Chapter Text
“An EVO,” Noah repeated, mind whirring. “Isn’t that dangerous?”
He’d heard somewhere that, during job interviews, bosses liked their seats to be taller than those of prospective employees. It showed dominance, or something along those lines, some sort of callback to a primal instinct that feared those that were bigger than you. Staring up at the screen in front of him, at the man who would doubtless be massive even when not plastered across a giant flat-screen, Noah couldn’t help but feel like White Knight didn’t exactly need the help.
He also couldn’t help but feel more than a little like a bug under a magnifying glass. About to get fried.
“We’re all in danger, every last one of us, until this plague has been ended. There’s no such thing as a position with no risk, not so long as there are nanites infecting every living thing on earth.” White paused, leaning back in his chair. Noah swallowed hard. He felt like his desire to stay alive was being disapproved of. “My agents have all accepted the reality of that risk. They are willing to put their lives on the line for a better future. Were something to go awry and put your life in danger, they would be more than ready to step in.”
Definitely being disapproved of. Like one of his mom’s guilt trips, only instead of getting him to take out the garbage, the head of Providence was shaming him for not being willing to endanger his life. Awesome. Noah glanced to the agents standing silent at attention by his shoulders, but he couldn’t get a read on how they felt about White’s words. They just kept impassive eye contact with their boss.
Noah took a deep breath, about to speak, but White beat him to it.
“That having been said. . .” and here his posture relaxed, becoming less rigid, and Noah felt some of the tension leaching from himself as well. Good, because he was pretty sure if the intensity of this interview kept up he’d have an anxiety attack. “What we’re asking you to do is unlikely to require such intervention. Talk to it, establish a rapport, and report back to us. Easy, simple, and as much as anything is anymore, safe. We need this EVO under control, and if you can help us do that, well. . . we might just win this war.”
An end to the war. An end to the anxiety that buzzed constantly in the back of Noah’s mind, wondering if someone around him might suddenly mutate into a monster. The bus driver, the girl sitting across the coffee shop, the woman delivering his mail. No more fear that each time he said goodbye to his mother might be the last he ever saw of her. No possibility of losing his mind as his body twisted into something grotesque.
It was a powerful motivator. If this EVO really was as important as White had said– and Noah had no reason to think it wasn’t– then helping to get it in line was well worth any risk to himself. A risk that White seemed confident was nearly nonexistent.
“You promise I’ll be safe?” Noah hedged, and White nodded.
“We have no reason to believe you’ll be in harm’s way, so long as you follow our instructions.”
“Could someone here give me, I dunno, some kind of self-defense crash- course anyway? Just in case?”
White gestured to his left, and Noah jumped as a man he hadn’t noticed before stepped forward. He wasn’t dressed in the Providence uniform, sporting instead a green suit and dark sunglasses. Noah’s eyebrows drew together as he looked him over.
Who. . ?
As if to answer his unasked question, White made the introduction. “This is Six. He’s the EVO’s handler. He’ll be able to tell you anything you need to know about the assignment, the EVO itself, and if you want, yes, he can even coach you on basic self-defense. Whatever it takes for this to succeed, he will do.”
Those words felt pointed, and when Noah looked back at the screen, White was no longer scrutinizing him. Instead, the head of Providence was staring down the guy in the green suit, who Noah assumed was returning the eye contact. It was hard to tell with those shades in the way.
White Knight. Six. Either everyone here had vindictive parents, or they didn’t care about making their code names realistic.
“Great!” Noah said, smiling through his nerves. White’s attention turned back to him, and Noah kept that false cheer plastered on. “That’s. . . great. So is this something I can put on my extracurriculars, or does it technically count as community service?”
It was a joke, but White failed to smile even a little bit. Noah felt a small part of himself die as the silence stretched on. Then White nodded, seemingly to himself, and broke the tension.
“Providence would be more than willing to write a letter of recommendation to the college of your choice, should that be something you would require. But secrecy is imperative in this operation, so no, this is not something that can be shared outside this room. If you choose to accept the position, you would also need to accept the terms that come with it, including a nondisclosure agreement.”
He waved a hand, and a document appeared on the screen beside him. Noah’s angle wasn’t great– it was obvious that this screen was meant to be viewed by adults rather than teenagers– but he did his best to look it over as White continued to speak.
“You and your mother can examine the contract as closely as you’d like before you sign it, but it’s essentially this– you’ll be acting as directed, will not reveal the details of this assignment to anyone barring your legal guardian, and will not reveal the nature of your employment to the EVO under any circumstances. While there’s no extreme risk involved, you will be working directly with an EVO, which qualifies you for a certain amount of hazard pay–”
And that was about where Noah lost the thread of White’s words, focused instead on the line of the contract regarding payment. That was. . . a lot of zeros. Not for an organization like Providence, which had international funding, but to a kid like Noah with a single parent and a part-time job?
