Thanks X and guest. I appreciate the vote of confidence but I realized that I really don't know what I'm doing. I hope it does turn out well.
I don't own GR or this idea.
Caesar ran a scanner across Holiday. She eyed him warily.
"Fascinating." He muttered as he studied the data.
"Are you reading tachyon particles?" She asked him.
Caesar looked up at her in surprise. "Why, yes. You have a high level of them on your person. But it's impossible."
"Well, I'm here, aren't I." She said wryly. "So it can't be impossible, maybe improbable but not impossible."
"Si, that's true."
"Will someone please explain what's going on?" Rex piped up.
Six felt the same but kept silent. His eyes never left her, afraid that if he looked away for a second she'd disappear.
Caesar turned to his brother. "It seems this Dr. Rebecca Holiday is from an alternate dimension."
Rex stared at Caesar. "Are you serious?"
"About my work? Always. The other things not so much." Caesar bent over to look into a microscope. "Yes, definitely tachyon particles… and they have the same energy frequencies as the orb… only on a smaller scale. Can you tell us what happened?"
Holiday sighed. "I was chasing the Spit-tzu EVO…"
"Spit-tzu EVO?" Rex interrupted.
"That thing we fought. In fact, you named it." Holiday gave a wan smile.
"I did?" Rex straightened up.
Holiday nodded. "You gave creative names to many of the EVOs before…" She stopped as she choked. Holiday swallowed hard before continuing. "Anyway, one minute I was chasing the thing, the next I was riding through a bright flash of light. And now, I'm here."
"Interesting." Caesar murmured.
"So, uh what happened… in your world?" Rex asked curiously.
Holiday looked away. She remained silent for so long that they thought she was not going to answer. Six was about to tell her that she didn't need to say anything when she started speaking.
"The nanites… began mutating. People started turning EVO faster than we could cure, contain, or even kill. Agent Six… the Agent Six of my world… was one of the first casualties." She paused. Taking a shaky breath she continued. "I tried to take care of Rex. But I... I wasn't effective. He fell taking out Van Kleiss."
She stopped again eyes on the ground. Swallowing hard again, she continued. "It went downhill from there. Without Rex there was no hope for a cure. The sentient EVOs started fighting among themselves for dominance. The mindless EVOs ran amok. Governments collapsed. Pockets of humanity went underground. It's not pretty."
Holiday went quiet.
"I'm sorry." Six said breaking the silence.
Startled, Holiday looked at him. After staring at him for a moment, she turned away and shrugged. "Que sera, sera."
Six frowned. It was unlike Holiday to be so nonchalant in her attitude. She was passionate, caring, emotive. Right now she sounded eerily like him.
"So how do I get home?" She asked interrupting his thoughts.
"You want to go back to that mess?" Rex asked surprised.
"Of course, it's my home."
"Wouldn't you rather stay here with us?" Rex continued hopefully. "We'd love to have you here. Our Doc's… gone."
"I gather that from your expressions when I took off my helmet." Holiday said wryly. "Thank you for the offer but I'm not a convenient replacement for you."
"I didn't mean it that way. It's just that your world sounded so, um… bleak" Rex blushed.
"So you want me to abandon it?" Holiday said a little harshly.
"No, no… that's not…" He looked helplessly at Six.
"I think what Rex means is that if you are unable to return home you are welcome here." Six said smoothly.
Holiday looked at him coldly. "Thank you. But I think if there's a way here, there should be a way back."
Six was taken back by her tone. Holiday, his Holiday, had never spoken to him like that before. But he didn't let it show. He merely inclined his head to acknowledge her statement.
"I think there is a way back." Caesar looked up oblivious to the tension in the room. "I have a dimensional disruptor that with some modifications has a 98.5663% chance of getting you home."
"Good enough." Holiday agreed.
"What? Wait bro, that doesn't sound foolproof." Rex protested.
"Nothing in life is foolproof." Caesar answered. "But it's the best bet. It'll take me a while to calibrate it to the proper frequencies though."
"Meanwhile, we can find a room for you to stay in." Six said. Holiday nodded. She got off the exam table. But when she landed on her feet she grimaced.
"Oh, hey, we never did take care of that cut." Rex pointed out.
"It's nothing. It's just a scratch. I have a first aid kit…"
"You are in a med bay. Let Caesar take a look at it." Rex insisted.
