Chapter Seven: A new ally
(In Kiev. Rex makes an unexpected friend.)
At Yefim's place, the butler opened the door for them to enter even before Six rang the doorbell.
He showed them to the lounge where Yefim stood, back facing them, staring into a photo frame.
"Cain is going to kill my son," Yefim said solemnly, sounding more calm than Rex thought he should be, until he turned around and Rex saw his deathly pale face.
Where Yefim used to carry himself with a sort of distinguished air, with his back straight, he now hunched forward, looking small, defeated.
He waved his butler away as he sank onto the couch, holding out the photo he'd been staring at.
"My son, Nikolay," Yefim said as Six took the photo frame from him.
"Yes, we know. We saw the news," Six informed and sat on the opposite couch with Rex following suit.
"Well, the news didn't tell you that he is probably around your age, Rex."
"Is that even important?" Rex couldn't help sounding exasperated.
Though some questions are answered, like how those other EVOs seemingly listened to NoFace, a hundred new questions sprang up to torture his mind.
"No, it isn't," Six answered for Yefim, "But it should have been information that Providence would know –that I should have known, but I didn't."
Yefim sighed and buried his face in his hands as Six aimed a high, questioning brow at him.
"I pulled some strings to keep it secret," Yefim admitted.
Rex was on him in an instant, faster than Six could stop him.
"You ass! Do you know the lives you are endangering by keeping such a secret? After he relapsed, you should have told us that he was NoFace! He's a walking scum like Van Kleiss," Rex spat, shaking Yefim angrily by his collar.
"Rex! Would you calm down and release him?" Six ordered, tone menacing, putting a vice-like grip on his wrist.
Rex bit his tongue and relented, shoving Yefim back down on the couch and stomping to the side of the room, leaning against the tall window frame.
"So you recognize him," Yefim finally let out a shaky voice, "Well, then it gives me all the more reason to believe that keeping my silence was correct. I know the bad blood between you two that happened way back. And if I had told you from the start that I wanted your help to find and save my son, you would never have agreed!"
"Providence will never shun their back on helping people, and neither will Rex," Six vouched, tone firm, "We will do whatever it takes to find him and cure him, but if he is incurable like before, we'll have to lock him up to keep him from doing harm."
"Don't be ridiculous!" Yefim snapped, "I want you to keep him safe from Cain, not keep him in a cage."
Rex snorted and threw back a searing glare.
"Speak for yourself. You know, I can't believe I'm saying this, but for the first time, I agree with Cain's methods –your son ought to be put down. Do you know how dangerous he was? He wanted to wreak havoc on the rest of the world in the name of some twisted revenge for being left in the Bug Jar. He fought viciously and had an entire army of EVOs at his disposal and now it looks like he's repeating history."
"That's the history you know!" Yefim argued, hands balling into fist, looking thoroughly shaken up, "But you didn't know him after he was cured –after the miraculous Worldwide Cure," Yefim's tone deflated, becoming softer, "You didn't know him when he wasn't NoFace, didn't know him as Nikolay, my son. After I was reunited with him, Nikolay had shown nothing but compassion and good manners. He behaved well, never got angry, or lost his patience."
"Then if he was no trouble, why did you hide his identity from Providence? You should know that Providence had repeatedly sought assistance from the Ukraine government to help identify NoFace. He was in our top list of most dangerous EVO in the world, so it was necessary to send him for rehabilitation even if he's cured," Six commented.
Back then, six years ago, Rex somehow managed to dissolve the shield enclosing the Bug Jar whilst curing the world with his four Meta-Nanites that had bonded with his Omega-1. The Providence division at Ukraine had quickly moved in then, retrieving the hundreds and thousands of confused stragglers there who were just cured from their EVO forms.
It was an insurmountable task, but they spent the last few years identifying those people and returning them to their loved ones. Those who remained disorientated and confused, were relocated to rehabilitation facilities where they were properly reeducated before they were able to reestablish themselves back into society.
But amongst those cured EVOs, one elusive figure remained missing and unidentified –NoFace.
"Oh believe me, I didn't know he was NoFace at the beginning as well. I was abroad for work, so I never knew what hit Kiev until it was too late."
Yefim went on to explain that Nikolay never said anything about being NoFace after they were reunited, and Yefim didn't want to pry into the depressing past either. All Yefim wanted was for him to be safe, happy and have a normal life, away from the public eye.
As a Statesman, Yefim's private life was under constant scrutiny, and he didn't want Nikolay to be the victim of media bombardment if it was discovered that he used to be stuck at the Bug Jar. That was why he used his connections to keep Nikolay's disappearance as an EVO a secret.
"But since that first time when I saw him change back into an EVO, it got me thinking, about a lot of his strange behaviors and habits. And from there, I guessed that he might have been NoFace."
"Strange behaviors like?" Six's brow climbed impossibly higher.
Yefim averted his gaze and looked both saddened and perplexed as he listed them.
Nikolay would rather talk to plants and animals and even insects, than to other people. He has caught so many of those little critters and made such a jungle out of their backyard that Yefim had to erect a sort of Zoo in their other private estate.
And the only people Nikolay could comfortably talk to and regularly hang out with, were those who used to be EVOs like him in the Bug Jar. Yefim was never comfortable with it, but he let his son have the freedom to wander off to Kiev with them.
"And you never saw any issues with them plotting together?" Rex seethed, refraining from going over to give the Statesman a good clout on his head.
"Well, I just assumed they had formed a tight bond and were good friends, gathered together, reminiscing the past –it was harmless."
"Yea, until he started turning them back into EVOs," Rex scoffed again.
"Rex, we don't know that for sure," Six reminded, tone remained neutral.
"No, we don't, but we do know that after he relapsed, others followed. Plus, you know how he used to be able to telepathically command the other EVOs –we saw it happen again the other time. Who is to say that his powers haven't evolved, becoming stronger? Like Van Kleiss –he was suddenly able to turn others into EVOs at one point."
