Theme 024 - Pie (about 1080 words)

Pies were the best. Rex loved pies. He did not remember what he liked or disliked. What things he tried and had never had. Everything was new to him. and better than providence food. he remembered the first time he tried pie. In this new life anyway. Six had thought that the young boy was crazy. Pie was good, yeah, but not pie was just pie. A simple desert. Nothing more. Definitely not the life changing wonder that Rex seemed to see it as.

 Six had taken the boy out to eat as a rare treat. The restaurant they went to had a display case and inside it was some pie. And it was their special of the day. The ten year old Rex looked at the display case in amazement. The waitress giggled and smiled down at Rex then looked up at Six and comment on hoe cute his son was. Six responded with nothing more than a grunt as they were seated and handed the menus. Rex wanted the pies but Six denied him. He told him that he had to eat something else, something healthy, first before he got sweets. If he ate his lunch then they would get a slice of pie to go. He knew that. Rex pouted but did not put up a fight. He ordered a sandwich , chips and a soda. Six glared at the chips and soda but allowed the boy to have them. When the food arrived Rex ate his food faster than he should have and earned a lecture from Six about eating slower.

 But he allowed him to have a slice of pie. They ordered a to go box slice of blueberry pie of their way out of the dinner. Six soon regretted the decision. The boy made a huge mess in the jump ship transport on the way home. He got it all over his face, on his shirt and some of it even dripped to the floor. Six was thankful that the floor was easy to clean up. But that shirt was probably ruined. Stained form the blueberries.  Six shook his head at least the boy was happy. He deserved to be happy sometime.

They got home and Six cleaned up the mess on the floor then sent Rex to his room to clean himself up. Following along for help if needed. Which Six knew for a fact would be needed. He washed the boy's face off and tossed the stained shirt into a hamper. A shame. It was fairly new. They would have to put in a request for a new one to replace it in his wardrobe. Six pulled open a drawer and pulled out a clean shirt from the ten years old's wardrobe. He tossed the shirt to the boy for him to pull on himself. The boy tugged it over his head and got tangled up. Six chuckled and helped the boy out and untangled him from the fabric then pulled it on correctly. Once the boy was all cleaned up and ready Six and Rex headed out to afternoon training.

All during afternoon training the boy listed off all the types of pies he could think off asking if it was a real pie. Six humored the boy and answered the many questions. Nodding and saying yes if it was real or shaking his head with a smirk and telling him to invent it himself someday if he was unsure if it was real or if it wasn't really a type of pie. There are many types of pie. Six told Rex. and Rex as astounded as he listed off all the pies. and all the yeses he got. There was more than he could ever imagine! Wow! He continued to list stuff off and Six was starting to get annoyed. He was about to call a quiet training session for the rest of the afternoon. He was done verbally answering the questions and now was just nodding his head or shaking his head to answer the boy's many questions. He wanted to yell. But then he'd get a stern talking to from Holiday. She said yelling was not good for the kid. Six tried not to be as stern with the kid and not to yell as much. He was getting better. He was improving and Rex's behavior was improving too.

What wasn't improving was Rex's amount of questions. Six had just about enough of it. He didn't think he was good with kids but he was getting better and he was pretty good with Rex. Better than when he first met the kid and was given the responsibility of training the kid and unknown to him also being parent of him. He was trying to humor the kid but he was at his limits. He finally snapped as he blocked on of Rex's kicks. "Okay rest of this session will be a quiet one" he ordered. The boy instantly went quiet and nodded. He bowed slightly "Yes Sir" he whispered and that was the last words he said before he continued his training silently.

Six was curious about this. Usually it took a long time and lots of yelling to get Rex to be quiet. Perhaps he was hopping to get more pie after diner and was behaving so he could get desert. Six wouldn't give the boy anymore today he was to hyper from the sweets he already had and made a mess earlier. Six did not want to clean the boy up again. Even though he'd probably need a bath before bed. He did not want to clean him and the area near him up then bathe him to. One bath was enough for one day. Rex didn't have enough clothing in his wardrobe to mess up another shirt and get changed three or four times. But he knew barging and promises worked well to get Rex to behave so maybe he would promise him some pie at the end of the week if he was good the rest of this week. It might work and he wouldn't have to worry about any bad behavior from the kid this week. Well he would still worry but maybe he would not have to actually deal with any bad behavior or major bad things at least. He would never expect that the kid behave perfectly. It wasn't possible he was just a kid after all. A kid obsessed with pie.

