Barbara was shoved forward, stumbling into the sterile underground lab. Screens blinked from every wall, their light reflecting off smooth reinforced surfaces. Wires snaked across the ceiling, feeding power to glowing terminals and sealed data cores. The floor itself lit faintly beneath her shoes, humming with hidden wiring. Behind her, Professor Jason Woodrue stood tall, his tone flat and unyielding. "This is your new workspace. All of my data is here. You will compile it and prepare for the final extraction from your friend Pamela's body."
Barbara straightened, her eyes burning as she turned to face him. "I'll never help you."
The response was immediate. His hand slaped her across her cheek, as the sound echoed in the confined space. Her head snapped to the side, skin stinging, but she did not flinch away. His voice dropped lower, edged with cold certainty. "You will, if you want to live." Without another word, he stepped back, placed his face against a retinal scanner, and the heavy door sealed shut with a hiss of steel as he left Barbara behind. She was alone.
Barbara stood still for a moment, breathing hard, her hand pressed to her cheek. Then her voice came low, steady. "That's it. I'm done being everyone's damn victim."
Her eyes looked around the room, confirming she was alone. Slowly, she reached inside her jacket, her fingers closing around a hidden object. She drew it out carefully—a small glass vial filled with swirling metallic liquid that glimmered under the fluorescent lights. She held it up to her face, her reflection distorted in the shifting silver.
Her voice softened, almost reverent. "My greatest creation… evolutionary nanites. True adaptive artificial intelligence—tech that I built myself. And paid for… with dirty money."
A dry laugh slipped out from her throat as her lips twisted into a fed up smile. "What? You didn't think I left Penguin, Two-Face, and Joker's lairs without looting them of their stolen wealth, did you?" She shook her head slightly, the vial catching the light as it shimmered. "Batman never suspected a thing. All that cash sitting around after their arrests… and my father's the police commissioner. Who better than me to help clean up all that miney? I just happened to help myself—to millions."
Her gaze sharpened, her hand tapping against the vial. "Every dollar went into this creation. A one-of-a-kind swarm of nanites—built to adapt, evolve, and rewrite the rules of survival for the host they bond with."
She stared at it for a long moment, her pulse racing. The hesitation in her eyes betrayed the weight of the decision. "Once I use them, that's it. I'll never be able to recreate them. But I'm not waiting for another rescue. I'll save Pamela myself."
She pulled the stopper free. Without pausing again, she raised the vial and drank the liquid. The metallic liquid slid down her throat, cold like liquid steel. She lowered the empty glass with trembling fingers. For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then her muscles clenched violently. Her knees buckled, and she hit the floor hard, gasping. Her body twisted, veins flaring beneath her skin as glowing silver lines spread across her arms and neck like spiderwebs. They pulsed, alive, writhing with motion as though the nanites were carving new pathways through her very blood.
Barbara's back arched, a strangled cry escaping her lips before her breath grew shallow. Her eyes fluttered, body twitching against the floor as the swarm continued its invasion. The silver glow dimmed gradually, threads sinking deeper into her flesh until only faint traces remained beneath her skin.
Her body stilled. She lay unconscious on the floor, her chest rising and falling in shallow rhythm.
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