Six nodded, "That is also true, but everything still remains debatable."
Rex folded his arms whilst he marched back to the couch and stood in front of Six.
"Which means you are sitting on the fence. This is so unlike you, Six," Rex pointed out, head tilted.
Six faced upwards at Rex with fathomless gaze hidden behind his dark specs.
"I'm just trying to keep a cool head and an open mind. Which you should too, since you were the one who used to teach me that. I think you're letting your grudge against him cloud your better judgment."
Rex flinched at the onslaught. Not like it was anything new –Six was known for not mincing his words, but Rex couldn't understand why Six was going soft at the wrong time.
"Why are you even bothering to speak up for NoFace?"
"Because he could have attacked us with his EVO pals that afternoon, but he didn't. And because he specifically asked for your help on TV."
Rex flinched again at the two arrows that Six had let fly that hit the mark. In truth, Rex was tormented by these conflicting feelings since watching the news earlier that evening. Rex was usually hot-headed and never thought twice before throwing his nanite punches at assholes. But at the same time, his heart was soft like creampuffs and jelly, and would drop his fists even if Providence ordered him to fight.
He didn't know what to make of NoFace since running into him after so many years. Sure, Rex was angry at him for trying to kill him every time they met, but it wasn't like he hated him. And it wasn't like he wanted to jump to conclusions and assume that NoFace was still committed to viewing Rex as his nemesis, since it seems like currently, NoFace had forgotten about his grudge against Rex.
But a lot of lives were at stake, and Rex and Six had no clue on NoFace's intent nor Cain's real plans for that matter.
"Wait, so you did see him that afternoon with the group of EVOs," Yefim pointed out.
"Yes, and just like in the past, when he was his former EVO form, we saw that he has regained his telepathic abilities with nanites in other EVOs. Meaning, he could connect with them, command them to do his bidding, which makes him a level 5 threat," Six recounted.
Yefim looked utterly distressed, face scrunched up completely, aging years in that instant.
"Please, you have to give my son a chance," Yefim begged, "You have to believe me, he is not as he once was. He doesn't have a bad bone in his body. I've lost him once, I can't lose him again."
Rex stalked off, too lost in his inner war to give a proper reply.
Anyway, Six was there to play the diplomat, assuring Yefim that they'd do whatever they can to help, before following after Rex.
"Are you two watching this crap?"
"White Knight, aren't you a sight for sore eyes! But you know, we're in the middle of a mission so it's a bad time to call," Rex joked dryly as he nervously regarded the holographic mini-screen floating above Six's wrist.
White Knight was showing them an even smaller screen playing a news telecast of Cain on the podium, giving his hate speech on EVOs and Providence.
"Unfortunately, yes. We're sitting amongst the international press."
Rex slapped his forehead with his hand, exasperated that Six didn't try to deny it.
"Then you should know that the interview is broadcasted live, to over a hundred countries and thousands of news channels."
"Yes, we know that. Unfortunately, we can't do anything about it."
Rex sighed and grumbled under his breath, "Great, we are sooo dead when we get back."
White Knight was a mask of fury, barking at the both of them to find ways to clear up Cain's false accusations and get on the good side of the reporters on site.
"How?" Rex gave Six a helpless look once White Knight was offline, "You know I only know how to talk diplomacy with my fists."
Six cleared his throat in answer, meaning, he had no solution either.
Rex was annoyed that Cain was running on good streak. He and Six was able to confirm that Cain didn't manage to catch NoFace. But since Cain caught the footage of Nikolay turning EVO, he sent the copy online to every station across the globe, capturing worldwide attention.
Over the next two days, the government office of Ukraine received a flurry of calls and emails so Yefim had no choice but to call for an international press conference.
So here Rex and Six were, seated in the center of the auditorium and hurting their ears with Cain's ranting. Cain asserts that NoFace was dangerous as he could turn nanites in other bodies unstable, turning them into EVOs, then taking command over their minds, using them to terrorize the town.
Rex and Six debated for long hours into the previous night over the cause for the relapse of the other EVOs. Cain and NoFace were of course, the biggest suspects, but they had no evidence to determine who or what was the real cause. Even so, it irked Rex that Cain was up on stage slamming NoFace and acting the righteous hero when he could very well be the main perpetrator himself. Rex had crossed paths with Cain several times in the past and learnt how the mercenary was not partial to pulling to dirty tricks. So it'd be no surprise if all this was an elaborate ploy to further Cain's schemes –whatever that was.
"Bullshit," Rex spat, catching a few turn of heads from the reporters seated around him, "We've been here a whole week and haven't seen any EVO terrorizing anyone. In fact, Cain had them all scared off back to Kiev and they've been hiding there."
"Really? How would you know?" the one next to him asked and held the recorder towards him.
"Duh, we saw them – the EVOs, I mean. We saw them early in the week hiding in Kiev, then they got scared off by Cain and we haven't seen them since."
The others surrounding him seemingly lost interest with Cain's speech, and launched a furry of questions at Rex.
The commotion didn't escape Cain's notice, as he deliberately accused Providence of producing another nanite 'pet' like Rex, to counter, so that they could keep themselves in prominence.
Rex was completely rattled, and couldn't stand to keep shut anymore.
"Are you crazy? We're too busy fighting off other evil doers to give ourselves more trouble!" Rex yelled, rising from his seat.
All heads turned to Rex, like vultures hungry for more juicy news.
"Rex, don't make a scene. There are cameras here," Six warned and tugged his arm, but Rex was too incensed to listen.
"Then how do you explain Nikolay's relapse? Do you admit to your failing powers with the cure? It probably isn't permanent, is it?"
