Zach: Guardian of the Multiverse

Chapter 11: It comes out early

A few hours after I was placed in the holding cell, Six came and opened the door.

"Get up. We have some questions for you" he said sternly.

I'm then lead to a small white room with mirrors all around, with a small metal table and two chiairs. He brought me to an interrogation room. I sit in one of the chairs and Six soon sits on the other side of the table.

"I'm going to ask you some questions. You'd better answer them truthfully. I'll know if you're lying." He said, with venom in his voice.

"First question: who are you and where do you come from?" He asked.

"I'm Zach. And I'm not from around here." I said.

"We can tell. Next question: what do you know of that energy spike in that city?"

"That's classified. Frankly, I don't trust you as far as I can throw you."

"Well feel the same way. Fine then, next question: why don't you have any nanites?"

"What are nanites?"

That's when everyone behind the one way mirrors had their eyes wide open. Rex and Holiday both looked surprised. Even some of the soldiers started to mutter in surprise, while Six still had that stoic look, not showing any emotion.

"That's will be all for now. Rex will escort you back to your cell." Six said as he goes out of the room and Rex comes back in.

As Rex and I are walking back, he decides to spark a conversation.

"So... do you really not know what nanites are?" He asked.

"Nope. Not a clue." I say as Blaire jumps out and perches on my left shoulder. She still pretends to be a regular cat, as to not arouse suspicion and a complete overhaul of experiments on her.

"Whoa! Nice cat. Though I'm not much of an animal person." Rex says, "anyway, nanites are these microscopic machines that my parents designed to cure sickness and disease, but a bunch of bad people wanted to turn them into weapons, so a little more than six years ago an explosion happened that infected every living thing on the planet with nanites. How come you don't have them?"

"I'd rather not say. I still don't trust you guys." I say, not meaning to offend.

"It's fine. We get that a lot." He says. Turns out Rex was a really nice guy.

As we were walking, a passing guard called to Rex, "Hey Rex!" He said, "you excited about tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, Agent Ranbaure. I'm so pumped!" Rex shouts in excitement.

"What's going on tomorrow night?" I asked.

"Haven't you heard? There's going to be a lunar eclipse tomorrow night. First one in 40 years. I'm going on a date with my girlfriend, Circe." Rex explains.

Finally. I'll be free sooner than I thought. Said a voice somewhere, as I looked around I noticed there was no one else around.

I shake my head and continue to walk with Rex as a screen pops out of the wall and an video call comes on with a man literally all white starts to speak.

"Rex, I need you to take our little guest out to the city tomorrow night. Might as well make him useful while he's here," the rude old man says to Rex.

"That's White Knight. He's my boss and the owner of Providence." Rex explains as he turns back to the monitor, "but Knight, I have a date tomorrow night. Can't I do it the day after tomorrow?" He whines.

"Take him with you on your outing. I hate to say this, but you're the only one he seems to like, so take him along and see what info you can get out of him. We need to know if he's allied with Van Kleiss or a normal person." Knight says and the monitor goes black and goes back into the wall and Rex sighs, a little disappointed.

"Uh... he knows I heard every word, right?" I asked, kinda stating the obvious.

"Nah, you weren't in frame. Well, looks like I'm your babysitter tomorrow night, amigo." Rex says, putting his arm around my shoulders like I'm an old friend. Blaire jumps on my head to get out of the way.

For the next 24 hours, I'm interrogated, again by Agent Six, for two hour intervals. I'm also fed prison food which is subpar at best for breakfast and lunch, talk to Blaire a few times in the cell, trying not to tip off the surveillance camera in the back right corner of the cell. Eventually Rex comes by and walks me to a loading bay, filled with massive vehicles and tons of equipment.

"Rex?" I asked, "where's your ride?"

Rex smirks and puts on his orange goggles, saying only this, "I am the ride."

Before I ask what he means, his entire lower half of his body turns into a motorcycle, about the same size, if not larger than a Harley Davidson, but with no wheels and has a steam punk feel to the design.

"Hop on. We need to drop off your cat at a friend's place first. Circe doesn't really like animals." Rex says, still smirking like he won a bet. I reluctantly get on his bike and it soon hovers about a foot off the ground and takes off at an amazing speed.

Less than an hour later we are in a suburban neighborhood in front of a modest looking house. Rex rings the doorbell and a blonde teen in a white T-shirt and green jacket wearing some jeans answers the door.

"Oh hey, Rex." He said, "didn't you have a date tonight?"

"Sorry, Noah. White Knight wanted me to keep an eye on this guy, and he has a cat I need you to take care of." Rex says. As if to prove his point, Blaire jumps on my shoulder.

"Sure. I don't mind. We're still up for basketball tomorrow, right?" Noah agrees and Blaire jumps on his shoulder.

"Definitely! See you later." Rex waves as Noah's TV can be heard in the background with a news reporter announcing.

".... and we are only four hours until the total lunar eclipse, which scientists states will be the longest one in centuries, with a time of a whopping 90 minutes for the eclipse." Said the reporter as we leave and go to an apartment complex a few roads down to pick up a girl with dark hair with red tips, black lipstick, and wearing a small jacket and a pair of shorts.

"Hey, Circe. Ready for our date?" Rex said.

"Sure. Who's the stiff?" She said quite rudely.

"Long story. Come on, let's go to dinner and then see the eclipse." Rex said as I make room for her to get behind Rex on the bike and soon takes Circe and I to a restaurant closer downtown.

Once inside Rex ordered a table for three, but I insisted I get a separate table and let the couple have their own. Rex orders the steak, medium rare with a side of mashed potatoes and a soda, whereas Circe orders lobster. I order a pasta dish, because that's my only culinary Kryptonite.

I can feel it. Soon I can be set loose to feed of the dark hearts of man...

I ignore it and get done with my food. Rex pays for us all, insisting to pay for all three of us. Then he takes us all to a secluded area with a perfect view of the moon, which a small part was already turning red.

"Just in time. I thought we'd miss it." Rex states and Circe sits on the ground.

Within minutes the moon was almost completely red and about to be a total lunar eclipse. That's when I could feel myself slipping out of consciousness. This only meant one thing.

The Beast was about to come out. And it was all because of the eclipse.