Adrian lingered in his cramped apartment. The city lights pulsed against his dark reflection in the window. The skyline was jagged against the horizon. A jungle of neon and steel sprawled out beyond the glass. His gaze was no longer focused on the city, but rather on his own eyes staring back at him. They were wider than they should have been. They looked unnaturally stretched and were gleaming with a faint cat-like sheen.
Predatory. The word clawed its way into his mind, unbidden, and sent a shiver down his spine. He pulled back from the window. His heart thudded. He rushed to the bathroom mirror to take a closer look. Studying the transformation, he noted his pupils were dilated and sharp. His eyes caught the dim light of his apartment and reflected it back to him like polished obsidian. His eyes have always been green. It was a shock to see them reflect no color. The system, nestled deep within him, stirred faintly as if pleased by his scrutiny.
"This is definitely real. This isn't just in my head," Adrian said to himself as he exhaled. His voice barely above a whisper. The air in the room felt heavy. It was charged with the weight of what he was becoming. He ran his trembling hand through his hair and called up the nanobot core overlay with a thought. The translucent interface shimmered into view as if projected directly into his mind's eye:
Nanobot Core – Status
Free Nanobots: 1,846
Available Upgrades:
Core Upgrade (Locked; higher thresholds required)
Strength Lvl: 1 Acquired
Speed Lvl: 1 Acquired
Intelligence Lvl: 1 Available
Healing Lvl: 1 Acquired
Senses Lvl: 1 Available
Replication Lvl: 1 Available [Description: ???]
His eyes lingered on Replication. That category stood out to him apart from the others. It was mysterious and had a requirement of 5,000 nanobots he didn't yet possess. Frustration flickered but he pushed it aside. There was no time for dwelling on what he couldn't have yet.
His attention settled on Senses. He could tell that already his instincts were sharper. The world appeared crisper to him. The system promised even more. Something deeper, something that would peel back the veil of the ordinary and expose the raw underbelly of the world. "Initiate senses upgrade," he commanded quietly, his voice steady despite the tremor in his chest.
A wave of heat surged through him, starting at the base of his skull and flooding outward. It burned behind his eyes, seared through his ears, and prickled across his tongue like a thousand tiny needles. For a moment, the overstimulation was blinding. Every light in his apartment bloomed into fractured halos in his vision. Their colors separated into prisms so bright and intense that it stung his retinas. The refrigerator's hum roared loud like a jet engine. A drip of the faucet thundered like a waterfall. His knees buckled, and he braced himself against the countertop, palms slick with sweat, panting as his body fought to process the sensory onslaught.
Then slowly the chaos calmed. His vision adjusted. His apartment was back to its regular gloom as though it wasn't shimmering like ten thousand diamonds only moments before. He began to notice a difference. Shadows that once cloaked corners now revealed their secrets to him. The faint outline of a spider weaving its web in the ceiling's corner. The dust motes drifting lazily in the air. He turned his gaze to the alley below. Where he used to see a murky blur of shapes now appeared vivid and clear.
Outside raindrops glistened brightly off trash bags. The surface reflecting the streetlamp. A cockroach skittered across the pavement. Its antennae twitching frenetically. The darkness no longer felt oppressive; it felt exposed, as if he could see what the darkness tried to hide.
Adrian laughed aloud quietly, the sound too sharp in his own ears. His hearing had changed. He would need to get used to that. Every sound was layered with new textures. Focusing just on sound he found he could pick out the grind of an old engine idling two blocks away and the muffled laugh track of a television sitcom playing in the apartment above. He could hear the low heated murmur of an argument taking place in the building next door.
He blinked, catching his reflection again in the window. His pupils flared, catching the light, and the faint glow of a predator's eyes stared back at him. Sharp and unyielding. "I'm not just stronger," he murmured, his voice low, almost reverent. "I'm different."
He thought he would be more afraid, but the change didn't bring fear. Instead it brought about a desire, a gnawing hunger. An insistent and relentless drive to keep going, keep pushing. To grow stronger, to become more. He grabbed his jacket from the back of a chair, the leather creaking under his grip, and slipped a spare black face mask into his pocket. The city called to him, its pulse thrumming in time with the nanobots in his veins.
He stepped out into the darkness. The streets were alive and chaotic. It was late on a weekend night. Drunken shouts echoed from a nearby bar. Voices slurred and raucous. On a street corner, two men argued, their words sharp and desperate sounding. Beneath it all, Adrian sensed a woven thread of tension, as if the city itself braced for a storm no one else could see coming.
