CHAPTER IV

Divided We Fall

"The universe is birthed of chaos, and as such, it is law. Sooner or later, the law will come into affect. Take refuge in the knowledge that your inability to comprehend what is happening, is just another expression of this fact...And remember, the idea of a tomorrow, is the definition of borrowed time."

R.D.M.

Noreen Wakeman's lab

In a dimly lit room, filled wall to wall with all manner of computation technology, low pitched hums and barely audible beeps drift on the still air. Tiny L.E.D lights flash a rainbow of colors. A claustrophobic dungeon to some, haven from a world of idiosyncratic fools to Nora Wakeman. She had decided to break from her work by propping her feet up on her desk, she idly thumbed through an old Science Friction magazine, "The good ole days..." She thought to herself as she looked at the young red head featured on the cover. "ALERT! ALERT!" Her random threat indicator ended her all to short break. She returned to her previous upright position. After a few quick key strokes, a satellite image of the Earth appeared on her monitor. A small, red blinking dot indicated the location of the threat, "Hmmmm...an A class meteorite, far to small to be a threat...I don't recall any astrological objects being in the vicinity...Lets see it's point of origin..." The image zoomed out to show the Earth and Moon. A doted line passed through the meteors center, showing its projected path and point of origin, "Odd, it appeared moments ago at the exact spot our guess...Scanners read low radiation levels, metallic composition and...Headed for Tremerton! This is more than a mere coincidence, I had better inform Jennifer."

The sky's above America

Jenny was currently indulging in one of her favorite pass time, streaking in and out of the clouds high above North America, taking her time heading home. Her communications monitor suddenly unfolded as she dipped out of the white vapor, "Jennifer, there is an A class meteor heading towards the Earth. I need you to intercept it in space before it reaches the atmosphere." Nora spoke with more haste than usual.

"Those A classes always burn up in the atmosphere." Jenny dismissed.

"Yes, but this particular meteor appeared suddenly at the exact same coordinates as Axle. It also has a radiation level and is metallic. It is currently heading towards Tremerton of all places. I want you to intercept and examine it before it burns up." At that moment, an object came into Jenny's radar field,

"Speak of the devil...I got to go mom, Axle's headed my way." Jenny retracted her communications monitor faster than her mother could reply. She stopped and took up position, hovering in mid air with her arms folded and looking very irritated, waiting for Axle to arrive. Axle was approaching at mach 5. Jenny, quickly ran through a list of questions she prepared before he arrived, ready to fire them off in rapid succession, putting him on the spot. She wouldn't get the opportunity, out of no where, a beam of purple energy struck Axle in the chest, exploding on impact. Jenny was stunned for a few nanoseconds after the attack. The sight of Axle plummeting towards the ground snapped her back. She quickly scanned the terrain below. According to her trajectory calculations, the blast came from, "Sheldon's house?" Jenny perked an eyebrow as she swooped down to catch Axle before he impacted. She extended her left arm out. Just as she was about to grab him, two massive robotic arms wrapped around her from behind, pinning her arms to her side, "You got about two seconds to drop me or..." Jenny demanded, while retracting her arm, but was interrupted by a familiar yet darker voice.

"He is the enemy XJ-9! Do not help him." The voice informed. Jenny could only struggle as Axle fell. He impacted with enough force to create a crater the size of a swimming pool just down the road from her own home. Only then did the arms restraining her release their grip. She immediately slammed the back of her head into her attackers face, pulled her knees tightly to her abdomen and squarely planted the heels of her feet into her opponent's abdomen. Using the force of the blow, she shoved away, spinning in the air to see her assailant in one fast motion, "Jennifer...it's me, The Silver Shell." Jenny stared in shock at the giant bot in front of her. He indeed looked like The Silver Shell she knew yet, different, more human, and bigger. Her shock quickly turned to rage and she squeezed her fists tight.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!" She yelled at an eardrum shattering decibel, ignoring the changes in her old friends appearance.

