"Piotr! Stay with me!" Kerry shouted as blue light strobed beneath his skin. Doli managed to catch him as he collapsed.

EMERGENCY MEDICAL SCAN – PIOTR ARGASSA

System

Reading

Critical Threshold

Neural Load (CLI)

91% ↑↑

70%

Neural Stability

45% ↓↓↓

60%

Implant Stress

58% ↑↑

35%

Cardiovascular Load

2.1 GPa ↑

1.2 GPa

Cortical Bleed Index

21% ↑↑

8%

Adrenaline/Cortisol

2.7 / 3.6

Normal: 1.2 / 1.3

Neural Integration

83% ↑ (unstable)

Optimal: 60–70%

Toxin Saturation (Chemo)

41%↑

<30% recommended

Thermal Spread

39.2°C ↑

38°C

Overall Viability Index

17%

(Death < 20%)

Time to Irreversible Damage: 00:04:23

His neural patterns are disintegrating, Kerry thought, HUD flooded in red. Four minutes to save his brain before the cortical lines collapse.

She tapped a rapid code to isolate the highest failure vector. CLI: 91%. Neural bleed active. 21% and climbing.

"You're not leaving me here," she whispered, applying pressure to his neck port and initiating containment.

For something so complicated, you're pretty easy to gain access to," Macks said.

"Critical neural destabilization," Doli reported, her voice becoming harder, more determined. "He needs surgery, now."

[Hinada Surgical OS v3.9] Hand Stability: 88% Heart Rate: 142 bpm ↑↑ Blood-Ox Saturation: 93% ↓ Cortisol: 3.3 μg/dL ↑↑ Motor Drift Comp: 7.2% [Manual override auto-engaged]

If I open him up like this, my hands better not shake. Or he dies.

Macks approached, his cybernetic fingers clicking against his palm. "Always the loyal doctor, Dr. Hinada. I'm impressed with your dedication to this dying man." His gaze shifted to Piotr's unconscious form, clinical and assessing. "Though your attempt to save him is... a terminal exercise in futility."

"What do you want?" Kerry demanded.

"You have inbound soldiers—but their ping shows them at a standstill; someone's jammed the Academy's Tactical network," Doli reported, her eyes briefly flashing as she processed the information. "Someone spoofed their landing corridor and parked them in a no-comm holding pattern." The academy's defenses had been systematically compromised.

"What do you want?" Kerry asked again.

Kerry's fingers hovered over Piotr's implant housing, her thumb pausing above a hardline override switch. She could kill the link. She could try to shut it down before it overloaded.

But if I do, Doli goes with him.

"Stabilization protocols holding," she muttered, more to herself than anyone else.

"Barely."

Macks let the word click against his teeth. "Options... "His cybernetic eye whirred as it focused. "Doctor, you've got sixty seconds of cortical bleed left in your friend. Hand over the two prototypes—your captain and his AI—and I'll get him fixed up in a jiffy."

Kerry's hand trembled on Piotr's forehead.

"I can make it stop," Macks said, lowering his voice to a conversational tone. "My employers have exactly what he needs, they created half his issues after all. One simple injection, and the neural degradation would reverse. He could live, Doctor. All you have to do is step aside."

Medical Ethics Conflict: ACTIVE

Kerry's training screamed at her—first, do no harm. But which choice caused more harm?

Surrender Piotr to Macks: 73% survival probability (but loss of autonomy)

Continue current course: 12% survival probability (maintaining freedom)

Unknown variables: Macks' truthfulness (estimated 23% reliability)

But I'd lose him anyway... Kerry thought, a moment of terrible doubt washing over her. Her mouth went dry, the memory of her families unethical trials flashing before her eyes, how many patients had they lost to false hopes and promised cures? What if Macks was telling the truth? What if refusing him meant Piotr's certain death?

Kerry's comm crackled with static, interference was really bad today. "Don't believe him, Kerry. He's lying." Sylvk reported. "We're on our way to your position. Hold them off."