"Well it's-" Rex faltered, tongue tied because he did indeed doubt in himself, "I mean I don't know, but that's why I'm here, with Six, to investigate. Whatever is the cause of all these relapses, Providence will get to the bottom of it."
"Excellent, and while we wait for you like we did the last six months, this entire town will turn EVO. I say, that we crack down hard on NoFace before he complicates matters."
"Bullshit. How can you be so sure that NoFace is even capable of creating other EVOs? Where is your proof?"
"Well, I don't have any concrete proof. But I'm making an assumption on the closest possibility-"
"That's kinda a broad assumption then, don't ya think?" Rex scoffed loudly, interrupting.
Cain remained unfazed and simply continued into the microphone.
"Based on real examples that had happened before, such as Van Kleiss. The rest of the world doesn't know it, but my sources tell me that Van Kleiss was able to create EVOs at one point, after one of his encounters with Rex."
A collective gasps could be heard.
Rex gritted his teeth, realizing he was trapped.
"Well? No rebuttals? So that was true then."
Cain smirked, enraging Rex even more.
"So you see, ladies and gentlemen, Providence has kept such important details secrets from the world, though they tout themselves as the heroic organization. But I ask you, how can you trust them, when they cannot be truthful to the public with information that matters the most?"
Hundreds of pairs of disapproving eyes, distrusting eyes, stared at Rex and Six. Rex couldn't tell how Six took it, but he sure as hell didn't feel well. A wave of nausea hit Rex, more powerful than the tidal sound blasts from that damned Blaster Prince over three weeks ago.
"We might even be entrusting our lives into the very hand that caused us all these misery in the first place. If Nikolay could relapse and become NoFace again and have his powers evolve, who's to say that Rex won't one day evolve as well, to become an EVO creator himself?"
"Please, don't insult me and put me with the likes of Van Kleiss. I've risked my life more than enough times trying to cure EVOs and rescue lives to be run over by your rotten mouth," Rex snarled, barely able to keep himself from shaking in fury.
"And yet you haven't cured a single one since stepping in."
"You know as well as I do that the EVOs are hiding. We can't even find them."
"Well, funny coincidence, don't you think? Why don't you come right out and tell us that you're in league with them. Maybe you're under NoFace's command as well, or maybe, you were the one who activated his nanites and turned him EVO in the first place."
"Excuse me, Rex needs a break. We'll take our leave first," Six promptly stood at that point and grabbed Rex, dragging him out, which was just as well as Rex felt like he was going to blow.
"This is a trap, you know it is," Rex grumbled, looking sour, "Those vultures are going to eat us alive, and you know it."
Six arched a brow as he adjusted his tie.
"It's just a luncheon, Rex."
"Exactly! And we are the meat!" Rex exclaimed, waving his hands exaggeratedly in the air, "You know that it's going to go down bad like the stupid press conference this morning."
Six gave a rare smile and for a moment, Rex thought he'd gone bonkers.
"No, it would be better. Because it's a private event. Yefim invited selected press members only, and he didn't invite Cain. So it's just us, and the chance to explain the situation."
"Great! Then how come I don't feel optimistic?"
It was a fairly short walk to Yefim's mansion, about twenty minutes, since their hotel was close to his place. Rex would have felt more at home bunking inside the jet, but it was parked at the outskirts and Yefim wanted them close by.
He wished they could have reached later, preferably when the luncheon ended, as the moment he entered with Six, everyone fell silent as if death came to visit.
All eyes were glued to them and he felt uneasy, walking stiffly to where Yefim was.
He briskly counted roughly thirty to forty guests in the room, who stared at him awhile before returning to their conversations.
"Ah, Rex, Six, good for you to show up. I was worried after the… debate this morning, you'll be too upset to come."
Six gave a polite laugh.
"Where there's good food, Rex will show up."
Rex cracked up in spite of the knots in his tummy –it was always comical whenever Six joked. Not that he was funny, but it seemed so out of his character that it was the joke itself.
"Well, I'm glad that's one more thing we have in common," a middle-aged lady commented with a bright smile, coming up next to Rex.
Rex gave her a puzzled look and she laughed.
"The first is that we're both EVOs, well, I mean at least I used to be. I still remember what it was like being stared at like a Zoo animal everywhere that I went."
"Cool, I mean, about being conscious of it. Not a lot of people were aware or could control themselves," Rex nodded.
She rolled her eyes and downed her glass.
"Oh yea, but believe me, sometimes I wished I was totally out of it, like, clueless to what I was doing, you know? The way people freaked out, god, it's horrible."
Rex couldn't help but laugh at her dramatic acting.
"Yea, I know. I get the Zoo animal feeling too."
"Nooo!" she gave a dramatic horrified look, "A looker like you? No way! Trust me, you don't look half as bad as I did when I was an EVO, being slimy, full of teeth and all. Scared my husband and daughter half to death. God that idiot, he chased me out the house with a broomstick, you know? He only realized that I was totally sane when I burped out his name, or something that sounds like it."
"Wow, so what happened next?"
"Oh he gave me a nice spot to stay in the basement. Damn he wouldn't give me the bed –says I'll make too much a mess of it!"
Rex laughed whilst she shared with him all the funny details about living with her family then. She was funny and candid and eased up the nervousness in his stomach, sort of the way Noah was able to do. Rex never even noticed that Six and Yefim weren't by his side –they've gone off to speak to some others elsewhere in the room.
"God, I love him to bits. Glad he stuck by me, ugliness and all. Guess it's true they say 'love is blind.'"
"Then you must be relieved that you were consciously aware of yourself, otherwise, you would have made a meal out of them."
She made a face, prompting him to laugh.
"I think I feel bile coming up –need a drink to wash it down, quick."
"Well, allow me!" Rex said candidly and went off to the drinks table.
He helped to get both of them drinks, and she joined him halfway, introducing him to some other people.
