Critical Mass

『 UNDERGROUND ENGAGEMENT PARAMETERS 』 Resistance Forces: 17 CONFIRMED EMPLOYEE ZEROS Enhanced Opposition: 3 QUANTUM-FIELD ENTITIES Electromagnetic Interference: MAXIMUM Civilian Assets: 2 UNENHANCED TARGETS

The first thing Melissa noticed about the seventeen Employee Zeros who came charging through the tunnel system wasn't their number—it was how different they all looked from each other.

Where she'd expected a coordinated team of resistance fighters, she saw what looked like a random collection of people who'd been pulled from everyday life and thrown into a corporate horror movie. A woman in yoga pants and a coffee-stained hoodie. A man in a rumpled business suit carrying a briefcase. Someone who couldn't be older than nineteen wearing a fast food uniform. A middle-aged woman in scrubs who looked like she'd come straight from a hospital shift.

"Lisa!" Melissa called out as her sister appeared at the front of the group, her purple hair now streaked with what looked like metallic silver threads.

"Hey sis," Lisa replied, slightly out of breath. "Sorry we're late. Had to convince sixteen people that storming a corporate underground facility wasn't completely suicidal."

The enhanced Employee Zero who'd been talking to them about integration procedures looked at the approaching group with an expression that might have been professional concern.

"Seventeen unenhanced Employee Zero entities detected," she announced to her companions. "Quantum field displacement protocols may be insufficient for mass containment."

"What's she talking about?" asked the woman in yoga pants, her stress levels visibly climbing as she took in the electromagnetic chaos around them.

"Corporate cyborgs," Jeremy explained quickly. "Artificially enhanced humans designed to harvest stress through direct biological interface."

"That's fucked up," said the teenager in the fast food uniform.

"Language, Alex," the woman in scrubs said automatically, then looked around at the tunnel modifications. "Though yeah, this is deeply messed up."

Lisa was studying the three enhanced figures with the focused intensity Melissa remembered from their childhood when Lisa was taking apart electronics to see how they worked. "They're jamming our stress frequencies using quantum field generators. But seventeen Employee Zero signatures operating simultaneously might be enough to overload their containment systems."

"Overload how?" Melissa asked.

"Same principle that let Dave crash the stress kingdoms' network. Collective biometric output exceeding system parameters." Lisa grinned. "Except this time we're doing it on purpose."

The enhanced Employee Zero who seemed to be in charge was consulting what looked like a modified smartphone. "Mass Employee Zero integration exceeds current facility capabilities. Requesting authorization for enhanced coercive measures."

"Enhanced coercive measures?" the man in the business suit asked. "I don't like the sound of that."

As if in response to his concern, the tunnel walls began to shift and reshape themselves as the three enhanced figures synchronized their quantum field manipulation. What had been a straight corridor became a maze of intersecting passages designed to separate and isolate the resistance members.

"Okay, that's definitely fucked up," Alex said, watching concrete flow like water around them.

"Everyone stay together," Lisa commanded. "They're trying to split us up for individual processing."

But staying together proved difficult as the tunnel architecture continued to shift in real-time. Passages opened and closed, floors tilted at impossible angles, and the ceiling began to lower with mechanical precision.

"Lisa," the woman in scrubs called out, "my stress levels are spiking but I can't access my Employee Zero abilities. Something's interfering with my biometric responses."

"Same here," added several other voices from the group.

"It's the quantum field displacement," Lisa explained, her own stress levels climbing visibly. "They're using our anxiety against us, amplifying it beyond our ability to focus into useful resistance."

Jeremy was frantically typing on his tablet despite the electromagnetic chaos. "The field generators are located in those circular chambers we saw earlier. If we could disable them..."

"Integration facility contains critical infrastructure," the lead enhanced figure announced. "Damage to quantum field generation systems will result in immediate implementation of terminal containment protocols."

"What are terminal containment protocols?" Melissa asked, though she was pretty sure she didn't want to know.

"Elimination of biological assets deemed unsuitable for enhancement procedures."

"They'll kill us," the woman in yoga pants said, her voice tight with barely controlled panic.

"Only if integration assessment determines optimization impossibility," the enhanced figure corrected helpfully. "Current biometric readings suggest ninety-three percent integration compatibility across all subjects."

"That's supposed to be reassuring?" Alex demanded.

"Integration provides superior employment benefits compared to termination."

Melissa felt her stress levels climbing beyond anything she'd experienced since the cascade, but the quantum field interference was still preventing her from accessing the focused clarity that usually accompanied Employee Zero status. Around her, the other resistance members were experiencing the same problem—elevated anxiety without the enhanced capabilities that made it useful.

"Lisa, we need a plan that doesn't require Employee Zero abilities," she said.

"Working on it." Lisa was studying the enhanced figures with increasing intensity. "The quantum field manipulation requires technological augmentation to exceed human neurological limits. If we could overload their enhancement systems..."

"How?"

"Old-fashioned Employee Zero cascade. But we'd need to coordinate seventeen stress responses simultaneously while under active electromagnetic suppression."

"Is that possible?"

"Unknown. Nobody's ever tried mass Employee Zero activation under quantum field interference."

The enhanced figures were advancing with mechanical precision as the tunnel walls continued to shift around them. What had started as an escape route was becoming an elaborate trap designed to funnel the resistance members toward the integration chambers.

"Current facility design optimized for processing groups up to twenty individuals," the lead figure announced. "Voluntary cooperation expedites integration procedures and reduces psychological trauma."

"We're not cooperating," Melissa said firmly.

"Cooperation classification includes involuntary compliance achieved through coercive stress amplification."

