Author's Note:

Well, I've made it to the second chapter and don't plan on slowing down anytime soon. I hope to keep that up. This chapter's going to be a longer one, so buckle your seatbelts and enjoy the ride.

I just want to pause here and give a special thanks to those that commented on the first chapter- YellowAngela and Silvanna Nightlight. Generator Rex doesn't have a lot of fans crawling around the internet as compared to other pieces of media, but I'm glad for the ones that we have. I also want to thank the silent readers who may see this- hope you're enjoying what I got so far.

Another special thanks to YellowAngela, just for being one of the people that keeps the flame going on this niche corner of the internet, and for being a very supportive person in general.

I do not own Generator Rex.

Trigger Warning for this chapter: brief mention of suicide statistics.

Rex Salazar's neighborhood was as uniform as a soldier's mandated chrome chestplate. It sat as a cookie-cutter village in the lone Arizonian desert, most buildings two stories high with large windows running up the walls. Each structure sported a silhouette reminiscent of tall slabs of tofu, a look that would make any minimalist architect beam with pride. Solar panels made each roof shine blue.

Sunrise crested over the houses, spilling orange light into Rex's bedroom. His wife, Circe, liked to keep some of the shutters on the window-wall open so she could see the stars at night and sunlight during the day. Rex opened his eyes to see her- a mass of long black hair spun in a wicked bedhead from a night's sleep. Smudged mascara darkened the space under Circe's eyes from forgetting to take her makeup off before bed. Rex scooted close so he can put his arms around her shoulders.

He nudged his forehead against Circe's and closed his eyes. He listened to the sound of her slow, rhythmic breathing as if it could wash over him and erase all the things he had to do that day. All the guilt.

Rex felt Circe stir awake. Her head turned side to side languidly, before she scooted down so she could rest her head on his chest.

"Good morning." She yawned. He could smell that she needed to brush her teeth, and he guessed that his morning breath was doing no better.

"Good mornin'." Rex said, giving her a squeeze.

They laid there quietly for a moment, until Circe broke the silence.

"Isn't it a big day today?" Circe looked up at his face, her reddish-brown eyes implying that they should probably get up. "We got to get ready for it."

"Maybe if we lay here for the rest of eternity, no one will notice?" Rex said with a hopeful lightness in his voice.

Circe thoughtfully clicked her lips together as if she was considering the idea. "Hmmm..."

"We can stay here for five more minutes." Rex put a hand on her head and ran it slowly down the top of her hair.

Circe sighed, laying her head back down on his chest. "You make quite the convincing argument. Five more minutes."

In actuality, it was only three minutes before a child broke through their door and careened into their room like a gremlin creature.

The gremlin creature, an unstoppable force made up of perpetually tangled, long black hair and superhero pajamas, dashed with loud, bare feet to the side of her parent's bed. She began shaking Rex with the veracity of an earthquake (who opted to pretend to be asleep as soon as she made her entrance.)

The gremlin was either not convinced of his act, or didn't care one way or the other about his state of consciousness. "Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad, Dad, Dad." She said with each excited shake of his shoulder.

Rex pretended to open his eyes groggily, as if for the first time, and yawned like he'd been asleep for a hundred years. He wrapped his arms around his daughter. "Yes? This is dad speaking."

"You promised to go riding out with me today by the canyon." She said, almost accusing him of a slight against her, seeing as he wasn't even dressed for it.

"I promised that, huh?" Rex said, looking over to his wife, who had a large smile on her face.

Their daughter, Violetta, nodded her head with a serious look in her eye. "Yes. And you said I could ride my bike this time."

At that, Rex's smile faltered. Violeta usually rode on the back of his hoverbike, one he'd conjure up with his powers, while he drove. Violeta never rode her hoverbike during their desert drives. Without him, what would stop his steadfast daughter from crashing into a raveen?

Violeta conjuring up a hoverbike to do a slow lap around the Petting Zoo at Providence Base under the watchful eye of him and a team of scientists was one thing...but for her to ride alongside him around Rookie Canyon? She was only eleven. She could get hurt.

"I don't know about that, Vi. You haven't ridden around the desert before." Rex looked at Circe for confirmation. He hoped his wife had a better gauge of what was too dangerous and what wasn't, seeing as his was a bit stunted from a youth spent as a heroic daredevil.

