Rex

Hammer Fist and Tawny Owl's night vision lenses give off a faint blue glow in the dark warehouse.

Seeing the henchmen looking around and distracted by what is before them, Hammer Fist exclaims impolitely "What? Can't see in the dark?" and together with Tawny Owl, they take the opportunity to fight off those around them. Snap!! crack!! the sounds of bones breaking and skulls being bashed accompanied by loud wails can be heard.

Loud whooshing sounds fill the room accompanied by streams of bullets as they travel towards Rex. Noticing the torrent coming towards him, he moves swiftly and kicks a shooters feet of the ground and stomps him as his back touches the ground causing him to pass out. Those around the shooter become terrified at his reaction speed and agility they momentarily stop shooting. Seeing them so, he attacks one with a double push kick to the chest which sends him flying through the hole he created in the wall and crashing into a parked car.

Hammer Fist jumps and strikes one henchman on the head with his elbow thus disorienting him and finishes him with a double round house kick to the side of the head. Another is about to raise a gun at him but he quickly disarms him and smashes him in the tummy with the gun then stomps him in the back with an axe kick as he bends forward, bringing Tawny Owl who is running towards a henchman into view. Tawny Owl shoots the henchman in the shoulder and knocks him out with a blow to the head as the bloodied bullet whizzes past Rex who moves and choke slams the leader of the group to the ground and injects a tracker into him as he passes out, sending the room into dead silence as the henchmen's bodies lay on the floor. Alex scans the room and the data is displayed in Rex's helmet.

[Dead: 9

Critical Condition: 8

Unconcious: 8]

He turns to the two but could only manage a "Hey…" when Tawny Owl blasts him into a wall with a grenade launcher. "Argh f**k" he exclaims as he hits the wall.

Her action surprises Hammer Fist who exclaims in protest "What is wrong with you, he just saved us"

"Or could be after us" she says and shoots a grappling line up before immediately grappling up and asks the dazed Hammer Fist while going up "You coming or not"

He grapples up as well without a word. Rex let's out a sigh and hits his chest a few times to stop the sparking which is going on due to his damaged armor and jumps through the skylight, landing about 3 meters from Tawny Owl who is on the next roof.

"You might want to look down" she says with a light chuckle.

"What…" he says as his eyes drifts towards the ground below and comes to a halt, locked onto a grenade which explodes, causing the part of the roof he is standing to cave in and he comes crashing down with a loud thud.

"Aargh, this one's annoying!" he exclaims. Rex pulls himself out of the debris on top of him and stands. Police sirens wails become louder and louder as the cops speed towards the warehouse due to the commotion caused. He jumps through the caved roof and lands on the next. "Alex, access all nearby camera feeds. I want to know where those two came from." He stands there for a while staring at the police cars surrounding the building as Alex is accessing the feed.

"Sir they descended from the 8th floor of an apartment 7 blocks from here"

"Good. Let's pay them a visit". A cop catches his silhouette as he disappears into the cold dark night.

MELANIE'S APARTMENT

9:00 PM

Tawny Owl and Hammer Fist grapple into the room and close the window. They both stare at each other without a word and turn to walk into the living room when a voice suddenly rings from the comer of the room thus startling them.

"It's about time you showed up" the voice says. They both turn with a gasp as Rex walks out of the corner and throws two small discs towards them simultaneously and as soon as it gets attached to them, three thin cables shoot out from each edge of the discs and locks behind them, tying their upper bodies and they come crashing to the cold floor with a thud.

Rex walks up to them and says in a cool yet stern manner "What you two did out there today was reckless, and could have gotten you wounded or worse"

"We totally had everything under control" Tawny Owl snaps

"Yeah, you sure did, and I'm pretty sure getting cornered was a part of that plan. Great plan honestly."

Tawny Owl grunts

"Look, the fact that you are in the military doesn't mean you can take on a gang all by yourself"

"How do you even know that?" she asks.

He squats by her and answers "Your style of fighting is only taught in the military, and not just to anybody, but covert team members only. The S Guild is it?"

"How could you possibly know all that?"

"I make it my problem to... And you" he says turning to Hammer Fist 'Looking at him, he probably doesn't know some people died in there. It may be normal to her but not him. I don't think he can handle that truth yet. He probably thinks they passed out. Mentioning it maybe a bad idea' he contemplates before saying "A novice. Clearly you have not done this kind of thing before. You escaped out of luck today, but that may not be the case next time."

"How'd you find us?" Owl demands. He sighs, stands and walks to the window, ignoring her as he pushes it open letting in a gust of air. "The name's Rex, be sure to remember it, and next time you want to pull off something this risky, get a team. Also next time, mind the cameras around you" he says and jumps out.

[Trackers injected] is displayed in his helmet.

WELLS MANOR

9:30 PM

Rex enters the lab with his busted armor. The chest plate falls off as he walks towards the last pod and taking off the armor he hangs it on the mannequin.

"I asked for one great day and got blasted into a wall, and now my armor is all busted" Zarx exclaims unhappily

"Sir, might i suggest a little jazz to calm you?" Alex says

"Let's hear it". A cool modern song begins to fill the room.

