The door buzzed once. Then twice. Then—
BAM BAM BAM.
"Bro, chill! This ain't a raid!" Orion called out, tossing a cushion at the door.
Rin barged in anyway, grinning like she had just cracked a conspiracy. She wore mismatched socks, carried a backpack that looked like it had seen war, and immediately plopped onto the beanbag like she owned it.
"Yo!" she shouted into the apartment. "Where's the food, the host, and the playlist? Prioritize in that order."
"Help yourself," Orion said, gesturing toward the kitchen. "I made frozen pizza—super gourmet."
Cassandra Reed—aka Cas—walked in behind her, graceful as usual, but with that 'I've survived two night shifts and a caffeine detox' energy. She gave Orion a nod and helped herself to a slice without asking.
Goodwin, or just G, followed them in, carrying two cans of soda like they were sacred offerings.
"Thought y'all might need hydration after Rin starts a five-hour rant about government lizards," he said, handing one to Orion.
"First of all," Rin said, already halfway through her slice, "they're not all lizards. Some of them are AI constructs wearing human skin. Keep up."
Cas snorted. "You need to switch to decaf."
"Ri's brain runs on chaos and 200 theories per second," G added. "But I respect it."
Orion flopped onto the floor, using his controller as a pillow. "Also, why is your nickname 'Ri'? It's literally just two letters."
"It's short and sweet. Like me," she said, sticking out her tongue. "Besides, everyone else gets cool nicknames. G sounds like a hacker. Cas sounds like a sci-fi agent. And Orion sounds like he belongs on a space throne."
"That's just my legal name," Orion shrugged.
"Still sounds cool. Meanwhile I got 'Ri.' Like... reee."
"REEEE," G echoed dramatically.
They all burst out laughing, the kind that made your ribs hurt a little and your brain feel just light enough to forget the world outside.
For a minute, everything felt normal.
Then Cas raised an eyebrow. "So, anyone else losing sleep over our messed up major choices or is it just me?"
Orion rolled over, face half-buried in the carpet. "Astrophysics and Combat, baby."
"I'm telling you," Rin said, pointing with her crust, "whoever came up with that combo either wanted us to die smart or shoot aliens in style."
G sipped his soda. "That's why I took Neural Research. I'd rather study dreams than dodge plasma bullets."
"Fair," Cas said, stretching her legs. "But it's not like we had many choices. After the Collapse, the Academy just went full chaos mode—mash up knowledge and survival skills. Everyone's a hybrid now."
Orion sat up, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, 'learn to fight while studying black holes' is a weird syllabus vibe, but I kinda dig it. Makes me feel like I'm in a sci-fi anime."
Cue another turn toward the invisible camera.
"Also, for you people watching—yeah, you—we're not making this up. This is legit the world now. School ain't about essays and pop quizzes. It's about surviving the radiation zones while calculating space-time curvature. Good luck to your standardized tests."
Just then, the door creaked open again.
"Smells like fake cheese and friendship in here," Leah said, dropping her bag by the door.
"Sup, Mini-O," Rin said with a wink.
Leah narrowed her eyes. "Still taller than you."
"Rude."
Leah high-fived Cas, nodded at G, then walked up to Orion and poked his forehead. "Hey, did you finish calibrating the Nexus drive?"
Orion blinked. "...Since when do you even know about that?"
Leah raised an eyebrow. "I live with you. You talk in your sleep. Also, your terminal's not password protected. Rookie move."
Cas smirked. "She got you there."
Rin leaned forward. "Wait wait wait—what even is the Nexus Drive?"
Leah grinned, already enjoying this.
Orion sat up properly and gave a tired sigh. "Alright, history lesson, but fun edition."
He pointed to the ceiling like he was giving a TED talk to the roaches.
"Once upon a time—like five or six years ago—all the big organizations and remnants of governments started building something called the Nexus Network. Think of it like a global web of energy points, tech nodes, and data conduits that connected every lab, outpost, bunker, and research station."
Cas picked up where he left off. "The idea was to create a shared space—high-speed data, tactical links, power generation, combat coordination—all of it. But it was built around these high-radiation cores."
"Super smart," Rin said, rolling her eyes. "What could go wrong?"
"Exactly," Orion said, throwing up his hands. "Then the Collapse hits. Tsunamis, quakes, EMPs. Half the outposts get wiped, and the surviving nodes? Overloaded. Couldn't handle the power or the radiation anymore."
Cas leaned back. "And then boom—massive radiation surges spreading out like wildfire. Thousands of miles across continents. Whole zones just... glowing death."
Leah crossed her arms. "But people survived, right?"
"Some," Orion said slowly. "But not unchanged."
Cue fourth wall break number two.
"Here's the part where it gets wild, folks. You'd think radiation just kills. And mostly, yeah—it does. But there were... exceptions. Mutations. Not your horror-movie ones. More like... upgrades."
He made finger quotes.
"People started showing signs. Increased reflexes, heightened perception, cognitive boosts. A few even developed dream-state control or energy manipulation. The world freaked out. Half the world wanted to weaponize it. The other half wanted to cure it."
G nodded slowly. "Hence, the Academy. Trains, observes, and quietly tracks anyone with Nexus exposure. Including, you know... us."
There was a silence. Not dramatic. Just thoughtful.
Rin broke it, obviously. "So, you're saying I might wake up with laser eyes one day?"
Orion laughed. "More like night vision and stress-induced telepathy, but sure, laser eyes sounds cool."
Leah raised an eyebrow. "So… you and Cas are messing with that drive to what—turn into superheroes?"
Cas gave a rare grin. "We're just checking stability protocols. But I wouldn't mind teleporting to skip morning lectures."
"Or teleporting away from cafeteria food," Rin added.
"Or teleporting into a nap," G said, eyes already half closed.
Orion stretched out on the floor again, arms behind his head. "We're not heroes. We're just a bunch of teens trying to understand a world that decided to glitch out."
Then, looking dead at the camera again: "And maybe, just maybe, we're the patch update it needs."
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