The chain lifted before Alexei's wrists finished bleeding.
Steel links ground through the ceiling pulley, ratcheting him a handspan higher until his feet hovered just above the grated floor.
Sensors winked to life along the tendons of his forearms, each silver dime glued to places that shouldn't have names. The harness across his chest tightened with a clean hydraulic cough. He flexed once against it, enough to feel the buckle answer back.
"Baseline complete," a voice announced over the speaker's grain. "Commence progressive loading."
The room smelled like disinfectant hammered into metal. There were no windows. No shadows, either—just even, surgical light that refused to let anything hide... even the shadows.
A slab of weight slid along a track and bumped into his shins. Cold through the fabric. Heavy enough to make a human groan.
But Alexei didn't say a word.
