CHAPTER VIII

Trial by Fire

"The time will come, when fate chooses to test us. It will push us to places we don't want to go. Drive us to actions that we would never consider. Stand and fight, for your friends, your family, for yourself. Rise against your enemy, no matter the cost."

R.D.M.

Nora's Lab

"Solar radiation levels are dropping steadily. Operation: success. Way to go Mom!" XJ-8 exclaimed. Melody had arrived on the scene in Africa moments after Jenny breached Axle's containment field. Melody was content with throwing DV-2 into the Sun but, Jennifer talked her into carrying him to her mother's lab after she got her emotions under control, "It would seem the ex -armor you developed is radiation resistant." Dr. Wakeman removed her helmet. Sweat beads on her fore head trickled down her face as the cooler air meet her warm skin.

"Indeed. Not the ideal situation in which to test a prototype but, a Wakeman Industries original, patent pending, none the less..." She commented as she layed the helmet aside, "I'm afraid I've only managed to put a band-aid on a festering wound. His repair systems can fix what my hands can not but, I can not imagine the containment field ever reaching 100% again." She proceeded to her computer station, typing in a few commands, "That's not all...His operating systems seam to have staled out. Its difficult to explain. Power is reaching all the necessary areas in his C.P.U. and motor control center but, instead of being translated into operational command code, it's being transferred to his main data processing center." Nora thoroughly read the data on her computer screen. Information streamed across the monitor very quickly, "My diagnostics software indicates that the bulk of his processing power has been dedicated to def-fragmenting his memory banks. All other systems have been put in a low power stand by mode." Nora huffed in frustration, "I've tried everything to realign the power flow...His system just isn't responding to commands."

"What's that mean?" Jennifer asked. Nora wiped her brow.

"If my assumption is correct...He's lost the will to live." Nora said with a bit of aggravation in her voice from the entire situation, "It's absurd I know but, its not uncommon in humans who experience sudden life changing events to go through a phase of self-reflection".

"And this a bad thing why?" Melody pointed out, "The son of a bitch is an enemy! He's been spying on you and beaming the information into space! I say, let him stay that way and throw him into the Sun." Melody stated rather heavy handed.

"That is not an option. Consider for a moment that we would be throwing a miniature star into our Sun. When his containment field finally deteriorated from the Sun's power, his power core would immediately go supernova and blow a hole in the Sun's corona, exposing it's core. I'm purely speculating but, logic would suggest that with the Sun's core exposed, it would expand rapidly from that point, similar to pricking an inflated balloon. The explosion would engulf the entire solar system as a supernova." Nora informed all within ear shot very matter of factually.

"I'm so stupid! If that would have happened on Earth-!" Jenny pounded her left fist into her right palm.

"You were in a highly emotional state. According to my research, these type's of power systems are directly related to the emotional status of the individual using them. You weren't thinking clearly..." Nora's words offered little comfort to her daughter.

"Well that's just great! If the Earth had explode then, technically,I wasn't at fault!" Jennifer threw her hands up in defeat. Sensing her sister's guilt, XJ-8 approached her sister.

"I didn't get the chance to vocalize earlier, I just wanted to tell you how much I...Processing...Love you and how happy I am you are active and running efficiently. Your new chassis is...Processing...Lovely." Jenny starred at her sister with a bewildered expression.

"Th-thanks XJ-8. I-I love you too..." Jennifer was not expecting such an exchange and thus was at a lose for words.

"ALERT! ALERT! INTRUDER DETECTED!" The intercom system rang out loud and clear. Nora checked her security cameras.

"Ugh...It's Mogg...And Dale." With a few quick keystrokes, Nora deactivated her defenses. The two entered the lab a moment later.

Howdy Nora, sorry for the intrusion but I didn't have time to phone ahead." Dale stated as he burst in through the door, "Nice hole, it really lightens the place up." He sarcastically commented on her damaged lab. Nora ignored the sarcastic remark. Instead, she focused her gaze on Mogg.

"Why Nora, you certainly have an...Adequate...Area...For an intern..." He commented, lowering his tone to a barely audible one as he spoke his last words, though everyone still heard.