"Wow, feels kinda overwhelming, as in how everyone here are all doing the same thing. Kinda feels like when I'm in Providence HQ, except that we take down baddies, and you people report news on baddies."
A young guy laughed and pointed at his video camera that was slung over his shoulder.
"And don't forget, we report news on good guys taking down baddies."
"Yea, so I've seen. So is that why you're still holding onto your camera? Expecting something to happen?"
"Well, you never know, so it's good to be prepared," the guy replied.
"Right, classic case of occupational obsession," someone else joked.
"Well, aren't we all?" another piped up, prompting the circle to laugh.
Surprisingly, it was great –Rex was actually having a good time, talking to these reporters who were nice and friendly. He wasn't getting chewed up like he thought. And as he glanced across to where Six and Yefim was, it seemed like they were having a serious conversation, probably Six doing his diplomacy speech.
Finally, things were looking up.
Then Rex found himself suddenly knocked over from the back of his knees and he laid splat on his back, staring up the ceiling in disorientation.
Screams sent him bolting back up and he found Six holding back the arms of one of the guys in the lounge. The guy struggled and yelled vulgarities at Six, but his words came out kind of garbled.
Rex caught a few people whipping out their film cameras and cellphones to record Six and Rex felt nervous again.
"Six, what are you doing?"
"He attacked you."
"What? I didn't see anything," the lady closest to them commented.
"I saw him. He's got a fast whip."
Rex became on edge, nanites churning in frenzy. He trusted Six to be sharp and quick enough to see things that other people couldn't catch.
And Six was right – multiple tentacles shot out from the guy's sleeves, coiling around Rex in a deathly embrace.
Rex gritted his teeth against the incredible crushing force that seemed to suck the energy out of him.
Six deftly drew out his magna blades and sliced off the tentacles, which slithered lifelessly onto the ground. But before Rex could catch his breath, the EVO grew new ones at alarming speed, shooting towards Rex and Six and wrapped them up.
The guests erupted into shouts of shock, and panic, with more than half stampeding out the place. Others stayed along the far wall, curiosity and danger seemingly ingrained in their brain as they continued filming.
Rex was coiled tight like a mummy and nearly suffocated, with eyes almost popping out his sockets. So tight, it seemed to crush his limbs against his body, disabling him from creating any nanite constructs to bust him out from its coils. Hence, Rex was forced to charge the nanites inside him and generate an electric current to crackle over his skin, jolting the EVO and forcing it to release its hold before it crushed his lungs.
Six's tortured cries stabbed him, since he was electrocuted along with the EVO. Rex silently apologized to Six, but knew a few days rest would put Six back to good health since Rex only produced a voltage that was enough to stun, and not burn.
Rex brought out his giant nanite hands and wrapped the EVO within his grasps before the EVO could recover its strength.
"Alright, do your thing…" Rex said to himself.
He shut his eyes and focused on the connection –to reach into the other's nanites and deactivate them.
But after a few moments, Rex was aware that something was wrong. It was subtle, but he could sense some kind of interference that kept those nanites activated, or was it simply an incurable EVO?
Rex didn't have the luxury of finding out, for grotesque sounding noises and shouts of terror and disgust filled the room.
Rex broke his connection with the EVO and watched, horror-struck, as the other people in the room, started mutating, one after the other.
It was like his nightmare coming true –the world shaken up with EVOs again.
The ready ones lunged at him first with their transfigured forms –limbs and tails and strange appendages looking deadly powerful. Rex could barely catch his breath whilst he somersaulted and ducked and rolled to avoid their blows, all the while shielding an unconscious Six at the same time. But he could hardly dodge them all within the cramped room and got hit a few times.
His entire body screamed in pain from being staked though the flesh or pounded by a force like a ton. Rex was panicking now, wildly dishing out his nanite weapons, shooting with his big laser blasters or knocking the EVOs with his giant spinning weights –anything to defend himself and protect Six.
The room was thrashed, walls and ceiling punctuated with holes.
Rex's mind screamed in frenzy that things were getting out of hand. It would be bad if any of the EVOs were loose on the town. Six was out cold and he wouldn't be able to deal with all of them on his own.
A few of the EVOs started retreating, exiting through the giant cracks in the room.
Rex dropped Six a while and quickly whipped out half a dozen whips to hold them back. Then he supercharged his nanites and sent an electric current to surge through his whips, shocking them.
A hard blow to his back cut his attack short. He groaned weakly, and barely felt himself being lifted before he was violently smashed onto the ceiling, then thrown towards the floor.
His skull exploded in pain like it was split open and his eyes watered. Everything pulsated and blurred in his view, like his eyes couldn't focus. His body throbbed, hurting so much that he could only let out a soundless scream.
Something that looked spiky and really lethal hung above his head. Rex forced himself to roll off the side before it sank into his chest.
Suddenly, that spiky limb got blown right in front of Rex's eyes.
Aside from the guttural roars and squeals that came from the EVOs, Rex could faintly make out the roar of a jeep approaching.
Rex was on his feet in that instant, energy renewed despite the pain. He was just in time too, for Cain came into view from one of the gaping holes and fired another bazooka straight at Rex.
Rex cursed, grabbed Six and leapt upwards on his powered boots, smashing through the ceiling and any other EVO that was in his way with one giant metal fist.
He couldn't worry anymore about the EVOs running about town. Cain was out for his blood –probably saw this as an opportunity of a lifetime to get rid of Rex.
He landed right on the front hood of the jeep, smashing it and jumping away right before it blew up.
Cain was quick to ditch the vehicle so he wasn't caught in the explosion. He was equally quick on the draw, firing off at Rex with an automatic rifle. But Rex wasn't about to let that happen.
Rex brought out his shield in time to block the bullets.
"Stop this, Cain!" Rex hollered, head still pounding with intense pain, "Look around you, the EVOs are getting away! You gotta stop them, instead of fighting me."
