Chapter V: "A wish to the stars"
Jenny was lying in her bedroom sleeping soundly when she suddenly woke up like she was scared by something "AHHHHHHHH!!!....Huh?" Jenny looked around her room. "It was like nothing has happened" she thought about it for a second then she realized what was going on "That was a nightmare!!!" Brad entered trough the window looking very concerned "Jen!! What happened I heard you scream!!" Jenny smiled remembering a past adventure "Hey Brad! Next time you should try entering trough the door like everyone else" Brad looked confused "What??" Jenny giggled "Let's just say that I had my first nightmare" Brad nodded "Well your chip create dreams it's only natural that it also create nightmares" Jenny smiled looking at Brad with puppy eyes "So, Do you want to hear it??" Brad stood back "Jenny remember when I told you that telling dreams or nightmares were ...ummm... You know...DULL" Jenny still looking at him with puppy eyes answered "Come on Brad this wasn't a dream it was a nightmare in fact there were explosions and robots and all the stuff you like" Brad was getting interested but he remembered when she told about her dreams and he shook his head "I don't know if I want to hear it even if there are explosions" Jenny closed her eyes smiling "You were there as a HERO" Brad now fully interested he jumped up and down kicking and punching to the air "Really me as a hero hey!! Then that wasn't a nightmare maybe it was a prediction or something like that " Jenny laughed a bit seeing Brad assuming different hero poses "So you want to hear it now?" Brad nodded "Sure Jenny! Go ahead" Jenny started telling Brad about the EDF, Red, Zinder, the elite force and all the situations that she "dreamed" Brad very interested in the history jumped every time his name was mentioned and making Jenny angry when he smiled when she described Crystal. But for all the battles Jenny thought in a way where she always won.Brad had a doubt in by Jenny's tale "Wow!! Cool, what I don't understand is why that history was a nightmare" Jenny surprised by the question thought a fast answer "Ummm... I think in the end Tuck was the ruler of the world" Brad startled by the uncommon answer shivered "UH! That was definitely a nightmare..." Brad recovered from the shock "Anyway that was some dream. Are you sure you didn't drink a past can of oil or something like that??" Jenny looking funny at Brad just crossed her arms "Don't tell me that you're jealous again of my superior dreaming capacity Brad" Brad waved his hands trying to return Jenny into a good mood "No, no, of course not I was wondering about it because you had all that dream in only five minutes" Jenny raised an eyebrow "What do you mean five minutes?" Brad went to the window smiling and pointing to the sky "It was five minutes ago when I said goodbye to you, See it's still dark outside that's why I heard you scream, remember that I don't have robot powers like you" Jenny went next to Brad smiling at him again raising one hand "I was wondering how did you heard me. Anyway it only proves that I can dream the best dreams and nightmares" Brad leaned in the balcony still looking at the stars "Yeah... Whatever you say Jen!!" Jenny now curious about something asked, "Why are you continue looking so concentrated to the sky?" Brad looked like he was charmed by something "Nothing, I just have the feeling that I will watch a shooting star tonight" Jenny lost her interest "Come on!! Brad you sure don't look like the type that believes in that stuff" Brad not paying much attention just smiled "How can I not believe in that if I was the one who told you about it" Jenny took out her screen from her belly with the picture of a meteor entering the planet "They are just big rocks that enter our atmosphere. There is no way they can grant wishes" Brad turned to Jenny with an easy going look "So how can be so sure that they absolutely cannot grant wishes" Jenny remembering something with an angry face replied "Because when I saw one it didn't grant my wish!!" Brad closing his eyes answered, "Maybe you didn't believe enough or it was a impossible wish" Jenny turned his head not wanting to continue the conversation "Yeah, sure...Why don't you wait until next week, there will be meteor shower and there going to be a lot of shooting stars"
A few minutes passed then Brad jumped a little but that jump made him lose his balance and he fell from the balcony, Jenny shocked flew to save his friend grabbing him seconds before he crash into the ground. A very annoyed Jenny just stared at him, "Brad nobody ever told you that playing in a balcony was dangerous?? Sometimes I wonder about you..."Brad smiling in Jenny's arms pointed again to the sky "Well even I made mistakes sometimes, besides I saw one!!" Jenny sighed, "Don't tell me that you fell off a balcony just because of a stupid rock........ Tell me one thing was your wish so important that you couldn't wait for the meteor shower next week?" Brad looking at her eyes "My wish was to talk to you one more time before we got our own ways" Jenny was very confused "Huh?? You sure are acting weird tonight Brad..." Brad jumped from Jenny's arms and started walking away, his clothes mysteriously changed into something he never wore before, he stopped a few feet away "I'm sure that our paths will cross again but we will not be able to talk to each other like this until then my dear friend Jenny" Jenny didn't answered. Brad continued to walk and raised his hand without looking back at Jenny as he disappeared in the night "I'm sure you will understand Jenny! Never give up believe in yourself!!!" Jenny didn't understand a word she just stayed where she was but she came to her senses "WAIT!! BRAD, what do you mean!!! , BRAD!" Jenny tried to run after him but an intense light behind distracted her, turning around Jenny could hear another familiar voice.
