A Monster in the Wrong Hands

The emergency sirens were still wailing as Deren descended the dorm's fire escape—carrying a spoon and a bowl of noodles that had officially lost all hope of a peaceful life. In the sky, surveillance drones hovered like mechanical bees, scanning everything below with red beams shining from beneath their bodies. Students gathered at the evacuation zone with panicked faces, while several instructors formed emergency response teams, suited in tactical armor and non-lethal weapons.

"This is not a drill! All tactical cadets, assemble!" one of the officers shouted, making half the students flinch.

Ryn and Kael ran over to him. Kael looked panicked, yet somehow still managed to smile. "You're coming too, Der?!"

"Like I have a choice? I just sat down. My noodles haven't even absorbed the hot water properly."

The three of them were herded toward the city's eastern gate. The area buzzed with spotlights, heavy machinery revving up, and loud chatter as cadets were given rushed briefings. On the massive temporary monitoring screen, the shadow of a large creature crawled out from the ruins of the old industrial zone. Its size was unnatural, and its surface looked like a mix of coarse metal and synthetic skin.

"This entity is not listed in the active Metavore catalogue," Reiner spoke from the watchtower, his voice calm but tense. "However, it exhibits aggressive behavior and appears to absorb energy from Core waste. Threat level upgraded to Class C+."

As the team advanced, Deren narrowed his eyes and observed carefully. He frowned.

"The bone structure… too symmetrical. Its movements—too stable. This… isn't a natural creature. It's artificial. But not regulation-grade."

Ryn scanned the creature with his handheld device. "You're right. The signal shows synthetic Core pulse patterns. But that's impossible. Only major military companies can build something like this—and even then, they need clearance from the Ethics Board."

Suddenly, Deren dropped his spoon to the ground, his expression a strange mix of shock and rage.

"Wait. I recognize that pattern. I—I made that. I mean—not the creature. But... that's part of the Etherion stabilizer module I designed and scrapped for being too dangerous! A failed prototype that was never meant to be used!"

"You said you threw it in the academy trash?" Kael asked innocently, holding his breath.

"Not trash—metal recycling. I thought it was safe."

Ryn covered his face with a hand and sighed heavily. "Der... they send all recycled metal to the tactical research center. They used every material without knowing what it was originally for."

The creature suddenly let out a blast of deep red energy from its core. Nearby buildings collapsed from the pressure shockwave. Several instructors were thrown off their feet, and surveillance drones dropped like flies hit with pesticide.

"Every time it attacks, its energy spike increases!" a cadet shouted.

"Of course it does! That module was designed to absorb energy and reflect it! It was part of my 'anti-effort efficiency system'! I even labeled it with a purple sticker!"

Deren stared at the monster in frustration, then looked at his empty hands.

"Great. If it's using my idea, I have to rewrite the failsafe script. But all I have is... a bread knife and an old TV remote with half a battery."

Elsewhere, Clarice stared blankly at the monitoring screens, mouth slightly open, before pressing her fingers to her temples.

"That's not public tech. Even in the Eidolon system, that's a Level 4 prototype… Only Deren ever touched that. And he didn't even bother to archive it properly."

She activated full encryption and sent a secure message:

"Tech infiltration confirmed. Deren's blueprint used to create armed hybrid unit. Likely leaked from within the academy."

"Continue observation. Do not inform him… yet. He'll run off to the mountains if he finds out."

Meanwhile, in the heart of the battle zone, Deren stood chewing on the last dry chunk of noodle still stuck in his mouth. He pulled a strange tube from the inner pocket of his jacket — it looked like a mini thermos wrapped in tangled earbud wires.

"This... isn't ready. But if I hook it into that downed drone… and borrow the backup socket from the generator over there… maybe."

"Deren, are you sure?!" Ryn asked, his voice jumping half an octave.

"Absolutely not. But I'm hungry. And pissed. And I hate people who steal my work and add features without reading the manual."

Deren charged forward, the device glowing blue in his hand. A small explosion followed his footsteps, making Kael shout, "Dude, you're not even wearing chest armor!"

"Time to uninstall the bootleg version of my work!" Deren yelled, leaping toward the creature — his expression somewhere between deadly serious and just wanting to go home.