*Note: I apologise for the long chapter. It's a major plot-development scene that must not be broken. Enjoy! 😉

A thick veil of grey clouds dragged over the moon that night, casting an enormous shadow over the ocean. The angry roar of the waves breaking onto the rocks almost deafened Sky and Hazel.

The swarm of deadly phoenixes circled over the fallen golden Sonic Echo Ranger like vultures, but after a couple of minutes, they were gone.

"I feel so guilty right now," Hazel whispered, clenching her fists.

"You have nothing to feel guilty about. You didn't cause this." His shoulders stiffened and he dug his nails into his palms. He was rooted to the spot, knees into the water, hoping to see Haywire take off any second.

"I know, but... Maybe Haywire wanted to show off by taking me to cool places I might've never seen before, and... I don't know." She let out a nervous chuckle. "Those phoenixes might've spotted us because he took a different flying route. Maybe if I hadn't come along, we wouldn't have got spotted and chased."

Sky didn't reply for a good five seconds that seemed to last an eternity.

"You can't know that," he whispered with a rusty voice. His posture appeared slouched and defeated, as if the burden of his emotions was weighing him down. His arms then hung listlessly by his sides, devoid of their usual energy. His gaze seemed distant and hollow.

"What do we do now?"

"First, we need to find a way out of this cave. Next, we..." he said as if words weighed too much for his mouth, "we'll find the nearest port. There must be a town around here somewhere, right?"

"I hope so."

"We'll hire a boat and go look for Haywire." He stood up and got close to Hazel.

"It's dangerous to do that at night," she replied with worry.

"We've got no other choice. I'm not abandoning my friend!" he exclaimed, breathing hard. He sank his fingers in his hair.

She sighed. "I didn't say you should."

"I–" Sky couldn't finish his sentence because his phone went off, the loud notification sound echoing madly inside the cave. "It's the same unknown number from the other night!"

Sky's eyes widened in sheer astonishment, the pupils dilating in response. As Hazel stood right beside him, his jaw dropped open. His eyebrows arched upwards while both stared at the screen.

Sky answered the call and put the speaker on. "Hello. Is it you again?"

"While I don't welcome that sour tone of voice, I'll concede for the time being," that baritone male voice said. "Bearing in mind your current state of affairs, your mood is understandable."

Every word was laced with formality and precision, as if each syllable had been carefully chosen. The educated tone carried a hint of intellectual superiority.

"What the hell does that mean?!" Sky exclaimed.

"Are you spying on us?" Hazel asked with dread as she inspected around her.

"The scope of my skills is not your priority right now, Sky Falcon. Escaping from this cave is." His voice held an icy quality, devoid of warmth, as if detached from emotions. There was an aura of enigma and secrecy that surrounded it. "Your pursuers are gone, for now. You're lucky they haven't realised you were not riding that Sonic Echo Ranger. Endurance will be mad when he finds out."

"He? Endurance is a 'he'?" Sky asked, grabbing his phone tightly.

"Yes, young phoenix rider." The man's bothered voice denoted his lack of patience. "Don't interrupt me. The key word was 'when', not 'he'. He will eventually find out you're alive―and then hell will be unleashed."

"What does that mean?"

"Everything will burn. Your home, the Hovering Hive, Anti-Ageing Inc., everything." His voice lacked any trace of personal investment or engagement, remaining distant and detached until he added, "I might be looking forward to it, but... to be honest, I don't want to lose you."

Sky furrowed his brows at that.

"You need to start making yourself clear when you speak, Mr Unknown Person."

"Let's not get too much ahead of ourselves. I will reveal myself to you one step at a time."

"Fantastic," Sky whispered with sarcasm.

"On our first talk, I revealed my existence to you. That might not look like a big step, but to me it is. After all, I'm supposed to be dead," he added as if he took pride in it.

"What?!" both Sky and Hazel exclaimed.

"Tonight, I will reveal my face to you as a sign of good faith. Satisfied?" the man said with a weird nonchalant tone. "Turn on the holographic video call option."

At the tap from Sky's finger, a forty-something-year-old man's bust appeared, hovering over the screen of Sky's phone.

"I know I'm not attractive, but I expected a much more intrigued expression on your face, young man."

