In the previous chapter:
Rex opened the door and first looked up, saw nothing there, then looked down at an enraged squawk-like sound. A monkey stood there with a pink bow around its neck. "Hoo hoo ha ha ha heeee!" it shrieked, which roughly translated means "I'm pregnant with Bobo's chimp children!"
"Bobo?" Rex called tremulously. "It's your um, wife?"
"My wife? But she's in South Africa!" Bobo came running then stared at the monkey. "Estella?"
"Hoo Heeee!"
"This is your wife, Bobo? You said she has big ears!"
"Well yeah, she's a rabbit."
"You married a rabbit? That is just plain evil!" Rex felt the urge to scream.
"It was Vegas!"
"Why does Vegas have anything to do with it?"
"It was either marry Elvis Presley or a rabbit. Do you have any idea how much I hate Heartbreak Hotel, chief?"
The monkey girl started wailing. "Hoo hoo ha ha heee hooo….EEEeeeee!" roughly translated as "I shall feed you to Van Kleiss, you have broken my heart, you never told me you were married…wait!" then it looked at Rex slyly. "Hooooo?" it asked seductively and fluttered its eyelashes.
"Bobo!" Rex looked afraid. "Why does it look like it wants to eat me?"
"I think she wants you to marry her, something about the circus will disown her if they think she's cheated on Aladdin's monkey…"
"Aiiieee!" Rex ran and Bobo slammed the door shut and ran after him. Moments later, the female monkey crashed through after them, leaving a trail of broken plaster, glass and metal behind it…
Will Rex have to marry the monkey that's expecting Bobo's chimps? Will Bobo steal a plane fast enough for them to escape her? Or will she marry Van Kleiss?
Just kidding. I just felt like writing something entirely different and this was what my mind decided to write.
Now to see if I can write the rest of this story.
Thanks to all my reviewers and readers, Kristie, Phantomgirl96, XxSkyexBluexX, Peacexfreedom, Honest, A Spirit, its Danni, Illuminati-4, , Lilly and Emma.
All the reviews are greatly appreciated!
Fell stood in the briefing room. "I trust you didn't tell them I was here?" he asked White Knight stiffly.
White Knight uttered a short laugh, sitting at his desk in his nanite-free room. "Do I seem like an idiot? Holiday would empty a canister of nanites into my coffee, and Six would empty a zoo full of EVOs into my office."
Fell's lips twitched. "You let them have far too many liberties."
"They guarded the world's only cure. They earned those liberties. Now the cure is next to useless, all I can do is ensure salvage."
Fell nodded and lowered his eyes to the photocopies of Dr Holiday's notes. His lips tightened to a thin line as he read, then finally he looked up at Knight. "When do you want the dissection to take place?"
"What is the lowest yet safest level of brain activity you need to get useful data and not trigger a fatal reaction from the nanites?" Knight answered.
Fell was silent for a moment. "He's only two levels away…studying the decline, I'd estimate an hour."
"Only an hour?" Knight showed the barest sign of surprise.
"Attached to the child?" Fell didn't allow himself to sneer.
"I've watched him grow up," Knight acknowledged. "It is a pity."
"No use wasting the rest of his life. I'll go ready a lab," Fell said. "I trust that the guard you set to accompany me won't let me accidentally cross Holiday or Six's paths? Not unless I really have to."
"Go, do what you have to do," Knight said coldly, and Fell left the room. A guard stood at ease, but straightened up as soon as Fell appeared. "Where to, sir?" the guard asked.
"My old lab," Fell smiled thinly, felt the bite of nostalgia as he followed the guard into the heart of Providence.
And so the hour began...1.00
Rex approached the vandalised phone box, his eyes flicking over anything that might move in the dark. He could only bring himself to take one step inside the phone box, had to stand with one foot outside in order to feel a little less cornered as he grabbed the phone book from the spray painted shelf. A few pages were torn out but he checked the P's. No Providence listed of course, it couldn't be that easy. He went to the emergency services page and there, listed on the same page as police, fire and hospital services, wasProvidence.
So if you were trapped in a fire, with one arm hanging off and an EVO about to eat the other arm, which service would you call first? The number for fire and hospital, and then hope you had enough time to call the emergency number for Providence? Rex kidded himself.
He picked up the phone, and then saw the severed end of the phone wire. Great. Grumpily he began to put the phone down, but then halted, his eyes narrowing. A cautious smile began on his lips then he put the severed ends together and channelled his nanites to connect it. Okay, he'd never fixed a phone before but he'd fixed pretty much anything else mechanical. A dial tone sprung into life and he whooped then dialled the number for Providence.
"Hi, I'd like to report a rampaging EVO," he told the person who answered.
"What kind of EVO?" she asked.
"Me." Then he put the phone down and ran to find a hiding place, activating his boogie pack and flew up the nearest building, dropped down behind its first ledge and hunkered down to wait. As he waited he rehearsed his speech to Callan. He might only have a minute or less to convince the guy not to shoot him after all. He had no idea how homicidal he might or might nor be in this reality. He'd spared Rex last time but that'd been close.
Speech version 1: Callan, Fell has Holiday and will soon have Six.
