A/N: Habby (late) Birthday to bamboo!

Never could he recall being so fond of little silences. If anything, the quiet had previously unnerved him. Perhaps being trapped beneath the Consortium's thumb for so long had given him a better appreciation for moments of peace. There were no competing voices present to command him and drown his own thoughts out. All of his monitors at his desk were shut off and the morning was nearly still. It was a bit too early for work to begin. The only agents ready for work had delivered White Knight his breakfast.

The bowl of oatmeal he'd been given was bland. It was served with a side of banana slices and a glass of milk. At least he enjoyed the milk, but there was nothing with real flavor on his tray, courtesy of the Consortium's careful meal planning. Eating, after all, was not for enjoyment but out of necessity. As long as it provided sufficient nutrition, its purpose was fulfilled.

Having his nanites stripped from him did more than leach the color off of him, it robbed life from him too. He was a ghost looking over the living inhabitants of the headquarters, going through the motions of what it was like to truly be alive.

He took a long swig of the milk, attempting to boot up his monitors in preparation for the start of the day. The sun was just starting to pour in from the tall windows behind him, but just barely. Most of the lighting was provided by the artificial lighting that could be regulated via remote. If it got any brighter, he would have to tint the windows so it wouldn't disrupt his broadcasts or irritate his eyes.

Setting his glass back down on the table, he drummed his fingers against his desk, waiting for the hum of processors and the bright startup screen. Mentally, he rehearsed what they were going to be discussing for that morning's meeting. They needed to talk about the increase in their destruction of public property. Public criticism regarding Providence's methods was on the rise again. If Rex leveled even one more building, he was sure that their approval rating would go crumbling with it. Given that a portion of their funding was given to them by collective governments, what citizens thought of them did actually matter, and nobody wanted their homes reduced to disorganized chaos.

A full minute passed.

He hit the power switch once again.

Nothing.

The screens of his computers remained dark, refusing to start. His eyes narrowed warily, knowing that ordinary technical difficulties did not simply 'happen' without reason in their line of work. Not at Providence and not to him. Their problems always had to be the result of something awful.

The air felt different. Disturbed. There was a pressure in between his ears, the same splitting headache that came after a change in altitude. The pungent scent of chlorine filled the room. It burned his nose, but he couldn't begin to think about what could have been the cause. His head felt filled with air, like it was going to burst from the inside.

Before he could begin to act on his suspicions, he heard an unfamiliar voice speak up from behind him. "Did you know that most of your planet is completely covered in nanomachines capable of altering reality? Remarkable."

White Knight spun his chair around, coming face-to-face with a stranger. The lack of light coupled with the blur from his nearly-blind eye made it difficult to make out his appearance. He was much older, with greying hair and long features. The intruder wore the most outlandish coat White had ever seen. It resembled a lab coat, but the shoulders had epaulettes fastened onto them- clothing that seemed born from a child's fantasy rather than anything realistic or practical.

"And dangerous," The stranger continued before White could gather his wits, "But you and your living space… entirely devoid of them."

The magnets that kept his office nanite-free flashed through White's mind. His office was breached. The nanites were no doubt pouring in, polluting his office. His eyes flitted toward his monitors, landing on the security alarm. When he turned to hit the button, like everything else, it refused to turn on.

"My apologies. You'll find that the world tends to become slightly off-kilter when I step into the room. Your equipment will not work." His apology didn't sound sincere enough, and White did not trust the look on his face. He was smiling like a liar. His line of work had given him the experience needed to spot a snake. Automatically, he assumed that the stranger was purposely causing his technology to malfunction to put him at a severe disadvantage.

"Who are you?" White asked calmly, although he knew the other man had the upper hand. However, if his office was indeed breached then there was no point in panicking. Realistically, the nanites would have already polluted the room. He wasn't going to go out without also taking the intruder with him. There was a self destruct button in his office, but whether it would work as he wanted it to was a mystery. How much of his equipment did he still have control over? A sinking feeling hit his chest. There wasn't much that could be done.

"You can call me Professor Paradox-"

"That's not a name."

Maybe about as real as 'White Knight.'

Blinking a few times, Paradox seemed caught off guard. "It's how others refer to me, which means it qualifies as a name. It's as good as any other, wouldn't you agree? I quite like it anyway."

