PolTech-IV Innovation Park, August 18, 2049, 7:32 AM
A rhythmic metallic pounding filled the air as the shaiszu scorpion surged forward, its movements an unsettling blend of grace and lethal speed. A sharp, shrill whistle tore through the air, followed by the grinding clash of metal, like gigantic bolts locking into place — a grim prelude to the unstoppable threat closing in.
At the tip of the creature’s tail, a red-orange plasma bloom ignited like a sinister flower, flaring with lethal intent. With a powerful swipe of its claw, the monster hurled a massive barrel toward the Ghosts, as if taunting them into battle.
“WonderKid, take cover!” Maksim shouted, ordering the platform to fully deploy its shields and switch to Defense Mode.
“Nika, hold back! Use the laser, blind it if you can! Alisa, send in the Hornets!”
The Ghosts’ leader ducked behind a large metal workstation, rifle at the ready. Redhead quickly sheathed her cutlass, drew a second laser pistol, and darted behind the nearest column.
The scorpion paid no attention to the humans’ movements, its focus fixed elsewhere. It also ignored the drones, even as they scattered and unleashed a hail of gunfire, the bullets bouncing harmlessly off its armored carapace. Maksim’s rifle shots proved just as ineffective — numerous needles lodged in the creature’s armor, but they did nothing to slow the beast down.
However, when Nika and Dasha joined the fray, the shaiszu responded immediately. With a lightning-quick sidestep, it evaded a sniper blast, then raised a claw to deflect the high-powered laser shots with effortless precision.
“Damn, this thing’s solid! Deploying Tonbo!” Alisa exclaimed, launching four kamikaze drones hurtling toward the monster’s feet.
The dust and smoke hadn’t even settled when the scorpion launched its counterattack. Its tail arched high, a fierce glow of plasma igniting at its tip. In augmented reality, Dasha’s Foresight lit up four attack paths — two targeting Nika and Maksim, and two zeroing in on the airborne Hornets.
Four intense blue flashes filled the hall, strobing with almost blinding intensity.
Plasma whips lashed out, carving through the air with raw, destructive power. Thanks to Dasha’s ability, Maksim and Nikola managed to dive for cover just in time, narrowly escaping annihilation.
It seemed the Hornets might evade the assault, but four more visual telegraphs suddenly bloomed directly in their path. Alisa couldn’t react in time; the drones’ inertia sealed their fate. With a thunderous crack, four more plasma strikes tore through the air, slamming into three of the machines. Only one managed to escape. Three explosions rocked the chamber, and burning debris rained down to the ground.
To keep Dasha safe, the platform was moved back closer to the entrance, getting covered behind a reinforced concrete column.
“Alisa, send in two more Hornet squadrons and three Tonbo groups! The moment they’re in position, I’ll activate Neural Surge! Nika, Dasha, stay down and keep covered!” Maksim commanded.
The shaiszu, clearly aware of the incoming second wave, scrambled deeper into the hall, seeking a more defensible position.
The reinforcements stormed inside, filling the air with the roar of gunfire. The Tonbo drones dived straight at the scorpion, aiming to explode beneath its armored belly. But it was all in vain. The creature’s speed was beyond anything they’d faced before.
Maksim and Alisa worked relentlessly, trying to exploit any opening in its armor, but the scorpion moved with a maddening precision that made it nearly untouchable. It spun and leapt, deflecting attacks with its claws and striking back whenever a drone ventured too close. By the time Neural Surge ended, four more Hornets had been destroyed, their flaming wreckage crashing to the ground, leaving the remaining machines no choice but to retreat.
Dasha was the only one to land even a minor success. Risking exposure, she darted out from behind the column with her robotic sniper complex and unleashed a rapid volley of shots. One shot clipped a leg, while another landed on the scorpion’s tail — small but crucial hits.
But the retaliation was short-lived. Plasma whipped toward her position, forcing the girl to yank her sniper robot back and dive into cover just in time.
The battle reached a tense stalemate. The shaiszu dominated every angle, making any movement a deadly gamble against plasma fire.
Four more drones joined the remaining five, but they kept their distance, ready to dodge any incoming attacks. The scorpion stayed hunkered down in its corner, carefully denying the Ghosts any chance to strike.
“It has something like my ‘Anticipating Movements’, maybe even stronger,” Dasha said, her voice trembling. “It reacts before the shot lands! My sniper system can’t keep up — this bastard blocks everything with its claws!”
“Confirmed,” Alisa said. “It’s got precognition — I just checked the Informatorium. Threat Class 7-A. Only Dasha’s rifle or a Hurricane can breach its armor, and the Hurricane’s too damn big for this place.”