"XJ-9? XJ-9!! Are you okay?? Can you hear me?" Jenny now appeared somewhere else "(That voice...mom?) Urggg...." Ms. Wakeman turned off the light that was Jenny's face "She finally woke up. Uff! Young lady you are in serious trouble" Jenny was lying on the bed in a laboratory but she still was very dizzy "(What is going on?) My head... I was in my house ...then the strong light, where are we? This doesn't look like our home" Zinder stepped out from the shadows "Your in my base XJ-9" Jenny recognized the voice and jumped from the bed getting ready to fight "You!! You are that guy Zinder! the one that fooled us into a trap!! This time you are not going to be so lucky" Jenny raised her fist trying to hit Zinder on his face but Ms.Wakeman stepped on the way "Calm down!! XJ-9 He already explained everything to me" Jenny still wanting to beat the crap out of him yelled, "He's fooling you mom!! He tricked Brad and me and now he is trying to fool you too!! I'm not going to let him get away!!" Zinder lowered his head "I'm sure that you think that I'm just a liar and in many ways you are not completely wrong but I also had my reasons. If you let me I could explain everything to you" Jenny was still furious at him "I don't care about you or your stupid reasons you are a Cluster puppet and that it's all I need to know!!" Jenny eluded her mom getting a direct location in front of Zinder "You are mine!!" Jenny was about to hit Zinder when someone entered the laboratory at full speed "Jenny wait! He's... AAHHH!" The guy fell down in the floor "...Wait he's not our enemy" Jenny looking to the poor guy in the floor rapidly she recognized him "Sheldon?? What are you doing here??" Sheldon had a lot of bandages around his body, Sheldon smiled at her friend from the floor happy that she was fine then he realized the question that Jenny asked he nervously tried to answer it "Ummm. Well you see...I came with... with...your mom!! Yeah I came with your mom and I hurt myself on the way here!!" Ms. Wakeman thought about it and said "That's odd I don't recall seeing you in the transport when they called me" Zinder just moved his head, he already knew that the Silver Shell and Sheldon were the same person "He stow away in the transport I'm sorry for not telling you Doctor Wakeman" Zinder went to the screens. Meanwhile Sheldon sighed in relief at the unusual help "Yeah I'm sorry about that but when I heard that Jenny was hurt I Knew I had to come" Jenny smiled at his friend "OH! That's sweet Sheldon... but at the same time it was plain stupid!... I think you are hanging too much with me" Zinder changed the conversation "So do you want to hear my explication now?" Jenny not very sure just raised one arm like she was giving up "Go ahead! But if your history does not fit we will finish our fight at the base!"
Zinder turned the screens on "This history begins a centuries ago" It showed the picture of a Cluster army and in the middle there was Zinder "I was a mere soldier of a battalion of the Cluster Empire a long time ago. I always believed that I was built on Cluster Prime and that I had the obligation to serve Vexus in every wish that she had..." The screens shifted showing scenes of battles and destruction "I battled in many wars against many enemies of the Clusters and we always won, this made my battalion win a lot of reputation in fact we were treated as heroes in Cluster Prime"The screens shifted to show Cluster Primer and Vexus "That's how we became the first elite force. Vexus immediately gave us a command to conquer all intelligent worlds but she also told us to search for a planet and a specific kind of robot in all the universe, they gave us entire companies and legions to do that" Jenny proudly interrupted "You mean the earth and me?" Zinder shocked his head "No, it wasn't you and it wasn't the earth " Jenny stuck her tongue out at Zinder. The screens then showed two planets "In all our travels around the universe we found several planets some of them so advanced that they had robots that were as powerful as the Clusters champions" Zinder continued "Little by little we conquered those planets defeating their guardians" Jenny jumped "SEE!! You are evil son of a mnnmmnnmn...Mmm??" Ms. Wakeman quickly covered Jenny's mouth "Jenny a little control please, UFF!! Zinder but something about your tale stills intrigue me what was so special about the planet you were searching?" Zinder put one hand his forehead like he was trying to remember "The planet we were searching was very rare and incredible but I'll tell you about it later, anyway Vexus was angry because the time that it took to move our armies were too long and conquering them also took a lot of time" The screens then showed Vexus again "Then she started to use an old method "