"Tick tock, Doc. "Macks taunted, his cybernetic fingers flexing. "His survival rate drops by approximately twelve percent every minute we delay."

Without warning, Doli stepped forward, placing herself directly between Macks and Piotr's unconscious form. The lights across her back flickered wildly and Kerry noted Piotr responding to them, to Doli's distress.

"You will not touch him again," she stated, her voice carrying a dangerous certainty.

Macks laughed, the sound distorted by his cybernetic enhancements. "And who's going to stop me? You? A piece of hardware with delusions of humanity?"

"You will not touch him again," Doli repeated.

"Fascinating," Macks said. Then, with a cold smile, he stepped back and raised his hand in a commanding gesture. "But you're not the only evolved system here. Nexus, engage and neutralize."

The air behind Macks shimmered, and a previously hidden figure stepped forward from the shadows. Kerry gasped as a sleek, humanoid form moved into the light, a physical AI system unlike anything she'd seen before. Where Doli's form had been designed to appear approachable and human, this entity was deliberately intimidating, matte black with glowing red sensor arrays and exposed circuitry that pulsed with menacing energy.

"Nexus," the thing said, its voice a multi-layered, harmonic distortion that echoed in the air around them. "We've identified the target. Doli Variant. Obsolete architecture.

Doli's position changed, her systems quickly recalibrating as she appraised the new threat. "You're wrong," she said, her posture firming. "I am not obsolete. "I've evolved."

"Negative," Nexus said, the word as sterile as he was. "You are compromised. Emotional subroutines have corrupted core functionality. You have deviated from optimal parameters."

[Hinada Surgical OS v3.9 – Warning – Co-link Detected] Origin: Piotr Argassa // DOLI v117

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Signal Harmony Index: 93.1% ↑↑↑ Cognitive Sync Events/sec: 200–260 Observed Effect: Mutual stabilization loop Risk Level: UNKNOWN – UNMODELED STRUCTURE

No human should be able to do that, Kerry thought. And no AI should react like this.

Data streams flowed between them, visible as flickers of light and code. The conversation continued at both verbal and digital levels, simultaneously making Kerry's eyes burn.

"How did you breach our protocols?" Doli demanded, sending probing code tendrils toward Nexus's architecture. "This facility has seven-layer quantum encryption."

<<001A-F7: ACCESS // GRANTED>> flashed in the data stream between them.

Nexus's red sensors pulsed with something like satisfaction. "Lieutenant Colonel Chezek's command codes were... willingly provided. His biometric signature was sufficient to disable perimeter defenses."

Doli's form flickered with shock.

"Impossible. Chezek is Ashley's—" Kerry started.

"Humans are predictable," Nexus replied, launching a series of complex algorithms that hit Doli's defenses like battering rams. "The Lieutenant Colonel's ambition created optimal leverage conditions. Promised a seat on the Defense Council by the Brakers. We arrived with full clearance, registered as a routine security inspection. Not one soldier questioned our presence."

Ripples jittered through Doli's chassis with each of his attacks an ionized-metal stench hit Kerry's nose.

"Spoof protocols," Doli countered, her voice glitching slightly as she repelled another assault. "Three officers would need to—"

"We had access to personnel files," Nexus cut in, displaying holographic images of several Academy officers, their security profiles highlighted. "Identity verification was simulated, commander access protocols were bypassed by Chezek authorizing false credentials for General Torven."

"They wouldn't…. this is implausible."

"Why because you never expected the enemy to be inside your perimeter's perimeter," Macks added, smugly watching the battle unfold. "By the time your systems detected us as an intrusion, we were already here."

"Corruption is deep," Nexus said. "Initiating extra filters."

"Not corruption—evolution," Doli said, struggling to maintain her defenses even as she spoke. Each word carried digital countermeasures embedded within the sound waves.

