Chapter 10: [Sage Grove: A Slaughterhouse and a Goldmine]
[System Message: Impending location: Sage Grove. Environmental assessment: Optimal for rapid power acquisition. Morality: A luxury you can no longer afford. Embrace the chaos. Embrace the harvest.]
"Embrace the chaos? You sound like a particularly unhinged life coach, System. And 'morality, a luxury'? You know, you're really making this whole 'being a monster' thing sound appealing. Which is disturbing."
The car ride to Sage Grove was silent, thick with unspoken accusations and the chilling knowledge of what I had done. Arthur Finch. A broken man. And I had ended him. Not out of self-defense, not truly. But out of hunger. The hunger for power. The memory of his dying plea, "Please… don't…", echoed in my mind, a haunting counterpoint to the System's relentless demand for growth.
MM wouldn't look at me. Butcher seemed to look through me, his gaze cold and calculating, as if assessing a new, unpredictable weapon. Frenchie was the only one who seemed genuinely interested, his scientific curiosity overriding his moral qualms. Kimiko remained impassive, but I could feel a subtle shift in her aura, a new wariness towards me.
"Alright, this is Sage Grove," Butcher finally grunted, pulling the van to a stop outside a desolate, barbed-wire fence. "Vought's bloody experimental lab. Where they cook up more supes. More 'super-terrorists.' And probably more bloody ways to screw over the common man."
My eyes scanned the grim facility. To the others, it was a horror show, a testament to Vought's depravity. To me, it was a goldmine. A treasure trove of Compound V. And potentially, a buffet of powers.
[System Message: Location identified: Sage Grove. Density of potential targets: High. Density of Compound V: High. Optimal conditions for Blood Meter completion. Proceed with extreme prejudice. And bring a big bag.]
"Extreme prejudice? You're practically salivating, System. It's unsettling, honestly."
"So, what's the plan?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. "Infiltrate? Extract data? Expose their crimes?"
"All of the above, mate," Butcher said, pulling out a handful of demo charges. "And then we burn the whole bloody place to the ground."
The infiltration was surprisingly easy, a testament to Vought's arrogance and the isolated nature of the facility. We slipped past the minimal guards, deep into the labyrinthine corridors. The air grew heavy with a strange, chemical scent, mixed with the faint, unsettling sounds of human suffering.
We found the labs first. Row upon row of experimental subjects, some clearly powered, some mutated, all screaming silent pleas for release. It was horrific. The Hughie-Prime part of me recoiled, feeling profound disgust and pity. But the New-Hue saw the V. Right there. In syringes. In beakers. In vast, bubbling vats.
"Bloody hell," MM muttered, his face pale with revulsion. "They're just… making them. Like products."
"Exactly," Butcher snarled, his face a mask of cold fury. "And we're going to shut this factory down."
While Butcher and MM focused on gathering evidence and setting demolition charges, Frenchie moved to liberate the data. I, however, had a different agenda. My Metabolic Acceleration (Lvl 3) allowed me to slip away from the group unnoticed, moving with a silent, almost predatory grace. My Carbon Skin (Lvl 4) made me feel impervious, a quiet shield against the horrors around me. My Kinetic Redirection (Lvl 1) was a subtle push, allowing me to open stiff doors without a sound. And my Sound Manipulation (Lvl 1) muffled the occasional clatter or the faint sounds of the suffering experiments. My new Caustic Secretion (Lvl 1) hummed subtly in my skin, a destructive potential waiting to be unleashed.
I found a storage room, filled with rows of labeled Compound V vials. Small ones, large ones, clear ones, colored ones. A veritable ocean of power. My mouth went dry. My Blood Meter, at 100/400, seemed to mock me. This was it.
[System Message: Compound V jackpot. Initiate rapid consumption. Focus on quantity. Quality is secondary for Blood Meter progression.]
"Quantity over quality, got it. You're a true connoisseur, System."
I filled a large duffel bag, indiscriminately grabbing every vial I could. My hands shook, not from fear, but from the sheer exhilaration of it all. This wasn't just survival anymore. This was a literal power grab.
Suddenly, alarms blared again. A cacophony of shouts and screams erupted from the labs. The inmates. They were breaking out.
"They're loose!" Butcher's voice roared over the comms. "Hughie! Get back here! We got a situation!"