"Who do you work for? What the hell do you want?" White interrogated.

"I work for nobody except for my own intrigue. I am here to satisfy my curiosity."

White couldn't buy it. Everybody worked for someone, even if they didn't know it. And someone who had the means to bypass Providence's security system? Someone was backing him, and he wasn't going to underestimate a potential threat like that.

He scoffed.

"You don't believe me." Paradox stated. "It's true. When I stumbled upon your dimension, I couldn't help but marvel at the brilliance of its inhabitants. To have created technology capable of manipulating the fabric of reality? It was-"

"-Hardly brilliant. Look at the mess they made." He cut off with a sneer. With subtlety, he attempted to make his way toward the cabinet where he stored his weapons.

Paradox's lips quirked, fighting a smile. "My friend, the natural state of the universe is, as you say, a mess."

White didn't really care about the bullshit coming out of his mouth anymore. He ripped his weapon's drawer open, but when he turned back, there was no longer anyone else in the room. His gun was trained at the empty air. His head no longer felt like it was being squeezed. Only a faint throbbing in his temples was there to remind him that it'd been real.

Gritting his teeth, he went to go check his monitors. The technical difficulties he was experiencing mere minutes ago seemed to have passed completely. Easily, he was able to broadcast into the Providence meeting room where everyone was already in attendance.

"Wow, I must be dreaming. Did I hit my head on something during the last mission?" Rex's annoying voice bled from the speakers, grating on White's frazzled nerves. "I'm on time and White's late? Something really bad must be happening. Hey, Boss? You dying?"

Six sighed.

Knight tried not to appear surprised. Rex's instincts weren't off the mark, even though he was probably exaggerating for the sake of humor. To what audience exactly? White didn't know. Kid just seemed to think he was a regular comedian. It was annoying more often than not.

"As a matter of fact, there was a reason for my delay…" White's eyes narrowed, resisting the urge to look behind him. There was nobody there, but the fact that his office was breached made him feel less secure in his space. He wasn't entirely sure if the office was already ridden with nanites.

When the briefing was over and after notifying Providence Personnel of the intruder, he immediately dialed the engineers responsible for his office's maintenance. He had to make sure his living space wasn't contaminated. If it was no longer a sterile environment, he didn't know what steps to take next.

What would he do if he was no longer the last, non contaminated man on Earth?

They could not find any trace of 'Professor Paradox,' even after thoroughly sweeping the base. There were no signs of a break in either. The building's sensors had not registered anything out of the ordinary. White's personal cameras never sensed anything either. The man did not exist, and White could tell that many of the agents believed he was slipping. The walls were very thin at Providence. The surveillance cameras picked up nearly every type of gossip, so he'd seen the footage of his skeptical employees joking about how he'd finally lost it.

The most humiliating part was that Rex was the only one who seemed to believe him. The kid didn't exactly add credibility to anything. He wouldn't have been surprised if Rex believed Six hung the moon. Every meeting, he just had to bring up a method he thought would lead them to the whereabouts of Professor Paradox. He thought they would be able to catch him in a photograph. Once they did, they could get his face on the news and offer a reward for finding him. The way he phrased his idea made it seem like they were looking for a lost dog rather than a criminal. It was ridiculous, but he was so convinced of his plan, even after the numerous times he'd been informed that the stranger never showed up in any of their footage.

The only thing Knight could do was tighten the security, but as the weeks went by without the reappearance of the stranger, it didn't seem like there was even a need. That didn't mean he was letting his guard down even when everyone else was. The uncertainty of not knowing when the stranger could invade his personal space again made each day feel unusual. There was no actual break from the monotony of his usual routine, but because he was anticipating a surprise, nothing felt mundane. His own space, the one place that put his paranoia at ease, felt dangerous.

It wasn't like he slept to begin with. He spent most nights watching the security feed anyway. As the old adage went, the more things changed the more they stayed the same. However, this time when he watched the monitor, it didn't bring him any reassurance. He was just waiting for the moment a room would become 'off-kilter.'

Unfortunately, it was only when he switched his monitor off to retire to bed that the moment he'd been waiting for finally arrived. Once again, the only warning of his arrival was the sudden, searing headache that began between his ears. He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself against his nightstand.

