More than Human [SciFi LitRPG]

Max sighed as he positioned the remote detonator in place behind the massive power junction. The temptation to tap in and continue his expansion of the Tesseract portal space nagged at him but he put it aside. He'd grown the dimensional pocket to 15 meters and even with his enhancements to his father's device, the power to space conversion was reaching exponential levels. The possibility of triggering a watchdog AI was always there, and the team couldn't afford any accidental attention.

The dull hum of power conduits vibrated through the steel walls. The air down here felt thick and stale, carrying the tang of ozone and old coolant. Max was confident his normal SkinWalker disguise of a common maintenance mech made him better than invisible. He drew in a minimal amount of power to top off the power cores in the Tesseract that ran matter compiler and Yggdrasil stalk.

He dove into his virtual space to get a live feed from inside without opening the portal. The virtual space was already crowded with his daemons. Sherlock, Hawking, House, and Tesla crowded around the fabricator as it opened revealing Max's latest requested device.

Max had foregone sleep, like his whole team, to get the details straight on the heist. Without his daily nightmare session fueled by the Tesseract node, Max was feeling better. It wasn't sustainable, but he'd take it.

Max split his consciousness into four; one to monitor his surroundings in the power node cubby, one to contact Leah, one to check on Charlie's progress, and one to talk to his daemons. The last formed an avatar and joined the group.

[That was fast. It looks like my modifications to the fabricator's build process logistics are paying off with faster build times. Is this thing ready for testing?] Max asked.

[Good timing, my old boy. Unless my deductions fail me, this phase of our stratagem appears primed for initiation. Tesla, might you do us the honor?] Sherlock said with his precise Victorian diction carried through the link. Tesla ran a quick confirmation scan on the device and used the portal space's cloud of utility fog to pull the new device into a ring of sensors.

[Ah, splendid! Though even nanometer precision requires some adjustment – the real world proves persistently chaotic with its thermal perturbations. There we are!] Tesla's enthusiasm crackled through the connection.

Max grinned as the golfball-sized dodecahedron's facets sparked and flashed with stuttering Cherenkov radiation. The blue flashes faded into bright indigo and then went beyond the normal visual wavelengths. Max tweaked the VR to see the light emissions climb into higher wavelengths. The micro-power core was fueling batteries of micro-capacitance arrays and shrouded by a net of quantum wells that tuned the output.

[Nicely done. Now I need to tie this into the Tesseract. I need to be less discrete and more frequent in my usage of the portal technology. I'm hoping to give the impression that the tesseract is the emission source, and train Lachesis's security forces to watch for it.] Max said.

[Hah, son of a bitch! These AI may have come a long way on the human equivalent track, but to have an uplifted dog performing Pavlovian conditioning on them is just too rich.] Dr. House crowed.

[Hey, please keep my mother out of this, House.] Max said, grinning at his own joke.

Max shook his head. With his steadily growing intellect, their behavioral patterns and responses seemed thin. He could "see" the dialog trees running in the sublayers of his augments if he focused too long on them. He'd maxed the skill and found the final option to absorb their experiential worldviews like just another SkillZ ability. He wasn't sure he wanted to be alone in his head right now though.

He missed Mal. Unlike the daemons, she could still surprise him. Normally Mal would be in on this type of activity, but she hadn't rezzed an avatar to communicate to him in days. He was keeping tabs on her and she was still hard at work and would prime the daemons to help him, but she was avoiding him. He'd caught her ghosting over to his Tesseract node time and again.

The AI Companion skill was teetering on the edge of maximum and Max knew it too would offer an evolution to merge or advance the AI. Advancing her might require giving her up. Max wasn't sure he wanted that. He wasn't sure what she wanted either. Max didn't want to force the issue, but his head wasn't big enough for this behavior.

He shook it off. He needed to focus. There would be time later.

Leah scanned ahead with her daemons, Houdini and Machina X, lighting their way through the network's encrypted access points and disabling surveillance where needed. Max's ghostly avatar popped into her peripheral vision.

"Junction's just ahead," Max whispered, glancing over his shoulder. "You ready?"

Leah smirked, holding up a sleek black device no larger than a deck of cards. "Yes. Machina X has the archaic cameras looped. Once the guards clear the corner, I'll access the junction per spec."

When the patrol passed, Leah activated her chameleon skill. She crossed the tunnel in silent bounds, reaching the junction where thick power cables snaked from a wall-mounted steel box. The air hummed with contained energy. Kneeling, she worked her multi-tool with practiced precision, the panel cover dropping away to reveal a maze of wires and nodes marked by blinking yellow LEDs.

"That node," Max indicated. "It'll cascade through the casino's power net when triggered. Lachesis copied Earth's old systems perfectly – including the single-point failures."