Cain laughed in mirth and waved a hand.
"Save your goodbyes," Rex seethed and shot his whip to Cain's wrist.
But before he could shock him, Rex was slammed from his back, flying forwards and landing right at Cain's feet.
Rex groaned and tried to push his aching body up. Six was still unconscious, lying a few feet from him.
Then vice-like grips on his arms and calf wrenched him to his knees and he was forced to obey because the grips were sharp and cut him, digging into his flesh and drawing blood. Rex bit back a cry as he angrily glared at Cain.
"Look again, Rex, they're going to help me get you. You're the one I want. The prize that will set me free."
"You're despicable –I don't think you'll ever be free from your hatred of EVOs."
Then he balled his eyes in stunned horror to realize the Cain was right. Besides the EVOs holding Rex down, the others had come up to surround them, but had stopped their assault, losing their aggressive behavior.
At the crook of Cain's finger, one of the EVOs came forwards and raised a long limb that looked like a sabre. It held its limb above its shoulders, poised in position ready to slice right down Rex's neck.
"Impossible," Rex rasped, mind spinning in confusion, "How are you doing this?"
Cain grinned evilly.
"With the power of my mind, to control those nanites, just like you do, freak."
Rex struggled violently, not caring how deep he was cut at his arms or calf. More EVOs rushed over to hold him down.
He wrenched deep inside for a power surge, or nanite boost –anything to beef him up with a nanite construct to smash his way out of this, but he found he couldn't.
Rex was thoroughly exhausted, and not just that –his mind was in such chaos since the guests turned EVO that he could barely get a proper hold on his nanites.
He despaired while he watched Cain give the hand signal.
Rex couldn't breathe….
Five seconds passed but the slicing death never came.
"C'mon, kill him, you freak! What are you waiting for?" Cain yelled and hit the EVO that was supposed to execute Rex, with the back of his rifle.
The EVO grunted, then turned round and yanked Cain's rifle away, making growling noises and baring its teeth.
The other EVOs that stood motionless on guard in a circle around them started stirring slowly like they were out of a trance.
Rex felt the EVOs that were holding him down loosen their hold and took the chance immediately. He pushed them off him, finding that it was a lot easier than he imagined.
Cain cursed aloud and pulled out another rifle that he had slung over his back.
"Alright freaks, you can all go down with him!"
But before Cain could shoot, another EVO jumped right in front of him and gripped the barrel, crushing it with its pincher-like claws.
"Troops, come in now. The situation is as I have suspected. You hear me? Now!" Cain yelled into his communicator as he backed away from the EVOs that steadily advanced towards him.
"Stay back, you hear me? Back!" Cain ordered the EVOs, looking frustrated, then he turned on his heel and ran. All the EVOs gave chase, crying monstrous sounds of fury.
Rex remained frozen, taking in the scene in utter bafflement. He couldn't comprehend why the EVOs suddenly turned on Cain, or why they were even at his command in the first place.
"They won't listen to him. My mind is stronger."
Rex jolted and spun around, staring around in anxiousness. The voice came out from nowhere, but was incredibly loud and overwhelming in his head.
"Where are you? Who are you?"
"I am close. You must come. Run before Deceiver gets you."
Again, the words pounded inside his brain, echoing like it was spoken inside his mind. Then Rex realized that the speaker was inside his mind, talking to him telepathically.
"You are NoFace, aren't you? Why should I listen to you? Why are you helping me?"
"No time! More comes!"
Rex gave a cry and cupped the sides of his head at the powerful hiss that hurt his brain.
A few jeeps turned in from the corner, racing at top speeds towards Cain, who quickly jumped aboard.
Damn that sneaky bastard! Rex mentally cursed to himself when he saw a couple of reporters and camera crew –those who weren't invited to Yefim's luncheon –following behind Cain's troops. Cain must have already planted those people close by and set the stage, calling them out at this moment to make it look like Rex was going rouge. He could just imagine Cain twisting the truth and turning this to his favor.
The EVOs continued charging, going head to head with the troop's rain of firepower.
One of the jeeps broke through the EVO barricade and charged towards Rex.
"Quickly! Come to me!"
"I don't even know where the hell are you!" Rex cried aloud, flinching. He slung Six over his shoulder again and ran from the jeep, not sure where he was heading to, as long as it was away from the incoming rain of bullets. Then he noticed there was something tingling within his legs and Rex was vaguely aware that his legs were carrying him in a direction that he hadn't thought of going.
"Faster!"
Rex gritted his teeth and ignored the strange sensation. He focused on pushing himself to run as fast as he could. The roar of the jeep that grew increasingly loud worried him. Bullets raced alongside him and at his heel, too close for comfort. He wasn't going to outrun the vehicle, nor their gunfires.
So he squeezed every drop of power he could get from his miserable nanites to charge up a pair of giant boots, then ran by leaps and bounds. His body screamed, then screamed more intensely when something impacted his giant nanite legs –probably a missile from a bazooka.
His nanite construct crumbled away to dust and he fell over ten feet, crashing heavily onto the ground. Good thing he was able to cushion Six's fall with his body and now he gingerly rolled him off.
The rumble of the ground told him that the jeep was fast approaching. But Rex was too weak to move. He groaned, sure that he hadn't ached so badly in such a long time. He couldn't even lift his head, face resting sideways on the road. The ground kept tilting this way and that, refusing to keep to a still angle, even though he was already unmoving.
The jeep came to a halt and he could hear doors opening and slamming and heavy footsteps racing towards him.
"Is he dead?"
"No, goodness, he's an EVO. They're hard to kill."
"So what now? We kill him?"
"Are you crazy? He's a world famous hero! The one who can cure EVOs."
"Yea, but didn't Cain say he saw Rex turning everyone at Yefim's place EVO?"
