In the previously discussed formation, they continued on their way: Helios in the middle, Dante close behind him, and Spider moving ahead—swift, focused, efficient. At every door, they paused briefly, checked the room beyond. If they encountered someone, Spider struck with precision—a quick chop to the neck, silent and clean. None of the staff were harmed. So far.
As expected, working with Spider still went smoothly. When he was focused, he mostly kept his mouth shut. It was a relief.
But so far, they hadn't found anything. The first level seemed to consist only of offices and unimportant storage rooms. There was a break room and two changing rooms. But nothing useful—no helpful items, no relevant information.
"What exactly are you looking for, Helios?" Spider whispered as they descended a narrow staircase to the next level. His voice was casual—but his eyes were sharp.
"Something I can use to blackmail my father, if it comes to that," Helios replied dryly.
Which, of course, was a complete lie. He had come up with several cover stories to keep Spider at bay. He'd spent several nights going over every possible scenario. Under no circumstances could he allow Spider to find out about Dante's immortality.
"You sure there's anything useful here at all?" Spider asked, skeptical.
"If we find nothing," Helios said flatly, "we blow the place up."
Spider stopped and motioned for Helios and Dante to stay silent. He held out his hand toward Helios.
"Got any more of those handy sleep bombs?" he asked quietly. Helios handed him the last two he had brought. "Stay back, I'll handle it," Spider said softly, disappearing even more quietly than before.
Helios turned to Dante. They stood in the dim light of a long corridor, lit by those cold white flickering ceiling panels typical of sterile facilities.
"Does anything here look familiar to you?" Helios asked quietly.
Dante was silent for a moment. His brow furrowed. "I… I'm not sure. The memory is still blurry."
Helios pointed upward. "What about the lights? Imagine you're lying on a stretcher. You're being wheeled down the hall. What do you see?"
Dante looked up. He stared. His pupils narrowed slightly, as if trying to resist a memory lurking just beneath the surface. Suddenly, he pressed a hand to his forehead, as if a headache had come on.
"Do you remember anything?" Helios asked with interest.
Dante shook his head. "No... I don't think so."
"Too bad," Helios said. "We haven't searched everything yet. The memory will come back—don't worry about it."
Then they heard a soft pop, followed by the faint hiss of gas in the distance.
Spider was working quickly.
Helios placed a brief hand on Dante's arm. "If you remember anything—no matter what it is—tell me. It could be important."
Dante nodded slowly, still looking up at the ceiling. "I'll try."
"Let's just hope we're even in the right place," Dante muttered, uncertain.
"We are," Helios replied confidently.
"We are what?" Spider appeared from around the next corner as if out of nowhere, voice mocking, eyes curious.
"Understimulated," Helios said evasively. Dante looked like he wanted to knock Spider out cold. Helios really wished he would. But they still needed him. "It's about time we got a little action."
"Understimulated, huh..." Spider started with a grin—but didn't get any further.
As if on cue, a woman's scream pierced the air. Of course. Dante instantly shoved Helios behind him. Spider's grin widened. Lately, these coincidences were happening way too often—not that he was complaining.
After all, this gave him a reason to be busy enough to stop bothering Helios.
"There's your action," Spider said with satisfaction.
"Finally," Helios muttered, rolling his eyes.
Loud voices echoed down the hallway. Heavy footsteps were approaching.
"Sounds like more than a few," Dante murmured. He glanced at Helios with concern. "If they get too close—run."
Helios snorted. "Don't worry. I value my life too much to throw it away. The real question is whether we'll find each other afterward."
"As long as you stay hidden nearby, it'll be fine."
"Then show us what you've got, big guy," Spider said to Dante. "After all, I've done most of the work so far."
Dante cracked his knuckles deliberately. "Just stay out of my way—or I might accidentally snap your neck."
Spider chuckled quietly. "I like you. Where do you always find these amusing people, Helios?"
"I really can't stand you," Dante said without hesitation.
