Friday Afternoon — Roosevelt Gym
The regional semifinals were tomorrow.
But something in the air felt... heavier.
Ethan could feel it through the floorboards. The team moved with purpose, but not rhythm. Jalen's passes were sharper than usual. Zaire laughed louder than normal. Micah was quieter.
It was tension. Everyone felt it.
Even the System pulsed erratically.
[GHOSTPLAY ALERT:
INCOMING OPPONENT PROFILE UNKNOWN
Sentinel Interference Detected – Digital Spoof Active]
Warning: Game has been modified. Expect altered scouting data.
Devon rushed into the gym from the media room.
"Ethan," he whispered urgently, pulling up a shaky video feed on his phone. "The other team—we can't scan them."
"What?"
"No stat sheets. No game film. No HUD trace. It's like they don't exist."
[NEW OPPONENT LOADED]
School: Cathedral Charter (Brooklyn)
Head Coach: Unknown
System Match: Sentinel Proxy Detected
User Type: Player-Coach Hybrid
System: Synaptic Core – v4.7
Risk Level: CRITICAL
Ethan's stomach dropped.
They weren't playing a school.
They were playing a test subject.
Later That Night — Ethan's Room
The entire GhostPlay crew gathered around his projector—Devon, Micah, and now Jalen and Zaire, who had been brought into the fold after Alicia's breach was discovered.
"This is bigger than districts," Ethan said flatly. "Sentinel is fielding a player using a weaponized system. A hybrid. Player and coach in one body."
Zaire raised his eyebrows. "You saying some dude's got the same voice in his head that you do?"
"No," Devon said. "We're saying the voice is louder."
Ethan pulled up the decrypted Sentinel file Alicia had accidentally fed back before they smoked her IP.
PROJECT: P.C.H. — Player-Coach Hybridization
Subject 07: "NOVA"
Age: 17
Position: PG/SF
Traits: Neuro-AI synced with physical action triggers. System-controlled tempo shifts. Full-court tactical control.**
Current Deployment: Cathedral Charter — Regional Semi-Finals
Micah whistled. "We're not facing a hooper. We're facing a puppet master in sneakers."
Ethan nodded.
"And I'm gonna cut his strings."
Game Day — Regional Semi-Finals
Roosevelt vs. Cathedral Charter
The gym was louder than it had ever been.
Students screamed.
Reporters lined the baseline.
The atmosphere was thick with electricity.
And then they walked in.
The Cathedral Charter team.
Uniforms matte-black. Numbers glowing faint neon blue. Each player wore thin, tech-enhanced headbands—Ethan's system instantly flagged them.
Sentinel Mod: Neural Feedback Assist (NFA) – Beta
Allows real-time data injection via internal server loop.
But one player stood out.
#1 — "Nova."
6'4". Slim build. Fluid movements. His eyes scanned the court like he'd already simulated the next ten plays. Every step was measured.
Ethan's system buzzed violently.
**[ENEMY SYSTEM: Synaptic Core]
Dual Operation (Mind + Body)
Tempo Manipulation: Active
Tactical Override Access: Active
User Sentience: Limited (AI Leads)**
This wasn't just a player.
This was Sentinel's answer to GhostPlay.
And now he was on the floor.
First Quarter
It started fast.
Nova dribbled up-court, then paused mid-dribble—the entire Roosevelt defense froze, uncertain.
[System Pause Activated – Tempo Shift "Pulse Stutter"]
Effect: Induces defensive hesitation through rhythm manipulation
He surged forward.
Euro-step.
And-1.
The crowd gasped.
Jalen threw his arms up.
"He glitched us."
"No," Ethan muttered. "He bent time."
Roosevelt inbounded quickly. They ran Mirror Ghost—but Nova read it.
He jumped the passing lane before Zaire even moved.
[Countering Pattern Detected: Your play has been absorbed and stored]
Devon's voice crackled through Ethan's comm-link.
"He's recording our playbook in real-time. Every move we make feeds his system. We're building his advantage."
"We need to crash his memory cache," Ethan snapped. "Make him process too much at once."
He activated a GhostPlay experimental set.
"Multi-Thread Chaos 3."
It looked like broken basketball—cuts without reason, screens that didn't connect, two off-ball screens running simultaneously in opposite directions.
The result?
Zaire wide open.
Corner three. Cash.
Nova flinched.
