‘No more coffee for you,’ Noah said. He stepped back and felt something squash beneath his heel. Biowoof let out a yelp of pain and shock, and Noah leapt like he’d been electrocuted.
‘Hey, sorry, sorry,’ he said, turning to the dog and bending down. Biowoof bared his tiny teeth and began to bark and snap angrily, forcing Noah to pull his hand away.
‘Whoa there, little guy,’ he said. ‘It was an accident, that’s all!’
‘You know,’ said Biowulf, sidling up to Van Kleiss, ‘it could be worse.’
Van Kleiss blinked, surprised by the statement. ‘What?’
‘This. Being trapped in a mirror dimension,’ Biowulf said. ‘It could be a lot worse.’
‘How, pray tell, could it be worse?’ Van Kleiss asked.
‘We could be on our own. At least we’ve got each other for company,’ the henchman said. His jaw twisted in a strange way, and it took a moment for Van Kleiss to realise what Biowulf was doing.
‘Are you … smiling?’ he asked.
Biowulf nodded enthusiastically. ‘It’s like they say: smile, and the world smiles with you. Cry, and you wet your face.’
Van Kleiss pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t believe this. Breach and Skalamander behaved strangely all the time, but he could always count on Biowulf to be, well, Biowulf. Not today, it seemed.
‘We should have a singsong,’ the wolf Evo suggested. He began waving his arms above his head. ‘Weeeee’ve got each ooooother,’ he sang, before Van Kleiss’ claw wrapped tightly around his throat.
‘Get back to work,’ Van Kleiss barked. ‘And let’s never speak of this moment again.’
Seal was looking almost like her old self again. She was chatting happily to Dr Holiday, and didn’t notice Rex as he tiptoed towards the door.
Just as he reached the exit, Agent Six stepped in to block the way. ‘There you are,’ Six said. ‘We’ve got a rampaging Evo in the heart of Chicago. Time to get to work.’
‘All right,’ Rex grinned. He was happy to get back into action. It was time he reminded Six and Holiday who the real hero was around here.
‘You’re not going alone,’ Six said. ‘You’ve got an assistant going with you.’
Rex frowned. ‘An assistant?’
A white-haired head popped up from behind Six’s back. It smiled broadly and gave Rex a friendly wink. ‘Dan Nice, reporting for duty,’ Dan said. He fired off a friendly salute. ‘Let’s go get ’em, kiddo!’
CHAPTER 10
THE KEEP, an enormous Providence aircraft capable of carrying tanks into battle, cruised above the Chicago skyline. It was headed for the downtown area of the city, where an Evo was running riot.
Rex stood by one of the Keep’s bay doors, looking at the rooftops as they swooshed by below. Dan Nice stood beside him, grinning happily.
‘This is going to be terrific,’ he clapped. ‘You and me, working together, side by side. We’ll fix up this Evo in no time.’
‘Yeah,’ Rex said, without enthusiasm. ‘It’ll be great.’
‘And think of the other Evos we can cure,’ Dan Nice continued. ‘Why, the two of us could probably fix every problematic Evo in the world!’
‘That sounds like a whole lot of work,’ Rex said.
‘It would be,’ Dan admitted, ‘but we’d do it, because we’d be a team. An unstoppable team, Rex and Dan Nice – you’d be the leader, obviously. Rex and Dan Nice, curing the world, one Evo at a time!’
‘I’d so be the leader,’ Rex agreed, but deep down he was having doubts. Dan Nice had cured an Evo Rex had assumed was incurable. If that sort of thing continued, Rex had a niggling worry that he might suddenly find himself out of a job.
With a whine of engines, the Keep began to descend. Rex could just make out the shape of an Evo down on the ground. He looked almost normal, aside from his arms, which stretched out like tentacles. The tentacles cracked like whips as the man lashed them at the Evo Agents gathered around him.
‘This should be a piece of cake,’ Rex said.
The Keep was still twenty or more metres from the ground, but Rex didn’t want to wait around any longer. Catching hold of Dan Nice beneath the arms, he stepped out of the aircraft and immediately activated his Boogie Pack.
The twin turbines flipped out from his shoulders, allowing Rex to swoop down and land on the ground near the Evo. Dan Nice rolled expertly on the tarmac, then bounced to his feet, ready for anything.
