"Rex," Six's voice called out to the half asleep boy, "Get up. You slept in through training."

The teen opened his eyes to find the green ninja standing right next to his bedside in the bunker, the usual stoic look plastered across his face. It was a calm and quiet morning, and it seemed that he'd slept in most of it- he checked his phone to find it was almost ten in the morning. Rex yawned and shifted his legs to sit up, wondering what sort of training was in store for him.

"Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" the boy asked, his usual cheeky smile donning his features. "Looks like this is your fault, Six."

Six raised a brow at the teen's reaction towards his awakening. Normally the child would be annoyed and complain about work, but this time, he was seemingly amused by it. The green suited man nonetheless shrugged it off as an odd effect of sleep deprivation, and began to walk out the bunker.

"I had to take down minor EVOs," Six replied, opening the door to leave. "Remember, we don't have Providence soldiers to take care of things anymore."

Rex shrugged. "Yeah, that's what happens when Black Knight comes around. But it's a good thing we've still got Tighty Whitey around, right?"

The teen giggled at his own joke as he watched his aggro nanny leave, then rushed to change his clothes and grab his goggles before following suit. Judging by his actions from the previous night, today would be a very eventful day indeed. Rex supposed that was the reason he was cheery instead of grumpy in the morning- after all, he would hopefully get some majorly important plans done today.

Even if he did have to hurt some people to achieve them.

Rex bounded down the halls of their new hideaway base, feeling much more energized than when he'd woken up. True, he'd barely slept last night, so proper rest wasn't what was keeping him awake. Rather, it was the familiar adrenaline that pumped through his veins that kept him conscious and alert, and he knew he'd have to struggle to hide it from his coworker family. They might become suspicious of his behavior, after all.

And none of the best criminals showed warning signs.

"Hey, Doc," the teen greeted the woman sitting at a desk and pushing her face into a microscope. "Sorry I slept late. What's the punishment for missing training?"

Doctor Holiday turned her head to give him a quick smirk, then glanced back at her work. "I don't know, Rex. It's up to Six today. I've got too much work to handle."

"What are you doing?"

"Six brought me back some EVO samples from his trip out this morning- I think it's sweet- and I've got all day to analyze them. The measurements of the size of their DNA is remarkable, and I might even begin to see the formation of new types of nucleotides. In fact-"

"Finally, the laziest worker on the team is awake," White Knight's voice interrupted as he entered the room. "Do you expect everyone to cater to your every whim?"

Rex's blood ran ice cold.

"Mm, no, I was just tired," the boy said slowly, his smile suddenly as fake as plastic. "I accidentally stayed up too late."

"At least you acknowledge your faults," the man in white scoffed. "Now, if only you could do that more often. No good weapon stays useless for long."

Rex remained silent, not trusting himself to speak. Then, only a few seconds later, he grinned genuinely. There was no need to talk when actions spoke louder than words, after all.

"Of course, sir," he mumbled under his breath. "I'm your perfect weapon."

Out of the blue, the sound of an alarm blasted through the building, causing the three of them to jolt in shock. Six hurried into the room, though not entering more than three feet inside.

"Rex," the man called out to him, "We have an EVO attack on the intersection of Britter and Pell. There have already been reports of multiple injuries. Under no circumstances should we allow Black Knight to reach this one."

Rex beamed, seeing that his hidden plans had successfully been set into motion. "Got it! It's a race! Coming!"

He rushed through the halls of the Base with the ninja, enthusiasm apparent in every step he took. Six thought nothing of it, attributing it to his usual teenage antics, and directed him towards the city with various orders. By the time they reached their intended destination, sparse amounts of blood had already been scattered across the streets. People screamed and desperately tried to drive away, only creating further traffic for themselves. It was complete and utter chaos plaguing a normally safe part of the city, and the teen's grin only stretched wider.

It was perfect.

"There it is," Six shouted, pointing to a silvery, metallic EVO causing havoc by thrashing at the cars around itself. "Not the most dangerous, but still nothing you want to aggravate further. Our best decision would be to take it through the forest, away from the civilians."

"Your swords can cut through that armor, right?" the boy asked, activating his jet pack and landing about a thirty feet away from the rampaging creature. "It's metal, but you can do better! I'll hold it down for you!"

