HAHA whoops, the days slipped me by and I didn't even notice that yesterday was Thursday. So this is a few hours late, whaaatevs. These fics are a little longer than the first chapter's, and I think there's more angst and character variety. We're startin' to mix it uuuup! :D

Oh right, and to my one guest review - yes, LinaTrinch did one of these a few years ago! Lina and I are buds so I grabbed the idea off of her hahaha. Enjoy!

11. 33%
:: Six, Holiday

When she let the words slip out of her mouth, she immediately regretted it. Knowing Six, he'd still go for it. He'd say yes and risk his life. That's how Six was.

"Six...your magnablades. No - it'd be too dangerous."

He nodded. She knew him so well. And only a few seconds later was he standing atop the machine, swords swung together above his head, and she punched buttons while Rex punched Beverly. This might actually work. Rex was overpowering Beverly. She knew the math was all correct. Six was...

Six was struggling. She could see it. And his voice - so strained, he'd never sounded so in pain - shows no concern for himself.

"Is it working?"

Of course it's working - she rarely messed up her calculations. And even though she didn't know Moses' machine perfectly, she knew those magnablades and how they worked. She knew as much as she could about this machine and the blades should do what she needed them to do.

She glanced down at the screen. Thirty-three percent. And it kept going up. This was working. This was going to work. Beverly was going to be okay.

"...it's working."

12. Dead Wrong
:: Holiday

Sure, she'd thought about it before. "What was Six like before the Nanite Event?" She imagined him as very calculating and cold - he was a killer, after all.

Other things she expected? Maybe even more antisocial than he was now. He'd probably still be wearing that SWAT-like suit she remembered him wearing the day they met. Just running around, getting missions, assassinating people, making a ridiculous amount of money.

What she didn't expect, though, was...what she got.

How did that man go from being so social and flirtatious and...and rebellious and irresponsible...to the man she'd known for the past few years?

Sure, the irresponsibility and rebelliousness made a bit of sense. She supposed being raised by a mercenary wasn't exactly high-class living. Or was it? Alright, she honestly had no idea.

But Six was so...against social gatherings. He didn't like being surrounded by people. He barely liked being around her, or so she thought until recent events convinced her otherwise, but apparently he used to be very friendly. Very, very friendly...around women. Women who looked like herself.

His hands grabbing for hers and holding them together felt so foreign. His smirk everytime he looked at her was completely alien. The way he called her "Dr. Beautiful" and "Dr. Gorgeous" was downright insulting. The way he did everything was just...it was strange.

This would take some getting used to.

13. Running Away
:: Circe, Cricket, Skwydd, Tuck

Closer. They were getting closer and closer and closer.

The lights shone, they had to squint just to see a way out. Alarms exploded left and right, their ears ringing. Footsteps behind them, in front of them, all around them. They weren't gonna make it.

"Circe, this way!" Cricket whispered, motioning to a hole in the wall Skwydd and Tuck had just slipped through. The EVO girl hurried over, getting out of the way just as a bright light appeared from an above helicopter right where she'd been.

"Circe!" Cricket whispered again, tugging the girl's arm. "We've gotta move!"

Circe looked over at her friend and nodded, quickly following her down their cramped pathway. This was not going to be an easy journey.

14. Judgement
:: White, Six

He still remembers when they met. This man, this ninja, he was ruthless, but he had fun while he did it. Sometimes it was concerning, but then again, he'd been the same way.

They'd gotten along great - being hired to kill people wasn't an occupation where you expected to make friends. They'd first met by chance, but afterwards almost relied on one another for help when it was needed.

Rather than a friendship, it was more like a partnership. Sure, there was always the fear and paranoia of backstabbing and trust being broken, but that was how the business went. For the most part, they got along just fine.

And then came the Nanite Event. No more killing humans, now there were gigantic freakish monsters to take down. A new challenge - exciting, gave them that adrenaline rush they really needed.

