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The Next Ch 2: Relapse

(Evening. Rex heads over to check out the dairy farm in Strafield County)

The sun was setting, getting dark but Rex’s enhanced goggles have night vision, giving him a clear view of the landscape below. Furthermore, there were navigation compass and a mini-map locator broadcast before him, showing him the directions. As he neared, bright spotlights encircling a large, fenced area the size of a few football fields, revealed the tormented scene below.

Tens over thousands of pounds’ worth of premium beef rolled over their sides, many moaning in agony. Rex scanned the open-field farm where a dozens of cows were enclosed within.

He landed right next to an old guy and a young woman who was kneeling next to one of the ailing cows, checking on its health.

“I’m Rex, Providence. I’m not a vet, but maybe I can help?”

“Well lad, I hope you can. Because I’m the owner and a vet myself but I can’t find anything amiss. They just fell over all of a sudden, crying like they were in pain, acting sick but I could find no signs of disease.”

Rex looked over the decidedly larger slump before them and noticed something odd.

“And yet this one has three horns,” Rex drawled.

“Oh this is mild,” the woman said, “We’ve got one quarantined that has grown an extra-”

She suddenly screamed, jumping back.

Rex and the owner were both taken back too.

A lump of flesh suddenly protruded from its back, growing at rapid speed and accompanied by a sick, squashing sound of a mutated alien trying to force its way out. Then a hoof appeared and the growth abruptly stopped.

“-leg,” the owner finished for her after five seconds of stunned silence.

“Eww, that’s one messed up looking beef,” Rex commented, spine tingling.

Since the worldwide Cure, they haven’t come across any EVO relapse in six years.

Please, oh please, oh please…it can’t be

Rex put a palm to the beast and nearly recoiled at the all too familiar buzz of rampant nanites he could sense inside it.

Hell, he’d thought what he did, was permanent. It was supposed to be.

“Six, Holiday?” Rex couldn’t keep his voice from being shaky.

“What’s wrong Rex? You don’t sound good,” Holiday could tell.

“EVO relapse, doc.”

He could hear Holiday’s gasps at the other line, then she fell quiet.

Despite having their communication lines open, it was as if they went into radio silence for half a minute.

“Our back up is already en route. Estimated time of reaching is in another thirty minutes. Meanwhile, cure them, Rex. Don’t let the situation escalate further,” Six ordered, tone calm and collected like he usually was. But Rex could tell that Six’s thirty second delay in issuing the command, probably meant that he was equally shocked.

“Already working on it, boss.”

Rex linked with the rampant nanites within the half-mutated beast but instead of merely extracting the active nanites like he used to do, he fired the switch to deactivate them.

Even though the EVOs have stopped appearing for six years, Rex never ceased to polish his abilities. His genius older brother, Caesar, was the one who suggested that it may be possible for Rex to deactivate nanites within the hosts’ bodies. In this way, Rex would not risk assimilating an overdose of rouge nanites. Hence, from time to time, Rex trained himself, using the off-load facility at *Purgatory until he managed to successfully accomplish what Caesar had predicted.

The odd leg shrunk back into the bull, causing Rex to shiver inwardly at the sickening sight. It was like those sick, sci-fi movies about alien invasion –in this case, Nanite invasion.

“Phew, so that’s one cured beef. How many do we have left?”

Rex planted his fists and scanned across the field.

“Fifty-”

A monstrous roar that sounded like a dozen bulls combined, resounded through the field. Several of the cows that were well enough, cried moos of frenzy and started tottering off.

Then the ground beneath their feet started shaking as if an earthquake was coming upon them.

“Oh no, don’t tell me, that bull we’d quarantined earlier,” the owner sounded fearful, staring past Rex.

As Rex spun round, his eyes widened to see clouds of dust kicked up by a gigantic, stampeding bull with what looked like six legs.

Instinct took over in a flash. Hot blood pumped full of a potent mix of adrenaline and nanites rushed to his arms, encasing them in a pair of giant, barrel-like heavy-hitters which he dubbed as Funchucks.

“Get outta here! Go!” Rex yelled.

The owner and his assistant didn’t need to be told twice –they scampered away as quickly as they could, face as white as sleet.

Rex held his ground and supersized his feet and legs seconds before the Minotaur-like EVO rammed into him. He shielded his head and chest from the damage by holding his Funchucks before him. But the impact send his bones rattling and his metal feet dug inches backwards and into the ground.

Minotaur’s butted his massive skull madly, grinding its impressive horns against the sides of one of his fist construct. Strength pit with strength, Rex strained under the tremendous force. It was like pushing against a freight train with a kamikaze driver.

But Rex was stubborn and kept his place until the EVO reared on its hind legs and brought its four massive hooves crashing down atop his arms.

The powerful force would have broken his arms if he hadn’t had his nanites wrapped around them like a metal armor. Still, the impact was enough to bring him to his knees and shatter his focus.

He dropped his Fanchucks but quickly rolled away before the EVO could crush his skull. In a flash, he brought out his whip, grabbed its two hooves from under it and sent a bolt of electricity racing from the supercharged dynamo pack that grew over his back, causing it to crash heavily onto the ground.

Rex took the chance immediately, lunging forward with his palms spread out on its flank to attempt another connection. But scalding steam burst from potholes that suddenly opened along its side, forcing Rex to jump backwards.

He cursed in pain at the heat that swallowed his arms, but the pain quickly subsided, thanks to the nanite interference inside him, which somehow anesthetizes his pain receptors to a certain extent.

Able to refocus on the battle, he repeated his stunt with his electric whip, but the EVO suddenly grew metal spikes on the tips of its tail like an oversized mace and the electric shock seemed to harmlessly dance and crackle all along the EVO’s body till it collected at the spiky end.

“Shit.”

“Rex, what is happening?” Holiday’s anxious voice came over his communicator, “Your nanites are unusually active. Readings haven’t been this high in a while.”

Rex ducked as the beast swung its tail above him, then dived out of the way before it swung back to club him.

“Yea, well, I haven’t fought an EVO since fighting the consortium months back,” Rex said dryly between pants and rapid dives and jumps to avoid being clubbed to death.

This wasn’t working. Rex knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep up the dance much longer. He’d a tough time juggling six limbs, two mega drills for horns and a badass spiky tail. For a hulking mass of muscle and meat, the EVO was surprisingly fast. Rex couldn’t get close enough or get a window time long enough for him to cure the EVO without taking hits.

And he has taken enough damage to feel the slack in his movements and the feebleness of his nanite weapons. Rex was getting exhausted. Now, where was the backup when he needed them?

“Uh Six, any update on that backup?”

“E.T.A in another ten.”

“What? I thought it’s past due. Seriously, we need to upgrade the plane engines.”

