Compound V

Mitarai Fubuki was shaken by the horrifying sight, but she kept her head. When she saw the Female lunge at her with bloodied bone claws, an air barrier began to form in front of her.

But before the Female could reach Fubuki, she froze in midair.

Luke had somehow stepped in front of Fubuki. He seized the Female by the arm and held her entire body motionless.

Luke was about to smash the monster with one punch when he remembered Fubuki's warning: he shouldn't intervene unless necessary. She still had questions for the Female.

Luke frowned. The creature before him kept growling low in her throat. Her animal instincts had probably overwhelmed her humanity; she was unlikely to answer anything.

Fubuki looked at the bald man's back, and her nerves gradually settled.

He might seem completely unreliable, but he came through when it mattered.

This was the first time Luke had shown his strength in front of her. Fubuki hadn't even seen him move before he had the frenzied Female under control.

No wonder he came first in the physical tests. From that one move alone, he had to rank at least A in both strength and speed.

Fubuki walked up to the Female and studied her with mixed feelings.

There was no doubt the Female had used the drug A-Train had left here. That was why she had become like this.

On her way through the living room, Fubuki had noticed several empty glass vials on the coffee table in front of the sofa. Those must have held the drug.

A-Train had injected himself with it, but he had only become almost uncontrollably agitated. The Female had lost her mind entirely. She had clearly taken an overdose.

It seemed the drug that could theoretically amplify Psychic Powers had terrifying side effects.

"Female, can you understand me?" Fubuki asked.

The Female looked at Fubuki and let out a low growl.

Fubuki shook her head helplessly.

The poor Female had truly become a beast driven by nothing but primal instinct.

She clearly wanted to break free of Luke's grip, but he held both her arms fast. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't escape.

As Luke gripped the Female's arms, he could feel that her pulse was far from normal.

The arteries in her arms throbbed powerfully, several times faster than a normal person's. Since the pulse matched the heartbeat, that meant her heart was pounding at an absurd rate.

Even someone with Psychic Powers shouldn't have been able to withstand that kind of strain on the heart.

Before long, Luke noticed a change in the Female's expression.

Her face was no longer twisted with fury, and she had stopped growling. Pain began to show on her face instead.

Luke released her arms. He realized she was about to die.

The Female's heart stopped abruptly, and the eerie bright blue of her eyes began to fade.

As Luke let go, her body crumpled to the floor.

Fubuki stared in shock, with no idea why the Female had suddenly dropped dead. Just then, Luke wrapped an arm around her slender waist and leaped through the open bedroom window.

Faint footsteps sounded in the hallway.

Fresh from a press interview, A-Train had headed straight to the Female's apartment.

He wasn't eager to share the joy of victory with her. He had rushed over to retrieve something he had stored there.

A drug called Compound V.

As a member of The Seven, A-Train naturally had access to some of Vought International's core secrets.

The mysterious drug known as Compound V was tied to a secret initiative Vought International had been pursuing behind the scenes: the Supervillain Project.

A-Train had been fortunate enough to take part in the project. His job was to deal with a criminal group called the Villainous League and keep them supplied with Compound V.

Compound V was a product of genetic technology developed by Vought International's researchers. It could amplify the Psychic Powers of people who already had them, but it could do something even more extraordinary.

It could give an ordinary person Psychic Powers.

That was the fundamental reason Vought International had monopolized the superhero industry.

Vought International had been secretly supplying criminal groups with Compound V so they would keep creating supervillains, maintaining a balance between superheroes and supervillains.

Though A-Train knew this secret, he had never considered using it against Vought International. Madelyn's attitude this time had left him deeply dissatisfied, but he still had to do his job.

A-Train knew no one could use that secret to threaten Vought International. If he showed the slightest hint of disloyalty, he would be killed.

As agreed, tonight was the night he would deliver Compound V to the Villainous League.

A-Train reached the door of apartment 302 and found it standing open.

Something felt wrong. The sharp smell of blood hung in the air.

A-Train hurried inside. The first thing he noticed was several empty glass vials used to store Compound V on the coffee table in front of the sofa.

A-Train realized what had happened. Oh, no. He headed for the bedroom.

The smell of blood was strongest there.

A-Train looked into the bedroom.

The Female lay in the doorway. Beyond her lay the mangled body of a man.

The man's face was unrecognizable, but A-Train could roughly identify him by his build. He was probably the Female's landlord.

A-Train stood frozen, staring at the scene in shock.

He had already worked out what had happened here, and why the Female had done it.

A-Train was overwhelmed with regret, but not because the Female had died out of anger at him. He regretted it because he realized he was in deep trouble.

The Female had used all the Compound V. Now he couldn't complete tonight's handoff to the Villainous League.

The people at the Villainous League would report it to their superiors. If those above him demanded an explanation, he might not only lose his place in The Seven—he could lose his life.

Damn that woman. Even in death, she had to drag me down with her.

A-Train knitted his brows, desperately searching for a way out.

After a long while, he made a difficult decision.

He knew a place where he could get Compound V.

It was an extremely risky choice, but A-Train was out of options. Besides, with his speed, getting the Compound V without anyone noticing and escaping safely didn't seem all that hard.