Thought this one up a week ago. Took quite a while to get on paper. Not much else to say here i guess, haha. This would be my second fic, first oneshot, and the longest ive written for a chap. Characters are kinda OOC, but then again they're under quite a bit of stress to say the least. its gonna mess with their heads.

Disclaimer: Don't own Generator Rex. Yep. Throw that in your oven and bake it.

Enjoy!

"Get up, Rex." Agent Six spat, more cold and emotionless than usual.

Rex was on his hands and knees, clutching his side after a brutal kick to his abdomen. His breathing was ragged, and cuts covered his arms and legs, but he didn't care. The only thing that mattered was the man standing in front of him. His present thoughts were consumed with their fight; what move to make next, how much more he could take. Wordlessly, he got back up on his feet.

Six stood in front of the boy, seemingly no worse for wear. Rex knew better though. They had been in the training room for hours; no breaks, no breathers. He knew that the Agent was starting to fatigue, even if he wasn't out of breath or sweating. Six could just hide it better than everyone else.

"If you took training more seriously, today wouldn't have happened."

Rex rushed at Six, giant sword at the ready. They parried back and forth for a short time, sparks flying off their blades with every hit. Six saw an opening and kicked Rex's legs out from under him, slamming him down to the ground with a shove. Rex got the wind knocked out of him, and before he could react, Six had a blade at his throat. Rex grunted in defeat, and Six backed off, folding up his katanas. Rex shakily stood up.

"Let's go again, Six." Rex wheezed out.

Within a second, the agent was back in Rex's face, using hand to hand combat this time. Rex quickly reformed his bulky sword into a pair of metal fists, and countered the first few moves. However, Six easily maneuvered around his hulking machines, and it wasn't long before Rex was eating the pavement.

The duo had been training immediately upon their return to Providence. Their mission had ended in failure today, and everyone involved was sent to an hour of combat training to review their mistakes. Whenever Six and Rex were sent down after a bad mission, Rex literally had to be dragged into the room. But today was different. Rex was the first one in there, waiting for Six to get started. Six would have been glad that he didn't have to fight with the boy to get him to cooperate, but not after today. Today was… catastrophic.

"How can you possibly hope to protect others when you can't even defend yourself?"

"Again." Rex muttered.

Six threw a katana straight for Rex's face, which he barely avoided. Retaliating, Rex whipped out his arm cannon and loaded a chunk of the floor tiles. Before he could even aim, Six was in front of the giant gun's barrel, shoving his remaining sword down the cannon. The kid yelled out in pain, letting the cannon reform into his regular arm. As Rex was distracted, Six slipped behind him and grabbed the injured appendage. He slammed Rex face-first into the wall, his free arm pressed to Rex's back to keep him pinned. When the kid tried to break free, Six would tighten his grip on the wounded arm, causing Rex to wince in pain. After a few moments, he was released, defeated again. Six scooped up his weapons.

"If you were more careful, Holiday wouldn't be—"

"AGAIN!" Rex roared, rushing at Six with his oversized sword.

In one swift move, Six sliced through Rex's sword, breaking it in two. Rex fell to his knees, shouting out in pain. Another kick from the agent sent Rex sprawling. Six planted his foot in his back, to make sure the teen wouldn't move. Rex thought it was over, until Six grabbed both of his wrists and began to pull them backwards; far past their bending point. Rex's mind went white with pain; he was sure the agent was going to break both his arms. Six just continued, stoic as ever.

After what seemed like an eternity, Six lessened the pressure in Rex's arms; leaving the boy gasping for air.

"Stop…!" Rex gasped out. The agent's grip tightened.

"Stop? Do you think those evos out there will just stop if you ask? Holiday could be dead right now because you couldn't hold your own out there! I will take this within an inch of your life if it means preparing you to protect others."

Six started pulling on Rex's arms again, causing blinding pain to shoot up his arms. Rex bit his tongue to stop from screaming.

"Then-why… did-you-help… me-and-not… Holi…Holiday…?"

There was a slight release in the pressure, which Rex used to gulp down air.

"Because it's my job to protect you," Six responded. "Even if it means letting others die."

Rex chose this moment to activate his gliders. The agent was thrown off his back, and Rex's arms fell limply to his sides. He collapsed the gliders back into his body and rolled over. His shoulders were throbbing in pain, but moveable. Six walked up to Rex's side, folding his katanas and looking down at his… responsibility. Breathing heavily, Rex stared back up at his opponent, waiting for him to make a move.