“You never wait around for them anyway. You’re the Action, Rex. Your biometrics are falling. Get them kicking back up. Holiday is worried,” Six’s flat tone came over.

Rex grunted.

“Aww, thanks for your soothing words, Six, just what I needed.”

Rex seriously needed to change his game plan.

He powered his legs and sprung a few hundred feet into the air, intending to smash the EVO like an insect.

Instead, the EVO caught his super powered boots, puncturing through the tough steel and throwing him to the side. Rex slammed against the ground and continued ploughing a few yards in the dirt.

He sputtered dirt from his mouth and groaned, body protesting in hurt and pain. But he had no respite as the EVO thundered towards him. Rex forced himself to rebuilt his power boots within a second and leapt a few hundred feet away.

Then the EVO took a U-turn, following him.

Okay, then, let’s try the old fashioned way.

Rex put out his Funchucks before him again but before the EVO could smash into him like battering ram, Rex leapt out of the way, elongating his arm and swinging his heavy hitters into the Evo’s head.

He didn’t want to have to do this, but he couldn’t find better ideas, so he reprogrammed his nanites, switching to his deadly sharp, energy axes and swiftly chopped off the EVO’s spiky tail just as it crashed and sent the ground trembling.

The EVO let out a ferocious roar, most probably of pain and anger.

Sorry beefy, just hang on a second.

Rex recalled his axes and let loose his giant electric whip before it could get up, giving the EVO a massive shock with every ounce of power he could spare.

Finally, the EVO collapsed, slumped form unmoving.

Rex panted heavily to properly catch his breath for a few moments. Then he closed the gap, careful to avoid the steam gushes along the way and touched its head to cure it.

He sat back on his bum, relieved that his work was done, until he remembered that he had another fifty plus more bulls to cure before they turned in Minotaur number two.

As if on cue, a scream pierced the night.

Oh no, the owner and his assistant!

Rex forced himself to channel out more nanites beneath his feet and sped towards the direction of the scream on his Slyder.

He stopped by the two who had fallen midway while struggling up a slope.

The cows that had ran here were starting to mutate as well, vomiting limbs like a disgusting alien film.

“Right, how many cows did you say you had again?” Rex asked the owner humorlessly.

The owner’s reply however, became muffled by the roar of an approaching plane engine.

Rex glanced up to catch Six jumping down roughly thirty feet from the plane, in his trademark green suit, landing lightly on his toes like a ninja.

“Good timing Six, I was missing you.”

“How many have you cured?”

“Two,” Rex held up his fingers.

Six arched a brow, signaling his displeasure.

“Hey, it was one in mid transformation and one mega-mondo-Minotaur from hell!” Rex defended.

“Save your report for later,” Six commented and drew out his deadly katana, “We have a lot of work to do.”

“Hey, hey, be careful the leg! Not that leg!” Rex screamed as he watched Six about to slice a mutated cow that was rearing up and looking more EVO than cow.

Six turned his head round and lifted a questioning brow. The team of providence agents who just touched ground, gave him confused looks as well.

“I mean, don’t go cutting off the real leg,” Rex clarified.

Six merely nodded and proceeded to hack away all the extra body parts that should not exist.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“Morning, or should I say, Afternoon, Rex. How are you feeling?” Holiday asked when he entered the medical lab.

“Like I’m still run over by mondo-Minotaur.”

“That’s not good, your regenerative nanites should have repaired your damaged muscle and tissue cells. After a night’s rest, you shouldn’t feel any pain,” Holiday gave him a worried look and waved over to the bio-scanning unit, “Why don’t you lie down and let me run another scan on your nanite functionality.”

Rex gladly did so, making a good show of groaning and moving like an old man till he laid on the medical bed.

A scanner attached to a top beam above him started moving down his body and back up again, casting a bluish light over him.

“Hmm, seems like all stats are normal, Rex,” Holiday relaxed her brows in relief.

“You sure doc? Because it sure feels like my back is still pounding. And I’m starting to get a little dizzy.”

Holiday arched one brow questioningly at him, “Are you sure you are not just whining for attention?”

“No way, Holiday! I’m serious, could be a major, undetected case here! Perhaps you should run a few more test and put me on medical leave for a day –no, three days!”

The dark-haired chief research officer of Providence gave him a ‘quit-being-a-baby’ smile and returned to her work.

“Doc,” Rex whined, “Doccccccccc.”

Holiday let out a sigh and massaged her forehead.

“Rex, would you please? I’m trying to connect to Caesar.”

“And I might pass out in any minute.”

Well, not really, but sometimes, Rex liked to annoy Holiday into coddling him. Particularly after unexpected battles or situations that throws him out of balance –like the incident with the EVO cows the night before. And especially on another Noah-less weekend like today.

Holiday hit the redial on her keyboard and dragged out another sigh. She seemed vexed by Rex’s childish demeanor and the ‘connection failure’ message that flashed on the giant screen.

“Really Rex, and I’m going to pass out if you don’t grow up ten years in this instant!” She banged the redial again, jolting Rex.

“Whoa there, doc, chill. Don’t get your blood pressure up.”

Six entered mid-sentence and gave a long look in Holiday’s direction. The slight downturn at the corners of his brow and lips were the only clue to tell Six’s concern.

“Still have trouble reaching Doctor Salazer?” Six asked, crossing the spacious, white ceramic room.

“It’s like he’s off scaling down the mouth of some volcano,” then she gave Rex an accusing glare, “Why is your brother so hard to contact?”

“Don’t know. Maybe he’s really on a volcanic expedition. Maybe the volcano’s about to blow so connection is bad.”

*In the last six years, his older brother have remained with his team members, Dr. Peter Meechum and the ghostly remains of Dr. Gabriel Rylander, from the original Nanite Project. They travel around the world in their pursuit for science and research, using Caesar’s research pod as their base.

“This is serious Rex, I need his professional opinion on the relapse cases from yesterday. We are looking at a possible repeat of history, worldwide.”

Rex shut his smart mouth instantly, feeling bad. Not like he didn’t know how serious it was, but telling bad jokes was just his way of coping with the terrible feeling in his gut. He’d a restless sleep, tossing and turning, dreaming of the whole world screaming and shaken up from EVOs again.

“Take a break, Rebecca. You had a late night and started the day early. Come back in thirty minutes, maybe the connection will improve.”

As if on cue, the connection was established and a half-static, fuzzy image of a glowing, reddish wall came into view. The video was almost nauseating, with the camera bobbing and moving and being utterly unstable.

Holiday tried adjusting the video controls on her side, but it proved that it was Caesar’s video camera that was jerked about violently.

“Uh, Caesar? What are you doing? Where are you? Why is your camera shaking so badly?”

