Ever since Keone had awakened from his close-to-death slumber, it had been nothing but low spirits around. He sat in the corner with his knees hugged to his chest like a punished kid, his gaze pierced onto all of them. Eniola sat on the other side, as far as she could, huddling away on a beanbag. Her skin felt icy, yet hot when she thought of what he tried to pull today. Eniola hated to imagine what would happen if he succeeded.

Lucia had managed to not talk, despite always talking. Instead, she looked over at him with an icy glare, like the one Zaira gave. Iris did her best to ignore him by talking to Theo about her newest cyborg update, even though Iris never talked about that kind of stuff. Jay pretended to be twiddling with his fingers and Zaira stayed in the other corner, hacking away to save the world.

"I was told I needed to be awake because you all wanted me to spill my secrets," Keone finally spoke. "So, where is the interrogation?"

"We've been waiting for you to talk," Iris said. "What do you know about Enigma?"

"I could ask you the same," Keone said. Iris swapped him with a side-eye.

"This is not the time to be rhetorical!" Lucia suddenly shouted. "What should we know?"

"I'm not being rhetorical," Keone replied. "I truly asking Iris what she knows about Enigma. You'd be surprised at what she knows. Right, Iris?"

Iris stiffened before the side-eye got wider. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Really?" Keone said, lingering on his words. "It's weird. You knew about Enigma this entire time, yet you're around here running around the world acting like you don't know about it."

Eniola raised an eyebrow.

"They don't know, do they?" Keone asked. Eniola immediately rose from the slump on the beanbag.

"Know what?" Lucia spoke up, turning to Iris in curious horror.

"Yeah," Zaira replied. "How would you know about Enigma?"

Iris paled more than she already was and averted her gaze to the floor, as all of them put their gaze on her. There's no way Iris could've known about Enigma. Iris wouldn't keep such a secret like that. Keone was lying. He always did. Right?

"Since you won't talk, I will," Keone said before he cleared his throat. "Iris here helped me become Paradox."

"No, I didn't!" Iris suddenly snapped, facing Keone with wide eyes. A gasp came from Eniola.

"Hold on, hold on," Jay cut in. "What? I think I might've spaced out."

Iris swallowed back a nervous gulp while Keone smirked at her. "Tell them what you did, Iris."

"Yeah," Theo agreed.

Iris sucked in a breath. "It's true. I knew about Paradox and Enigma and year before happened."

"No way," Jay mumbled.

"How?" Eniola asked.

Iris gestured awkwardly before starting. "Before I talk, I didn't choose to get involved with this. It just happened. And that was because Keone blackmailed me."

"Okay," Eniola whispered in relief. "That makes more sense."

"But explain?" Theo continued. He traded a glare with Keone.

"Two years ago, I first figured out I could use being a cyborg to my back when Keone was in Rogue. And then I used these abilities to buy a rare power-up from the SCOPE. Not my proudest moment. Anyway, Keone saw me and threatened to tell me if I didn't do what he wanted."

"Which was what?" Theo asked. Keone denied anything.

"Do it again," Iris said. "Steal more power-ups. I did it a little, so much that it was under the table. Then it became extending the time for original power-ups and using my abilities to create power-ups that weren't in the game."

"Did you create 'Play God'?" Eniola instantly asked.

Iris nodded. "That's why I could hack into it easily in the first place and manipulate it. I helped Keone create ALTSCOPE, and I didn't even realize it. I just thought it was to help us win easily."

"You used Iris' cyborg abilities than had the nerve to call us out last year?" Lucia snapped. "You're not okay."

"I know," Keone replied.

"Keone told me he wanted me to hack something bigger," Iris informed. "He told me that there was a friend who needed help to get out of some legal trouble. Keone needed me to use my abilities to help him out. He created a specific program that modelled what I can do and then he used it on Enigma."

"How did you know?" Jay asked.

"When we first encountered Paradox," Iris said. "I noticed that the landscape and the signals were all similar. I didn't want to say anything, but I knew it was the signals I created."

"For Keone," Lucia replied. "So you knew Keone was Paradox and knew about ALTSCOPE and you didn't say anything?"

