AN: A big thanks to YellowAngela for reminding me that this fandom need to be kept alive!
"What exactly am I exactly looking at?" Came the voice from the monitor in a tone that implied extreme displeasure.
White Knight had given orders for his troops to come back with Rex, not a band of desert survivors in cuffs and with every single weapon pointed at them alongside the teen. Losing their primary weapon against EVOs would have been a devastating blow to their ranks and public image so Rex had needed to be found and brought back ASAP before the desert swallowed him for good.
The man hated to be out of the loop and there had been no briefing about the incoming prisoners or what they had done but, if the soldiers were as on edge as they appeared, the women could prove to be rather dangerous.
"Yes… well, you see, sir…." The soldier was having a hard time explaining himself to the big boss. One wrong word and he could be out of a job or on cleaning duty indefinitely along with his entire platoon. "After we went back to look for Rex we found him accompanied by these four women and one turned into an EVO to pick a fight with Six-"
"Excuse me?!" The black-haired woman burst out, her handcuffs rattling as she nodded towards the green-clad man. "It was self-defense! He came at me with those swords and I only gave him a black eye, a more than fair trade."
"Silence!" The seemingly reasonable man showed his true colors that time around. He had no time for more troublemakers, the one they had was already enough to deal with and gave him more than enough headaches. "I was not talking to you, Miss…"
Rebecca resigned herself to giving a deadpan look to the head of Providence and not opening her mouth. Names held power and hers was known already in a few fields here and there, no need for some stranger to know who she really was… who her family was. She´d packed up and left for a reason, to give protection to her family and heal up the planet in the way she thought was more efficient and the first reason always remained in the higher pedestal.
Noelle groaned and nudged the glaring woman next to her. "Oh, just do it. It´s not like he can´t search the globe for any trace of us by our looks alone." Looking the man in the eyes she stood to appear as strong as possible, squaring her shoulders in a motion to not show fear to her captor. "Noelle Rivers."
"Right. And the rest of you are…?" Questioned the pale man in the monitor as he glared at the other three prisoners.
"Coco Rivers. Twins." The blonde followed suit in her sister´s path with a grin, as if unfazed by the situation they were all currently in.
Making a face, the black-haired woman finally resigned herself to their fate. "Rebecca Holiday."
Last, but not least, the albino prisoner restrained the urge to try and break free and did as her blue-haired friend, mimicking her motions. "Drew Saturday."
White carefully examined the women once more. He´d wanted two of them on his team since he´d assumed control of Providence but had been unable to track them down and now there they were, handcuffed and apparently suffering from a similar situation to that of their primary weapon. He had an idea on what to do with them but that left him undecided on what to do with the twins.
Taking another moment, White finally came to a decision. "Right. Well then, the first two are irrelevant but the others I know about you both. One with three PHDs and someone I have tried locating in the past and the other experienced with ´unnatural´ creatures and studying them."
Groaning, Holiday turned to her blue-haired friend. "Thanks a lot. ´Just do it´ really wasn´t what we needed to hear, apparently."
"Oh, bite me." Retorted Noelle with a sharp edge.
"Enough!" Shouted White Knight as he frowned down upon the four prisoners. "Place them in separate containment units until I am ready to interrogate them."
"Wait, what?" Rex finally found his voice at the issued incarceration sentence. "They helped me and if it weren´t for them I´d be long gone. Can´t you just let them go?"
"I would, but if there is a chance these women are anything like you we could use the extra weapons."
Drew sneered at the coldness in the man´s voice as he referred to Rex as a weapon. She knew what it was like dealing with a teen with unusual powers and the worst you could do was treat them differently. Zack was off to somewhere unknown and she worried every day about her not-so-little man and how he was fairing after the nanite event that had seemingly made his father and friends disappear into thin air. He´d rebelled against his own mother in his grief and left out of the blue, no phone, no nothing to remain in touch.
"Calling a child a weapon, you really are a piece of work." Said the albino woman with poison in her tone.
"Well, at least I am not the one about to be incarcerated, am I?" Retorted the pale man with a hint of a smirk.
That bastard! How could he?! Treating children like unfeeling weapons was unjustifiable!
The blue-haired woman looked at her friend and saw a situation beginning to emerge. Literally. "Drew, calm down or else-"
"She´s transforming! Everyone, take aim!" Shouted one of the soldiers as he readied his weapon along with all the others in the room.
"Your tail! Calm down before you get shot!" Noelle shouted. She was getting increasingly seriously worried by the second one of them might not make it out of Providence alive.
While being one of the most rational of the group Drew was also one of the most hot-tempered. She could go from zero to disaster mode in an instant and damn the consequences that came from her spur of the moment reaction to the situation at hand.