Heavy pants could be heard against the deafening roar of what sounded like thunder rolling low and grumbling.

“Sorry-can’t talk,” his older brother sounded winded.

“Bro? What’s going on?” Rex shot up from the medical unit and strode up to the screen, chest squeezing in worry.

The camera swung upwards to meet thick smog sinking down, washing the screen to zero visibility.

“Just climbing out the mouth of a volcano.”

Rex’s jaw dropped.

He would have laughed at the spot on accurate guess, if it was not so completely life endangering.

“You did not just say you were climbing out the mouth of a volcano,” Rex repeated dryly, mind going numb, “Why were you down there in the first place?”

Before they could receive a reply, a crack line split the video in half then the screen went completely static.

Rex cursed aloud and his Slyder was out under his feet in a hop.

“Wait, Rex, don’t be brash. You don’t know which volcano your brother is in,” Six was in his way in a flash, holding Rex’s arm in a firm grip.

“There are currently three isolated volcanoes in active eruption right now,” Holiday fired off, pulling up several data reports onto the screen, sounding shaky.

“That’s all I need-”

-Bzzt-

“Sorry, hope I didn’t scare you. My camera was hit by a rock, but I’m fine. I’m at the top waiting for pick up in half a minute. Talk to you in a while.”

Relief washed over Rex at the broadcast and he forced himself to keep his head cool, setting his feet on the ground. He was seriously worried over his older brother’s safety. Caesar was a crazy case who’d put himself in dangerous situations in the name of science.

They waited anxiously for another two minutes or so before Caesar came into view, wiping the sweat off his face. He looked another shade darker, like he’d been out under the Sun a lot. His hair that was as jet black as Rex’s, but longer now, looked wet and matted down the sides of his face. His goatee was longer than Rex had last seen as well, but looked funny as it was plastered underneath his chin.

“Brother! You’re alive!” Rex would hug the giant screen if he could. “You crazy scientist! Are you trying to become a ghost like Doctor Gabe?”

Caesar gave a rueful smile.

“Unfortunately, there is no way to assemble my neuron-electro composition should I die in this scenario. Fortunately, the others have managed to get me in time.”

In the background, *Meechum could be heard grumbling about how he got cheated out of his retirement plans for a death-defying experience and complaining about Caesar’s insane stunt.

Rex couldn’t agree more and wasn’t satisfied with his brother’s reply. But he decided against asking why Caesar’s team was undertaking such a huge risk. He could never get crazy scientists. And well, all that matters was that his brother was safe.

“It’s good timing too –we need your expertise on a group of EVO relapse that occurred last night,” Six commented.

Then Holiday joined in after expressing her relief that Caesar was unharmed.

Caesar’s eyes widened at just the slightest bit, but showed no other signs of shock, or surprise, or any other emotion except to look deep in thought, which was highly typical of him. He maintained his silence until Holiday and Six were done briefing him on the situation.

“Hmm, interesting,” Caesar pinched his chin in his classic fashion.

The group debated for a while on a couple of possible scenarios. Then Caesar requested if he could drop by to have a sample of the body fluids of the relapsed Cows. The combat division Providence agents who helped to round up the EVOs for Rex to cure before doing clean up and damage surveillance, had taken plenty of blood samples for further study. Hence, Holiday approved, saying that having the original Nanite Project team looking into this would help to make her feel more at ease.

As soon as Caesar went offline, Six cleared his throat.

“I don’t think that it was wise to share Providence Intel with outsiders.”

“Well, then, so you doubt my intelligence in making this decision?” Holiday challenged, her fine brow raised into a high arc.

Six cleared his throat again.

“So long as this doesn’t get to White Knight,” he relented then left the room, much to Rex’s amusement.

Rex snickered softly, knowing the soft spot that Six had for Holiday. Holiday caught his snicker and gave him a questioning look.

“I think he should make the smart move and just propose to you already.”

Holiday gave him the look she always gave when he was saying something immature.

“What?” he shrugged, “I’m just saying, you two have been the unofficial couple, dating in like forever yet your relationship is moving as slow as a car low on fuel…or is the spark lost already?”

“Wow,” Bobo’s loud, nasal voice floated in from the door whilst he ambled in, “Is she supposed to take relationship advice from the guy who couldn’t hold Circe down?”

“Hey!”

Bobo’s ‘enigmatic’ sarcasm bit Rex.

It was Holiday’s turn to laugh.

“Not my fault she has commitment issues,” Rex defended, crossing his arms.

“Boo hoo, then you need to retake your PHD in relationship 101 before you’re qualified to give others advice, Love Doctor.”

Rex scowled at his sidekick. Bobo was a great pal whom he could always trust on for help. At the same time, Bobo was the resident jerk who liked to make people around him the butt of his jokes.

Good thing for Bobo, he went out the medical lab before Rex decide to tackle him.

“Rex, do you still miss her? You haven’t completely gotten over her, have you?” Holiday asked gently, becoming all serious and big-sisterly-like now.

Rex flinched slightly.

“Well, yes, I mean no, argh! What was I going to say again?” Rex fumbled for words. He didn’t like bringing Circe up.

The one and only girl he had dated and loved so much and with whom he had been through so much with, left him at the end.

It happened last summer, a little over a year ago, when she finally told him that they were through. Rex knew that it was coming, but he kept hoping against hope, that she wouldn’t end their relationship.

The problem was that Circe was cured, while Rex wasn’t.

Circe wanted a normal life, but with Rex, life was everything but normal.

She’d never really vocally demanded that he leave Providence, but Rex could read her disappointment and worry every time that something came up.

Contrary to how he often behaved, acting insensitive, brash and completely clueless when it came to relationships, Rex did actually know how Circe was feeling even without her telling him.

And she had begun to distance herself from him, months before hitting the sack.

Rex sighed. There was no use mulling or regretting the past.

Unfortunately, the hard truth was, even if he had the chance to turn back time, he knew that he wouldn’t quit Providence –not while the world still needed saving.

When the automatic doors opened again, all thoughts of Circe flew from his mind.

“Noah,” Rex exclaimed, nearly bounding to his friend, “What are you doing here?”

“Dude, it’s the weekend,” Noah grinned and shifted his bag pack from one shoulder to the other.

“Yea, but what about your end of semester skit?”

“Oh, did I forget to mention yesterday that it was already over, early in the week?”

“No way! So that means-”

“‘Monkey Kong versus Killer Whale’ all day today!” Noah joined him and they cried out in unison, slapping their palms together in a hi-five.

Rex was glad.

Noah hadn’t been down to Providence for over two months as he’d been busy at rehearsals and preparing for his theatre assessment. But now, this means they’d finally have the weekend mucking about together.

