The door shut behind Nina as the overlay returned with no particular prompt sound.
• [Cenovix Status: Offline]
• [Neuromotor Calibration: Complete]
• [Host Parameters Updated]
• [Directive Input: Acknowledged]
• [New Assignment Detected: Awaiting Deployment Protocols...]
It was a bit different from how it first manifested when he woke up. It seemed to still be updating, because a second layer unfolded beneath the prompt. Shifting in real time... as if it had been there all along, waiting for him to be ready.
[BASE INTERFACE]
[Cenovix Status: Offline]
• [Host: Nathan Cole]
• [Organization Affiliation: HORIZON]
[+] [System Directives:]
• [New Assignment: Awaiting Deployment Protocols]
[+] [Manifestation Phase]
[+] [Host Parameters]
[+][System Log]
[+] [Skill Matrix]
[▭] [Expand System Settings] (Unavailable – Grayed Out)
Each section showed a + toggle icon to its left— for options that could be expanded. When Nathan focused on any line, it pulsed gently, ready to unfold, showing that the system could read his intent.
Since system directive was self explanatory with the new prompt under it, he decided to focus on the second toggle.
He mentally opened it
[-] [Manifestation Phase]
[Manifestation Type: SYSTEM]
[Phase: I – Interface Layer Active]
[Status: Calibrated]
[Class: Support]
[Subclass: Medic – Field Operative (Provisional)]
It was simple, but the label made sense. He wasn't built for offense and the system only seemed to be tracking him for now. The classification was reasonable but what did phase-I mean?
According to what the detective said, or should I call her handler now? phase manifestation was how each host showed their superpowers. But she never mentioned anything about phase levels. I guess I'll have to ask her next time around.
He collapsed the section.
Then focused on the next option.
[-] [Host Parameters]
• [Physical Recovery: 87%]
• [Neuromotor Feedback: Stable]
• [Adrenal Regulation: Active]
• [Muscle Response: Normalizing]
• [Pain Suppression: Automated]
• [Coordination: Rebalanced]
It was like reading a surgeon's internal monitor. Just with more details. This was another sign that the system was tracking him, in real-time at that.
He rolled his left shoulder slowly, the stiff feeling was gone, the system responded instantly.
• [Host Parameters: Updated]
• [Range of Motion: Left Shoulder – Full]
• [Reflex Boost: Minimal / Within Threshold]
He kept going, taking five slow steps around the bed, then a turn. There was no sense of imbalance either, no limp. He dropped into a half-squat, then stood. The data followed without delay.
These updates weren't system options, but pure data on his conditions. He didn't understand how this would eventually become useful, other than being able to track his own health.
Well let's look at the bright side, I don't have to visit the hospital for a check up again.
he snickered, impressed with his childish reasoning.
He closed the tab.
Then opened the next.
[-] [System Log]
[+] [System Action History]
[▭] [System Settings] (Unavailable – Grayed Out)
He toggled the history open.
[-] [System Action History]
• [Neuromotor Calibration: Complete]
• [Pain Suppression Protocol: Engaged]
• [Auto-Parameter Logging: Enabled]
• [Behavioral Pattern Analysis: Ongoing]
• [Skill Matrix Analyzed]
• [Host Identification: Nathan Cole]
• [Organization Affiliation: HORIZON]
• [Class Fragment Integration term established]
• [Class Assignment: Support / Medic]
• [System Behavior Set: Passive Adaptive]
• [Interaction Profile: Responsive / Non-Initiating]
• [Autonomous Judgment Layer: Dormant]
He scanned the entries.
Most of them hadn't happened when he was aware. Just a quiet process running in the background from the moment the fragment bonded with him. Cenovix had been calibrating itself since then, it wasn't just tracking his physical state.
It had drawn from his behavior, his choices… even from things Nina said aloud. His name, his class, even the organization, none of it had been input manually.
Everything in the action history pointed to the fact that, it was building a framework around him the whole time.
He backed out, stopping short of opening the Skill Matrix.
It could wait.
And at the bottom, there was the last option greyed out.
[▭] [Expand System Settings] (Unavailable – Grayed Out)
A locked door. He made a note of it.
He closed the interface.
The projection faded, leaving the room exactly as it was.
...
Nathan moved through the next hours alone. He exercised slowly. Pushed himself only as far as the pain allowed. By afternoon, he could do a bit more exercise without feeling fatigue.
By evening, he'd eaten, showered, and gone through a full range of motion without issue. His shoulder no longer ached, even the system confirmed.
• [Host Parameters Updated]
• [Vital Stabilization: Confirmed]
• [Full Range of Motion: Confirmed]
...
The next evening, he dressed in his own clothes. He tied his boots without stiffness or pain. He wore the same jacket from that night, with bloodstain still near smeared on the side. Though after everything he had experienced in the last two days, it felt like someone else's now.
When he walked out of the room, the nurse station was empty.
By the time he reached the front lobby, a black sedan was already waiting.
Nina leaned against the passenger door, typing something into her phone.
She looked up as he approached. "Didn't think you'd be walking upright this soon."
He eased up a bit, they had to work together eventually.
"Who paid the bill?"
"We did," she said. "Technically no one. This place doesn't exist under that any name."
"You ran the whole place just for me?"
"For seventy-two hours," she replied. "Don't think you're that special. We just didn't want you in public care until your CFI was complete and you were properly initiated into our ranks."
Nathan looked at the building again. It could've been any private hospital, quiet and undocumented.
"You picked me up to say that?"
She nodded. "Also to tell you I'm picking you up again in two days for proper onboarding. You'll meet some new people and learn more about HORIZON, the do's and don'ts. That sort of thing."
She turned without waiting for a reply and headed for the driver's side. There was no need to honk. He knew the car was for him.
Nathan climbed in.
The ride was quiet till they pulled up to an apartment complex, five blocks from home, twenty minutes later.
"Two days," she reminded as he reached for the door. "No stunts. Just be ready."
He stepped out and shut the door behind him. She didn't wait for a wave and just drove off.
Then he walked.
He felt a strange sense of alienation as he was walking home. Since nothing had changed in the neighborhood, then it was an internal change he was just noticing. He was the one that had changed.
He wasn't just a paramedic anymore. He was bonded with a system, had a secret organization handler, and an assignment waiting. Whatever life he had before was now just a cover for something else. The night he got shot wasn't an exception anymore, it was the start of something full-time. From now on, there were two versions of him: the one who clocked in at the hospital, and the one who followed HORIZON orders.
Both lives were real now—he just had to keep them from colliding.
It was already late into the evening when he got home.