AN: I know I named these chapters when I posted them on tumblr originally. :l But, I can't remember what they were, and I can't find them so...new chapter names.
Reviews are gr8 with a capitol 8.
Chapter 2: Renegade.
"You need to keep a better eye on our weapon."
Agent Six continued to stare stone-faced at the screen before him, glaring at the man who had once been his partner...but was now his boss. White Knight, the only pure human in the entire world, a poster boy for what providence fought for: a world without nanites, a world without fear. Somehow, Six had gotten mixed up in it all, his new position in the organization leaving him more exposed and vulnerable that he liked, but he did his best with what he had. He took his job very seriously, knowing that he held the only key to his master's salvation. Someday...when the war was over, and Rex was stronger...
"He keeps finding holes in the security." The former mercenary replied.
Your security.
"That's why we have you around." White Knight continued, glaring at Six from the safety of his sterile prison. "You're supposed to watch him at all times. We can't have a repeat of the Hong Kong incident."
"I'll take care of it." Six replied, trying to hide the anger in his voice.
"You'd better, Agent. That EVO is our only hope for this war, and I will do anything to ensure that we don't lose him."
Six didn't doubt it. As if locking Rex in a small cell and experimenting on him wasn't enough. Maybe spending time with Rex had softened his heart, but the agent couldn't help but feel pity for the young EVO. He was sentient, one of the few who still retained their human thoughts and emotions, and he was smart, able to crack security codes, and complete complex equations in seconds.
But, he was still a kid. A kid who wanted his freedom.
"If Rex saw Providence as home, he might stop running away." Dr. Holiday whispered when the two of them were hidden away in their corner of the lab. "To him, home is still out there. He's going to keep looking until he finds it."
"Not if White Knight lobotomizes him first."
He regretted the words the moment they left his mouth. Holiday wasn't weak, by any means, but she was sensitive, and she cared about Rex more than anyone else. He was a son to her, not just the EVO Providence paraded around for show. She hadn't had the upbringing that Six had...She understood how to love, and care for others.
"I'd take Rex and run before I let that happen." The woman replied, her voice cold.
"Good."
After that, their conversation fell flat.
Later, as Six watched Holiday give Rex his daily check-up, he could clearly see the motherly love she had for him. Rebecca never treated him like a weapon...never with the sterile clinical methodology of the other doctors, and because of that, Rex's false bravado fell away whenever she was near. He confided in her, sharing his thoughts and feelings...even some of his fears.
Around Six he became petulant and childish, struggling against him like a dog on a leash. Their training sessions were always painful to bear, Rex refusing to cooperate and learn what White Knight wanted him to. He didn't want to be a weapon...he didn't want to fight. He only wanted to be normal. Wanted to find his family.
Rex spent most of his time in a small room at the heart of the compound, locked in like a criminal. He had a bed, and a small closet. There was a rug on the floor. The boy would lay on his back for hours and throw a ball at the ceiling, losing himself in the maddening repetition.
Providence had given him a small wardrobe of plain t-shirts and jeans, but the boy still preferred to wear the clothes he had been found in...the strange red jacket and printed shirt. Six didn't push him on the issue, but simply prompted him to wash them regularly.
When Six entered, Rex ceased throwing the ball, his eyes remaining fixed on the ceiling. Clothes were strewn everywhere, hangers snapped, dents and gashes visible in the metal paneling of the walls. It wasn't often that Rex got angry enough to attempt such damage.
"While you were out, what did you do?" Six asked, moving to pick up some of the shirts strewn about.
"Wandered around for a while." The boy replied, almost wistfully. "Rode through the desert. Some guy taught me to play basketball."
Six froze.
"Some guy?"
"Yeah." Rex said, rolling over onto his side. "He saw me watching him, and taught me how to play. Then we had some sodas."
This was bad. White Knight would be furious if he knew that Rex had had contact with someone...it could spell trouble for whoever that poor guy was.
"Did you show him your powers?"
"He didn't have his wallet, so I helped him get a soda out of the machine. You don't have to lecture me, Six. Holiday already told me not to do it again. Stealing's wrong, I got it."
"This isn't about stealing, Rex." Six snapped.
"Well excuse me." The boy said, throwing the ball to the floor. "I just wanted to get out, see some people my own age.
"It's dangerous."
"For who?" Rex demanded, narrowing his dark eyes. "For me, or for everyone else?"
Six didn't know how to answer that. Rex didn't know what he was capable of...he didn't know that, somewhere inside him, there was a monster...a monster that made him just like all of the other mindless EVOs he fought and cured. Inside, he was no different than them.
But, Six couldn't tell him that.
"You need to stop running away." The agent snapped. "White Knight is getting angry. You don't understand what he's capable of."
"I don't care." Rex spat, turning away.
Behind his glasses, Six fumed.
"You should."
Rex wasn't at the basketball court the next day...
Or the day after that.
A week went by, and Noah gave up waiting for the strange boy. He threw endless volleys of free throws, got some of his friends together for impromptu games, and sometimes merely sat silently on the the sidelines, working on homework in the fresh air. Life went on.
And soon, a month had passed. Then two. Noah all but forgot about Rex, and things went on as they always had.
It was a warm evening in late spring as Noah Nixon made his way home, basketball tucked beneath his arm, jacket slung over his shoulder. There were still a few people out and about downtown, enjoying the pleasant air, sitting outside of restaurants, casually strolling past shop windows.
