenge was a dish served cold and with a delicious spice of irony.

As the battle continued, the numbers of cancer cells continued undiminished.

"Damn...damn damn damn damn damn!" Memory-T began to feel that which his kind once made Cancer feel when he was first born.

Horror.

If they kept fighting like this the body's defenses would be brutally decreased...

But if they stopped fighting, this world would be lost...

But...

They wouldn't really give up fighting...

It would be just an unforeseen event against which a strategic measure had to be taken.

" R-R-R-Retreat..." He still found it hard to believe he had to say such a thing.

U-1146 turned to look at him as if he had lost his mind. "W-W-What did you say?"

"I said... RETREAT! IT'S NOT A JOKE! IT'S TIME TO WITHDRAWN!"

The few T-cells and macrophages that had still continued with active fighting spirit lost it after hearing that.

And everything went to hell.

"RETREAT!"

It was something no white cell wanted to hear in their life.

They were the protectors of this world, which implied an extreme responsibility of having to take care of it.

However, in the end, it was better to lose a battle than to lose the war.

There was something off.

It was something she could sense.

At first LM-4321 simply attributed the sensation to a possible simple illness.

Even with the best quarantine applied to the body it was statistically impossible for them not to get sick at least once, so she and her neuron siblings simply assumed it was one of the many problems that had plagued them in recent times.

After all, it didn't feel as bad as that extreme heat wave or the literal hemorrhaging they suffered when an explosion passed them nearby did.

But there was something that eventually became distinct.

After days where they had trouble executing the breathing command while trying to sleep... came the days when the pain sensors directly affected the chest area.

That was why, without wasting any time, the neurons of the parent entities of this body were asked by them to visit the hospital as quickly as possible.

She had wanted it to be something simple that required medicine.

But seeing herself in the mirror, it was no surprise to her that UA-3846 ran out of the brain.

"I will seek out whatever is hurting you and destroy it! I'm going to protect you!"

At first she had only expected their separation to be a few hours or maybe a day...

But as a saying went.

If you want to make a god laugh, tell them your plans.

U-4989 cut a cancer cell with its fast attack stance as many times as his body was able to.

U-2626 doing exactly the same thing by his side.

Both had received the same command.

No need to kill the cancer cells, just focus on buying time so that everyone could retreat to the heart entrance and then decide what to do.

And that's because with these weapons these things didn't seem to die no matter how deep the wounds they got anyway, so simply wounding them multiple times and making them feel pain was the best way to push back their advance.

"Damn, when is this all going to end!" U-2626 watched in horror as his knife was finally unable to keep cutting and broke.

"That's what I'd like to know!" U-4989 quickly passed him a spare one he always had as he prevented one of those demons from biting him by piercing his mouth with the other knife.

"Mass... mass... mass... mass."

The cursed chant that these demons kept using kept unnerving the white cells.

A cut in the direction of an eye.

Another cut in the direction of a leg.

Even the most lethal wounds that would have knocked out any bacteria or virus they had encountered were of little use against these things that regenerated at monstrous speed.

It was then that they saw other group of white cell soldiers approaching from behind the horde they were fighting.

They jumped high and hit the enemy from behind but did not bother to deliver the possible coup de grâce.

U-1146 was the one who addressed them. "THAT'S ALL OF US, WE'VE GOT TO GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE."

Memory-T "Cancer Prime is following us too closely, staying alone would cause more unnecessary casualties!"

U-4889 nodded quickly. "No time to waste." He then began assisting a macrophage who had lost her entire arm and was still in extreme pain to walk.

"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!" The cancer demon's roars of fury were heard deep in the long hallway where a few hours ago red cells had transited.

The monsters, hearing the voice of their leader, decided to go back to meet up with him and make the army stronger

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE." U-1146 shouted in desperation.

However, one thing that became apparent after several steps... was that U-2626 was not moving.

He was instead looking straight ahead.

Being able to observe his eyes was no easy task so his intentions were unclear.

"U-2626! What are you doing, let's go!"

"Cancer is not going to stop trying to eliminate us... his monsters must already be making their nest in this place, but he certainly won't hesitate to come looking for us to consummate his revenge... the white blood cells need more time to organize the defense outside the heart and the eventual caravans."

"Convoys?"

"This organ has to keep working... and I honestly doubt we can defeat Cancer fast enough... this is going to be a long time coming... so go ahead." U-2626 removed the hair blocking his eyes and gave the sharpest killer stare of any neutrophil. "I'll buy you all the time you need."

"No... you can't! You'll die!" U-4989

"Isn't that my purpose? Even if my body collapses and my mind is destroyed... my mission is to save this world from destruction... and the timer is counting down..." U-2626 himself was surprised at what he had said.

He must have spent a lot of time with the basophiles.

"But... I'm still a neutrophil... if I have to offer my life in order to allow the strongest to save this world... then I will do it without hesitation!"

