Yes, the plan—-he knows the plan. They all do, they’ve practiced it dozens of times. Viktor is vaguely aware of Jayce’s grip on his hand, of his voice in his ear, but there’s a louder voice now. It’s not speaking any language he recognizes, but he’s drawn to it regardless The Hexcore, already bound to him by blood, seems to want more than that, and Viktor isn’t sure he wants to deny it.

It’s offering more than a cure. A new kind of existence for himself, if he wants it. Why not chase this to its logical endpoint? All he has to do is take it.

“You don’t understand,” he whispers. Viktor has felt this before, when the Singularity created entities from their nightmares. He’d been afraid of it, then. Now, he seems fixated, despite Jayce’s best efforts. Despite the fact that Nadine is still working, he shifts where he’s propped up on the gurney, trying to leaning forward and reach for it.

The rest of the group will know this isn’t part of the plan. The plan is as Jayce says—-careful inscription of the necessary runes onto afflicted tissue, then an infusion of the Ikorr serum, then the activation—-but Viktor seems too transfixed to give the orders. When he can’t immediately get himself off the steel table to close the distance, he lets out a cry of frustration and thrashes, tearing at the tubes and wires, sending metal tools and trays clattering to the floor.