"Please hear me out! I managed to hack into Axle's radio frequency a awhile back. He's been receiving and broadcasting information to an unknown location outside of Earths orbit. The transmissions are heavily encrypted, I haven't been able to decode them...Yet." Shell tried to explain, "I-uh stumbled across his blueprints too."

"Oh, you just stumbled across secure files on my mothers computer?" Jenny irritatedly asked, "And you decided to used them to upgrade yourself? Obviously. That's why I couldn't break free!" Her anger rose as she spoke, "You broke into my Mother's lab and stole from her for your own personal gain!"

"No! It's not like that at all! I was looking for more information about him! I didn't know where else to look! He's up to something and I knew I couldn't beat him the way I was..." Shell tried to defend his actions, "I knew I couldn't stop him unless I upgraded." By now, Jenny had begun to tremble with anger, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" Jenny didn't let him finish.

"After I check on him, we're going to have a little chit chat..." Jennifer said coldly, as she shot towards the ground. The Silver Shell followed suit. She landed beside Axle, who was sitting upright in the crater's center, legs straight out in front, his upper half was hunched over, and his face blank of all expression. His shirt was ripped apart and burned open in the front. His flat matte Grey chest scorched black, "You OK?" Jenny asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Axle said flatly, "But he wont be..." Axle spoke as Shell landed on the crates edge. The two locked optics, Shell starred down on him with judgmental eyes, Axle eyed him back, like a predator. Before Jenny could protest, Axle fired a blue ball of energy from his left hand, striking the craters edge under Shells feet. Shell quickly activated his flight systems and hovered above the attack but, lost track of Axle in the dust cloud. Axle rushed into the thick cloud, throwing a right handed, car crushing blow into what should have been Shells abdomen. The shock-wave from the impact dispelled the dust and reveled that his punch had been stopped dead in the Shells massive left hand.

"HA! This wont be like last time!" Shell gloated as he spun around and threw the helpless Axle like a rag doll. He skidded across the grass and onto an asphalt road. Sparks flew as he slid across the street and into a parked car, caving in the side, "I scanned your over all design structure! Why don't you explain to us why your internal systems structure shares a 48% similar design to known Cluster robots." Shell walked towards Axle as he spoke, "And while your at it, explain why the other 52% of your structure is the same as XJ-9's." Axle watched from the crushed car as Jenny landed a little behind Shell. She looked very confused. He peeled himself out of the wreck and stood.

"Your a real piece of work, aren't you Sheldon?" Axle harshly said. Shell flinched.

"Sheldon! What does he have to do with this?" Shell asked, not wanting to be outed in such a way. He stopped dead in his tracks. Axle walked towards him with an evil stare.

"Tell her Sheldon, look her in the eyes and tell her the true. Tell her your the Silver Shell!" Axle angrily yelled.

"Is it true?" Jenny asked through clenched teeth with a look of absolute alienation.

"Jenny I can explain..." He didn't get the chance as a giant spiked fist sent him flying through the air. Axle watched as Shell hurled completely out of sight. He turned to Jenny who had transformed her left hand into a laser limb.

"Your going to tell me everything I want to know." Jenny commanded. Axle gulped. At that same moment, Brad pulled into his driveway. He had just returned from football practice.

"I swear Jenny, I don't know how anything from you or the Cluster got into my designs!" Axle pleaded, "You got to believe me, I would never purposely cause harm to you! I-I-" Just then, a thunderous sonic boom interrupted the conversation.

"Cripes! I forgot about the meteor!" Jenny shouted. She activated her rockets and was about to intercept it when Axle stopped her.

"Wait! That's no meteor." Jenny looked back at the object. She watched it slow down and land gracefully on Bradly Carbunkles front lawn. It was a twelve foot tall robot. Similarly designed to a praying mantis. Obviously of Cluster origin yet, it's color scheme was very familiar. Blue antenna, blue chest, white mid section, both legs and arms were blue and white.

"Hey, you! Bug bot! Get out of my yard now! I've tangled with your kind before and I know where your off switch is! I've had a hell of a day!" Brad exclaimed at the trespasser.