Caesar bent over to examine the wound.
"No!" Holiday said abruptly taking a step back. Everyone stared at her. "I mean, it's okay. I can take care of it myself." She seemed to edge away from Caesar.
"I'll get a room ready." Six walked out quickly. He was keeping a tight reign on his emotions. She looked like Holiday but didn't act like Holiday. It was to be expected. He couldn't expect that someone who had a vastly different life experience to be the same person. People are shaped after all by what happens to them and from what little he gathered from this Holiday her life had been difficult. But a small part of him wanted her to be Holiday. He wanted a second chance. A chance to say all those things he never did, to make up for lost time. He desperately wanted it. But his rational side kept telling him that this was not his Holiday. His Holiday was buried in the ground. The very thought brought back the immense soul crushing pain that would plague him at night when he was alone in his bed with nothing to do but think about her.
Years of practice however made it seem like nothing was wrong. He ordered a room to be made up.
"Six! Care to tell my why I wasn't informed?" White's face appeared on a side screen. Six internally sighed. They had intentionally not told White when they first came in. They were not sure how he would react.
"We were taking care of her wounds. You will get your report in an hour." Six stated.
"In my office now!" The screen went black. Six steeled himself as he made his way to Knight's office.
When the door swished close behind him, White's face appeared in the large monitor. Six waited for the tirade.
"Are you all right?" White asked sternly. It was an unexpected question.
"I'm fine."
"Don't lie to me Six!" White snapped. "Even though we're not partners any more I know you better than you know yourself."
Six merely raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, don't give me that." White growled. "I expect you to be professional about this. She is not Holiday. You understand that, don't you? Holiday is gone. Accept that and move on."
Six stiffened in anger. But he held his tongue.
White then added in a less gruff manner. "I don't want to see you hurt." Then the screen went black again. Six stood stunned. White was concerned about his well-being. He had not given orders either way about Holiday. Six was worried that he would order her to leave or to be detained in some way. But he left it to Six to decide what to do. There were times that Six regretted betraying White. He was despite his grudge, still a good friend. He realized he had many regrets in his life. Maybe he could rectify one.
Six turned and left the office.
0o0
"If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask." Six concluded as Holiday looked around her new room.
She let out an amused snort.
"Yes?" Six asked.
"This was your Holiday's room wasn't it?" She asked.
Six felt like someone had punched him in the gut. "Yes." He answered truthfully.
"Wondering how I knew?"
Six inclined his head slightly.
Holiday walked to the closet whose doors were slid opened. She knelt down and picked up a small flap of blue carpet lining the bottom. "I use to line my closet at Providence too. All the white was overwhelming. That's why I picked orange and black for my wardrobe. So there'd be some color other than white."
Six nodded. He cleared his throat. "Some of your clothes are still in storage if you would like to change into them."
Holiday gave a sharp mirthless laugh. "You really are trying to make me into your Holiday, aren't you?"
Six bristled. "No, I'm not. You're nothing like our Holiday. Our Holiday was kind, caring, and compassionate." Perhaps this wasn't the wisest thing to say but anger does not make one wise.
"Good. I wouldn't want to be your Holiday. She sounds weak." She snapped. "Now, if you'll excuse me I would like to be alone."
Six turned around without answering and left. Walking down the hall emotions warred inside him. It was a new experience and one that was not welcomed. If he was honest, he had wanted this Holiday to step into the role of the old Holiday. He was embarrassed that she saw through the ruse. But what made him furious was that she dare call his Holiday weak. Holiday was never weak. She was the strongest woman he had ever met. Even though she liked him, she did not let him off the hook. She confronted, cajoled, and occasionally nagged when she needed him to listen. He had come to trust her judgement and relied on her advice on how to handle Rex as well as EVO situations.
Once in his room he ripped off his shades and tossed them on the nightstand. He sat on the edge of his bed and buried his face in his hands. After a few minutes in that pose, he pulled out his wallet and took out the dog-eared photo of Holiday.
"What am I suppose to do?" He asked it.
Unsurprisingly, the photo didn't answer but Six stared at it nonetheless hoping for some idea. When nothing came, he tucked it carefully back into his wallet and shoved it back into his pocket. There was no point sitting in his room being a baby. He grabbed his shades and left to find Rex.