I remember.

The white room stretched endlessly in every direction. Adam's hands were smaller—child-sized palms pressed against the sterile floor. The walls hummed with that familiar electric buzz; he knew it was several fluorescent lights, but he couldn't really discern where the lights actually were.

The rooms were just bright everywhere. He thought that was just how it was.

He sat cross-legged on the cold surface, tracing his fingers across the gaps in the flooring. There was never a single speck of dirt in there, not even a single dust particle.

Hours passed. Maybe days? Days of being stuck in there, not eating anything, and not seeing anyone else. He was being starved.

And the lights. The lights were never turned off.

I remember there was a door, almost invisible.

A door materialized in the wall—or perhaps it had always been there, and he'd simply forgotten to notice. Adam stood, his bare feet making no sound against the floor.

There was a glass window.

There was a window, and people whose faces he couldn't recall peered their heads over there from time to time. He couldn't remember their faces, but he could remember their expressions.

Most of them were… amused, as if he were an animal in a zoo.

There was only a single face there that held warmth and concern for him.

Her.

He saw someone peer from the window, but there were no eyes, no nose, no lips, no ears. He couldn't even remember the color of her hair.

The only thing he remembered was the way she made Adam feel while stuck in that White Room.

He made her… happy.

Adam could remember reaching for the door whenever she was the one who peered over the window. He approached—but then he heard the clanging of chains, and his feet were tied.

Huh?

And all of a sudden, everything turned dark as the chains held him back. The White Room turned back, and darkness swallowed everything except the weight of the shackles.

This… is a different memory?

Lights then flickered to life again, and men in rough clothing surrounded him.

This isn't the Hospital.

The men's faces were twisted with fear and hatred. They spoke in a language he knew he understood, but couldn't understand why or how.

Monstrum! Clausum! Daemon!

They stabbed him with a burning iron, and he remembered the burning flesh filling his nostrils. And then, he remembered being left there. Inside a—

"Sorry about being interrupted, little boy."

Susan's voice cut through the visions. Adam's eyes snapped open, the memories dissolving as reality crashed back. He sat in the chair, blood masking the fact that his hands had already slipped free from the chains.

Susan approached once more, her boots echoing off the stone floor. She glanced around the cell, her expression shifting from amusement to confusion.

"Where the hell are—" She spun in a circle, searching for the two goons who should've been there. "Where are my two boys? Huh?"

She stepped back and looked at the corridors, raising an eyebrow as she couldn't find them.

"Tch." Susan clicked her tongue, irritation creeping into her voice. "Useless pieces of shit probably went to jack each other off."

She dismissed the missing guards with a wave of her hand, turning her attention back to Adam. A smile crept onto her face.

"Doesn't matter. Just you and me now, pretty boy." Susan cracked her knuckles, the sound echoing through the cell. "Now, where were we before I got interrupted?"

She stood in front of Adam.

"Oh, right."

And without warning, Susan's fist transformed into gray stone and brought it down with devastating force onto Adam's right foot.

"Aah!" And this time, Adam's screams tore through his throat, even spitting out blood right onto Susan's face.

Susan's eyes lit up with perverse pleasure. Her smile widened, revealing teeth stained with his blood.

"There we go!" She cackled, her free hand moving to her throat as she moaned softly. "Oh, that's the sound I've been waiting for. Music to my ears."

She licked her lips slowly, savoring the moment and the taste of his blood.

"Now we're getting somewhere," she purred, leaning closer. "So tell me, little shit—who sent you? Which gang do you belong to?"

Adam quietly wheezed, but his lips moved, and he was saying something.

"What was that?" Susan cupped her ear. "Speak up, boy. I can't hear you when you mumble like that."

Adam continued whispering, his words too quiet for her to make out.

Susan sighed, rolling her eyes at him.

"What did you just say? If you're trying to be clever—"

She leaned down, bringing her ear within inches of Adam's mouth to catch his words.