“Boys, please, this is a ‘work-only’ zone,” Holiday gave a mock desperate plea.

“Right, sorry Holiday,” Noah apologized sheepishly, then strode over to place a packet on her desk, “By the way, I stopped by to pass you these. My mom baked them yesterday and I picked it up from her early in the morning.”

“Wow, that’s nice, thanks!” Holiday lit up and grabbed the packet enthusiastically.

Rex followed behind greedily and was about to dip his hand in for whatever it was that Noah’s mom made. His mom was great at baking, only that she tended to make everything a tad too sweet. Still, it had been a long time since he had her goodies.

However, Holiday laughed, swatted his hand and took it away from his reach.

“It’s all mine, Rex.”

Then she shooed them out her lab.

Rex gave Noah a pointed look as they walked along the long corridors to his room.

“Since when does Holiday become so possessive with your mom’s goodies?”

Noah laughed.

“Only recently, it seems. She told me Six looked for her to get some on Holiday’s behalf.”

“Wow, that’s completely random.”

“Yea, I know. And it’s weird because it’d been a way long time before that since I’ve given them Mom’s cookies.”

“No, I meant Six becoming Holiday’s errand boy.”

Noah laughed loudly.

“I thought Six has always been her errand boy.”

They plonked onto the neon blue couch once they got into Rex’s room.

“Ah, the suite life,” Noah gave a sigh of pleasure as he sank himself deeper into the couch, “spacious and quiet and… spacious.”

Rex playfully punched his arm as he handed over a can of soda from his mini-fridge.

“Did I detect a hint of sarcasm, hmm?”

Rex’s room was sparsely furnished and looked to Rex only a tad better than a prison cell. Every surface of the walls, floor and ceiling were as white as the rest of Providence like that bleached White Knight. The flat screen TV, beanie chairs and tree-pipes were chrome-black.

The monochrome appeal didn’t quite settle with Rex, so over the years, he’d begged and pleaded for extra pieces of furniture in bright, funky colors. It wasn’t overly dramatic or fancy but it added more vibrancy and made him feel more cheerful.

“Seriously, Rex, you’re living the good life here. You know my dorm room is like a closet. Plus, my dorm isn’t sound proofed. You know, thumping Elly was at it again last night until three in the morning –three! And I had to get up at five to catch the train.”

Rex crooked a brow and couldn’t resist laughing at his friend’s misery.

Oh, he knows Noah’s pain well enough. Over the last three years, Rex has been over Noah’s dorm enough times to learn about all the odd weirdo’s in Noah’s block. Thumping Elly –or elephant for short –was the girl in the room above, who played Japanese para para dance in the middle of the night.

“Yeah, keep laughing, will ya?” Noah sounded agitated, but he dropped that from his tone as he continued, “Anyway, let’s get down to business.”

“Right, the game.”

Rex started hooking up the consoles to the giant flat screen.

“There’s that, and of course, your meat report. I hope you’d rescued our future hamburger patties.”

Rex kept his eyes on the screen to select their favorite game using the game controller.

“Sure I did –I reverted every EVO pound back to its original, juicy, tender state.”

Noah choked on his drink, spilling some onto his shirt. He coughed a few more times as if to emphasize how shocked he was.

“You’re supposed to select ‘confirm.’”

“What did you say?”

Rex took in Noah’s shocked countenance and sighed inwardly. There was no way Noah would indulge him in playing one round before revealing the horrible discovery of the night before.

Rex hoped to put off talking about it –didn’t want to ruin the day. Now, every strand of negative thought returned to the forefront of his head.

It blamed his failure, his inapt, his wishful thinking that his cure was permanent. He’d been so freaking disturbed all night and so afraid that the EVO-free world was unraveling.

Out of the blue, Rex felt Noah’s palms on his cheek, turning it to face him. Noah’s face came close, so close that Rex could feel his warm breath against his lips. It tingled, still over-sensitive from his kissing ordeal the day before.

“You hardly slept a wink last night, did you?”

Rex gave a defeated laugh at Noah’s freaky psychic ability –at least when it came to reading Rex’s masked distress. Noah didn’t need to use biometric readers to know when Rex was secretly feeling down.

“Yea well, it’s hard to sleep after fighting EVO relapses,” Rex said dryly and leaned back into the couch.

Noah dropped his hands and propped one elbow over the backrest, looking very solemn.

“The cows, you mean, they went EVO?”

Rex sighed and filled him in on the happenings –the slow mutation, the Minotaur and the fight. Good thing the EVO relapse progressed sluggishly –the cows morphed so slowly, they were easily subdued by Providence troops when they came. Once he was done with the Minotaur, Rex went round curing the rest of them easily enough.

“Wow, this should have made headline news everywhere, but since I don’t even see it on the web, I guess Providence must have convinced the owner and his assistant to keep quiet, huh? Did they bribe him or something?”

Rex gave a small smirk.

“It was Six who was doing damage control. I think he must have threatened them both."

“Right, makes sense,” Noah cracked up, then continued on a somber note, “So, what is Holiday’s take on this?”

“Well, inconclusive till she runs further tests on their blood samples. She called up my brother earlier, to get his expertise. So he said he’d be coming by to pick up our samples to investigate as well.”

Noah nodded.

“Good call, since Caesar was the kinda the one who made this all happen,” then when Rex gave him a pointed look, he quickly added, “Not that it’s a bad thing. You happened, and that’s cool, but well, for the downsides, I mean, it’s not so cool.”

“I blame that on Van Kleiss,” Rex couldn’t keep the vehemence from his tone. Even after six years of disappearance, of not causing any chaos, Rex couldn’t forgive his atrocities.

“Hmm, you don’t think he has anything to do with this, do you? Could he have retained his EVO-creating powers? I thought Caesar said before, that the chamber explosion would most likely have damaged his nanites severely or have permanently eradicated them.”

“Yea, I remember him saying that too, but we don’t know that for sure, do we?” Rex stressed.

Van Kleiss had mysteriously vanished without a trace right after the big battle and the epic nanite deactivation that Rex generated. Running through security footages showed Breach teleporting him elsewhere. Providence then made sweeps across the globe for months following the incident, but neither of them could be found.

“And now, we don’t know either if this is a sign that EVO relapses are going to start happening world over, damn it!”

Rex punched the armrest agitatedly.

“Hey,” Noah scooted right next to him and slung his arm over Rex’s tensed shoulder, “That’s right, we don’t. So until that happens, don’t get too worked up about it,” Noah tried to ease Rex’s stress, “Look on the bright side, at least now we know one good thing from that EVO battle last night.”

Rex relaxed a little. “What?”

Noah grinned.

“That you have skills like a professional Torero.”

