Chapter Six: Familiar Faces

(Rex wakes up to a new mission that has him return to an unexpected situation)

When Rex woke, he panicked at first, because something live and warm was breathing beneath him.

Then when he burst his eyes open, he relaxed on seeing Noah's face. Somehow, they had fallen asleep together, squashed on the same coach.

He gingerly got up, careful not to wake his friend, until he glanced at his watch and realized in horror that Noah should have been up four hours ago.

"Noah!" Rex yelled and rocked him, "Get up, you're late!"

Noah made some inaudible noise and rolled over his side.

"C'mon, get up! You're late for training!" Rex tried again, yelling in his ear.

Noah remained dead like a log.

"Get up! Or Hutton is gonna get your ass!"

Noah shot up like lightning and banged heads with Rex, causing him to stumble back.

"Oww!" Rex rubbed his head.

Noah checked his watch, and paled.

"Damn it! I'm so screwed!" he cursed loudly, jumped from the couch as if the head bang didn't hurt him at all and was out the room in a flash.

Rex hurried after Noah, not wanting him to bear the brunt of Hutton's fury alone, though he was sure it wouldn't have mattered even if he never showed up, since he never officially signed up for Basic anyway.

Rex was still a little light-headed from the head bang, and his engine still hadn't quite woken up yet, so he lagged far behind Noah.

Noah sure sprinted like the devil was on his heels –Rex couldn't even reach ten feet from him. Then right before he exited the main lounge on the ground floor, he heard Captain Calan calling him.

"Rex."

He stopped and turned to see the Captain jogging towards him.

"Good, you're up. White Knight just asked to see you."

Rex grimaced, "Oh man, now? But I was going to go face the music with Noah."

The Captain raised a questioning brow.

"What for?"

Noah bit his lips for letting it slip, inwardly scolding himself stupid.

"Well, he-we, I mean, were late for training today."

"Right, he signed up for Basic again. And you occasionally joined in. So why were the two of you late?"

"Uh, it's my bad, really," Rex scratched his head nervously.

Because I made him stay up late with me while I poured my heart out.

"I had a rough night, needed a friend, and Noah was there, you know?"

Calan frowned, obviously not buying it, but he nodded anyway.

"Well that's one reason. Not good enough, but I know he's a loyal friend, so I respect that."

"That's great, so does that mean Noah can escape from being chewed by Hutton?"

Captain Calan let out a bark of laughter.

"I trust Hutton to teach the cadets well. But well, since I'm checking up on their training today, I can try to lighten his punishment."

Rex beamed and thanked him.

He'd always preferred Calan over Hutton. Calan was less stiff and easy to talk with. He was glad to find out that Calan was also more understanding.

He kept his smile all the way up to the main briefing room, where they'd shifted all the main controls and systems to, setting them against the walls on all sides.

The large round desk at the center that had a screen and a projector where holographic images could be beamed out. Six, Holiday and Bobo were already seated, with a very, tensed looking White Knight appearing on the giant screen before them.

Rex felt his smile fade away on their strained looks.

"Uh, sorry, was I late again?"

"No, Rex, we know you came back late last night so we wanted you to get enough sleep," Holiday forced a smile, making him uneasy.

"Okayyy, well, thanks, I'm fully rested now," Rex drew up a chair and sat down, "So, what's this meeting about?"

EVO sightings in the outskirts surrounding Kiev, or what used to be called, The Bug Jar.

Locals in the area calling Hunter Cain a hero for stepping up to rid them of the relapse cases that had begun roughly six months back.

Rex wanted to gag. What were the chances of Cain coincidentally showing up where the relapses were happening?

Yet footages obtained by Providence agents of their local news and the situation on hand, showed exactly just that. And the reason why this Intel reached headquarters so late, was because the squadron of agents originally posted to keep watch in Kiev, were actually missing. Their intercom reports were all fraud, and there had been deliberate misinformation provided, delaying the rotation of the next squad that was supposed to be posted there.

By the time the mistake was discovered and a squad quickly dispatched there to check on things, distrust of Providence had already run high.

It hurt to see the locals stone the agents, chasing them away and falsely blaming them for causing the EVO relapse.

The jet landed a little way off from the town closest to Kiev, perched atop a low-rise mound. At their backs, the gentle slopes of undulating land were cropped by vast, brilliant green woods, picturesque against the bright summer sky.

Rex would have enjoyed the scenery, but he was feeling anything but sunny. He wrapped his arms tighter round himself after exiting the ramp.

It hurt a lot, to know that his cure wasn't permanent.

"Rex," Six turned to him, "Are you okay?"

Rex let out a shaky breath, unaware that he'd been holding it.

"Yea, sure, I'll be fine, once we check this out and find out exactly what is going on."

