All of the characters from "My Life as a Teenage Robot" belong to Rob Renzetti, the dudes from Frederator Studios, and Nickelodeon. The character of Drew Nabholtz, however, is my creation. He's a student at Tremorton High who was turned from a human into an android by Cluster nanotechnology (back in my first fic, "Android Scam.") Other original characters will be introduced in future chapters.

Eighty-plus reviews for Part One of the Cluster Dawn Trilogy, "Betrayal From Within". Holy schnikey – you guys rock! Even if you haven't read it yet, you can probably follow the events in this story without too much trouble. Again, some fair warning on length: "Betrayal" wound up at just over 40K words, about what I expected. This story will likely be in excess of fifteen chapters, and 65K words. Eeep! I'll try to make it worth your time.

This story probably won't get finished before new episodes of MLaaTR begin airing. For the sake of argument, assume that this story takes place before the start of Season Two. Hopefully, there won't be anything in the new episodes that messes up the plot. And now, our feature presentation:

ESCAPE FROM PARADISE

Part Two of the Cluster Dawn Trilogy

A "My Life as a Teenage Robot" Fanfic

Chapter One – Field Trip

The yellow school bus idled in front of Tremorton High's main entrance, as the kids made their way up the stairs at a deliberately leisurely pace. Mrs. Robinson impatiently waved them along, shouting her voice raw with instructions to take up every available seat. The students chuckled with laughter at the middle-aged history teacher, watching her bark orders and direct traffic with tremendous self-importance. But mostly the class was enjoying the unexpected bonus of an impromptu field trip. No doubt a morning at the Tremorton Museum of Natural History would be boring beyond belief; but if it got them out of school for a few hours, then for today at least, everyone was a history buff.

The bus was about two-thirds full as Tamika and Ashley, two of the more attractive girls in the class, made their way down the aisle, giggling over the morning's gossip. Normally, the two friends would look for an empty seat to share, but Ashley spotted an even better opening: a pair of seats one behind the other, next to a couple of cute guys who were talking amongst themselves. They both recognized the red-headed boy; it seemed like everyone in school knew who Brad was. But neither of them could put a name to the dark-haired guy he was talking to.

"Hey there, Brad," laughed Ashley, as she plopped herself down on the seat next to him. "Ready for a morning of history, culture, and goofing off?'

"Naw, I was looking forward to Mrs. R's riveting, hour-long lesson on the Boer War," Brad laughed back. "Which, surprisingly enough, has absolutely nothing to do with wild pigs. Hey Ash, nothing personal, but I was saving that seat for …"

"Like, who's your new friend, Brad?" interrupted Tamika, sliding into the seat next to the dark-haired boy. After a quick once-over, the girls exchanged a nonverbal evaluation: not too shabby. Tamika smoothed out her bright teal skirt, and gave him a pleasant smile. "I thought I like, totally knew everyone in the class. So, like, have you ever been to the natural history museum before?"

He gave her a nervous smile, and seemed a little caught off guard. "Umm … only once," he chuckled, "but they threw me out when I asked them where unnatural history section was." That got a laugh out of the girls, and Brad casually flashed him a big thumbs-up. "So, Tamika, I guess Robinson wants us to write up a three-page report on the museum for tomorrow. If you're … y'know, not doing anything after school, maybe we could head over to Coffee By Alex and …"

"Like, that would be so awesome … hey … like, wait a minute." Just as she'd gotten comfortable in her seat, she noticed something familiar about his face. Tamika gave him a suspicious look, and startled him by reaching over to grab his hand …

Then she stuck her tongue out in disgust, and rapped on the back of the boy's wrist, making a loud clang that echoed through the bus. He was made of metal. "Aw, Drew! You shape shifting weirdo! Eww, eww, eww, like … disgusting, much!"

"Oh great, so you're what … disguising yourself now?" sneered Ashley. "So you can stalk all the girls like some gooey creep? Fr-r-r-r-reak show!"

He squirmed nervously in his seat, and a shimmering wave of distortion ran over his skin, covering him from head to toe. The trillions of nanobots that made up Drew's malleable android body reverted to their default appearance; in less than a second, flesh tones and clothing faded away, to be replaced by a mix of grays and silvers, highlighted by thin, green crooked stripes. He raised his hands defensively. "Whoa, whoa! I'm not trying to stalk anyone! Sheesh … I was just trying out a different look, okay? I just felt like trying to blend in to the crowd today!"