He moved deeper into the quieter neighborhoods. In the neighborhoods the streets were narrower and the glow from neon lights had faded to nothing. This was an older road lined with crumbling brick buildings and rusty fire escapes. His new senses sharpened further with every step. He heard the faint clink of broken glass blocks away, the shards grinding under someone's boot.
He could smell the coppery tang of blood, faint but unmistakable being carried by the wind. It curled into his nostrils like a warning. His stomach clenched. Not with disgust of the smell of blood, but with a primal recognition that set his nerves alight. Adrian slowed, slipping into the shadows of an alley, his movements fluid and silent. The nanobots pulsed faintly within him, whispering guidance that wasn't there before, a subtle nudge, an instinct he couldn't quite name. Then he saw it.
At first he only saw one. A feral, crouched low in the shadows of an abandoned apartment building. Its silhouette jagged against the faint glow of a streetlamp. It was hunched over something. Its movements were erratic as it appeared to be tearing at its meal. Adrian hoped it was an animal. Blood smeared the feral's chin. Adrian inched forward, his heart steady, a quiet power rising in his chest. His hand brushed the grip of the pistol holstered at his hip, but he didn't draw it. Not yet. The nanobots thrummed, urging him to test his new body, to rely not on weapons but on the strength coursing through him.
A scrape of gravel sounded to his left. Adrian snapped his head toward it, his senses flaring. Another feral moved in the darkness, circling, crouched low like a predator stalking prey. Its eyes glinted faintly, reflecting the dim light, and its fingers twitched with restrained violence. Not mindless, not random, it was hunting. Working with the first, not against it. A coordinated attack.
Adrian's pulse spiked with exhilaration. Two of them. A real test. His fists curled slowly, his stance shifting low, knees bent, muscles coiled. The nanobots hummed like fire in his veins, eager for the clash. His lips peeled back into the faintest smile, sharp as a blade. This time was different. This time, they were the prey.
The first feral raised its head as soon as Adrian moved. Blood across its mouth in sticky ropes. Eyes glowed faintly. Like Adrian's own predatory sheen. The feral's lips parted, revealing teeth jagged from gnashing, and it hissed, a low, guttural sound like a snared cat. The second feral, still in the shadows, crouched lower, fingers splayed on the ground, knees bent like a sprinter waiting to hear the starting gun. Adrian heard the raspy and rapid breathing. Animalistic and raw, the ferals appeared to be waiting for something, sizing him up. They looked like they were studying him.
The realization hit him like a jolt. They're not as mindless as they look. The thought sent a thrill through him, sharpening his focus. His hand drifted away from his pistol, the weight of it suddenly feeling like a crutch. Something deep inside, something dangerous and primal, whispered against it. Don't. Not this time. Test yourself. Feel what you've become. He let his hand fall, flexing his fists until his nails bit into his palms. The pain grounded him, fueling the fire in his chest. He stepped deliberately toward the ferals.
The first feral shrieked an unnatural sound that sliced through the night, and lunged. The second followed a heartbeat later. Their movements were somehow synchronized with uncanny precision. A pincer strategy designed to overwhelm. Adrian's new senses flared. The world slowed to a crawl as his pupils widened, swallowing the dim light until his irises all but vanished. He sidestepped the first feral, twisting his body as the rush of air from its claws sliced past his cheek close enough to feel the near miss of it. The second was on him instantly, hands grasping for his throat, nails like dull knives.
Adrian caught its wrists mid-lunge. The feral's claws scraping against the leather of his jacket. It snarled, its breath rank and sweet with blood and decay. A sudden lunge brought its forehead toward his face in a brutal headbutt attempt, but Adrian shifted just enough, taking the impact on his temple. Pain flared, white-hot, but he didn't falter. Instead, he shoved, twisting the creature's arm until it snapped with a wet crack. The feral shrieked, a wild, piercing sound, but it didn't recoil. It clawed at him with its good arm, nails raking across his cheek. Warm blood pooled, trickling down his jaw. He could feel the nanobots buzz beneath his skin. They were already knitting his wound closed while he was still in the fight.
The first feral slammed into his back, claws digging into his shoulders. The weight of the impact drove him to one knee. Teeth sank into the meat of his neck, just above his collar, piercing skin and muscle. His vision flared red, pain and rage exploding in tandem. Adrian roared, surging upward with all his strength, and slammed the back of his skull into the feral's face. Cartilage crunched, and hot blood sprayed across his neck. The creature shrieked but clung tighter, its claws tearing deeper into his shoulders.
