Global Awakening: I Can Bio-Hack My Monsters
Chapter 3: The First Upgrade
The hallway lights flashed red. Dark. Red. Dark. The shadows on the walls stretched and shrank with every pulse.
At the front, Bug moved low to the ground. The rat's claws clicked on the floor tiles. Every few feet, it stopped, twitched its nose, and made a low chittering sound.
The humans behind it were scared.
"It's looking at me," Sarah whispered. She was walking right on Steve's heels. "Lyta, why is it looking at me?"
"It's checking your flank," Lyta said without looking back. He was limping. The bite on his ankle throbbed every time his heart beat. "It's guarding the herd. You're the herd."
"I'm not a herd," Steve muttered. He gripped his heavy hole-puncher tight. "And I don't trust it. It's a monster, Lyta. You can't just reprogram a wild animal."
"It's not an animal," Lyta said. He looked at the black terminal window floating in the corner of his eye. "It's code. And code does exactly what I tell it to."
> MANA REGEN: 0.1/MIN
> CURRENT MANA: 3/10
Lyta grimaced. He was running on fumes. That simple "Edit" command earlier had nearly drained him. He felt hollowed out. If another monster attacked right now, he wouldn't have the energy to hack it. He'd have to use the rusty cleaver, and with his bad ankle, he'd be dead in seconds.
I need a safe zone, he thought. I need to recover.
They reached the end of the hall. The heavy steel door of the Server Room was in front of them. The magnetic lock light was green.
"Keycard," Lyta snapped.
Steve patted his pockets fast. His hands were shaking. He dropped his wallet. "I... I have it. Wait."
"Hurry," Mrs. Adesina hissed, clutching her rosary. "Something is screaming in the stairwell."
A sound drifted up from the lower floors. It was a howl, but deep and wet. Like a wolf gargling blood.
Steve finally jammed the card against the reader.
Beep.
The lock clunked open. Lyta shoved the door and ushered everyone inside. Bug ran in first, sniffing the corners.
The room was freezing. The industrial AC units were humming. The roar of the cooling fans was loud, drowning out the screams from outside. It sounded like safety.
"Lock it!" Lyta ordered.
Steve slammed the door shut. The locks clicked.
The group finally relaxed. Sarah slid down the wall, burying her face in her knees. Mrs. Adesina started crying softly. Steve paced back and forth, running his hands through his hair.
"Okay," Steve panted. "Okay. We're safe here. The walls are reinforced. We have water in the cooler. We can wait this out. The army will come. The National Guard."
Lyta ignored him. He limped over to the IT supply closet in the corner.
"What are you doing?" Steve asked, stopping his pacing.
"Inventory," Lyta said. He ripped the closet door open.
Shelves of junk. Spare keyboards, balls of ethernet cables, screws, a soldering iron.
Lyta's eyes landed on the bottom shelf. A drone.
It was a broken DJI Mavic they had used for a company picnic three years ago. One propeller was snapped and the gimbal was jammed, but the camera and the logic board were still good.
Lyta picked it up. He looked at the drone, then he looked at Bug.
A prompt appeared.
> COMPATIBLE HARDWARE DETECTED.
> [ITEM: DAMAGED DRONE]
> PROPERTIES: OPTICAL SENSOR, WI-FI MODULE, LITHIUM BATTERY.
Lyta's heart skipped a beat. He looked at the rat again.
> TARGET: BUG (PLAGUE RAT)
> UPGRADE SLOTS AVAILABLE: 1
"System," Lyta whispered. "Open Compile Interface."
The black window expanded in his vision. It looked like a crafting menu, but stripped down to code.
[ BASE ] + [ MATERIAL ] = [ RESULT ]
Lyta grabbed Bug. The rat squeaked but didn't fight as Lyta lifted it onto the metal workbench.
"Don't move," Lyta commanded.
He placed the broken drone next to the rat.
"Lyta?" Steve stepped closer. "Why are you putting a drone next to the rat? Are you... are you going to tape a knife to it?"
"Better," Lyta muttered.
He focused on the two objects. Green wireframe lines shot from his hands, wrapping around the rat and the drone.