Circe only shrugged though. "If she goes slow, I don't see the problem with it. She's been able to make a bike since she was five."

Rex sighed. "Well…"

"I promise I'll be careful!" Violeta said, back straight in a military posture. "Serious! I'm the most careful driver I can think of."

Rex rubbed his eyes and made an unconvinced groan.

"You said I could." Violeta said.

"When did I do that?" Rex set his jaw on his hand.

"Yeah, when did you do that?" Circe addressed Rex with a quirk of her eyebrow. "Mister 'I-Don't-Know-About-That over here."

"Hey. When has my memory ever been good?" Rex said, playfully batting a hand over at her.

"The day before yesterday I asked dad if I could ride my own bike around Rookie Canyon," Violeta pointed an accusing finger at her dad. "and you said 'probably on Friday'." She then clasped her hands together as if she thought her argument was bulletproof. That was Violeta— she had the spirit of a particularly stubborn lawyer when she had her mind made up.

Rex laughed. "Key word is probably, mi hija. I didn't promise anything."

Violeta deflated, her shoulders sagging with the weight of a daughter's disappointment. Rex could feel his heart budge slightly at the performance.

"I promise I'll be careful. Like, so careful. I won't even think about doing a donut. I'll just ride forward." She batted her eyelashes for added effect. It seemed like today she was really laying it on thick.

Rex knew that she wasn't going to leave without a satisfactory answer. He smiled airily. "Okay, okay. I'll think about it. But only after breakfast. I do have to present the Providence Medal of Valor this evening, or your uncle Six will bust my a— ah... my favorite vase. He'll bust my favorite vase. Figuratively."

Circe snorted.

This answer didn't seem to satisfy Violeta, but it wasn't a cause for devastation either. "Okay…" Violeta said, turning to leave.

Before she could though, Circe pointed up to the ceiling and announced that she did not get her morning hug. Violeta ran up to mom's side of the bed and gave her a quick squeeze.

-o-

It was Rex's turn to cook breakfast, which he was relieved about— Violeta wasn't allowed to badger him while he was in the kitchen, just as she wasn't allowed to badger mom whenever she's in there, either.

Circe sat at the kitchen table, light streaming in on her bed-head and black nightgown, looking like a goth queen despite her disarray. She drank a cup of coffee slowly, while their seven year old son- Raphael- sat beside her with a mighty cowlick on his head. Violeta preferred to sit crisscross on the floor, impatiently trying to figure out a rubix cube, mumbling PG curses to herself.

The two kids were opposites from just looking at their little quirks— Raphael sat in his chair in quiet contemplation that seemed beyond his years, while Violeta needed to be distracted by the next big conquest.

Raphael was sorting a motley crew of markers in order of shade, thinking hard over a blank sheet of paper by the severe look on his face. He looked like a tiny version of Rex- a bright little boy with spiky black hair and dark bronze skin. His eyes had that same slender almond shape, too. One of the things that was noticeably Circe about him was he had his mother's eye color— brown, almost red, like a vampire from a movie screen.

Violeta was the opposite. She looked like her mom— had her mom's slender nose, same angular face-shape. She had a darker eye-color though, one that looked just like Rex's— so brown they were nearly black as stones. Violeta had more melanin in her skin than Circe too, courtesy of Rex's side.

The holo-TV fizzed to life in the corner of the room. Rex usually put the hologram on while he cooked. The images from the TV floated with a blue glow in mid-air, and the news droned along with the sound of sizzling bacon...

"Hello, I'm Dianne Farrah with Ultimate Exposure, here as we celebrate Providence Veteran's day fourteen years after the world-wide curing event…"

Circe let out a huff of a sigh from the table. "Why's Ultimate Exposure on? You know Dianne Farrah's crazy."

"Yeah." Rex said in agreement, a kiss the cook apron around his waist. He knew that his wife hated Ultimate Exposure for being so easily duped into supporting the muscle-control collars forced upon EVOs all those years ago. "She's insane. But I have to keep up with it. It's where most of the rumors about Providence begin to spread, bad news or not."

