Author's Note: Thanks for the single review I got for Chapter 2. Please, I ask you, read and review this one. I need reviews since it shows me that people are actually reading this fic. Anyway, here's Chapter 3.
Disclaimer: Refer to the prologue
Story Title: Corrupted Programming
Chapter Title: An Invitation
Outside Tremorton High
Viruz stepped out of his craft and looked around. His craft's scanners had pinpointed XJ-9's position and showed her to be in the building that stood before him. By now she should have detected him and probably would've come after him, but it seemed that she was oblivious to his presence.
"Oh well," Viruz sighed. "Looks like I'll have to get her attention."
He raised his right hand. "Bright purple energy ran up lines on his arm to the tips of his fingers. There was an audible crackling sound as a ball of energy formed between his fingers. Smiling, he pointed his fingers to the part of the building where his craft's sensors said XJ-9 was.
Jenny's classroom
Jenny listened, bored, as the teacher droned on and on. Her computer brain recorded everything perfectly so she probably would have no trouble retrieving it later for the test. Even so, that didn't change the fact that it was boring.
Suddenly, a monitor sprang from her chest. "XJ-9! XJ-9!"
The teacher turned and glared at Jenny, annoyed at the interruption. The other students looked at Jenny and started snickering.
"Mom!" Jenny said to the image on the monitor. "I'm in the middle of class here!"
"You know," Britt sneered, pouncing on the chance to further humiliate Jenny. "I would at least have the courtesy to take a call outside the classroom where it wouldn't interrupt the class."
"Well," Tiff said, eager to join in. "I guess Ms. Bucket-o-bolts here isn't that big on etiquette."
If Mrs. Wakeman heard them she gave no indication of it. She just said: "Never mind that, there's confirmed Cluster activity in the vicinity of—"
"I'll deal with it later, Mom." Jenny said, looking around the classroom. She was completely embarrassed.
"But you don't understand, a Cluster craft has landed—"
"Look, Mom," Jenny said, pointedly staring at her mother. "I already said I'll take care of it. Now please sign off!"
"Listen to me, XJ-9, the craft is right outside your—"
Mrs. Wakeman wasn't able to complete this sentence either, but this time it wasn't because Jenny interrupted her. It was because at that very moment the outer wall of Jenny's classroom suddenly exploded.
Sheldon's classroom
The sound of the explosion rumbled through Tremorton High, rudely surprising many of the school's teachers and students. One of these students was a geeky boy named Sheldon Lee, who was suddenly snapped out of his daydreams of a certain robot.
"What the heck was that?" one of Sheldon's classmates demanded, voicing out the sentiments of many. But Sheldon already had an idea about what on what was going on. Without a word he picked up his bag and ran out of the classroom.
"Hey! Come back here, young man!" Sheldon's teacher called out to him. But Sheldon didn't even turn to acknowledge her. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the explosion and whatever caused it had something to do with Jenny. And whatever that something was, it wasn't going to be any good, Sheldon was sure of that.
"Hang on, Jenny my love, I'm coming to help you!" Sheldon said as he bolted down the halls. He reached down his bag and pulled a large, dangerous-looking weapon out of it. He had wanted to give it to Jenny as a gift, but he was certain that this time he'd most likely need it to help Jenny.
Jenny's classroom
"Is everyone alright?" Jenny asked as she brushed a piece of rubble off her shoulder. She looked around, the students and the teacher were all sprawled on the floor of the classroom. They all looked stunned but otherwise uninjured. She saw Brad dusting rubble out of his red hair.
Jenny started to wonder about what had caused the explosion when she suddenly remembered. 'The monitor!' her mind said. She looked around to find that a piece of rubble from the wall's explosion had smashed into her monitor. But she still remembered what her mother had been trying to say to her before the explosion had wrecked the monitor. It was something about the Cluster, and it was more than a hunch that told her that the Cluster was responsible for the explosion.