> SELECTING BASE: [BUG]
> SELECTING MATERIAL: [BROKEN DRONE]
> COMPATIBILITY: 88%
> MANA COST: 15
Lyta froze. Fifteen? He only had three.
[ERROR: INSUFFICIENT MANA.]
"Damn it," Lyta cursed, hitting the table with his fist. He had the pieces, he had the code, but he didn't have the battery life.
Suddenly, a golden light flashed above his head.
[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: "SAFE HAVEN"]
[YOU HAVE REACHED A SAFE ZONE.]
[REWARD: FULL MANA RESTORE.]
A rush of cold energy flooded his skull. The throbbing headache vanished instantly. It felt like drinking ice water. His vision sharpened.
> MANA RESTORED: 10/10
> LEVEL UP! (LEVEL 0 -> LEVEL 1)
> MANA CAP INCREASED: 20
> CURRENT MANA: 20/20
"Yes," Lyta hissed. He felt the power coming back.
"Steve, back up," Lyta warned.
"Lyta... your eyes. They're glowing green."
Lyta didn't blink. He focused on the table.
"Compile."
> INITIATING BIO-SYNTHESIS.
> WARNING: PROCESS WILL CAUSE PAIN TO SUBJECT.
> PROCEED? [Y/N]
Lyta looked at Bug. The rat looked back, trusting him.
"Sorry, buddy," Lyta whispered. "But you need to be better."
> [Y]
The world warped. It wasn't magic. It was a glitch.
The drone didn't melt; it unraveled. The plastic casing turned into streams of data. The camera lens floated in the air. The lithium battery sparked and turned into a ball of blue energy.
Bug shrieked.
It was a high-pitched scream. The rat's body started to convulse. Its skin rippled like something was moving underneath it.
"Oh my god!" Sarah screamed, covering her eyes. "Stop it! You're hurting it!"
Lyta didn't stop. He couldn't. He was locked in the code.
Insert Optical Sensor -> Target: Left Eye Socket.
Insert Wi-Fi Module -> Target: Neural Cortex.
Insert Lithium Core -> Target: Heart.
The floating camera lens shot downward and slammed into the rat's left eye. Blood splattered onto the table, but it didn't hit the ground—it turned into pixels and vanished. The flesh around the eye socket bubbled and fused with the black plastic lens.
The blue ball of energy sank into the rat's chest. Bug arched its back. Crack. Its ribs broke and expanded to fit the new power source. Metal wires burst from its fur and wove into its spine.
The shrieking stopped. The green light faded.
Smoke rose from the workbench. It smelled like ozone and burnt hair.
Bug lay panting on the table. It wasn't just a rat anymore.
Its left eye was gone. It was replaced by a camera lens that clicked and whirred as it focused. A small antenna stuck out of its skull. Blue lines of energy pulsed under its skin.
[COMPILE COMPLETE.]
[NEW SPECIES: CYBER-RAT (SCOUT CLASS)]
[ABILITIES: VIDEO LINK, SIGNAL BOOST]
Lyta exhaled and leaned against the table. He felt dizzy again. His mana had dropped to 5.
"Is it... dead?" Steve asked.
The creature on the table moved. It stood up. The movement was less jerky now. It was smooth. Robotic.
It turned its head toward Lyta. The camera eye dilated.
Bzzzt.
A new window popped up in Lyta's vision. It was a grainy, night-vision video feed. He was looking at himself—sweaty and exhausted, with a terrified Steve behind him.
"No," Lyta smiled, tapping his own head. "It's online."
He looked at the group.
"Steve, stop trying to call your wife on that dead phone. Bug," Lyta nodded at the rat. "Connect to the building Wi-Fi. Find me a signal."
The Cyber-Rat chattered. It sounded metallic now, like a synthesizer.
> NETWORK DETECTED.
> ATTEMPTING BRUTE FORCE HACK...
> SUCCESS.
"I have internet," Lyta said calmly. "And I have eyes in the vents."
He picked up the Cyber-Rat. It was heavier now. Cold metal mesh protected its ribs.
"Now," Lyta said. "We're going to see what's really happening out there."