"I know, but does that mean we just put him away?"
"Well duh, if he'd gone rouge, he's just like the rest of the regular EVOs –brainless, out of control and dangerous. Very, very, dangerous."
As the conversations floated above him, Rex wanted to laugh at the ridiculous things they were saying, except that he didn't have the strength to. He kept his eyes shut, pretending to be unconscious while he rested a bit, gathering his damaged nanites and repairing them, so that he would have just enough to build his Slyder and zip himself out of there.
"What are you doing? Get up!"
Rex ignored the voice in his head.
"C'mon, let's just tie him up. He might be useful. I heard Cain saying he has this facility somewhere that he sends those captured EVO to for study. Maybe they can come up with a breakthrough that Providence couldn't."
Rex's senses spiked at those words. But before he could hear more, shouts erupted along with rapid gunfire.
Rex burst his eyes open and swung a leg out from under the nearest guy, kicking his legs and making him fall backwards.
Rex had trouble believing what he was seeing –NoFace crushed all their weapons and drove punches and kicks into the soldiers' gut –even though he already had a feeling that the telepathic EVO would come to his aid.
"Come! We must go!" NoFace hissed and waved for Rex to follow.
"Wait! Six!" Rex exclaimed whilst NoFace started bounding away.
Rex grunted as he picked Six up and nearly staggered.
NoFace suddenly returned to his side, towering three heads over him, making a guttural noise of disapproval at the back of his throat.
"You are doing worse than before if this weight is too much for you."
Then NoFace took Six from Rex and sprinted off with ease with Six lying in his arms. Rex grunted in annoyance and followed after, nanites repaired enough to form his hover board.
NoFace sprinted quickly on four legs, so fast that Rex struggled to catch up. He led them back into Kiev, deep inside, where tons of rumble, dilapidated buildings and wild foliage remained lying around, looking more like the old Bug Jar that Rex knew.
The moment NoFace stopped and put Six down, Rex dropped his hover board and stumbled to his knees, bracing his upper body with his palms flat on the ground. He panted heavily, exhausted beyond belief.
He knew his nanite count must be extremely low by now, and pondered why Holiday hadn't called to check in. She usually kept an eye on his biometrics or had another Scientist keep watch whenever he was on mission. Maybe they were too busy with something. In any case, this wasn't something that Holiday could solve.
"You have become weaker than I remembered."
Rex shot NoFace a deadly glare, but couldn't give a comeback as he was still catching his breath.
"Why?"
With the Omega-1 inside him, Rex should be able to continually generate new nanites and keep them up to strength –theoretically, of course. But when it came down to reality, Rex's ability was largely influenced by his state of mind and emotions. And right now, he was feeling fragile like glass.
"You wouldn't understand it even if I had told you," Rex said glumly, then sat back on his bum.
"Then I will ask the Inside to tell me."
As soon as NoFace said that, Rex could feel that prickle under his skin and within his bones –similar to the tingling sensation he thought he had felt earlier.
"Hey, what the hell are you trying to do?" Rex bolted from the ground and took up a defensive pose, glaring at NoFace.
Even as he asked that, Rex had an inkling of what NoFace was doing. He could feel it –tendrils of fleeting touches all over him, weaving through every inch of his body to every single nanite. Rex trembled, never feeling so exposed before. It was like he was stripped bare, lying completely naked, with his mind and soul laid in plain sight.
Then the ghostly touches left him.
Rex gasped, breathless, falling to his knees.
He squeezed his eyes shut to keep himself calm, to steady his breathing. If he had the energy to be angry, he might have lashed out at NoFace for intruding. Yet at the same time, he couldn't stay mad, because he recognized that NoFace was communicating with his nanites, similar to the way Rex had always done whenever he tried to cure EVOs.
It was just that this was the first time that Rex had someone else try to talk to his.
"You are very receptive," NoFace said pointedly in an amused tone, head tilting, "If I had noticed before, you might have been mine."
Rex felt shivers go down his spine, not liking the sound of it. He got up again and warily paced sideways, giving NoFace the eagle eye.
"So what do you mean? That you'll try to mind control me? Like you do to the other EVOs?"
NoFace shook his head.
"No, you are too strong willed. Your mind will fight your body. The others have weaker controls, so they fall to The Deceiver's control."
"You mean Hunter Cain? He's The Deceiver?" Rex asked, trying to make sense of it all, "Well, how are you doing any different from him? You're mind controlling them like he does."
NoFace shook his head.
"I do not control them. I free them. I speak to them, befriend them."
At his words, EVOs started coming up, appearing amongst the chunks of debris, giving him the feeling that they were watching him, studying him.
Rex swallowed hard.
"That's reassuring," Rex said dryly and waved a hand around them, "So are they trying to decide if I'm friend or foe?"
NoFace let out a throaty laugh, making Rex feel as though the world has turned upside down. He didn't think that NoFace was capable of laughing.
"I used to envy you as the Grower of Machines. I turned my envy to hate and influenced my fellow brethren. But now I know –we know –you are also Master of the Insides, the Provider of the Cure. You, are friend."
It was very, very strange. Super strange –to have EVOs pacing up and down an old water ditch, fetching buckets of water to have one of them heating it with its flaming breath, then offering it to Rex.
Rex felt his face split as he forced a smile of thanks.
Stranger still, was Rex dunking the sleeve he'd ripped off his tee into the warm water and sponging Six's feverish skin.
Rex, taking care of Six –he never thought he'd live to see the day,
Unfortunately, the electric shock had got Six worse than he thought. Or it could have worsened Six's body since *Six had taken electric damage twice before –once while saving Beverly and the other, Rex. Six had been unconscious for two says straight and ran into a fever.
He'd contemplated calling for back up, to send Six back for medical aid, but he remembered Six telling him that air security in Ukraine was tight, and he didn't want to risk Cain spotting their position.
