"We're facing heavy resistance here!" an agent shouted as a Providence convoy moved through the desert with our favorite agents holed inside with Agent Six as the leader. "There's too many of them!"
That was when Rex's voice making annoying shooting noises sounded out.
"Keep this channel clear, you two."
Indeed, Rex, Roxie, Bobo and Noah were riding in their own delivery truck as Bobo drove them forwards.
"Six, do you really expect us to get back to Providence Headquarters at 1800 hours in this slowpoke convoy?" Roxie asked with a groan.
"Yeah, just jet the cargo," Rex suggested. "We'd be there by now."
"Except we're transporting unstable nanites, which have to be kept at or below sea level," Six said. "Even one wrong bump and the whole thing could go off."
"Yeah, and if it blows, you're on a battle transport," Roxie said. "Meanwhile, we're stuck in this delivery truck, transporting whatever."
"What are we carrying again?" Rex asked.
"Toilet paper," Bobo said, much to the twins and Noah's displeasure.
"One, everyone in this mission has a part to play," Six said.
"Seriously? Toilet paper?" Roxie asked.
"And two, we're under strict radio silence. Six out."
"Radio silence, convoy security protocol, no bathroom breaks," Rex said, very annoyed. "And they won't even let us drive."
"So many rules, all for what? Some nanites?"
"Unstable nanites," Noah said. "The most dangerous nanites on Earth."
"Well, at least there's no anti-tunes order," Rex said, adjusting the radio.
"But that radio's Stone Age," Noah said. "You'll be lucky if you can get it to play static."
"Oh, I think I can manage to play some base out of it."
Rex pressed his hand, using his nanites to bring the radio to life, letting out loud rock music that caused him and his party to bang their heads to the music.
"Not bad, bro," Roxie said.
"What?!"
"I said 'not bad!'"
Unfortunately, the radio then blew up, covering the truck with smoke, which caused Bobo to lose control of the wheel, causing their delivery truck to separate from the rest of the convoy at a fork in the road.
"Bobo, slow down!" Noah shouted. "We can't see anything!"
"I got one good eye that's closed half the time. Now you're worried?!" Bobo shouted.
Bobo slammed on the brakes, causing the delivery truck to screech to a halt as the party looked at their surroundings to see where they were.
"Well, the good news is, we're right near nothing!" Roxie shouted.
"And we lost the convoy," Noah shrugged.
"Don't worry, lovebirds," Bobo said, causing both Roxie and Noah to blush furiously. "We'll catch up. That's why they invented speeding."
Bobo shifted the car into drive and then sped off down the road... the exact opposite direction of the convoy. Unbeknownst to everyone, the convoy was being watched by a group of Mad Max-style road pirates watching them from the cliffs.
"Good. Right on time," the leader, Gatlocke, said. "What do you think of the spyglass? Am I taking this pirate thing too far? I haven't become a cliche, have I?"
"No, Gatlocke. It fits you."
"Oh, good. Because if you'd said yes, I would've thrown you off the cliff," Gatlocke said before chuckling... and then growing serious again. "No, seriously. I would have."
Gatlocke then hopped on a rock and presented himself to his crew theatrically.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the convoy is directly beneath us. Wait, do we have any ladies in my gang?"
Gatlocke looked among all the road hogs in his group with a wicked smirk.
"No ladies? We need to get with the times. Let's see if I can get some ladies in the gang," the cybernetic road pirate said as he threw his arms out in a theatrical manner. "Gentlemen, grab your weapons, charge up the scramblers and attack!"
The road hogs all cheered as they got into their vehicles and sped down the hill, chasing after the convoy. This obviously didn't go unnoticed by the agents as their radio signals started to render static.
"They're jamming all channels," one of the agents told Six. "We're cut off, sir."
Six jumped out of his seat and leaped forwards as the convoy's two jets flew towards the road pirates and started firing their lasers down on the various cars.