"We're done here, Rex."

"Don't think so. A-again" Rex stammered.

Six ignored the kid's comment and started walking for the door.

"Let's go again!" Rex shouted from the ground.

Six didn't even bother to turn around. "Rex, I'm your handler. Not your partner; not your friend. I'm not going to help you up, and I'm not giving you another chance." Six stopped at the door and turned towards the boy. "And as of now, I'm not wasting any more time."

Rex couldn't believe what he was hearing. This wasn't happening. Today wasn't happening. "Where are you going?"

"Where do you think?" the door shut behind the agent, leaving him alone in deafening silence.

Rex lifted his hands to his face and screamed.

Six walked slowly to the infirmary, praying that Holiday was still alive. That hit she took should've cracked a few ribs at least, and those claws definitely shredded thought skin. The most he remembered seeing before Providence's EMTs arrived was Holiday covered in blood and unconscious. That sight alone nearly made his heart stop. If she didn't make it, Six didn't know what he would do. She was one of the few things in this world keeping him sane after a day of butchering monsters.

It was only a few hours ago, but it felt like days. There was a small horde of evos on the outskirts of town that providence had been called in to clean up. According to Holiday, they featured a mutation of insect and mammalian DNA, a unique combination not seen before in evos. She wanted to go collect some samples herself since Rex had trouble with it last time in the bug jar. White approved the trip, so long as Rex, Six, and a small unit of soldiers went along.

Upon arrival, they quickly discovered there were more evos than they thought. Way more.

The squad took out a few, but was overcome within a few minutes. Six was handling the bulk of the horde, taking them out as quickly as possible. Rex was guarding Holiday, since she wasn't as heavily armed as the both of them. As soon as Six had a moment to check on the pair, he saw Rex unconscious and evos advancing on a weaponless Holiday. If he didn't act fast, Rex would be torn limb from limb. But Holiday also couldn't defend herself. It was the worst kind of choice to make. No matter what happened, Six would always feel responsible for them both. He went for Rex and pulled him to safety, and got to Holiday as fast as he could. But he just wasn't fast enough. Six watched in horror as an evo ripped through her chest like tissue paper.

It was a sight that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

By the time backup arrived, Six had destroyed most of the creatures, the last few fleeing for their lives. He had never felt so much rage at once. Six was known for his exceptional skill and self-control. For him to get lost in a blind rage was… unsettling, to say the least. If he was just a bit faster, if they had only brought more troops, if Rex's combat skills were better…

It was his fault. If he had been sterner with Rex, if they had both trained longer, then maybe Holiday wouldn't be on the brink of death.

As he approached the infirmary, he took a moment to accept the reality that he was about to face. A priest walked out of the medical wing at that moment, head hung low. Seeing the waiting agent, the man put his hand on Six's shoulder, and muttered a small prayer for whoever his friend was.

Six steeled himself for whatever he might see. Taking a deep breath, he entered the wing. He passed bed after bed of wounded soldiers, all hooked up to their own beeping monitors. No Holiday. As he reached the end of the row, he saw a female figure covered head to toe with a stark white sheet, unmoving.

Dead.

No amount of emotional shielding could have prepared him for this. Shaking, he reached out to pull the sheet from her face, to properly say goodbye.

"Six! Did you get my samples? I dropped them after I passed out." Holiday's voice echoed across the room. Six nearly had a heart attack. Whipping around, he saw Holiday smiling happily from the doorway of a nearby private room.

"You ok? You look kinda worn out. Bobo stopped by hours ago, I was wondering when you would finally visit." Before she realized it, Six had her in a tight embrace. Holiday was shocked. Never before had she seen the green-suited agent display so much emotion. And just like that, it was over. Six was back to his emotionless self.

"It's good to see you, Dr. Holiday. We thought we lost you back there." Six commented to Holiday.

"You almost did. Before we left, Rex mentioned something about its claws, so I grabbed a reinforced Kevlar vest. It stopped the brunt of the blow, though I did have a few deep cuts. I just didn't expect the evo to be so strong. Knocked the wind right out of me. Where is Rex by the way?"

Six's thoughts drifted back to the battered teen he left in the training room. He winced, recalling the brutal fights and harsh words. The thought of losing someone so close just… he should have been more careful.

