"They have this whole freedom fighter slash anarchy mantra, meaning they're most likely going to use Enigma to enact some new world plan that falls under the PSEUDO agenda," Zaira explained to Eniola, who sat on Jay's lap in the living room.

Everyone else had retreated. Theo and Lucia headed back to the rooms, hopefully doing nothing and Iris was back looking over Keone again. Now Zaira had spent the better part of an hour breaking down Enigma to all of them again. It wasn't like Eniola could go anywhere else.

"That's going to cause chaos and anarchy," Eniola cut in. "If the entire world just loses authority for the first time, that is."

"How are we going to prevent that?" Jay asked. "They're going to hack the world."

"If Enigma has already been enacted, it can replace the electro-signals in the air and replace them with the universal atoms," Zaira explained. "If I can hack the changed electro-signals, and somehow get around them and encrypt them, I can hack through Enigma and take it down from the inside. I memorized the original code from front to back."

"And this can work?" Eniola asked. Zaira nodded.

"Then what do we do?" Jay asked.

"Something soon," Zaira reminded, and she tore her gaze away from them. "I won't be able to do this alone. I just need to get a read on Enigma before we do anything as a group. This might take between a couple of hours to some days, so pray, cross your fingers, or knock on wood that this works."

Then a door slammed loud in the hallway and Iris immediately ran out of the room, her chest rising and falling with every breath.

"What?" Jay said. "Is Keone awake?"

"No," Iris said before she faced the hallway again. "Theo! Lucia!"

"What?" Theo replied almost immediately and walked out of the room with Lucia, who followed behind him.

"Come!" Iris said, before she plopped down on a beanbag immediately, an image projected out of her eye.

"I was about to," Lucia mumbled.

Eniola focused on Iris's projected image, which was various newsfeeds from around the world that streamed live. Eniola peered forward with a hint of curiosity as Iris clicked on one from Australia.

"Hello, I'm Dina Hougham and we come to you with breaking news live from Sydney as the world descends into chaos," Dina said chaos thickly. "After the destruction of the Sydney dome arena, the Australian prime minister and 13 other leaders have died from natural causes all in 6 days. The Australian government and other forces are scrambling to take control of a country."

"Holy shit," Lucia mumbled. Fear struck Eniola's body.

"Cyber-security has all been threatened by an unknown force that ripples through the world," Dina continued, as photos ran beside her of chaos that filled the streets and bodies strewn across the floor. "We have reports that they have hacked 4 prisons in Australia and more in the world through to let dangerous criminals loose in the area. Human forces have been enacted as androids have been cyber-attacked to commit acts of terrorism and kill their owners. It's unknown where the pandemonium came from as no group has claimed responsibility and-"

Then at once, a thick explosion pierced through the air as crimson red blood sprayed across the back pane as Dina collapsed. Then the screen turned black.

Eniola's jaw dropped. How did the world go to this stage in a matter of hours? The world was going into pandemonium. How was this freedom? How was this liberation from oppression? How were people dying for no reason going to create a better world?

Eniola's hand flew to her mouth.

It was Enigma. Enigma. It was Kain. And he had to be stopped.

"It's official," Zaira admitted. "Enigma is set loose."

◣

Eniola took her once again two-hour shift again as she entered the room where Keone was inside again. Eniola hoped this time she would space out so that she didn't have to feel anything anymore. Guilt wrapped around her. It felt almost immoral to be hiding out somewhere safe in the Australian bush while people were dying because of Kain. She should've been strewn out for battle.

Because this was Eniola's fault. Had she never allied with Kain, he never would've gotten Enigma. She never would've killed Hyejin. Maybe Rogue still might've been in that stuffy ass van, but the rest of the world would be safe and sound.

Eniola walked up to the tank again and prepared once again to wait 2 hours to make sure that Keone didn't die. She looked down at him and analyzed his features. His skin didn't look as ashen as it did before and instead looked nice and tanned and he stopped looking like a corpse.

Eniola's eyes flew up to the screens again, and she almost jumped at the lack of red. The sports where his organs were practically white, without the light pink. Keone was living. Keone might survive with another day.

But maybe another day was too much. Eniola and her friends were now on a time crunch having to save the world from imminent destruction. She never thought she would truly need him again.

Eniola had to do something. Slowly, her hand rose before it touched the side of her head again. It was a while since she'd felt the electricity burn through her head. She'd almost forgotten Keone had shot her that day underneath the arena.