"GO! I WILL STOP HIM!" and with that, U-2626 began to run in the opposite direction.

Among several other neutrophils who had heard the speech of one of the neutrophil general decided to follow his example.

Memory-T was dumbfounded.

How was it possible that they had allowed the situation to become so dangerous as to require a sacrifice even though the infection was still in its earliest stages?

"What is this?" Cancer wondered, crossing all his arms in sarcastic mode. "You people don't interest me...you're just troops they send out to die in the millions, you're little less than a waste of my time."

U-2626 readied his knife "We don't have to win...we just have to make sure you don't either."

Cancer began to laugh. "And how do you intend to stop me?"

U-2626 simply raised his left fist...

And then plunged his knife all over said hand using his right hand.

Cancer could state without a doubt that he had not seen that coming...

Followed by the general, multiple neutrophils began to perform the same action.

"What will that do?" Cancer ordered his demon cells forward.

U-2626 resisted through the pain and continued to make a long wound across his entire hand...

And then he and all his neutrophils advanced pointing their left fists towards their enemy.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

From which nets began to emerge.

"What a hell-aaaaaargh!"

The quantity of nets was so great that soon the entire corridor was covered with it, so the cancer troops found themselves impacting against the nets.

Neutrophil extracellular traps

Neutrophil extracellular traps or NETs are a DNA mesh enclosing histones and antimicrobial proteins released by neutrophils out of their essence into the extracellular space. These extracellular traps immobilize microbes, trapping them among antimicrobial agents, such as myeloperoxidase, elastase, proteinase 3, cathepsin G, lactoferrin, tryptase and gelatinase, among others.

"AAAAARGH, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS IS, BUT I'M STRONGER!"

Cancer and his demons began to advance, although more slowly.

U-2626 sighed... he had been trying to use the weaker version of this... in order to have a slim chance of survival... but it seems that was simply impossible.

He then removed the knife from his hand and pointed it at another part of his body, the others following suit.

"DON'T LET HIM ADVANCE! WE MUST SEAL HIM!" U-2626 began to grunt in pain as the very mass of his body began to be used for net production. "FOR THE FUTURE!"

All the other neutrophils shouted in unison. "FOR THE FUTURE!"

And then all of them stabbed themselves into the nucleus.

The nets increased in and they became even thicker.

U-2626 screamed in extreme pain... as his body began to "melt".

However...

He smiled...

He had sent hope... into tomorrow...

Cancer and all his demons tried to use their many arms to break through the nets that held them immobile.

The neutrophils did their best to cling to the cancer cells so that all their material was transformed into nets on top of them.

"GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Cancer screamed at the top of his lungs as he was engulfed in a giant ball of netting.

Suicidal NETosis

The neutrophil nucleus loses its shape and chromatin decondensation during NETosis. The membrane and nucleus particles then disintegrate and mix together, releasing them to the outside of the cell. Apart from neutrophils, other immune cells, such as basophils, eosinophils, mast cells, and macrophages, may also generate this web‐like structure but it's unknown.

As U-2626's mind dissolved, he could only pray what he had done with his life was meaningful… and may his death be the beginning of the end for this demon's plan.

Fuck... I didn't think it would take me soooooooo long to get the next part of this out...

I'm not going to lie, laziness on my part was partly responsible, but it was also the fact that for my other fic I wrote chapters of around 10000 words and I barely got any reviews... and the few I got were mostly people saying they didn't like what I wrote.

With that kind of stuff I didn't feel motivated to write much...

However, I am a man of my word and so I tell you: this story is not going to die.

Truth be told, U-2626 was not the character I originally intended to show Suicidal Netosis with but as I thought about how to justify there being time to be able to respond to the threat of heart cancer only this seemed to make sense to me.

I first saw the concept of Netosis it in the fic Hearts & Minds, if you haven't seen it it's a masterpiece and it's already complete so you don't have to wait 6 months for a useless author like me to update for you.

There is another defense mechanism that is made from the very essence of a cell which I plan to show later.

Cancer is obviously not dead, but it will take him a while to escape from there... but yes, they didn't manage to trap all the cancer cells, just that now Cancer can't give them direct orders.

Regarding our protagonist and his neuron friend, I plan to write more scenes of them as flashbacks that she will have as the infection progresses.

I guess the only good thing about it having been so long is that I've practically got all the concepts of the fic planned out.

I'd say there's one more chapter to go without our prota.

I also discovered somebody made a fanart of this fanfic: hashiko15 from deviantart, who drew UA-3846 back then during December of 2023. Go give them a star!

Talking about years, I hope you're having a nice new one because I certainly I'm having mixed results so far. At least in theory I will get me a job the moment I'm out of university... but still, a lot of stuff is troubling me.

Anyway, once more I appologize and I hope you're still willing to read this fic.