The lift doors hissed open with a soft pneumatic sigh.

What greeted them wasn't what anyone had expected.

A massive underground facility stretched out before their eyes, easily the size of a sports stadium. The walls were sleek, made of reinforced alloy and reinforced glass, lined with humming consoles and glowing panels. Strange equipment buzzed and beeped in every direction, with suspended tanks filled with swirling fluids and half-formed constructs. Mechanical arms hung from the ceiling like silent sentinels, twitching occasionally as if ready to work on something... or someone.

There were screens displaying genetic models, mutant energy readings, molecular simulations, and even simulations of viruses and cures battling it out in real time. The air smelled faintly of antiseptic, metal... and something that resembled pet shampoo?

Because crawling everywhere - and that wasn't an exaggeration - were animals.

Cats lounged atop advanced control panels like they owned the place. A golden retriever snoozed in the middle of a robotic assembly line that politely shifted around him. Ferrets skittered across the chrome floors. A parrot muttered phrases in multiple languages from a perch that overlooked what appeared to be a DNA sequencer the size of a car engine.

It was... chaos.

Glorious, purring, twitching, fuzzy chaos.

"This place looks like something out of a sci-fi movie," Sven muttered, mouth slightly agape as he watched a tabby cat saunter across a console and intentionally turn off the lights to a test chamber.

Kai's eyes scanned the environment, both awestruck and unsettled. The tech here was advanced - seriously advanced. Not just Association-level advanced... but Nyx-level.

And that alone sent a chill down his spine.

'Maybe she really can rival that crazy fucker,' Kai thought to himself, crossing his arms. He wasn't sure whether he was impressed or disturbed by that possibility. Maybe both.

"Uh... where is she?" Nadya asked, looking around cautiously as a ginger cat rubbed against her leg.

They didn't have to wait long for an answer.

From behind a stack of metal crates and tangled wires, a soft rustling noise echoed, followed by a low meow chorus.

Then she appeared.

Or rather, exploded into view.

A woman, completely buried under a blanket of cats, popped out from behind the crates with a victorious "Aha!"

Her lab coat was half-buttoned, sleeves rolled to her elbows, and covered in tiny paw prints. Her dark trousers were scuffed with fur. But it was her hair that truly sold the look - a wild, untamed mass of waves that looked like she'd stuck her head into a wind tunnel and decided to stay that way.

A white cat perched proudly atop her head like a fluffy crown.

Kai blinked slowly. 'Is wild hair just a trait of geniuses?'

If so, this one was probably top-tier.

She didn't seem to notice them at first, far too engrossed in scratching behind the ears of a Siamese sprawled across her shoulder. "Oh yes, you're a good boy, you didn't knock over the centrifuge this time, did you?" she cooed, giggling to herself.

Even as her guests stood there in silence, staring.

Shadow cleared his throat.

She glanced up, eyes wide behind smudged goggles.

"Oh! Visitors!" she said, brightening. "You're earlier than expected! Or are you late? Time is weird, isn't it?"

Then she paused, squinting.

"You must be the blood guy." She had an almost fiendish look in her eyes, one reminiscent of the man Kai loathed the most.

Kai raised an eyebrow as she straightened herself up.

"Dr Elara!" she announced dramatically, throwing her arms wide. "Veterinarian, animal lover, part-time therapist, and full-time self-proclaimed researcher of the Mutant Outlaws! Welcome to my humble lab!"

Her introduction was brief, then immediately after, her eyes locked back onto Kai.

"The first stable artificial mutant standing right in front of me. Incredible!" Elara gasped.

Before Kai could even respond, she rushed forward like a woman possessed, goggles slipping down her nose as her hands began circling around him, scanning with a wrist-mounted device that beeped and buzzed in erratic tones.

Kai stayed still, though his entire body was tense like a tightly wound spring. He wasn't used to being poked, scanned, or stared at like some lab rat - especially not by a woman who smelled faintly of catnip and engine oil.

But he endured it, at least for now.

