People of Earth! Here is another chapter! And yes, everybody. This is the part where everything hits the fan. Also, you get a little whispering of conflict to come, so stay tuned for that.
Melancholy's Sunshine: Ah yes, the Noah part. You all knew it was coming. But this Gatlocke thing… I'm liking this Gatlocke thing.
Skyefall O. Bunnymund: And somehow, I keep going.
Phantom Ice: Yeah, it had a little Wally/Artemis, and some great brother bonding between Rex and Caesar. As for the next chapter, voila!
val'tanelle: It does seem like a highly likely fanfiction, but I was surprised when there were only substandard oneshots with maybe a paragraph each. I'm not sure what you mean by that last part, but I get the general idea. I'm thinking about getting a beta for this story, but first I want to see how it's done with my other one.
7: Hugging
Rex P.O.V.
"And this, ladies and gentleman, is the Petting Zoo, home to our favorite incurable EVOs," I spread my arms wide as we stepped through the high security doorway.
"Whoah!" most of the group collectively gasped, spilling out into the gigantic space. It was quite a sight today. EVO birds were flying near the roof, EVO trees were pretending there was a breeze, even Mel was floating calmly at the surface of his waterhole, looking like a colorfully brilliant log. In fact, considering that it was filled with "monsters", the place almost looked like a normal habitat.
"This place is SO awesome!" Beast Boy cried, dropping down to the floor and making a grass angel.
Batman turned to Caesar in what almost looked like alarm, "You keep them as pets?"
"Well, not technically," Caesar explained, "These are EVOs that either are good research material, or can't be allowed outside of Providence's control."
"Yet, they make great poker players," Bobo put in, pulling out a deck of cards and starting a game with some two-legged EVOs and Blinky.
"Wow. I just can't get over your talking monkey, bro," Wally shook his head in mock self-shame.
"It's really not that hard to get used to," I insisted, picking Bobo up midplay with a Smack Hand. With my other, I pinched his lips together to mimic speech, "See? His mouth moves, and noise comes out. Basic logic."
"Get offa me, kid!" Bobo brushed me away and rejoined his game.
Wally laughed as I folded in my fist, "Yeah, I think I'm starting to catch on."
"Do they have any restrictions?" Artemis pulled the groups focus back on topic, eying Bobo and his friends. They're game had gotten rough over a disagreement, and now the whole set was throwing punches and kicks like a true barfight.
"Other than the walls, not at all," Caesar assured, "They're quite peaceful for the most part. The more aggressive ones know their place, though."
Grinning, I flexed my arms to prove my strength, "That's right, it's 'cause they know I'm the boss! No one hits me and gets away with it!"
As if to test this faulty theory, Blue slapped me in between the shoulder blades and laughed, "How about now?"
I frowned, "Okay, well, you're an exception."
"If you're done fooling around, Rex, I've got news for you," White Knight droned from my communicator.
Turning away from my friends, I pressed a finger to my ear, "What is it, White? An EVO? Van Kleiss?"
As The Team tried listening in, White sighed, "No, it's Noah. He's waiting for you outside."
I brightened, "Oh! Great! Which entrance?"
"The usual," White informed, ending the call.
"Well, goodbye to you, too," I muttered with as much attitude as possible.
"What's going on?" Connor stepped towards me.
I smiled cheerfully, "Well, you all get to meet my best friend."
"Hey!" Bobo took offense.
"Y'know, the one that isn't a talking monkey," I joked, "C'mon, let's go meet him."
As we strode down the hallway, Beast Boy leapt in front of me and started walking backwards with an unrivaled spring in his step, "Is he like you are? Is he an EVO? Oh wait, is he Spanish?"
"I'm Spanish, too, y'know!" Beetle pointed towards himself, as offended as Bobo was.
"But you're Spanish all the time; he's only Spanish when we wants to be," Beast Boy tried to explain.
"What?" Beetle lost track of the younger hero's thoughts.
Robin cleared everything up, "He means you have an accent and Rex doesn't."
"Oh," Beetle realized.
I ignored the exchange and answered the kid's question, "No, my friend is just a normal person that White picked up to be my bestie. As far as I can tell, he doesn't speak a word of Spanish."
