Shadows Lingering//A Glaze AU//Sequel to 'A Superhero's Heart'

28

"Can we take five?", Travis groaned, resting his head on his folded arms. The code wasn't as easy to crack as having the alphabet that Garroth gave them. Ekon must've done some extra layering to make sure that Shadow wouldn't figure it out.

"We're so close to figuring it out,", Katelyn urged him. "Besides, Blaze texted Aph this morning saying Garroth woke up acting strangely. This is just another reason why we have to keep going."

Dante entered the room with three coffees, looking just as exhausted as Travis. He wasn't having much luck either with trying to research how this code actually worked. Laurance was completely lost and also occupied with trying to find Shadow's agents in the city. Aphmau was busy with helping Elizabeth with the investigation as well. Everything just seemed to be chaotic at the moment.

"Travis, remind me next time that if I order again, you need to write down what you want because I think I messed up five times,", Dante chuckled, handing him his drink. "How's it going?"

"It's fine,", Travis huffed. 

"We just want answers already. We've gotten nothing,", Katelyn groaned, slumping in her chair. "The code is confusing to read, even when we look at Garroth's reference. It'd be so easier if he could just read it to us..." 

"Is there a way you could translate it through the computer?", Dante asked, taking a sip of coffee. "You know, like google translate?" 

Travis and Katelyn looked up at Dante like he was idiot to which he held up his hands in defense. The three of them focused back on the screen where Ekon's messages were displayed. They were separated by spaces but, each individual letter was next to each other, making it difficult to differentiate when one stopped and the other started. So far, they translated about a sentence or two. Travis sighed and said; "How about we check it's power levels and compare it to Garroth's again? I know it's been shaky but, maybe we can finally get at least some answers." 

Katelyn nodded and pulled up the files of Ekon and Shadow next to each other. What frightened them was that Shadow had an overwhelming amount while Ekon kept rising and falling, never quite getting an exact reading. 

"Irene...", Travis breathed out, rubbing his face. "What the hell are we supposed to do? Garroth needs answers and if we don't get them soon, it might be too late to-" 

"Don't think like that,", Dante said, sternly. "He's going to be okay. Also, with a mindset like that, we're causing more stress on the situation. We need to look at this with a calm mind and give it the best we've got. Now...I'm going to try something so humor me for a second." 

The blunette pulled back up the code and grabbed Garroth's sheet with the alphabet on it. His eyes darted from the sheet onto the screen, really trying to focus on it. 

.... . .-.. .-.. --- .-.-.- / -- -.-- / -. .- -- . / .. ... / . -.- --- -. .-.-.-

He first started looking at the first sets of dots and dashes, taking in each one carefully. "Do you have any scrap paper?" He soon received some and he started writing each letter out separately as best as he could. It wasn't too long until he got "hello". He went on to the next word and then the next until he finished the sentence. 

Hello. My name is Ekon. 

Dante then went to the next line; 

.. - .----. ... / --. --- --- -.. / - --- / .... .- ...- . / ... --- -- . / -.-. --- -- -- ..- -. .. -.-. .- - .. --- -. / .-- .. - .... / -.-- --- ..- .-.-.- / .. / ..-. . .- .-. / -- -.-- / .-.. .- ... - / .... --- .-.. -.. . .-. / .. ... / .. -. .--- ..- .-. . -.. .-.-.- / .... --- .-- / .. ... / --. .- .-. .-. --- - .... / .-. --- .----. -- . .- ...- . ..--..