Chapter Four: Lying to Her

It had been another month before Quarry decided sent anymore henchman and Cricket guessed that Quarry was hoping Rex forgot about the threat he made. He hadn't and the sight of the EVO made Rex's very cheerful demeanor shift to anger. He would have lunged at the EVO had Tuck and Sqwydd not restrained him.

The EVO had not been there to pick of fight, instead it was a messenger asking to arrange a meeting between Rex and Quarry. The teenager agreed to the arrangement – until the messenger told him he would have to come alone. "No way, if I'm going they're going too." He said. The EVO messenger refused and eventually Rex gave up letting Quarry have his way.

"You sure you're going to be okay?" Tuck had asked.

"Relax Tuck." He said giving a wink and confident smile, "Don't get your bandages in a bunch, I'll be fine." He said and then he left. Cricket looked at Tuck for a moment and noticed from the look on his face, he wasn't going to relax. Cricket couldn't blame him; she felt uneasy too.

"You know something?" Rex was the one who started the conversation and Cricket was the only one there listening. They were watching the people on the streets, it being to cloudy for the stars to be out. "Sometimes I hate this life."

"Why?"

"Because we have to hide." He said looking down at the crowds of people – of normal humans – walking down the streets. "I see everyone going about their lives and sometimes I feel envious because they don't need to hide themselves from everyone else."

Cricket tilted her head, this didn't sound like Rex. "But you still look human-"

"Yeah, but I don't feel it." Rex told her, "I feel like a machine. And when I walk down the streets at night I can tell that other people see me that way, or at least see me as different."

"Rex, you're a Latino in a country populated by Chinese. You're going to stick out no matter what you are." Cricket told her and Rex's eyes widened before his face scrunched up the way it did whenever he was thinking very hard. It took him a second but he eventually laughed.

"Yeah you got a point there." He said giving her a grin before looking back at the city. "Still, there are times I wish I could get out of this life. Leave Hong Kong, head out of the country, leave everything behind. I hear New Orleans is very welcoming of sentient EVOs, maybe I'll go there someday." He scoffed, "Doubt it."

Cricket didn't say anything, instead choosing to watch the city beneath them hoping that Rex wasn't being serious.

"Wow…" Cricket stared amazed by the ink Nanite tattoo that Rex had designed not just for her, but for all four of them. A shape shifter had been going around for a bit and Rex decided they needed a way to be able to tell if any of them were the real thing or not.

"Rex this is amazing." Tuck said looking at his, "Where'd you learn how to do this?"

"Ah just something I figured out by messing around." He said shrugging it off. Cricket watched the tattoo fade and grabbed a camera she had stolen off the wall.

"I just realized." She said, "We need a picture of all four of us."

"Oh yeah we do." Tuck said, "We haven't gotten one with Sqwydd in the group."

"And you never will." The EVO in question stated much to Tuck's confusion.

"Why not?"

"I hate taking pictures."

"Come on it's just going to be one."

Cricket giggled as she watched her two friends bicker and looked at Rex. Her smiled faded when she saw him watching them. He was smiling to, but it wasn't the same cocky or lively one that was always plastered on his face. Instead he looked…sad?

Tuck and Sqwydd went to bed early that night, Cricket tried to go to bed early as well, but found herself unable to sleep. Thinking some fresh air would do her some good she pushed herself out of bed and tiptoed to out of the small hideout. She stopped at the door when she saw Rex standing in the middle of the roof staring up at the sky, the stars. "Rex?" She said getting his attention. He looked at her a grin.

"I thought you went to bed."

Cricket told him why and he chuckled. The two sat down to gaze at the stars Rex eventually lying down. "Nice night, haven't had to many recently." Rex said and Cricket nodded watching the stars. She got a glance at Rex even with the grin he had given her earlier, something didn't seem right. He seemed distracted, not completely with them; different from the Rex she had grown to call her friend.

"Rex is everything alright?" She asked and he looked up at her.

"Yeah... why?" A frown formed on his face and Cricket mused between either telling him it was nothing or just being honest. After getting to know Rex pretty well, she doubted he would accept her answer if it was 'it's nothing.'

"You just haven't seemed like yourself." She said prompting him to sit up so he was at eyelevel with her.