Theme 023 - Ninja (about 1020 words)

A ninja was a stealthy and deadly person that used their skills to kill. They were warriors. They trained long and hard to hone their skills and to master their profession. It took years. One must start training at a very young age. Be very determined. Have an amazing master. It was hard work. The weren't always without morals either. The morals they had were ones that they would fallow always and bring to the grave. They would fight for what they believe in. The morals would be passed on from master to pupil. Don't kills certain people, politeness, stealth, hide your identity. Things such as that.

Six. He was a ninja. A well trained and respected one. Well in the eyes of Rex anyway. Six was highly skilled, deadly and sneaky. Things ninjas have. He was a ninja but he didn't consider himself as such. A master assassin yes, ninja no. He did not mind being called a ninja. He kinda was. He would be lying if he said that he did not enjoy showing off his skills. It was enjoyable. But that was not how he was raised. He was taught not to show off.

It not only showed off your skills, your strengths and weakness but it was also rude and dishonorable. His master, One, was a respectable old man that may have taught him to kill but he also taught him manners, the importance to keeping to yourself and waiting things out, not being rude, the codes of a warrior. His master was a good man and Six wouldn't want to show him disgrace and dishonor by doing something as rude as showing off. He still showed off from time to time, he just told himself it was not showing off. He was just doing what he did. He was just putting his skills to work.

He was deadly. He trained hard and long since he was a child. He was silent and swift. He could do things others could not. He not the sixth deadliest for nothing. He was fast and could do amazing acrobatic skills. Just like a ninja. He was indeed a ninja. He was deadly and quite. Fast and deadly. Efficiency. That is what it was. Efficient. Ninjas got got the job done and that is what he got done.

Rex envied him. He wanted to be like him some day. He may goof off during training sometimes but he tried his hardest to be a ninja too someday. Six would just roll his eyes and shake his head at the boy's excitement. He always followed it by telling the ten year old to pay more attention to things and to stop goofing off. Rex would listen for a few minutes but then he would go back to messing around. Just goofing off. Six was annoyed but understood. (after a talking to from Holiday about how he treated and trained Rex. About how hard he was on the boy.) the boy was very young still. Just a child. Children goof off. Six didn't but his childhood wasn't like others. His life was dark , hard and brutal. Rex had a happy life , for the most part, he also could not remember most of it. Six could concentrate and train more than Rex could because of this.

Rex had the great potential to be a ninja someday, but not anytime soon. The kid had a lot to learn. But he would be a great ninja one day. Until then he'd have to work hard and continue to look up to Six.

Six was a great ninja. He was cold and harsh. But not cold heartened and with out morals as some thought of him. As the impression he gave off would lead one to think. He could not and would not ever kill a child. He couldn't do something he had learned as dishonorable. He had his limits. As few of them as there were. He was getting better though. Thanks to Holiday and Rex. His family.

Ninjas usually did not have a family. Up until a year ago he didn't really have a family. The five other members of The Six were kinda like family to him but he had no really feelings or ties to them other than One. One was his master. He was the man who took him in when he had nothing. Taught and trained him to be the ninja he is today. One was like a father to Six.

The green clad ninja was a complicated man. There was a lot to him than cold hard heartlessness and killing. The ninja had his ways for a reason. He had been though a lot. He had a hard life. But a lot of 'ninjas' were the ones that had hard lives. It was part of being a ninja it would seem. The hard life has a of making one cold to the world around them. Being cold to the world around you makes it easier to kill when told to. Or at least that was the idea. Life was not that simple. Most of the time it was not that easy. It hurt to have such a hard life and made it easier to be willing to kill at first but then all the killing is what make all of one's feeling melt away and make them heartless. Make them cold.

He was a ninja that was true , rather he choose to acknowledge the fact or not. He truly was one. He had the skills, the hard heart , the cold shell, the harsh life. When one thought of a ninja he was the type of person one would think of. Just not dressed in all of green. Probably.