"Ready the ion cannon thingamabobs," Gatlocke ordered.
The pirates fired the ion cannons planted on the roofs of the cars, sending both jets crashing down into the canyon walls, which also caused a few of the other Providence vehicles to crash as the entire convoy screeched to a halt.
Six leaped out of one of them and began engaging some of the road hogs on his own. He grabbed one pirate and tossed it off his car and sped off to the front of the crash site.
"Fall back! Cover the cargo carriers!"
Back with the twins, Bobo and Noah's group, Roxie groaned in annoyance, resting her hand on her chin as Rex smirked to his best friend.
"You know what this means, don't you?" he asked.
"We're lost?" Noah asked.
"No, it means no one's around to tell me I can't drive. Hand over the wheel, Bobo."
"You can't drive," Bobo snapped.
Roxie adjusted the dials on the radio with a sigh.
"Radio's broken, so we can't even call for help," she said.
"We don't need help because we're not lost, sis," Rex said. "We're not lost. Men don't get lost. We go exploring. And why should you care if I drive, chimp? Unless you made some kind of deal with Six?"
"You'll have to ask my bank account."
It was chaos in the canyon as the pirates rained arrows down on the Providence agents, who blasted their lasers down on the invading forces.
Six swerved his ATV to avoid the laser shots as he leaped up and unsheathed his swords and slashed down two pirates' buggies, easily sending them falling to pieces.
"Defend the cargo!" he said into his comm link. "Don't let them get to the trailers."
Gatlocke hummed as he entered the wreckage of the vehicles and morphed his right arm into a cannon, blasting a few Providence agents carelessly, sending them flying back into the canyon walls. A trailer pulled up as the pirates broke into the door and tossed the driver out of it as Gatlocke climbed on top of it with a smirk.
"As of this moment, the unstable nanites have officially been jacked!"
Six ran after the trailer with a determined look on his face as Gatlocke looked back with an amused smirk on his face.
"Give me a reason. Give me one good reason," Gatlocke said before sighing and aiming his arm cannon towards Six. "I'm only kidding. Like I need a reason."
Gatlocke fired several energy blasts at Six, who used his amazing parkour abilities to dodge around every single one of them as he watched the truck leave. Adjusting his sunglasses, he ran back to the convoy wreckage and used his swords to deflect all the arrows as the Providence agents reloaded into the carrier van.
"We'll regroup outside the canyon. Get us out of here, now!"
The carrier then took off in the opposite direction towards the canyon entrance.
"Sir, they got the cargo," the driver reported.
"I'm aware of the situation," Six said. "Rex and Roxie weren't with the convoy when we were attacked. Fix the radio and find them. Of all the days to disobey orders."
"Pit stop successful!" Rex cheered as he ran out of a gas station as the others looked towards him as he came to the door and beamed as he was carrying a ton of sodas and loaded his jacket with snacks.
Rex tossed a few bags of chips towards his sister and friends before offering a soda, which Noah took, blowing away the fizz.
"This soda is expired," Noah noticed.
"I know! They were practically giving it away!" Rex said as Roxie felt her face go green as she threw up in her mouth a bit while Bobo did a massive spit take.
"Rex! That's so gross!"
"Ugh! This tastes like feet! And not the clean kind!" the chimpanzee EVO shouted, throwing the can out the window.
"Fine! More for me then!" Rex said, sipping a soda... and then grew green in the face as well. "I see your point."
"By now, they must have noticed we were gone," Noah said.
"No one's going to notice a delivery truck."
Noah then pointed out the window as he and Rex looked to see two gorgeous woman pull up beside the truck in a convertible as they waved and drove off.
"Floor it!"
"Go faster!" Rex and Noah shouted as Bobo slammed his foot on the gas to peel out of the gas station after the convertible.
"Oh, please," Roxie chuckled in the back seat.
