All around the world, people were fighting for their lives against the machines that were created to help and protect them. It's probably needless to say, but not everybody is trained for fighting, so a massive loss of life was to be expected whether the humans won in the end or not. As powerful as Jenny and her sisters are, even they cannot be in two places at once. That goes for Silver Shell and Melody as well.

The time finally came. They've seen it in movies, cartoons, comic books, and even read novels on the subject. The war of man against machine was now a reality, and not just another science fiction story. This also isn't just some crazy nightmare they can pinch their selves and wake up from. They never expected it to happen this way either. They assumed that most of their robots would one day be given artificial intelligence, then the machines would rebel, and that's how the war would start. That's why they avoided creating too many intelligent machines in the first place.

But they aren't being hunted by intelligent machines. These machines have simply been given a new primary objective in their programming. The machines don't even realize the atrocities that they are committing. In fact, they don't realize anything at all. So technically, they aren't doing anything wrong. Since they can't distinguish between right and wrong, they can't be fairly criticized for their actions. Completely emotionless, and completely devoid of thought, it's the kind of thing that makes people wonder how they even can move in the first place. This isn't an enemy that can be reasoned with. It's a true game of kill or be killed. There are no other rules. The only other option, however, is to run and hide. Only, against a pursuer that cannot experience fatigue, even running away becomes an extremely difficult challenge.

But who wants to live that way though? Who wants to live out the rest of their lives running and hiding? Some will inevitably chose that option, but others will not. These are the ones who will stand up and fight for their freedom and way of life.

For a large percentage of them though, this was the beginning of a horrible nightmare, with no perceivable end in sight.


As Jenny fought her way through the wave of machines, she thought to herself "I can't believe this is actually happening. I really can't believe it. I'm seeing it, and I still can't believe. This is horrible. I've never seen so much blood. I've never heard so much screaming, and so many desperate cries for help. I never imagined that I would actually see small children get slaughtered right in front of me. I can't save them all. If only I was stronger. If only I was faster. I need more power, and I need it now more than ever."

Melody then contacted all the XJs saying "Listen everyone. I think you should contact your mom right away. I believe it's time you exercised your other option."

"Oh yeah, the strength enhancers," Jenny said.

"Mom, it's me. I think now would be a good time to send us those strength enhancers," XJ6 said.

"Ok fine. I guess now is as good a time as ever. Just promise me that when you've reached you limit, that you will deactivate them immediately. I was being serious when I said they might destroy you," Ms. Wakeman said.

"Of course we will. We don't plan on dying any time soon. I do have one question though. Does that one hour rule apply to robots as well?" XJ5 asked.

"I forgot to mention that. For robots like you all, the estimated length as about three hours, as long as you don't push your selves too hard. XJ8 and 9 last up to four hours since they are much more durable. I've just sent them on their way. They should make it to you all in thirty minutes at the most. Try to stay alive until then," Ms. Wakeman said.

"What about XJ1?" XJ8 asked.

"XJ1 and I have already discussed this, and yes, she will be helping you all out soon. Her enhancer is different from any of yours due to her limitations, so it will take me about twenty minutes to install it on her. Of course, I've tried to talk her out of it, but she's determined to help out her sisters in any way she can instead of sitting around doing nothing. Brad and Tuck are having a difficult time deciding to go through with it since they realize the extreme danger involved, understandably, but I'm not really trying to encourage them either," Ms. Wakeman explained.

"That's okay. Just let them know that we'll understand if they don't want to take that risk," XJ4 said.

"I'll do that," Ms. Wakeman said as she pressed a button on a large container.

When it opened, Brad's and Tuck's eyes widened when they saw XJ1's enhancer.


In Tremorton, the mayor ordered the police force to round up all minors, elderly, and women with no military or police training and secure them in a shelter five miles away from the city. He spread the word to other cities of his plan so they might follow his example.

Brad, Tuck, and Ms. Wakeman were in the basement of their house, and the lights were off in the rest of the house, so it was assumed that no one was home. The Krusts had a private shelter of their own.

When they arrived at the shelter, the police and military personnel exited the vehicles first. They checked the area for any hostile machines. Their vehicles were older models that didn't have onboard computers, so they couldn't be controlled. Once they were sure they didn't find any, they started unloading all the passengers.