The second feral, its broken arm dangling at an obscene angle, lunged again, jaws snapping for Adrian's throat. He reacted on instinct, catching it by the jaw mid-lunge. His fingers dug into its cheeks, his thumb pressing against the inside of its mouth, feeling the slick heat of its tongue. He squeezed with all his strength, muscles straining, until bone cracked and teeth shattered. The lower half of its jaw split with a wet, tearing sound, blood and saliva leaking onto Adrian's hand, hot and slick. The feral writhed, screeching like an animal caught in a trap, its tongue dangling uselessly from its ruined face.
The feral on his back drove its claws deeper, ripping through muscle. Adrian staggered, teeth gritted, pain searing through him. He slammed his back against the nearest brick wall with all his might, crushing the feral between him and the stone. Its ribs popped sickeningly, lungs wheezing as blood sprayed from its lips in a guttural howl. Adrian didn't stop. He slammed again, harder, feeling the creature's chest cave in, bones splintering like brittle wood. Its grip faltered, and it slid to the ground in a twitching heap, coughing weakly, its chest rising with ragged, dying breaths.
Adrian's bloodied hands trembled, not from weakness, but from the raw exhilaration coursing through him. The nanobots thrummed louder now, a war drum in his veins. The jawless feral still writhed on the ground, trying to push itself upright, its broken arm limp and useless. Blood gurgling through its ruined mouth. Adrian didn't hesitate. He stepped forward, raised his boot, and brought it down on the feral's skull. Once. Twice. The third strike split it wide open, silencing its cries. The alley fell quiet, save for Adrian's labored breathing and the drip of blood pooling on the pavement.
The overlay shimmered into his mind, unprompted.
Free Nanobots Detected. Assimilate? [Y/N]
"Yes," Adrian rasped, his voice raw but steady.
The corpses bled silver mist. Streams of nanobots rising from their broken forms, curling in the air like smoke before rushing toward him. They struck his chest like cold lightning, flooding his veins with a thick, heavy energy. Adrian gasped as the fire burned through him, his wounds sealing faster than before, his muscles thrumming with newfound potential.
Assimilation complete. Free nanobots gained: 2,037. Total available: 2,883.
Adrian wiped his mouth, smearing blood across his cheek. His breathing slowed and his pulse steadied, but his body vibrated with power. The two ferals lay broken at his feet. With bones crushed, skulls cracked, one jaw ripped nearly clean off. He had killed them, not with bullets or weapons, but with his bare hands. The Nanobot Core had rewarded him for it. For a long moment, he stood still, staring at the carnage. His lips curled into a wide humorless smile, his teeth exposed like the predator he was becoming. He felt a primal satisfaction he'd never felt before. He felt more vibrant and alive than he ever thought possible.
Reality snapped back with a jolt. He could hear a distant wail that was growing louder. Sirens. Multiple sets, converging on his location. Flashes of blue and red bounced off the alley walls, painting the blood-slick pavement in stark relief. Adrian's stomach tightened. He couldn't be seen here, not like this, standing over mangled corpses, covered in blood that wasn't all his. No explanation would hold, especially not after the captain told him to disengage.
The nanobots pulsed faintly, as if anticipating his need. His body thrummed with something new. It was speed. Raw and untamed. Would he ever get used to this? He pulled the black mask from his pocket, slipping it over his face. He clenched his fists, bent his knees, and sprinted into the night.
The world blurred around him. His boots pounded the pavement faster than they ever had. His strides were long and effortless and graceful, almost inhumanly so. He streaked through alleys, vaulted a chain-link fence, and bounded across an open lot. His lungs pulled air without strain. The sirens were growing louder behind him, but he widened the distance with every step. His speed was definitely beyond human now, beyond what any trained officer could hope to match.
He didn't stop until the city lights thinned and the night air cooled around him. The sirens reduced to faint echoes in the distance. Leaning against a nearby wall, he panted, exhilarated. His breath is fogging now in the chilly air. He wiped blood from his face, catching his reflection in a cracked window. Those predator's eyes glowed back faintly, wide and sharp, gleaming with a hunger he didn't fully understand. Adrian Kane grinned, teeth bared like the creature he was becoming.
No longer prey. Not just a man. Something new.