"Ladies, how's it going today?" Rex asked, confusing the two girls as Noah waved flirtatiously. "Yeah, we roll in a big truck. Other guys may flake on you, but me and Noah? We deliver."
The two girls laughed as Bobo popped up between the two as they drove away. But Bobo taking his hands off the wheel caused the truck to careen off the road and into a tree, causing the engine to start smoking.
"I think we actually had a chance back there."
"As if," Roxie laughed.
Back with Gatlocke and his crew, the road pirates gathered around the stolen delivery truck as Gatlocke rose his arms up proudly.
"Gentlemen! Congratulations on a job well done," he exclaimed. "Your commitment to... oh, forget it. Open the truck."
Two pirates then used two crowbars to open the truck's back as Gatlocke smirked proudly.
"Communications are still down, sir," the driver reported to Six, who was looking out into the distance with his binoculars. "We can send a cycle for help."
"No. I want everything available searching the area," Six said.
"For the attackers?"
"For Rex and Roxie."
The truck back was finally opened... and Gatlocke was horrified at what lay inside. For inside was the supply of toilet paper while the unstable nanites were with the other truck.
"They're not transporting what they think they are. Given the circumstances, they should probably know. Let's just hope they haven't gotten themselves lost."
"Okay. I think we might be lost," Bobo said as Roxie groaned in embarrassment while Rex and Noah worked on fixing the truck's engine.
Once they fixed the engine up, they continued on the path with Noah in the driver's seat.
"Wait, wait, Noah gets the wheel?" Rex asked. "What about me?"
"Think about it, soda jerk. My mouth still tastes like week-old socks. Plus, Goldilocks has a license and you don't... but mostly the soda thing."
"I think I know where we are," Noah said, catching Roxie's attention.
"Don't sweat it," Rex said. "Who's gonna miss a truck full of toilet paper?"
"Hey! I've been there!" Bobo shouted. "It ain't pretty."
"Feel that?" Gatlocke asked, clutching a roll of toilet paper. "It's cotton. This is the good kind. But I won't be able to really enjoy it UNTIL I HAVE THOSE NANITES!"
"Gatlocke, I found something," one of the road hogs said, handing his boss his iPad.
"Something is good."
"A scout took this image when the convoy left the probing grounds"
Gatlocke smirked at the image of the twins' delivery truck separating from the convoy.
"I like how he framed this shot. See the rock formations in the foreground here?"
"But this is before the canyon. Where'd the rogue delivery truck go?"
"Why are you asking me? I don't know where it went! Fan out, search around the desert! Find me that truck and an iced tea!"
"Bobo, you gotta listen to me!" Rex shouted as the truck drove through the desert and into the same canyon that the convoy was attacked at. "Let. Me. Drive. The truck!"
"The answer is still no!" Bobo shouted.
"Hey, we're back!" Noah said. "This is the right road."
"How can you tell?" Roxie asked. "All the roads look the same out here."
Noah looked back to the road and gasped, slamming his foot on the brake at the wreckage of the convoy. Everyone got out of the truck and took a look at the flaming debris.
Little did they know, one of Gatlocke's pirates drove up on the right wall of the canyon.
"Gatlocke, you're not gonna believe what I found."
"This canyon looks like the perfect place to spring an ambush," Noah nodded.
"The nanite transporter's gone," Roxie noticed before pressing her comm link. "Six, can you hear me? Six? Providence, come in."
"Go ahead, Roxie."
"Connect us to White. Now is as good a time as any," Rex said.
"We're sitting ducks here, guys."
"Quack quack," Bobo quipped.
That was the point where Gatlocke's fleet came driving up to the team.
"Um... we'll call you back," Roxie said before she winced as Gatlocke emerged from the lead vehicle and walked up to the front of his crew.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Gatlocke. Anarchist, struggling businessman, scoundrel... Okay, that's a lie, I'm not struggling, but let me ask you something. Do you like rules?"
"Can't say we do," Rex said.
