Ririko saw that someone was about to cut the skin off Sofia's face and shoved Dick into the room with one hand.
Dick used the momentum to slam his fist into the surgeon's face. The man toppled backward, struck the edge of the operating table, and fell motionless to the floor.
Dick bent down, swiftly undid the black straps, and lifted Sofia off the operating table.
"Get her out of here," Ririko told Dick.
Holding Sofia in his arms, Dick shot out of the laboratory like an arrow.
Ririko followed behind him. Suddenly, a rustling sound flooded her ears.
It sounded like countless people whispering in her ears, part temptation, part curse.
She stopped in her tracks.
She had heard this sound before, in the laboratory at Arkham filled with human subjects from failed Tomie Organization experiments. The deformed bodies floating in culture fluid had made the same sound.
She turned and headed toward the sound.
She passed through door after door, and the sound grew clearer.
Finally, she stopped in front of a door.
She held the black keycard against the reader. A green light came on, and the door slid open.
She entered a white room.
Light shone in from every direction. The room was empty except for a round platform in the center, with a silver tube standing on it-
It was about as long as her palm, its surface smooth and unmarked, identical to the one she had found in Tetch's room.
Ririko's eyes lit up.
Could this be one of the Tomie Organization samples Valentin had stolen from Maroni?
She hurried into the room, ready to take the silver tube, but her hand passed straight through it and grasped nothing.
There was nothing on the round platform. The silver tube was only a hologram.
A