A Second try brings a new upgrade
Lyra worked quickly, her hands moving nervously as the memories of the attack continued to assault her mind.
"Calm down, I can hear your heart from here."
Lyra smiled, her nerves unwound just a bit as she calmed.
"Easy to say. You weren't chosen to be someone's, meal."
"Of course it didn't choose me. It already knew I could kick its tail."
Lyra laughed out right as all the tension drained from her. Her vigilance still there but her mind more at ease.
Jackie's hands moved with precision, her cannon, now a plasma welder, flickering as it traced the crack along the pillar's surface. Water past her at hundreds of meters beneath the surface, the pressure almost suffocating—but her cybernetic suit adjusted flawlessly, equalizing the surrounding force. Beside her, Lyra worked methodically on her section, occasionally cursing under her breath when misaligned components resisted or her inner frustrations mounted.
"Jackie, we've got movement!" Tally's voice alerted them both through each individual link, and they both reacted to the alarm.
Jackie's peripheral sensors flickered as she tried to locate the source, but the darkness of the deep sea swallowed everything. Tally spoke again, her voice tinged with urgency: "Cephalopod hybrid approaching. Multiple appendages, camouflaged. Probable size: enormous."
BDJ's usual calm voice coolly spoke into Jackie's comm: Kamopt has re-entered the area. 97.6% chance it will re-engage in its pursuit of ally Lyra. Recommend evasive maneuvers.
"It's back." Jackie hissed into her comms as her cannon subtly whirled and reverted into its energy pulse mode.
"Roger that!" Jackie heard the tension in Lyra's voice when she replied.
Thruster jets went off along her cybernetic frame in her boots, repositioning her closer to Lyra.
"Take cover."
"There is no cover!"
The water was still hazy with residual plasma and the beast's ink from their earlier skirmish.
Before Lyra could act, a massive limb shot out of the inky blackness, wrapping around Lyra and lifting her off the pillar. Jackie's heart lurched, but she didn't hesitate, her thruster burning harder, she jetted horizontally from the pillar, her ocular implant struggling to pierce the perfect camouflage.
BDJ's voice came a bit too calmly. "Recommend switching to spectral vision mode, peripheral detection now. There will be a estimated 47% increase in probability for detecting the attacking Kamopt."
Jackie's ocular systems adjusted instantly, revealing the creature in spectral overlay: a hybrid of squid and octopus, its tentacles writhing and camouflaging against the darkness. She fired bursts from her energy pulses, precisely severing one of the massive tentacles.
The cephalopod shrieked, expelled another thick plume of ink, reinforced it's grip on Lyra, and retreating into the depths.
Jackie was incredibly calm, her ocular implant searching, that was when she noticed it. Her system recognized a blind spot at the back of her head. And then, almost instinctively, her ocular implant adapted.
A thin, segmented sensor array had unfolded from the base of her skull, extending along the back of her neck. Neural fibers connected instantly to her cortical interface, overlaying a seamless 360° view. The world behind her was integrated perfectly into her vision, it was as if this was how she could see since birth, with no disorientation.
"System evolution detected," BDJ commented, almost matter-of-factly. "Rear ocular array online. Full 360° awareness achieved."
Jackie had no time to marvel her spectral vision moved out in 360° arc around her and she saw the three tentacles gripping Lyra as they disappeared into the black waters.
She steadied her breathing and fired six more bursts of energy. They hit the tentacles in twos and two of them fell away, slowly drifting to the ocean floor, the third hung precariously from the creature as the creature shriek again, a wall of bubbles moving from it as it propelled itself away in a plume of ink and Lyra propelled herself back to the column.
She reached the column and Jackie placed her behind her, securing her to the column with her left side of she scanned the wagers for more dangers.
Jackie exhaled, refocusing on the pillar. "Are you okay?"
"I am alive, thanks to you. Let's finish this before something bigger comes. There is a lot of blood in the water now. Thank goodness none of it is mine." Lyra turned to her work, with shaky hands, even before she finished speaking, sure that Jackie would protect her.
It took Jackie a moment, she nodded looking out into the darkness. Her new ocular sensors easily separating ink and water from blood.
BDJ spoke, calming her even more, "98% chance of the Kamopt not returning. Significant blood loss and injury. It is recommended that repairs are resumed and rest should be taken at Subaquilus One below. It is the closer point for recuperation contingency.
Jackie nodded as she resumed welding, reinforcing the crack, and repairing adjacent components that had shifted under stress. The creature was gone, confirmed by both BDJ, but the deep sea offered no guarantees. With this upgrade, she felt a new layer of security—and control.
Across from her, Orion observed, his optical neural net tracking her every move. He had paused, conflicted on whether he should intervene or not, as she fought. He was first awed and then his suspicions returned.
Now he was once again mimicking Jackie's methodical movements, his thoughts in a slight tangle as he contemplated her abilities
As the two worked the pillars continued their slow progress to completely synchronizing to each other and their four partners. Their need within the ring crucially needed.
Far below, in the 200-year-old city, Kieran moved through maintenance corridors, in secret, waiting for the resistance to contact him. Around him cyborgs, of all types, and purposes, rushed about repairing breaches, or just living daily life. The few fully human inhabitants mingling with them as if this was all humanity had ever known.
His own disguise, the synthetic skin covering his full body cybernetics and a different mask causing his half cybernetic face to look devoid of any metal enhancers, were all firmly I place, and he looked just like any other non cyborg in the city.
Above him, the ocean currents shifted, subtly, natural. His sensors picked up both Jackie and Orion and he was determined that, once their work was done, one would die, and the other would join him in his work within the resistance.
He lifted the hood of his shimmering cloak, activating the nanites within, he shimmered subtly and meld into the wall, completely hidden from even the most current, high tech sensors.
Unknown to Jackie, both factions, eager to have her, to control her, had the intent, the drive, and the resources to do it.
As her systems grew and evolved so did the depth of the danger around her.