Still, he couldn’t help but search the web about how much of it might be out there. Unsurprisingly, there were only a few rumours here and there that had a hint of truth to what Tom had witnessed. A lot of it was off the mark, and he even imagined himself believing some of these things before he had come here. It appeared that there were no whistleblowers telling the truth, not even on the Dark Web.

Either everyone was taking their NDA contract very seriously after signing it, or, and the teenager was leaning more towards the second possibility, those that had tried to reveal any information could have been suppressed, never to be given a voice again. You wouldn’t stay the market leader without dirtying your own hands, at least the short haired teenager wouldn’t be surprised to learn of any such news, not that he had found any.

Right now, Tom was looking into what looked mostly like an empty room. The glass window went all around the room above looking down at the arena floor. It was filled with several people looking inward waiting for something. However, if one took a closer look, they would be able to see that there was something very peculiar about this normal looking room. There were numerous scratch marks on the metal walls, and most of them seemed to be quite deep.

‘Lucky me, from what Dad told me, I was sure it would be impossible to gain permission to watch this.’ Tom thought with his eyes peeled open, not even wanting to blink. On one side of the large room, the doors slowly opened. One could imagine how thick and reinforced they were, based on their slow movement.

Five people entered, yet there was nothing uniform about them, instead they looked like someone had picked out random people off the street. The only thing that all of them had in common was a strange sense of confidence surrounding them.

‘These are the Recoveres…and…and I’m going to see a real beast. Not just a fossil, but a real beast in front of my very eyes!’

When walking around the lab, Tom would often encounter them. Many of them looked like gangsters, though he had also encountered those who he would simply overlook if he were to meet them out on the street. According to his father, they had their own separate lives outside that NIRV didn’t really get involved with.

They could be gangsters, they could even be homeless. Regardless, when they were here, they were what were known as ‘Recoveres’. His father had stated that they were Altered who had received NIRV’s services, on the condition that they would agree to come over and help out on retrieving those beast crystals.

There were many Altered that his father had seen, that were beyond the strength of those at the AFC, which surprised Tom, yet at the same time it also didn’t, not after everything else he had come to learn.

From the other side of the room, the door opened as well, and a team of people in hazmat suits came out pushing a large fossil on a type of vehicle. It was then shoved off into the centre of the room. Quickly, the group was seen leaving the room, and it was time for the final part of the process.

From above, the ceiling partially opened, and attached to a specially made and designed claw like object. Now descending was what Tom had only seen on video so far.

‘That… that should be that Nest Crystal!’

Seeing it in person was completely different to the video itself. There was a certain mystical pattern inside the crystal that was hard to describe. It was as if part of space had been captured and placed there.

“The information that we extract from the fossil gets inputted into the Nest Crystal.” His father had explained. “I know it’s hard to believe, but the crystal is actually able to read the data. Sometimes it makes me feel that it has learned our language. So after inputting the data they extract from the fossil, the crystal is then able to do what it’s about to do next. As I said before though, that’s not my department, so I don’t know how it exactly works.”

The claw that was holding onto the crystal started to turn red at its tips, and the next second it started to glow. At the same time, Tom could see that the Recoverers were getting ready. They had already begun to transform.

One grew to nearly four times the size of his regular self, with a thick grey skin and a large horn on his head. Another had grown wings like an insect flapping about at a great speed, while having hands of what looked like a stinger. The rest had turned into even more dangerous looking creatures, though none of them resembled any creature on Earth that Tom had ever seen, resembling something out of someone’s nightmare.

A beam of energy shot from the Nest Crystal hitting the fossil, and in front of his every eye he could see that flesh and matter was appearing out of thin air, as if someone was 3D printing it. They were forming on top of the bones. Some of the bone structure that had been missing, was starting to form as well, and soon enough that fossil was no more.

In its place stood what one could only describe as a primordial beast. Honestly, seeing the beast in its full form made Tom instinctively wish to run away. He didn’t know if it was just this beast in particular or if the others were like this, but it looked beyond horrifying.

It was large in size, as big as a three-story building. It had the body of a centipede and the legs to go with it, but its upper half of its body was lifted in the air like that of a cobra, while on each side it had what looked like the wings of the bat. Its head was mostly golden triangle shape, but as it opened its maw it revealed rows of razor sharp teeth.

The Hunters got to quick work, with the large horned Altered charging in front. Considering his size, he was quicker than Tom had given him credit for, and he bashed into the beast before it could react. Its horn pierced through its body and black blood came chugging out from it.

Letting out a strange shriek from its mouth, the beast stopped the other Hunters from charging in. At that moment, it used its large maw to bite down into the large Altered, before it started to flap its wings, ready to fly up.

However, before it could, the bug-like altered had flown right through its wings, piercing it with its stingers. It then quickly flew to the back of the beast’s head and hit it a few times. Soon, with the others coming in as well, the monstrous beast was getting overwhelmed. These Altered were indeed strong, since they were able to take out the beast fairly quickly. After that, the crystal from the beast was extracted and presented to all the onlookers.

With that, the fight was over.

Looking around, Tom thought that it was a good result, but the scientist for some reason looked disappointed.

“Did something go wrong?” Tom asked his father.

“Nothing went wrong, per se.” His father answered. “In fact, I would see this as a good day. No Recoverers died today, but others might think this is a bad result. After all, this team wasn’t even that proficient, meaning that the beast today was too weak and likely didn’t have a strong crystal.”

Hearing his father explain this type of logic scared Tom a little. Though he might not have said it outright, but it showed how little NIRV seemed to value the lives of those Altered. Of course, they were the ones who could always create more, but to treat them as an expandable resource…

It was then that Tom had felt something vibrate from his phone, and looking at it, he could see that it was news, and it was pertaining to Slough.

“Dad, you have to see this!” Tom rushed his father, shoving the phone in his face.

At first, his Dad didn’t seem too bothered. He had a bit of sympathy for his hometown, but with his son being in front of him, the news might have as well been about any other location. However, he started to pay more attention when he looked at the images taken

The middle-aged man soon snatched the phone from his son.

“How come there are so many crazed Altered there…no this can’t be.” His father mumbled.

******

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