Author's Note
Hey, hey, hey, guess what today is? MY BIRTHDAY!
As a special treat, I'm updating all my stories simultaneously! So while I eat cake, you read fanfics!
One World
She ran.
She had no other choice in her mind when she saw him. She had already been taken from her squad, she had her body and mind split open and looked upon by a mad man, and even as she ran through the halls of a murder factory clutching her unconscious, bleeding commander and friend, she had never felt the pangs of horror so much as when she saw him.
Vlad Masters, he had done this to her. He was the reason her mother was…
The gears that lined her legs turned faster, pistons pumping harder to escape the thought. She could only run now, she couldn't bear to see him. She knew exactly what he was going to do to her if she was caught. The same thing that happened to her mother.
She would be erased.
…One Month after the Celestian Incident…
…New York City, a new Metropolis…
Fall was just beginning to dawn on the new world for what was only the fifth time. Four years since the merge, and the chaos that followed. People had difficulty remembering what had gone on when the merge occurred. One moment there was a shock, and every sentient being that had existed in those different dimensions had become dormant. They slipped into a sleep, so to say. When people awoke, they were exactly where they had been before. Cars had stopped in the street, people pulled themselves off the sidewalks into a new world. It was strange, people seeing creatures that they had never imagined before now. Human-animal hybrids, robots of beyond futuristic design, and what could only be described as demons now shared a planet with the human race. Suffice to say, people were worried. Riots broke out, people attacked even people they recognized, fearing the worst, and in some cases, war sparked against these new creatures.
China, most notably, within two months had launched a genocide campaign against any "non-human". This nearly culminated in a nuclear holocaust, and had it not been for the revolts of those same "Non-humans", the new Earth would be a smoldering husk.
But, this was merely hysteria taking its toll. People were foolish at times, and acted on their fear. Now, four years later order had set in. The united governments had come together, seeing the need for unity above all else. This was history's greatest opportunity, and it was nearly realized. But then, the Celestian Incident shattered that all in an instant. Violence was breaking out around the world, and no one knew why. People began to turn on one another, without warning, and it seemed World War Terminus hung over the head of this new world. And the question on everyone's lips was simple.
"Who Murdered Celestia?"
That was what Jenny had come to New York to find. It was still the strong, bustling city that it had always been, and even knee deep in the blood red waters of the impending war that Celestia had let flood the Earth, people went along their lives as usual. The people of America, as they always have, had seen no need to fluster themselves over any crisis, even the assassination of every world leader. Truly, it was an outrage to them, but what were they supposed to do? They were merely human, and they couldn't fight.
Just like Jenny. Explosions had torn at her circuits, and even though Reece had saved her, she had lost connection to the weapons that had been implanted in her body. She was a army contained in one girl, and yet all that power was chained inside a teenage robot shell. But her will has persevered, and now she had arrived in New York City to find out who had killed the council, and most importantly her mother.
In a flourishing park, three blocks down from the theater district she sat, staring, in both anger and curiosity at the letter she had received in her mother's empty home, where she had planned on living the rest of her lonely life.
A piece of extravagant parchment that was almost mocking Jenny's loss, aside from directions to one of the few survivor's office buildings the note had only this to say;
Jenny, I know about Celestia. If you wish to learn, I can only offer you crushing honesty.
-Vlad Masters
She shook her head in defeat, deciding that there was nothing else left for her to do but listen to this craven, political figurehead who hid a massacre in plain sight. He had done nothing but lit a candle for the event, and only just recently suggested building up the World's Army. Finally, Jenny stood up from the bench and walked, silently, down the streets towards the government building where Vlad had taken up residence. She walked past a group of ghetto children who were pestering a shop keeper, an elderly lizard peddling fruit from his homeland, with a thousand questions about its race. She turned her head to watch as the shop keeper swung his tail at the feet of a child who had tugged his scales, and the children ran away, some laughing, and some genuinely frightened. They ran past her, some even pushing to get by without having to step into the busy street. It would offend her, but their ignorance of her presence was comforting, somewhat. She wasn't a freak in their eyes, which was something she had always wished for.
But she tried not to think on this point, given that she was, in sense of fighting ability, now a normal human. She rounded one last street corner, and saw the Governor's office, an enormous building of white stone and glass, standing on sixty foot Parthenon columns that gave it the illusion of a house of justice. People dressed in fine suits moved up and down the twenty five steps of marble that led up to the building's numerous doors, scittering back and forth like cockroaches. No one minded her, the fact beginning to sting that no one seemed to care about her presence. Less than a year before she was a hero, fighting for the new world, and now she was nobody, a crippled nobody.
The secretary seemed uninterested in her, as if she was trying especially hard to forget she had ever seen a blue robot walk up to the front desk and asked to be sent to Governor Masters' office. Jenny was led unceremoniously to the elevator, which was only opened by certified personnel, and she was sent upwards, alone, through the building. There were only two buttons illuminated on the side, one going up, and one doing down. Not everyone was allowed an audience with Masters, especially in times of crisis.
She exited directly into his office, a spacious, perfectly rounded room, the walls coated with the spines of hundreds of books jutting out from the bookshelves wrapped around them. He stood, away from his desk, gazing out the window to the city's skyline.
