The elevator shook from time to time as it headed for the basement. It was filled to the brim, with everyone inside squeezing together. They remained quiet and stifled their breathing as best they could but the sound of Corrupted seemed to echo no matter what. Visette stood with her back against one of the walls in order to keep an eye out. Hawk and his team weren’t exactly enemies, but Visette did not trust them. Lyn clearly held a similar stance as her finger constantly danced around the trigger of her rifle.

Lyn glanced at Hawk and met his eyes.

“You got a plan?” Hawk asked in a hushed tone. “We’re headed to the basement, but what’s next?”

“Vis?” Lyn handed off the planning to her companion.

“The water systems are inactive and there is a damaged pipe in the basement level which is large enough for everyone here to fit through. We will proceed through the waterway until we can procure a vehicle.” Visette explained.

“What… What are you? Or, if you’re human, what sort of power is that?” Lucas, no longer able to bear his curiosity, asked.

“That does not concern you.” Visette shot down his question before continuing, “You said that you are developing a virus to eliminate Corrupted. Who is the one who gave you that idea?”

It was a question which had been on her mind since she heard of Eden Hall. And even though she could already guess the answer, she still needed confirmation.

Lucas let out a deep sigh before finding the right way to explain. “We… Eden Hall has benefited significantly from the Starfall Event. We put our brightest minds toward unraveling technology which we had never seen before, but we hit a wall. That is until someone made contact with us. He seemed to understand the nature of the recovered tech better than anyone so we listened to his instructions. Never has anything he suggested proved to be incorrect or a waste of resources. In my entire time developing new technology, our benefactor has never once revealed himself. However…”

“Continue,” Visette pushed for a hesitant Lucas to continue.

“Well, we know his general location. He’s somewhere far north of us. Our last point of contact involved blood samples from the Abnormals in Freedom City.”

Visette lowered her head, fiercely contemplating the newly received information. The “benefactor” was definitely a Minerva scientist. It was surprising for her to learn that more of Minerva’s personnel could’ve survived, but it wouldn’t deter her from following her own path. What Vis chose to focus on were the blood samples Eden Hall delivered to the scientist. The genetic material of Abnormals held countless possibilities.

‘Manufactured Abnormals.’ Was Visette’s first thought.

However, as far as she knew, the Minerva scientist would need to inject human subjects with abnormal traits. Unless Eden Hall was delivering its own people as test subjects or the scientist managed to abduct or coerce participants, the idea of enhanced soldiers became less plausible.

‘Could it be that the individual from Minerva is developing their own strain of a virus that is based off Abnormal traits?’

“What is the nature of the virus you’re developing?” Visette inquired.

Lucas slightly frowned but replied anyway, “Our goal is to create a rapid evolution virus which causes the Corrupted to continuously undergo change. As of now, their evolutions are spurred on by the ingestion of biomass. If they were forced to evolved then they would potentially exhaust themselves to the point of death.”

“That is… What if the virus doesn’t work as intended? From what I know, the Corrupted are extremely adaptable and introducing a virus may serve to further enhance them.”

“Yes, I’m well aware. This research is a double-edged sword. It could save humanity or push it into extinction, that is why I was hesitant to place so much hope on one solution.”

“But you–” Lucas’ eyes lit up, “You nearly killed the Calamity Variant Queen with that strange energy. That’s why I wish for us to cooperate. If you can kill her, you would have eliminated the biggest threat to our survival.”

“What?” Visette showed a look of confusion. “I already eliminated her, didn’t I?”

Lucas went speechless, alternating his gaze between Lyn and Visette.

“You haven’t told her?” He asked full of disbelief.

“I didn’t really have the chance since everyone wanted us dead.” Lyn’s glare caused him to shrink back.

“Tell me what?” Vis interjected.

“That monster out there isn’t dead. I don’t know how, but its wounds were healed completely as if nothing happened at all.”

Visette could only fall silent after realizing that she failed to kill the extreme threat. It was even worse when she realized there was nothing she could do as she hadn’t fully recovered from pushing her psionic power well past its current limits.

Before the discussions could continue, something slammed onto the roof of the elevator causing it to shake. The more fearful researchers let out hushed gasps as the sound of something climbing around reached their ears.

Visette sent out a psionic pulse and discovered not just one, but dozens of Corrupted right above them. They found their way into the elevator shaft and one immediately pounced on the moving object. Not only was there a fresh scent filling the elevator, but it was impossible to hide the sound of breathing when there were so many people concentrated together.

Vis immediately made a decision, aiming her palm toward the roof of the elevator.

“Hold on to something,” She said before making a pulling motion.

The elevator cables immediately snapped and it plummeted downward. Unsurprisingly, nearly everyone began to scream as they felt themselves falling down. The emergency brakes failed to work as Visette made sure they were disabled before extending her hands out and forcing the steel box of death to slow down.

She winced as a sharp pain stabbed into her mind, but her psionic power continued to flow. Even as blood began spilling from her nose. The elevator creaked to a halt as it arrived at the basement. Everyone collectively shared a breath of relief before Visette forced the doors open and climbed out.

“You’re fucking crazy and I love it!” Bear started to laugh.

“We don’t have much time,” Vis urged them on while Lyn followed behind her. She removed the magazines from several combat rifles and stored them in her vest but tossed the guns aside as she moved.

The noise from the elevator was more than enough to draw attention and once traces of their scents were found, the avid hunters that were the Corrupted would be sure to hone in on them.

The basement was clear, even the Corrupted she killed during her first trip was gone. The smeared blood on the floor which led to the pipes meant they were dragged away.

“We’re going in there?” Rodent shivered as his beady eyes followed the bloody trail up to the entrance of the broken pipe.

