"Ok. Check it out. Here's our plan. Nice and normal right? Everything's cool. Then like from out of nowhere, WHOOSH. There was this accident. Nobody knows why it happened but it caused these tiny machines called Nanites to get into every living thing."
5 years later
Every once in a while the Nanites turn things into monsters. Like this guy. The guy in question was a tall grey monster with many faces all with jagged teeth and red ringed eyes and mouth. We call them Evos. Most Evos just want to wreck stuff and that's why we have providence.
The grey Evo reached out and picked up a providence truck that had been shooting at it and chucks it in the background of a news report that a young long brown haired woman in a white shirt and purple jumper was recording.
"In the five since the Nanite event, we have never had an Evo incident of this magnitude. The evacuations are all under way and providence agents are on the scene." Said the news reporter into the camera as in the background the Evo destroyed more of the city as providence shot at it.
The Evo opened one of its many mouths and shot boiling lava at the providence team. The stream hit the building causing the providence men to leap out of the way.
I guess you could say I work for providence, I'm their secret weapon. So secret they've got to keep me locked up.
"Maybe you need to lay off the sodipop chief." Bobo stated as I bounced the ball continuously off the wall. The ball was then hit off Bobos hat which fell to the floor. "Jeesh." Bobo complained. "Touchy."
The Evo stomped past a skyscraper in which people were hiding and roared until it cracked the window and the people had to cover their ears.
"Providence Keep is now over the city. We may see an end to this." The reporter said as the camera focused on a flying craft that was nearing the Evo.
"Finally." I grinned. I lent down and placed my hand against the floor of the hanger. It lit up blue as the Nanites connected with the electrical circuit and the floor of the hanger opened.
When the situation gets really bad, they call on me to handle things with the skill and professionalism of a highly trained soldier. Psh, yeah right.
I slipped my glasses over my eyes and jumped out of the Keep. I whooped as I fell.
"Oh boy." Bobo sighed.
Here's the cool part. I'm an Evo too. But for some reason I'm different than the others. Instead of my Nanites turning me into a rampaging monster, I control them, tell them what to do. This means I can do stuff like THIS; as I was falling the Evo looked up at me and smiled evilly. I activated my Nanites and turned my hands into the Smack Hands. I plummeted towards the Evo one Smack Hand stretched out in front. "Incoming." I warned, just before I slammed into the Evos face, knocking it to the ground. The knock down created a mini earthquake that set car alarms off and sent wind and debris billowing down the streets. I retracted my Smack Hands and set my goggles on top of my head and said with a smile; "Hello monster guy, I'm Rex. Now thrill me."
I got out my Smack Hands again. "Now who wants to go first? Anyone?" The Evo growled and spat more lava at me. It hit the ground in front of me and I leapt upwards and towards the Evo.
"Eenie." I hit one face. "Meanie" I hit a second face. "Minie." I hit a third face. "Mo!" I hit the biggest face. I activated the spinner in my Smack Hands and forced the Evo backwards.
"We've been hearing rumours of a new providence weapon." The reporter said as the camera focused on me attacking the Evo. "And it appears to be a teenager?"
The Evo backed away from me and then spat freezing gunk at me. I struggled as I blocked the stuff with my Smack Hands. A smaller providence ship was sent down from the keep. Agent Six was standing at the door of the ship looking out over the city.
"Who let him out?" Six asked the other agents.
"No one sir. Rex just ordered the doors to open and they did, sir." The agent replied.
"Six I'm getting funky bioenergy readings. Keep an eye on him" Doctor Holiday said to Six through his communicator.
"it's what I live for Doctor Holiday." He replied.
"Argh" I shouted as ice froze around me. "Great." The Evo stopped shooting ice and started shooting lava at me again. I retracted my Smack Hands and instead created my Boogie Pack. I boke out of the ice and flew up avoiding the lava.
"Don't mess around kid." Six's voice told me from my communicator. "Focus."
