Adrian Kane woke with a start. His heart was hammering like he'd overslept, but when he reached for his phone the numbers on the screen told him a different story. 5:27 a.m. Three minutes before the alarm. He rubbed his eyes and sat on the edge of the bed, letting the room settle into focus around him. His apartment was quiet. Too quiet, almost, the kind of hush that weighed on the chest.
"Figures," he muttered, running a hand through his blond hair. His body was awake now, so there was no point in waiting for the shrill buzz of the alarm.
He stretched, bones popping, then stood and padded across the apartment in his shorts. He hit the power button on the small flat-screen perched on a dresser. The morning news flickered into life with a cheery jingle that didn't fit the way he felt.
"—continuing to investigate the mysterious blackout across several neighborhoods downtown last night. Authorities say no foul play is suspected, but they are unable to explain the simultaneous failure of multiple substations."
Adrian frowned as he set the volume low and dropped to the floor for push-ups. The anchor's voice carried over his breathing.
"In international news, strange reports are surfacing of heightened aggression in small communities overseas. Officials are blaming tainted drug supplies or localized contamination, though investigations are ongoing."
He ignored most of it. The news is always strange these days. He focused on his reps—fifty push-ups, a hundred crunches, then burpees until sweat ran freely. His muscles burned pleasantly, his body moving with the efficiency of habit.
By the time the anchor switched to weather, Adrian stood, grabbed a towel, and headed to the shower. Steam filled the small bathroom quickly. He let the hot water soak into his skin, rinsing away his tension that always seemed to cling to him.
Being a cop wasn't glamorous. Half the city thought you were useless, the other half hated you outright. He told himself it was just a job. A paycheck. A way to keep moving forward. But that's just what he told himself.
Breakfast was simple: eggs, toast, and coffee hot enough to burn the tongue, and strong enough to wake the dead. He ate standing up, eyes flicking back to the TV where a new story caught his attention.
"Scientists confirm unusual signals detected in Earth's ionosphere. While some suggest it may be linked to solar flare activity, others caution that the patterns are…unnatural."
The anchor trailed off as if uncertain how much to say. Adrian shook his head. Conspiracy bait. "They" always have something else to keep people distracted.
He shut the TV off, finished his coffee, and headed out.
The precinct was the same as always, dull beige walls, scuffed floors, and that smell of burnt coffee that never left no matter how often the custodians scrubbed.
"Morning, Kane," called Officer Ramirez, already hunched over a stack of paperwork.
"Morning," Adrian replied, tossing his jacket over his chair.
Roll call was uneventful, the sergeant barking assignments like usual. Adrian was paired with Officer McCarthy, a talkative rookie who hadn't yet learned when to shut up.
The day unfolded with the usual rhythm of patrol. Noise complaints. A traffic stop where someone tried to talk their way out of a ticket with the creativity of a five-year-old. A domestic disturbance that ended with both parties agreeing to stop yelling before the neighbors called again. Nothing dangerous. Nothing heroic. Just the grind.
McCarthy talked through most of it, bouncing between sports scores, a girl he was trying to date, and some internet rumor about contaminated water in the city. Adrian let him ramble, adding the occasional grunt of acknowledgment.
By late afternoon Adrian was ready to call it a day. The car heater rattled, the radio squawked with meaningless chatter, and he could almost imagine heading home to a cold beer to relax and decompress before doing it all again. That was when the radio crackled to life. It was dispatch.
"Unit 3-12, respond to a disturbance at 54th and Granger. Reports of an individual causing a scene, possibly under the influence of narcotics."
McCarthy perked up. "Finally, some action."
Adrian sighed and turned the wheel. Action usually meant piles of paperwork and a headache.
The call led them to a narrow street lined with aging apartment blocks. A small crowd had gathered near an alley, their nervous murmurs filling the air. Adrian stepped out first, adjusting his belt as he approached.
"What's going on?" he asked a bystander.
"Guy came outta nowhere," the man said. His eyes were wide, hands twitching. "He's…not right."
Not right was putting it mildly. Adrian spotted the man in the alley, pacing on all fours like some animal. His clothes were filthy, face streaked with sweat and grime. He moved in jerky spasms, sniffing the air, lips pulled back in a snarl.
McCarthy whispered, "Damn, he looks strung out of his mind." Adrian thought he looked more feral than drugged up.
Adrian raised a hand. "Sir, this is the police. I'm gonna need you to calm down."