Speech version 2: Six will kill us both if we don't save Holiday from Fell.
Speech version 3: I'll kill you if you don't help me save Holiday and Six.
Speech version 4: I'll get Van Kleiss to turn you into an EVO unless you help me. Wait, I haven't even seen Van Kleiss around here, how is he anyway?
Okay, he'd probably go with whatever came out of his mouth, it usually turned out fine.
Well, usually Six is there to scrape me off the pavement, Rex thought with a wince, more aware of how alone he was right now. He shook his head at himself. Hey, I ran away successfully enough, didn't I? I survived before and without Providence and Six and Holiday.
He sighed and returned to watching the streets, waiting for one of the Providence trucks. Soon he began fidgeting, counting bricks in the opposite building. "What, do I have to destroy a building?" he demanded of the night sky, exasperated.
Eh, why not? Something to warm up with...
He formed boogie pack and dove back down to the ground, formed slam cannon and loaded it with a chunk of pavement. He shot it at one of the neighbouring buildings. The sound shattered the night, but still there was nothing. He growled and went back to the phone box, dialled the number for Providence again. "Hello?" he demanded. "Didn't you get my message? I'm rampaging right now. I'm destroying the city. Send out your guys to try and catch me, anytime soon?"
"You're actually serious?"
"What, is this your first day on the job?" he fumed and put the phone down.
Then the phone began to ring.
He grabbed it up. "Come on! Don't make me trash some more buildings—"
There was a cold laugh on the other end. "You're trying to goad me, Rex?"
It was Fell.
"I'm gonna get you," Rex taunted. "Send your men, bet they can't catch me."
"I know that Callan let you go," Fell said with cruel pleasure.
Rex stiffened. "How?"
"He just tried to free your precious Holiday," Fell said. "Don't worry, he's being tried right now for treason and for sabotage. I'm hoping for a death sentence."
Argh! How many people am I gonna end up saving by the end of this? Rex thought furiously. "Fine," Rex said. "Well, if I find a single bruise on Holiday, guess what? I'll triple the number of bruises on you. See you soon, Fell." He formed his boogie pack and took off back to his lookout post, watching the streets around him intently. It was still dark, no sign of headlights but he listened intently until finally in the distance there was the sound of some kind of machine. It wasn't a truck engine though, he was certain.
Trusting his gut, he looked to the sky as the sound grew, like blades chopping the air, and finally a helicopter hung there in the air. A coil of rope ladder tumbled down, and a man began climbing down it even as the helicopter descended.
It was a hulking figure, a gun strapped across his chest as he climbed down, and his boots made a heavy thunk against the pavement.
Rex strained his eyes to see the dark figure better, something about him seemed eerily familiar, a slight tingle of fear forming inside him at the thought of leaving his vantage point. Gotta see though, he told himself, and finally formed his boogie pack, then charged the figure head-on.
With honed reflexes and uttering a snarl, the man dropped the rest of the distance, pulling the shotgun from its holster and fired at Rex.
Rex yelped and twisted to avoid, then soared out back between the neighbouring buildings, disappearing into the shadows.
So, the game of cat and mouse begins, he thought, his gut twisting now that he recognised the man. It was Hunter Cain. That psychopathic, EVO-murdering, genocidal maniac was working for Providence…
Figures, Rex thought darkly. Worse though was that the man's gun was definitely gonna be loaded up with poison especially for EVOs.
30 minutes left
The guard escorted Fell to his old lab, gave a stiff salute then hurried away as Fell entered the room. He felt a wave of nostalgia as he swept his eyes over everything in the room. It remained almost as he'd left it, apart from a thin layer of dust over some of the surfaces, but another of the scientists was already there, wiping everything down with a damp cloth. She stopped what she was doing and hurried to greet him. "White Knight assigned me to assist you as necessary," she said.
"Good." He smiled thinly, and took a small stroll, looking over his old tools, arranged neatly on trays. The computers were slow to turn on, the keyboards still needed dusting. The dissection table stood in the centre of the lab, gleaming softly. As the computer whirred softly, ready, Fell consulted the programs and found an essential one missing.
"I've heard the doctor has a program to monitor the boy's nanites," Fell spoke to the assistant scientist.
0.29
"Yes sir," she replied. She was slightly gawky an assistant for Fell's liking but at least she was mousy enough to never argue, hiding her eyes behind glasses and her hair cut boyishly short to keep it out of the way, keeping her hands behind her back as she spoke, to hide how she twisted her fingers, self-conscious of her nails.
"I'll need a portable nanite monitor," Fell ordered, "And a copy of that nanite program for my own computer."
"What if Agent Six or Doctor Holiday catch me, sir?" she asked softly.
"They will be busy, sitting by the bedside of a dying EVO," Fell said coldly. "Now go."
"Y-yes sir," the young scientist left quickly.
0.28
Holiday dozed lightly, resting her head on the edge of Rex's bed. Six solemnly admired how peaceful she looked, how different to when she was awake. For the last hour she had been nearly frenetic, checking every monitor again and again.
