The horrid smell of bunt flesh and decaying bodies still hung in the humid air as Taz walked slowly through the house she had once called home. She desperately wanted to be sad, seeing the corpses of her loved ones, now rotting, but she couldn't. Taz thought herself emotionless now. She tried to make tears come, but they wouldn't. She was just like the robots, she thought. No, she mustn't think that, her mind argued. She was better than them. She had killed because they had, not to conquer.
The infamous war against the robots had been won only three days ago on Earth, but the Starship Rangers of the Starship 15A2 had only arrived back from Bug-World one day before. Secretly, Taz had desperately wanted to be congratulated heavily by anyone who would notice. But the news of the humans winning the century-long war overpowered their story of stopping a plot. Junior was dead now and -Claw had been arrested prior to their return.
Taz looked from left to right at what should have been her garden. The Mexican sun beat down on the yellowed grass. She walked cautiously to the other end of the garden, her eyes focused on her target. Taz stared up at the dead tree. It was taller than she remembered but still had the ropes dangling and fraying from a branch. Then she diverted her gaze to her feet and jumped back in horror and surprise. Memories flowed back into Taz's mind as she stared at what used to be her mother.
The robots had killed her in front of Taz, in the most inhumane way they could think of. They had used their sharp attachments to cut off parts of her body. Eventually, Taz's mother had been reduced to thirty-three single pieces. The robots had made sure she didn't die of blood loss, so kept burning the stumps. All while Taz was strung up by her foot like a piñata in that tree.
She shook away the bad memories and began muttering to herself. She knew it had been an awful idea to come back. She put a hand to her cheek quickly: she was crying. Her emotions fought to take over her. Her relief of feeling upset only made her sadder as no one should be relieved while looking at this sit in front of her.
At that, Taz turned and sprinted through her house and out again into the road. Her senses were more alert now, after the rush of running. She glanced fast around until she saw what she was searching for. Silent tears still pouring down her face, she thrust the door open and leapt in the Jeep's passenger seat. She broke down, letting herself to cry it out.
When no more tears would come, Taz looked to her side. Up had his hands on the steering wheel and was staring ahead. Feeling her dark eyes, he turned his head to her. They said in a comfortable silence, never breaking eye contact, until Taz nodded.
"I'm ready to go." Her accented voice almost quivered but she kept strong, wiping away the last of her hot tears. Up started the engine and quietly sighed to himself, she looked so vulnerable.