~~
The projection showed Maya sitting on the cold bathroom floor, pale-faced, trembling, looking like she had just survived a war.
The family stared at the screen in stunned silence.
Then Rahi burst out laughing. "HAHAHAHAHA—LOOK AT HER! LOOK AT HER!"
He pointed at the screen, wheezing uncontrollably.
"THIS IS THE FUNNIEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN! The girl—who threatened to KILL ME SLOWLY—is being DEFEATED BY A DANCE LESSON!"
Nahi stared at Rahi, then at the screen, then back at Rahi.
"Are you—are you seriously laughing right now? Look at her! She's having a mental breakdown! She's trembling! She looks like she's about to CRY!"
"EXACTLY! That's what makes it so BEAUTIFUL!
You have NO idea how much this warms my heart. All this time, I thought I was the only one who suffered. But NO—"
He gestured at the screen with a dramatic flourish.
"—LOOK AT HER! She's the legendary Ghost of Hell! The one who survived everything! And she's being DESTROYED by a waltz!"
He let out another peal of laughter. "FINALLY! FINALLY, SOMEONE ELSE KNOWS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE!"
Faha slowly turned to Rahi, his voice flat, "Rahi... are you... enjoying her pain?"
"Enjoying? I'm REVELING in it! I'm Celebrating! This is the BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!"
He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms with a satisfied sigh.
"You know, the GREAT Maya— she's being TORTURED BY BALLROOM DANCING!"
He shook his head, still laughing. "This is poetry. This is ART. I couldn't have written it better myself."
Farhan stared at Rahi in disbelief, "You're a terrible person. You know that, right?"
"Oh, I know. But at least I'm an HONEST terrible person."
~~
The holographic clock on the wall flickered, its glowing numbers shifting to [ 08:00 PM ]
The Instructor's voice cut through the silence of the training hall like a blade. She was standing near the massive display,
"Subject 17B. It's eight o'clock. It's time for your appointment with Dr. Veyron. He is expecting you in his private laboratory. Don't keep him waiting."
Maya stood in the center of the hall, her chest heaving, her body drenched in sweat. Her uniform clung to her skin, darkened with moisture.
Her legs trembled beneath her, barely able to support her weight.
She had been training for Fourteen hours straight—combat drills, strategy simulations, espionage exercises, and psychological conditioning.
And then, just when she thought it was over, the Instructor had added another two hours of dance practice. "Yes, Instructor."
She turned turned toward the massive doors. Her foot caught on the edge of a loose tile, her body lurched forward. Her eyes widened.
[THUD]
Her knees hit the polished floor. A sharp gasp escaped her lips. For a moment, she simply stayed there— her head hanging low.
The Instructor's voice was cold, unimpressed: "Get up, Subject 17B. You have an appointment."
Maya's fingers curled into fists. Get up. You can't afford to be weak. You can't afford to slow down.
Maya's eye twitched. She let out a low, barely audible groan. "That woman is going to kill me with training alone."
She forced herself to her feet. Her legs wobbled. But she didn't fall again. She straightened her uniform and began to walk.
[CLICK]
The corridor stretched endlessly before her—smooth white walls, fluorescent lights humming overhead, the faint smell of antiseptic and ozone.
Her steps were slow, measured. Each footfall sent a dull ache through her tired body.
She passed by other subjects—faceless children in grey uniforms but she didn't look at them. She kept her eyes forward, her mind focused on the path ahead.
The door to Dr. Veyron's laboratory loomed before her.
She stopped in front of it, her chest heaving. Her breath came in short, ragged gasps. She pressed one trembling hand against her chest, trying to steady herself.
She raised her fist and knocked. [ KNOCK... KNOCK... KNOCK ]
A voice from within—"Come in."
Maya's hand trembled as it reached for the door handle. The door slid open with a soft hiss.
Dr. Veyron's laboratory was a cathedral of cold precision. The walls were lined with gleaming silver panels, their surfaces reflecting the soft, blue-tinted light that filled the space.
Massive holographic displays floated in the air, showing streams of data, genetic sequences, and anatomical scans.
At the center of the room stood a massive desk—sleek, black, its surface polished to a mirror-like shine.
Behind it, seated in a high-backed chair, was Dr. Veyron. He looked up from his work. "Subject 0017B. You're late."