As the situation was delicate, White Knight decided it would be best to send just the two of them over for investigation. Bobo –ever the trusty monkey –wanted to join, citing 'fond' memories of the place. Rex seconded it, preferring the accompany of Bobo's endless drawer of spastic comments to humor himself and take the stress of his shoulders. However, the others felt that an EVO monkey showing up with Rex and Six would be bad publicity for them.

Along the way down the gentle slope, Rex could see the quaint town spread from the foot to miles ahead, cut at a diagonal corner by a tributary that probably spread out from the Dnieper River that came down from the woody uplands, further south in Kiev. Terraced houses interlaid with bungalows and semi-detached homes along the asphalt roads, with trimmed greens speckling the map that was painted in brick browns and sand-washed white.

Rex felt dread weighing down on him so it was like a weary trudge getting to the community square where the appointer governor of Kiev was to receive them. Luckily, a few representatives of the municipality was already waiting for them at the foot of the mound, offering them a ride in modest black sedans.

Rex was rather surprised at the civil escort, having initially expecting nothing short of a beating for being here. But as they entered the seeming calm and quiet town and turned into the central plaza, Rex found that his expectations were 'correctly' met. The crowd that had gathered was huge, and from their hostile stares at the car that slowly pulled through, Rex could feel waves of animosity rise off them.

The representatives parked them right next to a sizeable platform furthest inward and exited, holding the door out for them as if Rex and Six were very important guests. It was almost morbidly comedic, such that Rex couldn't help but twist one half of his lips in a pained smile right before he mustered all his strength to leave safe confines of the vehicle.

The crowd, young and old alike, glared at him whilst murmuring amongst themselves.

Rex felt stone cold, limbs frozen by their icy stares, so he climbed the short stairs up the platform slowly, lagging behind Six and the representatives who led them.

"I apologise, but you'll have to wait a few more minutes as Statesman Yefim was caught up in something," one of the representative informed, no doubt receiving the update through the communication device plugged into his ear.

Six nodded, looking cool as always, and stared over the crowd with his back firmly straight. Rex mimicked Six's posture and he fought to keep himself calm against the stormy faces. They obviously had some form of misunderstanding against Providence, so Rex mentally chanted to himself that he had to keep his quick temper in check.

"Hey," one of the townspeople stepped forward and barked, "You're the guy, isn't it? The freak who is the cause of all this? It's bad enough that you turned the whole world into monsters, and now you're trying to start it again."

Bloody good, the chanting did –Rex lost his cool in an instant.

"What?" Rex bristled at the atrocious accusation, "I wasn't the one who started the Nanite Event. And for your information, I was the one who cured everyone, six years back!"

"Good lot your cure did! It didn't even last –we've got monsters showing up at Kiev again!"

The rest agreed, adding their voices to show their dissent, quickly rising into a chorus of hateful rants.

Rex slowly backed away, feeling like their bombasts were knocking him like an invisible force. His head hurt and he felt angry and distraught, insides kicking up a storm that would definitely send his biometrics reading haywire.

Then someone picked up a stone and threw it at them. Rex flinched like he'd been struck by burning hot coal, even when the stone missed.

Another was about to follow suit, until Six pulled out both his magna blades from his jacket sleeves and waved it menacingly in the air.

The crowd gasped and backed away.

"You see! It's just as Hunter Cain had said –Providence would come and try to finish us off, to contain the spread of the EVO virus."

Other shouts of irrational and terrified accusations followed quickly.

"No, I don't want to get killed!" A woman at the front screamed hysterically and pushed her way back in haste.

Two gunshots suddenly fired, followed by the sound of metal hitting metal.

Six was in a dramatic pose, and Rex guessed that he'd just deflected the bullets. Six was incredibly sharp and lightning fast where he needs to be. Rex would catch Six's motion if he focused, but he hadn't, because his mind was in turmoil.

Then the familiar bald, hulking guy with the grim mouth and nasty disposition stepped forward through the crowd.

"No one is going to die, or get hurt, on my watch, at least, not innocent folk," Cain announced acidly, then pointed his double-barreled rifle at Six and Rex, "I don't want Providence giving these people a harder time than they already have. Get a move on before things get ugly."

It was like he'd stepped on all the minefields inside Rex's head all at once.

"Oh you want ugly?" Rex exploded, nanites kicking into high gear, "Then I'll give you –"

Six flipped behind Rex in a flash and muffled his yells with his palm.

"Cool down, hot head," Six said quietly at his ear, "Don't blow our chance for investigation."

"Ah, I see Providence's finest have finally arrived, and met with our appointed Bailiff," a tall and chubby man well dressed in a suit, noted aloud in a clear, commanding voice as he exited an impressive looking limousine.