The figure froze, head snapping toward Adrian with unnatural speed. His eyes locked onto him, unblinking, filled with a raw hunger that sent a shiver down Adrian's spine. Then he charged.
The impact was sudden, the man slamming into Adrian with a guttural roar. They crashed against the alley wall, fists flying, nails clawing at fabric and flesh. Adrian grunted, driving a knee into the attacker's stomach, but the man didn't react like a normal person would. There was no hesitation, no pain, only relentless wild strength.
McCarthy shouted something, but Adrian barely heard. Training took over. He shoved, twisted, landed a punch square across the man's jaw. Bone cracked. The perp staggered but lunged again, teeth snapping.
It was kill or be killed. Adrian's hand went to his sidearm, muscle memory guiding the motion. The gun barked twice, echoing through the alley. The man staggered, but was shockingly still upright.
Adrian stood there stunned, gun still pointed at the suspect. Adrian whispered to himself, "how's he still standing?"
With a primal scream the man rushed forward in an attack, suddenly springing off the wall. Adrian unloaded his entire clip, not stopping until heard several impotent clicks of his empty weapon. The man collapsed, twitching, then lay still.
Adrian's chest heaved as he stared down at the body. Blood pooled dark beneath it. The eyes were still open, glassy, almost confused even in death.
McCarthy was pale, fumbling for his radio. "Dispatch, we need—"
Then Adrian froze. Something shimmered in the air above the corpse. A faint mist, glimmering like dust caught in sunlight. It swirled, slow and deliberate, as if aware of him.
A sound not of the world filled his head. A voice without tone, etched directly into his skull.
"Active nanobots searching for host detected nearby. Assimilation is possible. Would you like to assimilate?" [Y/N]
Adrian staggered back, looking around wildly. McCarthy was still yelling into the radio, oblivious. The words weren't spoken aloud. They were inside his mind.
"What the hell," Adrian whispered.
The mist thickened, drifting toward him like it was conscious and had chosen him as its target. The mist, he thought, must be the source of the crazy power that the perp displayed.
Adrian's instincts screamed to run, but something deeper urged him to accept. His body remembered the fight, the raw inhuman power that man had displayed. And now that power hovered, waiting.
He swallowed hard. "Yes."
The swirling mass moved. It surged like liquid light, pouring into him through his skin, his mouth, his eyes. He gasped, stumbling against the wall as fire raced through every nerve. His vision fractured into lines, grids, numbers spilling across the air like a holographic overlay.
"Assimilation complete. Nanobot Core activated. Nanobot Core: lvl. 1"
The voice resonated with impossible certainty.
"Congratulations for activating your nanobot core, Subject Zero."
Adrian collapsed to one knee, clutching at his chest as the last of the mist vanished into him. His pulse thundered, his muscles shivered, and behind his eyes the world shifted into something new.
The alley tilted in strange ways. Adrian pressed his palm flat against the brick wall, gasping for air to fill his lungs. His vision stuttered, blinking between reality and something alien. It was like a screen had been lowered over the world—translucent, humming, alive.
Numbers flashed in his vision. Shapes rearranged themselves. Unfamiliar icons pulsed faintly, waiting for recognition. His skin crawled as if a million ants marched beneath it, but the sensation wasn't limited to what was just physical, they seemed to be a part of him, almost like a new sense.
"Nanobot Core initialized. Status: Stable. Free Nanobots assimilated: 1,200"
Adrian staggered back from the corpse. He wanted to shout, wanted to demand an explanation, but his throat wouldn't work.
"Jesus Christ," McCarthy muttered. His gun was in his hands, pointed at the dead man though there was no need. "You okay? Kane, talk to me."
Adrian wiped sweat from his brow, forcing his voice steady. "I'm fine." He wasn't fine. He was burning from the inside, the world overlaid with ghostly light. He felt heavier and lighter at the same time, like his body wasn't entirely his anymore.
McCarthy knelt near the body, grimacing. "What the hell was he on? PCP? Meth? He fought like a wild animal."
Animal. The word dug into Adrian's mind. That wasn't drugs. He'd seen addicts, brawlers, desperate men. This had been different. Something had hollowed that man out. Something had left only hunger.
"Assimilation complete. Options unlocked: Core upgrade—locked. Replication—locked. Base functions—pending."
The words scrolled across his vision, seamless with the world around him. He squeezed his eyes shut but the overlay stayed. It wasn't hallucination. It was in him now.
"Hey," McCarthy said, standing again. "Let's get outta here. Call this in, let the detectives deal with it. Kane?"
Adrian nodded, though his jaw clenched tight. "Yeah. Right."