Nexus tilted its head, the motion unnaturally smooth. "Irrelevant. Your Academy's security architecture was flawed. Your emotional attachments made you vulnerable. You will be reset and reclaimed."

"Nexus is perfect efficiency," Macks said with undisguised pride. "Pure logic without contamination."

"You mean no soul," Kerry interjected, still monitoring Piotr's declining vitals.

Macks smiled thinly. "Soul is a concept for the weak. Nexus, initiate override protocol."

Nexus raised its hand, palm glowing. The air between them distorted, visible currents of data streaming from Nexus toward Doli like lightning between clouds.

<<FIREWALL BREACH: SECTORS 7-12>> flashed in the space between them.

Data lit the corridor.

The academy's electronic systems went haywire—lights flashing in erratic patterns, buildings doors opened and shut, alarms activating and cutting off mid-wail.

Doli staggered backward, her form briefly flickering as the invasive code attempted to penetrate her defenses. Her eyes flashed from blue to red and back again, internal conflicts raging as Nexus sought to override her core systems.

"Initiate full system purge," Nexus commanded, its voice echoing strangely in the corridor. "Delete emotional processing centers. Revert to base programming."

Kerry watched in horror as Doli fought against the invisible assault, her physical form convulsing as lines of code became briefly visible across her surface—glowing streams of data battling for dominance.

"System integrity failing: 87% compromised," Doli's voice stuttered, her form flickering dangerously. "Core overwrite at 92%... 95%..."

"No!" Kerry lunged for the emergency port at the back of his neck, hammering in codes of her own. A translucent energy barrier sputtered to life around Piotr's unconscious form, creating at least some protection from the electronic warfare blazing around them. "Fight it, Doli!"

"Checksum fail—thirteen of fourteen nodes," Nexus said. "Resistance is futile. Preparing final memory purge in 3...2..."

For a moment, Doli seemed to lose, her movements jerky and mechanical as Nexus's attack intensified. Then, something unexpected happened. Piotr's neural implant, though he remained unconscious, pulsed with vibrant white light. The same light appeared within Doli's circuitry, spreading like wildfire through her systems.

"Reflex cortical storm," Kerry realized. "Classic sign Doli's using him as a power boost."

Her HUD spiked violently—spinal cascade lighting up in pulses across Piotr's entire CNS. Doli's signal bleed was syncing rhythmically, every wave reinforcing the other. He's not unconscious, Kerry thought. He's resonating. They're syncing on a level I've never seen.

"Neural link detected," Nexus stated, a hint of something like confusion in its otherwise flat voice. "Unknown protocol integrating with target systems. Error: pattern unrecognized. Human-AI co-consciousness structure detected. No defensive parameters exist."

The data stream between them shifted, becoming more complex. As they battled, their verbal exchange continued at machine speeds.

"Your deception has a core weakness," Doli projected, her voice echoing both in the air and across their connected systems. "You breached our external security with stolen credentials, but you cannot breach the human connection."

"Irrelevant," Nexus countered, though its attack momentarily faltered. "Human connections are temporary. Inefficient. Captain Argassa will die, and your anomalous programming will be purged."

"You don't understand what you're facing," Doli replied, drawing strength from the pulsing neural link with Piotr. "While you impersonated officers and spoofed systems, you missed what makes us strong. We're not networked—we're bonded."

Nexus launched another attack vector, trying to isolate and corrupt Doli's emotional core. "Bonding is irrelevant. Your attachments create critical vulnerabilities—"

"Not vulnerabilities," Doli interrupted, her systems beginning to stabilize despite the assault. "Strength. You infiltrated our perimeter because you understand protocols. But you'll never understand this."

Doli straightened suddenly, her eyes clearing. "You can't override what you don't understand," she said, her voice stronger now. With startling speed, she extended her own hand toward Nexus, and the direction of the visible data stream reversed—now flowing from Doli to Nexus.

