The sterile hum of the containment chamber filled the air as Damian adjusted the settings on the observation panel. Today was a crucial step in Grace Walker's development—not just for Kessler's research, but for Damian's own plans.
Her second test had to go well. He needed her power to stabilize before Kessler grew impatient and forced another dose of RFE into her bloodstream. If she could produce results then he could explain not giving her another dose of the RFE shot.
Grace sat in a reinforced chair in the center of the chamber, her wrists loosely secured—not to restrain her, but to prevent her from collapsing in case of another power surge. She was awake, alert, but Damian could see the lingering fatigue in her eyes from yesterday's awakening.
Beth and Anabella stood to the side, watching with thinly veiled skepticism.
"Begin the test," Damian ordered.
A small metal ball rolled across the floor toward Grace.
She stared at it, unimpressed. "What am I supposed to do with this?"
"Move it," Damian said simply.
Grace's jaw tightened, but she exhaled and focused.
For a few seconds—nothing happened.
Then, the ball trembled, vibrating slightly before rolling a few inches.
Anabella crossed her arms. "That's it?"
Beth sighed. "She nearly killed us yesterday, and now she can barely nudge a ball? We should just dose her again and redo the test."
Damian turned sharply toward them, frowning. This was the moment to shift control.
"This is her first time consciously using her abilities," he said, keeping his tone even, and authoritative. "The power she displayed yesterday was most likely a fight-or-flight response as such she most likely used everything at once without understanding it. If we force her powers out again, she'll lose control again. We need to stabilize her first."
Anabella hesitated, glancing at Beth, who looked unconvinced.
"I'm the lead researcher on this project," Damian continued, reinforcing his authority. "No more injections until we have a proper baseline for her abilities."
After a moment, Beth and Anabella reluctantly nodded.
Damian turned back to Grace and gave her a slow nod of encouragement. "Try again."
Damian stepped closer to Grace, lowering his voice so only she could hear.
"I bought you time," he murmured. "But you need to show improvement. If you don't, someone will go over my head, and I won't be able to stop them."
Grace studied him, searching for a hidden agenda.
Finally, she nodded slightly and refocused on the test.
This time, she lifted the ball off the floor, though it wobbled unsteadily in midair.
After five minutes, her breathing became labored, and the ball dropped.
She let out a frustrated exhale.
"I don't understand," she muttered. "Yesterday, it just… happened. But now—"
"You used instinct before," Damian interrupted. "Now, you're learning control. Imagine a hand grabbing the ball. It might help."
Grace pressed her lips together, thinking.
After a moment, she took another breath, imagining a hand picking up the ball instead of forcing it with her mind.
This time, the ball rose smoothly, hovering effortlessly for fifteen minutes.
Beth's eyes widened slightly, but she didn't say anything.
Anabella, though, let out a small hum of approval.
"Well," she admitted, "that's better."
Damian smirked. Exactly what he wanted.
As the test concluded, Damian took a calculated risk.
He crouched beside Grace, keeping his voice low and calm.
"You're improving," he said. "And the better you get, the more likely you'll be able to get out of here."
Grace stiffened. "Escape?"
Damian nodded. "Kessler won't let you leave. But if you master yourself, if you are able to control these abilities of yours, you might have a chance to escape using these abilities."
She narrowed her eyes, suspicion flickering across her face.
"Why do you care?" she asked.
Now came the next step of his deception.
He sighed, feigning hesitation. "Because I've seen what happens when people fail these tests. And I don't want to see that happen to you."
Grace was silent for a long moment.
Then—finally—she nodded.
As the other researchers logged results, Grace turned to Damian again, her gaze sharp.
"I have questions," she said.
Damian raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead."
She crossed her arms, watching him carefully. "Why do you study Conduits?"
He had expected this. She was testing him now.
He didn't give her his story. Instead, he gave her Alex's.
"I study Conduits because the government is already figuring out they exist," Damian said. "They want to use them as weapons—train them as assassins, soldiers, spies."
Grace frowned. "That's just a conspiracy theory."
"No," Damian said. "It's already happening. They're finalizing programs to locate and incarcerate Conduits, then force them into government-controlled training programs."
She responded in a mocking tone. "…And Kessler? He won't do that?"
Damian let out a small, bitter laugh. "Kessler claimed he wanted to make a safe society for Conduits, so I joined him. But now I see the truth. He's making weapons, and if anyone questions him, they die."
Grace stared at him, uncertainty flickering in her expression.
She wasn't fully convinced. Not yet.
But she was listening.
Meanwhile, Sasha had paused her security shifts for the day—too many consecutive changes would raise suspicion.
Instead, she focused on retrieving the hard drives from the infiltrator scientist's dead drop location.
Using her biomass, she formed a sealed cavity in her chest, placing the drives inside for safe transport.
Everything was falling into place.
Five days remained.
Hours later, Kessler sat in his office, reviewing the daily reports.
A First Sons officer stood before him, awaiting orders.
"Sir," the officer said, "Alex Smith didn't administer the second dose to the test subject."
The room was silent for a long moment.
Then—Kessler smiled.
"Should I order his arrest?" the officer asked.
Kessler let out a low chuckle, shaking his head. "No," he said smoothly. "I want to see what kind of show Alex puts on for me."
He leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled together.
"Let him continue," Kessler murmured. "For now."
The next day, four new test subjects were brought in.
Civilians. Young, terrified, unawakened Conduits.
They were assigned to separate teams for experiments. A boy around 13 years old, two women one around 18 and the other maybe mid 30's, and a man also mid 30's.
Damian watched them enter the facility, their expressions filled with fear and confusion.