Klaus lingered only briefly after Dr. Maru's satisfied hum.
"Back to your dorm," she said, not looking at him as she adjusted her gloves. "You're not needed for this part."
Rose stayed behind without protest, expression now flat as Maru laid out her tools scalpels, blades, injectors, restraints. Klaus turned and climbed the stairs, the sound of his boots echoing against the concrete like a metronome marking time he could never reclaim.
The last thing he heard before the door sealed shut behind him were the screams. Sharp. Raw. Human. And the mechanical whine of the instruments below.
Up above, the mansion was too quiet as many usually took their free time to rest as resting days weren't something common. A cold, still kind of quiet that made the walls themselves seem complicit. Klaus walked the dim hallway without haste, his shadow long against the polished wood floor. He didn't look back.
Elsewhere in the compound, four young women shared a cramped dormitory lined with dull fluorescent lights. Scarlet was the first to sit upright, sharp ears picking up the faint sound, a scream. A woman's scream.
"Did you hear that?" she hissed.
Anne swung her legs off the bunk. "Yeah. That wasn't from the labs… it's close."
Lucy and Issa exchanged uneasy looks before pushing to their feet. The sound came again clearer this time raw and desperate. Kristen's room.
Inside Kristen room, Kristen was struggling violently against the iron grip of Mr. Bingley the man who oversaw the "inspections" of the newly transformed soldiers. His expression twisted with cruelty, his hands already pinning her down.
He without remorse torn her top cloth exposing her chests and fine neck, the sight of it ignited the passion with Mr Bingley.
His hand further found his way closer to her legs with his nose sniffing her whole body like a rat.
Kristen's shouts and scream increased at the horror of this. If it had been another person, she was confident she could escape such grip as the person in front of her was different. He was a seasoned trained army man with even greater super human strength.
As such even with all her strength and will, she was left hopeless against this horror.
The hallway outside was narrow, the metal floor grating beneath their feet as they hurried toward the source. Light flickered at the edges of Kristen's door. Scarlet reached it first and twisted the knob. Locked.
"Move," Issa growled. She slammed her shoulder against the door, the frame rattling with the impact. A second strike,Then a third. The door burst open.
The moment the door gave way, four pairs of eyes locked on him like a pack of wolves scenting blood.
Scarlet's voice was a snarl. "Step away from her."
Anne grabbed the nearest steel pole leaning by the door. Lucy and Issa flanked Kristen's bed, forming a wall between her and Bingley.
For the first time, the man hesitated. He hadn't expected resistance but this didn't stop the fierce gling in his eyes. Without hesitation, he launched a heavy blow to issa stomach to prevent her from using her new superhuman ability in which she in an instant fell to the ground crouching her stomach as she struggled to breathe.
Scarlet was surprised by the attack and immediately grabbed a mop stick nearby breaking it into two then attacked with the sharp edges.
" Swoosh"
Mr Bingley dodged the incoming attack but was still hit by Anne's unexpected kick.
Meanwhile, Kristen still trembling reached for her drawer to pick up a pistol, unluckily her movements were not without notice by Mr Bingley who grabbed her by her legs preventing her from reaching the drawer.
" An opportunity" scarlet thought as she drove the sharp edge into his back.
"Swoosh"
Bingley swerved sideways, narrowly dodging the stabbing strike. But Anne once again had already pivoted around him her heel slammed into his ribs with a crack. He grunted, stumbling half a step, but the force of it wasn't enough to break him.
"THUD."
Bingley roared, a sound more beast than man, staggering forward. But he didn't fall. He turned, blood soaking through his uniform shirt, eyes lit with something feral and wrong.
He seized Scarlet by the throat and slammed her into the wall so hard the drywall cracked. Anne swung the pole, Lucy hurled herself at his legs, Issa who happens to have regained consciousness forced herself upright despite the pain
but he was too strong. Every move they made, he countered with brutality.
Just as th sound of heavy breathing was fading, a heavy, deliberate footsteps came in the hallway.
Klaus who happened to have been walking toward his room, half-lost in the ringing in his ears from the morning drills, heard the sound of the scuffle ripped through the quiet space. He turned his head just as Scarlet's back hit the wall.
This exposed the ugliness of what was going on. A step further to help, he clearly caught sight of the girls fighting. Kristen on the floor. Bingley with blood down his back had rage in his eyes.
Klaus froze at the doorway out of the old reflex having spent too many months in this place. His hands flexed at his sides. The dim light caught the scar on his jaw, making it look like a dark, sharp slash.
For a brief second, everything stopped but Mr Bingley still confident in his authority broke the silence.
" There's nothing for you to see so get going" he said adjusting himself.
Then Klaus ignoring the warning and stepped forward, his boot heel slamming once on the tiled floor.
The sound was enough to make everyone turn—including Bingley, whose grin faltered when he met those dead, sharp eyes.
Klaus' voice was low, flat, and cold.
"Let them go, that's enough"
The hallway lights flickered as the tension snapped into a razor's edge.