"Thanks Alex" The pod door closes as he steps away from it and grabs an apple juice from the fridge.

"How's that armor coming along?" Zarx asks.

"It's 70% complete sir"

"Okay, walk me through all that happened at that warehouse today".

He walks to a table and put his hand on it. The screen hums twice and lights up and a recording pops up and begins to play. He watches it closely for a moment and suddenly widen his eyes and says "Pause, zoom in on the tattoo on the neck of that guy in the red band"

Alex zooms it. He takes his phone out of his pocket and puts it on a corner of the screen and the screen splits in two. Part projecting his phone's contents and the other the video. He pulls up an image and compares it. They are same.

"What are these guys brewing? I can smell something really nasty coming towards this city." he says in a whisper. "Run facial recognition on all the thugs"

Alex scans as he continues to watch the video.

"Sir nothing on them except their leader" his profile is pulled up onto the screen as Alex continues "He has been arrested on several occasions for drug trafficking, illegal sale of ammunition and money laundering but is always released few hours after his arrest"

"Means he has men on the inside, yes?"

"Your intuition is correct but not just men. They appear to be higher ups" "Interesting. Alright back to those two. Who is the owner of the apartment they were in?"

A list of apartments and their owners is displayed. One is highlighted and selected. Information of the owner is displayed.

"The owner is Melanie Kemper"

"Melanie?" he exclaims as the image is displayed. "I didn't see that coming" he adds.

"And the guy?"

"Nothing on him yet"

"Do we have access to the apartments security feeds?"

"A moment… …We do now sir"

"Alright, let's compare the security feed to the warehouse videos. Compare the person's height and structure to that of all males in the apartment block"

"That might take some time"

"Time we don't have. Okay, let's do this. Since they are a team, it means they are going to pay each other visits right?"

"Affirmative"

"Good, so let's restrict the comparisms to all her visitors, specifically those who visited within the last 72 hours. And we have…?"

An image is displayed on the screen.

"Tewksbury Ace, nice to meet ya" he says with a smile. Zarx yawns. "I'm so tired" he says as he picks his phone and shuts down the computer. "Let's play again tomorrow. I've got school" "I would continue the search on the thugs". "Okay, do that and we will pick up tomorrow from when I left off" he says and walks out, still yawing.

HILLTOP HIGH

FRI. OCTOBER 11

9:35 AM

CAFETERIA

Zarx is sitting at a table in the corner of the cafeteria all by himself.

"Sir the two you planted the trackers on are on the move. They are moving towards the cafeteria" Alex says.

"Wait, you are saying they are both students here?" Zarx questions.

"Affirmative"

"They really have perfect timing, don't they?"

***

Ace and Melanie are walking towards the cafeteria. "Hey wanna to talk about yesterday? You didn't say a word last night after Rex or whatever he was left" Ace asks

"No" she replies.

"I mean whoever he was, he actually saved us and we didn't even say thank you. Besides it appears he's been doing this for a while now. He is good"

"Yeah, I figured"

"He might not be happy to see us again though, considering you blasted him into a wall"

"Well, neither would I because the next time we meet, I'm going to punch him in the face for leaving me all bound up on the cold floor. I almost caught a cold because of that"

"You seriously want to pick a fight with him?"

"If I meet him again yes, but I got to admit, whoever he is, he's smart"

"I'm with you on that one". They stand in the door way and stare into the large cafeteria.

"Wait, isn't that Zarx" Ace says pointing towards him.

"Yeah I think. Didn't know he transferred here" she says staring him in the eyes as they walk over to his table.

"Hey there Zarx" Melanie says

"Hey, you are Melanie right?"

"Yeah"

"This is a surprise. I didn't expect to see you here"

"Me neither. By the way this is Ace"

"Hi" Ace says.

"Hi, nice to meet you Ace" Zarx says as they fist bump.

"So, how long have you been here" Ace asks.

"I think it's…" The bell rings.

"Come on we just got here" Ace exclaims. Zarx and Melanie laugh.

"I guess we should get moving" Zarx says. They all stand and begin walking towards the door.

"So, what do you have after the break" Melanie asks.

"I've got physics, what about you"

"We both have history" she replies.

"I guess we would meet after classes then" Zarx says.

"Yeah sure" she replies. They go to their various classes turning to watch each other occasionally.

S.S. HQ

10:10 AM

Mr. Kemper enters general Lee's office. "Mr. Kemper, heard you wanted to see me"

"Yes sir"

"Got something for me?"

"Actually, I do sir."

"Have a sit"

"That wouldn't be necessary"

"Okay, so what have you got for me?"

"Sir it appears the person(s) involved in this is(are) in higher positions and are using every resource available to mask their trail. But not for long. I found this earlier today during one of our raids" he says dropping a flash drive on the table.

"Could contain information about their operation as well as those involved"

"Great work soldier. You got any plans for the moment"

"Not exactly sir"

"Good, wet just got an intel that some of Ghost's men are assembling in an abandoned house 25 blocks from here. Since it's not a major activity, I would like you to come with me to check it out"

"That's not a problem general"

"Ok then, shall we get going?"

"Sure". They leave the office. Something is off about him' Mr. Kemper thinks to himself.