"Me neither. I hate them. It's why me and my men live by the anarchist code. For us there are no rules."
"Except no cursing."
Gatlocke angrily grabbed the road hog who said that before turning back to our heroes.
"True! We're anarchists, not animals. You guys know what I'm talking about. I feel like we have a connection. We're practically friends. So if you two can do me a favor, it'd help me out a lot."
"What kind of favor?" Roxie asked suspiciously.
"I need you two to hand over the truck. I mean, I really need you to hand it over. Now!"
"This truck?" Rex asked. "I mean, it's not all that great. I mean, the radio doesn't work. It handles like a box on wheels. I mean, I imagine it does because someone won't let me drive!"
Gatlocke glared as he popped two Wolverine-like claws from his arm as he approached the trio with a glare.
"Dumb? Nuh-uh," Roxie said. "See, dumb would be pulling a blade on US!"
Rex then popped out his Smack Hands as Roxie summoned her warhammer with a smirk.
"Ooh, I like these kids," Gatlocke smirked, snapping his fingers and his road hogs shouted out, charging forwards as the twins followed, swimming into the crowd as they looked behind them.
"Guys, get back to the truck!" Rex shouted, prompting Noah and Bobo to run back to the truck as the twins whacked away every pirate that came near them.
"I have a bad case of EVO envy," Gatlocke said, popping out his claws.
Rex and Roxie rushed to the truck, but just as Rex was about to hop into the driver's seat, Bobo rushed in and beat him to the punch.
"You're risking our lives to save a stupid truck?" Noah asked incredulously.
"It's the principle!" Roxie asked as Gatlocke leaped onto the driver's door, scaring everyone.
Bobo stepped on the gas, knocking Gatlocke off as he scored major marks into the side of the truck. As the truck drove away, Gatlocke cracked his neck and whistled, prompting one of his road hogs to drive up with his truck, which he hopped into before driving after the twins' cargo.
"Whoa!" Rex said. "They really want that toilet paper."
"But why would they come after something so useless?" Roxie asked.
"The lady's got it. They didn't exactly look like poster boys for good hygiene," Bobo said.
"Are you guys sure that's even what we're carrying?" Noah asked. "I mean, did anyone actually bother to check?"
Three pairs of eyes then glared at the chimpanzee EVO at the wheel.
"Don't bother me with the details!" Bobo shouted.
The teens opened the window to the back of the truck as their jaws dropped.
"That's definitely not TP," Noah said, looking at the case of unstable nanites.
"We were carrying the unstable nanites this whole time," Roxie said.
"Which should be fine as long as none of the warning lights are on," Bobo said.
"You mean all the red blinking ones?" Noah asked, looking at the beeping red lights.
"Oh, boy."
"Giving us the nanites?" Rex asked. "What was Six thinking?!"
"He was thinking that if the cargo were to get attacked, where better to have it than with you two?"
"You could've at least told us we were carrying something that could blow up!" Roxie shouted, her eyes lighting up with flames and her teeth becoming shark teeth anime-style.
"Glad I'm not driving now," Rex said.
"We've got ten more minutes until Providence starts missing us," Six said. "When we don't check in, they'll send jets. And coming in blind, there's a good chance they'll get shot down like ours did."
"We're working as fast as we can, sir," the driver said. "Whatever they used completely fried the relays."
"Then we'll need another option."
"Well... there is one possibility. But it's a little old fashioned."
Six rose an eyebrow at that.
As Gatlocke's fleet sped after our heroes, the twins turned to each other with a nod.
"Let us take the nanites and zoom out of here," Rex said.
"Didn't you two hear Six?" Noah asked. "They can't go above sea level. One wrong bump will make them go off!"
"Kid's right," Bobo said. "They're safer in the icelander back there."
"Alright, fine. Then we'll just deal with the road hogs ourselves," Roxie sighed.
"So... any idea on that?" Noah asked.
"I vote 'try not to die!" Bobo shouted.