Perhaps it was his neatly pressed suit and tie, or the way he nodded and regarded Six and Rex with non-biased eyes. He had an air of refinement as he came up to the front, back straight, stride confident, with two bodyguards following close at his heel.

Rex was sure he was of someone of great importance here, particularly when the crowd parted to let the stately man pass. Plus, the black limo with the long black hood was a big hint.

He passed by Cain and paused awhile to raise his thick, black brows. Then he laughed somewhat nervously at Cain's pointed gun. He gingerly tapped the tip and said in his heavy Ukraine accent, "Now, Mr. Cain, do lower the weapon, please. I know you're just as upset as everyone else that Providence had been… lacking in their duties the last few months. But it's better late than never, as they always say."

"Agent Six, I presume?"

The man went up the platform and offered Six an outstretched hand.

"My, you are the classic picture in those shades," he commented and laughed heartily.

"Statesman Yefim, thank you for agreeing to us being here," Six said, offering his politically correct smile as he shook his hand.

"Yes, well, I couldn't very well disagree, even though Mr. Cain, as well as so many here, were against it-"

-Hunter Cain cleared his throat loudly in a very disgruntled manner –

"-Because I just had to personally thank this young man for the miracle he had done for us all those years ago."

Then the Statesman turned to Rex and gave him a firm handshake.

Rex was amazed at the other's appreciation, which was miles generous compared to the rest.

"Wow, thanks… I don't know what to say, Mr. Yefim. I thought you agreed to the both of us coming here so that you could rant on us, or something, you know? Since our last team was forced to move out or be stoned to death."

Mr. Yefim ran a hand through his dark hair that was streaked with grey and sighed.

"And for that harassing treatment, I hold myself thoroughly accountable. I do apologize on behalf of the townsfolk here. But I hope you understand, tensions are high here and everyone is scared."

Hunter Cain 'harrumphed' loudly and spit at floor.

"They oughta be, since Providence has messed up the 'cure' and now anyone could turn back to being an EVO. Didn't I warn you?" Cain turned to face the crowd and pointed a finger at Six and Rex, "This 'miracle' is just another one of Providence's frauds –a ploy to get everyone sucking up to them and playing as their puppets.

The crowd was easily swayed, complaints rising again.

"Now, now, people," Yefim regarded the crowd in a loud, but steady tone. One of the representatives suddenly pulled out a cordless microphone from his sleeve like a card trick and held it close to Yefim's mouth.

"Calm down," Yefim urged, voice amplified, "As bad as the situation looks like, Providence have assured us that there had been a miscommunication between their headquarters and the team that was initially posted here. And now, since learning about our plight, they've come to investigate the matter."

"Oh sure they're here –probably came to cover up their conspiracy once they've heard that I'd been around."

Yefim's lips turned downwards ever so slightly but he ignored Cain's snide remarks. He continued to address the crowd in a patient, yet firm manner for a few minutes.

"All in good time, I'm sure, we will come to a conclusion and see the light beyond these dark clouds, with Providence's help. Thank you and good day to all," Yefim finished his charismatic speech, seemingly having bought over the townspeople like he'd sprinkled magic dust over them.

Rex figured that Yefim must be a popular and well liked leader for the crowd quickly simmered down. Yefim started down the stairs, beckoning Six and Rex to follow.

"Your flight must have been long, am I right?" Yefim asked, throwing a slight glance over his shoulder, "Let's move to my place for drinks, then we can have a proper chat."

Rex and Hunter Cain shot laser beams at each other before Rex followed off after Six and Yefim.

It was a short drive back to Yefim's mansion in his limousine, but it offered a picturesque scene of cottages and low-rise apartments lined up in differing heights and size along the elegant promenades, dotted with lush trees and artistic sculptures. It must have rained earlier, for remaining droplets of rainwater that clung to the tiled roofs and windowsills glistening like pearly jewels under the bright afternoon rays.

Rex had never seen a more gorgeous town, newly bathed after a shower and could hardly believe such a beautiful town laid so close to the Bug Jar. If only he'd known at that time, he might have taken the tourist route after completing his mission. But then again, remembering that he would likely face the same hostility as earlier, he supposed it was a good thing he didn't.

Then as soon as it just the three of them alone, at Yefim's lounge room, Six didn't waste time pointing out the obvious.

"You don't completely trust Cain."

Yefim gave a pointed laugh as he added sugar lumps to his tea.

"Why? You don't think that he's doing a good job?" Six continued.

"Oh, he's doing well enough. Just that I wouldn't be the Cabinet member appointed to look over things here as well as the rebuilding of Kiev, if I wasn't known to be prudent."

