In the stillness of the building, within the confines of a shadowy room, silence reigned supreme. Then, in one corner, a sudden burst of bright light pierced through the darkness, illuminating a scene of dread. There, strapped tightly onto a surgical chair, a woman sat wide-eyed with a look of panic. It was none other than Detective Everlyn.
After blacking out, she was unsure of what had happened with Alice. Now, as she regained consciousness, she found herself swiftly secured to the chair. Alice took extra precautions, fully aware of Everly's extraordinary capabilities as a Nexarc. With meticulous care, she tightened the restraints, knowing that even Everly's formidable strength could be bolstered by her Nexus abilities. To further immobilize her, Alice administered doses of a paralyzing toxin, though Everly's Nexus healing struggled against its effects.
Yet, beneath the surface, a deeper terror lurked within Everly. Memories of past battles, of running out of Nexus energy and succumbing to paralysis, flooded her mind. The fear of helplessness, of being at the mercy of her enemies, gnawed at her core.
'I can't endure this chair much longer!' Evelyn's inner voice screamed.
Her eyes darted around the room, desperate for any means of escape. It was then that Alice emerged from the shadows, her eerie figure cloaked in a surgeon's robe. Slowly advancing with a tray of medical instruments, she exuded an unsettling calmness, like a predator closing in on her prey.
Approaching Evelyn, Alice turned her back, engrossed in something on the tray before her. Intrigued, Evelyn cautiously edged closer, her curiosity piqued by the mysterious object. As Alice finished her task, she pivoted, revealing a scalpel in one hand and a glove laden with toxins in the other.
"You'll be the perfect test subject," Alice muttered ominously as she took out Evelyn gag.
Evelyn took deep breathes and said "Alice, you can't keep me here forever. My team will find me, and when they do, you'll regret this."
Alice grinned "Oh, Evelyn, always the optimist. But I assure you, your team won't find you in time to stop what's coming."
"What are you planning, Alice? Whatever it is, I won't let you get away with it." Alice: "You've always been so predictable, Evelyn. That's why I chose you for this experiment." Evelyn said curious what Alice meant.
But she also was wondered what she meant by test subject. Is she testing a new toxin?
As Evelyn observed Alice placing back her gag, she also noticed Alice's glove injected with a purple-colored liquid, causing her to tremble. An ominous energy seemed to emanate from it. Upon closer inspection, Evelyn saw small, creepy eyeballs floating inside the liquid, staring back at her.
She couldn't believe it. Was Alice injecting her with some kind of creature along with the liquid?
In a panic, Evelyn thought Alice had injected her with her new toxin, one she was developing to be even stronger than the previous. As the toxin entered her body, Alice felt a sense of relief, as her body's nexus healing began eliminating it. It took a few minutes before anything happened, and then she felt a bit of nexus energy being disappearing.
Wide-eyed, Evelyn thought, "What the hell kind of toxin is this?"
Alice maintained strong eye contact with Evelyn. "From your reactions, it seems to be working, but it definitely needs some tweaking," she said sinisterly.
The current toxin Alice was working on aimed to be fast-acting yet lethal enough to continuously upgrade and kill stronger Nexarcs, providing them with a weakness.
Evelyn watched as Alice walked away, a sinking feeling in her stomach. "If this new toxin gets out, it could be the end of Nexarcs," she thought, troubled by the implications.
....
Kira paced back and forth, her anxiety palpable. "Where do we even start? She never left us a starting point, not even a hint. We're completely in the dark," she said, her voice tinged with a slight panic.
Lennox weighed in, "I don't know, but what I do know is that with the clues from Evelyn's trial, we might have a lead. Maybe we can find the bombs too."
"Why do you say that?" Kira questioned.
"Because we can't be too sure that when Alice took Evelyn, she wasn't also carrying bombs and setting them up along the way. We have to follow the trail and hope we find both Evelyn and the bombs," Lennox explained.
"Alright, that seems like a good theory," Kira conceded.
As Lennox and the others raced to apprehend Alice and locate the bombs, they knew they had only 24 hours before the bombs were set to detonate. With each bomb hidden in a different location and no clues besides Evelyn's trial, finding them was a race against time.
After a couple of tense hours inside a butcher shop, they found the first bomb. The bomb squad was quickly called in to defuse it, leaving them to continue their search for the second bomb. It seemed Lennox's theory was proving correct.
As the clock ticked down, Lennox, Kira, and Alexia scrambled around the city, their adrenaline pumping as they hunted for the remaining bombs. With the lives of thousands at stake, the pressure was on.
With each passing moment, they narrowed down the possible locations of the bombs, following Evelyn's nexus trial as their guide. The trail grew stronger with each discovery, almost as if they were drawing closer with each passing second. However, they also felt the pressure from Detective Evelyn's urgency, pushing them to quickly find her.
As they struggled to get closer to the last bomb, the worry settled into everyone, mirroring Evelyn's own trial, which seemed stuck at the same point. Finally, with mere minutes remaining, they located the last bomb hidden in the heart of the city's busiest district, inside a bustling city mall.
They quickly entered the basement of the mall, the bomb squad poised and ready. Other officers cautiously evacuated the mall in case anything went awry. Finding the bomb tucked into a corner of the room, they stepped back to allow the bomb squad to work. Entering the room, they were met with complete darkness.