"I..." As Sky's gaze fell upon the holographic bust, a profound shock coursed through his veins, freezing him in place.

The image before him portrayed a cyborg man, his aged countenance bearing the markings of time and experience. Eastern European features, grey hair, and icy blue eyes imbued his face with an enigmatic allure.

But it was the intricate network of fine lines that adorned his visage that sent a shiver down Sky's spine. What he mistook for wrinkles on his first glimpse were, in fact, meticulously crafted metal plates, each piece a puzzle in itself, delicately assembled to form the face of that extraordinary being.

"Are you a cyborg?!" Sky asked.

"If you insist on stating the obvious, this conversation might last for days." The mysterious man's face remained stoic. His eyes hid behind a veil of indifference. "Yes, I am a cyborg."

"Look, while I'm curious to know who you are and the reason you keep calling me, I've got no time to lose. Haywire–"

"Your phoenix is quite a smart creature. He chose to crash-land on an algae bank that floats in this area." His lips formed a slight smirk, suggesting an awareness of the situation's predictability. His body language exuded an aura of detachment, as if he had seen it all before and found little excitement in the unfolding events. "By dawn, the bank usually sways by the shore a few miles south from here. He's still alive, don't worry. Hurt, but alive."

Sky let go a sigh of relief.

"Now, focus on what I need to tell you." His casual and cold demeanour conveyed an air of boredom and the unmistakable air of someone who had become accustomed to the mundane. "As I was saying, Endurance will eventually find out you're alive and order your gruesome death with a burning desire to get this done once and for all. I can't let that happen."

"Why?"

"Because you're a genius, like me. The world needs sharp minds like ours to lead them. You're still green, but you have begun to show the signs of true greatness. Now that you've become an Internet celebrity, the rest of the world knows that too―for the wrong reasons, of course."

"Kane Kovak was a genius. You denied it in our first conversation, but I have to ask–" Sky insisted.

"Yes, I was a human formerly known as Kane Kovak," the man revealed with hooded eyelids. "But I left my humanity behind. Decay and advancing age were beginning to hinder my skills. I had to do something."

It was as though the mysteries of the world held no surprises for him, and he was simply waiting for the inevitable to unfold.

"So, you became a cyborg."

"Mrs Evergreen uses drugs to delay the inevitable. Death. I use technology."

"Rumour has it you genetically engineered the phoenixes when you left the Hovering Hive and Anti-Ageing Inc. Did you?"

"It's more complicated than that." He fell silent.

This man is shady as fuck.

"What if I don't want to have anything to do with you?" Sky asked, his shoulders tense.

"You have no choice," the man replied with a cold, hard stare. "Either Mrs Evergreen or Endurance will come for you. The first will enslave you until you're no longer of use to her―that can take all your life; the second will kill you. Which is it going to be, Sky?"

The teen was speechless. Hazel watched as the conversation unfolded with a look of worry.

"Both of them need to be stopped," Kane Kovak added. "Mrs Evergreen is a corporate shark whose only purpose is money and power. She will have any kind of drug developed so that all her rich friends adore her. And Endurance hates her as much as I do for that same reason.

"Now, despite being an enhanced cyborg, I haven't got the physical skills to fight either of them, but you might. After all, you're an Elite Academy student."

The mysterious man's voice dripped with a sarcastic poison when he uttered that last sentence. His tone carried an air of detached superiority.

"Let me see," Sky concluded, carefully choosing his words. "You want my help to defeat those two, but you won't get physically involved. Ever."

"With my knowledge and your, let's say, legwork and... fighting skills, yes, we can defeat them." A chilling edge crept into his voice, conveying a deep-rooted hatred that resonated through every syllable.

"It seems unfair to me. I risk everything, you don't," Sky replied with defiance.

"You have a lot more to lose in this war than me, young man." His voice carried a cold and calculating quality, as if he were playing a twisted game. "I can turn my back on you and look for my next chance elsewhere."

Great! He's just another leech like Mrs Evergreen, trying to use me. So, which is the lesser evil of these two?

"Okay, I'll play along," Sky replied with dissatisfaction. "But if you ever betray me or get anyone I love hurt or killed, I swear I'll–" His free hand balled into a tight fist.

