❘〣❘〣❘★ Enemy of my enemy: Epilogue ★❘〣❘〣❘

“Did you get it?” was the first thing Kim heard as they entered the dark office. 

‘Shit, he's already angry…’ they thought as they noticed Vulcan’s tall silhouette waiting for them by the window. Kim did not answer as they closed the door behind them, bracing themself for the meeting ahead. 

It was a cold office, and everything just felt… sharp. All the items felt calculated down to the inch of their placement and nothing was allowed to be without purpose. 

There were several objects of notoriety, mostly stolen art or older relics, some of which Kim themself had stolen in Vulcan’s name. But there were other relics of importance too; some inspiration for Vulcan, who was always drawn to the power that ancient empires once had. It took someone with real skill or power to steal things of this caliber. 

The whole room was a mix of cold metal and royal purple, a shade chosen after spending far too many hours comparing fabrics and paint samples. Normally, it would have been a stark contrast to Kim’s green and earthly colored clothing, but not today; Vulcan had demanded they wear their suit for this mission, making them almost match the room, and Vulcan himself.

Kim silently walked up to the long desk in the middle of the office, before placing the secured case on it and finally answering, “I was able to get the E.G.G., but—” 

“But what?” Vulcan interrupted coldly, yet calmly. 

As he began moving closer, his two-tailed cape began to flick dangerously behind him. Kim knew, just by the way he was controlling his cape, that they were treading into dangerous territory. But there was no going back, so they held their ground. 

“But I was unsuccessful in gaining the notebook and all the needed blueprints—”

Before Kim could finish their sentence, Vulcan's cape had moved faster than Kim could react. It wrapped itself tightly around them and pinned them hard to the wall. 

“Dragonfly hid most of the blueprints!” Kim began to yell out in panic. “He would only show one or two pages at a time!” 

Vulcan did not loosen his grip. “Kim! I gave you ONE task! How could you fail me like that!”

“I’m sorry!” Kim said desperately. 

“Sorry?” His voice was fairly calm, but filled with more rage than Kim had ever seen before. “Kim, without those notes and blueprints YOU have set us back years!” 

“He was suspecting us. All of us!” Kim answered in a panting voice as Vulcan’s grip kept tightening, “I never got more than one chance to look at—'' everything was starting to go black as Kim continued “I… g.. ot… so-s… me pi… c… tu… rs.'' They gasped as Vulcan finally let them go, and they fell to the floor with a thud.

“Pictures? Pictures of what?”

Kim was still gasping for air, as Vulcan kneeled down in front of them, their eyes still filled with danger. “Of Andaka's notebook…” they answered him, “where he talked about the theory of the E.G.G.’s activation process.”

“Show me,” he said, calmer than before, but Kim knew as they took out their phone that his anger might come back. Vulcan snatched the phone out of Kim’s hand and began looking through the borderline blurry photos. 

Although it seemed the photos had been taken in a hurry, there was no doubt about it: these were photos of Andaka’s notebook. 

Kim continued talking as Vulcan transferred the photos over to his computer, and began looking into them further. “I tried to search for the notebook after getting the E.G.G., but it was all destroyed when I got back to it, and then the agency was closing in on me—I had to leave!” The sorry tone was still within their voice, but it seemed no longer necessary. 

“Enough…” Vulcan said calmly and Kim immediately stopped talking, not that they wanted to talk more, as they still felt the phantom pain from the tight grip. Their eyes wandered to the floor, and they hoped that they would get the order to leave soon. 

However, looking up in response to the sound of the blinds coming down, which left the room almost totally dark, their hope for escape dwindled, as the images were projected onto the holo screen. Clearly, Vulcan wanted to study every photo closer first, so Kim had to wait. 

The pages were filled with scribbles and notes, seeming to have built up over the years. From what they could tell, it seemed Andaka kept returning to a few specific pages more than the others. 

Two of the pages seemed to be showcasing the activation process, which seemed to have been the task taking the most of Andaka's time to figure out. 

The other two were even harder to decipher, being more blurry than the rest. But Vulcan could make out that the two pages were detailing the E.G.G. in use. “Looks like old Andaka cracked the code,” he said, his voice laced in something akin to awe, “so he figured out the theory on how to separate Aura, and how to lower the E.G.G.’s power levels. But he was unable to stabilize it at a safe extraction level... ” 

The last of the pages had a sketch of what seemed to be the power-repressing gem Desolite, there were scribbles around it, one in an older black, and another in red; clearly this was important if the professor had decided to come back to it. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Vulcan was unable to read the blurry photograph. “Now, why did Andaka write about Desolite?” he asked himself, before turning to Kim for an answer. 

“That was what I was trying to find out,” Kim said in a weak voice, “but then Dragonfly almost caught me and I never got a chance to take a second look…”

“Well, then…at least these pictures are more than enough!” Vulcan said, his demeanor a sharp contrast to the Vulcan who had berated Kim just minutes earlier. “With this, we can start everything. I knew you were the right person for this mission, good job, kid.” He walked over and lifted Kim up into his arms. “I’ll take you down to the med bay. After that, you can take the rest of the day off—you deserve it.” He spoke in a kind and soft voice. “Then, tomorrow, you're going to tell me all about the things you did not get photos of."    

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Part 4 : Master List