Still kicking. I can smell the ending and the suspense is killing me. I wanna know what happens just as much as y'all.

Now featuring some Mama Hen Bobo! I feel like I've done a pretty bad job of keeping his character a part of this, and his role remains pretty tiny anyways, but I honestly do love the little jackass and I kinda regret not including him more than I did.

Enjoy!

Holiday stared at the phone in her hands. She had been for a while now, but she'd long since lost track of how much time had passed. What finally snapped her out of her stupor was Six placing a hand on her shoulder, the brunette not even having heard him enter the room.

"Holiday, is something wrong?"

"Kateri. She...left." she finally said. "Rex called me. Apparently he woke up this morning and she was gone, she just left a note."

Six raised a brow, looking a bit concerned over how distressed Holiday looked. He couldn't even imagine what Rex must be like. "Do we know why?"

"According to Rex, the people she worked for found her again, said they put an ultimatum over her head."

"I'm assuming Rex was the ultimatum." Six said.

"He didn't outright say it, but it was clear enough." she replied.

Six just sighed. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling at all. People who got involved in things like this got hurt, there was no way around it, and evidently the time had come for Rex to learn it the hard way too. "I'm assuming her trail is long cold."

"I picked up on a bus she took out of the area, but beyond that, there's nothing. She knows how to cover her tracks, and if she doesn't want to be found, I suspect she won't." Holiday replied.

"Then right now, I think we should go get Rex. He doesn't need to be stuck in his head right now." Six said.

"You're probably right." she sighed, standing. If she knew one thing, it was that Rex was hurting, and she didn't want him to do anything reckless.

She couldn't even find it in herself to be angry at the Navajo girl. Holiday knew that Kateri was only doing what she thought was right, what she thought would protect Rex, and part of her commended the girl for it. Part of her was also upset that she hadn't even tried coming to them for help. That she thought her only choice was to face it alone.

Holiday just let out another quiet sigh before following Six out. They needed to get to Rex.

(*)

Kateri was glad she never bothered to clear out the compartment at the bottom of her quiver. There was an envelope with birth certificates, social security cards and IDs for several false identities that helped her travel undetected with ease. It actually bothered her how easy it was to slip into her old routine, taking random flights and other modes of transportations while rotating the names, leaving no trails but dead ends. Her actions were done with little thought, so used to years of covert travel, it wasn't remotely difficult.

She wished it was. It would force her to think about something besides the lack of the familiar weight above her collarbone where the necklace once hung. It would keep her from pulling out her phone and scrolling though the dozens of pictures Rex insisted on taking in the past few months. It would keep her from running her fingers over the indents in her notebook where she'd written that letter.

It would keep her mind off the Latino teen she'd left behind, broken and bleeding.

But it didn't, and more than once she found herself fighting back tears.

Ayoo anoshi.

"If I don't die, I'll tell you."

So much for that.

(*)

Rex hadn't moved from his place against the door in hours. He'd been leaning against the one connecting his and...her room since he'd called Holiday that morning. His eyes were listless and blank, staring a hole in the teak floorboards.

He felt hollow. Like he was just a skeleton and skin, and anything else inside had withered and crumbled away. His skin still tingled from where...her hands had ghosted over it, but it felt like molten lead for how it burned in his mind.

He'd forgotten how much it hurt. To be left behind like this, to have what he sought after finally in his grasp, only to be torn away again. Part of his almost wished she'd left without a word. Maybe then he could be angry at her. But she didn't. She left to protect him, and he hated she felt like she had to leave him behind to do so. Time had proven, at least to him, they worked better in a team.

But instead, he was left, knowing she loved him, and chose to keep him from harm's way instead of letting them have each other's backs.

His phone vibrated, and it took him a solid two minutes to even find the motivation to pick it up and look at it, and another to register that it was a text from Six.

We're on our way.

Six had never been a man of many words, but the four on the screen spoke volumes.

