A few days later.

Theo walked through the corridor of the SCOPE arena hallway, nervous and twiddling his fingers, but kept his head strong and up because he was a leader and he had to be strong. He normally wouldn’t do anything like this without the team behind him, but just in case today went awry, he couldn’t just risk them like that. Sometimes he had to be alone.

He was sure that Paradox was gone and the computers were destroyed, but he couldn’t just bet on it. Rogue wanted to keep it to themselves, just in case, it was dangerous. Besides, the world didn’t really need to know what was going on, according to them. But he just wanted to make sure.

He approached the office he came to when Howie had called them in for the weird meeting because of Iris, and frankly, it wasted his time. But now he needed to do this. He was going to add this conversation to the many things in his life he was sure about—, Lucia, climbing the ladder at the Puzzle, Rogue, and his beloved anime protagonists.

He rang the buzzer and an android immediately slipped out of the doors, before it scanned his face and quickly went inside. Moments later, the door opened for him.

“Theodore Aurillo, New Moon,” Howie’s loud voice came at him as she walked around her lab which was now empty of people. Her hair was long and out and her smile was wide. She was still happy from the Championships, he guessed. “What do I owe the pleasure of seeing the California SCOPE Champion?”

“I have something to tell you,” he said immediately, the words practically falling from his mouth as he took in a sharp inhale. “And it’s really important. It involves SCOPE and I think you should know.”

Her head tilted up in surprise. “Go on.”

He sighed in a breath, before settling. “It involves Keone and some twisted conspiracy he created. And I’m going to tell you about it now.”

🎮

September 2056.

“Okay, guys,” Theo said, as they all craned their heads into the screen. Eniola had waited with them for almost two hours for something that would only last ten seconds, fueled with anticipation. “It’s almost here.”

“I wonder where you will go?” Theo’s dad said, holding his mom against her shoulder, as they looked away from the couch and into the screen.

“I hope it’s tropical,” his mom said. “We’re going too and I’ve been looking for a good vacation.”

Theo sighed heavily. At least they supported him, Eniola thought, but then called the thought away. Today, it was just about her and Rogue. Eniola was sandwiched between Iris and Jay, who had his arm around her.

Then the countdown ended, and then the screen fizzed and everyone gasped in excitement. Eniola leaned forward to look and so did Jay. Lucia and Iris were squealing with excitement, while Theo’s parents crossed their fingers probably with the hope of it being tropical and Theo’s eyes were glued to the screen like it was an anime.

“The location of the U.S National SCOPE championships will now be revealed,” Howie announced in the voiceover of the screen.

The screen fizzed before the image swirled into the familiar skyline with towering skyscrapers before it swirled into the green Statue of Liberty.

“See you April 2057 in New York,” Howie announced before the screen went blank.

“We’re going to New York!” Theo exclaimed.

“Not as warm as I liked, but still fine,” his mom said with a smile. “We’ll still be there.”

Everyone was buzzing and bouncing off each other with excitement, and even Lucia was already talking of a travelling plan. Eniola wanted to celebrate, but some part of her was weird about going to New York. 1 month ago, she would’ve wanted to avoid going there at all costs, but now they were going to be seen there representing California. Would her parents see?

Jay side hugged her then looked into her eyes. “Are you excited?”

“Yeah,” Eniola replied. He pecked her quickly on the lips in excitement before smiling back at her. Eniola took a bold move and winked at him.

“Get a room,” Iris groaned. She had been saying that a lot more often, ever since she and Jay got together a week ago. Although he kissed her right after they won the California SCOPE Championships, they didn’t get together. But after some dates and many kisses later, here they were as a couple. They didn’t have to fake for donations. All they needed was to be themselves.

With everything going on, this was the brilliant start of something new. And she would have Rogue right beside her. Because deep down, they were all a bit rogue.

🎮

November 2056

Keone entered down into the mildly cool streets, whipping his long hair out of the way. ULTRA was still back somewhere, probably getting drunk in the dorms and part of him wished he was there. But instead, he dug his hand into his pocket, feeling the cool metal flask before taking a huge swig of the bitter liquid before closing and putting it back. Sometimes they could be so useless that he had to do all the heavy lifting. It was like Rogue all over again. He had to be the main person.

They won. Rogue had won, the half-human Iris had weakened him. Not take him down, but weaken him. The computer wasn’t destroyed, but it might as well have been. She had managed to glitch the entire world and get the governments involved. It threw a wrench into everything, and now he had to re-plan.

