Age 25 — DomiTech Prime, Alatau Highlands
The briefing room was carved into the side of a mountain, its walls raw stone and salvaged steel. Outside, the wind howled across the steppe—a vast, rolling expanse of grass and rock that stretched to the horizon. Once, this had been the heart of the Alatau Region, a land of nomads and ancient trade routes. Now it was a fortress, one of the last DomiTech strongholds in the broken continent.
Netoshka Nezvany stood at the head of a long table, her arms crossed, her face a mask of cold indifference. Around her, sixteen strangers sat in mismatched chairs, leaned against walls, perched on equipment crates. They were soldiers, monsters, outcasts—and she trusted none of them.
Zopi cleaned her sniper rifle with mechanical precision, not looking up. Surgien examined his surgical tools, his steady hands betraying no emotion. Rue sat in the shadows, her crimson eyes glowing faintly, her pale fingers drumming on the armrest. Zev sharpened his blade, the scrape of metal against stone cutting through the silence.
Ron tinkered with a salvaged drone, his cybernetic fingers moving with practiced ease. SP3CTR stood motionless in the corner, masked face betraying nothing. Raine—a broad-shouldered man with a scarred face and dead eyes—cracked his knuckles. Alev traced patterns in the air with smoldering fingers, his burned smile never wavering.
Taran leaned against the wall, arms folded, watching Netoshka with an unreadable expression. Serah studied her tablet, her glasses reflecting streams of data. Twila's face shifted through half a dozen features before settling on something neutral. B4TT3RY's optical sensors pulsed blue, its chassis humming softly.
Genrihk sat in the shadows, ancient and still, his black eyes seeing things no one else could. Circe murmured to a spectral wolf that materialized beside her. Ginny tapped her tablet, lines of code scrolling across the screen. Renzo's eyes were closed, his head tilted, listening to frequencies only he could perceive.
Seventeen strangers. Seventeen potential liabilities. Seventeen people who would die if she made a mistake.
Just like Krovka.
The thought was a blade between her ribs. She pushed it away.
Lucretia stood at the far end of the table, her face illuminated by a holographic map of the continent.
"The artifact is on Isla Perdida," she said. "A Glitch Core—a power source capable of fueling the RMD. The Unwoven are thick there. You'll need to move fast, work together, and survive."
Netoshka's jaw tightened.
"We're not a team. Not yet."
"Then become one." Lucretia's voice was calm but firm. "The training ground is ready. I suggest you use it."
───
The Pit
The training ground was a converted quarry behind the fortress—a deep, circular pit carved from the rock, its walls steep and unforgiving. The floor was packed dirt, scattered with rocks and the remains of old equipment. At the center, a single metal platform rose from the ground.
The squad stood at the edge of the pit, looking down.
"You want us to fight in there?" Zopi asked.
Netoshka didn't answer. She stepped off the edge and dropped twenty feet, landing in a crouch on the dirt floor.
"All of you. Now."
One by one, they jumped or climbed down. Raine landed heavily, shaking the ground. Rue descended like a shadow, silent and fluid. Zev scrambled down the wall, claws digging into the rock. B4TT3RY hovered, then dropped, its landing cushioned by hydraulic legs.
When all seventeen stood in the pit, Netoshka spoke.
"The rules are simple. No weapons. No powers. Just hands. You'll each fight me one-on-one. When you lose, you wait at the edge. When you win—" She paused. "No one's won yet."
Ron crossed his arms.
"And if we refuse?"
"Then you"'ll leave as a Disappointment. Now. No hard feelings."
No one moved.
Netoshka nodded.
"Zopi. You're first."
───
The Forest — One by One
The pit was only the beginning.
After the first round of fights—short, brutal, and humiliating for the squad—Netoshka led them into the forest surrounding the fortress. The Alatau highlands were a maze of rocky outcroppings, dense thickets, and hidden ravines. She scattered the squad across the wilderness, then hunted them.
One by one.
Zopi found a perch on a ridge, her rifle useless without ammunition. Netoshka appeared behind her like a ghost, kicked the rifle from her hands, and pinned her to the ground in seconds.
"A sniper who can't see behind her is dead."
Rue attacked from the shadows, her vampire speed making her nearly invisible. Netoshka anticipated her trajectory, caught her wrist, and used her momentum to slam her into a tree trunk.
"Speed without patience is recklessness."
Zev lunged with his claws, feral and furious. Netoshka sidestepped, caught his arm, and twisted until he cried out.
"Anger is fuel. Don't let it be your pilot."
Ron tried to trap her with a net he'd rigged between two trees. She saw it, rolled under, and swept his legs.
"Technology fails. Your body shouldn't."
SP3CTR vanished into the shadows, reappearing behind her with a blade. Netoshka ducked, spun, and drove her elbow into his masked face.
"Assassins rely on fear. I'm not afraid."
Raine charged like a bull, his massive frame blocking the light. Netoshka sidestepped, grabbed his arm, and used his momentum to throw him into a rock.
"Power without control is just weight."