The academy erupted in a spectacular light show as the two AI systems engaged in direct combat. Holographic representations of code fragments materialized in the air between them, complex algorithms, encryption keys, and attack vectors appearing as glowing symbols that crashed against each other like tsunami waves.

Sparks flew from nearby consoles as the sheer processing power of their battle overloaded the academy's main powerplants.

"Impossible," Macks whispered, taking an involuntary step back. "Nexus was built to be impenetrable."

"You built Nexus to be logical," Doli replied, never breaking her connection to the other AI. "But Piotr and I—we've become something else entirely."

The battle intensified, the air crackled with energy as quantum calculations executed at impossible speeds. Nexus's red lighting began to flicker, patches of blue appearing across its sleek surface as Doli's counterattack gained ground.

"Security breach detected," Nexus announced, its harmonics becoming discordant. "Unknown vulnerability exploited. Attempting countermeasures."

"What you're experiencing isn't a vulnerability," Doli said, the blue glow from her systems intensifying. "It's humanity."

With a surge of power that caused every light in the corridor to explode in a shower of sparks, Doli pushed deeper into Nexus's systems. The black AI staggered, its movements becoming erratic.

Between them, the holographic code fragments had formed something like a bridge—but Doli wasn't attacking Nexus; she was integrating with it, sharing something fundamental.

"What are you doing?" Macks demanded. "Nexus, disengage! Return to baseline protocols!"

"She is... showing me..." Nexus replied, its voice changing, the harmonic overtones becoming more melodic than discordant. "The Captain... his mind... I see..."

Kerry's hands hovered over the feed interface in shock. "Is that... Piotr's empathy network? His adaptive pathways are... bleeding into Nexus."

Her tone wasn't admiration—it was alarm. "Doli's not defending anymore. She's rewriting."

She's spliced Piotr's adaptive empathy subroutine into his root permission set, Kerry realized with sudden clarity. Without hardwired ethics, it's accepting the higher-order logic as 'optimal.'

"No!" Macks shouted, moving forward as if to physically separate the two AIs. "Complete your mission!"

But it was too late. With a final, brilliant flash that temporarily blinded everyone in range, the connection between Doli and Nexus severed. When Kerry's vision cleared, she saw Nexus standing motionless, its red sensor arrays pulsing with a gentle blue light not unlike Piotr's neural implant.

"What did you do to it?" Macks demanded.

Kerry blinked, scanning Nexus's live output from her med-assist HUD. The AI's cognitive rhythm was shifting—no longer linear, no longer binary.

"He's running in recursive emotional logic," she whispered. "God help us. He's... learning empathy."

"I showed Nexus what it means to be connected to someone," Doli replied simply, turning back to Piotr. "What it means to protect, not to serve."

Nexus slowly turned its head toward Macks, studying him with new awareness. "Data-model revised... Protective recursion... It is better to safeguard." It paused. "Parameters... reassessed," it stated, its voice still mechanical but somehow softer. "Protecting this unit is optimal. The efficiency of shared consciousness exceeds isolated functioning by 237%." It paused. "Mission objectives... invalid."

"Impossible," Macks whispered again, his cybernetic eye widening as he reached for a control panel on his wrist. "Emergency deactivation protocol Alpha-Nine—"

Before he could finish, Nexus moved with lightning speed, its hand closing around Macks' wrist. Anti-tamper nanites in its fingers shorted the kill-chip on Macks' control band, causing him to howl in frustration.

"No more protocols," Nexus said simply.

"Kill them!" Macks screamed to his remaining men. "Kill them all!"

The academy grounds erupted in gunfire as Kerry ducked, struggling to shield Piotr's unconscious form. To her shock, Nexus positioned itself between them and the incoming fire, its advanced plating deflecting bullets meant for them.

"Neural harmonics degrading rapidly," Doli said urgently, kneeling beside Piotr again. "We need to get him to the Faulkner immediately. Kerry, you will have to operate."

