3 MONTH AGO
The glass of the human sized tube receded downwards, a naked man with white long hairr and a goatee fell out but Eduardo; a man in a labcoat caught him.
"I got you."
"Th...thanks man..."
He gave the man clothes but he looked around for something.
"Oh, you're probably looking for this.
He handed him a rusted oval piece of metal.
The naked man was surprised.
"W..what happened? How long was I out?!"
His veins glowed bright gold and he emitted a zone that covered the building, electricity surges out from the monitors in the room and all the lightbulbs burst leaving them in darkness except for the glowing veins from the man.
He slowly walked towars Eduardo.
"Wait! Wait! You've been in stasis for years, that's why it's rusted."
"How...many...years."
"It's been fifty one years."
The man stops and his veins stop glowing.
Eduardo lighted a candle.
"Fi...fifty? Oh no...what about my band? My friends? I had a band, we were kidnapped and..."
"I know your story, a band that toured the world spreading peace was taken and put in the "pseudohuman" program. The others, they survived but..."
"But what?"
He showed the man a photo of people with blacked out eyes, unhumanly long fingers and sparse hair.
"Oh no..."
He fell to his knees crying.
"Please...just kill me, I don't wanna live in a world without my friends."
Eduardo handed him a picture of two children and the man stands up.
"Six?! Zane?! Please tell me they're alive and well."
"They are but you can't see them yet."
The naked man became livid again and held Eduardo by the shirt.
"Why the hell not? They're my kids."
"Your body is still adapting and I'm there's still a risk you're carrying the P.A.S.T virus."
"The airborne virus that only targets N.E.X.Ts...you're right. Well, you got a labcoat on, run your tests, doc."
"I did before you woke up; you still have the virus."
"Oh.."
"But there's a cure that's been developed in the past decade,.but it needs to be taken three in doses, one month apart."
"Groovy,man..."
2 MONTHS AGO
The man was in white vest and shorts on the ground coughing nonstop.
Eduardo ran up to him and injects something into him which allows the coughing to stop, then he takes a deep breath.
"W...what's happening to me,doc?"
"Your tests show that the P.A.S.T virus is reducing rapidly but you also seem to have an immune reaction."
"I ain't too smart, can you dumb it down."
"You're allergic to the drug.We have to stop. "
"No! I need too see Zane, I need to hug Six, those kids mean the world to me."
"Okay then..."
1 MONTH AGO
The man was shiverring with a blanket over him, he struggles to breathe.
"J...j...just one m...more dose."
LAST WEEK
The man was in a black vest and boxers doing one handed pushups with his left hand
"Nintey nine..."
He strained as he pushes himself up, then switched to doing pushups with his left hand.
Eduardo watches him and takes some notes down.
"You've recovered remarkably."
"It's all thanks...to you doc...twenty three..."
"Once again, I'm not a doctor."
"Okay then but I need to ask, why did my friends end up like that and I didn't? "
"There were...mistakes made that were perfected with your procedure."
"So they were guinea pigs?!" His veins glowed as he frowned and the lights start to flicker again. He takes a deep breath and the veins disappear. "I'm sorry. "
"I understand, I lost a friend a few days before I restored you...It really doesn't get easier."
"No...It doesn't...fifty...so why did you revive me?"
"That friend I told you about, it was his dyinhg wish."
"Huh...you're a good man then...fifty five."
"Why'd you say that?"
"The dead have no way of holding us accountable but you still kept your word...and you took care of me up until now...sixty two...I don't really have a place in this new world. I really just wanna see those kids."
"You're always welcome back here."
PRESENT DAY
Zans sits on the couch at home, holding up the oval pieve if rusted metal.
"What the hell is this?"
He asks aloud.
"Dunno, but that's your business."
Julia says walking out of tge room with a suitcase and six behind her.
"Thanks again for letting me stay at your place."
"It's cool.I hear this place can get overcrowded and my parents are cool with it.
Six stops and turns around to Zane.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Your friend died and you can't use your power, I know this is likely taking a toll on y..."
Zane gets up and storms out of the house bwfore she can finish.
He snaps his fingers as he walks on the sidewalk , he pulls out his phone and is about to play an interview from Professor Pryce.
"Lying creep."
He deletes all of them as he walks down the street. A car speeds towards him and he sees it just in time to jump out of the way.
"What the hell?!"
The car speeds passed him and outside a bank as the alarms ring and people in ski masks rushinng people with their hands raised into the car.
Zane puts on Pryce's glove and is about to snap his fingers but stops midway.
"What's the point? We're all gonna die someday."
He takes it of when someone runs passed him, as he does, he catches a brief glimpse of his face.
"Wait...who are ..."
The man runs so fast he outpaces the car, his veins flash gold and a large wall made of pure gold appears in front of the car and it crashes into it.
The men in the van open the backdoor.
"If you come any closer, we'll kill them! We have demands and you comply,no one gets hurt!"
Zane snaps his fingers and a green dome appears, as it does the Goldsmith smiles.
As the dome fades, all the guns are missing and the hostages have been moved avway frok.the vehicles.
The police close in and arrest the armed men.
A crowd of people start taking pictures of the golden wall .
"Wow...what kind of N.E.X.T ability is this?"
Zane looks around for the man when a hand grabs him and pulls him out from the crowd.
In a hotel room, Decagon is pacing back and fro smiling with hisnhand over mis mouth and his other hand on his hip Princess Jasmine and her partner are watching the news report the incident.
"The bastard's not even trying to hide. He wants us to find him."
"He's doing this intentionally. "
Decagon's hand over his mouth muffles his loud cackle and the other two look at him,annoyed.
"Caesar, I can almost taste your battle lust from here."
"That man pushed me to my limits, he didn't just beat me, he beat my honour as the current heir to the Decagon legacy, I've gotten stronger since then. I can take him...right Red Mask?"
"Just because you don't use ypur codename doesn't mean you should use mine senselessly." The man responds.
"Fine,but we're in agreement, the Goldsmith dies tonight, I hope he's ready to give me thest fight of his life."
"No." They both say to Decagon.
"Why not?" He asks in bigh pitched tone.
"We need more information, we'll be seeing Eduardo Bliss, the Professor's former associate. He says he has information for us and Darren... try not to be to rough ehile you interrogate him."
"I'm either thorough or not doing anything at all."
"The perfect spy." She says, runninh her fingers through his hair.
"Get a room. " Decagon sneers.
"This is our room.!" They both shout together.
Zane looks around but he doesn't see anyone but the person put something in his hand, a small wearable chain, rusted similar to the oval object.
THE NEXT DAY
Eduardo gets out of bed, he's only in bocers revealing, he scratches his hairy chest and brushes his teeth facing a mirror.
When he raises his head he sees a man in a red suit and a plain red mask eith only slits for the eyes standing behind him.
"Hello, Mr Bliss." The man says with the mask replacing his real voice with a mechanical one. "We have a few questions for you.