Alex Thorne's life had taken a hard left into weird. Two days ago, he was the laughingstock of Eclipse Academy, tripping over lasers and failing at spy basics. Now, thanks to Dr. Zoltan's glowing toaster-experiment, his brain was a Wi-Fi hotspot for every skill on the internet. He could backflip, code, and even bake a mean soufflé (though he learned the hard way not to try that in the dorm's microwave). But nobody could know about the neural implant. Zoltan's warning echoed: "Tell anyone, and they'll dissect your skull faster than you can say 'classified.'"
As Alex shuffled to morning classes, a glowing blue text box flickered in his vision, like a video game HUD only he could see:
SYSTEM PROMPT: Mission Unlocked! Objective: Sabotage the cafeteria's security cams before lunch. Reward: Unlock 'Advanced Lockpicking' skill. Failure: Cafeteria bans you from pancakes for a week.
Alex froze mid-step, nearly colliding with a janitor bot. "What the—?" The prompt wasn't from the school. Eclipse's missions came through clunky tablets, not… his eyeballs. Was this Zoltan's tech? Or something weirder? No time to dwell—pancakes were at stake.
The cafeteria buzzed with students plotting breakfast heists. Mia, tinkering with a gadget that looked like a fork crossed with a stun gun, waved Alex over. "Yo, you're glowing. Not literally, but… what's with the sudden spy swagger?"
Alex dodged her gaze, muttering, "Just ate my Wheaties." No way could he spill about the implant. Instead, he focused on the system prompt. His brain pinged a YouTube tutorial—How to Hack Security Cams with a Paperclip—and his fingers twitched, ready to act. But first, he had to survive stealth class.
Professor Grimshaw, still salty about Alex's sudden competence, tossed him into a mock infiltration drill: sneak past a laser maze to grab a fake intel briefcase. Last week, Alex would've tripped and set off alarms. Now? His brain downloaded Parkour 101: Urban Ninja Edition. He vaulted over beams, slid under lasers, and snagged the case in record time, earning a grudging nod from Grimshaw. "Not terrible, Thorne."
Mia whispered, "Okay, who are you?" Jax, munching a stolen bagel, added, "Yeah, did you bribe a ninja or something?" Lila, cleaning her sniper scope nearby, just raised an eyebrow. Alex's heart did a dumb flip, but he played it cool. "Just… practicing."
The system prompt blinked again: Hurry up, genius. Cams won't sabotage themselves. Tip: Check the vending machine for tools.
At lunch, Alex slipped away, pretending to "tie his shoe" near the cafeteria's vending machine. His brain pulled up a sketchy blog—10 Ways to Break Into Anything—and he spotted a loose panel. Inside? A paperclip and a tiny screwdriver, exactly what he needed. Weirdly convenient, he thought, but the system prompt pulsed: Stop overthinking. Move!
While Mia distracted the lunch lady with a fake sob story about lost homework, Alex crawled under a table, his implant guiding him to the cam wiring. He clipped a wire, rerouted the feed, and—bzzzt—the cams looped old footage of students eating soup. Mission complete.
SYSTEM PROMPT: Success! 'Advanced Lockpicking' unlocked. New Mission: Eavesdrop on the faculty lounge convo tonight. Reward: 'Cryptography Basics' skill. Failure: Extra laps in gym.
Alex groaned. Eavesdropping on teachers? That wasn't an Eclipse mission. The school's assignments were all "retrieve this, sneak past that." This felt… personal. But Cryptography Basics? He'd kill for that skill without studying Grimshaw's 500-page manual.
Post-lunch, Alex was summoned to the boardroom, a sleek chamber with holographic maps and a coffee machine that doubled as a lie detector. The school board—three stern spies in suits—studied him like a lab rat. "Thorne," said Director Vale, a woman with a stare sharper than Lila's aim, "your recent… improvement is remarkable. You're joining Shadow Squad."
Alex blinked. "The elite team? Me?" Shadow Squad was Eclipse's pride, a group of top students sent on real missions. He'd dreamed of this, but now? It felt like signing up for a cage match after one karate lesson.
Mia, Jax, and Lila were already in the squad's briefing room, a high-tech lair hidden behind a "janitor closet" sign. Mia was tweaking a drone that spat glitter, Jax was bench-pressing a chair, and Lila was reading a rom-com novel (which Alex's implant instantly identified as Love in the Crosshairs). He blushed, then covered it with a cough.
"Welcome to the big leagues, rookie," Lila said, not looking up. "Try not to sneeze us into oblivion."
Jax grinned. "Yeah, no megaphone mishaps, 'kay?"
The mission briefing popped up on a holo-screen: take down "The Whisper," a henchman of the evil mastermind Vortex, who was selling secrets in a city market tomorrow. Vortex—aka Victor Voss—was a name Alex's implant flagged from a shady wiki: a former Eclipse student turned global threat, enhanced by "experimental tech." Zoltan's tech? Alex wondered, but kept his mouth shut.
SYSTEM PROMPT: Alternate Mission: Steal The Whisper's data drive before Shadow Squad secures it. Reward: 'Stealth Mastery' skill. Failure: You're stuck with 'Beginner Yoga' instead.
Alex's jaw tightened. Steal from his own team? The system was testing him, but why? And Beginner Yoga as punishment? Brutal.
Evening Antics: Secrets and Sneezes
That night, Alex tackled the system's eavesdropping mission. The faculty lounge was a fortress of keycard locks and motion sensors. His new lockpicking skill kicked in—his brain pulled a Locksmith Hacks video, and he popped the door open with a hairpin from Mia's gadget pile. Inside, he overheard Grimshaw and Vale whispering about "Zoltan's failures" and "Voss's betrayal."
"They never should've funded those experiments," Grimshaw muttered. "Now Vortex is our mess."
Vale sighed. "And Thorne's kid? Too much like his parents. Keep an eye on him."
Alex's heart raced. The academy was tied to Zoltan and Vortex? Before he could process, his implant glitched, blasting a How to Yodel tutorial in his head. He clamped his mouth shut, but a tiny "yodel-ay-hee-hoo" slipped out. The teachers froze. Alex dove behind a couch, holding his breath as Grimshaw growled, "Who's there?"
SYSTEM PROMPT: Nice save, yodel boy. 'Cryptography Basics' unlocked. Tip: Don't sing next time.
Alex crawled out, heart pounding, and slipped back to the dorms. Mia was waiting, arms crossed. "Where were you? You look like you saw a ghost."
"Just… practicing," Alex lied, his implant helpfully supplying How to Lie Convincingly. It didn't work. Mia squinted but let it slide.
The Market Mission Prep: Action Looms
The next morning, Shadow Squad prepped for The Whisper's takedown. Mia rigged a drone to jam signals, Jax practiced punches that could dent steel, and Lila calibrated her sniper rifle with terrifying precision. Alex's job? Recon via his "new skills." He didn't mention the system's rogue mission to steal the data drive.
As they boarded a stealth van to the city market, Alex's implant buzzed with a new prompt: Final Tip: The Whisper hides in plain sight. Look for the guy selling knockoff watches. Good luck, Brainiac.
Alex gripped his seat, nerves jangling. He was about to face a real villain, juggle his team's mission, and chase a secret one—all while keeping his implant under wraps. If he pulled this off, he'd be a hero. If he screwed up? Well, at least he'd have yoga.