Max smirked. "Not for long."
He quickly accessed his Ted Faro-level Override and injected the command. The screen blinked twice before a new message appeared:
[ OVERRIDE ACCEPTED. WELCOME, MR. FARO. ]
"Hah! Easy mode never fails," he chuckled.
The system whirred to life, unlocking nearby doors and displaying archived files. He scrolled through them, looking for anything valuable. Most were corrupted beyond repair, but one file stood out—Project Zero Dawn: Restricted Data Logs.
"Now, this is what I'm talking about."
He copied the data onto his system storage. Even if he didn't need it right now, Zero Dawn's classified knowledge would be invaluable later.
His Focus pinged.
[ ALERT: MACHINE SIGNAL DETECTED ]
Max tensed. "What now?"
A deep, metallic growl echoed through the corridor. His Watcher beeped in alarm, stepping in front of him defensively.
Emerging from the darkness, a Stalker-class machine, its cloaking field flickering as it slowly revealed itself. Its sleek, predatory frame gleamed under the dim light, red optics locking onto him.
Max sighed, drawing his spear. "Guess I should've expected a guard dog."
The Stalker tensed, its tail-mounted mine launcher priming for an attack.
Max grinned. "Alright then—let's dance."
The Stalker let out a synthetic growl, its optics flashing red as it activated its cloaking system again, vanishing into the darkness.
Max clicked his tongue. Figures. These things love playing hide-and-seek.
His Focus pinged, highlighting faint distortions in the air. The Stalker was moving fast, circling him like a predator sizing up its prey.
"Alright, let's make this fair." Max smirked as he activated Thermal Vision on his Focus, revealing the Stalker's glowing heat signature.
[ TARGET LOCKED ]
The machine lunged.
Max dodged just in time, rolling to the side as the Stalker's razor-sharp claws sliced through the air where he had stood. Dust and debris kicked up as its tail-mounted mine launcher fired, sending an explosive round hurtling toward him.
Max boosted backward using his cybernetic enhancements, narrowly avoiding the blast. The explosion rocked the ruin, sending a wave of fire and shrapnel in all directions.
"Fast bastard," Max muttered, gripping his spear. "Let's see how you like this."
He activated Shock Spear Mode, electricity crackling along the weapon's length. The Stalker, still invisible to the naked eye, lunged again.
Max didn't dodge this time.
Instead, he spun, parrying the attack mid-air and slamming his electrified spear into the Stalker's exposed flank.
BZZZT—!
The machine screeched as thousands of volts surged through its systems, forcing it to decloak. Sparks flew from its joints as it stumbled back, its body twitching uncontrollably.
Max didn't give it a chance to recover.
With a burst of speed, he dashed forward, twisting his spear and driving it deep into the Stalker's core.
A final, shuddering screech—then silence.
The machine collapsed, smoke rising from its chassis as its red optics dimmed.
[ MACHINE DESTROYED: STALKER-CLASS ]
[ LOOT ACQUIRED: STEALTH GENERATOR, SHOCK COIL, STALKER LENS ]
Max exhaled, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Damn, that was fun."
"though I am glad I equipped this body with Cyberware from the Cyberpunk 2077" Max mumbled as he looked at himself.
His Focus beeped.
[ ADDITIONAL DATA NODE DETECTED. REQUIRES ACCESS. ]
Max turned toward the terminal in the corner, now unlocked thanks to his override.
"Alright, let's see what else this place is hiding."
After half an hour, Max sighed, sitting in the main room. "Hmm, there's not much except the files on the initial phase of Project Zero Dawn. Not so useful..." He patted the Scout bot absentmindedly as he mumbled, "Though, I can use it as my base." His gaze swept across the broken facility.
"Time to fix it," he declared as he began repairing the entire place.
A month passed, and the once-ruined facility was now fully restored. From air vents to power systems, everything was in perfect working order. There was even a garden on the side with aged, grounded soil.
Max woke up from his room and stretched, watching as another bot—his Stalker unit—also powered up beside him.
After waking up, Max commanded the Stalker to connect to the computer. He had fully repaired the Stalker and now used it for scouting.
"Let's see what data you've collected," he muttered, sitting down and accessing the information on the computer.
"Another useless ruin," Max sighed as he skimmed through the reports. "Hmm, I don't recognize the terrain where this signal is coming from, but if I remember correctly, it was somewhere in the western part..." he mumbled, packing his bag.
Leaving the facility as it was, he muttered, "Time to move on to the next one."
Max secured his gear and stepped outside, greeted by the cool breeze of the wasteland. The sun was just beginning to rise, casting long shadows over the restored facility. He glanced at the Stalker bot, its optics glowing faintly as it awaited further orders.
"Alright, let's move," Max said, slinging his bag over his shoulder. The Stalker silently took point, scanning the surroundings as they began their journey westward.
The terrain gradually shifted as they traveled—cracked roads, overgrown ruins, and remnants of old-world structures stood like gravestones of a forgotten era. Max checked his holo-map, cross-referencing the coordinates the Stalker had gathered.
As he navigated through a dense patch of metallic foliage, his scanner suddenly pinged.
"Hostile presence detected."
Max froze. His fingers instinctively hovered over his weapon as he crouched behind cover. The Stalker, in response, shifted to stealth mode, its body blending seamlessly into the environment.
Peeking through the gaps in the foliage, Max spotted a group of machines patrolling near a half-buried bunker entrance.
"Looks like this ruin isn't abandoned after all," he muttered, a smirk forming on his lips. "Let's see what secrets you're hiding."
Max studied the machines from his hiding spot. There were three of them—two Watchers scanning the area with their glowing eyes and a larger, bulkier Ravager standing guard near the bunker entrance. The sight of it made him frown.
"A Ravager, huh? That complicates things," he muttered. Unlike Watchers, which were easy to take down, Ravagers were heavily armed and armored, equipped with a mounted energy cannon.
"Okay, let's add him to my pet list too," Max nodded, activating his own Stealth Mode cyberware and blending seamlessly into the environment. He approached the Ravager undetected and effortlessly overrode it.
***
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