Sovereign was sipping his luxury wine while staring out at the beautiful night sky when three knocks interrupted him.
"Come in."
Knox and Nixon walked in. Sovereign immediately sensed something different — Knox's gaze was steadier, more resolute than before.
A faint smile curved his lips. "What is it?"
"We've heard that Conrad's group failed to retrieve the stolen assets," Knox said.
"And what about it?"
Knox's gaze remained fixed on Sovereign. "We'd like to carry on Conrad's mission."
"Request declined. Neither of you are suitable for completing the mission," Sovereign declared.
Nixon stepped forward. "Why not? We're more than prepared."
"First," Sovereign lifted a finger, "neither of you are strong enough to take John down."
"Second," he lifted another, "you don't even have powers. How do you expect to find them?"
They fell silent, unable to immediately counter those facts.
Sovereign's gaze sharpened on Knox. "You're not really trying to carry on Conrad's mission, are you?"
Knox was caught off guard.
Sovereign chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I figured. You're not stupid enough to believe you'd actually finish the job. So tell me the truth."
"That is the truth."
"Do you remember what happened last time, Knox?" Sovereign stared straight into his eyes.
Knox took a deep breath. "S-Stop trying to change the subject!"
"Change the subject?" Sovereign narrowed his eyes. "You just lied to me. I'm simply reminding you of the consequences."
Sovereign stood up. His shadow loomed over both brothers.
He stepped closer to Knox. "And who are you to raise your voice at… me?"
Knox broke. "I… I'm sorry, sir," he stammered.
There it was again — that strong, irritating scent of fear.
Sovereign groaned. "Sorry for what? You're trying to prove me wrong, then do it."
He gripped Knox's shoulder tightly, almost crushing it. Knox quietly groaned in pain as the grip tightened even further.
"Let him go."
Sovereign turned his gaze to Nixon. "Finally, the older brother speaks."
"We know Conrad's powers are extremely unstable after taking that beating from John. It'd be better to send us instead of wasting more time."
Sovereign loosened his grip on Knox and slowly walked over to Nixon.
"Yes, but once Conrad recovers, we'll have a near-guaranteed chance of finding John."
"You're not thinking straight."
Knox's head snapped toward his brother. Even he couldn't believe Nixon had said that to Sovereign.
"What did you say?" Sovereign stepped even closer.
"I said you're not thinking straight," Nixon replied, standing his ground. "We're trying to help you here, not challenge you. You're giving John and his allies more time to move or form strategies."
Sovereign smiled, then let out a light laugh. "And what if you fail the mission?"
"Then so be it. We all fail in life. Even you. I'm not saying we'll surely succeed, but I'm also not saying we're guaranteed to fail."
Sovereign tilted his head. "Shouldn't both of you be… punished?"
"No," Nixon said. "We won't come back completely empty-handed. We'll return with at least something that will help you locate John faster and easier."
Nixon stepped back. "But that is all up to your orders, sir. We have no authority over you."
"I would allow you to carry on his mission… except that's not what you're really going for."
Sovereign turned back to Knox. "So let me ask you again. What is your true mission?"
"We want to kill Hannah, sir," Knox answered.
"Oh? Is this some kind of arch-nemesis thing?"
Knox nodded.
Sovereign walked back to his throne and exhaled. "I'll give you both a new mission. Eliminate Hannah."
Knox and Nixon glanced at each other. "Yes, sir," they said in unison.
---
Conrad groaned as he tried desperately to activate his powers, only for his vision to blur after every attempt.
"Dammit!" he shouted in frustration.
Conrad scoffed. "I'm gonna kill you, Duncan, you son of a bitch."
"Sir, you've been doing this for four hours now. Don't you think you should take a break?" an employee suggested, clearly concerned.
"A break?" Conrad turned around sharply. "I need this! If I can't use my powers, then what use am I to Sovereign?"
The employee stayed silent and simply nodded.
"What do we do about The Phantom, sir? Police forces have constantly been losing track of him despite using nearly every locating device possible," the employee added.
"I don't care. Get out."
The employee cleared her throat. "My apologies, sir. But as the Executive Director of Tactical Operations, you should absolutely care. We are in severe need of your help."
Conrad sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry. Where was he last spotted?"
"Boulder, Colorado."
"Is there a specific location?"
"Unfortunately not, sir."
"Well, there's not much I can do right now," Conrad exhaled. "Alright, deploy more robots and drones. Make sure he doesn't get any breathing room."
"You got it, sir."
As the employee turned to leave, Conrad called out, "Hold on!"
The employee peeked back in. "Yes?"
"Has the number of kills increased?"
"No, sir. It still remains at twelve."
Conrad gave a thumbs up. "Alright, you can go."
---
John, Hannah, and Duncan were all leaning against the wall, bored and unsure what to do.
Suddenly, John began groaning in pain.
"Woah!" Duncan jumped in surprise.
"Hey, you alright? What's happening?" Hannah asked.
"Agh! Why is it so painful?!"
Hannah was confused. "What is so painful?"
John started seeing through walls, through his own hand, through objects. When he looked at Hannah, he saw things he wasn't supposed to see.
He groaned louder as his senses began to overload him.
He could hear cockroaches crawling, water dripping, their heartbeats, even their eyelids blinking.
Then came the smells — spiders, dead rats, sweat, and everything else.
Hannah slowly backed away as John's eyes began glowing an extremely bright red. Suddenly, two powerful laser beams blasted from his eyes and smashed into the concrete ceiling, burning straight through it like butter.
Hannah acted fast. She pinned John's head to the ground, forcing it to the side to prevent the beams from shooting upward and revealing their location.
"Whatever's happening, try to stop it!" Hannah shouted.
Finally, John stopped screaming. The lasers disappeared. His eyes were steaming with a faint red glow.
Duncan panted. "What the fuck was that…?"