The ninja visited his Master every couple of months. That time, when he returned, he was different. He didn't have fun killing these things anymore. When it was brought up to him, he shrugged and said he was getting too old for this stuff.

Funny, how he was talking to someone almost ten years his senior.

Obviously, the man was going soft. He'd heard that can happen to mercenaries like them. He never imagined it could happen to Six.

He kept getting worse. Less and less interested in the fight, and more and more interested in the struggle. He stopped caring about the rush from bloody swords and decapitated heads, he cared about what the scientists were studying and what happens with the EVOs that are captured.

They'd already started to drift apart. And even more than losing an interest in fighting, suddenly he showed no interest in women. Barely an interest in eating or sleeping.

He knew what depression looked like, but this was Six. How could it be possible?

Initially, when the ninja started following the pretty doctor around - he was surprised and happy. Perhaps this woman was the key to getting him back on his feet.

She made it worse. Then he started keeping secrets. It became less of a pleasure to spend time with him, and more like a chore.

And then there was the explosion, he thought he was dead. But instead he returns with a kid, some kid who can 'save everything', some kid who he'll show to the doctor and she'll tell him it's gonna be okay.

As the man in green walked away, the brunette clenched his teeth and curled his hands into fists. He couldn't hope for his partner to return. Not anytime soon and not anytime at all.

15. Rumors
:: Rex, Six, Holiday

He'd only been at this Providence place for a few weeks. It was stable, though he lived in what he was pretty sure was a closet and shared that rental space with a talking chimp. But hey, for all he knew, this was the best he'd ever had.

Thirteen-year-old Rex wandered around the halls of Providence Headquarters, deciding he needed a few moments away from Bobo. Not that he didn't totally love hanging around the monkey, it's just the smell was hard to get used to.

He had learned a lot about the people he'd be spending the next few years with. Agent Six was really harsh and kind of lame in the fun department, but hey - Six also saved his life, so...that got him some extra points. Doc Holiday was a total hottie and super nice...but she was also really strict when it came to hygiene and studying stupid stuff like history and math. And White Knight was just all bad news - he was mean and nasty and treated Rex like a tool.

There were plenty of other soldiers - but they didn't seem to like Rex too much or didn't pay much attention to him. He didn't mind, he had Bobo to be friends with!

Though while walking down the hallway, he couldn't help but be curious when he heard two names he recognized being mentioned in a conversation in the other room. He leaned his ear against the door, trying to hear more of it.

"He wasn't even a full employee until he found the stupid kid."

"And how old is she? Barely even thirty? How the hell is she our head researcher?"

"It's probably 'cause no one else wants to take care of that reckless kid. White Knight practically assigned them to be his parents."

"Maybe that's why he gave them those jobs - it's payment for having to watch over such a brat!"

At that, Rex was already headed back down the hallway. He knew there were more reasons why he didn't want to talk to anyone else at Providence. These guys were all jerks.

As he continued walking, he realized he was heading towards Dr. Holiday's lab, and in walking in, he immediately saw Six and Holiday chatting.

And, if he heard right, they were talking about him. Holiday was standing in front of her desk, looking through some papers, and Six leaning against the side of the same desk. As Rex entered, Six stopped talking and looked over to him, raising an eyebrow. Noticing that, Holiday followed his line of sight and smiled at Rex.

"Hey Rex! Need something?"

Rex kept the frown on his face as he looked between the two of them. Hands in his pockets, he kicked the ground a little bit and turned his head away from them.

Six stood up straight at that. "Rex? What's wrong?"

Rex shrugged and paused for a second, not knowing whether or not he actually wanted to ask what he was thinking. After another second, he figured there really wasn't a point, those stupid grunts didn't know what they were talking about - so he just smiled back at the two of them, said, "Nothing! Just wanderin' around," before turning around and walking back out of the room.

Rebecca and Six glanced at each other, concern evident on their faces.

"...what was that about?" Holiday asked, shuffling the papers into an organized pile.

Six stared at the door Rex exited through. "No idea."

