X: Thanks, I appreciate the vote of confidence. But it's not coming out quite the way I wanted. (I think the summary sounded better in my head than the actual execution if you know what I mean.)

queenemily: Thanks for the PM.

smackedloved: Lo siento por la intriga. Voy a tratar de no hacerte esperar.

Guest: I'm glad you like it. I felt that last chapter was too talky. But I thought it was important for Rex and White to have a heart to heart.

I still don't own.

The sentinels, sent by Zag-RS when she realized that Six and Beasly had escaped the force shield, approached the cliffs. The lead sentinel had sensed a concentrated heat source. Arriving at the foot of the cliff, the lead sentinel examined the smoldering remains of a fire. It turned to its companions and pointed in several directions. The sentinels began to fan out to search. However, before they could move a massive land slide of rocks and sticks fell from above crushing more than half the sentinels including the lead sentinel. A piece of green fabric stuck out from between the rubble. The remaining eight looked up to see Six and Beasly's faces disappear. The new lead sentinel pointed up and the small army began moving upwards.

0o0

In the jump jet, Holiday briefed Circe, Tuck and Cricket on the situation. They were speechless.

"I've never even heard of Zag-RS." Cricket mused.

"Yeah, Rex never mentioned that." Tuck chimed in.

"Rex only briefly told me about it. It's Caesar's program, isn't it?" Circe looked at Holiday for confirmation.

Holiday nodded. "Yes, it's imperative that you go in quickly and quietly to assess the situation. We need to know what we're up against. But be aware there may be… casualties."

The three looked grim but understood. They pulled the hood on their stealth suits and promptly disappeared.

"You need to maintain radio silence. Meet back here in four hours when it gets too dark to see." Holiday said to the seemingly empty room. "Your modified stealth cycles with cloaking technology should help you cover the sectors you've been assigned undetected. If you find anything, especially White Knight, do not engage. Report back immediately, do you understand?"

"Yes Doc." Three disembodied voices echoed in the room.

"Good luck." Holiday said before lowering the ramp. She saw the stealth cycles start and then turn invisible. She felt the rush of wind as the bikes left the jet. When she was sure they were gone, she closed the ramp.

Tuck rode over the rocky terrain looking for the Keep. It wasn't long when he spotted it. He stopped and stared disbelievingly at the twisted wreckage. He was sure very few would have survived this. He took a deep breath before venturing to explore the remains. He knew that Doc said to leave it but he had to see if anyone survived. He winced every time metal crunched underfoot. He nervously glanced around expecting White Knight, or Zag-RS as the case may be, to pop out of no where. But all was quiet. The setting sun bathed the ruins in a sickening blood orange hue. The temperature dropped a couple of degrees and he shivered. Whether it was from the cold or something else he wasn't sure. He saw a hand stick out from under some metal sheets. Tuck walked over and hesitated a moment before taking a deep breath to grab the edge of one of the sheets. He lifted it and pushed it over preparing himself for the worse. When the sheets fell with a clang, he got a clear view of the body…it was Captain Calan!

Circe rode over to where the fleet had disappeared. After riding for what seemed like forever, there was nothing. She was about to leave when something on the ground caught her eye. Circe pulled over for a better look. She felt sick. She quickly looked for more clues. She didn't have to look for long. What she found confirmed her suspicions. She was about to leave to report to Holiday when something hit her bike. She flew off and bounced a few feet. Her stealth suit turned off. She pushed herself up. Her eyes widened when she looked up. She was in trouble.

Cricket wasn't sure what she should be on the look out for. All she knew was that she had to beware of White Knight or rather Zag-RS in White Knight's body. After riding a kilometers from the landing point she saw rocks slide down the side of the cliff. Then some… things began scaling the side of the cliff. She turned her bike around to go back to Holiday but something stopped her. She bit her lip as she glanced over to the cliffs. Cricket flipped her bike back she rode toward the cliffs.

0o0

The cliffs were wide on the bottom and narrowed as it rose up to the sky. Six and Beasly were currently scaling up the narrowest point. Six gave a cursory glance behind him. He could see Beasly struggling to keep up. But more importantly he could see that the sand sentinels were catching up. The mercenary part considered briefly of leaving Beasly behind. But his better nature rebuked him. Despite the danger Six couldn't help but internally smile. He may not remember six years of his life but he's definitely changed for the better. Without another word he grabbed Beasly by the arm and swung him up to the top. He then made a vertical jump and landed on one knee next to Beasly who was panting on the ground.

"Th…th…thanks." Beasly said embarrassed.

