Chapter 225
The moment I slip into the corridor outside the interrogation room, my breath comes in short, measured gasps. My pulse thunders in my ears, but I push through it, moving quickly and silently down the dimly lit hall.
The subfacility’s design is eerily sterile, but there’s something off about it—something beyond the standard-issue Enigma tech. The walls hum faintly with an almost organic texture, laced with the same unfamiliar, bio-mechanical patterns I saw in the Enkian war subs back in Ao. It makes my skin crawl.
I need to find the others. Now.
I weave through the hallways, ducking behind machinery when voices approach, listening for anything that might give me a clue to where they’re holding Wake and the crew. The deeper I go, the more disturbing the facility becomes—sealed chambers filled with strange, glowing equipment, storage rooms stocked with unmarked canisters, computers monitoring things I don’t recognize but feel inherently wrong.
Then, I find them.
Through a reinforced glass wall, I spot Cora and Arista, floating inside a massive observation tank.
At first, I think they’re unconscious, but then I see the way their bodies spasm, the grimaces on their faces. Their skin—pale before—is streaked with dark purple veins, like something is crawling beneath their flesh. The water in the tank pulses with a faint, eerie glow, and the scientists standing at their monitors scribble notes frantically, completely unfazed by their obvious suffering.
I don’t know how they’re doing it, but I have a good guess as to what they’re using.
Darklite.
I grit my teeth, fury coiling in my chest. I don’t wait, I act.
Electricity crackles through my fingertips as I unleash a surge of power, sending a disruptive pulse through the room. The scientists jerk back as their monitors explode in a shower of sparks. The lights flicker and die, plunging the room into chaos.
They scramble, shouting, reaching for emergency overrides—but I’m already inside.
I drive my elbow into the nearest scientist’s throat, cutting off his cry. Arista might be in that tank, but I don’t need her combat training to make these assholes pay. I use the momentum to slam another into the desk, sending his notes scattering. One tries to lunge at me, but I swipe his legs out from under him, kicking him straight into the observation window. He crumples to the floor, groaning.
I barely glance at the remaining scientist cowering by the console before turning my attention to the experiment itself.
There’s no clear off-switch—no big END TEST button I can smash. The glow in the tank pulses faster, Cora and Arista’s bodies jerking as if something is forcing itself deeper into them.
I don’t have time to figure out how to stop it.
So I destroy it.
I step forward and slam my palm against the main console, sending a violent jolt of electricity surging through the machine. It sparks, shudders, and then—BOOM. The glow flickers out, and an alarm screeches through the room.
Cora and Arista immediately stop convulsing. Their bodies go still, their breaths shuddering, then stabilizing.
But I’m not done.
Despite the frantic protests of the last remaining scientist, I grab the nearest chair and hurl it straight into the observation tank.
The reinforced glass shatters, a wave of water crashing into the room, sending debris skidding across the floor.
Cora and Arista spill out with it, gasping. Arista coughs violently, hacking up whatever hell they forced into her system. Cora pushes up on shaky arms, her dark eyes blazing with pure fury.
I crouch beside them. “Can you move?”
Arista snarls, shaking water from her face. “I can fight.”
That’s all I need to hear.
I stand, turning to the scientists. The last one standing flinches when I step toward him, hands raised in surrender.
I glare down at him. “Where are Silo and Wake?”
He swallows, eyes darting between me and the destruction around us. “I—I don’t know.”
Wrong answer.
Arista grabs him by the collar and slams him into the broken console. “Then who does?” she growls.
The scientist shakes his head wildly. “I don’t know! I swear! We only deal with the research subjects, the others were taken somewhere else—higher security!”
Cora, still catching her breath, wipes a shaking hand down her face before glaring at him. “And what exactly were you doing to us?”
He hesitates.
I raise a sparking hand. “I’ve learned some new tricks since I was one of you,” I say, my voice lethal. “Answer the question, or I’ll start conducting my own experiments.”
His face drains of color.
“We—we were testing a new form of radiation,” he blurts. “One that only affects sirens.”
I exhale sharply, my suspicions all but confirmed.
I narrow my eyes. “Let me guess. It’s made from a certain cloudy white rock.”
The scientist nods quickly. “Darklite—it’s unlike any other known element. We’ve been experimenting with it for months since this facility reopened—”
I pause. “Reopened?”
The moment the words leave my mouth, something shifts in the scientist’s expression. A flicker of fear.
I take a step forward. “What do you mean by reopened?”
He hesitates.
I let a bolt of electricity arc between my fingers.
He stammers, “This—this subfacility—it’s not new! It’s old! Really old!” He swallows. “It was the reason the main facility was built on this island in the first place! But no one used it until a few months ago!”
Cora stiffens beside me. “Why?”
Another scientist, still kneeling in the wreckage, mutters, “Because no one even knew it was down here.”
Arista scowls. “That’s bullshit.”
The scientist shakes his head rapidly. “It’s not! Look, after Phoebe escaped with the siren, we were locked down. We thought we’d all be reassigned or worse. Then—then Stan turned up.”
Cora exhales sharply.
“With some people,” the scientist continues. “Claiming to be from corporate. They said they were taking over. They revealed this whole lower facility, started supplying us with—everything. The mineral. More enlistments. These crazy-ass submarines!”
I stare at him.
These people did all of this in just a few months?
I shake my head. No.
This wasn’t just Enigma.
I look at Cora, a sinking feeling settling in my gut. “Raif was never working with Enigma,” I murmur. “He and Enigma, they’re both just pawns.”
Her expression darkens. “Whose pawns?”
I don’t have time to think about the answer before Arista yanks the scientist back by his collar. “The new sirens,” she snarls. “Where did they come from? What are you doing to them?”
He swallows. “We—we just take samples. Genetic material.”
Cora’s hands curl into fists. “That’s all?”
He nods rapidly. “Th-okay, we have to run a few experiments here and there, but we barely even interact with them besides that. It’s an improvement, honestly. We’re even retiring the original specimen.”
My heart stops.
I step forward. “Original specimen?”
The scientist hesitates.
I seize the front of his shirt. “You’re talking about Marina.”
Cora’s breath hitches. “What do you mean retire?” she demands.
The scientist flinches. “She’s—she’s slated to be put down. Today.”
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