Huddled in the dark apartment, hours had passed by quickly, Douglas and Liz had been afraid to try and move either of their incapacitated teammates. Pirah had been steadily deteriorating, and that was before Glen started having what appeared to be seizures. Douglas’s training was not enough for something of this caliber.
They briefly discussed one of them making a run for the city, but Miles was not in good enough shape himself to help defend Pirah and Glen if they were found. They couldn’t leave behind a single person to protect three. The numbers just weren’t in their favor.
“Well, we’ve got to do something, my brother could be dying for all we know. Pirah hasn’t been lucid for more than a couple minutes at a time since the fight. If we wait, they might not make it to see morning.” Liz’s face was red as if she had been crying, but she did her best to conceal it.
Douglas couldn’t help but think about the fact that first Phenris had gone missing, now Glen was well… He wasn’t sure what was happening with Glen. Medically speaking, Glen was fucked. But that wasn’t a real diagnosis. Everything seemed fine one moment, then his best friend was leaking all over the place like one of the rusted old pipes that burst once a month back at home.
They had all heard Glen let out a panicked scream, but by the time they got to him he was already passed out. After that Douglas didn’t really know how to describe what happened to Glen over the next few hours. He has shook violently, he bled so fervently is soaked straight through his clothes, a dark substance had started to seep out of his skin, and then it was over. Mostly over at least.
The black goo had been sticking to everything like tar when Douglas had first tried to figure out what it was. It smelled rancid, as if food were rotting in the sun for weeks. Miraculously though, after the tar stopped coming from Glens pores and open wounds, the cuts started to close.
The process wasn’t very visible, until they started cleaning him up. However, once they got Glen moved off the bed and stripped to prevent infection the change was spotted almost at once by Douglas. The skin on Glen’s arms and legs began to seemingly knit itself back together. The healing didn’t stop there, all the old scars from years of training were vanishing.
First slowly, but then at an increasingly alarming rate. None of the old medical journals they found had ever described something like this. Even the little metal insects he had seen illustrations of took entire days, not hours, to repair damage like what he was seeing. The one thing that scared Douglas was where all the fresh skin was coming from. Glen seemed to have lost weight throughout the last couple of hours, Glen was lean before, but he was quickly becoming a skeleton compared to how he normally carried himself.
“I don’t think he is dying Liz. Look at him. If anything, he might be the healthiest one here after the beating we all took. Hell, I’d like to be bit by whatever got him. The first part looked terrifying, but if I can come out looking that smooth, I’d call it a pretty even trade.” He was doing his best to brighten her mood, but Douglas could tell Liz wasn’t buying the fake enthusiasm he was putting on.
Miles watched from where he had made himself comfy again, he didn’t really know either Glen or Pirah too well. Glen had always been the annoying little brother to his Captain, and Pirah had always been the girl Glen was seeing that ‘definitely nobody knew about.’ Now they had laid there both one foot in the grave not even ten feet away from him. He could see the grief it brought Liz, but he was still trying to come to terms with the idea that two of his closest friends were dead.
Jordan and Bryan’s death weighed heavily on Miles. He could appreciate the sacrifice they had both made, but it seemed so senseless. They were taken so quickly he hadn’t had time to come to terms with them being gone before the next emergency had them rushing off, only to end up stuck here.
‘When this is over, I am taking some time off. I can’t do this anymore.’ Miles thought silently to himself, knowing even as he said it that it was a lie. He could not abandon his people, he could not less all their loss be for nothing. He would become strong enough to avenge his fallen brother and sister in arms.
This trip had cost them all, some more than others, but no one came out unscathed. The most any of them could do is wait and see what the morning would bring. The group of survivors did their best to remain as still and silent as possible after Glen had stopped thrashing about, they didn’t want to imagine what kind of creatures could have been attracted by the noise.
Movement could be heard outside, shuffling heavy footsteps passing by until they faded into the distance. There was sound of glass being shattered in one of the nearby buildings, metal screeched as it was pulled apart. A door forced open? This is why Greenmen never left the tower after dark, an entirely different world came to life when the sun set.
The night was long and chilly, when the fire died down nobody had bothered to build it back up. They were afraid, unashamedly and completely afraid. Any little movement could be the last straw to give their position away to the creatures that lurked in the dark. They knew now more than ever, it wasn’t just the rampant that stalked the streets of their long abandoned city.
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That’s why everyone jumped with shock when Glen sat up quickly and started coughing loudly. He vomited more of the black goo out that had been slowly choking him. Douglas dove at Glen, doing his best to cover his mouth and quiet him. When his coughing fit came to an end, Douglas released him.
Glen’s voice was coarse, and he let out a pained groan before whispering, “If that’s your definition of ‘success,’ I’d really hate to see what you think a failure looks like… Stupid damn AI.”
He slowly lowered himself back in to the bed, his breathing shallow but getting steadier with each breath. Liz and Miles crept over to get a better view. Glen opened his tired eyes and looked back at them questioningly.
“What? You guys act like you just saw a ghost. I mean, I was only mostly dead. Apparently.”
“Apparently?” Douglas and Liz asked at the same time.
