I have to thank thereal13thfirewolf for allowing me to again finish one of her wonderful stories. The first chapter is from her and the second is mine.

I do not own the characters or even this idea.

Rex woke up (at about 3:00 A.M.) to a splitting headache, alarms, and the feeling that he was going to vomit. But he was Rex and if there was one thing everyone could agree on when it came to Rex, was that he was stubborn, too stubborn to let a little bug get in the way of him kicking some EVO butt. So Rex heaved himself out of bed and dragged himself to the hanger.

"We have a level two EVO in Manhattan," White said into Rex's earpiece. "Take care of it," he finished.

"Good morning to you, too," Rex murmured back. But he was less enthusiastic than usual. This difference was noticed by the others like, for instance Six, who raised an eyebrow and asked if he was feeling alright. Rex smiled as brightly as he could muster and told Six that he felt great now that he had some EVO butt to kick. Six made a mental note to have the doctor look at the kid when they got back. But he figured Rex would be all right. The kid seemed to pull through everything else. Anyway, Rex didn't get sick.

The EVO turned out to be a huge wad of slimy vomit-green tentacles. It squirmed under the gunfire from the grunts of Providence before simply swatting them all away. It then picked up a tank and threw it a solid three blocks away.

"So, calamari for breakfast?" Rex joked again but he sounded tired and uninterested. His thoughts were more on keeping last night's dinner down then the battle he was about to go into. He jumped from the Keep, forming his wings for only a few minutes before they crumbled, leaving Rex to fall to the ground. Well, not actually the ground, he was headed straight for the EVO. One of the mutant's tentacles lashed at Rex smacking him into a brick wall.

When Rex hit the ground, he felt his stomach lurch. Rex managed to get on his knees before vomiting something that looked suspiciously like the EVO he had been fighting.

"Gross," the EVO muttered, before he was yanked through a portal and thrown down on a brick floor.

"Well Rex, I was expecting more of a fight than this," Came the familiar confident voice of Van Kleiss.

Rex hauled himself to his feet stumbling and tottering uncertainly. "I'll kick your butt, Kleiss, as soon as the room stops spinning," Rex said as he tried to balance while the world spun like a merry-go-round. He fell back down and vomited a little more.

Even the evil and tyrannical dictator Van Kleiss had to pity Rex as he knelt in his own vomit and blood; suddenly, he was in the past,

"Hey, Uncle V," came a weak voice from under the scientist's desk.

Van Kleiss knelt down peaking under his desk and smiling at the young Latino, "Well, hello there, Rex," he said. "Why are you hiding under my desk? Are your parents trying to feed you broccoli again?" he asked. But to Van Kleiss it was obvious why the boy was hiding. He was sick. When Rex was sick, his parents would pry themselves away from their work long enough to force him to take his medicine and tell him to stay in bed.

"Mami and Papi wanted me to take medicine and stay in bed. I don't wanna stay in bed. I can't play soccer or color if I'm in bed, and medicine is gross," he whined. He rolled one of his crayons back and forth as he spoke.

"Well," Van Kleiss said, "If I give you a clip board and a box to put your crayons in so you can draw in bed, will you stay there?" Van Kleiss asked. He watched the boy think, almost laughing at how seriously Rex was taking this decision. They both knew he would say yes. They had the same conversation every time Rex was sick.

"Only if I can have grape soda," the boy said.

Van Kleiss was now having a very hard time keeping himself from laughing. Grape soda was another treatment used for the boy when he was sick. Van Kleiss would mix the boy's medicine into the sugary drink, pour himself a glass of water, and have a contest with Rex to see who could finish their cup first. Van Kleiss always let Rex win. "Sure, Rex, you can have grape soda." The boy's tired eyes lighted a bit and he smiled happily before vomiting on the clean lab tiles.

"Should I take him to the lab, master?" the bio-mechanical EVO asked as he plucked the boy off the ground. The only thing Rex could manage in response was weak and confused threats.

"No, follow me," Van Kleiss guided Biowulf deeper into the castle until he came to his bedroom. "Put him in the bed, and get me a bowl of cold water and a wash cloth." Van Kleiss ordered. Biowuf knew better than to question his master, so he placed the sick teen on the bed and left to retrieve the requested materials.

Van Kleiss studied the now sleeping boy for a moment, comparing him to his younger self. Besides Rex's physical differences, the boy was different from the little child who had called him his uncle. As a child Rex had been shy and quiet. When he was injected with his nanites, he was terrified and overwhelmed. Now Rex was confident and loud. His mastery of his powers went farther than anyone ever thought it could. The boy has almost done a 180 from what he had been and Van Kleiss was left behind.

"Master?" Van Kleiss turned to Biowuf, who stood in the doorway with bowl and cloth in hand.

"Thank you, Biowuf, you can go." Van Kleiss told him taking the cloth and bowl.

Van Kleiss soaked the rag in water and wrung it out. Then he turned and dabbed it on the feverish EVO's forehead. Rex shifted slightly. His eyes fluttered open and focused on Van Kleiss. The older EVO expected a joke or sarcastic remark. Instead he got a response he would have never expected.

"Uncle V?" the boy asked.

Van Kleiss was taken aback for a moment before he regained his composure. "You're delusional, Rex. Go back to sleep."

Rex stared at Van Kleiss blankly. "What's delusional mean?" he asked, reminding Kleiss of the small boy he once knew.

"It means your brain is too hot to work right."

Rex hummed softly and snuggled deeper into the blankets around him. "Can I have some grape soda?" he asked.

"Of course, I'll go get you some" Van Kleiss slipped into the hall and went to find Breach, thinking about his plan as he did. Van Kleiss had planned on kidnapping Rex and extracting the meta-nanite, in a painful and almost certainly fatal procedure. But then Rex had to go and remind him how much he had cared once, and he couldn't seem to stop caring.

"Breach," he called to the girl. "I need you to get me a bottle of grape soda and some flu medicine."

Breach studied him with her haunting green eyes before nodding. There was a soft hiss at their feet. Van Kleiss looked down. There, in front of his feet, was a bottle of purple pop, a bottle of flu medicine, a cup, and a spoon. Van Kleiss nodded in approval.

"Here you are," Van Kleiss said handing Rex the cup. The teen smiled and took the cup, drinking its content quickly despite the fact that they weren't competing this time. After he had finished with his drink, he snuggled back into the covers.

"Thanks Uncle V," the boy murmured.

"No need Rex. It wasn't a problem," Van Kleiss replied.

"No, I mean for everything. Like, you know, when you let me stay in the lab and played soccer with me. I know you're busy and stuff. But you… you still like to hang out with me. It's… it's… really… it's…," the sick EVO trailed off, falling asleep in the middle of his sentence.

Van Kleiss sighed. He knew he couldn't kill Rex. He had made up his mind. He would let Rex go today. He would figure out how to prevent the procedure from killing the boy. Then, he would find a way to wipe the child's memories and then he would have everything. Van Kleiss brushed Rex's hair out of his face. Then he went to find Breach. Soon Van Kleiss would have everything he wanted. He just had to be patient, and Van Kleiss was a master at being patient.

Continue to the next chapter...