Lilith opened her eyes slowly, the sterile smell of chemicals and the hum of cold fluorescent lights hitting her senses before she even registered her surroundings. Her head pounded slightly, her limbs felt unusually light, almost numb. As she focused, she realized she was sitting on a metal bench in a white, clinical laboratory, surrounded by walls lined with machinery that buzzed and blinked with life.
Across from her, an old man in a pristine lab coat turned around from his workstation. He blinked in mild surprise when he saw her awake. "Good," he said simply, his voice calm, measured.
Lilith immediately shot to her feet, the last memory searing through her mind like a blade—a sting, like an insect bite, just before everything went black. Now she was here, in some kind of underground lab with a complete stranger.
