Oops, I hadn't actually realized I had't posted this yet, and stupidly enough, I've had this for... damn, a month, if not longer? I dunno, and I feel bad, and I'm sorry to you guys. If it takes this long ever again, feel free to PM me and tell me I'm being a slacker.(though, I have been taking a lot of time in school and trying to focus more on my art. I have links on my profile if you guys are interested in any of that stuff.)
"Cheater!" Rex hollered, thumbs mashing the buttons of his wireless XBox controller almost faster than his brain could keep up.
"You're the one who wired my controller buttons backwards, and I'm still wiping the floor with ya, so how am I cheating?" The chimp replied, equally as loud.
Rex whined as the screen spattered red, and his character fell to the ground. "Did you seriously shoot me? Dude, I'm on your team!"
"Not anymore." Bobo replied, unrepentant. "You suck at Mortal Kombat, so you'dve died soon anyways."
Rex glared at the screen for a moment, watching as the Player Two avatar hacked and slashed, barely taking a hit. It never failed to amaze him that he could die in ten minutes in a videogame, but has spent the last seven or so years of his life fighting much worse monsters in the real world. He watched for about another minute, before standing up off the ratty old couch, heading for the docking bay.
The enormous white doors were wide open like always, a light breeze bringing in the airy scent of nature. He stepped into the warm sunshine, the rays highlighting his face with a golden glow, doing absolutely nothing to help his vain ego.
There was a sharp clink of metal before his feet left the ground a split second later, twin propellers humming gently as they carried him into the sky. The cool breeze contradicted the sun nicely, keeping the air a comfortable temperature.
He landed on the topmost tower of the Providence building, the metal wings folding from sight. He wasn't really supposed to be up here, but if he wasn't breaking anything or making a mess, White usually left him alone.
He sat down on the edge of the roof, his legs hanging over the edge as he just gazed at the landscape. Picturesque, yes, but boring, just cracked dirt and sand for miles, with a small ravine surrounding the structure at the base of a deep gully meant to keep out unwanted guests.
He closes his eyes turning his face to the sun and letting the wind tease his hair. He draped his arm over his bent knee, and let himself enjoy the peace for a moment.
After the second big nanite event, he had learned to enjoy the little things, like a nice day and a few minutes of peace and quiet. For a moment, the quiet tranquility was able to stop time, and Rex wished he could bottle this moment and save it.
Naturally, when he could catch a break, something had to mess it up. It just wouldn't be his life if it was any other way.
A shrill screech ripped through the thin wall of quiet, shattering it like a paper thin glass.
Rex jolted at the noise, silently cursing whatever made such a godforsaken noise. He turned, only to duck with another sharp jerk.
The EVO shrieked again, making a sharp turn and flew at him again, razor sharp beak aimed at the Latino's neck.
"Why do they all have to want to kill you? Can't there be just one tame EVO?" he grumbled, running for the opposite edge of the roof and leaping off, trying to get the EVO away from his quiet spot while they still let him up there.
The winged creature paused at the roof's edge thrown by Rex's sudden trip over the side, letting out another screech when he whizzed by on a black hover board laced with a cobalt glow, about an inch from its beak.
"Of course, it's got something pointy on it, too. When is it gonna be a fluffy koala or something?" he grumbled, speeding away.
Never. his logic gleefully sang, which is why he usually ignored that logic.
He dropped closer to the ground once he had crossed the gully, skimming only a couple of feet from the cracked ground, the air whipping around his body kicking up a dusty spray.
Rex glanced back to see the EVO gaining on him with surprising speed, because the thing was pretty small. Then again, he'd learned a long time ago not to brush off an EVO for its size.
"Better not mess this up, Rex, backup's not coming anytime soon." he muttered, tucking into a roll as his hover board collapsed down, landing on heavy metal boots with a dull clang.
The creature was still flying at him full speed, taloned feet looking rather ready to pluck out his eyes, which left it very little time to slow down before slamming into a virtual wall of metal as Rex kicked it. It made some unholy combination of a squeal and a screech, hitting the ground.
Toxic green eyes glared at the tall Latino, and the EVO's claws raked inch-deep furrows into the rock-hard dirt, radiating hatred.
"You want somma this, amigo? Come and get it!" Rex taunted, the boots disappearing as a large sword replaced his hand. He charged at the creature and it lurched into the air again, flying to meet him in the middle.
Rex swung at the winged EVO as it reared back to slice with its beak.
"Uh oh." he murmured, staring down at the bottom half of his sword, the top currently laying a few feet away. "Okay, the thing's stupid beak is really sharp. Awesome…"
This time, Rex opted for his blue plasma shield, since metal weapons obviously weren't going to work. He crouched down as it slammed into the shield, but the sheer force managed to crack the opaque blue disk. His feet slid back six inches as the EVO drove its beak into the center of the spider web of cracks over and over, the whole thing starting to look like a mosaic at Rex's expense.
"Come on, what did I do to you?!" he hissed as he swung his bare fist as the shield shattered, the black metal simply falling off at its destruction.
It swung its beak at him again talons extended, and before Rex could create something else to shield his face, a sharp pain slashed across his face as three long, thin scores were cut into the, otherwise flawless, flesh of his cheek.
"Dude, seriously?!" he shouted, one gloved hand flying to his face, the charcoal material stained dark by small dots of blood on his fingertips. "The face? That's low."
His sword folded into existence as the EVO circled for another attack, and he hoped the thing just got a lucky shot before, or he would be toast, with an extra side of Rex jelly.
Then, it suddenly flew to the side and hit the ground, convulsing violently. Rex's eyes widened to see it was another one of the taser arrows.
