a wild evo

"Why were May and Hunter carrying Rex into Vault E?" Skye asks, entering the director's office where Coulson is talking to Jemma and Leopold.

"Good timing, I was just about to fill in agents Simmons and Fitz." Coulson says.

"On the mission to the lab in Okinawa there was an unexpected development." Coulson says.

"What does that have to do with Rex?" Skye asks impatiently.

"It's best if you see for yourselves what Rex found on Toshiro's drives." Coulson says and shows them a video of Toshiro meeting the Salazar family who are all wearing the Hydra emblem openly.

"This can't be right." Jemma says shocked, having been saved twice by Rex.

"We don't know yet what it means, in regard to Rex's memory loss but he asked us that we take precautions." Coulson explains and Skye storms out shortly after, locking herself in her room for nearly half a day before having made up her mind and decides to confront Rex head on. Meanwhile Coulson tells the scientists to look for a way to stop the evo if it comes to that.

|later that day|

"Skye." Rex says nervously, standing behind the laser grid wall.

"Is this the reason you were so friendly with me? Did you know that my past with Ward would make this hard for me?" Skye asks accusingly, slamming the single chair in the room half in front of the laser wall on the ground before sitting down on it while glaring at the Hispanic man.

"No. I didn't know about my past before yesterday. Only parts came back to me when I saw Toshiro face to face." Rex answers.

"Yeah well, that seems rather convenient." Skye says, not believing him entirely but a shimmer of hope stays in her heart.

"I know." Rex sighs sitting down on the lone bed in the cell.

"What do you remember?" Skye asks.

"I remember that I met Toshiro Mori before. It was somewhere in Asia, he and my parents were working together on..." Rex says trying to remember before looking at his hands in horror.

"Working on what?!" Skye asks expectantly.

"Nanites... and me." He says, remembering snippets of his mother injecting him with something and his father monitoring his development together with Toshiro.

"Did I cause the explosion?" Rex asks, jumping up from the bed and starts pacing back and forth in front of the laser grid, while having a panic attack.

"I don't know but calm down." Skye says feeling sympathetic for him.

"I...I am a bomb?" He asks, shaking fearfully while holding his head.

"Calm down." Skye repeats softly, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes.

When he sees this Rex stares back at her, gradually calming down and sits down cross legged on the floor in front of her.

"Sorry, trying to keep me from freaking out must be the last thing you want to do." Rex sighs.

"Yeah it's not on my bucket list." Skye replies.

"What else do you remember?" She asks.

"I'm not sure. Some kind of Hydra school I think. I didn't know they have that." Rex says closing his eyes in concentration.

"I had a friend there." Rex says, trying to remember but only can recall a blurry vision of a blonde person who is shorter than him.

"What friend?" Skye asks interested.

"I don't remember." He groans punching the floor with his fist covered in nanites like a boxing glove, creating a dent in the floor.

"Sorry." Rex apologizes guiltily.

"Anything else?" Skye asks, feeling less hostile towards Rex who genuinely appears to be having a hard time and missing a lot of his memory.

"Can you bring me photos of Hydra agents? Maybe I'll recall something." Rex suggests.

"I'll ask Coulson." Skye says and starts to leave.

"I'm sorry Skye. I wish this wasn't real." He says to himself, but it's recorded by the devices in the cell.

3 days later Coulson enters the lab to meet Fitz and Simmons.

"What do you have for me?" He asks, the two scientists looking at a caged rat.

"A problem. This rat has gained the ability to produce nanites on its own for some reason. Which means it will become an evo sooner or later and if what Rex said is true we don't want that in here then." Simmons says.

"Is there a way to stop it?" Coulson asks.

"We can kill the rat, but it could be that the nanites would still continue to increase and we'd lose our test subject." She answers.

"So, no good way to deal with it if it comes to it?" Coulson asks.

"I'm afraid not. We don't know enough yet about the nanites. They're hard to get a read on with our current equipment." Fitz says stammering through the sentence.

"Alright, then just continue. But do it in the containment area." Coulson tells them.

"Coulson. Can I talk to you?" Skye asks, standing in the lab's door.

The middle-aged man nods and goes over to her.

"I think we should do this in private." She adds, when he looks at her expecting her to talk.

"Fine let's go to my office." He says and leads her to his office.