"Like, what-ever, Pudding Boy," snickered Tamika. The girls left for another empty seat, exchanging creative facial gestures to express their degree of revulsion. Students burst into raucous laughter, enjoying Drew's embarrassment. A few wadded-up pieces of scrap paper sailed through the noisy chaos, and ricocheted off the back of Drew's head.

He slumped onto the seatback in front of him, growling up at Brad's easy-going smile. "Hey, Drew, you should try out a different look," he said, mocking Brad's voice. "Go ahead, just talk to her! What's the worst that can happen? Yeah … that's some real five-star advice there, pal."

"Oh, come on," laughed Brad, consoling him with a pat on the head. "That's almost not the worst crash and burn I've seen this month. Hey, look at it this way, she came over and sat down next to you! And you got her to laugh – most impressive, by the way. You were doing great!"

"Right up to the part where she fled in horror," grumbled the teenage android.

"Ah, don't let it get to you," said Brad, smoothing out the wrinkles in his black sleeveless vest. "That was just two girls out of the whole school. Remember, there are plenty of fish in the sea!"

Drew looked up with a gimme-a-break expression on his face. "I can't help but notice that – the guys who say not to worry about girls, are usually the ones who have girls throwing themselves at them."

"Oh, pffft," snorted Brad. "Yeah, I wish! I don't have girls throwing themselves at me."

"Hey Brad, heads up!" squealed an attractive blonde, as she bounced into the seat next to him. Chloe tossed her backpack into Brad's lap, and giggled at the look of surprise on his face.

Drew rolled his eyes. "You were saying."

Brad shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, technically, she threw the backpack … not herself."

"Finally, old lady Robinson comes through for us," laughed Chloe, playfully kicking her legs in the air. "This lame-o last-minute field trip means no third period Math test! Yessss! I desperately needed an extra night to study chapter twelve. Hey, Brad, you're doing pretty good in math. We should get together after school today, and cram for the test!"

Brad knew that Chloe wasn't the least bit interested in cramming for the math test. She'd been flirting with him over the past couple of weeks; in fact, he knew that she wanted him to take her to the prom, which was now just over a week away. But the more he got to know Chloe, the more uncomfortable he felt around her. She was far more beautiful on the outside than she was on the inside. "Wow … uh, that would be great, Chloe … but I sort of already had plans for after school. Jenny and I were going to do our homework together. In fact, I'm sort of saving that seat for …"

"Oh, her again," groaned Chloe, heaving her shoulders with a labored sigh. "Look, Brad, let me give you a little free advice. Everyone thinks you're a pretty cool guy. And it's even kind of cool that you hang with the robots – those freaks are always good for a laugh. But you spend way too much time with them. People are beginning to talk."

She had been completely unaware that Drew was sitting behind them, until he waved a hand to grab her attention, giving her a sarcastic smile. "Aww, aren't I good for a laugh? Give me a second, and I'll turn myself into a rubber chicken."

"Ewww … do you mind, weirdo?" she said with a huff. "We're trying to have a private conversation. Why don't you go … absorb a trash can, or something."

Brad was stunned by Chloe's bluntness, but he quickly recovered, and his face burned red with anger. "Hey, you can't talk to my friend that way! And who says I spend too much time …"

"Forget about it, Brad," sighed Drew, "there's a nice comfortable seat in the rear of the bus." He pulled himself to his feet, simply not in the mood to argue. Brad and Chloe were exchanging heated words, but when Brad realized that Drew was actually starting to walk towards the back, he tried to stop him. "Drew! Come back. You don't need to leave. She'll apologize!"

"Not likely," sneered Chloe. "I'm not going to apologize to a giant walking booger. He's just a robot, Brad! It's not like he has any real feelings."

Brad and Chloe's argument got lost in the background of shouted conversations and cruel laughter. He continued towards the back, passing kids who glared at him like he was a walking disease, and others who avoided eye contact, terrified that he might actually sit next to them. Brit and Tiff were sitting behind two of the jocks from the wrestling team; they snickered as he walked past, whispering plans amongst themselves. One of the wrestlers stood up and shouted in an obnoxious voice, "Hey, Pudding Boy! Don't forget your lunch!" Then he tossed a handful of empty soda cans at Drew, rattling them off the side of his head. Drew's shoulders sagged, as the bus erupted into laughter.