Then, Gatlocke sped ahead to the door on the driver's side with a laugh, popping the back tire, causing the truck to careen out of control and crash into the rocks.
The team crawled out of the wreck to face down Gatlocke.
"Look on the bright side," Roxie chuckled. "The unstable nanites didn't go off."
"That's what I love! An optimist!" Gatlocke joked as he walked forwards and wrapped the twins in a hug. "I love these kids!"
"You're insane!" Rex shouted, pushing Gatlocke off him. "Do you realize that?"
"Me, Gatlocke, insane? Frankly, I don't see it. Just let me have them. I'll split the money with you down the middle 60-40?"
"Wow. After all that, you're nothing but a common thief," Roxie said. "Gotta say, I'm not impressed."
"Common? Common? Tear open the truck!" Gatlocke ordered.
His men then ran forwards and pried the back of the truck open... only to find the harness holding the nanites without its contents.
"It's not here."
Gatlocke angrily pushed a few of his men aside to take a look. Our heroes tried to take advantage of this, running off, only to be confronted by another car.
"Solid escape, guys," Noah said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
"It was one of our plans. We have a couple different angles we're working," Rex said as they ran off in the opposite direction to be confronted by the leader of the road pirates himself.
"What's your angle now?"
"We've got the unstable nanites right here, Gatlocke!" Roxie shouted as her brother reached into his jacket. "Well, this is an improvement."
"Back off or we'll send us all to kingdom come!" Rex shouted, hoisting what everyone thought was the cannister of unstable nanites above his head.
"You wouldn't dare," Gatlocke sneered.
"Or would we?" Roxie asked. "You say we're a lot alike."
"You would."
Rex tossed the cannister up as Roxie generated a baseball bat and struck it, sending the "unstable nanites" spewing out everywhere as the pirates all ran away. Bobo and Noah hopped into one of the cars and drove off with the twins close behind on the Rex Ride.
"Careful of your behind, Gatlocke!" Rex called to a very angry road pirate.
"I think we're good," Rex said to the others as he drove beside them. "Now aren't you glad about the soda?"
Unfortunately, they were anything BUT clear as Gatlocke and his crew drove up behind them and they all started blasting out laser fire onto them.
"Bobo, take the nanites!" Roxie shouted as Bobo took the nanite cannister and nearly dropped it in the transfer. "We'll keep them off your tail!"
Rex then activated the brakes on the Rex Ride before he and Roxie both drove off and rammed a few cars into some nearby rocks. Soon after, they leaped upwards, landing on top of the truck where the pirates' leader was perched to engage him head-on.
"You should have taken the deal."
"You couldn't afford us!" Rex shouted as Roxie conjured her swords while Rex built his Smack Hands, both blocking all of the blasts from Gatlocke's cannons, running up and giving him several punches and slashes as he smirked, wiping some blood from his cheek.
"You know what your problem is? You're a terrible business man."
The twins avoided another strike and then Roxie crawled downwards on the door, knocking the driver out as Rex shouted out, building up his BFS with a shout.
"Ooh, I like that," Gatlocke said as he leaped forward and gave a leaping slash with his claws downwards, only for Rex to block it, nearly dangling off of the truck's edge as Roxie leaped back onto the truck's roof.
The trio shouted out as the twins and Gatlocke slammed and slashed their bladed weapons against each other, leaping across the truck's various cars as Roxie nearly lost her footing, only to be saved by Rex with a smile.
"Thanks, bro."
"It's nothing."
Gatlocke gave a front flip over Rex before kicking him back as Roxie glared andwedged her sword between his claws with a shout of effort.
In front of them, Noah slammed on the gas, driving as hard as he could away from Gatlocke's pirates before he glanced down to see a receiver.
"A radio," he said, picking up the receiver. "Hello? Can anyone hear me? We need a little help here! Anyone?"
