The specimen chamber at MOA Complex's subterranean research wing was silent but for the faint mechanical hum of active scanning equipment. Floodlights bathed the secured containment unit in sterile white, while overhead arms positioned with surgical precision hovered above the object of interest: the core biopsy tube retrieved by Shadow Team.
Inside the titanium cylinder lay a segment of the Colossal Worm's carapace, sliced clean and sealed in nitrogen. It still faintly shimmered with residual bioenergy—dark crimson interlaced with soft pulses of violet light. The worm tissue seemed to breathe on a cellular level, even disconnected from the host.
Dr. Lena Calix, Overwatch's head xenobiologist, leaned over the chamber's interface console with her usual precision. Her team had already run three spectrograph tests, and now the big ones were queued: density mapping, plasma susceptibility, and directed explosive resonance.