She turned around, noticing Six's concern and internally smirking. This guy tried not to show that he cared, but he couldn't hide everything. "You gonna go talk to him?"

Six raised an eyebrow at her and headed out the door. "Not my job."

After he was gone, she sighed. Barely even thirty and she had two stubborn boys to deal with.

16. Excuses
:: Noah, Claire

"So what'd you think of Buchiner's test today?"

Noah smiled as he answered his girlfriend, happy to be able to take her on a date for their three month anniversary. He'd never expected her to go out with him in the first place, the fact that it'd be months already was such a good sign.

They continued their animated conversation and ate pizza together, when suddenly Noah's phone rang. He picked it up and stared at the caller ID.

"Who is it?"

"It's Rex. I'll just be a sec," Noah answered, putting the phone to his ear. "What's up?"

"...yeah."

"Well, no, Rex, I'm out with Claire-"

"Yeah, I know, but I'm not-"

"...okay, fine. I'll be there soon." He closed the phone and sighed.

Claire put down her slice and frowned. "You're leaving?"

"Um...yeah. But I'll be back as soon as I can!"

Sighing, she packed up the pizza and slurped some of her soda. "Yeah...let's not pretend that that's actually gonna be anytime soon. I'll just head home."

"Claire, I'm so sorry! It's just- Rex needs my help! It's a life or death situation!"

"I know, Noah, I get that!" she responded. "It's just...it's always a life or death situation. And it's not that I don't believe you, it's just...is Rex aware that you're just a regular person?"

Noah blinked at his girlfriend. "Well, I did go through basic training for a Providence soldi-wait! Claire!"

She'd already started packing up her stuff and walking towards her car, when Noah shuffled in front of her.

"Go help your boyfriend, Noah - you can call me later," she said before shoving him out of the way.

Noah just rubbed the back of his head and looked back at the remains of their ruined date. Rex owed him big time!

17. Vengeance
:: Haden-Scott

He was shamed. He was treated with complete disrespect. All over a rumor.

His political career was over. His wife and kids were slandered. His parents were unable to leave their home without constant criticism.

All he had left was his company - the company he had to publicly abandon in order to keep running. His second-in-command handled all public appearances, while he was stuck hiding from the criticizing eyes of the world.

He would return. He would have his revenge on the media that ruined his name. He refused to let them beat him.

18. Love
:: Cricket, Rex, Skwydd, Tuck

"Hey Rex - are you sure about this job?" Tuck asked, pausing to take a few breaths before following his friend to the next rooftop.

Skwydd and Rex turned around to face their bud and wait for him to catch up. "C'mon, Tuck, try using your power things! You'll definitely go faster!" Rex shouted, hands around his mouth.

"Um...okay," Tuck responded, still uncomfortable with his mutant abilities. He extended his arms and attempted to release the paper-like substances from his arms. They reached out towards Rex, who grabbed on to them to help Tuck make his way over.

Rex tugged and Tuck jumped his way over, initially landing on his feet, but falling to his knees. "Yeah, Rex, I don't think I can do that yet. All I can manage is tying people up..."

Shrugging, Rex turned around. "Whatever. You'll get the hang of it soon!"

As Tuck started to get up, Skwydd held out a tentacle-ish hand. "Shh! Do you hear that?"

Rex activated two small robotic fists and spun around in excitement. "What?! Hear what?!"

"Shh! I totally heard a scream!" Sqywydd repeated, running towards the edge of the building. "There!"

Rex and Tuck ran over to where Skwydd was kneeling and looked down at the alley below. There were three humanoid-looking mutants - two of them obviously ganging up on the other. The other who definitely seemed like just a young girl.

She was limping, and there was a small pool of blood underneath her. Even in the darkness, all three boys could clearly see that she was definitely in trouble. And even at the young age of eleven - these boys were not about to let a little girl get hurt.

"What do we do?!" Tuck whispered, looking over to Rex and Skwydd. "Those guys are huge! My powers won't do anything!"

