Generator Rex
Mission 3/ Bird of Prey
Rex watched Crow as she eyed the tournament board intensely. He couldn't stop thinking about what Cardinal had said. Not that it was a problem for him, he didn't plan on losing any time soon. There were several names on the board that were covered by the words 'withdrawn.' Crow seemed to eye some of the names longer than others, with a disconcerted look on her face. He thought about it, processed his idea and then decided to go for it. "Hey," He put his arm around her shoulder, she jumped a bit. "Something on your mind?"
"Some of the withdrawn, I know them."
"Withdrawn?" He questioned.
"People who withdrew from the tournament. I wonder why there are so many. One or two normally, but this is about a dozen."
"Maybe I was right and your mystery attacker is someone in the tournament. He could be eliminating his competitors."
"That's what I'm afraid of." She sighed and noticed Rex's arm. She flinched at the sight of it. She removed it and pushed him away a bit. It confused Rex a bit, wasn't she in to him? Where'd this come from? "I gotta go… to the lady's room." She ran off.
"Que?"
"That was weird." Noah walked up with Bobo.
"I know. She's flirting one minute, and now she's running away." Rex shrugged.
"Maybe the birdie finally realized she can have higher standards." Bobo chuckled.
"Not helping." Rex glared at him. "It seemed more like she was hiding something from me." He thought about it. He overheard a small portion of a conversation that two people who were passing by were having. He stopped them. "Excuse but what were you talking about?"
"Oh, we were talking about the harbinger of death, the black angel."
"What's that?" Noah asked.
"Well there's this black winged creature that people have been spotting. They say its shaped like a person but no ones ever got close enough to see what it really looks like. They say where ever it goes, it causes destruction and panic."
"Sounds like our evo except our evo looked shapeless." Rex looked lost in thought. "Well, I'll ask Sixx to see what he can find- hey, where is Sixx?" Noah and Bobo shrugged and shook their heads.
"Beats me." Bobo added.
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Sixx clicked his communicator. "Holiday. I need your opinion on something."
{"That something would be?"} She inquired.
"We met a girl. Rex seems to like her but there's something off about her."
{"Let me guess, she's a crazy teenage girl and she's bothering you."}
"Well your right on both parts, but I watched her take down seven evos in about thirty seconds."
{"I see why you're worrying. I don't see how that's possible."}
"I do but I'm hoping its not what I'm thinking."
{"Why?"}
"If I am, I might have to take her out before she get's any closer to Rex." A very serious tone accompanied Sixx's comment. He couldn't help it, when it came to Rex, it was like walking on glass. Painful and not much fun at all. He sighed. "Sixx, out." He clicked his communicator off and headed towards the arena. Rex's match had already started and he was winning. He noticed Crow walking away, she looked back to see if anyone noticed before exiting the room. That was suspicious. He followed her down the hall. "Strange, I thought you were here to cheer Rex on." Sixx made her jump. She turned to see him.
"Oh, Sixx. What are you doing? Rex's match has already started."
"I know, which makes me curious as to why you're running off."
"Well, I have something that I need to attend to and there are so many people cheering him on that Rex won't even notice I'm gone." She gave him a smile, fake of course, even an amateur would notice that.
"You're wrong about that. That's something he would definitely notice." He approached her. "Rex cares about you, the only reason he's in this tournament is for you, you know that right?"
"….." She looked at way. "I don't need to hear this."
"You can't even look at me. Then just listen, if you even care for Rex in the slightest, you'll be honest with him." He started walking away. "And if you hurt him, I'll deal with you myself."
Crow could feel a little stab when he said that. "It's because I care for him that I can't tell him." She whispered when he was out of ear shot.
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Round three, Rex wins!
Round four, Rex wins!
Round five, Rex wins!
Round six, Rex wins! Again.
Rex continued to win all of his matches but as the rounds went by, it seemed Crow got more and more distant. He couldn't tell if there was something wrong or if she was just losing interest in him. Honestly, he was too afraid to ask. It seemed like things just went from strange to bad in less than two days. After he won round seven, he snapped. He was getting ready for his final match before the championship match and he wasn't going to let things go until he got an answer. He walked down the hallway, spotting Crow staring out the window, up at the sky no less. "Crow!" She snapped out of her daze as he called out to her. She began to run off when he slammed his hands on the wall on both sides, keeping her from running either direction. "Oh no you don't. You're not escaping this time."