He dropped his metallic body into the duct-taped bench seat at the rear of the bus, feeling exhausted, even though it was just after nine in the morning. He was a little upset at himself for letting the kids' taunts get to him. After all, it was nothing he didn't hear every day of his life. But for some reason, Chloe's comment stuck at him. It's not like he has any real feelings. She hadn't even said it as an insult; she'd stated it as an obvious assumption of fact.

As the bus lurched into gear, Drew suddenly realized that he hadn't seen a certain robot girl onboard. The motor revved, and they started to roll away from the curb – when he heard a frantic voice cry out from the school's front doors. "Wait! Wait, hold up! Wait for me! I'm coming!"

Jenny bolted across the sidewalk and sprinted after the bus, waving to get the driver's attention as the students howled with laughter. Naturally, dozens of kids urged the bus driver to keep going, hoping to leave her behind; but Jenny had no trouble keeping up with them on her motorized wheels. Mrs. Robinson finally got the driver to stop and open the doors. Jenny leapt up the steps, fumbling with her backpack and pleading her case, as her teacher shook an annoyed finger at her. The argument broke up after a paper airplane ricocheted off of Jenny's pigtail. The history teacher tried in vain to restore order, as the bus heaved back into traffic. Its rocking motion forced Jenny to stagger down the aisle with a comical stride, all while suffering under another barrage of snide remarks and bottle cap projectiles.

She frowned as she passed Brad and Chloe's seat; he had an apologetic look on his face, but that didn't improve her mood. A few rows back, Sheldon was sitting with another class nerd, critiquing the latest issue of the Captain Crush comic book. He nearly crushed his seatmate, sliding over to make room for Jenny; but she sped past him, pretending not to notice his invitation. As they pulled onto the highway, the driver bellowed at her to sit down now. That started a new chorus of taunting, just as Jenny tried to sneak past Brit and Tiff; it only took one tsk-tsk-tsk from Brit to make Jenny blush blue with embarrassment. After she stepped on the ketchup packet, her cheeks burned even brighter. A few awkward strides later, and withering under the laughter, she plopped herself down next to Drew.

"Welcome to the back of the bus," he said, with a tired face.

"Sorry I'm late," she growled, slumping back into her seat with a whirr of her servos. "Not exactly the way I wanted to start my morning."

"What happened, Jen? Early mission?"

"No, I got to school in plenty of time, but I had some trouble with my locker." She took a deep breath, as if trying to keep her temper under control. "When I got to my locker this morning, somebody had written 'Property of Frankenstein' on it in black marker. Okay, that's annoying, but it's not what made me late. Apparently, someone thought it would be funny to put super glue on the combination lock."

Drew shook his head. "Nice."

"Okay, so all my stuff is trapped in my locker, right? I figure I'm going to be late for class. So I rip open my locker to get my books out … and of course, who's walking behind me at that exact moment, but Vice Principal Raszinski." She sank lower into her seat, with a disgruntled look on her face. "He dragged me into his office, gave me a lecture, three days' detention … and he wants to set up a parent-teacher meeting with my mom, to discuss my 'aggressive behavior'." She sulked over the gross unfairness of it all.

"Yep," Drew groaned sarcastically, "it's great to have everything back to normal."

They moped in silence as the bus bounced along the highway, then exchanged a fatigued look to confirm that life, sometimes, just plain sucked. It was their first day back to school since the huge battle with the Omni-droid. It had nearly killed Drew, and had almost converted Jenny into a Cluster puppet. However, it was easier to repair the damage to their bodies than the damage to their reputations. The shape-shifting Omni-droid had convinced everyone that Jenny had gone rogue, and a lot of strong anti-robot sentiment had been unearthed at school. Even now that her innocence had been proven, nobody had really bothered to apologize to her. In fact, a lot of the usual harassment had taken on an even darker tone.

