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As much as Rex believed that a pool on Providence seemed fun to swim into, Six's eyes were focused on the fact that, again, Caesar was fidgeting with another of his creations in the middle of the underground facility. As for him, White was wasting money on resources on studies that they could do without his help and without the need of filling a hole underground, with salty water, eels and creatures half mutated into EVOs.
Rex couldn't help but feel torn between his desire for adventure and Six's practicality. He knew that Caesar's experiments were risky, but he also understood his need for scientific exploration. Ultimately, Rex wondered if there was a compromise that could satisfy everyone's concerns.
"You can't be that upset after seeing those turtles, Six," Rebecca's voice interrupted his stream of complaints. He turned to look at her, surprised. He fell silent, his mind racing at the sight of her in a swimsuit, or even worse, a full latex suit, ready to dive into action as if they were on vacation. He didn't even want to think about how the suit hugged every curve of her body, reminding him of her femininity.
"As if a bunch of wires and machines will magically cure every creature infected with Nanites." The man raised an eyebrow at her as she ignored him and prepared for her dive. She checked her gear, with Bobo assisting her by making sure her oxygen tank was functioning properly for the experiment. "We should also bring some penguins along for the experiment."
"Hey, that's not a bad idea!" Rex chimed in as Caesar put the finishing touches on the machine and stepped back to examine the data he was collecting from the infected turtles, fishes, and otters swimming in their makeshift pool. "Penguins are adorable creatures, so if they are infected, we should definitely find a way to cure them too!"
Six asked, "And then what?" as Rebecca walked straight to the pool with the animals. Caesar signaled that everything was ready for an experimental dive. "Are we just going to cage them and drain the pool, pretending this never happened?' Six continued.
“Don't be a party pooper, dude! Let the Doc have some fun with the turtles," Rex retorted. "Look, despite their early stages of EVO contamination, they seem to enjoy her company."
Six looked briefly as the turtles and otters seemed to swim closer to the woman, bending next to them and simply caressing the water with her hands, creating soft waves. He stopped looking as soon as she leaned even more, causing him to have to stare at the floor to not look directly at her ass under that latex.
"Alright, everything is ready for testing!" Caesar's voice echoed through the underground facility as Rebecca stood up and turned to look at him, nodding in agreement. "The wires and machines should gather all the necessary information about the stage of evolution of the Nanites on their bodies, but we also need a few samples of skin or even pieces of hair. For some reason, they seem to have bonded with you, doctor, so you should be the only one to handle them." Rex appeared disappointed that the animals showed no interest in him, and Six suspected it was because his own Nanites would try to heal any other body they came into contact with. In Six's case, his stoic demeanor seemed to intimidate the animals just as much as White's expressionless face did. Caesar never participated in the experiments, and Bobo refused to even go near the pool for fear of being bitten by a turtle.
When Rebecca decided to join the animals in the pool of salty water, Six had a bad feeling. It was common knowledge that wires and machines shouldn't be mixed with water. But the proximity of these cables and monitors, registering the data of the otters, turtles, and fishes that seemed to be 'happily' splashing around her, caused him to look at Caesar and his happy expression, recollecting as much information as he could, as if nothing could simply go wrong.
Fortunately, the turtles did not seem as eager to bite Holiday as Bobo had feared. As Six watched the otters surround her in the water, he couldn't help but notice the smile on her face. Despite their erratic movements due to their early stages of contamination, the otters were still playing, just as they always did. However, they seemed a bit confused by their sudden movements and were unable to control them. The turtles, too, were struggling to navigate the makeshift pool, often colliding with its edges.
"Their movements seem a bit compromised," Holiday stated, looking at the confused fishes that kept swimming into each other and showing early signs of aggression but not enough to make her fear that one of them could attack her or represent any danger unless it fully transformed into a giant EVO. "They also seem to want to attack at each other."
"Good," Six replied, his eyes fixed on the data displayed on the monitors. "We now must be concerned about the animals losing control due to the Nanites inside their bodies." The monitors showed erratic cerebral patterns, suggesting that the otters would soon no longer be enjoying themselves.