"Hello Jenny," He didn't turn to face her, " I suppose we both know why we're here."
She clenched her jaw, in anger, he spoke so coldly and acted so numb about her mother's death.
"Anger doesn't suit you, Jenny. Especially not in your current state. In fact, you seem only fit for begging for mercy, with your dented little body, and frail little arms." He spoke with contempt, and her anger only boiled harder. Anger, a gift of her mother.
She wanted to punch him, beat him within an inch of his life and toss his disgusting body out the window onto the cold sidewalk. It would make for a nice crime scene.
"You're quite the comedian." She huffed under her breath.
"I'm sorry. I don't deal with tragedy well." He sat down before her at his desk, sweeping a few papers from it. "Jenny, I'm not your enemy. But since your mother died you have refused to communicate with the outside world, and you need to know the truth behind that incident."
She paused, a cold fear ran up her spine,
"What are talking about?"
"Sit." She obeyed, she was too frightened to do anything else.
"Long before the incident, during the merge," He paused, and rubbed his temples. Vlad knew what he was about to say would destroy her. Jenny could never see the world as she once did, now she could see it the way he had been forced to. "Some of us, your mother and I, along with some others, remained conscious, while the world was shaped…"
…
What he said next, Jenny drowned from her mind, it was all lies to her. The same filth they fed the populous, of the Eternal Lord. Some omnipotent creature that ruled all of existence and defined the movements of every person in the world, in his world.
But she knew better, there was no Eternal Lord, he was a figurehead meant to control the people and scare loyalty out of them. After her speech with Vlad she ignored the offer he had presented her, to live in the city, peacefully, under Empire rule.
She instead joined the resistance, and in the winter of the same year, she was recruited into a small scouting battalion, where she met her commander.
The man she now held, bleeding in her arms. Fear, another of her mother's gifts, that had been given to her when her mother died. had spent years trying to build a human-like daughter, but Jenny never really felt true emotion until her death.
Vlad walked behind her, closer than she had hoped, stepping on the air. He had abandoned his guard's body, a cheap parlor trick he used to frighten her. It was almost painful doing this to her, but it was nothing compared to the suffering he lived with.
He raised one hand, and it was surrounded with a green glow, "Are you afraid Jenny?" She froze, realizing she couldn't escape him.
"You don't know anything about fear." He twisted his hand, and the metal walls contorted and twisted in front of her, blocking the hallway. It didn't matter, she had no idea where she was going. She turned and faced his hideous form. Blue skinned, his pitch black hair spiked up like horns. And those piercing red eyes.
"Your mother knew true fear, just like the rest of us. That's why she struggled so much." He lifted his hand, and Jenny began to float, dropping Reece's body to the ground. He tossed his hand to the side and struck her body against the hard metal walls, letting her fall back to the cold floor. "You should have listened. I know you believed me, and I know you still remember."
Her mind heard his words echo back, what she had tried to hide so long ago. His voice still rang clear in her head, all those years ago.
What we saw, was the world being molded around us…
But no, she wouldn't surrender yet, she wouldn't die here. Vlad watched as she pulled her dented metal frame back up, and looked at him with that arrogant defiance, the same he once saw in her mother's eyes. He raised a hand, and she prepared for another blow, but it never came.
He let himself float back to the ground, and approached her, speaking as he went, "Remember what we saw? The others, they were all at the Celestian Conference, they knew what would happen, and tried to fight it. Your mother was the worst, that's why I made sure she died first."
"Shut up." She clenched her hands, but fear was still gripping her. She felt just as powerless as she did before, when she was weak.
"She was an idiot!" He grabbed her shoulders, and shook her," We looked into the eyes of God! He told us how the war would begin, and how each one of us would die! He wrapped the cosmos around his finger and yet she still fought it until she died. And now, you still don't believe me!"
She refused to look up at him, to face her death. She was still weak, but…
"You still can't accept it! He told us that we would die, and that when we did, there would be nothing! We would cease to exist!"
Her eyes flared up, some light inside her was shining in response to her own fears, and it was clear. I'm not weak, not anymore
He pushed her away, against the twisted metal barricade. She kept her eyes down, and spoke softly,
"Shut up…"
He didn't even hear her speak, and ignited his hands with that same green flame, readying himself, "And now it's come to this, it's a shame really, if only your stupid little friend had stayed out of this, he'd still be safe in his little bunker."
She raised her voice, "Leave him out of this!"
"Or what? What can a pathetic little robot do to stop me?" He raised his hand to strike her, but when his fist fell, it passed right through her head, "Don't you see? I'm far more powerful than you can imagine. A ghost-human hybrid, the last of my kind, and you can't touch me unless I give you the chance. So go ahead, kill me. Just like you've always wanted, I dare you."
"Shut up!" She flung her arm upward, and something inside her clicked. A blade snapped out of her arm, impaling Vlad, much to his own horror.
She had fought for so long without her weapons, she'd forgotten how they'd unfold from her body. She was a living arsenal, with encyclopedic knowledge of her armaments. But this, this was something new entirely. A thick blade with a serrated edge, attached at the hilt to a series of blue tubes running up her arm, and it had an unearthly blue aura leaking from it, like a ghostly flame.
