ACCIDENTALLY HIS LAB EXPERIMENT

CHAPTER 18: MIRA'S THEORY

SELENE POV

Selene sat on the edge of the bed.

White room. Soft light. No windows. Sanctuary level. Hidden under Starfall Facility. She already left the vent after hearing the shocking news about her stepfather's arrival to Starfall.

Her hands shook. Blue marks by her ears burned under skin. Like fire under ice.

Few days since the raid. Fewdays since her blood turned blue.

She looked at her arm. Five fingers. Human skin. No claws. For now.

But the fire inside kept growing. Hot. Heavy. Loud.

`Selene.` The voice came again. From her blood. From the head.

She clenched her teeth. “Not now.”

Door opened. Soft footsteps.

Mira.

Mira was 22. Short hair. Wearing Academy training gear. Black pants, gray shirt. She was a trainee same as Selene. Special. Different. Like the rest.

Mira carried a small tablet. And a cup of tea. She set the tea down first.

“Drink,” Mira said. “You look like you haven’t slept.”

Selene didn’t touch it.

" How is Cael? Is he still under restraint?" Selene asked with worry in her voice, she missed the peace he always brought her, his distracting jokes. She missed him.

Mira didn't respond, her eyes were on Selenes arm. The blue marks.

“Why do the marks burn?” Selene held out her arm. Blue veins showed under skin. “Why can’t I sleep? Why do I hear voices?”

Mira pulled a chair close. Sat on it backwards. No fear. Only focus.

“Because your body is fighting,” Mira said. “Fighting the Apex DNA.”

Selene laughed. No sound. Just breath. “Fighting? Feels like I’m losing.”

Mira shook her head. “No. You’re rejecting it.”

Selene frowned. “Rejecting? But it’s inside me. The raid. Blue liquid. I absorbed it. I became this.”

Mira tapped the tablet. It showed her own scan. Not a lab scan. Academy scan. Trainees got them weekly.

“This DNA is new,” Mira said. “Illegal. No one’s ever tested it on humans before you. Not anyone. You’re the first.”

Selene stared. “First?”

“Yes,” Mira said. “Nolan wants it. His boss wants it. That’s why they raided the lab. They want the formula. They want you, because you absorbed it. But no one else has it. No mutants. Just you.”

She pointed at Selene’s graph. The blue line spiked. Then dropped. Spiked again.

“Everyone else in the Academy? We were born with old DNA. Animal DNA. Mods from years ago. Stable stuff. But Apex DNA is different. It’s wild. It’s new. And your body keeps saying no to it.”

Selene pulled her sleeve down. Hid the marks. “So I’m broken?”

“No,” Mira said fast. “You’re pure human.”

The words hit Selene like cold water.

“Pure-Human?” she whispered.

Mira nodded. “Your DNA is old. Clean. No mods. No splices. From before the wars. Before science started editing people. Most trainees here have mixed DNA. Animal DNA. That’s why we’re in the Academy. But you? You’re pure human. That’s rare.”

She looked at Selene’s eyes. Gray, not blue yet.

“That’s why Apex DNA burns you. It doesn’t belong. Your body treats it like poison. It fights it. That’s why you have pain. That’s why you hear voices.”

Selene thought about the voice. `Selene. Answer me.` She never answered.

“Pure-Human” Selene said slow. “That’s why i feel strange it gets angry when I stay quiet?”

Mira nodded. “Yes. Apex DNA wants to take control,it wants you to accept. To say yes. But you keep choosing no. So it burns you from inside.”

Selene looked at her hands again. Human. Five fingers. For now.

“If I’m pure,” she said, “then why did I change after I absorbed the DNA? Why claws for a second? Why blue blood? I could swear i felt everything, it's rage, fear, excitement at seeing blood.”

Mira’s face went serious. “Because Apex DNA is strong. Even pure humans can’t block 100%. You absorbed enough to change for a moment. But not enough to stay changed. You’re stuck in between. Human and Apex. That’s the danger.”

Selene closed her eyes. “So I could still turn full Apex?”

“Only if you don't take full control” Mira said. “If you let it overwhelm you. If you stop fighting. The moment you Transform… your human body will be gone for life, you won't be able to change back to being human. The burns stop. The pain stops. And you become what Nolan wants.”

Silence.

Selene picked up the tea. Hands steady now. She drank. Warm. Bitter. Real.

Human.

“I won’t let it take me,” she said. “I choose to be human.”

Mira exhaled. Like she’d been holding breath. “Good. Because Pure human is the only thing Apex DNA can’t predict. Can’t copy. Can’t control. That’s why Nolan is after you. Not only to make you a military weapon but to study you. To break you. To find out why you reject it.”

Selene set the cup down. “So I’m not a monster.”

“No,” Mira said. “You carry the monster in your body. Monsters are made. You were born human. And you stayed human. And it's your choice and duty to keep that monster in check. Don't let it control you.

The blue marks cooled a little. Less burn. More warmth.

For the first time in few days, Selene didn’t feel like a mistake.

She felt like she had a choice.

---

*[MIRA POV - CUT]*

Mira walked out of Selene’s room. Pulled her hood up.

She’d been in the Academy 2 years. Trained with Luma, Serath, Jaren. Fought with Cael, Oris, Ryle, Torven. They all had old DNA. Wolf DNA. Hawk DNA. Stable mods.

Selene had none. That’s what made her scan different.

Mira opened her tablet. Private note. Not for Kade. Not for Vant.

`Subject S-01: Pure-Human. Apex DNA rejection confirmed. Immune to control.`

Her theory was simple. Apex DNA was built to take over. To make people into weapons for the military for Nolan’s boss. It would work on mixed DNA because mixed DNA was already open. Already changed.

But pure DNA? Pure DNA had walls. Old walls.

Apex DNA hit those walls and burned.

That’s why Selene’s veins lit up. That’s why she heard voices. That’s why her body felt like fire. It wasn’t mutation. It was defense.

Mira stopped by the vent shaft. Same shaft Selene hid in. Facility above was public. News played Richard Thorn’s face. Contracts. Business.

Mira deleted the file name. Typed new one: `Subject S-01: Stable`.

Lie for the system. Truth for herself.

If Nolan found out Selene was still resisting the DNA he wouldn’t want her as a soldier. He’d experiment on her, cut her open. Find the walls. Break them.

Then make Apex DNA that could beat any human.

Mira looked up at the ceiling. Floor 3. Section B. Where Selene hid from guards last night.

She whispered to herself: “She’s not broken. She’s proof humans can still fight back. Without mods. Just by being human.”

Then Mira went to training hall. Cael was waiting with the rest.

Training started in 5 minutes. And the secret stayed buried.