He whipped around, but didn't see anything but more dirt and ro-
"Not this time." he grunted, his body leaving the ground before he even managed to stand up. His eyes narrowed as he shot towards a small, fast-moving black shape.
"Hey!" he yelled. "Wait, stop!"
It was truly amazing how easily he could be his own cliché.
Of course, they didn't stop, or even slow down(Rex, you poor thing), but rather, seemed to speed up.
They weren't expecting Rex to speed up, too, though, and considerably faster than they were.
He was now close enough to see a quiver of arrows strapped to their back, and a collapsible compound bow gripped in their fist. A belt with several pockets was strapped around their waist, and they wore fitted black cargo pants, a black jacket with the hood up and combat boots that went halfway to their knees. They weren't very big, or particularly strong-looking, but compensated with agility. They navigated the harsh terrain with ease, moving from rock to jagged rock as if they were walking down the street.
But it doesn't matter who you are, unless you're Six, flying will always be faster.
"Whoa, dude, slow down!" Rex said, landing in front of them. Instead of slowing, they leapt directly at him.
Not having time to duck, Rex just hoped that the person who saved his life, apparently twice, didn't just want to kill him them self, though he had plenty of enemies that would do exactly that.
However, they didn't.
There was a pressure on both of his shoulders for a split second, as they launched right over him. He spun to see them hitting the ground with hardly more that a small puff of dust.
Rex took off after them again, this time on foot. He mimicked their motions as they moved over the uneven ground.
Finally, he had an idea.
He paused for a split second to scoop a rock off the ground, and pitched it hard at their ankle. He heard a grunt of pain, and they stumbled to the ground.
They tried to get up, but couldn't seem to stand. They turned to Rex, a mask concealing the lower half of their face, and their hair was covered by the hood of a loose black hoodie. The rest of their body was outfitted in black as well, fitted cargo pants covering their slim lower half and combat boots laced halfway to their knee.
However, their soft green eyes were exposed, thought the acid stare they were giving Rex didn't make them seem all that soft at the moment.
"Bro, to my credit, I did ask you to stop." he said, raising his hands defensively, panting slightly. They looked up at him, only the pair of earthy green eyes visible, a mask covering the rest of their face and a black hood pulled up.
They didn't respond, but instead lashing out with their left foot, hitting his ankles and knocking his feet from beneath him.
Rex's back hit the dusty ground with a low thud, and his assailant jumped from the ground to an upright position, their right foot always hovering above the ground.
"Jeez, are you some kind of ninja?" he grumbled, hauling himself upright. His attacker had taken up a defensive stance, and a static hum filled the air, though he wasn't quite sure what it was.
"Okay buddy, are you gonna come nicely, or is the Rexanator gonna have to put the hurt on you." He glanced down at their foot which still was not touching the ground. "Well, more hurt."
A rather imposing black whip took shape on his hands and back, highlighted by snatches of a violent cobalt. Their green eyes widened a bit, but was otherwise unfazed.
He swung the think tendril at them, and they tucked into a roll to the side. He heard a low hiss, and they hopped awkwardly for a moment.
Oops, I think I broke their ankle he realized, which explained why they were holding it off the ground.
He swung at them again, and they hopped to the side to dodge, then ducking under the whip faster than he could blink, and punching him squarely in the jaw.
He also figured out what that static hum was.
"Come on, electric gloves? My face has taken enough damage without you helping!" he shouted, swinging the mechanical whip with probably more force that he really needed to. Though, he had to hand it to his masked marauder, they were fast. Really fast, even with a broken ankle.
They whipped out their bow and jerked an arrow from the quiver, taking careful aim at the Latino. Rex's eyes widened when they released it, and his shield was still spiraling to life when the arrow hit it.
A sharp burn radiated across his body and his limbs spasmed, but he managed to remain standing. His shield, however, was thoroughly fried because it absorbed a majority of the voltage.
Though, that didn't make it any less painful.
Metal pieces fell to the ground, and Rex glanced up to see them charging at him with a limping gait, still running on a broken ankle, fist pulled back.
"You're really starting to get on my nerves." he muttered, his metal hands forming at the last second and he batted them back away from him.
The flew back and slammed into a rock column that protruded from the ground. They grunted at their back hitting the rough stone, then their eyes rolled back into their head and they fell to the ground.
"Well, that could have been worse." he panted, hands on his knees. He watched as a thin trail of blood made its way to the end of his nose, a single drop of blood falling into the dust.
He walked over to where his mysterious attacker lay crumpled on the ground, their bow laying a few feet away. He knelt down by their face and pulled back the hood and tugged the scarf from their face.
Or rather, her face.
"Wait, I just almost got my butt kicked by a girl?" he questioned aloud, his ego clearly haven taken a beating as well. "Outstanding."
She wasn't wearing any makeup, but she didn't really need it. Her hair was in a long, thick braid, the same shade of black as his. Actually, if she hadn't just tried to kill him(ironically after saving his life twice), he would've called her pretty. Really pretty. But since she did, he wasn't very inclined to be thinking anything about her face, except on the bad side of a cell door.
But he also couldn't just leave her here. In this heat, she would probably die in a couple of hours, even if she did wake up. Her ankle was busted, and she didn't have anywhere to go but Providence, and he doubted she would willingly be going there anytime soon.
He sighed and grabbed her arm, hauling her over his shoulder. He wasn't about to be carrying someone who just attacked him bridal style, but she wasn't very heavy.
"Well, this should be fun to explain."
Ooh, who is she? She's revealed next chapter, so I guess you'll find out then. I'm going to aim for updates once a month, so ley me know if I'm doing a sucky job of it, por favor. :)