In a Providence space station just above the Earth's surface, a few of the agents were examining the recently delivered nanites.
"Magnetic containment unit functioning perfectly," a Russian agent said.
"Commencing Bouvier Algorithm," a French agent, obviously Bouvier, said, typing a code into the computer.
"The code looks good," said a blonde agent.
"Why, of course it looks good. I wrote it," Bouvier said before turning to Dr. Holiday, who was aboard the station as well.
"Separating nanite Q sample from control group," she reported as she typed in a few controls, which allowed some fluid to go into the nanites and separated three certain nanites from the rest. "Dr. Rhodes, magnification please?"
The blonde agent nodded as she expanded the image of the Q nanite.
"Thank you. Salvatore, begin molecular separation."
The team got to work and after a few moments, their work on the nanite was complete and Holiday immediatley turned her attention to White Knight and the rest of the team.
"Here it is," she said. "The de-com nanite version 243. Commencing protocol."
As The Keep flew over the ocean, Rex, Roxie, Six and Bobo looked at the results of the tests with bated breath as the chimpanzee EVO turned to the twins.
"If this works, you two may be out of a job."
"And that's a bad thing how?" Roxie asked.
"Yeah, you see us complaining?" Rex asked. "If Providence wants to arm its soldiers with reprogrammed nanites that cure EVOs, that's fine by us. We'll finally have our weekends free."
"It's working," Dr. Holiday said as everyone looked at the group of nanites shutting down. "The de-com nanites are shutting down the control group."
All of the agents watching rejoiced at this as Dr. Rhodes chuckled.
"Total deactivation achieved," she said.
"A toast to me," Bouvier said. "What? You think this could possibly have worked without my nanite-immobilizing algorithm?"
Suddenly, Holiday noticed some beeping on the console and held up her hand. "Hold off on the high fives. The nanites are back online..."
Then, much to everyone's shock, all of the nanites in the sample immediately exploded in tiny bursts.
"...and self destructing. Shut it down! We'll reset and try again."
"I cannot shut it down," the Russian agent said.
"Impossible," Bouvier gasped. "All the simulations I ran-"
"Were perfect," came an all-too familiar automated voice to the twins. "This data will be most helpful."
"Who said that?" Rhodes asked.
Suddenly, the feed on all of the Providence computers shut down before it was replaced with a familiar symbol and the twins gasped, their eyes as wide as dinner plates.
"ZAG-RS," they gasped.
"Detecting a data signal from the station to a location off site," an agent reported.
"Um, Doc," Roxie asked as she and Rex stepped forwards. "Do you remember when we told you about that psycho computer program that was gonna destroy the world?"
"She's back," Rex confirmed.
"I prefer artificial intelligence," ZAG-RS countered. "And I don't want to destroy the world- just all the nanites in it. Admittedly, every creature infested with them will die."
"Hey, I resemble that remark!" Bobo shouted.
"Didn't happen last time we ran into you," Roxie said. "And we're not gonna let that happen now, ZAG."
"Actually, Roxie," Holiday said. "If it gets this program in its current state, that's exactly what will happen."
"Out of our way!" Rex shouted as he and Roxie pushed past the agents, rushing through the halls of the Keep. "Out of our way!"
"The data stream is being routed through our relay switcher at Providence," an agent told them over their communicators. "You'll need to turn it off."
Rex then built up his Smack Hands and bashed the door to the switcher in before Roxie leaped up, conjured her warhammer and smashed the relay switcher to pieces, cutting off all the feed in the Keep.
"It's off," she said.
"Well?" White Knight asked.
"Negative, sir. It's now streaming directly to an unknown location. We've lost the feed.
Holiday turned to her scientists as they were hard at work in shutting down ZAG-RS again.
"How far along is the experiment download?" she asked Bouvier.