"Bradly Carbunkle." The new bot spoke with the regalement of an up scale Britt, "Your threat would be note worthy, if I were of the same exact design as my predecessor. For now, be thankful you are not my target." It warned. Jenny and Axle landed in front of Brad, placing themselves between him and the danger.

"Who are you? What do you want and why the hell do you have my paint job?" Jenny commanded more than asked. No response. The large robot simply crossed it's arms and rolled it's optics in boredom, "I'm already pissed off! You better start talking!" She demanded as she stomped a foot deep hole in Brads yard. The droid squinted his eyes as his right arm unfolded into an exact duplicate of Jenny's laser limb. It pointed the weapon at Jenny and began strafing to the left slowly. Jenny and Axle strafed to the right, matching his step.

"Brad you should go inside." Axle suggested.

"Yeah right! This is my house!" Brad yelled while throwing on his football helmet. The bot stopped with Brads house to his back.

"So,you want answers Jennifer? Here is the first: My true target has arrived." The bot let loose a blast amidst the confusion. Jenny easily sidestepped the beam and immediately heard an explosion behind her. They all turned to see Brads parents car in flames. They were returning from picking up Tuck from summer school. Brad immediately hit his knees, Jenny starred in shock, Axle activated his power core to 10%. His size slightly changed as his armor plates slid apart and he charged the mantis droid, landing a knee to its forehead. The robot fell backwards through Brads house. Axle landed on his feet. Brad ran to his parents car. Jenny activated her pigtail rockets and scooped him up before he reached them.

"Brad, I know you'll hate me for this, but I'm taking you to my place until this is over." Brad didn't say a word until they touched down at Jenny's house.

"Jen..." Brad spoke with a voice thick with anger while begrudgingly entering the house.

"Yeah Brad?" Jenny softly asked.

"Destroy that mother fucker." Jenny nodded and Brad slammed the door shut. She took off, achieving as high of a velocity as possible before reaching her target. Axle was busy trading blows with the monster. Axle throw up an energy shield to stop a hail of 50 caliber rounds from a shoulder mounted turret the robot had deployed. The second the gunfire paused, He flew forward and kicked it in it's metal ribs. The bot countered with an elbow to Axle's head, the force shoved him waist deep into the ground and dazed him momentarily. The mantis bot smiled to himself as he pulled his left leg back, about to deliver a devastating kick to the stunned Axle. His systems snapped back to 100% just in time to catch the bots giant leg before impact. The force caused the metal to crumple slightly around his hand, leaving an indention in it's shin. The robots eyes grow wide as Axle raised his right hand and fired a shot square into it's chest, sending it sliding backwards a few yards.

"Heh...You've mucked up my paint job." The bot gloated as it easily recovered.

"Th-That should have blown a hole right through you!" Axle exclaimed.

"HAHAHA! Imbecile! We are forged of the same materials! Constructed in the same laboratory! The same oil pumps through our tubes!" Axle looked listened in horror, "I suppose the correct Earth term would be...Brother!" He couldn't believe his audio receivers.

"Brother? N-no...That's just not-" Axle stated in shock.

"Believe it DV-2! I was the first of our kind! Prototype: DV-1! You truly have no memory? No matter, the queen will explain everything when you see her again." Before anymore information could be revealed, Jennifer tackled the bot. The two flew straight through Brads house, exploding through rear wall. Jenny slammed it into the ground on it's back and opened her rockets to 60%. She dragged the robot for a quarter mile on it's back, digging a 2ft deep trench into the Earth.

"YOU MONSTER! I'M GOING TO RIP YOU APART!" Jenny screamed as they began to loss momentum. She pounded the robot another foot deep into the ground with her bare fists when they finally stopped. The robot grabbed Jenny by the head and threw her against a tree. It then heaved itself from the crater. Jenny recovered and stood firm. Axle landed beside her.

"You need to stop fighting him Jenny!" Axle said.

"Why? So the two of you can have a family reunion?" Jenny asked sarcastically, "I heard everything he said!"

"I don't know exactly whats going on! I don't know if what he said is true!" Axle defended, "Just look at your hands! His armor is stronger than yours and your taking more damage than him!" Jenny glared at the slightly dented robot then down to her hands. They were cracked and leaking oil. Scans indicated fractures in the internal structure of one finger.

