zfighter18 - Project ROWDY 2-26C
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"Meet the new and improved Rex Splode!"The hangar bay doors were already open, despite a little bit of a slow start, Rex’s arms wide open and waiting for his return party.
Nobody was in the hangar.
Cool.
That much made sense, at least, considering they were probably in the main hall. He’d just been a little bit too eager on that one. With a sigh, Rex dropped his arms and walked through anyway. Soles slapped the deck as the newly-outfitted hero took in the base, very familiar with the odd empty-church feeling he got from Guardians HQ more than half the time. Man, Old Man Stedman’s got a point. Cecil had many points, most of them Rex didn’t bother paying attention to, but the one that really clicked recently was related to his upgrade situation. We really need to expand the Guardians.
As it was, they might have been the ‘Guardians of the Globe’, but they weren’t looking all that global over the last year. At least the old Guardians had a hero from Amazonia, one from Russia, and another from freakin’ Atlantis making up half the team before. The new Guardians were pretty much All-American, except for Shapesmith. I don’t know much about Canada, but I don’t think they’re all as weird as he is.
By the time he got to the main area, he could tell people were in there — at least from the way the lights were on. The big screen was up in standby, GDA seal spinning slow, with one person sitting around the main console.Well, not a party, but I can party by myself. Both hands went sky-high, a ‘V’ formed above his head as Rex jumped onto the threshold. “...meet the new and improved Rex Splode!"
The echo went around for a good second, bouncing off console banks and stone walls of the mountain base. "...Rex?" Kate was the first to turn around in her seat, just the one of her (which was weird enough), one leg folded up under the other with a tablet in her hands. She lowered it, dark eyes scanning him from the boots up; a question clear in her eyes that wasn’t just his name.
"Sup." A lazy salute — two fingers off the dome — came without thinking as Rex stepped fully into the room, automatic doors hissing shut behind him. “Ya miss me?”“Honestly, ten days wasn’t enough.” Kate leaned back, a smirk on her face. “Can we get an extension?”“Ha-ha.” Rex rolled his eyes as he walked up towards her. “Just say you can’t handle the King’s style.”
“Speaking of style…” Rex blinked, almost pausing his stride for a half-second before he realized where the familiar smoky voice came from. "Nice threads." Shrinking Rae sat on the armrest of Kate’s chair, the size-changer currently no bigger than a coffee mug all around as her legs kicked slow.“Yeah, Art definitely hooked me up.” Rex smirked her way, rolling his shoulders a little to show off the new bulk as best he could. The padding on the suit didn’t really make it easy, though, mostly because the old tailor hadn’t realized how much bigger he’d get. Either way, he still felt incredible in and under the suit, so he wasn’t complaining. “Rex turned a little, striking a pose enough to make sure the light hit his back logo — the bright gold crown huge and striking. “How’s it look? Actually, don’t tell me. I already know.”
“Yeah, no, it’s nice. For real.” Rae didn’t move from where she was, but the shrinking hero did lean forward a little. “That’s a look. An actual look. That royal blue?”Rex wiped his nose with a thumb, a chuckle sliding free. “You know it.”“Wow.” Kate rolled her eyes, tablet raised again. “Royal blue. Because your name’s Rex. How original.”“I think it’s cool.”
"Thank you." Rex spread both arms wide to show off the new look as best he could. His bodysuit, boots and jacket were all royal blue with white paneling and gold accents to break it up. Even his new goggles were white with gold lens in them. "Thank you, Rae. At least someone in this place has eyes."“...you know I wear glasses, right?”
“Yeah, and?” Rex didn’t miss a beat, tongue clicking with the words. “Kate’s the one that needs them.”
“Uh-huh…” Kate looked at him for a while, one hand letting the tablet rest on the console. “So, what? You spend your entire medical leave designing merchandise?"
“So what if I did?” Rex narrowed his eyes her way, not willing to back down. He might have been out of it the whole ten days, but he already had this design waiting and ready in the back of his head since he’d first gone to Cecil months ago. “You got a problem with it?”
