City A never truly slept.
It only shifted modes.
At precisely 02:17 local time, the Viremont Asia-Pacific Advanced Biotech Center transitioned from public-facing operation to internal lockdown. Floors sealed. Elevators rerouted. Security authority handed over from polite protocol to private enforcement.
Aine watched it happen from across the street, standing beneath the shadow of an unfinished tower.
"Shift change," she said quietly.
"Correct," Sera replied.
"Alertness drops by twelve percent for exactly nine minutes. After that, it spikes."
"Then we move before it spikes."
Aine stepped forward.
She didn't head for the front entrance.
She didn't approach the obvious service tunnels.
Instead, she stopped in front of a blank section of wall between two auxiliary buildings, smooth concrete, no markings, no access points.
To anyone else, it was nothing.
To Aine—
"There," she said.
"Confirmed," Sera replied, tone sharpening.
"Hidden maintenance ingress. Shielded from civilian mapping. Used exclusively for Black Labs logistics."
Aine flexed her fingers once.
The wall shimmered faintly as a concealed panel disengaged with a muted Clang!
The door slid open.
Cold air spilled out, carrying the faint scent of antiseptic…and iron.
Aine stepped inside.
The door sealed behind her without a sound.
—
The corridor was narrow, lit by thin white strips embedded in the ceiling. No cameras. No visible guards.
Too clean.
Aine advanced silently, boots barely whispering against the floor. Every sense was dialed high, Enhanced Perception feeding her micro-adjustments in posture, breath, timing.
Then—
A flicker.
Her body reacted before conscious thought.
She twisted—
Bang!
A suppressed round screamed past where her head had been an instant earlier and shattered against the far wall.
Aine moved.
She dropped low and rolled forward as another shot rang out—Bang! Bang!—sparks flying as rounds chewed into the floor behind her.
Three shooters. Elevated positions. Angled fire.
"Gene Knights," Aine said calmly.
"Confirmed," Sera replied.
"Enhanced reflexes. Subdermal armor. Kill authorization granted."
Aine came up in a sprint.
One guard lunged from cover, baton crackling with energy.
Clash!
Metal met reinforced polymer as Aine caught the strike on her forearm guard and pivoted inside his reach. Her knee drove up-
Crack!
The man folded, armor failing at the throat as his windpipe collapsed.
Aine didn't stop.
She ripped the baton from his hand and hurled it sideways—
Clang!
It smashed into the second shooter's rifle, knocking it off-line just as Aine closed the distance.
She drew her knife.
One step.
One slash.
The blade slid between armor plates—
Thud!
The body hit the floor before the blood did.
The third guard fired point-blank.
Bang!
Aine twisted, letting the round graze her shoulder instead of her heart. Pain flared—sharp, honest.
Good.
She grabbed the barrel and wrenched it down as she headbutted forward—
Crack!
The man dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.
Silence rushed back in, thick and heavy.
Aine exhaled slowly.
"Security response time?"
"Thirty seconds until reinforcements," Sera said.
"You tripped a live net."
Aine wiped blood from her cheek.
"Plenty."
—
She didn't bother hiding the bodies.
Instead, she advanced deeper.
Alarms didn't blare. Viremont preferred quiet containment. Steel doors slid open ahead of her as if inviting her in.
Mistake.
The corridor widened into a processing hall lined with glass chambers.
Inside them—
Things moved.
Human-shaped.
Wrong.
Aine stopped.
Her jaw tightened.
"Experiments," she said flatly.
"Neural Aberrants," Sera replied.
"High pain tolerance. Low cognitive stability. Extremely aggressive."
The glass shattered.
Boom!
The first aberrant burst free, skin pale and veined, eyes glowing faintly as it screamed and charged.
Aine met it head-on.
She drew a pistol.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Two shots staggered it. The third took out a knee.
It didn't fall.
It lunged.
Aine dropped the gun and drove her shoulder forward—
Wham!
The impact sent both of them crashing into a chamber wall. The glass cracked.
Aine twisted, seized its arm, and snapped it sideways—
Crack!
The aberrant shrieked as she drove her blade up under its jaw.
Thud!
Another burst free.
Then another.
Three. Five. Seven.
Aine's breath evened.
Her eyes burned.
"Now we're talking."
She moved like controlled violence; ducking, striking, killing. Each impact rang out in sharp, brutal punctuation.
Clash!
Crack!
Thud!
Boom!
Blood painted the floor in widening arcs.
One aberrant caught her mid-turn and slammed her into a pillar—
Bang!
