DISCLAIMER: I do not own My Life as a Teenage Robot, its characters, or any other Nickelodeon properties.
WARNING: This story is significantly more mature than the original show. It is rated T for violence and blood, and mature themes.
The first thing she felt was how heavy her head felt. Almost like she was floating like a butterfly, a gentle enough breeze to keep her airborne. Almost relaxing if it weren't for how much her head hurt. Her memory was having a hard time catching up, as if it were blacked out.
Her automatic boot-up protocols made sure to provide her the basics. Within, she remained XJ-9, or as she called herself, Jenny Wakeman.
A light shined where her eyes were, irritating her senses and eyes. She tried to make out the details but with how blurred her vision was, nothing was comprehensible but the gray ceiling that basked her in a disgusting, green light. Her feet and arms were restrained by cuffs, holding her in place on top of a white, operating table. This was not a place she recognized.
Mom.
That was the first memory that popped up. White hair, red goggles, and a yellow turtleneck. Those familiar characteristics she saw of her paternal figure. Everything that her life revolved around, the reason she was alive, the one person she could always count on for support even if they disagreed.
Her mother.
Nora Wakeman was brought down before her bent, damaged knees as her world flashed red, fracturing into pieces. She had tried to desperately wrestle her awake, by shaking her before resorting to chest compressions to force air into her.
"Mom? Nora Wakeman? MOM! GET UP!" the memory burned into her core with a raw voice. It was like her nest was uprooted by a force of nature, shrieking her down until she too was knocked down.
The last thing she recalled from the memory was the eerie silence coming from the human's chest.
Was her mom going to be alright?
Did she fail?
Her mom was stronger than that! There was no way the perpetrator could've dealt that much hurt against her!
Before she sunk further into her thoughts, a pair of voices spoke above her.
"Once she is fully restrained, I can begin analyzing her itty-bitty pieces for our project," it was an old and scruffy voice. Her groggy eyes shifted to the right. A small silhouette stood next to her. The figure clasped the sides of her table, revealing two long, powerful claws that she swore could clamp her hands at any time.
"You better know what you're doing, old man. Along with that, I want you to make sure she can never be able to fight against us again!" another robotic voice chimed in, coming from the larger silhouette. It came off more powerful than the older one. His green eyes popped in the darkness.
The smaller silhouette gulped nervously, "Yes, Emperor Smytus."
Smytus? Emperor Smytus?!
Her limbs jolted as she attempted to pull herself off the table, an unspeakable rage overcoming her circuits. She prepared to turn her arms into massive boxing gloves to wrestle her way out. Before she could get the chance, massive hand in return wrestled her back down. She tried squirming out of his grip, but it was futile resisting against superior strength.
"Ah, so it appears the legendary XJ-9 has awakened from her slumber," he stared at her black eyes, smiling with vicious confidence. Normally, it would be an opportune time for her to get a quip back at the villain, perhaps some joke before she found some weakness that freed her from his grasp. Instead, she remained silent as her eyes looked at him, shaking.
Red flashed in her system as jaded pieces of her last memories began filling the gaps. Her eyes glared at the ginormous alien in a look that would scare a child. "Y-you…" her voice staggered before cutting out.
The beetle chuckled mischievously, "Why yes, it is I, the Great Emperor of Cluster Prime, Smytus!" a small, hacking cough came from the corner, to which he glanced back unamused, only to return back to give where credit was due, "and my trusted assistant, Krackus!"
"It is a pleasure to hear you nice and sound."
A brief silence followed before more anger steamed into Jenny. What did he mean nice and sound, after all he did? Her hands clutched onto her restraints, with Smytus' grip the only reason she hadn't rocketed off the table yet. "What – have you done to MY MOTHER!" she screamed at them, demanding straight answers. They could not have snuffed the life out of her lungs! That was only an illusion, only an illusion.
"Your mommy, Bennifer?" Krackus's mustache twirled absentminded, "I thought I recorded her d- "
"SHE'S NOT DEAD!" her voice boomed louder, now more enraged by his conflicting words "SHE'S STILL ALIVE! I KNOW SHE IS! She's going to get herself and my friends together, and then we'll -" as her voice dragged on, it began to crack, "By the time they come, you'll be splintered into pieces!"
"Will you cut it out, meat-lover!?" Smytus slammed his giant hands onto Jenny torso again, clearly annoyed by how relentless she was going. Always the stubborn one. "Maybe if it weren't for how much you attached your pathetic life to her, she would be standing right next to you."
"DON'T BRING ME INTO THIS! You evil, Cluster shells are responsible for this," Jenny screamed again.