Rex cursed his brashness again, for not thinking before he shocked Six along with the EVO. How could he assume that Six was infallible? Six was the toughest guy he knows, but still only human.
And as for the EVOs that surrounded them, well, Rex was sure that though none of them retained their human consciousness, they were unexpectedly docile and friendly. In the last two days, they have offered him fruits and various raw greens, pilling them in a corner like a tribal tribune of some sort.
Rex was suspicious and didn't dare touch the food at first, even as NoFace pointedly said that it was safe to eat. Eventually, his growling stomach got the better of him, and he stuffed his face, to which NoFace laughed, which was also very weird.
Rex could never have imagined that NoFace and him would one day form a truce and be kept under his safe watch. NoFace seemed to have created a safe haven of sorts for these motley bunch of EVOs and acted as their leader, their guide and their savior. They were very affectionate towards him, often crowding him whenever he appears, begging for him to pet them.
It was sort of endearing, and Rex's initial envy was put to rest when a few of the EVOs started showing favor towards him, which actually put him off at first because he couldn't get used to it.
In fact, one of them, a grubby looking, oversized maggot about the size of a dog, that had soft, jelly like tentacles protruding all over it, downright gave him the hibbie jibbies. Rex woke up the second morning to find it snuggling against his side, sending him breaking out in goose bumps and yelling aloud in shock.
For reasons he couldn't phantom, it kept trying to stick close to him and he spent a good portion of the day trying to avoid touching its gross, squishy-like body. But in between trying to dodge it whilst taking care of Six, Rex eventually found it easier to just let the critter rub itself against his leg so he could focus on checking Six's vitals and what not.
A few others were similarly attached and Rex freaked, finding it hard to keep calm when scary looking appendages or sharp teeth or claws were siding up close to him. He kept imagining that this was just an act to get him to relax so that they could pounce and gobble him when he was unguarded.
But by now, Rex had sort of accustomed himself to it, losing the shivers that used to keeping running through him every time that one of the EVOs touched him.
When Six's watch beeped, Rex jumped and cursed for the unlucky timing.
He briskly removed the watch from Six's wrist and jogged away from the company of EVOs before hitting the receive button.
"Yo White Knight," Rex forced a cherry note, "You're up early."
"Your report is late," White Knight stated crossly, white brows angled downwards, "Where's Six?"
"Taking a nap, he's beat," Rex struggled to keep his tone steady.
White Knight gave him a suspicious look.
"Then how's your progress there?"
"In g-good swing," Rex stammered, and received an even more severe frown.
But instead of questioning further like Rex thought he would, White Knight suddenly glanced off to the side.
"Holiday?" Rex heard White Knight say, "What is so important? What about the cows? Can't it wait? Fine."
White Knight faced Rex and gave a stern glare.
"I want an update tonight. Got it?"
Then the screen went blank.
Rex gave a sigh of relief. Looks like White Knight hadn't known about the press members turning EVO, which means Cain hadn't released the tapes yet.
Cain had another one up on them. NoFace had explained to Rex how the EVO relapse started happening. From there, Rex realized that Cain must have somehow managed to inject some nanite activating formula into those press members and was close enough in the vicinity to activate them. Leveraging on those reporters' obsession with filming and gathering news, Cain then deliberately chose that time to activate the nanites inside the reporters, making it look like Rex was the one causing it.
Not to mention, Cain had the 'bandwagon' coming in at the moment when he lost control over the EVOs, so those reporters had recorded the EVOs defending Rex and attacking Cain. With those footages, Cain could frame Rex and Providence and bring their reputation down. Any viewer watching such a situation would definitely assume that Rex possessed some unorthodox power to turn people EVO and control them.
Rex racked his head for ideas. Six was usually the one who'd come up with the complex, meticulous plans for sticky situations like this.
What should I do?
For starters, Rex knows for sure that Six would want him to continue the mission. He has checked his vitals hourly –besides his raised temperatures, his breathing and pulse counts per minute were normal. He has also checked for symptoms of internal bleeding in the head and various other important signs –thing he had picked up from Holiday over the years –but found Six was alright.
But god damn it, why wouldn't he wake?
What would Six do?
"We need those tapes, pronto," Rex said aloud to himself in answer.
"It is not important."
Rex jumped and spun around, frowning at NoFace.
"You seriously gotta stop doing that."
NoFace was deadly quiet when he moved, and frequently turned up behind Rex without him knowing, surprising him.
"Anyway, like I was saying, Cain has set us up real good. I have to stop him from spreading those videos across the world. Providence is going to be in big shit if it happens."
"It is not important," NoFace repeated, annoying Rex.
"Were you even listening to me?"
Rex folded his arms across his chest.
NoFace pointed to his head.
"More lies will come. Unless you destroy this."
"Right, the controller, but how do you suggest we do it?"
Rex threw his arms in exasperation, growing more frustrated at NoFace's silence.
They could do it by Rex's usual way –hitting Cain hard and fast. Once Rex could destroy the device that NoFace claims Cain wore by the side of his head, it would break the connection with the nanites in those EVOs, freeing them from his control. Without the interference, Rex would probably also be able to cure them.
But Rex had learnt a thing or two over the years and was forced to rethink his strategies. If he did that, the public would still never know what happened since they couldn't be there to witness it. They might just assume that it was another of Rex's unholy powers and accuse Rex of framing Cain to get off the hook.
So if he was going to take Cain down, he had to do it playing by Cain's methods.
Suddenly, he had a flash in the pan.
"Hey, NoFace, do you still have the camcorder that you snatched from me?"
NoFace tilted his head like he was puzzled, then vomited out the device from the side of his torso.
"Eww," Rex lamented and gingerly picked up the gadget that had a bit of muck on it.
He gingerly cleaned it with his shirt then checked to see if it was working.
