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(present day)
The day everything goes to hell, the sun is shinning. Rex is almost blinded when first leaving their place, and he has to go back inside for a pair of sunglasses.
The sun is shinning, the air is humid, and everyone is restless.
"Come on, just one. We haven't been in like, forever." Rex is saying, toying with the sunglasses he's shoved on his head. "Just one little movie. It'll be fun, I promise!"
His audience, all of which sound like the first part of a bad joke (a squid-boy, a mummy, and a cricket-girl all walk into a bar...), aren't interested.
"Eh, I'm not big on movies." Skwydd shrugs. He is oddly mellow, holding his cup of cold tea and reading a magazine.
Everyone in the room rolls their eyes at him, as Skwydd is big on absolutely nothing except being grumpy, and everyone knows it.
Still, Rex isn't giving up.
"Tuck?" He asks hopefully. He uses his very best tactics – his puppy dog eyes.
The look on Tuck's face says it's working, his resolve is crumbling, but it's not quite there yet when the boy squints up at him.
"Can it be a comedy?"
Rex grins widely.
"Yes, yes it can definitely be that." He assures him. When Tuck nods solemnly, he pumps his fist in the air and does a little dance in a circle.
"The movies will probably be in Cantonese, you know." Cricket says as she watches him, hair tied back, sweat trickling down her brow as she leans against the back of the sofa. "And unless one of you learned Cantonese in the last hour, neither of you will be able to understand it."
Tuck flaps a bandage at her, smile on his face.
"Humor is humor, Cricket. A guy getting a pie to the face is funny in any language."
Which is true.
"Plus," Rex adds, "You could come with and translate(1). Hmmmm? Whatta ya say?"
Cricket fans her face in vain to try and cool off. She's giving them both her flattest glance – obviously, her good humor long melted in the heat. That's probably fair, but the extra sun has only energized Rex, and the thought of just sitting here and sweating makes him feel itchy.
"I'm not big on dark rooms with gum and popcorn stuck to the floor." Cricket tells them, her nose crinkled up.
Rex grins, however. He plays his trump card.
"They have air conditioning." He sings.
Immediately Cricket straightens and says,
"I'm in."
(past)
Cricket's name used to be Ai-Lin.
She would visit them everyday after school, stumbled upon them by accident when looking for friends. The girl was short and quiet, and dyed the very ends of her hair a bright fuchsia in some small rebellion.
Although she wasn't poor – not like them, anyway – sometimes she helped them lift stuff. Ir was easier for her; she had clean, ironed clothes, a sweet smile, and wide innocent eyes.
Ai-Lin was cool. She understood them, she talked with him, she didn't look down on them. But she didn't laugh; she wasn't ever really happy.
Eventually they learned that her parents were divorced and her guardian – her step-mother – hated her.
Rex, still reeling from the fact that not all parents loved their children and wanted to take care of them, offhandedly offered her a place in the gang if she wanted it. Later, he'd be surprised to discover that he meant it.
It would not be the last time she was asked. They took turns, Tuck sometimes bugging her about it.
Each time Ai-Lin would smile, push black hair tinged with purple behind her ear, and shake her head.
"I can't." The girl would say. She never said why.
But she brought them things (pizza and junk food mostly), laughed at their jokes, and made noises of awe as they showed what EVO's could do.
She didn't mind what they were and they didn't pry into what she was.
She was the Outsider who sort of wasn't.
Until one day, that Changed.
(present day)
The movie is boring and confusing, but Rex still manages a few laughs.
He catches two words out of ten and is put off by some bad acting on the main character's fault, and most of the movie is spent leaning over to Cricket and asking, "What'd they say?" Nonetheless, he enjoys himself.
It's easy to sneak into the cheap theater, even easier to hide their Changes in the dim light, and since those things made his companions relax, Rex did too.
Now they walk along a street sidewalk, laughing as their ice cream melts in their hands. The neighborhood is slow and old, and no one looks thrice at a cricket-girl and mummy walking along it.
"No, no, but that was the best part!" Cricket is crying, chocolate chip mint sticky on her Changed hands.
