Regenesis (Book 1): Impact (43 page)

“Hey,
I was wondering–”

Mizuno
stopped him and told him to take Amy home. “I need you to get back to your
house as fast as you can.”

“Okay,
what’s this about?”

“I’d
rather not say over the phone. Just get over here.”

Nick
agreed, but before he hung up he asked how Mizuno knew he was with Amy. Mizuno
only hung up once the question was asked though.

Nick
put his phone away and apologized to Amy, “I need to get going, I guess there’s
something going on.”

“Okay.
Um, what about tomorrow?” she asked.

“I’ll
call you in the morning, if that’s okay.” She said it was fine. “D-Did…Did you
need a ride?”

“No,
you said you needed to get going.”

He
shook his head, “No, I can swing by your place on my way anyway.” She thanked
him and accepted the ride back.

They
left the shop, he gave her his jacket and helmet as he always did, mounted the
bike, Amy took her seat behind him, and they left.

Nick
didn’t know what Mizuno wanted (or that Mizuno even knew where he lived, but
Nick guessed he learned that as soon as they met). The urgency and promptness
of Mizuno’s alert worried Nick, especially since he wanted him to rendezvous at
his home, which wasn’t the best environment for a meeting whatsoever.

Nick
and Amy quickly arrived at her home. She returned his helmet and started to
unzip his coat but he stopped her.

“Wh-Why
don’t you hang on to it?”

She
smiled and thanked him. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Nick
watched her walk inside before he left.

--          --          --

Nick
soon arrived at his house, noticed a black car out front (which he assumed was Mizuno’s),
parked his motorcycle in his garage, and hurried inside.

“We’re
in here Nick,” Mizuno called out as soon as he had the door open.

Nick
slowly closed the door and walked into the living room. He found Mizuno seated
in a chair Nick knew usually housed Paul’s empty bottles, though the containers
were simply stacked next to Paul’s chair and the seat Mizuno took was moved
away from Paul.

Paul
didn’t look happy about entertaining one of Nick’s guests at all.

Nick
would have been embarrassed by the sorry state of his home, but since he knew
Mizuno already knew how bad it was going in, he didn’t feel ashamed. It was a
mess though, considering Paul hadn’t emptied his ashtray in days, bottle caps
and chips lay scattered across the floor, along with dirty socks, plates, cups,
glasses, wrappers, and all sorts of other trash.

Mizuno
seemed unaffected by it though.

Paul
looked up at Nick and asked, “You mind tellin’ me why your boss is here?”

“Oh,
we just need to chat briefly,” the guest answered him.

“Well
do it somewhere else,” he spat.

Mizuno
let out a breath and stood up. “You’ve misinterpreted what I mean Paul.” He
walked over to stand between the man and his television while he adjusted his
gloves. “We need to talk.” Mizuno then swiftly kicked Paul in the chest and
caused him and his lounge chair to flip over.

Nick
froze and thought his heart stopped when his stepfather hit the floor. Mizuno
however brushed himself off and walked away. Paul caught his breath, swore, and
got to his feet, fists clenched.

“You
really want to go little guy?”

Mizuno
forced a laugh and asked, “Do you earnestly believe you could teach me a
lesson?” Paul charged him, fist cocked, but Mizuno ducked, took a step forward
and threw the man into a wall. “You spend one-hundred and five hours of your
week asleep,” Mizuno began while Paul recovered and threw a left hook, which
Mizuno evaded, “Sixty-two hours in front of that mind-numbing box,” Mizuno took
a step backwards to allow Paul’s kick to miss him, “And your last hour
producing waste and bathing.” Paul clutched one of the many beer bottles and
lobbed it at Mizuno. He caught it, set it on the bookshelf behind him, and
continued, “What could you possibly know that I already don’t?” He briefly
glanced at Nick, but returned his gaze to the man when he threw another bottle,
with which he repeated the process. “Hey Nick. Do you want to learn something
sad about your stepfather here?” Paul charged again while he yelled, though
this time Mizuno seized his arm, kicked his ankle in, and coerced him to the
ground. He took a seat on top of Paul and continued to restrain him while he
spoke, “He hasn’t had a job in over three months, has been collecting
unemployment checks, and has been lying,” he emphasized the final word by
tightening his hold on Paul, “To you by saying that they’re checks from his
job.” Mizuno finally let go of him, stood up, and added, “He’s hoping he can
live off of you by wrapping you up in this wasteland he calls home by making
you feel obligated to aid him.”

Paul
struggled to stand and cussed at Mizuno. “How did you know that? You little
bastard…must have been spying on me…”

Mizuno
chuckled and said, “You’re not that bright are you? You should have at least
taken a whack at the correct answer, considering how much television you watch.
Granted, you don’t watch the news, so how would you know about current events
anyway?”

