The Engineer’s Override

The Apex Prime and Priya clashed, their resonance colliding in shockwaves that rippled through the Apex Hub. The biomechanical walls shifted in response, pulsing like a living organism, reacting to the battle as if it was part of the fight itself.

But I wasn't here to watch.

While Priya held Apex Prime's attention, I moved toward the Neural Core, weaving through the shifting corridors of the facility. Each step felt like walking inside a living machine—the walls pulsed with energy, threads of bio-metal flexing and adjusting as if sensing my presence.

Hypermind pulsed warnings in my vision:

✔ Apex Network: Active

✔ Prime Directive: Adaptation in Progress

✔ External Override: Possible—High Risk

I tightened my grip on my gauntlet. This wasn't just a fight.

It was a race.

Hart and Orin moved behind me, covering my flank as we pushed deeper into the structure. The deeper we went, the quieter it became.

No Apex Warforms. No drones.

Just the steady, pulsing hum of the Neural Core ahead.

Hart's voice was low, tense. "Not gonna lie, I hate how quiet this is."

Orin's grip tightened on her rifle. "Means they don't need guards. This place is the defense system."

I didn't argue. She was right. The entire Hub was alive, and the deeper we got, the more I could feel it watching us.

Priya's voice crackled through the comms. "Whatever you're doing, do it fast."

I glanced at my display—Hypermind's readout showed her Apex pattern fluctuating as she fought.

Her body was adapting to match Apex Prime's power, but so was he. The longer this fight went, the more he learned about her.

I didn't have much time.

We reached the Neural Core—a massive, pulsating construct that hung in the center of the chamber like a suspended organ, tendrils of bio-metal weaving into the ceiling and floor. It pulsed in a slow, rhythmic heartbeat, resonating in time with the Apex Prime's energy.

Hypermind immediately flashed a Neural Link Warning.

✔ Core is linked directly to Apex Prime.

✔ Any changes made will affect its entire consciousness.

✔ Risk of retaliation: Extreme.

Hart muttered. "So what, you just unplug it?"

I shook my head. "It's not that simple. If I just shut it down, Apex Prime might sever itself and re-route to another Hub. I need to override it completely—force it to accept my signal."

Orin gave me a sharp look. "And if it resists?"

I exhaled. "Then we'll find out what happens when a human brain tries to outthink an Apex intelligence."

Hart grinned. "Sounds fun. Let's do it."

I didn't have time to hesitate. I stepped forward, raised my gauntlet, and pressed my hand against the Neural Core.

The world shattered.

For a moment, I was nowhere.

Then—

I was inside the Apex Prime's mind.

The world around me became a fractured grid of flowing data, shifting in patterns too fast for the human brain to fully comprehend. Symbols, structures, memories—not human, not machine, but something else.

And at the center—

A presence.

Watching me.

It wasn't a voice. Not like speaking. It was a pressure, an awareness pressing against my mind, trying to analyze me, to understand me.

Then, finally, words formed.

"You seek control."

I gritted my teeth. "I seek to stop you from destroying everything left on this planet."

A pause. Then—

"We do not destroy. We assimilate."

Flashes of images burned through my vision—memories of Apex assimilation, humans being transformed, their neural structures rewritten, their bodies changed. The Apex weren't trying to wipe out humanity.

They were trying to merge with it.

And Priya…

She was proof it could work.Apex Prime's presence tightened around my mind. "You altered one of ours. A deviation. An anomaly."

I felt a shift in the data stream—images of Priya, her body flickering between human and Apex, her resonance unstable, her existence a contradiction.

Then, the offer.

"Give her to us."

"We will complete what you cannot."

A chill ran through me. I knew what it meant.

They didn't want to kill Priya.

They wanted to finish her transformation.

Turn her into something fully Apex.

And deep inside, a small part of me knew—if she did, she'd be more powerful than anything before.

But she wouldn't be her anymore.

clenched my fists. "She's not yours to complete. She's herself."

The data streams shifted violently. The Apex did not understand.

"Incomplete beings do not survive."

I grinned. "Then maybe it's time you learned something new."

I pushed.I took everything I had learned—the Apex lattice structure, the resonance frequencies, the way they thought—and I rewrote the code.

I wasn't just trying to control the Apex.

I was forcing it to accept something beyond its understanding.

Something human.

---

The Apex Prime's presence shuddered. I felt its resistance, the sheer alien logic trying to reject my influence.

But I was not alone.

The bond flared, and suddenly, I felt Priya through the network—her energy slamming into mine, her Apex resonance merging with my override command.

Together—

We pushed Apex Prime back.The Neural Core exploded with light, its resonance fracturing as my override command forced its structure to adapt.

For the first time—

The Apex could not evolve fast enough.

A shockwave ripped through the chamber, sending me flying backward, my body slamming against the wall. Sparks showered from the core, its energy field collapsing—

And then—

The Apex Prime's voice shattered into static.I gasped for breath, my entire body burning from the strain.

Hart and Orin pulled me up as the Neural Core dimmed, its pulsing heartbeat gone.

The Apex Hub… was dead.

And outside—

I felt Priya still standing.

She had won.

But as she turned toward me, I saw it—

Her Apex veins glowing brighter than before.

Something in her had changed.

And the Apex…

Wasn't gone.

Not yet.