Rex broke into a grin at Noah’s joke. It was lame, but somehow, coming from his best friend, and knowing that Noah was trying hard to make him feel better, it lifted Rex’s mood.

“Hell ya, I so totally do. Maybe I should get into some bull fighting tournament.”

Noah laughed and made a sarcastic joke about that, which resulted in playful banter that ran for a few minutes. They laughed in between mock insults, and before Rex realized it, he was already in a good mood.

Then Noah turned serious again, but kept up his smile.

“Besides, even if EVOs start coming back, it’d be okay, because Providence will be there and so will you.”

Rex smiled at Noah’s positive words, then jokingly asked, “And what about you?”

“Do you even have to ask?” Noah gave him an incredulous look and leaned in.

Suddenly, Rex thought that Noah was going to kiss him, but his friend missed his lips, face barely brushing his. Turned out Noah was just reaching for his control that had dropped by his side. Noah then hit the ‘start’ button on Rex’s controls before leaving it on his lap.

“Now, can we start the game? We have only less than twenty hours to rip each other into shreds before I gotta go back. Unless you’re not intending to get any sleep.”

Rex gave a crooked smile mirroring Noah’s.

“Game on.”

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“He’s cured them,” a man drawled, tone unhappy, “without showing signs of having rouge nanites overload.”

He has ghostly pale skin and jet black hair that pooled over the chair like fabric, seemingly melding into the darkness such that it extended his looming presence.

The two scientists trembled before him, one nervously tugging the collar of his lab coat while the other anxiously circled his thumbs together. They know when was it that their boss ��or rather, captor –was displeased –they could tell by the grim line of his lips and the piercing look in his eyes.

Furthermore, he rarely called to see them personally, often only needing them to report their progress to his monstrous underlings. That he should request their presence personally, made their teeth chatter in trepidation.

“W-well, at least now we can confirm that the report delivered by the spy is true. Rex has discovered a way to deactivate nanites directly, which is why it had rendered our failsafe nanite multiplication program useless.”

The man tightened his grip on the stone armchair, causing faint crack lines to appear.

“Uh what *Dr. Fell means, is that the re-programmed nanites that we have developed, will take time to modify themselves to overwrite the deactivation sequence that Rex had delivered. But I assure you, it will happen.”

“How long?”

“A few weeks, at most.”

“I hope for your sake, *Dr. Moses, that you are right –for both your sakes, that is. I would hate to see all the work you’ve done the past few years come to naught,” the man threatened, crumbling the edge of the armrest under his powerful, mechanical grip, emphasizing that their end would be the same –disintegrating into dust –should they fail.

Both scientists swallowed hard, legs trembling like jelly.

“And in the meantime, how are your other experiments doing?”

“E-E-Exceed-ingly w-well, Sir-”

“All going according to plan,” Dr. Moses interrupted the pathetic stammering of his miserable partner, “As you know, two years ago, we had duplicated the original formula of the nanite enchancement patches and from the reports that your other underlings have gathered, the patches were successful.

Thanks to that, we were able to develop the Remote EVO Activation Serum, which appears to be working well so far. I believe it is only a matter of time that we can gather all the results to achieve your ultimate target.”

“Good, but I hope for your sakes that I should not have to wait for much longer.”

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Footnotes:

*Purgatory :

If you recall, it is the Providence base at the South Pacific desert where Rex can extract or store excess nanites or revive his power.

*In the last six years, his older brother have remained with his team members, Dr. Peter Meechum and the ghostly remains of Dr. Gabriel Rylander, from the original Nanite Project. :

I simply continued off from the suggestion made in the very last episode after the whole ordeal. If you recall, Caesar suggested that the team get back together to work on new projects.

*Meechum could be heard grumbling :

In the few times that he’d appeared, Meechum struck me as the type of guy who regretted where his stuck his hand into. =v= I thought it was kinda funny that though he insisted joining the Nanite Project was his worst experience ever and that he never wanted to have anything to do with the team, he looked to be persuaded in by Caesar’s new ideas. So I thought it’d be funny to bring up the irony here again, lol. So kudos if you get the joke. X3

*Dr. Fell :

Recap episode 19, ‘Promises, Promises’, a flashback episode of when Rex first came to Providence. Dr. Fell was then the Head Scientist, but his ruthless and unorthodox means of reverse engineering to find a cure for the nanite problem led to his dismissal. Dr. Holiday subsequently became the new Head Scientist.

*Dr. Brandon Moses :

Recap episode 36, “A Family Holiday.”

A genius scientist who discovered a way to reverse EVO mutations, but turned to intensifying their mutations and aggression because it was easier and profitable.

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neveriayan-blog · 5 years

Text

The Next Chapter 1: Kiss to Win

(Spring. Rex visits Noah at the college fair.)

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Noah was a crazy guy.

As in a non-skilled, untrained, non-official Providence agent who still rushed head-long into battles as Rex's sidekick –kind-of way.

Okay, okay, so to be fair, in the six years Rex had known him, he had to admit Noah Nixon had some mad skills at table tennis, basketball, console games, and was a natural with a machine gun.

They've come a long way from those days of fighting EVOs, and tackling the Consortium and other crazy wackos who tapped into advanced machine warfare.

But over the last three years Noah had been in college, Rex found himself surprised by the new things he learned about his best bud.

Like A: Noah –at about five foot ten –has added 'the shortest basketball star to ever dominate his college' to his resume, since the rest of the players were all over six foot like Rex.

B: He has accumulated fans of nearly everyone on campus since his debut as Romeo in his end-of-year drama assessment during his freshman year.

And C: He's the number-one guy on campus whom girls want to kiss.

The long line of female fans at Noah's kissing booth was utterly ridiculous, especially since they each had to pay five bucks for a peck. Although Rex never went to college, and so didn't know about the different social ladders, he was pretty sure that there were ladies of all social statuses eyeing for his lips.

From the regular, average chicks or plus sized ones in simple skirts or jeans and plain tops, to athletic ones in their sneakers, or cute, petite types, and even the mega bombshells –Noah was like the bachelor of every girl's dream.

Someone should really make it illegal to cheat girls out of a kiss, even if it was for fund raising for the school. It really wasn't fair since Noah was obviously getting the better end of the deal. Or maybe Rex just thought that way because he was just jealous. It annoyed him that he never got any kisses for rewards even though he had saved countless of girls –much less get paid.

Here Rex Salazar, the world's greatest hero, who'd saved the world time and time again, entered the campus compounds without a single note of fanfare. One would think the Master Nanite Controller, who'd miraculously deactivated Nanites world over, would be recognized without his trademark nanite builds.

But no, without them, he was just another ordinary guy who couldn't compare to Noah. Jeez, at least it would have been great if Rex's handsome looks could command at least some attention.

