Here we are, chapter 2. Thanks for all the reviews, guys! they really made my day. and pushed me to finish this chapter, haha. ChimeraRaven33 also has a good eye for detail! we'll just have to wait and see how that comes into play later... :)

this one was kinda fun to write. its pretty heavy with action, so read carefully i guess. this one's also unintentionally heavy on Six. he just happened to be where i wanted the action to go, lol. Aaaand my goal for writing from now on is 2,000 words a chapter (give or take), to give you guys a solid amount of story. anyway, enjoy!

"Guys! There's a child over here! He's alive!"

No sooner than the words left Amanda's mouth did another scream erupt behind her. She spun around, only to be sent flying into a wall by a huge metal fist. Six whipped out his katanas and yelled at Holiday to stay back. Of course, being 18, she ignored him completely and ran towards her fallen sister. Six moved to intercept this new threat, hoping to put some space between it and the defiant Dr. Holiday.

Before she reached her sister, Holiday caught a glimpse of a child stumbling out of the building. What she saw made her heart skip a beat. It was a young boy, no older than 10, with machines sprouting out from his body. His hand had mutated into a larger, machine version of itself, and he was covered in metallic lumps. Bits of machines were breaking off him and reforming at a constant rate. Yet, despite this transformation, parts of him remained unaffected. When the guards had mutated, their transformation had been quick and complete. Every inch of their body was affected. But with this kid, it was almost as if he was stuck in the middle, struggling with some unseen force.

The boy took a few shaky steps away from the building, clutching his head with his good hand. Whimpers of pain slipped out of his mouth every few seconds, despite his best effort to stifle them. The kid was shaking badly, and his eyes were wide with fear and confusion. He raised his hands in defense as Six rushed towards him, katanas at the ready.

"…ugh…g-get away!" the boy yelled, his metallic hand immediately changing its shape. Six quickly moved in to detain the child, but was countered by a huge sword now forming from the boys arm. One of his katanas was flung away from parry, and for the second time in his entire life, Six hesitated. His eyes locked with the boys, and there was this quiet moment... which was brought crashing down by a hard blow to Six's side. The agent spiraled backwards, clutching the fresh wound with his free hand. His already diminished focus completely snapped when he heard a faint beeping sound echoing from his own suit. The slice had cut through the its power supply, and his EMP shield was failing fast. He knew what would come next.

Forgetting the battle, he searched for the girls and roared at them to get out of here, but soon realized that his warning fell on deaf ears. The two were kneeling in the dirt, surrounded by their own world of chaos. Amanda was frantically pushing buttons on her suit, and Holiday was losing her cool.

"Nonononononononnono, please, NO!" Holiday shrieked as she desperately tried to rework the wiring in the already shattered suit. Her sister was close to hyperventilation as she jammed the power button over and over. The collision into the wall had completely shattered the suit's defenses, leaving Amanda vulnerable to the highly active nanites saturating the area. The panic lasted between them just a moment longer, when she froze and let her hand fall to her side.

"…Do you remember when the guard said he tasted blood?"

The color drained from Holiday's face, and she went into an all-out panic, practically beating on the components to get them to restart. Amanda gently grabbed her hands and brought them down, looking Holiday in the eyes.

"It's gonna be OK, alright? Look; look at me. Everything is going to be alright." Amanda's voice was calm and steady. She held her sisters hand tightly in her own, and took a deep breath.

"H-h-how c-can you j-just say that! It's not OK! You're the o-only family I have left!" Holiday said through choked sobs.

Six felt his stomach drop. A wave of his own horrible memories came rushing back to him, forcing him down into despair. It was then that he truly began to grasp the futility of the situation. Amanda and he would likely mutate and eventually be destroyed; Holiday would be left unguarded and alone in a barren wasteland; and the kid… Six glanced back at the boy, and found that he, too, was on his knees. But nearly ripping his hair out in concentration. To Six's amazement, the sword and lumps were shrinking steadily.

"It… hurts…help…" the child mumbled, his breathing ragged and unsteady.

Six took a step towards the boy, and suddenly crumpled to the ground. The shield had been down too long, and the nanites had finally gotten to him. Pain shot through his nerves as they pulled and twisted every cell in his body. Flesh melted. Bones cracked. His suit ripped as sharp, bony spikes grew from his fingers and joints. He wasn't sure when he began screaming, only that he couldn't stop until every molecule of air left his lungs . The mere seconds it took to transform his body felt like hours to the agent. Six was on the very brink of blacking out, when his form finally solidified.

The only word that comes to mind when Six tries to describe what it's like is 'instinctive'. With a hint of 'crazy'. His thoughts were disconnected and hazy at best, resulting in actions that were rough and illogical. His body was half unresponsive, and when it did follow an order, it overcompensated for everything. To hold something was to crush it; to speak was to screech. Everything was backwards in his own skin. Impulses ruled his mind.

His large, pupil-less eyes opened and darted around, fervently searching for something to fill the never-ending abyss that was his new stomach. Or stomachs, judging by the immense hunger Six was experiencing. Transforming had used quite a bit of energy, and his body was eager to get it back. All the noise and whispers buzzing around in his head canceled out any other ideas and brought out this simple need. His gaze fell upon two beings of equal size, making quite a racket to his left. A lovely banquet. As he turned to catch his prey, a small motion caught his attention a few feet away. He whipped around, and met face to face with a terrified, young child. The pure fright on his face… on his face…

…On his face was a smudge of dirt from hiding deep inside the bushes. It had rained the other day, and mud was covering most of their yard.