And then, suddenly, screams tore through the air, and Noah looked up, frozen in place as his eyes locked onto a giant humanoid beast, the size of a house, looming in the distance. Its lean body was covered in in black scales, and razor sharp teeth protruded from a too small mouth. Long black claws gripped the pavement, decorated in tufts of dark hair as it hobbled forward, shreds of fabric and denim clinging to its skin.
It was an EVO.
Noah panicked dropping his basketball and jacket and he joined the dozens of others also running for their lives.
That was when Noah realized that the EVO was fast. With a gruesome snarl, it tore across the pavement, gangly arms bearing into the crowd, knocking them aside like rag dolls. It grabbed onto a man's suit jacket with its teeth, whipping him around and around and around until it finally let the body hit the pavement with a sick thud. And then it was moving again, bony tail lashing wildly.
Noah could hear the thing's ragged breathing, almost smell the metallic tang of active nanites as it bore down on him and the others trying to escape. It was gaining, quickly, and he just couldn't run any faster. Already his lungs were straining, his stomach cramping painfully. The beast would soon catch up...it was going to get him-
And then...he tripped.
Down, he fell, painfully onto the concrete sidewalk. The boy had to roll madly to get out of the way of the pounding feet of desperate men, all the while trying to gather himself and get back up. He screamed for help, fingers scrabbling at the rough stone below, but no one stopped...no one seemed to care.
The beast was suddenly there, sniffing harshly at the vulnerable skin of his neck, and the boy flinched as it licked at his flesh with a rough tongue. This was it...he was going to die.
Just like so many others...he was going to die.
"Hey, buddy! Why don't you try to pick on someone who can actually fight back?!"
Metal groaned, and suddenly the beast was gone. Noah scrambled to his feet, swaying uncertainly as he found the EVO...lying in a pile of debris as someone pummeled it into the ground with giant metal fists.
There was another one.
Noah wanted to run, but he found that he was frozen in place, watching the battle continue, monster against monster. Looking closer, Noah found that his savior was a young man dressed in a providence uniform, "EVO" printed between his shoulder blades. His eyes were obscured by large orange goggles...
Those goggles seemed familiar.
"You need to get out of here!" A providence agent shouted, snapping Noah back to his senses. "The Generator isn't very careful when he fights. It's dangerous!"
As if to prove his point, a large chunk of concrete fell into the ground right before him, making deep fissures in the pavement Noah flinched, quickly gathering his wits, turning tail, and fleeing the site.
With a grunt, Rex ran his sword through the EVO's shoulder, feeling a spray of black blood on his face as he drove the weapon deeper and deeper. The creature howled, but Rex refused to back down, forcing the monster to the pavement with one sharp movement. The EVO gave a pitiful wail, before going limp, its six eyes fluttering shut. Rex smirked. Now, it was his time to shine.
Withdrawing his sword from the beast's body, the young EVO shifted his hand back into its normal flesh and bone, his fingers reaching out to twine in the monster's matted tufts of fur. He paused a moment, searching inside for the link that allowed him to cure people.
He found it, sending the power through his hands, seeking out the corrupted nanites, attempting to draw them into his body. At first, the beast's nanites seemed to cooperate, gathering at the tips of Rex's fingers, but then, the familiar screeching of nanites in pain tore into his ears, and the teen recoiled, breaking the link. With a soft growl, Rex tried again, his nails digging into the EVO's flesh as he forced the connection once more.
"Rex?"
The boy could hear his handler, Six, approaching, but ignored him, attempting to administer the cure one more time.
It still didn't work. It never seemed to work these days. It used to be that he'd always cure his patients but now...he was tired of having to watch families torn apart because he wasn't good enough. Wasn't strong enough. They depended on him, and he failed them, time and time again. He was sick of it.
Rex shifted his arm back into a sword, cutting off the beast's head in one fell swoop.
"Rex!" He heard Six shout. "Stop right now!"
The young EVO reeled on his handler, eyes narrowed in fury.
"Why should I try to save anyone?!" The teen screamed, wiping the blood from his goggles with his remaining human hand. "Half the time, I can't cure them! What's the point of me if I don't even work?!"
He was aware of the providence agents moving around him, guns at the ready. Let them try to shoot him. Let them try.
"We'll get Holiday to figure out why this is happening-"
"No more tests! I'm not some lab rat!
"Rex." Six hissed, lowering his voice. "If you don't calm down, that's exactly what you'll be. White Knight will never let you out again."
"He barely lets me out now." Rex snarled, lowering his arm, shifting back to normal. "This isn't the life I wanted, Six. I'm not a weapon."
Maybe he could make weapons out of his body, but that was no different than a man wielding a gun, or a sword. There was more to him than what the nanites had done There was the hole in his mind that Six had promised to help him fill...fill with memories, and hope, and his family. The family that he couldn't remember, no matter how hard he tried. Six had promised him.
Six had lied.
Rex ripped his goggles from his head, throwing them to the pavement, staring into his handler's eyes defiantly. Six's face was blank. The agent didn't move...didn't flinch. Reaching inside himself, the EVO called on his nanites, letting the rush of metal consume his legs and torso, twisting his human body, until he was sitting atop a hover bike of his own making, and breaking through the circle of surprised providence agents. He looked back, for one moment, watching Six as he stood in a plume of dust, unmoving, impassive.
There was no time for regret. No time to think about Six, or Holiday, or Bobo. Somewhere, there was someone looking for him.
Now was the time to find them.