"Rex-" She started.
"Why are you avoiding me? You went from crazy about me to avoiding me like the plague in less than two days." He said it. His expression showed his impatience for her answer. He wasn't going to stall any longer.
"Rex, I- I really don't…" She paused and swallowed nervously. "I don't have an answer to that question." She flinched when he started moving. She notice him backing away from her. He had removed his hands from the wall and put them in his pockets.
"It figures you wouldn't. I was serious about you too, too bad. Sorry for wasting your time, I'll leave once I finish my last match." He walked off.
Crow began to tear up. "Rex, wait!"
He stopped and looked at her. "Sorry, Johanna. I'm sick of waiting." He turned and walked away. Truthfully, he wanted to go back. He wanted to turn around and run up to her and embrace her and say that it was okay. He wanted to just ignore the fact that she couldn't tell him the truth but he couldn't. He continued walking until he was out of her sight.
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"Ready for the final round?" Cardinal riled up the crowd. They were all standing and screaming and cheering. "He's made his way through the rounds and has become a new favorite among the arena, give it up for Rex!" The crowd went into an uproar as Rex entered the arena. It was strange, he wasn't even putting on his usual hero persona. "And his opponent, one of the Birds' Nest's very own, Condor!" Condor walked into the arena with a big smirk on his face.
"What's the matter, Rex?" He chuckled. "Heart broken?" He didn't answer, he just glared at him. "Well, that's what happens when you stick your nose where it doesn't belong."
"Ready, Fight!" Cardinal announced.
Condor was the first to start moving, his shadow leaped of the ground. Rex attempted to build out… but it stopped. He dodged a whip like tentacle and jumped back. "Come on! Not now!" There was a beep in his communicator, it was Doctor Holiday.
{"Rex, your biometrics have flat lined."}
"Thanks, Doc, but-" He jumped sideways to dodge again. "-kind of noticed that already."
{"What happened?"}
"Nothing, Doc." He ran around, avoiding Condor's shadow as it speared at him.
{"Does this have anything to do with this girl Sixx was talking about?"}
"Thanks for spilling the beans, Sixx." He said sarcastically. "It's… sort of complicated-" He ducked. "Doc, this is not the best time to talk about this."
"What's the matter, Providence dog? Stop running and fight me!" Condor demanded.
"Come on, you stupid biometrics!" He tried to build out again, but failed. He jumped out of the way as a shadow speared the wall, leaving a hole. "I may look like Swiss cheese by the time this is over."
Crow had returned to the balcony where they were watching from. "What's going on? Why isn't Rex fighting back?"
"His biometrics must have dropped, he's useless in this fight until they go back up. I wonder what made them go down to begin with." Sixx stopped and looked at the expression on Crow's face. She looked like she felt guilty about something.
Crow turned to Cardinal, who sat in his throne like seat. Cardinal glanced at her curiously. She turned back to the arena, her fingers clenching the balcony railing. Sixx noticed it. She suddenly leaped over the railing into the arena. She landed right between Rex and Condor. " You can have your match against me, Condor! Just let Rex go!"
"Sorry, but that wasn't part of the agreement I made." He shook his head.
"What agreement?" Rex asked as he stood up.
"In exchange for charging up my powers, I have to get rid of you." He said. "Now stand aside, Crow. You don't need to get involved in this."
"What do you mean involved?" Crow asked.
"You and Cardinal spend all your time making sure evos have a comfortable life here, but its still hiding! Humans outside of Springfield still treat us like monsters, well I've had enough! You should be on my side! Aren't you tired of always having to come to everyone's rescue! You're a good person so I'll tell you once more, get out of my way!"
"Who I was before… probably would've taken that offer, but I now, I won't let you hurt Rex!"
"So be it!" His shadow lunged at them. She grabbed Rex's hand and pulled him away from the spikes.
"We need to stop this before it gets out of hand. How fast can you get your biometrics back up?" She asked as she let go of his hand and pushed him away to prevent him from getting skewered.
"I don't know, I'll try again." His hands glowed and then- nothing. "Come on! Work!"
"Rex!" He noticed the shadow spikes started turning into claws and they started grabbing at him. He jumped out of reach. Crow came crashing down on one of them. "You okay?"