"Most people can't," Spider replied cheerfully, then gave a theatrical bow. "Shall we, princess?"
"After you, asshole," Dante growled, giving Spider the lead.
Helios silently shook his head and stepped back into the shadows, where the faint emergency lighting barely touched him. From a safe distance, he watched as the two moved into action.
Spider was pure chaos—agile, quick, his movements fluid like a predator's. He slipped between opponents, dodging blows with centimeter-precision only to strike back the next moment, lightning-fast. Every hit was deliberate, every kick precise.
Dante, on the other hand, was the complete opposite: raw, concentrated force. A tank in close combat. If Spider was a scalpel, Dante was a sledgehammer. He tore through the guards like a storm made of flesh and steel, grabbing enemies bare-handed and slamming them into walls hard enough to shake the plaster loose.
Helios watched in silence, fascinated. Two extremes—a deadly choreography. And somehow, despite everything, they worked well together in a fight. As disturbing as that thought was.
Helios had suspected that Dante and Spider wouldn't get along. Their personalities were too different—the silent, controlled guardian versus the mocking, boundary-pushing assassin. But that they'd clash like cats and dogs with this level of intensity… even he hadn't expected that.
Dante wasn't someone who lost his temper easily. On the contrary—his calm was almost unnerving. In all the time Helios had known him, he had never once seen him truly angry. Until the day Helios had discovered his greatest secret.
Helios wasn't paying much attention to the fight anymore.
Instead, he was analyzing the current situation. Behind him was only the path they had already taken. To move forward, they'd have to get past the guards. He figured Dante and Spider would be busy with them for a while.
There was no telling how many guards were stationed in the facility.
He had a few options: Wait until Dante and Spider were done. Help them to speed things up.
Or... sneak past and search on his own.
All the attention was on the two of them. The people in the complex would do everything they could to stop the intruders. They didn't know about Helios.
His gaze fell on a woman in a lab coat standing frightened at the edge of the chaos, watching everything unfold. A cold smile played on Helios' lips. He'd leave Dante and Spider to handle things themselves.
His build and presence were perfect to blend in with the researchers. He glanced one last time at Dante and Spider, now fending off more and more guards.
Hopefully, they'd last long enough to buy him some time.
Helios pushed off from the wall, moving low and silently through the shadows. His clothes were dark, unobtrusive—the only thing that stood out was his pale skin, but even that blended into the flickering light.
He stayed out of sight, slipping along the walls. The guards had no chance of noticing him. Even Spider and Dante didn't see him disappear—too focused on the fight. And that was his advantage.
If I'm lucky, the fight will last long enough to give me a real head start.
He'd find that damn formula before Spider came back to bother him again.
He slipped down a side corridor, past emergency lights and open doors. There had to be a locker somewhere. It didn't take long before he found the item that would get him further for now. He hung his trench coat in the locker.
He'd retrieve it on the way back out.
Behind him, metal met bone and the echoes of fistfights rang through the corridor. But Helios was already gone—vanished, unnoticed.
Smiling, he strolled down the hall as if he belonged among the researchers. His posture was confident.
Wearing a freshly stolen lab coat, he'd move forward undisturbed—for now.
___
The search turned out to be far more exhausting than Helios had expected.
The pockets of his lab coat were far from well-stocked: two syringes filled with poison, one with a powerful sedative, and his scalpel. That was all he had left.
He had been forced to kill two researchers and one guard along the way. He'd put another guard to sleep.
At least that way, he'd left a trail of breadcrumbs so Dante and Spider could follow him.
Still, it was more taxing than he'd anticipated. His body wasn't built for this level of physical strain. Muscles normally used only for fine motor work were now screaming in protest, sharp pain shooting through them. His sides burned, his shoulders were tense, and with every step, a dull, throbbing ache pulsed through his left foot. The last guard had tackled him to the ground—he'd twisted his ankle badly in the fall, enough that he'd had to brace and splint it in a makeshift fashion.
Now he limped—each step a calculated compromise between pain and necessity.
