Screams echoed through the facility as the sterile halls suddenly erupted in chaos. A group of heavily ard security personnel ca sprinting down the corridor, panic written all over their faces. So clutched their stomachs, others were vomiting streams of blood, their eyes bloodshot and bulging as they collapsed to the floor, twitching in agony.
"D-Damon... what’s happening?" Phoebe gasped, watching the soldiers fall like dominoes.
Damon’s brows furrowed. He looked around—he hadn’t triggered anything. His hallucination range couldn’t stretch outside the experint chambers, let alone to the security levels. This wasn’t his doing. And yet... the signs were unmistakable.
Blackened veins. Internal bleeding. Fevered eyes.
The sa symptoms of exposure to his blood’s effect—the death-triggering plague that had once consud others who made contact with him.
Suddenly, one of the surviving guards saw Damon and let out a scream:
"OH NO—IT’S THE REAL DAMON! W-WE’RE TRAPPED!"
"IT’S—HE’S HERE—NO, NO, THIS CAN’T BE—"
The man was hysterical, stumbling back, slamming against the wall as if Damon was a walking death sentence.
Then... everything went still.
A low growl. The sound of flesh dragging across tile.
From around the corridor’s edge, a figure erged—half-covered in shadows, dragging one foot like a broken beast. Its body dripped with blood, the floor lting slightly wherever droplets fell. Its hand was torn open, leaving a trail of infection, like a walking plague.
Damon’s eyes widened in disbelief.
"No... it can’t be..."
The creature stepped into full view.
Its face was partly mangled—stitched poorly—but unmistakable.
Sir Christian.
The sa Christian Damon had once involved when he punished Red Scaver.
Lara’s father. The man who swore vengeance from behind prison walls because he was totally innocent and Damon was very guilty of it.
But now... he was barely human.
Eyes wild. Blood pulsing unnaturally in his veins. A snarl replacing any form of speech. He was not just a clone—he was a broken weapon, created from Damon’s blood, amplified and corrupted by the scientist’s insane experints.
Phoebe’s Realization
Phoebe stepped back in horror, shielding herself from the trail of corrosive blood dripping from Christian’s hand.
"Damon..." she whispered, clutching his arm tightly.
"That blood... it’s the sa... Is this... the cause of the epidemic?"
Damon didn’t answer imdiately. His fists clenched.
He knew. Christian was the outbreak.
The escaped "clone". The living plague. A result of his stolen DNA.
His power had been weaponized... and now unleashed into the world.
Phoebe’s voice trembled.
"If I touch that blood... I’ll die too, won’t I?"
Damon looked down at her, his face darkening. Even she—The Justice—wasn’t immune. No one was.
Damon’s Internal Conflict
("They turned him into a monster... They used my blood to create this epidemic. And now... Lara’s father...")
("Do I kill him? Do I try to save him? Or do I put an end to everything I caused?")
Christian roared, eyes locking onto Damon. No recognition. No fatherly mory. Just rage. Just blood.
--Outside the Laboratory – Panic Brews--
The once heavily restricted periter of the Pasay Unknown Research Facility was now flooded with people.
Guards who once stood with discipline now scrambled, trying to contain a crowd of panicked workers, scientists, and personnel desperately pushing against the security gates. So were banging on them, others crying, vomiting blood, or simply collapsing onto the concrete.
"What’s going on inside?"
"Sothings not right!?"
"There’s a murderer inside!"
Murmurs quickly turned into shouts, phones raised into the air, recording the chaos unfolding in real-ti. Civilians nearby, mostly from the comrcial buildings and condos around the district, began gathering in confusion.
Then... the sirens started.
Woooop woooop!
Ergency response vehicles pulled up near the barricades, flashing red and blue lights. dical units rushed forward but were stopped by security detail still unsure of the threat within.
A man in a news van jumped out, accompanied by a woman with a mic in hand, and a caraman already filming.
Live News Flash: Channel 5 Breaking Report
"We are now live at the Unknown Research Facility in Pasay City," the reporter announced breathlessly, trying to push her way toward the frontline, cara rolling.
Behind her, the scene was pure chaos.
"A large-scale panic has broken out, with nurous reports of employees attempting to flee the facility. So are reportedly vomiting blood or collapsing in what appears to be a dical ergency of unknown origin. We have yet to receive official statents from the organization behind this secretive facility, but eyewitnesses have described a violent incident inside, involving experints gone wrong and an individual believed to be connected to the recent string of Blood-linked murders."
The caraman zood in as gurneys rolled out, stained in crimson. Security tried to block the view, but the damage was done.
The public was now watching.
"I saw it with my own eyes," one bystander told the press, pointing a trembling hand. "One of them—he wasn’t human. His blood was burning the floor!"
"This isn’t just an accident," another woman cried. "They’ve been hiding sothing in there! They said soone escaped before... now they’re spreading sothing outside!"
The sound of panicked screams, distant sirens, and the overwhelming chatter of the crowd outside the facility filled the tense air.
Phones were raised.
News vans lined the street.
Everyone wanted to know what the hell was going on inside.
And then—
A car door slamd.
From the side street, a plain black van pulled up, clearly not part of the official ergency response.
Out stepped Kevin, looking irritated rather than alard.
"Tch... what the hell is this, Claire?" he muttered under his breath, eyes darting at the chaos.
Right behind him, Alfie and Loren erged from the vehicle.
Alfie imdiately looked around, pulling up the collar of his jacket.
"This isn’t so small-ti operation... What is this place?"
"It’s Claire. My cousin, the one who t with at the coffee shop where I left you," Kevin answered without looking at them. "She asked for help—said soone close to her might be here."
"So why bring us?" Loren asked.
Kevin scoffed. "Because sothing felt off. Claire’s desperate, and I know when she’s hiding sothing."
As they approached the gates, they were greeted by a wave of stench and panic.
Blood.
And lots of it.
So guards were convulsing. Others screaming. So vomiting blood. One man was already dead, eyes wide open, face frozen in terror.
"Arcana," Alfie said under his breath. "This is definitely Arcana’s ability work."
Loren’s voice was grave.
"You think it’s him?"
Kevin didn’t respond imdiately.
He stepped forward, pushing past a trembling guard on the ground, and stopped—just as a massive echo of static burst from inside the facility. A shattered window sent a spray of bloodied glass onto the pavent.
A mont of silence passed.
Then Kevin grinned.
A twisted, scary smirk stretched across his face—nothing like confidence, but more like obsession.
"He’s here..."
"The Fool," he whispered with a dark glint in his eyes.
Alfie looked confused.
"You said we’re here to save soone..."
Kevin slowly turned to him, that smirk still lingering.
"Yeah. Claire’s friend, right? I promised her I would."
"But if he’s in there—then saving that person’s gonna be... collateral."
Loren’s eyes narrowed, realizing sothing was wrong.
"You didn’t co here to help Claire," he said. "You ca to kill The Fool."
Kevin didn’t deny it.
"If I’m right, the one she’s trying to save... is him."
"She doesn’t even know. I already got a glimpse of idea of it. Since Claire was a survivor that was saved by the Fool"
Kevin’s fingers twitched toward the weapon holstered at his side.
"But I know. And if I’m finally face to face with The Fool... I’m not walking away without finishing what I started."
Alfie and Loren shared a tense glance.
The chaos inside was only growing louder.
"Then we better move," Alfie said grimly. "Before there’s no one left to save. Or.. kill?"
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