Chapter 29 · Apex Loop: Glitch Evolution - Chapter 29: Cracks in the Goddess

"Look at me, Kane." Vivian's voice came through the speakers as the steel restraints slammed tight around my arms.

I pulled once.

The platform groaned beneath me. A red warning flashed across the glass wall, then another. My claws dug into the reinforced floor, leaving four deep cuts in the metal.

Vivian did not even blink.

She stood on the other side of the glass in a white coat, one hand resting on the control rail. No blood. No fear. Not even a damn coffee stain. Her smile sat on her face like she had practiced it in a mirror.

"That is not looking at me," she said. "That is staring at the wall beside my head. Try again."

I dragged my head toward her.

The new shape of my body made the motion slow. Too much power packed into limbs that still felt wrong. My shoulders scraped the restraint frame. The crystal buried in my chest pulsed once, hard enough to shake the room.

Vivian's eyes dropped to it.

There. That tiny pause.

She was still scared.

"You feel it, don't you?" she asked. "The extra core. The stolen pattern."

I bared my teeth. "Come closer and find out."