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cried out in agony as his transformations continued to switch back and forth, there one minute, gone the next.
    â€˜His biometric signs are failing,’ crackled a voice in Agent Six’s ear. It was Dr Holiday, speaking to him via the communicator. ‘You have to get him out of there
now
.’
    â€˜Kind of in the middle of something here,’ grunted Six. He ducked another swipe of the scorpion’s tail.
    â€˜
I don’t care,
’ Holiday snarled. ‘Get Rex and …’
    There was a hiss of static, and then another voice broke in. ‘Subdue the Evo,’ ordered White Knight. ‘Then you can help Rex.’
    â€˜Yes, sir,’ Six said. He twirled his swords in front of the Evo, beckoning it closer. ‘Let’s get this over with.’
    The scorpion raised its two front legs. Six swung both swords around in a wide arc. The Evo squealed as both its legs flopped down onto the street.
    â€˜That was for the suit,’ Six said, before a movement down near his feet caught his eye.
    From inside the severed limbs, hundreds of smallerscorpion-creatures were emerging. They weren’t much larger than normal scorpions, but they moved at incredible speed.
    Six stepped back as the scorpions swarmed towards him. He
swooshed
his sword down at the ground. Sparks flashed as the blades hit the concrete road surface and five, ten, twenty of the little creatures were sliced in half.
    But still they kept coming. For every one Six killed, a dozen more emerged from inside the severed limbs. They were pouring from the stumps on the Evo’s body, too, where the legs had been attached. In moments, the road around Six was a heaving mass of legs and bodies and little curved tails.
    Six raised a foot and slammed it down on the closest scorpion. It exploded in a spray of green goop. He looked up and met the gaze of the larger creature. ‘And now you’ve gone and messed up my shoes.’ Six raised his swords again. ‘Ugly, this just isn’t your day.’

    Back at Providence HQ, Dr Holiday was ranting at a viewing screen. White Knight’s face filled thescreen. He did not look happy.
    â€˜The Evo isn’t important,’ she said. ‘Saving Rex
is
. He could die.’
    â€˜And if we let the Evo go, it could kill hundreds,’ White Knight replied. ‘Better to contain it now than risk a major incident.’
    â€˜We’ve already got a major incident!’ Holiday protested. ‘Rex is undergoing some kind of … of …
mutation
. The nanites are doing something to him, and I don’t know what it is!’
    â€˜And I’m confident in your ability to find out, Doctor,’ White Knight said, ‘just as soon as we’ve stopped the Evo.’
    â€˜Let the other Agents handle the Evo! Isn’t that what they’re paid for?’
    Dr Holiday turned and snatched up the communicator. ‘Six, let the other Agents fight that thing. Concentrate on saving Rex!’
    â€˜Ignore that, Agent Six,’ White Knight instructed. ‘Your orders stand. Neutralise that Evo!’
    Meanwhile, in Fremont, Agent Six was trying to do just that. He sat on the scorpion’s back, one arm wrapped around its tail, the other pulling on its armoured head. Only a few of the smaller scorpion-creatures remained. They scuttled and scurried over the crushed remains of their brothers and sisters, wondering how many of them could have been wiped out by just one pair of feet.
    A few metres away, Rex’s whole body spasmed, then went limp as he finally fell unconscious. Neither he, nor Agent Six, noticed the black armoured car creeping along the street. They didn’t notice it rolling to a stop right beside Rex, or the passenger door slowly easing open.
    And they didn’t notice the hulking Evo arms reaching out and dragging Rex inside.

CHAPTER 8
    S IX LOOKED UP AT the sound of the car door slamming closed. He realised immediately what had