"Good, you see the wolf under that sheep's clothing, and you want us to bust him," Rex swung a fist in the air for good show.

Yefim laughed again before taking a sip and settling back on the couch.

"I want a second opinion, and from who better, than Providence? You have vast resources and the best scientists. Perhaps you can shed light from another angle on the mystery of our disappearing people or those who suddenly turn EVO without warning.

Cain has been coming down hard on his clean up, patrolling the streets and going into Kiev with our local forces to hunt and kill the EVOs, but," he set his cup on the coffee table and dropped a knotted fist to his knee, sounding woeful, "I don't agree with his cold-blooded methods. I don't want anyone getting hurt. They've been cured once, so I believe they can be cured again."

Rex felt a twist in his gut, knowing exactly how Yefim felt.

It was one of the most contradictory things he had to fight within himself while doing battles with EVOs.

An EVO could be any organism so long as the nanites bonded on a cellular level and took control of its host. So it could be a plant, an animal or human –meaning, someone's mom, or dad, or a lover, a friend or a sibling.

"You're right," Rex stood up, clenched fists by his side, "I did cure them once, so I can most definitely cure them again."

Yefim gave a grateful smile.

"That's all that I needed to hear."

The Bug Jar that was decrepit and savage was now miles different from what Rex remembered. It was clean, tidy and without mess, closely resembling the neighboring town.

The low-rise apartments were properly patched up, given fresh coats of pants and looked nearly brand new. The streets that used to be pockmarked with craters were filled and looked to have been laid with a new layer of gravel. Debris and wild trees, vines and unruly bushes that grew in disarray were cleared. Buildings that were too damaged were already knocked down and in their place were the steel foundations of new buildings and cordoned worksites there were abandoned since the EVOs reappeared in the city. A new railway track was even laid halfway,

"Wow," Rex commented, "Seems like a lot of clean up work had been going on. Looks pretty decent now."

Six nodded, agreeing, "The Ukraine government has put a lot of effort into restoration works. Kiev used to be their biggest city. It was their economic and cultural center."

"Right, so this place was like New York?"

"Something like that."

Rex whistled, admiring the work put into it. It was a shame the restoration works had to pause with the reappearance of the EVOs. As they moved further in, piles of rubble that had not been removed started showing. Several battered complexes remained standing, huddled in a gloomy section.

"I don't like this," Rex commented, an uneasy feeling pooling in his gut. It could be paranoia but Six also agreed, saying, "Me neither. It's too quiet for a place that's supposed to be running with EVOs."

A soft rustle in the leaves caught Rex's attention. In a split second, he bashed the trunk of a tall tree that had a dense crown, causing it to shake violently.

Someone yelped and fell from the top branches.

A person?

Lightning fast reflexes helped Rex to catch the guy before he hit the ground.

A black haired man who looked quite young, was tall and gangly, and with bushy brows, stared at Rex with an expression that looked like awe.

Then it turned into annoyance.

"Release me!" the guy complained and struggled, smacking Rex's eye as he did so.

"Ow!" Rex cried and unceremoniously dropped him.

"Alright, young man, tell us what were you doing here," Six ordered in a neutral tone as he came over and pulled him up.

"Hiding."

"Okay dude, lucky we found you –we'll take you out of here," Rex made an indication with his thumb.

"No," the guy shook his head furiously, sending his untrimmed hair flopping about, "Cant –must hide from them. They will find me."

"Look, this is a dangerous place to hide –didn't you know this place is starting to be re-infested with EVOs?"

"That's why, this is a good place to hide. It's hard for them to find me here."

Rex quirked a brow, thinking that the young man must have been so scared that he wasn't making any sense.

"Dude, did you get what I was saying? This is the EVOs nest."

"Yes, I know," the guy said agitatedly and frowned.

Six put a hand on the poor sob's back, an action Rex knew well from spending most of his youth under Six's care. That was the closest thing that Six would do to show his concern.

Six acted like an unfeeling statue most of the time even though how he really felt underneath was far from it. His rigorous training and experiences in wars and battles had hardened him, so if one didn't know Six well enough, they'd think he was heartless –but not Rex.

"C'mon, we'll take you home. It's not safe here."

"No, you don't understand," the guy hissed and shrugged off Six's hand, "Home is here. So here is safe."

"What do you mean 'home is here?' You actually live here?" Rex asked, appalled.

He exchanged looks with Six when the guy nodded.

"They don't hurt me here. But outside, they hurt me bad."

Rex pinched in between his eyebrow, realizing that they were talking to a guy that seemed to have the speech capabilities of a preschooler.

"Okay, I'm officially confused. Who are the 'they' that you're referring to? Are 'they' the same people?"