"Rex should be able to cure them," Holiday said while rubbing one of the otters' heads and trying to get a sample of their hair. "Sorry, little buddy, this is all just for science."
Sure, getting a hair sample was easy. But how would she get skin samples from the turtles and fishes? It looked hazardous if the cerebral lectures were rapidly escalating.
"Couldn't we do this outside of the water?" Six asked as the machines quickly signaled that their focus was shifting from being the innocent creatures they were supposed to be to getting angry each minute. Caesar and Rex seemed more focused on the project's interest than the possible consequences. At least Bobo seemed to think like him and was shaking his head as Holiday tried to get near one of the sea turtles to take a sample of its skin.
"I sincerely doubt that these turtles..." Rex started, but Six shook his head as soon as the machines began to beep and echo almost in the entire Providence. Holiday looked at the turtle's body starting to shift as the Nanites finally took control of their functions. The woman yelped as one of the otters was growing significantly in size and stopped looking as friendly as before.
"Holiday!" Six readied his blades, but Caesar's hand halted him, his brows furrowed in concern.
"We can't just kill them without trying to find a cure. We need to see if Rex can reverse the transformation."
Six questioned, "And then what? Do we wait for them to fully transform and harm her in the pool just to gather data we already know?"
"This experiment must end now!" Bobo was already taking his guns out as Rex looked in horror at how the animals were now deforming into unrecognizable creatures as fast as Holiday tried to swim out of that pool.
"Man! And I liked these otters!" Rex said as his arms became machines, ready to jump inside the salty pool to rescue her.
The turtles were now out of control, covered with eels, and stepping out of the pool, biting everything they could find in their way. Boxes, metal, even the wires of the machine that soon exploded in front of them, as Rex protected them from the explosion with his machine arms. His brother was lamenting all the information that was lost as if he was not looking at the EVOs they now had in their underground facility and the electric wires that now were falling one by one inside of the salty pool with the woman on it.
"Holiday!" Six knew that soon she would be fried inside of that pool if the EVOs didn't kill her first. The electricity ran wild inside the facility, creating a dangerous electric field that shocked the woman inside the pool. "Rex, make sure to stop the EVOs from advancing any further. But, be careful not to get too close to the pool. The wires could potentially shock your metal arms and kill you!" Six quickly interjected, concerned for their safety.
"What about Holiday!?" Rex asked urgently. Six quickly leapt onto the nearby wooden boxes, using them as a barrier to avoid being electrocuted. He then moved closer to the pool, joining his blades together to jump onto the now wet floor and redirect the electricity towards the attacking turtles. Bobo, Caesar and Rex had to carefully navigate over the wooden boxes as the water splashed and the floor became electrified.
"Six, get out of there, dude! It will kill you!" Rex yelled from the other side. However, he refused to abandon Holiday and let her die in the name of a foolish experiment. He persisted in pushing his Magnablade deeper into the floor, enduring the painful shocks as he absorbed the electricity. He ran as fast as he could, cutting the wires on the pool and creating enough distance between them to ensure their safety.
But Holiday wasn't moving. She seemed to be unconscious from the shock, and he had no other option but to jump inside the salty water and swim to rescue her; as much as his body ached for the amount of electricity that he couldn't even tell how on earth he resisted.
Her eyes snapped open as she coughed up a considerable amount of water. She found herself in Six's arms, wrapped in a towel and gazing up at the drenched man. Rex was working tirelessly to contain the contaminated animals and prevent any harm to them.
"Holiday, are you okay!?" His voice sounded distant, as if her ears were still ringing. "Your heart stopped for a moment!" Strangely, a small jolt of electricity was all it took to revive her. She noticed that Six had taken off his glasses, and she wondered if he had lost them in the pool while rescuing her or if they were too wet to see through. The look of concern in his eyes was the last thing she saw before she drifted back into unconsciousness.
"Holiday! holiday!"
She thought for a moment before blacking out that she felt Six carefully placing her on the floor and then punching something.
Rebecca hoped that 'that' something wasn't Caesar.