Skwydd bit his lip. "All I can do is make smoke...Rex! You have to help her!"

Nodding, Rex deactivated his fists, created giant feet instead, and got ready to jump down into the alley. "Don't worry guys - I've got this! Hey! Watch out below!" he shouted on his way down.

All three mutants immediately looked up, the small girl's tears blurring her vision, and the two larger mutants couldn't move fast enough to avoid the large metal feet that landed on their heads.

Rex landed roughly, easily breaking multiple bones of the creatures he smashed. After a moment of composure, he turned his feet back to normal and jumped off the two mutants. "Oh...gross. Are they dead?"

A squeak from behind him reminded Rex that there was a girl there who was probably still hurt...he turned around quickly and reached out a hand. "Hey, are you okay?"

She shook her head back and forth in response, visibly shivering from fear. "I-I...a-are you...g-...going to kill m-me?"

Rex dropped his hand, a frown appearing on his face. "What? No, what? I just saved you! Why would I hurt you?"

The girl continued shaking her head. "I...you...why?"

He shrugged, and reached out his hand again to help her. "Can't let a cute girl like you get hurt, can I?"

She slowly reached out and grabbed his outstretched hand. "...thank you," she said quietly, reaching her arms around his neck to hug him.

Rex smiled at her actions, and looked up at the roof to make sure Tuck and Skwydd saw how heroic he was. They both gave him a thumbs up, and Rex returned the gesture.

"Hey, are you hurt?" he asked, looking back down at the girl.

She pulled back from the hug and nodded. "It's my leg...those guys had a knife and they-they just attacked me and I-"

Rex shook his head. "You don't have to relive it, don't worry. Me and my buds'll take you back to our hideout."

"...you don't have to do tha-eep!" she started to say, when Rex reached down and lifted her up, bridal-style. As she wrapped her arms around his neck, Rex bit his lip and focused on his back as some metallic tendrils started escaping from his shoulders. After a few seconds, the unnamed fans he'd been working on sprouted from his back, and the girl squeaked as they were suddenly lifted off the ground.

Tuck and Skwydd were both pretty obviously impressed as Rex landed sloppily on the rooftop, his machine falling apart. "Hey guys! This is-! ...oh, wait, what's your name?"

She looked back at him, finding herself unintentionally staring at her savior's smiling face. After a moment of staring, when he raised an eyebrow, she blushed and looked down. "...it's Cricket."

"Cricket? That's a cool name!" Rex commented. "I'm Rex. That's Tuck and Walter."

Skwydd frowned. "Call me Skwydd."

"Right, Skwydd. My bad."

Cricket nodded and smiled. "Thank you guys so much for helping me...I don't know how I can repay you."

Tuck reached a hand forward and grabbed her shoulder. "You don't have to do that!"

At that, she just looked between all three boys and smiled happily. She felt like she hadn't smiled so brightly in months. And it was all thanks to these three guys...

Skwydd, Tuck...and Rex.

19. Tears
:: Holiday, Beverly, White, Callan

"Three o'clock. She's late again."

Beverly tapped her foot impatiently while waiting for her sister in the school parking lot. It was only the third week of the new school year, and Rebecca had been late in picking her up the past two days. Beverly understood that Rebecca was very busy and she was trying to get her third degree by the end of the year - but honestly, when you offer to drive someone to and from school for the first month of school, you gotta do what you promised! It was just common courtesy.

Sighing, she spent the next minute wandering around the parking lot, seeing if any of her friends were still around. Since most of them rode the bus home, obviously not, but it never hurt to look.

There were a couple of kids hanging around by the dumpsters playing hacky sack, another group was peering over a car with an open hood, and then there was a group of teachers discussing something that would probably bore her to death.

After a moment, Bev figured she could go try to join those kids playing hacky sack - when suddenly she felt a tingly sensation in her hands. She put her backpack on the ground, feeling intensely uncomfortable.