The agent's silence said it all. "What happened!" Holiday hissed, her motherly instinct taking over. Just before they could get into details, a Providence soldier ran into the infirmary and up to Six.

"Sir! We have a situation in the training room." Holiday and Six looked at one another, and dashed out of the medical wing, the soldier not far behind. As they ran, the soldier briefed them on the situation.

"Shortly after you left, Rex hacked the computer system from inside the room! He locked the doors and started releasing multiple practice targets."

A knot formed in Six's stomach. When he left, Rex could hardly stand. He was in no shape to take on one of Providence's tin-cans.

Holiday interrupted the soldier. "What kind of targets? Automated or live?"

"He didn't even bother with the machines. Went straight for the level 10 insect evos. I've never seen him like this before, Sir."

Six's heart skipped a beat. "What about the safety controls in the training room, do you still have access?"

"We already tried them, no luck. We also have a few scientists monitoring Rex's nanites and vitals. They're off the charts; he can't take much more of this." The soldiers face looked grim. "We've tried tranquilizing him and the evos, but his nanites keep adapting to the serum!"

Holiday made a disgusted face. "He's not an animal! Why-"

"There's no time for this! I'm getting into that room. Holiday, you get into the system and try talking to him." Six broke off from the two, headed down a different hallway.

After a few more halls, Holiday and the soldier arrived at the training room's control center. Most of the computers had shorted out, and the smell of fried motherboards hung in the air. Holiday took over the last computer, typing furiously to overcome Rex's hacking.

"Come on, Rex. Let's fix this…" she whispered.

'It's my fault.'

Rex's breaths came in short bursts, and his vision was swimming. Bits of his machines littered the floor, and his goggles were cracked and lying to the side. Using his cannon, he sucked up a piece of his broken sword and shot it at an incurable, animal evo. The 10 ft monster screeched in pain as it was impaled by the sword fragment. It collapsed.

'It's my fault.'

Before he could even think another word, Rex put his hand on the wall and forced the computer to release another evo. It was small and quick, but within moments it, too, had fallen.

'It's. My. Fault. "

His limbs shaking, he limped over to the wall and prepared for another creature. He couldn't take the silence. He couldn't take the thought of Holiday being…being…

Of Holiday not being around anymore.

So long as he was fighting, he wouldn't be able to think about any of it. But before he could reach the computer, the sound of screeching metal met his ears. Looking up, he saw a katana slowly cutting through the 3 inches of steel that made up the air vent. Seconds later, Six dropped down into the room. His tucked his katanas away, relaxing his stance. Rex curled his fingers into fists.

"Rex," said Six slowly, "that's enough."

"No, it's not! I have to keep fighting, keep improving!" Rex weakly lunged towards Six, once again using his huge sword. Six dodged effortlessly.

"You've done all you can for today. You need to rest." Six cautiously approached the unstable teen, empty hands at the ready should he try to attack. Rex backed away from the agent, nearly tripping over a tranquilized evo. "Go away, Six!" Rex yelled.

Rex backed up into a wall, and leaned on it for support. His chest was on fire, and he couldn't see straight. "I have to get better so I can protect others! Holiday… If I was better, sh-she wouldn't be…" Rex trailed off. He put his free hand up to hide his face.

"Rex, please stop!" Holiday's voice echoed from the loudspeaker. Rex's head shot up, shocked to hear Holiday's voice after everything they've been through. "I'm fine!" Rex closed his eyes, and his throat got tight. He put his hand back up to hide the impending tears. "Whatever the problem is, we can handle it together. Six and I will always be here for you!" The huge sword at the teen's side finally crumbled to bits.

"Rex, what happened out there… was no one's fault. It was my mistake trying to pin it on one person."

Rex closed his eyes. The world wasn't ending; Holiday was alright, and Six didn't hate him. All of the guilt and self-loathing Rex had accumulated started to melt away. It was indescribably wonderful to be free of all that.

Six was surprised to hear a small chuckle from Rex. "This… was pretty idiotic, huh?"

"Normal for you," Six said dryly, "but not me. I'm sorry."

Using the very last of his energy, Rex put his hand on the wall and unlocked the doors. He fell forward, too exhausted to stand. Six caught him mid-fall and laid him on the floor. Consciousness was quickly slipping away from the teen. Weakly glancing up at his partner, Rex cracked a small smile.

"Me, too."

~End~

hope you liked it! im really tired. :)