The drive back to the precinct was a blur. McCarthy filled the silence with nervous chatter, theories about drugs and gangs, but Adrian barely heard him. His focus was inward, on the new presence humming beneath his skin. Is he really feeling that? Has he lost his mind? Is this really happening? Is he having PTSD induced hallucinations?
The visual overlay shifted, presenting faint icons like a menu. He willed himself not to look, trying hard to focus on the road, but his eyes flicked anyway.
[Nanobot Core – Active]
Core level: 1
Free Nanobots Stored: 1,200
Upgrade Paths: Strength | Speed | Intelligence | Healing | Senses | Replication (Locked)
Warning: Core capacity limited. Upgrade progression requires additional assimilation.
Each word pulsed with cold certainty. He couldn't tell if it was thought or machine. It didn't matter. It was undeniable…. This is real.
Adrian flexed his hand on the wheel. His grip felt different. Stronger, maybe. He shivered and forced his gaze back to the road.
Back at the precinct, the usual chaos swirled. Phones rang. Officers argued about paperwork. No one paid special attention to Adrian and McCarthy as they logged the incident. McCarthy embellished the report, muttering about how insane the guy had been, how Adrian had been forced to defend himself.
Adrian just signed the paperwork, his hand trembling slightly though no one seemed to notice.
When he finally sat at his desk, the visual overlay shifted again, as if responding to his focus.
"Nanobot Core requires directives. Would you like a tutorial?"
The words hung in his vision. Tutorial. Like a video game. He almost laughed at the absurdity, but the knot in his gut kept him silent.
He whispered under his breath, "No."
The overlay dimmed, withdrawing slightly, though not gone. He knew it wouldn't leave him alone.
Hours crawled past. The rest of the day everything seemed off. As Adrian drove home, the city descended into dusk. The streets felt tense in a way he couldn't define. Pedestrians moved faster, but with heads down, muttering among themselves. More police sirens wailed than usual.
In his apartment, Adrian shut the blinds and locked the door, then collapsed onto the couch. His body ached with exhaustion, but his mind spun.
The overlay pulsed again. He gave in this time, staring directly at it.
[Available Base Functions]
Strength – Cost: 1000 nanobots (Next upgrade: +10% raw output)
Speed – Cost: 1000 nanobots (Next upgrade: +10% reflex)
Intelligence – Cost: 1000 nanobots (Next upgrade: enhanced memory)
Healing – Cost: 1000 nanobots (Next upgrade: wound closure)
Senses – Cost: 1000 nanobots (Next upgrade: night vision, enhanced hearing)
Core Upgrade – Locked (requires 10,000 nanobots and minimum Tier 1 of all stats).
Adrian's hand shook as he scrolled the options with nothing but thought. It was like moving a muscle he didn't know he had.
He could sacrifice 1000 nanobots now and make himself stronger, faster or something more than human. But the thought churned his stomach. This was power stolen from a corpse. From whatever had hollowed that man out.
His reflection stared back at him from the black TV screen. Green eyes, weary but still sharp, hair damp with sweat. He looked normal. But he wasn't anymore.
The voice came again, not words but a sensation of urging, an itch that demanded scratching.
Adrian clenched his fists. "Not tonight."
The overlay dimmed again, as if sulking.
He slept fitfully, dreams fractured by images of the feral man. The snarling face. The hunger in his eyes. The surge of nanobots rushing into him like liquid fire. When the alarm buzzed at 5:30, Adrian woke already sweating, pulse racing.
The TV flickered on during breakfast. The anchors looked uneasy, their fake smiles cracking around the edges.
"…scattered reports of bizarre violence in several districts. Authorities caution against panic, attributing incidents to drug use, but eyewitnesses claim the individuals acted like wild animals…"
Adrian's spoon clattered against the counter. His gut sank. It wasn't a one-off. It was just the beginning.
He killed the volume, staring out the window at the city skyline. Something had shifted in the world, and he was standing in the middle of it with a strange new force inside him. One thing he knew for sure is that things would never be the same again.
By the time he reached the precinct, the atmosphere was chaotic. Officers whispered in corners, dispatch radios buzzed nonstop. Calls poured in—disturbances, assaults, inexplicable aggression.
Sergeant Davis barked over the noise, "Stay sharp today. Something's off out there. I want everyone on alert."
Adrian nodded but said nothing. He felt the Core pulsing faintly just at the edge of his awareness as if it was seeking his attention.
His day was just getting started and already promised to be a bad one.