"Is everything alright?"

White knew who had arrived, but he couldn't turn to see the uninvited guest. Moving was a strenuous effort. The pain was so much worse than before, magnified to an agonizing degree.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget to adjust for the current atmosphere."

His watery eyes snapped open as all of the pressure eased away all at once. He let out a huge breath and turned to face the other man across the room.

"Better?" Paradox asked politely.

The question of who the man was no longer mattered.

"What are you?" He asked bluntly instead of answering his question. Had he somehow acquired one of the Meta Nanites? It was the only explanation White could think of. No regular EVO mutation could give him the abilities he was displaying.

"How forward of you, but I suppose that's only fair."

"You're the one invading my personal space." White snapped.

"Of course. I assure you, as I stated in my last visit, I mean you no harm. I'm merely a traveller."

"Travelling is one thing. This is trespassing. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't-"

"Shouldn't what?" Paradox cut him off, an amused spark in his eye. "What do you, a mortal man, think you could possibly do to me?"

Tensing, White stilled at the terrible powerlessness he felt standing next to the professor. He was right. Among his time at Providence, and perhaps even before becoming their leader, he'd earned a reputation for being overly prepared. He never expected this however. There was no defense he could put up for a man who walked in and out of a heavily secure base without tripping a single sensor or even appearing on camera. Every piece of technology seemed to freeze in his presence. He felt nervous for the first time in a long time, recalling the overwhelming force he was capable of exerting if he wanted to. White would be crushed.

"What do you want, then?" He asked quietly. "You say you're some kind of explorer. Hate to break it to you, but you're not going to get much sightseeing done here."

He informed him of the last part quite bitterly. Being confined behind the same lackluster walls for years would make anyone resentful.

"On the contrary…" His eyes were trained pointedly on him. White didn't understand what he wasn't saying, distracted by his own alarm at having another person right in front of him. It had been a long time since he'd had human contact with anyone outside of his suit or office. He wasn't sure he liked it, and so only alarm rushed through his veins from the wrongness of the situation.

"Your office is housing a powerful force. Would you know anything about that?" Paradox broke eye contact, staring elsewhere into the dark. "I was able to trace it here, but I'm unaware of its precise location."

White was wearing his best poker face. "Why would I know anything about that?"

"Something so strong kept out of plain sight? That could only be done intentionally."

Well, no shit. What a direct way of asking him, as if Paradox expected him to give up the location at the drop of a hat. If he assumed Knight had hidden it, he shouldn't have expected him to so readily give up the location. Paradox was either naive or arrogant.

"Don't know what you're talking about. Even if I did, why would I tell you? You didn't even say please." His lip curled. He did not like to be ordered, even if it was done in an indirect manner. He got enough orders as it was.

"I'll work it out of you eventually. You may as well tell me and save yourself the trouble." Paradox took a step forward, causing Knight's jaw to tighten. "I'll disturb you no further once I have it. I'll take my leave afterward. It's in your best interest if I remove it from your time stream."

"Don't presume to know what's in my best interest."

"Very well, let me rephrase. It's in the best interest of your world. A force like that doesn't belong in the hands of mortals."

"I know what's in their best interests." And Knight doubted anybody searching for the meta nanite had the best intentions.

"You must be a very good leader to take others into consideration." Paradox peppered him with compliments. "However, you don't realize the full consequences that come from keeping something like this-"

"Don't pretend your search for the meta nanite is purely altruistic. The last time you were here, you said you were only curious. Now you're saying you're on a mission for the good of humanity? Which is it? Get your story straight before you march in here and demand things from me."

The accusation heavy in his tone only seemed to amuse Paradox. He took a step backward into the shadows. "Stubborn man. A respectable trait to have. I'll allow you the chance to reconsider-"

"I won't." White snorted, but he was ignored.

"-and rest for now. "

White didn't even have time to blink. For the second time, Paradox disappeared without leaving a hint that he was even there at all.

Providence's leader was an interesting, interesting man.