"That's not messing around. This is messing around." I replied as I slipped my goggles over my eyes. I flew toward the Evo as it tried to fire lava at me again but I dodged it. "Can you blame a guy for having a little fun?" I flew in circles around the Evo, dodging it's blasts of lava. "Especially when he can build his own wings?!" Lava hit a building and it started to crumble bits breaking off and falling towards the pedestrians on the street below. They screamed and started to run.
"Civilians." Six shouted through the earpiece. I looked towards them.
"I can get them. I can… I … I got this." My Nanites overloaded and shut down. "Hey!" This caused my Boogie Pack to break. I hollered as I lost control and plummeted to the ground after hitting a building. "Ow."
"Six Rex's biometric readings just bottomed out." Holiday said frantically in Six's communicator.
"Noted." He replied. Six flexed his hands and his magna blades slid from his sleeves. Six leapt from the providence ship. He leaped into action by slicing apart the bigger chunks of building so they wouldn't hurt the civilians. He landed on the ground and faced the Evo.
"Finish it." Six said flatly to me. I stood up and put my fists together.
"His bios are way back up. What did you do?" Holiday asked.
"The usual cheery pep talk." Six replied.
The Evo roared and looked down at me. I made my Slam Cannon and grabbed a piece of the ground behind me. I fired once, twice, three times, each of them hitting the Evo and knocking it backwards. It staggered and fell forward, hitting the ground.
"Rex your clear to move in and disarm." Holiday's voice said.
"No offence doc but duh! Shut him down little guys." My Nanites linked with the Evos and shut them down. The Evo shrunk until it was just a human guy. A providence agent covered the old man with a sheet. "You're welcome, again." I said as I walked away.
"You made me normal again." The old man said as he ran towards me and hugged me.
"Handshakes work to naked man." I replied awkwardly. The man's towel fell from his body. "I'm serious stop hugging me.
The camera of the news reporter focused on the scene in front of them and the reporter stepped into the cameras view. "I… I think that boy just cured the Evo." She said taken aback. Six walked in the view of the camera turned towards it and put his hand over the lens. "Providence has no comment." He said coldly.
"Do we really have to go back to base?" I asked as we walked into the providence ship. "Lets go get a pizza and celebrate!"
"Celebrate? You wrecked six city blocks." Six replied.
"Aw, come on, it was four at the most." Rex complained as the hanger door shut. "Alright, maybe five."
The ship lifted off and headed back to base.
"That's him tell Van Kleiss." Said a shadow to two other shadows.
I sat back at base bouncing my ball off my 'home sweet hole' poster made of cardboard.
"You're failing to control our weapon agent six." White said on the display screen.
"What do you suggest?" asked six. "Have him neutralised like the others?"
"Five years of living in a global freak show and that kids our only way out. Every living thing on this planet is infected by those Nanites and the lucky ones get to wonder when it will be their turn to pop. As long as Rex can cure Evos we might actually win this war." He said as he poured himself a glass of milk. "Reign him in six I don't need to remind you of the alternative."
I was sat in the medical bay on the end of the scanner bed. I put my headphones on and lay down. The machine pulled me in and started up.
An hour later I came back out.
"Scans look normal." Said doctor holiday as I took of my headphones. "So want to tell me what happened out there today?"
"Just another stunning victory. Saved a lot of people you know. Maybe I deserve some sort of reward, say dinner, a movie?" I said slyly. Holiday then stuck a thermometer in my mouth as she turned away and consulted her clipboard.
"I'm talking about the 90% negative spike in your bioenergy. Have an explanation for that?" she asked as she wrote on the clipboard.
"My bios spike every time I see you doctor holiday." I flirted.
"Smooth." Bobo cut in while polishing his gun. "Like sandpaper."
Doctor Holiday went to walk away but stopped when I started talking. "I messed up. Even in front of six then I … I … I don't know what happened. I freaked out and my machines just broke apart." Six walked in then. "Oh hey." I greeted him solemnly.
"I need to check your stress levels, give me a lap around the petting zoo." Doctor Holiday said. I nodded and walked out with Bobo.
Holiday turned to six. "And how was your day?" she sighed. Six raised an eyebrow.
The lift dropped me and Bobo off.
