Chapter 19

Dr. Baker is in an isolated room. It only has one single bed and a monitor beside it that keeps track of the vital signs of Nephila. The constant beeping sound surrounds the almost empty room. It is needed for her to be isolated for she is still sensitive of her now new environment.

They just took her out from the tube and if she regains her consciousness, it will be a piece of good news. The ticking sound that comes from the contact of the pen and paper seems to trigger the hearing of Hanabi. It becomes the stimuli for her to move her fingers and even her eyelids that would somehow wake her up from her coma-like state.

"Doctor, Emperor Scorpion needs immediate attention," Angela comes in after receiving an order from Dr. Rooney.

Confused, Dr. Baker creases his forehead as he turns his head towards the doll with a mechanical voice. He leaves the papers on the table and struts his way out of the room and checks on the leader of the team.

Angela, who is now fully armored as Vespid, stares at Nephila whose limbs start to move as well. Hanabi opens her eyes slowly but she shuts them once again for she is blinded by the light above her. She got used to the dark lit room when she was still contained in her tube, thus, it took a while for her to adjust her sight. 

Angela walks towards her and lends her a hand so she could sit down but instead of accepting her offer, Hanabi's spider limbs cling onto the sides of the bed and lifts her body. Her scarlet eyes meet the emerald-colored eyes of Angela and it took her a minute to remember who she is.

"You're Vespid, where are the others?" she asks, her voice still frail.

Angela takes her time to comprehend what her teammate had said for her processor is still adjusting due to her re-modeling. 

"They're outside," her mechanical voice resounds inside the closed room. Hanabi looks at hands and still saw these small tubes connected to her wrists, arms, chest, and temple. She is about to take them off herself for it made her a bit uneasy but Dr. Rooney comes in and stops her from doing so.

"You need to stay here for further observation. Once you get out from this room, you'll be able to see the whole team so be patient for now," he tells her which earns him a small nod from Nephila. It is a great advantage that Hanabi has totally forgotten her past so she can be easily manipulated and her chance of betraying them has drastically decreased to only a slight possible chance.

"Gusion is responding to the exousia differently," Dr. Baker mumbles as he sees the edges of Gusion's hair turning into silver. His face also starts to become purplish as if poison is slowly invading his veins. But seeing his condition to be as normal as before, Dr. Baker decides to complete the armor of the Emperor. The physical changes that are happening on him do not harm his health for his vitals are still normal so the doctor did not give much attention to it.

With his attention fully focused on Gusion, Dr. Baker fails to notice that the genius mage has fully awakened, his haughty attitude and memories are still intact, unlike Nephila. Harley may be young but he grew up with the blood of excellent mages running through his veins that his exposure to the exousia did not affect his intellect. And as a magician, he could cast any spell without his wand as long as he focuses on summoning his magic, yet it requires much energy in return. And having the chance to free himself from the tube, he did not hesitate to force his way out. Noticing the changes in his body, he knows that something is already wrong and being manipulated is never been on his to-do list.

The mage mumbles an ancient spell that he has secretly learned and slowly, his magic starts to work. And since he thinks that he has only one chance, he plans to go all out with the ring of fire he'll use to cause a huge explosion, hoping that it is strong enough to destroy the tube. Harley's sudden outburst causes panic in the laboratory. The greenish liquid floods the laboratory, sparks of electricity flash like successive bolts of lightning, and the gurgling sounds coming from Gusion and Grock made the doctor anxious.

"Dr. Rooney!" Dr. Baker called out for he could not last long alone in managing the laboratory alone.

He ignores the fact that he could die from electric shocks and continues to work on maintaining the equilibrium of the tubes to ensure the safety and success of the tank and assassin's transformation.

"Tsk, this Vance is such a headache just like the rumors state," he mumbled to himself as the ticking sounds of keyboard goes with the ryhthm of the cracking glass.

 Dr. Rooney opens the door upon hearing the loud noise coming from their main laboratory and what greets him first is the warm green liquid. His eyes catch Harley running towards the exit holding the cursed wand, the staff that is round in shape and has a green-colored eye on its top; it even has a black cat-like slit eyes moving on its own. They had created it just for the sole purpose of it being used by Harley himself when they are set out to the battlefield, not to be used against them.

"Vespid, bring him back!" he demands before running towards the operating room. He seeks the switch that could shut all the exits and keep Harley from escaping for it'll be a great mess if he successfully leaves. Angela's wings flap so fast that only its purplish color is visible to the eyes. And at a fast speed, she follows Harley towards the dark hallway. 

Gusion is now having difficulty in breathing, his heart is beating abnormally fast and he also starts to convulse. These made Dr. Baker feel like he's already at the trial to know if he'll live or die. If Gusion would lose his life, he'll die at the hands of the CEO. But if he'll live, which he repeatedly prays in his mind, he will continue to live and have the chance to have a quiet life after retirement.

