Innate Trigger – The encounter and the revelation
The night had fallen heavily over the abandoned train station. Zero moved carefully among the wreckage, the narrow beam of his torch cutting the night into fragments. His transmitter had already sent the coordinates now all that remained was to see if Buck would appear. He didn’t wait long. At the edge of the ridge, a shadow detached itself from the dark. Tall and hardened, carrying the weight of both war and secret knowledge in his stare. Buck stood opposite him, weapons relaxed but never too far from his hands.
Zero spoke first:
“I won’t dress this up. I want the truth. Are you really planning to throw your army against Megacity 4? Because from where I stand, all that will do is give the Overlords an excuse to wipe it off the map. What’s the point?”
Buck smiled faintly, not mockingly, but like a man who had been waiting for that exact question. He answered to Zero.
“You’re thinking the way they want you to Zero. That an attack only means death and destruction. But the truth lies elsewhere. Inside the Mystic Covenant, I have men of my own. Fighters implanted with tech that shields them from the bio-cyber implants they use to enslave minds and flesh. They can’t be bent, can’t be turned. And these men brought me something that changes the game.”
Zero listened, lips tight, eyes narrowing.
Buck continued :
“The Mystic Covenant doesn’t act alone. Some of the Neural Seraphs their so called heretics, the ones Decius can’t fully control also carry implants that keep them beyond his reach. And they, at great risk, revealed that within every Megacity, in every Grid, lie hidden infrastructures. Systems that can activate the Barrier. Cut the city off from the Grid. Make it autonomous.”
Zero tilted his head, half in disbelief, half in revelation. He asked :
“You’re saying… if you take Megacity 4, it won’t just be a conquest? It could become the first free stronghold ?
“Exactly Zero. It will be the first piece to break from their chain. A beacon. The beginning. I don’t care for victory as glory I care for the spark that will spread everywhere.”
Silence stretched. The wind howled through the ruins. Zero asked again :
“And if you fail? If the Overlords crush it?”
“Then we die fighting Zero. But if we never try, we’re already dead. I choose the first.”
For the first time, Zero looked at him without suspicion. A part of him wanted to believe.
“Buck, i’ll talk to Fernanda. And to Cipher. I can’t promise they’ll follow you… but I’ll tell them what I’ve heard. I’ll try to convince them.”
Buck placed a firm hand on his shoulder.
“I don’t ask for blind faith Zero. Only that you decide which side of history you want to stand on.”
The two men parted quietly. Buck descended back toward his encampment, his soldiers already phantoms in the night. Zero took the long road back to the Nomad camp, carrying the weight of a truth that could change everything. And somewhere deep within the Grid, the Overlords felt the faint disturbance ripple across their flows. A fracture. The seed of uprising.
Innate Trigger : The encounter and the revelation
Release date : 11 – 9 – 2025
Music by : Innate Trigger
