Chapter Text
The sound of dress shoes on a metal floor echoes through the laboratory.
“Mm, I think we should check the interior panels more thoroughly before any tests, even though they're made of tungsten, the alloy isn't as refined as the one from the 21st century”
Senku responds with an affirmative murmur, not paying much attention to Dr. Xeno.
The main wiring of the power source is his priority for now. They had made considerable progress in just two years on a project that should clearly be a fantasy. His mentor's power generator will be the key, along with Whyman. He is 10,000,000,000% sure of it.
“Oh, I was right, some of the plates here have uneven cracks,” Xeno mentions from inside the machine, his voice echoing off the walls of the device before reaching Senku. “The interior power buttons could also be improved”
“Chrome is supposed to locate the materials needed for the reinforcement welds,” Aha! One of the main conductors has broken when bent. He needs to test it with ordinary electricity to measure the magnitude of the leak; a small power generator does the trick. “Hey, Dr. Xeno, where's the portable generator?”
“Under the table, if I remember correctly,” comes the man's slightly distorted voice. To his left, then.
Senku quickly rummages through the mess under the table until he finds it. “I’m going to test the wiring!” he shouts over his shoulder, alerting his mentor.
“Yes, maybe we should—” an unintelligible word “—turn on the wiring”
“Huh? Yes, I said I would turn on the wiring,” he shouts back. To rule it out, he connected wires one and two, and that was it. It worked fine. The third would be the real test.
“We could try a little nickel or lithium if the percentage between a metal of the type...” He ignores his former mentor, knowing that as soon as he starts explaining something, he loses himself in his thoughts. Senku focus on the task at hand.
Carefully, he connects the third and final main cable to the voltage meter. Senku smiles when he sees that the displayed number shows how, in fact, it is losing power; suddenly the power increases, as if the machine is trying to absorb all the electricity at once. He quickly lets go of the meter and tries to disconnect the cable from the outlet, but it is stuck, as if the connector has melted into the outlet.
“Senku, what are you doing?!” Xeno shouts behind him. The youngest scientist immediately turns around in alarm, his mouth opening in a silent scream when he sees Xeno still standing inside the machine. Before he can utter a word, the glow from the machine catches the other man, followed by an explosion. The panic in his mentor's eyes is the last thing he sees before the smoke envelops him.
Desperate, Senku grabs a nearby axe and cuts the wiring. Calculating the possibilities of what could have happened, he runs toward the cabin, quickly clearing the smoke.
Inside the machine there is only a large pile of clothes, gloves with claws, and a pair of dress shoes. All of Xeno's.
Senku stares at the cabin without really looking for at least two seconds. Only clothes, no trace of the body. His jaw tightens as his stomach sinks at the gravity of what he sees. His mind processes the visual information at full speed in an attempt to control the panic.
“No, don't give in. Calculate.” he tells himself, dragging back every impulse in his psyche that demands him to freeze in fear or scream. With two fingers near his forehead and his hands trembling, he thinks.
One. Could the machine have worked and Xeno been sent to some other time? No, it is impossible. Not only does it lack complete programming, but it is missing Whyman and other essential parts. The power source is not even connected.
Two. Could the machine have tried to run on the basic programming it had, and therefore broken down the particles of the body without having anywhere to send them? High probability, and yet it shouldn't have the power to do something like that with so little energy.
Three. Could the explosion have broken down the body at the molecular level?
Impossible.
Time seems to slow down as Senku lowers his head, trying to rationalize everything. Things only get worse from this point on. Xeno's death means the greatest intellectual loss of the new era; his absence will delay the advancement of humanity's space technology for years, no, for decades, and the time machine plan will be affected.
Another problem is Stanley Snyder.
Stanley is a variable. The man has become a close friend of his team and has proven himself to be a collaborator with the scientific realm, but Senku also knows perfectly well where his loyalty lay. Therefore, he has to think of a way to incapacitate the man before he finds out, just to be safe.
