"We are here, downtown where an EVO has taken to knocking over as many stores as possible," The news reporter spoke into her microphone. The camera pan shifted the view from the stunning blond with ice blue eyes to the hideous gelatinous blob of an EVO that was running amok behind her. People scrambled towards them, a few of the hit the camera, causing the view to shake and then steady a couple times, but miraculously most had missed them completely.
The EVO, with it's seven legs (three of either side of its fat body and then one jutting out from its butt) was perched on top of a rubble pile that had once been a small convenience store and news stand. It hauled brick and metal into its mouth and let out a loud, terrifying roar into the sky. It had one red eye set into the middle of its drooling, toothy face and when it reared towards the camera and reporter everything seemed to stand still for the unfortunates caught up in getting the story.
The camera man turned the camera back to his pretty co-worker, giving the public a look at her terrified face. Her eyes were the size of dinner place and her mouth hung open in shock. She slowly rose the microphone to her red lips and spoke slowly, "We seem to have attracted it's attention…" she swallowed heavily and looked over the camera towards its holder and forgot all about the fact that she was broadcasting live all over the city, "Jimmy. We need to get the fuck out of here!"
The camera nodded and a dismembered voice appeared, "Alright," the man breathed, "All right, we will just slowly back away. Okay?"
She nodded.
The camera turned back towards the EVO who had seemed to get closer to them. It's entire body was facing them now, not just the head, and one of it's legs coiled around a car. It deliberately moved, despite it's pea-brain it moved with such purpose. Once it was only twenty feet away, it reared up on its hind legs and let out a howl.
Both the reporter and the cameraman did the same without realizing. The bug-looking EVO charged at his prey. The camera was dropped and they were running, Jimmy the cameraman grabbed hold of the reporter woman and was dragging her over rubble. "LOSE THE SHOES!" he screamed at her as the tried to run but were slowed because he had to keep steadying her when she fell.
She yanked her hand away, causing them both to stop, and shifted her weight to one side, placing one manicured hand on her hip, "These are Vitoni's." The bug yowled again, jaws snapping and the clacking of it's claws on the asphalt seemed to put things into perspective for the reporter. "Okay! OKAY!" she kicked the shoes off and ran, the cameraman behind her, now having trouble keeping up.
They leaping and bounding over fiery rubble piles and, to the reporter's nightmare, bodies. Her suit, once a designer trend setting number, now looked like a hobo's rag cloth and although she was pissed, she was thankful that the slits up the sides allowed her to use her slender, fit legs to her advantage. She was track runner in high school, this was cake for her without heels.
The News Station field van was a mere block away after some time and a feeling of relief washed over her. They were going to make it. The next time Phil the producer suggest she do more field work, she would slap him so hard in the face her acrylic nails will be embedded in his skin. Half a block away and…
"OOF!" Jimmy went down hard.
The reporter stopped on a dime and started to head back for her partner when the bug came crashing through the side of a building in front of her. The flying chucks of cement and dry wall knocked her over, forcing her away from the fallen cameraman, "Jimmy!" she called out, trying to get to her feet but finding that her right leg was trapped between a large slab of concrete and a tipped car, "Jimmy, get up!"
His leg was bleeding and his right eye had blood dribbling into it. Jimmy couldn't tell how far away his partner was but he could see that the EVO was now hovering over him. He tried to scoot away but, with his bum leg and failed depth perception, he was too slow and it merely strode behind him, teeth and mandibles clacking like tap shoes on a hardwood floor only a few feet above him. The EVO's breath was horrendous, like rotten meat mixed week old fish. A drop of it's drool landed next to his head and the tar beside him began to bubble. Acid. There was no reason to pretend to be tough now, he was sure he was going to die. "Help! Oh my god, HELP ME!"
"Did somebody call for me?"
The bug EVO was suddenly sent flying backwards by a rather large orange, silver and black metal hand. Attached to that hand, Rex, providence's EVO fighting machine. Jimmy the camera man could not have been more thankful.
The bug crashed into a building that was somehow still standing through it all and the entire thing came down on it, not that two tons of brick would stop it but, it would definitely slow it down. Rex shifted his hand back to normal and went to help the man before him. "Hey, man, lets get you up and out of here." Jimmy extended his hand and Rex hoisted him up, draping the man's arm over his shoulders and then wrapping one of his arms around Jimmy's waist to steady him. The walked and limped over to the reported and Rex shifted his free hand into a metal hammer to push the slab off of her. "Nancy, I'm a big fan!" he said as he picked her up and brought her to her feet. She only stared, dumbfounded.
"Thanks," she managed to get out.
Behind them the EVO burst from its burial site with a mighty howl, spiny legs raised to the sky. Rex took a moment to look before his legs morphed into his hover cycle. "Quick! Get on!" Jimmy help his lovely reporter onto the back of Rex's bike and then climbed on himself. "Everyone set?" Rex questioned. Two shaky nods gave him the green light to put on his goggles and go.
The bug was on them in seconds, forcing Rex to rev his engines harder. He bobbed and weaved through the street littered with deserted cars, shattered brick piles, wood beams, glass and metal pipes. Rex rounded a corner where the Providence troops were waiting. A huge tank sat behind a row of black and white clad weapon wielders with full helmets on, all of their guns trained on the EVO snapping at the tail of Rex's bike. A providence trooper in the front, who's uniform had a badge on it made a motion with his left hand, keeping his right on the trigger, "Let's bring it down boys!" he yelled, the southern twang noticeable.