Paul
glanced over at Nick, who still tried to digest what he’d learned, “Don’t
believe him. He’s a lying son of a–”

“I
highly doubt he’s going to listen to you Paul. Nick’s a smart kid, and I know
he knows what’s true here.” He turned his back on Paul as he began to leave the
room, but Paul charged him.

Nick
moved in front of Mizuno and threw his stepfather to the ground. Paul looked up
at him and cursed, “Who do you think you are? You little b–” but Mizuno stopped
him when he took the man off the ground and hurled him into a bookshelf piled
with empty bottles.

Mizuno
walked over to Paul, gripped his shoulder tightly, and whispered, “I know what
you’ve done to Nick and his late brother. I know that Nick is only colorblind
in his left eye because you beat him so badly once that he had to undergo a
very risky surgery to replace it. And I will only say this once, if you ever
think about harming him again, I will come back here and I will take this gun,”
which he pulled it out of his jacket, “I’ll place it against your back like
this,” he said as he flipped the man over and pressed it near the bottom of his
spine, “And I’ll shoot you in a way that’ll leave you crippled for the
remainder of your wretched life. I’ll harm you so you won’t die, so you’ll
become far more worthless than you are now, and at the end of your meaningless
existence, I’ll be sure to see you off as you travel down river to your eternal
hell.” He put the firearm away, flipped Paul over, and asked, “Do you
understand me?”

Paul
stared blankly at the Japanese man. He spat at Mizuno, who in turn took the
ashtray from the small table adjacent to Paul’s overturned chair and threw it
in his face. Paul didn’t have time to react and the ash covered his face and
eyes. He screamed while Mizuno left him there on the ground.

Mizuno
stood up, wiped Paul’s spit off his face, and walked over to Nick. He retrieved
some money, gave it to him, and told him to lay low in a hotel somewhere for a
while. “I wouldn’t be so cruel as to leave you here now that I know everything
about this worthless scrap of meat.” His eyes flashed and he told Nick he’d see
him tomorrow.

Paul
wasn’t through though; he ran after them, but Mizuno was long through toying
with him. He landed a clean blow in Paul’s gut, swung around him to strike him
in his left kidney, kicked in his knee, and rammed his skull into the edge of
the wall. Mizuno didn’t bother to see whether Paul was out or not; he simply
adjusted his gloves once more and headed for the garage door.

Nick
didn’t move. He only looked at Paul’s still body on the ground and asked, “Is
h-he…”

“He’ll
be fine,” Mizuno muttered. “Let him figure things out on his own for once.”

---*---

Chapter
16

September
8
^th
, 2029

10:05
AM

Tokyo,
Japan

Drake
sat in his cell with a smirk when the two detectives walked in. He’d managed to
discover his ability and eagerly wanted to display it and expedite his release.
The detectives shut the door behind them once they entered and noticed a spot
of rust on the door that hadn’t been present before.

“When
did that happen?”

“That’s
just it,” Drake told the detective, “I can rust metals instantly.”

He
asked if the men would like a demonstration, which they both welcomed. Drake
walked over, set his hand on a part of the door that hadn’t been rusted, and
concentrated. Within moments, the paint on the door chipped away and the metal
rusted very quickly.

Both
of the detectives were amazed by the display. Neither said a word until Drake
asked them, “Does this annul my case?”

Obata
said they weren’t sure. “We’ll contact the right people and see where things
stand,” he said. He looked at Amano and asked if they could tell him the other
development.

Amano
looked at Drake and said, “They managed to prioritize the forensic examination
of the gun Seattle police believe killed Tony Winchester and the results came
back.”

“My
fingerprints didn’t match, did they?”

“No,
no they didn’t.”

Obata
took a breath and added, “With the sudden appearance of super powered
individuals there is some possibility of the individual being something of a
shape shifter, which would explain your appearance in Seattle at an impossible
moment for you to be in Seattle.”

“It
would also explain the tattoo on the individual,” Amano murmured.

Both
men agreed to expedite their conversation and the revelations there to the
authorities in the United States. Before they left Detective Amano told Drake
that barring some unforeseen evidence he should be released very soon. They
left and Drake returned his focus on what actions he would need to take once
he’d returned to the United States.

---*---

7:08
AM

Bothell,
Washington

Nick
fled Lynnwood after the revelations Mizuno unearthed about Paul. He didn’t feel
safe, even in a hotel room a city away where Paul wouldn’t be able to find him,
assuming Paul even wanted to find him. It was the same hotel Nick’s mother
would take her two boys whenever she and his stepfather were fighting and on
two occasions Victor was the one who brought Nick there when things were very
bad. As such, the hotel didn’t bear fond memories.

