"Multiple hostiles, pack tactics," Axel hissed, pulling Mia and Kai back from the doorway crack.
"System calls them 'Scyther Broodlings.' Chitinous armor, barbed limbs, venomous bite. Sounds like a party."
His mind was already racing, the 'Improvised Tactics' skill faintly buzzing in his awareness.
Kai, despite the danger, had a spark of eagerness in his eyes. "So, not Blighted? Something new? Can my kinetics affect their armor?"
Mia, ever practical, was already scanning the doorway. "They're focused on that cabinet. If we hit them fast, maybe we can take out one or two before they swarm us."
[SYSTEM TACTICAL OVERLAY: Lab Environment – Multiple Obstructions (Overturned Tables, Equipment Racks). Potential Chokepoints: Doorway (Current), Corridor Intersection (Beyond Lab). Scyther Broodling Sensory Range: Primarily Visual/Vibrational. Recommend Coordinated Assault.]
[CHANCELLOR NURTURING PROTOCOL (Active Guidance): Mia – Focus Telekinetic Impulse into sharp, disorienting shoves against Scyther limbs or head sections during their lunges. Kai – Modulate Kinetic Field into short, concussive bursts aimed at exposed joints or to deflect incoming attacks. Synergy Potential: High.]
"System likes 'coordinated assault'," Axel relayed quickly. "Mia, it thinks sharp telekinetic shoves to their limbs or heads when they lunge will mess them up.
Kai, short kinetic shotgun-style bursts, not just a wall – aim for joints or to knock their attacks wide. I'll… uh… provide aggressive moral support and hit anything that gets too close with extreme prejudice."
He took a deep breath. "Ready for your first official Cohort combat trial?"
Mia gave a tight nod, her knuckles white on her wrench.
Kai bounced slightly on the balls of his feet, a nervous energy thrumming around him.
"Let's show them what Atheria survivors are made of, Chancellor!"
"That's the spirit, kid!" Axel grinned, then kicked the door fully open. "Party's here, bug-faces!"
Three Scyther Broodlings, alerted by the sudden noise, spun from the ravaged cabinet, their multifaceted eyes instantly locking onto the intruders.
They were grotesque, like oversized, nightmarish praying mantises sculpted from green-black metal and bone, their forelimbs ending in razor-sharp, hooked scythes.
They hissed, a dry, clicking sound, and lunged.
Axel met the first one, his Maglite a desperate blur. He sidestepped its initial slash, the barbed limb whistling past his ear, and brought the heavy flashlight down hard on one of its segmented legs.
A sickening crack, and the creature screeched, faltering.
Simultaneously, Mia, following the System's (and Axel's) cue, let out a small yell of exertion.
A Scyther lunging for Kai suddenly stumbled mid-air as if shoved by an invisible force, its attack going wide. Kai, seizing the opening, thrust out his hands.
A focused pulse of kinetic energy slammed into the creature's side with an audible thump, sending it skittering across the lab floor into a pile of broken glassware.
"Nice one!" Axel yelled, ducking under another swipe from the Broodling he'd injured. He could hear more clicking, more hissing from deeper within the lab. There were definitely more.
The fight was a chaotic dance of desperation and nascent teamwork. Mia, her face tight with concentration, wasn't just throwing bricks with her mind anymore; she was a disruptive force, her telekinetic shoves surprisingly effective at breaking the Scythers' momentum, nudging their deadly limbs off-target just as they were about to connect.
Kai, meanwhile, was learning on the fly, his kinetic bursts becoming more focused, more impactful, sometimes creating small shimmering shields that deflected glancing blows.
Axel, relying on his System's danger alerts and his own surprisingly quick reflexes, weaved between them, his Maglite striking at exposed joints, antennae, anything that looked even remotely vulnerable.
His 'Improvised Tactics' skill seemed to subtly guide his blows, making them count more than they should have.
"There's another one, left flank!" Mia cried out, shoving a lab stool telekinetically into the path of a Scyther trying to circle around Axel.
"Thanks, Rebel!" Axel grunted, spinning to meet the new threat.
It was during this intense melee, as they slowly pushed deeper into the lab, that Axel heard it – a muffled cry, definitely human, from behind a barricade of overturned lab tables and heavy equipment at the far end of the room.
"Survivors!" he yelled over the chitinous clicks and hissing. "Mia, your friends?"
Mia's head snapped towards the sound, her eyes widening. "Could be! We have to get there!"
This new urgency fueled them. Kai unleashed a particularly powerful kinetic blast that sent a Scyther crashing back into two of its brethren, momentarily stunning them.
Mia used the opening to telekinetically rip a heavy metal panel from a damaged piece of equipment and send it spinning like a frisbee, deflecting another attacking Broodling.
Axel saw his chance.
"Kai, Mia, with me! Press the advantage!"
They surged forward, a three-person whirlwind of desperate, System-enhanced, and newly Awakened fury.
Axel smashed his Maglite into the multifaceted eyes of one Scyther, eliciting an unearthly shriek. Kai followed up with a kinetic punch that cracked its carapace. Mia, seeing an opening, focused all her will.
A heavy microscope on a nearby bench wobbled, then flew through the air, impacting another Scyther squarely in its narrow thorax with a sickening crunch.
The remaining Broodlings in their immediate vicinity, perhaps sensing this trio was more trouble than they were worth, or perhaps just unnerved by the sudden, effective resistance, began a chittering, clicking retreat, disappearing into the darker recesses of the adjoining labs.
Panting, bleeding from a few minor gashes, Axel, Mia, and Kai stood amidst the wreckage and twitching insectoid limbs. The lab was a disaster zone.
"Clear… for now," Axel gasped, leaning heavily on his Maglite. He looked at Mia and Kai.
They were battered but standing, adrenaline still pumping. A fierce, almost giddy sense of pride welled up in him. His Cohort. His team.
Mia was already moving towards the barricade at the far end of the lab.
"Hello? Is anyone there? It's Mia! Mia Chen!"
A moment of silence, then a weak, trembling voice called back. "Mia? Oh gods, Mia, is that really you?"
The barricade shifted, and a pale, terrified face peered out – a young woman, a student, clutching a broken piece of lab equipment like a club.
Behind her, Axel could see at least three other figures huddled in the small, fortified space. They were alive.
But just as relief began to flood through Axel, the young woman's eyes widened in fresh terror, looking not at Mia, but past her, towards the entrance of the lab they'd just fought through.
"More of them!" she screamed. "They're coming back! And they've got… oh gods, they've got Professor Wilkes!"
Axel spun. The clicking and hissing were indeed returning, louder this time. And through the doorway, he saw them – at least five more Scyther Broodlings. And they were dragging something, or someone, a figure in a torn lab coat, clearly injured but still struggling feebly.
One of Mia's original group. And the Scythers weren't just hungry; they were taking prisoners.