"Gimme that!" Bobo shouted, taking the receiver. "Breaker one nine, good neighbor. This is Bobo Haha dropping the hammer in the soup escape. We got bumper stickers on our donkey. You hear me? Bumper stickers on our donkey. Come on back!"
"Oh, like that helps. Is that even English?" Noah asked, deadpanedly.
"Close. Trucker."
The two ducked to avoid some arrows as some pirates pulled next to their car. Bobo took off one of the loosened mirrors and then tossed it, slashing one of their back tires and causing the car to careen out of control and crash.
The twins continued their assault, blocking and dodging every slash that Gatlocke threw at them.
"I don't suppose I could convince you two to join me. I could use a few ladies on my crew."
"Fat chance," Roxie said.
"But you could live the life! No one telling you what to do."
"Could you just shut up for a second!?" Rex shouted as Gatlocke smirked.
"How long was that?"
No one noticed in their battle that the truck was heading straight for a cliff!
"You two can pretend to be better, but in the end, you're just like me!" Gatlocke shouted, kicking the twins onto the driver car of the truck, about to fall off, but the twins fortunately stabbed their blades into the metal frame to save themselves before looking back to see the cliff.
"There's one big difference between you and us!"
"And that is?"
"You can't fly!"
Gatlocke looked ahead to see the cliff and gasped in horror as the twins leaped off and activated their Boogie Pack and hoverboard to fly off as the driver bailed out of the truck just in time for the truck to crash into the ravine with Gatlocke in tow.
Noah winced as one of the road hogs aimed an arrow straight at them, but they were saved by a laser blast from seemingly nowhere. He and Bobo looked ahead to see the Providence convoy drive up in front of them, pulling to a stop as the twins landed by their side.
"We intercepted your transmission on the citizen's band," Six explained.
"See, I told ya!" Bobo gloated, jabbing Noah's shoulder.
"Where are the nanites?"
"We thought for sure it was gonna go off," Noah said as Bobo handed Six the cannister as the agent looked at it carefully.
"It went off," he said, tossing it to Roxie.
"But you said one wrong bump and it would blow up," she said, confusedly.
"I said one wrong bump and it would go off. As in deactivate. They call them unstable for a reason. If it was going to blow up, I would've said so."
"...Well, you could've explained that to us better from the start!" Rex shouted.
"Seriously, we went through all that trouble for something that would've deactivated as soon as it left sea level? Come on!" Roxie shouted.
"At least you kept them from falling into the wrong hands."
At that moment, they heard some rocks scraping as they saw a battered and bruised Gatlocke ascending the ravine's walls and aimed his arm cannon at them.
"I'm in a terrible rush. The nanites, pretty please."
"All yours. They're worthless," Rex said as Roxie tossed the cannister to him.
Gatlocke angrily rushed forwards, only for Rex and Roxie to deliver him a dual sucker punch, sending him crashing to the ground in a heap.
"Let's call it a tie," Gatlocke chuckled as he was hoisted up by two Providence agents and delivered to a prison truck. "We can finish our conversation later."
"White Knight will want you back at headquarters for debriefing," Six said, turning away from the party.
Rex and the others turned to the car with a smile and rushed forwards... only for Six to hop into the driver's seat, much to Rex's annoyance.
"Aren't you going to give us a lift?" Rex asked.
"Drive yourself," Six said, driving away after the convoy as the team looked to the delapidated delivery truck.
"I hate it when Six tries to be funny," Noah said.
"That makes two of us," Roxie said as she gestured kindly to her brother, who hopped into the driver's seat as the others filed in behind him.
"The monkey should be driving," Bobo said, annoyed.
"You know, now that I'm driving, this truck ain't so bad," Rex said as they stopped at a fork in the road.
"Which way?" Noah asked as Bobo pointed right.
"They went that way. Back to headquarters."
Rex smiled and turned the truck to the left.
"Don't get us lost," Roxie begged.
"Men don't get lost. We go... exploring."