"You look like a lunchbox."
"You mean iconic."
“No, icon is definitely right.” Rae jumped off the chair, the other girl popping back to full size between blinks. “It’s brighter, for sure. Like way brighter.” Eyebrows rose behind her glasses as she kept her eyes on Rex, accent thick as ever. “You still gonna explode things or work part-time directing traffic?”Kate snorted, a laugh bursting free from her as Rex didn’t bother hiding his groan. “Oh, come on, Rae. I thought you were on my side.”
“I am.” Rae shrugged his way. “I’m just also sure that no one’s ever gonna have to worry about hitting you with their high beams off.”
"Yeah, and you know what I had before? The same orange I had since I was fifteen." Rex jabbed two fingers in the general direction of both women. "I had orange and yellow. Zandale had orange and yellow. I’m not spending the rest of my time on this team looking like Bulletproof’s flightless cousin.”
"...so you were an orange penguin?"
Rae snorted into her arm. “That sounds kind of cute actually.”“Anywaaaaaayyyy…” Rex groaned the word out. "Change is here, people. Get with the program and maybe get some better threads yourself."
Rae looked down at her own suit, a little bit of a frown on her face as she pinched the maroon fabric. “...I could use a little change.”
“Don’t let his ego suck you in with the whole ‘look at me thing’ he does.” Kate swung herself completely around, eyes half-lidded. “He’ll just keep crowing the more you feed into it, Rae.”“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” Rex flapped his hand back at her. “You’re too good for immature ‘boys’ now that you’re all cuddled up with Grandpa Immortal now.”“Don’t call him th-”“What?” He flashed Kate a grin. “How ‘bout ‘Ol’ Honest Abe?’ That work better?”“You d-!”"Okay, but seriously, Rex.” Rae jumped in between the two of them before Kate could somehow get any redder. “You’ve been gone almost two weeks and Cecil wouldn't tell us anything. What happened?”“He didn’t tell you guys?” Rex actually blinked at that. “Like at all?”“No.” Kate let out a sigh, her irritation already fading. “Even Robot wouldn’t share anything. Hejust kept saying medical privacy or whatever."“Confidentiality.” Rae adjusted her glasses.“Yeah, that.”
"Huh…” That’s weird. Rex stared between both women as he walked up to the console and dropped his butt into a seat. Was it that serious? "Well, they… uh, mostly upgraded my whole thing, body and tech. I've been asking for it since like — June? I think, like right after that first invasion?”
"Wait. Your powers aren’t…" Rae’s head tilted, the girl blinking like an owl. “Wait, those are implants?”
“…Yeah?” Rex stared back at her. “What the fuck did you think they were?”“I just thought they were, y’know, yours.”
“I mean, they’re mine.” His hands went to his goggles, raising the new eyewear up to his forehead. “Just… y’know, from tech. Either way, all the stuff in me was shoved up in me way back when I was twelve, and twelve-year-old me was, y'know. Twelve."“Oh…” The shrinker stared back at him, mouth open in that little ‘o’ for a moment before she offered up another question. “And who… who ‘shoved it up in you’? At… at twelve?”
Rex blinked up at Rae, something weird about the way she said that. “I…” He looked over to Kate, the other girl leaning in a little too. I guess I only told Rudy and Eve, huh? He and Kate were cool on Teen Team, but they weren’t exactly close…Well, they weren’t close till right up around the end and even then, that was a whole different kind of close. Should not have done that. Rae, on the other hand…Like most of the Guardians, they were friendly, sure, but personal? Might as well, right?
"Just Cecil's old boss."
"Cecil has a boss?"
"Had. Had a boss." He picked at a piece of gold lining on his arm, eyes down and off his two teammates. "Last name was Radcliffe. First name, no fuckin’ idea. I think he retired or something and then decided he was bored without doing spy stuff so started running secret shadow black ops stuff out of his basement.” Rex pushed out a sigh before he finally raised his head up again. “Sicko bought me off my parents before I hit double digits and spent three years turning me into—”Rex waved a hand down at his whole body. “Well, this, and then about three more pointing me at people.”