Well … almost anything. As Dan caught sight of his reflection in a shop window, he froze. For a long moment he just stood there, his eyes fixed on his mirror image, his foam finger twitching nervously.
‘Uh, are you OK?’ Rex asked him. At the sound of his voice, the Evo turned and glared. Rex gave him a nod. ‘With you in a minute,’ he said.
Dan gave himself a shake, and drew his eyes away from the glass. ‘I … uh … sorry about that,’ he said, offering up a nervous smile. ‘I guess I just …’
His voice trailed off as he saw himself in another window. Dan’s eyes slowly scanned around in a circle. Reflections of himself looked back at him from every store front.
The Evo took a step towards them, snapping both tentacles out with two loud cracks.
‘In a minute,’ Rex scowled. ‘Kinda in the middle of something here!’ He placed a hand on Dan’s shoulder, only for Dan to pull away.
‘Don’t touch me!’ Dan screeched. He turned and ran, staggering past the wreckage of cars and other vehicles damaged by the Evo.
‘Wait, come back,’ Rex called after him. The Evo let out an angry screech. ‘Hold that thought,’ Rex said. ‘I’ll get to your butt-kicking as soon as I can …’
With that, he raced after Dan Nice. The Evo stood in the middle of the street, swaying slightly as it wondered what to do. Then, somewhere deep inside its deranged mind, it came to a decision. Coiling its whip-like arms tight by its sides, it hurried off in the direction Rex had run.
‘N-n-no!’ Dan was stammering when Rex finally found him. He was standing beside the Cloud Gate sculpture – a colossal piece of artwork that looked like a very shiny jelly bean. Dan was fixated on his reflection on the sculpture’s surface. It was bent and twisted like the reflections in the Hall of Mirrors.
As Rex approached, Dan dropped to his knees and held his arms over his head. He screwed his eyes tightly closed and bent low, as if trying to hide from his own reflection.
‘Uh, hey, Dan, are you OK?’ Rex asked, approaching cautiously. A sob of anguish was Dan’s only reply. ‘I’m going to take that as a “no”,’ Rex decided. ‘I think we should probably get you back to Providence Base. They should be able to –’
GRRRRRRRAHHHK!
Rex rolled his eyes. ‘One second,’ he said, then he spun, transforming his arms into the powerful Smackhands.
‘Trying to have a conversation here,’ Rex said, as one of his machine fists crunched hard against the Evo, slamming it against the side of a car. The Evo let out a low groan, before slumping to the ground, unconscious.
‘Sorry about that,’ Rex said. He turned back to the spot where Dan had been, only to find it completely empty. Rex looked around him, but there was no sign of the man anywhere. From somewhere off in the distance, though, Rex heard his anguished screams.
‘The whole losing the job thing?’ he said to himself. ‘Suddenly, I’m feeling a lot more confident.’
He looked down at the sleeping Evo and his Smackhands returned to normal. He placed one hand on each of the monster’s motionless tentacles.
‘I’d tell you to try to relax, but it looks like you beat me to it,’ Rex said. ‘Now, don’t worry, this isn’t going to hurt a bit.’
CHAPTER 11
REX STRETCHED OUT A HAND and helped up the fallen man. Two Providence Agents raced over and quickly wrapped a blanket around the man’s shoulders.
‘Wh-what happened?’ he stammered.
‘Nothing for you to worry about,’ Rex told him. ‘You just kinda turned into a monster for a while there a
nd smashed a lot of stuff up.’
The man’s mouth fell open. ‘I … I did?’
‘It’s over now, but you might have a rash for a day or two, where the tentacles were.’
‘Tentacles?’
‘And maybe some bruising. You know, from where I hit you with my giant hammer hand? Other than that, though, you’ll be fine.’ Rex thought for a moment. ‘Just to be on the safe side, though, I’d avoid eating squid for a while,’ he added.
As the Agents led the man away, there was a brief hiss of static in Rex’s ear, and he knew Six was about to speak to him over his communicator. He decided to beat him to it.
‘So … Dan Nice kinda freaked out,’ Rex said.
‘I saw that,’ Six said. ‘I was watching it on screen.’
‘Pretty freaky, huh?’ Rex said. ‘I mean, even by our standards.’