When Noah told him about the kissing booth Rex gallantly decided not to crash in with his full nanite sleekness. Hence, he'd opted for a less flashy entrance, ditching his hover-bike outside the campus entrance, before coming in like a regular guy. But seeing Noah now with a throng of free kisses, he was starting to see green, and wondered if he should have dropped in on the middle of the fair with his jet pack instead.

Rex had trouble keeping his face expressionless as he closed the remaining yards across the large quadrangle where the campus fair was held. He weaved in between knots of people grouped together in front of other booths that held less interesting activities.

There were classic games like ring toss, shooting bottles, spin-a-wheel –all designed to leech the money out of people's pockets since those set ups were probably rigged such that the visitor would never win no matter how many times they try.

Still, the visitors, who looked around his age –probably most of them being college students themselves – seemed game to try. Animated chanter and cheers filled the place, with everyone lively and looking like they were having fun.

"You're late, Rex!" Noah yelled when Rex was a few steps from him and waved him over to his booth, where his next words were gobbled up by the lips of his newest customer.

Rex made a face at the garish red lipstick slobbered over Noah's face when he was released five seconds later.

"You're missing all the action," Noah added and was about to clean his lips with the Kleenex next to him, when he was attacked on the lips by the same girl.

She was a brunette. Prettier than the average girl, she would have looked compatible with Noah, except that she was acting like one freaky, possessive chick –and Rex didn't want that for Noah, as much as it was amusing to watch.

Noah clearly had the short end of the stick in this case –the girl looked like she was sucking the life out of him, fisting Noah's golden hair in a painful grip.

"Hey! No hogging!" a pissed-off girl behind yelled, prompting another to also protest.

By the time Despo Chick released Noah. He was blue in the face and looked like he needed proper CPR.

Noah stepped back and coughed, probably because he was choking on her saliva, and gave a bland smile.

"Well, that kind of invigorating action I can do without," Rex taunted with a mean smirk. Arms folded across his chest he leaned at the side of the booth.

Noah stared icy daggers with his cerulean blue orbs and wiped the lipstick off his mouth.

"Oh, Noah! My Romeo, another one!" the desperate girl exclaimed before smacking another five on the booth and lunged forward for Noah.

Rex would have gladly thrashed her if she was an out of control EVO. But since she was just one of another case of Noah's fans obsessed with him after his epic portrayal as Romeo in his school's drama performance, Rex just grinned at his buddy's misery.

After all, popularity came at a price.

Besides, it was just too damn funny.

But when the girls behind grabbed Despo Chick's arm and started shouting, Rex quickly stepped in between them before a catfight broke out.

"Hey-Hey, ladies. I know Noah's a stud, but let's play nice and share him, alright?" Rex tried to calm them down.

"Please, Noah is my dream man! I've waited all year to do this! This is his senior year, too –my last chance!" Despo chick exclaimed.

Rex didn't want to resort to unorthodox means of control, but there was nothing else he could do unless he wanted to cause a scene by physically stopping her.

Much to his surprise however, Noah laughed lightly and quirked a brow, saying, "Okay then, but you have to promise to let me breathe."

Then Noah leaned over to kiss her again.

Rex shook his head and chuckled. Despite acting like the resident flirt, Noah was actually really sweet. Well, to girls, at least.

Half a minute later, Noah pulls away, but Rex could tell that Despo Chick was still unrelenting.

So Rex did a little trick he learned since the time he discovered he'd the Omega-1 Nanite inside him.

Not being the scientist his older brother was, Rex didn't know how it was possible, but he discovered if he focused and thought really hard, he could get nanites to listen to him. It was as if the invisible, electromagnetic channels were completely open to him, making it easier to 'talk' to the nanites inside people's bodies. If he concentrated hard enough he could possess a limited amount of control over them.

Just like how he jolted 'awake' just enough nanites inside the girl and ordered them to influence the electrochemical signals in her brain to control her motor movement.

And just like that, she was abruptly turning around and she'd be miles away before the nanites would automatically shut down, snapping out of her semi-trance, and she realizes that she had been walking away against her will.

It sounded daunting, but Rex did have limitations on his abilities, and how much influence he had over other people's nanites. If there were too much static or electromagnetic interference, he wouldn't be able to connect with nanites from other bodies without direct contact. And even without such interference, he had to be standing close by, within a few steps, in order to do so.

Hence this ability fell short whenever he was in a room plugged with a phone or an internet router or anywhere that has strong wireless signals. The open grounds were generally clearer from these types of interference, which was why he could influence Despo Chick's nanites without much difficulty.

Unfortunately, it also readily gave him a shitty headache –influencing three or five people, whether through direct contact or standing close by, was just about his limit before his brains start to pound like a sledgehammer going through it.

Also, he found his abilities weren't strong enough to affect EVOs like the Consortium. He tried several occasions when they battled, but it would seem that as they had conscious control over their active nanites, they could overpower Rex's commands, which stands to reason since Rex had not been able to cure them either.

Noah gave a bland smile at Despo Girl's exit, and then speared Rex with a glare, showing his distaste at what the EVO had done. Rex knew Noah would recognize the telling signs of when he used his nanite influence. Rex rarely did it, even in battle, but Noah had witnessed it a few times before on harmless occasions.

In the few instances when Noah seriously expressed his outright dislike were about Rex's newfound abilities. Rex understood why. It was terrible to control someone against their will, like those inhibitor collars* that were placed on EVOs back when Black Knight was in charge of Providence.

Besides, Rex was not about to turn into a control freak.

He used it, only and if, it were absolutely necessary. And Rex knew Noah trusted him not to abuse his powers. Still, neither of them liked it when he did.

At least for this time, Rex was sure Noah didn't think he went completely overboard, since he didn't say anything when the girl appeared to take a sudden about turn and leave.

So Rex merely forced a smile and whispered, "You're welcome," before the next girl ungraciously elbowed Rex out of the way.

"Hey, jeez, not like Noah's the only stud around here. What about me?" Rex grumbled under his breath in annoyance.

Noah must have heard him because he gave Rex that cocky smile of his, with one corner upturned in a devilish manner, which he always does when he wanted to challenge Rex.

"Oh, jealous pal? It's not your fault that you're not born a star like me."

"No," Rex made a face, "but I was engineered to be one. Bet the girls will go ga-ga when they see my true superhero form."

"Oh yeah? You wanna bet?" Noah pushed again, in that infuriating manner that drove Rex's adrenaline in a jumping frenzy, sparking him to take on whatever stupid challenge there was, like a blind bee to honey.

Since the first time Rex met him, Noah could always egg him on and rile him into competing with him. What the contest was meant to prove didn't really matter –simply winning was.