"Uh, 72%"
"Rhodes, the communication controls- kill that feed at the source," she ordered Rhodes who ran off before turning to the Russian agent. "Volkov, help me contain the A.I. We need a firewall to stop it from getting off the ship. The data is encrypted. If we can stop it in time, the information will be useless."
"84%. There's no time," Bouvier said.
"ZAG-RS must not leave this station. You saw those test nanites blow up. Do you want that to happen inside every living thing on Earth?!"
Suddenly, steam started flooding the room, startling all the scientists.
"It's just trying to distract us! Rhodes, unplug the containment unit."
Rhodes immediately ran to the switch and pulled it, resulting in the containment unit being deactivated and Volkov then pulled a lever.
"Your efforts are pointless," ZAG-RS taunted as she was still at work.
"95% downloaded," Bouvier reported as Holiday sweat at the controls. "97% 98%"
Finally, Holiday pressed the final button, which miraculously stopped the download at 99%, eliciting sighs of relief from all the scientists.
But there was no time to celebrate as the station's thrusters fired up, sending everyone scattering to the ground.
"We prevented it from leaving the station, but it seems to be hiding in the navigation system," Volkov said.
"How did it get here in the first place?" Rhodes asked. "All our system software was thoroughly scrubbed."
"Actually, not all of it," Holiday sighed, turning to Bouvier. "Someone insisted their groundbreaking program come in on a separate drive!"
"This is not my fault!" Bouvier snapped.
"Holiday, you're losing altitude!" White Knight shouted. "Can you correct your vector?"
"Negative, Providence. We're locked out of navigation. ZAG-RS is doing that."
"What happens if they can't correct the vector?" Rex asked back at the Providence ship on Earth.
"They'll crash into the atmosphere and disintegrate," Six told the twins.
"Bouvier, you brought in on board. Now let's go erase it," Holiday ordered.
"I swear, I did not know this would happen. The algorithm- it was too easy to write. It practically created itself."
"Dr. Holiday, I'll come," Rhodes insisted.
The two women then put on their spacesuits and rushed out through the halls to the navigation system.
"If there's power in the systems, she'll just keep hiding until it reboots," Holiday said. "We'll have to ditch the power core and go for a complete shutdown."
"You positive?" Rhodes asked... before screaming as an airlock opened and began sucking her out into space.
Thankfully, Holiday saved herself by grabbing onto the edge of the door and she hit the button just in time, sealing the door closed again and she hit the ground.
"Holiday, what happened?" Six asked.
"ZAG-RS opened the airlock on Rhodes. I have to stop her before she gets us all!" Holiday shouted, setting off into another sprint.
Back with the two other scientists, Bouvier smirked as he opened an escape pod.
"Stop! You can't do this!" Volkov shouted, banging on the door as it closed. "Not with the station's spin! It's suicide!"
"So is staying here," Bouvier countered. "I at least give myself a chance."
Bouvier then fired up the engines and blasted out of the area, leaving the rest behind.
This unfortunately backfired as the escape pod hit one of the dishes of the station's satellite flaps, sending everyone inside crashing to the ground as Bouvier's escape pod lost all momentum and was now drifting aimlessly through space and worse yet...
"We've got system failures," a Providence agent examined back on Earth. "Multiple hull impacts."
"Providence to Station- Status?"
"Bouvier decided to leave early," Holiday reported. "I'm going to jettison the power core. We'll lose, well, pretty much everything."
Indeed, Holiday entered the room with the power core and began disengaging it from its foundation before strapping herself to the wall for safety.
"But you'll be able to get the station back on track, right Doc?" Rex asked, worriedly.
"We can always hope, Rex. Holiday out."
With that, Holiday slammed the wall, opening the room's airlock and sending the station's power core flying out into space before she shut it again and slumped down as the station now slowly descended to Earth.
"Doc?" Roxie asked, but due to the station not having any power, the call didn't go through. "Doc?!"