Iris sucked in a sigh and opened her mouth to say something, but the words fell short and she swallowed back a gulp.

A stab of betrayal hit Eniola as she coiled back into the couch. How could Iris know about this and not tell anyone? She let all of them run around crazily, trying to figure out what Paradox's next move could be, while she knew, and she helped him. Keone had nothing but a smug look on his face that Eniola longed to slap off.

"This changes everything," Theo mumbled. "Do you realize how different things could've been?"

"I was scared!" Iris snapped suddenly. "I knew just as much as you did! He didn't tell me anything!"

She sat back again, her face red before she buried it into her hands and ran it into her multi-coloured hair.

Eniola sat back. She wanted to be mad, but Eniola kept her secrets. The weird abilities that came from the side of her head and what Keone had done to her in the suspension tank room were an example. But somewhere, the inkling to be mad still lingered. Had Iris told them, they might've been in just a slightly different position, even if danger was still a danger. They could've been one step ahead of Keone instead of 5 steps back.

Eniola could just live life as normal.

"We're all here now, so you still need my help," Keone cut it.

"You knew how to work Enigma in different ways, which means you can help us destroy it and find flaws in its system," Zaira said. "When we're done with this entire thing, we're going to turn you into the authorities and let them take over."

Keone simply looked down.

"Do you feel no shame?" Zaira hissed.

"I try not to," Keone said. "I do what I have to. We all do."

Zaira glared at him once again. She once again coiled into her corner.

Then at once, all the lights shut off. Eniola jumped, before her gaze trained on the ceiling. The lights were probably all old and rusty.

"Is everyone okay?" Theo suddenly asked, wading through the dark.

"I'm fine," Zaira said first before a flurry of responses came to him. "This house is old, anyway. It might come back on, it might not."

"I hope for the first," Jay said.

"Don't we all," Lucia replied.

Eniola sighed into her seat. She wasn't usually afraid of the dark, but somehow it felt unnerving right now. It was like something ominous loomed over her and wouldn't reveal itself.

"Guys," Iris began. Eniola turned to her. "Something just disputed my mainframe. It's a video and I think you're going to want to see this."

Eniola moved closer to the center of the living room before a screen projected out of Iris' eye. Eniola's breath hitched.

It was Kain.

"Woah, Woah Woah!" Jay shouted. "What the hell is happening?"

"Greetings, people of the world," Kain began. "You may know me as the world's most infamous cyber-terrorist, a criminal, a fugitive, but let me tell you I am none of these. I'm Kain Harrison, and for the last 8 years, I've been fighting for freedom and liberation from the oppressive governments of the world. Right at this moment, the world as all of you know it will change for the better."

The six of them crowded around the screen further as if it might run away. Kain's sitting there wearing all black and sitting in front of the PSEUDO's logo.

"Is it live?" Theo asked.

"Yeah," Iris realized.

Kain reached down before he pulled out the familiar black computer. "This might look like a computer, but it is called Enigma and it will change our lives. Enigma can disrupt the physics in the world and create an ideal world linked back to the holder. It's a phenomenal device of our invention that we will use to create world peace."

"At least give me credit," Zaira mumbled. For a second, everyone glared at her.

"World hunger, climate change, the wealth gap, and all inequality will be gone when Enigma takes in the rule of the world," Kain continued with passion in his eyes. “Governments will fall and oppression will be gone. All power will go back to the people. No longer will there be governments oppressing citizens. You have the freedom to live the way you should. Now I ask you to join me, help me usher in this new era of peace."

Then the video closed abruptly.

For a moment, a dark veil of silence cut across the room for a good time. Eniola finally released the breath she'd been holding for so long. It was real, and it was happening. They set Enigma loose into the world moment. And there was nothing they could do to stop it from happening.

"So that's the owner of Enigma now?" Keone scoffed cut in, then scoffed.

"Guys," Iris began, ignoring him. "The power's out."

"We already knew that," Zaira said. "I don't know if it's going to come back or not."

"No," Iris emphasized. "It's out in the entire world. The whole world has gone dark."

"Hold on, what ?" Lucia said.