Rex could write a list of all the stupid things they've competed over that would stretch across a whole city block.

When they were sixteen, it was normal for them to get in on ridiculous challenges, or at least, Holiday was patient enough to look the other way when they took their contest within Providence Headquarters. But now, being closer to twenty-one, and therefore no longer privileged with given the blind eye like in their younger days, Holiday scolded them more often than not that they were being downright immature.

"C'mon Rex, what's with the stalling? Not confident enough? Why don't you just admit that I'm the hotter guy between the two of us?" Noah pushed again in his cocky tone and that did it.

"Like hell I will! You're sooo on, Noah. The one that gets the most kisses wins!" Rex gave his own swaggering bite before he sent millions of his nanites buzzling into action, constructing a three-tiered platform beneath his feet to raise him to a more attention-grabbing spotlight.

The unveiling of his powers brought in the right effect of fanatic shrieks, gasps, oohs and ahhs. Finally, they recognized him as the nanite-wielding hero.

"Hey! That's cheating! I don't have a freaking stage!" Noah protested.

"Well then, you need to get an upgrade, like me," Rex taunted.

He'd come a long way from the weapons he was limited to creating back in his teens. Since being perfectly in sync with his Omega-1 Nanite, he gradually learnt to generate a variety of other useful constructs and components.

"Hello ladies, the Nanite Master, Rex Salazar, is on the grounds. So step right up for a kiss for the same amount as your resident superstar, Noah Nixon!" Rex announced dramatically through a loudspeaker he quickly generated with his hand.

The stampede and rush of females scampering to line up in front of Rex was glorifying, especially since he stole some of Noah's fans over.

Rex snickered as he heard Noah's loud humph of annoyance.

"Whatever Rex, I had a head start. Game finishes at the end of the fair at five."

Rex gave a thumbs up to agree with the rules and was convinced that this was going to be his best day ever, until his lips started hurting three hours later from all the brutal sucking and nibbling.

Rex had tasted every flavor there was of food the girls had eaten before and the unpleasant combination left in his mouth was almost nauseating. By then, the charm of getting free kisses from hordes of girls faded away.

At times like these, Rex pondered in chagrin at what possessed him to take up Noah's stupid challenge. He was actually starting to dread the line that seemed to never end.

The afternoon sun beat down on them didn't help either. Rex was sorely parched, but he didn't want to waste time getting a drink since Noah didn't take a break either.

A sideways glance at Noah also confirmed he was also feeling the abuse. Noah was slouching against the side of the booth now, with his lips all red and puffy. He probably had it worse since he'd started earlier and there was still almost two hours left.

But they both stubbornly wanted to win –they were similar in that way, among many others, which was why they'd such a tight friendship. Stupid contest or not, Noah wasn't going to give up, so neither was Rex.

Then, a commotion at the end of Noah's line caught Rex's attention.

A couple of guys, four of them, were crowding Noah's fan, shoving her –no correction, him –around. They looked cool and pretty sporty, dressed in jeans and hoodies emblazoned with the school's emblem. But they behaved like typical, rude, arrogant jocks the way that they harassed the poor, skinny twig who looked like he'd easily snap into two if they pushed him around any harder.

"What's this? A guy queuing up for a kiss with Noah? You damn fag, get outta here. Noah isn't gonna kiss a disgusting freak like you," one of them taunted cruelly.

Pushing aside his surprise that even guys wanted to kiss Noah, Rex shook his head, irked that in this day and age, such prejudice still exists.

It was as if some people needed to find an excuse to bully someone now that they'd no EVO targets to hold prejudice against.

Rex stepped down from his stage just as he saw Noah already striding over.

"Hey guys, c'mon, give him a break," Noah stepped between the poor guy and the jocks.

One of them gave Noah a look of disdain.

"What? Don't tell me, you're gonna humor this fag?"

Noah shrugged. "A little kiss ain't gonna hurt anybody."

The goons chortled.

"Oh hear, hear, looks like all-star Romeo boy is switching lanes. Better ditch the line ladies," another sneered.

Rex wasn't amused by the sarcasm dripping from the guy's words and quickly moved towards them.

Noah on the other hand, remained cool and unruffled.

He merely slung an arm over the guy's neck and gave a lopsided smirk.

"Haven't you heard? Gays are secretly all the rage for those ladies who are 'In'"

At that, Noah did the craziest thing Rex had ever seen him do –he kissed the guy fellow full on the lips.

The bullies flinched as if scalded; crying out that it was gross and what not. Then they quickly retreated as if Noah was a contagious infection that they didn't want to catch.

Rex was rooted to the ground a few feet away, jaws dropped open in shock. I didn't just see my best friend kiss another guy, Rex chanted to himself mentally. But fact was he did, and he didn't know what to make of it.

After Noah was done giving the lucky guy his kiss, he must have caught Rex's perplexed expression because he bit his lips in the way he did when he was nervous.

"Rex," Noah paused, sounding a little shaky and ran his fingers through his hair, which was all the clue Rex needed to tell that Noah was bothered –worried about how Rex would see him, maybe even scared that Rex would be weirded out.

Rex quickly shook himself out of his flabbergasted shock and gave Noah a thumbs-up.

"Yo, Noah, that was cool man! But I should have known you'd beat me to standing up for this guy. Trying to steal more limelight from me, eh?"

Noah immediately looked relieved, with a proud smile replacing his nervous one.

"What can I say? Can't stop myself from saving anyone in distress. You showed me that," Noah gave his snappy comeback and they fist bumped before going right back into the competition.

As if Noah was spot on after all, his queue suddenly increased in numbers, of girls as well as guys. It was almost a mirror image of the girls, except in guy versions. They looked like a range of different stereotypes –the bespectacled, buttoned shirt geeks, the brawny health nuts, the scrawny twigs and their opposites, and he'll be damned –even a few whom he recognized from their incredible, towering height, were members from Noah's basketball team.

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"Are you sure you don't want any of this three-combo-taco of lip-smacking awesomeness?"

Rex gurgled for the tenth time that evening, to get rid of the horrid aftertaste of a thousand kisses from all sorts of girls, before answering.

"No thanks, I've had enough of lip-smacking for today."

"Dude, did all that kissing mess up your brain? We're talking dinner here. And three types of juicy meat," Noah tried again as he came up behind Rex in the bathroom and made a show of slowly peeling back the wrapper.

It had rained earlier, before the fair closed, and Rex and Noah got caught in it. So they went back to Noah's dorm room to dry off, but not before Noah dragged him to the café at the East Block to get the tacos they both absolutely loved.

Noah had already wolfed down his share before they reached his room. But it seemed like too much kissing had a negative effect on Rex, making him feel utterly sick to his gut.

