The morning sun painted the sky in bright, golden light. John's eyes slowly opened, heavy and groggy.
He had barely slept. All night he had tossed and turned, pacing around his room and talking to Mark. In the end, he had only managed two hours of rest.
He desperately wanted to leave — to find the others and apologize. That was, if they would even accept his apology.
But escaping HEX would be far harder than getting in considering his current position.
"I need to go back, Mark," John said.
"Yes, sir. That is the best option left," Mark replied.
John groaned. "I was asking for suggestions…"
"Getting out of here is relatively easy thanks to your superior physical strength compared to most of the population. However, the atrocious acts you've committed will immediately make you a target for HEX. You will most likely end up with a bounty on your head."
"Yeah, I know that…" John muttered, his eyes still heavy with exhaustion.
"And no, I haven't forgotten the suggestion you made yesterday — insisting on killing Hannah. It's just…"
"You're afraid Sovereign won't believe you," Mark finished for him.
"But I mean… it's not like we have any other options, do we?" John asked.
A long silence followed.
"It's either that, or you try to sneak your way out of here, sir."
---
"Sir, John would like to see you," Ashley informed.
Sovereign glanced up, one eyebrow raised. "John?"
He set his wine glass down. "Bring him in."
"Right away, sir," Ashley said before turning to fetch John.
John walked into the room, heart pounding, breathing fast, and covered in sweat. He was terrified.
Sovereign didn't turn around immediately. He remained seated, gazing out at the city skyline, simply waiting for John to speak first.
"I would like to hunt down and kill Hannah," John finally said after a long, awkward silence.
Sovereign slowly spun his chair around to face him. "Why?"
"To take another step forward in destroying everything. That's why," John answered.
Sovereign stared at him for a moment. "And if I don't allow it?"
John's expression hardened. He clenched his fists, his breathing steadied, and the sweating stopped. "Then I'll do it anyway."
A faint smile curved Sovereign's lips. "Then do it. I allow you."
John turned and walked out of the room. "That was a success," he muttered.
"Indeed it was, sir," Mark confirmed.
---
"Well... What now?" Alfie Sr. said.
"Yeah. We might just be wasting our time here," Mitch added.
"Give it time, lads," Benjamin said, taking a sip of his coffee. "We're trying to think here. Besides, what can we do with Knox on our tail? Cunt's stronger than all of us combined."
Benjamin looked at Hannah's expression and quickly added, "But that doesn't mea—"
"You're right," Hannah cut in. "I've known it for a long time. I'm outclassed by the high ranks in HEX. Don't feel sorry for me."
Benjamin took another sip. "Right…"
"I've always wanted to ask this," Mitch said, pulling up a chair beside Hannah. "Knox, John, and the others who outclass you — are they strong because of physical training or something else?"
"When someone working at HEX HQ gets promoted to executive — which is extremely difficult — they are injected with an enhanced version of Composite V. It makes them vastly stronger than everyone below their rank," Hannah explained.
"That's… nice and brutal at the same time," Mitch muttered.
"But why?" Milo jumped in. "What's the point of making executives so much stronger?"
"Their job isn't just their specialty. Executives are Sovereign's most valuable and powerful soldiers. Or to him, they're probably just assets," Hannah said.
"They're the ones sent to clean up missions that regular rich people can't complete. They gather information and bring it back to Sovereign. Sovereign is incredibly strong — no doubt about that — but a king is always a lazy king."
"But John… he's different. Extraordinary. Once someone receives the enhanced version of Composite V, that's usually their limit. They can't grow much stronger. But John kept getting stronger every day, every hour, every minute."
"At this rate, he might one day be able to challenge Sovereign if his power keeps growing exponentially."
"So that's why we need him, huh?" Milo said.
"Is there a rank above executive?" Aya asked.
"Yes, the CEO of HEX HQ. But they're just like the rest of us — no Composite V enhancement. Their only job is to manage and operate everything inside and outside of HEX. They hold authority over everyone except Sovereign, of course," Hannah explained.
"Do you know why Sovereign is so much stronger than everyone else?" Diego asked. "You said people injected with the enhanced Composite V can't grow stronger. Is Sovereign like John, where he can still improve?"
"Not really. But if I had to guess, he probably took a super-enhanced version of Composite V. Though I doubt that's realistic — scientists might be able to create something that powerful and use it on themselves," Hannah replied.
"Can't Sovereign just limit their resources to make it impossible?" Diego asked.
"Then they wouldn't be able to release any new products. Besides, Sovereign didn't create Composite V. He only funded it," Hannah said.
---
Thud. Thud. Thud. Someone knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" Knox asked.
"It's me, man…"
Knox sighed. "Come in."
Nixon entered, carrying a drink. He sat down beside him. "I'm sorry for what I said the other day, Knox."
"It's alright. I was just in a really bad fucking mood yesterday," Knox replied.
Nixon exhaled slowly. "So, how are you holding up? Feeling any better?"
"Couldn't get any worse… What do I do, Nixon? I can't just lie here in this bed doing nothing," Knox said.
"Hell, even I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing, let alone give someone else advice," Nixon scoffed.
Knox looked at his hand and clenched it tightly. "You know Hannah?"
"The one who betrayed us twice?" Nixon asked.
"Yeah, her."
"What about her?" Nixon took a sip of his drink.
"She…" Knox groaned in frustration. "I hate her with every ounce of my soul. I want to kill her, Nixon. I want to kill her so badly."
"She's escaped death way too many fucking times… It's bullshit!" Knox shouted.
"We can work together to kill her and everyone with her, Knox. Like brothers do," Nixon said.
---
The Maggots were scattered around, chatting quietly among themselves while waiting for John.
"And then remember that one time when—" Junior stopped mid-sentence when he saw the shocked look on Alfie Sr.'s face. "Dad?"
"Holy shit…"
Junior turned to see what his father was staring at.
It was John Harper.