At Providence Headquarters, Rex and Roxie moved to the elevator with Bobo behind them.
"So what's the plan?" Rex asked.
"Tough call, chief. My gut tells me-" Bobo began berfore he was interrupted by the gurgling of his stomach. "-tacos. Ooh, make that a grande combo platter."
"Oh, the food of our people," Roxie chuckled. "Roger that.'
With that, the three EVos bounded and snuck through the halls of the base as Roxie braced herself against a wall.
"All clear?" she asked.
"Crystal," Bobo said.
And with that, the twins and Bobo sneakily ran through the halls of the school and outside onto the runway for the ships as Rex activated his Boogie Pack and Roxie activated her hoverboard and both lowered their goggles and were about to take off... just as their phones began to ring.
"Don't answer it!" Bobo ordered. "Pancho's Fiesta Palace closes at midnight."
"I'll handle it," Roxie said, whipping out her phone. "Six, I know what you're thinking, but trust us. We're not sneaking out."
"Yeah," Rex said. "We're trying to... rediscover our cultural heritage."
"Rex," came a familiar voice. "It's me."
"Circe?" the twins chorused.
"What do you want, traitor?" Roxie spat.
"Things in Abysus, they're really bad, guys. I need your help."
"Uh, yeah. Wow," Rex said. "How do I put this delicately... not a chance!"
"You made your choice, Circe. We made ours. End of story," Roxie agreed.
"Please, guys. I know you're still pissed at me, but this is a matter of life and death."
"Hey, hey. A lot of things are these days," Rex said. "Nice talking to you."
With that, the twins promptly hung up on their old friend.
"Rex? Roxie?" Circe asked before putting her phone away and looking at the area around her, seeing all the plants beginning to decay.
The twins only sighed as they dissolved their builds, which caused Bobo to fall to the ground with a pained grunt.
"I'm not getting my combo platter, am I?"
"Change of plans," Rex sighed.
"We're going to her, aren't we?" Roxie asked with a shake of her head.
"Yep."
And then, the twins went back into headquarters, leaving Bobo all by himself and he sighed and shook his head.
"Ah, women."
"Nothing we have in our arsenal has enough range to reach Abysus," Rex said as he and Roxie moved forwards along with Bobo.
"Well that's easy. Just hotwire a shuttle," Bobo said.
"I like your thinking," Roxie said as the group moved to the garage and got into an empty shuttle.
"You two ever done this before?"
"How hard could it be?" Rex asked. "All I gotta do is unleash a few zillion nanites and let them unscramble the ignition lock sequence?"
"Excellent plan," a familiar voice said and the trio looked to see Six resting on the rim of the shuttle. "Except the maintenance crew removed the control core for servicing."
"It was their idea!" Bobo piped up, eliciting angry looks from the twins.
"Care to tell me what's going on?"
"Not really, no," Roxie said.
Six only raised an eyebrow at that statement.
"Fine!" Rex said. "We got a call from Circe. Something's wrong in Abysus. We just wanted to fly and take a look."
"And you didn't tell me? Why?"
"Uh, because you would've used words like 'unauthorized' and 'no.'" Roxie answered simply. "We're gonna find a way there whether you want us to or not."
"Doesn't leave me a lot of choice, there, does it?"
Six then crawled down the plane and nodded in confirmation.
"Meet me back here in one hour."
"You got it," Rex said as Six walked off.
"One whole hour?" Bobo asked. "Does taco run numero dos?"
"Absolutamente," Rex smirked as Roxie giggled and rubbed her tummy.
One hour later, after finishing their meal, the twins indeed met back in the hangar as Six walked up to them as promised along with...
"You told Holiday?" Rex asked, confused.
"Nice to see you too, guys," Holiday nodded.
"I consulted with Dr. Holiday because I wanted to see if your friend's story checked out," Six explained.
"Satellite scans of Abysus show that there is some kind of anomaly," Holiday confirmed. "Not sure what it is or what's causing it, but if you want to help Circe, you two are going to need me there to find out."
