*Naomi's POV continues here. 😊
The fluorescent lights in the prison's corridor gave a sickly, sterile look on their faces. Halle's pale expression matched the white tiles all around her. Her wide-open eyes left Naomi frozen, but not Kovak.
"It's the first time I've ever seen you taken aback like this," he said, his arms still up in surrender. "Not that I care enough, but... it's something I never thought I'd see."
I agree. Her reaction is weird. She never freezes like this. Her eyes are glued to mine through the bean slot as if she couldn't believe anything she's seeing right now.
Halle shook her head. "I... I didn't think you were so foolish," she told Kovak. Her usual frown was back. As she aimed back at him, she added, "Dosing and knocking out all those guards to get into this maximum security prison. Idiot! The virtual assistant tipped me off when their vitals went down in resting mode. Coming here was a mistake. You're under arrest!"
Kovak scoffed. "I thought so. Not a single kind word to your sister, just a threat aimed at me."
Naomi rolled her eyes. Indeed. I'd love it if she at least said something to me. Anything to acknowledge me. She's far too tense. Look at those stiff shoulders and arms! She's solely focused on Kane. As if he'd kill her or something—which he wouldn't. He's after Mrs Evergreen, not her, despite her loyalty to that megalomaniac.
"Because you're the greatest enemy the Hovering Hive will ever have, Kovak!" Halle yelled, the finger on the trigger about to pull it.
"Wrong. Mrs Evergreen is," Kovak replied in a bored tone of voice.
Halle chuckled. "I'll prove you wrong once I've captured you and brought you to face justice!"
"Sure. Go ahead," he replied in a smug voice. "But, since you're the only conscious guard here, you'll have to focus on me and leave both your son and your sister to meet their worst fate."
Naomi bit her lower lip. I really hope this last bit doesn't come true!
Kovak shifted his weight from one foot to another. He went on daringly, "You're a cold-hearted bitch who doesn't care about her son getting killed or her sick sister dying in prison. So, you won't have a problem arresting me and taking me to justice, as you say."
Halle's face morphed into a paler one with even more furrowed brows, as if part of her refused to believe that and another couldn't let it go. "What the hell are you talking about?!"
"Kane, stop it," Naomi said through the bean slot. "Halle, look at me, please."
When Halle's eyes wandered down to the bean slot, Naomi's smile trembled.
"You didn't know I was here, did you? Is that why you looked so shocked before?" Naomi's voice was genuinely honest and hopeful.
"I didn't know, but... Why are you locked up in here anyway? Why is this monster trying to get you out? Did you do something...? Did you help him in any way?!" Her questions came out of her mouth like bullets from a machinegun: in a fast, unforgiving sequence.
"I committed no crime," Naomi replied. "You know me. I'm good. I didn't help Kane in any way. I only defied Mrs Evergreen to save Sky, something which apparently is a great crime punishable by inhumane treatment until I die in this maximum security prison."
"Where's Sky?" Halle asked.
"The guards took Sky somewhere else." Naomi sighed. "I don't know where."
I hope this can convince her to do the right thing and stop supporting Mrs Evergreen.
"You don't have to worry about him," Kovak told Halle with a defiant grin. "His friends helped him escape when they saw the pathetic lies Mrs Evergreen forced the media to say about him. Unlike you, they truly love him and support him."
"But you said he's in danger. He's-" Naomi was quick to point out.
"He's fighting in a deadly match against his winged friend," Kovak added, staring at Halle still, "who's been poisoned with a mutagenic drug, brainwashed, and enslaved by the aforementioned power-hungry bitch."
"What?!" Halle exclaimed, her eyes about to go out of their sockets.
"He doesn't have much time left until the beast kills him, Halle," Kovak went on, that time with a genuinely serious and concerned tone, all smugness gone. "It's where I was headed right now, after bringing Naomi the meds she needs to survive for at least a week. So, no. I wasn't here to break her out, like you said. She's too weak and needs to be taken care of—something I can't do right now. Got enough shit on my hands already. You should get her out of here and nurse her back to health... if you still have an ounce of decency in you."
