The survivors barely had time to catch their breath before the next test was announced.
A voice crackled through the speakers above.
"Final Stage: Tactical Intelligence Challenge."
Jade exchanged glances with Ari and Gage. Only eleven of them remained. The hundred that started? Gone. Some were eliminated. Some quit. Some didn't even make it past the first round.
Now, only the best stood here.
A massive metal door slid open, revealing a high-tech simulation room. The walls shifted and morphed into what looked like a war-torn cityscape—collapsed buildings, shattered glass, smoke rising from unseen fires. It was chaos.
Then came the next announcement.
"This is your battlefield. The mission: retrieve the target and extract safely. You will be placed in three-man squads. Your enemy? The AI combatants scattered throughout the city. You will be timed, and you will be judged. Only those who prove their strategic capabilities will pass."
The candidates tensed.
Jade, Ari, and Gage stuck together—naturally. Across the room, the others were already sizing each other up, figuring out alliances.
Then the countdown began.
5… 4… 3… 2… 1…
A deafening alarm rang out. The doors slammed shut behind them.
And the battlefield came to life.
Chaos Unleashed
The moment they stepped in, gunfire erupted. The AI enemies weren't mindless bots—they moved like real soldiers. Flanking. Taking cover. Cutting off escape routes.
Jade's mind worked fast.
Find the target. Avoid unnecessary fights. Get out.
Ari was already scanning. "Target's signal is coming from that skyscraper—third floor."
"Then we move," Jade ordered.
Gage took point, his size and strength making him the ideal shield. They maneuvered through alleyways, avoiding open spaces where they could be ambushed.
Then, trouble found them.
Another squad—three other candidates—had locked onto the same objective. And unlike AI, these were real competitors.
And they weren't planning to share.
A tense standoff. Both teams had guns drawn, staring each other down across the rubble-filled street.
Jade exhaled. No need for unnecessary fights. "There's one target. We work together, extract it, then split."
The other leader, a sharp-eyed guy with a smirk, shook his head. "Or we take you out now and go alone."
No time for this.
Jade moved first.
A signal to her team—Ari took high ground. Gage rushed forward.
The fight was on.
Jade darted left, firing at the opposing squad's cover spots, keeping them pinned. Gage didn't hesitate—he tackled one straight into a collapsed car. Ari's sniper rang out, disabling another's weapon.
Seconds later, it was over.
They had outsmared the other team even though the other team was at an advantage since they had one more member.
No deaths—just disarmed opponents who had no choice but to retreat.
Jade's team moved in, retrieved the target—a metal briefcase with classified intel—and ran.
to the extraction point from above, we can avoid ground units."
They moved—fast, smart, ruthless.
And then—
Mission success.