The guy's frown deepened and he sighed in frustration, but before he could say anything, Six held a hand up for silence.

Rex quickly put his fingers to the other's lips, who held his tongue.

In a blink of an eye, Six drew one of his magna blades and threw it dead straight towards one of the windows at the apartment on their left.

Rex turned to see a deformed figure sidestep, dodging Six's deadly blade. It let out an ear-splitting screech and climbed out the window with six legs like an insect.

Rex cursed and pumped out his big cannons on both fists to shoot at it.

"No!" the guy screamed and grabbed Rex's arm.

Rex threw a confused look back to see terrified eyes, then turned back to see Six leaping into action, fencing with four, large, spiny legs, which seemed too hard for his blade to cut through. The mangled remains of a man's body protruded from the center where all six legs joined, with a dozen, oversized, demonic red eyes running from the head down the torso.

"No! Don't fight, please!" the guy begged, "Don't hurt them. They don't hurt me."

Rex had a feeling he meant the EVOs.

"Six, stop! Something's going on here, I think the guy knows them –says they don't harm him."

Six leapt a good distance away but maintained his defensive pose.

"And how do I know that the EVO wouldn't attack us too?"

"I will make them. They listen to me."

Rex thought that he was crazy, but the guy took a few steps forward, titling his head slightly as he stared at the EVO. The EVO faced him and slowly approached as if in a trance.

Rex and Six were equally tensed until the EVO let the guy touch its heads then did a weird, sort of nuzzling action under his palms.

Rex exchanged looks with Six again. Then Six shrugged, seemingly unbothered by it, and went off to retrieve his other sword.

"Okay, that is totally creepy," Rex couldn't stop himself from saying.

The guy gave Rex a pointed glare, lips pulled into a sullen pout.

"Well creepy, but cool," Rex corrected himself and inwardly acknowledged that it was pretty amazing, kind of like how Rex could communicate with nanites, except that he'd never got such a reaction from EVOs.

On thinking that, Rex pulled out a camcorder and started filming them.

"What are you doing?" Six asked, coming next to him, sheathing both his swords.

"Documenting, for Holiday. I think she might be interested to see this."

The EVO started playfully butting its head into the guy's side, and he laughed.

"It's actually kinda cute. Like having an overgrown and ugly pet, but cute," Rex smiled a little as he watched through the lens.

Suddenly, another EVO appeared in the viewfinder, and Rex panicked, before he realized that the EVO that looked like a cross-genetic horse gone wrong, was docile, tottering leisurely towards the main stars.

"Woa, are you seeing this, Six? He's petting it like he owns them, or tamed them. How come we never had such loving pets?" Rex pouted as he watched and recalled the EVOs that Providence used to keep in the Petting Zoo, "Ours always tried to eat me or something."

"Rex, take a look around," Six said pointedly, ignoring Rex's comments.

To his dazed wonder, a circle of EVOs had formed around them, looking peaceful and content. Several of them joined in the show of affection, eagerly crowding the guy and snuggling at his side.

Rex wondered how it was even possible.

Holiday's education force-fed to him over the years, enabled him to classify the EVOs from tell-tale features.

*EVOs that originate from animals and plants tended to exhibit high levels of aggression, as an extension of their base survival instincts. Not that they deliberately wanted to hurt people or get angry, but as their physical form mutates, their characteristics and abilities evolve accordingly.

Holiday helped him understand this by citing how porcupines evolved from rodents –they grew a coat of razor sharp spines so appeared more dangerous and fierce than the other. The same applied to animal and plants EVOs, just ten or twenty times the effect.

But essentially, they behave on primal instincts and do not associate or contemplate the world like humans do. So to see so many plant and animal EVOs, even bug types, amicably flock to this ordinary looking fellow, was a surprise.

There were even a few EVOs that he guessed used to be humans, who appeared composed, though Rex couldn't be sure if they retained their minds like Tuck and his friends or even Quarry. Many humans weren't able to control the rouge nanite influences that causes severe disruptions to thought processes, like that one time when *Noah was turned into an EVO by Van Kleiss, or Holiday's younger sister, *Beverly, who used to be an incurable EVO.

Rex swept his camcorder in a slow round, until he found the guy suddenly standing before him, blocking the lens.

"You are recording," the guy looked unhappy and sounded tensed, "They use this too, to spread lies about us."

He snatched the camcorder out of Rex's hand.

"Hey! Give me that!"

Rex lunged for it but the guy was fast and nimble, twisting out of the way. Instead of helping, Six crouched and put his ear to the ground.

"Six?"

Rex paused his efforts, then noticed the EVOs around them tense up all of a sudden, twitching nervously.

"A few jeeps, three, maybe four, fast approaching," Six informed.