"I believe its time to end this game..." The robot suddenly produced wings from his back, exact replicas of Jenny's. The two antenna on top of it's head began to charge a ball of blue energy between them. It raised it's arms out to it's side and balanced on it's right foot. It brought it's left leg up, parallel to the ground, and pointed it straight at the Axle and Jenny. A row of magnifying lenses, starting at it's head, extended from it's body down to the tip of it's foot.

"That's my Butterfly Cannon!" Jenny exclaimed as the energy flowed through the lenses and out as a intense beam. The beam moved far to fast for Jenny to dodge, but not Axle. He quickly jumped in front of her, taking the impact in the back.

"AAARRRRRGGGGHHH!" Axle screamed in pain as the beam melted away his outer armor, exposing his metal spine. As the beam ended he looked up at Jenny and smiled as best he could, "Heh...Just...Just a flesh wound..." He said, then collapsed to the ground at her feet.

"OhmygodAxle!" Jenny screeched. She knelled down beside him.

"Jenny...Listen...my sensors say his that attack drained most of his power...You can beat him. Use your weapons..." Oil ran from his mouth as he spoke. He mustered a smile. Jenny, though she wanted to protest, knew she had no choice but to try. She nodded in agreement as she stood to face the enemy.

"And to think, you used to be the ultimate weapon. It seems that your new found kindness for Earthlings has been your undoing. I am puzzled as to why you haven't activated more of you power core. That blast would have been nothing to you at 20%." The bot thought aloud, "The old DV-2 would not have made suck a careless mistake."

"You'll pay for that you bastard!" Jenny charged the robot, unleashing hell along the way. She bombarded it with missiles and lasers until she got in close. She turned her hands into giant machetes and began hacking away. The slashes were far to fast for the drained bot to dodge or block. Jenny's blades dented and chipped but, they were cutting gashes into the bots hide. Unable to land a single blow on the much small Jenny, the robot fell to his knees from the energy lost trying to defend it's self. He looked at her and laughed.

"Hah! Are you finished yet XJ-9? You can't do any real damage to me!...My systems will charge back up eventually...Feel free to try you best until then." The snide remark boiled Jenny's oil. She brought her machetes together and swung with all her might at DV-1's C.P.U. housing. The blades shattered against the side of the robots head. The impact left two deep gouges in it's face and cracked it's left eye. Jenny starred in amazement at the strength of his armor, "Even as weak as I am, you can barely scratch my armor." The bot gloated, "That fool lying on the ground was your only hope! He never made such mistakes during the Prime War." SHOOOM! A beam of green energy hit the robot from behind, exploding a hole in it's back armor, "AHHHH! No! This is not possible! Nothing on this planet can harm me!"

"Think again!" The Shell exclaimed as he crashed into the robot from above and drove it into the ground.

"The Silver Shell?" DV-1 exclaimed while it struggled with it's opponent in the hole, "Our data indicated you to be far weaker than XJ9!"

"Your calculations can't factor in my intelligence!" Shell responded as well with a solid right hook that cracked the bots chest plate. The bot stumbled back a few steps and leaned against a tree, "I reverse engineered your tech, and now I'm going to destroy you with it!"

"Our technology you say?" DV-1 questioned as it reaffirmed it's footing, "I'll venture a guess that your power core is a modified version of DV-2's?" The bots voice was thick with mischief.

"What's it to you?" Shell asked.

"Everything!" The bot yelled, then shot out a cable with a sharp tip from it's chest. The cable punctured Shell's chest plate. Shell grabbed the cable and tried to pull it free but, it was to late. His systems started being drained. Alarms sounded inside the suit, Sheldon desperately flipped switches and turned knobs, trying in vain to reroute the remaining energy into breaking free. The deceive siphoned off his power faster than he could relocate the dwindling resource, and he fell to his knees still, clutching the cable, "You ignorant fool! You brought me a free recharge! Hahaha!" Jennifer observed the scene, trying to calculate a viable strategy but, she was down to 50% power herself. She ran towards the cable, transforming her hands into chainsaws along the way. With a mighty swing, she struck the thick cord, only to watch in shock, as the teeth ground to a halt in a hail of sparks. Her H.U.D. flashed a warning her that her energy levels were down to 48.78% and dropping. She quickly detached the wedged weapons.