"Always a pleasure Mogg." Nora retorted, "Your late." She said flatly to Dale.

"So of us have a world to save." He shot back, "YK-9's on the way. The Voyager 5 satellite has been destroyed. The Hive was defiantly behind the hacking and that's not all, I just got word from Brad that an asteroid the size of New fucking York in the Main belt disappeared and reappeared on the dark side of the moon. The NASA eggheads confirmed could mean only one thing, the Hive's making their move and you have their key player in custody." Everyone gave the container a glance, "We need to act fast, Mogg thinks that if we dismantle DV-2's cortex-"

"NO!" Jennifer interrupted, "He hasn't done anything wrong really! Mom we can't just-just tear him apart!" She pleaded.

"Sigh...Well, what do you suggest?" Mogg looked towards Nora, "Surely you have a plan, you always seemed to have a plan...weather it was a good one or not..." Nora squinted her eyes at her rival because of his verbal assault and challenge.

"It would take far to long to translate any information we gained to be helpful...Dismantling DV-2 would do little more than deprive us of a valuable asset. With the satellite destroyed, there is no means by which the Hive can contact him." She glances towards XJ-8, "I have reason to believe that if we can manage to bring him back online, he would be valuable in the coming events and willingly help." Mogg was about to interject with a protest, but was cut of by Dale.

"Good enough for me. If you say he's worth keeping around then I trust you. Question is, how do we get him back operating?" Dale asked.

"I've done all I can. Physically everything is operating within normal parameters. The operating system itself is refusing to run normally." Nora sighed, "The only thing that comes to mind-"

"Is to upload a program into his C.P.U. that could find and isolate his main operational codes and directly divert them back into the proper areas of his C.P.U, causing his systems to force start at their normal capacities." Mogg stated professionally, "But you don't have such a program, do you Nora?" Nora gave Mogg an icy stare again.

"...No. No one does. A program that complex would require an intelligent learning annex that could comprehend the relatively unknown realm of the human, or robotic, mind. It would basically be like uploading another consciousness into his mind..." Nora thought out the entire sequence in her mind, "A program familiar with his unique OS..." Nora folded her arms and starred off into the distance, "It would shorten the entire venture dramatically using a program that already knew exactly what it was looking for..." She turned towards her daughter and everyone else did as well. Jenny nervously darted her eyes around the room at all the people starring at her, "Oh you gotta be...sigh...Fine. What do I need to do?"

The Dark Side of The Moon

"Dimensional teleportation was successful. We are in place my Queen." Smytus informed.

"Excellent! I can now move this entire space craft through my dimensional rifts with ease." Vexes smiled to herself upon her throne, " Are the XJ-Nightmares ready?"

"Fully charged and ready to deploy at you command." Smytus gleefully replied, "What of commander Scorn?" He asked. Vexes crossed her legs and a mischievous grin appeared on her face plate. She brought a finger to her lips and wiped away a small drop of unknown liquid.

"He is ready, willing, and able to handle the tasks ahead..." She replied, "Its time...Open the hatch." Smytus followed his orders. After a few button presses, a small door opened above her seat. Vexes hovered to the opening and took a split second to admire the moon from the doorway before leaping from her ship. She impacted with enough force to carve out a massive mile wide crater on the lunar surface. Large, deep fissures stretched out from the hole she created.

"Careful my Queen. You moved the Moon out of orbit by 0.67999994569 Earth kilometers." Smytus commented through their internal com link. She could tell by his voice that he was smiling.

"Not to worry, the humans wont survive the 566786 Earth cycles it will take before it collides with their planet. I do have to watch my new strength." She smugly replied, "Time for Jennifer's birthday present..." Dust began to rise and swirl around Vexes as she smiled. Large chunks of the Moon began to break away from it's surface as she raised her arms out to her sides. The debris forming a tornado around her. Smytus felt the ship begin to shake.

"I'm backing off to a safe distance before things get to out of control." The ship departed, flying a few hundred miles away to a safe distance. Vexes bellowed a joyous war cry into the silent void, a blood red aura materialized around her body and the moon began to quake violently.

