6th Gear... Some people may never understand. [Video/Broadcast Mind]

[naniteknight]

[The broadcast begins in darkness with the rustling of cloth against the Forge's microphone. Possible the device is inside someone's pocket, being jostled a bit by walking or a shift in the owner's position. As the seconds pass, however, silence fills the feed. Whoever has the Forge has stopped moving.]

[Then, slowly, a scene begins to fade in

Comments

[video]

[wotchesyou]

Did you make it?

[video]

[naniteknight]

[Rex picks up a few seconds later, having heard his Forge buzz to warn him that he's got a message. He blinks into the camera, clearly not understanding the question.]

Did I what? Make it where?

[It's then he notices that Forge has been recording previously and NOT because he turned it on himself.]

Ergh... Qué gacho.

[He responds as he tracks back through the footage.]

We all made it, even though Mouse and Amp wanted things to end with everyone dead.

[breakspromises]

What is an EVO?

[Voice]

[naniteknight]

[As there's no getting rid of the broadcast at this point, Rex figures he might as well explain.]

It stands for "Exponentially Variegated Organism." Or for those who aren't science majors, mutants.

My entire world is infected with nanites. When they activate inside something living, they change up that thing's DNA. A lot of the time, the result is a rampaging monster.

[Voice]

[breakspromises]

I see.

We have something like that in our world...some become monsters and some become heroes.

[Voice]

[naniteknight]

Really? That something got a name?

[Audio]

[key_destination]

[Roxas doesn't care too much how the feed ends because he knows that Rex is alive and he probably did save those people. Past, a memory. But he does connect with some of the scenes, and it's easy to sum it all up with his own experiences:]

It's hard being different.

[Audio]

[naniteknight]

Yeah, it can be...

Dealing with people like Hunter Cain taught me not to care so much about what hateful people think, though. They won't stop me from doing my job.

[Audio]

[key_destination]

Seems like you gotta if you're going to protect everyone.

[Audio]

[naniteknight]

Including the people who don't want protection, sometimes. I just have to hope that giving them help changes their minds about things.

[Video]

[swordofthenorth]

[Of all the dreams broadcast across the Network, Rex's are usually the ones Isley is most interested in.]

Is there ever a time where you have failed?

[It's not a malicious question. Isley is genuinely curious.]

[Video]

[naniteknight]

[Rex hesitates to answer for a number of reasons.]

There have been a few times where I couldn't handle a situation by myself. The powers of EVOs vary a lot between individuals and, well... Sometimes my powers aren't right for the situation. That's when my back-up has to take point or we have to find some other way.

There was also that one time...

[Video|Private]

[swordofthenorth]

[Before replying he switches over to private.]

May I ask what happened that one time, Rex?

[Video|Private]

[naniteknight]

[A shrug, playing it down.]

My arch-nemesis got the better of me. Turned my best friend into a rampaging EVO so he could 'jack a generator we needed for the rebuilding of Providence headquarters.

Which. Actually...

[His frown deepens.]

It was his fault we had to rebuild Providence HQ in the first place, too. The jerk stole our flying fortress and ran into right into the side of HQ.

Video

[poweroflegend]

...we've more in common than I thought, lad.

Video

[naniteknight]

[After everything else, not really something he wanted Trevor of all people to see.]

[Still, the statement makes him curious.]

Oh yeah? What'd you mean by that...?

Video

[poweroflegend]

[Are you kidding, Rex? The more glimpses he gets into your true self, the more he respects you.]

There, too, is a stigma borne of ignorance upon my family.

We Belmonts have it in us to vanquish the unholy. But to those we protect, we are no different from our prey.

So they shun us. Call us heretics and fallen angels while we bear mankind's torch against the never-ending darkness.

[Beat.]

Or rather they used to. Mostly.

Video

[naniteknight]

[The prejudice against EVOs can be a touchy subject at times. Rex is also not that fond of everyone in Anatole knowing that in some people's minds at home, he is part of the cancer that is slowly destroying humanity. That even the laws governing the country he lives in don't protect him against murder at the hands of EVO-slaying vigilantes. It's an ugly thing, really.]

...I'd ask how anyone could be that dumb, treating heroes like the bad guys they put down. But clearly, I'm already familiar with how and why that happens.