Glen looked between the two of them appraisingly, and just for a moment thought he understood the spark between them. He let that thought drift by as he cleared his throat again. He almost started talking before remembering Pirah. Looking over he saw her laying still in the bed, breath coming short. Now was not the time to play. The longer they were out here, the more complications could keep coming up. He needed to get them home.
“There is a lot we have to talk about.” Glen said while making a motion with his hand and pulling up his screen to show the others. At least, that is what he had in mind. He was confused when nothing happened. No projection appeared before him, the others were looking at him as if he had hit his head when he was flailing about before.
“AI, are you there?” Glen started speaking through his thoughts out loud, “I don’t really know what to call you... Can you reply please so I know I have not gone crazy?”
“Yes (User), I am here. The assimilation was a success, in that all the foreign lesser nanites in your body have been eliminated. Left unchecked with many of them having conflicting means of achieving their goals, you would have been killed. We did however suffer heavy losses.”
Glen could feel the deep breath coming as he prepared himself for the bad news, “How heavy are the losses and what does that mean for me?” He was doing his best to understand all the physical and spiritual changes that were happening to his body, but everything was coming at him so rapidly he couldn’t make heads or tails of his situation. He slipped in one more last minute comment, “My name is Glen by the way, you don’t have to keep calling me (User).”
While Glen was talking with the voice in his head, everyone around him watched in horror as they believed their team captain had lost his mind. No one could blame him after all, the guilt of leading an expedition that lost people so quickly. It was enough to break even the most hardened Greenmen team leader. That though, was not what was happening here.
“It is nice to meet you, (User Glen). As far as losses, almost all critical functions are offline while the host, that is you, is used to rebuild us. The good news is we have the bodies from the foreign nanites, they will be repurposed and brought back online. This can take between several days and several weeks. My calculations are off based on reduced numbers. When sufficient nanites are returned to the swarm my abilities will be restored.”
“Great, I love that. Things just keep getting better around here.” Glen to his credit had kept his composure up until this point, but with someone he cared about in such a terrible state nearby his patience was wearing thin. “The construct I spoke with said that they ‘hijacked’ you as a method of integrating The System in to me. Do I have access to The System?”
“Yes. I am The System, and The System is me. Any changes that have been made to your body are permanent, I am simply an interface designed to let your brain comprehend Concepts beyond your current rank of advancement. I am but an intermediary, once your mind and spirit grow you will be able to access your screens without the need to use me at all.”
“Mmhmm, Mhmm. Got it. Is there anything you can do for me right now, in this moment, so that my team mates can stop staring at me?” It was hard not to become snarky with the AI as it spoke so matter-of-factly, while also somehow not being helpful in any way.
“Yes. I can delay more critical functions to prioritize an optical projection that will allow you and others to view your interface. Is this the action you would like me to take?”
“For the love of everything sacred, yes!” In his frustration Glen began to raise his voice again without realizing it. He didn’t notice in time to stop Douglas from clamping a hand over his mouth again.
“Alright Buddy, I know you have had a hard day. We all have. But you’re talking a little bit crazy, and I am just gonna help you lie back down now.” Saying that Douglas did his best to get Glen back down where they could restrain him and put this madness to an end. Clearly the poison that had knocked him out earlier was still affecting him, and the team couldn’t afford to allow Glen to draw the rampant to them while loudly spewing nonsense.
Normally Douglas’s grip would have been too much for Glen to break, but he found himself pealing the hand off of his mouth. The look of astonishment was clear on everyone’s face. Weakened as he was, Glen shouldn’t have been moving at all, let alone overpowering someone much larger than himself.
A notification dinged in Glen’s head, “Done. I had predicted this outcome and had begun the optics construct before you woke. Construction time was uncertain, it was deemed unnecessary to inform you. A large percentage of the remaining nanites in your body were used for this purpose, significantly increasing time until working at full capacity.”
Without any additional input a hazy projection began to form in front of the group. A light shade of purple over his eyes was the only sign that the projection was coming from Glen at all. The projection began to become more solid over the next few seconds and everyone could see Glen’s stat sheet for the first time.
Name: Glen Lovec
Age: 22
Race: Human (Sol Variant)
Class: Initiate Runner
Level: 1 (XP to level 2 0/100)
Base Stat: Totals
Strength: 9 (+2). 11
Dexterity: 11 (+3). 14
Vitality: 12 (+3). 15
Endurance: 15 (+5). 20
Intelligence: 11(+2). 13
Spirit: 1 (+0). 1
Modifiers:
AI Assisted (+2 Intelligence per level)
Nano-Augmentation (+/level varies. +2 Str, +3 Dex, +2 Vit, +2 End)
Steel-borne Bloodline (Stolen, reduced effect. +1 Vit, +3 End)
Skills:
Active Skills
1. [Momentum] Once you begin running you build Momentum Stacks, making an attack converts all stacks of Momentum to a damage multiplier on your target. Higher instances deal larger amounts of damage.
2. N/A
3. N/A
4. N/A
5. N/A
Passive Skills
1. [Energized] You will never lack stamina; you recover from fatigue at an increased rate.
2. N/A
3. N/A
4. N/A
5. N/A
“Well, alright then. I am gonna be honest, I did not see that coming.” Miles said while everyone else stared on in awe.