Rex pretended to gag. The act wasn't so hard to pull off.

"Actually, yes, it did. I've enough kissing to last me a lifetime. Now, c'mon. Hurry up and finish it, so we can have a few rounds of 'Monkey Kong versus Killer Whale' before the game."

"What's the rush? My Xbox isn't going to run away."

Rex made a face.

As part of the school fair, there was going to be a friendly basketball match tonight with another campus that was Noah's top rival. In between Providence missions, and the few hundred miles distance between Providence Headquarters and Noah's dorms at the campus, Rex couldn't hang out with his buddy as often as he liked.

He was excited to watch Noah at his best in a basketball tournament. It was almost as invigorating as their one-on-one with each other. Besides that, he was also itching to have some fun playing video games with Noah.

He had his own console back at headquarters, but Bobo was too tough an opponent. That monkey has agile fingers at the joystick and controls, and beat Rex so many times that he'd given up.

"Besides, we haven't even compared our stats yet," Noah folded his arms across his still wet clothing and cocked a brow.

Rex groaned internally, forgetting how persistent Noah could be. He walked past Noah out the bathroom and toweled his hair dry.

"It rained twenty minutes before closing time. Did it still count?"

"Hell yeah! Of course, it does!" Noah exclaimed as he followed after Rex.

Rex helped himself to one of Noah's shirts in his closet and threw it at Noah's face.

"Better get changed first before you catch a cold."

Then Rex threw Noah fresh pants. Noah caught both in with one arm, but looked kinda comical juggling them with his other hand still holding the taco.

"C'mon Rex, how many did you score?" Noah bugged as he abandoned the taco on the counter against one wall and stripped his wet shirt.

Rex had no clue.

Since Noah did that wonderful stint with the gay guy, Rex barely noticed the rest of the girls kissing him after that –he practically lost count and stopped counting.

All that captured his attention were the number of guys who queued up at Noah's line and how Noah looked completely cool with it, comfortable even, with them wrapping their arms around his shoulders and neck, stuck to his lips like glue in what seemed like forever.

Not that there was anything wrong, but if Rex had to be completely honest with himself, he did find it kinda weird. Like, if Rex suddenly kissed Claire, Noah's ex-girlfriend, kind-of weird.

Noah wouldn't shut up if Rex didn't have a number, so he gave a rough estimate.

Noah gave an exaggerated look of despair.

"No, no! How could this be? Have I lost my charm? I'm two kisses behind you!"

Rex chuckled at his lucky guess, not like it was really important anyway. He was feeling pretty sick, and wouldn't have cared even if he lost, though he wouldn't admit it to Noah.

"Okay no, wait," Noah dropped one fist into this other palms in realization, "I did kiss that obsessed girl another two times before you made her take a hike. So yes!" Noah pushed two fists in the air like he won some big game, "Now, at least we're equal." Noah had that joking, smug look with twinkling eyes; looking every bit like he enjoyed the game just like every single time whenever he bested Rex at a competition.

It was dumb really, and annoyed the hell out of Rex, but at the same time, it was kinda fun, goofy, and cool, in a weird, comradely game kind-of way.

Rex loved these games, even if they were silly. And even if he currently felt like shit at the end of it. At least Noah had a good time –it made Rex feel like he'd fun too.

And just like that, without much thought, or comprehension on what he was doing except to wipe that smirk off Noah's face and get one up on him in this contest, Rex closed the three steps between them and pressed his lips onto Noah's.

A slight flinch and a tiny hitch of breath told Rex that Noah was completely caught by surprise. But Noah was not repulsed by Rex's sudden action, instead, started to lean in deeper, tilting his head just a teeny fraction so their lips melded into each other's grooves better.

Rex ended up being the one stunned and he pulled back a hair's length, breathing deeply.

Noah stared at him, eyes wide with an unfathomable gaze, shaky breath hot against Rex's swollen and sensitive lips.

Rex sort of jumped over the couch, suddenly seized by the desire to flee, as if he could erase his mind off the crazy thing he just did.

Why did he kiss his best friend?

His mind was scattered, and then he remembered.

"Hah! I win. I stole that kiss from you, so score one for me," Rex threw over his shoulder, and busied himself by plugging in Noah's Xbox, mentally calming down his insides that suddenly seemed to go haywire.

Rex expected some witty comeback or mock, enraged insult but there was none.

Noah was dead silent –scarily quiet. It unnerved Rex and suddenly he regretted his stupid move.

Just as he turned around, mind scrambling for some lame joke to ease the sudden tension, Noah had disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the door with a resounding thud.

Great. Smooth move, Rex.

Rex started getting jittery. Was Noah going to hate him now? Because they kissed? But Noah seemed cool kissing those fifteen other guys. Or maybe it was some line they'd crossed, which they shouldn't have as buddies.

He couldn't dwell on it, as his providence communicator tucked over his ear, beeped.

"Rex, come in," Six's voice came through the device.

"Yea, I hear ya, Six."

"Strafield County. A dairy farm owner has reported on his cows rolling over, sick. Our GPS shows you're the nearest to the location so we need you to go over for investigation."

Tch. What bad timing. Rex was going to have to miss Noah's game… again.

"Woah Six, you should know I'm no vet. How about Holiday, or one of her assistants?"

"A few of the cows show signs of abnormalities. We don't know how quickly it would escalate, so you had better get over there. Pronto."

There was urgency to Six's tone, and Rex couldn't ignore it.

"Right, got it. Send me the coordinates, and I'll be there in thirty."

"Noah," Rex called out, "I gotta go-"

Noah flung the door open before Rex could finish, towel wrapped round his hips.

"Providence?" Noah lifted a brow.

"Yeah, sorry man," Rex grimaced, feeling bad for ditching their plans. Noah never complained; which was probably why Noah was still his best friend outside of Providence. "This time, we're losing cows at the farm. Six says I'm the closest, so he's sending me to check it out."

"No sweat, Rex. Saving our supply of juicy beef is more important. I need my protein to shoot hoops," Noah shot him a smile and gave him a thumb's up.

Rex grinned, relieved that the apparent weirdness between them had disappeared. Perhaps he was even over-thinking it.

"Now, that's the irony, saving the food… to save our food."

Rex joked and returned the thumb's up before he ran and jumped out the window, sending a zillion of his nanites into constructing his turbine wings.

In a flash, the propellers roared into life, spinning at full blasts and giving him lift before he hit the ground. Then he was off, zipping ahead a few hundred miles away.

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Footnotes:

*inhibitor collars:

Shown in season three; an upgraded version of the original collar used by Providence that used to limit EVOs from unleashing their full power. The new ones commissioned by Black Knight were able to brainwash EVOs.

#noex #generator rex #noah nixon #rex salazar

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