Leo stood frozen in the shadows, a ghost in the workshop of his own rival. His mind reeled, struggling to connect the broken, desperate man he'd last seen in a Syndicate tractor beam with the focused, cybernetically enhanced engineer before him.
As if sensing he was being watched, Kael stopped his work. He didn't turn around. He simply set his tool down on the workbench with a quiet click.
"I should have known the Pathfinder would lead you here," Kael said, his voice echoing slightly in the cavernous space. It was the same cold, efficient tone, but layered with a new weariness. "The old man had a flair for the dramatic. He would have appreciated the irony."
He turned slowly. His ice-blue eyes met Leo's. There was no surprise in them, only a cold, analytical assessment. He took in the 'Phantom' scooter, the new gear, the confidence that hadn't been there before.
"You've been busy," Kael noted. He flexed the fingers of his cybernetic hand. "So have I."
"What happened to the Hermit?" Leo asked, his hand tightening on his ion cannon's grip. It was the only question that mattered.
"He didn't die, if that's what you're asking," Kael said, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes. "He was... finished. His work was done. He left his maps and his tools for a successor." Kael gestured to the workshop, to the complex machinery he was building. "I proved myself worthy. He gave me his knowledge. And then, he simply... walked away. Into a reality of his own making."
The pieces clicked into place in Leo's mind. Kael hadn't killed the Hermit. He had become his apprentice.
"So you're giving up?" Leo challenged, stepping out of the shadows. "You're just going to hide here and become a crazy old map-maker?"
A bitter laugh escaped Kael's lips. "Hiding? Amateur, I'm preparing for war. The Syndicate didn't just discard me. They marked me for recycling. I'm no different from you now. A renegade. A loose end." He picked up a complex-looking device from his bench. "But unlike you, I don't stumble through chaos hoping for the best. I build a better weapon."
He looked directly at Leo, his expression hardening. "Which brings us to you. Our contract with the Whisper Broker is still active. I still intend to break you. But right now, you are an inconvenient variable in a much larger equation."
Leo knew she was right. But he also saw the truth of their situation. Two fugitives, with the same powerful enemy, standing in the only place that could give them a fighting chance.
"We both want the same thing, Kael," Leo said, taking a step forward. "We want to tear down the Syndicate. You want revenge. I want... justice. The reasons don't matter. The target is the same."
"And?" Kael's tone was dismissive.
"I have this," Leo said, holding up the Pathfinder. The line of shimmering light pulsed softly in the dark workshop. "The key. A map to the Regulator that only works for me. And you," Leo gestured to the workbench, to the impossible technology Kael was assembling, "you have the knowledge to survive what's at the end of that path. You're building a way to navigate a chronal storm."
Kael's eyes narrowed. Leo had hit the mark.
"We don't have to be enemies," Leo pressed on, the words feeling strange in his mouth. "Not right now. We can work together. A truce. We use my Pathfinder and your tech to get to the Regulator. Once we're there, once the Syndicate is dealt with... all bets are off. Our contract can be settled then."
It was the most logical, most efficient solution. It was a Kael kind of solution. Leo was betting on his rival's pragmatism overriding his hatred.
Kael was silent for a long time, the only sound the hum of his machinery. He looked from the Pathfinder in Leo's hand to the complex schematics on his own monitors.
"A truce... with you?" Kael said, the words dripping with disdain. "Don't mistake necessity for camaraderie, amateur. Our contract still stands. In the end, one of us will break the other. The Whisper Broker will have his memory." He paused, his gaze intense. "But for now... your chaos and my order might be the only combination that works."
He walked towards Leo and extended his metal hand. Not for a handshake, but as a gesture of agreement. A business deal. "We have a truce. Until the Regulator is dealt with."
Leo nodded, a surge of relief making him feel light-headed. He had done it.
And then, a high-pitched siren blared through the workshop.
Red lights flashed across the maps and machinery. On one of Kael's monitors, a dozen red dots appeared, closing in on their location fast.
"What was that?" Leo yelled over the alarm.
Kael was already moving, his face a mask of grim fury. "It's the device I was building! My attempt to create a temporal tracker. It must have sent out a feedback pulse. A signal the Syndicate could trace."
He looked at Leo, his eyes blazing, not with rivalry, but with the shared panic of two fugitives whose time had just run out.
"Welcome to the partnership, amateur. Enforcer squadron. Five minutes out. Try not to get us both killed."