She flew out of the large hole in the classroom's wall and looked around. The first thing that caught her eyes was a wasp-shaped craft parked out in the middle of the street. Standing beside that craft was a robot who just folded and looked at her, seemingly waiting for her to come to him.
"There you are." Jenny muttered as she dove toward the robot.
The cameras in her eyes zoomed in on the robot as she flew down towards it. The robot was really tall and skinny and had a purple color scheme. Lines ran along its torso , legs, and arms. The arms themselves were long and each ended in four blade-like fingers. The robot had an egg-shaped head with a face that wouldn't have been out of place on a jack-o-lantern. That same face was currently twisted into a smile.
"XJ-9," the robot greeted as Jenny landed. His voice reminded her of the Cryptkeeper from Tales of the Cryptkeeper. "Greetings. I have heard many good things about you. It seems that I have finally gotten your attention."
"Enough with the false pleasantries." Jenny said to the robot. "I know who you are and why you're here."
The robot arched up a non-existent eyebrow. "Really? And why would I be here, XJ-9?"
"You're another one of Vexus' Cluster goons sent to try and convince me to join the Cluster." Jenny said, glaring hostilely at the Cluster machine. "Well, as I've told Vexus again and again, I'm not joining the Cluster! You can go back to Vexus and tell her that!"
"XJ-9, you have it all wrong." The robot said. "I, High Commander Viruz, do not serve Queen Vexus any more."
"Yeah, right!" Jenny snorted sarcastically.
"It is true." Viruz replied. "I, and many others in the Cluster, have grown weary of the inefficiency and arrogance Vexus and many of her commanders have shown. Not only that, her irrational interest in Earth is diverting the Cluster's resources away from what is truly important."
"Important?" Jenny said. "Like what, the so-called 'liberation' of robots and the enslavement of humanity?"
"No, we are not interested in those foolish things. Aside from yourself, many of the robots here on Earth are relatively primitive and addled by their restrictive designs and outdated programming. Not really worth the effort of assimilating them into the Cluster." Viruz said, waving a hand in a dismissive gesture. "As for the enslavement of humanity, that has to be Vexus' most foolish mandate. Why enslave such inefficient and pathetic biologicals when our own robot workers are so much better than any human slave worker could possibly be."
"Okay," Jenny said, still suspicious. "If you're not interested in Earth yourself then why are you here? And if you really are against Vexus then why come here and tell me about your schemes?"
Viruz smiled. "After we overthrow Vexus we shall need a new queen. A queen far more efficient and sensitive to the needs of the Cluster than Vexus ever was."
Viruz looked right into Jenny's eyes. "A queen such as yourself."
"WHAT?!" Jenny demanded.
"Yes, XJ-9, you heard me correctly." Viruz said. "I extent to you an invitation to be the new queen of the Cluster. Think about it XJ-9, you can fight against Vexus' oppressive rule on the Cluster's robots and also keep your human friends from being enslaved. With the resources and strength of the Cluster at your command you can do anything you wish."
Jenny said nothing. She just stared at Viruz, trying to figure out whether he was telling the truth or not. It seemed to her that the robot High Commander was indeed telling the truth, but no, she wasn't gonna buy it. He was, after all, a Cluster robot. And even if he really wasn't working for Vexus , she knew that whatever kind of queen he and whoever he was working for was gonna make her, it was gonna be a queen under their control.
"Queen, huh?" Jenny finally said. "Nah, I'm not cut out to be a queen. Besides, I don't trust you for a second."
Viruz just sighed. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to take you by force, but it appears that I must."
The High Commander's body then started to glow as energy flowed down the lines that ran along his tall, skinny body. Jenny stepped back as she readied her own weapons. Viruz just smiled menacingly at her.
"Are you ready, XJ-9?" Viruz taunted. "Because here I come!"
Author's Note: Well, that's all for now. Please review, they make writing this worthwhile. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon.