The direwolf leapt suddenly at Val, causing her to throw herself off to the side. Coming up in a roll, Val stepped forward and slashed with her knife. In her haste, she failed to activate the nano running down the edge of the blade in time. The knife shaved the fur of a portion of the wolf’s hind leg, but failed to penetrate the beast’s nano-enhanced hide. Cursing under her breath, Val readied herself for another lunge as the wolf turned towards her.

This time, the wolf simply charged her, snapping at her left leg as it approached. Shifting out of the way, Val slashed down at the wolf’s shoulder, making sure to activate the knife’s subroutine. She heard a high-pitched humming as the nano edge started vibrating at high speed, and this time she opened up a deep gash in the wolf’s skin.

The creature snarled and swiped out at her, but she was already stepping out of range. Val’s brows furrowed as she watched the wound start to close before her eyes. Within a few seconds, no evidence of the damage remained. Except the wolf is even more pissed off now.

Taking a quick glance around, she could see Zavis and Wallon whittling down their pack, working together to take down a wolf every few seconds. Kaya was providing ranged support for Bri, who was slowly turning the tables on the two Enhanced beasts despite her ragged appearance.

Val grimaced in frustration at her incompetency. Gaia damn it all, I refuse to be defeated by a single overgrown dog. Val tightened her grip on the knife, considering what to do. The direwolf’s instinctual use of nano greatly outclassed her body enhancement and recovery subroutines, so direct physical confrontations and attrition were not viable strategies.

In general, Val’s combat rating was pretty low. The one thing she had going for her was her nano disruption abilities. In her arena fight, she had jammed her opponent’s nanosystem by forcibly injecting her own into his system, effectively negating their nano enhancement momentarily. And if it came down to a fight between normal humans, Val was confident in her abilities.

Val backpedaled quickly as the wolf lunged again, deflecting a glancing blow from its sharp claws off her arm. The claws gouged out some of the material, but the armor held and she escaped uninjured. Darting forwards, she slammed the wolf’s head out of the way with her left fist. The wolf’s jaws clamped down on her elbow, but it didn’t have the best leverage and failed to penetrate her armor.

Stomping down on the wolf’s paw with her right foot, she pushed the wolf’s head further to the side, exposing its neck. The beast would overpower her soon, but she didn’t need much time. She slammed the knife to the hilt into the soft tissue of the neck, angling the blade into the wolf’s thoracic cavity. The wolf immediately stiffened up, letting out a keening whine of pain.

Val wasn’t finished, however. Using the knife as a conduit, she dumped a full quarter of her nano into the wolf’s body. She gritted her teeth as she felt a twinge in her chest, the rapid draw of nano slightly aggravating her cracked core. The rush of power traveled through the traces in her body, out from her chest and down her arm. The contacts in her palm activated, channeling the nano into her gauntlet and then through the knife.

The reaction was instantaneous from the wolf. If the original stabbing had caused the wolf pain, it was in pure agony now as Val’s nano rampaged through the wolf’s body. There was no targeted intent to her nano, but just the sheer force of the foreign substance knocked the wolf’s nanosystem into disarray. It let go of her arm and frantically jerked away from her.

Rather than get pulled off her feet, Val let go of the knife, leaving it embedded in the wolf. She took several glancing blows from the wolf’s thrashing, but they were much less deadly now so she stood her ground and trusted her armor.

She wasted no time in taking advantage of the wolf’s weakened state, pulling out her pistol and emptying the rest of her ammo into the wolf’s head. This time, she also spent another 10% of her energy, nano rushing down her left arm into the gun. One of the gun’s built-in routines activated, infusing the bullets with nano to increase their piercing power.

The results were devastating. A fully functioning nanosystem might have deflected the bullets or even rapidly healed the massive damage. But with her nano interfering, the wolf didn’t stand a chance anymore. The augmented rounds tore through the wolf’s skull, instantly killing the weakened creature.

Val exhaled in relief, bending down to retrieve her knife. Wiping the blade off the wolf’s coat, she slotted the knife back into her sheath. Pressing a button on the grip of her pistol, the bottom compartment slid open. Val picked a rectangular bar out of a pouch on her chest and slid it into the pistol. The bottom sealed back up and her display updated to show she had twelve shots available again.

I wonder how many of those universal magazines Kaya has to carry around. The universal magazines were one of the few original technological advancements since the Great Singularity Wars. The Wars had decimated the factories of most ammunition suppliers, leaving humans with a large variety of firearms but no ammo.

Rather than rebuild manufacturing plants for dozens of types of ammo, the new widespread availability of nanotechnology offered a different alternative – retrofit weapons to accept a universal blank of material and then use nano-based subroutines to create the right bullet when the trigger was pulled. Val’s pistol was a common model that only had subroutines for standard and armor-piercing rounds, but she imagined Kaya’s massive rifle had an incredibly complicated set of subroutines that allowed her to generate all types of specialized rounds.

Taking a look around the clearing, she saw the other Defects were just finishing up the operation. Zavis and Wallon had finished off the rest of the wolfpack and were now helping Bri with the Enhanced wolves. Or rather, they were keeping one busy while Bri absolutely demolished one of the Enhanced.

Having just defeated a normal direwolf, Val couldn’t imagine taking on one of those monstrosities. Standing taller than a horse, each Enhanced dwarfed the small woman. Kaya’s rounds, which had no problem penetrating the normal variants, simply bounced off their tough hides, although the transferred kinetic energy probably still did some damage. The wolf Bri was fighting seemed to have electrified fur, while the one Zavis and Wallon faced had some caustic fluid dripped off its massive teeth.

Despite all of this, it was clear that Bri was having no problem wearing the beast down now that she was only facing one of them. Several blades were snapped off into the wolf’s limbs and torso, limiting the amount of healing the creature’s nanosystem could provide. Each of Bri’s punches and kicks landed with heavy bone-shattering thuds, and the whirlwind of impacts was clearly outpacing the beast’s impressive regenerative abilities. It wouldn’t be long now before it succumbed to its wounds, and Val didn’t imagine the last wolf would stand a chance against the united squad.

Her orders had been to provide ranged support, but it seemed Kaya was doing a much better job of that than Val ever could. Not wanting to feel useless, Val grasped her pistol in both hands and started circling around the clearing, straining her eyes to look for any motion in the forest. The current balance of power was heavily in the Defects’ favor, so it would not be good to be ambushed by reinforcements or another monster.

Finishing her circuit of the clearing, Val retreated towards Kaya’s firing position. Quickly climbing up into a nearby tree, she kept her back to the clearing and stared out into the woods instead. Dipping into her Scout training, she settled into a comfortable position she could hold for hours and slowed her breathing and heart rate down. Tuning out the sounds of combat behind her, she focused the entirety of her senses on the forest around her.

Since the engagement was going so smoothly, Val didn’t actually expect to see anything creeping on them. Which was probably why her eyes skimmed over an innocuous patch of brush several hundred feet away several times before her instincts started screaming a warning. Trusting her gut, she strained her eyes over the area, desperately trying to see what her subconscious had already picked out. In their usual silent way, Noir highlighted the discrepancy in her vision.

Val’s breath caught in her throat as she saw the near-perfect camouflage of an Enhanced direwolf, now highlighted with a red outline. It was not much larger than the normal variant, but it blended in with its surroundings much better than any wolf had any right to. It made no motion to join the combat or help its brethren. It stayed absolutely still in the brush, gaze locked on the fight in the clearing.

Is it… observing? Learning? Val shivered slightly as she saw the gleam of intelligence in the beast’s eyes as it watched silently. The wolf’s eyes flicked over towards her as her slight motion gave away her position. Val’s feeling of horror only grew as she met the wolf’s gaze.

It certainly looked like a wolf’s eye, the deep yellow iris surrounding the pitch black pupil. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was an almost human-like intelligence behind those eyes. This was no simple feral beast. It was planning, learning their abilities before retreating to plan another strike. In that gaze, Val saw a cunning mind – but also one capable of great cruelty, and currently bent on revenge.

After meeting her gaze, the wolf slinked off into the underbrush. Even Noir’s highlight flickered and disappeared after a few moments as Val’s senses failed to detect any sign of the beast. Val shuddered again, completely shook by the encounter. Luckily, a transmission from Zavis came in, preventing Val from spiraling any deeper into her fear and anxiety.

Zavis: The Enhanced and wolf pack are down. Status?

Bri: Down to about half my weapons and armor is torn up, but I’m still good to go.

Wallon: Down to about 60% energy. Ready to roll.

Kaya: Fine. 45% ammo left.

Val was startled by the silent woman’s transmission, but tried to compose herself quickly.