Kate blinked at him. “What do you mean pointing you at people?”“You know your brother, right?” Rex stared back at her, blinking slow. “Imagine him but with more collateral.”Her face changed, eyebrows pulled together and lips apart. “Please tell me you’re joking right now.” Despite her open mouth, it was Rae who got the grand honor of speaking first. “You killed people.”Rex let his head rock from side to side. “Guys, don’t make a big deal out of this.”“Rex…” Kate shook her head. “You just told us you were an assassin before… before…”“Before my balls dropped, yeah.”“I think Kate was gonna say before high school or before being a hero, but…” Rae sucked her teeth. “I guess that works too.”“Yeah, well, I guess, when you say it like that, it sounds fuckin’ nuts.”
Rae’s eyebrows climbed high over her glasses. “Is there a way where it doesn't?”
“I…” Kate sat back a little, hands gripping the console tight. “I can’t believe you never told me this, Rex.”“Well…” Rex flicked his eyes toward her and then back again, fighting the urge to sigh. “I mean, you never asked, you know. We weren’t exactly big on the whole deep-talks-about-feelings thing.”“We were on Teen Team for like three years!”“Exactly.” Rex tried to shrug past Kate’s words, unsure why she was making such a big deal about all this, especially considering her twin was still up to the whole assassin thing. “You should know I don’t do that whole therapy bullshit.”Kate opened her mouth, ready to argue the point from the look on her face. Halfway through, it was like she changed her mind, a sigh leaving her as she went with something else. “What… what happened to him?”
Multi-Paul? How would I… Rex blinked a quick second later as he remembered who they were talking about. “Ohhhh… Cecil’s boss.” He nodded slow. "Killed him."
"...Oh."
Rae tilted her head to the side. "I’m guessing you’re not joking with this one either, huh?"
"Nope." He shrugged, both shoulders, which was a way of putting a period on it. "It was an accident, though. But the whole shadow ops building that made me was not.”
"...Huh."
Two sets of eyes looked at each other past his head, Rex not all that interested in asking what all that was about. Instead, he stretched back in his seat, arms out and wide with a yawn. “So, uh, where is everybody? Base is dead. Base is always dead but it's like, dead dead."
"Space."
"...Repeat that for me?"
"They're in space." Kate repeated it without even blinking. “Mark, Eve, the rest of them, and the little boys too. Martian ship on its way so they went to stop it."
"Martians.” Rex’s face had all the questions in the world written on it. “Again."
"Different Martians. Our Martians.” Rae chimed in. “Shapesmith's up there with them, apparently he’s been a Martian the whole time.”
“Yes!” Rex snapped his fingers.Both girls looked at him again. “Wha-”"Yes! I knew that dude was an alien! Called it day one even!” A laugh slipped free as he pumped a fist. “Zandale owes me a thousand bucks. He said the guy was just European."
A pair of dark eyes blinked at him. "Somethings wrong with you, you know that?"
"I do?" Rex tilted his head Kate’s way. “But like, you gotta be specific.”
"There's an alien invasion coming and your reaction is a thousand dollars."
"Kate, I appreciate the value of a dollar." He put his feet up on the console. "Invasions come and go but money's money."
Rae was half-bent over at his side in a moment, the shrinking girl laughing her ass off like she’d never heard anything funnier. Kate just huffed and went back to her tablet.
Before Rex could say anything else, the console screen in front of them blinked on — GDA screensaver nowhere to be seen and replaced with their scarred superior, Cecil’s face twenty feet tall and looking mad as hell.As Rae straightened up quick, Rex felt his stomach drop for reasons that had nothing to do with his recovery. “Cecil, please tell me this is just a courtesy call to congratulate me on getting out of surgery.”The big man stayed silent and Rex let his head drop all the way back against the chair. "I just ordered pizza, man!"