"I can't connect to the broader world," Iris revealed. "There are no more electro-signals in the air. The only signals are Enigma. That means that power has gone out everywhere."

Eniola stayed silent. That was impossible. Right? The world losing its technology just put a dark veil of silence everywhere.

"It's because of Enigma," Keone said. "It must've harnessed some type of power and caused a worldwide blackout. Kain did something."

"It's going to be way harder to hack," Zaira said. "I was almost done with the copy of the source code. It might even be too late."

"We can't just be like that," Iris said, but Zaira averted her gaze away from her.

Keone spoke. "I know as much as you do, Zaira. I can't help you."

"We should've left you to drown," Zaira muttered. Keone pricked up. Even Eniola shuddered at the ease with which Zaira said it. Everyone turned to her.

"What?" Zaira said. "He killed me, even though I didn't die. I'm surprised someone as sadistic as you is surprised someone wants to do the same. Do you know that I loved my family? I had a life, and now you've forced me to go on the run. So yeah, don't be surprised if I tell you I wished we left you underneath the sewers."

Keone sat there, silent. Iris cut in. "This isn't the time for negativity. We have to focus on the mission."

"You have no right to talk!" Zaira shouted. "You're responsible for this too, Iris, so don't act like a little perfect saint because you aren't."

Iris stood back and swallowed as Zaira clenched her fist. Eniola stood back to let the thick canopy of tension hanging in the air. Everyone's eyes trained on both of them.

"We can't be fighting like this," Theo muttered. "The best thing to do is-

Eniola jumped at the loud banging on the wooden door. Eniola immediately whipped her head around to it. The banging continued like the person on the other side was out for blood. Maybe they were. Eniola didn't know who it was.

"Who is that?" Keone said quietly.

"Help me!" A creaky, childlike voice screamed out from the other side. Eniola only tensed further.

"Hold on," Zaira mumbled, as she walked up to the door before anyone could warn her. For a moment, everyone's suspended in a moment as the rapping grew louder and louder. Once she opened it, a tiny figure fell into her arms. Eniola jumped.

It was little girl. She had dark skin and coiled hair tied into an offside bun. Dirt and crimson stained her white dress and her bare feet. A permanent look of shock froze on her bloodshot face. She's probably not older than 10.

"It's a little girl," Zaira said, holding the girl tight in her arms before she slowly crouched to the floor with her. Theo immediately ran to the door and closed it before looking cautiously. Eniola stepped forward. "Did the blackout scare you? What's your name?"

The little girl opens her mouth to speak, but nothing but a panic squeak came out. Zaira brushes a hand on the side of her face. "E-Elisa."

"Elisa," Zaira soothed. "What happened?"

Lucia immediately went over to the kitchen and filled a cup with tap water. She came over and titled t down to Elisa’s mouth. Elisa drank it with a gulp.

"I can find my parents," Elisa croaked. "These big men came to our house and started breaking things and then I ran away."

"Jesus Christ," Eniola sighed. That meant that Enigma had already taken its course. The people were reacting to their newfound freedom.

Eniola couldn't help but feel negative after freaking out over a little girl. Eniola asked. "How did you find this place?"

"I ran away because my dad's told me to," Elisa choked. "Then I found you."

"We'll find your parents," Iris cooed. "Okay?"

"Okay," she croaked. Immediately, Jay got up before going into the room and coming out with a blanket in his hand. Zaira released her for a bit before wrapping it around the little girl.

Eniola couldn't help but turn her head around and look at Keone, who looked at the floor. How many times had he run away from his house?

"Guys," Keone began. Everyone now faced him. "I know how we can take down Enigma and gain power. The generator for the suspension tank can create power for the devices Zaira has."

"But how will we take down Enigma?" Lucia asked.

Keone sighed. "Enigma is perfect and has no flaws in it, but I have a feeling you can hack something into it that feels like a flaw so that it messes with Enigma. Then you exploit that weak point and hack through it to take it down from the inside. That's how I got the first computer in my imprint. I introduced the flaw."

"Using me," Iris finished in a realization.

Zaira raised an eyebrow. "That can work. And if it does, that means we have a way to take down Enigma. I'll get started."