Harrison Slyde stood before the giant tower known as Cydra Corp. It was run by its CEO, Mr Lucius Cameron, the infamous man behind the Cydra Bodyguard suits. They were state-of-the-art shells of technology that protected its wearer from many forms of physical harm. As its name suggested, it was meant to replace the need for bodyguards, allowing one to eliminate any risk of being hurt. It cost more than an arm and a leg, resulting in only the very rich being able to afford one, and the ones who did get the suit were often controversial figures and politicians.

But that was not the reason Harrison was here. Lucius Cameron and the Skydra were partners in the Cydra suit programme, which meant that they were in contact. Cameron would be the easiest way for him to reach the Skydra.

“Your new suit can take the heat, so there’s no need to hold back. And obviously, so can the earpiece I gave you. And also, your mask has a voice-alterer, so no one’ll be able to recognise your voice. Thank my ingenuity later,” a woman said. She stood beside Harrison Slyde.

“I’ll thank you now, Lyons,” Harrison responded, shaking her hand for fun.

“Let’s light up the night, Torcharus,” a man’s voice sounded through the earpiece.

“Okay, Hsiao, this would be easier if you would just tell me essential things for the mission. Save the chat for later.”

“Sorry. You’ll have to take the ol’ elevator. The card I gave you is more than enough to let you get up there. But we’ll lose contact when you’re in the elevator. Just take it to level 40, and then get out and wait for my instructions.”

“I’ll drive over to the street there,” Lyons said, pointing ahead. “See you later.”

Harrison waltzed into the building. The full body suit designed by Carolyn Lyons was fireproof for the sole reason of not getting burnt off by Harrison’s powers. He could use his powers without restriction. It was also stretchy and flexible to allow him to move about, a necessity for hand-to-hand combat with the Skydra himself. However, it lacked much in armour, because of the current situation. His partners deemed that their objective for now was simply to obtain a way of getting to the Skydra. The armoured suit was meant for another time. It would also be difficult to conceal beneath regular civilian clothes.

His current suit was concealed beneath his brown coat and navy jeans, and its mask was stuffed in one of his pockets. Lyons had also made him some hand armour of sorts, meant to protect his knuckles when exchanging blows with the Skydra.

Harrison entered the lift, swiping his card before selecting a floor destination. As he was about to press the buttons for the lift doors to close, a Cydra Corp employee dashed in.

“Sorry!” she said sheepishly, swiping her own card frantically and looking for a floor’s button to press.

Harrison nodded and waved his hand. “No worries. Wouldn’t want you to have to wait for the next one. The sheer number of floors here, the wait time seems pretty long to me.

“Heheh, there are four lifts, but still a little long, yeah. Hey, you’re going to level 40 too?”

“Yeah,” Harrison replied. The woman was chatty, and if she started asking questions, it might be troublesome. He had no contact with Hsiao nor Lyons, which meant that whatever things he said, he had to think carefully on his own.

“You must be the new guy joining the Seascrapers sector,” the lady assumed. “Heard from Mr Eke last week.”

“Uhhh, not me. They sent me up here to check on some software,” Harrison lied. It was getting difficult. The more he had to say, the more likely he was to slip up. He had to change the subject of the conversation. “Anyway, how’s it working all the way up here? The view must be nice.”

The woman laughed. “Yes, it is indeed. Great view of Botanical Gardens in basically any season. Only thing that sucks is it takes at least five minutes per elevator trip. Worst thing ever during lunch hour.”

“Two sides to every coin, isn’t it?” Harrison said. He successfully steered the conversation away from himself. “Oh look, we’ve arrived.”

The lift doors opened smoothly, and they headed out of the lift.

“Hey, it was nice meeting you,” the woman said.

“Likewise,” Harrison responded, as he headed in a direction away from her.

His earpiece buzzed. “Slyde? You there?” Hsiao asked.

Harrison glanced around to look for the toilet, and headed inside a cubicle. “Yeah. The lift ride was frickin’ long. What’s next?”

“Where’re you at now?”

“Toilet.”