Val: Also fine, 65% energy left. Scouts got away earlier but I didn’t pursue. However, I just detected a third Enhanced direwolf behind us. It noticed me and slipped away, seemed to be observing. I don’t expect an immediate attack, but… it seemed more intelligent than normal. I’m concerned about future attacks.

Val sent the position of the Enhanced, as well as the direction she saw it leaving in, over the link. Several seconds passed before any response came, causing Val’s stomach to twist up in knots. A barrage of negative thoughts washed over her as she second-guessed all of her decisions. What if she made the wrong decision letting it get away? Should she have stayed with the Scouts? What if –

Zavis: Hmm disconcerting but I agree with your assessment. Still, better to not let our guard down. Let’s harvest these cores quickly and catch up to the Scout patrol. Keep your eyes peeled for the third Enhanced as we move.

A set of three pulses of acknowledgement from Bri, Wallon, and Kaya came over the squad connection. Val felt immediate relief as Zavis and the rest of the Defects apparently trusted her assessment. She was still nervous about her lack of experience, but her confidence grew a little.

Zavis: Val, do you agree as well?

Chastising herself for getting wrapped up in patting herself on the back, Val hurriedly replied.

Val: Yes, I do. Sorry.

Zavis: No problem. For the record, you’ve done well. Stick with Kaya on the way back and keep a sharp eye out.

Val: Will do.

Twenty feet away, Kaya dropped down from her perch. Kneeling on the ground, she reached into her pack and swapped out the barrel and stock on her rifle, making the firearm more compact and better for the cramped environment of the forest. Val dropped to the ground as well, walking over to the older woman.

Finishing up with her modifications, Kaya stood and looked at Val. Val stared back, unsure how to handle the sniper. Kaya gave a short nod before pointing to herself and then sweeping out an arc into the forest. Understanding flooded Val – the woman was telling her which parts of the forest she’d be watching. Val nodded and turned her attention to her assigned sector.

She almost jumped when a hand clapped on her shoulder. Glancing back with wide eyes, she was surprised to see it was Kaya. The sniper gave her another nod, but this time a small smile crept onto her face. Val smiled back, and the sniper gave her a thumbs up as she let go of Val’s shoulder. Val nodded and repeated the gesture back, but Kaya was already turning to keep an eye on the forest.

Confused, Val started turning around again when she caught Bri’s eye. Her armor was shredded and torn apart in multiple places, but surprisingly, Val could see unbroken skin underneath. Clearly, Bri had amazing regenerative abilities in addition to her inhuman strength. Slung over her shoulder, she carried a canvas bag that presumably held the cores from the Enhanced direwolves.

Bri had clearly been watching Val’s interaction with Kaya because she had a wide grin on her face. Eyes twinkling, she gave Val an enthusiastic wave and thumbs up. Val waved back, feeling herself smile as well. Zavis and Wallon stepped out from behind some trees, each giving her a slight nod. Val nodded back before turning to look out at the forest, feeling better about herself.

She had a long way to go but she liked the Defects so far. And once they got back into town, she would have finished her first mission as a User. Including killing her first direwolf by herself. Lots of work to do, but super happy with that.

Hope you aren’t too pleased with yourself. That nano injection was incredibly sloppy. I’m cringing even thinking about it, and I don’t even have a physical body.

You bastard. You stay silent the whole time and barely help, and then complain about how poorly I do on my first day as a User. Couldn’t you just let me have this moment of victory?

Oh, you had a moment already. But that moment has passed, and now I’d like to lodge a formal complaint. You promised me a new dataset to analyze from your core under strain. And while you technically provided that, I have to watch that nano injection every time. I can literally feel sectors of my memory corrupting from loading that data.

Well maybe if you gave me some feedback on how to improve, you would have nicer data to work with. Ever thought about that instead of just complaining?

… We’ll see.

The Daemon dove back into the recesses of her mind, clearly reaching their conversation limit. Val rolled her eyes and sighed. At least she and Noir were on speaking-ish terms now, but this was still a far cry from the simple relationship she had shared with Rez.

Still, despite her frustration, she felt her confidence continue to grow as they continued through the forest back towards Peakpoint. So far, she didn’t regret her decision to accept Noir or join the Defects at all. She’d keep growing and improving until she had the strength to deal with any situation that came her way. Hope nothing bad happens on the way back into town.