Jenny felt around the back of her metallic head, and pulled off a still-moist spitball. "Yeah, back to normal," she sighed. Then she mustered up her reserves of optimism, and tried to put a positive spin on things. "Well, now that we've taken care of that no-good Cluster creep, maybe everything will be nice and quiet today. I mean … sure, the day got off to a rocky start. But we get to spend a nice, quiet morning in a nice quiet museum … with a little luck, no calls from my mom … sail through an uneventful afternoon, and then you, me, and Brad can veg out at Mezmer's after school. We can make plans for the weekend!" Her face brightened with a big smile, and she playfully nudged Drew in the ribs. "Hey, Tamika will probably be there too. Maybe you'll get a chance to … talk … to …"

The grimace on his face told her everything she needed to know. She shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. "Oh … um … you've already talked to her … haven't you? Sorry."

Drew waved off her concerns. "Don't worry about it, Jenny. It's my own fault; I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up in the first place."

"Oh, don't talk like that, Drew! You've just got to have a little faith in yourself. You're cute, and smart … and funny, and …" – then her voice trailed off, no longer able to keep up the stream of mindless platitudes. Her shoulders sunk, and her pigtails drooped with a pained whirr. "And you're a bizarro robot freak … just like me. Let's face it … we're just a couple of second-class citizens."

"I don't think we're actually considered to be citizens," he mumbled. "Legally, I think we're appliances." Neither or them laughed. They knew it wasn't a joke.

Jenny stared towards the front of the bus, listening to the mindless chatter and goofy laughter that she wanted so, so very desperately to be a part of. Part of her said to just be patient, don't make waves, give the students more time to get used to her. She'd memorized all of the Teen Yak articles about blending into the crowd. She'd devoted considerable portions of her CPU time to calculating the best way to restore her popularity. She wanted to believe that the kids would accept her again, eventually. But a deeper part of her knew better. They had never really accepted her in the first place. She didn't have any popularity to restore. No matter what she did, or how she acted, she was always going to be the odd one out.

That's just the way things are always going to be, she moaned to herself, in a world of humans.

Jenny looked out the window, letting her mind drift off as she watched the passing scenery, and the oncoming traffic. A small smile crept onto her face as she spotted the unmistakable profile of a Volkswagen Beetle … not an original one, of course, but one of the cute retro remakes that had been popular about ten years ago. "Punch buggy yellow," she giggled, balling her hand into a fist …

When to her surprise, the yellow Beetle slammed hard on its brakes, nearly swerving out of control as it came to a stop. A red station wagon coming up behind it followed suit, turning hard to avoid the Beetle, sending up smoke from its tires as it slid sideways.

"That's weird," she said out loud, as she watched another pair of cars screech to an abrupt halt. As far as she could tell, they weren't avoiding any collisions, and there wasn't any debris or obstacles in the middle of the road. The students on the left side of the bus began to notice, and pressed their faces against the windows, hoping to see some real-life excitement on an otherwise boring field trip. They had no idea how much excitement they were about to get.

Now Jenny was growing genuinely puzzled, as she watched three lanes of oncoming cars screech and swerve to a halt, a growing traffic clog made worse by dozens of two- and three-car collisions. Fortunately, the accidents were only fender benders, but if things kept up like this, somebody was bound to get hurt. "It doesn't make any sense," she said, watching a sports car rear-end a beige van. "Everyone on the highway has lost their mind. It's like they're … panicking. Maybe I should check it out …"

Drew leaned over to watch the spectacle, shaking his head at the idiots who had suddenly forgotten how to drive. Then he noticed that most of those idiots were staring, dumbstruck, straight ahead of themselves. Curious, he looked out the back window of the bus, to see what they were staring at …

"Holy crap!" He grabbed Jenny by the shoulder and shook, hard. "Jenny, behind us! Look behind …"

Then the bus plunged into darkness.

A few shouts rang out in surprise, and Jenny was puzzled too; but Drew knew what had happened. A shadow had fallen over the school bus. A very large shadow. A howling whine rolled over them …

The entire bus shook with a deafening metallic crash, and rocked up and down on its springs as if a building had been dropped on it. Now the excited chatter of the students was replaced by ear-splitting shrieks of terror. The bus shook again, then lurched upwards with alarming force, catching everyone unprepared. Students were tossed onto the floor, against the ceiling, and into each other. Jenny bounced hard off of the side window, and grabbed a handrail to steady herself from the wild rocking motion. Her emergency world-saving software kicked into gear, and she briefly wondered if Tremorton was being struck by some apocalyptic earthquake …

Until she looked out the window, and realized that they were airborne.