A part of him acknowledged he should be glad. That is family cared enough about him to drop everything and come get him. But he didn't feel anything except the hollow ache in his chest.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed before he actually stood, pulling on his slightly wrinkled shirt from the floor, his skin burning as he remembered where her hands had brushed when she had pulled it off. He slowly, haphazardly shoved his belongings back into his duffle bag, pushing the godforsaken note into the very bottom.

Barely even realizing what he'd done, he looked down at the glittering silver chain pooled in his palm, the charm nestled in one of the creases of his fingers. Not sure what else to do with it, he reached back and clipped it on around his own neck. It was a tad more snug on his neck that he'd have preferred, but it didn't feel nearly as much like a noose as he'd thought it would.

He jerked at a curt, but soft knock at his door. How long had he been sitting there? He wasn't sure. Standing, he went to open the door.

He opened it to reveal Federico, looking confused and concerned. "Hey, Rex, you and Kateri missed-what's wrong?"

It had taken a moment for the curly haired teen to register the blank look on Rex's face, but once he had, his demeanor shifted from mild concern to intense worry.

"She left." Rex replied in a monotone. Monotone was good, right now, it meant he at least wasn't gonna lose his shit just yet. He knew it was coming, but right now, he was still in a state of blank mental shock.

"Kateri left?" he asked, stepping into the room without permission. He doubted Rex was in much of a position to offer it, so he just walked in, pushing the door shut and tugging Rex over to the bed. "Rex, what happened?"

"You remember those people she worked for?" he said robotically.

"Yeah?"

"They came back." He pressed his knuckles into his eyes. "She left because of me. She didn't want them to hurt me, so she left."

He picked his head up and Federico could see tears shining in his eyes.

"She's going to die. Alone, they're going to kill her after everything she's done. But-she won't-"

He cut off, his voice refusing to work anymore, and Federico didn't think twice in scooping him into a hug. Rex didn't strike him as a touchy person, but he definitely looked like he needed a hug right now.

"It's not your fault." Was the first thing out of his mouth. "You say it's because of you, but, really, it isn't. It's twisted people forcing her hand in the way they know will work. If it wasn't you, it would be someone else, so don't sit here and think this is your fault. She made her choice, and it was the choice to protect you. If it was Santiago, I'd do the same thing."

Santiago was Federico's boyfriend. He'd met him a couple weeks ago, the other teen living in town instead of within the little village. Santiago had straight hair kept in an undercut, and was heterochromic with one washed out blue eye. He and Federico had been together for almost a year, and were the perfect combination of incredibly cute and intensely competitive. Rex had been thrilled for them.

"It...It just hurts." Rex murmured, his head resting on Federico's shoulder, to exhausted in general to even bother moving. "I've been in this same position so many times before, and it just adds fuel to the fire that she told me why she was going."

So did the previous night, but Rex didn't even want to think about that right now, let alone bring it up.

"I'm sorry, Rex. I can't even imagine what you must feel like right now."

Right then, he didn't feel much at all, but he could feel his body get heavier and heavier with longing by the minute.

"Are you going to go after her?" Federico asked.

Yes. The answer was almost instant in his mind. He hardly cared that she'd asked him not to, of course he was going to go after her.

"If I can find her."

(*)

The jump jet was eerily quiet as it touched down. Holiday had spent the previous solid twenty minutes arguing with White on the phone.

"You have got to be kidding me right now."

"This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about. You gave her far too loose a leash again, and now she's up and vanished to god knows where to do god knows what, not to mention the state she left Rex in. What does that sound like to you?"

"It sounds like she's trying not to let him get hurt, because she cares!"

"Doctor Holiday, we know exceptionally little about this girl. Only what she's told us, which we have no real way of proving as true. How do you know that she isn't still working for them in the first place and now she's just run off to tell them everything?"

"Really? I don't." she replied flatly. "But I do trust her, and I do believe she's doing the right thing here."

"That means nothing when it comes to protecting our assets!"

"You're right. But that's part of trusting people. Where there isn't fact, there's faith."