Paradox thought he had him figured out well. White Knight was very particular and enjoyed having structure in his life. His days were meticulously planned down to the hour. He was a man in love with his schedule, and he absolutely loathed Paradox for his interruptions. It was quite sad how humans perceived the passage of time. It was so rigid and finite, a diminishing resource they could never get back. To him, it must have felt like Paradox was taking precious time out of his day to bother him. Little did he know that when time passed, it was not gone. He was stealing nothing from him.

Besides, didn't humans enjoy saying how the time someone enjoyed wasting was not wasted time? He liked to think that, somewhere within Knight's heart, he got some enjoyment out of his company as well. Because while Paradox was invested in him for business and not pleasure, he did indeed love stopping by. He was enjoying how quickly he went from being a threatening figure in White's life to a mere annoyance. Once, the unknown power he possessed was enough to be intimidating, but now Knight was only irritated at the very sight of him. He preferred the latter since it meant the man was lowering his guard. It would make it easier to obtain the meta nanite from him.

Although he thought he had a good idea of the kind of person Knight was, he didn't find himself bored by him either. Predictability didn't always make someone tedious. Sitting across from him, watching him go about his work was comforting and made him feel a bit… human. White Knight, a simple man, was just one cog in the grand universe, and finer details were what made entire masterpieces so beautiful. His presence had the effect of tethering him to a single moment instead of experiencing everything all at once.

"How did you know?" White Knight asked him one evening while filing away some of his paperwork. At first, Paradox wasn't sure what he was talking about, but the man continued,"You're not from around here, so how did you know there weren't any nanites here at headquarters? Have you been watching me?"

"No. Spying is rather uncourteous wouldn't you agree?" He answered, perching on the corner of his desk. "Nanites are easy to see. They cloud up the air around us and stick to surfaces. I don't see any here. Your office is so clean that I can barely find a microbe, and my eyesight is much better than yours. If I'm not careful, I can even see too much."

"Too much?"

"If I'm not careful." He repeated in confirmation. "Once, it drove me mad. The way you and I see objects and people are very different. For instance, your perception of time is… Well, not flawed, but limited since you are only human. It's an illusion you have here on this planet that one moment consecutively follows after another like falling dominos, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever. What you can't see is that all moments exist together, all at once, like a long stretch of mountains. They blur together and bleed into each other again and again."

White Knight didn't have to voice that he was struggling to piece together an image from what he was describing. Paradox could see the confusion on his face, so he tried to better clarify for him,"I learned to channel my focus on specific points in a time stream. If I lose focus, people begin to look like worms. Their lives become stretched out in front of me, from the moment of their birth to the moment they die. It can become quite easy to forget what many would call my 'humanity.' Myself essentially."

"Sounds like nonsense. If you can see everything, why don't you tell me where the meta nanite is?"

He chuckled. "If only it were so simple. I can't quite see everything, only what's in front of my face. That much is not so different from you."

"Yeah… Exactly like us. I was completely wrong when I judged you as an extraterrestrial freak." White drawled sarcastically.

Paradox raised a brow. "Resorting to childish insults? Come now, we're both grown men."

"I'm a man. God knows what the hell you are."

"That's not very fair. I'm not so removed from my humanity." He wondered if the disdain in his voice was real.

"We all look like worms to you. Sounds real human." White retorted, shutting off his computer.

"I was struggling to find a comparison you would be able to understand. Pardon me for offending you. Would you have preferred if I said you all resembled threads of string?"

"I'm not offended. I don't really care."

"You don't look like a worm at all to me at all, I promise. You're actually the clearest to see. It's so easy to get lost watching you work. A man who likes routine is uncomplicated…"

"You have a habit of making too many assumptions." White Knight rolled his eyes, pushing his chair away from his desk. It was about the hour he quit work and retired to his bedroom. Like always, he predictably stuck to his schedule."I don't like routine. It's forced on me by my employers."

That was surprising. He seemed obsessively stuck to patterns as long as Paradox had been in his company. "Color me surprised. I thought that spontaneity would have annoyed you. You're so averse to my visits."

He shrugged. "I've gotten used to them."

"Oh?" Perhaps Knight was correct. He had a habit of making too many assumptions apparently.

"You're like a bug. I can ignore you so long as you don't interfere with my work."