"I..." For a split second, Halle hesitated, her lips trembling just lightly. But she regained her usual defiance and yelled, "You're lying!"
"Let me go now and I'll save him," he insisted with the same honest and serious voice.
Her jaw clenched. "You're fabricating this astute lie to fool me. I won't fall for it. Your breach into this facility will cost you your life!" She aimed her weapon at him more vehemently.
"Halle! Stop it already!" Naomi cried, losing her patience. "Your hate for him blinds you."
"I'm sorry you're being imprisoned here, sister—and treated under harsh conditions," Halle replied with her usual harsh, Head-of-the-Elite voice. "But you know I have to apprehend this monster. Those are Mrs Evergreen's orders. They have been since he betrayed her years ago. I have to-"
"No, you don't!" Naomi yelled with a firm voice. "She might be our boss, but she's not the law! Nobody voted for her to be our president, or mayor, or anything. She's just a CEO, not the rightful, governing civil servant chosen by the people. She has money and drugs, but little else—if we let her. She assumes she has this power over us—and we played along ever since we accepted to work for her years ago. But this has to stop now while we can still save Sky and the city!"
Kovak sighed almost inaudibly. "Listen to your sister for once in your life—or you'll end up becoming a monster like me."
The sarcasm in his voice didn't go unnoticed. Halle narrowed her eyes at him.
"You don't like my sarcasm?" He grinned. "Too bad."
Naomi sighed. I swear I'd start to bang my head against the wall. Why must he be insufferable on purpose? Pissing Halle off further won't help Sky—or us. "Kane, have you still got the BBQ video I shot years ago?"
"Yeah, but-" He raised an eyebrow at her unusual demand.
"Show her," she demanded in a firm voice.
"But-"
"SHOW HER," she insisted.
After a tired sigh, he glanced back at Halle and signalled her to ask for permission to move his hands.
When Halle nodded, he fished his phone from his pocket and found the video Naomi mentioned. Right before hitting play and showing the screen to Halle from the distance, he said, "This video is something you've never seen, Halle. Don't you dare mock me—or else. Gun or not, I won't hesitate to kick your arse."
When the video started playing, a familiar male voice came back from the dead.
"Would you like a soda or a beer, honey?"
The last word echoed in the corridor—and in Halle's mind. The sweetness of Alistair's voice could make her heart skip a beat, even years after his death.
Her hard features softened. There was a brightness in her eyes that told the story of tears wishing to be shed. Her brows, jaw, and shoulders relaxed, while her shotgun's muzzle shivered as it went slowly down.
"Naomi, you and your homemade videos!" Alistair's deep voice said after a laugh. Then, his face appeared up close while Naomi was recording the video with her phone. The soft wrinkles beside his eyes deepened along with his wide smile. "They won't capture the great smell of our BBQ, you know. That's the best thing today!"
He took a long sip of the beer in his hand as he fetched a drink for her wife. The garden in the background was splendid, with many multi-coloured flowers and huge leaves.
"The best? Hey, now I'm offended! Good company doesn't count?" she complained in the video, but her offence was fake.
Alistair replied with a chuckle. "Ah, you caught me! The good company is something I usually take for granted. Like this splendid sunny day."
"It's a great day for a BBQ, right, Kane?" Naomi asked him while the camera aimed at Kovak's much younger face, one with no cyborg enhancements.
Kovak was taking a long sip of a fizzy drink. "Sure is, my gem." He faked a smile that seemed more like a forced formality.
"You need to practise your smile more like I told you, Kane."
He rolled his eyes at her. "My social awkwardness won't improve with a smile."
"Maybe not, but my sister wouldn't hate you so much, at least," she replied playfully.
Kovak answered with a genuine yet small smile.
"See? This one's cute," she whispered.
The fit of laughter from a child filled the air.
Then, the group and the camera looked at Halle and a two-year-old Sky laughing close to the BBQ. He was playing with a knight doll and a dragon doll. She was about to turn the meat on the grill, but got distracted by Sky's playfulness and grabbed a princess doll to play with him.