He clenches his fists, trying to contain the guilt, anger, and everything else that isn't a priority because he has technically just killed his mentor. Barely holding back the panic, Senku raises his head toward the machine again, and then freezes at what he sees. The clothes are moving, or rather, something is moving underneath them.
Cautiously, he approaches and lifts the lab coat, immediately revealing a mop of messy white hair, causing him to recoil in surprise. In front of him, a sleepy child returns the same confused expression he has.
Senku feels his own jaw drop before bursting into laughter like a lunatic.
-
“So, do I have a PhD now?” asks the boy with a big smile.
“I can assure you ten billion percent” he replies in English.
“Elegant!’”
Senku laughs and lets out a sigh of relief. After the emotional roller coaster he has just been through, he can only be absolutely happy that none of his theories are correct.
“Awww, he's adorable,” says Yuzuriha, watching the little white pompadour that bounces in excitement with its owner, before leaving.
Xeno Houston Windfield is now a 10-year-old boy due to some programming or machine configuration error, and Senku is thrilled. It had never occurred to him to do something like this! An error that leads to the unthinkable discovery of age regression? It is so exhilarating.
Of course, he has to return his mentor to his original age, but that will take at least a few days. Xeno doesn't seem to have any memories of the future, his memory only goes back to his current age, but despite that the boy is already brilliant. So he decides to be direct and tell him what has happened, and in passing, calls Yuzuriha to put some clothes on his little naked butt.
Needless to say, Xeno is more than happy to hear the story of who he is. Ignoring the ‘dictator’ part, which he didn't mention.
“That means I'm qualified to help you fix problems with the travel machine, Dr. Senku,” Xeno proudly says, adjusting the collar of his child-sized lab coat.
“I don't think that's a good idea, dear Xeno,” Gen explains with a smile.
After the initial scream of panic and scolding Senku for his carelessness, the mentalist has been floating around Xeno, trying to keep him from getting his hands on anything dangerous.
“I believe that I am still quite capable of helping you find a solution to the problem even without my original age. After all, I have completed a vast number of projects at my age, Mr. Gen”
“Y-yes, but your body may not remember how to do that…”
“Of course it does! In fact, when I turn eleven, I'm going to college.”
Gen steps back with a tired groan. “I guess there's no way. Dear Senku, say something”
The mentalist also had tried to distract Xeno by performing some magic tricks, but he gave up on the second one when the boy explained how it worked and how he could do it better. Instead, Senku had given the boy some simple but necessary tasks to distract him, and he finished them almost immediately, so now Xeno was moving around Senku's welding area, wanting to do it himself.
“Huh? Actually, I think he should help. I could use some extra hands here” he says, scratching his ear and ignoring Gen's venomous glare.
“Well, dear Stanley surely won't agree” replies the mentalist, smiling smugly. Senku clicks his tongue. Gen knows how to attack.
“Stanley isn't here right now” he complains.
At that, a small hand clings to Gen's clothes, pulling them hastily.
“Are you talking about my friend Stanley? Is Stan here?” he asks with a hopeful expression.
“Yes, actually he should be on his way here,” he replies, looking at the clock on the wall. “It's lunchtime after all”
Senku tenses up and pretends not to hear Gen, even though he knows why the mentalist has come looking for him. He also knows that if he doesn't give in, the lioness will drag him out of the lab so the three of them can eat together anyway. It is the same reason Stanley came every noon to look for Xeno; they were all determined to slow down scientific progress, no doubt about it.It is a plot started by Ruri on the day she begins taking Chrome away. He still has no proof, but he is certain.
“He is an adult now too, isn't he?”
Senku and Gen nod.
“You and him are childhood friends, right? You're exactly like dear Taiju and Senku.”
Senku shudders at that.
“Not exactly the same,” he objects with a disgusted look on his face as he continues working. Gen snorts.
“I meant that they were probably a small scientific team, with you dear Xeno as the leader and Stanley as your faithful assistant”
“You are correct! And I am pleased to know that Stan is here, he's truly a competent assistant, he's also very skilled with weapons. After all, he always tests the weapons I build”
“Eally-rey? I had no idea that dear Stanley was a sniper since childhood. I thought it was just his profession… Wait! you built weapons at your age!?” Gen shouts.