"C'mon, Gusion, live, live," he continuously chanted to himself, his sweat starting to drip down his forehead.

On the other hand, Grock, who is now turned from a rock giant into a large lizard, spits purplish gas which worries the doctor a lot for it might poison itself to death. He is almost at the end of his wits with the pressure and worries, pushing him to the limits.

"Keep Gusion at bay," Dr. Rooney stated, "I'll look after Grock."

Dr. Rooney runs back to Dr. Baker and helps him in keeping the remaining two at bay but as time passes by, they start to hear weird clicking sounds from above. Even though the two of them are preoccupied in maneuvering the tubes, they could feel someone observing them. They stopped for a while and slowly lift their heads at the ceiling, their jaws almost dropped on the floor as they see Hanabi watching over them. Her spider limbs keeps her from falling.

"Go back to the room!" Dr. Baker yells at her out of frustration but Hanabi did not listen. Instead, she drops herself down to the floor and lands on both feet. The three pairs of spider-like limbs on her back made some cracking sounds as they fold and neatly arrange themselves behind her. She struts her way towards the monitor and like a pro, she replaces Dr. Rooney from his work and did it herself. 

"What are you doing?!" Dr. Rooney panicked and when he tried to push her away, Hanabi's limbs appears and threatens the doctor as if they were serpents ready to bite off their enemy. The doctor was left with no choice but to let Hanabi be.

But his worries start to wash off upon seeing the result of Hanabi's work.

The red flashes of danger start to disappear as she fixes the mess. The two doctors are in awe for they had never considered Hanabi to be knowledgeable about such things. She grew up in a world where technology has not yet been introduced, and will never be accepted in their culture, but the way she handles the situation makes one forget that she's from a village of ninjas.

"I shall go after Octopus," she says with a soft voice as she steps back from the tube, she nods her head at the two doctors before running towards the exit.

"How could she do that?" Dr. Baker asks as he goes back to work, still feeling confused but has regained much of his composure back.

"I am a great teacher," Dr. Rooney replies proudly while draining the water out from the laboratory. He did teach Hanabi a lot but she probably had learned about the monitors with her constant observation of their work during the previous weeks.

As Hanabi tries to locate where Harley is, she hears some muffled voices echoing in the hallway so she follows where they are coming from. Her hearing capability had sharpened three folds, making it easier for her to navigate through the darkness. Upon setting foot at a closed room, she finds Harley pointing his wand at Angela.

"You two stay away," he demands with gritted upon seeing Nephila. "What did you do to me? Why did I change so much?"

Harley has seen himself, his once blond and curly hair has now turned dark and straight. His once epidote-colored eyes have become a shade of amethyst. He almost takes himself as a stranger when he had seen his reflection due to the changes.

"Lower your weapon, we mean no harm to you," Angela says but Harley does not want to compromise. He is about to use his magic but he suddenly drops his wand and with a loud thud, he is pinned on the wall. Hanabi has used her kunai to trap him and ensure that he won't be making any wrong move. The edges of his clothing have been pinned on the wall and he could not take them off that easily.

"As part of the VENOM Squad, you should not raise your weapons at your teammates," Hanabi lectures him but Harley negates her. He stares at her with angry eyes, he grits his teeth and forces to free himself.

"Stop kidding me!" He yelled and his wand goes back to his hand as if it was magnetic in composition. "Nobody orders me!"

Harley casts his spell and with just one swing of his arm, Angela and Hanabi are thrown at the corner of the room but with their fast reflex, they did not get even a small scratch. Hanabi's spider-like limbs spring to life and dig at the walls, cracking it and giving support to her. Angela has deflected the strong force with the armor that she wears and the rapid flapping of her wings has given her great balance.

"Don't even try to hurt them, you're just making useless efforts," Dr. Baker cuts in who just came from the laboratory after making sure of the stability of the other two. "We made your armors special so if you plan to hurt your teammates, the armors would cancel your attacks."

Harley clicks his tongue and rolls his eyes. 

"Yet she gets to throw her kunai at me but I cannot cancel it!" he whines as she points his finger at Nephila whose limbs have gone away like it was never part of her.

Dr. Baker replies that Hanabi is a bit special but tells them not to make a big deal out of it for they won't be going against each other but they'll be working together instead.

"The VENOM Squad is created for you to go and rescue the SABER Squad. After your mission, you'd be recognized as the world's savior, won't that be so grand as a prize?" Dr. Baker entices Harley but unknown to him, the mage has another idea in mind. 

A smirk curves on the corner of his lips as a new goal is set on his mind.

"Yes, indeed," he states and his rebellious acts take a sudden turn,from being a rebel into an obedient play of pretend. "It's a grand prize."