Leah clicked the device into place, noting the subtle shift in the power lines' resonance. "Houdini's got it locked down. Thanks for the initial overwatch, but I've got the rest. Moving to the next point."

Charlie gritted his teeth, sweat dripping from his brow as he braced against the venom's grip. His muscles locked up in spasms, his vision narrowing as the Chimeric poison worked its way through his system. His augments gave him a visual monitoring of his every vital sign with clinical precision.

"Again," he growled, his voice ragged.

The injector hissed, releasing another dose of paralytic into his bloodstream. Charlie exhaled slowly, focusing on the resistance skills that were still working. The damn poison had a unique ability to disable some of the compensations like pain resistance. He mentally kicked himself, before augs he'd have just grinned and bared it. He was a Mech Infantry, goddamn it all! He just needed to ride it out.

Charlie felt a different pressure in his head, his comm sign for external communication. He opened the line, and Max's avatar materialized virtually in his overlay.

"You're redlining, Charlie. Take a break."

Charlie shook his head, instantly regretting the motion. "Can't. Need the tolerance. Already past the midway mark. If I can't resist this stuff, the whole plan derails."

A pause, and then Max's voice softened. "Sergeant O'Coin's intel saved our necks. Three distinct Chimera variants, each nastier than the last – and all bypassing pain blocks. Don't burn out before the main event."

Charlie focused on his breathing, promising himself just one more round. The casino's white noise cut out, replaced by the emcee's crisp tones announcing new teams and the day's schedule.

"Good morning players! Casino Terminal is happy to announce that today we have two new teams joining us.

Seoul Cybersport brings us Kij-Woo Park, Hana Kim, Tae-joon Choi, Soo-min Lee, and Min-ho Kang. Also entering the Casino level is the international team, the Glitchmeisters consisting of Anya Volkov, Kenji Tanaka, Isabelle Dubois, David O'Connell, and Layla Hassan.

There are four planned challenge matches viewable in the Gaming Theater in the morning. The afternoon's entertainment is yet another Team Match. No rest for the wicked. New teams will face off.

Finally, the night's entertainment. Knockout Matches galore! Be sure to place any wagers before the starting bells!

0830 – Tyrel Reeves (DAIE) & Sarah Patel (ACME), Type: Player v Player Low Stakes Challenge, Form: Pandemonium

0930 – Jacob Hernandez (MVP Leaderboard) & Ava Gadro (LUNA AI), Type: Player v. Player, Form: Escape Room

1030 – Aiden Carter (New Boston) & Li Wei (Shanghai Surprise), Type: Player v. Player, Form: Battle Roulette

1130 – Max Mitchell (Utopia) & Barry Higgins (New Boston), Type: Player v. Player, Form: Battle Royal

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

1300 – Team Match– New Boston, Shanghai Surprise, Seoul Cybersystems, & Glitchmeisters; Format: Battle Roulette

1700 – Sonny McGuire (MVP Leaderboard) & Viviane Saviene (DAIE), Type: KNOCKOUT Player v Player High Stakes Challenge (winner payout x3, loser ejected from Labyrinth), Form: Battle Royal

1900 – Abigail Humphrey (EuroSport) & James Zedroid (Luna AI), Type: KNOCKOUT Player v Player High Stakes Challenge (winner payout x3, loser ejected from Labyrinth), Form: Battle Royal

Remember that until your team has three team matches, a player cannot initiate nor accept a KNOCKOUT match. Low Stakes challenges may be initiated by anyone at any time, but a player may spend their limited number of REFUSE options. Winning three matches will earn an additional REFUSE option. Use them wisely.

This concludes your daily notifications. The Casino Terminal hopes you all have a lucky day!

Charlie was half asleep, but his eyes flashed open as he focused on the words. "Max, what the goddamn hell! You took a challenge match, Max? I thought we were all preparing for the heist." Max grinned and replied.

"All part of the plan, buddy. We're already cutting it close. I burned my last Refusal token and so did Leah, avoiding Abigail and Sonny. How about you?" Max asked.

"That bastard Mueller has got it in for me. I've stopped humoring him with challenge fights…so now he's…issued me a goddamn knockout…fight request! That's it for my refusal…tokens, too. We going to be ready … to bust out of here before tomorrow…night?" Charlie's voice cracked as he held back a scream. His jaws clenched and veins popped as he fought through the poison.

"I hope so. Once we get the distraction plans in place, we try to do some virtual run throughs. There's still a lot of gaps in the plan: Sections B and D of the security offices, Rex's specs, and final extraction. There's so much at stake. This is the end of the road one way or another, so we need to get it right. I might have an idea we find ourselves pinned in, though."