"She tried to climb over the backyard fence so she could get an interview with you." Circe said in a low, flat tone— and Rex wanted to laugh at the memory. Their neighbor's dog had started to chase the camera man, and Diane's skirt had gotten caught on their fence.

"And crazy people on TV amuse me." Rex shrugged with a sly grin on his face, spatula still in hand. "She's like… a train crash. You can't look away."

"That news lady said my nose looked weird." Raphael pointed to his nose, speaking softly. He wasn't a morning child. "That's what I saw on the TV once. She said it looked too big."

"What?" Circe said, putting her coffee down with a jolt. "When did she say that?"

Raphael titled his little head to the side and thought. "On the TV...I think... in one of those interviews."

"I remember that." Rex said, turning just a bit so he could face his family. "She said it like this," and then Rex mimicked Diane Farrah's voice by making it whiny and high-pitched. "that child of Rex's sure has a big snout for such a tiny guy."

Violeta snorted at his impression.

"Really. What a jerk. Wouldn't know a small nose from a big one if it killed her." Circe scrunched up her own nose. "Raphael, I think you have the cutest nose I ever saw, and you're one of the most beautiful people I've ever known. Don't let anyone tell you different. Next time lil' miss news tries that crap, she'll have to go through me." She punctuated this by reaching over to tussle his hair. Raphael tried to bat her hand away. "Know why she shouldn't have said it?" She asked.

"We don't make rude comments about somebody's appearance." Raphael droned automatically. "Even if they're ugly."

A hint of a smile appeared on Circe's face, like she was trying not to laugh at Raphael's addition to the lesson. "Except no one's ugly, as long as they're nice on the inside- right?"

Raphael shrugged. "Yeah." He said blandly. "I guess."

Rex burst out laughing, not bothering to smother it. "Yeah. I guess." He echoed.

Diane Farrah's voice still rang through their home: "...activists like Annette Han are using this day to bring awareness to the trials of veteran life. Providence Veteran's day comes at a bitter-sweet time for many as the suicide rate among veterans is still disproportionately high. A question hovers over all of us this year: where are the resources for those that fought for us bravely during the six-year EVO outbreak? I now take you to a live..."

Rex turned the holo TV off. "You're right. That's enough of that." Smile gone, he wordlessly went back to cooking.

Still, Ultimate Exposure wasn't the problem. It was the fact that they hit the nail on the head, for once. Maybe they were trying to be on their best behavior on Providence Veteran's Day.

Circe looked over her cup, and aside from the two energetic children with them, the kitchen became silent and sober.

Rex soon had a breakfast of bacon and huevos rancheros ready. Plates and forks were sent around with a clatter, and the warm smell of food lifted into the air.

"So how 'bout that canyon ride, huh? Let's go right after breakfast. I think it's time you've tried it on your own bike." Rex said once the meal had begun in earnest.

Violeta's eyes lit up.

Raphael shuddered at the idea. "Hover rides are too scary."

"You always say that," Violeta said, outwardly offended that her favorite pastime could be anything but praised. "But every time you ride on Dad's bike you're always like 'that wasn't so bad' and 'I think biking's actually fun'. You sir, are a hypocrite."

Raphael rose to the bait. His rebuttal was as timeless as the existence of siblings itself. "Am not."

And Violeta's response was another known classic in the ongoing sibling dialogue. "Are to."

"Am not."

"Are to."

"Am not."

"Are to."

"Am not!"

"Kids." Circe warned. "I don't want to hear it this morning. Don't make me do something you'll regret. Like getting involved."

Raphael frowned. "But-"

"Nope." Circe put her hand down on the table as if that was the end of that. Her fingernails were painted midnight black. "I haven't finished my coffee. No arguing."

Rex smiled. "Listen to your mother. Keep her happy." He nudged Raphael like they were co-conspirators. "Trust me. It's better for all of us that way."

-o-

The flat, hard-baked land gave way to desert bluffs that rose up like giants. A raveen ran deep into the earth as if one of those giants had taken a mile-long slice out of the ground— a neat and layered cake-piece. Orange and dry, Rookie Canyon had its own sort of mute splendor. The sky was a perfect robin's egg blue.

Violeta tightened the chin strap on her helmet. Rex moved to help her adjust her pink goggles too, but she put her foot down and said she could do it herself. She was eleven, after all.