"But it was weird! I don't even know what was going on in that scene!" Tuck says back, his ice cream a tiny sliver in its teaspoon sized cone. His bandages, old and fraying, are clean of ice cream if nothing else.
"I thought the movie was awesome!" Rex yells, pumping his fist into the air. Luckily, he finished his ice cream cone several minutes ago, and his hands are already licked clean of any mess.
He feels that he partly has to declare this opinion because he badgered these people into going to see the movie, but he also says it because he had a great time, regardless of bad special effects.
They two give him a look; in unison, they drone,
"You think everything is awesome."
Rex frowns at them.
"Hey! I do not. Just, you know...most things."
The pair laugh at him, Cricket with her purple head thrown back and Tuck with his eyes shut and his torso leaning forwards, making for an interesting sight.
Rex hopes they both trip and fall, laughing like that. He even contemplates sticking a foot out to help, but settles for not warning Tuck about a crack in the sidewalk ahead. It's satisfying enough.
Overall, he thinks, this has been the best day he's had in a while. He smiles up at the gold sun and links gloved palms behind the back of his head. Memories of damp clothes and quiet alleys and empty minds are far away in the bright of this day.
This is as good as it gets.
In that moment he makes a huge mistake, a mistake anyone happy is liable to make (but really he of all people should know better) - he wishes that this day would last forever. Fate, forever his nemesis, is quick to take advantage of his blunder.
They are strolling quieter now, Tuck rubbing a spot of dirt out of the bandages that make his cheek (he really should watch where he's going) and Cricket humming tonelessly. No one speaks, but the silence is far from awkward.
Suddenly something heavy rams into Rex's shoulder and it hurts.
A guy with a large hoodie, the blue hood tugged tight around his face, has shoved past him. Rex rubs his shoulder (oh yeah that's gonna bruise) and turns around to yell at the man.
Somehow, the words die on his lips.
He watches the retreating back of the jerk and realizes that that move seems awfully familiar. Like, scarily familiar.
Rex's eyes widen. Quickly, he pads his pockets and finds one of his large stacks of bills are missing.
"Hey!" He shouts indignantly.
The man begins to run.
For a second, it's all Rex can do to simply stand there and stare, open mouthed.
"He stole my money!" Rex says in disbelief. It's a surreal experience – he's always been the thief, the pickpocket. Now he is on the other end and it feels weird. It makes him feel...angry.
Cricket is quick to correct him, however.
"He stole the money that you stole first."
"He stole my stolen money!" Rex cries, ignoring her. "¡Vuelve aqui, ladrón!"
Shrugging away his shock, he takes off running, already knowing that his short legs don't stand a chance against the stranger's long, swift ones. Anger propels him forwards, though, righteous indignity burning as fuel in his chest.
Behind him he hears the reluctant footsteps of his friends as they jog to catch up to him, but this isn't the time to slow down and wait for them. Irony of ironies - Rex has a thief to catch.
His heart is racing, his legs pumping harder and faster, and his breath comes in small, frequent gasps.
Still, the man is gaining feet by the second. The thief rounds a corner and disappears for a second.
"Te voy a matar, idiota!" Someone screams. Rex realizes it's him and almost blushes.
He runs faster.
Just when he rounds the corner, the footsteps ahead still audible, he is sure he has the thief. Victory feels like adrenaline pumping through his veins, giving him strength to push a little faster for just a little longer.
He jumps, throws his body into the air, and collapses on somebody. But to his surprise the slight figure he tackles isn't his thief.
"What the – Tuck?" He chokes out amid heavy breathing. Sure enough, the mummy-like boy scurries out from under him, his bandages more dirty than usual from the fall.
"What are you doing here?" Rex blurts out.
Tuck gives him a look of pure loathing.
Rex thinks, hey, I didn't tackle you that hard, but doesn't say anything. He really is curious how Tuck managed to get in front of him when Rex had half a minute on him. Then again, running had never exactly been a strength Rex added to the group.
"How did you get in front of me?" He asks. "Wait, did you see the thief? Did you catch him?"