All
Nick brought with him was a few sets of clothes, his school work, a cell phone,
the fake passport and other forms of identification that Mizuno forged, the
wallet with his real information and the money Strom bestowed him, toiletries,
and his motorcycle. Nick kept everything he could in a duffel bag which sat at
the foot of the bed he hadn’t used. Nick sat in one of the chairs away from his
bed with his head in his hands. He had dark marks under his eyes and as
desperately as he wanted to sleep he doubted he’d find any relief in it.

Someone
banged at his door and told him to open up. “I know you’re in there Nick.”

Nick’s
pulse raced slightly at the sudden interruption, but he calmed down when he
realized it was only Mizuno. Nick walked over to the door, unlocked everything,
and would have let him in had an obese man in a baby blue bathrobe from across
the hall not stopped them.

“Would
you two shut up?” the man barked. He took the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign from off
his door knob, wagged it at them, and said, “This means that I’m sleeping, so
keep it down.”

Mizuno
scowled and immediately berated him, “You weren’t asleep you pig, you were in
there doing lines of coke with your best friend’s cow of a girlfriend.” The
overweight man paled when Mizuno revealed, with clarity, the activity he
partook in. Mizuno continued by telling him that if the heavy man bothered them
once more he’d take the straw the man used to snort his cocaine and jam it into
his eye.

Nick
watched as the porky fellow retreated into his room and locked the door without
a word of protest.

“Don’t
worry about him Nick,” Mizuno began while he passed Nick and walked into the
room, “The man’s a coward and is too worried about anyone learning that he’s
banging his friend’s girlfriend.”

“You
don’t think he’s going to retaliate at all?”

Mizuno
shook his head. “Even if he did, I think you and I could deal with him.”

“What
if he comes to the door with a gun?”

Mizuno
shrugged and said it wouldn’t matter. “If he did try that, which he wouldn’t as
we’re in a hotel filled with other people and security cameras in the halls,
you’re bulletproof and I’m too talented to let some fat-assed drug dealer kill
or even wound me. If he did bother us again, I would do exactly what I said I’d
do to him.”

Nick
locked the door anyway and took a seat on the bed while Mizuno took the chair
Nick sat in earlier. Mizuno started by telling Nick that Bruce did an
investigation into a few parts of the Winchester Corporation’s headquarters.
“He hasn’t found anything substantial, aside from additional details about how
Tony Winchester acted prior to his murder, though, as stated before, nothing
noteworthy.”

“Then
we’re still in the dark about all of this?”

Mizuno
nodded.

“Are
we ever going to make any progress and actually find the person who killed my
brother?” Nick flatly asked.

Mizuno
groaned, “Yes Nick, we will. I’m sorry I haven’t apprehended our charlatan yet,
but investigations take time when I can’t walk up to the alleged criminal and
determine if they are innocent or not. Whoever the killer is, they’re able to
blend in anywhere, so this will take time, unless one of us happens upon
someone with a serpent tattoo on their arm.” Nick glanced away and apologized.
Mizuno rubbed his eyes and forgave him, “This is simply detective work, only
with a bit of a science-fiction spin to it.”

Nick
kept his head down and massaged his temples and expected his mentor to
continue, though there was a break. He peered up at Mizuno for a moment, though
he found the man deep in thought and frantically scribbling notes into a small
spiral bound pad of paper.

“What
do you write in there that you can’t remember on your own?”

Mizuno
didn’t offer a reply. He continued to jot notes and after a solid minute he
flipped the cover over the pad and stored the paper and pen back in his coat.

There
was a second knock at the door and Nick immediately created an army green and
charcoal gray Walther P99. Mizuno stopped him and told Nick it was most likely
the pizza delivery man. “I ordered before I came, as I assumed you hadn’t
eaten.” Mizuno rose from his seat, opened the door far enough to retrieve the
pizza without revealing the gun Nick still gripped tightly, took out a fifty
dollar bill, paid the deliverer without the desire for change, handed the box
to Nick, and shut the door. “I got half pepperoni and mushroom for you and half
vegetarian for me, though you can have some of mine if you want it.”

Nick
let his weapon vanish into a cloud of smoke and thanked him. They each had a
slice before Nick asked, “Do you have any idea who killed my brother?”

Mizuno
admitted he had some speculation, but said he wanted to refrain from any
revelation until he was certain. “But Bruce and I have managed to gather some
information that has been quite useful. Basically, we learned that your
brother, Tony Winchester, a man named Mark Ross, and a handful of others worked
on a project known only as Regenesis.”

Nick
frowned, “What is that?”

Mizuno
confessed that he only knew a few details. “Regenesis was a prototypal drug
that, had it been successful, would have been able to cure various types of
cancer.”