Rex frowned and considered the already-bright sky. "Let's put some more sunscreen on your face." He decided.

"Pretty sure I got everything." Violeta said, her young face twisting into a scowl that oddly reminded him of her uncle Six.

"Hmm…nah. Let's add more." Rex was already placing a tiny dollop of zinc and SPF-70 on his hand. "The desert sun is not something to mess around with."

"Dad." Violeta started, Rex painted sunscreen on her nose anyway. She raised her hands up. "I'm going to look stupid by the time you're done!"

"You look fine." Rex said, a defensive tilt to his voice. He was still holding up the bottle of sunscreen, as if not sure whether he was done.

Violeta cracked a belligerent smile. "Serious. I think we got all of it. I promise."

Rex finally stood down, gazing at the oily sheen he had added to her face. "Okay fine. I'm just making sure you don't get burned."

"I won't." Violeta rolled her eyes. Circe didn't like it when their daughter did that, but Rex couldn't help but admire the craftsmanship of her eye roll. She could practically roll her eyes back into her head as if possessed by a demon.

Rex moved his goggles from the top of his head to his eyes. "Well then, mi hija, let's get started."

Violeta's mouth formed a toothy smile. She moved her goggles over her eyes just as Rex had done.

In a flash, blue lines appeared throughout her body. The nanites flowing through her revved up until a machine grew out of her lower legs. An orange hover motorbike appeared as an extension of herself. Violeta revved the engine on the bike she had just created.

Before Rex could match her by creating a hoverbike with his powers, she sped off so fast she left a cloud of dust in her wake. Rex coughed at the taste of sandy gravel.

Rex's eyebrows shot up once he got his bearings, and he transformed his hoverbike. "Violeta! Slow down!"

He could hear his daughter's wild laughter in the wind, and knew that slowing down wasn't going to be the case.

Rex's lips formed a thin line and he shot forward so he could fall into step with Violeta's pace.

It seemed Violeta's master plan was to race him all throughout the canyon.

This was something Rex would've done when he was younger, he supposed. He remembered his illicit flights and rides that took him from Providence Base and out into the desert all alone, where the wind stole all his breath. He remembered running away so he could explore cities and towns with his old pal and chimp sidekick Bobo. All the mischief they got into.

Violeta didn't fall far from the tree. For some reason, that made his heart beat faster than the race did. Violeta shouldn't be like Rex. She should be…

Safe.

Rex was side-by-side with his daughter now, the wind whipping both of them. He was glad he'd given her goggles, or the wind would've had her eyelids flapping open comically.

"Violeta!" He called over the din. "Slow down this instant!" Rex hated losing part of his cool dad demeanor (and the this instant line was sure to put a nail on the coffin of that.) but his head was full of visions of her bike breaking apart or losing control.

"Why?" Violeta's small voice rang like a thunderclap in the wind. He heard the annoyance in her tone.

"What do you mean why?! We agreed you would go slow!" Rex felt his hackles rise an iota. He didn't normally get mad at his kids, but when he did it was over stuff like this.

"But you got to do all kinds of dangerous stuff when you were a kid! Why don't you think I can?!" Violeta's bike hummed into a loud, electronic rumble as she sped up all the more.

Rex grumbled a non-PG curse under his breath that was soft enough to be taken by the wind.

Because you're my daughter. He wanted to say. And you still have a childhood you need to finish, for one thing.

They raced through the desert while Rex hoped that she would soon listen to his orders. Sometimes she would slow down, which would make Rex do the same, only to speed up again— as if she was playing with him. Rex wanted her to know that he wasn't playing.

Soon they both zoomed into a tall ravine, where the walls were made of thick, glistening minerals and the spare trickle of a river spun under them like babbling diamonds. The walls grew as tall as skyscrapers, and a narrow turn in the ravine appeared up ahead.

Violeta swerved to the side, twisting so she could try to turn without crumbling into a roll. For a second, her center of gravity dipped, making Rex's stomach clench.

Miraculously, she righted herself and turned with the grace of a fish darting through a clear pool.

With a start, Rex wondered if she'd done this before. Without him.

Rex turned at the right moment, river water spraying against his face as he set himself close to the ground.

Once he got through with the turn, he saw Violeta zig zagging up ahead all throughout the ravine.