"Wheels or wings?" he asked.
"Wheels." I responded as I pulled my goggles over my eyes. "I want to tear something up."
I activated my Rex Ride and Bobo hopped on. We sped off.
Holiday and six watched us through the window.
"There's obviously something seriously wrong with him." Six stated.
"Aside from the fact that all of you treat Rex like a machine and not a 15 year old?" holiday said, disgust in her voice.
"So what's your problem?" Bobo asked me.
"Oh just the usual, all work and no play." I replied. "Huh. And don't even get me started on that broom closet they call my room."
A tree opened its eyes and shot branches after us. I swerved and dodged each one.
"Physically Rex and his Nanites are fine. But think about it six, no memories of who he was, his family. How do think that makes him feel?" holiday asked six.
"How he feels isn't the concern of providence as long as he takes down other Evos and deactivates them." Six replied coldly.
"Unless we make some changes he won't be able to do that much longer." Holiday replied disgusted.
I drove up a rock and jumped over the lake. "Think they've fed Mo?" I asked.
"Obviously not!" Bobo shouted as a giant crocodile leapt out of the water to try and eat us. We flipped over and landed on the other side of the lake. We sped off.
"So today, when he lost and his machines fell apart?" six asked.
"Mental the fear of making a mistake, of what you'd think." holiday stated.
"What I think? He just needs more training to control those emotions." Six said without care.
Holiday snorted in disgust. "He's a teenager, that's like asking you to get a new colour suit."
Six turned and walked away as holiday tried to reach for his hand.
Bobo and I burst from the shrubbery and pulled up outside the door. "Up for a little road trip?" I asked. "What do you think?"
"Don't ask me, I'm a bad influence." Bobo replied sneakily.
Alarms went off in providence. Six's face flashed up on screen. "Again?" he asked.
"Again." Holiday stated.
We sped away from base. Whooping as we went.
"Well what are you waiting for?" a boy asked another as they stood at the top of the empty sewer line.
"People die on this thing. I'm not going to go, you go." The other boy replied.
I jumped down from the ledge. "I'll do it." I said.
"You gonna ride your monkey?" a third boy said. All four of the boys laughed. I pulled my goggles over my eyes. And got out the Rex Ride. I sped down the side of the line as the boys watched in awe.
"Did he just … ?" one asked as another said "woah!"
"Front sided twist 12 60 psycho style." I shouted as I flipped and spun. I jumped and landed behind them on my legs.
"Dudes totally an Evo" one of they said.
"Thirsty?" I asked. As I led them to a vending machine. I used my Evo powers to get free drinks.
"Aw this is awesome!" one shouted. "Hit me again Evo kid." I touched the vending machine again and it fired one at him, knocking him off his skate board. The others burst out laughing.
"Dudes we totally have to take him to the arcades." The leader said.
"We're never gonna have to pay for anything ever again!" the same guy the can hit said.
"Those kids couldn't care less about being friends you know." A guy came up behind me and said. He had longish blond hair.
"What's wrong with that?" I asked in response.
"Come on new kid lets role." The guys shouted.
"Lets just hang here." I said. "I'm tired of the whole machine thing, I can't hook you up with anymore freebies."
"Oh. Well I guess were done. Freak!" the leader said snobbishly. The others laughed and called me names as well as they skated off. Bobo hopped up beside me.
"Ah might I remind you that monkeys like to throw Bobo bombs and I had Mexican yesterday." He smiled up at me.
"Good monkey." I said as he jumped off after them.
"So" the blond guy said. "You have a talking monkey."
"Chimpanzee technically." I replied as I turned to him. "Wanna soda?" I asked.
The guy held up some money. "It's on me. I'm Noah."
A dark shadow watched from the side lines.
Noah and I sat on the edge of the sewer line as Bobo lay down on the side.
"You cure Evos. Seriously?" asked Noah.
"It's like making my machines. Just something I can do. I can't make people completely Nanite free but I can extract the ones that turn they Evo." I sighed.
"No wonder they keep you locked up." Noah said surprised. "That's pretty huge. Like earth changing huge!"
