Alex Thorne's brain was a circus, and the neural implant was the ringmaster. Ever since Dr. Zoltan zapped him with that glowing toaster-thing, he could pull any skill off the internet—parkour, hacking, even juggling (until the pancakes caught fire). But keeping it secret was trickier than sneaking past Eclipse Academy's laser traps. Nobody could know, especially not his new Shadow Squad teammates: Mia, Jax, and Lila. And now, a glowing blue text box flickered in his vision, like a video game only he could see:
SYSTEM PROMPT: Mission Unlocked! Objective: Steal The Whisper's data drive before Shadow Squad secures it. Reward: Unlock 'Stealth Mastery' skill. Failure: Stuck with 'Beginner Yoga' for a month.
Alex nearly choked on his protein bar. Steal from his own team? The system was playing dirty. He was in a stealth van with Shadow Squad, speeding toward a bustling city market to take down The Whisper, a sneaky info broker working for Vortex, the evil mastermind and ex-Eclipse student. The school's mission was clear: grab the data drive, stop the leak. But the system's rogue mission? That was a loyalty gut-punch.
"Yo, Alex, you okay?" Mia asked, tinkering with a drone that looked like a soup can with wings. Her neon-pink hair glowed under the van's dim lights. "You're staring like you saw a ghost."
"Just… strategizing," Alex lied, his implant pulling How to Lie Convincingly from a shady blog. His face still screamed "guilty." Mia squinted but went back to her gadget.
Jax, sprawled across two seats, cracked his knuckles. "Hope this Whisper dude's ready for a Tank special." He mimed a punch, nearly toppling a gear bag. "Bam! Intel secured."
Lila, cleaning her sniper rifle with surgical calm, rolled her eyes. "Try not to punch the mission into a coma, Jax." Her voice was dry, but Alex's crush-addled brain heard poetry. He tried to say something cool, but his implant glitched, flashing Top 10 Pickup Lines. He clamped his mouth shut before "Is your name Wi-Fi? 'Cause I'm feeling a connection" escaped.
The van screeched to a stop near the market, a neon-lit maze of stalls selling everything from knockoff watches to glowing street food. Holographic ads flickered overhead, and drones zipped through the crowd. Their handler, Professor Grimshaw, barked over comms: "The Whisper's selling a drive with Eclipse intel. Blend in, grab it, don't blow your cover. Thorne, don't sneeze."
Alex winced. His megaphone-sneeze fiasco still haunted him.
The squad split up. Mia hacked market cams with her soup-can drone, Jax posed as a tourist buying a comically large hat, and Lila perched on a rooftop, scope trained on the chaos. Alex's job: recon. His implant pinged Urban Stealth Tutorial, and he slunk through the crowd, dodging vendors hawking "genuine" spy gadgets.
SYSTEM PROMPT: Target spotted. Guy with knockoff watches, stall 17. Move fast, Brainiac.
Alex's heart raced. Stall 17 was a mess of cheap watches and shady vibes. The Whisper, a wiry guy in a tacky trench coat, was haggling with a buyer, a tiny drive glinting in his hand. Alex's brain pulled Pickpocketing for Dummies, but the system's mission nagged: steal it before the squad. Guilt twisted his gut—he'd just joined Shadow Squad, and now he was sabotaging them?
He crept closer, using a stall's awning for cover. Mia's voice crackled in his earpiece: "Got eyes on him. Drone's ready to jam his comms." Jax chimed in: "Big hat, big win. I'm blending like a pro." Lila's calm voice cut through: "Alex, you're too close. Back off or you'll spook him."
Too late. The Whisper's eyes flicked toward Alex, narrowing. Alex's implant surged, downloading Street Magic Tricks 101. Before he could stop himself, his hands grabbed a scarf from a nearby stall and started twirling it like a magician. "Lookie here, folks!" he blurted, drawing a crowd. The Whisper froze, confused, as Alex's scarf flourish "accidentally" knocked the drive to the ground.
"Thorne, what the hell?" Mia hissed over comms.
Alex dove for the drive, heart pounding. The Whisper lunged, but Alex's implant kicked in with Parkour Basics, sending him vaulting over a fruit cart. Oranges flew, vendors yelled, and Jax's voice boomed: "That's my boy! Chaos mode!"
The Whisper bolted, weaving through the crowd. Alex gave chase, his brain pulling Sprint Like an Olympian. He dodged a drone, slid under a noodle cart, and tackled The Whisper into a pile of knockoff sunglasses. The drive skidded across the pavement. Alex grabbed it, but the system blared: Secure it NOW. Don't let the squad take it.
Lila's sniper dot danced on The Whisper's coat. "Got him pinned," she said. "Alex, hand it over."
Alex hesitated, clutching the drive. The system's reward—Stealth Mastery—tempted him, but betraying Lila's trust? That hit harder. Jax charged in, his giant hat toppling a stall, and Mia's drone swooped, blasting static to block The Whisper's escape signal. In the chaos, Alex slipped the drive into his pocket, his implant faking Sleight of Hand.
"Got it!" Alex lied, holding up a decoy USB from his bag. Mia's drone scanned it, and she frowned. "That's… not the drive. Where's the real one?"
The Whisper smirked, thinking he'd won, but Alex's implant pinged Interrogation Hacks. "Where's your buyer?" Alex demanded, voice sharp. The Whisper, rattled, spilled: "Docks, midnight." Lila's shot grazed his coat, pinning him for capture.
SYSTEM PROMPT: Success! 'Stealth Mastery' unlocked. New Mission: Deliver the drive to an alley drop point tonight. Reward: 'Combat Reflexes.' Failure: You get 'Interpretive Dance.'
Alex's stomach dropped. Another rogue mission? He handed the decoy to Mia, keeping the real drive hidden. "Must've dropped it in the chase," he mumbled, hating himself.
Back at the van, Grimshaw chewed them out. "Sloppy, but you got a lead. Docks, midnight. Don't screw it up." The squad piled in, Jax crowing about his "epic hat distraction," Mia grumbling about her drone's static glitch, and Lila giving Alex a look that said, "I know you're hiding something."
As the van rolled back to Eclipse, Alex stared at the drive in his pocket. The system's missions were pushing him to betray his friends, and the academy's secrets—Zoltan, Vortex, experiments—were piling up. His implant buzzed with a stray wiki page: Victor Voss, codenamed Vortex, enhanced by unauthorized neural tech. Alex's throat tightened. Was he just another experiment?
SYSTEM PROMPT: Stop brooding, Brainiac. Alley drop, midnight. Don't choke.
Alex leaned back, the drive burning a hole in his pocket. He had to play both sides—Shadow Squad and the system—without losing himself. Or Lila's respect. Or his pancakes.