Hsiao remained silent for a moment, and Harrison could barely hear the rapid tapping and clicking of the keyboard on the other end of the call.

“Okay. You get out of the toilet, head left, then turn right. Go straight till the end, and then turn left again. The elevator over there will take you up to Cameron’s office. Level 50.”

“I disabled the cameras on this floor. You can ditch the coat and pants before you get into the lift.” Lyons added. “Good luck.”

Harrison followed his allies’ directions, and soon enough, Torcharus emerged from the lift at level 50.

His costume was a sleek black, with accents of blue in the pattern of flames around his shoulders and chest. It was like he wore a wreath of fire. His black mask covered his entire head, although the lenses for the eyes were also blue and flame-patterned. It retained its one-way transparency, however.

“You can plant the bug too,” Lyons said. “We can hopefully get more info that way, in case Cameron doesn’t wanna be helpful. Time to put your interrogation skills to the test, policeman.”

Torcharus pushed open the glass doors of the office, seeing the CEO sitting in his chair behind his desk.

Cameron seemed surprised to hear footsteps, and looked up promptly. He was more surprised by Torcharus’ appearance, as well as the fact that he managed to enter without detection from cameras and alarms.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Cameron said, turning to face Torcharus.

Torcharus slammed his hands on the desk, staring right into Cameron’s eyes. “You work with the Skydra. Tell me where I can find him.” This was the first time he heard the mask’s voice-alterer work, and it made him sound like a monster had learned human speech.

Cameron didn’t flinch. “You think you, a grown man wearing a stupid costume, can come here and make demands like that?” He pressed a button at the side of the desk, before standing up to walk to Torcharus.

Torcharus’ earpiece buzzed again. “Did he just insult my creation?” Lyons said. “Show him it isn’t stupid! Use your fire!”

Torcharus raised his hand, grabbing Cameron’s collar with blinding speed and flinging him into the sofa at the side of the room.

Cameron groaned. He didn’t expect that. He got up anyway, and readied himself for a fight.

Torcharus extended his arm, and showed Cameron his firepower.

Cameron gasped. “You’re a superhuman.”

Torcharus didn’t bother with a response. He rushed towards Cameron, ramming an elbow into his chest, and held the flame right in front of his face. Cameron backed away, landing on the sofa.

“Now, do you want to tell me how to get to the Skydra? Or would you like a makeover for your face? Or both?”

“I... I don’t know how to find him! He’s the one who comes here from time to time to monitor the Cydra suit programme!” Cameron stuttered. It seemed that Torcharus managed to rattle him.

Torcharus was unconvinced. He lifted Cameron up, and slammed him right back into the sofa. In the meantime, he used his foot to plant the bug underneath the sofa, behind one of its legs, hidden from sight.

“Please don’t hurt me! I’ve told you everything I know!”

Torcharus could vaguely hear the sound of a jet engine. At that moment, his earpiece sounded again. “The Skydra’s coming,” Lyons warned. “I see him flying here.”

Hsiao seemed worried as well. “You best get outta here until we get you suited up in the armoured suit.”

Torcharus had other plans. He knew he was underprotected against the Skydra, but he had waited so long to give the Skydra what he deserved. And he could do that very soon.

Torcharus leapt out of the way as the Skydra came crashing through the window. The Skydra put up a smokescreen, rendering Torcharus unable to see. It reminded him of the time he used a smokescreen at the hospital, and it felt like his own medicine was being used against him right now. The Skydra was definitely rescuing Cameron now.

As the smoke began to dissipate, Torcharus could hear the sound of the Skydra’s engine fade.

“Damn it!” he cursed.

“He’ll be back. He knows you’re looking for him. And with what you’ve done here, he’ll want to look for you,” Lyons said.

Torcharus trod carefully near the broken window, avoiding the shards of broken glass. He looked out, and the Skydra was nowhere to be seen in the night sky of the city. He was long gone, together with Cameron.

Torcharus knew he had to get going soon. The police would arrive sooner or later, and he had no intention of getting into a scuffle with his former colleagues.

“We’ll come up with another plan,” Lyons said. “Use your parachute, get to the car, and we’ll go back to HQ.”