The moment her face came close enough, Adam's right arm snapped forward. The switchblade, hidden beneath his forearm and slicked with his own blood, caught the torchlight for a split second before driving toward her eye.

"Aahh!" Susan yelped, stumbling backward as her hands flew to her face. She clutched at her eye, pressing her palms against her face.

Adam launched himself from the chair, his mangled foot churning inside the boot as he lunged toward her.

But when Susan was still about a meter away from him, she suddenly stopped. Her hands slowly fell away from her face, revealing an expression of pure, manic joy.

"Aah!" she screamed, "Ahhahahahaha!"

But then the scream turned into a fit of laughter.

No blood. No wound. There wasn't even a scratch on her face.

Susan held up the switchblade, twirling it between her fingers like a toy.

"Did you really think that would work?" She giggled, her voice sounding unhinged. "Oh, you sweet, sweet, little boy. I can just gobble you up."

Adam changed direction, sliding to his knees and pulling the second switchblade he had. He rolled slightly to the side, slashing upward at the back of Susan's ankle. And as soon as the blade made contact with his skin—

It snapped.

And before Adam knew it, her foot connected with his chest. The kick launched him backward through the air, sending him crashing into the chair. Splinters exploded around him as he rolled across the stone floor, only stopping when his back slammed against the far wall.

"Ha! Hahaha!" Susan threw her head back and laughed, the sound bouncing off the dungeon walls. "Oh, this is rich! You really think you can do something? Oh, did you kill my men? Where are they?"

She glanced at the cell entrance, still chuckling.

"I knew you weren't just some ordinary vet, Chrissy boy," Susan said, keeping her mouth open as she stared at him. "You were going to kill me. If I weren't a Hero, I would be dead now."

Susan pointed at her eyes, grinning widely.

"You're definitely a professional killer. Question is—who sent you?"

Adam groaned as he pushed himself up from the debris, his back screaming from the impact.

This is it. The difference between their strength. It was… overwhelming. Adam knew she hadn't even used her ability to block his attack. Her ankles didn't turn into stone, no.

Adam was quite aware that even though the Achilles tendon might feel hard, it was one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body. A sharp blade should have sliced right through it. But Susan's bare skin had stopped his knife like it was hitting solid steel.

This… this was the gap between a veteran creep and a Hero. Vets were several times stronger than normal people, and Heroes were several times stronger than vets.

Susan was simply faster, stronger, and harder than him—not to mention she has been granted an ability by the Administrators.

There was no way for him to win.

Adam glared at her as he struggled to his feet, blood trickling from his mouth.

"What are you planning to do now, little assassin?" Susan smirked, crossing her arms. "Because if you think you're going to kill me, not a chance in hell."

She gestured around the stone cell.

"I've got other business to attend to anyway. A shipment just arrived, and I need to—"

"More people?"

And finally, Adam spoke.

Susan's eyes widened in surprise at his words. She stared at him for a long moment, then slowly backed away from the cell, then turned her head to glance toward the corridor—toward the cells where the women were chained.

She then returned to the cell, looking back at Adam. And soon, her surprise melted into laughter.

"Oh my God!" She pointed at him, clutching her sides. "That's why you stayed, isn't it? You could have escaped when you had the chance, but you didn't."

She laughed for several more seconds before her expression suddenly turned serious.

"Well, well. Maybe you really are telling the truth about being just a passerby." Susan's voice dropped. "Now, I'm confused. Are you an assassin, or just… a fool? But either way, I think I'll have to kill you now."

Without warning, she appeared beside Adam—he hadn't even seen her move. Her first already turned to stone clamped around his left arm.

…And she just crushed it.

The bone snapped like a dry branch. Adam gritted through the pain as Susan pulled him closer.

"But that doesn't mean I'm not going to have my fun though," she whispered, her breath hot against his skin. "You're still pretty cute…

…And I'm going to enjoy breaking you piece by piece."

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