Another second later, the tingling hadn't stopped, but Beverly felt a liquidy substance roll down to her lip. She brought a hand up, pulling it back to see blood. She rarely, very rarely, got nosebleeds. Something was wrong.

Taking out her cell phone, Bev tried to ignore the feeling in her hands as she flipped it open and started scrolling to Rebecca's number. When she finally got to Rebecca's number, she noticed her vision getting blurry. The tingling wasn't stopping. Her nose was still bleeding.

She pressed the CALL button and started to cry. She knew what was happening. It wasn't hard to figure out - they saw this stuff on the news all the time. Rebecca was particularly fascinated with it - Beverly just thought it was scary, but hey! At least it wasn't happening to anyone she knew.

Until now, apparently.

The phone rang once; Beverly's kneeling on the ground finally getting the attention of those teachers nearby.

The phone rang twice; Beverly's muscles twitched and spazzed to the point where she dropped her phone on the ground, unable to control her movements at all. The teachers backed away - one of them pulling out their phone and calling 911.

The phone started to ring a third time, then there was a click and a quiet "I'll be there soon!", but Beverly couldn't pay attention anymore. She fell flat to the ground, and kept her eyes open long enough to see large grey blobs appear on her hand and arm. She screamed - or she thought she did - high-pitched, girly...and then it was deeper, almost a low growl that transformed into a monstrous shriek. Beverly couldn't think straight anymore.

A worn-out, dark blue car quickly drove into the parking lot, slowing down the moment Beverly's figure could be seen in the distance.

The teachers had shuffled all the nearby students out of the way as long, black, spider-like legs shot out of Beverly's spine, her shirt ripping to shreds and the pieces of pink fabric falling to the gravel below. Her legs and arms grew longer, her skin turning dark and then being covered in a gray fur. Her hair - falling out of the ponytail she'd kept it in, turned black and fell to frame the face that replaced the one she'd had before.

Rebecca almost tripped exiting her car, screaming her sister's name at the monster in front of her. She could see, underneath its transforming form, Beverly's backpack, her phone, and scraps of her clothes. Either this monster ate her sister, or... ...

It let out a menacing scream, giant spider-legs holding up the large, grotesque torso. Rebecca was certain, this thing was her sister. She wanted to cry. She wanted to do something. She was scared out of her mind.

It turned to her. She felt her heart stop. It took a step towards her. She felt the urge to run - but no, that would provoke it, obviously. It took another step towards her, and Rebecca couldn't help but take an instinctive step back. It huffed loudly before beginning to charge at a phenomenal pace.

Rebecca felt everything slow down as she thought about how this was probably the worst way she could die. At the hands of her sister, whom she adored more than anyone else in the world.

The creature lifted one of its front legs, sharp claws at the end ready to strike at Rebecca. She closed her eyes and covered her head, barely able to hear the screams of warning coming from the nearby bystanders and waiting for the inevitable.

The attack never came. Rather, she heard a gunshot, followed by the monster letting out another long, loud growl. She opened her eyes quickly, seeing a group of men in black and white suits running towards the monster with tranquilizer guns and regular guns and net guns and it seemed like they had a billion different kinds of guns.

Everything was silent for a few moments as she witnessed a handful of these people shooting at the monster, which escaped from its initial netted cage with a single slice. Suddenly, however, there was a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up to see an actual face among all the masked men.

He was caucasian, with light brown hair. His eyes were grey and his face seemed too wrinkled for someone with such a physical job. She belatedly realized that he was talking and she couldn't hear a word he said as he shook her shoulder roughly.

"Hey - I asked you a question! Are you hurt?"

She slowly shook her head, earning a nod from him as he left her side to join the rest of the men shooting at the monster fighting back.

No, not monster. That was her sister. Her sister. Why her sister? Why not someone else?

She shook her head again at the thought. No, no one deserved this. She was just a little girl, barely thirteen years old. Now she was a giant spider-monster thing being shot at by two dozen adults in battle suits!

