Chapter 118: Truth And Death Serum

"It’s been a while since we last met." The hitman’s smile widened. "Radiance."

Radiance had a frown on her face as she looked at the man before her. After almost a year had passed, she had almost forgotten about his existence.

But just when the HA sent her to stop a mad man trying to recreate the Fracture Event, she encounters him again?

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I was hired to kill him," Zero said, pointing at Dr. Magnus, who was still trying to figure out what the hitman had done to him.

Radiance seemed confused that he would outright admit that, much less to a hero.

But before she had the chance to say anything in response, a loud rumble suddenly shook the entire laboratory.

Both of them looked towards the rift.

The purple vortex had grown considerably larger, and the air around it was being violently pulled towards it.

Tables, equipment, and even several pieces of debris also began sliding towards it.

Radiance’s expression changed as she asked, "What is that?"

"The reason I’m glad the HA sent you," Zero pointed towards Magnus, "he shut down the containment system, and now that thing is about to consume the entire facility."

"THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED!" the scientist defended, but the hitman paid him no mind; instead, he turned back to Radiance.

"You could simply fly us out of here, and let Dr. Magnus try to fix the containment around the rift."

In other words, he wanted Radiance to leave the scientist to die in the rift’s blast.

"No," Radiance said, causing Magnus to let out a sigh of relief as he watched the hero walk to the expanding rift and extended her hand.

Radiance’s eyes soon started glowing as her Factor activated and a golden barrier appeared around the rift.

The barrier immediately pushed back against the energy being released from the vortex, slowing its expansion.

"That should buy us some time," Radiance said, her attention completely focused on maintaining the barrier.

Zero glanced at Magnus and noticed that the scientist was still staring at his injured arm, seemingly more concerned with what Zero had injected into him than the collapsing rift.

"What did you do to me?" Magnus finally asked.

Zero smiled before shrugging, "Nothing you need to worry about."

"Don’t lie to me!" Magnus’s voice was filled with anger as he glared at the hitman.

"Well, since you’re curious," the hitman lifted two fingers, "the chemical introduced to your system has two purposes."

"One is to act as a truth serum...since I had intended to get my answers first," he continued, "and two, it’ll slowly shut your body down until you’re unable to breathe."

The scientist’s expression became one of pure disbelief. "You bastard..."

"You kidnapped people and experimented on them." He shrugged and then looked towards the rift. "I’m not exactly feeling guilty."

Radiance, still focused on making sure the rift didn’t destroy her barrier, didn’t hear a word of their conversation.

"Now then," Zero turned back to the scientist, "shall we get started with the questioning, Dr. Magnus?"

Magnus glared at him behind his goggles, but Zero could already see the effect of the serum beginning to take hold.

The scientist’s breathing had become slightly heavier, and his movements were becoming more sluggish.

"Let’s start with something simple," Zero said. "What is the dark room?"

"The dark room..."

The mad scientist seemed to resist answering for a few seconds, but in the end, he spoke against his will, "It’s a device created by David Bennett to hold memories; he called it the ultimate time capsule."

Magnus’s breathing became heavier as the serum continued working through his body.

"David designed it as a side project during our investigation of the Fracture Event, after realizing that memories could be altered, damaged, or completely erased. The device was meant to preserve them... permanently."

"Is that so?" The hitman muttered, placing a hand on his chin.

It seems his father had anticipated the HA mind-wiping them due to what they discovered during the investigation of the Fracture Event, so he created the dark room.

Even if that was the case, why would the HA let him complete the device?

The hitman didn’t have time to find out about all that, so he asked his next question, "Who did David and Catherine Bennett trust within the HA?"

According to the video, the person his parents trusted the most was the one with the password he needed, and since Magnus worked with them, the hitman figured he’d know something.

"Victor Crew and...." Magnus suddenly paused, seemingly trying to recall who the second person was...he was certain that he knew the name until a moment ago.

"Dr. Crew and?" Zero asked.

"..." Magnus thought for a while longer before responding, "I can’t remember."

The hitman stared at him for a while longer.

It was impossible to tell whether Magnus was lying, but considering the serum, Zero suspected he genuinely didn’t know.

"Alright then, one last question," he said, "what anomaly did you discover during the Fracture Event?"

Dr. Magnus tried to resist answering the question, but the next second, blood started running down his nose.

"I-I’ll die if I tell you," the mad doctor said, his voice sounding strained.

"You’ll die either way," Zero said with a shrug.

Magnus’s body trembled as he struggled to breathe. His hand instinctively moved toward his chest, but he quickly stopped himself when another wave of pain shot through his body.

The blood dripping from his nose got worse and started falling onto the floor.

"I..." Magnus clenched his teeth. "I can’t...even if I want to..."

"I thought you said you were smart enough to regain your memories after the HA wiped them," the hitman said, looking at him with a blank expression.

"Y-yes, but do you think they wouldn’t know that I uploaded my memories in the dark room?" Magnus’s legs trembled as they gave out, causing him to fall to his knees. "They only let me go because they made sure I wouldn’t reveal it..."

For a man who claimed to be smart, Dr. Magnus Krell looked pretty pathetic at the moment.

Zero let out a sigh before finally asking, "Alright then, tell me this: the Fracture Event wasn’t caused by a Villain attack, was it?"

"N-no..." The doctor answered before vomiting out a mouthful of blood.

The hitman looked at him for a while before turning around. "I guess that’ll be all."

With that, he started walking towards the lab’s exit.

"W-wait, where are you going?" Magnus called out to him.

"My mission’s complete, and I wouldn’t want to get interrogated by a Beta-ranked hero, so I’m leaving," Zero simply responded.

"T-the antidote," the doctor asked, hopeful that the hitman had one.

Unfortunately for him, Zero just shrugged, "I have no idea how to make one."

Of course he did, but Magnus had no way of proving otherwise, so he calmly put his hands in his pockets and walked out of the lab.

Radiance, meanwhile, had a frown on her face as her barrier started cracking. She finally turned around and said, "I don’t think I can hold it for long, let’s —"

Her words were cut off when she realized that the white-haired man was gone and Dr. Magnus was lying unmoving on the ground.

"What...?"

Radiance quickly looked around the laboratory, but Zero was nowhere to be seen.

She turned her attention back to Magnus and immediately noticed the blood covering the floor around him.

"Dr. Magnus!"

Radiance walked to him and noticed that he was barely alive.

"We need to get out of here!"

She grabbed the doctor and pulled him over her shoulder.

Magnus was too weak to resist... not that he wanted to anyway.

Radiance covered herself in a golden aura before she flew out the hole she had created through the lab.

A moment after they left, the barrier finally shattered and then,

BOOOOM!

***

Zero stood atop a hill and watched as a golden light escaped the facility, and then the next second, an explosion went off.

The Rift suddenly expanded into a large one, swallowed the facility and most of its surroundings before it shrunk and disappeared, almost as if it wasn’t there in the first place.

Zero watched Radiance’s glowing form floating where the facility had been moments earlier.

At this point, the hitman was certain Magnus was completely dead, and even if he wasn’t, Zero had made sure that he’d die before Radiance managed to get him some help.

With a yawn, the hitman turned around and muttered,

"I guess it’s bedtime."