Chapter 207 - 206. Dissecting Hydra’s Final Experiments
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"The Deathspore doesn’t match any known Earth biology..."
Nolan adjusted the microscope, studying a sample extracted from Baron Strucker’s tissue. His voice was a calm murmur, but his mind raced.
"This isn’t terrestrial."
Under magnification, the Deathspore cells pulsed thrumming with alien virulence. They didn’t just infect. They unraveled.
They secreted protein-dissolving enzymes that attacked synapses and cellular membranes, liquefying entire organisms in seconds.
He watched as a lab rat exposed to just a single particle collapsed and melted like wax near a flame.
"They don’t poison," Nolan mused. "They overwrite."
The spores didn’t just kill. They invaded a host’s system and reprogrammed it to destroy itself. Cellular apoptosis self-destruction wasn’t a defense. It was a weapon the spores exploited.
Even more disturbing was their defensive response.
Strucker hadn’t been immune. He was occupied. The Deathspore treated him like a home and any intruder as a threat. The spores devoured foreign substances on contact.