The only good news—probably the only good news—was that he had finally reached the laboratories.
It wasn't the kind of environment where he would personally conduct experiments. Well, at least not the kind that aimed to ensure the patients survived. But he already knew from Dante that the experiments conducted here were—if anything—a one-time attempt to make someone immortal who was already dying.
Accordingly, he had found bloodstained metal tables with restraints. Various substances were scattered haphazardly around the labs. So far, he hadn't found anything suspicious—just a few documents detailing the condition of previous patients. The documentation was beyond sloppy.
There weren't just few useful clues—there was virtually nothing. And on top of that, no way to continue exploring the facility further. His ankle throbbed unpleasantly, and he was more than aware that continuing to put pressure on it would permanently damage the joint. Helios sank down onto a metal stool. The pain in his ankle now pulsed in sync with his heartbeat.
If I keep going like this, I'll completely wreck the joint.
He knew it—and he kept going anyway. Giving up wasn't an option. Not now. Not when he was this close.
It was frustrating.
He would have no choice but to grab a researcher and extract the information he needed by force.
Helios looked around the "treatment room" he was currently in. Thoughtfully, he stepped over to a cabinet that held a few substances. A smile played on his lips. He quickly grabbed a few syringes and filled them with a drug that would help him achieve his goal.
He hummed softly to himself as he prepared everything. He injected himself with a painkiller, and as it began to take effect, he could already feel things getting easier.
He set up the metal table in the room with a few instruments, placed the syringes and the scalpel on top, and pushed it aside slightly to make room. The human-sized metal table was height-adjustable.
Perfect. Everything was ready.
Now the fun part could begin. He toppled a shelf, its contents crashing loudly to the floor. Glass containers shattered with a sharp, echoing clatter. Helios turned off the light and limped to the other side of the room where he positioned himself near the door—then waited.
It didn't take long before he heard voices.
"You really don't have to come along. Shouldn't you be helping your colleagues?" The voice sounded sluggish, bored—probably a researcher.
"There are enough up there. The commotion should end soon," came the response—calm and alert.
Helios suppressed a smirk. The guy sounded just like Dante when he'd first started working for him—just as stiff and dutiful.
"It's been ages since anything happened down here."
"Could it be our two guests trying to break out?"
"No. I just checked on them. All quiet."
The voices came nearer by second.
Two targets, then. One of them armed, likely trained. The other... talks too much, Helios thought.
He gripped a poison syringe tightly. He had to take out the guard first—it definitely sounded like a guard accompanying a researcher. He'd manage somehow. So far, luck had been on his side, and once again, no one was expecting him to be here. The researcher had mentioned guests. That sounded promising.
The footsteps drew closer. Adrenaline surged through his veins once more. This was all so exhilarating.
He tightened his grip on the syringe.
"If there's nothing here, I'm heading back," sighed the bored voice.
"I can check alone," replied the other—the guard, just as Helios had assumed.
"You're definitely not wandering around here by yourself. You know full well you're not authorized to be down here without one of us."
"If you leave me alone, at least you can finish your coffee."
The other scoffed. "The coffee's gone cold. I'll have to make a fresh one anyway."
Helios stood motionless in the darkness, pressed tightly against the wall. Every muscle in his body was tensed. He waited for them to enter the room.
The light flicked on.
"What the hell...?" The researcher immediately knelt down to inspect the broken glass, instinctively slipping into work mode.
Yes, go on—try to figure out what happened, Helios thought amused.
With a painful lunge, Helios pushed out from the shadows, bit off the syringe cap—and drove it straight into the guard's neck. The needle sank deep. The man gasped in shock, instinctively reaching for the injection site—but Helios had already yanked the syringe back out and shoved him with full force into the researcher.
Both men collapsed—the guard forward, heavy and stumbling; the researcher fell backward into the shattered glass. A piercing scream rang through the lab as the shards dug into his back.
Helios limped to the door and closed it—quietly, but with finality. The hallway outside was silent. The heavy metal door shut with a dull clang. No way out now.