"Is this about Rex? I know that you went to visit him more often after we send away Ward." Coulson asks.

"Yes. Look I'm the last one to say we can trust him. But you know as well as me that confinement in that cell can have worse results on someone than actually being part of Hydra." She says.

"I don't disagree, but what do you suggest? We can't keep him anywhere else because of his abilities." Coulson tells her.

"I know, but we could give him something to do." Skye says hopefully.

"You want him to analyze the carving?" He asks knowingly.

"Yeah. I think that's wiser than letting him get more information about his Hydra life." She replies.

"Fine. But you're responsible for this and remember to collect ever piece of tech you give him when you leave." Coulson tells her.

"Thank you, sir." She says.

"How are you doing with Ward on the lose again?" Coulson asks.

"I'm keeping myself busy." She says with a strained voice, waving with her tablet with the carving data.

"Thank you. I know you're doing this so I will stop my carving." Coulson thanks her.

"Yes, but I'm also doing this for him. I don't think we've lost him yet. Maybe he won't become like he was before if we show him kindness." Skye says.

"Just be careful that you're not getting attached to the point of no return." Coulson warns her.

"Yes, sir." Skye answers and heads out of the office.

The next day Skye is in front of Rex's cell once again, having spent almost half her days there ever since Ward was send off and escaped.

"Something is on your mind." Rex says, sitting sideways to her in front of a projection of the carving.

"Ward is on the loose." She says, turning to him to see his reaction.

"Since when?" He asks.

"3 days." She answers.

"And you didn't capture him again?" Rex asks surprised.

"We try, but he's well trained by both Hydra and Shield." Skye sighs.

"Yeah, I guess he's annoying to pin down in that case." Rex says.

"How are you feeling about it?" Rex asks, emphasizing you.

"Trying not to feel honestly. That's why we're here working on this stuff." She says, patting the laptop in her lap.

"Skye come in. The base is in danger." Coulson calls in the agent.

Rex slides the tablet underneath the tiny opening in the cell's laser grid and she closes the hole up with the control, giving him a thankful nod before hurrying out of the vault.

"Skye. Gear up. The experiment in the containment area has gone rogue and we don't know how to stop it." Coulson tells her.

"Close the door!" She hears Mack shout, jumping out of the containment area with a makeshift flamethrower on his back.

"Fire doesn't do much to it." The mechanic reports coming over to Coulson and the main team.

"Great." Coulson scoffs.

"Any ideas?" Coulson asks Simmons.

"None we can employ in time." She replies, the group hearing loud banging from the containment area's door.

"OK, what exactly happened?" Skye asks, not being filled in.

"Our experimental rat suddenly mutated and grew to the size of a car." Simmons explains.

"Plus, its skin is like bulletproof armor." Mack adds.

"There is a solution in our basement isn't there?" Skye suggests.

"I know you think we can trust him. But this could be the very thing which makes him turn on us." Coulson warns her.

"OK, then what do we do?" Skye asks.

"We have it contained for now and I'm sure Fitz and Simmons will be able to work together to fix this problem." Coulson says strictly, forcing the scientists to work together on this despite their uneasiness around each other.

"But sir. This is ... We haven't had enough time." Fitz says.

"Then we better not waste any more. Mack block that thing in as best as you can." Coulson tells the large man.

"On it." He says, leaving to get some heavier stuff to block the door with.

"Go back to what you were doing. Fitz and Simmons will fix it." Coulson tells Skye.

"Fine." She all but groans, stomping back into the Vault and retakes her seat on the beanbag chair she brought down there.

"You seem upset. What's going on?" Rex asks concerned.

"Nothing. Just let's get back to work." She says tiredly and slides the tablet through to him through the gap she makes in the cell.

"Hey, I had an idea. We assume this map is well a map as we know it right?" Rex says, taking the tablet and making it project the carving at the wall across from him.

"Yeah, so? What else would it be." Skye asks.

"What about a 3-dimensional scan? I noticed that the carvings have different depth. I already wondered about it when I first saw it but, I mean look at this. If we add a third dimension, won't it you know look like a room?" Rex asks, pointing out a circle in the lower right corner.

"3D." Skye says excited and leaves in a hurry.

