“What if it entered through her pores… and got into her bloodstream?”Vivian thrashed again inside the chamber, a strained, broken sound tearing from her throat.“We have to do something,” Desmond said, his voice tight. “We have to save her.”Asher drew in a deep breath. “If this is anything like what happened to Clarissa… then an anti-serum could help.”A loud bang echoed through the room.Everyone turned to find Elias hitting the glass door with his palm from outside.“Let me in!” he said. “Let me take a look, I might be able to help.”Desmond’s expression hardened instantly.“There’s no way,” he said coldly. “We’re not doing that.”His jaw clenched as he stepped closer to the glass, staring Elias down.“I can’t trust you,” he added, his voice dropping. “Especially not with my sister.”“What do we do?” Zoe asked worriedly.Vivian had always felt like a little sister to her, and this whole situation was terrifying beyond what she could handle.“Desmond please…” she added, her voice s

“So how,” he said quietly, “did the last one get out?”“Then how did the last one get out?”The lab attendant froze.His heart pounded violently against his chest, not just because he didn’t have an answer… but because of the way Black Finger turned toward him.Like a predator locking onto a prey.“Answer me.”The attendant flinched at the command, his entire body trembling.“I-I have no idea,” he stammered quickly. “We were all trying to track down the Golden Finger and shut down the exits.”“Really?”Black Finger stepped closer slowly.The sound of his boots against the broken floor echoed through the ruined lab.The attendant’s breathing grew uneven.“Did one of you betray me?” Black Finger asked quietly.The man’s eyes widened instantly.He dropped to the ground so fast his knees hit painfully against the floor.“I would never!” he cried out. “We would never do such a thing! We know what you would do to us if we did.”A faint smirk touched Black Finger’s eyes.Even though the lowe

“It’s dangerous,” Elias said.Silence fell across the room instantly.Desmond’s eyes narrowed. “Dangerous how?”Elias glanced once toward Vivian.She was curled slightly against the containment floor now, breathing unevenly while dark veins continued spreading beneath her skin.Then he looked back at them.“There’s a procedure Blackfinger created years ago,” he said slowly. “It’s called Resonance Transfer.”Asher’s expression changed slightly.“You know about that method?” he asked.Elias nodded once.“It was designed for emergency serum stabilization,” he explained. “When a subject’s body starts rejecting a serum too aggressively, another compatible host can forcefully absorb the reaction before it completely destroys the victim’s system.”Zoe looked confused. “Wait… absorb it?”Elias’ jaw tightened.“My body has adapted to dark serums for years,” he said. “If anyone here can survive taking the reaction into themselves… it’s me.”The room went still again.Desmond stared at him for a

“Are you insane?” Desmond asked, his voice tight with disbelief. “Why would you go see him?”Elias turned, his expression calm. “Since the lab incident, I haven’t visited any of the hideouts. I haven’t reached out to him either. It’s starting to look suspicious.”Desmond sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, clearly not convinced. “Always acting so rash. You can’t just walk in there unguarded.”“I’ve faced him plenty of times before,” Elias replied evenly. “I’ll be back.”***That had been an hour ago.Now, Elias moved silently through the dimly lit corridors of the old warehouse—one of Blackfinger’s most frequented hideouts. The air smelled of rust, damp concrete, and faint gun oil. He had received solid intel that Black Finger was here tonight. Still, every step felt like walking a razor’s edge.The moment he crossed the threshold into the main room, a deep, resonant voice echoed from the shadows.“I was beginning to wonder if you had disappeared.”Elias turned slowly. Black Finge