"No, no...I took a shortcut. Um, through a backalley. But I didn't see any sign of that guy. Guess he got away." Tuck offers a shrug, bright orange orbs lowered and busy glancing to and fro.
Narrowing his eyes, Rex growls under his breath and jumps to his feet.
"We'll see about that!" He declares boldly. It probably would've looked more convincing if his legs hadn't been shaking, his breathing still coming in gasps, and sweat pouring down his face. Oh, man is he ever out of shape.
Still, Rex makes a valiant effort to run – er, jog – around the corner and search for the thief. He makes it about ten more steps.
"Oh crap!" He yells as he trips over a curb he had been trying to step over. A couple walking along the sidewalk give him a look (yes, dear, that's definitely an American) and walk around him. That's a bit of a wake-up call, honestly.
Yeah. Scrapped knee, chest on fire, legs trembling, and down 4 grand(2)? Rex thinks he's done here.
Time to go home.
He limps back a street to where Tuck had been, doing his best to ignore the blood trickling down his leg.
"Ow, ow, ow." He says after each step. Then, starts to replace that with, "Hate my life, hate my life, ow..."
And to think, the day had been going so well earlier. He shouldn't have tempted fate.
By the time he makes it to that particular alleyway, the blood on his knee is beginning to soak through his jeans and there's absolutely no sign of Tuck.
Rex takes a moment to lean against the wall of a brick building and slide to the ground to rest his leg.
"I was just pick-pocketed." He says to himself. "Someone just stole from me."
It's such a strange, backwards concept that it refuses to sink in, now that the anger is gone. Rex has always been broke, been so poor no one bothered to steal from him – he's always been the thief. Now the situation is reversed and he wants to be furious, he really does, but he thinks that might be hypocritical of him.
This is...this is...He struggles to think of the word, wrinkling his brow for a moment.
"Karma." He finally says, an disbelieving laugh on his tongue. "This is karma, for all the times I stole someone else's money."
For some reason, a Lion King song plays in his head and he thinks, circle of life – and suddenly he just sort of accepts the theft.
He had pickpocketed strangers. He'd stolen from Quarry. And now a stranger had stolen the money that he had stolen from Quarry. It has almost come full circle.
With a little shrug, he slides up the wall to his feet again, a sigh on his lips and apathy on his face.
"Oh well."
Rex begins walking home, mindful of his throbbing knee.
Maybe he'll be mad about this later. Then again, he thinks, maybe not.
But now he kinda wants to see Lion King again.
(past)
Rex doesn't recognize her for a long moment. He thinks he should, there's something about the shape of her eyes, the color of her hair – it seems familiar. No matter how strange the rest of her looks.
Tears pour over an odd colored skin (skin like a grasshopper, maybe) and the girl lets out a sob.
"Rex. Oh, Rex."
Suddenly all the breath whooshes out of him and he spots her. His friend is there, underneath changes that are anything but natural.
It scares him, how he couldn't recognize her before.
"Ai-Lin?"
Nodding, she lifts altered hands to her cheeks and hides her face in them, more sobs forcing themselves out of her chest.
Rex notices that on strange new skin there are strange new cuts and bruises.
"What happened?"
An angry black eye – no, green, it's grass green now – peeks out between her fingers.
"What do you think happened?" She wails.
"You-you're...you're one of Us now." He stutters. "But what...how..."
"It just happened!"
Rex can't think of anything to say for a long time. What is he supposed to say? Should he comfort her, tell her it's fine? Should he tell her that it's all fun and games, being Different? It's not, but maybe that's what she needs to hear.
How do you tell?
He has no memories of ever being anything else, or ever feeling any sort of normal; this person, able to build and talk to machines is who he is.
How can he sympathize with someone who's been something Other, who has known normal? How can he tell her what to feel?
Standing there, awkwardly, scratching the back of his head like an idiot, he finds that he, at least, doesn't really mind her change in appearance.
Sure it's a surprise; it's still new and an adjustment; but she isn't rampaging in the streets or trying to kill him, so he thinks her Change isn't so bad. It could be worse.