"You would be spared my presence if you would only just tell me…" He trailed off, frowning at him empathetically. "Are you lonely?"

"What?" He was startled by his question. "Why would you ask me something like that?"

"I would understand. I, too, lead a very lonely existence."

"I'm going to bed." Knight stood up from his chair and began retreating to his room.

"It can get so cold, can't it?"

"Goodnight."

"Until next time, friend."

Paradox was never corrected on his usage of the word 'friend.'

He learned that White Knight was not always desk-bound. Sometimes, he was required to step out into battle with the rest of his soldiers. In chess, moving a King could potentially place the piece in danger, but White had already established that he had his own employers to answer to. If his namesake wasn't a clue enough, he wasn't the King of the board. Paradox got the chance to see this for himself as he struck down the titanic monsters that dwarfed him.

It was brilliant.

When he went out into the infected world, he donned a power suit of armour that twisted Paradox's heart a certain way. It was a dazzling white and gold, of course, the man's preferred color choices. It made him shine like a storybook hero under the sun. But the mechanized suit left a bad taste in the professor's mouth. Watching Knight blast mutants with his weapons made it clear enough that he could not be more different than Eon. He stood as a stark contrast to his mortal enemy, and strangely enough, he hated it. It was sickeningly pathetic, but he detestited him for being nothing like Eon.

Carefully, he kept his complaints to himself. Knight was not to blame for his personal feelings. It was too easy to project onto the lonely man instead. He couldn't see any similarities he might have shared with Eon, but Paradox found it hard not to relate to him. He empathized with the Providence leader. The way he was isolated from those he craved companionship from. He could never be like his peers in the same way the professor could be no closer to those he admired. It was why Paradox indulged in Eon's plots, already knowing they would crash and burn. The only person he could claim to be 'close' to was someone who abhorred his existence. How bleak.

White's circle of workers didn't seem very fond of him. He saw a faint hint of friendship between him and the agent who worked for him, Six, but it was barely strung together by a thread. A falling out, perhaps? He didn't want to guess. Paradox had already been accused of being too presumptuous, but everything bothered White Knight; even simply posing a question was something that angered him.

"What is your relationship to Agent Six?" He asked when the man was returning from a mission. He knew his presence would put Knight in a bad mood, so he'd arrived with a gift to soften him up. He doubted it would work, but he didn't see the harm in trying. Next to White's bland dinner platter, he'd placed an actual meal from a restaurant nearby. He'd mentioned that his daily habits were decided for him and that he hated them, so Paradox hoped that a slight change would warm him up to speaking with him on a personal level.

"That's a story you'll never get." He'd just gotten out of his armour, evidenced by his terrible case of helmet hair.

"What a shame. Do you love him?"

"Mind your own damn business."

"Ah. Bad break-up then."

"You really want to sit here and discuss heartaches while we paint our nails together? What are you? Thirteen? Why do you even care?"

"I can empathize with you. I know what it's like, unable to get close to the person you want the most."

"Maybe you're projecting a little too much. Six and I are co-workers. Don't you have anything better to do instead of overanalyzing me? You're wasting your time."

"I have eternity. And haven't you heard? Time well spent is not time wasted."

Knight rolled his eyes. He retreated into his room to change out of his work clothing while Paradox lingered by his desk. He fixed his dinner tray, turning it so it was crooked and didn't sit so perfectly aligned with the rest of his things. He made sure it was still warm. This visit would not be like the last or the one before that. He was intent on getting information from him.

Shuffling over to the window, he peered down below at the deep canyons that made the land rugged. Providence headquarters overlooked the edge of a pretty cliff. It was far from desolate or barren. Life thrived even in the desert and the earth was moving too. As a result, the imprints left upon the earth were a wonder. Nevada was beautiful. Paradox believed as much when he was human too, working as a regular scientist at the many research facilities hidden from the public. The rocky terrain was shaped interestingly by decades of erosion. Nothing was ever rigid, not even the land could stay in place.

He wondered how many times White stood where he was. The drop from the window would probably kill a man. It was probably not healthy having the ability to stare down into the rocky chasm below, especially not when the only time the man ever got out to see the world was when he was needed in a fight. Did the pit ever tempt him with freedom?