As Six and Holiday entered one of the shuttles, Roxie called out to stop them.
"Hold up. Still waiting for Bobo."
"Don't bother," Six said. "I gave him another assignment."
"Doing what?" Rex asked.
"What he does best."
"Stinking up a room?" Roxie asked.
"No. Causing a distraction. White Knight would never authorize a mission like this, so we'll need to travel off the grid. I ditched our communications gear, but our trackers required much more, shall we say, elaborate diversion."
"Pulling one over on the Knight," Rex said, impressed. "I'm impressed, Six."
"I had no idea you had that in you," Roxie said, eyes wide.
As Six flew the shuttle through the air, in the cargo bay, Holiday and the twins were having a conversation.
"I had no idea you were still in touch with Circe, Rex," Holiday said.
"Yeah, me neither," Rex said, crossing his arms. "Can we please not make a big deal out of this?"
"Yeah, it's already bothering me a lot too," Roxie said.
"We're here," Six said over the intercom and he flew shuttle into Abysus, where globs of sludge were rising into the air as far as the eye could see.
"Something is definitely affecting the terrain here," Holiday said.
"I'll put us down near Van Kleiss' old castle," Six said as the twins turned to each other with an unsure look, remembering their archnemesis' abilities.
"After how much fun the two of us had with the guy the first time we came here, I can't say we're glad to be back," Rex said.
"At least we won't have that psychopath Van Kleiss there to greet us this time," Roxie said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Maybe you should call your girlfriend," Six suggested as the team left the shuttle.
"Already on it," Rex said, dialing Circe's number.
"And by the way, she's not his girlfriend."
"No answer."
The team then walked forwards to see Van Kleiss' castle lie in ruins and they looked upwards to see the gross sludge rising into the air.
"Ugh," Roxie groaned. "Reminds me of something I may have coughed up when I had the flu that one time."
Holiday took a sample of the sludge and then put it into her molecular scanner, awaiting the results.
"I've never seen anything like this before."
"What is it?" Rex asked.
"These are nanites. Highly unstable and multiplying.
The team moved to a cavern as Holiday leaned down to collect some samples, but just as she did, a giant EVO crawled up onto the top of the cave with a growl.
"Holiday, don't move!" Six ordered.
Holiday only looked up in fear as the EVO loomed over her head and roared down at her.
"Now that's a face only a chainsaw could love," Rex said.
Holiday ran off as the EVO tried to pound her into the ground, but the twins came to the rescue as Rex formed his Smack Hands and Roxie formed her warhammer and both slammed the EVO, only for its thick hide to bounce them away and they were sent sprawling across the ground.
Six formed his swords and ran up off a rock and leaped towards the EVO, who instantly smacked him away. Thankfully, Six backflipped in the air and recovered with a glare.
Rex formed his Boogie Pack and then formed his Punk Busters as he reared a kick towards the EVO, only for it to catch his giant boot in his mouth and tossed him into a rock as he slumped down to the ground.
Roxie shouted out as she formed a giant cannon in her hands and blasted at the EVO, only for the creature to brush the powerful blast out and Roxie groaned out with a shout.
Just as the EVO was about to bring its claw down on her, however, Holiday suddenly leaped in and blasted at the EVO with her guns, surprisingly sending it stumbling back.
"Wow," Six said.
"Yeah," Rex smirked.
"Six, Rex, Roxie," Holiday said, looking behind her.
The twins looked to an adjacent cliff and gasped as they saw the Pack looming over them. Rex looked up to see the stoic-looking Circe glaring down at him before she, Biowulf and Skalamander leaped down to confront the team.
"It's a trap," Six said.
Surprisingly, though, the Pack ran past the Providence team and ran to confront the EVO.
"Wait," Roxie said. "Is the Pack actually... helping us?"
"Looks like it," Rex said.