Eniola focused again and tried to see if she could somehow trigger the side of her head to do that glowy thing again. She squeezed her eyes shut and again and tried to focus on whatever energy had brought. Eniola opened one eye again. She felt the same. An exasperated sigh left her.

Eniola looked down at Keone again, as she ran her hand against the glass tank he was in. The only time the weird abilities had come up was when Keone had slipped himself into her mind and controlled her. That's what activated the lightning, and that's what killed Hyejin. Eniola gulped.

But Keone was comatose. He couldn't use her power on her if he didn't even know he was alive. Eniola closed her eyes and tried to focus again as she ran her hands up and down the glass tube Keone was kept inside of.

Then it was like her fingers had caught sparks. Eniola snapped her eyes open again and saw the green light that coated her fingers. Eniola immediately jumped away and removed her hand and shook it even though it wasn't hot. Her eyes looked at Keone again and heavy breaths escaped her. Something just happened.

Eniola put her fingers back on the tube again slowly as it might explode. But it didn't. The same spark erupted again and warmed her fingers at the touch. The longer she kept it on, the more she drifted it across the glass, then the spark travelled to Eniola's hands. Was this doing something to Keone?

Greenlight sparked in the corner of Eniola's vision before the light that was on her hand encased her entire arm. Eniola yelped in being expectant of pain. But nothing happened. It tingled her arm like an electric tickle.

And then it sparked again, and the light spread from Eniola's arm and over onto the tube in a ripple of light. Eniola's eyes widened, and she yelped again as the light took over again. She expected the entire room to light up, but the light disappeared at once.

"Please take the patient out of the tank," the crisp AI voice surprised Eniola. She turned over onto the screens again, which glowed green once. The outline of his body was simply white again on the AI screens. All of his statistics were normal again.

And so the green glow went away from her head. Eniola looked at her hands again, like they were unfamiliar to her. They looked the same, but they felt so foreign. Her gazes snapped to Keone. She'd healed him. Or at least sped up the process.

LIFE LEVEL: HIGH

CHANCE OF LIVING: 100%

Eniola immediately went into the corner of the room, where someone had put a towel and some extra clothes just in case he wanted to wake up. She was afraid they'd go unused. Eniola slipped out the towel and spread it out before she pressed open the tube, which rose with a hiss.

Eniola reached into the corner before taking a long towel and checking the pod. She found the opening and typed it open before the glass covering hissed open. Keone was now exposed to the world immersed in the gel.

Then his eyes snapped open and revealed the vibrant green that pierced into Eniola. A chill ran through her.

"Hey," Eniola whispered. She narrowed her eyebrows. Why did she say 'hey'? But what else was she supposed to say?

Keone looked disoriented and confused. Should Eniola update him? By the way, Enigma got stolen, and you almost died and we almost let you. By the way, Zaira, the girl you thought you killed, is alive. Welcome back, buddy.

Keone pushed himself up, using his palms before he rose slowly and emerged from the clear gel that fell down his chest before backing into the tank. Hesitantly, Eniola stepped forward before she raised a hand and combed the gel out of his smooth hair. She wrinkled her nose at the strong antiseptic. His eyes met hers.

"Do you know who you are?" Eniola asked before she stepped back and rubbed her hand on the hoodie. Why did she do that?

"My name is Keone Palea and I'm 20 and I've kicked your ass many times," he grunted, and Eniola stepped back again, as disgust coated her face. Keone smirked.

"Don't get so worked up," he said before he swung his legs up and out so that they hung over the tank, splashing more gel everywhere. Then Keone stepped down and onto his two feet. He slightly wobbled. Eniola immediately ran to balance him.

"Take easy steps," Eniola advised. Something in her chest told her that this was going to turn weird. She moved away, and he stood on his own two feet. Eniola stepped back before she turned away and handed him the towel. Heat seeped into her cheeks.

"Why are you acting like this is the first time you've seen me like this?" Keone purred.

Repulsion developed in her stomach. "Calm down, you've barely been alive for 5 minutes."

But despite her mind screaming at her, Eniola's gaze travelled to his body. He'd already wrapped the towel again around his waist. Her first thought must've been that Paradox was a workout. The muscles around his back had turned broad and toned before he slightly turned, revealing his sculpted chest and abdomen that curved down beneath the towel. His gaze caught her again. She quickly looked away heat flushing through her body.

