Waywalker

Chapter 6

"What were you thinking?"

As Will feared, Bill had found them in The Raven's Eye, after realising that they had been misled and eventually arriving at the right location where they were forced to return to Imperial Headquarters. Now Will felt as if he had interrupted a private conversation or an argument, one could debate, between father and son.

He stood a few feet behind Ezra, keeping his distance from Bill's impending lecture.

"I was thinking that if it was really who you said it was, then as Will's friend, I had the right more than anyone to be out there-"

"It's because you were his friend that I didn't want you involved in this-"

"I was involved in this from the minute Victor Dark was declared murdered," Ezra retaliated.

Will let them have it, knowing they wouldn't let him stand idly by for much longer. Bill sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as a gesture of expressing what little hope remained for Ezra due to his recent act of incompetence.

"After Victor's passing and Will's rebellious escapade, I saw how you were hurting. Your well-being concerned me and so I did what any father would have done. Keep you from involving yourself further into something that no one your age should have to go through. What I did was to protect you, Ezra."

"Yeah well... It's a bit late now with Will being dead to protect me, don't you think?" Ezra implied. "If the situation was reversed, wouldn't you want to know what happened if it was your friend?"

"I don't have friends, Ezra," Bill reminded. "Remember, you're only on the Intelligence Support Team because you're my son. Just think how'd it look to the council if they found out about this. They'd call me unfit to lead. I'd have to make a cover story for what happened-"

"Just like you made a cover story for Victor's death?" Will didn't know how much more of this he could take.

"Victor's not dead," Will said.

That was enough to get their attention. It wasn't a surprise that Bill tried to justify his feelings. "Your grief is understandable, Will," he said.

Will shook his head. "You don't understand. That's not what I mean." Bill and Ezra eagerly awaited his explanation. "Your Victor may be dead, but my brother is still alive. You've seen it yourselves. I'm not from here-"

"Will-"

"How can you still be so ignorant after everything you've seen? Why are you still in denial?" Will asked. It hadn't made sense before, but the more he thought about it, the more he realised that Victor's experiment had been a success after all. And Will was a result of his hypothesis. As for what had happened to Victor himself... "Victor should be here," Will mumbled. More to himself than to Bill and Ezra.

"You're not making sense, Will," Bill said. "What are you suggesting?"

"He's the answer to Project Infinity," Ezra answered.

"I don't understand," Will said. "Can someone please explain-"

"Ezra," Bill reprimanded.

A moment of understanding reflected in Ezra's eyes and yet despite Bill's warning, he chose to persist.

"He was going to find out sooner or later. Why not tell him now?"

Will took it upon himself to end the staring contest between father and son.

"Yeah. I think it's about time someone told me what Project Infinity is as well," Will second.

They stood in a dome-shaped Command Center, equipped with different stations ranging from Communications and Operations to Engineering and Damage Control. Central to where Bill was standing, a Display Monitor had been assembled in the wall behind him. He turned it on with one switch of the Control Panel. A map appeared on the screen. A map of Infinite City.