"They are here! With the Deceiver!" the guy hissed, face contorted, and turned on his heel, bounding away as if for his dear life.

The EVOs followed suit in a mad scramble, leaping or sprinting or scuttling away on their mutated limbs.

One glance at Six told Rex all that they needed to do –to give these EVOs a chance to slip away until they can fully understand what was going on.

Engines roared loudly as the jeeps came into view, accompanied by the sound of rifles and machine guns firing. Hunter Cain was in a standing position on one of the jeeps, leaning his arms over the front frame to support a bazooka.

Rex could almost see the evil grin on Cain's face even from the distance before the missile launched, smoke trailing in its path.

Rex caught the missile with his giant nanite fist and let it explode harmlessly within his clasps whilst Six leapt around like a ninja, deflecting the rain of bullets.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Rex frowned, thinking the shout didn't quite match Cain's voice, till he saw Statesman Yefim poking his head out the side, sitting behind Cain. Yefim raised an arm to order a ceasefire as the troop closed the distance, swerving to a stop before him and Six.

"My goodness," Yefim exclaimed rather crossly as he climbed off the jeep, "There's a horde of EVOs and you just let all of them get away!"

Rex got pissed at his conflicting instructions.

"Hell yea, better that then let them all be shot in cold-blooded murder. I thought you didn't want any of them dead?"

"Well, of course not –which was why I insisted to follow Cain on his patrols to see how he handles things-"

"Funny way of saying that, Sir," Rex spat, interrupting him, "When you have allowed Cain to bear down on them with weapons."

Yefim's lips stretched into a grim line and he looked positively ill.

"Only because Cain has assured me that it was only for self-defense. But through his binoculars, he spotted a bunch of them attacking a man, so we ordered the troops to open fire to scare them off."

Cain gave an exaggerated laugh.

"I don't see what all the fuss is about for firing at them. Murder? It's not murder if they are already dead. The nanites are a virus that has already changed them –they're no longer who they were. They're monsters that need to be slaughtered before the virus spread."

Rex bristled at his lies again, and Six squeezed his shoulder as a silent indication to hold his temper.

"That isn't true, Cain. We have been through this many times. Providence have already properly explained the nanite phenomena to world leaders across international channels for countless of times in the past," Six calmly refuted, then turned to Yefim, "I'm sure you're already well aware of this."

"Yes, of course, but with the situation becoming as such, Providence have to start relooking into the nanite problem and identify the causes of the arising relapses," Yefim debated worriedly and climbed off the jeep.

"And in the meantime, until you can find a solution for this, I also have to do whatever that I can to protect my people. Speaking of which," Yefim took a few steps forward and glanced around, "Where is that young man that you said you saw?"

Cain's sardonic smile was wiped off his face and he looked thoroughly pissed, giving Rex the strange feeling that Cain wanted that guy dead.

"Did you see anyone, earlier?" Yefim looked between Rex and Six, looking genuinely worried.

"Yes, but we didn't manage to save him in the stampede –the EVOs were in a mad rush to escape and the man disappeared before we could do anything," Six lied.

Rex simply nodded, playing along, guessing that Six probably also found the whole situation very fishy.

Yefim gave a heavy sigh and ran his hand through his hair, messing the neat part down the center.

"That's very unfortunate. Then I suppose, you weren't able to cure any of them either?"

Rex shook his head.

"Sorry, Sir, I didn't get the chance. We just chanced upon them and hardly had time to react before we heard you guys coming."

Yefim nodded, looking very disappointed, but he looked like he bought their words and got up the jeep again.

Cain, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes at Rex, oozing anger, before returning to the vehicle. Rex thought they were going to continue forwards, but Yefim insisted he'd enough excitement and bade them to turn back to their town.

Once they were far gone, Rex turned to Six with brows furrowed.

"Cain knows the guy's power, doesn't he?" Rex stated.

"Probably," Six pushed up his glasses along his nose.

"Cain must have done something to him and the rest of the EVOs. Look at how they ran –they were freaking scared. That's why that guy says it's safer here –there are no people around so they have plenty of places to hide."

"Yes, that's one good assumption," Six agreed and nodded, then pointedly raised a brow at Rex, "But might have been better if we could get Holiday to look over the video. Maybe she could run it over with the psychology department and come up with some explanations for the EVOs behavior."

At that, Rex smacked his head and groaned.

"Shoot, the camcorder's with him."

"Can I have a glass of your famous gin? Make that two," Rex ordered as he took a seat by the bar.

"I don't drink," Six raised a brow, "And you don't have money to pay."

Rex swiveled round to brace his back on the counter and leaned both elbows on it.

"Humor me, Six," Rex begged, head rolling back like a dead man, "I'm bored."

