Nyx moved silently through the unlocked iron gate, her boots barely making a sound as she stepped into the sterile lab. The air inside hit her instantly, thick with the metallic tang of harsh industrial chemicals, ozone, and something far worse—a sharp sickening stench of decaying, hanging heavy in the damp space. Broken glass crunching beneath her soles was the only sound breaking the deathly quiet. Scraps of stained paper littered the dusty floor and she knelt slowly to gather them. Her chest tightening with every breath.
Her flashlight beam swept across the shadow drenched room, illuminating row upon row of collections of surgical tools, gleaming scalpels, and rows of thick glass containers and jars, holding severed human organs. Some contained hearts, wide open eyes, swollen pale tongues, kidneys and dark livers. A cold suffocating dread settled deep in her stomach. She forced her shaking legs forward as she pushed deeper into the dark facility until her light caught a slumped figure near the back.
It was Sophia who was missing for an entire month, bound completely unconscious and tightly tapped down. Before Nyx could even process the full horror of the sight, a bold commanding and eerily familiar voice boomed from the darkness behind her. “What are you doing here? who sent you?".
In shock and anger, she stammered while moving backwards “No, wh- what are y-you doing here. How could you do this". Using the split second of distraction, Nyx slammed her hips against a heavy metal supply cart, shoving it with all her strength towards the figure. The room erupted into a chaos of crashing metals, shattering glass, and shouting as her escape turned into a fight for survival. Nyx outmaneuvered the attacker and in the dark and sprinted blindly out of the lab into the cool night air.
Heart hammering against her ribs, Nyx hurdled against the damp alley wall,her hands trembling violently as she clutched the papers bearing a familiar name on it “patrick vane”.
This was supposed to be a happy piece of the puzzle but it wasn't as she remembered Sophia being in trouble. Panic clawed her throat as she started heading back to the lab not caring about the monster she was about to face. Just as she returned to run back, the lab behind her erupted in a blinding flash and sound that shook the ground. Sophia was likely gone, her secrets incinerated into the blaze.
Desperate for help, Nyx's numb fingers, stumbled for her phone, but a sudden searing pain exploded in her left shoulder. As she crumpled to the pavement, the papers she once gripped scattered into the night air. A dark silhouette stepped from the shadows and loomed over her.
“Yes," the voice purred darkly. "I have you now".