"I guess. I mean I just wish they'd help me figure out who I am. But you know the best thing about amnesia? … I forgot!" we burst out laughing.
"Pft. You call that comedy?" Bobo said without opening his eyes.
"Glad someone's laughing." A voice said as Bobo fell of the side. I turned and saw it was six and lots of other providence agents.
"Who's he supposed to be?" Noah asked as we stood up.
"Six is like a nanny, just more aggro." I replied.
"Hysterical, lets go." Six said.
"I'm gonna chill here for a while, thanks." I said as I turned away from him.
"Rex duck!" he shouted as he pushed me out of the way and dodged a flying rock which cut his tie. I looked up to see three Evos at the top of the ledge. One was shaped like an over grown toad with it's head on sideways. Another was a girl in a school uniform with four arms, two normal and two massive. The third was what looked like a biomechanical wolf. That one ripped open the fence and leapt down, the others following. The agents shot at them but got knocked down one by one. Six leapt into the battle.
The toad one stepped up to me and said "we got your back kid. We're on your side."
"My side? Six might be a pain but …" I replied.
"Through here." A voice said behind me. I turned and saw it was coming from the girl Evo who had opened a portal. "The promised land."
"We're waiting Rex." A voice echoed.
"Rex!" Six shouted, while trying to hold off the wolf. "Stay back."
I turned just as the overgrown toad whacked us through the portal.
"Rex!" Six shouted again. The wolf kicked him back and ran through the portal. Six tried to jump through as well but he knew he wouldn't get there in time. A shape blurred past him and through the portal just before it closed. Six had caught a glance of a face and he knew I would be safe until he got there. Six hit the ground where the portal had been.
The portal opened onto a dark forest and Noah, Bobo and I fell through. "Never flying coach again. No sir e." Bobo said as he adjusted his hat and the other Evos stepped through. Just before the portal disappeared a blur flew through and into the trees.
I turned to the wolf. "Where are we?" I asked.
"Home" he said as the trees behind him bent into a tunnel. A tall shape walked through the tunnel. Where he stepped flowers grew. As he got closer I saw it was a man with long black hair, with white stripes in and on his left hand he had a big gold gauntlet.
"hey." Bobo whispered behind me. "Head honcho, act all impressed."
"Not acting." I replied. "You can control nature?" I asked the man.
"In a manner of speaking, yes." He replied calmly.
"Good. You think you can crank the heat down a notch skimpy?" Bobo asked. The man narrowed his eyes and it started to rain just on Bobo. "Show off."
"I am Van Kleiss and this, Rex, is Abersis. A haven for all Evos." The man said.
"You know who I am?" I asked.
"My associates Biowolf," he pointed to the mechanical wolf. "Breach" he pointed to the girl Evo. "And Skalamander." He pointed to the toad. "Have been watching you for some time now."
"That's a little creepy dude." Noah whispered to me. Van Kleiss motioned to the trees and they cleared a path. "This way." He said. "And Jenny, please come out from behind that tree." Noah and I looked at each other, then at a tree from which a girl stepped out. She had straight ginger hair that stretched halfway down her back. She was dressed in black jeans and a blue fitted hoodie. On her feet were black combat boots and round her neck was a choker pendant that was a round mini glass window that had a picture of a dolphin on it. "Van Kleiss." She greeted coldly. Biowolf and Skalamander grabbed an arm each but she shook them off.
"You might as well join us jenny." Van Kleiss said. He then walked off towards a crumbling castle.
"They call it a plague." Van Kleiss said as he led us through the castle. The floor moving at his command. "But Nanites are in every way a gift. A gift your providence seek to destroy."
"The Evos we go after, they're monsters. They use their powers to hurt people." I defended.
"We are not all savages, Rex. Some Evos are capable of so much more. You've only just begun to realise your full potential." Van Kleiss carried on.
"Potential? I don't even know about my past." I interrupted.
"Is that so? Then perhaps a little history lesson?" van Kleiss said surprised.
