The academy's medical bay hummed with the soft whir of healing tech. Kasper sat on a diagnostic bed, his nanobots still glitching from the training simulation. The bitter taste of neural suppressants lingered on his tongue.
Li Wei occupied the bed beside him, neural interface ports still smoking slightly. Blood crusted under his nose. "Your enhancements adapted," he said quietly in Mandarin. "Like hers."
The words hung between them, loaded with unspoken implications.
Sarah moved through the room with practiced efficiency, her medical scanner pulsing in that familiar-yet-wrong frequency. Each time she passed, Kasper's nanobots reacted differently. Almost like they recognized something...
"Neural pathways showing stress," she reported professionally, not meeting his eyes. Her fingers brushed his implant ports, sending confusing signals through his system. "You pushed too hard against the dampeners."
The scent of her medical-grade enhancers carried a new undertone today. Something that reminded him of Cross's implants.
"Did I?" His voice was carefully neutral. "Funny how some of us managed full power despite the restrictions."
Sarah's hands stilled for just a moment. A tell he'd never noticed before.
The med bay doors hissed open. Nailah entered, still moving with that deadly Caribbean Division grace. Her combat enhancements hummed at frequencies that shouldn't work under academy protocols.
"We need to talk," she said without preamble. Her eyes flicked to Sarah, then back to Kasper. "About those ATA patterns you recognized."
Li Wei's neural readings spiked. "You saw them too? My father's research division spent years trying to decrypt-"
"Not here." Nailah's hand brushed her concealed pistol. "Too many ears."
Sarah's scanner pinged softly. "Patient care isn't finished. Enhancement recovery protocols-"
"Can wait." Kasper stood, ignoring the warning flares from his nanobots. "Some things are more important than protocols. Right, Sarah?"
Something flashed across her face - regret? Fear? - before her professional mask slipped back into place.
The academy corridors felt different as they walked, enhancement dampeners creating dead zones between security checkpoints. Their footsteps echoed off art deco walls that suddenly seemed to hide too many secrets.
Li Wei followed, fingers dancing across his neural interface. "The simulation's data... it's been wiped. But I managed to save some readings. The frequency patterns match-"
A figure stepped out of the shadows. Jake Thompson's prosthetic eye glowed as it scanned them.
"Interesting conversation," he said, military-grade combat enhancements humming to life. "Mind if I join?"
Nailah moved faster than enhanced sight could track. Her pistol materialized, aimed at Jake's center mass. "Depends. You here as a student? Or something else?"
Jake's laugh held no humor. "Funny thing about military implants - they remember frequencies. Like the ones from Mirage City."
Kasper's nanobots screamed a warning as Jake's enhancement signature shifted, matching a pattern from his nightmares.
"Stand down!" Maria's voice cracked like a whip. She and Sean appeared from a side corridor, their own systems combat-ready despite the dampening field.
"Bit late for that," Jake's prosthetic eye cycled through combat modes. "Cross wants to see you. All of you. Seems today's test revealed some... interesting data."
"Cross." Kasper tasted copper as his nanobots surged. "You mean the woman who knows things about my brother she shouldn't?"
The corridor's temperature seemed to drop.
"Your brother." Jake's smile was razor-sharp. "Now there's a interesting topic. Did you know he held the academy record for enhancement adaptation? Right up until he started asking the wrong questions."
Nailah's pistol never wavered. "Like the questions we're asking now?"
"Exactly like that." Jake's eye pulsed with familiar frequencies. "So let's take a walk. Wouldn't want to make a scene in front of the first-years."
He gestured down the corridor - toward Cross's office. Toward answers that suddenly felt more like traps.
"Or," his enhancement patterns shifted again, matching ATA signatures perfectly, "we could do this the hard way."
Kasper's tactical display lit up with warnings as hidden security protocols activated. The dampening field intensified, but not for everyone.
Not for Jake. Not for Cross's people.
Maria's healing crystals flickered weakly. Sean's tactical systems struggled to compensate. Li Wei's neural interfaces sparked dangerously.
But Nailah... Nailah's Caribbean Division enhancements maintained power. Just like Sarah's had during training.
Just like Cross's always did.
The pieces clicked together with sickening clarity.
"Well?" Jake's question carried the weight of too many secrets. "What's it going to be?"
Before Kasper could respond, his nanobots detected a familiar frequency. Sarah stood at the corridor's end, her medical scanner displaying patterns that finally made terrible sense.
Because they matched Javier's enhancement signature perfectly.