Elara circled him, muttering rapidly under her breath, eyes darting over him with hyper-focused intensity. "Well-trained muscles… interesting. No visible mutations or external extremities aside from the eyes. Crimson. Beautiful contrast - definitely a blood-based ability considering his abnormal vitals. No scarring, minimal callusing - likely high-speed cellular regeneration. That tracks, given the self-destructive nature of his power. The body's adapted to it. Fascinating…"

She was terrifyingly perceptive, rattling off details with barely a glance and forming theories as if she could see straight through him. Despite being surrounded by a group that included a lizard-man, a brooding shadow giant, and a girl with hair that glowed faintly when annoyed, her attention never wavered from Kai.

The others stood nearby, arms crossed or eyes wide, silently watching the entire thing unfold. Confusion, curiosity, and amusement all danced across their faces.

Sven leaned toward Isaac, seemingly disappointed. "She's not the kind of freaky that I'm used to."

Nadya was so focused on the eccentric researcher that she hadn't even bothered to give him the usual slap on the back of the head.

Then Elara suddenly straightened up and asked, eyes shining behind her goggles, "Can I touch you?"

Kai blinked. "...What?"

'I get asking for consent,' he thought, 'but just to touch me? That feels way too formal for something casual. Which means it's probably not casual…'

Before he could say anything, Shadow stepped in, his voice calm and steady, for Kai's benefit as well as those around him.

"She's not just a researcher," he explained. "Elara's mutant ability is psychometric in nature. Physical contact lets her feel the emotional frequencies and neural currents of people and animals. With just a touch, she can get impressions of someone's mental state, emotions, sometimes even fragments of thought."

"So she reads minds?" Sven asked.

"Not exactly," she jumped in eagerly, shaking her head. "It's more like… tuning into a broken radio. I catch signals. Sometimes warped. Sometimes clear. But it's not reliable for combat. It's incredibly mentally taxing, and my own psyche can sometimes distort the feedback."

Elara then went back to humming quietly to herself while fidgeting with something she used to continue getting an external scan of Kai's body. She seemed surprisingly open about her mutant ability, and they were glad that was the case.

"Where her ability really shines," Shadow continued, "is with animals. She connects with them - emotionally, instinctually. It's how she tamed half the lab and earned their loyalty. She can communicate, empathise, and even gain their help when needed. Sometimes, she can even understand how some mutants' abilities work by syncing with them… but it comes at a price."

Kai glanced at her again. She didn't seem fearsome… yet the thought of her being able to bond with beasts - mutated animals - and maybe even monsters who had lost their minds, was very unsettling.

'Imagine her commanding an army of beasts and being also able to tame monsters. That's frightening, just thinking about it. She'd be even more fersome than Nyx."

He understood now. She wasn't just some loony with cats.

She was a savant who could become a weapon of a very different kind.

"I won't bite," Elara said with a crooked smile, clearly eager to use her ability on Kai as she held up a finger. "Unless you're into that."

Kai sighed, rolling his eyes as he raised his arm and offered it out to her. "Just make it quick."

"I never rush art," she whispered, placing her hand gently on his skin.

He braced himself. Expected a jolt. A wave. Something.

But nothing came.

No static. No buzzing. No pressure.

Just...

Suddenly, Elara's body jerked back.

Her eyes widened as if she'd been plunged into a frozen ocean. Her smile vanished, replaced by a stillness that was completely out of place for someone so animated.

And then she screamed.

A choked, blood-curdling scream that echoed through the chamber.

Her knees buckled, and she crumpled to the floor, clutching her head as her animals scattered, yowling and screeching in distress.

Kai staggered back, heart thundering in his chest.

"What the hell-?!"

Shadow rushed to her side, catching her swiftly before she collapsed completely. His long body was fast even without using his dark Spatial mutant ability.

But despite being physically unharmed, she was shaken and was muttering something. Fast, broken syllables tumbled from her lips like the ravings of a woman in a fever dream.

"Blood... darkness... screaming... too many voices... death... pain... sorrow..."

Kai took a slow step back, his throat dry and unsure how to feel about her reaction. 'What the hell did she see?'

Elara suddenly looked up, eyes wide with a haunted light.

"I... I need a drink," she whispered...

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