Charlie groaned and sagged back into his bed. Max cringed as his empathy engaged. He'd only gone through the first third of the Chimera poison and Charlie was starting the last of the trio of injections.

The air in the casino crackled with a manufactured excitement. Crystal chandeliers dripped light onto the green felt of the craps table, where fortunes were won and lost with the roll of a pair of dice. Renaud, an NPC android croupier with an unnervingly smooth face and a voice like polished chrome, surveyed the players with an impartial gaze. His movements were precise, almost balletic, as he scooped up chips and dealt out payouts.

Max leaned against the table. He'd placed all his charges that morning. Leah was off, making bets for his upcoming match. He had a little time to kill and his chip stack had dwindled to a handful of reds. He placed a final bet, a long shot on a hard 8. The dice tumbled, clicked against the back wall, and settled.

"Ten! Winner on the ten!" Renaud announced, his voice devoid of inflection. He pulled the stack of chips away from Max, who grinned sourly.

"Can't win them all, can we, Remy?" Max's theatrical sigh preceded an exaggerated pocket check. "Ah, seems I've run dry."

"My apologies, sir. Without chips, you must relinquish your position. Others await." Renaud's officiousness never wavered.

"Ah…one second." Max's eyebrows rose and a faint blue shimmer, barely perceptible, emanated from the space between his hands. A pouch of chips landed on the table. With a feral smile, he said.

"Well, what do you know?" he said with a wink. "Looks like my luck hasn't run out after all." He placed a larger bet on the pass line.

Renaud's imitation eyes, normally unnervingly focused, flickered back and forth between Max and then back to the table. His expression remained unchanged. He scanned the chips, the denominations were too low, despite the momentary flash of radioactivity that was indicative of high roller chips. The croupier shook himself, voiding the incongruity from his RAM space. He had a role and inquisitor wasn't it.

"Very well. Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen," he intoned, his voice smooth as silk. The NPC AI had seen a lot of strange technology, body designs, and people in his long stint at the casino, but this was new. Max couldn't hear the chatter between the croupier and the pit boss, but he felt the heated EM exchange.

Max, pretending to be oblivious to the AI's attention, rattled the dice in his hand, a smug grin playing on his lips. The game continued with the rhythmic clatter of dice and the murmur of bets filling the air. He soon recovered from his earlier losses. By the time Leah returned he was ahead again.

"The bets are all placed, Max" she reported. "I checked on Charlie – he's finishing level nine. I'll watch your match from his room, keep him company…if he's still conscious, that is."

"Perfect." Max gathered his chips, summoning another barely-visible disc of ionizing particles beneath the table's edge. The chips vanished with a static crackle as the portal snapped shut. "It's time for me to see what the New Boston's team leader can really do. Maybe if I make a powerful showing, Abigail will look elsewhere for a knockout match tomorrow." Leah raised an eyebrow at the new unsubtle use of his portal technology but didn't comment.

"Good luck. Win one for Xavier. Him and Barry had a bit of a rivalry going in the last team match. I think you missed some of the trash talk when you were…indisposed."

"Thanks, Leah. Look after Charlie. I won't be pulling any punches, so I hope to be up shortly."

Max left Leah, trotting swiftly toward the ready rooms. The portal appeared briefly again above Max as he moved, startling a pair of random NPCs. A pair of manipulator arms reached down out the invisible space and dressed Max in his Grappler gear. He rolled his neck and entered the staging area.

The arena hummed with simulated crowd noise. The shape of the combat stage slowly appeared as the concealing foglets pulled back to reveal a roman colosseum filled with simulated crowds of raucous spectators. The wide-open sand floored central stage would limit hit and run tactics. Max pinged his daemons.

[Ready for the show, guys?] Max asked.

Musashi responded first. [Barry-san's shields are like mountain walls. Energy or steel - makes no difference. Those fire arrows of his are worse - they'll burn through anything. Better to not be where they land.]

[Those shields are a fascinating puzzle! Quantum dot array? Nanomechanical compensators? Bah! We shall decode their secrets soon enough. Our Cherenkov emitters are calibrated for maximum detectability, and the "catcher's mitt" stands ready,] Tesla's enthusiasm crackled through the link.

The chatter continued inside Max's head, reviewing their surprises and tactics against what they knew of Barry. The leader of the New Boston team was an aggressive player, brash and prone to poor impulse control. That could be used against him. Max chuffed, he needed to draw out the fight and use his portal as much as possible to ensure the casino's AI would notice it and its newly added leaky radiation signal.

The daemons continued their tactical review as Barry Higgins stalked into the arena, cybernetic muscles rippling beneath synth-flesh. Twin shields, their edges gleaming with deadly vibrating vorpal edges, adorned his arms. Behind him hovered a familiar sight that made Max's jaw clench – Xavier's interceptor drone.

