NOVGO.NET Chapter 49: In The Vats
Chapter 49: In The Vats
Ocean surf crashed against the rusted iron pilings of the abandoned coastal refinery at midnight.
Fin crawled through a narrow drainage culvert, stepping out onto a metal gantry suspended above a cavernous chamber.
Ruby and Maya followed close behind, their dark tactical suits blending seamlessly into the ambient shadows.
Below the high gantry stretched an industrial floor filled with hundreds of bubbling green stasis vats.
Each glass cylinder contained a suspended human-beast chimera marked with black barcode tattoos across its neck.
Fin paused along the walkway, his eyes locking onto an active vat situated near the central monitoring dais.
Inside the green fluid floated a creature with elongated limbs, holding twin bone blades in a familiar low guard.
The mutant’s posture mirrored Fin’s own twin-dagger combat stance with chilling mechanical accuracy.
Maya placed a gloved hand on his shoulder, shaking her head in a quiet gesture of warning.
"Do not give them names in your head," Maya whispered, her voice tight and low.
"The labels are unreliable. Check the life signs before deciding who we can rescue," she added.
"I am not naming anything," Fin answered, his jaw clenching tight.
"I am counting the debt this company owes to our neighborhood," he said with calm resolve.
"Every tube in this room represents an abducted family member from the lower sectors," Ruby observed with quiet anger.
"Then we make sure this laboratory never produces another synthetic soldier," Fin stated, resting a hand on his hatchet.
"The cooling pumps on the lower floor run on auxiliary mana generators," Maya pointed out, examining the power conduits.
"If we cut the coolant lines after extracting the data, the entire chamber will overheat within minutes," she noted.
"Keep the coolant running wherever patients retain human vital signs," Ruby said. "We disable production without killing captives."
"Copy the files, isolate the combat vats, and call the medical teams through our independent channel," Fin ordered.
A sudden alarm tone chirped from the central platform as a pressurized vat cracked under internal hydraulic pressure.
The glass cylinder shattered with an explosive spray of green bile, sending jagged shards clattering across the walkway.
A half-evolved prototype landed on the metal gantry with a dull thud, shaking fluid from its scaly shoulders.
Corrupted golden interface glyphs flickered across its yellow retinas, mimicking the visual display of an awakened hunter.
The beast let out a harsh roar, lunging forward with an artificial burst of copied Overclock velocity.
Fin did not blink or step back, planting his boots firmly with twenty-five percent structural density.
He caught the creature’s downward bone strike on his left dagger, deflecting the blow with effortless leverage.
His right hand drove the hatchet spike directly into the creature’s skull with devastating kinetic weight.
The skull cracked, and Fin twisted the hatchet head sideways, obliterating the synthetic mana core in a single strike.
The prototype shuddered once before collapsing onto the gantry in a pool of rapidly dissolving green fluid.
Fin pressed his right palm against the creature’s chest, absorbing its residual physical mass in five seconds.
[ Prototype chimera defeated ]
[ Combat EXP awarded: +57,500 EXP ]
[ EXP: 350,700 / 2,500,000 ]
[ Progress: rank D (14.02% to rank C wall) ]
Maya stepped past the dissolving carcass, pulling her decryptor kit from her vest as she reached the mainframe terminal.
She inserted three master keys into the primary console, bypassing security protocols with rapid keystrokes.
"The master conspirator directory is transferring to my drive right now," Maya announced, monitoring the transfer progress bar on her screen.
"I have council member names, offshore banking routes, and the full distribution schedule for Batch Three prototypes," she reported.
"Split the data across three separate encrypted drives immediately," Ruby commanded, watching the security stairwells.
Maya ejected three black flash drives from the console, handing one to Ruby and tucking two into her vest.
"One for our strike cell, one for an off-site dead drop, and one for Jolly’s kitchen ledger," Maya said.
"Jolly will spot every hidden transaction code within fifteen minutes of opening this file," Fin noted with a faint smirk.
"Accountants with sharp pencils are deadlier than B-rank hunters on the frontline," Ruby agreed, scanning the lower catwalks.
"I also found the maintenance codes for their municipal transport fleet," Maya added, copying a final batch of files.
"Those codes will let us track their supply shipments across the districts on this shipment route," Fin said, approving the extra salvage.
"These shipment logs give us full visibility over every synthetic deployment route in Jonxy," Maya pointed out with satisfaction.
Red emergency strobes suddenly ignited across the vast ceiling, bathing the entire complex in harsh crimson light.
Automated sirens blared across the facility speakers with an urgent, continuous synthetic alert tone.
[ Facility alert: pacific landfall emergency ]
[ Pacific zero hour initiated by regional command ]
[ All facility personnel must evacuate to hardened bunkers immediately ]
Panicked shouts echoed from the lower levels as forty Genesis laboratory technicians ran toward the emergency exits.
Ruby raised her spear, her eyes scanning the ceiling with sharp combat tension.
"Did the Pacific gate reach our coastline already?" Ruby asked, preparing her shield for atmospheric shockwaves.
Fin tapped into his evolved sensory gauge, closing his eyes to read the ambient atmospheric mana currents.
His sensory feed remained smooth and steady, registering zero seismic shockwaves and zero oceanic mana disturbances.
[ Threat Sense analysis complete ]
[ Atmospheric mana density: normal ]
[ External coastal pressure: stable ]
[ Local observation: no coastal disturbance detected; verify against regional reports ]
Maya checked the signed regional feed against the facility alert, finding no corresponding warning.
"The facility spoofed that message," she said. "Regional command confirms no local landfall."
"They want people running before we finish copying their records," Fin said.
"Corporate executives love using fake emergencies to cover their tracks," Maya muttered, securing her tactical pouches.
"Let the guards run for their bunkers while we walk out through the cooling culvert," Ruby suggested.
"Take every spare data drive from the console desk before we leave," Fin instructed Maya.
Maya swept six backup data cartridges into her field bag, zipping the pouch shut with a sharp tug.
Ruby transmitted the patient manifest and secured the life-support controls against a remote purge.
They held the culvert until the independent rescue coordinator confirmed access, then withdrew along the upper gantry.
They climbed out through the sea culvert, emerging onto the rocky coastal headland above the crashing surf.
The artificial sirens screamed into the night sky, echoing across the abandoned oil tanks without an audience.
Maya patted her chest pocket with a satisfied smirk, looking back at the darkened refinery complex.
"The real disaster is not out in the Pacific ocean," Maya declared, tapping her drive.
"The real disaster is sitting right here on this flash drive."
Fin adjusted the strap of his hatchet, looking north toward the glowing lights of District Four.
"Tomorrow we bring this ledger home to the kitchen table," Fin said, beginning the long march back.
"Jolly is going to enjoy balancing these numbers," Ruby added with a quiet chuckle.
"We will calculate every credit they stole from our district neighbors," Fin concluded, picking up the pace.
"Then we will build a house strong enough to collect every overdue invoice," Ruby said, marching beside him.
The three hunters vanished into the coastal mist, carrying the evidence that would shake the city to its foundations.