The Trade (2 page)

BEEEUUUK!

The Evo's mouth opened and a spray of bright
green gunk erupted from inside it. The gunk hit the sign, turning it into a sizzling pile of goo.

‘OK,' Rex said, ‘I'm going to take that as a “no”.'

Raising a metal fist, Rex charged. One good, solid punch should be enough to knock the Evo out, he reckoned. After that, the rest would be easy.

Halfway there, Dr Holiday's voice crackled in his ear. ‘Pop like a balloon,
remember
?'

‘What? You mean I can't even – Whoa!'

Another spray of green slime spewed at him. His robotic arms retracted back into his body and a pair of jet turbines extended from his shoulders. With a
roar
, the Boogie Pack lifted into the air just as the grass at his feet dissolved in a puddle of sludge.

‘So, we can't shoot it
or
hit it?' Rex asked, climbing higher above the park.

Dr Holiday's voice buzzed in his ear. ‘No. We can't risk it spreading more nanites.'

Rex looked down. The slug Evo was squelching across the grass towards the Providence soldiers.

‘I'd say reasoning with it is out of the question, too,' Rex muttered. He took a deep breath. ‘Guess I'm just going to have to get my hands dirty.'

WHOOSH!

Rex rocketed towards the Evo, his face fixed in a mask of determination. This was going to get nasty!

As he passed above the slug-beast, he folded the jetpack back into his body. Almost at once he began to fall. Only the gloopy hide of the Evo stopped him hitting the ground.

Mechanical feet grew from Rex's legs, allowing him to grip onto the Evo's back, like a cowboy on a bucking bronco. The Evo growled as Rex pressed his hands against the monster's slimy skin.

‘Trust me,' he grimaced, ‘I don't like this any more than you do.'

Concentrating hard, Rex absorbed the nanites from inside the Evo. He felt them flow into his body, and as they did, the slug-creature became a slug-man, and then, finally, just a man.

Standing up, Rex wiped his sticky hands on the front of his trousers. ‘Another one bites the … um … slime.'

Retracting his Punk Buster legs back into his body, Rex turned to find Agent Six standing in front of him. He was about to speak when the Punk Busters
emerged again all on their own. ‘Whoa, where'd they come from?' he frowned.

Agent Six raised an eyebrow. ‘Everything OK?'

‘Yeah, it's just –'

The legs pulled back into Rex's body. He paused for a moment, making sure they were gone for good this time. ‘Weird,' he began, but a sudden
clanking
sound stopped him. The Punk Busters reformed yet again, only this time it was clear that something was very wrong.

Rex stared at his arms, which now had a huge pair of mechanical feet attached to the end of them. ‘OK,' he swallowed. ‘This is
not
good.'

A
GENT
S
IX STARED
long and hard at the feet on the end of Rex's arms. ‘Quit fooling around,' he said, at last.

Rex shook his head. ‘Um … I'm not doing this!'

The last word came out as a loud gasp, as the Punk Busters vanished without warning. Rex and Agent Six stood in silence for a few moments. Around them, the Providence Agents were dealing with the crowds and finding a blanket for the man who had, until very recently, been a slug.

‘Well done, Rex,' said Dr Holiday, strolling across the grass to join them. ‘That was some quick …' She spotted their expressions. ‘Those are worried faces,' she said. ‘Why are we doing worried faces?'

With a metallic
clang
, just one of Rex's Smackhands emerged. Surprisingly, it chose to emerge from the top of his head. Rex looked up. ‘I'm officially upgrading my “worried face” to a “terrified face”,' he announced, quietly.

Dr Holiday blinked. ‘That's … unexpected,' she said.

‘You sure you aren't doing this on purpose?' asked Agent Six, his eyes narrowing.

‘I've got a fist growing out of my head!' Rex cried. ‘Why would I do that on
purpose
?'

There was another sound of moving metal and his head returned to normal. Rex felt a brief moment of relief, before his Boogie Pack generated from his shoulders. He barely had time to realise what was happening before the jet turbines activated, launching him straight up into the air.

Down on the ground, Six and Holiday watched him streak towards the clouds. From that distance, they could barely even hear his panicked screams.

‘OK,' Six said. ‘I guess we'd better haul him in for testing.'

Dr Holiday nodded her head. ‘I guess we should find a way to catch him first. Any suggestions?'

THUD!

Rex slammed down onto the grass. He had metal arms where his feet should be. He groaned loudly as he tried to sit up.

Six nodded. ‘One or two.' He turned and pointed towards the closest Agent. ‘Bring me a stretcher,' he ordered. ‘And make it the strongest one we've got.'

