Okay, can I tell you I'm a little scared about this endeavor? As you know sequels don't always do as well as the original. I've had so many positive reviews for my season 4 that I'm afraid to even try season 5. I don't know how many of you are still reading my stories and those who are if you still like them. But I've been promising so I hope you like it. This all comes from my own twisted imagination. I do not own the show or any of the characters. I don't earn any money. I get paid in reviews and making people happy.

BTW if you haven't read any of my stories before this, it may be a little confusing. I suggest you start with my Made-up Season 4. I also reference several other stories like Six's Story, Christmas Countdown, New Year, Amusement Park Saga, A Valentine's Day Story Sort Of, and Mystery on the Farm. I have a continuum on my profile if you want to check it out. But here's a quick rundown. In season 4 the Consortium lead by Black Knight tried to reactivate the meta-nanites. Rex and company thwarted them but White Knight as well as Black Knight and Van Kleiss supposedly perished. Six was made head of Providence. Dos came back as an EVO and after clashing with Six disappeared. Now Providence is fighting a more mundane battle called budget cuts. Unfortunately, nothing is mundane in Rex's world.

Episode 1

Hidden in the shadows of trees at the edge of a compound, a silent figure stood quietly scanning the distance. He shifted from foot to foot impatiently.

"Stop that. You don't want to blow your cover." Six's voice hissed in his ear. Rex knew better than to answer. He had to maintain strict radio silence on his end so he opted to grind his teeth instead. Patience was not one of his virtues. They were waiting for some sort of illegal shipment of drugs called N-juice… something that would have a major affect on nanite technology and research according to Holiday.

He had no idea what that meant and he really didn't care. Things had been entirely too stressful lately. Providence was under the microscope. Two network consultants were hanging out at base asking questions and scribbling God-knows-what on their clipboards… basically, annoying everyone. But for Rex it was quiet. Holiday and Six had shielded Rex from most of the inquiries. But he was bored. This was something to break the monotony.

Suddenly, two headlights appeared in the distance. Rex tensed. The truck pulled by the gate. It honked once and the gate slid opened. Rex tapped his com link once to signal quietly that the mark had arrived.

He then quickly turned on his stealth suit. Once the suit activated he darted out. He ran out into the clearing and slipped through just as the gate closed.

"Where ya want this?" The driver called to some guards who came out. The guards were carrying AK-47s.

The guard using his gun waved the driver to a long warehouse behind him. The driver shifted his truck into gear and slowly drove it into the building. Rex nimbly walked along the side of the truck unseen.

Once inside the driver hopped out of the cab. Another man walked up to him. They greeted each other.

"Everything here?" The man asked as he walked to the back of the truck with the driver. The driver pulled off his baseball cap and ran his hand through his hair before putting his cap back on.

"Yup. All there. Was close though. Thought I saw some feds following." The driver replied.

The other man looked alarmed. "You didn't lead them here, did you?"

"No! What idiot do you take me for?" The driver growled deeply offended.

"Good." The other man sighed with relief. "If we loose another shipment the boss will have a conniption."

Rex stood very still listening to the conversation. He was trying to figure out if now was the right time to call in the rest of the agents. He tried to quietly make his way around the other side of the truck when he tripped over a pipe. When Rex hit the ground his stealth suit turned off.

"What's a pipe doing in the middle of a warehouse?" Rex groused.

"Crap, some kid's in here! Joe!" The man yelled. Joe came in carrying an AK-47.

Rex guessed that now would be as good as any to give the signal. He touched his comlink. "Six, now!" He quickly dodged the bullets that sprayed from Joe's machine gun.

"Dude, that wasn't very nice!" Rex formed his smack hands and covered himself. He felt the bullets ricochet off them.

"It's that freak from Providence." Someone yelled.

"That's Mr. Freak to you!" Rex retorted.

He heard shouting and the pounding steps of more guards arriving. Rex gritted his teeth. He could be in trouble.

Suddenly, the sound of breaking glass came from overhead. Finally, Six had arrived. Rex could see the green suited ninja with his blades drawn disarming several guards easily. They never got off a single shot. That's my aggro nanny. Rex thought proudly. Rex rescinded his smack hands and formed his fun chucks. Time for him to have some fun too.

0o0

Within a few minutes the confrontation was over. The drug dealers lay on the ground either unconscious or with their hands on their heads. Bobo had them at gunpoint while Calan was ordering his men to confiscate certain paraphernalia around the warehouse. Rex was leaning against the wall waiting for everyone to finish so they could leave. He was already planning for tomorrow. He would wake up late, eat, play video games, eat some more, and then go visit Noah after school to play ball or maybe hang out in the mall. If Circe wasn't busy they could go together. Holiday and Six had their hands full with the busybodies from the Committee. He would never admit it out loud but he missed training with Six.