"Damn it girl think!" Jenny scolded herself.

"Patience XJ-9! I will be with you momentarily!" DV-2 gloated.

"FU-" Jenny didn't finish her retort. Instead, she smiled, "Detonate." As soon as the last syllable left her metal lips, the chainsaws exploded, severing the cable, "Yes!" The rush of the small victory left as quickly as it came. Jenny watch as the severed ends reconnected, "Damn it! It can reconstruct itself too!" She was out of options. She ran to Axle, "Axle! You have to get up! Your the only one who can beat this thing!" He just turned his optics to hers as he lay in his own oil.

"I can't move...My spine is to damaged. My recovery systems can fix it but..The nanites need time to work..." He spoke weakly.

"We don't have time! I can't beat him alone!" Jenny begged.

"You can do it...I'll be with you the whole time." Axle's chest opened up, a metal arm grasping a container extended out and dropped the container on the ground. Jenny starred at the astounding object that lay before her. A clear cylinder with a metallic top and bottom but inside, inside was a bright shining orb contained by an energy field. Jenny had to equip her shades to directly scan the object.

"A self sustaining fusion reactor suspended in an anti gravity container..." She read off the information scrolling across her H.U.D., "Axle...This-this is a freaking star!" Jenny exclaimed.

"It's-it's my power core...I wont last long without it but, you should have plenty of time to beat him..." Axle's digital voice sounded even weaker, "But, be careful...I don't know what will happen if you exceed 10%." Jenny reached down and gingerly grabbed the power core.

"Axle...I don't know if I-" Jenny began to express her concerns but, Axle cut her off.

"You got this Jen..." He smiled as best he could. Jenny looked at Shell, his systems were to 28% and dropping steadily. She steadied her nerve and opened her chest, revealing her auxiliary power input. Carefully, she shifted her parts around a bit little to accept the new one. She placed it inside and closed her chest.

"New power system detected. Disconnecting current power system.. … Complete. Installing drivers... … …. .Complete. Connecting... …. Complete. Loading... … … …. Power system activated. Warning: Power levels may exceed current model limitations. Caution is advised."

The words appeared across Jenny's H.U.D. Her temperature sensors read a .3 degree rise in her internal systems. She sighed to herself, "Let's get down to business. 10% wasn't enough so, let's try 15%." Her O.S. carried out her command and turned down the power dampers to allow 15% power to flow through her systems. Instantly, her internal temperature rose from 98.3 to 120.8. She trembled a little with the sudden rush of power, "A-amazing! I feel so, so alive!"

"Warning! Power dampers at maximum capacity. New power system exceeds current design specifications. Damper failure eminent."

"Oh man. I better get started." Time seemed to slow a bit to her as she moved. Before the robot or Shell could react, Jenny grabbed the cable and ripped it in half, straining a little in the process. She firmly grasped the end attached to the robots chest and spun, slinging the robot through the forest. Splintering trees as it traveled through the thicket for an 8th of a mile.

"Jenny...He drained nearly all of my power...I can't help you." Shell said.

"Don't worry about it. I got this." Jenny's voice was stern and confident. Before Shell could comment further, she was gone. She reappeared on top of the robots chest, who had finally came to a stop. The robot deployed it's turret again and unloaded on her at point blank range. Jenny threw her arms up in defense and an energy shield formed around her automatically. The rounds bounced off in all directions.

"Whats this?" The bot questioned as it's firing stopped. Jenny smiled.

"This is the end for you." She replied calmly. She spun completely around, landing a mighty round house kick to the weapon as she spun. The attack ripped it from DV-1's shoulder and sent it careening out of site through the woods. The robot took advantage of her distraction and caught her with a right that sent her hurdling into tree.

