Author notes:
Sorry this is so short, but writing Van Kleiss is really hard to write and I need time to dwell on how I want him and this version of Rex to interact in the next part.
Rex gagged, spitting out the wet dirt that had entered his mouth when he fell onto the ground on the other side of the portal. The terrible taste of the soil lingered on his tongue as he got up and shook out dirt from his legs. Rex could feel grit scraping inside his joints as he stood up and sighed. Later tonight Rex was gonna have to go through all his joints with a soft cloth and that was gonna take forever.
Rex was reminded Noah had gone through the portal too when he heard him groan from behind Rex.
"Where... are we exactly?" Noah slowly asked as he too stood up and brushed the dirt off his trousers. "Because this definitely doesn't look like any 'promised land' I know. These trees look dead."
Rex made a hum of agreement as he looked at the forest they had arrived in. Promised land was not in the top ten ways Rex would describe this place. If anything it looked more like a no man's land.
There were also no visible exits, wherever the portal had taken them had taken right into the thick of things, trees spread out in every direction. In front of them in the distance was some kind of tall foreboding castle. The castle's shape tickled at Rex's mind.
He felt like he should know this place, but Rex thinks he would have remembered being in a place where the trees were so sickly.
The trees in this dark place were dry and brittle and everywhere. Under normal circumstances Rex might have assumed they were dead, but Rex had had enough experiences with various EVOs to know that might not be the case. Still, Rex wondered if they would explode into sawdust if he punched them hard enough.
The ground beneath their feet thrummed with activated nanites in the thick soggy soil. Rex could imagine this place was a fantastic birthing grounds for all sorts of EVOs. He wouldn't be surprised if bright red eyes grew out of the tree's gnarled branches, as most tree EVOs seemed to grow.
The forest was also absolutely silent. There was no singing of birds or thumps of small forest animals running across the leaf litter. All there was amidst the silence was a gentle breeze.
Rex stilled as a sudden cracking sound rang out and the trees all snapped into place, clearing a pathway and curling into arches.
A tall man walked out from underneath the arched tree branches, with thin white streaks in his black hair and a golden prosthetic replacing a missing arm. Where he walked, tiny red flowers grew from the previously bare ground, making a path of red behind him.
The man stopped walking, and the flowers followed suit.
"You can...control nature?" Rex asked, pointing towards the flowers. He tilted his head in an over exaggerated manner, something he'd do with Six and Holiday to make clear he was asking a question in a sincere way since his metal face didn't really move to convey expression well.
He doubted the man before him really cared about the gesture, but old habits die hard.
"Something along those lines, Rex," Van Kleiss drawled. "I'd like to welcome you to Abysus, a safe haven for EVOs."
Rex backed away from Van Kleiss at the sound of his name, and Rex held his arm out, blocking the EVOs from Noah.
"How do you know my name?" demanded Rex. "That information is not available to the public, believe it or not. There's a lot of stuff available on me and I know for a fact my name isn't one of those things."
He glared at Van Kleiss who merely smirked at Rex as if amused by Rex's actions.
"We have...history together, you and I. We were both there at the beginning. I know you, and I know about your unique nanites and your abilities," Van Kleiss said.
"I think I would have remembered someone as smarmy as you, Van Kleiss. What's your aim for bringing me here?"
"Oh, don't be like that Rex. I just wanted to have a little chat with you. We have much to catch up on, and who knows? Maybe I can convince you to stay here with my pack rather than Providence. They don't treat you too well, don't they?" Van Kleiss stared into Rex's eyes, in a smug way that didn't reveal anything about Van Kleiss's intentions to Rex.
Rex frowned. All he got from that speech was that Van Kleiss for some reason wanted Rex to stay with him. Rex had no idea if he actually knew Van Kleiss from before the Nanite Event, so that little tidbit was moot.
"Fine, I'll have a chat with you."
Van Kleiss smiled and Rex found Noah and himself being herded over to the castle in the distance.