"Looks like it's just you and me, Pete," Holiday said as she walked into the main science room to meet Volkov. "What's our status?"
"Battery life support, but that's all."
"Any sign of ZAG-RS?"
Volkov shook his head as Holiday sighed and got to work on trying to get the station back up.
"Orbital decay is decreasing," an agent reported to Rex, Roxie, Bobo and Six. "And as long as they're tumbling, launching the other capsule is too dangerous."
"Then send someone up to fix it!" Rex ordered.
"How long will it take to prep a shuttle?" White Knight asked.
"Twelve hours. They'll hit the atmosphere and break up in about two."
"We need options," Six said.
"We could try the space elevator."
"Perfect!" Roxie exclaimed. "Put us on it and we can fix the station."
"It's only for cargo. The G-forces alone would kill a person.
"Um, hello! Have we met?" Rex asked, buliding up his Smack Hands. "We're not exactly normal people here."
"We can't afford to lose you too, guys."
"No one's losing anyone," Roxie said. "Come on, Knight. Have we ever not made it work?"
Indeed, soon after, the twins arrived at the space elevator, which was located on a station on an island in the middle of the Pacific. Inside, the twins were walked, wearing space suits up to the cargo that was also on board the elevator.
"Replacement power core and relays," Six explained to the twins, handing them their helmets. "The elevator doesn't reach the station's altitude, so you'll use the freight sled at the top of the station."
The twins nodded as Rex turned to Bobo.
"You sure you don't want to come?"
"Yeah, chimps have bad history with space, so... no. Have a good trip," the chimp EVO said, shaking the twins hands as the door closed behind him and Six. "Try not to die."
The twins braced themselves as the elevator instantly jettisoned off the ground, going higher than the twins had ever been in their lives... as far as they knew anyway.
"You're not scared of heights, are you, Rox?"
"Never."
"How's it going?" Six asked as the twins buckled under the G-force.
"Oh, great! Thanks for asking!" Rex shouted.
"Good. Because we need to speed you up to make the rendezvous window.
"But-" Roxie began before she and Rex felt the speed increase and they both screamed out as they felt a jolt as the space elevator seemed to hit something.
"What was that?"
"You crashed through the station."
"That's not supposed to happen, is it?!" Roxie asked.
"Problem with the braking mechanism. If you can't stop it, you'll keep going... forever."
Rex grunted outwards as he slammed his Smack Hands into the sides of the elevator car and Roxie shouted out as she slammed a large staff into the other sides with a scream of effort as the elevator slowly decreased its speed. Both screamed out as they reached the station and the elevator finally stopped and both collapsed to the ground and their builds dissolved.
"Stopped it," Roxie chuckled.
"Can they make the rendezvous?" White Knight asked.
"Uh... yes," Six said as the twins moved forwards. "Rex, Roxie, they made a slight miscalculation in the station's orbital decay."
"Uh-huh," Rex said. "Define slight?"
Both twins' pupils shrank to pinpoints as they saw the station move in right towards the elevator station. They screamed out and ran away as the satellite fins slashed through the elevator station before they leaped forwards as the station was blown to smithereens. Fortunately, the twins were barely able to make it onto the fin.
"Rex, Roxie, do you read?"
"Ow!" Roxie shouted as some debris hit her helmet, which began to crack and both her and Rex's radios were damaged in the crash.
Rex caught her as he grabbed before he used his Smack Hand to grab back onto the fin, which then broke off and shouted out in effort as he used his Punk Busters to kick off some debris and they drifted into the station and they miraculously landed in the airlock, which then sealed shut and both twins yanked their helmets off with a gasp of air.
"Mission control, we made it aboard," Rex said into his sparking communicator.
"Uh, mission control? Come in," Roxie said.
"Oh, just perfect!" Rex said. "Our radios were damaged in the crash. We're on our own, sis."