He looked over into the street, and a businessman in a clad black suit walked down the street yelling into the phone as an assi-droid doted on him, following him blindly. Keone turned his gaze away. He didn’t need all those reminders of the dad that would rather sell off the small land of their state for a quick buck.

He was probably miserable. And so were these people. They were so held down by the reality that they forgot an imagination existed. He gulped as his eyes tingled and coolness flowed into his body. Keone looked over into the billboards where they were all flipping through missing kids. No one would see him anymore. His dad didn’t care. And his mom was gone.

The billboards eventually transitioned into something slightly more entertaining, showing a photo of some white British cyberterrorist dude named Kyle or something committing crime all over the world. The newscast drones about him hacking into a different country. Keone hissed before turning his gaze away.

Keone disappeared down a dark and grimy alleyway, walking over puddles and pulling a mask up to hide the pungent smell. He then took out his clear cell phone and extended the screen until it was in the area.

Suddenly the wall slid open, revealing a spiral staircase. Keone looked around before, squeezing himself into the wall crack before it slid out again. He descended the dark corridor, using his phone light as a guide. He finally reached the bottom because a wall had appeared to him. To anyone, this was a wall.

Keone’s phone was up again, and soon the lines of code ran through and unlocked it until he was in a sleek white lab. It’s been a while since he was here, but he couldn’t help but look and see if he had missed anything.

Zaira was organized, so she must have placed everything here with a purpose. He looked around again, just like he had always done.

Most knew her as an astrophysics student, but Keone knew her as someone who had made a tremendous breakthrough that could not only change the course of the world but in the universe. She changed physics.

But no one knew that because she was dead. Gone so soon, they said.

He forced the thought into his mind. It was necessary to hijack that autocar, but that didn’t mean he was immune to her death or the effects. He got all he wanted out of her, but that didn’t take away the shiver down his spine or nausea when he thought of Zaira.

He just needed to find something. He slowly uncovered the computer, instead of it being sleek black, it looked cracked with glowing multi-coloured lines. He held it in his hands. As long as this existed, so did those glitches. Zaira must’ve left something here. She knew the synthetic atoms the best.

He looked through every nook, and cranny of this place, but he still found nothing. Zaira had to have left something.

Slowly he took out the device before it morphed against his wrist like a bracelet. Then it lit up, leading through his entire body until he was entirely cloaked in the dark green armour.

Now he was Paradox. It didn’t matter, but it made him feel better every time he took on this new Persona. He wasn’t Keone. He wasn’t even Shadow, his SCOPE persona. He was truly himself.

Keone wondered what he could do with the second synthetic atom prototype. But it was destroyed by Zaira. He remembered looking through the car wreckage, trying to find it, but it was all gone.

And that’s what led him here, looking everywhere for the second prototype. It almost became a hobby.

He looked around the place before slicing his hands through the air. A small hole of black matter emerged in the air. There was nothing here. He pressed his finger to it, before a shock of lightning hit it and it closed back. Being able to tear through the fabric of reality seemed fun at first, but it got mundane.

“What would Zaira do?” he said, mumbling to himself repeatedly until it became automatic.

He scanned around the room, looking for something until his eyes landed on the vase. It was insignificant until it wasn’t.

Just a minute ago, that vase wasn’t there. He rushed to it before it suddenly vanished. He turned his head around again before it appeared next to him.

He then snapped his fingers and everything in the room went still and static. He walked over to it, and it sure stayed in its place. He grabbed it, but his hand went right through it like it was a hologram.

So this is how it was going to play?

He flicked his hand before the green electricity appeared again, he then hit his hand against it. It reverberated with a smattering of pixels, and Keone himself fell back, clutching his stinging hand.

He let out a chuckle. So this was how Rogue felt.

Good.

He picked himself back up again, and the vase was glitched to the side in wavy colours. He took his phone out and put it over the vase again. This time, it appeared as a message. Keone read it loud and clear.

If you’re reading this, it’s because you’ve weakened Paradox. Find this, and we can take Paradox down together one and for all.

Keone stifled a chuckle before it spilled out of him in a cackle. They thought they were serious? He held up his phone again in front of the vase before lines of code ran through it. He peered in and began making alterations to it before it disappeared into a red light.

He put his back and set his gaze forward before reaching back into his pocket. The helmet materialized as he brought the flask to his face before tilting his head back downing the rest of the liquid. It burned his throats yet cooled and soothed his insides softly. He gulped it down.

It prepared him because now there was someone who needed to be taken out.