"And who is responsible for making sure not one of us lays a finger on their fragile, flesh bags? Hmm?" Smytus raised an eyebrow with his question.
"Me!" As soon as she answered it, she was hushed by her own thoughts. Dr. Wakeman did design her with the responsibility of protecting humanity. She wasn't the only one with the responsibility however, but Skyway Patrol was so ineffective at their jobs that she might as well be the only hero on duty.
Yes, there were a few times she screwed up, but in the end, she managed to win against them without massive losses. She had always won!
"Nora made me to protect humanity against you all – where you attacking mo-" Jenny's voice cut out.
Mom. The image flashed again. Her body turning cold among the shattered glass on the floor, the gentle breeze speeding the process. She was so determined to stop Smytus that she didn't realize the collateral damage that was occurring in the fight, ultimately culminating to a blast from the ceiling. The wooden beams broke apart, with one of them falling one…
It did not lie.
Witnessing the silence from her troubled face, Smytus continued, "Why yes, we were indeed targeting Nora-"
"Do not," Jenny's quietly, yet bitterly interrupted.
"Excuse me?"
"Do not mention her," her gaze lowered, refusing to listen to whatever retort the self-proclaimed Emperor had to say.
Smytus elected to ignore her request. "Anyways, we were hoping to snatch her to devise our ultimate weapon against all of humankind. I just did not expect you to interrupt the job that way."
"I did not kill her," Jenny immediately denied, her eyes looking away from Smytus's own.
"Your entire life was built upon the directive of protecting the planet, so much so that you want to intermingle with them and get all kissy and woozy at their local parlors, yet they still rejected your presence," Smytus interjected.
"It is my duty protect them as a hero, to protect them even if they don't like who's protecting them," she defended herself.
"Look at how far that's taken you. You claim to be a hero, yet you can't save your own mo- "
"SHUT UP, YOU SICKO!" that was the loudest her voice could screech before it began creaking like a broken microphone. Even the sheer volume was enough to shut Smytus up and unsettle Krackus as he got his equipment setup. As the silence grew, the conflicting processes and thoughts intermingling in her rapid-fire brain built up, scattering her mind into an array of emotions.
Dr. Wakeman always told her she was never a failure even if she lost a battle. Because always in some way, she would get the upper hand through her smarts or assistance. It was always a learning experience; no one was perfect at anything.
But she was all alone, against the two as she defended her mother, a perfect demonstration of her skills and smarts. Dr. Wakeman was unable to get her arsenal, leaving her all alone against the Cluster. She thought she could win. That stupid, confident smirk on her face as she seemed to be making ground against Smytus flipped when she saw a body underneath that wooden beam – hers.
She can't fail. She can't fail to protect those that couldn't. She had never let any die under her watch.
Yet, she did.
Her body began shaking, only now beginning to comprehend what a failure meant to her.
After looking at her with an odd glance, Smytus stepped away from the trembling robot. "Vexus was right all along. A brain like yours was never meant to be fit in anywhere, not even your own kind," he shot her the coldest glance from afar, letting the words sting her core until he could feel it cracking from within.
Jenny was barely holding herself from crying. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't. She was not a failure. She was not a failure. She was not a failure.
But mom.
Her mind continued spiraling.
"Krackus, is it all setup?" Smytus asked from the corner, his voice became garbled as her auditory systems began distorting the picture.
"Why yes, Smy- I mean Emperor Smytus. My invention shall make sure she feels nothing throughout," Krackus affirmed, wielding a pair of rusted, jumper cables for the job.
"I'll leave you to do your work, Doctor Krackus," Smytus's voice was no longer recognizable. A dark, wretched evil from hell had taken its place as the beetle's shadow left the room.
Krackus held the jumper cables, waving them in the air as his eyes shot in victory. His rusted body escaped into the shadows, leaving only his claws that Jenny was unable to resist against. "Finally, at long last Penny. I will finally have usurped your power and bring a new day for the Cluster! Yahoow," he inserted the cables onto Jenny's belly bolt.
To her, they almost looked like a familiar pair of… deactivators, like the kind mom prepared that holiday season.
Her senses shot up to 100, panic suddenly filling her senses. "WAIT, PLEASE! MOM! I HAVEN'T FAILED YOU Y- "
The last thing she heard was her own scream, followed by a blue, electrocuting light that zapped her power. It fried every single circuit until she could no longer feel a thing. Her mind tried to override the surging amount of power, but it was no use as it shut down. Eventually, she fell into the darkness on the sliver of her last words.
"Mom."
This is the darkest start I've ever written to any story, but it's just the beginning :. Stay tuned.