A sudden hand gripped against her wrist and turned Eniola back. She whimpered as she faced Keone again, who looked down at her with gritted teeth. Images of the past ran through her mind again.

"Where did the computers go?" Keone asked as panic seeped into his face.

"You know," Eniola hissed, as she tried to pull away. He only held on tighter.

"No, I don't," he groaned.

"They made Enigma," Eniola revealed. "They have control of it now, so we're essentially powerless. The people who battled you underneath the ground are the PSEUDO. They're led by Kain Harrison. I'm sure you know him. They took both computers, and they almost killed you."

At once, he let go of her and buried his fingers through his hair and breathed out. "So they're gone?"

"Gone," Eniola said. "Zaira's trying to find them now, and she's hit a bit of a slump. We hoped you could tell us what to do."

Keone froze for a moment and Eniola raised an eyebrow until she realized why. "She's alive?"

Eniola chuckled. "Where did you think the other computer came from? Zaira's been alive, and she's not thrilled with you. I guess killing someone and then forcing them on the run does that to you."

"Shit," he mumbled. "If I'd known, I'd go after her and not you."

"Wait," Eniola said. "You thought we had the computer?"

Keone simply nodded. Eniola breathed. This entire time he didn't know and was going after the computer. It was Zaira. That would've saved them a crap ton of time.

"Why the hell did this PSEUDO group steal the computers?" Keone suddenly yelled.

"Because they believe in some anarchist freedom thing," Eniola revealed. "Ever since they've made Enigma, the world has been in chaos. And you're no better than them."

"So then, why did you save me if I'm such a shitty person?" Keone groaned as he looked up at her bitterly.

"It would be wrong to just leave you there to die if you were still alive," Eniola explained. "We knew we could save you. And besides, you pose no real threat now that you're not Paradox."

He grunted.

"Can I ask you something?" Eniola said. Keone looked up at her and nodded.

"Why did you become Paradox?" Eniola asked. "Why did you try to kill Zaira? Why did you kill Howie?"

Keone shrugged. "I don't know."

Eniola raised an eyebrow. "You almost destroyed the world on multiple occasions because you were bored? In a playful mood?"

"I don't know!" Keone yelled, which cut Eniola off. Eniola stood closer to the door.

"Fear me," Keone said in a low voice. "Be scared because I fear myself. I'm scared that I can't fucking control my mind."

"I'm confused."

"I'm an addict."

It was like some invisible force of surprise almost pushed Eniola back. What did he just say? And Eniola asked that. "I said I'm an addict," Keone muttered. "I drink, I drink, and I drink to where I don't know what's real or not. There I said it. Now react."

Eniola followed his words again. It was like time wasn't real anymore. Keone held glassy eye contact with her. Eniola wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come out. The surprise held her in its place until Eniola realized it had been under her nose this entire time.

Every time they kissed, Eniola could distinctly remember he tasted bitter and burning. There were moments when he didn't act right where he seemed like he was out of his mind. Like something controlled him and he wasn't sure. And there was Paradox. It made little sense that someone would just want to change the world in that way.

Eniola realized she'd been risking her life over a drunk fantasy.

"Say something," Keone mumbled. "I know you want to."

"Wow."

Keone turned to face her fully again. "That's all."

"Yeah," Eniola replied softly.

"Eniola," he began quietly. "Do you want to know the reason I did all of this? I might as well say it."

"What?"

"SCOPE was the only thing that mattered to me," he began. "It's where I felt like was the one place I truly belonged."

Me too. Eniola said inside her mind faintly. Keone's gaze snapped up to hers again. Eniola gulped. He could hear that. Eniola almost forgot.

"I didn't belong at home with my Dad who cared about selling off what's left of our state to some neo-colonizers," Keone spat. "And I didn't belong anywhere else. I belonged to SCOPE. I wanted to be inside of it as much as I wanted to be. I needed it."

"So where did Zaira come in?" Eniola asked.

"I met her on a Standford tour," Keone revealed. "I found out that she stole my Dad's donation to the university to let me in and used it in her labs. And then I found out what she was doing, and I immediately thought that I could bring SCOPE to life. Then we allied."

"You blackmailed her," Eniola corrected. "We all saw footage of your first meeting."

"Who showed you that?" Keone asked, eyes wide.