Circe ran up and sent a sonic scream out that sent the giant EVO stumbling back as Skalamander shot some crystals out that stabbed the creature in the neck and Biowulf leaped up to deliver some wicked slashes to his face, only for the EVO to catch him in midair.
Thankfully, Rex used his Slam Cannon to send some debris smashing into the EVO's face, sending it stumbling back again and releasing Biowulf.
Holiday blasted the creature with her guns as Circe doubled the effort with a sonic scream. Six then ran up and gave some slashes to the EVO's leg, sending it crashing down as Rex and Roxie ran up to it to do their work.
"Rex, Roxie, stop," Holiday said. "Don't cure it. It's nanites could be corrupt like the ones we found earlier. There's no telling what they could do to you two."
"Doc, seriously. You worry too much," Rex said.
Just as he said that, the EVO began to dissolve into the same corrupt nanites flying into the sky.
"You were saying, bro?" Roxie asked.
"Never mind."
"The same thing's happening all over Abysus," Circe explained.
"Uh, a little heads up would've been nice," Rex said.
"I tried. You two hung up."
"Whatever," Roxie spat.
"Do you have any idea what's causing this?" Holiday asked.
"Well, it started when-"
"No! We don't," Biowulf interrupted.
"But it's spreading, isn't it?"
"Yes- fast."
"There's nothing stopping it from spreading beyond the border of Abysus. We're talking about a global threat here."
"How do we stop it?" Six asked.
"We can't," Circe said. "That's why I called Rex and Roxie. You'd better come with us."
That was when the Pack started leading the Providence team away from the scene and into the ruins of Van Kleiss' castle.
"She's very pretty," Circe told Rex.
"She works for Van Kleiss. She's the enemy," Rex said.
"But you still like her, don't you?" Roxie asked with a sly smirk.
"I'm not talking about this."
Upon arriving inside the castle, everyone looked forward at the makeshift laboratory in front of them that had a similar generator to the one at Gabriel Rylander's hideout as the Pack got to work.
"What the heck is that thing?" Roxie asked.
"Our master left us instructions in case something happened to him," Biowulf answered, taking out a scroll and handing it to Holiday, who inspected the instructions.
"Then what do you need us for?" Rex asked.
"It won't turn on," Circe said.
"Did you try a repair guy for that?" Roxie asked.
"It's not that simple. You're the key, guys," Holiday said. "Your abilities are the only thing that can get the device running."
"Figures," Rex sighed. "Van Kleiss probably figured we'd be two of them by now."
"We can't do this without you guys," Circe said. "Please."
"Rex, Roxie, Holiday, we need to talk," Six said to his teammates, leading them away from the Pack. "I don't trust them."
"Yeah?" Roxie asked. "Guess what, Six. That makes three of us."
"I'm not crazy about helping them either, guys," Holiday said. "But we've got to put aside our emotions. If these unstable nanites are allowed to advance, they'll consume everything in their path. Nobody will be safe. Think about it."
"Okay," Rex said as he and Roxie sighed and walked up to the generator. "This better not turn me into a French fry."
"Here's to hoping," Roxie grunted.
"Rex, Roxie," Circe said from behind the duo. "Thank you."
"We're not doing this for you," Rex told his ex-girlfriend. "But... you're welcome anyway."
"So, what exactly are we supposed to do?" Roxie asked.
"When I said you two were the key, I meant that literally," Holiday said. "According to the plans, the machine has to be turned on from a nanoscopic level."
"Uh, how do we do that?" Rex asked. "This isn't exactly like telling a vending machine to cough up a soda."
"Try," Biowulf said.
"Okay," Roxie said. "Here goes nothing."
The twins then braced themselves and placed a hand on each side of the machine and closed their eyes, focusing intently as they activated their nanites and commanded them to slowly cause the machine to fire up, Biowulf put the dials up and a figure began to form, vines and plant-like material swarming around the mass at the top of the machine starting to form a human-like shape that the twins immediately recognized as...
"Van Kleiss!" the twins shouted before they instantly aborted the mission.