"I'd be better if my nanites would start back up again."
"I'll deal with him so hurry!" She turned and bolted towards Condor, dodging whip like and spike like tentacles on her way. She flipped backwards to avoid another one and then bolted straight towards him. She slid under a scythe like tentacle and quickly got back to her feet. She jumped and planted her foot in the side of Condor's face. It twisted and melted into the shadows and reformed behind her. He punched her, sending her sliding across the dirt ground. She was quickly back on her feet, without hesitation, she lunged at him, swinging and kicking. Condor dodged as she attacked him, until finally he swung back. She caught his fist, a smirk on her face. "I know your weakness, you have to become solid to hit me." She punched his in the jaw, sending him sliding across the ground.
he rose to his feet, holding his jaw. "Even if I'm juiced up, I'm still not stronger than you."
"That's right. Give up now." Crow demanded.
"I- I can't!" Condor looked in shock. "My shadows-! I-I can't control them!" His shadow grow rapidly, crawling and striking all over the place.
"Uh- Rex!" Crow took a few steps back.
"Working on it!" He tried again.
Crow looked to the balcony. "Guys! Keep the crowd at a safe distance! Condor's lost control!" She looked back at Condor, his eyes were glowing gold, he looked no longer conscious of his actions. One of the tentacles whipped and knocked down the safety barriers, knocking some people into the arena. "Oh no!" She bolted towards them as it whipped back around at the people. She slid in the way as it swung down against her back. It tore the back of her shirt.
"No!" Immediately, Rex produced a sword and slashed right through the shadow. It let loose a shriek as it retreated back for a moment. "You okay?" He turned to see her back, there was a jagged cut over a faded tattoo like marking, wings. She quickly turned to face him.
"Yeah. How'd you get your biometrics back up?"
"Well, you were in danger. It's good motivation." He gave her a smile. "Are you sure you're okay? Your back is cut pretty badly."
"It's fine. We need to help Condor. He's lost control!"
"Sometimes it sucks being a hero." He sighed and stood up. "Alright, time to save his bacon." He turned and charged at him. He slashed through the shadows as they attempted to snare him. He stopped, readjusted himself, and started his saw. He cut through the shadows wrapping around his legs and headed straight for him. Suddenly, the shadows parted, it surprised Rex enough to make him stop. They shifted around and rushed at him in on huge strike.
"Rex!" Sixx noticed it. Rex closed his eyes and replaced his sword with a shield. Moments later…nothing. He opened his eyes and couldn't believe what he saw. Huge black wings shielded around him. They moved apart, the resulting wind blasts the shadows away. Rex turned, the wings belonged to Crow. Her hands turned black and sharpened into claws. Her wings twitched and spread wide, the black feathers shined in the sunlight.
"This ends now!" She growled before blitzed towards Condor. She slashed through shadows that clawed at her, they couldn't even latch on to her wings. Her feathers cut right through them. Rex was awestruck by it.
"She's an evo?! Well, that makes sense." Rex said as Sixx jumped into the arena near him.
"It explains the abnormal strength and why it felt like she was hiding something." He added.
"But… why did she feel like she needed to hide it at all? Especially from me?" Rex stopped for a moment and then clenched his fist. He got a serious look on his face and readied his slam cannon. "We have a job to do." As Sixx's blades slid out of his sleeves, Rex fired. "We need to stall him long enough to calm him down. I doubt he's curable but at least I can get rid of the extra juice."
"Sounds like a plan." Sixx nodded. He slashed through the shadows as they grabbed at him. Crow was gaining speed as she approached Condor. Soon it was a clear path to Condor. She had the perfect shot. She dodged one last whip before she reached him.
"You're finished!"
"Johanna, don't!" Rex called out, but before she could strike, her claws vanished and she grabbed Condor. She touched her forehead against his and he lit up with blue lines and the shadows began to dissipate. "She's not just an evo… she can cure them! She's just like me!"
"It's okay, Condor. Everything is okay. Just rest now." She slowly lowered him to the ground as the shadows vanished. She stopped and looked around. Whispers echoed through what was left of the crowd.
"She's an evo!"
"She's the black angel!"
"Figures, the harbinger of death is that nut job, Crow."
"She's a walking disaster zone!"
"Providence should take care of her!"