The young little ten year old boy Rex certainly thought of Six when he heard or thought of the word ninja. He thought of the man he thought of as a father. The man he looked up to. The one that trained him , that he wanted to be like someday. The ninja he wanted to be.

Theme 022 - Lies (about 1,004 words)

Lying was part of the job for providence. Everyone lied. Different ways and reasons. Because they had to and or were told to lie to someone about something. They had to. Providence lied to their own agents. They lied about all kinds things. They lied to Rex a lot. They said they needed to. Holiday and Six felt bad about it. Holiday when she had to but she was kept out of the loop most of the time. Six felt bad but he knew it had to be done. At least that was what he told himself. 

There were so many lies. They only told lies. No truth. Lies. There were many lies told and many lies to be told. They told plenty of lies. Providence lied all the time. The told lies to Rex all the time. They lied about all kinds of things. They lied to him about his best friend Noah. They lied about how he came to be at providence. They lied about the promises that were made on that day. Six lied. He lied about all of those things. He had to. He was told to and also felt it was right. He did not like it but it was what had to be done. He Even lied not to long after he first found the kid. Lying about what caused that destruction. 

Rex found out the smaller lies. This resulted in anger from the boy. He would always get over it quickly enough but it was the bigger lies that made his powers short out and make him stay angry longer. Like when he truth about Noah reached him. It almost cost Noah, the others and Beverly their lives. His powers would not work so he could not stop the EVO. It wasn't until after Holiday talked to him that he calmed down enough for his powers to work and stay working. Noah was actually a spy hired by providence to keep an eye on Rex. The two actually became best friends. Once Rex realized that his anger at Noah went away and he saved everyone. He let his anger out on White Knight instead.

He still did not know about what happened when he first came to providence. How he was almost killed and Six saved him. How White Knight wanted him dead. The promise to have Six kill Rex if he ever turned again. Turned into that thing again. Turned as in betrayed. Turned against them. Against providence. It didn't matter if he turned providence would see to it that he was taken care of. Six would kill him. Rex knew nothing about those things. He didn't even know enough to think to ask. It did not matter he they would lie to him if he asked about it anyway.

Rex lied himself although no one ever believed him. They all knew that he was lying. Six always knew when he was being lied to. Always. It was just because of all the lies he told. He lied enough himself and was also trained to detect lies. Rex also did not lie well so it was easy to tell when the boy was lying to him. Rex would sneak out and lying about it. Saying he was there the whole time. or he would sneak out and lying about where he went and why. Six knew the boy was cooped up and hated being in his tiny room. He also knew that the boy should not be out and about with out permission. He should not be sneaking out. The boy needed to be punished just not for sneaking out but also lying. Rex would get mad everyone else lied. Why couldn't he? The boy had a point. Why teach him not to lie in the organization of lies? Everyone lied to him why could he not lie to them? Why did they knew he had lied when he never knew what he was being lied to?

The boy was right but Six had another point. A point that was made in a form of a lie. They needed him to be truthful. They needed to know where he was and that he was safe. They cared and he was important. Some of that was truthful but there was lies in it. Not everyone in Providence cared for him. It was only a few people that cared but the truth was that he was important. The truth was that they wanted to control him. He was seen as just a tool to be used when they needed him and put way when not in use. And to be where he was put when he was needed again. Six did not want to tell Rex that nor could he tell the boy any of that. He was told to lie about it to the boy. So he did just that. He saw no other options.

They all told lies to themselves and to each other. Six kept track of all these lies. He knew most of them and could tell a lie when he heard one and he knew the truth as well and could tell if it was a lie or truth. so he could easily keep track of such things. There was drawer just full of pieces of paper with lies written on them all.

Things like "I am telling the truth" and " I was here the whole time"  things he lied about, things he lied about to Rex and Holiday. Things he lied about in his past and all the things he lies about now. Things Rex lied about. Things providence lied about. To everyone.   "This has to be done" and "This is for the best" were lies Six told himself a lot. very often he found himself saying these things.

Lying was just part of the job at Providence. They had to lie. So they did. They were told to do so , and that's what they did. It's what they do.

