Chapter 10: The Glass Cage
The Sears Tower was a labyrinth of sterile white corridors now choked by the pulsating violet veins of the mutagenic moss. Every step Han and Lin Mei took felt like walking inside the throat of a living beast.
[SENSES ALERT: BIO-SIGNATURE DETECTED.]
[DISTANCE: 20 METERS. STATUS: WEAK / DESPERATE.]
"The monster... it's circling us," Lin Mei whispered. Her back was pressed against Han's, her breathing shallow. The Phase-Shifter was a master of psychological warfare; it would appear for a fraction of a second—a shimmer of light on the edge of a mirror—before vanishing back into the molecular structure of the walls.
"Ignore the walls," Han commanded, his voice a low, steady vibration. "It's hunting for fear. Don't give it any."
He kicked open a reinforced titanium door marked Bio-Hazard: Sector 4. Inside, the air was cold and smelled of clinical chemicals and old blood. In the center of the room stood a series of glass stasis pods. Most were shattered, containing only bleached skeletons, but one remained intact, shielded by a flickering blue emergency field.
Inside the pod, a woman was huddled. She wore a shredded lab coat over a tight, charcoal-grey bodysuit. Her hair was a shock of silver-white—not from age, but likely from chemical exposure—and her eyes, wide with terror, were a piercing, analytical violet.
[DING! TARGET IDENTIFIED.]
[NAME: DR. XARA VANCE (RANK: CHIEF GENETICIST)]
[STATUS: MALNOURISHED / GENE-STABILIZER ADDICTED.]
[COMPATIBILITY: 98% (ELITE RESEARCHER TRAIT: SCIENTIFIC_EUGENICS)]
"A scientist," Lin Mei muttered, her blade lowering slightly. "She's been living in a jar while the world drowned."
Han walked up to the pod. As he tapped the glass, the woman inside scrambled backward, her hands trembling as she held a small, glowing injector to her neck.
"Don't... don't let it in," she rasped through the pod's intercom. "The Shifter... it's been waiting for me to run out of power. It wants my brain... it wants the data."
"I'm not the Shifter," Han said, his Pheromone\ Control seeping into the very air of the lab. He leaned in close to the glass, his eyes locking onto hers. "I'm the man who's going to own this tower. And if you want to keep that beautiful head of yours, you'll open this door and give me your loyalty."
Xara Vance stared at him. To her scientific mind, Han was an anomaly. His muscle density, his thermal signature, the sheer authority radiating from his pores—he shouldn't exist in a world of starving scavengers.
"If I open this, it will kill us all," she whispered.
"I'd like to see it try," Han smirked.
[WARNING: PHASE-SHIFTER INITIATING AMBUSH!]
The air behind Han didn't just shimmer; it fractured. The glass-like monster emerged from the ceiling, its scythe-arm descending like a guillotine toward Han's neck.
But Han didn't even turn around.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: TITAN_GRIP + HYDRO_KINESIS]
Han reached back blindly and caught the scythe-arm with his bare hand. The "glass" blade sliced into his palm, but instead of blood, a surge of golden light erupted. He used his water-control to pull the moisture out of the air, instantly freezing it around the Shifter's translucent body, locking it in a block of jagged ice.
"Mei! Shatter it!"
Lin Mei didn't hesitate. She lunged forward, her laser-blade glowing with the intensity of a dying star. She drove the blade through the center of the ice block, piercing the Shifter's core. The creature let out a silent, frequency-shattering scream before exploding into a thousand crystalline shards.
[DING! RARE MUTANT KILLED!]
[POINTS GAINED: +3,000]
[SYSTEM LEVEL 2 PROGRESS: 7,500/10,000]
The emergency field on the pod hissed and died. The glass door slid open, and Xara Vance tumbled out, collapsing into Han's arms. She was light, her body bony and frail, but as she pressed against his warm chest, a violent shiver went through her.
"The data... the serums..." she muttered, her violet eyes fluttering. "I have... I have the formula for the Evolution\ Stage\ 2..."
Han looked down at her. Her lab coat was open, revealing the sharp lines of her collarbone and the soft, desperate rise and fall of her chest. She was a different kind of prize—not a warrior like Mei or a healer like Su Lan, but a mind that could unlock the secrets of his own System.
"You have the formula," Han whispered, his hand sliding into her silver hair, forcing her to look at him. "And I have the power to keep you alive. But my protection isn't free, Doctor."
Xara's breath hitched. She could feel the "Bond" beginning to pull at her, a psychological tether forming between her cold logic and his raw, masculine heat.
"What... what is the price?" she asked, her voice a submissive whisper.
Han looked at Lin Mei, who was watching them with a dark, hungry curiosity. "The price is your mind, your body, and every secret you've hidden in this tower. Starting now."
He picked Xara up effortlessly, carrying her toward the lab's velvet-covered lounge chair. The "Nest" was expanding, and tonight, the scientist would learn that some experiments were best performed in the dark.
Progress Report
* New Consort: Xara Vance (Loyalty: 10% - Scientist)
* New Resource: Access to Level 2 Bio-Lab.
* Next Goal: Reach 10,000 points for System Level 3.