Author's Note: Man, I cannot believe I left this fic idle for too long! I gotta stop spending too much time on deviantart.com. Anyway, thanks to all the reviewers for the last chapters. To those who looked at the drawings of my OC s, I must apologize for not drawing them in the style of the Cluster. I really have difficulty imitating the insect-like shapes of the Cluster robots. And as for the comment about my "spiky-haired" description of Brad, I need to clear something up. Brad's hair in this fic is the same as his hair on the show, I just used the word "spiky" to describe it because I couldn't think of another word. Sorry, for the confusion.
Disclaimer: Refer to the prologue
Story Title: Corrupted Programming
Chapter Title: Corruption
Outside Tremorton High
Viruz smiled gleefully as a message scrolled before his eyes. It confirmed that his override virus had control of XJ-9's systems. His smile grew wider as he felt XJ-9's rage and defiance through the newly created link he had with her mind. He could have easily erased XJ-9's core programming and replaced it with a likeness of his own mind, but Grand Marshal Yomex had ordered him to preserve XJ-9's "personality".
The purple tendrils of energy that encased XJ-9's body disappeared as Viruz deactivated the disruption field. Jenny's body immediately straightened and snapped a salute at Viruz. The High commander felt the true mind of XJ-9 feel indignant, frustrated, and outraged as she tried to reassume control of her body. But Viurz's control was total.
He mentally ordered the body of Jenny to board his craft. Jenny's body obediently saluted and flew toward the High Commander's ship, which was lying in the middle of the road. As XJ-9 boarded the Stealth Wasp, Viruz looked down at the two human friends of XJ-9. He flew toward them.
As he landed in front of them, the red-haired human boy cowered in fear. Viruz smiled, he enjoyed seeing fear in biologicals. His internal files stated that this human's designation was "Bradley", alternately designated "Brad". He knew that XJ-9 was fond of this human and considered him to be her best friend.
"I see that you fear me, Bradley." Viruz said as he towered over Brad. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you."
Viruz saw the human take a deep breath. The human spoke, trying and failing to sound courageous. "L-let Jenny go."
"Let her go?" Viruz said. "But you certainly saw that she boarded my craft willingly."
"Yeah, right!" Brad said sarcastically. "I knew you did something to her. Whatever it is, you'd better undo it, o-or else."
Viruz smirked. "Or else what?"
With that, Brad managed to summon enough courage to give Viruz a kick. This, of course, just led Brad to hop around in pain. Viruz raised a non-existent eyebrow in amusement. He reached down and grabbed the boy by the back of his shirt.
"My, my, but you are a feisty one." Viruz said with a falsely pleasant tone. He pointed at Sheldon. "I suggest that you try to control that feistiness, or you might end up like your friend."
"W-what're you gonna do to me?" Brad asked.
"XJ-9 seems quite fond of you. It would have a good propaganda effect on the other Cluster robots if they see that XJ-9 can care enough for a human." Viruz said. "After all, if they see that their new queen is capable of caring even for a lowly biological pet, they would deduce that she'd take even more care for her fellow machines. Namely, them."
"Hey! Who're you calling lowly." Brad said. Suddenly, Viruz's other words registered in Brad's mind. "Wait a minute… What do you mean by 'new queen'?"
Viruz smiled. "Don't worry, you'll understand soon enough."
With that, Viruz started back toward his craft. Brad started to kick & scream in protest, but the High Commander didn't even seem to notice. He hefted Brad and casually tossed him into the passenger compartment of his craft. Brad landed right beside Jenny, who just sat stiffly and quietly. Viruz came down and tied up Brad.
Viruz smiled triumphantly. He closed the craft's cockpit canopy and took off.
Mr. Wakeman's car
Mrs. Wakeman's grip on the steering wheel tightened as she heard the alarm confirming that her worst fear had happened. XJ-9's newly installed internal diagnostic system had detected a large-scale corruption of XJ-9's internal system, apparently caused by an override virus. XJ-9 had been taken.
The doctor quickly took a look at the portable monitoring system's screen. It showed that XJ-9 was being taken off-planet. It didn't take a lot of thought to conclude what that meant. XJ-9 was being taken to the Cluster. Mrs. Wakeman quickly changed lanes and turned back toward her house. Going to XJ-9's school was pointless since XJ-9 wasn't there anymore.
She needed to hurry if she was ever going to get XJ-9 out of the Cluster's clutches. A part of her mind told her that it was foolish to even try to do so. She was but an aging woman, woefully lacking in physical prowess. How was she going to manage to retake XJ-9 from the forces of a robotic empire by her own self?