"Look at them. They're adorable," Naomi cooed over them.
Halle turned to the BBQ for a moment to check on the meat, but soon went back to play with little Sky with a broad smile on her face. The sun shone brightly on her black hair.
"You know, Halle doesn't really hate you," Alistair told Kane. "She disliked you when you first met. She finds it hard to change her first impressions of people."
"Especially if they're dating her sister," Naomi pointed out.
"Don't tell her I told you this," Alistair went on. "But she's happy to see you happy... and in love, Naomi."
"Really? Wow."
"She actually said it. I'm not kidding." Alistair made a funny face at the camera as if he had suddenly realised something crucial, something he shouldn't've done. "So... basically, you can't show her this video, okay, Naomi? Like ever. 'Cos if you do, then she'll know I told you. I'm serious. She'd kill me."
"O... kay," Naomi replied after a giggle.
"So... Halle? Happy, you say?" Kovak asked, raising an eyebrow. "Didn't her icy heart give out?"
"Kane, don't say such mean things!" Naomi complained. "Look at her now. She is happy. She's playing and laughing with little Sky."
"Proof that God and miracles exist, I guess." Kovak sighed.
"Don't be so cold-hearted yourself, Kane," Naomi reprimanded him in a kindergarten-teacher-like tone.
"Maybe this cold-hearted idiot will go on making you that amazing honey ice cream you love," Kovak replied with a brief grin as he stared into Naomi's eyes for a moment longer as she recorded the scene.
"So," Alistair said, followed by a fake cough, "when's the wedding?"
"What wedding?" Kovak asked.
"Yours, of course." His smile broadened, showing he was mocking his sister-in-law and her boyfriend.
Naomi erupted in a fit of laughter. "We've been only dating for six months now!"
"I know, but my little Sky needs a playmate," Alistair said while gently elbowing Kovak, who was blushing. "He needs a cousin."
"Why not a sibling?" Naomi replied with a defiant but funny attitude.
"Oh, no," Alistair replied. "Halle said she doesn't want to stay so long out of work. If maternal leave was shorter or better paid, or..."
"I'm Head of the Elite. I can talk to Mrs Evergreen and improve some conditions, if she likes."
"Really?"
"Yeah, why not?" Naomi replied cheerfully. "Mrs Evergreen is a busy woman in love with her job, just like her. She'll understand."
"Careful with Mrs Evergreen," Kovak said in a warning, serious tone. "She might seem friendly and easy to approach, but she's power-hungry. Her business will always come first, even before the personal lives of her employees."
"I can sell her such improvements in the women's labour conditions," Naomi added. "I know her and what she wants. Don't worry."
"I don't worry about that," Kovak said. "I never truly worry about anything for as long as it doesn't interfere with my projects. But I doubt you know her true self."
"Come on, Kane! Don't be like that," Naomi said. "More children means the city is growing. Growing is good. It means this city is becoming a success story. More families will come and work here. That means more salaries to pay, but also more purchasing power and more businesses opening and creating wealth besides Anti-Ageing Inc. Also, more children means future workers and taxpayers. The future of both the city and her drug company is guaranteed. That's what she wants to hear. I think that better conditions for pregnant women and mothers will be an easy sale—a cheap price to pay for such a prosperous future."
"Try convincing her. Be my guest," Kovak replied. "But I highly doubt she'll listen. She's in love with her money and her business. She believes she's above us all, like she's the law around here."
"If she hears you talking meanly about her, she'll-" Alistair warned him.
"She'll do nothing," Kovak answered, interrupting him. "I'm her greatest scientist. She would never fire me."
When the present-day Kovak heard himself saying that, he paused the video and chuckled.
"She did fire me," he whispered, with his eyes glued to his younger self's ones. "That's what she does when anyone defies her and questions her power."
"She gets rid of people," Naomi said, staring at Halle from the bean slot, "regardless of who they are or how vital they can be for this city and the people living in it. Halle, she lied to the press to give Sky a bad image, to justify imprisoning him for treason. But it's all a lie. Sky has only done things to save this city and-"
"It's not a lie. I did it," Halle said in a forlorn whisper.