"I understand they want to protect the small children first, but I really do hate having to wait for them to go first," one of the male high school students said.

"That's easier for you to say Mitchell. You don't have young siblings like I do. I'm actually concerned about their safety myself," another male student said.

"It's not that I'm not concerned. I just want to live. I don't really care how heartless I sound right now," Mitchell said.

"Whatever you say man. Hey, look at that guy over there. Notice anything weird about him?" the other guy asked as he was looking at another male student through the window from another vehicle.

"Yeah. He looks unusually stressed out for one thing. He looks worse than most of us do right now," Mitchell said.

"Hey, that's that Jason guy. Wasn't he the one talking about making life more interesting? It's definitely more interesting now, and he looks more frightened than most of us. Fucking hypocrite," the other guy said.

"I don't know about that. I learned about this kinda stuff from my mom. She's a psychologist. From what she told me, I can see that he's probably worried about something completely different," a female middle school student explained.

"What do you think it is he's worried about," Mitchell asked.

"I have no clue. Why don't you guys ask him?" the girl asked.

"He never seems to care what anyone else is concerned about, so I shouldn't care what he's concerned about," Mitchell said.


When everybody was finally out of the vehicles, an officer with a megaphone said "Listen up people. This shelter has an above ground and an underground level that is connected directly to an old subway system. We will make sure that everyone who is unable to defend their selves is secured underground. Everyone else who feels they have the courage to fight should learn very quickly how to use a gun. We would never normally hand a weapon to a minor, but in this case, we really have no choice. The situation could very well become that desperate for us, so we are resorting to drastic measures."

Pretty much everyone was shocked by this.

"What, you can't be serious about giving guns to them. Most of them are still kids," A woman yelled.

"I don't think you heard him correctly ma'am. The situation could very well become that desperate for us. He wasn't exaggerating. Unlike you, I was in the first intergalactic war, and I've fought in two other battles since. I know what war is really like. It's not pretty or pleasant, and it's not supposed to be. It's life or death, not some sugar coated fairy tale, designed not to frighten little kids. We need to let them know now, that if we fail to protect them here, there's a good chance they will all be killed with no one left to come to their rescue," an older male war veteran explained.

After hearing this, most of their expressions went from frightened to very serious. Out of all the small children who could understand what was being said, a large portion of them started crying.

"Yes, that's it, cry. Get it out your systems now. The harsh reality of this situation, is that no matter how much you kick and scream when the enemy is near, if they are really intent on killing you, they will. The worst part about it is that our enemies are mindless robots. They don't know how to show mercy, so you can forget about asking for it," the veteran explained.

"Well said sir. I didn't want to lay it on you all quite as rough as he did, but he's telling you the truth," the officer with the megaphone said.

A few seconds later, everyone heard a faint buzzing sound in the distance coming from the woods about a hundred yards away. Three of the soldiers with sniper rifles immediately aimed in the direction of the noise. Everyone else who was armed aimed after the snipers did. Everyone who wasn't armed ran to other side of the building.

Once the target was visible, it was revealed to be an ordinary toy race car. Just to be safe, one of the snipers fired and shattered it into many small pieces.

"What was it?" one of the elementary students asked as everyone came out of hiding.

"Believe it or not, it was a toy race car. I find it quite messed up that we even have to fight against toys. For all we know, the next one that comes might have a bomb attached to it," a female soldier said.

Everyone turned around when they heard one of the vehicle's doors open. No one could see who or what it was because the sound was coming from behind the vehicle.

"Identify yourself," one of the soldiers commanded.

When the door closed, a person could be seen slowly coming from behind the vehicle holding a shotgun. Immediately, everyone who was armed pointed at the person and commanded the person to drop the weapon.

"You were…the ones…," a girl's voice said.

When they could finally see who this person was, one of the high school students said "Grace? What the hell are you doing with that?"

Everyone that knew her was surprised to see who it was.

"You were…the ones who said that…anyone else…who is willing to fight…should fight. Well, I'm willing. Can someone…please teach me…how to use this thing?" Grace said with a battle ready expression on her face.

Everyone was even more surprised that her out of everyone else was the first to volunteer.

"Holy shit. She usually manages to creep everybody else out but me until now. This is the first time she's started to scare me," Jason thought to himself.