Hazel softly bit her lower lip.

"I understand. Now, let's focus on our mission, shall we?" There was palpable cruelty in his voice. "We've got no time to lose."

Sky nodded begrudgingly.

"First, you will need some basic information. You need to understand that no content of this conversation can be leaked, especially to Mrs Evergreen." His tone was that of a general. "Is your lady friend trustworthy?"

"Yes, she is." Sky turned his face to look at her, smiling. She smiled back.

"I really hope so," the older man replied with dissatisfaction.

Hazel's smile dropped instantly, but she tried to veil her uneasiness.

"Listen, Sky. Endurance is a rogue AI with the body of a gigantic male phoenix. He gives birth to new phoenixes to make his army bigger. He controls the swarm via a special digital signature. It's hackable but extremely dangerous."

"I guess you've already tried it."

"Yes, and I didn't succeed. You might, though. The encryption of the signal is next-gen. I want you to use this period of time in which Endurance will think you're dead to hack into his network and disable it for good. I am sending you a copy of the commands I've been using so that you see what we're dealing with. You can use them and enhance them to..."

"Set the phoenixes free," Sky said with hope.

"They won't obey his commands anymore. If Endurance finds out you're alive during the procedure, it won't matter for as long as you succeed," the man insisted with harshness. "Once the phoenixes are free from their master, Endurance will have no power besides his own physical prowess."

"How do I do this?" Sky asked with eagerness.

"You'll need a powerful, data- and commands-transmitting device... and your sharp wits, of course," Kane Kovak added with his trademark, disengaged tone. "Carry on with this mission as you see fit."

"What?! Aren't you going to help me?" Sky complained, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Help you?" the man complained. "What do you think I'm doing right now?"

"It wouldn't kill you to give me some tips or instructions on how to do this!"

"That's where you're wrong, young man," the cyborg man warned him. "Shift the focus on this issue. It's you who needs to think and take action. Be responsible for your own acts. It's your mission; so, it's your choice of places to go and weapons to use. Whether you kill someone or not, and the like."

This is exactly what Hazel told me the other day during lunch.

"I will not give you a step-by-step guide and accidentally lure you into a dead-end situation I cannot foresee." The man made a brief pause and sighed. "You've already shown the right amount of initiative and ingenuity to succeed. Besides that, I've given you the commands I tried for reference. Also, I hope you understand that you will need to keep Mrs Evergreen in the dark about this. Your mother and your aunt as well. They work too close to her to be trusted."

The contemptuous sneer in his voice was unmistakable, leaving no doubt of the seething animosity that consumed him.

How dare he suggest that I shouldn't trust my own mother and Aunt Naomi! The suggestion lodged in his thoughts like a festering thorn. His fists clenched tightly, knuckles turning white with the intensity of his anger. His brows furrowed, deep lines etching themselves across his forehead, as his eyes burned with a smouldering fire of resentment. Well, my mother, as Head of the Elite, is likely to be loyal to Mrs Evergreen, but my aunt... She's the pillar of love and guidance in my life! I won't poison the trust I feel towards her. This man is the one I shouldn't trust. I yearn for answers and clarity.

Hazel stared at Sky with worry and pity.

"I insist," the man said with a glare. "You cannot ask them for help, especially your aunt. I know she means a lot to you, but you know she won't understand what's at stake here."

Of course she does! If I bring Mrs Evergreen down, Anti-Ageing Inc. will follow―and that means that she might die. Sky glued his eyes on Hazel's, then. Hazel would too, unless we find a way to keep the labs working on making the drugs they need to survive.

Kane Kovak's voice echoed in the cave as he added, "The next step will be dismantling Anti-Ageing Inc."

Hazel's eyes were shot wide open.

"I want to make it clear that I will not take a life, Mr Kovak," Sky said firmly. "I will not kill Mrs Evergreen for you. That and I want to preserve the medicinal branch of the company. Both Hazel and my aunt need their meds."

"Granted. But don't call me Mr Kovak, please." He sighed. "That was the old me."

"How should I call you then?"

"Just call me K." He made a brief pause, in which he smirked. "I expected you to be firm in your convictions, so you don't surprise me in the ethics department."

