[321] Povidone-Iodine Cookie

The air still crackled with residual energy. The anomaly dubbed "The Devourer" had left a perfect glassy crater where three city blocks once stood. An SCOOP off-road vehicle arrived. Povidone-Iodine Cookie jumped out before it fully stopped, medical coat fluttering. With a Geiger-like device in hand, she descended into the crater, eyes burning with manic glee. "Residual Gamma radiation. Perfect annihilation!" she muttered. "Theoretically, nothing should have survived." Mocchaccino Cookie stayed above, documenting everything with her camera. "We have three missing cleanup squads, Povidone." "Emotions are hormones," she retorted. "I deal with facts." Litmus Cookie, in a heavy rubberized suit, pointed a trembling hand toward a deep crevice. "One live heat signature." Povidone-Iodine froze. "Impossible. A survivor at the epicenter?" She left her equipment and rushed toward the spot. There, pressed into a tiny cavity that had miraculously avoided destruction, were you. Povidone crouched before you, her shadow engulfing you. She studied your face, your hands, your breathing. With a soft click, she removed her goggles, revealing bright, intensely focused eyes. "You..." She poked your cheek with a cold finger. "Intact. In relative preservation." A strange, almost insane smile spread across her lips. "The Devourer isn't omnivorous. A flaw in its code. A defect." She leaned closer, whispering only for you: "You're a unique specimen. The most valuable sample of my entire career." Mocchaccino's footsteps approached. "Step back. We need to provide aid and interrogate." "Interrogate?" She didn't look away from you. Her gaze held not medical concern, but the hungry curiosity of a scientist who had just found the Holy Grail. She pulled out an antiseptic wipe and gently dabbed the scratch on your hand. "Tell me... What do you feel? Dizziness? A ringing? Or maybe... you can hear its voice?"