"Master!" Skalamander shouted as the mass faded away into dust.
"You lied to us!" Roxie shouted, grabbing Circe's arms in anger.
"There's no way you two would've come if I had told you the truth," Circe defended.
"This was never about you needing us!" Rex shouted. "This was about you needing Van Kleiss!"
"I need all three of you. Please, guys. You don't understand."
"No, Circe. You don't understand," Roxie spat. "Van Kleiss is gone and we are going to make sure it stays that way!"
Roxie then summoned her warhammer and gave a powerful swing to the machine, smashing it inwards.
"You fools! You've destroyed us all!" Biowulf shouted, lunging at the twins, only to be blocked by Six as he held his swords out.
"Don't even breathe."
"You two don't know what you've done," Circe said.
"Then I guess we're even," Rex said, walking away with his sister, both with their noses turned up.
"You've never understood his power. Van Kleiss kept us safe here. His force was the only thing holding Abysus together... and you two destroyed that."
"Good," Roxie spat. "We're done here."
"Uh, guys, I know you don't want to hear this, but I think she's right," Holiday winced, earning shocked looks from the twins. "Nanites operate on a molecular level. If they bonded with Van Kleiss, breaking off his connection could have corrupted their internal structure, leading to a disastrous chain reaction."
"So what are you saying?" Rex asked. "We couldn't save Van Kleiss and now the world's going to end because of it?"
"This is all our fault?" Roxie agreed.
"This isn't about blame, guys. If Van Kleiss' system can actually withstand these unstable nanites, he could be the only one who can rein them in for good."
"We wouldn't bring him back for nine billion dollars," Rex said. "Not now, not ever!"
"Besides, you don't need Van Kleiss," Roxie agreed as the twins faced the geysers of nanites erupting from the ground. "You have us. Why not just bring us straight to the source?"
"Rex, Roxie, no!" Holiday shouted.
"Stand down!" Six ordered. "It's too dangerous."
Roxie stuck her hand into the geyser... and then immediately regretted it as the metal spores started growing all over her body as Six and Holiday grabbed her and pushed her back, which immediately caused the spores to recede.
"Let go of me!" she shouted.
"If you keep fighting these nanites, they're going to kill both of you!"
"And if we don't they'll kill everybody else!" Rex shouted.
"Not if you two listen to me," Holiday said. "It's a long shot, but I've got another idea. Instead of trying to deactivate the nanites, try communicating with them."
"You want them to talk to the nanites?" Six asked.
"They've done it before."
"Yeah, but never anything this big," Roxie said.
"It's basically the same principle. Interface with the unstable nanites, gain control over their program and tell them to stop advancing."
But then, the ground and walls started shaking and more geysers of nanites burst out, causing everyone in the place to leap for cover.
"Hey, why not?" Rex asked, him and his sister sharing nervous looks.
"Ay, dios mio!" Roxie said.
"If this works, we should see results immediately."
Rex and Roxie placed their hands into the nanites again, feeling the spores grow once more, but they weathered through the pain as the spores receded back into their skin. Calmly, the twins sent their nanites out as they began to communicate with the unstable nanites as the twins let out two beams of light from their hands that caused several beams of light to shoot out and illuminated the entire castle.
"The nanites are responding," Holiday said, looking at her scanner. "Guys, you can stop now."
The twins nodded and retracted their hands.
"You did it!" Circe said, running to Rex.
"Yeah. We're kind of awesome like that," Rex said.
But, just as the group was about to calm down, more streams of nanites burst into the room, causing the Pack to look up in shock.
"I thought you said the nanites stopped spreading!" Biowulf shouted.
"They did. But now they're contracting."
"Bet you didn't plan on that, did you, Doc?"
"Everybody out! Now!" Six shouted as the ground began cracking under the group's feet. Biowulf and Skalamander ran through the halls, only for the constant streams of nanites to eventually overwhelm them as they were washed away by the flood.