"Good to know," Sky replied with defiance.

"Mrs Evergreen will be hit by the boomerang of karma soon enough, don't worry. She will pay for her crimes―dearly."

"What did she do to you?" Sky asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She tried to push me and my research department into doing things her way." His expression became more serious. "Science can never obey business and marketing criteria. Never."

"What did she want from your department?" Hazel asked.

"She lusted after the ultimate scientific achievement for a drug and cosmetics company: cheating death with a pharmaceutical product. Or as she used to put it―kill death." The emphasis he put on those last words denoted how much he hated that woman.

"WHAT?!" both teenagers exclaimed.

"I told her it was viable for as long as she gave me enough time. I exposed the requirements for such an endeavour, which she considered too costly and time-inefficient. She wanted immediate results: she gave me less than a year. She didn't understand that such a drug, its development, and its testing should not be rushed. I was asking for at least two decades."

Damn, it's been two decades already! The timeline fits, just like everything else both Aunt Naomi and Mrs Evergreen told me.

"So, you argued, didn't you?" Sky asked. "This is the argument she told me about, right? Then, you infected her with MS and she gave you the sack."

The man chuckled darkly. "I see she was... economical with the truth."

He didn't elaborate. Silence ensued.

"Don't dodge the issue," Sky insisted. "That's why you hate her―and why she hates you, right? This is a petty fight between you two!"

"The roots of our shared hatred go deeper than that, young man." His tale was tainted by self-righteousness. "She was reckless. I infected her with MS, in a manner of speaking, yes. I broke the flask at her feet and locked her in her office. But before that, she stole the virus from my office."

He sighed.

"My most prominent project until that day. It was capable of triggering a biochemical storm which, in due time, caused the symptoms of multiple sclerosis. My next step would've been to use it to develop a cure for MS. It would've been another great breakthrough. However, she stole it knowing that I considered it my baby, and threatened me to take it away from me if I didn't give priority to the Lifebringer project, not to the cure for MS project."

"The Lifebringer project?" Sky asked.

"The drug to become immortal, to kill death. A powerful cocktail of chemicals which would tinker with the telomeres found at the extremes of DNA in human cells. With time, telomeres shorten. They get damaged until they die. That causes ageing. The Lifebringer was meant to chemically engineer a way to delay that decay―or even stop it altogether."

"Are you for real?" Hazel whispered in a dreadful kind of awe. "That means that..."

Sky looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Mrs Evergreen's rich investors. Their money. It's being used on this project, isn't it?"

"And you became the poster boy for such a crowdfunding, Sky," Hazel told him, her heart beating wildly in her chest.

"She said it would go to the Elite Academy funding department."

"Khali Evergreen is a master scammer and a manipulative predator," Kane Kovak replied. "Don't believe anything she says."

"Damn it!" Sky sank his free hand in his hair with annoyance.

"Not only that," the man added. "Only those rich folk and she shall become immortal. Her Lifebringer project included a business plan that ensured that only the rich will afford to pay for such a drug."

"Only the wealthy will become immortal?" Sky asked with a furrowed brow.

Kane Kovak nodded.

"This will cause a large social gap," Hazel said, with a cold sweat running down her spine.

"And discrimination and social unrest might follow," Sky concluded. He bit his lower lip and his shoulders tensed.

"Anti-Ageing Inc. is taking a dangerous business route." The man's gaze glued itself to Sky's eyes with harshness. "Cosmetics and developing the cure for existing illnesses are fine; achieving immortality through drugs is going way over the line. That's why both Endurance and I hate her so much. That's why Endurance has been sending the phoenix swarm to attack the Hovering Hive, targeting Anti-Ageing Inc.'s strongholds and key buildings in the city, over and over during all these years."

"But you're using technology to enhance your body... and your life!" Hazel complained.

"My aim is different," the man answered with a glare. "I decided to upgrade my body so that I could ensure living long enough to defeat Khali Evergreen. My ultimate goal isn't immortality. I don't fear death―she does. We also had an argument about that."

A brief pause followed.

"Wait," said Sky. "One day I asked Haywire if the name of Mrs Evergreen meant anything to him. And he replied with a drawing on the sand. He growled every time I tried to touch it."