The part that told her that was the logical part of her mind, the part she usually listened to. But this time she was listening to another part of her mind, a part she rarely listened to. The part that made other women protective of their children, the part that more often than not overrode logic. The part that contained the so-called "motherhood instinct".
She was going to get XJ-9 back, she was going to get her daughter back.
Cluster Command Ship, somewhere in deep space
Yomex sat on his command chair, waiting. He looked around the bridge of his ship and saw red & green roach drones going about their functions in an orderly and efficient manner. The Grand Marshal allowed himself a small, unnoticeable smile. He was proud of his crew's efficiency, an efficiency that surpassed any other crew's performance in the Cluster forces.
"Grand Marshal," a green roach drone suddenly spoke up. "We have an incoming message from High Commander Viruz."
Yomex nodded. "Put it through."
A communications monitor emerged from the ceiling and came down in front of the Grand Marshal's command chair. Yomex watched it as an image appeared on the screen. It was the interior of Viruz's Stealth Wasp.
"Greetings, Grand Marshal." The High Commander greeted.
"High Commander Viruz," Yomex greeted back. "I trust your mission was a success?"
"Indeed, Sir. See for yourself." The camera within Viruz's ship zoomed out slightly. Yomex saw the image of XJ-9, sitting perfectly still. There was a slight purple glow in her eyes.
"I trust that you preserved her core programming, her personality?"
"Yes, Sir. I have."
"Very well," Yomex said. He frowned as he saw the image of a human boy. Bound & gagged, the boy struggled to free himself.
"Why have you brought along this… human?"
"Well, Sir, I thought it would be a good propaganda effect if the others in the Cluster saw that their new queen truly is caring, even toward a human. Wouldn't that rally more of them to our side?"
Yomex nodded. "I see your point. Very well, High Commander, I shall await your arrival."
"I shall be there momentarily, Grand Marshal." Viruz said, signing off. The image on the monitor disappeared as it receeded up the ceiling.
Yomex leaned back on his chair. Soon, his rebellion would culminate and his drive toward power would be realized. He would soon have the power that Vexus denied him, power that was rightfully his. Yomex allowed himself another smile. Yes, soon indeed.
Wakeman residence, Tremorton
Mrs. Wakeman's car swerved into the driveway. Not even bothering to park properly nor to turn off the car's engine, she jumped out and quickly headed for her house. As she did so the portable monitoring system intercepted a news signal. It was, of course, programmed to intercept signals that had something to do with possible threats.
Nora Wakeman shot a look at the portable monitoring system's screen. On it was a live feed from a news helicopter. It showed an image of Tremorton High.
"We are now flying over Tremorton High School which, only minutes ago, came under attack by an unknown robot." Mrs. Wakeman heard the commentary by the reporter on the chopper. The image on the screen zoomed in on a boy being taken aboard an ambulance. Mrs. Wakeman recognized the boy as Sheldon, one of XJ-9's friends. "As you can see, there's been one student seriously injured in the attack. Witnesses say that the robot did battle with a local robot student known as XJ-9, AKA Jenny Wakeman, and captured her. There have also been unconfirmed reports that the attacker also kidnapped another student…"
The doctor didn't bother to hear the rest of the news. The situation had become much more serious. Not only had the Cluster kidnapped XJ-9, it also appeared that they had kidnapped a human. And Dr. Wakeman guessed that it was most likely XJ-9's friend, Bradley. She needed to get them both back.
She bolted down toward her basement laboratory. She made her way past the clutter in the lab and came to a stop in front of a thick, metal door. She punched a few keys on a keypad on the door. With a hiss and a loud mechanical creaking sound, it opened.
She stepped inside, within the room was a wasp-like craft. It was a Cluster Stealth Wasp tha thad crashed a few weeks earlier, Dr. Wakeman had later determined that it was because of a malfunction while on a reconnaissance flight. Dr. Wakeman had sent Jenny to recover it. After that, she had repaired the craft herself.
She had learned much from this particular Cluster ship. Not only was it an amazing piece of Cluster technology to study, it had also contained a wealth of information about the Cluster within its databanks. The information about Viruz, which she had accessed earlier, had actually came from this craft. Now, she was going to use this very craft to go after XJ-9 and Bradley.
Author's Note: Well, that's it for now. I promise to try to get the next one out as soon as I can. Please read and review.