The following day after the press conference, Dr. Lena stood in the middle of the lab, soaked in anger. Her eyes were red, her face tight with fury. Her heart pounded, and each breath came out ragged and heavy as chaos ruled around her within the lab.
Beakers and test tubes lay shattered on the countertops. Petri dishes used for virus isolation were cracked and empty. Microscopes had been knocked over, their lenses broken. The lab usually pristine was now a terrible mess. Tools and instruments were scattered as though a riot had erupted. Splashes of red, blue, and green chemicals stained the counters and floor.
Dr. Lena's anger slowly turned into despair. She stepped carefully around the wreckage, her eyes darting toward the biosafety level cabinet. It was cracked open, broken like a safe forced apart.
She didn't need to check, she already knew. The serums were gone.
She clenched her fists, her jaw tightening. "How could I be so careless?" she thought. "How could I have underestimated Christainia?"
Christainia had warned her"a storm is coming." But Lena never imagined the betrayal would cut this deep.
Stealing a colleague's work? It was a vile breach of ethics. But Christainia didn't care. She was imitating the Sovereign Hand, their brutal motto: Take it by force.
And the worst part? Who would believe her?
Who would believe she had developed the cure, even if she presented the evidence? Maybe they would, eventually.
She had collaborated with a coalition of scientists to develop the serum. She immediately recalled, 'her research papers... her eyes shot toward the shelves.
The papers were Gone.
The documents were supposed to be finalized soon, almost ready for publication. They detailed preclinical and clinical trials for the cure.
She reached for the backup system a sleek black data vault drive she used for secure copies.
Also gone.
She stumbled back, covering her mouth in shock. "Damn it. Damn you, Christainia Clay," she whispered, tears brimming in her eyes.
Maybe just maybe the clinical trial data could be recovered from her desktop. She rushed into her personal office. Her gaze landed on the computer. The desktop was buzzing with electrical sparks, its screen shattered. The hard drive had been ripped out.
Gone. Again.
The clinical trial data had been incomplete, but vital. Developing a cure wasn't a single moment, it was a process. And those records proved that process was real.
She remembered the volunteers, survivors of the Vesper infection. how they had offered their bodies to science. How hope lit up their eyes when their health started to improve. She had seen it. Healing was beginning.
And now... nothing.
"Oh fuck this," Dr. Lena muttered under her breath, wiping her tears. Christainia had played her game well. She must have convinced the Sovereign Hand that Lena was a threat.
With their power hungry and cruel minds the decided to destroy everything in other to get over with her.
They would sell the cure now. Package it. Profit from it just as Christiania had told the press.
And the world would never know who actually saved them.
The lab door creaked open. Dr. Ethan Thompson stepped inside, he was careful not to step on shattered glass or crushed lenses. His face turned grave as he looked around. The destruction told a story of pain.
He noticed Lena standing near the window, her back to him. Her lab coat was stained with chemicals. Her shoulders sagged.
"You shouldn't be here, Ethan," she said without turning. "I don't want the Sovereign Hand to know you helped me develop the cure."
"It's fine, ma'am," Ethan replied softly, slipping on a pair of gloves. "I just wanted to see the destruction with my own eyes. This is… unbelievable. They could've just stolen the serum and left the lab in peace."
"They knew my plans," Lena said, still facing the light pouring through the window. "I wasn't going to release the serum through them. I was going to do it alone. Cleanse the world of this virus. But that wasn't in their interest. They wanted world power and by so doing the hurt me my work, my pride."
Ethan frowned. "How did they find out? about this newly developed serum, Could any member of the coalition have betrayed us?"
"There is no us, Ethan," Lena snapped, spinning around to face him. Her eyes were wild. "I dragged you into this, it's all over go back to your Lab at Sarion. I wouldn't want you to get into trouble. The soverign hand could hurt you if they find out about your expertise. Please. Leave."
Ethan stepped back, the words stinging more than he expected. Not because of the rejection, but because his hopes his dreams of becoming a respected virologist were fading fast.