Rex Splode
(Cybernetic Demolitions Expert)
"Meet the new and improved Rex Splode!"The hangar bay doors were already open, despite a little bit of a slow start, Rex’s arms wide open and waiting for his return party.
Nobody was in the hangar.
Cool.
That much made sense, at least, considering they were probably in the main hall. He’d just been a little bit too eager on that one. With a sigh, Rex dropped his arms and walked through anyway. Soles slapped the deck as the newly-outfitted hero took in the base, very familiar with the odd empty-church feeling he got from Guardians HQ more than half the time. Man, Old Man Stedman’s got a point. Cecil had many points, most of them Rex didn’t bother paying attention to, but the one that really clicked recently was related to his upgrade situation. We really need to expand the Guardians.
As it was, they might have been the ‘Guardians of the Globe’, but they weren’t looking all that global over the last year. At least the old Guardians had a hero from Amazonia, one from Russia, and another from freakin’ Atlantis making up half the team before. The new Guardians were pretty much All-American, except for Shapesmith. I don’t know much about Canada, but I don’t think they’re all as weird as he is.
By the time he got to the main area, he could tell people were in there — at least from the way the lights were on. The big screen was up in standby, GDA seal spinning slow, with one person sitting around the main console.Well, not a party, but I can party by myself. Both hands went sky-high, a ‘V’ formed above his head as Rex jumped onto the threshold. “...meet the new and improved Rex Splode!"
The echo went around for a good second, bouncing off console banks and stone walls of the mountain base. "...Rex?" Kate was the first to turn around in her seat, just the one of her (which was weird enough), one leg folded up under the other with a tablet in her hands. She lowered it, dark eyes scanning him from the boots up; a question clear in her eyes that wasn’t just his name.
"Sup." A lazy salute — two fingers off the dome — came without thinking as Rex stepped fully into the room, automatic doors hissing shut behind him. “Ya miss me?”“Honestly, ten days wasn’t enough.” Kate leaned back, a smirk on her face. “Can we get an extension?”“Ha-ha.” Rex rolled his eyes as he walked up towards her. “Just say you can’t handle the King’s style.”
“Speaking of style…” Rex blinked, almost pausing his stride for a half-second before he realized where the familiar smoky voice came from. "Nice threads." Shrinking Rae sat on the armrest of Kate’s chair, the size-changer currently no bigger than a coffee mug all around as her legs kicked slow.“Yeah, Art definitely hooked me up.” Rex smirked her way, rolling his shoulders a little to show off the new bulk as best he could. The padding on the suit didn’t really make it easy, though, mostly because the old tailor hadn’t realized how much bigger he’d get. Either way, he still felt incredible in and under the suit, so he wasn’t complaining. “Rex turned a little, striking a pose enough to make sure the light hit his back logo — the bright gold crown huge and striking. “How’s it look? Actually, don’t tell me. I already know.”
“Yeah, no, it’s nice. For real.” Rae didn’t move from where she was, but the shrinking hero did lean forward a little. “That’s a look. An actual look. That royal blue?”Rex wiped his nose with a thumb, a chuckle sliding free. “You know it.”“Wow.” Kate rolled her eyes, tablet raised again. “Royal blue. Because your name’s Rex. How original.”“I think it’s cool.”
"Thank you." Rex spread both arms wide to show off the new look as best he could. His bodysuit, boots and jacket were all royal blue with white paneling and gold accents to break it up. Even his new goggles were white with gold lens in them. "Thank you, Rae. At least someone in this place has eyes."“...you know I wear glasses, right?”
“Yeah, and?” Rex didn’t miss a beat, tongue clicking with the words. “Kate’s the one that needs them.”
“Uh-huh…” Kate looked at him for a while, one hand letting the tablet rest on the console. “So, what? You spend your entire medical leave designing merchandise?"
“So what if I did?” Rex narrowed his eyes her way, not willing to back down. He might have been out of it the whole ten days, but he already had this design waiting and ready in the back of his head since he’d first gone to Cecil months ago. “You got a problem with it?”