"Uhh." Rex murmurs to himself, looking after her and slides the tablet through the gap in the cell before lying down on his bed.

Meanwhile Skye runs through the base until she reaches the computer on board the bus. She quickly gets to work and half an hour later watches with a grin as the scan of the carving folds out into a 3d scan of a city.

"He was right again." Skye says happily and suddenly hears a loud crash, followed by screams and yells.

Hurrying out of the plane she sees agents flee into the hangar while she goes against the stream of fleeing personnel.

"What happened?" She asks Mack who is helping people evacuate.

"That thing busted out. It's loose in the base." Mack shouts over the noise of the fleeing agents and distant gunfire.

"Skye, hey! Where are you going?" Mack shouts after her when she decisively heads further into the base.

"Great. Now you pissed it off. Nicely done." Hunter remarks sarcastically, firing at the humongous, now wearing grey shell like armor rat.

"I bet he's only angry cause you keep talking. Don't you ever shut up?" Bobbi complains in return.

"Sorry Coulson." Skye says and ducks into the entry point to Vault E.

"What's going on? I heard a crash and gunfire." Rex asks worried, looking at her through the laser grid.

"The experimental rat transformed and is now destroying the base. Will you help us stop it?" Skye asks, already holding onto the tablet which controls his cage.

"What did Coulson say to the suggestion of me helping? I don't want you to get into trouble." Rex says while she is lowering the laser grid with Rex getting up from sitting on the floor.

"I don't care. This is our home and I want to protect it. And we need your help. Please." She says hopefully.

"Fine, where is it?" He asks.

"Just follow the screaming and destruction I'm guessing." She tells him, grabbing his hand and pulling him with her to the vault door, peering outside before the two step into now empty and wrecked hallway.

"Where did it go?" Skye asks herself quietly, only for the beast to come crashing through the wall to the locker rooms.

"Found it." Rex jokes, his hands being enveloped in a glow before he has his huge metal gauntlets covering them.

"The fuck is that thing?" The two hear Hunter scream from within the locker room.

"Get them away from there, OK?" Rex asks Skye, who nods and heads to the locker room to through a sideway entry.

Meanwhile the rat got back up and turned to Hunter and Bobbi once more until Rex starts clanging his metal fists together rhythmically, getting its attention.

The mutated rat charges at the fellow evo, who raises his hands in an attempt to stop the creature, but instead it pushes him back in front of it and tosses him through the only remaining glass panel of the lab wall.

"What did you eat man?" Rex groans jokingly, getting up and turns one hand into his massive broadsword, only to raise it and get it stuck in the ceiling.

"Of course." He huffs and sees the rat charge at him.

Rex quickly makes a risky move and dismisses his gauntlet while pulling his body up by the arm stuck in the ceiling. The rat sees him gone from its vision suddenly and stops right underneath where Rex is hanging.

The Hispanic man grins as if he's already won and drops down on the rat, transforming his legs into giant clamps which he uses to anchor himself to the evo rodent while riding it literally.

Meanwhile Skye is trying to get Bobbi and Hunter out of the way and as they are retreating to Coulson's office, where the director and May are watching the cameras to make sure their personnel had enough time to evacuate.

"Oh no. The three hear a familiar voice shout before they see Rex riding on the rat and getting slammed into a wall hard."

"Off, I bet that hurt." Hunter remarks as the three are standing on he stairs to the directors office.

"No, no, no." Rex yells while trying to grab onto the rat and absorb its nanites, but its wailing around wildly trying to throw him off.

After getting jostled around for a bit he finally manages to grab onto the rat's head and it freezes up while shrinking gradually with a white glow, until it's just a small rodent again sitting on Rex's palm.

"You're a wild one buddy." Rex says and places the rat in a box in the lab.

After securing the animal he feels like his body is on fire and stumbles to the vault entrance groggily while Skye, Hunter, Bobbi, Fitz and Simmons are watching.

Skye quickly hurries after him, thinking he got hurt and watches him try to erect the laser grid wall desperately while within the cell.

"Why isn't this working?" He pants, looking up at Skye when he hears someone walking towards him.

"Lock me in." Rex begs her, holding out the tablet with a shaking hand.

"What why?" She asks confused.

"Just do it!" He yells and she takes the device, erecting the energy wall and Rex then promptly collapses while whispering "thank you."