The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Unknown Location)

(Hidden Lunar Base)

'Cleo' grabbed the hood covering the men's faces roughly and then threw it back. What lay beneath the hood were two humans with large holes in their foreheads.

But what was strange about the bodies was the rest of their skin.

The fake princess without feeling any shame decided to strip off the rest of their clothes and discovered that their bodies were covered in large stitches and patchworks of mutilated flesh.

What the hell was this?

'Cleo' furrowed her brows as she realised that parts of their bodies were composed of different skin tones.

Some were white, others were light brown or olive and there was even a patch near their lower back that was pitch black.

It was like someone had taken different humans and stitched them together to create some kind of Frankenstein's Monster.

'Cleo' opened her eyes and snapped a few mental images of the corpses to send through the network connecting herself to Sophie.

Okay… it was time to get moving.

The fake princess held the plasma rifle in her hand with the safety trigger off as she cautiously moved through the passageway.

She was on high alert to even the slightest trace of movement and could feel beads of sweat running down her brows.

This was a strange place.

The peculiar nature of the corpses sent a small shiver down 'Cleo' spine as she had never seen something like that before.

Were they doing genetic and physiological experiments in here?

Those were officially banned by Federation government with the exception of state-sponsored laboratories.

'Cleo' continued to press forward while taking out any guards that were in her path. Surprisingly she did not encounter many on her journey.

After about forty minutes of walking… she only saw seven in total.

But rather than relax her guard, 'Cleo' was even more vigilant as she was sure that she saw more people in the base when she first arrived.

Where was everyone else?

'Cleo' question was soon answered as she rounded a corner, and her eyes spotted a small camera perched on top of a nearby door.

Fuck.

The fake princess aimed her plasma rifle at the recording device and pulled the trigger but unfortunately it was too late.

Bang!

Just as a plasma round tore through the fragile glass lens of the camera, a loud siren began to echo through the corridor.

A robotic voice came from an unknown location, and it began to shout the same message over and over again.

[Intruder Alert!] [Intruder Alert!] [Intruder Alert!]

'Cleo' broke out into a sprint and her body soon turned into a fast-moving blur. She shot through the corridor and saw that in front of her were two doors.

Left or right?

The clone frowned and randomly picked the one on the left. She had no idea if she was making a mistake or not.

She used her enhanced strength to tear the door off its hinges and enter inside the room that lay beyond it.

'Cleo' blinked twice as the room was illuminated by a harsh white light that stung her eyeballs It took a few seconds for her to be able to see what was inside the room.

Dozens of glass tubes were lined up in a circular pattern and inside each tube one could see humans attached to life support devices.

A neuro- link was implanted on the side of their foreheads which blinked slightly with a reddish glow.

The humans growing inside the chambers had the same patchwork of different coloured skin tones across their bodies.

And something was happening…

One by one their eyes snapped opened and their pupils focused on the young woman standing in the front of the room.

"Nope," 'Cleo' softly muttered as she reached into her storage bag and pulled out the high-grade explosives that Sophie packed.

What she needed to do now was cause as much chaos as possible. It was only a matter of time before more guards came to hunt her down.

She cocked back her fist and threw the explosives across the room.

BOOM!

An eruption of fire began to spread out from where the explosives landed which shattered all the glass containers in its path.

The humans inside the test tube were vaporised instantly and their bodies soon turned to nothing more than ash.

'Cleo' ran through the room pelting explosives in the directions where test tubes were clumped together.

Just as she reached the exit, a large hand emerged from the shadows and tightly grabbed her by her arm.

"Wha… urghhh" 'Cleo's' voice trailed off as the hand punched her in the stomach with so much force that she flew across the room.

She slammed into a wall and slid down with a sickening crunch. The fake princess groaned in pain as she forced her body to stand up.

Her ribs were definitely broken… or at least cracked.

A figure emerged from the wreckage of the room wearing the same large black robes as the other guards.

Except… they were clearly in the void stage.

The space around their body rippled with power and the cultivation pressure that they exerted was one that 'Cleo' had felt before.

A void stage cultivator? Great…

'Cleo' reached into her storage bag just as several sharp knives flew towards her location. She tried her best to avoid them, but a few blades landed straight into her chest.

The fake princess coughed up blood as her lungs had been pierced by one of the blades. Clearly this guard was not interested in her recapture.

With shaking hands, she picked up several test tubes and flung them on the ground without even looking at the labels.

'Cleo' trembling palms barely managed to make a series of hand gestures as the qi in her dantian began to surge.

Poison Cultivation Art- Blood Mist!

The spilled liquids on the ground began to mix together and a tinge of red appeared along the edges of their colours.

'Cleo' pointed at the figure and a large cloud of gas surged forward that blanketed the room in noxious fumes.

This was a wide area of effect attack, and it was one that would affect the user as well since the gas would spread throughout its immediate surroundings.

'Cleo' looked down at her body and saw horrific pus-filled boils appear along with areas of her skin that rotted away.

There were exceptionally dangerous toxins inside those test tubes and even her natural poison resistance needed some time to kick in.

It was even worst for the void stage cultivator, and they began to stagger.

'Cleo's' eyes narrowed as she watched them pulled out a heavy long sword that was over seven feet tall.

Where had they been storing that?

The void stage cultivator started to cough violently but still mustered up enough energy to swing the blade in the fake princess' direction.

The move took only a fraction of a second, but it was enough to end the fight.

'Cleo' looked down at her body as the corners of her vision started to darken. Her torso had been completely separated from her lower half.

"Password…. Ken…1…Delta…" 'Cleo' managed to spit out before the life in her eyes slowly drained away.

The explosive device implanted in her neck began to bleep ominously before delivering the fake princess' final attack.

BOOM!