Theme 021 - mutation (about 1,021 words)

Nanites. Where activated they can cause some problems. How? Well, The Nanites are microscopic machines originally made to help end disease. But unprogrammed ones were released into the atmosphere due to an accidental explosion and they ended up getting into every living thing on the planet. They usually were not harmful but if they activate that's when the trouble starts. When the mutation happens. 

Nanites could be a gift, when they were fully programmed. They could , and have saved lives. Their single purpose was to make sure their host didn't die. They could repair damages , repel the effects of poison and start a heart if it stops beating. The tiny machines were a blessing. But the fully programmed Nanites were only a gift to one person. Rex. Everyone else had unstable Nanites that hadn't been fully programmed.  When a Nanite isn't fully programmed and it's activated there's a chance that it could cause its host to mutate.

Anyone with active Nanites inside of them is known as an EVO. Rex might have had the fully programmed Nanites but he was still considered an EVO because his Nanites were activated. EVOS were seen as mutants even of they looked like normal humans, they had mutations in their body this was true but they were shunned because of the mutant state, it irritated and angered Rex. He wish it wasn't so. But it was true. And it was a fact that Rex knew painfully well. He was hyper aware of it if anything he could not escape form the reality of it.

 A person was a person. No matter what. No matter how screwed up they are. That's what Rex was told and what he believed. What he always said. What he told people. What he told EVOS he was trying to help that didn't want it, or even the ones that wanted it but were confused as to why Rex was helping them. Rex was a good person, he wasn't like the rampaging monsters so why did they treat him so badly? There were a few people that treated him well, that actually saw him as a person but most saw him as a freak.

So were the other EVOS they were all shunned as mutants. But that mutation wasn't all that bad usually. If they can help others with their powers isn't it a good thing not a bad thing? Rex just did not get it. No matter how hard the ten year old though about it he could not find a reason why anyone would or should hate EVOS like him, sure he got why they hated the rampaging monster EVOS. They were nothing but trouble. They would ruin whole cites and could kills so many. But why hate they one trying to stop that?

Humans as whole don't tend to like people that are different, or anything different. History showed just how violent that dislike and hatred can become. The EVOS were not any different. They were not  human anymore or more like looked human so they were shunned. Simple as that.

Nanites were a good thing, could be a good thing, they we're intend as such after all. So why did the little microscopic machines have to cause so much trouble? More then what they actually create. Drive people to hate those trying to help them. It was ridiculous to the ten year old. Rex kinda understood. He got it. He just didn't like it. He wished it was different.

Six told him before many times In fact "Who cares what others think of you Rex? You know you're a good person and your family and friends accept you. That's enough."

Rex would always shake his head " I don't care what others think of me. I'm happy with the friends I have. It's how everyone treats me. I can't even go get a burger with out someone yelling an insult at me and usually attacking me. I have to run off so we don't get in a fight. I don't want that. I just want peace." 

Six understood that but he had nothing to offer the boy, he was right after all people did openly attack him now that the world knew who he was or more like what he was. No one would dare hurt him or say anything when Six was around, but Six couldn't always be there. And he shouldn't. Rex ended to lean to fend for himself. 

Even most providence agents hated the mutations. They would harass Rex to no end. Although not as bad as the strangers on the street near the burger place. These agents knew of Six, maybe a little to well. And we're scared of him and knew he was near by. The strangers at the burger place only stayed clear when they saw Six. After all he wasn't the most friendly looking person to be around. No one wanted to approach him or be approached by him. All knew just by looking that they didn't want to anger him. 

The mutations from the Nanites varied from person to person. Most would mutate into rampaging monsters and it was often painful. It couldn't be stopped or slowed down (usually) and Rex was the only cure. Other wise the victim would likely be killed.

A vary from reality. It's no wonder people were mean and cruel to anyone with active Nanites. Or Nanite powers. They were worried and scarred, maybe even terrified.

Rex wanted to change that, maybe if he helped enough people. Cured enough EVOed out monsters the world would see him and other so called mutants differently. They wouldn't be so mean.

Rex could only hope. And try. He would keep doing what he did. He would keep fighting off the haters and dealing with the abuse from passers by. He was stronger than that. The mutation that made him biomechanal would wipe the floor with them any time. And he knew it. He was better than them, above them. Because he was a good person who was choosing to help others instead of yell at them for differences.