"What do you mean?"

"It's like you have a lot on your mind."

"Well yeah, what with Quarry on our backs ." Rex said and Cricket remembered that Rex never told them what Quarry had wanted to speak to Rex about, "He wants us out of the way so he can rule the town. And from what little I know we're the only ones standing in his way."

"We are?"

"That's what I think. I mean I can make it so he has less goons working for him." A smirk formed on his face which reminded Cricket of the old Rex, the Rex that rarely, if ever, had a care in the world.

"Are we going to be okay?" She asked. That smirk stayed on Rex's face and he rubbed her hair.

"Long as I'm around, you guys won't have to worry about anything." He said. "Everything will be alright."

"Promise?"

"Promise." He said. Cricket couldn't help but smile and she moved so she sat a little closer to him resting her head against his body not noticing him flinch when she did so.

"I know. I always feel safe around you." She told him, "As long as you're here with me...I don't have anything to worry about."

Cricket disdained working for Quarry and even though Tuck and Sqwydd did their best to hide it she could tell they did too. Without Rex everything just seemed to fall apart; he was their leader, the guy who encouraged them to make their moves. Even though Tuck was the guy that planned everything Rex was the reason everything they planned succeeded, even when things got bad Rex was always there to make sure they at least left with some kind of victory.

And now without him, the three of them were like stray dogs seeking some kind of master and unfortunately Quarry happened to be the one to take them in. Against there will.

At least they could continue to stay in the hideout they had come to call home, but without Rex it didn't seem the same. Tuck and she went out every night in order to search for him, Sqwydd had given up on the fact they might find him a long time ago. Eventually Tuck decided to stop as well. "We would have found him by now if he was still in the city." He said.

"You don't think he's-"

"Cricket relax, I don't think he's dead." Tuck told her, "It's just I heard a rumor that he was captured by Providence."

"Providence?" Cricket repeated fearing the worst. For what little she knew about Providence, "What's going to happen to Rex if he's in Providence hands?"

"I don't know, guess it'll depend on how dangerous they think he is." He told her, "Only thing I know is that it means that he's probably not in the city anymore. And if he loses his memory and doesn't have his book on him, he won't be coming back."

Cricket shook her head, unable to believe what Tuck was saying. She didn't want to think that Rex wasn't going to come back. Someday he would come back, and they'd leave Quarry, and everything would go back to normal. She kept telling herself that for awhile, but after awhile, she found she was just fooling herself.

If Rex was captured by Providence, then there was no way he was coming back.

Rex stayed outside watching the stars until he looked down to see Cricket had fallen asleep next to him. He sighed and picked her up carrying her inside. Tuck and Sqwydd were already asleep and he wanted to make as little noise as possible.

He went to his 'room' in there hideout and lay Cricket down on the cot. She moaned a bit, but didn't stir and Rex found himself watching her. He raised a hand moving some strands of hair that fell in front of her face out of the way. She had come a long way from the frightened and confused EVO she was when he had first met her. She was stronger, reliable; someone who he could count on...someone who could count on him.

"As long as you're here with me…I don't have anything to worry about."

"Sorry Cricket." He whispered and got up to leave. He stopped and looked back at his journal sitting on a makeshift table in the small 'room.' Of course, he would need that or else Quarry wouldn't follow through on his agreement. He picked it up and took off heading for the door.

Again he stopped to look around the hideout that had been his home for almost a year. He felt his chest tighten but he quickly shook his head taking a deep breath. He already made the deal, no point in backing out now. Not when he had a chance to escape. "Take care you guys." He said and ran off.

End

Author's Note: I have to admit I find it hard to believe that Rex was heartless thug, selfish yes, but heartless as implied in the show...probably not. Of course I could be wrong – oh who am I kidding I probably am. Overall I think this came out pretty well, but I know there could have been places I could improve on. I don't have any more chapters planned at the moment, this story was originally supposed to be three but wound up jumping to four anyway because of three's length. I have an idea for a possible fifth part taking place during the episode Rabble, but I'm not exactly sure how to sort it out so I'm marking this as done for now.

Also just throwing it out there I have too many ideas for this show. And the New Orleans comment came from listening to the The Princess and The Frog soundtrack for to long.