“How
did you discover that?”

“I’ve
watched the security footage of the night Tony Winchester was murdered and he
and the charlatan spoke of it, though briefly.”

“Is
that why Victor was killed?”

Mizuno
only shrugged. “Until we find the one responsible, everything is speculation.
However, I would assume it is the reason, considering that’s why Mark Ross and
Tony Winchester were murdered.”

Nick
fell silent while he ate another slice of the pepperoni and mushroom pizza. He
then asked, “What did you mean last night when you were talking about me?”

“About
how you’re only colorblind in your left eye?” Mizuno asked while he wiped his
mouth off with the back of his gloved hand. Nick nodded and waited to take
another slice until he heard what the Japanese man had to say. “You were three
when this all happened, so that’s why you don’t remember anything about it.
Paul was laid off from his job and as such he drank far more than he normally
did and one night he came home pissed off and drunk as hell. Your mother was
out at the time and you were irritating Paul because you cried over some broken
toy. He tried to shut you up by shouting at you, but that of course only made
you cry more, and that only made him angrier.” Mizuno paused for a moment
before he reminded Nick that Paul always tried to curb his anger and that it
was the first time he’d ever physically assaulted either Nick or his brother.
“He nearly killed you though,” Mizuno whispered. “Victor was asleep in the back
of the house, woke up when he heard the commotion, and found you bleeding from
your eye and Paul passed out on the floor beside you.”

Nick’s
gaze fell to the floor. “I didn’t know that.”

“I
never met your mother, but I assume she wanted to keep it from you so you
wouldn’t look at Paul in such a bad light,” Mizuno told him.

“What
happened though?”

“Victor
called an ambulance, they managed to get you to the hospital and patched up
before you lost too much blood, stabilized you, and one of your neighbors
called your mother and alerted her to the incident.”

“How
do I have two eyes though?” Nick stopped him. “I thought it was impossible to
replace eyes.”

Mizuno
wasn’t sure how to answer him. “It should be, by all means. There are thousands
of things you’d have to accomplish to replace a single eye and if even one of
those thousands of necessary measures failed you’d be left blind.”

“What
happened then?”

Mizuno
let out a breath and told him about a doctor named Avis Willows who performed
the surgery. “She worked on a theoretical procedure to replace damaged human
eyes with other human eyes, there was an extenuating circumstance where another
child near your age had died in a car accident on the same night, and Doctor
Willows wanted to take the risk to replace your lost eye. She received
permission to salvage the organ from the dead boy’s parents and once your
mother gave her consent, Doctor Willows operated and managed to have the first
successful complete eye replacement in history. You’re only colorblind in your
right eye because you were born that way. That’s also why the iris in your eyes
are slightly different.”

Nick
took a breath and asked how he could have lived his whole life and never known.
“If I’m the only person to ever have a successful–”

“Let
me stop you Nick,” Mizuno cut in. “Firstly, you are not the only successful
transplant patient, and secondly aside from someone in the field of medicine no
one would know that off handedly because it’s such an obscure fact. Can you
even name the first successful heart transplant patient?” He gave Nick a moment
to admit his ignorance in the matter before Mizuno filled him in, “Louis
Washkansky, in December of nineteen-sixty-seven.”

“How
many other people have had successful surgeries like this?”

Mizuno
told him there were only a few others.

“Then
if the doctor managed to replicate the surgery more than once, why isn’t the
surgery more common?” Nick asked.

“For
starters, the surgeries weren’t all performed by her, which makes cross
examining the various methods confusing and nearly impossible to figure out
exactly how it worked once or even more than once. There have been many
attempts to replicate it, even by successful doctors, but nearly every case
resulted in failure.” Mizuno told Nick he wouldn’t bore him with the medical
talk and simplified it, “Basically the surgeries wouldn’t have been successful
without external aid.”

“What
do you mean?”

“This
is just a theory I have, but I believe there was someone akin to a healer
involved in your surgery as well as the others,” Mizuno told him. “Beyond that
I don’t think it’s possible.”

Nick
rubbed his eyes and asked another question, “Do you know why my mother stayed
with Paul if he nearly killed me?”

Mizuno
shook his head. “I don’t. I would assume it had something to do with his
ability to work more than she could as well as the fact that it was his house
and had she left with you and Victor you all would have been without a home.”
He admitted that he was unsure of the reason she stayed. Mizuno took another
piece of pizza and changed the subject, “I know you want to go out with Amy
later on, so we need to finish eating and head out. I need Strom to teach you a
few more things and you need more practice with your ability. He’s also going
to add a few dozen firearms to your arsenal too. Afterward I’m going to teach
you how to hold your own in a typical bar fight and then how to drive a stick
shift, so we need to get moving.”