Silver-green cables flowed out of Drew's body, wrapping around seatbacks and handrails to steady himself, as the bus pitched like a bucking bronco. "Jenny, there's something above us! Something huge!"

She punched out the back window, and telescoped her neck sections to stretch her head out for a better view. Amazingly enough, the bus was up in the air … at least two thousand feet up, and climbing quickly. Puffy white clouds were visible through the side windows. She turned her eyes upwards … and could barely believe what she saw.

An alien spaceship was hovering directly over the bus. Jenny ran its silhouette through her recognition software, but she knew what the answer was going to be. The ship's rounded hull and cockpit, and the six crooked extensions jutting out from its sides, gave it the appearance of a giant ladybug. It was a Cluster light cruiser, almost two hundred feet long, and it was holding on to the school bus. A huge section of the ship's underside had opened up, and a long metal cable stretched down from the belly of the cargo bay, ending in massive four-pronged claw which dug into the roof of the bus. Jenny quickly pieced together what had happened. This Cluster spaceship had come out of nowhere, sneaked up on the bus from behind … and had plucked it right off the highway.

The ship loomed larger and larger above her. She heard the high-pitched shriek of powerful motors, and realized that the entire school bus was being winched right into the cruiser's cargo bay. She probably could have cut through the cable, and carried the bus and the kids back to safety – but there wasn't going to be enough time. They were almost inside. She quickly reeled her head back into the bus, narrowly avoiding the edge of the cruiser's hull.

"It's the Cluster!" she shouted in frustration. "What is it with these guys?!? We just finished kicking their butts yesterday! Can somebody say obsessed?"

"Dang it, Jenny, do you owe them money or something?" Drew braced himself while the bus shuddered violently one last time, and the mammoth winching motors came to a stop.

The circular opening in the floor sealed itself, as eight triangular doors rotated into each other like spiraling teeth. As they slammed shut, dozens of metallic clangs echoed back and forth in every direction, confirming that they were now trapped inside of a giant compartment. Still in the grip of the powerful claw, the school bus gently oscillated like a lazy pendulum, suspended a few feet above the cargo bay's metallic deck plates. The high school students gazed out the windows in a state of shock. What they saw did nothing to soothe their fears. Bright lights illuminated the interior of a large, dome-shaped room, its walls lined with struts and pipes. Twenty robotic solider-drones surrounded the school bus, each bearing a hideous likeness to a metallic cockroach. Extra robotic limbs were deployed from their shoulders, pointing dangerous-looking laser guns directly at the bus.

A nasty snarl came over Jenny's face, and she tensed her hands into a pair of angry fists. "These bozos really, really picked the wrong day to mess with me. I am SO not in the mood for this!"

The teenage superhero blasted out of the bus like a bolt of lightning, and deployed a giant mallet from her right arm. It wasn't her most dangerous weapon, but it was oh-so-satisfying to use. The olive-green drone she was flying towards managed to get off one badly aimed laser blast, before the hammer wheeled through the air and came down on its head like a falling mountain. Without missing a beat, Jenny's legs went through a rapid-fire transformation, turning her lower body into a nasty-looking toothed wheel, like a giant robotic pizza cutter. Dodging another pair of lasers, she tore into a hapless yellow roach-drone, shredding through its metallic hide as if it were made of newspaper.

Drew's body shimmered with waves of silver-green, and he flowed himself up to the edge of the bus's rear window. "You know, I'm in a pretty crappy mood, too." He flung himself towards a rust-colored drone, and his arms oozed and stretched out into a pair of long, curved scythes. His malleable body twisted through the air, avoiding laser fire, then he landed behind the cockroach, wrapping his bladed arms around its barrel-shaped torso. With a quick pair of schwicks, he flung his blades apart, neatly slicing the Cluster drone into three pieces.

Arcing his fluid body through the air, he avoided another pair of attacking drones, and landed a few feet away from Jenny, who had deployed a pair of circular saw blades from her wrists. They spun up to speed with an ear-piercing screech, and she struck an aggressive pose, ready to strike …

"Surrender right now, both of you!" bellowed a deep, rich voice.