She promptly hung up on him after that, putting her phone on silent and shutting down the ship's communications frequency.

"White doesn't seem to be taking this particularly well." Six noted, speaking for the first time the entire trip.

"Of course not. He thinks it's all some elaborate scheme to steal information." Holiday sighed.

"I can't say I blame him."

Holiday's eyes cut to him. "Don't tell me you think that's all this is."

"I can't fully rule out the possibility, however small." There was a beat of silence. "But no, I don't think that's what this is."

He'd spent a lot of years learning people, learning how to recognize what made them tick. Kateri was sincere in her actions, but he also knew she had a lot of mental scarring. Given the right incentive, he didn't think it would be that hard to manipulate her. She definitely did not let people in easily, no, but once she did, she wore her heart on her sleeve just a bit too much for a fully effective mercenary. Kateri was by no means weak, but it left her far too vulnerable to things exactly like this.

"Rex must be devastated." Holiday murmured. "After everything with Circe, I doubt he's handling this very well, if at all."

Holiday didn't necessarily harbor bad feelings toward Circe. Yes, she was immensely displeased with her actions, but she also understood that the girl had plenty of her own demons to contend with, and agreed that Rex wasn't honestly equipped to deal with them. However, unlike Kateri, she was far less willing to open up about them and seek out the help she needed in regards to them. Rex had told her about Kateri meeting Circe, and hoped that maybe if their friendship grew at all, Kateri could convince her to do exactly that.

After she and Six exited the jump jet, Abuela met them at the front gates. Holiday realized right then that she'd never properly met the woman in person. She'd heard plenty about her and caught glimpses of her in Skype calls, but this was the first time she'd met her face to face.

"You must be Doctor Holiday and Agent Six." The small Mexican woman said with a somber expression. "I take it you're here for Rex?"

"Yes." Six nodded, and Abuela pulled open the gate.

"He hasn't left his room. Federico has been with him for the past hour or so." she said as she led the two Providence agents towards the guest rooms Rex and Kateri had been staying in.

She knocked softly on the door.

"Adelante" A voice replied softly.

Abuela nudged the door open and stepped aside to let them in.

Holiday stepped in first, seeing Rex asleep on the bed. One leg hung off the side and he was close to the edge. His head was also half propped on Federico's leg, the curly haired teen having just been sitting there in silence. Her eyes went to the silver necklace almost immediately.

"I managed to get him to fall asleep, since I doubt he'll be getting much for a while. He's been out about twenty minutes." Federico said quietly. "Honestly, I'm pretty sure he just didn't want to be left alone."

"I'd be inclined to say you're right." Holiday replied, kneeling down in front of him and placing a light hand on his shoulder. "Rex."

The Latino teen stirred almost immediately, which told her he wasn't really all that asleep since Rex tended to sleep like the dead. Still, right this second, she'd take what she could get.

"Doc?" he mumbled, words slightly slurred. His eyes were bloodshot, but dry.

"Yeah. We're here to take you home." she said.

Rex just nodded. This had become a place that made her happy. He didn't want to stay any longer than he had to in order to keep this a place with good memories. He picked up his duffle bag and slung it over his shoulder without a word.

Abuela and Federico exchanged a few words in fast Spanish, both of them nodding. Rex glanced over to them, but didn't comment on whatever it was they had said.

"As much as I enjoy seeing you, Rex, I do think it's best you go. I hope to see you again soon, in better spirits." Abuela took a few steps and embrace the EVO teen. Rex let his chin fall to her shoulder and wrapped his free arm around her, but his expression didn't change.

"I do too. I'd like to come see everyone more often." he said in a soft voice. The smallest smile pulled at his mouth, but stopped there.

"I look forward to it, mijo."

Federico stood as well, and they exchanged a short, silent hug, but no words were necessary.

"Take care of yourself, Rex." he said when he pulled back.

"I'll do my best." Rex replied.

"I will be holding you to that."