Alev sent a wave of fire toward her. She rolled under it, came up inside his guard, and drove her knee into his stomach.
"Fire is a tool. You're the craftsman."
Taran was smart—he waited, watched, tried to bait her into a trap. She walked into it anyway, broke his guard, and pinned him in three moves.
"Strategy without adaptability is arrogance."
Serah analyzed, calculated, predicted. Netoshka changed her pattern mid-strike, knocked the tablet from her hands, and had her on the ground before Serah could react.
"Data is useless if you can't trust your instincts."
Twila shifted into Netoshka's face, trying to confuse her. Netoshka closed her eyes and fought by sound and feel, slamming the doppelganger into a tree.
"Faces change. Movement doesn't."
B4TT3RY calculated trajectories, predicted her attacks. Netoshka grabbed a handful of dirt, threw it into its optical sensors, and flipped it onto its back.
"Machines see patterns. Create chaos."
Circe's spectral wolf lunged. Netoshka caught it—her hands passed through, but the disruption broke Circe's concentration. She closed the distance, grabbed the girl's wrist, and twisted gently.
"Your summons are only as strong as your will."
Ginny tried to hack the fortress's perimeter systems, redirecting patrol drones. Netoshka appeared behind her, kicked the tablet from her hands, and pinned her.
"Technology is a crutch. Learn to fight without it."
Renzo's eyes snapped open. "You're coming from the left."
Netoshka came from above, dropping from a tree branch and landing on his shoulders.
"Prediction is useless if you can't see all angles."
Genrihk raised his hands, shadows pooling around his feet. Netoshka stepped into them, grabbed his wrist, and squeezed.
"The dead don't fight your battles."
He smiled.
"No. But they advise."
She released him.
Surgien didn't fight. He stood in a clearing, his hands raised, palms open.
"I'm a surgeon. I save lives. I don't take them."
Netoshka stopped.
"You'll need to defend yourself."
"I'll do it with a scalpel. Not my fists."
She studied him for a long moment. Then she turned and walked away.
"You're not eliminated. But you're on probation."
───
The Bitterness
They gathered at the edge of the forest, bruised, bleeding, humiliated. Seventeen highly trained soldiers, Assassins, and killers—all defeated by one woman.
Zopi spat blood into the dirt.
"S-She's not even human."
Rue rubbed her wrist where Netoshka had grabbed her.
"She's something else."
Ron sat on a rock, rubbing his ribs.
"Well, i think She's an asshole."
Taran laughed—a short, bitter sound.
"She's our asshole now. Apparently."
Zev kicked a stone.
"I've never lost like that. Not since the rifts changed me."
"You haven't fought anyone like her." Genrihk's ancient voice was calm. "She's been fighting since she was a child. She's lost everyone she ever loved. She's been betrayed by every nation that ever used her." He paused. "She's not trying to humiliate you. She's trying to keep you alive."
Serah looked up from her tablet. "The data supports that. Her combat patterns are defensive, not aggressive. She's disabling, not killing."
Raine grunted.
"Doesn't make it hurt less."
Lucretia appeared at the edge of the clearing.
"She's the only one who can close the rifts. The only one who's faced Kersnik and survived. The only one who's been inside a Synarchy blacksite and walked out." Her voice was calm. "You don't have to like her. But you need to follow her. Because if you don't—none of us survive."
Silence.
Zopi stood first.
"Sigh, Fine. I'll follow."
Rue nodded.
"Me too."
One by one, they agreed.
───
The Island — Isla Perdida
The helicopter lifted off at dusk, its rotors chopping through the cold air. The squad sat in the cargo bay, weapons checked, gear secured. No one spoke.
Netoshka stood at the open door, watching the Alatau steppe fall away beneath them.
"This is a retrieval mission," she said without turning. "We find the Glitch Core. We extract. No heroics."
Zev clutched his blade.
"And if the Unwoven find us?"
"Then we fight."
The helicopter flew east, over grey seas and fractured skies. The rifts pulsed in the distance, bleeding impossible light. Isla Perdida emerged from the mist—a jagged shape of black rock and dead trees, surrounded by reefs that had torn apart ships for centuries.
"Drop in five," the pilot said.
Netoshka turned to face the squad.
"Stay together. Watch each other's backs. And if I give an order, you follow it. No questions."
Raine cracked his neck.
"And if your order gets us killed?"
"It won't."
She jumped.
───
The Split
The landing zone was a rocky beach, littered with driftwood and the bones of sea creatures. The squad fanned out, weapons raised.
Zev scouted ahead, his claws extended, his senses sharp. Rue moved through the shadows, her crimson eyes scanning the darkness. Ron's drone buzzed overhead, feeding data to Serah's tablet.
"The facility is two klicks inland," Serah said. "Through the jungle."
The jungle was dead—trees stripped of leaves, the ground covered in grey ash. No birds sang. No insects buzzed. Only silence and the distant hum of rifts.
They were halfway through a ravine when the first monster attacked.
