Author's Note: Hi All! Wow it has been awhile. Super sorry about that but I do have every intention of finishing both this story and Kidnapped at some point in the future. For now I am going to focus on this one since I suddenly figured out how I wanted this to play out recently. I have a timeline written out so hopefully that will motivate me to finish this one quickly. Here is an extra long chapter as an apology. Thanks for sticking with it! On with the story!

Six felt slightly nauseous as he watched Rex scarf down his second burger in the last five minutes. He decided to just focus on his own burger though instead of making a comment seeing as the teen had had it rough in the past 48 hours. Six finished up his own burger at the same time Rex finished his two since he was eating at a normal pace.

They sat there a moment in silence as Rex wiped the grease off his face and hands before Rex leaned back in his seat and put his hands behind his head and exclaimed, "That really hit the spot after all those tests! I think that was a record for how many times Holiday has stuck me with needles!"

Six knew this was Rex's way of dealing with things; make light of the situation in an attempt to make himself feel better about what the reasoning behind the tests was. "It'll have been worth it," he said in his typical fashion.

Rex sighed and hunched forward, "I know." He started twirling his straw around in his drink, content to focus on that instead of looking up at Six before continuing, "I just- I know it's necessary and I want to know what's going on with me as much as you guys do, but it's hard not to go a little stir-crazy with all the tests normally. So thanks, I know I'm not going to be able to leave Providence once Holiday gets all the test results back, with you guys needing to watch and monitor me all the time."

"I could probably buy you some more time," Six said getting up to clear away their trash. "Anywhere in particular you wanted to go?"

Rex got up too and they started to head back to where they parked Six's jump jet. "Can I see if Noah wants to shoot some hoops?" Six nodded. "Sweet!" He got out his phone and was about to hit the call button on Noah's profile when their comms went off.

"Six here," he answered first while Rex was paused over the call button, listening to the call in his ear as well.

"We have a level one E.V.O. attacking in Phoenix, Arizona. All available personnel on deck, and you had better have a good excuse as to why you and Rex weren't on base like you were supposed to be," White's voice demanded before Holiday suddenly cut in.

"White I already talked to you about this! Rex has been taken off active duty, he can't be using his nanites until I get the results to all the tests, we don't know how using his powers in that magnitude will react with the toxin Van Kleiss injected him with! You'll be putting him in critical danger!"

White cut back in before Rex or Six could say anything. "Yes, doctor I read your report and since your tests have been inconclusive so far and you don't even know what he was injected with, or even at all seeing as there is no evidence of it in his bloodstream, Rex WILL report with Agent Six. NOW."

Rex managed to cut in first this time. "Doc, don't worry. I'm sure it'll be fine and it's a level one! They need me!"

"Rex has been fine so far, Doctor Holiday, I will keep close watch on him like always," Six said as he and Rex sprinted into the jet and Six got them up into the air.

Holiday huffed on the line before saying, "Rex are you sure? I'll be able to monitor you from the Keep but I won't be able to do anything for you unless you are in this lab."

"Doc, you worry too much!" Rex said in an almost convincing imitation of his usual self. "I'll have that E.V.O. cured in no time!"

"Now that that's SETTLED," White cut in once again, "Get going! NOW!"

"On the way," Six said calmly.

"Jeez, I think White busted my ear drum!" Rex exclaimed as he rubbed his ear.

"Just get ready to jump unless you want him to actually succeed in busting it when we get there." Six said

"Yeah, yeah," Rex said, getting up with a giant stretch. "I just hope this doesn't take forever."

The hatch doors opened on the jump jet and Rex looked down on the E.V.O. he would be facing. It was about as big as his first real job out in the field. It was a gelatinous looking blob that resembled a slug more than anything else. It was bright blue with a giant, gaping mouth, full of razor sharp teeth. The mouth was the only thing that really made it so you could tell what was the front and what was the back however.

As Rex dropped out of the craft and opening up his Smack Hands, he noticed that the E.V.O. was leaving a trail of florescent blue slime in it's wake which probably wasn't good for anyone's health. The Providence grunts had already engaged and were currently shooting everything they got, but the skin of the E.V.O. just absorbed all of their shots.