No one spoke until they were all back on the ship.

"So, Rex," Holiday began carefully. "I know this probably seems like a pointless question, but do you want to talk about it?"

"Right now, no." he replied. "I will eventually, I swear, but right now, I just want to be left alone."

Holiday just nodded. He could have a bit of space before she began prodding him. From the looks of it, he was still in a haze of whiplash, so prodding wouldn't go far right now. "My door's always open."

"I know."

(*)

Okay. It had been four hours, and he hadn't moved. He was done.

"Alright, kid, enough is enough."

Rex glanced over, his eyes dull. "What?"

"I'm gonna get your sorry tail up, or my name isn't Bobo Haha."

The Latino teen's eyes drifted back to the floor. "Not right now, Bobo."

"No, don't pull that crap with me. Yeah, I get that you're upset, but wallowing isn't going to get you anywhere." the monkey said, crossing his arms.

"I'm not wallowing."

"What you're doing is the dictionary definition of wallowing. Yeah, you're in a shit mood, which is fully understandable, but you gotta do something." Bobo pinched the bridge of his nose. This whole 'sympathizing' thing was way out of his element, but he couldn't remember the last time he saw the kid so hung up, if there even was one. So damnit, he was at the very least going to get the kid up and moving to at least try and distract him.

Rex didn't respond, but after about thirty seconds, he stood. "Fine. What are we doing?"

Bobo grinned. "Heard White just had the jump jets cleaned."

(*)

That plan had blown up in Bobo's face far more literally that he'd meant to.

Originally, they were just gonna rig a few paint bombs that would pop when the doors would open, but the ignitions may have had a bit too much power behind them and they may now be responsible for three damaged jets. Or well, he was, which was automatically worse since ninety percent of Providence in general hated him. Rex had refused to actually take part in anything, but he had managed to coax an almost smile out of him a few times and a couple of weak, half-assed jokes, so the EVO primate took it in stride.

It was better than before, anyways.

They ended up fleeing Providence property in general to dodge White's wrath, the two finding themselves in a familiar park. Bobo stole Rex's phone and messaged Noah, asking the blond teen to meet them there.

He just handed the device back to Rex, who stuck it back into the same pocket without a glance, though that wasn't unusual. Bobo pick pocketed him on a regular basis, but generally gave the things back, so Rex didn't really worry about it.

"So…" Bobo started, the awkward tension in the air almost unbearable as they waited for Noah. "Look, Kid, I'm bad with the mushy crap. But it's obvious you're pretty messed up about this. I'm sure Doc Gorgeous has already thrown this on the table, but you got anything you wanna get off your chest? I don't exactly have a PHD, but I can listen to you talk for a good ten minutes."

Rex was silent for a few minutes, eyes distant as he started ahead. A small crease formed between his brows.

"I just…I don't get it. I know I haven't really known her that long, what, four months? But after everything that went down in the desert, I just feel like…I don't know, she should trust me more? No, that's not it. On some level, I do get it. She wants to protect me. But I can take care of myself. Hell, five teenagers broke into a high security underground lab, where dozens, if not hundreds, of illegal experiments were going on, and set free sixteen hostages in the process of taking down a massive chunk of their data. That should count for more than it is right now." He sighed, running a hand through his hair as he leaned forward. "What I don't get is why she thinks she has to do it alone. Why she would knowingly walk into a suicide mission, just for that."

"She did it because she cares about you, kid." Bobo spoke. "There's a lot of things about those people that we just don't know. Far as I know, they're a ghost company, and weren't majorly on Providence's radar until she came around. She's got a lot more of an idea of what they're capable of than we do. I can't say I know her that well, being around you two is like watching a Valentine's parade that never ends, but from what I do know, I'd say she chose the path of least resistance so they'd stay away from you. Yeah, I'm sure you could've had an army follow her there, but she knows better than anyone here how they can pull people's strings. You saw what happened to her parents, how they don't have a problem hunting people down, and doing whatever it takes to break them. You've become the most solid thing in her life, and she's probably terrified of something even close to that happening to you, especially after that last job. From her side, this was the best guarantee she had to keep you out of the crosshairs. If she's the only thing they want, then she'd give it to them in a heartbeat."