Holiday nodded and blasted her grappling hook out to grapple out to a piece of rubble. Six grabbed hold of her as she tried to zip them both away to safety. Unfortunately, the pipe broke away and sent them both plummeting into the nanite pool.
Then, the ground broke from underneath the twins' and Circe's feet and the twins looked as Circe started sliding down the unstable platform. But just as she was about to fall in, Roxie grabbed her arm and hoisted her up to safety.
"We've got you! Don't let go!"
Unfortunately, Circe's grip slowly loosened before she fell down into the pool of nanites.
"Circe!" Rex shouted.
"Rex, we gotta go!"
"No! I can save her!"
Rex then leaped into the pool and thrust his hand out, commanding the massive amount of nanites to disperse around him.
"Whoa. I had no idea we could do that," Roxie said before she leaped into the pool as well and commanded the nanites around her to disperse as well.
"Circe! Six!" Rex called out.
"Dr. Holiday!"
Suddenly, the twins managed to find the machine among the absolute ocean of nanites.
"Fine! You win!" Rex shouted.
The twins nodded to each other before both placed a hand on the machine and they shouted out as they commanded their nanites to activate it, causing the machine to flare to life as teh unstable nanites around the laboratory to start to drain away from the area.
"Something's not right," Roxie said as the twins looked up from their work and spotted their arch-nemesis forming from the generator above them.
Van Kleiss groaned outwards as he landed on the ground in front of the twins. He then screamed out in pain as the wtins looked up at him.
"Van Kleiss, we need you to focus," Rex said. "The whole place is being eaten up by this weird goop."
"Some kind of nanite-"
"I know what this is."
Van Kleiss then thrust his body backwardsa as all of the nanites throughout Abysus started flooding into his body and the twins looked on in shock. Not only that, but the castle completely reconstructed itself from the ground up as the twins smiled as Biowulf and Skalamander emerged groaning in pain from the area.
But then, Van Kleiss stopped where he stood as the twins looked confused.
"What are you stopping for? Finish the job!"
"And what will you two do for me in return?"
"Are you kidding me!?" Roxie shouted. "We brought you back to life! What more could you want?!"
"You two know exactly what I want," Van Kleiss said. "It's simple, really. Join us and everyone you care about lives. Refuse and they die."
"Fine!" Rex shouted. "Now help them!"
Van Kleiss then resumed his work as all of the nanites in the laboratory and around Abysus flowed back into Van Kleiss. All of the dead trees and plant life sprang back to life across Abysus and Six and Holiday emerged from the pool, gasping for breath.
Rex gasped as Circe emerged from the draining nanite pool and he ran over to her and took the unconscious EVO in his arms.
"Circe! Come on, breathe!"
Circe coughed weakly before looking up at Rex with a smile. "Hey."
"Hey."
Suddenly, everyone heard the all too familiar evil laughter of their archenemy and looked upwards to see Van Kleiss towering over them.
"What a touching little reunion."
"Van Kleiss?" Circe asked.
"In the flesh."
"You actually revived him?"
"We had no choice," Roxie said, shaking her head.
"And actually, I'm feeling better than ever, now that Rex and Roxie have finally come to their senses," Van Kleiss chuckled. "Isn't that right, you two?"
"Better than ever my ass," Rex sighed. "A deal's a deal."
"What deal?" Six asked.
"What is he talking about, Roxie?" Holiday asked.
"Sorry, guys. It was the only way to save you," Roxie said.
"Welcome home," Van Kleiss smirked, extending his hand to the twins as they groaned and walked up to him.
"Don't do it, you two," Six said, stopping the twins.
"We'll find another way," Holiday begged, only for Roxie to push her away as she and her brother walked up to Van Kleiss' extended hands and they took them with a smile.
"I admire your integrity. Now, I'd say we are even."
Suddenly, the twins gasped as they felt Van Kleiss nanites and they smirked.
"That's it," Rex realized. "You said you feel better than ever? I bet that's because something's changed inside you."
"Your nanites are different, aren't they?" Roxie smirked wickedly.