Concrete exploded outward as Aine rebounded, ribs screaming.
She smiled.
She grabbed its head and smashed it into the pillar again—
Crack!
Once more—
Crack!
The body slid down, boneless.
Silence returned.
This time, it felt earned.
—
Aine stood alone in the wreckage, chest rising steadily as blood—some hers, most not—dripped from her gloves.
"Host," Sera said, tone uncharacteristically serious.
"You've forced an internal escalation."
"Good," Aine replied. "I wanted their attention."
A nearby console flickered to life.
Data scrolled.
Patient records.
Test logs.
Names.
Aine's gaze locked onto one entry.
Fay Brightwood
Status: Critical
Location: Level 3 — Medical Wing
Her fingers tightened.
"There you are."
"Time remaining: five days, twenty-one hours," Sera said quietly.
"Viremont is now fully aware of an intruder."
Aine turned toward the corridor leading deeper into the facility, eyes cold and steady.
"Then they should've acted sooner."
She stepped forward.
Behind her, the Black Chrysalis bled.
—
The lights died.
Not flickered.
Not dimmed.
They died.
Emergency crimson strips ignited along the walls, bathing the corridor in blood-red glow as blast doors slammed shut ahead and behind her—
Clang! Clang!
Aine stopped walking.
She listened.
The facility wasn't panicking.
It was thinking.
"Host," Sera said, voice low and focused,
"Black Chrysalis has initiated autonomous defense protocol."
"About time," Aine replied.
The floor vibrated.
A deep, mechanical hum rolled through the structure, followed by a sound that did not belong in any hospital—
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Heavy footsteps.
The blast door ahead split down the center and retracted.
What stepped through wasn't human anymore.
Three meters tall. Reinforced skeletal frame wrapped in synthetic muscle. Veins of blue light pulsed beneath translucent skin, a Viremont insignia branded directly into its chest.
A Gene Knight—Mark IV.
Its eyes locked onto Aine.
Target acquired.
It charged.
The floor shattered beneath its first step—
Boom!
Aine moved instantly, sprinting forward instead of back.
She drew twin blades mid-run.
The Gene Knight swung a massive arm—
Wham!
Aine slid under it, the shockwave ripping her coat as she slashed upward—
Clash!
Sparks exploded as her blades scraped against reinforced bone. No penetration.
"Tough," she muttered.
The Knight backhanded blindly—
Bang!
Aine was thrown into the wall, concrete spiderwebbing as she hit. Pain flared white-hot through her spine.
She didn't stay down.
She rolled as the Knight stomped—
Boom!
The floor cratered where her head had been.
Aine came up behind it, grabbed a dropped rifle, and fired point-blank into the joint at its knee—
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The armor cracked.
Not enough.
The Knight turned and grabbed her mid-motion, crushing pressure closing around her ribs—
Crack!
Aine snarled.
She jammed a blade into the creature's wrist and twisted—
Clang!
The blade snapped.
Her eyes burned.
"Then we improvise."
She reached inside her coat and ripped free a compact charge.
She slammed it against the Knight's chest and kicked off hard—
Boom!
The explosion tore the corridor apart, hurling both of them in opposite directions. Fire and debris filled the air as alarms finally screamed.
Aine skidded across the floor, blood dripping from her mouth.
She stood.
The Gene Knight staggered, chest cavity ruptured, blue light flickering violently—
Then it roared and took another step.
Aine exhaled.
"Persistent."
"Host," Sera said urgently,
"Structural collapse probability rising. You have ten seconds before the wing seals permanently."
Aine sprinted.
She leapt, planted a foot on the Knight's chest, and vaulted upward, grabbing a hanging conduit.
She tore it free—
Clang!
—and slammed it straight down through the Knight's exposed chest core.
Boom!
Blue light erupted outward as the creature froze, then collapsed inward on itself, hitting the floor with a seismic—
Thud!
Silence followed.
Smoke curled through the ruined corridor.
Aine dropped lightly to the ground, breathing hard but steady.
She wiped blood from her lip with the back of her hand.
"Next time," she said coolly, "send two."
"Noted," Sera replied, voice edged with approval.
"Also noted: you're injured."
"I'll live."
Ahead, another corridor opened, its signage blinking weakly.
MEDICAL WING — LEVEL 3
Aine looked at it.
Her eyes hardened.
"Fay," she said.
She stepped forward as the facility groaned around her and the Black Chrysalis finally understood.
This wasn't an intruder.
This was an execution in progress.