Roxie then reached her hand out and pressed it to the lock, opening the door as the twins moved into the station, just as the robot Salvatore moved in behind them. Thinking quickly, Roxie stuck out a sword to it, only for the robot to not even flinch.
Curious, the twins walked forwards and tapped on the Sal's faceplate.
"Welcome aboard to you too," Roxie joked before they walked off with Sal following after them.
As they walked through the station, they eventually came to the door to the main sector and Rex knocked on it.
"Hello? Doc?" the male EVO teen asked. "Anyone here?"
The doors then opened to reveal Holiday, who sighed in relief.
"Rex? Roxie?" Providence's main scientist asked before she rushed forwards and gave a big hug to the twins, who promptly returned the favor. "What are you doing here? How did you two-"
"Space elevator," Roxie answered. "Can you believe it?"
"The impact a few minutes ago," Volkov realized. "
"Oh, yeah," Rex winced. "Let's just say 'down' is no longer an option for us."
"Not many options here either. The power's nearly gone, communications are shot, we only have a little time left before we hit the atmosphere."
"Okay," Roxie said. "You two are the scientists here. So why don't you put on your thinking caps and try to figure out how to make us not crash and burn?"
"We need power to do anything," Volkov said.
"But ZAG-RS-" Holiday began.
"Should have been deleted in the power core purge."
"Fine. But both solar arrays are damaged and the couplings are shot."
"Let us give it a try," Rex said.
"What can they do? This requires precision, not smashing."
"Fine," Roxie scoffed, crossing her arms.
"We can use Salvatore. Look, Volkov, Rex and Roxie may not look like much, but having them here may acutally save our lives."
"Gee, that's reassuring," Rex said. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Doc."
"Look, you two," Holiday said, taking both twins by the arms. "If you blow this one, we're all dead. Got it?"
After being led into the power conduit, Holiday and Salvatore stood by as the twins only gazed at the damaged couplings.
"Start at the couplings and see if we can use the solar arrays to generate any power," Holiday ordered.
"So how does the robot, uh..." Roxie wondered.
"It's voice activated. Salvatore, pick up those yellow coupling cables."
Salvatore then moved forwards and picked up the severed yellow cables before showing them to the twins, who nodded curtly as they stuck their arms out and they started using thier nanites to reattach the cables, fixing the damage and she turned to Holiday with a smile.
Holiday nodded and moved to the power switches and flipped a few switches, which caused the lights to fire up all over the station before they made their way back to the main center of the station.
"How's that feel?" Rex asked.
"Slightly less catastrophic, thank you," Volkov answered as he moved to turn the computers on, only to be stopped by his boss.
"No. No computers. If ZAG-RS is somehow still in there, we're doomed."
"How do we stabilize this station without gyroscopic control of the thruster jets?"
Holiday turned to the twins, who gave a devious smirk back to her.
"Pretty incredible up here, isn't it, guys?" Rex asked as he and Roxie crawled on the outside of the station to head for the thrusters, stabilized by the cables attached to their suits while Salvatore followed them.
"Aside from our immenent doom, yes," Volkov answered. "Awe-inspiring."
"Rex, Roxie, the thrusters are normally controlled through the navigation software," Holiday instructed. "I need you two to bypass the system and connect the thrusters directly to the command module."
"Gotcha," Roxie said as she attempted to leap forwards, but when she did, she felt her cable stretch taut and she looked back. "Doc, we can't reach the thrusters from here without..."
"Hold on," Rex said as he attached a second cable to his belt and his sister nodded as they reached behind them and handed the remainder of the backup cables to Salvatore. "Hold onto these, will you, Sal?"
Salvatore took the cables from the twins and they leaped off the station's base and towards the cables.
"Are you two sure you know what you're doing?" Volkov asked.
"Not a clue," Roxie said honestly.
The twins then looked to the thrusters and placed their hands on them, activating their nanites to try to fire them up manually and they nodded to each other.
"Try the controls now," Rex said.