Six acknowledged the thanks with a curt nod. He then pointed to an opening in the cliff wall. Beasly staggered up and jogged for the cave. They reached it just as the first sentinel appeared over the rim. Six and Beasly disappeared into the darkness of the cave. Beasley realized that although the cave was wide it was not very deep. Plus there was no back exit. They were trapped. He wondered if Agent Six knew what he was doing. He didn't have long to ponder when he saw the sentinels at the entrance. Six shoved Beasly behind a stalagmite.

The darkness of the cave hid the two agents. Six knew Beasly was not use to fighting blind but he was. Using his other senses he attacked one of the sentinels. With a powerful kick he knocked of its head. Then to stop it from regenerating he swung it against the wall causing it to disintegrate and scatter so that it was impossible to reform. Listening carefully he found another one. Folding his hands together he slammed his fists sideways into another one's head. The creature fell to the floor where Six once again hauled it up and threw it against a stalagmite. The creatures were getting wiser and were backing out of the cave when they realized their companions were being picked off one by one. As they stepped outside of the cave the remaining six sentinels surrounded the opening of the cave. They raised their arms and blew sand from their arms into the cave.

"What are they doing?" Beasly yelled as they were bombarded by a sand storm.

"They're trying to suffocate us." Six yelled back.

"Now what?" Beasly asked using his arms to protect his face.

"Working on it." Six began taking off his tie.

After a minute of continuous sand blasting the sentinels stopped. There was complete silence. A high pitched whirling sound came softly at first but then grew louder. Before any of the sentinels could react, a makeshift bolas flew from the cave. It wrapped itself around one of the sentinel's head so hard that its head fell off. Six came flying out after, kicking the sentinel onto the floor and dispersing the sand. The other sentinels walked menacingly towards Six who jumped, did a split in mid air, and knocked the two sentinels over. Beasly came charging out and bum-rushed one of the sentinels knocking it over. He quickly leapt to his feet, grabbed the fallen creature and swung him into another. While he was fighting a sentinel came up behind him, but before it could grab him, it exploded spraying sand everywhere.

Beasly swung around. Cricket was holding a lighter version of the broiler. She shot several more times taking out the remaining sentinels.

"Boy, are we glad to see you!" Beasly said jovially.

"Good to see you too." Cricket grinned.

"We need to leave now before more come and it gets any darker." He noted the darkness descending.

The three quickly made their way down which was made easier since Cricket had brought climbing gear. The three squeezed themselves onto the stealth cycle and sped back to rendezvous with Holiday.

0o0

Holiday paced back and forth waiting for someone to come back with information. Her head jerked up when she heard the ship's alert for the return of a stealth cycle. She peered into the monitor. The stealth cycle gave the proper code so Holiday lowered the ramp. She felt the weight of the stealth cycle as it entered the ship but she could see someone hanging off the side.

"Captain Calan!" She rushed over as Tuck took off his mask. The stealth suit turned off.

"He's badly hurt. Can you help him, doc?" Tuck was already lifting him up.

"Bring him to the medical table." Holiday motioned for him to come quickly. Tuck gently placed the captain onto the table while Holiday began inserting him with needles and placing monitors on him.

"Is…is… he going to make it?" Tuck swallowed hard.

"I don't know, Tuck. He barely has a pulse. I don't know what internal damages he might have until I get him back to base." Holiday said sadly.

"Then let's go now!" Tuck demanded.

"We need to wait for the others." Holiday reminded him.

"Where are they?" He growled impatiently looking out the still opened ramp. "Wait! I think that's them!"

From the distance, Holiday could see a stealth cycle coming from the distance. It wasn't cloaked. She squinted to try to see as the skies grew darker. Holiday gasped. She'd recognize those green pants anywhere.

"It's Six!" She cried. The cycle seemed to take forever to arrive as it was built for at most two not three people. Luckily, Cricket was petite.

"Six! What happened?" Holiday asked as the cycle pulled onto the ramp. She wondered what happened to his jacket and tie.

"We need to get back to base now!" He jumped off the cycle and started for the cockpit.

"Circe's not back yet." Holiday protested.

"Call her." Six said curtly.

Although Holiday didn't like his tone, she let it go. "There is a communication freeze in case Zag-RS can track our signals."

Six gritted his teeth.

"Doc, we need to go. Captain Calan needs medical attention." Tuck pleaded. "Circe would understand."

"Calan's here?" Six asked a slight note of surprise crept into his voice.

"Where is he? Did you find anyone else?" Beasly asked with hope.

"No, just Calan. Sorry Beasly." Tuck said as he saw Beasly's crestfallen face.