Maya stepped inside, the door sliding shut behind her with a soft click. She stood in the center of the room,
Maya's eye twitched, "I apologize, Dr. Veyron. There was an... unforeseen obstacle."
Dr. Veyron blinked. For a moment—a flicker of genuine surprise crossed his face.
Then he rose from his chair and walked around the desk, his footsteps echoing softly against the polished floor. "Subject 17B. I see you're still alive."
"Yes, Professor."
"You consumed the poison. And yet you're standing. No convulsions. No organ failure.
No signs of significant distress."
He tilted his head, his voice carrying a note of genuine fascination. "Remarkable."
"Thank you, Professor."
"That wasn't a compliment. I'm impressed, Subject 17B. That's rare."
"I appreciate your... interest."
He gestured toward a chair in the center of the room — metallic, its arms fitted with restraints. "Sit."
Maya sat down. She placed her hands on the armrests, her fingers curling around the edges.
"Now—let's see how your body is responding to the poison."
He approached her, a small device in his hand. "This will be a series of tests. Blood work. Cellular analysis. Neural mapping."
He pressed the device against her arm. A soft hum filled the room. Maya felt a prick—sharp, quick, like a needle.
"What kind of tests, Professor?"
"Comprehensive ones. I need to understand how your body processes toxins. How your cells regenerate."
He glanced back at her. "You're a puzzle, Subject 17B. And I intend to solve you."
The machine hummed louder.
Maya felt a strange sensation—like her consciousness was being pulled apart, examined, then reassembled.
Data streams scrolled across the displays. Dr. Veyron studied them with quiet intensity.
"Extraordinary, Your cellular regeneration rate is 400% above baseline. Your neural activity is..... atypical. Your blood chemistry is unlike anything I've ever seen."
He turned to face her fully, his pale gray eyes gleaming with fascination. "Subject 17B... you are not normal."
"I know."
---
The tests continued for hours. Blood samples were drawn. Neural scans were performed.
Maya was poked, prodded, and analyzed from every conceivable angle. By the time the final test was complete, her body was trembling.
Dr. Veyron studied the final set of results on his display. A long, heavy silence filled the room. Then—
"The poison's effects should have lasted for days but your body is already metabolizing it. The venom is practically gone. You're developing a resistance."
Maya blinked. "A resistance?"
"Your body is learning to fight the poison. To neutralize it. To make it ineffective."
He paused, a faint smile touching his lips.
"In short, Subject 0017B—the poison is no longer killing you. It is making you stronger."
Maya's eye twitched. "So... you're saying I should be grateful?"
"You should be grateful that you're still alive. Gratitude itself is optional."
"Good. Because I'm fresh out of gratitude."
"Goodnight, Subject 17B. I look forward to seeing what you become."
Maya rose from the chair. Her legs were trembling but she forced herself to walk—
one step, then another—toward the door.
She reached the door. Her fingers brushed against its cold surface.
Dr. Veyron's voice cut through the silence like a blade. "Subject 17B. Stay."
Maya froze.
Her hand hovered over the door panel, she turned slowly, her dark eyes meeting his gaze. "Professor?"
Dr. Veyron didn't look up from his holographic display. His fingers moved across the screen, scrolling through streams of data that glowed faintly in the dim light.
His voice was calm, clinical but beneath it lay something that might have been excitement.
"You will remain here for now. Your departure is not yet authorized."
"Yes, Professor."
She walked back toward the chair in the center of the room. She sat down slowly.
Dr. Veyron reached for a small device on his desk—a sleek, black communicator. He pressed a button. A soft hum filled the room.
"Director Kael. Your presence is required in Laboratory Seven. Immediately."
A pause.
Then a voice crackled through the speaker—carrying the weight of absolute authority. "On my way."
[SOME MOMENTS LATER]
The laboratory door slid open with a soft hiss. Director Kael stepped inside.
His eyes swept across the room, taking in the holographic displays, the data streams, the small girl sitting rigidly in the center of it all.
He stopped in front of Dr. Veyron's desk. "What is it, Veyron?"
Dr. Veyron rose from his chair. His movements were quick, almost eager. His pale gray eyes gleamed with barely contained excitement.
"Director. I've found it."