Then again, are his feelings the important ones right now? Dang it, he sucks at emotions.
A helpless sigh emerges from him, his indecision showing no signs of letting up.
Maybe Tuck would understand, he muses abruptly.
"Um...Ai-Lin. Maybe I should go get Tuck?"
Another broken wail bursts from her shaking form.
"What?! C-can't stand the sight of me either?"
"N-no." He says quickly. The 'either' goes right over his head. He knows nothing about women, but even he is aware that when it comes to their appearance, they can be a little sensitive.
"Your freaky cricket legs look really cool, actually." He tells her with a grin. Wait is that the right thing to say? Maybe that's insensitive - but it's already out there now, too late. He winces mentally.
But she doesn't sob again.
Ai-Lin's hands slide off of her eyes and down to her cheeks, a glimmer of hope shimmering in red, watery eyes.
"Y-yeah?"
"Yeah. Totally. I don't mind at all. I just...Tuck would probably understand this more than me, you know? I've never not been Changed, I guess, so I don't really how to help. I don't even know why you came to me of all people..."
His brow furrows. It's hard to remember adults, to factor them into his equations, but he recalls hers' now and it worries him.
"Ai-Lin, what are you gonna tell your step-mom?"
How do you explain something like this to your parents? How do you know if they'll understand and accept it?
But then Ai-Lin breaks down into another set of sobs and throws herself at him, odd skin poking at him and tears staining his shirt.
Rex is a guy and a tough one at that, but when the realization drifts down he wants to start crying too.
"Oh." He whispers. "Oh. Ai-Lin, I'm sorry."
"S-she said I was...was a m-monster. Said I-I wasn't her daughter a-anymore. W-well, step-daughter but...s-s-still!"
There's probably snot on his shirt now too, joining the tears. Rex pats her back awkwardly and tries not to notice.
"You are definitely not a monster." He reassures her.
"S-she...threw a plate at me."
All his hopes and dreams of parents are burning down around his ears, but he tells himself that's not important right now and besides, not all parents are like that. They can't be.
"Well, that's stupid!" He scoffs gently. "You're not even a scary monster!"
The words reach his ears a second after they leave his mouth and his eyes widen as he attempts to stuff them back in.
"I-I mean, you're an adorable monster. No, not adorable – no, I mean, not a monster!"
Unexpectedly, a laugh tickles his shoulder. It's not more crying, he thinks, relieved, until it doesn't stop.
Ai-Lin's head pops up and she's laughing; she still has tears on her face and they haven't stopped flowing yet but her lips are turned up and she's giggling at him.
"Um. Yep. I'm a funny guy." He gives a nervous chuckle. She doesn't stop.
Her laughs become harder and harder till they're ragged gasps for breath and Rex is seriously starting to lose his cool.
"Hey! Ai-Lin, breathe. Come on, please? You're kinda freaking me out here."
"Sorry." She gulps in air. "Sorry, I'm good. It's been a long day."
"Come on. Let's go see the gang." He offers, tone soft. At this point, it's all he can think of to do.
A blush staining her new, odd features (she really does look cooler like this, though), she nods and makes futile attempts to scrub the water from her face.
Rex rolls his eyes but doesn't snap at her like he wants to.
"Don't worry about it. You're just going to start crying again anyway."
Ai-Lin laugh/sobs again, proving his point, and they walk inside to greet the gang.
And if they don't all share his opinion of her new appearance right away, Rex glares at them until they do.
She's one of Them now. They would accept her.
(present day)
As it turns out, he'd completely lost the two-thirds of his gang during his chase. He only found them again because he'd gone home and pretty much hoped they followed. Which, of course, they did.
Rex is laying on the couch, one of his pant legs rolled up, several new, tan band-aids decorating his knee as he waits for Tuck and Cricket. Right now he's pretending to be more injured than he really is in hopes that Skywdd will take pity on him and do stuff for him, like bring Rex a cold glass of tea. It isn't working (yet), and Rex can't help but blame Skwydd's complete lack of sympathy.
He lets out an exhausted groan, a hand held to his forehead.