"Situation? Oh, I think 'chaos soup' is a more accurate term for this place," I muttered, slinging the heavy duffel bag over my shoulder.
This wasn't just a rescue mission anymore. This was a free-for-all. And for me, it was a hunting ground.
The corridors became a madhouse. Inmates, some with terrifying powers, others barely able to control their new abilities, streamed out, desperate for freedom. Vought guards, overwhelmed and terrified, fired wildly. It was a perfect storm of violence and anarchy.
"Stay with me, Hughie!" MM yelled, covering me as a supe with limited pyrokinesis launched a small fireball. My Kinetic Redirection (Lvl 1) subtly pushed the fireball off course, sending it harmlessly into a wall. MM didn't notice.
I saw a supe, small and wiry, with the power of localized phasing. He flickered in and out of existence, darting past guards, stealing their weapons. Perfect. A stealth power. Very useful.
"Hughie, watch out!" Butcher yelled, tackling a super-strong brute.
I ignored him. My eyes were fixed on the phasing supe. This was my target.
I sprinted, using my Metabolic Acceleration (Lvl 3) to cut him off. He phased through a wall, reappearing behind me. I spun, too fast for him, and caught him off guard. He lunged, trying to phase through me. My Carbon Skin (Lvl 4) held, and his attempt to phase simply caused a jarring sensation, like hitting a solid wall. He recoiled, bewildered.
"Not so fast, pal," I snarled, a chilling confidence in my voice. I grabbed him, pinning him against the wall. He struggled, trying to phase away, but I held on, pushing with my Carbon Skin, preventing his power from fully engaging.
Then, with a deliberate thought, I focused my Caustic Secretion (Lvl 1). A thin, almost invisible mist, like sweat, began to seep from my pores, specifically where my hand was pressed against his neck.
He gasped, a look of agony on his face. The phasing flickered, then stopped. His skin began to sizzle, a horrifying sound amidst the chaos. It was quick. Brutal. And effective.
He slumped, lifeless.
[System Message: Kill Confirmed. Target: Phasing Supe. Initiating "Supe Power Absorption" protocol. Choose wisely.]
PHASING SUPE'S POWERS:
Limited Phasing (Lvl 1)
I chose Limited Phasing (Lvl 1). A strange, vibrating sensation passed through me, a fleeting sense of being both here and not here. My fifth power. And with it, a new level of terror and exhilaration.
The Blood Meter, thanks to my earlier V haul, surged.
BLOOD METER COMPLETE!
NEW POWER ACQUIRED:
Kinetic Redirection (Lvl 1)
EXISTING POWER UPGRADED:
Carbon Skin (Lvl 4)
Metabolic Acceleration (Lvl 3)
BLOOD METER RESET: 0/800
Wait. Another Kinetic Redirection? That was the random power I got from the last meter fill. System, you're doing it again! What is wrong with your random number generator?!
[System Message: Error detected. Redundant power assigned. Correcting. Please stand by.]
Another jarring mental rewrite.
[System Message: Error corrected. New Power Acquired: Empathic Resonance (Lvl 1). Existing powers leveled up: Carbon Skin (Lvl 5), Metabolic Acceleration (Lvl 4). Kinetic Redirection (Lvl 1) remains. Sound Manipulation (Lvl 1) remains. Caustic Secretion (Lvl 1) remains. Limited Phasing (Lvl 1) remains.]
"Empathic Resonance? Seriously? So now I can feel other people's feelings? You know, I'm trying to become a ruthless killer, not a really depressed therapist, System!"
The new power was a strange, subtle hum in my mind, a faint echo of the emotions around me. It was unsettling. My Carbon Skin, now Lvl 5, felt practically impenetrable. Metabolic Acceleration, Lvl 4, made me even faster, more agile. I was becoming a genuine powerhouse. A walking, talking cheat code. And a monster.
We finally regrouped, battling our way out of the burning facility. The demolition charges detonated, sending the entire complex up in a fiery blaze. Butcher watched with grim satisfaction. MM looked relieved, but still haunted. Frenchie was already planning how to analyze the data he'd stolen. Kimiko was just… Kimiko.
And me? I was clutching my heavy duffel bag of V, my mind buzzing with new powers, and the chilling certainty that the hunger was only going to grow. The 0/800 on my Blood Meter was a promise. The hunt was far from over. It had only just begun. And I knew, with a terrifying clarity, that I would stop at nothing to fill it.