"Are you sure? Not even a little bit?" Beast Boy pressed.
"Here, ask him yourself," I stopped as we reached Noah's entrance. I smacked the keypad, using my nanites to open the door.
"Rex!" Noah burst in, grabbed my hand, and slapped me on the back.
"Hey dude, it's great to see you," I greeted, letting go of his hand.
"It's great to see you," he agreed, "Who's this?"
"Oh this is The Team," I turned so we both faced them, "Guys, this is-"
"Noah," Artemis finished, barely whispering the name as though she couldn't believe it.
I frowned, "Yeah. How'd you know that?"
Artemis P.O.V.
"Noah."
"Yeah. How'd you know that?" Rex wondered.
I felt my senses start to overload as the impossibility of this person standing before me began filtering through my brain. There was no way HE could be right there, not ten feet from me. Every emotion known to man tried taking over my mind, joy, confusion, anger, surprise. But to the group I only let surprise filter through, mimicking the rest of The Team, although a few slivers of joy betrayed my true feelings.
"Do I know you?" HE asked, regarding me with the cluelessness I'd always known him for.
"Of course!" I abandoned my calm façade and launched myself into a hug.
Stunned silence enveloped the room, before Wally burst it.
"Ohhh! Noah! You mean, that's him?" he realized, pointing at Noah.
I nodded as The Team interrogated Wally, "How do you know him? Is he a friend of hers? *GASP* Are they dating?!"
"No, they're not dating!" Wally opposed, starting to explain, "That would just be messed up! Like, Luke and Leia messed up! No, see, Artemis used to have a twin brother who went EVO right after the Incident. He disappeared and everyone thought he was dead. We went and saw his… Oh my gosh, his grave. He was… and she… but Rex… What?"
Megan shook her head to clear the confusion, "Wait, so you're saying Noah is Artemis' twin brother?"
He nodded, "Exactly."
By now, I had released Noah from my death grip and retreated shyly to my Team again, and as the news settled in everyone's heads, my brother's eyes widened with realization.
"Rex, my memory!" he turned and grabbed the EVO by the shoulders, "Five years ago! I must have forgotten everything!"
"So that means… Family! You've got a family, Noah! Oh my gosh, we did it! Look, family! We found our families! Dude!" Rex cried, pulling Noah into a tight embrace, and for just a brief second, I thought that Rex might actually be what he claimed to be.
"Caesar! Get over here!" Noah called, opening up to allow the older boy into the circle.
"Artemis," Rex looked me square in the eye, "Come join in."
I hesitated. Seriously? Come hug me, your mortal enemy? But I took one look into Noah's eyes, those eyes that I hadn't seen in years, the ones that were so similar to mine, and I gave in. I stepped forwards and slung an arm around my brother's neck affectionately on my left, while at my right, I stretched until my wrist was effectively latched onto the base of Caesar's neck. It was a warm, cozy moment, and we shared it for quite a while, hugging it out like a real family.
But I didn't touch that filthy EVO once.
"Now wait just a minute," Rockette stopped, "Didn't you say he'd gone EVO?"
Zatanna guffawed, "Well obviously Rex cured him."
The expression on the three Providence workers faces told otherwise, however. They each looked like someone had slapped them with a pound of bricks and broken up with them. Obviously, Rex hadn't cured him.
Noah shook his head, "Rex never cured me…"
"Well I guess it could have been during that time from before Providence, where I couldn't remember anything," Rex suggested.
"But I've got all five years, and I would have remembered ten-year-old you," Noah pointed out.
"So what are we looking at?" Kaldur guided.
"I think it's safe to say that there's another cure out there," Robin confirmed.
I sighed, "Great. I find my long lost twin brother, who's like, the only family member I've got who's not involved in crime, and now BOOM! Straight back to EVOs."
"Speaking of family," Batman gestured down the hall.
We turned to see a strange man in a green suit and sunglasses.
"Rex," he called in a perfect imitation of Batman's monotone, "We have a problem."
Did you like the Star Wars reference (P.S. I don't own Star Wars either)? I really liked this chapter. But, I promise you some fighting next chapter. So, ba-bye!
~Rainosa
