Noir slowly twisted her wrist. The icy metal of the suppression cuff reflected the flickering red emergency lights. She tried to focus her energy—but the restraint tightened instantly, releasing a massive electric surge that sent numbness ripping through her muscles.
"Too tight… this won't work."
Noir closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She knew she couldn't risk acting rashly now. The plan had to change. Escape wouldn't come from reckless force—it would have to wait for an opening from the outside.
In a temporarily seized control room on the edge of the facility, Specter growled into the communicator.
"Doctor, I need you to punch through the camera system for ninety seconds. Just ninety seconds. Orion and I need to draw their attention and blend into the patrol units."
Aurel answered, his breathing strained.
"I'll try. But Void uses dual-layer encryption. It'll be hard to hold. You'll have to move faster."
Orion let out a quiet laugh, pulling a soldier's helmet down to shadow his face.
"If it comes to it, we fight. I'm not afraid of dying—only of failing to save that ice queen."
Specter gripped Orion's shoulder, his gaze sharp and cold.
"Listen. We split up. You head north and merge with the patrol. I'll go south and create chaos. If they get suspicious, smash the control panel in the corner—the one linked to the containment rooms holding experimental subjects."
"They'll assume some rushed soldiers collided with it. That should buy us more time."
Orion smirked.
"Got it. Be careful, café owner."
The screens suddenly flickered green. The doctor's urgent voice cut in.
"Move now! I've jammed the cameras in the north and partially in the ten-o'clock southern sector. In eighty-seven seconds, the system will auto-repair!"
Specter and Orion burst into motion, slipping into the stream of armored soldiers responding to the alarm. The footsteps of hundreds of troops thundered through the steel corridors.
Inside the special holding cell, Noir tilted her head, listening. Amid thousands of footsteps and the metallic roar of machinery, she focused—searching.
For a split second, her eyes lit up.
"Specter… Orion… if you've really come this far, don't disappoint me."
She tried again and again to break free from the restraint, but it remained cold and unyielding around her wrists. Noir smiled faintly, almost without emotion.
If escaping is this difficult… maybe I should turn this entire place into chaos.
Suddenly—
The cell door burst open. Blinding white light flooded in. A squad of soldiers in black armor stormed inside, energy rifles aimed straight at her.
"STAND UP."
A dry, mechanical voice barked.
Noir slowly raised her head, eyes glacial. She knew immediately—they were relocating her. Someone had infiltrated the base. Void's system had detected the risk. Despite the heavy restraints, she was steadily recovering. And among this squad… were former comrades. The organization was still frighteningly sharp.
Her arms locked tight, she was shoved down a long, endless corridor. The ceiling blazed with flickering red neon lights; frosted glass panels on either side cast distorted shadows of experimental machines. The hum of electricity echoed like whispers from an abyss.
A massive door slid open, revealing another chamber—the central laboratory.
It was so vast the ceiling lights couldn't reach every corner. Rows of glass tanks filled with pale blue fluid stood in perfect alignment. Inside were twisted bodies—failed products, dissected and abandoned midway.
Noir was forced to her knees. The restraints around her wrists and ankles tightened further.
A researcher in a white coat approached, voice flat and mechanical.
"Perfect… perfect, but disloyal. Therefore, we will dismantle you. Analyze every cell, every fragment of memory… and create a new Noir—one that is absolutely loyal."
Noir's eyes flickered, colder than ice. She said nothing, silently observing every detail of the room. This place was far more dangerous—but it was also the heart of Void.
If she could turn this place into a battlefield, the chance to overturn everything would come.
Meanwhile, outside, as Specter and Orion blended into the patrol ranks, a report crackled through from Doctor Aurel.
"This is bad… I've completely lost Noir's biological signal. They've moved her—straight to the central laboratory!"
Orion clenched his teeth.
"Damn it… where the hell is that cursed place?"
Specter tightened his fist, resolve flashing in his eyes.
"I'll trace the new frequency. But wherever it is—it won't be simple."
"Doctor, support me."
"Got it." Aurel replied firmly.
"The more dangerous it is, the deeper we go. We don't have a choice," Orion said urgently.
Cold mechanical sounds filled the lab. Noir was secured to a metal frame, cables feeding directly into the restraints clamped around her wrists, ankles, and temples. Screens surrounding her displayed heart rate, brain waves, genetic structure—everything that made her her.
Another researcher sneered.
"Truly the perfect doll. A shame—far too dangerous."
Noir opened her eyes. Red and blue light shimmered faintly in her pupils. Though her body was bound, her mind raced—calculating weaknesses in the suppression ring, energy node locations, a fragile sliver of hope.
But she needed a spark… and time.
From afar, Lysander watched. His expression remained cold, but his fingers slowly curled into a fist. He understood—once the experiment truly began, Noir would never remain whole.
At the same time, in the western corridor of the base.
Specter and Orion, clad in Void soldier armor, moved with the patrol. Every step was a gamble. One scrutinizing glance, and their disguises would collapse.
In their earpieces, Aurel's voice whispered.
"I've breached part of the camera system, but I can't hold it long. You have about two hours before everything reboots."
Orion sucked in a breath.
"Two hours? In this steel labyrinth, that's harder than finding a needle at the bottom of the sea."
Specter remained calm, but his eyes burned behind the mask.
"No… we're not searching blindly. We have Noir as our compass. If they moved her to the center, I'll find a way. No matter the cost."
Orion glanced at him, then smirked faintly.
"You've never changed. Always risking everything for her."
Specter didn't reply—only tightened his grip on the gun hidden beneath his armor.
Back in the lab, Noir felt searing pain ripple through her body as the current surged. The researchers circled her like butchers dissecting a machine, not a human being.
A cold thought echoed in her mind.
I have to find a way… ngh— I have to buy time.
And at that moment, her eyes glimmered. Data on the screens began to flicker wildly, sending technicians into a panic.
A tiny crack had opened—right in the depths of despair.
Elsewhere, in Void's main control room—
"Doctor, we've been detecting strange frequencies repeatedly hacking into camera systems from multiple directions. They're extremely hard to pin down," a soldier reported.
"Erase them. Trace their origin," the lead scientist ordered coldly.
"Yes sir."