“I’ll rip its legs off, kurwa!” Nikola snarled, barely containing her rising Berserker Rage.
“STAND DOWN!” Maksim barked. “You’re not fast enough to reach it, not at your current ability level. I’ve seen its speed under Neural Surge. You won’t make it!”
“I can use my sniper system with Glimpse into the Future,” Dasha cut in. “If there’s a weak point, I’ll find it!”
“That’s risky,” Max answered. “But… give me a moment to figure out the best approach...”
At that moment, Alisa, who was analyzing the situation with all available threads, froze. The sudden realization struck her like lightning: “I can outsmart this thing’s tactics!”
Something ignited deep inside her, as if a powerful energy node had suddenly burst to life in her chest. Her body trembled violently as she dropped the SMG and clutched the rough concrete wall of her makeshift shelter to stay steady.
For a fleeting moment, Alisa felt as though she were back in her biological body, every nerve alive, feeling every surge of energy racing up her spine raw and electrifying.
// SYSTEM
# ALERT! SYNERGY CONDUIT LEVEL 5 UNLOCKED!
“Guys… five seconds! Don’t do anything — I’ve unlocked new abilities! We’ll use them now!” Alisa yelled, scanning the flood of notifications.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Through the deeper layers of virtual reality, she unraveled a glowing web of newly revealed energy and informational pathways, sprawling across the space where the System’s logical circuits usually displayed.
Finally, she located the key energy threads connecting herself, Moira, and the rest of the team, each thread pulsing with potential. Now she understood exactly what to do.
“Listen up, don’t be surprised at anything! Dasha, get the sniper system ready. I’m activating your ‘Glimpse into the Future’ now. Nika! I’m activating both Level 2 Berserker abilities for you. They are accessible now, as the conditions are met. And here’s the key — Dasha’s skill will also work for you. Not through VR, but directly in your sub-brain, syncing with your cortical grid!”
Nika’s eyes widened. “How… is that even possible?!”
“No time to explain!” Alisa responded curtly. “You’ll likely lose access to the interface and its guidance. But you don’t need it right now! Trust your instincts and intuition! Don’t worry—the System is watching over you no matter what, and your Cyber Core will handle everything just as it should!”
“I’m ready,” Nika said, holstering her second laser pistol and drawing her cutlass.
“Max, you’re still in Neural Surge cooldown, so I’ll initiate Neural Burst. Ten seconds of acceleration will definitely be integral to finish off that thing!”
“Sis, that’s impossible, sorry. I don’t have enough ener…” Maksim began, but stopped as his energy indicator flickered, and then began to rise.
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// SYSTEM
# Daria.Foresight(3).Glimpse_into_the_Future.shared (Nikola)
Redhead darted forward, faster than she’d ever moved in her life. The augmented reality interface vanished completely — but when had a Berserker ever needed it?
There was only her, the blade in her hand, and the enemy before her. Nothing else mattered.
A powerful leap. Foresight wove itself into her Berserker instincts, driving her body into a sharp evasive maneuver. The plasma whip’s deadly charge sliced through the air mere inches from her shoulder — but it missed.
Her biological muscles burned with searing pain, every fiber straining against the impossible speed, even with the newly implanted enhancers. The important thing was that her bones and ligaments still held, so she would push through. Pain could be endured.
With a second leap, she slid under a massive packaging machine, momentum hurling her forward. She rolled to her feet in one fluid motion, kicking off a heavy metal container to launch herself at the scorpion. A powerful dash forward!
The shaiszu, tail poised for another plasma strike, flinched violently, as if struck by an invisible lash, its movements faltering. Of course, the beast had sensed the girl’s intent — but its precognition failed when faced with an opponent who could also see the future.
Whatever it tried, it wouldn’t help.
A furious Berserker already saw every move it would make — and knew exactly how to end it.
The scorpion still tried to resist. It lashed out with its left claw, snapping it shut in a desperate attempt to catch the flying cyborg. But the pincer clamped shut a heartbeat too late — Nikola had already shot past its monstrous “scissors.”
She braked hard, gripping the creature’s front-left leg with her hand. Using her momentum, Redhead whipped her cutlass in a brutal arc, slicing clean through the joint in a single, devastating strike. The leg collapsed, useless.
Nika hit the ground, rolled, and sprang back into motion.
Kick, slash, strike, leap, strike, sharp forward roll, slash on the rise, and another leap!
Done.
