"I'm going to beat the shit out of you."
"Wipe your nose first, and I just might take you seriously."
The two stood at the middle of the highway bridge, towering at least fifty feet above ground. Rex had crashed his father's car after a raging blue sedan swerved into them, ending up halfway off the edge. By some miracle- and by miracle, Van Kleiss had meant EVO abilities- they hadn't died. The police had arrived and interrogated the woman who'd nearly killed them, finding her incredibly intoxicated.
Rex, though alive, was clearly injured. Blood poured from his nose ever since he'd smashed his face against the glass, his shoulder stung from a newly formed bruise, and a few small scratches now adorned his thigh. His malicious companion, however, due to regenerative abilities, remained perfectly intact. The king currently spoke with a police officer regarding their situation while the boy stood silently in pain.
"May I see your license and registration, please?" the woman asked, glancing back at Rex in concern. "I also hope you have insurance for your vehicle."
Rex stared in surprise as the man produced the documents, nudging him harshly on the shoulder with his blood-free hand. "You have a license? How?"
Van Kleiss gave him a sly smile before turning back to the woman in blue and answering the rest of her questions.
"I assume you're going to call a relative or a tow truck to leave?" she guessed. Her eyes widened when the king shook his head.
"I'll call a tow truck, yes, but we're going to walk right off this highway and down to a gas station," the man explained. "We don't have relatives here-"
Rex snorted, only to accidentally inhale blood.
"-but, we would greatly appreciate a small ride there if you have the time."
The woman nodded. "I suppose that's reasonable, but... your companion here looks injured. Do you want to call emergency-"
"No, it's alright," Van Kleiss denied. "They're only minor injuries. He'll be fine."
The officer raised a brow, thrown off by how casual his reaction was towards the child's obvious pain, but nonetheless led them back to her vehicle and allowed them inside. It took her only a few minutes for her to reach the gas station, even though she was blocked by some traffic, and pulled into a parking spot.
"Are you sure he doesn't need medical attention?" the woman called out to them one last time, watching as they exited the car. "He's bleeding, and other injuries could be unseen. I just think-"
"That will be all," the king cut her off, shutting the door behind him. "We'll do just fine."
Rex watched as the lady gave him one last concerned glance, then backed away as her car shifted into reverse as she drove away. He then angrily turned to his kidnapper, fresh blood still dripping through his fingers.
"Well she was right, you know," he pointed out. "It hurts."
Van Kleiss shook his head at the boy, mildly annoyed. "Don't complain about what your nanites are going to fix soon. Compose yourself. If you don't have any broken bones, I'm not going to care."
"I just crashed a car and almost killed myself!"
"And you didn't. Now, be quiet. I need to think about how you're going to get back in the lab."
Rex let out a groan, then resigned to picking at his watch. "Fuck this. Admit it, your dumb plan failed. You won't even tell me what it is, but I'm pretty sure you lost."
"I did not, and it pays well to have extra ideas on the side," the king retorted. "I suppose I'll need Breach to interfere with things. First, I'm going to have her make your father's car vanish without a trace."
The teen's eyes widened. "Are you that insane? People are gonna wonder why a massive wreck just disappeared in front of their eyes! You're gonna cause a lot of-"
"Confusion? Yes. But so many other strangely paranormal things have happened in the world as well, and this, too, shall pass."
"You're an idiot. Tons of people are gonna see!"
Van Kleiss rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter. It has nothing to do with us anymore. Now, the real issue lies with the security cameras back at the lab. You're going to enter, but there needs to be no proof that you did anything sinister beforehand. You have your mother's keys still with you, correct?"
Rex stuffed his pants into his pockets and felt the metal protrusion poking out from the cloth. "Yeah, the keys you shouldn't be having, you creepy-"
"Good, then we still have potential access to her computer," his kidnapper informed him. "Breach is going to access the camera footage and rewind it, then break them entirely. That way, they can't recover it and fast forward it."
"How is she gonna rewind it? Since when was she into tech skills?"
"She's going to envelop them in her time portals and force their recordings backwards so the footage of you trespassing won't exist anymore."
Rex stared at the man in shock. "Wait, she can reverse timelines for specific things now? If you used that on people, you could make them younger! That's the Fountain of Youth! You can just-"
"Believe me, Rex, I've tried," the king replied, walking towards the gas station building. "But if I reverse a human's age, every single cell in their body is going to fall into youth, and that includes their neurons. It would cause a sort of reverse Alzheimer's, if you will. Telomeres aside, it won't fix the true issues of reverting."
Rex caught up to the man, ready to fight if he tried to hurt anyone. "In English, please? I'm not my brother and I don't speak geek."
"Attempts at reverse aging can destroy your memories due to the fact that your brain is affected as well."
"Yeah, but can't you just go back like ten days or something and have someone tell you what you missed?"
"Who would use eternal youth to only go back to such a close time period, Rex? Elderly people would reverse their aging process by at least thirty to fifty years to be in their prime, but they would forget everything they'd learned in those years. They'd nearly lose their entire identity."
Van Kleiss opened the door, pulled the boy into the small room with him, and then closed themselves inside. He then ignored the man at the front, dismissing him with a wave, and walked towards the opposite side of the wall.
"Use your abilities to destroy these security cameras, Rex," the king commanded. "Make sure at least the past ten minutes have been erased, then carry out irreversible damage on the machines themselves. Now."
"Why?"
"You'll see why once you obey me."
The boy scowled and complied, pressing his hands against the walls to demolish the gas station's security system. "Now what?"
"You're going to find a parked car, and you'll hack your way in and drive back to the lab. Without going on a highway, since it's an easy enough road from here. I'm sure you remember the way."
Rex looked about ready to slap the man across his face. "WE JUST GOT OUT OF A CRA-"
"And you're not going to make the same mistake twice, are you? And before you leave..."
Van Kleiss opened his hands, then pressed his earpiece and muttered a command. The boy watched as a pile of documents fell into his captor's outstretched palms, then stared in surprise as the papers were thrusted into his own hands.
"You may not have time to read these," the man began, "But you just need to show them to the office receptionist. She'll take care of the rest. All you have to do is make sure to not reveal that these are forged."
Rex balked. "You're handing me fake papers? Why-"
"You'll see. Now go."
The teen huffed, hoping he'd make it out alive the second time.