Of course, the boy had no intentions of restraining the EVO. It would complete defeat the purpose of why he'd placed it there, after all. Instead, he made few swinging attempts at it with his Smackhands, missing the target on purpose. Judging by the way the silvery creature became startled and thrashed around even more, he'd accomplished the goal of forcing it to become even more dangerous.

Too bad the next part of his plan was a bit emotionally painful.

"Six!" Rex called out to his stoic mentor, making his voice as dramatic as possible. "I need help bad! It keeps getting away! I need your green bean ninja skills!"

The quiet agent sighed and scaled down the building he'd kept an eye out from, eventually landing only a few feet from the teen. "You need to learn to make an opening for an attack, not just wait for the opportunity."

"Yeah, okay, whatever," the young EVO groaned, making sure his acting skills were up to par. "Can you come look at this for a second? I think I found its weakness!"

Six and Rex wandered closer to the monstrous EVO, avoiding being hit by its long, spiky legs. The teen pointed at a black patch on the EVO's back, recognizing a lack of protective scales.

"It's right there!" the boy exclaimed, waving his hand frantically. "See it? Just dig your swords in there and it'll finally stop wrecking the place! Move a little closer and you'll find it!"

Six shook his head and walked a few steps forward, taking a closer look at the dark patch. "I know, Rex. It's obvious. Now, I need you to-"

The green ninja's words were cut off by a harsh blow to the back of his head, caused by Rex swinging his partially metal fists as hard as he could at the man's cranium. Six instantly fell unconscious, dropping into his attacker's waiting arms. The boy then used one Smackhand to carry his mentor as he made his hasty escape away from the chaotic scene, his heart pounding louder than the beat drops from his favorite music.

"I'm really sorry about that," the teen apologized to Six's unconscious body, smashing a window of an apartment room and placing his mentor safely onto a bed inside. "I didn't wanna do it, but you're gonna be okay. Doc's gonna fix you up just fine. She always does."

Rex then dashed out of the window and reentered the intersection and surrounding areas, trapping the EVO with unmoving cars. It horrified him when he realized that the vehicles were full of dead people, but he shook his head at his emotions, reminding himself that some collateral damage was necessary. He then made sure that the deadly EVO was still alive and fine, albeit heavily restrained.

"Someone's having a little trouble."

Rex spun around to find Black Knight standing a few feet away, making his eyes widen in shock. He knew he should have expected her, but with his plans being executed exactly the way he wanted them to, he realized he'd gotten too distracted. If he didn't fix the situation soon, everything he'd worked for for the past week would be lost.

"Ugh, not you again," the teen whined, genuinely this time. "I should have known you wanted another pet. What's this one gonna do, feed you grapes?"

Black Knight shrugged, her smug remaining intact. "No, but if you came to work for me, perhaps you could. Unlike White Knight, I'd actually pay you."

"That's a tempting offer, not gonna lie. But this EVO's my new buddy, and we've already bonded. You can't have him."

"I take what I want. Who are you against hundreds of my soldiers?"

Rex's eyes widened and peered around the streets, suddenly seeing various black soldiers invading the area. His heart sank to his stomach, making him wonder if this was really how fast he'd take a loss from the madwoman. Six was already down, and it was too late for Holiday to help. He scowled when he realized he'd sabotaged himself, courtesy of his own carelessness.

Unless he patched things up within the next few moments, he could kiss his mission goodbye.

"Wait!" Rex frantically yelled, desperation clear in his voice. "I'll give you the EVO. You can have him. But let's make a deal first."

Black Knight stared at the boy, astonished. "Are you giving up that soon?"

Rex scoffed. "No, I'm not. I'm actually gaining something from this in the end. But I wanna make a deal with you about it. You wanna hear it or not?"

"Go on," the woman replied, completely thrown off by the suggestion. "But if you think I know you won't attempt to backstab me in any way-"

"Shut up, I'm not backstabbing anyone," the teen cut her off. "That's your thing, anyways. Look. I'm going to take the EVO for a a couple of hours. Maybe not even that long, I don't know. But after I'm done with it, I'm going to bring it back here, and you can collar it and stuff. Okay?"

"What are you planning on doing with it?"

"None of your business. But I'm not going to use it against you, I promise. Deal?"

The violet-haired woman paused for a few seconds before nodding her head. "I don't know what you think you're doing, and I'll be sure to be on the watch for any attacks on my people, but... I suppose it's a deal."

Rex smirked.

He was back on track.