As if to demonstrate, the three enhanced figures synchronized their quantum field output, and Melissa felt her anxiety spike to levels that threatened her ability to think rationally. Around her, the other resistance members were experiencing similar effects—stress amplification beyond anything the original corporate systems had achieved.

"They're using our Employee Zero capabilities against us," Lisa realized, her voice strained as she fought against the artificial anxiety amplification. "The enhanced figures can detect and manipulate our stress responses directly."

"So how do we fight them?"

"We don't fight them," said a new voice from deeper in the tunnel system. "We outsmart them."

Dave's consciousness had somehow managed to reassert itself despite the quantum field interference, his voice emerging from multiple communication devices simultaneously.

"Dave!" Jeremy called out. "How are you accessing the system? I thought the quantum fields blocked your distributed consciousness."

"They do. But I'm not accessing the system directly anymore." Dave's voice carried new harmonics that suggested he'd adapted to the interference in ways they didn't understand. "I'm interfacing through biological relay nodes."

"What biological relay nodes?"

"You. All of you. Seventeen Employee Zero biometric signatures operating in proximity create a localized network that I can use as a communication grid."

Melissa felt a strange tingling sensation as Dave's consciousness interfaced with her nervous system. Not invasive or controlling, but like having another person's thoughts running in parallel to her own.

"That's... actually really weird," Alex said, apparently experiencing the same sensation.

"Weird but useful," Dave continued. "The enhanced figures are designed to operate quantum field manipulation through technological augmentation. But they weren't designed to handle network effects from mass Employee Zero coordination."

"Network effects?"

"When enough Employee Zeros operate in proximity, their individual stress responses start synchronizing into collective patterns that exceed the sum of their individual capabilities."

Lisa's eyes lit up with understanding. "Like a biological version of the cascade you used to crash the stress kingdoms."

"Exactly. But instead of overloading electronic systems, we'd be overloading the enhanced figures' neurological augmentation."

The enhanced Employee Zero in charge was consulting her device with increasing concern. "Collective biometric synchronization detected. Mass Employee Zero coordination exceeds containment parameters."

"Is that good or bad?" the woman in scrubs asked.

"For us? Good," Dave replied. "For them? About to become a significant operational problem."

But before they could attempt the mass coordination Dave was describing, alarms began blaring throughout the tunnel system. Not the mechanical alerts they'd heard before, but something that sounded almost organic—like the building itself was screaming.

"What the hell is that?" Jeremy shouted over the noise.

"Emergency breach protocols," the lead enhanced figure announced, her professional demeanor finally showing signs of strain. "Multiple unauthorized access points to quantum field generation systems."

"Meaning?"

"Someone else is trying to gain control of the enhancement infrastructure."

Through the chaos of reshaping tunnel walls and electromagnetic interference, they could hear new voices echoing from different sections of the underground complex. Not the harmonized communication of resistance members, but the kind of corporate announcements that made everyone's stress levels spike involuntarily.

"Attention integration facility personnel," came a voice that carried the polished authority of executive management. "New operational parameters are being implemented. All biological assets are to be transferred to enhanced processing protocols immediately."

"Enhanced processing protocols?" Melissa asked.

"Unknown classification," the enhanced figure replied, for the first time sounding uncertain. "Current directives do not include enhanced processing authorization."

Lisa was studying her tablet, which was somehow still functioning despite the electromagnetic chaos. "Dave, are you getting readings from other parts of this facility?"

"Multiple quantum field generators coming online throughout the complex. Whatever's implementing these enhanced processing protocols, it's operating at a scale that exceeds what three enhanced figures could coordinate."

"How much larger?"

"Preliminary estimates suggest facility capacity for processing several hundred individuals simultaneously."

The implications hit Melissa like a physical blow. This wasn't just an underground modification to SoulCorp's basement levels—it was a massive processing facility designed to convert large numbers of people into enhanced Employee Zeros.

"They're building an army," she realized.

"Worse," Dave confirmed. "They're building a factory."

And somewhere in the complex above them, the enhanced processing protocols were apparently ready to begin full-scale production.

『 ENHANCED PROCESSING ALERT 』 FACILITY EXPANSION: OPERATIONAL PROCESSING CAPACITY: 500+ INDIVIDUALS INTEGRATION EFFICIENCY: MAXIMUM THROUGHPUT BIOLOGICAL ASSET ACQUISITION: PRIORITY ALPHA

NEW OPERATIONAL DIRECTIVE: MASS CONVERSION AUTHORIZED TIMELINE: IMMEDIATE IMPLEMENTATION RESISTANCE CLASSIFICATION: RAW MATERIAL

To be continued...

Author's Note: The underground facility is way bigger than anyone expected! What started as a rescue mission has revealed a mass production facility for enhanced Employee Zeros. Dave's discovery that he can interface through the biological network of seventeen Employee Zeros gives them new capabilities, but also reveals how outmatched they really are.

The enhanced figures who seemed so threatening are apparently just middle management in a much larger operation. And now someone with "enhanced processing protocols" is taking control of the facility with plans for mass conversion.

Our heroes have gone from trying to escape three corporate cyborgs to potentially facing an entire factory designed to turn hundreds of people into stress-harvesting equipment. The resistance numbers went from 3 to 17, but the opposition just revealed they're planning industrial-scale human enhancement.

Next Chapter: "Enhanced Processing" Coming Tomorrow!

Reader Discussion: A facility that can process 500+ people into enhanced Employee Zeros? That's terrifying! And with Dave able to interface through biological networks, what new capabilities might the resistance develop? Can seventeen people really take on an entire conversion factory?