Mark II

Chapter 9: Deja Vu

A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! This chapter took me forever to figure out, but I think the end result will be more than satisfying. In other news, since I haven't updated on schedule, I'll upload this and the epilogue. Big thanks to everyone who read this story.

The voice in Melody's head became completely overwhelming. "Yes! Finally." It said. "Whoever you are, please leave me alone!" Melody begged. "You mean you don't recognize me?" the voice teased. Melody's eyes widened as she came to a horrible realization. "Dad?" she wondered. "But… how?"

"After I incapacitated you in my lair, I took the liberty of downloading a copy of my consciousness into your brain." Melody could not believe what she was hearing. "For the past few day's I've slowly taken over each of your systems and now I have full control!" Locus boasted. "Let's go say hi to XJ9." Locus said.

Try as she might, Melody could not stop herself from walking upstairs toward Jenny's room. Dr. Locus made her a prisoner in her own body. "Dad, stop this!" she pleaded. "I'm afraid it's too late dear." He answered. Melody reached the door to Jenny's room and turned the knob. She opened the door and saw Jenny asleep on her bed. As Locus forced Melody to walk toward the sleeping heroine, she screamed "Jenny, wake up!"

"Huh?" Jenny said as she woke. "Melody what are you…" she began before having to dodge a laser blast from Melody's palm. The blast completely destroyed Jenny's bed. Wide awake now, Jenny gave Melody a confused look. "Melody, what's gotten into you?" she wondered.

Melody laughed in a voice that didn't belong to her. "I guess her father finally talked some sense into her." Jenny froze in shock. "Dr. Locus?" she guessed. "Very good XJ9." Locus teased. "Get out of Melody's body now!" Jenny demanded. "Sorry, but I'll be keeping it for the time being."

Locus/Melody lunged toward Jenny causing them both to crash through the wall and onto the front yard. Jenny rose and shook herself off. "I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice." Jenny said as she drew her laser rifle and energy sword. Locus responded by activating a missile pod and a Gatling gun. Jenny fired first, but Melody evaded all of her shots. Locus returned fire with the missiles. Jenny blasted all of the missiles before they could hit her or anything on the street.

The noise from the girls' skirmish began to wake some of the neighbors including Brad and Tuck. The former opened his window and groggily asked, "What gives Jen? Don't you have any idea what time it is?" The sight of Jenny trying desperately to keep Melody in a hold proved enough to wake him fully. "Jenny, I thought you two made up!" he yelled.

Jenny knocked Melody into the road and briefly turned to Brad. "Locus took over Melody's body. He's using her to…" she managed to get out before receiving a direct hit from a sledge hammer. The heroine tumbled through the air before crashing into a light post.

By this point, almost the entire street's residents began to walk out of their house to determine the cause of all the ruckus they heard. Locus let out a terrifying laugh. "Time for a costume change." He teased. Melody knew exactly what this meant. Her exo-skin began to peel back to reveal several metal arms and weapon pods. Jenny's eyes widened in horror. No. She thought. I won't allow this to happen again. Jenny activated her flight thrusters and flew straight into Melody before heading directly upward. She activated her face mask and pulse rockets in order to reach the solace of space.

During the entire ride up into orbit, Locus thrashed and struggled until he finally knocked Jenny away. She quickly righted herself and fired another burst from her laser rifle. Locus dodged to the left and finished transforming into Melody's super configuration. He unleashed a maelstrom of missiles and laser fire at Jenny. Thankfully her force field protected her from all of the shots.

As luck would have it, Jenny received a call at that very moment. Really bad timing Mom. She mentally groaned before picking up. "Not to be rude but I'm…" she dodged another missile. "… a little preoccupied right now."

"I understand XJ9, but this important." Nora replied. "There is a way to save Melody, but you'll need to get very close enough so you can directly connect to her cerebral matrix. After that, you'll need to find a way to restore control of herself."

Jenny rolled her eyes. "Piece of cake." She said in a deadpan tone. "Don't get snippy with me young lady." Despite her doubts, Jenny at least thanked her lucky stars that Melody still had a chance. A slim chance perhaps, but better than nothing. She pointed herself at Locus and ignited her engines at full power charging straight at him.

He continued to fire missiles, lasers, bombs, and even struck out with extending arms to ward off the incoming heroine. Despite a few glancing blows, Jenny closed the gap and collided headlong into Melody. She produced a USB connector from her thumb and plugged it into a port on the back of Melody's head. Suddenly, everything went white.