Rex had decided that he'd seen enough.

"Violeta Salazar!" He yelled in his I'm-your-dad-and-you're-in-deep-trouble voice. "Stop your hoverbike, now!"

That was what finally got through to the girl, who had only heard that particular intonation of his voice on rare but harrowing occasions.

Her hoverbike's roar coughed into a dull grumble, and she slowed to a halt.

Rex's bike did the same, until he was once again side-by-side with her. Rex tore his goggles off his face.

"Kiddo." He said with a loud sigh, one that moved his shoulders up and down. "What were you thinking? When I say stop— you stop. We agreed that you were going to take it easy for this ride. What if you had gotten hurt?"

Violeta moved her goggles from her eyes and lifted her chin at him, but the fire in her eyes simmered when she saw his expression. She unwound her bike until the machine collapsed back into her legs and she was standing on her own two feet again. She stared at the desert floor, suddenly sheepish about what she'd done.

"I wasn't going to get hurt, dad." She said, not looking at him.

Rex frowned. He summoned his hoverbike back into his nanite-ridden body. He put his hands on his hips and stared down at his kid with exasperation. "You could have." He reminded her.

Violeta's head snapped up, part of her fire back. "I've done it before! I've ridden out into the desert super fast and I haven't gotten hurt yet."

Rex felt his scowl worsen. It wasn't hard to imagine—Violeta sneaking out into the cool desert while the stars hung in the sky like scores of fireflies, when the rest of her family slept. There's no telling what other kind of trouble she could've gotten up to, unsupervised. "Admitting to going behind my back isn't exactly helping your case."

"You saw how good I was!" Violeta folded her arms across her small chest. "If I have the stuff to do it, then why can't I?"

Rex breathed in deeply and held the upper bridge of his nose as if that would single-handedly stop the migraine from coming on. "It doesn't matter if you're a freaking NASCAR racer! It's not up to you! It's my job to keep you safe! You're my responsibility. And you're not bulletproof, mi hija—"

"You got to do all sorts of stuff when you were a kid! You told me about how you used to work with a crime boss when you were nearly my age! What's one fast ride through the desert?" Though Violeta's voice wasn't so confident near the end of her sentence, and she stared and the ground again.

Rex scrutinized her for a moment, not knowing what to say. Her attitude toward him stung. He chose his words carefully. "Vi...it's not a good thing that I was in that sort of situation. I would never give that sort of childhood to you or anyone else. I want you to lead a normal life. A safe one. It's not your place to compare my past to your present. You have no idea what it was like— it wasn't always fun to be in danger. It wasn't always an adventure. I was scared a lot."

Violeta was quiet. "I'm sorry." She said finally.

"What if someone saw you use your powers while you've been going out without my permission?" Rex said. "I want people to leave you alone, Vi. I don't want people to treat you like you're just some EVO and nothing else— a weapon. Only your family and the doctors at Providence can know about what you can do until you're grown."

Violeta nodded. "I know. I'm sorry."

Rex knelt in front of her. "We can talk about giving you more freedom to try new things with your powers, but you can't go behind my back. I want you to be able to talk about things like this. If you feel like I'm smothering you, we can compromise. Right now you just have to trust me, and I have to be able to trust you."

Violeta nodded, her face still gazing at the floor.

Rex cocked his head to the side so he could make eye contact with her. "I love you." He said.

Violeta looked at him. "I love you too."

Rex smiled and wrapped his arms around her.

"Also, you're so grounded."

"I know." Violeta said in a resigned voice.

"We're going home now." Rex released her from the hug. I have to get ready to present a medal, anyway. He thought with a pang of nervousness forming in his stomach.

Violeta stepped back and created her hoverbike again, only for Rex to put a hand on his hip.

"And what do you think you're doing?" He asked.

"Um." Violeta said, a confused but cautious look on her face. "Going home?"

"Nuh uh. Not like that. You're riding with my bike, and then when we get home we're going to have to talk to your mother about this whole episode." His you're-in-trouble dad-voice was back in full swing.

Violet groaned. Being grounded was one thing, but being chewed out by Circe was infamously unpleasant to all members of the Salazar family. At that, Rex felt a pang of sympathy for the girl.