Rex knew what was about to happen. "Crow, no-!" She took off, straight into the air, and quickly vanished. Rex put his goggles over his eyes and took off after her. Why? Crow was a hero to them, they found out the truth and it took them a split second to turn on her, even though she had just saved their lives. Maybe, that's why she kept it hidden, she knew they would fear her, they'd hate her. She was scared. "Come on, where are you?" He couldn't spot her anywhere and then he remembered. "The fort!"
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"Sixx to Holiday." Sixx clicked on his communicator.
{"Sixx, what happened?"}
"She's an evo." He looked at Cardinal as he picked up the unconscious Condor.
{"Well, I figured as much."}
"Something you didn't expect, she can cure them. She can cure evos. She's just like Rex."
{"What? How? And… you said she also has amnesia?"}
"Is that a key factor?"
{"It might be a trend. Both her and Rex can cure evos and they're suffering from amnesia. There might be a certain connection. We need to bring her in so I can examine her."}
"You might not get that chance. She took off, Rex went after her."
She sighed. {"The troubled mind of a fragile teenage girl, it doesn't help that she's an evo either. Hopefully Rex can get through to her, not just for Providence; but for her sake."}
"If anyone can, its Rex. I have a feeling he's the person she really needs right now."
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Rex spotted the cliff, he also spotted something black sitting in the grass, it was Crow. She was sitting with her wings closed around her. A low whimper came from inside. He landed in front of her and retracted his wings. He lifted his goggles onto his head. "Crow?"
"Go away." She spoke in between her hiccups. He got closer and grabbed her wings. He spread them apart to reveal Crow. Her cheeks were wet with tears and her eyes were red. She rubbed them and sniffled. "Why won't you people just leave me alone?"
"Because. You shouldn't have to be alone. Those people out there have no idea what you're going through but I do. Me and you, we're the same. Not only that, I don't want you to disappear. You should come with me, to Providence. I know it's the last place you'd want to be but… I don't want to lose you."
"Aren't you scared of me? You heard them, I'm bad luck. Every time I'm around, something bad happens."
"Lame superstition. You think I'm scared of a little bad luck? Come on, you don't have to be alone any longer, you have me. Do you trust me?" He smiled and held out his hand.
She sniffled and wiped her eyes before giving him a gentle smile. She grabbed his hand. "Do you even have to ask?"
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Rex waited impatiently as the jump jet readied for take off. No sign of Crow. He looked around and spotted Sparrow walking his direction with a bag slung over his shoulder. "Hey, Rex." He said with a smile.
"Sparrow, what's up? What's with the bag?"
"I'm going with you, of course. Figured Providence could use my knowledge of tech. Oh, and where Crow goes; I go. Part of being a big brother." He winked at him. "Where is she by the way?"
"That's what I want to know." Rex said. Cricket and Sqwydd ran up to him, out of breath. "You guys find her?"
"Nah, nowhere." Sqwydd shook his head.
"She might have got cold feet and ran off." Noah pointed out.
"Not helping." Rex frowned.
"We have to go." Sixx said straight out. "Rex, its not your fault. She-"
"Wait!" Crow ran up to them, out of breath. She was dressed in shorts, a tank top, an off the shoulders over-shirt, combat boots and gloves. The most unusual thing was her hair was cut short with bangs and pulled back into a little ponytail. She stood up straight, a serious frown on her face. "You guys were about to leave without me!"
"What'd you do to your hair?" Rex asked.
"Canary cut it for me since it got messed up really bad in the fight yesterday. Why? Does it look bad?"
"No, it looks great." Rex snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot to ask. Cricket, Sqwydd, what are you two doing in Springfield?"
"Actually we got an invitation from Cardinal. He wanted to know if he started up a Nest in Hong Kong, if we would manage it." Cricket explained.
"Wow, that's pretty cool. It'll keep you guys busy."
"No kidding, you know how many evos are underground in Hong Kong? Good thing he's sending Chickadee, Vulture and Condor as back up." Sqwydd said.
"Condor?" Rex asked curiously.
"Yes, do you have a problem with that?" Condor was standing right behind him. He made Rex jump with his comment. He looked at Crow for a long moment. He walked around her, checking her out. "Huh, that's funny. You don't look like you suffered any injury."
"What?" She was a bit confused.
He smirked. "We'd thought you'd have to be brain damaged before you'd ever join Providence."