She's sometimes so protective to the point of passionate, Six observed this peaceful form of Holiday. She holds life sacred, so sacred that she'd fight to the death to prevent the death of those she loves, even when they're ignorant to her only other passion, Science. He remembered her fury when it'd come to the swarm of metal eating insects in China. She'd pretended to hold duty to investigate the bugs over Rex's safety, using her beloved statistics and probability, but when it'd come to it she'd been the one jumping into the pilot's seat to go and pull him from the river.
0.27
He got up, casting a small glance at the clock. It was five o'clock in the morning. On any other morning he'd have been getting up anyway to start his warm up exercises. It was time to wake up. He stretched gently, getting up from the chair and saw the notebook on the floor. He picked it up, reading Holiday's handwriting, it was cramped with how rushed she'd written it, a few formulae around the edge but mostly notations. He set the notebook down on the edge of Rex's bed, by the chair.
He touched Holiday's slender shoulder lightly and she raised her head from the bed, blinked drowsily at him. Then she looked to Rex who remained still and unconscious, hooked up to machines. "Hmm?"
"I'm getting something to drink. For both of us." He brooked no argument. "Stay with Rex."
0.26
She nodded, stifled a yawn and moved to Six's chair. Unspoken agreement between them had given the chair the status of 'uncomfortable enough to keep a lookout awake'. She rubbed her eyes drowsily then picked up the notebook from where Six had placed it.
"What is it you're working on anyway?" Six gave into his compulsion to ask.
"I'm trying to formulate a compound that could give Rex's system a jolt without failing his systems," she answered. Her eyes were focused, and her lips quivered. "I actually think I might have a chance. I just have to make sure it focuses entirely on the nanites and away from the neurons and tissue."
0.25
"Good luck then," Six nodded and left the room. He'd have gone to the nearest coffee machine, but he didn't care for coffee, he had a preferred drink, much as it'd make Rex laugh if he ever found out. Either that or make him scream "You like green way too much!" Green tea. Unfortunately it wasn't something that any of the coffee machines stocked, so he had to walk to the cafeteria to get it, he walked fast though, cutting through the science labs passages.
Ahead of him he saw someone in a lab coat duck intoHoliday's room. He frowned. No one was allowed to go into her labs when she wasn't around.
0.24
Inside, a young woman was at Holiday's desk, inserting a memory stick.
"What are you doing?" Six asked coolly.
"I'm sorry about Rex," she answered softly, her eyes lowered. "I kind of wanted to see if I could help. A second pair of eyes, well," she touched her glasses embarrassedly. "A pair of bug eyes I guess. I wanted to use the program to run a simulation of the effect on his systems if he was injected with a compound to...well, wake him up, I guess."
0.23
It kind of worked.
"You'll need Doctor Holiday's permission," Six said. "Under no circumstances are you to inject Rex with anything unless it has her abject permission." Then he took the memory stick out from Holiday's computer and handed it back to the girl. He'd made it clear enough.
The girl turned and left the room. "Sorry sir," she said shyly then hurried away. "Hope Rex is okay."
0.22
"He knows about swords. He doesn't know about computers." The girl inserted the memory stick into the computer. "I've put a link through to Holiday's computer so that you can remotely access the program."
Fell smiled, and arranged the last sterilised scalpel. He had the choice of molecular dissection but he somewhat wanted this dissection to be more personalised. Then he checked his watch. Soon he'd need to redo his own meds. "Stay here, I'll be back in a moment," he ordered then hurried out, to go to the cafeteria for fruit juice. Coffee would counteract the meds.
0.21
"One green tea, one french roast with honey, no cream," Six requested. The cafeteria worker nodded and hurried to do that. The cafeteria was almost empty at this time of morning, he guessed the soldiers were still out at an EVO incident. He was almost jealous of them, thinking wistfully of a good fight. He wasn't bloodthirsty, no, but he did derive pleasure from the fight, or more precisely from the work that went into it. He took the steaming cups from the counter, and turned to walk out, just as a man entered. He didn't wear a lab coat, but his eyes flared as soon as he saw Six and with that, Six remembered him. He immediately put the cups down and strode after him but Fell turned and nearly ran from the room.
Six pressed his earpiece as he walked. "Holiday," he ordered. "Stay with Rex. Do not leave his side, whatever happens."
His mind had no doubts. Fell was here at Knight's told him of the conversation that had transpired between them, of the order to dissect Rex. He broke into a run past the cafeteria doors, he barely saw Fell disappear around a far corner and he pursued. Fell was heading towards the science labs passages. Six immediately knew that Fell must be in his old labs.
0.20
Ahead a door began to slide shut and Six knew that Fell would activate the siege mechanism. He felt an actual growl in his throat as he sped up, leapt through the narrow opening and landed on one knee, katanas already drawn and ready.
Then the door finished sliding shut. As Six had guessed, the siege mechanism had been engaged.
The room though was empty.
"Holiday," he pressed the button on his earpiece as he began trying to open the door.
"Six? What's happening?" she sounded worried.
"Fell is here. Do not leave Rex, I'll be with you ASAP."
"Under…understood," she whispered and their conversation ended.
"That's Agent Six out of the way," Fell sighed from his lab. "Now for Holiday."
0.19