"Rex," Six said in his terse tone. "You remember Miss Hatburn. She wants to talk to you." It was clear that Six was doing this under duress.

"Hello, Rick. It's nice to see you again." She said in a fake sweet voice.

"It's Rex." Rex corrected her.

"What do you usually do here at Providence?" She asked ignoring the correction.

"I…" Rex wasn't sure how to answer that. Lately, all he's been doing was eating and sleeping which probably wasn't what she wanted to hear.

"Rex is Providence's secret weapon." Six answered for him.

Miss Hatburn glared at Six. "I was asking the agent. I'm sure he is capable of answering." She looked expectantly at Rex.

"I'm Providence's secret weapon." Rex parroted Six.

"Against EVO's before, but since that is no longer a threat, what exactly do you do?" She asked again.

"I do things like this." Rex gestured around him.

"That's infrequent. Yet you take up a large portion of Providence's resources." She flipped her clipboard.

"You serious? They don't pay me." Rex looked at the lady incredulously.

"They don't give you a salary." she agreed, "But you do get room and board."

"You want me to pay rent?" Rex joked.

"That would be a start." She acquiesced.

"What? Are you joking?" Rex's eyes widened.

"No, as far as we know we don't have a sense of humor." She said seriously while scribbling furiously on her clipboard. "We'll be in touch." She walked off.

Rex looked at Six in shock. Six shrugged, "Welcome to my world." He replied.

0o0

"Yeah, she then said I had to pay rent! Can you believe that? It's not like I make any money." Rex was on his cell complaining to Noah. "After all I do around here, you think they would be a little more appreciative. Rex's comlink buzzed. "Hold on Noah." Rex put his finger to his ear to hear it better. "Listen, I gotta go. The aggro nanny is calling."

Rex made his way to Six's office. "You rang?" He quipped.

"Well now you know what we've been going through." Six smirked slightly.

"Yeah, what was that all about?" Rex inquired.

"Seems like The Committee wants a reason to cut our funding or completely stop it. We are no longer… cost effective."

"Are we going to be okay?" Rex asked worried.

"You let me worry about that. But I want you to help humor these people." Six shuffled some paper around his desk.

"Like what?" Rex frowned.

"You'll see." Six replied flatly.

Miss Hatburn and Mr. Greene walked into the room.

"Time to make yourself useful, agent." Miss Hatburn sniffed.

Rex gritted his teeth at her tone. But Six's words echoed through his head so all he answered was, "Sure, what do you need me to do?"

"Well, although the confiscation of those drugs was a boon we need to find the source and the only way to do that seems to be to work with elements that are familiar with these operations." Mr. Greene said in a nasally voice.

"You want me to work with a drug dealer?" Rex asked distastefully.

"Not quite." Miss Hatburn smiled. Rex felt a chill run through his spine.

0o0

Rex stood in stun silence as Miss Hatburn stood in front of the bullet-proof glass panel of a padded cell.

"Rick, meet your new partner." Miss Hatburn gestured to the man in the straightjacket.

Rex shot her a look before looking back at the man in the cell.

It was Gatlocke.

The pirate was lying on his cot with his head hanging off the edge and legs straight up against the wall. He was grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

"Hello Rex. Long time no see. Miss me?"

"No way!" Rex sputtered. "He's crazy! I can't work with him."

"Well, you must because if you don't you'll be looking for another place to stay. We are not running a flophouse." Miss Hatburn said sternly.

Rex glared at her then looked at Gatlocke. Still grinning the man winked at him. Rex gritted his teeth. This was going to be painful.

0o0

"So you going to let me out of this jacket? The color clashes with my bandana." Gatlocke was sitting on a bench in back of a transport facing Rex.

"No." Rex growled.

"Tut, tut, Rex, we're supposed to be partners..." He clucked his tongue.

"No we're not. We are not even remotely that. You are going to help me find the source of the drugs and then you are going back to the loony bin where you belong." Rex snarled.

Gatlocke pouted. "And here I was thinking we can go grab a pint and reminisce about the good old days."

"Ok, first of all I'm underage and second you tried to kill me. You are staying in your straightjacket until this is over." Rex snapped.

"Miss Hatburn won't like this. She said we should work together." Gatlocke reminded him.

"Miss Hatburn can kiss my ..." Rex started to say.

Before Rex could finish his thought an explosion hit the transport they were riding in.

Rex and Gatlocke flew off the bench they were sitting on and onto the floor.