An end to the EVO epidemic was a powerful motivation, a grand thought that would better the whole world. Being able to pay his own way through college was a lot more personal than that, and maybe it made him selfish, but Noah felt a similar sort of motivation from the idea of going home and telling his mom she could quit one of her jobs. Spend more time at home, or maybe take this chance to start freelancing as an illustrator. She’d never said as much, but he knew he was the reason she’d had to give up as her career as an artist. With more financial security, she wouldn’t have to worry about providing for him, and she’d have the ability to try for the things she wanted.
He tuned back in as White finished his explanation.
“–care from the facility, as well as remaining so. Do you understand?”
Noah nodded. Same strategy as in class; if he missed anything he could just re-read the syllabus later. “Yes sir.”
He hesitated– should he really ask this? It could communicate weakness. On the other hand, for all he was being assured of the long-term safety of this mission, there was one glaringly obvious pitfall that hadn’t been addressed. Noah didn’t want to see an opportunity like this yanked away from him, but he needed to know.
“What happens if I can’t gain the EVO’s trust?” Noah asked, then rushed to clarify. “I mean– not that I think it’s going to happen! I want this mission to succeed. It will succeed. But. If it doesn’t?”
The contract vanished from the screen, and White folded his hands on the desk in front of him. His expression, serious from the moment Noah had entered the room, tightened even further.
“Are you questioning my judgement in selecting you for this assignment, Nixon?”
“Uh,” Noah said, quite intelligently, and he was sure he would have died then and there had White not cracked a smile. Actually, the smile might be a sign that he had died, and the only heavenly mercy that could possibly be offered to him was this bizarre purgatory with a smiling White Knight.
“I’m kidding. You should really lighten up, it will help with this particular EVO. That having been said, there is a reason for your selection, beyond the fact that you live in the correct area and fall into the correct age range. Discussions with your teachers at school show that you’re sociable, able to get along with your peers, and somewhat athletic. Is this correct?”
Noah nodded, schooling his expression to hide just how unsettling it was that Providence had investigated him. No, not investigated, that couldn’t be right. Now that he was thinking about it, they must have just started their search at the local high school and asked for recommendations from the teachers there. That made more sense. The unease faded, and Noah actually felt pride welling up in its place– his teachers had recommended him for this over all his classmates. His college preparations must have left even better impressions than he’d thought.
“Use these traits. Be friendly, approachable, maybe even strike up a game of–” White glanced down, the briefest of hesitations before he said “–ping-pong. That is the sport you play at school, right?”
Oh yeah, that would be casual. Hey random stranger, wanna join me at this random ping-pong table that’s been set up right next to your location in a random coincidence? Oh, I’m saying random too much? You’ve decided to use your EVO powers to kill me because I’m too suspicious?
“Yeah, or I could just toss a basketball around. There’s courts pretty close to where I live.”
White made a noncommittal grunt, but it didn’t seem disapproving.
“It depends on where we can set up a chance encounter,” was all he said, and Noah nodded.
“Still, should you fail to succeed,” White continued, “You will, obviously, not continue to be employed by Providence. However, you’ll still be paid for the work you’ve done, and should your first attempt at contact fail we will keep trying. The EVO in question is eager to converse with anyone and everyone it encounters, so even if your relationship is tenuous at first, a few serendipitous meetings should be enough to convince it to bond with you. I do not anticipate having to terminate your contract early.”
Well. With that kind of confidence, and those kinds of perks, what else could Noah say but. . .
“I’d be honored to accept this position.”
White smiled again. It wasn’t any less strange this time around. “Then I look forward to working with you, young man.”
The screen went black. It was an. . . abrupt dismissal. Noah blinked, then turned around with some alarm as the agents who’d been by his side for the meeting began to leave. One of them nudged the other, said something in a low voice, and the second laughed and glanced back at him. Noah got the distinct impression he was being made fun of.
He hastened to follow the agents, not wanting to get left behind and lost in a facility that stored actual EVOs, but a hand on his arm stopped him. He followed that arm up over its green sleeve and found himself staring into the sunglasses of Six.
“I’ll be escorting you out,” the man said curtly, “But we have some things to discuss first.”
“Right!” Noah said, “Right. You have to tell me about the EVO. And about how to defend myself. From EVOs.”
“Right,” Six echoed. His voice was gravely and cold, pretty much what Noah had expected from his overall demeanor. He lifted his hand from Noah’s arm and swept by him without bothering to check that he was following, which, wow. That was a little rude. Noah had to walk faster than normal to keep pace with him, and if he didn’t know better he’d say the guy was making it hard to keep up on purpose.
