Across the street, perched on the skeletal frame of an abandoned building, the three-eyed raven had been watching since the moment Kai's foot came down on the generator. Strapped to its chest harness, a micro-camera blinked with a faint green light.
Miles away, freezing rain beat against a cracked window.
David sat at the small kitchen table, bathed in the pale glow of a laptop screen. The custom micro-camera had cost him half a year of groceries, but the thermal imaging was solid. On the screen, K-01's glowing orange heat signature towered over the rapidly cooling, blue corpses.
The apartment was dead quiet. Just the dull hum of an old refrigerator and a dripping faucet.
He picked up a pen and opened a worn notebook.
Subject K-01: Greyman. Combat efficiency: Optimal. Hagfish extract performing beyond projection, gunshot wounds sealed within seconds. Slugs expelled by muscle contraction.
Hugo's rasp crackled through the laptop speakers. "You built an actual monster."
David looked up from the notebook.
Inside the warehouse, Kai's glowing eyes were still locked onto the captain standing mere feet away.
To his left, the guard nearest to the fresh corpse stood frozen. Hot blood dripped down his pale face. His shaking hands clenched his MP5, and he squeezed the trigger.
Click. Click. Click.
Kai's head snapped toward the sound. The captain was forgotten.
The guard flung the empty weapon and ran.
Kai closed the distance in a single stride. A pale hand clamped over the guard's face, fingers wrapping around his skull. Kai lifted him clean off the ground mid-flight and drove him backward into a rusted steel pillar.
The guard's legs kicked wildly. His hands flew up, clawing at Kai's wrist, fingers scrabbling for any kind of grip. His muffled screams pressed uselessly against the palm crushing his face.
Kai's grip tightened.
Bone cracked under the pressure — first a dull fracture, then a grinding collapse. One eye socket caved inward. The loosened eyeball slipped free and hit the concrete.
Further back, the captain snapped out of his trance. He rammed a fresh magazine into his gun and held the trigger down. Muzzle flash strobed in the dark.
"Die! You fucking monster!" he screamed.
Rounds tore into the black raincoat. Blood sprayed with each impact. This time, he didn't go down.
Kai wrenched the crushed body free from the pillar and hurled it. The corpse slammed into the captain, driving him to the concrete. The gun skidded away.
Before the captain could breathe, Kai stepped in. His hand seized the man's head.
The captain's body locked. His hands shot up, gripping Kai's wrist. His breath hitched into a strangled gasp.
The fingers tightened.
Pressure built. Veins stood out along the captain's temples. A fractured scream tore loose from his throat.
Crack.
The sound cut off. The skull collapsed inward. Blood and bone fragments forced through the tightening grip, spilling between Kai's fingers.
Kai let go. The body dropped.
Across the room, the surgeon had abandoned the table. He crawled through the grime, scrambling toward the rear service door. His hand fumbled for the handle—
A heavy oxygen tank hurtled out of the dark.
It struck the door, crushing the surgeon's hand against the steel frame. Bone snapped.
He screamed.
Wet footsteps approached from behind. The surgeon twisted onto his back. He raised his uninjured hand, trembling, his mouth opening and closing without sound.
Kai stepped out of the dark, towering over him.
The foot came down.
Silence settled over the warehouse.
On the laptop screen, Victor leaned forward in his leather chair.
"Magnificent," Victor's voice echoed through the speakers. "A perfect biological weapon. I will acquire you. Name your price."
Kai drove his fist straight through the center of the laptop. The screen burst into black glass. The voice died.
Kai slowly turned toward the surgical table.
Outside, thunder exploded. A flash of lightning flooded the room with harsh white light. The teenage boy lay strapped to the metal, his chest cavity pinned open.
Kai stepped to the edge of the table. He inhaled deeply, drawing in the scent of fear and fresh blood.
The boy looked up at the towering nightmare. His pale lips moved, forming a broken whisper. "Mom… I'm sorry…"
Kai paused. He stared at the ruined boy. A memory twitched within his mutated mind—a heavy prison phone, a sobbing sister. Another victim ground to dust.
He reached up and drove his thick fingers into his own chest. He drew a heavy bead of his mutated, crimson blood.
He let it fall.
The fluid splashed directly into the boy's open heart, mixing instantly with the medical adrenaline.
Across the street, the three-eyed raven watched. In one eye, the warehouse lay cold and dark. In another, thermal heat bled through the walls, capturing the writhing silhouette on the table.
The boy's body convulsed.
The massive chest wound pulled together. Pale scar tissue rapidly knitted across the open cavity. His spine arched, leather restraints snapping as his frame elongated. Dense muscle packed onto his limbs, tearing the remnants of his clothing.
In the center of the blood-stained room, the boy slowly sat up.
His eyelids snapped open. A faint crimson glow settled in his pupils. He tilted his head, a low, rattling breath escaping his lips as he stepped heavily off the table.
Up on the steel beams, the raven tilted its head, observing the two glowing heat signatures standing in the dark.
"Well," Hugo croaked into the micro-camera's mic. "That's new."