"Calan's not responding right now." Holiday said. "And it wouldn't be right to abandon Circe."

"I'll wait for her." Cricket volunteered. "You guys go."

"Cricket, it may be dangerous…" Holiday began.

"I know. But this way you can go and Circe won't be left behind." Cricket shrugged. "You can radio for a ship to come pick us up."

"Good idea. Let's go. We need to regroup and plan our next move." Six said as he sat in the pilot's seat. Holiday narrowed her eyes slightly as Cricket's cycle pulled off the ramp.

Holiday didn't like this. She was very concerned about Calan and wanted to get him to the infirmary immediately. But the way Six was acting he didn't seem to care about anyone… just the agenda.

0o0

Cricket leaned against her bike in the dark now. She had been waiting for Circe for hours. She was getting worried. She also did not see any jump jet come. Cricket debated on whether to go after her friend. Cricket felt guilty that she wasn't there for Circe in the past. She was happy that she had found a friend in Beverly. She liked Beverly as well. She was a fun person to be around. It seemed odd to her that Caesar of all people had taken a liking to her but what was incomprehensible to her was that Beverly would return that interest. As she mused to herself her eye caught something in the distance. She turned on her night vision binoculars on her visor. Zooming in she gasped. It was Circe and she looked like she was injured. She stumbled about falling to her knees before struggling to get back up. Cricket wasted no time. She jumped on her cycle and rode quickly to her friend who now had fallen and was not getting back up.

"Circe, what happened?" She asked jumping off her bike.

"Cricket?" Circe said in a raspy voice. Now that Cricket was close enough she could see how terrible she actually looked. One eye was swollen shut. Her jaw looked a little crooked like it was broken. One arm hung limply at her side. Her uniform was ripped and blood dripped from various points.

"Circe, OMG what happened?" Cricket asked again trying to pull her up.

"I…I… have… to… warn Rex." Circe barely audible,

"Circe, hang on." Cricket dug for her communicator. She knew she wasn't supposed to use it but this was an emergency. "Providence, someone, please send a ship, quick. Circe's hurt."

"Crick, tell… tell… Rex… she's back…." Circe 's eyes rolled to the back of her head and her head lolled to the side.

"Oh no, no Circe…" Cricket placed her on the ground. She began CPR. Pumping her chest she blew air in. Circe didn't respond.

"HELP! Someone HELP!" Cricket screamed in desperation but her cries faded into the night.

0o0

When the jump jet got back to base, Tuck brought Calan to the infirmary while Six ushered everyone else into Caesar's lab to see the progress. Holiday informed him of the executive decisions she made while he was gone. Although he approved of the decisions he was annoyed it was made in his absence.

Six looked at the robot. "Is White Knight in there?" He asked Caesar.

"He's in there." Caesar confirmed.

"Why isn't he moving?" Six inquired.

"Because I'm still trying to get use to this, thank you very much." White Knight's voice came from the robot. "And you can talk to me, you know. I can hear you just fine."

Six frowned as the robot made a jerky movement. It tried to walk but stumbled and fell on its face. "I'm all right." White Knight announced from the floor.

"He's going to fight Zag-RS?" Rex asked incredulously. "Don't you think it's better if I do it alone?"

"No, Rex. Zag-RS can destroy nanites and you are her number one target." Holiday insisted.

"You know this robot has nanites too." Rex protested.

"But the robot does not rely on them in a fight." Holiday pointed out.

"Yeah, but I don't think he's coordinated enough to fight a punching bag." Rex said as the robot's arm failed about trying to get up.

"Listen, hot shot. You try and move around in a body not yours." He grumbled as he finally got off the floor… only to fall on his backside.

"You should concentrate on controlling one limb at a time…" Caesar said.

"How about I concentrate on kicking your…" White Knight fell on his face again.

"Yeah, we're in trouble." Rex groaned.

Six silently agreed but he also knew that if anyone can figure out how to make the robot fight it would be White Knight. His determination and grit were… are legendary.

They watched the White Knight robot get up again. This time it tested its legs. It put one foot ahead of the other.

"Awww, baby's first steps." Rex said mockingly.

"Shut up, Rex or so help me…" He tottered over and fell.

"Yeah, or what you'll sit on me?" Rex smirked.

Holiday grabbed Rex's arm and pulled him aside.

"Rex, I know you and White have your differences but there's no need to be snippy." Holiday admonished him.

Rex's shoulders slumped a little. "I know. I'm sorry doc. It's just that I hate being stuck here waiting for him when I know that psycho killer computer program is out there doing who knows what."