Just as Rex had zoomed into the safety of the providence perimeter, the troops unleashed a racket of fire onto the EVO that made a it cease it's attack on Rex and redirect it's attention to finding somewhere safe. Providence troops had other ideas. Once the bug started to run they followed it, setting their guns on full blast, the thing had to be stopped.
Rex watched as a cluster of white and black armored suits went after the EVO. He turned to the man and woman on the back of his bike and told them to brace themselves as he returned to his normal legged self. Jimmy helped Nancy off first before getting himself off the hover bike. Rex stretched his arms high over his head and then returned his goggles to their sitting position on his head, "You guys just wait here, a medic will be right with you, okay?"
The man and woman just nodded deftly.
Rex smiled, winked at the woman and then in the blink of an eye transformed his legs into two giant robot legs and hopped off towards where the commotion was.
The EVO had headed for a part of town that he hadn't already destroyed and was in the middle of evacuation. Rex had to go back to his normal status just to get around, keeping his robot legs on would most likely result in him squishing more than a few people. As he ran towards the EVO and providence soldiers he found himself fighting a torrent of screaming people. A few had even knocked him off balance. In the distance he could see the countless laser beams of providence weaponry attacking the bug, it's response was to wail and then stab at the ground. Rex hoped that all of the soldiers who had gone after it were still alive. Then the bug turned it's back to it's attackers and dove head first into the asphalt below him.
Rex panicked, he didn't know it could drill into the earth. Finally he stopped trying to claw his way through the masses of people and stood still a thought had just popped into his head and he felt stupid for not thinking of it before. He activated his robot legs, tripping at least nine people in mid stride, hopped into the air and then quickly shifted into flying mode. Two huge fans appeared on either side of his body and he flew off towards the scene.
A arrived just as the EVO had submerged its entire disgustingly slimy body underground and the providence troops were getting out their grappling hooks to prepare to go after it. Rex jumped to the front lines where the badged soldier was, "Let me go with you!"
The soldier said nothing but he nodded and waved five more people over, all of them with their grappling hooks in hand, "You five come with me," he spoke urgently to them and then yelled to the rest of his team on standby, "If we don't come back out in seven minutes, send in the next team!"
"YES SIR!" came a chorus of answers.
The soldier then gave Rex a nod that meant to go ahead and Rex did, using his flying mode to levitate him down. He turned on the lights built into his propellers and then flew deeper into the cavern. Moments later, five beams of light shone down on him and then an equal number of bodies seem to rain down next to him. Once they caught up to Rex they paced him down the long and slightly damp with slime, perfectly rounded hold until the reached the bottom.
"Ugh!" Rex could be heard over the clatter of grappling hooks being retracted, "This thing is going to owe me a new pair of boots when this is done."
Nobody laughed. The leader of the group gave a signal to the five behind him and they all got to one knee and trained their guns to the darkness ahead of them. In silence the man removed a small orb from his belt and threw it. "5…" he began the count down, "4… 3…2…1"
A blinding pale blue light erupted from the hole and Rex found himself dragging his goggles back down over his eyes. The light was greeted with a hideous sound and then the smell of burning flesh. Suddenly the quiet hole was awakened with the sound of clacking bug EVO feet and Rex readied himself for a quick and painless de-EVO-lution. He flew up, so he could easily drop down onto the bug once it came through the hole and watched at the troops distracted it. Landing on such a slimy and bumpy surface was hard but as a last ditch effort, Rex placed his hand on it and concentrated.
A bright blue circuit board seemed to stretch across the EVO's entire body and then POOF, it was gone and, in its place, a beautiful young lady appeared and slumped to the ground like a sack of dropped potatoes. Rex hovered over for a moment and examined her dirty face. She was breathing, that's all he needed to know.
"Let's get her out of here!" the head officer yelled to others, his southern accented voice echoing throughout the chamber. He then turned to Rex and patted the boy on his shoulder, "Nice work as usual, Rex."
The hero nodded his thanks.
One of the soldiers came to their commanding officer's side and spoke clearly, with a voice that Rex both recognized and couldn't believe was there as he hadn't heard it in so long, "Commander," the soldier said with a fault in clarity despite the helmet, "The medic van is at the edge of the crater. The rest of the team awaits your orders."
"Right," he stated, "Make sure everything is cleansed down here and that everyone makes it out. I'll go up with Johnson and Peters with the girl." And then he walked off.
The soldier he was talking to then shouldered the large gun they were carrying and pulled off the helmet, letting black tresses of hair fall passed their shoulders to the middle of their back. The soldier exhaled a large and long sigh, looking around with dark brown eyes set into a angular eye sockets. "Kenwyn?" Rex said, shocked.
She put her hands on her narrow waist and turned around to face him, "Hey, Rex," she said with a smirk, "Good job out there." They echanged glanced for only a second longer before she turned to the rest of her team and began barking orders, "All right! Let's get this place cleaned up!"
And so you have read it. Hope you liked it, hope you come back for more! Reviews are always lovely!
