House of Evolution

A-Train was headed for a place called the House of Evolution.

The House of Evolution was a secret research facility founded by an eccentric scientist named Genus. It was not known to the public. Genus had devoted himself to the study of Artificial Evolution of Life, a field that ran counter to the natural course of life and prevailing moral standards. The mainstream scientific community rejected his work and cast him out.

After decades of working alone, the brilliant scientist finally made a major breakthrough. He not only regained his youth but also tested his discoveries on animals, creating several near-perfect new species.

Genus's achievements in the life sciences soon came to the attention of Vought International. Its research team had also been secretly pursuing genetic technology. They quickly contacted Genus, reached an agreement on the future direction of human evolution, and decided to share their findings before launching a new round of experiments together.

Vought International began supplying the House of Evolution with Compound V to support Genus's new round of human experiments.

With the House of Evolution's theory of artificial evolution nearing maturity, a new kind of human combining the two research breakthroughs would overturn the world as it stood.

A-Train had delivered Compound V to the House of Evolution several times before. He knew he could get his hands on it at the underground research facility and solve his urgent problem.

Before going there, he needed to find someone.

Electric Mouse was a regular at a club that catered to Espers with special services.

Electric Mouse was only a second-rate Esper, but A-Train needed his Psychic Powers if he wanted to steal Compound V from the House of Evolution.

Electric Mouse's Psychic Powers allowed him to manipulate electric fields within a certain range. A-Train needed him to use his Psychic Powers to cut power to the research facility while he slipped inside. That would let him take the Compound V and escape without anyone noticing.

Someone in The Seven had a similar ability—one far more powerful than Electric Mouse's. That person was Starlight.

Of course, A-Train was not foolish enough to involve her.

A-Train soon found Electric Mouse at the club. He promised him a handsome payment and brought him in on the plan.

On the surface, the House of Evolution was an ordinary eight-story building. Those eight floors were only the tip of the iceberg. Beneath them lay a vast research facility.

Genus sat in an office chair in the control room. Several large electronic screens hung before him, showing live feeds from the various experimental areas.

Genus had used his own genes to create over a hundred clones. Unless something unusual happened, he had no need to conduct experiments himself. He could monitor everything and issue orders from the control room.

He was studying the live feeds when the screens flickered twice and went dark.

The control room plunged into darkness.

It took Genus only a moment to realize something was wrong.

Power was vital to his research. Many fragile test subjects in the laboratory were still embryos and depended on external support to stay alive. If the outage lasted too long, they could die.

If all the embryos died, the results of this round of research would be lost. Years of work would go to waste.

That was why Genus had installed a backup power system for the House of Evolution, giving the facility a second line of protection.

But now both systems appeared to have failed.

The flicker showed that the backup had kicked in. When the screens went dark again, it meant the second system had been cut off almost immediately.

This was clearly no coincidence. Someone had done it deliberately.

Genus realized that at once. Feeling his way along the control room wall, he headed for the door.

He had only one thought: get to the laboratory. Deep inside it was an extremely important test subject. He could not let anything happen to it.

The entire facility was underground. Without power, it was pitch-black.

Fortunately, Genus knew its layout by heart. Even when he could not see his hand in front of his face, he could find the laboratory by following the wall.

Just as he reached its entrance, the lights came back on throughout the facility.

The outage had lasted about three minutes.

Outside the House of Evolution, A-Train appeared in an instant, his face alight with excitement.

He held three vials of blue liquid. With Electric Mouse's help, he had taken Compound V from the House of Evolution's laboratory.

Genus, by contrast, felt his heart sink.

Three minutes was a dangerously long time—close to the theoretical limit for how long the test subjects could survive without oxygen.

Genus hurried toward the back of the laboratory. Dozens of enormous cylindrical glass containers stood in neat rows on either side of him.

They were filled with pale green nutrient solution.

Suspended in the solution were babies with heads grotesquely large for their bodies and creatures nearly the size of adults but with an inexplicable extra arm. The strange forms floated motionless in their glass containers.

Genus paid them no attention. He did not even glance to either side as he pressed on.

Compared with the test subject at the back, none of them mattered.

Then Genus stopped.

Pale green nutrient solution had spilled across the floor at his feet.

Terror filled his face. He stumbled forward.

At the back of the laboratory, the huge glass container kept apart from the others still stood. A gaping hole had been smashed through its surface, fine cracks covered the glass, and it was empty.