Chapter 27 · Apex Loop: Glitch Evolution - Chapter 27: Echoes of the Flesh

"Get out of him!" I slammed both claws into Grimm's chest and drove him through the glass panel.

The panel cracked behind his back. Grimm's hands locked around my throat.

"Kane!" he snarled. "You want me dead?"

"I want you alive. There's a difference."

His fingers tightened. Black veins crawled up his neck, pulsing under the gray skin. Grimm's eyes were still his, but something else was looking through them too. Something patient. Something that had been waiting for me to get close.

I hooked one claw under his arm and twisted. Bone popped. Grimm roared and threw me across the containment room.

My body hit the floor hard enough to split the tiles. Pain flashed through every joint. The red system text hanging in the air stuttered.

[HOSTILE OVERRIDE DETECTED.] [FOREIGN CONTROL: 61%.] [WARNING: GENETIC CORE INSTABILITY.]

"You heard that, didn't you?" Vivian asked.

She stood behind the observation glass with one hand resting on the console. Her white coat was clean. No blood. Not even a wrinkle.

I pushed myself up. "Open the door."

Vivian smiled. "You still think you can give orders?"

"Open it, or I tear Grimm apart with the room between us.