With a low-pitched hum of servo motors, a twelve-foot tall Cluster warrior stepped out of the shadows. His powerful chassis was decorated with drab shades of military green, and there was a confidence in his stride that bordered on cockiness. His scheming eyes grinned evilly as he flashed a smile at the teenage robots. "XJ-9 … so we finally meet again, face-to-face! And I see you've brought along a little friend this time. So much the better."

"Smytus!?!" growled Jenny. "You expect us to surrender to you, and twenty bug-stooges? Pffft! Tell you what – let us go right now, and maybe I won't slice you into a million pieces! I've got better things to do today than mess around with you. We're supposed to be at the museum in ten minutes!"

"Ah, right, that would be for your little field trip," he chortled. "Oops – sorry – I mean your phony field trip. The one that I set up, when I phoned your history teacher earlier this morning." He thoroughly enjoyed the look of surprise on the robot girl's face.

"What?!?" she gasped. This is all a big set-up? "You big gap-toothed doofus … haven't you got anything better to do than play practical jokes? Well, it'll take more than some stupid trick to defeat me!"

"Foolish XJ-9! I don't need to defeat you," he grinned. "You're about to give up."

"Give up?!?" She gave him a sarcastic smirk. "To a loser like you? Not likely!"

"I guess I'll just have to persuade you, then." He raised his clawed hand, signaling his crew.

Four cannon barrels dropped from the ceiling, and fired long steel cables towards the school bus. In seconds, the cables wound around the bus, coiling over the roof and under the chassis, enveloping it in a loose cocoon of steel. Now none of the kids trapped inside could escape through the door or the windows – but that wasn't the main purpose of the cable. Jenny heard a new set of sounds whine to life from the roof of the cargo bay – the hum of electrical power generators. She looked up … and to her horror, realized that each of the long steel cables wrapped around the bus was connected to a high voltage power line, crackling with electricity. A terrible feeling started to form in her processors.

"There is more than enough power in those generators to reduce your little mammal-friends to smoking piles of ash," grinned Smytus. "You – and that silvery pile of goop – have exactly fifteen seconds to surrender, or we throw the switch. Attack any of my roach-drones, and we throw the switch. Move a servo, and we throw the switch. You now have … ten seconds."

She gasped with dread, realizing the seriousness of the threat to the students. Her tactical software gave only a 2.3 percent chance of a successful rescue. The Cluster may have had no regard for human life, but she couldn't let anything happen to her classmates – no matter how they treated her. And Smytus knew that, the rotten jerk … "You big creep! Let them go!"

"Five seconds, XJ-9," chuckled Smytus. He knew he had the upper hand.

The students pounded desperately on the windows of bus, shouting for help. Brad's in there …

Drew gulped hard, and she could see the fear in his face. "Jenny, what do we do?" he asked.

"We … we surrender," she stammered, wincing in shame and disbelief.

They retracted their weapons, and Smytus enjoyed a hearty laugh as his remaining roach-drones encircled the two robot teens, and herded them towards a corner of the cargo bay. The Commander's massive chest threatened to explode with arrogant pride. "Our mission is completed … and I, Smytus, Cluster Champion, stand victorious once again! Drones, secure the prisoners and notify Queen Vexus of my triumph. Prepare the ship for the jump to hyperspace!"

Two roaches prodded Drew towards a small yellow containment barrel, which hummed with a powerful magnetic force field. Four roach-drones dragged Jenny towards a metallic arch, fitted with ultra-strong manacles designed to lock onto her hands and feet. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" she shouted. "Look, we surrendered! Take the kids back to the school and let them go!"

"Hey, I'm on a schedule here!" Smytus pointed to a monitor on the wall, which clearly showed the crisp blue curvature of the Earth against the blackness of space. "See, we've already left Earth orbit! I'm not turning this starship around for anyone. Besides … with your foolish sentimentality for humans, I think they'll make a dandy little insurance policy, just to make sure you behave yourself on the trip. And we can always find a use for humans on the homeworld."

"The homeworld?" Terror seized her circuits. No … he can't mean …

"Navigation!" bellowed Smytus. "Set course for Cluster Prime."

Continued in Chapter Two / Seven Days to Cluster Dawn