In the forest where the ship had crashed, Brea began calling for Agent I-Five, but received no response. "Where could that man have gone? I'm starting to worry about how long he's taking… Something must have happened to him; I can't sense his mind." The other three members of her unit exchanged glances. "You three, who are part of his team, go and find him," Brea instructed firmly. "The last thing he said was that he was heading toward a cave." The three agents nodded in unison and made their way toward the dark entrance of the cavern, their footsteps echoing among the trees.
Inside the cave, Xen was already inside Eliot's body when the machine emitted a sharp beep. "Restoration complete," announced a robotic voice. From the tube emerged a dark figure, emanating a dense energy that seemed to absorb the light from his surroundings.
"Ah, master, it's good to have you back," Xen said with a nervous bow. The dark being looked at him with disdain. "Stupid machine… I see you've gotten yourself into that person's body. It might be useful to us. I need to know where they took my precious object. I can no longer sense it anywhere." His words were slow, heavy with frustration. "What I do sense are things… As if more Metalux subjects were created. But only the guardians of the entrance—that is, the true people of Lux—can do that. And my vague memories tell me there's no one left from those families. They wiped them all out, empowering humans while they perished." A pause. "So there's still hope for me to complete my transformation and stop being this viscous thing. Thanks to this machine, I was able to stabilize my body, but not for long."
The entity was spine-chilling: a humanoid with eyes as black as endless pits, hands transformed into twisted tentacles, and instead of a nose, two inverted arcs that stretched up to touch its eyebrows. Its legs, thin and deformed, seemed barely able to support it, as if it floated more than walked.
"Master, you still look very ugly," Xen muttered almost involuntarily. The creature turned toward him with supernatural speed, one of its tentacle-like arms gripping Xen's neck with relentless force. "What did you say, worthless fool?" Xen gasped, struggling to breathe. "Wait, master, I'm sorry," he stammered. "Yes, I know. I look horrible. But if I get those stones, I'll be able to return to who I once was."
Xen swallowed hard and, with a quick motion, handed over two tubes the size of his arms, two more for his legs, and a sort of tiara for his head. The entity put everything on with precision, and its horrifying form was covered by an armor that quickly adopted the appearance of an ordinary human.
"This body will only last you a short time, master. Barely a couple of hours," Xen warned from within Eliot.
Suddenly, voices began to echo through the cave's speakers. "Shall I eliminate them, master?" Xen suggested, moving toward a control panel. "No," the entity replied calmly. "As I already told you, go with them and find out everything they know about my object—the one I stole from one of the last royal Lux. That cursed woman put up quite a fight."
"And you, master, what will you do?" Xen asked, still pretending to be I-Five. "I'm going to pay a visit to some old friends." With those words, the entity entered a kind of hidden vessel behind the cave and vanished into the shadows.
Meanwhile, the three agents who had entered the cave continued calling for Agent I-Five. Suddenly, Eliot appeared, badly injured and stumbling. "Gentlemen, I'm glad you've arrived… We were attacked, and the others perished. I… I managed to survive, but…" Before he could finish his sentence, he collapsed unconscious.
One of the agents immediately contacted Brea, informing her of I-Five's critical condition. "I'll be there with the medical unit shortly," she responded urgently.
Once rescued, everyone returns to the secret base. Xen, disguised as Eliot, pretended to be injured, but internally he laughed with cruel satisfaction. Upon arrival, they took him to the clinical area, where Agent B-Twelve floated in a tank filled with a special liquid that kept his body in a coma while healing.
"Well, where am I?" Xen asked, pointing to the man in the tank. "And what's that guy doing in that fishbowl?" The evil AI didn't recognize Nick, so another agent intervened.
"Ah, hello. I see you've recovered quickly," said a young man with hair as dark as night and brown eyes. He wore an impeccable black suit and a white shirt. "That's Agent B-Twelve. Don't you remember? He went with you to retrieve an object."
"Ah, yes, that's right. I didn't recognize him in that state and in that gelatinous thing," Xen improvised, searching for excuses. "It makes sense. Agent B-Twelve always wears glasses and is quite reserved. He rarely interacts with anyone. You were lucky to work with him."
"True," Xen replied, feigning admiration. Meanwhile, he thought to himself: What a close call. This was the guy who stole the device from the master. I'll ask this other human where it is.
"Hey, do you know what happened to the device our colleague brought back?" Xen asked casually.
"If you're referring to the object, it's in the observation wing of Team C's leader's lab. But, unfortunately, all we found was the casing. Whatever was inside disappeared. Some say whatever it contained was transferred to a dog, and now it has powers."
"Ah, I see. I understand. Thanks," Xen said, removing the cables monitoring his human body's activity and standing up from the bed.
"What are you doing?" the other agent asked, surprised.
"I feel fine now. It's time to get back to work," Xen replied coldly.
"Wow, you're quite resilient, even though you don't have powers like the other squads. By the way, what's your name? You took quite a hit in that cave."
"I'm your best friend, Travis, also known as Agent I-Six," the man responded with a friendly smile.
"Ah, yes, it must've been a blow," Xen forced a laugh. Internally, he thought: I need to upload more memories of this individual.
"Alright, I'll fetch your things, and we'll head back to the squadron. Does that sound good?" Travis offered.
"Sure, go ahead. What a foolish guy. He laughs at everything," Xen thought while pretending to be cordial.
Once changed, Xen mentioned that he wasn't feeling well and asked for the bathroom. In front of the mirror, he observed Eliot's face: a young man with brown hair and brown eyes, thin as if he hadn't been fed properly. "Alright, time to get to work," he murmured to himself.
After leaving the bathroom, he stealthily made his way through the hallways until he reached what appeared to be a gymnasium. There, a dog was being trained against combat robots. "That must be the animal that contains the object. I need to examine it," Xen said to himself. He watched as the instructor activated more robots to attack the canine.
"Fascinating. That dog took them down. I'll lend a hand. I want to see how far it can go." Xen entered the control area and adjusted the robot settings. "Well, how easy. The one who designed these things is an idiot," he muttered disdainfully. "Let's see if you can handle this new level, little doggy."