She frowned momentarily and then giggled. She socked him in the arm. "Shut up."
"Rex." Sixx warned again.
"Sorry guys, a hero's work is never done." Rex joked.
"Yeah, well don't get too full of yourself, hero." Condor smiled and held out his hand. "I owe you one, just tell me when you need me to pay you back."
He smiled and shook his hand. "Yeah, who knows? Maybe next time you can save my behind."
"One last thing, the guy who suped up my powers, he works for a underground organization they call the Red Sea. I didn't catch his name though."
"The Red Sea?" Rex questioned.
"Hmmm…." Crow thought about it deeply. "The Red Sea, huh?"
"He charged up an incurable's powers and he works for an organization called the Red Sea…" Rex realized it. "In that old bible story, the man who parted the Red Sea was Moses."
"Of course, Doctor Moses got away last time. It'd make sense that he'd start trouble in a dwelling for evo living." Noah added.
"And it explains the missing evos. Moses is probably back to selling charged up evos on the black market again." Sixx explained.
"Then I guess we'll have to keep an eye out for the Red Sea, won't we?" Cardinal approached Sixx. "I'll have all members on the look out." He held out a letter in a sealed envelope. "Make sure this gets to White Knight for me, will you? We'd all benefit from connecting the Birds' Nest's and Providence's resources. We'll be your insiders to the underground." He winked.
Sixx smirked. "If White doesn't decide to shut you down first."
"Ha! I knew you were funny." Cardinal shook hands with him. "Looking forward to working with you in the future."
Rex smiled at Crow. "So, milady." He bowed his head slightly and motioned to the jump-jet. "Your carriage awaits."
"Well, aren't you the gentlemen?" She chuckled.
"Good to have you on board, Crow." Sixx said.
"Actually, it's Johanna, call me Jo."
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"How did we end up with two more teenagers, Sixx? This isn't an orphanage." White fumed from his computer screen.
"Johanna is exactly like Rex, she can cure evos, and Tex is her brother and a good computer technician. He'd work well with César." Sixx explained.
"And neither of them remember more than three years ago?"
"Doctor Holiday thinks it might be a side effect the nanites event had on certain evos. She's going to look into it."
"This better produce something valuable. If she wasn't part of the cure, I'd object to it but we'd benefit from having two agents that can cure evos. Not only that but according to Cardinal's letter, if it weren't for her, we wouldn't be in contact with the Birds' Nest at all. With another, more tolerant, approach to evos, we've again got more funding; from both the government and the Nest's 40% donated income to Providence."
"I wasn't aware that he had offered that much."
"For the sake of the evos who do want normal lives, he actually offered more. As for Moses, he's becoming a bigger problem than we thought. Cardinal has his members looking and said he'd let me know when he found something."
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"And I present the briefing room." Rex said as they walked in.
"Sweet!" Tex jumped the railing and headed straight for the computer. He eyed it and touched the keys. He analyzed it from every angle. "What kind of CPU are we talking?"
"Excuse me!" Doctor Holiday removed his hand from the computer. "How'd you get in here?"
"Woah; hot, angry doctor lady." Tex said, a bit surprised.
Rex walked up to her. "Chill, Doc."
"Hey, Rex, you're finally back." César walked in. He spotted Tex and froze. "Que?"
"Guys, this is Tex, and this," He stepped to the side to reveal Jo. "is Jo." She scooted back behind Rex. "Come on, why are you hiding?"
"Because! I don't know any of these people! Why do you think I'm hiding?!"
"She's shy." Rex smiled. "This is Doctor Holiday and my brother, César."
"Nice to meet you." She said quietly, as she slowly stepped out from behind Rex.
Holiday smiled. "You must be the girl Sixx was talking about."
"Oh yeah? He didn't say anything bad, did he?"
"No, but he did say you and Rex were extremely close." Jo blushed a bit.
"Duh, we're close. Jo is my new girlfriend."
"I still think she should have better standards." Bobo added.
"Why? I think Rex is cute." Jo said.
"See? She says I'm cute."
"Yeah, now ask her what that's female for." Bobo grinned.
"Anyways," he started to change the subject. "I guess there's really nothing else to tell you two but welcome to Providence."
"Thanks. You know, I was kind of scared but now, I can't wait."
END