"Did you get him?" the boy whispered quietly, looking around fearfully.

His little brother was home when the assassin attacked. Thinking quickly, the boy hid while his brother tracked the guy down. The fight was quick and fierce, but ended in victory. The would-be killer was knocked out. He smiled and put his hand on his brother's head.

"Yea, I sure did. We'll call the police and—what's wrong?"

The boy's eyes widened as he shakily pointed behind his sibling. He whipped around and—

-A burning shock ran from his hand through his entire body, snapping Six's thought-process in two. All of his muscled were frozen in place as the burning continued and intensified. Blinding white pain filled him once more as his body reshaped itself, twisting cells and reforming bones. This change, although still quite painful, was more welcome than the first. With every moment, breathing became easier. Thinking wasn't so challenging anymore, and his limbs were becoming less stiff. Six closed his eyes and let this gentle feeling wash over him. Quiet whispers flowed around him, lingering in his ear and moving once again. They grew louder and louder until Six could finally make some words out.

'…process complete.'

Six snapped open his eyes and found that he was laying face first in the rubble of an old building. He sat up and saw a small, trembling hand holding a pair of black sunglasses out to him. He recognized the glasses as his own and reached for them, when they dropped to the ground. The boy's hands fell limply to his sides, and his stare went blank.

"Error. Error. Complete system overload. Emergency shutdown engaged."

The kid started to fall, but was caught by Six. He immediately laid him down and checked for a pulse and breathing. A moment passed where Six couldn't find any vitals, and a beat of panic ran through him. Six was about to put his CPR training to use, when he finally saw the boy's chest rise and fall. Relaxing, Six took a minute to assess his own condition. Despite just being horribly mutated, he felt pretty good. A few bumps and bruises, but nothing a good night of sleep couldn't cure.

Six looked back at the unconscious kid lying next to him. He was quite young, and had a head full of choppy, dark brown hair. He was wearing only a pair of black, form fitting shorts, and had a chain of some sort around his ankle. It was some kind of ID tag. Six reached down to pull it off, but found that it had no clasp. When he tried to break the chain, it wouldn't bend. Whoever had put it on this kid obviously didn't want it to come off. Six grabbed his nearest katana and carefully slid it between the chain and the kid's ankle, and quickly snapped it in two. Sheathing his weapon, he picked up the anklet. It was some kind of engraved metal, with three capital letters standing out.

'Retro-active nanites. EX. 56'

"Retro…Experiment… R, EX… Rex?" Six mumbled to himself.

Six sighed and pocketed the tag in his torn-up pants. The ID wasn't really useful, as it didn't offer a straight forward name or address, but he felt he should keep it nonetheless. Rex was a good enough name for now. If this kid was really an experiment and somehow related with nanites, Dr. Holiday-

Oh. Crap.

Six bolted to his feet and scanned for the girls, activating his glasses in the process. They picked up two heat signatures to his left; one was of human shape, and the other… wasn't. Six sprinted towards them, scooping up his other dropped katana in the process. When he reached their position, he raised his sword to fight, but found the beast already unconscious. It was massive, taking a form akin to that of an over-sized arachnid. The thing, presumably Amanda, was wounded and unconscious, but luckily alive. Six looked for Holiday, and found her sitting against a wall, smoking gun in her hand. Her expression was vacant, and her breathing slow. Six tried to talk to her, but received no response. He recognized her symptoms as those of shock, and gently coaxed her into standing.

Six knew that they couldn't stay here. Should there be other survivors with abnormal abilities, he might not be able to ward them off. And if Amanda were to awaken, that would be another mess entirely. So, he pocketed their hand-held scanners, and went back for 'Rex'. Gently throwing him over his left shoulder, he walked back to holiday and put his right arm around her shoulders. Slowly, he began to guide them out of ground zero.

About an hour out, Six was able to reestablish radio contact with Providence. After arguing with the chief of transportation and giving many, many threats, he finally got them to send two airships. One to pick the three up, and another with properly equipped men to retrieve Amanda. Six buckled Holiday in and strapped Rex into a stretcher on board. Sitting down, he allowed himself a few moments to relax. The silence of the ship was quickly replaced by the revving of the engines as they took off. Holiday quietly mumbled something and put her head into her hands. Six turned to face her.

"How are you feeling, Dr. Holiday?"

Holiday looked into Six's eyes, tears streaming down her face. "I shot my own sister."

She grabbed the remaining shreds of Six's sleeve and clung to him. Six could feel her shaking. He reached for the first-aid kit with his free hand and took out a mild sedative.

"Here, this will help you relax. There's going to be a lot to do tomorrow, we're going to need you at your best." He said, injecting her arm.

Slowly but surely, her grip loosened and the shaking stopped. Within five minutes, she had completely fallen asleep. Six watched Holiday for a few more minutes, then let his gaze fall on their new companion.

"Semper fi…" he mumbled, before succumbing to sleep himself.

hey, does anyone remember what experiment number rex was? i kinda just made up 56. Dr. rylander mentioned it in passing in the ep "Dark Passage", but i couldn't dig up a clip with the info. Also, i kinda felt like plot flow was off or fast in this chapter. my guess is cause it was just so action-y. send me your opinions/constructive criticism in a review! :)