Chapter #21

Initially Zeno wanted to bring the siblings to one of his secret free safe houses but while on the road they heard the news from the radio.

Blackwatch was fast as hell, the trio have been branded as bio terrorists and everyone and their mothers knew their faces.

So, Zeno had to change courses to a closer location but this one had all of his secrets inside.

Even his built-in progress Nanosuit is in this safe house. In the end Zeno decided that the duo's normal lives had already ended and he could disclose the truth about himself slowly.

'I also need to convince Alex to help me procure some of the resources I am missing. The suit is almost finished.' Zeno thought.

Entering the safe house in the shape of a country side farm, Zeno drove to the barn, revealing an elevator going underground.

"Damn, when did you have time to get this all built?" Dana was shocked.

"Tyrone is my bitch." Zeno answered.

He had Tyrone do all kinds of shit, especially after getting his hands on the first batch of resources. Thanks to his own knowledge, Zeno could mess with the guy's memories.

It was because of this reason that Zeno didn't silence Tyrone when these events had started. The dude literally knew nothing about him at this point.

Zeno would just send him texts from a burner phone, Tyrone who knew his source of money being those texts would finish them before he would get his memories wiped by Zeno at regular intervals.

'Huh, it kinda reminds me of droids from Star Wars.' Zeno realized.

"You didn't take him out?" Alex asked, Zeno knew what he meant by that.

"Nah, he remembers nothing about me being a secret mad scientist. I made sure." Zeno chuckled.

"Tyrone? The boy toy Tyrone? Damn, did you know that he actually slept with his sisters after he dumped your grandma?" Dana immediately dug through the blackmail storage she kept in her head.

"What the fuck!?" Alex was disgusted.

"Nic..." Words got stuck in Zeno's throat.

_______

Once they arrived at the basement floor, the lights turned on automatically, revealing the futuristic laboratory Zeno has.

Alex looked at the equipment in wonder and desire. He seemed like he couldn't wait to cut off a piece of himself and start experimenting on it.

Dana on the other hand had her eyes on the Nanosuit in the middle of the room. The suit was inside a tank full of fluids that got absorbed by the suit.

"Hey, Zeno, what's up with that suit?" Dana asks.

"That's my Magnum Opus, I will explain it later. Let's gets to our rooms first." Zeno evaded the question, he'll explain it eventually.

"Scratch that, I want to look into my new genetic information. You two handle my room." Alex said as he walked towards the laboratory.

"You're not going anywhere with those dirty clothes mister! Take it off, I'll wash them." Dana pulled his sleeves.

Alex's face got weird for a second before he carefully removed Dana's hand and kept moving.

"I am a scientist, my clothes are just fine as they are." Alex said.

Hearing him Dana had tick marks on forehead. She wanted to have something to do while the boys geeked out but Alex had to ruin it.

She immediately cornered him. "Give me the clothes Alex and no one gets hurt."

"I can't." Alex insisted.

"Why?" Dana asked.

"I believe his clothes are now a part of his body..." Zeno decided that he had enough fun and intervened.

Alex and Zeno had to explain to Dana how Biomass works, they had not explained the full details when they were talking since it would just bore her.

"My brother is a freaking nudist!" Dana exclaimed.

Alex was too busy hitting his head to the wall.

"Well, since we just arrived instead of going to work immediately, why don't we just take the day off. It's not like we have immediate business." Alex proposed in the end.

'I can go back to research later. It's not like there's anything urgent.' Alex thought to himself not knowing how wrong he was.

The rest of the group agreed, Zeno showed them their respective rooms before leaving them to their devices.

Zeno moved to the kitchen to make some dinner, while he was thinking about what to cook, Dana and Alex joined him.

All three had kitchen experience due to their lives, they all had similar tastes that being eating anything classified as food.

"Well, one cannot go wrong with Mac & Cheese." Dana said.

"I was thinking about eating some meat." Alex said, he would rather eat a whole animal but that can wait.

"Well, Alex made a salad. Dana you got the steak. I will be listening to some music while watching you two work." Zeno gave out the orders.

The two looked at him with gentle smiles. The last time Zeno had seen such smiles he lost his entire stash.

"Fine, I'll handle the steak but be prepared to eat them well-done." Zeno relented.

He had hoped that he could allocate the task to them while he got lazy but it didn't work out.

Dinner was made quickly with three people's work. Soon they were eating while watching the news.

On the news, they saw their own faces, being branded as a terrorist never felt good but they had nothing else to watch.

"So, how does Alex's powers work?" Dana asked.

"I don't think it is a topic suited for dinner." Zeno said.

He didn't want to talk about all the consuming parts while eating. Unfortunately Alex didn't have such aversion and started to explain.

In the end Dana too wanted to get infected but she was shot down on both sides.

Alex didn't think she had the mental fortitude to deal with the voice at the back of his mind, yet alone the memories of others when she inevitably consumes them.

Zeno on the other hand was sure he can make a better strain once he merges the Nanosuit with the Virus. So he didn't want her to be infected with inferior strain.

"So, Zeno. What's your plan after this? I mean I would have died if you didn't warn me beforehand. What comes after this?" Alex asked at the end of the dinner.

The siblings knew their normal lives had ended, considering Blacklight's potential. They would be hunted across the world.

Naturally they expected Zeno who remained unperturbed by the events to guide them.

"I need to finish my suit before we do anything. Once that suit is done, I can cure both Redlight and Blacklight. 

This virus must be wiped out from the face of the earth. I won't allow anyone other than us to have it." Zeno spoke seriously.

"Alright, what do you need?" Alex furrowed his brows. 

He thought about the suit they saw at the entrance. 'What is that suit capable of?'

"We're going to a heist, with your disguise, my plan and Dana's hacking it will be easy. 

Also the things we're stealing have no relation to the bioweapons, so they wouldn't suspect it was us." Zeno finished and gave the list of resources to Alex.

"Tall glass, two sponges, a bottle of lube..." Alex read out loud feeling this must be the wrong list.

He was right since Zeno quickly took it and gave the correct one to him.

"What was the other list for?" Dana asked.

"Don't worry about it." Zeno said.

"Now I am really curious." Dana pushed further.

"Let him off Dana." Alex said.

He managed to take a look at the name of the list and wanted to spare his friend from embarrassment.

'I didn't know you could make a Fleshlight from those things. Well he is young and I don't care where he sticks his dick as long as it's not my sister.' He thought.

Alex never considered why Zeno did not buy his own, because he too would rather make his own than buy one.

"Fine be that way. I bet it was something perverted." Dana pouted.

"..." Alex.

"..." Zeno.

Unfortunately for Zeno he was never able to make Alex understand that it was a meme from his motherland until he explained his previous lives.

(The whole homemade Fleshlight thing was a Turkish meme about some kid putting the instructions about how to craft it on YouTube, then it kind of became a meme.)