Chapter 29: The Kill-Switch
The black poison (zahar) hissed as it erupted from Ren's mouth, splashing onto the cold laboratory floor. Master Kara's face fell, his eyes wide with panic. "No! It failed! The body rejected the stabilizer!"
Mika stood in the corner, her heart hammering. Wait a second, she thought, her eyes fixed on Ren's twitching fingers. Was he also brought here from the Real World? During my test, the same thing happened to me. The visions... the rejection...
Suddenly, Ren's eyes snapped open. He sat bolt upright on the metal table, gasping for air.
Kara scrambled backward, stumbling over a stool. He grabbed a heavy revolver from the table and pointed it straight at Ren's head. Kimo was just as fast—his sword was out in a blur of steel, the tip resting against Ren's throat.
Ren froze, his hands instinctively flying into the air. "Wait! Stop! What are you doing? I'm on your side!"
"Is he a Feral?" Kara hissed, his finger tightening on the trigger. "Or is this some new, evolved type that can talk?"
"I'm not a Feral! I'm serious!" Ren slid off the table, standing on shaky legs.
"Stay back!" Kimo warned, his blade drawing a thin line of blood on Ren's neck.
Mika ignored Kimo's warning and stepped forward. "Mika, get away from him!" Kimo shouted, but she didn't stop. She walked right up to Ren and leaned in close to his ear.
"Ren," she whispered, so low that only he could hear. "Are you seeing them? The flashes... of your old life?"
Ren's breath hitched. He looked at Mika, his one good eye wide with shock. "Yes..."
Mika stepped back and turned to the others. "He's fine. He's not a Feral. Lower your weapons."
Kimo and Kara slowly lowered their arms, though they remained tense. Kara walked over to a drawer and pulled out a tiny, coin-sized device. It looked like a metallic microchip. Before Ren could react, Kara pressed it against the back of Ren's neck.
"Ow! What is this?" Ren reached back, feeling the cold chip embedded in his skin.
"Listen to me, Ren," Kara said, walking over to a massive wall of monitors. "If you weren't Kimo's student, and if you weren't just a kid, I would have killed you the moment you woke up. But I'm giving you a chance."
Kara pointed to a red button on his console. "This device is a tracker and a bomb. It monitors your Vane levels constantly. If you start to turn into a Feral, the device will detect the corruption and blast your head off. And if I decide you've become a threat, I just have to press this red button."
Kimo sighed, looking at Ren with a mix of pity and necessity. "I've always hated the idea of monitoring my own students, Ren. But after what happened... this is the only way the Higherups will let you live. You have to understand."
"I understand," Ren said quietly, his hand still on the back of his neck.
"Good," Kara added. "But this stays between us. If the Higherups find out you survived a failed transformation, they'll kill all of us for keeping you alive."
As they prepared to leave the lab, Kimo walked beside Ren. "Do you have any family left, kid?"
"A little sister, Hana," Ren replied. "And I had a big brother... but he left us when I was only three or four years old. I don't even remember his face."
Kimo gave a small, sad smile. "And a girlfriend?"
"No," Ren said, shaking his head. "I don't have time for that."
"Smart. We are Vaners, Ren. Our work is blood and shadows. We don't have 'normal' families. If we do, we keep them as far away from this life as possible."
"I already told Hana I work for the police," Ren admitted.
"Good," Kimo nodded. "Keep it that way. For her sake."