They spent the last four days toeing around the Bug Jar, careful not to cross paths with Cain. It was easy enough as they were noisy on their jeeps, so Six and Rex could avoid them. Their priority was to locate the young man whom the EVOs seemed to 'adore', before Cain did.

Rex knew the importance of their mission, but he couldn't help feeling bored. Investigative tracking wasn't really his thing, or his strength. He mostly just followed Six around, who remarked in an impressed tone that the guy was skilled in covering up his and the EVOs tracks. And mind you, Six wasn't someone who got easily impressed.

Rex couldn't appreciate the same thing that Six saw. To Rex, it wasn't fun at all, running around the wasted parts of Kiev with showers soaking them through. Though it was Summer, it rained a lot in Kiev and when the Sun was out, it was extremely hot. It was like the weather was a tempestuous woman, mood swinging from opposite ends of the spectrum without warning. Rex went from bone chilled one moment to feeling heated like sausages on a grill.

But since he had a strong immune system compared to ordinary humans, he wasn't worried about catching a cold or falling sick under the constant exposure to the drastic weather. It just sucked that he'd had to scrub his sneakers till his hands were raw to get the muddy gunk and stains out.

After days of careful searching, there wasn't a single EVO in sight. They even went round in circles a couple of times at fake tracks deliberately made to throw off the tail. They nearly bumped into Cain's troops, but they quickly hid to avoid being seen.

Six reasoned that if they wanted to be able to find out more about the guy's abilities and straighten out the situation with the relapsing EVOs, they needed to be able to talk to the guy without Cain seeing them.

Otherwise, Cain would simply shoot them all till kingdom come.

"Two gins," the pump, middle-aged barmaid set on the marble table top, "On the house."

Six reached for his wallet under his coat, but the lady stopped his hand, shaking her head.

"I insist, let me pick up your tab. It's the least I can do to thank you good people for returning my daughter back to me."

She offered Rex a warm smile and Rex understood that she meant the Worldwide Cure. Six raised his glass to her before taking a swig. Rex followed suit, now seated sideways and facing Six. Then he coughed at the strong burn that assaulted him and sputtered in between inhaling huge breaths.

The woman laughed lightly.

"Not a good drinker, are you?"

"I just don't drink often enough," Rex wipe his mouth with his sleeve.

Six cleared his throat but couldn't stop a smile, annoying Rex.

"Because once he drinks over his limit, he can't function properly."

Rex made a face, but was too tired to refute that and downed the rest of his glass.

Whilst he coughed madly with violent shakes wracking his shoulders, Six made small talk, mostly asking questions to learn more about the townspeople and the happenings. He probably saw it as good opportunity since the rest of the people they've passed by so far, didn't seem to want to talk much. Some looked scared and distrusting of them while others outright insulted them, leaving Six to drag Rex away before he blew up at their faces.

The woman chattered away, talking about the few guest they have, even though it was only early evening. The regulars hardly come by anymore, even though this bar serves the best drinks in the town. She explained that after dark was usually when the EVOs strike, so it was more dangerous, especially after lights out.

"And that's why the curfew was made –no one to be on the street after nine," Six added, nodding to himself.

Rex, recovered from his coughs, rasped out throatily, "Good load of bullshit that is."

Six and him were no exception to the rule –Statesman Yefim made that clear on the first evening after showing them to their hotel. The only ones exempted were Cain and the security forces.

"Funny coincidence that Cain and his troops are usually the ones who chance upon the EVOs. I mean, why don't the EVOs come out in the day? Not like they're vampires," Rex scoffed, highly suspicious.

The woman gave a gasps and nearly dropped the mug she was wiping dry.

"What are you suggesting? That Hunter Cain could be the cause of these strange abnormalities?"

"Well, I'll bet my two cents that –"

Six elbowed Rex in his gut, shutting him up.

"We're just saying that things are more than meets the eye," Six said in a controlled tone, but Rex could hear his strain beneath it.

Six shared his suspicions with Rex on this, but he'd stressed to Rex to keep as low a profile here as possible. Not like they didn't attract enough murmurs and head turns and the handful of grudging glares. Six explicitly instructed Rex on the importance of handling the situation tactfully.

Since Cain was Yefim's appointed bailiff, he was given authority over security issues, including the EVOs problem and 'pesky' Providence agents who went out of line. Six warned that all they needed was give Cain one excuse, and Cain could officially chase them out of town. And when Six gives orders with both brows knotted together, one is compelled to follow it, or die –so to speak.

"Well I'd say, if you ask me, I don't buy that cold hearted beast for a moment either," the woman surprisingly agreed, "A lot of folks here, side with him, but I don't feel safe with a fellow who shoots first before talking."