When Jenny came to her senses, she found herself in a visual representation of Melody's brain that resembled an office building. An alarm sounded before Jenny could adjust to her new surroundings. Several security guards appeared and began to attack Jenny with batons. Jenny easily avoided the strikes and responded with punches and kicks that resulted in the guards exploding in a shower of pixels.

The alarm continued to sound as Jenny made her way toward Melody's central processing unit, which Jenny assumed would be the boss's office. Along the way she ran into more guards, but once again they proved no challenge for the young heroine. Jenny finally arrived at the entrance to Melody's CPU to find absolutely no security there. Odd. She thought before entering.

She could not have been more unprepared for what she saw next. The representation of Melody's CPU did indeed look like an executive office, or at least it would have had it not been for the electrified cage sitting next to the desk. Inside the cage lay Melody, who had since given up trying to fight her father.

The chair behind the desk swiveled around to reveal Dr. Locus with a cheeky grin plastered across his face. "Nice to see you again, XJ9." He greeted. Jenny glared at the man. "How are you here?" she demanded. Locus put his feet up on the desk and folded his arms behind his head. "Simple really." He began. "When I incapacitated Melody back in my lair, I installed a copy of my consciousness into Melody's brain. I also made sure that my takeover would be gradual so as not to alert Melody's security protocols."

Jenny looked at Melody for a moment. Never before had Jenny seen her so defeated. Jenny looked back toward Locus and clenched her fists. "Let her go." She demanded in the most serious of tones. "No." he replied. At this Jenny lunged at Locus, ready to grind his virtual rear end into a pulp. She threw a punch aimed directly at his face. The punch connected… straight into Locus's palm. To Jenny's surprise and shock, Dr. Locus caught her fist and held it firmly in his hand.

Before Jenny could react, Locus threw her toward one of the room's walls. She slammed into the wall and fell to the floor in a heap. "Hahaha." Locus chuckled. "Did you really think it would be that easy?" Jenny slowly began to pick herself up, but received a swift kick in her gut. She went flying again and landed hard on the floor. She tried to get up again but found the struggle more difficult this time.

Melody looked on in horror as Jenny continued to receive this beating from her father. With renewed vigor, she began to punch the cage that held her. Something had clearly changed, because Melody actually started to make progress this time. Perhaps the fact that most of Locus's attention had shifted to beating the living daylights out of Jenny's avatar had something to do with it.

Speaking of which, Locus walked over to Jenny and picked her up by her top's collar. "Is… that… all you've… got?" Jenny managed to say. Her avatar began to fizzle to indicate damage. "Trust me, I've got loads more where that came from." He proceeded to punch Jenny in the face repeatedly. Meanwhile Melody still hammered away at her cage. She began to see cracks in the bars as she continued to punch her way through. Hang in there just a bit longer. Melody thought.

With one final punch, the cracks in Melody's cage grew bigger and bigger until the whole structure blew apart. Locus turned around in time for Melody to punch him squarely in the face. He let go of Jenny and slid across the room. Melody knelt down toward her friend. "Jenny, are you okay?" she asked. "I'll manage." Jenny replied weakly. Melody helped Jenny to her feet while Locus regained his own footing. He whirled around. "How… how…" he stuttered.

"You really need to stop being so single minded." Melody lectured. She turned to Jenny. "Ready to finish this?" Jenny grinned. "After you." she replied. Melody threw a right hook into her father's jaw and Jenny followed up with a roundhouse kick to his stomach. The two girls then punched him in the face at the same time. His spectacles shattered and he lay sprawled on the floor.

"System command, activate cage. Target: Dr. Locus." Melody ordered having regained control of herself. The same cage that once held Melody now formed around Locus. "No! No!" He shouted. Melody's avatar sat back down at the desk. "Thank, you Jenny. I owe you one." Melody said. Jenny smiled. "Don't mention it." She replied before logging out.

When the two girls awoke in the real world they found themselves still floating in orbit around the Earth. The two headed home together. Once back, Nora removed Locus's consciousness from Melody's brain and stored it on a hard drive which she handed over to Skyway Patrol. They gave their assurances that the mad doctor's mind would be safe in Warehouse 66, the organizations most secure storage facility.

As far as Jenny was concerned she was happy that no one saw Melody transform again and that she helped save her new friend. She looked forward to the times ahead with the utmost hope and optimism.