Maybe, if the serum had been released as planned, he could have been acknowledged someday as a contributor. Now? It was all gone.
"The coalition signed a secrecy pact," Lena continued. "This was our plan. And yet..."
She stopped, suddenly uncertain.
"I don't know why I'm telling you all this," she said. "Something keeps telling me to let you go. I know you want answers. But Ethan... you have to go."
A heavy silence settled between them. Lena clenched her eyes shut and exhaled, trembling. Then, she opened her mouth and spoke with venom.
"They think they know what a storm looks like. I'll show them that I can be the storm. I will create one. A storm they'll never forget."
She laughed dry, bitter, almost hysterical.
Ethan took a step forward, concerned. "Ma'am, please you have..."
"Leave, Ethan. LEAVE!" she screamed, her voice echoing through the shattered lab.
Ethan froze in place as she picked up a long, thick steel rod, the kind used for anchoring lab shelves. It was cold, heavy, solid like a weapon in the wrong hands. She slammed it against the lab counter, breaking and destroying countertop, shattering the remaining equipment.
An unnatural strength surged through her pure adrenaline born from betrayal.
Ethan stood stunned as Dr. Lena's face twisted, her hair falling messily over her eyes. She looked half-mad now, muttering to herself.
"I am the storm. I will bring the storm," she whispered, then laughed again. The next moment, her voice softened into a sob. "I feel so bad for what I'm going to do. But at the same time, I feel so... elated cause whenever I decided to act all hell will break loose.
Suddenly, the lab door burst open. Dr. Eliya Ward rushed in, eyes wide with shock.
"Ma'am!" she cried, taking in the destruction. "I'm so sorry."
"Leave!" Lena hissed without turning.
Eliya took a step closer.
"Ma'am please let me help you"
"I don't need your help, Let me bear my own consequence"
"What consequence are you talking about, ma'am you are a genuis" Eliya began
"You made a cure. That's a miracle. People will do their worst, but it's not your fault. It's not your fault the earth is haunted by this Evil virus. It's not your fault that the Sovereign Hand turned out greedy. It's all them, not you. You did the right thing by developing this cure. And you're the strongest person I know. You have to rise again and rebuild."
Eliya's voice was filled with hope, but Ethan and Lena shared a knowing glance.
They both understood what Eliya didn't; hope was no longer enough.
As their eyes met, Ethan's expression fell. Lena began sobbing again, her regrets returning like crashing waves.
"It's not that easy to rebuild what we lost," Ethan said softly. "Let's go."
"I'm not going," Eliya replied, determined.
Lena turned to her, eyes blazing. "If you two don't leave, I will smash your heads. You'll regret ever meeting me."
Eliya froze. The fury in Lena's eyes wasn't hollow, it was real. Dangerous.
Lena raised the steel rod again, smashing the rest of the shelves, screaming as if a storm had possessed her. Ethan pulled Eliya back, and together they fled the lab.
Even as they walked down the hallway toward the building's exit, the sound of destruction followed them glass breaking, metal clanging, Lena screaming.
Suddenly, Eliya stopped.
"Ethan, you go ahead. I'm staying. I'll hide and watch her."
"This is crazy," Ethan said, shaking his head. "She asked us to leave for a reason."
"So the Sovereign Hand doesn't drag us into it?" Eliya asked.
"Yes!"
"Well, I'm tired of hiding," Eliya said firmly. "She needs help. And I need the truth. I've been wasting away in the Reclaimers' station, not learning anything real. I want to be a full fledged virologist. I need to know more."
Ethan sighed. "Fine. I'll go to Sarion and lay low. I need to be far away from this madness."
He turned and ran toward the road.
But as he stepped out of the building, a chill ran down his spine.
He felt it.
A presence. A shadow watching.
He turned.
Nothing.
He shook his head and kept walking but the feeling returned, stronger. Like someone was watching him from the edge of the lab building.
He turned again.
Still nothing.
His heartbeat quickened. He picked up his pace, running faster than ever. Somewhere out there, in the distance... someone was watching.
And Ethan could feel it.