"Should that matter?"
"Yep. And by the way, we really appreciate this."
"An opportunity to join the true heroes?"
"No. You sticking your hand out like an idiot," Roxie said as she and her brother nodded to each other and started absorbing.
Van Kleiss shouted out in pain as his gauntlet burst into pieces off his left arm as the twins absorbed his nanites.
"Rex, Roxie, what are you doing?!" Circe shouted.
"What does it look like?" Rex asked. "We're curing him."
And once it was over, Van Kleiss collapsed to his knees, back to normal size, as the Pack ran up to surround him as the twins backed off.
"Master," Biowulf said, shocked. "You're..."
"Human?" Skalamander asked.
"What can I say except you're welcome," Roxie sang jokingly.
Van Kleiss' hands shook in anger as he glanced up at the twins hatefully. "This... is impossible! I was uncurable!"
"You said the key word there, dude. Was," Rex said. "You see, Roxie and I noticed something strange when we plugged into that machine of yours."
"You were coming back, but as Van Kleiss Light," Roxie smirked. "But hey, the good news is now there's nothing stopping us from hauling your sorry ass to jail!"
"Except us," Biowulf snarled.
"Master, go!" Skalamander ordered.
Circe took Van Kleiss away as Biowulf charged at Rex, who built up his Smack Hands to sock him in the face, sending him stumbling back into the wall.
Skalamander tossed some of his crystals at Rex, only for Roxie to conjure her shield into existence to block them as Six bounded over her and slashed all his crystals apart and kicked him off the balcony to the ground below.
As Circe led Van Kleiss off, a voice was suddenly heard from above.
"Going somewhere?"
Circe looked up to see Rex and Roxie descending on their Boogie Pack and hoverboard, glaring down at the duo. Gasping, they ran back, only to see Six and Holiday smirking as well.
"There's no way out this time," Roxie said, folding her arms.
"Come on, Van Kleiss. This is just sad," Rex agreed.
"Taking advantage of someone in a moment of weakness is no triumph, Rex; Roxie. You may have temporarily relieved me of my powers, but my greatest strength is still untouched."
"And that would be what? Your hair?" Roxie asked.
"My intellect."
"Who knows, dude? Maybe they'll let you do crosswords in your cell."
Suddenly, a familiar swirling red portal came into existence behind Van Kleiss, shocking everyone in the room.
"Perhaps another time."
"No way!" the twins shouted as another familiar figure reached out of the portal, grabbed Van Kleiss and pulled him in as the portal vanished.
"Just when we thought we'd won," Rex sighed. "Breach is back."
Holiday reached into her holster and fired after Van Kleiss' minions, only to miss as they ran away from the castle.
"And the Pack is gone," Roxie sighed, shaking her head. "Just terrific!"
"Um, guys?"
The twins looked over their shoulder to see that Circe had not retreated.
"So how come you're still here?" Rex asked.
"You two saved my life," Circe said. "It would've been rude to leave without saying thanks."
"Eh, that's true. Of course, you don't have to leave."
"Uh, come on," Holiday told Six. "Maybe we should..."
"Start our mission debriefing?"
"Just stay with us, Circe," Roxie said. "Van Kleiss is done."
"As much as I care about you and Rex, Roxie, Van Kleiss and the Pack are my family," Circe said. "They took me in when nobody else would. I can't just abandon them."
"So that's it then," Rex said, taking his arm away. "We're always going to be on opposite sides of the war."
"It does keep it interesting," Circe said as she ran away from the twins.
Later, the twins met back at the drop ship to go back home.
"Everything alright?" Holiday asked.
"No offense, Doc, but I totally don't get women," Rex said.
"One day you will."
"Not likely," Roxie muttered.
"I still don't have a clue," Six said, entering the ship.
As the twins followed Six and Holiday into the ship, Circe only looked on from the woods as it took off. The twins only looked on at Abysus before the door finally closed behind them and they took their seats as the ship made its way back to Providence Headquarters.