"How was the flight, Edulcore?" The man behind the desk, in simple white lab coat, is Charles Walker. An identical Walker to the one Ed knows well, "yet this one is the leader of the good guys", thinks Ed.
The man sits behind a big desk covered with stacks of documents, a desktop computer and a laptop, a small Palm. It's really Charles walker, but that aura of invincibility of that other Walker is missing. This one is just a man among men.
"Fine, thanks. But I do wonder how could you have though I could have survived a Mach ten flight" says Euro, raising an eyebrows. The man raises a corner of the mouth, in a unnoticeable smile.
"You run at mach 2, Ed. We do know you can sustain that speed".
"I can't run anymore" says Ed.
"I presumed it. Else, you wouldn't allow those policemen to arrest you" responds Walker.
"How do you know I am Edulcore Cicciotto, then?"
"As soon as our Echelon feeds told us of the arrest of a man in Vegas whose fingerprint were identical to the ones of the Eurostar, I had one of ours operative in Nevada to analyze a bloodsample of yours. The DNA analysis confirm it is you. Now, established you are Edulcore Cicciotto, we must discover what happened to you, and why instead of coming to the Avant-Guarde, you resurfaced in America while dealing with a snuff movie maker."
Ed looks at the Avant Guarde leader.
"Care to explain?" says Walker, standing up and going to the window, which overlooked a busy street of the the historical centre of Brussels.
Euro leans back. It was the time for the lies. And the time to be convincing. "What can I explain? I don't remember anything. I was washed ashore in Denmark, a few days ago. A man found me on the beach, nearly frozen, and brought me to his castle. I didn't remember anything about me and my past, but something happened. And... and that man happened to be a private making investigation over... actually hunting down pedophiles around the world. Among the photos of kids missing I found one that triggered some of my memories... a kid looking exactly like myself at three years of age. And then I though it could have been Eddie.
So the man gave me help... fake documents, money... to go to Las Vegas to make investigation,,, that's why I was there. But what happened to me after my supposed death... I don't remember."
Walker grimaces. "You disappeared right before a nuclear explosion. Then you were missing for three years. Now your metagenes are deactivated, probably by some unidentified genes grafted by unknown means to your owns. And you sports signs of multiple operations over your body. I think the equation is easy to solve."
Euro frowns. He didn't expect that a complete analysis of his own DNA was carried while he was crossing the Atlantic, in a little more than an hour. And in the Christmas day, too.
"I am meaning that it has the features of an abduction... I guess after what happened to 3VX then, our friends up there had some resentment toward you..." explained, serious, Walker.
Euro is not able to hide the stupor in his eyes. The friends up there... the accident at 3VX... an abduction... Walker is talking about aliens? It was not shit the book, then?
"The... Basilisks... you mean?" asks Ed.
"Sure".
"Do you had... encounters with them after the 3VX?" asks Euro, cautiously.
"One or two at a year. Small incidents, mostly. But they are still on the planet, even if we stopped their main plans, then:"
A finger of Euro moved rapidly under his nose. "If you believe me the subject of an abduction... and of alien operations... you surely consider me a potential threat, Charles. A drone of the Basilisk..."
Walker smiles, this time openly. "Obviously. But that you could be remotely controlled from away has to be demonstrated. You don't carry explosive or any kind of weapons, the examinations you were gone trough before meeting me shows you are in no way harmful. You don't have meta-powers anymore... frankly, I simply think you were brought back alive to show that they know how to strip us of the powers. You have been sent back by the Basilisks to show they know how to defeat us."
Ed fakes a look of deep concentration.
Walker continues. "That's why I had you carried by the Stormloader here, even if I correctly supposed you had not the superspeed anymore. If you'd die, a possible basilisks thread was eliminated. If you'd survive, a possible Basilisk threat would have been turned over to our advantage."
At the words, Euro smiles. After all, this Walker was exactly like the one he knew on his home dimension."
"You forgot one thing. My son is in the hand of someone in Vegas. I thanks you to have took me out of prison, but I need to return there..." says Euro.
Wlaker shakes his head. "Not now. By the way, I can push some levers in the local police to find that... those... kids... but your own is safe ... and his here at the Complex. Come with me!"
They walker fast across many corridors, up to a window looking over a playground. There, a few kids of many ages were playing.
"Metahuman kids. we train them to use their powers for the better. That one..."
"... is Eddie. I can see him."
And Eddie it was. Exactly like Edulcore's own, this one had the same features, the same long curly hairs similar to serpents, the same strange, disturbing smile. Suddenly, the kid raised the head, looking right at the windows. The glance he gave to Euro was cold, and a wicked smile appeared for an instant over the lips of the boy.
A chill passed down Euro's spine. "He's looking at me" said Euro.
"He can't recognise you. He was mere months old when you disappeared" notes Walker.
"Right, right" admits Ed.
"Well, I need you to run more test, Edulcore. We need to find what has been done to your body". A those words, a man and a woman in lab coats arrives from the opposite end of the corridor, and invites Euro to follow them.
After the Italian was gone, another woman with long black curly hairs joins Walker.
"Agent Biggle. How was the probe?" asks Walker.
"Completely blank. There is like a mind shield protecting his mind" explains the woman.
Walker nodded. "Just how I was expecting. The same thing Eddie has developed recently. Too bad there weren't mind reader around three years ago, to know if the mind shield was present then... Bah, keep two eyes open over Cicciotto. He seems harmless, but who knows..."
