Chapter 103: Serum Market Burns

The fluorescent lights of Richter’s basement laboratory hummed with a low, irritating buzz that set Leo’s nerves on edge.

Rain splattered against the reinforced glass brick above the sinks, washing streaks of soot across the basement window.

"Tessa, calibrate the spectral centrifuge to four thousand revolutions per minute," Luna instructed, adjusting the silver dial of the microscope.

Her white clinical coat was stained with iodine and engine oil, but her hands were as steady as surgical steel.

"Centrifuge spinning at four thousand, Luna," Tessa reported from the workstation, her fingers dancing across the keyboard.

"The cellular density in these amber vials is three times higher than synthetic hospital stimulants."

Leo leaned against the tiled examination table, watching the amber fluid separate into three distinct, glowing layers.

"Could it just be concentrated Vorn biological runoff from the crash sites?" Leo asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I wish it were alien poison, Leo," Luna replied, looking up from the dual eyepieces with cold, sorrowful fury in her eyes.

"These are human hematopoietic stem cells taken from awakened metabolic healers."

"Are you certain?" Bekka asked, stepping into the doorway while wiping rainwater from her leather precinct jacket.

"I spent four years studying cellular regeneration under Doctor Aris at the municipal academy, Bekka," Luna answered sharply.

"I know the biological signature of a living healer’s marrow, and someone is dissolving human beings to brew private party drugs."

She slammed her clipboard onto the stainless steel counter, the metal ringing like a muffled gunshot in the quiet room.

"Look at this peptide sequence, Tessa."

"The chromosomal tag matches the student registry of Saint Jude’s Hospital," Tessa gasped, adjusting her glasses with trembling fingers.

"Three apprentice healers disappeared from their clinic bus during the second evacuation wave."

’They did not die in the bombardment. Someone snatched them out of the breadlines to turn their marrow into liquid credits.’

"Then Bekka and I will take a strike squad to their distribution depot and burn it to the ground," Leo said, straightening his shoulders.

"You stay here at the clinic where it is safe, Luna."

Luna turned on her heel, her hazel eyes blazing as she closed the distance between them in three furious strides.

"Do not you dare treat me like a delicate porcelain vase that needs to be sheltered in a closet, Leo Marsh."

"Luna, they are using military-grade combat exo-suits," Leo argued, meeting her gaze with stubborn concern.

"And they are butchering my people with medical equipment," Luna fired back, her voice ringing with absolute moral authority.

"This is not a street brawl for your sword, Leo. This is an active criminal slaughter of licensed clinicians."

"I am the senior ranking healer in District 9, and I am leading the clinical investigation."

Bekka watched them from the doorway, a faint, understanding smile touching the corner of her mouth.

"She has you dead to rights, ghost boy."

"Officer Hayes is completely correct," Luna said, picking up the Lotus Spine from the equipment rack.

"You need someone on scene who can authenticate living tissue and stabilize patients before their hearts stop from septic shock."

"Richter cannot leave the intensive care ward, so that means I am going with you.

Richter set down his silver magnifying lens, picking up one of the amber vials with an expression of weary disgust.

"I saw this exact same dirty business thirty years ago during the southern border incursions," the doctor muttered, holding the glass to the light.

"Whenever society starts breaking down along the perimeter, the corporate vultures in the upper wards start looking for biological shortcuts."

"Did they harvest healers back then too, Doctor?" Tessa asked, looking up from her terminal with troubled eyes.

"They harvested anyone with an awakened metabolic trait who did not have a wealthy family to hire private bodyguards," Richter answered coldly.

"They call it cosmetic enhancement in District 6, but down here we call it what it is: butchery."

"

’She is entirely right, and trying to carry her burden for her is just my old fear of becoming useless talking again.’

"You lead the clinical rescue, Luna," Leo conceded, offering her his hand.

"Thank you," Luna said softly, taking his hand with a firm, warm squeeze that melted the tension in the room.

"Tessa, where does the transport manifest point?" Bekka asked, pulling up the district road grid on her tactical tablet.

"The digital dispatch logs from the captured van terminate at an abandoned cold-storage warehouse on the western border," Tessa answered.

"The facility is registered to a holding corporation called Apex Bio-Synthetics."

"Director Gruber’s shadow accounts," Bekka noted, tapping the screen to highlight the perimeter fences.

"The warehouse sits right on the boundary line between District 9 and District 6."

"Which means if they see us coming, they will dump the evidence across the municipal border before we can breach the gates," Leo observed.

"Then we do not give them time to dump anything," Sierra’s voice purred from the dark stairway.

The thief stepped into the laboratory light, spinning a glowing strand of Night Spool wire between her fingers.

"I tapped their internal security feed five minutes ago, and the facility is running on emergency generators."

"How many armed guards are on site, Sierra?" Leo asked, checking the edge of the Null Razor.

"Fourteen private contractors with assault rifles, and three technicians monitoring the holding vats," Sierra answered with a wicked grin.

"And best of all, their automated fire suppression system is wired into an obsolete Rook commercial relay."

"Which means you can shut their alarms down with your eyes closed," Bekka said with a chuckle.

"I can shut their alarms down with my left toe, Officer," Sierra winked.

"What kind of defenses are we looking at once we breach the perimeter fence, Sierra?" Leo asked, studying the holographic blueprints.

"Standard corporate layout, shadow boy," Sierra answered, tapping three points along the western wall.

"Two thermal cameras on the gate, automated magnetic locks on the loading bays, and eight armed contractors pacing the loading ramp."

"Can you disable their silent alarm before they transmit a distress signal to Apex headquarters?" Bekka asked.

"I can reroute their distress signal into a loop that broadcasts elevator music to their central dispatcher for forty minutes," Sierra smirked.

"That should buy us more than enough time to clear the vats," Leo nodded, feeling the cold weight of the Null Razor against his hip.

Luna slung her medical kit over her shoulder, checking the diagnostic monitors mounted along the white duct of her staff.

"Those twelve apprentice healers have been hooked to extraction pumps for forty-eight hours."

"Every minute we spend talking in this basement is another ounce of their bone marrow drained into a glass bottle."

"Leo, wait, look at this secondary encryption stamp on the delivery manifest," Tessa called out, spinning her monitor around.

"The synthetic carrier agent contains an proprietary enzyme formula patented exclusively by Gruber Bio-Dynamics."

"Which means Marcus Gruber cannot claim this was rogue contractors operating without his knowledge," Bekka noted, snapping her holster closed.

"He signed the purchase requisition with his own executive digital key."

"Then we make sure that requisition is projected on every news screen from here to District 1," Leo answered.

"Load the precinct van," Leo commanded, his eyes turning cold and dark as he stepped toward the stairs.

"Nobody gets harvested in our city."