He hit the E.V.O. at full speed on the back of what he thought was the top of its head and sent it crashing down into the street underneath it. A shockwave knocked out the glass of the surrounding buildings and Rex wasn't surprised when Six cut in with a reprimand.

"Minimal damage possible, Rex," he said with a sigh.

Rex knew under normal circumstances he could expect an especially grueling training session but maybe he would get away with it this time. Either way, he was too busy fighting to grace Six with a response at the moment. He ground his whirling Smack Hand into the Slug E.V.O., pushing it further to the ground, receiving a deafening roar in return before the beast bucked him off and threw him through the air.

He formed his Punk Busters, flipping over in the air to land on his feet, before charging back at the slug. The E.V.O. roared again and began to shoot spikes at Rex that seemed to materialize from under its skin. Rex dodged and kept charging forward as Six flew to deal with the possibility of civilians getting hit by the flying projectiles.

Rex had leapt into the air and was about to step on the slug with all his might when the E.V.O. suddenly spit blue gunk at him and all the grunts that were still firing down on it. Rex managed to dodge the first spit unlike the grunts but wasn't so lucky as the E.V.O. kept spitting.

He got knocked back by a giant glop of the stuff, which smelled none too fresh he might add, and toppled over onto the ground as he lost the concentration of his machines.

"AUGHHH!" He yelled as shook as much of the stuff off himself as he could from his position on the ground.

The E.V.O. started to slide away then and Rex jumped up and yelled "Did I say you could leave?!" Before he formed his Slam Cannon and took a chunk of street and shot it at the slug.

The thing turned back around and roared again, clearly getting ready to spit the disgusting stuff out of its mouth again and Rex formed his Boogie Pack before he could get sprayed again. He flew up in the air again before forming his Smack Hands once more and pounding it into the ground again, shattering even more windows.

Before he could get an even more exasperated reprimand and a "hurry it up" from Six, Rex rescinded his machines and reached out his hand, blue lines already starting to travel up his arm as he placed his hand on the E.V.O. and felt the familiar whirl of his nanites reacting. The slug shrunk down and down until it was back to a human male again, lying in the middle of the crater that had been created with the last smack.

Rex got up from where he was kneeling next to the person and helped the man up. The man got lead away by some providence grunts who were not covered in blue gunk and Six came up behind him.

Rex turned around with his hands on his hips and said "Another satisfied customer," shooting Six a big grin who just raised an eyebrow at him before looking him up and down.

"Go get hosed down with everyone else, you won't be getting in my jet like that."

"What? You don't think blue is my color?" Rex asked with false hurt.

Six just rolled his eyes behind his shades, or that's what Rex thought he did before he pointed at the line to get hosed off and Rex went on his way.

When they got back to the Keep Holiday was waiting for them, ready to do a routine check-up on Rex to make sure everything had gone as it was supposed to when he cured that E.V.O.

Rex sat up on the examination table as Holiday shined a light in his eyes, while Six leaned on a counter off to the side.

"Everything went the same as it always does, Doc," Rex was saying after being asked how he mission went. "I punch the E.V.O., Six does damage control, I cure it, end of story."

"How did the cure go? Did everything feel the same as it normally does?" She was now testing his reflexes with the usual rubber hammer to the knees.

"Yep. I paid careful attention to that myself but it all felt the same as always: Rush of nanites, slight pushback from the E.V.O., forcing my nanites to override them, and then being slightly dizzy for a sec when it's all over. Nothing unusual."

"Okay, good. Now lie back and left me just get a full body scan and then you need to shower, you're stinking up my lab."

"Does it really smell that bad? I got them to spray me over twice since Six is so touchy about his precious jet," Rex said as he laid back trying to see if he could smell himself.

"Yes, it's that bad." Six said from his perch. "You're lucky I let you in my jet at all."

Rex just stuck out his tongue as the scanner got to work. After that was over he hopped off the table and headed for the door.

Six followed him out and walked with him to his room as Rex grabbed his shower stuff. When Rex came out he looked at Six with surprise that he was still there before he realized. "Seriously?! I know Doc said you needed to watch me at all times but isn't this taking it a bit too far?!"