"Sounds delightful." Bobo said sarcastically as his tummy rumbled. "You got anything to eat in this dump?"
"Take them to the garden for nourishment." Van Kleiss said as a different pathway opened up. "We will follow shortly." Noah, Bobo, Skalamander, Biowolf and breach all went away but the girl, jenny stayed where she was, her arms crossed. "Not going with them?" van Kleiss asked.
"I don't trust you." She replied shortly.
Van Kleiss turned from her and resumed the lesson. "Five years ago, on this very spot is where it all began, Rex. This, so called Nanite event. The dream to create microscopic machines became real. Some were too eager to see the fruits of their labour. And against the wishes of the wisest of their number, inadvertently gave birth to a new age. And a violent birth it was. That day everything changed. The Evos were born." We walked into a room where a massive tree was growing in the middle of it. The roof was broken and the only piece of furniture was a stone throne.
"That's real interesting and all but does it have anything to do with me?" I asked.
Van Kleiss laughed. "It has everything to do with you Rex. Now lets see what all this fuss is about you shall we?" he flexed his golden hand and vines shot through the ground and wrapped around me and jenny. I struggled as they grew tighter.
Noah and Bobo were being led through the garden. "This is the garden?" Bobo asked. "Better fire the gardener." There were statues made of wood all around with grotesque faces and postures.
"I don't think these are statues." Noah whispered to Bobo.
"Smart kid." Skalamander said from behind them.
"What are you doing?" I asked van Kleiss as he pulled me closer to him.
"Call it an experiment." He said as his gold hand grew extra-long, spiky nails, which he them stabbed into my chest and started messing with my Nanites. I looked to jenny begging for help and saw that she was biting through the vines that were wrapped around her.
"Not everyone's relationship to the Nanites is as cooperative as yours. For example my body is unstable, I need a constant supply of Nanites to survive. Yours should be particularly nourishing."
I looked down at my hand and saw it turning to stone.
"Ever been in a fight Blondie?" Bobo asked as Skalamander, breach and Biowolf closed in.
"I took kick boxing at the mall once." Noah said.
"Oh brother." Bobo sighed. Biowolf laughed as he swung at Bobo and the fight started. Bobo leapt up and onto Biowolf's back, pulling its hair. Noah stumbled back from breach as Bobo sent Biowolf crashing into Skalamander. Breach looked at them and turned back to get a kick in the face from Noah. "Not bad." Said Bobo as the Evos tried to stand up. They ran off to find Rex.
"Now Rex. I expected so much more from you than this." Van Kleiss said as Noah and Bobo ran in.
"Get your hands off him, you dang dirty cake!" Bobo shouted as he flung a piece of rubble at van Kleiss. He ducked the piece but was knocked over by Jenny who had broken free and ran at him. He shoved her back and stood back up. Rex activated him Nanites and kicked van Kleiss with his Punk Busters flinging him against the wall.
"Now that's more like it." He said as he twisted his head into place. "Every bit as powerful as I was led to believe."
"Well sorry to disappoint you but I don't plan on being anyone's lunch." I replied.
Van Kleiss laughed as he was lifted down by a root. "Oh you're far more valuable to me than that Rex. I merely wanted a taste."
"Ready to go home and not die now." Noah stuttered. I pulled my goggles over my face. I activated my Nanites to make the boogie pack, picked up Noah, Bobo and jenny and flew out of the castle. Vines sprung from the ground and I swerved all of them. "Thank you for flying air Rex." I said sarcastically.
"There better be a movie on this flight." Bobo shouted.
"What are you running to providence?" van Kleiss's voice echoed around. "You're nothing but a tool to them, a weapon to be locked away until they need you."
My Nanites shut down and we fell to the ground below. "Come on Rex." I said to myself. "Don't let him get to you." I put my goggles on my head and spoke to the others. "Need a minute, biometrics way low."
"That's really inconvenient." Noah said shakily. A portal opened above us and Biowolf, breach and Skalamander fell through. "I rest my case." He said as they charged towards us. Six appeared out of nowhere on a flying board and smashed into Biowolf, knocking him out. He pulled out Bobo's guns and threw them to him. Bobo caught them and instantly started to fire them at Skalamander until he was knocked out.
