193 Straight into the Lion's Den

Noah, who had been walking back to her lab, heard the shout and looked around curiously. She wasn't concerned about her safety but still gestured to her people to check.

Lucifer's eyes were still burning with anger as he recalled his brothers' deaths. However, he knew now was not the right time. At least now he knew where to find her when the time was right.

Turning around, he reached to grab Ace so they could conceal themselves but he had somehow disappeared. Moving decisively, he went off to find a good hiding spot. If he couldn't find Ace, odds were that Noah and her men wouldn't be able to find him immediately either.

Hiding behind a large container, he waited for Noah's men to finish searching and leave. Five minutes later, the guards left and he let out a sigh of relief. Standing back up, he prepared to go search for Ace when suddenly a voice sounded behind him.

"Going so soon old friend?"

Lucifer's hair rose as he heard the voice. Sharply turning around, he got into a defensive position. To his surprise, Noah somehow managed to sneak up behind him without detection and even got so close. If she wanted to kill him, he would already be dead. He broke out in cold sweat at the danger he was just in.

Staring at her from a crouched position, he responded through gritted teeth. "I'm no old friend of yours. Friends don't throw their other friends out of helicopters."

Noah laughed maniacally as she threw her arms up. "Don't be silly, you were going to survive the fall. Besides, aren't you fine now?"

"What do you want?" Lucifer's eyes darted around as he assessed the situation. He had simply asked the question to buy some time. Noah's guards were slowly closing in on him.

"I want to help you of course. Come to my lab and we can study your body together."

Lucifer couldn't help but show a disgusted expression before immediately going into action. The guards had come within range which meant that now was the perfect time to strike. He threw out the Reaper nails at the two guards which startled them. Taking advantage of their surprise, he slipped through the opening and ran off.

Furious that he managed to escape, Noah screamed, "You useless wastes of space. Get him!"

Lucifer continued to dart through the base at breakneck speeds. His actions caught the attention of a lot of people but nobody attempted to stop him when they saw his uniform and the white uniforms chasing after him. Although they didn't have the guts to directly act against Noah, many of them held grudges against the crazy scientist who brainwashed their companions.

Lucifer knew that it wouldn't be possible to escape the base so the next best option was to hide. He selected a random direction and ran like hell. Seeing a large white building in front, he decided to run towards it and hide there. With the help and obstruction from the soldiers, he managed to escape the view of the pursuers.

Running into the building, he noticed that there were fewer people in the area. Although this was strange, he didn't have time to process this information. He snuck into the building and ran into one of the rooms.

Opening the door, he saw a dead body lying on the table staring up at the ceiling. Upon closer inspection, he could see that someone had drilled through the heart. Lucifer quickly deduced that this was a dead Reaper or Variant.

Alarm bells sounded in his head. It seems he had run straight into the lion's den!

Suddenly, Lucifer heard noise just outside the door. Looking around, he saw there was nowhere to hide in this room and he had no intentions of being the next victim to have his heart cut out.

Leaping up, he quickly hid himself in the vents and peered down. Two people, a man and a woman, in all white lab suits walked in while chatting with each other. He quickly recognized them as two of the scientists who escaped on the helicopter.

The woman said, "Don't you think it's kind of unethical to experiment and kill those people? I mean they're infected but they are clearly sentient. It's eerie, almost like killing a human!"

The man grunted as they worked to pick up the dead body on the table and threw it into a gigantic trash bin. "Don't talk about it like that. They're monsters through and through, just be glad you're not one of them. We just need them to be our weapons."

"But…"

"Hush! Don't talk about this anymore. If you get caught by her, you know what'll happen to you."

They both paused and shuddered before silently getting back to their work. They had rolled in another infected and began operating on it. Lucifer, who was peeking through the vent holes, could see that this infected had been experimented on like crazy. He had odd tumors growing all over his body.

The male scientist picked up a drill and began to drill through the dead infected's heart. After they cut past the rib cage, the female scientist picked up the gem and threw it into a jar full of liquids.

After finishing up, they dumped this second body into the large trash can before walking back out.

Moments after the two left, Noah and her guards burst into the room. Unlike her previous lax manner, she looked furious now. It was unthinkable for her that a tiny rat like Lucifer managed to escape her grasp. The two guards had taken off their masks and revealed their faces, they were completely expressionless and unfeeling. They were Reapers!

One of the Reapers had super strong smell senses which made him a great tracker. They had tracked Lucifer into this room but then lost the trail. The Reaper was clearly confused and Noah was angry as she stomped out the room and went back to her main lab.