"You look like a lunchbox."
"You mean iconic."
“No, icon is definitely right.” Rae jumped off the chair, the other girl popping back to full size between blinks. “It’s brighter, for sure. Like way brighter.” Eyebrows rose behind her glasses as she kept her eyes on Rex, accent thick as ever. “You still gonna explode things or work part-time directing traffic?”Kate snorted, a laugh bursting free from her as Rex didn’t bother hiding his groan. “Oh, come on, Rae. I thought you were on my side.”
“I am.” Rae shrugged his way. “I’m just also sure that no one’s ever gonna have to worry about hitting you with their high beams off.”
"Yeah, and you know what I had before? The same orange I had since I was fifteen." Rex jabbed two fingers in the general direction of both women. "I had orange and yellow. Zandale had orange and yellow. I’m not spending the rest of my time on this team looking like Bulletproof’s flightless cousin.”
"...so you were an orange penguin?"
Rae snorted into her arm. “That sounds kind of cute actually.”“Anywaaaaaayyyy…” Rex groaned the word out. "Change is here, people. Get with the program and maybe get some better threads yourself."
Rae looked down at her own suit, a little bit of a frown on her face as she pinched the maroon fabric. “...I could use a little change.”
“Don’t let his ego suck you in with the whole ‘look at me thing’ he does.” Kate swung herself completely around, eyes half-lidded. “He’ll just keep crowing the more you feed into it, Rae.”“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” Rex flapped his hand back at her. “You’re too good for immature ‘boys’ now that you’re all cuddled up with Grandpa Immortal now.”“Don’t call him th-”“What?” He flashed Kate a grin. “How ‘bout ‘Ol’ Honest Abe?’ That work better?”“You d-!”"Okay, but seriously, Rex.” Rae jumped in between the two of them before Kate could somehow get any redder. “You’ve been gone almost two weeks and Cecil wouldn't tell us anything. What happened?”“He didn’t tell you guys?” Rex actually blinked at that. “Like at all?”“No.” Kate let out a sigh, her irritation already fading. “Even Robot wouldn’t share anything. Hejust kept saying medical privacy or whatever."“Confidentiality.” Rae adjusted her glasses.“Yeah, that.”
"Huh…” That’s weird. Rex stared between both women as he walked up to the console and dropped his butt into a seat. Was it that serious? "Well, they… uh, mostly upgraded my whole thing, body and tech. I've been asking for it since like — June? I think, like right after that first invasion?”
"Wait. Your powers aren’t…" Rae’s head tilted, the girl blinking like an owl. “Wait, those are implants?”
“…Yeah?” Rex stared back at her. “What the fuck did you think they were?”“I just thought they were, y’know, yours.”
“I mean, they’re mine.” His hands went to his goggles, raising the new eyewear up to his forehead. “Just… y’know, from tech. Either way, all the stuff in me was shoved up in me way back when I was twelve, and twelve-year-old me was, y'know. Twelve."“Oh…” The shrinker stared back at him, mouth open in that little ‘o’ for a moment before she offered up another question. “And who… who ‘shoved it up in you’? At… at twelve?”
Rex blinked up at Rae, something weird about the way she said that. “I…” He looked over to Kate, the other girl leaning in a little too. I guess I only told Rudy and Eve, huh? He and Kate were cool on Teen Team, but they weren’t exactly close…Well, they weren’t close till right up around the end and even then, that was a whole different kind of close. Should not have done that. Rae, on the other hand…Like most of the Guardians, they were friendly, sure, but personal? Might as well, right?
"Just Cecil's old boss."
"Cecil has a boss?"
"Had. Had a boss." He picked at a piece of gold lining on his arm, eyes down and off his two teammates. "Last name was Radcliffe. First name, no fuckin’ idea. I think he retired or something and then decided he was bored without doing spy stuff so started running secret shadow black ops stuff out of his basement.” Rex pushed out a sigh before he finally raised his head up again. “Sicko bought me off my parents before I hit double digits and spent three years turning me into—”Rex waved a hand down at his whole body. “Well, this, and then about three more pointing me at people.”