Holiday then grabbed the joystick and the thrusters began moving in the correct direction at her movement.
"Reel us in, Sally!" Roxie ordered.
Unfortunately, Salvatore didn't make a move and the twins gave a confused look.
"Salvatore?" Rex asked.
Salvatore then gave a turn and began reeling in the tiwns cables, whisking them away to safety as Roxie went to her radio with a nod.
"Okay, Doc. Fire it up!"
Holiday then pressed the ignition and the thrusters instantly ignited, moving the station back into position as Volkov turned to her.
"We might stand a tiny chance of getting out of here alive," he said. "Altitude burn in 3... 2... 1..."
Holiday and Volkov waited for a few more seconds and nothing happened.
"What? There must have been a fuel leak in the collision."
"At least we're stable enough for an evac now," Holiday said. "Rex, Roxie, take Salvatore and retrieve the containment unit. We'll prep the escape capsule."
At the escape capsule, Holiday and Volkov sat in their seats as the latter began prepping the controls.
"Is this a bad time to observe that there's only three seats in the escape caspule and four of us?"
"Easy," Rex said as he, Roxie and Salvatore walked in with a smirk. "You can sit on the floor, Volkov."
Volkov moved aside as Salvatore rolled in and placed the containment unit on the ground.
"Too bad we can't take sparky with us," Roxie said. "We could really use a robot butler in our room."
"Talk with Knight when we get home," Holiday suggested. "I think we can go now."
Suddenly, the twins were decked by Salvatore before the robot grabbed them off the ground and tossed them into the wall with a pained groan.
"Correction," ZAG-RS sounded from inside Salvatore, its visor glowing red. "Now I can go."
Holiday and Volkov only stared in stunned shock as Salvatore moved forwards.
"You were right to shut the station down. I would have regained control if you hadn't. Fortunately, I was able to download myself into something autonomous."
"That is our only means of survival!" Volkov shouted, running forward. "You can't take it!"
"Incorrect," ZAG-RS said, picking Volkov up and tossing him aside and using Salvatore's arms to press him against the wall as a compartment opened up in its body, revealing a blowtorch that was aiming straight for Volkov's head.
Thankfully, the twins recovered and rushed ahead, Rex building his Smack Hands to toss ZAG-RS aside and it went rolling down the halls.
"Careful," Volkov warned. "The hull."
"Sorry, Professor. But this one requires smashing," Rex said. "Not precision."
Roxie shouted out as she summoned her warhammer and began smashing and bashing at Salvatore, only for it to move out of the way each time. Rex leaped in and grappled the ZAG-RS controlled robot with his Smack Hands, only for her to use its blowtorch to burn his hand, forcing him to retract it in pain before he was smacked aside.
Roxie turned to the two Providence scientists with a determined glare. "Get to the capsule!"
She then built up her swords and rushed forwards, but not before ZAG-RS sent out a signal that caused her nanites to start to pulse rapidly.
"Roxie! No!"
Roxie groaned out as she fell to her knees in pain.
"It seems you have forgotten my ability to destroy nanites at close range, Roxie," ZAG-RS said, building an energy blade from Salvatore's arm.
"Thanks for the reminder, Zag," Roxie shouted, swinging her sword at Salvatore, only for the blade to counter hers', sending the tip flying dangerously close to Volkov's head before it disintegrated.
"Why worry about hitting the atmosphere?" Volkov asked Holiday, watching as the twins continued brawling with the A.I. controlled robot. "These three will get us first."
ZAG-RS shouted out and picked up Roxie before tossing her into her brother and both slumped on the ground before their eyes widened as ZAG-RS attempted to bring Salvatore's fist down on them, but they quickly recovered and leaped out of the way.
"Hey, we're trying to stop a killer robot here!" Rex shouted. "A 'Thanks' or 'Keep it up' would suffice just fine!"
That call was unfortunately interrupted as Rex was sucker punched into the far wall as Roxie ran over to help.