"I don't want to watch you shower either, kid. Don't worry you can use the curtain still."

"Wait, you aren't even going to wait outside?! You're going to sit right in front of the shower?!"

"I prefer to stand."

Rex squinted up at him and saw what looked suspiciously like a smirk before he huffed and pushed ahead of Six down the hallway. "Couldn't we do this in your bathroom then, instead of the communal one?"

"No."

"Will you at least turn around while I'm getting into the shower?"

"I suppose I could do that."

Rex huffed again and walked into the shower area when they got to the bathroom. "How come you get your own bathroom anyway?" He asked, annoyed, as he started to undress. "I should get my own if you get one."

"When you have 'special agent' in front of your name instead of just 'agent' you can have your own bathroom too."

"Well I should," Rex said as he stepped inside the shower and turned the water on. "I'm the only E.V.O. to have complete control over my nanites. How much more special can I get?" He then dramatically closed the shower curtain with all the flair of a boy who had decided the world had done him wrong.

Six definitely rolled his eyes that time.

Rex thought it was a little weird showering when you knew someone was right outside the curtain, listening to your every move just in case but after a few minutes he got over it and just went about his business.

He was spurting shampoo into his hand when a stray spurt got him straight in the eye and he dropped the shampoo bottle with a loud "OW!"

Six immediately stiffened from where he had been leaning against the wall and he asked in what was in no way panicked, "What's wrong?"

He had already reached for the curtain and started to pull it back when Rex yelled, "Wait! I just got shampoo in my eye! Haven't you ever done that before?!"

Six put the curtain back in place and stepped back to lean on the wall again, feeling a bit stupid for overreacting, which was so not like him to do.

Rex being his typical self tried to diffuse the tension, "Jeez, I didn't know you wanted to see me naked so bad, Six."

"The doctor told me to be on the lookout for any signs of pain," Six said, omitting head from the sentence since Holiday hadn't finished going over all of Rex's tests yet and there was no need to worry the kid further than he probably already was. Six coughed slightly and said "Sorry."

"Eh, it's alright, I appreciate the concern I suppose." Rex said and then he shut off the water. "Mind handing me my towel, Special Agent Six?"

Six decided not to comment at all and instead just picked up the towel and stuck his hand behind the curtain to hand it to him. He could hear the sounds of Rex drying off before Rex pulled the curtain back with the towel around his waist.

"Well, do I smell anymore?"

"It'll do." Six turned around then to give Rex privacy as he changed into shorts and a tshirt.

When he was finished they walked back out of the bathroom. Six saw Rex yawn more than once as they headed back to his room so Six commed Holiday "Six to Holiday, will you need more time on those tests?"

"Holiday here. Yes I think I need a few more hours, why?"

"Rex looks exhausted, I'm going to send him to bed. I can sit with him through the night."

"Okay, I'll come relieve you around 3 AM and we'll discuss my findings with him in the morning."

"Sounds good, Six out."

"What was that all about?" Rex asked, trying to come back out of his room despite Six standing in the doorway.

"You're going to bed since Holiday won't be done with your tests for a few more hours. Get settled while I go grab some mission reports I need to go over." Rex started to protest but Six cut him off. "Now."

Rex sighed and turned back around and made himself comfy in bed as he waited for Six to come back. He had to admit he was pretty tired.

Six came back in a few minutes later with a coffee and a stack of files along with the clipboard he had used the previous night.

Rex suppressed a groan when he saw it, knowing Six probably wanted to sleep as much as he did. "You can keep the lights on, but can you just dim them down a bit? Thanks."

Six sat down in Rex's desk chair and set up shop for the night, noticing that Rex was watching him. "I'm here to monitor you sleeping not laying there awake."

Rex huffed. "Well sorry, I'm not used to being stared at while I sleep."

"You were fine last night."

"Last night my nanites weren't fully functional which makes it hard to stay awake. Now they're fine so it isn't so easy."

"Just go to bed, Rex," Six said and it seemed like Rex noticed he was getting exasperated because he made no other complaints, just turned over so he was facing away from Six, and before long his breathing evened out and Six relaxed just a bit.