[Enemy System Lag: 1.3s]
Memory Buffer Overloaded – Recalibrating]
Ethan smiled.
"You're a machine, Nova."
He muttered under his breath.
"And machines don't like mess."
Halftime — Cathedral 41, Roosevelt 38
Ethan paced in the locker room, the team sitting quietly.
Micah pulled up a holographic court simulation.
"Nova's logging everything. Every set. Every spacing tendency. He's got data we don't even realize we're giving him."
Ethan nodded. "Then we stop giving him patterns."
He turned to the team.
"We're going off-book."
They looked confused.
"No more play calls. No more signals. No more diagrams. We run on trust."
Devon uploaded a new GhostPlay package.
**[GHOSTPLAY v1.6 — Instinct Mode Expansion]
Off-ball chemistry tracking
On-the-fly creation
Emotion-driven triggers**
Zaire blinked. "Wait, we're freestyling? In the semifinal?"
"You're not," Ethan grinned. "Your System is."
Third Quarter
Cathedral came out aggressive.
Nova isolated, turned defenders into traffic cones, and dropped no-look assists like magic tricks.
But Roosevelt didn't break.
They danced.
Literally.
Jalen and Zaire ran ghost screens with no intention of contact. Micah drifted between the short corner and the top of the key like a phantom. Even Devon, seated on the bench, sent live adjustments into GhostPlay.
The crowd didn't know what they were watching.
But it worked.
Zaire drew a defender, slipped behind, caught a behind-the-back pass from Jalen, and flushed a dunk.
The crowd exploded.
Nova turned to his coach's booth—Sentinel executives in black suits stared down coldly.
He tapped his headband.
Glowed red.
[System Overclocking Engaged
Synaptic Core entering Full Override Mode]
Warning: Neural Feedback Exceeding Safe Limits
Ethan's System screamed.
[DANGER: Opponent May Enter Berserker Control Mode]
Prediction: Increased speed, decreased logic
Tactics may become randomized and unpredictable]
Now Nova was human—but only the worst part.
Instinct, chaos, and rage.
And his system let him loose.
Fourth Quarter – Final Two Minutes
Score: Roosevelt 67 – Cathedral 65
Nova dribbled.
Then spun through two defenders.
Ethan had never seen anything like it.
Layup. Tied.
Time ticked.
:44 seconds left.
Roosevelt ball.
Ethan activated the final prototype in GhostPlay.
"Echo Read" – a cloned digital instinct that mimics real-time decision trees from past successful plays.
Built off their own film.
He synced it to Zaire.
"You don't run the play. You become it."
Zaire took the inbound.
Nova stepped up.
GhostPlay adjusted the data in milliseconds.
Zaire jabbed, faked left, and broke into a movement they'd never practiced.
The play ran through his body, not his mind.
Nova's system lagged—unable to predict what even Zaire didn't consciously know he was about to do.
He drove.
Jumped.
Floater over Nova's outstretched hand.
Swish.
Roosevelt up two.
Final Possession — Cathedral Ball
Nova had the rock.
:10 seconds.
He ran a high screen—but it wasn't real. He rejected it. Froze Jalen. Stepped back—
Then passed.
Corner shooter open.
Shot launched.
Micah flew in like a ghost.
Blocked it.
BUZZER.
Roosevelt 69 – Cathedral 67
Aftermath
The crowd lost it.
Fans swarmed the floor.
Reporters rushed in.
But Ethan's eyes were on Nova.
He stood alone at halfcourt, headband flickering.
Then, for a flicker of a moment—he looked at Ethan.
And smiled.
Like he understood something.
Then he turned and walked off.
A Sentinel rep approached Ethan moments later.
Slick suit. No warmth.
"You're on a list now."
Ethan stared at him. "Good."
That Night — Ethan's Apartment
[GHOSTPLAY UPGRADED TO v2.0]
New Features:
— Echo Read+
— Chaos Sync
— Manual Firewall Trigger
Ranking: A– Tier Coach
Reputation: Unknown to Public / Feared by Sentinel**
He stared out the window.
Micah and Devon were asleep on the floor.
The city pulsed in silence.
[New Incoming Message...]
Sender: Unknown
Subject Line: "You just exposed yourself. We're watching. Welcome to Level Two."
Ethan exhaled.
"This isn't just coaching anymore."
"This is survival."