“Shut up and move.” Kitty pushed past him.

Lyn was the first to enter, her agility allowed her to easily jump into the opening. Visette hadn’t detected anything but Lyn still turned on her flashlight and checked for anything suspicious.

“It’s clear up here so start helping the researchers up,” Lyn said as she held out her hand.

“Bear.” Hawk gestured.

It was fortunate that the Bear was especially suited for heavy lifting. Once everyone climbed up, they began a slow, cramped, advance through the darkened pipe. There was a long trail of blood throughout, but it was unknown where it led.

“What’s with all of this blood?” Kitty asked in frustration, irked by the tight space and the thick stench of blood.

“Several Corrupted were killed by me, but…” Visette stopped, attempting to spread out a psionic pulse but receiving nothing but the sensation of pain in response. A wave of exhaustion came next, letting her know she was truly pushing her own limits.

“It seems as if their bodies were dragged away,” She continued shakily.

“You alright, Vis?” Lyn asked from the front.

“I’ve exhausted my psionic power… It'll be very difficult to fight from now on. I can't guarantee that you all will be safe before I've recovered to a suitable level.”

Her words gave no comfort to those crawling through the pipe with her. As far as they saw it, their best chance of escape was Visette’s strange ability. Perhaps to offer some comfort, Kitty began speaking.

“Your power– whatever it is– What I mean to say is that I’m uh… I…-”

“Kitty,” Hawk warned.

“No, it’s okay,” Kitty said, taking a deep breath before continuing, “I know what you can do is pretty fucking crazy, but I can’t die– no, I can die, I just can’t stay dead... So, I think I understand what you’re going through, even if it's just a bit.”

There was a moment of pause and even the researchers showed some doubt. Of course, once they began considering Visette’s abilities, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.

“That’s unheard of even if you’re a regeneration based Abnormal,” Lyn commented after some time. “But what in Anton’s name do I know? Everything is all fucked up nowadays.”

“It’s very unlikely I’ll die either,” Visette replied, her eyes narrowing in contemplation. Before that moment, she hadn’t questioned her own mortality, or rather, immortality.

“You too?” Kitty asked, astonished.

“Now isn't the time to discuss that,” Visette responded curtly.

As if agreeing, Lyn called for the group to stop. “The paths diverge up ahead.”

“Diverge? That’s not right,” Lucas chimed, furrowing his brows in confusion. “This water system is directly connected to the Museum of Anton. If we’ve hit a crossroad the only way out should be up.”

“So you’re saying that you didn’t leave an unfinished tunnel?” Lyn asked. " If not, we've got a big fucking problem.”

“Corrupted.”

Visette squeezed past the researchers. “If I were to guess the second tunnel leads to a nesting ground of some sort.”

“It’s extremely probable, yes,” Lucas agreed.

“Best to just keep moving right?” Hawk was the one to ask. “Even if there is a nesting ground, we can’t do anything about it. I think the best course of action is to just get to the museum as fast as we can and try to find a vehicle.”

“I’m going to investigate,” Visette said, ignoring everything Hawk said.

“Did you hit your head?” Lyn questioned. “You just said that you can’t fight at one hundred percent so why in Anton’s name would you go looking for trouble.”

“The current situation is already in a precarious state, additional risks will change nothing. This is the best opportunity to learn more about how the Corrupted have changed and it is a chance that may never come again.”

“I’ll go with you then!” Kitty volunteered, though it was clear she was nervous. Her salmon colored hair stuck to her sweat-drenched forehead and she even trembled a little. Even if she couldn’t die, if her body was destroyed that’d be the end of her. Or at least, she wasn’t willing to see if she could come back from that sort of damage.

“If there is any sign of danger, we’ll retreat, Lyn. You take the researchers and go up ahead.” Visette didn’t wait for an answer and moved past Lyn before heading into the damp tunnel.

“Try to be careful, Kitty,” Hawk grumbled. He didn’t want her to go, but he didn’t have time to argue and there was no other way of stopping her since Vis didn’t object.

“I’ll try.” Kitty forced a smile. While her curiosity of Visette was one of the reasons she was going, she was also smart enough to seize any opportunity to build a beneficial relationship with an individual who would likely come to rival Anton should they survive.

With Kitty quickly catching up to Visette, the two were able to stand up as they advanced through the tunnel. The silence was grating against Kitty’s nerves, but even so, she tried her best not to make noise.

“Do you smell that?” Vis asked, her nose slightly wrinkling as she inhaled.

“Yeah, I think,” Kitty said, picking up on a horrible scent just ahead.

Visette wordlessly checked her gun before continuing which caused Kitty to do the same. A few moments later, they stopped at an opening into a huge cavern.

“By Anton’s soul,” Kitty nearly fell over as she looked into the depths of the cave.

Thousands of translucent eggs covered the walls of the cavern, each one had a faint glow which exposed the shape of a creature within. As expected, the tunnel led directly to a Corrupted nest where the Queen laid all of her eggs. In the center of the cavern, there was a huge pit filled with the countless mangled corpses of both human and the corrupted. The question of where the citizens of Eden Hall were had been answered. The nest was both an incubation chamber and a feeding ground. It was obvious that once the Corrupted hatched, they would have a huge feast to further accelerate their growth.

“Let’s go,” Visette grabbed Kitty by the arm, snapping the latter out of her daze, and immediately left.

“That was…” Kitty was completely horrified, even if she knew the corrupted ate any living thing they could find, it was still hard to process when seeing it.

The two left at the right time as a faint screeching could be heard behind them. Unlike the fully matured Corrupted, it was a higher-pitched and weaker sound which meant that some of the eggs had hatched. It would be strange if the cries of the freshly born creatures didn’t bring hundreds of the older ones back to the nest.