Kate blinked at him. “What do you mean pointing you at people?”“You know your brother, right?” Rex stared back at her, blinking slow. “Imagine him but with more collateral.”Her face changed, eyebrows pulled together and lips apart. “Please tell me you’re joking right now.” Despite her open mouth, it was Rae who got the grand honor of speaking first. “You killed people.”Rex let his head rock from side to side. “Guys, don’t make a big deal out of this.”“Rex…” Kate shook her head. “You just told us you were an assassin before… before…”“Before my balls dropped, yeah.”“I think Kate was gonna say before high school or before being a hero, but…” Rae sucked her teeth. “I guess that works too.”“Yeah, well, I guess, when you say it like that, it sounds fuckin’ nuts.”
Rae’s eyebrows climbed high over her glasses. “Is there a way where it doesn't?”
“I…” Kate sat back a little, hands gripping the console tight. “I can’t believe you never told me this, Rex.”“Well…” Rex flicked his eyes toward her and then back again, fighting the urge to sigh. “I mean, you never asked, you know. We weren’t exactly big on the whole deep-talks-about-feelings thing.”“We were on Teen Team for like three years!”“Exactly.” Rex tried to shrug past Kate’s words, unsure why she was making such a big deal about all this, especially considering her twin was still up to the whole assassin thing. “You should know I don’t do that whole therapy bullshit.”Kate opened her mouth, ready to argue the point from the look on her face. Halfway through, it was like she changed her mind, a sigh leaving her as she went with something else. “What… what happened to him?”
Multi-Paul? How would I… Rex blinked a quick second later as he remembered who they were talking about. “Ohhhh… Cecil’s boss.” He nodded slow. "Killed him."
"...Oh."
Rae tilted her head to the side. "I’m guessing you’re not joking with this one either, huh?"
"Nope." He shrugged, both shoulders, which was a way of putting a period on it. "It was an accident, though. But the whole shadow ops building that made me was not.”
"...Huh."
Two sets of eyes looked at each other past his head, Rex not all that interested in asking what all that was about. Instead, he stretched back in his seat, arms out and wide with a yawn. “So, uh, where is everybody? Base is dead. Base is always dead but it's like, dead dead."
"Space."
"...Repeat that for me?"
"They're in space." Kate repeated it without even blinking. “Mark, Eve, the rest of them, and the little boys too. Martian ship on its way so they went to stop it."
"Martians.” Rex’s face had all the questions in the world written on it. “Again."
"Different Martians. Our Martians.” Rae chimed in. “Shapesmith's up there with them, apparently he’s been a Martian the whole time.”
“Yes!” Rex snapped his fingers.Both girls looked at him again. “Wha-”"Yes! I knew that dude was an alien! Called it day one even!” A laugh slipped free as he pumped a fist. “Zandale owes me a thousand bucks. He said the guy was just European."
A pair of dark eyes blinked at him. "Somethings wrong with you, you know that?"
"I do?" Rex tilted his head Kate’s way. “But like, you gotta be specific.”
"There's an alien invasion coming and your reaction is a thousand dollars."
"Kate, I appreciate the value of a dollar." He put his feet up on the console. "Invasions come and go but money's money."
Rae was half-bent over at his side in a moment, the shrinking girl laughing her ass off like she’d never heard anything funnier. Kate just huffed and went back to her tablet.
Before Rex could say anything else, the console screen in front of them blinked on — GDA screensaver nowhere to be seen and replaced with their scarred superior, Cecil’s face twenty feet tall and looking mad as hell.As Rae straightened up quick, Rex felt his stomach drop for reasons that had nothing to do with his recovery. “Cecil, please tell me this is just a courtesy call to congratulate me on getting out of surgery.”The big man stayed silent and Rex let his head drop all the way back against the chair. "I just ordered pizza, man!"
Rex Splode
(Cybernetic Demolitions Expert)
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