"What?" Naomi asked.
"His treason," Halle explained. "She wanted proof. I gave it to her. She commanded me to search his room—and I did it. I found an incriminating photograph. Also, the IT crew found many blueprints and calculations on his PC. They reverse-engineered his gadgets for her. She wanted those so badly."
"That's not proof enough to charge him with treason," Naomi said.
"The photo of him petting the golden ranger, smiling, you mean?" Halle replied. "Yes, it's enough—for her. Thus, it's also enough for the media."
"No. That's proof she wanted an excuse to get her hands on his creations by force," Naomi said, her lips pressed into a thin line. "He's being accused of treason for just this innocent photo in which he's smiling? That's preposterous! The golden ranger is good. That's what the photo proves! He was forced to attack our city, just like the rest of the phoenixes."
"How do you know that?" Halle asked.
"Because Sky trusted me enough to tell me the truth," Naomi explained after a sigh. "The golden ranger, Haywire, is his friend. It turns out that phoenixes were created and weaponised against their will through a personality-controlling chip in their cyborg brains. When Sky hit the golden ranger's head with his sonic gun, his chip broke, freeing him from Endurance."
Halle's eyebrows knitted together. "What..."
"Phoenixes aren't the bad guys, Halle," Naomi concluded. "They're just being used as weapons against us."
"Yeah," Kovak said. "If only I could've stopped them before they escaped from my control. But it was complicated..."
"We'll talk about what you did soon enough, Kane," Naomi told him with hard eyes. "When Sky isn't in imminent danger."
"I can't believe it," Halle whispered in a dizzy voice as if she was lost in her own mental world.
"Sky was curious enough to care and smart enough to find out what was really going on," Naomi said.
"Got to hand it to him," Kovak said. "He's a really smart kid."
"And compassionate," Naomi added with a harsher tone. "If only his mother would see his genuine talents and all his potential. Mrs Evergreen has been using him for her benefit, but now that she's got a small phoenix army under her orders, he's useless. That's the real reason why she got him imprisoned, Halle. And all this time, he was pretty much alone."
"Dear Lord..." Halle put a hand over her mouth as her eyes watered.
"Well, I helped him a bit," Kovak said.
"When it suited you," Naomi replied, glaring at him from the bean slot. "If you want me to trust and help you, the meds were nice, but you'd better run off to his side and protect him, like you promised me. Didn't you say he was fighting Haywire to the death? Go and save him!"
"If your armed sister would let me," he replied with a sigh, "I'd be honoured."
"Yeah, fine. Go!" Halle was hyperventilating. She dropped her machine gun as if she didn't care anymore.
Kovak ran past her and didn't look back.
When he was gone, Naomi sighed deeply. "We should've seen the monster she'd become. Khali Evergreen showed enough signs for us to spot that she'd become a problem eventually, even in those early days."
"No..." Halle's whispering was rusty. "I'm the monster."
She took a few steps closer to Naomi's cell door, dragging her feet aimlessly.
"Halle, you didn't know," Naomi whispered with pity. "If you had, maybe..."
"Maybe, what?" Halle stared deeply into her sister's eyes as her lips trembled. "I would've chosen not to trust him. I would've not believed him. I wouldn't've seen his amazing qualities, as usual. I'd replied meanly to him. I'd be... I'd be the worst mother in the entire world, as usual!"
She couldn't repress a loud sob. Dropping to her knees, she started to babble some sounds. Tears cascaded over her cheeks.
Naomi didn't dare to reply.
"You were right," Halle managed to say after a loud sob. "Our pact, we should've ended it."
Naomi nodded shyly.
"Given some time, if Sky didn't toughen up—like I used to phrase it—after his father's death and my sergeant-like upbringing," Halle went on as she approached the door and leaned on it, "I'd call it off and go back to the motherly approach. But I didn't. I kept looking for excuses to push it."