Kael's expression remained unchanged. "Found what?"
"The answer. The key. The—The JEWEL we've been searching for all these years."
Kael's gaze shifted to Maya. His eyes studied her. "Explain."
Dr. Veyron's voice tumbling out in a excited stream.
"For the past year and eight months, I have been conducting extensive tests on Subject 17B.
I've been trying to understand why her healing rate is so extraordinary. Why she survived the poison.
Why, during the Code Yellow trial, every single hound in the arena bowed its head to her."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "And?"
"And I've discovered the answer. Subject 17B is not merely exceptional. Her genetic structure contains sequences that do not appear in any known human genome."
He gestured toward the holographic display, which flickered to life with streams of complex data.
"Her cellular regeneration operates at 400% above baseline. Her neural activity is atypical—patterns that I've never seen before. And her blood chemistry..."
He paused, his pale eyes gleaming with excitement.
"Her blood chemistry contains compounds that should not exist in any living organism...."
Kael's gaze sharpened. "What?"
Silence descended upon the laboratory. The hum of machinery seemed to grow louder, filling the space between words.
Kael's voice was quiet, controlled. "Somewhere inside her DNA lies the key to everything we've been searching for."
He paused, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"The secret to creating the perfect weapon."
"How, Veyron? "
Dr. Veyron's fingers danced across the console, pulling up streams of data that glowed faintly in the dim light.
"For the past year I have been collecting data on Subject 17B's neural activity. "
He gestured toward the display, which flickered to life with a cascade of graphs, charts and neural maps.
"I've compiled everything — from her first day in Level Seven to her most recent training session. The progress is... unprecedented."
Kael stepped closer, his eyes scanning the data. His brow furrowed slightly.
"This rate of development—particularly in the brain—should be impossible. The human brain doesn't evolve this quickly. "
Dr. Veyron's smile widened. "Exactly. That's what makes her so extraordinary."
He pulled up a new set of data—a series of IQ test results, arranged in chronological order.
"I've been administering cognitive assessments regularly since her arrival."
He pointed to the first entry. "This was her score during her first week in Level Seven."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "135. That's above average. Exceptional for a child her age."
"Indeed. But look at this." Dr. Veyron gestured toward the most recent entry. "This is her score from this week."
Kael's breath caught. His voice, when he finally spoke, was barely a whisper. "300."
"Yes. 300. And it's still rising."
"300. That's... that's beyond the scale. Beyond any known measurement."
Dr. Veyron nodded slowly,
"She's not just intelligent, She's evolving. Her brain is developing at a rate that defies every known biological law."
~~
The room was completely silent. This was the silence of minds short-circuiting, of everything they thought they knew about the world being torn apart and rebuilt in an instant.
Fahim was the first to break the silence. But when he spoke, his voice wasn't loud—it was shaken to its core.
"Three hundred...that's not possible. The human IQ scale doesn't even measure beyond 200.
Anything above that is theoretical. Hypothetical. The stuff of science fiction."
He pressed his palm against his forehead, his eyes wide and unfocused.
"I've studied neuroscience. I've read every paper on human cognition, intelligence and neural plasticity.
I've spent years understanding the limits of the human brain. And I can tell you with absolute certainty—"
He paused. His voice cracked.
"—a human brain cannot function at 300 IQ. It shouldn't be able to process information that quickly. It shouldn't be able to retain that much data. It shouldn't be able to—"
He stopped. His eyes drifted to the projection, where Maya stand motionless, her dark eyes fixed on the floor.
"—and yet... there she is. Proving everything I know wrong."
Mahi's eyes were fixed on Maya's small figure on the projection.
"She's not just surviving, she's becoming something I don't understand.
I carried her. I held her in my arms. I watched her take her first steps, say her first words. She was just a baby. My baby."
Her voice broke.
"And now...they're telling me she has the brain of a supercomputer. That she's mutating. That she's—"
She couldn't finish the sentence.
Fahad's hands were pressed against his temples, his breathing ragged.
"IQ 300. Do you understand what that means? That means she could probably outthink every single person in this room combined.
That means she could dismantle governments with her mind alone. That means— she's not just special. She's dangerous. "
Rahi remained unusually quiet. His usual smirk was gone. His eyes were fixed on the projection, his expression unreadable.
