Nyx's facility had descended into pure chaos, filled with shattered machinery, blaring sirens, and panicked screams. Worst of all, the air was thick with the metallic tang of blood, a scent Kai couldn't ignore no matter how hard he tried.
He shook his head, forcing himself to focus. The blood stirred something primal inside him, an excitement he found both exhilarating and disgusting.
'What's wrong with me?' he thought, clenching his fists. Every crimson stain, every rivulet dripping from the walls, seemed to call to him. But he suppressed the urge to reach out, refusing to let it consume him.
The facility was massive, maze-like, and packed with cutting-edge technology - except for the underground holding cells, where Kai had spent most of his days. Those grim cells, once filled with countless captives like him, were now eerily silent, their occupants either dead or wreaking havoc in the halls.
Meanwhile, the communal areas, usually alive with the chatter of guards and researchers, had turned into a mutant battleground. And Kai was headed straight for it...
-
Among the rampaging subjects was a man in a guard's uniform. His long, messy black hair hung loose, and his slender frame gave him a wiry, almost frail appearance. But it was his eyes - unnaturally red, darting around like a cornered animal - that stood out.
Kai's gaze swept his surroundings, searching for an escape. There weren't any clear signs, but he felt a faint breeze and the distinct chill of cold air from one direction. That had to be a way out. It was also in the opposite direction of the labs, which he knew would be crawling with guards.
Even wearing a guard's uniform, he'd stick out like a sore thumb in the labs.
But there was a problem.
Everyone else was running away from the direction he was considering.
'That's probably where the intruders broke in,' Kai thought, his lips pressing into a thin line. 'If they managed to get this far, there must be a lot of them. Maybe I can slip among them. Worst case, I use their entry point and make a run for it. Either way, it's better than staying here.'
He didn't have many options.
Ignoring the frantic guards running past him, Kai took off toward the cold air. A few guards shouted at him as they rushed by, their faces pale with fear.
"Hey! What are you doing? Don't go that way! Help us deal with these things!"
They didn't even stop to get a good look at him, too focused on getting past the grotesque, rampaging subjects. Kai didn't bother replying. His mind was set, whether out of curiosity or sheer desperation.
'This place is endless,' he groaned internally. The halls blurred together after what felt like an eternity of running until, finally, he came upon a sign hanging askew above a pair of double doors.
"Dining hall?"
The cold air hit him hard now, almost biting, and the noise coming from inside was deafening - explosions and indistinct yelling mostly.
He froze for a moment.
'What the hell's going on in a dining hall that's this bad?'
Curiosity got the better of him and he carefully pushed open the set of double doors.
'What the...?'
A blast of bone-chilling air hit him like a sledgehammer, forcing him to step back. The first thing that caught his attention was the jagged hole in the facility's wall. Through it, he could see an opening to the outside. But instead of hope and freedom, there was only ice - a frozen wasteland stretching into the horizon.
'Surviving out there? Yeah, not happening.'
Even reaching it seemed like a long shot.
But the extreme cold in the room wasn't from the outside.
At the centre of the destruction stood a tall woman clad in a sharp military uniform. Frost clung to her platinum blonde hair, and her expression was as cold as the ice she commanded.
Every step she took left a path of frost in her wake, the air around her shimmering with deadly intent.
Her opponent was a stark contrast - a wild-haired woman with frizzy orange locks, her manic grin almost feral. She hurled explosive blasts from her hands, each one shaking the room.
Kai's eyes widened. The ferocious woman, Nadya, was fighting barehanded, her blows amplified by bursts of concussive energy. Her arms were bloodied, her skin peeling from the recoil, but she didn't falter.
'Now these are real mutants...'
'And here I am, barely managing to float a blood droplet.' He laughed internally, not daring to blink as he took in every detail of their fight.
The ice-wielder launched herself forward, twin blades of frost forming in her hands. Her movements were precise, military-like, and Kai couldn't help but recognise the discipline in her strikes.
"Nadya, you're as reckless as ever," the ice-wielder hissed, her voice sharp and cold.
"Better than being a puppet for the Association!" Nadya roared, meeting her mid-air with an explosion that sent them both hurtling backwards.
Kai crouched low, watching from the shadows, not daring to step into that storm. And as the two women clashed, his attention shifted to the second skirmish across the hall.
Two hulking figures battled a lone man. One was a giant slab of muscle, capable of bulking up even further and unleashing devastating, explosive attacks. The other was encased in jagged rock-like armour, his steps cracking the ground beneath him as he swung heavy fists.
Behind them stood a third figure, a petite girl barely out of her teens. She looked out of place, but the lasers she fired from her eyes were anything but. Each blast was accompanied by a high-pitched cry as she tried to support her larger companions.
Their opponent? A blindfolded man in flowing robes that seemed completely impractical. 'Doesn't he trip over that thing?'
'And how can he even see?!' Kai wondered, squinting at him.
But any doubts vanished as the man moved. He dodged every attack with impossible precision, his movements fluid and almost lazy. He held a long silver katana, its edge gleaming ominously, but he didn't seem interested in counterattacking.
'He's just... stalling?'
Even his opponents seemed thrown off. A single hit from either of the giants would reduce a normal person to pulp. Yet he weaved through their strikes like he had all the time in the world. The lasers didn't fare any better, deflected effortlessly by his katana.
Kai's stomach churned just imagining one of those attacks coming his way.
'So, two people broke into this fortress packed with armed guards and are doing whatever they want. If you can even call them people anymore...'
He was both awestruck and unnerved. Yet deep down, beneath the surface-level amazement, he felt strangely calm. His mind instinctively dissected their abilities, cataloguing each strength and weakness.
'The orange-haired woman's burning out fast. She's barely holding it together, and she's losing blood. A lot of blood.' His eyes lingered on her for a moment longer before shifting back to the swordsman.
'But the other guy? He could probably take all of them by himself if he wanted.'
Kai's thoughts buzzed as he stepped back from the door.
'Not that it has anything to do with me. All I need to do is find another-' Before he could finish the thought, the ice-wielding mutant turned in his direction and Kai's heart immediately sank into his stomach...