Torcharus growled. He jumped out of the window, feeling the thrill of accelerating as he fell.

“Oh no... he’s back!” Lyons screamed into her mic.

Torcharus turned mid-air to see the Skydra headed straight for him. He was vulnerable right now, without a stable ground to fight, and without the ability to fly. If he were to use his parachute, the Skydra would miss this tackle, but he could easily fly around and mount another attack which could destroy his parachute. Either way, the Skydra had already won.

Torcharus was left with only one choice. He blasted fire at one side, hoping that the force could turn his falling direction. But it was not enough. The Skydra managed to grab onto him, and swooped down towards the street.

Torcharus cursed under his breath. The Skydra was about to drop him face-first onto the coarse, hard pavement. Even with superpowers, he thought he had no chance of surviving.

As the ground came towards him, the Skydra decelerated and dropped him roughly, but without brutally injuring him. Nevertheless, it still hurt to have crashed and rolled ten metres away from the point of contact with the ground.

As he stopped moving, Torcharus lay on his back on the grass, closing his eyes briefly. Amidst this, he found it amusing that he was in the middle of Botanical Gardens, the topic of conversation between himself and the woman in the lift.

“Who are you?” the Skydra whirred.

Torcharus opened his eyes, finding the Skydra’s gauntlet gun pointed straight at him.

“Torcharus,” he said, gripping the Skydra’s arm tightly and shoving it away from his face. He forced himself to get up, and lit up his hands with fire.

“Why did you attack Lucius Cameron?” the Skydra asked, keeping his distance from Torcharus, but still maintaining his aim.

“I wanted to find you, actually,” Torcharus responded. “To make you pay for your crimes against the people.”

The Skydra’s emotions were unreadable. After all, he was a man concealed beneath his robotic suit, and the Skydra head certainly didn’t have moving parts.

“What an accusation... Yet, can you say that you commit no crime in attacking an innocent man like Lucius Cameron?” the Skydra responded.

Torcharus sprung up high, over the Skydra’s head, and disappeared amidst his own smokescreen. He ignored the Skydra’s question, tossing a quick punch at the back of his head. Lucius Cameron stopped being an innocent the moment he partnered with the Skydra.

The Skydra was knocked forward. He did not expect such force from a human male. The strike indicated that his attacker was either a superhuman or had some kind of technology that dealt the blow.

Torcharus reeled back after his attack. His hand felt numb after the punch. The Skydra’s shell was extremely tough and durable. He had to retreat and pick a fight with the Skydra another day, or risk breaking both hands for just a few more punches.

His smokescreen was useful for keeping himself hidden. He made his way to Lyons’ car swiftly. “I’m gonna need that armoured suit,” he said. “Or we won’t be seeing the Skydra taken down anytime soon.”

“First of all, we’ll fix up your hand when we get back. Sit tight,” Lyons replied and drove her foot into the acceleration pedal.

...

“Frank! Look at this!” Valeria shouted across the office. She pointed at the television screen. The news channel was currently showing footage of an incident at Cydra Corp the night before, where the Skydra appeared and fought with an unidentified person in a black-and-blue suit.

Frank Thomas looked up from his desk, and dashed towards the TV upon noticing what it was broadcasting.

“That’s blue fire,” Frank said.

Valeria nodded. She seemed shaken. “That person has to be who we’re looking for. And according to Lucius Cameron, this person’s called Torcharus, and he was there for the Skydra.”

“And guess who else has it in for the Skydra?”

“Harry. It can’t possibly be him, can it?”

Frank seemed concerned as well. “What should we do? What can we do?”

“If it really is Harry, we’ll do him no good if we give away his identity. And we also can’t just let him attack people to get to the Skydra, even though we want the Skydra gone too.”

Frank remained silent for a moment. He pondered hard for a solution, and so did Valeria. “Tell you what. I think we’ll wait. Take the risk that this Torcharus person really is Harry, and we’ll approach him and talk to him. And then maybe bring Captain Yamada along.”

Valeria sighed. “I hope what you’ve planned is the best course of action...”