They passed through the doorway to the conference room and took a left, down a pristine white hallway that looked identical to all the other pristine white hallways that Noah had been brought through on his way in. He looked around as they walked, curiosity winning out over nervousness. Providence was an advanced research and defense facility that few ever got the chance to see. It also contained hundreds of dangerous EVOs that he could very well find himself face to face with if he made a wrong turn, so that kind of balanced it out.
Speaking of which.
“This EVO I’m supposed to be befriending,” Noah began, absently peering through the glass window of a room they passed. It looked like a lounge, a few Providence agents relaxing inside. All of them wore the standard uniform, and not a suit like Six. “Is it one of the really gross ones? I mean, I can handle it if it is, I’d just kinda like to know ahead of time. Brace myself, you know?”
“You’ll be provided pictures once you’ve signed your contract,” Six said, which did not answer his question. Noah made a face. Great. So it was probably one of the ones with half its face dripping off.
“What do you even use it for? I mean, I know it’s critically important to your operations but White Knight didn’t really–”
Six stopped abruptly, and Noah broke off as he slammed into him. He stumbled back a couple steps, thrown off-balance by the collision, but Six didn’t even budge. What was this guy made out of? Noah’s smarting nose said solid titanium. He reached up to rub at it, biting back a curse.
“We’re here.” Six opened the door they’d stopped in front of, and Noah followed him inside. His feet sank slightly into the floor, and as Noah looked around he realized that the floor and walls of the room were padded. Not like a padded cell, but like. . .
“A training room?” Noah asked, and Six nodded. It was a curt motion, clipped like his tone.
He reached towards the wall, and Noah noticed the keypad beside the door they’d entered through. Six typed something in and there was a clunk that Noah assumed was the door locking, then a chnkchnkchnk as shutters slid over the window to the hall. Nervousness stirred in the pit of Noah’s stomach at being locked in and hidden. He tried to cover it with a shaky laugh.
“Haha, wow, okay, are you planning on murdering m–”
For the second time, he didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence due to being slammed face-first into something. It was softer than Six’s back, and after the moment it took for Noah to fall over onto the floor, he realized it had been the far wall. There was a popping sound behind him, and Noah managed to get to his feet just in time to catch the tail end of Six cracking his neck.
Oh.
Six had thrown him across the room.
What.
“What,” Noah said, voice climbing an octave, “Are you doing?”
“You wanted a self-defense lesson,” Six said, voice still infuriatingly level despite him having just thrown Noah across the room. “You’re getting one. Now, the first thing we’re going to be doing is–”
“Woah woah woah!” Noah spluttered, and he knew his cheeks were flushing with embarrassed anger but he didn’t care. “I– you can’t just– what’s with attacking me without warning?”
“Do you think your enemies are going to warn you before they attack?”
Noah just stared at the man, incredulous. He knew this was Providence and all, but he was fifteen. He didn’t have enemies, he had people who were mildly irritated with him for beating their high scores at the arcade. He’d only just signed up for the most dangerous thing he’d ever do, and he’d had to ask for this training– White clearly hadn’t thought he’d need it! Yet here was this guy, Six, tossing him around the room and giving him one-liner advice from a bad action movie.
That feeling from earlier came back. That Six might be making this difficult on purpose. But they were both on the same team here, so why–
Six darted forwards. Noah tried to get out of the way, but he was too slow, and Six grabbed his arm and flipped him over his shoulder. Noah landed on his back on the ground, hard enough that he got the wind knocked out of him, and his swimming vision found the still-blank face of Six.
Okay. This guy was a douche. Maybe that was all the reason he needed.
“Exactly what level of experience am I working with here?” Six asked as Noah struggled to his feet. He sucked in a lungful of air, still getting his breath back.
“. . .I took kickboxing at the mall once?” It was more question than answer. Six’s expression changed for the first time, one of his eyebrows quirking upwards. Noah. . . didn’t think that was a good thing. He was quick to splutter out something else before Six could knock him over again.
“I– isn’t there anyone else I could learn from?”
The eyebrow climbed higher. Definitely not a good thing.
“If you want to learn to fight someone,” he said, “You learn from the person who taught them.”
Noah had about enough time to process that this man apparently trained EVOs to fight (as if EVOs needed any help being deadly) before Six was lunging for him again. This time, Noah managed to dodge, and he felt pretty good about that until a sweep took his legs out from under him and he found himself on the mat once more. As if that wasn’t enough, Six started to lecture him before he even got back up.
“Rex is conversational. Extremely conversational. If you want to engage him, you’re going to have to be a good listener, as he tends to get frustrated when he feels he’s being ignored.”
