Howdy y'all! Hope you're doing great! Sorry it's been so long! You know how life is: always getting in the way. I won't bore you with the details. Happy reading!


"You know, Rex, when you said situation, I was expecting something a little less. . .dramatic." Kara glanced over her shoulder as she ran. The EVO rounded the corner and kept its chase. It was covered in pink pulsing flesh and looked like an ugly, overgrown tulip on a spider's body. It's eight legs clawed at the hard, slick floor in rapid succession, but it didn't gain on Kara. She was small but fast; Something that had probably kept her alive this long with her dangerous pastimes.

Her ear piece crackled for a minute before she heard Rex's reply. "Come on, I deal with this kind of stuff all the time."

"Yeah, well, whatever." She cut hard around a corner, headed for the main hall. When she arrived, she slowed but kept up some speed. She glanced back. No EVO. . .yet. "Rex, I though you said to rendezvous in the main hall."

"I'm in the main hall."

"No, you're not. I don't see you anywhere."

"Well, I am!"

She heard his reply more out of her right ear than her left, which held her communicator. She stopped and spun toward his voice. Rex was flying straight for her and too close to stop. They collided. Metal and gears flew everywhere as they rolled across the floor. When they skidded to a stop in a tangled heap, the spider-tulip and the large fuzzy rhinoceros-like EVO that was chasing Rex entered the hall.

Kara pushed off of Rex to her feet. "Great job," she grunted.

Rex sprung up, despite the pain that came. "Thanks."

She ignored his sarcasm. "Let's just round up these things, alright?"

"Sure thing, Cowgirl."

A quizzical look crossed her face. This boy is weird. Or maybe normal. I don't know.

She forced herself to focus and examined their predicament. A smile sneaked onto her face when she saw a certain helpful feature on Fuzzy Rhino.

It had eyes. "You take Pinky; I'll take Blinky!"

She ran for the EVOs. She heard Rex shout something but continued speeding toward them. Spider-Tulip charged. She leaped high enough to let it pass beneath her, then thrust her legs down to get an extra boost off the EVO's body.

By the time she landed on her feet, the rhino EVO began galloping toward her. Just as its front horn was within reach, she slid baseball-style under the EVO. Once it passed over her, she spun and bolted to her feet. The Fuzzy Rhino skidded to a stop and turned back. The split-second between it spotting her and beginning to charge was all she needed.

During the pause, she thrust out her arms and fired up the machines on them. Four panels lifted from each of them before they began spinning around her arms. It began to buzz as the lights flared to life.

The EVO was running toward her, but once the machines started doing their job, it began to slow. It came to a gentle stop in front of her, its eyes glossing over at it stared at the lights twinkling from her machines. It slowly swayed with the careful movement of her arms.

Kara glanced behind her before she began leading the EVO down the main hall. Rex was having trouble with Spider-Tulip, but she knew he would soon get the best of it.

One foot behind the other, she slowly led the EVO through the labyrinth of hallways until she reached the Petting Zoo. Along the way, she had shocked too many Providence agents to count. Most had aimed their weapons at the EVO, but, once she gave them a death glare, they lowered their guns. If she had been able to see their faces, she probably would have enjoyed their shocked expressions.

Once she was inside the Petting Zoo, she stopped. The EVO did as well. She powered down her machines. With a hum the lights faded and the panels folded back into their places around her arm.

It took a moment for the EVO regain its focus. Kara stood silently as Fuzzy Rhino shoot its large head. It looked at her for a long moment; She held its stare. After a minute, it snorted, turned, and disappeared into the wild brush.

By this time, Rex had managed to wrestle his challenger back into the Zoo as well. He came up behind her. "Whoa. . . How did you do that?"

Kara laughed under her breath as she turned, then leaned back when she saw Rex. He was covered in dirt and leaves. The grime around his eyes made him look something like a raccoon. She had to suppress another laugh. "Have some trouble with Pinky, did you?"

Rex shrugged casually. "Not too much."

Kara raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh, sure."

"You didn't answer my question. How'd you do it? Mind control?"

Kara began walking to the exit. "Um, kind of." She lifted her arms to look at them. "The machines lessens the nanites' control over the subject, putting them in a bit of a trance."

"Oh, cool."

"Yeah."

They hobbled in silence for a while until Kara sighed. "I think you broke my ribcage."

"Oh, sorry about that."