---
The air inside the lab felt wrong.
Cold. Sterile. Like the walls remembered every scream that had ever bounced off them.
Richard's group—the lab team—moved quietly down the hall. Devon kept glancing back, checking on Luna, Tanya followed close behind, and Asuka held a rusted metal pipe like it was a katana. Every flickering light made them tense.
"Half a mile," Tanya whispered earlier.
But in this place, it felt like they'd marched into another world entirely.
Pluto, Siara, Tim, and the barely-conscious Tango were back at the forest clearing, guarding each other. Richard lay wrapped in blankets, ribs cracked, leg broken, drifting in and out of consciousness. Siara refused to move an inch from his side.
But here—inside the lab—answers waited.
Devon pushed open a door labeled ARCHIVE ROOM 02 — 1983 COLD STORAGE.
They all froze.
Dozens of videotapes were stacked in metal crates, each labeled with sharp, efficient handwriting.
EXPERIMENT 12 — CHILD SUBJECTS
THE COLLECTOR — EARLY PHASE
BATCH FAILURE REPORTS (CONFIDENTIAL)
DR. HALDEN — PRIMARY NOTES
Tanya's throat tightened. That was her father.
Their father.
Asuka slid the closest tape into an old monitor rigging on the desk. The screen flickered to life.
Static.
Then—
A child sobbing.
A metal table.
A scientist in a hazmat suit injecting a serum into a terrified boy.
The boy seizing.
His bones bending.
His eyes turning black.
A scream that didn't sound human.
Luna covered her mouth. "Holy hell…"
Another tape.
More children.
More tests.
More transformations.
Some of them didn't survive.
Some did.
Those became the Plagued.
And then—
The file labeled THE COLLECTOR — FIRST FORM.
The screen showed a young man strapped down. Early twenties. Calm. Too calm. He looked at the camera, almost like he could see them watching.
"Do you think you control me?" his voice echoed, distorted with something inhuman.
"I'm not your creation. I'm your correction."
The lights in the room flickered violently.
Devon shut off the tape. "We need to get out. Now."
"Too late," Asuka whispered.
A roar tore through the hallway.
Footsteps—heavy, uneven, fast.
Four Plagued creatures burst around the corner, larger, stronger, veins glowing faintly blue under their skin.
"Move!" Devon yelled.
They ran, but the creatures were faster. One grabbed Tanya by the arm—Luna slammed into it, knocking it off. The hallway shook as they sprinted through overturned tables and shattered glass.
A Plagued creature leapt—
Luna shoved Tanya aside—
And it tackled her into a wall with bone-crunching force.
"LUNA!" Asuka screamed.
The creature loomed over her, claws rising.
Luna's hand closed around a metal syringe on the floor—one she must've knocked off a table earlier.
The label read: PHASE SERUM — PROJECT ASTRAL.
She didn't hesitate.
She jammed it into her own neck.
Her veins lit up silver-white, glowing through her skin. Her hair shifted from dark brown to shimmering metallic silver, strand by strand. Her eyes rolled back—bleeding, then glowing red like heated metal.
Luna opened her eyes.
And every creature in the hallway froze.
Power exploded outward like a shockwave—papers flew off tables, metal bent inward, the air itself trembled. The Plagued creatures lifted off the ground, choking, limbs flailing helplessly.
With a flick of her hand, Luna crushed them midair.
Bones snapped like twigs.
Bodies dropped—lifeless.
The hallway fell silent.
Luna stood swaying, eyes dimming, hair still glowing faintly.
Then she collapsed.
Devon caught her just before she hit the floor. "Luna! LUNA!"
"She's alive," Tanya breathed. "But she's burning up…"
Asuka looked at the crushed Plagued bodies, then back at Luna's unconscious form.
"What did she just do?"
Devon swallowed.
"She saved us."
---
Meanwhile…
Half a mile away, Siara's group faced their own nightmare.
Shadows shifted in the mechanical jungle—trees grinding, metal roots moving under the soil like living gears. More Plagued creatures appeared, crawling between the trunks.
One lunged toward Tim and Tango.
Siara stepped forward.
She pulled a heavy revolver from her bag—an early-2000s matte-black piece her father had given her before he died. Her entire body shook, but her eyes locked on the creature.
BOOM.
One shot. Clean.
Another creature circled from the side—she spun—
BOOM.
Pluto stood beside her, knife raised, covering her flank.
"You keep shooting," he said. "I'll keep them off you."
Siara's breathing steadied.
Her stance lowered.
Her aura sharpened.
She farmed the creatures with ruthless precision—each shot echoing through the forest like a war drum.
Tim whispered weakly, "Siara's… terrifying…"
Tango nodded, coughing. "Bro she's… aura farming like it's a side quest…"
The clearing burned with the stench of defeat—Plagued bodies collapsing, Siara's revolver smoking.
Pluto exhaled.
"We hold this ground," he said.
"For Richard. For everyone."
Siara nodded, eyes burning with determination.
"Then let them come."
---