"I see now..." DV-1 began in an fearfully hateful tone, "You've taken DV-2's power core...Silly girl, you know not the powers you are playing with! You can't control it!"

Jenny stood. "Dampers failing. Power increasing to 23%" Jenny let out a soft moan as the extra power flowed through her. She began to tremble slightly. Internal temperature rose to 167.6 degrees. Her outer hull began to turn a reddish hue from to the heat. The oil in her cracked hands sizzled and smoked. She smiled, she loved the feeling of this new power, "The feeling!" She processed, "I can actually feel it!" Lost in her own thoughts, she wasn't even paying attention as the bot fired it's Butterfly Cannon again. The blast struck her like a truck. The surrounding vegetation burst into flames fin a 500 meter radius. The DV-1 smiled to it's self, satisfied that it had eliminated it's opponent. It's self illusion was quickly cut short, Jenny was standing in the same spot when the smoke cleared, "Whoa..." She said to herself. Amazed at the entire situation.

"Oh bother..." The bot said sheepishly. Jenny re-targeted it after shaking off her own self indulgence and clenched her sizzling fists. She charged at it, far to fast for it to see. She landed a punch to it's stomach that went straight through it, "AAAAHHHGGGRRR!" It screamed.

"You like inflicting pain, but don't like receiving huh?" She ripped her hand free from it's torso and grabbed it's left arm. She slid between its legs with it's arm, flipping it onto it's back, "Dampers failing. Power increasing to 45%." The sudden rush of energy caused her anger to peak, she grabbed the arm again and ripped it clean off. Holding it in her hand, she watched as it turned white and began to melt from the heat she was producing. Her own temperature had reached 242.9 degrees. Warnings of all kinds flashed across her H.U.D. She herself was now glowing orange. The oil burning in her hands turned into small fires that engulfed her fists.

"Jenny! You must co-control yourself!" Axle yelled in vain, "End it now and eject the power core!" She was to overwhelmed by power to hear his plea.

"Now! You die!" Jenny screamed as she vaporized the appendage she held into a shower of liquid metal droplets. DV-1 sprang to his feet in an attempt to escape. Jenny allowed it to run a short distance before melting both of it's legs, with blast from her hands, so it couldn't run. Chuckling madly through clenched teeth, she smiled evilly as approached the helpless robot. The bot stood little chance when her systems suddenly received 55% power. The heat emitting from her body had set half the forest ablaze, "I'M GOING TO TEAR YOU APART AND WATCH YOU BURN!" The DV-1 screamed in as it's form rose into the air at the motion of Jenny's right hand, white hot metal dripped from it's chassis and fell to the ground as it began to melt. Jenny charged her hovering target, punching the robots chest violently. Hot metal chunks of debris flew in all directions, until an unrecognizable hunk of twisted, shattered, and half molten steel was all that remained. She laughed maniacally as if proud of the mangled mess before her. In the heat of her indulgence, she grabbed it and ripped it in half. The pieces floated around her like planets around a sun. Her systems reached 75% and 678 degrees, unrepairable damage to her body was happening at an astounding rate. Her pigtails fell to the ground as bubbling puddles of molten metal. Her tempered glass optic lenses evaporated, her outer armor began to run off like liquid exposing all internals. Anything not metal had been consumed by the heat and the metal its self was on fire. Her appearance could be described as "mechanical zombie".

"Jenny! Eject it now!" Axle pleaded as his auxiliary power began to fade. Shell deployed solar cells to help recharge but, he could only watch his artificial love melt away. Jenny, seemingly with her mind alone, brought the pieces together above her head in a tight ball. She placed her right hand just bellow the bottom of the condensed mass of melted robot and a bright yellow ball of energy formed in her hand. She smiled again, and released the energy as a powerful beam, 30 feet across, instantly evaporating what was left of the robot. Axle's vision began to flicker and fade. His systems had begun to shutdown. Jenny screamed as the power core slid out of her chest through the hot steel. She collapsed to the ground on her side, her body melted like butter and pooled around her. Shell mustered all the power he could and ran to her side. He picked up the power core and starred back at Axle.