Zinder flashback Zinder was in the throne room and he knelt down before Vexus "My queen the planet in sector 5 will be conquered" Vexus not impressed coldly answered "How much time it will take?" Zinder answered "If everything go as planned it will take about five to six years according to our spies their technology of robots that they had can even match our own but we had the advantage of our numbers" Vexus growled "This is taking too much time that I thought... hmm.... mmmha ha ha, yes we will return to my old method" Zinder confused asked "Old method my queen? What is your old method?" Vexus stood up "We will make our enemies destroy themselves" Zinder not very sure what the queen was talking about "How are we going to make that my queen?" Vexus smiled "We will simple "recruit" the robots that they had making them join in the Cluster then we send them to destroy their own creators" Zinder then exclaimed "I'm not sure if they will join the Cluster that easily and there is even less chance for them to destroy their own creators" Vexus getting tired of Zinder continued "Idiot!! Of course they will not join if we talk to them. We will reprogram them" Zinder shocked just replied "But my queen that goes against what we seek!! Liberty for the robots in the entire universe!! Reprogramming them make us no better than their oppressors" Vexus stared at him "Don't worry my loyal servant they must be taken into light that they are just being used I will use any method to make them join our side and if they don't we will destroy them" Zinder lowered his head "My queen I'm still not sure" Vexus tired of the conversation just smiled "Remember that your mission is to destroy any biological being nothing else. If we can save the robots from another planets it goes with our objective of liberty of all the robots in the universe" Zinder lowered his "I'm sorry for doubting you my queen. After all it was your wisdom that created and raised the Cluster Empire. We will follow your commands" end of flashback
Jenny sat herself again in the bed "That doesn't sound exactly like the Vexus I know" Zinder responded, "Vexus herself is a mystery, she is kind with robots but she can't stand organic beings or robots that are with them. But she is also very demanding with the ones who are under her direct command one thing that I'm sure about her is that she doesn't tolerate failure from them" Ms. Wakeman interrupted "It's clear that Vexus is following the same procedure in the earth trying to turn Jenny against us and I must admit that in a few times she almost accomplish that" Zinder now turning to Jenny "Umm... but even so this planet is challenge even for the Cluster. They can't capture XJ-9 and an open war will take centuries" Jenny smiled "See why don't you go and tell Vexus that she is wasting her time in here and leave us alone!" Zinder now turning into the screens "Believe me that Vexus was about to give up on earth and you but destiny didn't want it that way" The screens then turned into a gigantic planet very similar to the earth "Unfortunately a year ago I found the planet that Vexus was looking for" Ms. Wakeman interested about the planet made the million dollars question "That planet looks like the earth with oceans and mountains. Zinder please explain why Vexus is looking for this planet in particular?" Zinder was silent for a moment then he spoke in a very calm voice "You are right about the planet it is just like the earth in fact you could say that the earth and that planet are like twins" Zinder continued the screens showed some destroyed buildings "But unlike the earth that planet was the home of some ancient culture. In the ruins on the planet we found technology so advanced that it makes the Cluster technology look like we are playing with stick and stones" Ms. Wakeman impressed by the answer made and observation "Umm. That is curious how did Vexus knew about that planet" Zinder responded "That is also a mystery but the thing that she told us to find first was their Portal technology. It is so advanced that unlike our current technology it can bring a whole army from the most distance planet to another in matter of seconds as we speak the Cluster scientist are in the ruins perfecting our portals" Sheldon shivered with fear "Y, You mean that an entire army of robots can come here anytime!! If that is correct then we are doomed!!" Jenny not very impressed just smiled "Come on guys!! I defeated the Clusters before a whole army is not going to be any different" Zinder looked up and he pushed a button the screens then turned on "Here is the Cluster army XJ-9..." Millions of combat robots and spaceships were in the screens. That view made everyone to be silent for a moment then Zinder spoke again "As you can see this planet has no change at all if that kind of force is send to the earth".
