The air in the Cadmus sub-level labs screamed with alarms, but the only sound that mattered was the low, predatory growl echoing my own. I stood at 7% biomass, a starving human in a hoodie, facing my own future—a perfected, armored biological weapon standing at 100%.
The clone was a masterpiece of biological engineering. That red and blue plating wasn't armor; it was skin. Those glowing crimson eyes weren't goggles; they were his actual eyes. He was faster, stronger, and complete.
And he was my lunch.
"You're a prototype," I growled, my hunger overwhelming any sense of self-preservation. "And I'm the alpha glitch."
The clone didn't speak. It didn't need to. It moved like a lightning strike, a red and blue blur slamming into me before I could even blink.
CRACK.
I wasn't prepared. The impact wasn't a push; it was a physical hammer blow that launched me across the sterile white lab. I slammed into a steel observation deck railing twenty feet away. The railing didn't just bend; it snapped, sending me tumbling into a row of biological containment terminals.
[Integrity at 45%. Major Trauma sustained. Auto-cannibalism protocols initiated to sustain function.]
Pain lanced through my body, but the T-Virus was already working, consuming my own non-essential fat reserves to seal a gaping wound in my side. I rolled to my feet, spitting a mouthful of black bile onto the floor.
The clone was already on me. This time, I used my Tactile Sensory Array. I felt the vibration of his foot hitting the floor an instant before he moved. I ducked, and a clawed hand—retractable bone extensions that shimmered like obsidian—swiped over my head, missing my scalp by an inch. The claws ripped a gouge in the steel plating of the wall behind me.
I threw a punch, aiming for his armored gut. My fist, which had shattered a human ribcage with ease, met his armored abdomen and bounced off with a dull thud. It felt like punching a solid brick of titanium.
"Damn it," I spat.
The clone counter-attacked instantly. A kick caught my knee joint at an angle that should have snapped my leg in half. It didn't snap, but the pain was blinding. I collapsed backward, desperately scrambling away as the clone advanced, its red eyes glowing with cold, systemic efficiency.
It raised its foot, aiming to crush my head like a grape. I rolled just in time, and the boot slammed into the floor, cracking the reinforced concrete.
I had to run. I couldn't win this fight. Not at 7% biomass. I was a starving human against a perfected viral king.
I sprang up and bolted down the sterile hallway, ignoring the sirens. The clone, my perfected self, was right behind me.
[Threat acquisition: Inevitable. Recommend Gory Distraction/Biomass Sacrifice.]
"Right, you got it," I gasped, pouring all my remaining energy into a full sprint.
I reached a junction in the hall where several more containment tanks were housed. One held a hideous, multi-limbed creature that looked like a cross between a licker and a spider.
I didn't stop. I hit the emergency release on that tank and kept running. The glass shattered, the creature inside screaming as it spilled onto the floor.
"Eat that!" I yelled over my shoulder.
The clone paused. It analyzed the new threat, the "Bio-Spider." It was a moment's hesitation, but it was all I needed.
I reached a main stairwell. The battle was a loss, but the war for evolution was just beginning. I bounded down the stairs three at a time, taking the corners at suicidal speeds. I could hear the sounds of a brutal, wet fight starting in the lab behind me. Snapping bones, the tearing of biological armor, and the screams of the Bio-Spider.
I hit the sub-basement level, which was a maze of sewage pipes and pumping stations. The air was thick with the stench of human waste and industrial effluence. Perfect cover.
I used my newfound strength to tear a pipe from the wall, sending a torrent of foul water splashing across the floor, obscuring my tracks.
I kept running, pushing my weakened body past its limits. The clone would win that fight eventually, and it would then come looking for the main course.
I dove into a main sewage outflow pipe, the dark, cold water embracing me. It was a filthy escape, but it was a living escape.
I was weak, covered in filth, and running for my life from my own perfected self. But I had a System, and I had the hunger. Gotham wouldn't know what hit it when I finally finished my meal.