Eric remained silent, he didn't feel the need to be any more forceful on the matter.
His subtlety was courtesy.
Kai took a moment to compose herself before continuing.
"Before we escaped, I had Silas retrieve a device implanted to monitor a subject's conditions. It was meant to serve as evidence against Panacea." Kai scowled.
"It can be... repurposed to suit your needs. The transmission would be deemed background noise since its signal is part of their systems'."
"But the device would lose all its data once implanted." Silas spoke with gritted teeth. Only he knew how much the tracker meant to Kai.
"A noble loss." Eric said coldly.
'A necessary one.' He repeated in his mind.
Kai glared at him with raging contempt, but he continued speaking.
"Whatever harm you hoped to cause with that data, would've barely put a dent on them." Eric said, unbothered by the duo's theatrics. "Besides, you, and your device, will now be contributing far more to Panacea's demise."
Kai let out a loud, hate filled sigh.
She ran up the stairs in silent fury, the cold hiss of an opening safe followed her ascent.
The clacking of punched keys made its way to their ears soon after.
"She's probably reprogramming the device." Silas explained.
The smell of antiseptic grew stronger by the minute. Stale air along with flickering lights enhanced the dreary atmosphere of the room.
"What of the patient the device belonged to?" Raz asked.
"He's dead." Silas said, his voice devoid of emotion. "He was Kai's brother." A heavy silence filled the cluttered room.
Eric saw Raz's frown deepen at Silas's answer.
As Raz turned to him, armed with a new reason he should abandon his plan, Eric held Victoria's necklace forward.
The two men remained in a deadlock stare till Raz grunted and looked away.
"How... did you both manage to escape?" Raz continued probing.
Silas chuckled, his laugh sounding morbid.
"We were three." He simply said.
Before Raz could press on, Kai returned with a transparent case storing a small object resembling a black pill. She handed it to Silas before collapsing onto the stairs, looking defeated.
"How will the beacon be activated?" Eric asked the shaken woman.
"The Immortal core's energy would trigger it." Her voice was barely audible.
"So after the core's implantation." He confirmed, then stared at the Doctor.
"Alright. Where will that beautiful piece of machinery be going in my body?"
Silas glared at Eric, but the prince couldn't care less.
Making for the bed, Silas put the device on a tray.
"The webbing between your fingers." Silas replied succinctly.
Eric followed behind.
He sat on the bed, watching the Doctor grab his scalpel.
Eric placed his hand into a hold to keep it in place.
As Silas' scalpel parted Eric's skin, he didn't even flinch.
Eric silently stared at the blood gushing from his skin like it wasn't his.
"I feel it." Eric spoke, engrossed by the sight. "But it's so little compared to true pain."
Silas's eyes twitched as he picked the device with tweezers, inserting it beneath the wound.
Each stitch was a prick on his soft skin, his brain fully registered. Before long it was done.
Through it all Eric didn't make a sound.
After a few seconds Silas spoke, breaking the silence. "Your body is too weak, the core might kill you if implanted."
Eric paid little mind to the doctor's warning "Noted." Raz, checking for intruders outside, hadn't heard the Doctor's comment. "Raz will be in contact with you."
Before Eric headed for the exit he suddenly asked the duo. "Do you know about Heaven's Loom?"
He watched puzzled looks bloom on their faces, and released a tired sigh. 'Of course they don't.' He thought.
"Lest I forget." Eric said, pausing at the door. "If you even think of betraying me, your punishment will start with Jared." He bluffed, but they didn't know need to know that.
"Stay safe." Then he was gone with a slam of the door.
Silas was left gawking at the two men who had intruded his life and seized its reins from him.
"How does he know about your son? I thought I was the only one you told." Kai finally spoke, Eric's words breaking her from her despair.
"I.. I don't know." Silas said with shaky breaths.
"Maybe we should run away now? Get Jared and flee the damn country." Kai said, frustration clear in her voice.
"He's the damn Prince, Kai!" Silas screamed. "And he somehow knows us. Probably better than we know ourselves." He fell into the chair Eric had been. "That child manipulated us like we were dolls. Does he seem the sort to leave loose ends?" He caressed his temples to ease his budding migraine.