Rex turned to him with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Since when did you get so wise?"

Bobo just shrugged. "About half of that was me channeling the good doctor, and the other half was me repeating stuff I heard in notes I went through when she wasn't looking. But when you break down both sides of what happened, she's almost an open book with her motivations. Look at what her life's been leading up to now. She's been smack in the middle of a living hell, under the thumb of people who have the power to do things like that, like they're nothing. That's got to instill a lot of fear of what they're capable of. They orphaned her. They turned her into some half EVO mutant. Her friends are missing and probably dead because of them. She's lost a lot because of them, and I'm sure she'd be damned before it happens again, when she could have prevented it. So she is by doing this."

"Stop making too much sense." Rex grumbled. "You're making it hard to wallow."

Bobo let out a gruff chuckle. "Just in time, looks like blondie is here to hand you your ass with that basketball."

Noah grinned and waved at them. "Hey, Rex!" he called, jogging closer. "Where's Kateri?"

Rex visibly flinched at her name.

The smile immediately dropped off Noah's face, but Bobo shook his head behind the Latino teen. Talk later he mouthed.

"Uh…okay. So, anything in particular you wanted to do?" he asked, obviously uncertain.

Rex squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath before standing. "No, don't start doing that. Ka…Kateri's not here. I'll explain later…much later, but for now, you're here in Bobo's transparent attempt to distract me. I've gotten enough pity from other people, so please don't walk on eggshells around me."

Noah's eyes widened a fraction in surprise. But it was short lived, then he twisted his hands around and threw the ball at Rex, letting a crooked smile that didn't quite reach his eyes tug at his mouth. "Alright, then let's play some ball."

Rex caught it relatively easily.

"Thanks, man."

(*)

Forty five minutes later, Rex and Noah were panting and sweating profusely, while Bobo laughed at them, hanging from the rim of the hoop with one hand while the ball was clasped in the other.

"Remind me again why we thought we could beat a monkey at basketball?" Noah asked. "He can climb the post for god's sake!"

"Because he's a dirty cheater." Rex grumbled, flopping over on the pavement and using the hem of his shirt to wipe the sweat off his face. His jacket was discarded minutes into them playing, the Mexico heat far too much to keep it on.

"You suck either way, not like it's gonna make a difference." Bobo said, giving the ball a languid toss before releasing the rim. It swished through the net before falling into Bobo's hands.

"Why am I friends with you?" Rex griped. "All you do is make fun of me and get me in trouble."

"You make fun of me back and half those things were your idea." the primate shot back with a smirk.

"…Touché."

Noah glanced over at Rex. "You think what I'm thinking?"

"If you're thinking of tacos, then the answer would be yes."

"That's my man."

After another few minutes, the two boys finally managed to pick themselves up off the ground, walking in companionable silence.

"So…I don't wanna push for details, but can I at least get a Sparknotes version of what's going on?" Noah finally asked, albeit reluctantly. He'd managed to lift Rex's spirits a bit, and didn't exactly want to backpedal, but curiosity had been eating at him.

Rex's eyes slid to the ground. "She left." He said bluntly. "Apparently those people she worked for were pretty pissed after we busted their lab and wiped most of their intel, so they held a contingency over her head to force her to come back."

"Contingency?"

Rex wordlessly pointed to himself, and the pieces clicked into place for Noah pretty quickly.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Noah didn't pry any further, which Rex was grateful for.

They approached the taco shop they would frequent, the employees not even batting an eye at Bobo, so used to his presence by this point. The little shop wasn't altogether too busy, but it was still fairly steady inside. After the massive curing, Rex had gotten quite a bit of media attention, to the point even the ostentatious teen had withdrawn to Providence until it calmed a bit. As a result, his favorite taco joint received an overflowing amount of business and was still doing well. They would frequently throw a few extra tacos into his order on the house for it, since they were one of the few places he'd been on consistently good terms with even beforehand, since he'd never managed to trash their building.

