Chapter 7: NOTHING PROFOUND HERE

Gunfire and alarms echoed through the underground medical facility as ICC agents stormed in, their boots pounding the cold narrow hallways.The air was thick with gun smoke, antiseptic, and something akin to death.

Kitty kicked open the lab door. In the center, a stark, sterile medical theater gleamed under harsh lights. With lethal precision, she dropped two security guards before they could even raise their weapons. In a matter of minutes and with military precision, her agents had taken control of the facility and subdued all remaining personnel.

Amid the chaos, Dr. Piotr Kovács stood, hands raised in caution, his white coat tainted with specks of something dark. His one good eye flickered with defiance rather than fear.

Kitty kept her weapon trained on the doctor until he was shackled and forced to his knees under the watchful barrels of other ICC rifles. Her pulse was a steady drumbeat beneath her armor. Kitty holstered her weapon and strode toward him.

Kovács' eye roamed over her, noting the peppering of little scars that covered her dark bronze skin like thin white hairs. A flash of recognition crossed his face.

"You abused a generation of children." Her glare was an accusation. "Did you really think they wouldn't fight back?"

He scoffed. "It doesn't matter what you do. It's bigger than either of us. You won't be able to stop our profound work." His milky eye glinted with defiance.

Kitty sneered in disgust. She turned to the nearest agent. "Take him away before I shoot him."

Facility personnel were cuffed and marched down the halls, their protests were swallowed by a small chorus of distant wails. An agent approached Kitty from the side.

"Registrar Naydeena, one of the doctors is missing."

"Search again, even the grounds. Find the control room and go through the footage." The agent disappeared down the hall.

Kitty and five other agents entered the back rooms – places the facility personnel referred to as "kennels".

They looked around horror struck at the rows of metal cages stacked on top of each other. Fluorescent lights buzzed over head, casting shadows on them. From their depths, thin hands reached through the iron bars as the ghostly faces of children appeared. Bodies, wrapped in bandages and marked with bruises, bore little tags around their ankles, marking them as test subjects.

ICC operatives rushed to cut the locks and pull open the doors.

Some shrieked, clawing at their cages, their instincts overriding any understanding of rescue. Others flinched, bracing for violent hands that never came. One child bit down on an agent's gloved hand, too lost in terror to register his captors had changed.

Others froze in wide-eyed fear, their wills shattered by innumerable traumas. An agent held a trembling boy. His dark, sunken eyes locked onto Kitty, filled with a hollow despair. Kitty knew they'd been too late to save that one. She clenched her jaw, failing to suppress her emotions.

"There is nothing profound here," she whispered, guickly blinking back the rising heat from the corners of her eyes.

The earpiece beeped. "No sign of the doctor, Registrar."

"They're here. Keep looking."

Kitty wandered along the kennel's perimeter. The room trembled with an unspoken fury, the sheer weight of what had happened pressed against them all. Agents worked swiftly to release the children.

Then—a sound. A scrape of movement beyond a partially open door.

Her body tensed. She signaled her partner silently to her flank. Kitty's gun was up in an instant. They moved swiftly, stepping into the adjoining storage room, weapons trained on the shadows.

It was empty, save for overturned supply carts and metal cabinets against the far wall.

The faintest tremor came from one of the cabinets.

Kitty didn't know what she would find when she opened the cabinet. She readied her weapon. The deafening sound of her heartbeat pounded louder in her ears. Her breath stilled. With a flick of her wrist, Kitty wrenched it open.

A startled figure curled inside—a frail, shivering form, half-swallowed by the darkness. A sliver of light splashed across their face.

Kitty caught her breath. Her entire body locked in place, her grip on the gun tightened. Stunned, she reached out, her fingers hesitated a moment over the figure's shoulder before she pulled the fabric aside revealing a raised scar a quarter's length in size.

"Fuck."

Kitty's grip tightened. Her lips pressed into a firm line. She shoved the figure back into the cabinet, hiding them once more. She turned sharply to the other agent, her expression unreadable.

"No one sees them. Get them out, quietly."

The younger agent didn't hesitate, nodding immediately, and moved to extract the figure.

Kitty lingered in the storage room, slowly holstering her weapon. She pulled out her earpiece and disconnected it from the receiver. After a brief hesitation, she reached for her phone and dialed. The line crackled as it was answered.

"I found her."