"I knew she was different. I knew it the moment I saw her. The way she thought. The way she looked at me like she could see right through me."
He let out a slow breath."But I didn't know—I didn't realize—she was this... extraordinary."
Fahim looked up, his voice steadier now —but still carrying an edge of disbelief.
"If her IQ is 300 and rising... then she's not just intelligent. She's evolving. Her brain is literally developing faster than any known biological model."
~~
He gestured toward another set of data, a genetic analysis that seemed to shimmer on the display.
"I've also sequenced her DNA. Multiple times. And I've found something remarkable."
Kael leaned closer, his eyes scanning the complex strands of genetic code. "What am I looking at?"
"A genetic mutation. A unique, unprecedented mutation that appears to be present in every single cell of her body."
Dr. Veyron's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper.
"This mutation, it's unlike anything I've ever seen. It appears to be the source of her accelerated healing. Her enhanced cognition. "
He paused, his pale eyes meeting Kael's.
"And it's also the reason the hounds bowed to her during the Code Yellow trial."
"Explain."
"During the trial, every single hound in the arena—dozens of them, all trained to kill—stopped. They bowed their heads. They submitted."
He gestured toward the genetic data.
"I believe this happened because the hounds sensed something in Subject 17B's blood.
Something that made them recognize her as... superior. As a more powerful being."
Kael's voice was quiet, measured. "You're saying they sensed her genetic superiority?"
"Exactly. Her blood contains compounds that are not found in any other living organism. "
Dr. Veyron's smile widened.
"Compounds that appear to trigger a primal recognition response in other animals.To the hounds, Subject 17B didn't smell like prey.
She smelled like a predator. A predator so powerful that their instincts forced them to submit."
Kael was silent for a moment. "Subject 17B. Go stand outside the gate."
Maya's heart lurched. Her voice was steady but her hands trembled. "Yes, Director."
She rose from her chair. Her legs were heavy, her body aching. She walked toward the door, her bare feet pressing against the cold floor.
The door slid open with a soft hiss. She stepped into the corridor—and the door slid shut behind her. [CLICK]
She stood in the empty corridor. Her back pressed against the cold wall. Her eyes fixed on the door in front of her.
They don't know I can hear them. They don't know I can hear every word.
She closed her eyes. Her ears strained, focusing on the faint sounds coming from the other side of the door.
[INSIDE THE LABORATORY]
Kael's voice echoed through the room: "Veyron. Send for Subject 17B's Instructor."
Dr. Veyron reached for the communicator on his desk. His fingers pressed a button."Instructor. Report to Laboratory Seven. Immediately."
A pause. Then a voice crackled through the speaker—"On my way."
[SOME MOMENTS LATER]
The laboratory door slid open with a soft hiss. The Instructor stepped inside, her white coat billowing behind her like the wings of a carrion bird.
"Director. Dr. Veyron. You requested my presence."
Kael's voice was cold, "We have made a discovery, Instructor. A discovery that will shape the future of this facility and the world."
The Instructor's expression remained unchanged. "I'm listening."
"Subject 17B is a genetic anomaly. A mutation so rare that she defies explanation. Her intelligence is off the charts."
He paused, his eyes fixing on the Instructor with cold intensity,
"She is a jewel. A weapon. A key to unlocking human potential beyond anything we've ever imagined."
The Instructor's voice was quiet, measured. "What do you require of me?"
"Train her. Mold her. Shape her into something that has never existed before." Kael's voice dropped to a low, intense murmur.
"I want her to become an operative who can rule the entire world. I want her to break the record. To surpass Code Blue.
I want her to reach Code Purple — and become the most successful subject in the history of this facility."
"You want me to turn her into a queen."
"Exactly. A queen who will serve the HOLO OF FAIR. A queen who will carry our legacy into the future.
Do whatever it takes. Use every method at your disposal—physical conditioning, psychological manipulation, behavioral reinforcement.
I don't care how you do it. I don't care how much she suffers. I only care that she succeeds."
The Instructor inclined her head. "It will be done, Director."
He turned to Dr. Veyron, his voice carrying a new edge.
"And you, Veyron. Continue your experiments. Push her boundaries. Test her limits. Extract every ounce of data from her body and mind."
Dr. Veyron nodded eagerly. "Understood, Director."