Rex. They called the EVO Rex. Like a dog with a spiked leather collar and an aggressive disposition.
“Do we have to do this now?” Noah asked, and was rewarded with being slammed into the mat again, this time because Six flipped him forward over his knee. This was feeling less like a lesson in self-defense and more like the world’s most aggressive seminar on gravity.
“Conversation during exercise promotes a wider range of attention. In a fight, awareness is key. If you lose sight of your opponent, or the terrain, or any other possible hostiles, you’ll be dead.”
“Comforting,” Noah managed.
“It’s not supposed to be.”
This time, Noah decided to take the offensive. He lashed out, tried to hit Six in the shoulder (or chest, or arm, or literally anywhere) but the man caught his arm and twisted it behind Noah’s back. He used that grip to shove Noah away from him, and though he stumbled, he didn’t fall. If he’d been expecting congratulations, he didn’t get them.
“Rex doesn’t get to experience a lot of what he considers to be normal life. Chances are he’ll appreciate any parts of it you can give him– a trip to the mall, some time spent playing video games, tossing around a basketball. Treat him like one of your classmates, and you’ll endear yourself to him.”
“Don’t treat the EVO like an EVO, got it,” Noah bit out. He threw a kick at Six’s side. “Got any other brilliant advice?”
He wound up kissing the ground again. He was at least getting better at standing back up, though he wouldn’t say he was improving at not being knocked down.
“Yes,” Six answered. “Quit.”
Noah, freshly upright, stared at him. Six’s expression was just as blank as ever, no indication of a joke. Noah’s eyes widened, and suddenly, Six’s actions clicked into place, his behavior finally making sense.
“Are you– are you trying to scare me off?” he asked, and the corners of Six’s mouth ticked downwards. The man swept his leg at Noah’s again but this time Noah dodged backwards, just managing to duck the follow-up swing Six took at his head.
“No matter what White says, this is a dangerous job,” Six stated, rather than answer his question. “You could get killed just by being anywhere near Rex. Providence is not without enemies, and you won’t be either if you take this assignment.”
“You are!” Noah cried. “You’re trying to psych me out, get me to give up!”
He threw a punch at Six. Six stepped to the side, grabbed his shoulder on the way by, and used his momentum to toss him to the ground. Noah growled in frustration, rolling onto his back and glaring up at Six.
Six folded his arms. Noah still couldn’t see behind his shades, but he assumed the man was glaring back at him.
“Rex trusts easily. If you’re nice, he’ll see the best in you. He–”
“I get it!” Noah snapped. He didn’t want to hear another anecdote about this EVO’s personality while he got his ass kicked. He started to sit up, but was stopped when Six planted a foot on his chest and pinned him back down. The heel of his oxfords dug into Noah’s sternum.
“Rex trusts easily,” Six repeated, louder this time. “I do not.”
Trust. This was about trust? Providence had come to him, not the other way around. Noah wasn’t a spy trying to infiltrate their ranks, he had no plans to sabotage their facility, and he definitely didn’t plan on doing anything with this EVO that he wasn’t directly instructed to do. He just wanted to help people, to do his part to make the world a better place. Six wanted. . . what? To test him? To try to muscle out the competition when it came to handling this EVO? To piss him off?
Well, he’d definitely succeeded with that last one.
“You’re supposed to be helping me,” Noah gritted out. “For a soldier, you’re pretty shit at taking orders.”
Six’s face was as stony as ever. “I’m not a soldier. I’m a mercenary.”
Noah grabbed Six’s ankle and yanked. He managed to drag his foot off of his chest, throwing him off-balance, and felt the single greatest moment of satisfaction he’d yet to experience as the mercenary fell through the air. Six hit the ground.
And rolled, popping back up to his feet immediately. This time, Noah really did curse, scrambling to get upright again– and froze at the chnkchnkchnk clunk sound that filled the room.
Six stood beside the door, hand still on the keypad. Through the window and the corner of his eye, Noah could see a pair of soldiers walking down the hallway outside. He didn’t look away from Six. Six didn’t look away from him.
“Remember what I’ve told you. Do with it what you want,” he said. He broke their eye contact, such as it was, and turned to open the door. He held it for a moment, then looked back at Noah.
A smile cracked his stoic features.
“Oh, and if you use that kind of language around Rex, you’ll be able to count me as one of your enemies. He knows more than enough curse words in Spanish, I don’t need you teaching him English ones.”
And with that, Six walked out of the room. Noah watched him vanish down the hallway, then just. . . stood there. Ribs smarting. Breath still quick. He stood there until his heartbeat slowed, his adrenaline fading.
Then he cursed again, louder than before.
“I don’t know how to get out of here!”