Senku smiles “That means they were a dangerous duo even as brats”
“That’s right, Dr. Senku. In fact, we're unstoppable” says Xeno, snorting smugly. “With my science and his strength we can do anything”
The kid sounds just like old Xeno, pretentious tone of voice and all. It is funny how some things never change.
“You must be exaggerating” says Gen, waving his hand dismissively with an unimpressed expression. “Isn't Stanley just a child after all?”
Xeno gasps, indignant.
Immediately understanding what the mentalist is trying to do, Senku plays along. Gen surely thinks it will be fun to have more information about the nightmare duo when they were kids.
“Gen is right,” he adds mockingly. “That Stanley can't do much if he's less than 1.40 cm tall”
Hearing this, Xeno's cheeks flush and his brow furrows. Surely harboring all the anger that small body can contain.
“I understand your ignorance, gentlemen, but I can assure you that my friend Stan is very elegant”
“Hmm, I don't know...” Gen says, seeming to think about it with a finger on his cheek.
Frustrated, Xeno began to list on his fingers
“He can shoot without any margin of error. He always carries all my boxes of equipment no matter how heavy they are, and he's skilled at street fighting”
“Street fighting?” Gen asks, confused.
“Quite so! A few weeks ago, or rather a few weeks in my current age, he single-handedly knocked out a group of kids who threw water on my research in class, and all he got was a split lip and detention in return”. Senku's eyes widen. “Stan also threatens them during dodgeball because all the kids always try to hit me” At this point, Senku gives Gen a worried look, which the mentalist returns. “And he doesn't laugh at my hairstyle or my clothes, he's not afraid of me... Oh, and he also goes to my birthday parties”
Slowly, Gen kneels down next to the boy, with a worried expression.
“Dear Xeno, don't other kids go to your birthday parties?”
Xeno shakes his head.
“The other kids don't like me, Mr. Gen,” Well, Senku thinks, ‘like’ is a mild word considering everything he said. "But those idiots don't matter, Stan is a much more satisfying company for me. For my 10th birthday he gave me a magnificent gift, a beautiful bouquet of paper flowers in the colors of the galaxy. It is the most elegant gift I have ever received! I don't even know what to give him for his birthday now!" Xeno rambles happily, seemingly forgetting his previous anger and returning to the excited tone of voice he uses when explaining something.
Gen, next to him, lets out a little “Awww”
“That's going to rot my teeth for sure” whispers Senku.
“We're sorry we underestimated dear Stanley,” apologizes Gen, playfully holding one of the Xeno's hands. “He seems to be the est-brey of friends”
Xeno nods effusively in response.
“Absolutely! And even though he's not a scientist, he's very smart too. My original plan was to poison all the kids in my classroom with non-lethal chemicals diluted in their food, but he reminded me that if I got caught, I could be expelled and never go to NASA until my twenties, so it was more feasible to choose the most annoying kids and ‘beat the shit out of them’ as Stan eloquently described it”
There is a second of complete silence until Senku bursts out laughing, almost falling off his chair. Gen, on the other hand, remains frozen in place with a defeated expression.
The loud sound of military boots approaching distracts them from their conversation. Entering through the door arrives ‘The ultimate knight’, as his mentor often calls the commander in the most disgustingly soft tone of voice possible.
“I'm here” the man announces to the entire area as he walks toward them, looking for the other scientist without realizing that Xeno is hidden by Gen's figure.
“Hey, Stanley!” Senku greets him cheerfully, and Stanley waves back.
“Where's Xeno?”
“Stan?” A childish voice timidly interrupts from behind Gen.
The mentalist stands up and moves the small figure forward, in front of the soldier's view. Lab coat, black eyes, white hair, and a voice Stanley hasn't heard in thousands of years.
Everyone hears the sound of Stanley's jaw dropping.