At that thought, it finally hit Rebecca that they were shooting at her sister, and she would not under any circumstances let them kill her and that was final. The man from earlier was too far from her now, but she saw another maskless man and, ignoring the fact that she couldn't stop shaking, ran up to him.

He paused as she put a hand on his arm, instinctively letting his eyes quickly look over her body, but immediately bringing them back to hers. He was blonde and tan. Had a scar on his eye. It looked new.

"Miss, I'm gonna need you to step aside. This is dangerous work and-"

"What are you going to do to her?" she interrupted, not caring about the danger of the situation.

He bit the inside of his cheek, knowing from firsthand experience how difficult it was to see a loved one turn into one of these monsters. "Our protocol is 'kill or contain', Miss. So that's what we're going to do."

She bit her lip. "That...that's my little sister. Do I have any say? Please, you...you can't kill her. Please."

The soldier sighed, grabbing Rebecca's arm and pulling her off to the side and further away from the battle. "Look - it's not my decision. If we can knock it out without killing it, we'll contain it. Otherwise, we have to kill it before it kills us. Do you get me?"

Rebecca frowned in response, looking behind the soldier to analyze her sister's form and the men shooting at it. She lightly shoved him aside to get a better look, earning a gruff exhale as his hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her towards him. "You cannot enter this battlefield. Please let me and my men do our job!"

She shook her head. "The top of her chest and...and her neck. Definitely her neck. Aim a large group of tranquilizers there. Do it now."

His eyes widened as she spoke, not used to taking orders from anyone, let alone a woman without so much as a commission. He hesitated, not wanting to follow directions given by a civilian, but felt himself nodding and shoving her aside as he yelled out her demands to his men.

They did as they were told - and Beverly was out like a light within ten seconds of being hit. The blonde soldier left his men to clean up the mess and jogged back to Rebecca.

"How'd you know to do that?" he asked anxiously - hoping there was some trick to fighting these monsters that this woman somehow figured out.

She shrugged, rubbing the back of her neck, still trying to sort out her feelings of the situation. "I-I could just tell from the way she moved that the tranquilizers would be more effective. The skin looked softer and with a cluster of darts someone was bound to hit a vein..."

He nodded as she spoke, putting a hand on her shoulder again. "That's one hell of an eye you've got! Look, this group we're in - it's new. We're called 'Providence'. And we're working to get rid of all this spoiled meat! But it's mostly just muscle, y'know?" He shrugged, chuckling. Rebecca didn't understand what there was to chuckle about. "We could really use more people with brains on our team."

She rolled her shoulder, shoving his hand off of her. "I'm still working on my degree," she replied, not caring that she'd just admitted to being without a job.

His response was simply to pull a card out of his pocket. "Look - your sister's coming with us whether you do or not, so I recommend you do and take a look around."

Turning back towards him, Rebecca frowned deeply. He was right - once Beverly woke up, she'd go back to attacking everything she saw like she did earlier. Without realizing it, she felt her hand reach forward and take the card out of his hand.

He smiled. "Then let's go!"

20. My Inspiration
:: Rex

When Caesar first told him about their parents - just little things; their names, what they did, where they were from - Rex was impressed. And happy to know that his parents were the good guys.

Later on, his brother gave him snippets of memories; more information about mom and dad, exactly what they did, why there was such a huge age gap between the two of them, all sorts of things.

They sounded amazing. And not too unlike Holiday and Six, whom he had recently stopped denying having a parental affection towards.

Even later, after traveling through time, dealing with Black Knight and the now-evil Caesar - his trip to Abysus was...enlightening. That photograph of his father brought back memories of his own: happy things, like playing with his older brother, coloring pictures of robots, hanging out with Mom and Dad; and the more dramatic...like his accident, his surgery, and eventually the Nanite Event.

Knowing about how they died and their failed attempts to save humanity only strengthened the bond Rex felt with his late parents. With Caesar's apparent betrayal, he had a desperate need to recognize their dedication to doing what was right.