The guard was already convulsing, his face pale as ash, his breathing irregular. The poison worked quickly—paralyzing, painful, precise. The researcher writhed beneath his weight, gasping, groaning, trying to push the heavy body off him. Again and again, increasingly desperate.
Helios let him struggle. He watched calmly as the man neared his limits—watched the fear in his eyes shift from pain to pure panic. Helios savored every second of it.
Only when the researcher nearly managed to shove the lifeless body off of himself did Helios step forward.
He clicked his tongue in disapproval.
"Trying to leave me already? And we haven't even introduced ourselves," he said with a cold smile.
The researcher lifted his head—and froze. His eyes widened in horror. "W-Who are you? I… I've never seen you here before!"
"That's correct," Helios replied, smiling. Cold. Smooth. "And yet, here I am."
Helios grabbed one of the syringes he'd prepared and jammed it into the man's carotid artery. Slowly, deliberately, he pushed the contents in while the researcher twisted, trying to pull away from the needle.
His movements weakened. His gaze turned fearful.
"What… did you… inject me with?" The words were barely more than a whisper.
Helios knelt beside him, his stare intense—almost tender. One hand slid through the man's disheveled hair as he studied him like a rare specimen laid out on a dissection table.
"Just something to calm you down," Helios said softly.
With a shove, he rolled the guard's lifeless body off of him. The slender man beneath gasped for air, his expression caught between panic and despair. Helios examined him—he was slightly taller than himself, similarly built. An academic. It should be manageable for Helios to lift him onto the metal table.
Calmly, Helios straightened up and adjusted the metal table to about one meter in height. Then, with visible effort, he hoisted the researcher onto it. It would've been easy with Dante—but Dante wasn't here. And maybe that was for the best.
"You sick bastard, what are you planning?!" the researcher hissed as Helios tightened the leather straps and secured him with practiced hands. The restraints creaked under the strain.
Breathless, Helios took a step back—and offered his guest a radiant, almost polite smile.
"I'm a big fan of your research, and I'd really appreciate it if you could give me a little more insight into all of this."
"How do you know—" The researcher started to say something, but his voice faltered. The color drained from his face. He understood.
"You're not leaving here until I get my answers," Helios said calmly as he reached for his small instrument case. He pulled out a scalpel—elegant, cold, gleaming—and held it so the researcher could see every reflection of the neon lights along the blade.
"Don't worry," Helios continued. "We have time. My people are still... busy with yours."
He drew the scalpel lightly across the researcher's forearm—a shallow cut, just enough to hurt and make him bleed. Satisfied, he nodded as the researcher screamed in pain.
With how loud the guy was, Helios was glad he had locked the door. His smile didn't fade.
Helios nodded, pleased. "Good reaction. Your nerve pathways are intact."
The researcher writhed, pulling at the restraints. Blood dripped softly onto the metal table.
"You fucking bastard! What... what do you hope to gain from this?!" the researcher shouted.
Helios shrugged.
"Well, sometimes things aren't as simple as they seem," he said calmly. "Let's start with a few easy questions. So? How many immortals have you created so far?"
"I'm not telling you anything!" the researcher yelled. Then his eyes widened in realisation. "How do you know what we are researching...?"
He didn't deny anything. Jackpot.
Helios' smile grew wider. Darker.
This… he liked the situation. Finally, a place where he had control again. At last, he could give in to the urge he kept buried. Sure, he'd killed a few people on his way to this room—but as long as he didn't kill this one, it was fine, right?
"Aaah, I was hoping you'd say that," Helios whispered. "Then let's have some fun until my guards join us."
He made the next cut. This time, a little deeper, a little longer.
The researcher screamed—a raw, gasping sound that echoed through the room. The echo lingered, accompanied by the soft drip of blood onto metal.
Helios hoped Spider and Dante would take their time.
Even more, he hoped the man on the table would take his time answering—long enough for Helios to get not just the information he wanted, but the satisfaction he craved before walking out of this room.