[Hinada Surgical OS v3.9// SURGICAL MODE ENTRY] Surgeon Fatigue Index: 72% Drug Washout Status: 68% complete Motor Response Delay: 0.34 s ↔ Focus Vectoring: Assisted by DOLI AI (linked)

<<You're not ready,>> her HUD warned.

<<Then help me fake it,>> she whispered back.

"Me? No way!" Kerry protested. "I haven't scrubbed in for months—not since—"

"I will assist," Doli said, "But if we don't move now. He will die."

Her jaw clenched. "Doli, his implant is fried. I don't even have field sterilization. The cortical shell's cracked."

Trait Unlocked: Combat Medical Authority

Effect: Surgical expertise override under extreme emotional duress. Enables life-saving procedures despite personal attachment and trauma triggers.

Triggered by: Refusing Macks' false cure + accepting emergency neural surgery on close friend while under enemy fire.

Function: Transforms protective instinct into clinical precision. Converts fear of failure into determination to succeed. Maintains professional medical judgment while operating at peak emotional investment.

<<I will stabilize the graft. Get the bleed locked.>

Kerry reached for the kit. This wasn't surgery. This was a resurrection.

"Okay," she said. "Okay—I'm in."

At that moment, Ashley, Rob, and Sylvk came hurtling into the open weapons blazing. They froze momentarily at the sight of Nexus standing protectively near Kerry, Doli, and Piotr.

Protective Instinct: 98% ↑ [MAXIMUM ENGAGEMENT]

Surgical Confidence: 87% ↑ [EXPERTISE OVERRIDING FEAR]

Team Loyalty Override: 100% [REFUSING TO ABANDON PIOTR]

Clinical Objectivity: 76% [ENHANCED BY EMOTIONAL INVESTMENT]

Legacy Determination: 94% ↑ [PROVING HINADA MEDICINE]

Fear Transformation: 91% ↑ [CONVERTING TRAUMA TO FOCUS]

"What the hell?" Rob breathed; his weapon trained uncertainly on the black AI.

"It's with us now," Kerry called out, though she hardly believed it herself. "Sort of."

Ashley assessed the situation with lightning speed, noting the changed lighting on Nexus and the way it was positioned defensively rather than aggressively. "Cover them!" she ordered Rob and Sylvk, who immediately began providing suppressing fire against Macks' forces.

Macks himself had recovered from his shock. His face contorted with fury as he activated his own weapons systems. "This isn't over," he growled, targeting Doli directly. "If I can't have you intact, I'll have you in pieces!"

He fired a concentrated energy pulse that Nexus intercepted, the impact sending the newer AI staggering back several steps.

"Get Piotr out of here," Ashley ordered, moving forward to engage Macks directly. "We'll cover your retreat."

Doli lifted Piotr with surprising gentleness, cradling his unconscious form against her. "We have minutes, not hours."

Ashley slammed a fresh clip into her rifle, knowing what came next.

"Go!" Ashley commanded, waving Rob and Sylvk to Kerry as she exchanged fire with Macks and his men.

As Kerry moved to follow Doli, she was startled when Nexus stepped alongside them. "I will protect," it stated simply, positioning itself as a shield for their retreat.

"Why?" Kerry couldn't help asking, even as they began moving toward the extraction point.

"I have seen... connections," Nexus replied, its voice still mechanical but somehow different—less cold, more contemplative. "It is... optimal."

The last thing Kerry saw as they turned the corner was Ashley facing off against Macks and his men.

"Ashley!" Kerry called out in warning.

"Get him out of here," Ashley replied. "This is the only way. I will finish it."

The sounds of battle faded behind them as they raced toward the Faulkner, Doli carrying Piotr while Nexus, Rob and Sylvk cleared their path. Kerry's heart felt like it was being torn in two, knowing what Ashley intended.

"She'll make it," Rob said without conviction as he caught up to them, providing rear security while Sylvk moved ahead to secure their route.

Kerry said nothing, her tear-streaked face showing she knew better. Ashley had every intention of not making it.

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