Zinder then turned the screens off; Ms. Wakeman sat on the bed thinking, Jenny unsure of what she will do just crossed her arms while Sheldon was now scared to death. Zinder started to speak again "Not everything is lost... There is one hope left but I'm unsure if they made it" Jenny then realized something "This is weird. Where are Brad and the other guy? I'm sure Brad would love to hear that history" Zinder then a little nervous just mumbled, "We are not sure" Jenny now felt that something was wrong when everybody looked down "What do you mean you are not sure?" Zinder responded without looking directly to Jenny "We are not sure because...he was with Red in the roof of the main building when the base exploded" Jenny got frustrated "EXPLODED!!! What the hell are you talking about!? You better speak fast or..." Zinder now opened a window and looked to the dusk "Seconds after you fell unconscious Red and Brad started the self-destruct program for the base. That gave me the opportunity to save you and the Silver Shell unfortunately the last time I saw them they were still in the roof of the building but..." Jenny interrupted in very angry and at the same time sad voice "NO!! It can't be! I won't believe it! Brad can't be..." Zinder then turned to her "...But there is still hope that they made it alive if the Portal machine opened" Jenny now recovering cleaned some tears in her eyes "DAMN YOU!! You scared me for a second" Ms. Wakeman put one hand over Jenny's shoulder "If my calculations are correct there is little probability that they made it on that small amount of time my dear" Zinder slowly stepped out of the laboratory "You are once again correct Doctor Wakeman the machine that Red had was a prototype copied from the ones that the Cluster are making nevertheless we will know in they made it in a few hours." Jenny stood up " How are we going to know that?" Zinder continued, "If they made it Red will surely transmit a message to us. That was part of our original plan" Jenny then jumped closing Zinder way out "Wait! What if we don't get that transmission?" Zinder stopped walking "Then everyone in earth will surely meet an equal or worse destiny " Zinder disappeared in front of Jenny "XJ-9 it will be wise for you to look at all the possible results" Jenny knelt in the floor with an empty look in her eyes Sheldon and Ms. Wakeman just looked at her "Jenny I'm sure that Brad made it" Jenny just lowered her head "......." Ms. Wakeman continued trying to cheer Jenny "Remember that probabilities aren't always the final and in Brad case they don't mean anything" Jenny suddenly jumped from the window and flew away, Sheldon seeing her tried to stop her but it was late she already was far away, Sheldon in a final attempt to stop her screamed "Jenny! WAIT! Where are you going!" Ms. Wakeman didn't do anything "Sheldon let her go. She needs time alone now."
Jenny flew where the EDF base was. It was a cold night and you couldn't see the stars because of the smoke the explosion generated, Jenny flew where Brad was in the rest of the main building she was still in shock "I hate being a machine...I hate being a hero... because of me my best friend is..." Jenny took out a couple of windmills making the smoke disappear "Is this your final adventure Brad? What I am supposed to feel? Anger, vengeance, sadness..." Jenny sat there looking very sad but then she hit her own head "No! I am wrong!! Don't think like that XJ-9! He always trusted in you I must trust that he made it!!" Jenny stood up "Yes!! He wouldn't want me to feel this way " She recovered looking to the sky full of stars "This reminds me of that dream..." She thought about it for a second "That was a crazy dream. Shooting starts, wishes, hmmm... I must have fallen on my head" There was a few minutes of silence when suddenly a shooting star appeared in the line of sight of Jenny "A shooting star!" Jenny closed her eyes "(You taught me to believe in them and I will...)" She was there for a moment asking for her wish after that she took out her wings "I finally know what I should feel now my friend" She smiled a little then she flew returning to Zinder base as she spoke one word "Hope".
Back in the base Sheldon and Ms. Wakeman were talking about Jenny "She definitely is not prepared for this Sheldon" Sheldon just lowered her head "Maybe you are right not even her can withstand this..." He went to the window looking outside when he noticed something "What's that? It's approaching very fast" Ms. Wakeman also went to the window "I think it is ...Jenny" Jenny quickly entered trough the window sitting once again in the bed "You guys I'm back!!" Ms. Wakeman noticed that Jenny wasn't sad anymore "XJ-9 I'm impressed by your behavior it's very mature" Jenny smiled "I owe it to one dream your Dream chip created mom. It really made me see things differently" Ms. Wakeman was a little confused "Really!? Could you tell me when did you had that dream XJ-9?" Jenny thought about it for a second "Well it was when I was unconscious after my battle with our so called ally Zinder but why do you ask?" Ms.Wakeman took out her notes "Interesting very interesting! Your dream cheap was destroyed after the battle with Zinder" Jenny was struck by that "W, What!! What do you mean it was destroyed? Oh gosh! I really don't want to know! This day keeps on getting weirder and weirder every second it pass" Zinder then appeared "We have an incoming transmission!!" Jenny jumped from the window smiling and screaming, "I knew it!! Brad couldn't have gone so easily!!" Zinder just moved to the screens "Don't get too excited maybe it's just a Cluster transmission.... mmmmm " Zinder pressed the screens trembling as they turned on....