Rex tightened his grip on his Smackhands, the whirring hum of his nanites filling the tense silence. Black Knight stood across from him, her usual smug expression never wavering. The dim, sterile lighting of the Providence lab cast long shadows, the hum of distant machinery the only sound between them.

"You really should've stayed out of this, Rex," she said coolly, circling him like a predator. "But then again, curiosity runs in the family."

Rex scowled. "Yeah, well, I guess that means I get it from César. Not you."

At that, Black Knight chuckled, her lips curling into a knowing smirk. "Oh, but youdoget it from César. He really went all out when he created you."

Rex's stance faltered, his mind blanking for just a second. "Createdme?"

That hesitation was all Black Knight needed. Before he could react, she surged forward, her gauntlet glowing ominously as she struck. Pain exploded in his side as he was sent crashing into a nearby console, sparks flying from the impact.

Through the pain, through the spinning world around him, the words stuck in his me?

---

Hours later, back at the Plant, the air between Rex and his older brother was thick with unspoken tension. César had his arms crossed, his expression unreadable as he studied Rex. The younger teen, still sore from the fight, had his arms resting on his knees, his mind a storm of emotions.

"Tell me she was lying," Rex finally said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Tell me I'm just—just a normal kid who got mixed up in all this. That I'm—"

"Human?"César finished for him.

Rex swallowed hard, meeting his brother's gaze.

César sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was going to tell you. One day. When you were ready."

"Yeah, well,I'm readynow," Rex snapped, anger masking his fear. "Sotalk."

César hesitated, but then, in that quiet, methodical tone of his, he spoke. "The Nanite Project was a failure for years, Rex. Alpha was too unstable. The other experiments? Disasters. But I—I realized something. The nanites neededamind.A consciousness to keep them stable." He took a breath, eyes dark with memories. "So I created one."

Rex felt his stomach drop.

"I used my own DNA as a base," César admitted, looking away as if ashamed. "Modified it, accelerated the process, and fused it with the first—and only—successful batch of nanites. The result…wasyou.A Revolutionarily Evolved .E.X."

Silence. Rex felt like the world had shifted under him, like he was standing on unstable ground, trying to process everything. His arms rested limply on his knees, his fingers twitching as if trying to grab onto something solid. But there was nothing. Just César's words, echoing over and over in his head.

A clone. A lab experiment. AR.E.X.

"But… if I was created as a teenager," Rex finally spoke, his voice hoarse, "why was I a little kid when Six found me?"

César hesitated. And that alone made Rex's stomach tighten.

"That's because of yourtrueform," César admitted.

Rex blinked. "My… what now?"

César sighed, rubbing his temple before gesturing with his hands. "The giant machine you turn into? The one Providence was so terrified of? It's not just a war machine. It's… something like a restoration chamber."

Rex stared, waiting for the punchline. But there wasn't one.

César continued, his voice softer now. "Whenever you're in a life-threatening condition, it forms around you automatically. Shields you. Repairs you." He looked directly at Rex, his dark eyes unreadable. "But there's a side effect."

Rex swallowed. He already didn't like where this was going.

"It rejuvenates you," César said. "It doesn't just heal your wounds—it resets your physical age. That's why when Six found you, you weren't the teenager I originally created. You were a little boy."

Rex sucked in a sharp breath, his mind reeling. "So you're saying that every time I—"

"—Almost died," César finished for him. "You got younger. It doesn't always happen, but when the damage is critical enough…" He trailed off, letting Rex fill in the blanks.

Rex's head dropped into his hands. He felt sick. He his entire existence wasn't his own.

He exhaled shakily. "Did it also…?" He hesitated, staring at the floor. "Did it also mess with my memories?"

César didn't answer right away. That hesitation again. And this time, it felt like a knife twisting into Rex's gut.

"No," César said, his voice heavy with guilt. "Your amnesia was caused by something else."

Rex clenched his jaw, his hands gripping his hair. "What, then?!"He snapped his head up, eyes burning."What happened to me?"

César's face was unreadable. For a moment, Rex thought he wouldn't answer.

Then, quietly, almost too softly, César whispered,

"The Nanite Event happened…"

Silence.

Rex felt his stomach plummet. His breath hitched. Somewhere, deep inside his mind, dark.

Somethingmissing.

He didn't know what it was. But for the first time in years, he wasafraidto remember.

"So what, I'm…notreal?" he whispered.

César's eyes snapped back to his. "You'rereal, Rex. More real than anything else in that lab." He stepped closer, his expression uncharacteristically serious. "I didn't program you. I didn't shape who you are. Youchosethat. You're not a machine. You're not a weapon. You'remylittle brother."

Rex's fists clenched. His chest was tight. His mind was screaming at him that this was too much, that he wasn't ready for this. But through the storm, one thing remained clear.

Black Knight had given him this truth as a way to break him.

She hadfailed.

Rex took a shaky breath, nodding. "Okay," he muttered. "Okay." He looked up, forcing a smirk despite everything. "I mean, hey, at least I got the good looks in the family, right?"

César blinked, then huffed a small laugh. "I suppose that's up for debate."

Rex still didn't know how to process all of this. But one thing was for sure. He wasn't about to let Black Knight win.

This washislife. No one was going to take that from him.

Not her.

Not anyone.