"What was that?" Rex asked.

"I'd say it was an explosion. C4 if I'm not mistaken although it could be from a missile. Missiles are hard to hide in your pants, but you can shove a whole block of C4 down your underwear and customs would never know." Gatlocke rambled.

Rex ignored him and jumped out the back of the truck.

Grunts were returning fire on some men dressed in black.

"Why are things never easy?" Rex muttered as he formed his smack hands and punk busters.

He leapt over the barricade the grunts had formed. He smashed into the other side scattering the assailants. They turned their fire onto Rex. He blocked it with his smack hands. He then swung his metal hands knocking over several gunmen. One of them jumped onto his back. Rex yanked the man off and threw him at several of the attackers running at him. From the corner of his eye he saw more approach. He made his bad axes and swung them at the crowd. They scattered but one fired off a shot. Rex made his block party and deflected the shot. He formed his slam cannon and took a chunk of rock from the ground. He fired it at his opponents. They fell back. Rex smirked. That'll show them to attack a Providence transport. Just then a sharp pain ripped through his arm. Rex clutched it and spun around. One of the men was standing behind him with a gun aimed straight at his chest. Rex tried to make a build but the pain prevented him from concentrating. As the man pulled the trigger a red flash knocked the gun from his hands. Then another red flash knocked him over. He lay on the ground unmoving.

Rex gaped and suddenly saw Gatlocke with the energy cannon on his cybernetic arm raised. Smoke was coming from it and he was grinning.

Somehow he had gotten out of the straightjacket and had saved Rex.

0o0

"You're welcome."

Rex stayed silent. A makeshift bandage was wrapped around his arm.

"What you never learn any manners? The proper response is you're welcome." Gatlocke looked offended.

"Bite me." Rex growled.

"I'm not familiar with that as a proper response to Thank you."

Rex gritted his teeth.

"So partner, where should we start." Gatlocke grinned changing the subject.

"Why did those people attack us?" Rex narrowed his eyes at Gatlocke.

"I don't know. But shouldn't we be concerned with our mission." Gatlocke gave an unconcerned shrug.

"This is my mission you're just an annoying jerk I'm towing around."

"Touchy. Well where do you want to start?" Gatlocke sniffed.

"Why don't you tell me?" Rex replied acerbically.

"Oh let's kill two birds with one stone." Rex did not like the glint in his eye.

Next thing Rex knew he was standing in front of a seedy looking bar.

"You're kidding me?" Rex eyed the pirate.

"Do I kid?" Gatlocke scoffed.

Rex and Gatlocke walked into the bar.

"There's a joke here somewhere." Rex mumbled.

Gatlocke grinned from ear to ear." Garson, give me your finest brew."

All the patrons turned around and glared at them. The bar went silent as Rex and Gatlocke walked toward the bar. Gatlocke sat at a stool. The bartender poured some unsavory liquid into a mug and slid it in front of Gatlocke. He looked at Rex.

"No thanks." Rex muttered.

"Come on don't be such a stick in the mud. They don't card here." Gatlocke raised the mug to Rex's face.

Rex glared at him.

"Fine. Don't need to throw a hissy fit." He put the mug back down and held his hands in mock surrender.

"Just get the information." Rex snapped.

"Relax. You don't go barging into these things. You need to ease your way into it." When he said ease he waved his hand. "But you're so cute when you're impatient." He tried to ruffle Rex's hair.

"Touch me and your new name's Stumpy." Rex growled.

"Ohhh someone's in a foul mood. Well you're not going to get information being a grumpy puss. You need to be friendly. Like this." He grabbed his mug and headed to the table with three of the largest, surliest people Rex had ever seen.

"What are you doing?" Rex grabbed Gatlocke's arm.

"I'm getting your information." He said cheerfully. He pulled his arm from Rex's grasp.

"Hello there, how dee do? Mind if I join you, gents? Lovely evening." Gatlocke prattled on unaware or unconcerned that the gents had started pulling out an assortment of sharp objects. "Getting ready for a night of pillaging? Personally I prefer the early mornings. You know what they say the early bird gets the worm. Not a literal worm mind you. Those are disgusting buggers." He draped an arm over the one with a scar running down his cheek. "Tell me fellas, do you know anything about where shipments of N-juice come from? Want to get a piece of that action, if you know what I mean."

Scar-face disdainfully picked Gatlocke's arm off his shoulder. "Beat it Bean Sprout."