"I'm not the one you have to apologize to." Holiday said as she indicated with her head to where Knight was once again trying to move around.

"Got it doc." Rex was properly chastised. "Hey, White…"

Before Rex could get the rest out. White got up on one knee. Then he walked steadily forward for a few steps. Then out of the blue he did a perfect 540 kick. Then he did a forward roll onto his feet before punching out the wall.

"Hey, I liked that wall!" Caesar yelped.

"Ha! In your face, hot shot." White said to Rex. "Didn't think I had it in me did you? Well, there's still some steam left in this old engine."

Rex stood shocked for a moment.

"I seem to be mistaken. Apparently, your snarky remarks motivated him to push himself." Holiday whispered to him.

A smirk appeared on Rex's face.

"Oh yeah, old man? Think you can keep up with me?" Rex challenged.

"Bring it." White said seriously. Then on the screen on his chest his face appeared complete with a smirk. "Whatever you can do, I can do better."

"Put your money where your mouth is." Rex retorted.

There was snort, as Bobo's head popped out from behind some machinery. "Did someone say money?"

"No Bobo, go back to sleep." Rex said.

"Okay, all this team bonding tires me out." Bobo's head went back down.

"I think we're ready." Six said. "Now we just need a way to neutralize Zag-RS and get White Knight back into his body."

"Easier said than done." Rylander commented as he was wheeled into the room by Meechum, who was panting.

"That's my exercise for the year," He huffed tiredly.

"Meechum and I discovered how Zag-RS was able to take out White Knight's consciousness. It basically involved the process of converting the electric impulses…" Rylander rambled on.

"Cut to the chase, doctor. How can we reverse the process?" Six cut him off impatiently.

"Well, that's the hard part. The degausser may wipe out the computer program in the suit but… the AI would still be in White Knight's brain. We need to basically reformat his brain before White Knight can be re-inserted back into his body."

"Reformat his brain?" Rex gaped. "How would you do that?"

"Caesar's memory machine!" Holiday snapped her fingers. "It managed to wipe out Six's memory."

Six made a low growl. Caesar stepped back nervously.

"It's perfect!" Meechum agreed. "We can install that into White Knight's robot body. Hit the dang blasted suit with both rays and wham instant reboot."

"Then all we have to do is to upload White Knight's consciousness back into his body." Caesar agreed. "I'll need a few hours to install and reconfigure the memory machine…"

"You have one." Six stated flatly. "The longer we wait the more time it has to carry out its plans." Beverly bristled at the tone in Six's voice. She was about to say something caustic to him.

Just then Kenwyn burst into the room. Usually she would have saluted and addressed everyone formally but she had a wild-eyed frantic look on her face.

"Circe's been hurt bad! They just brought her into the infirmary."

Rex immediately formed his rex ride and bolted. When Rex reached the medbay he was stopped at the door by Noah, Tuck, and Cricket.

"Dude, you can't go in there. They're operating." He held his best friend back.

"Noah, let go of me. I have to see her!" Rex frantically tried to pull away being mindful not to hurt him.

"Not now. You'll just get n the way." Noah said reasonably. He looked to Cricket for help.

"Rex, she told me to tell you that she's back." Cricket said trying to distract him.

That stopped Rex. "Who's she?"

"I don't know she didn't say." Cricket shrunk back when Rex glared at her.

"Rex, take it easy." Tuck put a hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down? Calm down? How can I calm down when my girlfriend is in surgery and you tell me she's back!" Rex was fairly shouting now.

Six, Holiday, and Beverly arrived.

Holiday walked into the room. Rex watched from the window as she put on scrubs.

"What happened?" Six snapped at Cricket.

Remembering her basic training, Cricket snapped to attention and told the whole story.

"I guess the ship was delayed because a few minutes later it landed." Cricket finished.

"Is she all right?" Beverly said fearfully.

"She stopped breathing and I couldn't feel a pulse. But on the scout ship, they were able to revive her." Cricket looked at Rex nervously. He looked ready to pop out of his skin.

Holiday came out of the room. Everyone looked at her expectantly.

She looked grim. "I'm afraid I have bad news… Circe's slipped into a coma. We don't know if she's going to wake up from it. She's not breathing on her own… and we can't find any brain activity… I'm sorry Rex."

Rex felt like he was punched in the gut. He staggered back. Then his hands rolled into fists. His face contorted in fury. His boogie pack popped out of his back so fast the people around him had to step back. He pulled down his goggles.

"Rex! Don't…" Six ordered him but Rex was no longer listening. He flew into the air breaking through the wall to get outside. The group watched helpless as Rex glided into the slowly brightening sky.