"You also promised me you'd attend a psychologist and do some therapy together," Naomi gently whispered.
"I did. I was afraid to be seen as weak." Halle's whisper became hard and cold, then.
"I get it. The Head of the Elite must look tough, impossible to break," Naomi said. "But being weak or afraid is what makes us human. It only makes us stronger because it makes us face challenges head-on and embrace who and how we are, Halle."
"Always the wiser." Halle chuckled. She raised a hand and put her fingers shyly through the bean slot. "I love you, Naomi."
"I love you too, Halle." Naomi smiled as she caressed her sister's fingers and sighed. "Gosh, I had been hoping to hear those words from you for a long time!"
They intertwined their fingers for some time, wearing bittersweet smiles on their faces.
"Yeah, I've got a shield made of steel around the heart," Halle whispered.
"No kidding!" Naomi scoffed. "Now, you need to tell Sky. He's the one who needs to hear it the most. He misses you."
"I doubt it. He must hate me to the core." Halle's smile dropped. Her eyes got lost somewhere in the distance, as if she was dead. "The last times we spoke... our words were pure poison. I hate myself. And when he knows what I did with the stuff in his room and the photo..." She chuckled nervously. "I'll lose him for good if I haven't already."
"Don't say that." Naomi's voice went stronger and firmer. "If Kane saves him, which I really hope he'll do, you'll get your chance to make amends. I promise!"
Halle nodded as she wiped away the tears. "I'll do my best. I want to let him know I love him."
"You'll need more than words, sister. Don't just tell him. Show him how much you care for him."
Halle's eyes became brighter, and a smile crept up her lips with the promise of a good idea.
"I'd do anything in my power to win him back, to show him that I love him," she whispered with renewed confidence, "—and that I hate Mrs Evergreen for all she's done. Wait and see."
"You still don't know the worst, though," Naomi said. "Sky got poisoned. With her Lifebringer."
"WHAT?!" Halle clenched her fists in anger until the knuckles went wide and they trembled.
"We have to find out a way to cure him. I'm not sure how, though."
The digital signature of the small virtual card embedded in the flesh on Halle's hand allowed her to have full control of the entire security system. A beep later, the control panel yielded to her will. Halle got Naomi out of her cell in a heartbeat.
"Come on," Halle said as she put an arm around her sister's shoulders to help her get up and walk, since she was in a frail state. "The sooner we get out of here, the better. I'll get you your stuff back and bring you home with me. You can crash there for as long as you need. Call Sky and Kane to come home, too. I'll come back as soon as I can. There's something I need to do first."
"What's on your mind?" Naomi asked with a puzzled look on her face. "Where will you go?"
Halle smirked. "I need to find Mrs Evergreen and force her to give me a cure to the Lifebringer."
Naomi chuckled. "Good luck with that."
Halle helped Naomi walk down endless corridors. The fluorescent lights above their heads started glitching when they were almost out of the building. They frowned but kept going.
Once outside, when they were walking down the street, Halle scoffed.
"So..." she whispered to her dear sister in a playful tone, "Kane infiltrated this maximum security facility, drugged or knocked out all the guards, and brought you the meds you need to survive, right? I'm impressed."
"Yeah, he's quite badass," Naomi whispered with a smile.
Halle smirked. "I'd say more than that."
"What?"
"I'd say he's in love."
"Come on." Naomi gently elbowed her. "Don't mock me."
"It's true. I mean it." Halle's gentle smile echoed into Naomi's fondest memories. "I think he really loves you, sis. He might've started all this mess, but he... he saw Mrs Evergreen's true nature and wanted to stop her. To protect you, right? But he... messed up. Am I wrong?"
Naomi pressed her lips into a thin line and blushed a bit.
"After today, I'm beginning to see him in a different light," Halle said. "I think I'll trust him from now on."
Naomi sighed and grinned. "Yeah, me too."
Hello, my sugar cubes!
I really hope both Kovak and Halle have softened your hearts, dear readers. However, more is to come, which will reveal their true colours to Sky. 😉
Stay tuned!
XOXO
Mar