"Your nanites are useless against me," ZAG-RS said. "In order to defeat me, you must destroy the station and everyone onboard."
ZAG-RS then picked up Roxie as she glared as she brought the energy blade to her neck.
"But I did enjoy stabilizing the station with you two."
But then, ZAG-RS looked to the monitor and saw that the escape pod was now activated and prepared to launch. Thinking quickly, she dropped Roxie as Rex recovered and ran to her side before she rushed over and confronted Holiday and Volkov just as they were prepared to leave.
"Please exit the capsule now."
Thankfully, Rex and Roxie moved to the controls as Rex began typing in his own commands with a determined look.
"Forget stable," he said, activating the station's thrusters, which then caused the entire station to tilt and Salvatore lost its balance, crashing through the halls before landing in a heap on the ground as the twins rushed back to the escape pod.
As they passed Salvatore, though, ZAG-RS activated a magnet beam and sent several shards of the floor at the twins, sending them crashing into the next wall over... again.
As all this was happening, the entire station was set ablaze upon entering Earth's atmosphere and everyone inside began to feel the heat.
The twins got up and Rex activated his Punk Busters as Roxie built her warhammer and the twins shouted out, rushing towards ZAG-RS, but then, ZAG-RS deactivated their nanites again and smacked them both into the next hall and Holiday looked to them.
"Rex, Roxie, come on!"
"Can't do it," Roxie grunted, her raven hair falling in her face. "We're spent."
"Launch while you can," Rex said. "Go!"
"Not until you're both in here!"
"You've got the nanites," Roxie said. "If anyone can figure out how to make them work, it's you!"
"You won't even need us anymore! We'll hold her off," Rex said, trying and failing to build his Smack Hands. "Just launch!"
Thinking quickly, Holiday grabbed the nanite container and tossed it right at Salvatore, knocking ZAG-RS off balance again and she rushed to the twins and kneeled down to them, concerned.
"Rex, Roxie, you two never gave up on us. We're not giving up on you," she assured. "Now get in here so we can go home!"
Holiday took the twins over her arms and rushed them to the pod just as ZAG-RS recovered and followed after them. Thankfully, Volkov slammed his hand down on the contros and the door closed behind Holiday and the twins just before ZAG-RS made it in.
"This isn't over," ZAG-RS assured.
"Oh, it is," Rex said. "For now."
With that, the escape pod was jettisoned to Earth just as the station exploded, the debris drifting through the atmosphere.
"Engaging stabilizers," Volkov said.
As the stabilizers were activated, everyone looked as the pod started building up in heat.
"This heat shield is damaged. It appears we are all going to die. Again."
"I got your heat shield right here!" Rex shouted, building his Smack Hands and bracing them against the walls of the escape pod.
"Hothothothothothothothothothot!"
In Providence headquarters, the rest of the agents all sighed out as they watched the station explode.
"Shut it down," White Knight ordered.
Just as an agent was typing in the commands, however, Holiday suddenly called in.
"Providence, this is Holiday. We are clear of re-entry and deploying parachutes. Think you could arrange a pick-up?"
"On its way," Six said. "You'll be happy to know we're in contact with Rhodes. Her space suit saved her life. We're prepping a shuttle now."
"Thanks. And Six? It's good to hear your voice."
In the middle of the ocean, the twins and Holiday sat on the escape pod floating in the water, watching the debris from the station burn up in the atmosphere.
"Listen, Doc," Rex said. "About what happened up there, just before we got away from the robot?"
"After you guys came all that way to get me? It's the least I could do," Holiday said, prompting a warm smile from the twins.
"So..." Roxie chuckled. "How long until we get picked up?"
"Bad news," Volkov said, emerging from the pod. "Transponder is toast."
"Well then you two better not get seasick," Rex said as he and Roxie laid down and relaxed on the pod, looking up at the blue skies.