Haywire Ranger

Chapter 10: Flying High

Then, he put both hands on either side of Haywire's face, stared deeply into his eyes with fierce determination, and said, "Do you know who Endurance is?"

Haywire's frown furrowed and his pupils shrank drastically.

"You do. Who is it? Is it a 'he', a 'she', or... what?"

Haywire whined as if he had been hurt.

"If only you could talk with words," Sky whispered and let go of his face. He kicked a black pebble, which splashed into the lake and sank. "I believe this Endurance knows who I am and calls me the 'Entity' for some reason. I don't know how but Endurance said it knew I had brought you down the other night and forced a cut on your communications, also freeing you. Is Endurance who I suspect it is? The one behind the swarm's aggressiveness? Is it the one who's implanted those behaviour-monitoring chips and weaponised you?"

A low-pitched chirp came out from Haywire's beak, followed by a rather shame-filled bowing of his head.

"I see. I'm not wrong, I suppose. From your reaction." Sky clenched his teeth and fists. "Endurance seeks vengeance against Anti-Ageing Inc., and now me. It thinks I'm defending the company's lack of ethics, but I've got no idea what that is about. Do you know anything? Is there anything you can tell me about Endurance?"

Haywire raised his head and stared at Sky deeply in the eyes. A shrill cry echoed from the depths of his throat to the sky. With a claw, it withdrew the biggest pebbles until the sand below was exposed. Then, it drew a couple of wavy, intertwined lines on the dark sand.

When he was done, Sky remained frozen, staring at the lines with a furrowed brow. His feet were rooted on the spot as he whispered with bewilderment, "What is that?"

Haywire whined loudly as it took a step backwards and growled at the sign he had just drawn.

"I don't understand," Sky said, trying to make an effort to guess what Haywire was trying to say.

He approached the drawing and squatted down in front of it. Bringing a hand closed to it, he watched Haywire intently.

"What if I touch it? Will something happen?"

When his hand was one inch away from the lines, Haywire growled even louder—at the lines, not at him.

"Interesting," Sky said, retrieving his hand. It's something with this shape and it's meant to harm people somehow. Is this something related to Endurance's power, or Mrs Evergreen's? "What if I mention another name? Mrs Khali Evergreen. What does she mean to you?"

Another growl ensued.

"So, you know her. And you despise her even though you're not under Endurance's control now." That's food for thought, I guess.

A sigh left his lips.

"I met her today during the lunch break," he admitted. "She doesn't seem like a bad person." If you don't count that sly smirk of hers.

Haywire made a series of disapproving chirps as it balanced its head. It turned around and lay down in a grumpy mood, giving Sky his back.

"I don't know her that much, really. You think I'm wrong, right?"

Haywire let out a puffing sound and stared at Sky from the corner of his eye.

"That wasn't the worst of the day, anyway," he added as he came close to Haywire and sat down beside him. "To make matters worse, everybody's talking behind my back. And they brought up my father's achievements in History class—as if I haven't got enough pressure on my shoulders."