Max maintained his relaxed posture, but beneath the surface, combat algorithms spun up to full readiness. The drone's presence explained some of Xavier's reckless behavior in that final team battle. He'd reviewed the tapes from when he'd been unconscious, but he obviously missed some nuances from the battle.

"Dog!" Barry growled, his voice a low rumble. "Your time is up! I'd rather wipe the floor with that punk Xavier, but I won't turn up the opportunity to thrash his teammates instead. "

Max's eyes flickered. "Consider yourself lucky this is only a challenge match, Higgins. Xavier hit the leaderboard too fast, without proper preparation for a knockout fight. You're about to make the same mistake." he said evenly.

"Ha! You act like you're in Abigail's league, but you keep ducking her challenges!" Barry's grin turned feral. "Watching her toss your boy out like garbage was just the warmup. I'll take your credits before she cleans you out proper."

Max's jaw clenched. "Xavier was a good kid," he said, his voice tight. "He made a mistake, but I'm sure you'll have an opportunity to rechallenge him…on the outside. Once we're all done here it's all downhill for you, Barry."

Barry laughed. "He got what he deserved. When I see him again, he'll get more of the same – just like you're about to."

Max's answering smile never reached his eyes as his claws extended and exo-blades arced overhead like metallic scorpion tails. Smart-material cables writhed along his combat suit; grappler systems primed for action.

The starting bell rang, and Barry exploded forward, cybernetic enhancements pushing him to blinding speed. He led with a shield's razor edge as Max shifted laterally, striking at Barry's lead leg. Max's exo-blades intercepted the shield strike in a spray of sparks. Max's PreCog skill screamed a warning, and Max rolled away as white-hot K-Gun rounds shredded his previous position. The phosphorus-laced ammunition sizzled into the sand, filling the air with toxic streamers.

[Hmph. The young wolf attacks boldly but shows his belly,] Musashi noted dryly.

Max's nose wrinkled and he growled as his DigiSense skill classified a new aroma. White phosphorus rounds, capable of eating through standard armor and producing lethal fumes. He stilled his breathing, relying on his respirocytes' oxygen supply. He amped his other senses to negate the visual clouds as Barry rolled through the sand. A high-pitched whine split the air.

Max dove as Xavier's drone screamed down in a kamikaze run, its surface crackling with stored charge. A direct hit could trigger his augs to lock up, ending the fight prematurely. He shifted from PreCog to FastCog's familiar combat time-dilation as Barry filled the arena with interrupted fire, using the drone to herd Max into killing zones.

[Broken Cup! His fury is making him sloppy. Strike without hesitation as we practiced!] Musashi urged in his head.

Max planted his feet as Barry continued his barrage, the man's victory cry cutting short as a dimly glowing portal swallowed the incoming rounds.

Barry's charge faltered. "What the—"

Max exploited the opening, firing his grappler to snare the drone. Lightning coursed down the cable, but Max's resistance held as he dragged it earthward. His hand slapped the drone's command interface, unleashing the alien logic of his Joining skill. The device's systems convulsed as chthonic programming rebuilt it from within, its anti-hack protections useless against the twisted digital assault.

"Surprise," Max said as the newly subjugated drone rose under his command. "Now, about those rounds you sent my way...you can have them back!"

Max sent a command to Tesla inside the Tesseract portal. The daemon received the signal and activated the device inside the portal space.

A signal pulsed to Tesla within the Tesseract. The daemon activated their trap – a parabolic collector formed of smart matter and aerogel, lined with the captured phosphorus shells. Tesla inverted the power feeds, and the "catcher's mitt" burst outward, returning Barry's ammunition with interest.

"Fuck!" Barry's shield snapped up. "Stupid mongrel – these shields eat everything. You'd need capital ship weapons to crack them!"

Max's feral grin widened. "Funny you should mention that." The Yggdrasil manipulator shifted, revealing the massive maser rifle. Coherent microwave energy thick as Max's arm lanced out from the portal's shadows, splitting Barry's shield and punching through his torso.

Barry flew backward, unconscious before he hit the sand. Max approached cautiously, the captured drone covering him. Barry twitched but didn't rise. The emcee's voice boomed across the stadium.

"And there we have it. The last of the challenge matches for the morning. Max is victorious! Let's hope Barry Higgins recovers in time for the Team Match! All bets can be reconciled at the credit exchange. Stay tuned for more!"

As foglets began pouring in to reset the arena, a Yggdrasil arm snaked from the portal. It snatched Barry's undamaged shield before the simulation could reclaim it – a trophy, and perhaps something more if Tesla's gleeful giggling was any indication.