"Ohh, Bean Sprout. Never been called that. That's different. Usually it's crazy, insane…" As he continued Gatlocke developed a wild look on his face. His grin became maniacal. Even the three thugs felt something different and became nervous. Suddenly, Gatlocke's arm changed into a blade. He slammed it down on the table cutting it in half. The other patrons of the bar fled. The three thugs picked up their weapons. The bartender took cover under his bar. Rex groaned. He ran over and grabbed Gatlocke's blade arm.

"Are you stupid or crazy?" Rex was losing patience.

Gatlocke didn't even turn to look at him. His grin widened. "A little from column A and a little from column B." He yanked himself from Rex's grip and charged the three men.

The men hardly had a chance to react. Gatlocke knocked a machete from one of the thug's hand with his blade and punched him with his other hand. As he was disarming the first thug, he also simultaneously kicked a firearm from the another's hand. Then after punching the first, he kicked the second in the head. He grabbed the third and head-butted him. Still grinning he grabbed the one with the scar by his hair and held his blade under his chin. "As I was saying… where did the shipment come from?"

"I don't know where it comes, comes from." The man whimpered. Gatlocked pressed the blade closer. "But the shipment arrives by plane at a private airstrip 20 miles from here."

"There, that wasn't so hard." Gatlocke withdrew his blade. He let go of his hair and patted his head. He got up and walked to Rex. "And that's how it's done." He said smugly.

Rex looked around at the destroyed bar. "I could have done that."

"Yes, but you wouldn't have done it with style." He waved his hands grandly as he walked out the bar.

Rex walked over the bodies and followed after Gatlocke.

0o0

Six walked into Holiday's lab. He saw that she was hard at work at her computer.

He cleared his throat. Startled Holiday turned around. When she saw him she relaxed and got up. A small smile tugged at his lips as she stepped into his embrace. She kissed him lightly and snuggled into his chest.

"I wish we could stay like this." She murmured into his chest.

Six's smile broadened briefly before he schooled his features back to normal. He gently pulled away. Holiday gave a deep sigh.

"Everything alright?" Six asked allowing some concern into his voice.

"Actually, I have something to show you." Holiday wouldn't look him in the eye. Not a good sign.

"What's wrong?" Six tensed.

Holiday sighed again. "I ran some test on the blood Dos left on your blades."

"And?" Six prompted.

"Many of the active chemical components match the drug that reactivated Circe's powers." Holiday continued. "They are so similar it can only mean one thing."

"They came from the same source." Six guessed.

Holiday nodded. "It gets worse. The shipment of drugs that Rex and Sarah intercepted at the amusement park and the shipment confiscated from yesterday also have the same exact components."

"This means…" Six furrowed his brow.

"It means someone has changed the drug given to Circe into the new it drug for the streets." Holiday finished tiredly. "Six, the results could be catastrophic if this drug ever actually hits the streets. There's no telling how this drug will interact with individuals' nanites. It could give them a mild power boost to becoming a full rampaging EVO! What's worse is that it's highly addictive. This could be as bad as the first nanite event." Holiday rubbed her eyes.

"This could be bad. But do you think anyone would be stupid enough to take this drug?" Six asked.

Holiday looked at him. "People already know that the current drugs out there are dangerous yet they still take it! All you need is for someone to take this drug one time to go full EVO. And since it is a drug that has corrupted the nanites I don't know if Rex can cure them all or how it might affect him in the long run."

"Point taken. On the other hand, this maybe the thing we can use to convince The Committee to continue our funding." Six said thoughtfully.

Holiday looked at Six in shock, "I can't believe you'd use this crisis like that!"

Six internally sighed. "Rebecca, "He said gently, "There are over 10,000 people dependent on Providence to provide them with a paycheck and home. Some with no other skills other than this."

Rebecca knew he was correct but somehow it still didn't seem right. She looked away with tears in her eyes. It hurt Six to know that she was troubled and there was nothing he could do about it. Sometimes business was as ruthless as being a mercenary.

"I..I'm sorry, Six. I know you're doing your best to keep us afloat. I just wish…" She stopped as her throat closed up.

Six carefully gathered her into his arms again. He couldn't solve all her problems but at least now he could comfort her. Rebecca buried her face into his chest and breathed in his scent. She loved him so much that it scared her sometimes. She had to trust that Six will always do the right thing. She only hoped their definition of right was the same.

So when I said I would have more time in the summer, I, like another writer, had forgotten that I had other obligations. I will try to update regularly but I won't promise anything. I have an outline of where I want this to go but I find that I keep changing it as the story progresses. Sorry for you Gatlocke fans if I didn't get his voice right. I watched his episodes over and over trying to get his personality down but it was hard. So forgive me if it wasn't quite right. Hope you liked it. Comments would be nice.