‘Pretty freaky,’ Six agreed. ‘You should keep a close eye on him.’
‘I would, if I had any idea where he was,’ Rex replied. ‘I suppose I could pop out the Boogie Pack and have a scout around.’
‘No need,’ said Six. ‘I’ve got Agents closing on him now. He’s just lying in the road, so I doubt he’ll be too much trouble to contain. Head back to the Keep and they’ll meet you with him there,’ Six instructed. ‘When you’re both on board he’s your responsibility until you get back here. Understood?’
Rex understood, but he didn’t like it. ‘Why is he my responsibility? I didn’t even want him tagging along!’
‘He’s your responsibility because I say he is,’ Six snapped. ‘And because, if he really starts to lose it, you might be the only one who can stop him.’
‘Thanks for that happy thought,’ Rex said, and he made his way back to the Keep.
Rex was leaning back in his seat when Dan Nice was led through the bay doors of the Keep, an Agent on each side of him. The Agents had their arms through his and were half-dragging, half-carrying him along.
Dan’s eyes were panicked and wide. They flitted nervously around the inside of the Keep as he was brought on board and dumped onto a chair. He sat there with his head low, mumbling below his breath.
‘Hey, Dan,’ greeted Rex. ‘Feeling better?’
Dan’s head twitched violently and he almost choked on a sob.
‘Guess not,’ Rex said.
There was a crackle in his ear. ‘He on board yet?’ Six asked.
‘Just got on,’ Rex replied, keeping his voice low so Dan couldn’t hear. ‘He still looks pretty freaked out.’
‘What’s he doing?’
‘Uh, just kind of, muttering to himself and looking like a maniac.’ Rex blew out his cheeks. ‘I guess you didn’t see this one coming, huh?’
‘Yes,’ said Six. ‘I did.’
Rex sat forward in his seat. ‘You did?’ he yelped. Then, more quietly, ‘You did? Then why did you send him out?’
‘I had to test my theory,’ Six said. ‘Besides, all that brave and dashing hero stuff can really get on your nerves after a while.’
‘Hey! I’m a brave and dashing hero,’ Rex protested weakly.
There was a pause. ‘Yeah, kid. Keep telling yourself that,’ Six said. ‘I knew Nice had to be too good to be true. No one can be that perfect all the time. Except for me.’
‘So you thought you’d let him tag along with me in the hope he went into meltdown?’ Rex snapped.
‘Come on, kid, I knew you could handle him,’ Six said. ‘Consider it a compliment.’
‘You know, Six, sometimes I really don’t think I like you,’ Rex sighed.
Rex could almost hear the satisfied smirk in Six’s voice. ‘Guess that means I’m doing my job.’
There was a roar of engines and the Keep lifted straight up into the air. The Agents who had brought Dan on board were strapped into seats on either side of him, making sure he didn’t bolt for the door.
‘Remember, Rex, he’s your responsibility until you’re back here,’ Six reminded him. ‘Keep him out of trouble.’
‘I’ll see what I can do,’ Rex replied, and the line went dead.
The Keep was cruising across the city, gradually getting higher as the pilot set a course for Providence HQ. Rex had just begun to think about getting some shut-eye, when Dan Nice began to speak.
‘R-Rex,’ he wheezed. ‘Help me.’
Unclipping his safety harness, Rex got to his feet and hurried over to where Dan was sitting. Up close, he could see that Dan’s skin was deathly pale, and his whole body was vibrating.
‘What’s up?’ Rex asked. ‘What do you need?’
‘N-nanites. So … weak. Need to absorb n-nanites.’
Rex had heard that one before. Maybe Dan Nice and Van Kleiss weren’t so different, after all. The difference was, Van Kleiss was a villain, and Dan – as far as Rex could tell – was one of the good guys.
‘OK,’ Rex sighed. He crouched down in front of the man. ‘How do you want to do this?’
CHAPTER 12
‘YOU SHOULD REST,’ said Biowulf, but Van Kleiss was not ready to rest.
‘You should mind your own business,’ he snapped, as he checked the surface of another mirror.
Van Kleiss would never admit it, but he did need to rest. He had felt weak back on Earth, but here, in this Mirror Kingdom, his strength was fading even further.