"Six o'clock!" Rex shouted at six as breach chucked portals at him. The portals started to spin round six and then breach started to punch and kick six through the portals. Six got out his swords and chucked them through the portals. They knocked breach out and landed in the ground.
"Some nanny." Noah comented.
"This Evo, van Kleiss." I said.
"We know, he's never been a problem until now." Six said. "We have to move." He raced of and we followed. "The keep is hovering just beyond the mountains."
"How'd you find me?" I asked.
"High frequency transmitter." He replied.
"You tagged me?" I said, shocked. "Like a dolphin?"
"Not you. It's in the monkeys diaper." Bobo stopped running at that and we turned around to find out why.
"It's a simian undergarment." He stated and we carried on running.
"I'm a little disappointed its only you six." I said. "I thought providence would send an army."
"They did." He replied as we ran passed millions of bodies all of them dead. "Rex forget it."
The ground started rumbling. "Move" six shouted. As a tree exploded from the ground. Van Kleiss on top of it.
"Such a waste." He said as he looked around. "If only providence would keep out of things that don't concern them." Vines launched for me but six cut them in half and said. "Keep running, you'll be safe at the keep." He ran towards van Kleiss cutting vines and branches as he went.
"Rex I don't think van Kleiss just controls the earth. It's like…" Noah trailed off.
"It's like he's a part of it." I said realising what he meant. I took of one glove and touched the ground. "There are Nanites everywhere. He's connected to all of them."
Six tried to attack but was thrown by a tree and knocked out. "How them biometrics looking now?" Bobo asked. Suddenly dense trees grew in a circle around us.
"Enough of this foolishness. You were here when it happened Rex we both were. So was jenny." Van Kleiss shouted. I glanced at jenny, she was watching van Kleiss. "Stay and all your questions will be answered."
"I'll take my chances with providence." I shouted back.
"You're messing around with your destiny Rex." He said, sounding annoyed. That was when my Nanites came back online.
"Messing around? That's not messing around." I replied as I activated my B.F.S. I ran towards him and jumped. I swung my sword. Van Kleiss covered himself with vines but it cut through them and him. Him and the tree he was standing on exploded. "This is messing around." All that was left was a blackened crater. I deactivated my B.F.S.
"great." Said Noah. "Can we go home now?"
I smiled and activated my Rex Ride. "You sure you don't want to take the scenic route?" they all got on and drove towards the keep.
Roots came out through the ground and formed a body shape that slowly turned into van Kleiss.
We dropped Noah off at his house and jenny off at the bus station she said to drop her off at. I was confused because it seemed like six knew her. We ended up at back at base. Six and holiday took me and Bobo to a new room. They opened the door.
"Well what you think?" holiday asked us. "You keep saying you need a bigger room." The room had a giant screen TV with a games consul. Bobos bed was a big climbing frame. There was a large single bed for me and a few beanbags and chairs dotted around.
"Hmm. It'll do." I said.
"This isn't the life you asked for Rex, but it's the one you got. We have to make the best of it." Six said, deviating from his usual stand-offishness.
"And my past?" I asked.
"We'll keep looking, together." Six replied.
"Can I still hang with Noah?" I asked sheepishly.
"That can be arranged." Six said as he put his hand in his pocket and threw me the ball.
"You did well. Keep it up and you'll have a bright future at this organisation." White said as he poured himself a glass of milk. "The best way to get people to do what you want is to make them think it was their idea." A little compartment opened and a hand took the glass of milk. "rex wanted a friend, now he's got one."
"Any cookies back there?" Noah asked after he drank a bit of the milk.
So is there a lesson here? Absolutely. Complain enough and they'll give you a flat screen. Seriously though, I may gripe but what I do, it's awesome! Sometimes I just have to remind them who's boss.
I lay on my bed listening to my headphones as Bobo was lying on his bed. The lights suddenly switched off.
"Lights out." Came Sixs voice through the door.
"Awh" I groaned.