"Rex is both unique... and not unique." César figures it's something he can reveal, because Rex will likely never end up here with them, and his emotions do a full shift from happy to, well, serious. "He's a human EVO, an 'Exponentially Variegated Organism'. There are other animals, plants, and even some bacteria that fall under that umbrella. There was an accident at the facility I was working at after we were endangered by our funders and inactive nanomachines—called Nanites—were spread across the globe. Those have incomplete code, so when they activate... they cause mutations."
César pauses for a moment, if only to give breathing room in the explanation. "Rex is different, though. He was fatally wounded when a group aligned with our 'benefactors' attempted to use the nanites for other purposes besides just curing diseases, preventing starvation, and healing wounds. You only have minutes before a lack of blood flow starts damaging the brain and death becomes permanent, and a hospital wouldn't have been able to revive him in time...."
He looks a little bit devastated. "So we injected him with nanites from the first batch, which had completed code. And he lived. His abilities are unique because of his nanites and... a few other reasons that I won't go into."
A shrug, and then he crosses his arms, shaking his head. "One of the projects I was working on was to fix things, to set things right... and then I got pulled to here."
César pauses for a moment, then adds, expression growing... disappointed in humanity. "The word 'freak' is now a slur for EVOs. It was quick, simple, and since it was in use for other things, doesn't get treated as hate speech."
OH GOD IT'S A MINOR TEXT WALL Jesus César I just wanted to write a quick tag
César pauses for a moment, if only to give breathing room in the explanation. "Rex is different, though. He was fatally wounded when a group aligned with our 'benefactors' attempted to use the nanites for other purposes besides just curing diseases, preventing starvation, and healing wounds. You only have minutes before a lack of blood flow starts damaging the brain and death becomes permanent, and a hospital wouldn't have been able to revive him in time...."
He looks a little bit devastated. "So we injected him with nanites from the first batch, which had completed code. And he lived. His abilities are unique because of his nanites and... a few other reasons that I won't go into."
A shrug, and then he crosses his arms, shaking his head. "One of the projects I was working on was to fix things, to set things right... and then I got pulled to here."
César pauses for a moment, then adds, expression growing... disappointed in humanity. "The word 'freak' is now a slur for EVOs. It was quick, simple, and since it was in use for other things, doesn't get treated as hate speech."