"What was it?" Hazel asked.

"Two vertical wavy lines, intertwined in two different places."

"How? Like a DNA strand?" asked Kane Kovak.

Sky's eyes widened. "Yes!" How didn't I think of that before?

"Your winged friend was trying to warn you that approaching the drug company is dangerous. Smart animal." 

He chuckled.

"I hope you now realise the true depth of what's at stake here, Sky," Kane Kovak added. "To my knowledge, her research team hasn't succeeded yet. You need to dismantle the company before they do."

"And how am I supposed to dismantle Anti-Ageing Inc., as you say?" Sky asked with a deep frown.

"It won't be easy. Information will come on a need-to-know basis," the cyborg man simply replied.

Suspicion coiled around Sky's thoughts like a venomous snake. "Did you know my aunt?"

The cyborg man's eyes widened in astonishment. His mechanical jaw dropped slightly. His eyebrows arched upward, revealing the precision of the mechanical components beneath.

"This is irrelevant. For now, focus on rescuing your phoenix friend and the mission."

"Don't dodge the question," Sky insisted. "I know you do."

The man sighed. "If you already know, why do you ask?"

"Because I wanted to see your reaction." Sky smirked. "She looked sad when she said you were gone."

"I will stop you right there," the cyborg man replied with harshness and defiance. A huff of annoyance followed. "Don't even suggest that I was involved in any–"

"Relationship with her?" Sky asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Absolutely not!" The cyborg man's face contorted with fierce anger, his brows furrowing into deep lines of defiance. His posture straightened. For the first time, he showed a genuine, uncontrolled emotion beyond that façade of formality and superiority.

Sky smirked.

"This shall be all for today," Kane Kovak said in a hurry. "I set a self-driving boat sailing your way for you and your lady friend. It will arrive in less than a minute at your location. It runs on auto-pilot. Be careful."

He ended the call right after that.

"Do you think this man is trustworthy?" Hazel asked Sky as her gaze traced the contours of his face.

"I don't know." He fixed his gaze on a distant point on the horizon. "He seems to know a lot of stuff. He's not totally wrong, though. Endurance needs to be defeated despite its rightful aim. And Mrs Evergreen is shady. But I'm not sure whether this man will keep his word about preserving the medicinal branch of the company."

"But both your aunt and I need our medication from Anti-Ageing Inc.!" Hazel's breath hitched. Her lips parted slightly.

"I know." He stared back at her and sighed. "When I talked with Mrs Evergreen the other day, she forced me to collaborate, or else you would not get any more meds. She blackmailed me into handing over my gadgets in exchange for you getting your meds without any issues. So, whoever wins this war―for as long as it's not Endurance―, you'll be safe."

"What?!" Hazel's eyes widened in disbelief.

Sky stood with an undeniable allure, his vibrant green T-shirt accentuating his toned physique. The soft glow of the moonlight highlighted the contours of his features, casting a captivating radiance upon his face.

Her eyes softened, reflecting the moon's tender glow, as she absorbed every detail of his confident and hopeful expression.

A confident smile played upon his lips. "The same goes for Aunt Naomi. Whatever happens, I'll make sure both of you are safe."

His eyes shimmered with a glimmer of hope, reflecting the moon's gentle glow and drawing Hazel's gaze to their mesmerising depths.

The subtle curve of his smile stirred a fluttering in her chest as she lost the ability to form words.

"The company itself isn't bad. It's what people do with it and its products." He put his hands on her shoulders with determination and seriousness as a white boat entered the cave, all alone.

Her body felt weak, as if an invisible force had frozen her in place, unable to tear her gaze away from his alluring presence. Awe painted her face as he drew a bittersweet smile on his lips, her cheeks tinged with a gentle blush that highlighted her growing admiration.

"Don't worry," he whispered. "We'll figure something out."

Hello, my sugar cubes!

The information about telomeres is real, dear readers. 😉 But the drug to stop ageing, to my knowledge, does not exist.
Did you enjoy Kane Kovak's call? What will Sky do?
Will Hazel spill the beans to Mrs Evergreen in exchange for her life now?

Stay tuned!

XOXO

Mar