"Lady," Rex grinned and made a gun with his index and thumb, "You rock my world."

"Hey, Miss," someone made a click with his fingers from the front table, "Turn the volume up on the TV. Let's hear the news."

Rex turned to the large flat screen at the side to see the words "Wanted, EVO Carrier," run across the bottom screen whilst a footage played, showing the EVO-charmer guy whom Rex and Six had been looking for.

"Hey! That's the guy who stole my camcorder!" Rex exclaimed, and got an annoyed grunt from Six.

"Good gracious, that's Yefim's boy –he's still human? Thought the last report said he went EVO months back."

"What?" Rex threw the barmaid a sideways glance in surprise.

Six showed his with a raised brow.

Turning back to the television screen, Rex watched a very shaky footage of the guy running for his life like the person filming was chasing after him. It looked like they were somewhere within Kiev, where the restoration works were half-complete.

Then jeeps loaded with troops thrust into view from the sides of the video, shooting at the guy, who seemed to be incredibly nimble, weaving and twisting this way and that to avoid being hit.

"He runs fast," Six observed and Rex agreed. The guy was still ahead of those jeeps.

"An ordinary guy wouldn't be able to run that fast, right?" Rex added.

The roar of the jeeps and gunfire were tuned out and replaced with a reporter's voice.

"The EVO hunters were out on patrol when they've stumbled across someone whom they believe is the root cause of the EVO relapses here in the last six months.

Nikolay, the son of the Statesman Yefim, was one of the earliest reported EVO relapse, originally believed to have gone missing. Yet he's clearly seen here, apparently cured and back to his old self, until Cain and his troops caught this rare footage-"

The reporter paused whilst the recording showed the guy –Nikolay –suddenly transform when the jeeps were catching up to him. Spikes protruded from his spine and shot out towards the jeeps, causing wheels to puncture or forcing the troops to take immediate swerves, toppling the jeeps on the side.

His clothing were ripped through as the rest of his body continued mutating, muscles and limbs pulsating, growing bulkier and stretching taller. An extra pair of limbs burst from both sides of his pelvis, rapidly growing and lengthening till it hit the ground and grew a large, jagged looking feet. Those ankles split, bones continuing to grow backwards, folded up along the new legs till it rested its serrated tips over his shoulders.

Those among the troops who have recovered their stances first, continued to shoot at the EVO. But the bullets ricochet off the EVO harmlessly like his skin had become a tough armor. His skin had turned a deep maroon and charcoal grey like the sickening color of dried blood and ash caking his form in patches. And his flesh had grown over his face, masking his features, ending in a raised ridge along the crown of his head.

Rex felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand as he watched the EVO move lightning fast, jumping from soldier to soldier, easily decapitating their weapons. His powerful form and moves struck Rex as eerily familiar, even though this was the first time that Rex had seen him.

"-As you can see, he has the ability to control his transformations at will, just like the world famous, 'Generator Rex', whom we all know. But he obviously doesn't share Rex's hero agenda, as you can tell from how he lashes out at Cain's forces," the report continued, "Cain believes that while Rex has the ability to cure EVOs, this particular EVO might be able to do the opposite –create them."

Then the EVO charged up to the footage screen, arms flanking the sides like he was snatching it. He didn't see Cain firing a bazooka from a distance behind him.

"The Grower of machines, help us."

Then the missile hit, exploding and blacking out the video.

Rex felt his blood run cold. For sure, that EVO looked different from before, perhaps because a relapse didn't guarantee the same look.

But there were notable points, like it similar way that it fought. And that raspy voice, deep and throaty –coming out somewhere from the EVO without a mouth or a face –Rex knew that voice and knew only one EVO who had ever called him that.

But he just didn't understand why Noface begged for his help.

Author's Comments:

Are you people surprised? XD

Hee hee, is Noface a friend? Or a foe? Read on to find out….

Footnotes:

*Noah was turned into an EVO by Van Kleiss :

Recap episode 22, "Rampage." Poor Noah was induced with Van Kleiss' unstable nanites and Rex was forced to cure him before it became permanent. But Noah was naughty and playful, giving Rex a lot of trouble! X3

*Beverly, who used to be an incurable EVO :

She made few appearances as a giant, spider like EVO. She is eventually cured in season 2 in a drastic turn-around in "A Family Holiday."

*Types of EVOs:

In case anyone is interested, here's a proper guide on the classifications. I thought it's pretty interesting so I've tried to dabble a bit on them in my story, to give a contrast on how NoFace turned the EVOs docile. Oh and FYI, I totally made that thing up about porcupines evolving from rodents, lol. I just found the closest resembling animal on the net to give an example.

wiki/Exponentially_Variegated_Organism