But how could he rest when things were so bad? They had been searching for hours, with no sign of a way out. At least Biowulf had stopped acting so strangely, and was back to his usual snarling self. Breach and Skalamander hadn’t displayed any more strange behaviour either, but it was probably only a matter of time before all four of them lost their minds.
He raised an arm to check the surface of another mirror, but found his muscles were too weak to lift it all the way. The arm swung back down to his side. His legs buckled, and Van Kleiss slumped down onto one knee. He wanted to fall further, wanted to collapse onto the ground and just lay there until he passed out. But he would not let The Pack see him in that condition.
He gritted his teeth and sucked in a breath, trying to stop the world around him from spinning into blackness. He would not fall further. He would not.
‘N-need nanites,’ he uttered. ‘Need nanites now.’
Dan Nice’s human hand clamped onto Rex’s arm.
‘OK, take some, but not too many. Just take what you need so we can get you back to HQ. The doc should be able to fix you up then.’
‘Th-thank you, Rex,’ Dan said. He managed a faint smile, and then Rex felt a strange whooshing sensation inside him, as some of his nanites flowed from his body into Dan’s.
Rex watched the man closely. As Dan absorbed the nanites, the colour began to return to his skin. The shaking, which had been making his whole body tremble, eased away.
‘Hey, good news, I think it’s working,’ Rex told him. ‘How do you feel?’
Dan’s grip tightened around Rex’s arm.
‘Hey, loosen up there,’ Rex told him. He tried to pull his arm away, but Dan had it held fast. ‘OK, kinda starting to hurt now.’
‘M-more,’ Dan hissed, his eyes blazing wildly. ‘Must have more!’
Van Kleiss stood up suddenly. The weakness that had brought him to his knees was fading. He could feel it slipping away, and his strength rushing back in to fill the void.
He couldn’t explain it, but it felt like his body was being filled up with nanites, and with every second that passed he was becoming more powerful. A wicked grin crept across his face.
‘More,’ Van Kleiss hissed. ‘Must have more!’
‘Uh, guys, a little help here?’ said Rex, looking to the two Agents sitting on either side of Dan.
Dan’s hand was still clamped around Rex’s forearm. No matter how hard he tried, Rex couldn’t prise his fingers free. He could activate one of his machine forms, but he didn’t want to hurt Dan if he could help it.
Rex felt his own strength begin to fade. Dan Nice’s mouth was twisted into a wicked grin. He was looking more and more like Van K
leiss by the second, and Rex knew in that moment that Dan wouldn’t stop until he had drained every single one of Rex’s nanites.
The Agent on Dan’s left reached over to try to stop him. The foam finger came up sharply and hit the Agent’s face with a doof. The Agent slumped forward in his seat, out cold.
The other Agent made a grab for him, but Dan was too quick. He twisted sharply and raised his knee. It hit hard against the Agent’s chin, sending him sprawling sideways.
‘OK,’ Rex said, ‘I was worried about hurting you before. Now? Not so much.’
A flickering blue light spread across Rex’s arms, right beneath Dan Nice’s grip. Orange metal formed across the skin, as Rex brought out his Smackhands. Dan let out a cry of pain and shock as the arm he was holding suddenly grew several times larger.
As the connection between them broke, the madness left Dan’s eyes. He blinked and looked around, as if coming out of a deep trance. He seemed shocked by the unconscious Agents on either side of him.
‘Rex?’ he asked. ‘Whatever’s going on?’
‘You know, Dan?’ Rex replied, as the Smackhands retracted back into his arms. ‘I was about to ask you that very same thing.’
Van Kleiss stood straight and tall. He flexed his muscles, then stretched and folded the fingers of his golden claw, as if testing them for the first time. The sensation of nanites flooding his body had stopped, but he felt strong now. Stronger than he had felt since leaving Abysus.
He couldn’t explain what had happened, but that did not matter. All that mattered was that he was back to full power, and now nothing would stop him leading The Pack back to Earth.
‘Biowulf, Breach, Skalamander,’ he barked, pointing to each of them in turn. ‘Double your efforts. Check every mirror. We’re going to find the way out, and then Rex and his pathetic friends will pay dearly for what they have done!’
Mirror Mirror Page 4