"Vanessa," Eniola revealed. "One of your little henchmen. Speaking of Vanessa, what happened to everyone in ATLSCOPE?"

Keone sighed. "After last year, I didn't have the power to keep them anymore. So we disbanded and they're just all out there."

"Oh," Eniola mumbled.

They sat there in silence for 5 minutes. All of Eniola's feelings attacked each other in an internal war. Part of her wanted to feel repulsed at Keone for everything he did. But part of her pitied him.

"You're exhausting," Eniola sighed.

"Really?" Keone said. "I've always known that."

Eniola sighed again and averted eye contact with him.

"You have my power now," Keone suddenly said. Eniola turned to him abruptly. "Your kind of like Paradox now."

"No," Eniola denied. "I'm not like you."

"Did you think I couldn't feel myself being revived?" Keone suddenly said as he moved closer to her. Eniola backed away until she hit the tank again. A chill slithered down her spine.

"You are like me," Keone whispered low into her ear. She tried her best to move away, but he had cornered her in place. Then his hand gripped onto her forearm and pulled it up. Eniola yelped.

All Keone did was massage her arm tenderly, keeping tense eye contact with her. A green light sparked against her arm. Eniola jumped, but Keone still held her down. Slowly, the veins running down her arm glowed green at his fiery touch.

Can you feel that? Keone whispered low and invasively in her mind.

"Stop," Eniola moaned, as she held herself at guard. Eniola's arm tingled at his every touch and the green light peaked at her vision.

You know what I've been thinking, Keone growled in her head. I want to kiss you.

"You can't," Eniola sighed.

His hands encircled Eniola's hips, then slowly rose into her hoodie until they reached her bare waist inside. As she tried to suppress a moan, he moved in closer to her lips, holding his head a few inches away from hers.

Eniola hated this. She hated being violated and being used. But Keone cornered her. This time, there was no one to save her.

Keone's lips encased hers, and immediately his hands moved around her bare torso. Eniola hated the way her knees grew weak, and he invaded her senses.

Eniola hated the way she titled her head into his and the way her stomach blossomed into alluring heat. And she hated the way she moaned when his tongue parted into her mouth.

I knew you liked this.

At once, Keone lifted her effortlessly into the air before he plopped her down onto the quiet glass of the suspension tank. A squeal escaped her. Eniola then grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him close. Her mind screamed at her to stop, but she couldn't help but remember how he tasted violently addictive.

"Stop," Eniola said, as she pulled away from him.

Keone's vibrant green eyes pierced into her. Then he grabbed Eniola again by the throat and pulled her into another kiss again. She yelped again.

Why? Don't you want to see how good I could make you feel? Beg for me.

“Keone,” Eniola shouted in the quick moment she pulled away, but Keone grabbed her back.

Then at once, his hands left her back and onto her thighs before she suddenly forced them apart and onto his hips. A scream tore through Eniola's throat, but another forceful kiss stifled it. Her heart beat in her chest, not because of excitement but by the fear that carved its way into Eniola's throat.

Then he reached for the waistband of his towel with his other hand.

"Stop!" Eniola screamed and pressed her legs together before she rammed them into Keone's chest. He immediately stumbled back before he collided with the floor.

Disgust coiled into anger and flooded through Eniola like a boiling wave. Before he could recoup, Eniola launched herself from the tank and onto a groaning Keone. Then she reached behind her pocket and pulled something out.

It was the knife Theo gave her.

Eniola immediately pressed the tip onto his neck, and he craned his head away.

"This is just to remind you that your organs just started working again," Eniola hissed. "I told you to stop and you didn't. If you try that again, I will kill you."

"You wouldn't," Keone spluttered.

"I would," Eniola hissed. "I've fantasised about it for years now and I will do it."

Keone simply smirked.

"I bet you like this," Eniola said bitterly. "You like pain. You like giving it and feeling it. That's why you drink because you want to punish yourself. That's why you're lonely and hollow because you like it gives you an excuse to manipulate people."

"Oh no, you've caught me," Keone said. "Now that you've figured out what you already know, what are you going to do?"

Eniola released the knife from his neck, and he sighed in relief. Eniola slipped off of his body and got up and turned to face the door.

"You're going to do nothing?" Keone said. "You're weak."

"I'm sorry," Eniola replied. "But despite how miserable you look and seem, I don't feel bad for you."