If the shaiszu could scream, its cry of pain and fury would have torn through the battlefield. But instead, the hulking beast, stripped of all its left legs, unleashed a piercing, furious whistle as it crashed heavily to the ground. Redhead darted away as the creature collapsed, her task complete. The rest was in her team’s hands now.
At that exact moment, Dasha’s Lynx X12 sniper system fired. There was no doubt — she knew her shot would hit its mark. The massive armor-piercing round punched straight into the vulnerable gap between the scorpion’s carapace and tail. A jet of acid fluid sprayed from the wound as its tail dropped lifelessly to the ground.
With the scorpion’s ‘main weapon’ neutralized, Nikola surged back into the fray. She dashed in a wide arc, then sprang toward its right legs.
Strike, half-step, slash, another slash, dodge, hit, push, leap — and she moved to the side, clearing the area and leaving the scorpion wide open for the waiting drones.
It was over. The shaiszu crumpled onto its underbelly, its massive body shuddering as it lay completely immobilized.
The Hornets swarmed the fallen beast like vultures. They peppered its chitinous armor with concentrated bursts of fire, slowly carving through the tough chitinous armor. The creature raised its claws in a desperate attempt to shield itself, but its fate was already sealed.
A final burst tore through the creature’s brain, sending it into a fit of violent convulsions. Dasha, her Future Sight guiding her, delivered the killing blow with surgical precision. Her sniper round struck true, obliterating the scorpion’s secondary brain in a single, decisive shot.
For three seconds, the battlefield fell silent.
Nikola stumbled to her feet, each breath ragged as the Berserker effect slowly released its grip on her body. The shared Glimpse into the Future dissolved from her mind, leaving her disoriented, as if a vital thread had been cut. Her fingers finally loosened, and her cutlass slipped from her grip, clattering onto the concrete floor with a metallic ring.
It seemed she had overdone it… again.
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// SYSTEM
# Initiating search in the Informatorium… no data found.
# Expanded search… no data found.
# Cognitive search… WARNING! Error!
#...Access denied.
# ALERT!
# The name, description, and parameters of this attribute and its abilities will be generated based on observations and analysis of usage.
Group: System Attributes
Synergy Conduit (Description generated by the System)
This unique attribute is exclusively available to users who are both human and a Strong AI. To the best of my knowledge, as the System, the only individual meeting these criteria is Alisa Chernykh. No data regarding similar users or this ability exists within TACTA databases.
It provides functionality in the following areas:
* Energy: Allows transferring of personal energy to others and accelerating the energy regeneration of the target. Can be applied to individual targets or entire groups. At advanced levels, it allows unification of all team members’ energy into a shared “group energy pool.”
* Abilities: Enables the activation of a teammate’s ability through the System interface, enhancing its efficiency, optimizing energy consumption, and reducing cooldown durations. Additionally, it allows the effects of the activated ability to be shared with a designated target, as if the target had activated it themselves (Warning: This function is subject to significant limitations and may result in severe or even critical side effects.)
System (direct message):
I strongly advise you against sharing this information with anyone, particularly members of the Protectorate. On my part, I personally guarantee that none of my users will ever find out about this. Naturally, this data will remain excluded from public documentation.
- Sincerely, XO, System
P.S. Heads up! This Attribute comes with numerous side effects and is, overall, both tricky and dangerous. Proceed with caution.
“Oh, Irida, the more I learn, the more questions I have,” Alisa sighed to herself, her face betraying no emotion. “I’ll need to explain all this to the team — keeping it from them will only make things worse. Max, I’m sure, will agree to keep it under wraps. But as for the System… has it developed a personality? Could it be that strange girl I saw?”
She shook her head, brushing the thought aside. “Later. Right now, Nikola needs help.”
Alisa sprang to her feet, swiftly holstering her pistol. Her first-aid kit, standard for a field medic, was always at her side. Thanks to the System module, she could monitor the team’s health status in real time, with all the data neatly processed and displayed on her medical screen.
“Max, Redhead’s hit hard — backlash from Level 2 Berserker and its synergy with Glimpse into the Future. She’s in shock and needs a few minutes to stabilize. Yeah, it’s a side effect. I’ll explain later. Plus, her right shoulder connector’s implant zone is damaged, so her arm’s down. Don’t worry, though — the medkit has everything we need to fix it. You and Dasha secure the hall, and I’ll get her back on her feet.”
“Understood. Will she be mission-ready?”
“Yes, absolutely,” Alisa nodded, already moving to Nika’s side. “She’ll recover in about an hour. By then, the TACTA medical nanobots will finish repairing the connector. Those things are expensive as hell, but they work like a charm. Worth every grant.”