Letting out a scoff, Drew put away her spade-tipped tail and emerging scales on the skin of her arms and face. "Fine…"
They would have to play by that self-absorbed man´s rules. For now.
"What I wouldn´t give for a cup of Irish coffee."
"Damn, I wish I had a magazine in here."
"I´d love some water."
Contrary to her calmer sister, Coco was the unpredictable element that made life a little more interesting for the pair and their friends, or more complicated, whichever angle one chose to see the women through. Noelle never felt overshined by her, instead encouraged to do what she really liked to by her more hyper sister and anyone messed with one they messed with both, that was for sure.
Coco loved pushing boundaries. It was almost as if her life´s mission was to test which rules were best to be broken and when. Almost like a childish impulse to do the opposite of what she was told that led to her always upbeat personality and characteristic traits that made her a magnet for trouble, she was the go-to woman if you wanted to have a good time and no regrets about it or the consequences.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Six bellowed, a rare occurrence, when he entered the room where the prisoners were held. Seeing soldiers on a constant come and go had raised his suspicions but this was just… there was no name for how unprofessional the situation was. "Who has been giving things to the prisoners?! White Knight will lose it for good this time!"
"Oh, looks like fun´s over." The blonde pouted and leaned back against her plexiglass cage, slowly sliding down to sit more or less comfortably with her legs promptly crossing and resting her elbows on them. Taking a sip of her coffee cup she allowed the heat to spread through her body.
"I asked what in the name of whatever you hold dear is going on here."
The four were held in individual plexiglass cages inside the room but now, where should have been at least two guards for each of them, there were none.
Chuckling, the harpy EVO woman let herself get more comfortable in the floor of her prison. "Relax, it´s a side effect of being exposed to such a great-looking group of women after so long. Ever heard of the cheerleader effect? It´s that time like a million because men just love us and would do anything for even a measly wink. It´s like an EVO thing, maybe, dunno, Holly or Drew can explain it better." She let one of the straps of her top fall off her shoulder to exemplify her point. "I am soooo hot, I would love a whisky on the rocks." Smiling, Coco recomposed her clothing. "See?"
"What I see is a direct violation of conduct that will get many people in trouble, me included." Six really had no patience to deal with this type of behavior, from both sides.
"Hey, love the new shades. Got a black eye or anything you trying to hide? Holly did land a good punch on you."
"Coco…" Warned Rebecca from her cage. She hadn´t taken advantage of the situation exactly due to their position and had warned against the ´trick´ but the blonde had not paid mind to her warnings.
"What? You did."
"And quite well-deserved, might I add." Drew nodded confidently. "You get what you pay for and you got a beating. Seriously, running up to an unarmed person with a sword drawn is clearly a scenario where someone is going to fight for their life."
"I did not ask for your opinion." The green-clad man resisted the urge to huff.
"Well, now you have it."
The two adults remained in a stalemate, glaring at each other until the door opened and Rex came though accompanied by another teen.
"And here are- Six, you´re here!" Oops, he´d genuinely not expected his agro-nanny to be on guard duty.
Rex had wanted to show Noah around the base and make a quick stop to introduce him to the people that had saved his life back in the desert. Getting the code to the door had been rather easy after asking/bribing Bobo to help him and dealing with the normal Providence soldiers would have been dealt with when it came the time to do it but Six was another story all-together.
Suppressing a groan, the sixth deadliest man in the world turned to his charge. "And Rex, what business do you have here?"
"I just wanted to show Noah to my friends."
"Hi, Noah!" The blonde woman waved her hand enthusiastically and smiled cheerfully at the teen.
"Hey…" Noah responded nervously with a slight blush and rubbed his arm while taking a brief look to the side. "So you really saved Rex out in the desert."
"Yes, my sister did. Hello, I´m Noelle." Smiled the blue-haired woman, taking her eyes off her magazine for a quick smile before turning her attention back to it and turning a page. Huh, the fall colors that year were abysmal by the looks of that dress.
"Rex, you know you are not allowed to be in here so go and do whatever it is you were doing." Ordered Six as he pointed towards the door.
"I was gonna show Noah to the Zoo." Answered the teen.
"Then do it, I don´t care. Right now I have to fix a mess before White starts taking names and handing out punishments."
"Yeesh, fine. I´ll see you later, my beautiful ladies."
"I loved meeting you, Noah! Bye, Rex!" Coco shouted at the leaving teen with her ever-energetic smile and waved her arms. Looking to the side, unsure of why she had been the only one to say goodbye to the two boys, she saw her friends giving her deadpan looks and even the green-clad mercenary seemed to have an eyebrow raised at her antics. "What? It would be rude not to say goodbye."
Burying her face in her hands, Holiday sighed. "Now I´m the one who needs that whisky." She murmured.
"I don´t think you´re gonna have a lot of luck with this guy. Well… unless you take off your-"
"COCO!"