"So you say we do nothing?" Kai asked in chagrin.
"I say we let this play out and see how it goes. If he fails, we just have to disappear again." Silas spoke with fatigue clear on his face. "But if he actually succeeds..." He continued mirthfully.
"The world will see the birth of a new monster." Kai's bleak tone shook Silas.
He knew she was right.
-----
Eric and Raz Plied the dirty streets once more, headed for the bus they had taken earlier.
As they moved Raz allowed his steps match Eric's and whispered without changing his speed.
"We're being followed."
Eric's brows scrunched. He didn't look around to check. He trusted Raz's judgement and knew he'd just be alerting their stalker.
"My uncle's men?" He asked. That would mean the plan had failed before it even began.
"I don't think so. It's a single person and he's not very good at hiding." Raz gave his assessment. "I think it's just a petty robber."
Eric nodded. He and Raz stopped at a random fruit stall. While they checked the goods, from the corner of his eye Eric spotted the man walking under the shade behind them.
He was extremely pale, like no blood flowed through his veins. His hair was the colour of rust, almost blood red.
He stood out like a sore thumb amidst the sea of people.
When he got closer a message popped up in Eric's vision.
[WARNING: Anomalous energy detected.]
'That's definitely not a petty thief.' Eric thought.
As he passed by, the man's palm hit Eric's hand, sending chills down his back.
It was cold. Extremely cold. Like touching a corpse. Eric had to restrain himself from having an exaggerated reaction.
The man then gently whispered in the same breath. His voice grating to the ear.
"My Lord welcomes you back, Your Highness."
Eric's pupils contracted and his body tensed up. He whipped his head backwards but the man had already disappeared. 'How?'
He turned to Raz but it seemed he hadn't heard anything.
'Who was that?' Eric couldn't stop his mind from whirring. He was stalking me to deliver a message from a Lord? Before I regressed I barely knew anyone besides Victoria and Raz, leading an overall bland and sedentary life.' His apprehension deepened, wondering the possible reasons for such an encounter.
'The only strange things that've happened recently are my regression and the system...' Eric's breath hitched at the thought. 'He was welcoming me back after regressing?'
'But how? And who is his Lord? Is it connected to the system?' Various questions filled Eric's mind after the brief encounter, but were almost completely met with no answers.
Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to change that at the moment.
'For now I need to first complete this mission, then I can try finding out what's actually going on.'
Once the strange man had disappeared they completed the rest of the journey, uninterrupted.
On the bus, an uncomfortable silence hung between the two men.
"Your Highness," Raz began, his voice low. "This source of yours... its knowledge is terrifyingly intimate. I fear the price for such power will be equally steep."
Eric didn't look at him, his gaze fixed on the passing city. "The price is already paid, Raz" Eric spoke in a forlorn voice. "I need you completely focused on the mission at hand. Let me worry about my source."
Eric heard Raz sigh as he sunk back into his raging thoughts.
'Silas is too much a coward to try betraying me. Especially with his son at stake. He should keep Kai in check too.'
Silas and Kai were Panacea defectors.
A few years after Eric entered Panacea's base in his original life, Silas was recaptured.
He was placed to work with the head researchers in monitoring Eric.
Silas, ridden with guilt and labelled a traitor used Eric's unwilling ear as his only form of human contact.
He told Eric of the years he had spent hiding with Kai. How they had presented the tracker now under Eric's skin to the authorities. A futile effort of course. The tracker mysteriously disappeared despite being under the tightest security.
The two were plunged back into their game of cat and mouse with Panacea. Kai's tech skills had previously helped them stay hidden. But with more of Panacea's attention placed on them, they were inevitably caught. Kai, labelled too much of a threat, was killed in front of Silas.
With his son held hostage, Silas was forced to continue his work within the base.
Eric found some comfort in his conversations with Silas. He recognised the impossible circumstance the Doctor had been put in. He sympathised with him.
But he still despised the man.
He opened his eyes and said to Raz.
"Call my uncle." Gloom clouded Raz's face as Eric spoke "Tell him I'd like to accept his offer."
The unbridled hatred he had for Panacea.
It would soon consume him.
But until then, he would use his hatred to fuel his revenge.