Listening to his threat.
Not a single trace of panic touched Serena's face.
Instead, her smile only grew more radiant.
"Let's test that theory."
"Let's see if you can manage to snatch..."
"My billion-dollar prize from my hands."
As the words left her mouth.
She shifted her weight.
Crack-
The black detonator shattered into pieces beneath her heel.
She turned her back to him.
Stepping right up to the pod's console.
Her pale fingers flew across the keyboard in a blistering blur.
She violently severed the automated sedative drip flowing into the pod. Immediately after.
She retrieved a vial glowing with a spectral, silver light from her medical kit. Popping the seal.
She slammed it straight into the pod's exterior injection port.
Watching her move.
Richter's face twisted in sheer horror.
"What did you just inject into Fourteen!"
"Stop!"
"Fourteen isn't Seven!"
"His body will reject an unidentified compound, it'll kill him!"
For the first time, raw, unfiltered panic cracked Richter's composure.
"Spiking his chemical balance like that is only going to wake him up faster!"
"Once Fourteen goes into a frenzy."
"You won't be able to put him down!"
Serena didn't even bother looking back.
She simply watched as The Argent Catalyst steadily drained into the pod.
The smirk playing on her lips...
Grew devilishly sharp.
"Who told you..."
"I was trying to keep him asleep?"
Richter's pupils constricted violently.
Meanwhile.
Deep within the Obsidian Command Center.
The massive monitors broadcasting Fourteen's real-time vitals suddenly glitched into a chaotic frenzy.
The sedative sequence had been forcefully overridden.
An unknown agent was flooding Fourteen's bloodstream.
Even the neuro-link control chip embedded in his spine...
Was throwing catastrophic error codes.
The Raven stared at the collapsing data feeds.
His expression morphed into a mask of pure, murderous rage.
The Panacea.
It was that damn Panacea again!
Starting from Specimen Seven.
This woman had ripped apart Obsidian Sun's plans at every turn.
And now she was brazenly sinking her claws into Specimen Fourteen.
He could not let Fourteen fall into her possession.
And he absolutely could not let Fourteen...
Be exposed to the rest of the world!
The Raven's hand slammed down.
He manually triggered The Omega Purge Protocol.
His cold, ruthless voice...
Erupted through the internal comms directly into The Logistics Spine.
"Execute Fourteen!"
"Fourteen must never..."
"Be seen by anyone!"
The moment his decree echoed through the corridor.
Every screen surrounding the pod flashed a glaring, blood-red countdown.
Ten.
Nine.
Eight...
Staring at the ticking numbers, a twisted, victorious sneer stretched across Richter's face.
"Panacea, you can't stop this."
"The moment the purge protocol activates, Fourteen's nervous system will liquefy!"
Serena kept her eyes on the screen.
Her face remained an absolute mask of calm.
She even let out a soft, breathy laugh.
"Who said I was trying to stop it?"
Richter froze.
The next second.
Serena's fingers slammed onto the console, forcefully ripping the
remote control protocol's backend data wide open.
Simultaneously.
The Argent Catalyst surging through Fourteen's veins rushed straighte toward the control chip at the base of his neck.
The hardware grafted to his nerves suddenly suffered a massive biological rejection.
The surrounding code cascaded into critical failure.
The countdown stalled at three seconds.
"That's impossible!"
Richter's eyes bulged in shock.
Serena's gaze was lethal.
"Hidden deep."
"Too bad..."
"You ran into me."
She slammed her palm onto the chemical amplifier key.
Inside the pod.
The skin at the back of Fourteen's neck burned a violent crimson.
A pitch-black chip, violently expelled
by the
rejey induced tissnet
forced right against
the surface of his skin.
Serena drew her silver needles.
Three precise strikes.
Locking the arteries.
Severing the nerve receptors.
Without missing a beat, she reached back and slid the combat knife right out of
Julian's hand.
With a delicate flick of the blade.
The blood-soaked black chip was carved out, clattering onto the cold metal floor.
Crunch-
Serena's boot came down.
The chip splintered into dust.
In the Obsidian Command Center.
Every monitor in front of The Raven instantly flatlined into darkness.
Back in The Logistics Spine.
Serena looked down at the crushed remains, a devastatingly beautiful smile gracing
her ruby lips.
"Now."
"My darling prize is entirely mine."