chapter 19

Time quickly passed. It was time for them to leave for Romen again. Alisa entered the cafeteria and saw everyone eating. Melinda was talking with Chuo about something while Kurama was eating quietly, throwing a glance at Zane and Lance. Shin, Mary, Petia, Blake, Lance and Zane were sitting on a table close to the corner. They were happyly chatting. Lance put his hand on Zane's neck and pulled him closer to show him something. Alisa couldn't see what because their back were turned towards her. She got curious and deided to go closer. When she was a few metres away from them she heard Lance talking.
"No! That's wrong! He wants to rule everything and they are trying to stop him! He's the bad guy while they are the good and we are from the good guys, remember that!"
"Ok...I remember." (Zane)
She glanced at what they were looking and saw a phone. They were watching an anime.
'So...it was just that...haah.' (Alisa)
"Oh, miss Alisa! Good morning!" (Petia)
"Good morning. I told you calling me only Alisa is fine, too."
Lance and Zane turned around and greeted her along with the others. Afret they finished breakfast anisa called them.
"Prepare your luggage and bring it at the main entrance. We're leaving for the harbor in 30 min." (Alisa)
"Why so suddenly?" (Shin)
"As countermeasures. I'll explain after we go back to Romen. Lance, you are responsible for Zane! Make sure he doesn't disappear somewhere!" (Alisa)
"Yes!"
They quickly went to their rooms and gathered their things. They were ready and got on the car, that was going to take them to the harbor. It was a specially designed car, so they reached the harbor in less than 3 hours. The boat was already waiting for them. They boarded it without any delay and set off. After they reached Romen they went straight to Miki's lab.
"You're here! Come in quickly! Kumoto, close the door!" (Miki)
"OK. I'm going. Oh, hi Lance!" (Kumoto)
"Hi!"
Kumoto locked the doors and went back to his chair.
"So....this is the boy you were talking about?" - Miki pointed at Zane.
"Yes, that's him. He attacked Petia and Lance. He was wearing this armor and used this weapon." Alisa took them out of the case Chuo was carying and placed them on the table "The symbol on the armor is the same as the Varions's. I think he was brought there by Shiroyama. The question is why?"
"Probably to cause chaos but without moer investigation it's not sure. We will probably have to run some tests on him and his equipment." (Kumoto)
When Zane heard that he became anxious and started slowly to go backwards. Lance noticed that and asked.
"Are you going to use needles?"
"No. It's just some scans and other tests." (Kumoto)
"See? It's fine they won't stab you." - Lance turned and told Zane.
Zane calmed down and sat on a chair with relief.
'He was brandishing a halbeard and has superhuman strenght but is afraid of needles?!' (the others thought)
After that Miki explained everything to Shin, Mary, Blake, Lance and told them to keep it secret.
"There's another problem....where will Zane stay? There has to be someone to watch over him and make sure he doesn't go on a rampage but there isn't anyone like..." Alisa started but stopped and looked at Lance "Actually there is. Lance, Zane will stay together with you! It'll be your duty to watch over him! I'll arrange a new bed to be put in your room. We have to discuss some things here, so you should go back and have some rest."
"But..." (Mary)
"That's an order!" (Alisa)
"Yes..." Mary left unwillingly with the others.
"So... mind telling me how was Lance able to break all of Zane's armor and make him so submissive?" - Miki asked.
=== With Shin and the others ===
"I'm sooooo tired!! I can't wait to go back and get some sleep." (Mary)
"We'll go to our rooms then." (Shin)
"See ya later!" (Blake)
They parted ways and headed for their rooms. Shin and Lance were followed by Zane quietly. They entered their room and Shin fell on his back on the bed.
"Haaah...I don't understand how you can be so calm, Lance, after what happened." (Shin)
"It's just that I've seen even stranger things, that's all. AH! It's almost time for the show! Zane take a chair and sit down, I'll take some snacks and am coming!" - lance told Zane and ran towards the kitchen. Zane sat down on a chair in front of the TV and stared at it with a blank expression.
'He looks just like a robot, not a living being, staring at the black screen like that...Also, Lance acts like it's nothing important that he defeated Zane and made him listen. I just... don't understand him sometimes, it's like he lives in a diferent world.' - Shin thought while glancing at the kitchen's door.
Lance kame out soon with hands full of snacks and drinks. He pulled a chair for himself and turned the TV on, handed a pack of chips to zane and a bottle of cola, the show started and they watched it with a lot of interest. It was one of the few times emotion showed on Zane's face. His eyes glimmered and he smiled lightly, sayinh "Wow.." from time to time. He usually was expressionless or had a confused look on his face. After some time watching them Shin turned around and started unpacking his stuff. Lance glanced sectertly at Shin with a look of both relief and worry.
'I can't let any of them know! If they knew the truth...' Lance turned back to the TV 'I don't want them to hate me. After all, they are the first true friends I ever had...'
===Time skip===
It was late at night. Zane was sleeping in Lance's bed while Lance was on the floor next to him, lightly snoring. Shin shivered slightly and slowly got up. He rubbed his eyes and got off the bed. He stretched a bit, his back made a light popping sound as he did so.
'Toilet...' (Shin)
After a while he got out of the toilet and got back to his bed. He layed down and covered himself with the still warm bedsheets. Shin looked at the ceiling for a while and brought his left hand in front of his face. He checked it up close then stretched it up and clenched his fist a few times.
'Hmmm....It has been getting stiff more and more often. Should I go to get it checked?...Nah, it's not a problem, so it should be fine.' - Shin thought and got back to sleep.
The truth was that for a few days now, from time to time, his hand became a bit stiff and was a little harder to move it but it passed away soon after. These days the times this had happened increased but he threw the thought of getting his hand checked away because he thought it was not important enough. For him training was more important now.