At the hospital entrance, Lucian pulled down the brim of his cap and adjusted the blue surgical mask on his face. Following the flow of people, he entered Mercy Hospital through a side entrance.
The pungent smell of disinfectant filled the lobby. A nurse at the information desk was explaining something to a patient's family, while a large screen on the wall played a promotional video for the Samaritan's Embrace Foundation on a loop. In the footage, several doctors in white coats held babies, their smiles full of affection. The caption read: Lighting the way to hope for every new life.
Lucian watched the screen and sneered inwardly.
Hope. Hope forcibly brought about with Compound V. These babies were nothing more than a means of sustaining a lie: "Superpowers are a gift from God."
He did not linger. Avoiding the crowded areas, he headed straight for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
At the end of the corridor, a heavy electronic isolation door blocked his path. Lucian raised his right hand. His eyes lit up, and a faint light flashed at his fingertips. LV4 light energy manipulation activated.
The overhead lights in the corridor gave an overloaded electrical whine as all their power was forcibly drawn out and gathered in Lucian's palm.
The door's electronic lock erupted in a dazzling burst of sparks, and the alarm system failed.
Lucian stepped forward and pulled the isolation door open.
Beyond the door stood neat rows of incubators, each with a camera mounted above it, pointed at the baby inside.
Lucian snapped his fingers.
The wires inside the surrounding walls trembled slightly as miniature pulses of light energy traveled precisely upstream along the circuitry.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Every camera in the ward burst apart at once, scattering glass shards and plastic casings across the floor.
Now he had a few minutes of absolute safety.
Lucian approached the first incubator. The baby inside was sound asleep. He opened the incubator and pressed a finger against the baby's warm forehead.
[Superpower detected: LV1. Localized hair hardening] [Estimated copying time: half a minute]
The corner of Lucian's mouth twitched.
Growing stiff hair? What could you do after awakening an ability like that? Go be Do You Man in the Mutants universe next door?
Without hesitation, he withdrew his hand and moved to the next one.
[Superpower detected: LV1. Vocal cord mutation (high-decibel crying)] [Superpower detected: LV1. Skin pigmentation discoloration] [Superpower detected: LV2. Body enhancement] [Superpower detected: LV1. Mildly acidic saliva]
He touched more than a dozen in a row, and all he found were worthless, low-grade abilities. A few had not even awakened any abilities. Compound V had simply destroyed their immune systems, leaving them clinging to life on breathing tubes.
This was the truth behind Vought's Chosen One Project. Every year, they poured tens of thousands of vials of Compound V into these newborns. Finding even one valuable specimen among dozens of babies counted as lucky. No wonder so few superheroes capable of replacing members of The Seven had emerged after all these years.
Mutation was purely a gamble on probability.
When he touched the twenty-third incubator, the system's notification changed.
[Superpower detected: LV4 heat vision. The eyes can emit blue, high-intensity focused thermal rays with extremely powerful cutting and melting capabilities] [Estimated copying time: 6 hours]
Found it. "Only LV4? That makes sense. His heat vision could still be blocked by this specially made incubator, after all."
Still, it was enough. With this, he would have a means of ranged attack.
He glanced at the nameplate on the incubator and committed this baby to memory.
I need to take him with me.
To make sure he had not missed any other superpowers, he sped up and touched all the dozen or so remaining babies.
[Superpower detected: Super speed LV3] [Estimated copying time: half an hour]
Not bad. A bonus, too. A speedster ability like A-Train's.
The survey was complete.
Lucian turned toward the medical refrigerator nearby, gripped its metal handle with one hand, and yanked hard.
Creeeak-
The steel latch was torn apart by brute force. Cold air rushed into his face. Several bags of pure Compound V solution were stacked inside.
After taking all of them, he casually selected two more babies who had awakened useless abilities. Four made a group neither too large nor too small, just right for muddying the waters.
He approached the babies and touched them, a faint, eerie light rising in his eyes.
LV3 mind control activated.
Invisible mental waves washed over the four babies like a tide.
Basic hypnosis.
One baby who had still been squirming uneasily instantly settled down. Its tightly knitted little brows relaxed, and its breathing grew steady and deep as it joined the other three in profound sleep.
Lucian pulled off two large sterile medical sheets, bundled the four babies together like a parcel, tied a tight knot, and slung it onto his back.
Done.
Lucian walked to the door and glanced at the security personnel rushing toward him.
Their response time barely passes.
He returned inside and raised his hand, aiming toward the hospital corridor.
Light energy manipulation activated.
All the electricity in the entire corridor was drained in an instant. Every electronic device, surveillance server, and alarm system along it short-circuited and burned out at that moment.
Then he kicked the room's tempered-glass window to pieces.
Securing the bundle on his back, he leaped out through the window. The thermonuclear engine inside him roared.
Two jets of scorching flame erupted. Their powerful thrust sent him carving a sharp arc through the air, shooting straight into the sky. In the blink of an eye, he pierced the clouds and vanished into New York City's gray skyline.
The wind howled in his ears.
He did not linger in the city, instead flying straight toward the forests north of New York.
A dozen or so minutes later, he landed in a dense redwood forest.
Everything around him was quiet. Towering trees blocked out the sunlight, and the only sound was the rustle of wind through leaves. The smell of soil and decaying foliage filled the air.
It's safe enough here.
Lucian set the bundle on a flat bluestone and untied the knotted sheets.
The four babies were still fast asleep, breathing evenly.
He glanced at his phone. One forty-five in the afternoon.
News that the plane had crashed with no survivors would probably send the global media into a frenzy soon. Madelyn was likely smashing cups in her office. They definitely would not have time to worry about these few missing test subjects.
This was a perfect window of opportunity.
Lucian sat cross-legged beside the baby with LV4 heat vision.
He extended his right hand and pressed it steadily against the baby's warm forehead.
[Copying started] [Superpower: LV4. Heat vision] [Copy progress: 0.01%...]
The system's copying progress bar lit up on his retina.
Six hours.
Afterward, I'll take a bag of Compound V to Hughie and the others. With me getting here first, Butcher and his crew probably won't be able to get into that hospital. I'll make contact with Kimiko while I'm at it. As for these children, thinking about them gave Lucian a slight headache.
"Oh well. Once I get Doppelganger's ability, I'll take you back. Until then, I'll be your babysitter for a few days."
Before you continue