"Yes! It still works," Rex exclaimed and pumped a fist. Then he looked up and down NoFace, waggling his brows.
"Now, I've a plan, and if you're up for it, I will need you in your human form."
NoFace seemed disgruntled, but changed anyway, turning into the lanky guy Rex saw the other day.
Rex then made him change out of his dirty shirt, and wear Six's white one instead. He also fished out a tiny pouch from inside his jacket pocket, shaking it till a fake moustache and beard fell out.
Nikolay frowned and gave Rex a questioning look.
"Just a little handy disguise. *Helped me out of a tight spot before, so I always carry along a little something in case I need a quick disguise."
"How? What kind of tight spot?"
"Well," Rex paused, surprised that Nikolay would be curious to know, "I'd to disguise myself once while we were on the run protecting this guy. It was hilarious really, because I dressed up like Indiana Jones and my best friend dressed up like a woman, and he's a guy."
Nikolay tilted his head and looks lost.
"I do not see what is funny about that."
Rex opened his mouth to retort, then shut it, shaking his head. There was no way someone with Nikolay's conversation level, would get the joke.
Rex just ignored Nikolay's question and helped to stick the moustache on the other's face. Then he nodded to himself, satisfied.
"Now, I will need you to get a few magnetic parts from our jet, and connect it around billboards and wire cables around town," Rex instructed and hooked Six's communicator over Nikolay's ear, "And I'll walk you through it, think you can manage?"
Nikolay nodded.
"And one more thing, I need you to find your dad and talk to him. Get him to run a quiet investigation on the troops he had attached to Cain –find out if Cain did anything to the members of the press during the security clearance when they arrived.
The pale man wore a crazed, half smile, whites blindingly bright against the perpetual darkness of his hair that he has cloaked himself in.
"Hmm, what an extraordinary show," he drawled in an uncharacteristic upbeat manner after watching the recordings, courtesy of another of his enslaved humans. "It was a good idea to rope in Cain after all –he's an astoundingly resourceful and wily fellow, don't you agree, my dear?"
"As you say, Master," the woman replied nonchalantly, even if she felt anxious and disgusted with what she had seen.
It was a rhetorical question after all –this selfish, malicious man cared naught of what anyone else thought. There was no room for her to make any other comment besides agreeing with him.
"Though it is certainly disappointing to have lost Rex. But ordinary humans like Cain, can only do so much. I will have to count on you again, my dear, to locate him and give Cain exact coordinates."
She tensed, feeling cold chills under her skin at the asserting tone thrown a few feet over her shoulders. Seated close to his feet, she was his eyes over the ignorant world below. For years she had been the crucial instrument, giving him the upper hand in planning his vicious ploys. For years, she had been the utmost obedient, the loyal, unquestioning servant.
But sometimes, just sometimes, she secretly rebels, her loyalties veering off.
"I will if I could. But it is as with NoFace, as I had said, the interference remains," she lies in a calm, neutral tone.
The pale one sighs, exasperated, and combs back the sides of his long, black hair.
"Yes, yes, of course, I remember, that damn energy shield made by Providence. Static remnants hinders your ability to open windows in Kiev," he reminded himself aloud.
The spherical containment that had once enclosed Kiev had long been deactivated. But theoretically, it was possible for trillions of unbounded energy units to remain dispersed over the area, making the space within Kiev too unstable to hold a portal.
As a former scientist, her master had deducted that, so he was surprisingly calm when she banked on that reasoning as an excuse for not being able to track NoFace inside Kiev. It wasn't a complete lie, though she could probably do so, if she tried hard enough.
But she didn't want her master to know that.
Instead, she cast windows in the town nearest to Kiev where Cain mainly operates, which was how they could see the video on playback inside his personal office. Besides this, her master relies on a secret, terrifying device imbedded inside the human sacrifice – Cain – to see everything through his eyes.
The same goes for the other two enslaved scientists.
"Hmph, I suppose at this point, we can hardly depend on Cain anymore. The curtain will fall on that play soon enough now that the meddlesome duo have stepped in," her master lamented, sounding dull and unhappy again.
"I hope for your sakes, Doctors, that your research is coming to fruition soon."
He gave warning stares at the two scientists through two separate windows. One, was recently sent back to their ground base, to continue experiments on those unfortunate humans turned into EVOs by Cain. The other, remained in the laboratory, here in their secret base.
While Doctor Fell wrung his hands like a nervous mouse, Doctor Moses spoke for them, looking confident.
"Worry not," Doctor Moses assured, cupping his hands in front of him, grinning from ear to ear, "Your patience will soon be rewarded. The test subjects that Cain had captured were more than enough for us to perform several key permutations of nanite coding. We are making progress with the results."
Her master's snarl softened, though his scowl remained.
"Hmph, I shall see the recordings of those EVOs' performance later and decide that for myself."
Such a revolting thing, she thought inwardly, knowing exactly what her master meant. It sickens her to the core to see such cruelty played out, but then again, there was once, years ago, when she was not averse to such barbaric acts either.
Once, she had been equally selfish and cruel like her master.
Strange, how she sees things so differently now.
Perhaps it was because she was made to keep watch on the world below, tirelessly, for years. Because of it, she has seen so many things – things that made her heart sing and cry, that gave her a different view of life that she had never before.
Seeing so much, made her wish for better things – to be more than just a servant tied to a man with an abominable desire.
But as she was now, she could not be what she so desired. To attain that, she has to bound herself to this master, even if it means sharing the devil's skin with him.
Perhaps after all, this meant that she was still as selfish as she was before.
Footnotes:
*Six had taken electric damage twice before –once while saving Beverly and the other, Rex. :
Recap 'A Family Holiday' and 'Six Minus Six' in season two.
*Helped me out of a tight spot before. :
"I'd to disguise myself once while we were on the run :
I'm referring to the episode 'Deadzone'.