Three hours later, Rex lay on an uncomfortable bed back at Providence headquarters. In the last one-hundred-and-eighty minutes he had been poked, prodded, jabbed, pierced, punctured, tickled, scratched and – briefly – electrocuted. It had not been his favourite morning.

‘Nothing,' said Dr Holiday, shrugging.

Agent Six frowned. ‘Nothing?'

‘Nothing. He's absolutely fine.'

‘Does that mean you'll stop sticking pins in me?' Rex asked, hopefully. Six ignored him.

‘That's good news. He can get back on duty.'

‘I'm not so sure that's a good idea,' Holiday argued.

‘Why? You just said he was fine.'

‘Because I really didn't enjoy the pins,' Rex continued. ‘Or the electric shock.'

‘The tests say he's fine,' Dr Holiday nodded, ‘but we both know he
isn't
fine.'

‘Wasn't really a fan of any of it, actually,' added Rex.

‘We both saw what happened,' Holiday continued. She looked into Six's eyes, but all she saw was her reflection in his mirrored sunglasses. ‘Something was seriously wrong.'

‘
Was
seriously wrong,' Six said. ‘Past tense. You just said it yourself, he's testing normal now.'

‘I'd like to do some more tests,' Holiday told him. ‘Central nervous system, higher brain function …'

In one single bound, Rex leapt up from the bed. He stood beside them, back straight, trying to look as fit and healthy as possible. ‘Tests?' he asked. ‘No tests. Tests done. I'm fine, look.'

He stepped back and quickly cycled through his transformations. The Punk Buster feet appeared, only to vanish again a moment later. With a twitch of his shoulders, he brought out the Boogie Pack.

‘Huh?' he grinned, turning left and right to show the jetpack off. ‘Looking good, right?'

There was another metallic
whirr
and the jetpack disappeared. Raising his arms, Rex produced his Smackhands. He gave Six and Holiday a mechanical
thumbs-up and flashed them a hopeful smile. ‘See? Good as new. No more tests needed. Especially not ones that involve sticking pins in my face.'

Six stared at him, impassively. Eventually, he turned to Dr Holiday. ‘What do you think?'

‘You know what I think,' she replied.

‘We'll keep an eye on him,' Six said. ‘First sign of malfunction and I pull him back in, but for now he's back on duty.'

‘All
right
!' Rex cheered, and then he jumped as the piercing scream of an alarm echoed around Providence HQ.

R
EX AND
A
GENT
S
IX
stood by the open back door of a Providence aircraft as it swooped low over a city.

‘San Jose, California,' Six said. ‘Tenth largest city in the United States. Population one million.'

Rex pointed. ‘One million and one, if you count that guy twice.'

Below them, a two-headed Evo was stomping along a deserted street, tearing through cars with its long, clawed fingers. Both heads looked up at the sound of the aircraft's engine.

‘Evasive action!' Six bellowed, as the Evo tore a street light from the concrete and hurled it like a javelin towards them. The boat-like aircraft banked sharply left and the metal pole soared harmlessly by.

But the sudden sideways movement sent Rex stumbling through the open door. ‘Great,' he muttered, as he plunged towards the ground. ‘Just great.'

The wind whistled around Rex, whipping at him
as he fell. Down below, the two-headed Evo bared twin sets of pointed teeth and let out a roar.

KA-BOOM!

A pair of enormous metal feet crunched down onto the street, shattering the concrete. Rex cracked his knuckles. ‘It's punkin' time!' he grinned, swinging his leg just as the Evo hurled itself at him.

The tip of his metal foot caught the Evo under one of its chins. The monster staggered backwards, growling. Its four eyes narrowed, its claws splayed wide and it lunged once again.

It was bigger than Rex – much bigger – but it could move fast when it wanted to. Rex barely had time to raise a mechanical knee before the Evo was on him. There was a
crunch
as the knee was driven into the Evo's stomach, and both heads hissed loudly.

But still the monster kept coming. Rex saw the deadly claws swishing towards his face. Raising his arms, he brought out his Smackhands. The Evo growled with frustration when it found its attack blocked.

Pushing the Evo back, Rex fired a powerful uppercut against one of its jaws. With a squelchy
rrrip
, the head flew off. It bounced twice on the road, then skidded to a stop.

Rex looked down at the head. The head looked back. ‘Um … Oops,' he said. He turned to the head that was still attached to the body and smiled apologetically. ‘We can probably just pack that in ice. I bet they can stitch it right back on.'

There was a sound like an enormous bubble popping, and another head emerged from within the Evo's shoulder. ‘Or, you know, you could do
that
,' Rex said with a shudder.