Vlad choked on the sudden pain, but still managed to find composure, "This.. No, you shouldn't have this power!"
She didn't wait for him to continue, and she ripped the blade across his midsection, cutting unevenly across his body and severing most of his left half outright. She struck him with her free hand, the mere shock of her attack allowed her to hit him without fear of a counter. He fell backwards, having lost his left leg and most of his left torso, and laid, trying to keep his wound off the ground. Demonic green blood oozed from his body, which seemed to contain no organs, and he spat furiously, a mixture of that green blood and his own, human bile.
"It was Spicer, I know it, he was trying to kill me. He's the only reason you're still alive!" Jenny lunged at him with the blade, but he allowed his body to slip through the ground and she could only strike metal. He escaped her, but only for now.
The sword retracted into her body, along with the wires that ran into it, of its own accord. For the best, she supposed, its very presence drained her energy. She moved to Reece, who seemed to have stopped bleeding, miraculously. With minimal effort, she had him over her shoulder, it seemed her strength was returning to her. She wasn't sure where she could go for now, but she started down the hallway. It was odd, but even in this factory she had a newfound confidence. One that came with not having to fear for your life.
….
Kurtis cracked his neck, still feeling a little stiff from his long break. The laboratories didn't give him much time to practice fighting, but, judging from the metallic husks of Jenny Spicers 1-64, he was still in a pretty good way.
"But really Jackie, did you think you could beat me?" He spoke across the room, where the mechanical mastermind of the Empire's forces, Jack Spicer, lay. The few bits of armor that still remained on him were damaged beyond repair. His faced, bruised and cut, had a humble, defeated look to it.
"You studied under me, Jackie. Remember? I taught you so much in those years, and then it happened, you betrayed us all." Kurtis gave him a downward look, and Jack replied weakly.
"You don't understand, what we've seen…"
"I don't really care. That Eternal Lord shit?" He spat on the ground, "I've been to the moon and back I less than a day, I've conducted nuclear fusion with my bare hands, and thanks to you I've reconstructed seventy percent of my body. Your god, real or not, means nothing to me. If I can see you die for what you did to my family, I can be struck down a happy man."
Jack stood, in his broken armor, and reached for a gun, slowly, each movement agonizing. But the second he raised it to fire, Kurtis let a beam of light strike it out of his palm.
"Give up, and die Jackie." Kurtis aimed his hand at Spicer, but before he could end it, his earpiece buzzed with static. He lowered his finger, and placed his other hand to his ear.
"Kurtis, this is Jack, I've found the two from the scouting party, and Hammer squad has held out and repelled the Empire forces advancing on the camp. We're detonating the explosives in ten minutes, get out of there now with whatever data you can."
Kurtis lowered his hand, and thought for a moment. He looked at Spicer, "Get out here, now. You've been saved by fate, but don't count on it happening again." The defeated Empire General turned, and ran, cowardice taking precedence over pride.
He ran his fingers over a nearby access terminal, quickly cracking the thirty-six hundred digit access code, bypassing a flaw in the facial scanning process, and retrieving several key points of data relating to the production of Empire robots and the areas at which they are found. And, without missing a beat, he downloaded the data into his own mind. For a few moments, he scanned the data, finding a very interesting piece relating to the reprogramming and re-equipping of one XJ9 unit.
"Hmm, what have we here? A total memory wipe to follow the modification of several key weapons systems and the addition of the following; spectral energy grid, internal EMP device, and the Off-Wave bomb? What the hell is that?"
He turned from the desk, and began sprinting out of the factory, touching his earpiece to his head, he tuned it to a private frequency and spoke,
"General Jack, this is Kurtis, we need to get that robot to the camp, immediately."
So, I've been asked to list off all characters and their original works. I was hoping to wait until the end, since we're not quite done here, but,
My Life as a Teenage Robot(Jenny/XJ9, Dr. Nora Wakeman)
Samurai Jack (Jack, Scotsman)
Disgaea;Hour of Darkness(Kurtis, The Land of Celestia)
Homestar Runner( Homsar)
Megas XLR (Coop)
Fallout 3 (Sarah Lyons)
Gears of War (Agustus Cole, Carmine)
Team Fortress 2( The Spy"Espion" The Soldier"Jane Doe" The Demoman "Tavish Degroot")
Warcraft (Zul'jin, The Mages of Kirin-Tor)
Paper Mario; The Thousand Year door(Vivian)
Mario Series (Princess Peach)
Resident Evil Series (Albert Wesker)
Dexter's Lab (Dexter)
Ed, Edd, n Eddy (Rolf)
Danny Phantom (Vlad Masters)
Xiaolin Showdown (Jack Spicer)
Happy Tree Friends (Flippy, Flaky, Mouse Ka-boom)
Street Fighter Series (Vega)
Pucca (Tobe)
One Piece(Zoro)
Well, that's everyone so far. And for those of you wondering, while things like Derrick are from other stories, others like the Blue Moon Fungus and that tank used by the Empire a few chapters ago are original ideas.