It was a pack of Skitterers—dog-sized Unwoven with too many legs and too many eyes. They poured from the walls, from the ground, from the shadows.
The squad scattered.
Zopi fired, her rounds finding their marks. Rue tore through them with her claws. Zev fought beside her, his blade flashing. Raine and Ron laid down suppressing fire. Alev's flames illuminated the ravine.
But in the chaos, the squad split.
Netoshka found herself alone with Zev and Rue, separated from the others by a wall of collapsing rock.
"Regroup at the facility," she ordered into the comm. "We'll find our own way."
Taran's voice crackled back.
"Copy. Just Don't die."
───
The Gauntlet
The three of them moved through the jungle, fighting their way through waves of Skitterers. Zev was fast, his blade a blur, but he was reckless—he took risks, pushed too hard, left himself open.
"You're going to get yourself killed," Netoshka said, blocking a Skitterer that had lunged at his back.
"I can handle myself."
"Clearly."
Rue laughed—a sharp, bitter sound.
"You two fight like siblings."
"We're not siblings."
"Could've fooled me."
They emerged from the jungle at the edge of a cliff. Below, the facility spread out—a complex of ruined buildings and overgrown courtyards. The other squad members were already there, fighting their own battles.
And in the courtyard, a massive shape moved.
The Umbral Centipede—a creature of segmented armor and grinding mandibles, its body longer than a train. It thrashed through the ruins, sending debris flying.
"Of course," Zopi muttered over the comm. "Why would anything be easy?"
───
The Battle — Learning to Trust
The squad attacked together.
Raine charged head-on, drawing the centipede's attention. Ron's drone fired EMP bursts, disrupting its nervous system. SP3CTR appeared on its back, blades flashing. Alev sent waves of flame into its joints.
But they weren't coordinated. They fought as individuals, not as a unit.
Netoshka's comm crackled. "Zopi, cover the left flank. Raine, fall back—let Ron draw it in. Rue and Zev, hit the legs. Everyone else, focus on the gaps between its armor."
They hesitated.
"NOW."
They moved.
Zopi's rounds found the centipede's eyes. Raine retreated, drawing it toward Ron's drone. Rue and Zev darted between its legs, slicing tendons. The creature screeched, thrashed, tried to turn.
Netoshka climbed onto a collapsed pillar, then leaped onto its back.
The centipede bucked. She held on, crawling toward its head. Her scar blazed. Reality glitched around her fingertips.
She drove her hand into a crack in its carapace.
The centipede went rigid.
Then it collapsed.
───
The Fall
In the chaos of its death throes, the ground beneath Zev gave way.
He screamed, his claws scraping against the rock as he slid toward the edge of a cliff.
Netoshka moved without thinking.
She dove, grabbed his wrist, and slammed her other hand into a crack in the stone. They hung there, suspended above a drop of hundreds of feet.
"I've got you," she said.
Zev's eyes were wide, his claws retracted, his face pale.
"Why?"
"Because you're part of my squad. And i need you to Live for all of us."
She pulled him up.
───
The Oath
They gathered in the facility's central chamber, bruised, bleeding, exhausted. The Glitch Core pulsed in its containment field, casting teal light across their faces.
No one spoke.
Zev stood apart, staring at his hands. Rue sat on a crate, her crimson eyes fixed on Netoshka. Taran leaned against the wall, his stern cold look back in place.
Zopi broke the silence.
"You saved him."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Netoshka met her eyes.
"Because I've lost too many people. And I'm not losing more."
Taran nodded slowly.
"That's the first honest thing you've said."
"It won't be the last."
Ron stepped forward. "Lucretia asked us to follow you. We didn't have a choice." He extended his hand. "Now I'm choosing."
One by one, they came forward.
Zopi. Surgien. Rue. Zev. Ron. SP3CTR. Raine. Alev. Taran. Serah. Twila. B4TT3RY. Circe. Ginny. Renzo. Genrihk.
Sixteen hands, clasped in the glow of the Glitch Core.
"We swear allegiance to DomiTech," Ron said. "And to Netoshka Nezvany as leader of Inferius Squad."
Netoshka looked at their faces—bruised, battered, but no longer hostile.
"I won't let you down," she said.
"You better not," Zopi muttered. "I hate job interviews."
For the first time in years, Netoshka laughed.
It was a small sound, barely more than a breath. But it was real.
───
Inferius Squad had survived its first mission.
They had fought together, bled together, almost died together. They had learned to trust—not completely, not yet, but enough.
Netoshka looked at the Glitch Core in her hands.
One artifact down.
The RMD was one step closer.
The war was not over.
But for the first time, she wasn't fighting alone. Not like last time and for the first time in a long while, she felt a sense of peace and joy as she had found a sort of replacement for her old group "Krovka", but didn't want to tarnish their legacy but to make them as a new ideal that can push her to the brink of hope and happiness.
As the day ends, her imagery begins to fade to black as this nightmare would soon come to an end and to the present time where netoshka and Inferius Squad are left confused in a submarine in the middle of the sea in a unknown yet familiar place...