Paradox frowned. Pressing his forehead to the glass, he felt the heat from the warm window pressing against his skin.

"You're dirtying the glass." White groused from behind him. A hand on Paradox's shoulder pulled him away from the glass. It shocked him. He realized that Knight had always been careful not to touch him out of uncertainty or disgust.

"I was only enjoying the scenery…" The professor assured him. His eyes drifted off to the side, over White's shoulder. "I apologize for upsetting you. I brought you a gift as a peace offering."

Suspicion clouded White's expression, eyes creasing in uncertainty. He took a step backward, following his line of sight to the tray on the desk. Without hesitation, he pulled the lid from the platter.

His brows rose. "Seafood? You want to bribe me with shrimp?"

But then he took into account the meal provided to him by his work, the little bowl of salad, yogurt and fruit.

"Reject my gift if you'd prefer." Paradox shrugged. "I was only trying to be friendly. I thought you would enjoy a change of pace."

"Not hungry."

Quietly, White placed the lid back over his plate. He hesitated before adding, "But thank you. I'll save it for another time."

There were nights where Paradox's timing could be really poor.

White was just waking up from a nightmare he couldn't recall with clarity. He only remembered the rows of dagger sharp teeth belonging to an EVO and its snapping jaws. He couldn't breathe when he opened his eyes. His chest rose and fell rapidly, desperately to get air into his lungs.

"Shhh… It was only a night terror." Someone to his left hushed. Instead of identifying the voice as a threat, he felt his body relax. A cool glass of water was touched to his lips. White took it in hand and tipped it back into his mouth, drinking the entire cup.

"Better?"

"It's late. What are you doing here?" He asked, his voice hoarse from sleep.

"It's actually early. Nearly sunrise. I didn't realize what time it was… Perhaps I'll return another time-"

"No." He quickly said, wincing at how quick he was to speak. "It's… fine. Had to get up anyway."

He turned the empty glass in his hands a few times, unsure of what to do or say. It was the first time he awoke to company and not the empty room. It was so nice to be in the presence of another person. Usually, he was met with chilling sollitude. He was never sure what was worse, the night terrors or waking up from them.

"Here, let me take that for you." Reaching over, his hand touched Knight's, but he didn't let go of the cup. Perplexed, Paradox blinked a few times, tugging at the glass until White's fingers loosened around it. He set it on the nightstand, forgetting it in favor of examining his face.

"White?"

He didn't answer him really. To his credit, his eyes did flicker over to meet his gaze, waiting for what he was going to say.

"Are you alright?" He pressed, leaning closer. White was terribly aware of his stunned silence. His mind was drawing up blank scripts. Any of the carefully prepared stock phrases in his arsenal were gone. It was too early to be coherent. His dreams had disoriented him and Paradox was too close to his bedside. He could only register the sharp smell of chlorine that stuck to the professor's clothing.

"No." He managed to answer. "I'm not."

"Would you like to tell me about your dream? Perhaps it'll help."

"It won't." He already knew it wouldn't. He didn't have to try when he knew the root of most of his problems was unsolvable. And if he couldn't fix something- if his life remained unchanged for the better regardless of what he did, then what was the point of talking? Life itself was nothing but a horrorshow.

Paradox's eyes creased with some sympathy. He was unsure if it was genuine or faked, but it didn't matter. Wetting his lips, Knight decided to be more bold, "You want to help me?"

"I'll try anything in my power." He promised. But because he was not a fool and had lived more than a million lifetimes, he qualified his vow with a playful smile, "Provided that it's within reason of course. We can't break the universe searching for the cure to bad dreams."

"No." He didn't laugh. If anything, that statement unnerved him. He didn't want to be reminded that the man before him was abnormal, not when he was growing used to thinking of him as a… person. "Nothing like that…

"How can I help?"

"Distract me." He ordered softly, gesturing for him to move closer. It wasn't necessary for him to elaborate on his request. Paradox understood what he was asking, but he was reluctant. White was half-tempted to tell him to forget he'd said anything.

"The last thing I want is to take advantage of your vulnerability."

Scoffing, White guided him closer anyway, tugging him in by the hem of his coat. "That isn't going to happen…"

Knight pulled him down, kissing him before he could object any further on his behalf.