"What have you done..." He sadly spoke with a tear filled voice. He tossed the core to the side and looked down at the unrecognizable Jennifer Wakeman, little remained, from her right shoulder to her elbow, a quarter of her chest, and the right side of her head was all the that extended from the metal slab. Axle tried to pull himself to his power core a few yards away. His vision quickly fading to static, he reached out for his core. He glanced out past his outstretched fingers to see Shell rip the metal slab from the Earth. Through the haze, he watched Shell turn to him with Jenny in his arms. His systems finally shutdown as he watched the giant take flight.

The Wakeman residence

Nora was exhausted. Not since her Skyway Patrol days has she had such an exhausting battle. Bradly Carbunkle had become a raging maniac since his arrival. It took two tranquilizers and all of her Skyway combat training to keep him from the weapons in her lab. She brushed away the sweat from her brow while glancing down at the unconscious teen. Suddenly, the sound of her alarm system activating emanated from her lab. She ran to her monitor station, to assess the situation. The words, "G.R.R.U.-XJ-9 Offline" flashed boldly across the screen, "Thats-Thats not possible..." She ran a systems check, "Offline" She tried to open a communications channel to no avail. As if this sudden shock wasn't enough, the intruder alarm sounded as well. She looked over her perimeter layout to find the location of the interloper, "The garage!" Quickly, she grabbed her particle accelerator gun as she ran towards the garage. She pressed her back against the kitchen wall, steadying her nerve before rounding the corner to face the garage door. Upon doing so, she saw steam seeping out from underneath the door. Someone had activated the re-entry cool down system. Cautiously, Nora reached out and turned the knob, allowing the door to ease halfway open before kicking it open fully, "Eat hot protons you vile-!" She paused mid threat. The gun fell to the floor at her feet. The Silver Shell stood before her, clutching a slab of metal. Though little actually protruded, Nora easily recognized her daughters form. She didn't even acknowledge The Shell's presence, "J...Jennifer?" She questioned through emerging tears.

"Please...you have to help her." Said Shell in a sad voice.

Cluster Prim: Two weeks prior to Axle's arrival

"Sargent's log: Its been twenty data cycles...Or was it twenty five? Doesn't matter, nothing matters anymore now that Hive set their plan in motion. The tower they were building that Tuff reported on before he went M.I.A...They used it to broadcast an E.M.P. across the entire planet. Only those lucky enough to have shielding from the factory or from their golden chip survived. An estimated 48% of the planets population just...Deactivated. They were the lucky ones. Two cycles later, the devil appeared. Oddly organic in design, the beast had unparalleled power. It's body coal Grey...It came and killed all survivors that refused to join the Hive. We tried to fight but, we couldn't even get close because of the heat it produced. It destroyed everything in it's path. It was indestructible, even without it's protective heat shield. Once our forces were defeated, she appeared. She called herself Vexes yet she looked nothing like the former Queen. She looked strikingly similar to the XJ-9 unit that visited us. Her pigtails ran down just above her rear, ending in sharp points. Her body was covered in the trade mark Cluster colors and patterns. She always wore a smile of razor sharp teeth. She cackled madly as she commanded the Grey beast to do her bidding. Our last stand took place in the royal palace. I could only watch helplessly as Vexes ripped her way into the throne room. She had decided to confront her daughter herself. Vega refused to join them and tried to fight back but, it was no use. Vexes shredded her own paneling and oil...Since then, I've managed to stay hidden this entire time and have yet to cross paths with another active bot...The Hive left the planet cycles ago. I...I believe I'm the only one left...I leave this memory chip for any who may wonder what happened here. End log." Drab starred out across the dead planet through a large hole ripped in the wall of the throne room. He casually turned from the desecrated city and rolled to where his former best friend and Queen would normally sit and took a seat. He ejected an SD card from his neck and placed it on the arm rest. A small drop of oil fell free before he closed his eyes and formed his left hand into a gun, "I'll see you shortly my Queen." He quietly uttered the words as he put the barrel to his head and pulled the trigger.