"Rex!" piped the girl at the counter, a gray eyed brunette named Luna. "Been a while since you showed your mug around here. Same as usual?"

He mustered a weak smile and just nodded.

"Something wrong?" she asked, barely looking at the register as her fingers clicked over the keys.

"Yeah, just…been kinda stressed out lately." He replied vaguely.

"Sorry to hear that." She murmured. A few minutes later, she retrieved the tray from the window, three more tacos than he'd ordered resting on it. She then stopped by the glass pane and grabbed a few fritters out of the display. "Here, take these too. Mina pulled them out not too long ago, so they're still warm."

"Thanks." He said genuinely, stepping back when Noah's food came down.

Rex passed Bobo his food and two of the three extra tacos before unwrapping one of his own.

"So, I do at least have some exciting news." Noah said around a mouthful of loaded nachos. "I finally got a car."

"Seriously? Nice, dude." Rex replied.

"Yeah, my mom snagged a really good deal off a friend of hers that works of a dealership. It's a good few years old, but there's not a lot of miles on it and it's in good condition. Blue Subaru."

"Cool, bet it'll be nice to not have to pedal everywhere." Rex commented, squeezing taco sauce onto the next taco.

"So nice. Also nice because now Claire doesn't have to drive us on all our dates. What about you? You ever gonna get a real license?" Noah asked.

"Eh." Rex shrugged. "I mean, even if I did, I kinda have, like, four different modes of transportation built in. Literally. Not sure how much good it'd do me."

"Fair enough. But they're also kinda conspicuous if you're trying to blend it." Noah pointed out, but Rex just shrugged.

"So is my face, by now." His famous face still drew plenty of attention in public, though nearly all of Rex's media hype had died down, especially since EVOs were a relatively rare occurrence anymore, and even more rare that they were aggressive. Rex could tell a difference in the nanites, they weren't as wild as they once were, leaving many of the EVOs that did form pretty docile unless provoked. They honestly weren't much different from the regular animals they once were, just more dangerous if you did manage to anger them.

Rex picked up one of the warm fritters, and barely managed to bite it before his eyes widened and his throat seemed to close up. Blinking hard, he forced himself to swallow so he didn't start to choke, but his stomach turned and he immediately felt like he was going to throw up.

"Uh, dude?" Noah asked. "You alright?"

"Yeah...you can have those." Rex nudged the fritters across the table.

Noah glanced at them curiously. "Um, no thanks. Do, uh, do you just wanna head back?"

He could see Rex's hands clenched on the table as he tried to reign in his emotions.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

He stood, and without a word, tossed the strawberry fritters into the trash.

So yeah. The next good handful of chapters do revolve in Rex being in a pretty dark mental state, and I did my best to base this around some personal experiences of my own, so I hope it comes across.

Sidenote, I did ask looooong while back on opinions of making Federico gay, and I got a couple mixed answers, but I ultimately decided to keep it out of the sheer fact it's something of a rarity in things like this. That said, I kept the part very minor, and it won't be relevant to anything else.

Also, after this, I'm going to be doing perspective switched every other chapter, one following Kateri, one following Rex. I did this for a few reasons, one being that now that I've figured out the ending, I don't want to rush it, and two being I think it's important to show both sides and this is the best way for me personally to keep an even balance.

Last thing, I apologize for there likely being more typos than usual. The past few days have been nothing but a clusterfuck of things going on(boyfriend going into the Air Force, moving stuff, new job stuff, the works. I hate adulting, I demand a refund. and even now it's almost 11 o'clock and I'm running off 2 hours of sleep, editing was attempted and quickly became not a thing.

But yeah, I hope y'all liked the chapter, please leave me a review and tell me what you think! I hope to have the next chapter up for you soon!