"You're not dying, Rex! And I'm not your waitress!" Skwydd shouts back from the kitchen.
Rex thinks, fair enough, but still lays there and pouts for a few minutes. He really doesn't want to move.
That's when two sweaty, stinky pre-teens kick open his door to stand there and glare at him.
"Hey, Rex." Cricket greets him in that fake, I-know-I-sound-calm-but-really-I'm-furious tone that she uses.
"Thanks for ditching us." Tuck grumbles; he is less subtle than Cricket. The pair stomp into the front room, faces exhausted and shirts damp with sweat. Rex waits until he's struggled into a sitting position (his knee really doesn't hurt anymore, it's just that he's very comfortable and the cushions are difficult to escape from) to give them his totally valid excuses.
"Hey, that guy lifted four grand from me! Tell me neither of you wouldn't at least have tried to get that much money back!"
"Why would you bring that much money to the movies?" Skywdd wonders, unmoved from his position in the kitchen eating instant noodles.
The three in the front room ignore him.
"Well, fine, maybe! But there was no way you were ever gonna catch that guy, Rex! And you didn't even try to find us after you lost him." Cricket pauses, arms crossed over her chest. "You did lose him, didn't you?"
Rex is too busy rolling his eyes at her to see the same, oddly curious look on Tuck's face. He points to his knee, then to his face, and says,
"Are these the signs of someone who got their money back?"
From behind him, he can hear Skywdd bark out a laugh.
Both Tuck and Cricket don't lose their annoyance, but they don't really press the issue.
"Fine, whatever." Cricket says, heaving a sigh as she goes on full diva mode. Yeah, the bad part of helping an emotionally repressed kid feel comfortable expressing emotions around you is that she expresses emotions. Loudly. And dramatically.
Rex shoots a glance over to Skywdd and thinks, we're not making that mistake twice.
Eventually he realizes Tuck hasn't stopped glaring, looking like he'd like to storm to his room, only they are sort of already in his room.
Instead, Tuck storms over to Skywdd's room.
"No more movies!" He shouts behind him. This proclamation is accompanied by the slamming of Skywdd's door, making Rex wince.
Cricket shrugs and makes her own exit, only slightly more calm.
"Yeah. What he said."
Then there's silence again, the house dangerously quiet, and Rex exchanges looks with Skywdd.
Rex blinks.
"So...you gonna let 'em get away with that?" He says finally.
Skywdd rolls his eyes and takes his noodles back to his room.
(1) Headcanon that at least one of these crazy kids is actually Chinese and speaks Cantonese and Mandarin. So just know that in this story Cricket's at least half-Hong Kongese (real word, I checked) and has at least one English speaking relative - hence her speaking both English and Cantonese.
(2) About 500 US dollars.
A/N: Soo...the thief guy. In the hoodie. I wonder if he's important?
*whispers* probably not guys, I mean, you could probably just forget about him. *glances back and forth shiftily*
IMPORTANT HEADCANON!
This one is sorta small and really huge at this same time: in canon, monstrous, mindless EVO's breakout all the time, but I don't recall ever seeing someone turn into a human-like EVO during the show's events. So I just pretended that they did...just offscreen. I think that's all my headcanons for this chapter.
Also, it's come to my attention I may be adding too much foreshadowing, so - sorry. I'll try to tone it down.
Thanks for reading! Please review!
Translations:
Vuelve aqui, ladrón! = Come back here, you thief!
Te voy a matar, idiota! = I'll kill you, you jerk!
Replies to reviews:
YellowAngela: Mwahahaha! Er, I mean, sorry. *clears throat guiltily* If it helps, know that Quarry won't appear for at least another few chapters, so you can kinda relax. Thanks for the review!
Guest(s?): Thank you so much! Hope you keep reading!
Sparky: Lol your review made me spit out my drink! I guess I am mean to Rex a lot, huh? I really do like him - I just like being mean to him more. :) And that's awesome that YellowAngela told you about this! That just means YellowAngela is even cooler than I thought.
Thanks for the review! Hope you keep reading!