The sterile hum of machines filled the vault, a stark contrast to the chaos outside. Louis stood frozen, his name still flashing in bright red on the massive screen behind him.Final Test Subject: Louis Kindsor.Juliet and Pearl flanked him, weapons drawn, but their eyes were locked on the man sitting calmly at the desk in the center of the room.Dr. Mark Voss.He looked exactly as Louis had imagined. A man who belonged in a high-tech lab, not in the middle of a warzone. His sharp features were devoid of fear, his crisp white coat unstained by the horrors he had created. He looked more like a professor preparing for a lecture than the architect of a mass extinction event.And the way he smiled—like he had already won.Louis clenched his fists.“You’re the one behind this,” he said, his voice deathly calm.Dr. Voss leaned back in his chair, adjusting his glasses as if they weren’t discussing a biological weapon meant to wipe out an entire bloodline.“Ah, Mr. Kindsor. I was wondering wh

Louis’s eyes flicked across the lab—then he saw it.A row of pressurized chemical tanks.“Pearl—cover Juliet.”She didn’t argue. She opened fire, forcing the drones to focus on her.Louis vaulted over a counter, grabbed a scalpel from a surgical tray, and sliced through the control lines of the nearest tank.A hissing sound filled the room.The moment he fired his next shot, the explosion ripped through the lab.Two drones down. One left.The third drone adjusted, recalibrating.Louis turned—but before he could fire, a bullet pierced through its core.Pearl blew the smoke off her barrel. “Took you long enough.”Juliet slammed her hand down on the console. “Got it! Doors opening now!”The main exit hissed open.Pearl grinned. “And that’s our cue.”Louis grabbed Juliet’s wrist, yanking her toward the door. “MOVE!”The facility was collapsing around them. Sirens wailed, emergency lights flickered, and the stench of burning metal filled the air.Guards flooded the hallways.Pearl went in

Ghost had done more than try to kill him.He had crippled him.Pearl noticed the change first. “Louis, what the hell is wrong with you?”Louis tried to answer—but the words didn’t come.His throat locked. His pulse spiked erratically.Juliet’s eyes darted to him—widening in alarm.“Shit. He’s going into shock.”She tapped frantically on her screen, scanning his vitals.“His blood’s flooding with foreign nanites. His body’s rejecting them—like an autoimmune attack.”Pearl cursed. “Translation?”Juliet’s jaw clenched. “If we don’t get him treatment, he’ll be dead in less than an hour.”Pearl’s grip on her pistol tightened. “Then let’s get the hell out of here.”The drive through Apple City’s backstreets was a blur.Louis drifted in and out of consciousness, his body locked in a constant war with itself.The car screeched to a halt outside an abandoned auto shop—one of Pearl’s safe locations buried beneath the city’s grid.They hauled Louis inside, where a lone medic was waiting.An olde

The underground arena buzzed with silence—a stark contrast to the riotous roars from earlier.Silas lay crumpled on the steel floor, his face twisted in agony, his broken arm limp at his side.Louis stood over him, his chest heaving, body screaming in pain, but his mind was sharper than ever. The poison still burned through his veins, but fury drowned out the weakness.Silas’s eyes darted around the arena, searching for an escape. For an out.There wasn’t one.Louis grabbed him by the collar, yanking him up, his voice low, lethal. “You wanted this, Vance.”Silas tried to stumble away, but Louis wasn’t done.The crowd had gone eerily silent. The once-vocal supporters of Silas watched in uneasy awe.Pearl, standing in the VIP section, grinned. “Oh, I like this side of him.”Juliet, still focused on Louis’s condition, whispered under her breath. “Finish this.”Silas threw a sloppy punch, his movements sluggish, desperate.Louis sidestepped easily, punishing him with a brutal knee to the

His gaze sharpened. “And this city is the board.”Louis’s vision blurred for half a second. The poison was accelerating.He needed that antidote. Now.But Adrian knew it.And he was enjoying every second of the game.Adrian tilted his head. “So here’s the deal.”He lifted the vial slightly.“You stand beside me, and we reshape Apple City in our image.”Louis stayed silent.Adrian continued, his smile widening. “Or… you refuse. And you die right here, in front of all these people, gasping for breath while the nanites eat you alive.”Pearl growled. “You smug bastard.”Juliet was already scanning options—but they both knew they had none.Adrian’s eyes never left Louis. “So? What’ll it be?”Louis exhaled slowly.His body screamed. His vision flickered.He knew exactly what Adrian expected.Desperation. Submission. A slow, painful collapse, forcing him to beg.But Louis Kindsor was not built to kneel.His lips curled into a bloody smirk.“Go to hell, Wolfe.”Adrian’s smirk froze.Louis saw