Back in the Lab

"Are all these damn wires really necessary?" Jennifer questioned in annoyance from her seat, crossing her arms as she did. The rear section of her head housing was removed. A plethora of wires, cables and hoses connected her to Axle and in-turn to her mother's diagnostics equipment.

"Only if you want to safely and successfully complete this mission." Nora responded, "And I want to monitor your condition during the entire process." Nora explained while typing incredibly fast on her computer.

"And what the hell is that thing your puffing on? I'm detecting a lot of toxic chemicals..." Jenny folded her arms.

"It's called a cigarette. An old and outlawed way of relieving stress. May I?" Dale asked to partake. Nora generously gave him one. After a quick lite and inhale, Dale exhaled with obvious relief, "Damn it's been to long. Stupid United Nations..."

"AHEM! If I may interject, we have a mission to complete and all this drabble is wasting precious time!" Mogg informed.

"Done." Nora stopped her typing, "Jennifer? Are you prepared?" Nora asked.

"Mama didn't raise no chickens!" She replied with a smile, "Ready to deploy." She signaled with a thumbs up. A tap of the enter key and Jennifer's optics immediately blinked to static. Everyone could only wait and hope. Jennifer's vision went black for a split second, then exploded into a kaleidoscopic tunnel with what seemed to be a wall of light hurdling towards her at a break neck pace from the far end. Just as she was about to throw up her arms as an instinctive reflex, the virtual world she was perceiving snapped back into the familiar white void. She felt her feet touch down on a surface. The same ticklish feeling she had felt the last time except, with a cool sensation and slight sort of poke of sorts along with it. As the world around her materialized, she noticed she was standing in a field of grass. A slight breeze blew the blades gently. She scanned her surroundings, the results indicated that she was on a one acre by one acre section of land that seemed to be floating slightly above an endless sea of white clouds. The sky's above her appeared as the most beautiful blue she could ever imagine. Jenny scanned around and saw a single tree in the distance, it's branches bare of leaves. Upon closer inspection, she seen a humanoid figure sitting under it's boughs. She took a step in it's direction. She stopped as her right foot entered her line of sight. It was a peach color, with strange little protrusions, "Toes..." Jenny whispered to herself. The little digit's nails were painted blue. Upon, further inspection, she discovered she was wearing her usual attire. She grabbed one of her pigtails and pulled the locks into view, "Blue, figures.." She wished she had more time to admire her humanoid form but, continued towards Axle. As she got closer to him, each step she took activated a split second of the latent memory she unlocked inside his C.P.U. Brief flashes of the terrible things he and his "mother" Vexes had done on Cluster Prime. Images of innocent robots being melted slowly for her amusement, while Axle looked on them with a cold unchanging expression. When she reached him, she noticed he was sitting on the edge of the virtual world, overlooking the clouds. His appearance reflected his appearance before he lost his synthetic skin. This time, it was her that placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey I...I came for you. We-" Jenny began but, was cut off.

"You shouldn't be here..." He gravely interrupted, "You know I'm a monster...What I've done..." He continued starring out at the clouds.

"Your right, our minds are connected right now...I know everything." Jenny sighed, "You should know that I have destroyed countless ro-" Axle interrupted again.

"An entire planet full?" He asked, "I destroyed a planet for Vexes's amusement and...I didn't feel a thing..." Jennifer placed her other hand on his shoulder.

"No, maybe not that many, but I know it wasn't your fault." She comforted him in her normal voice then, changed to speaking from her mind, which caused it to echo all around, omnipresently, "I've seen your files, I've read your mind...I know the real you...The person I feel so connected to."

"Vega was a friend of yours. I was there when Vexes deactivated her..." Axle pulled a few blades of grass out of the ground and tossed them over the edge. Jenny watched as they fell to the clouds, turned into binary and dissipated, "The only reason I was built was to be tool for her revenge. First against the planet that turned it's back on her, then Vega and you. She had some pretty gruesome ideas about destroying your reputation, your relationship with Brad...Killing your mom and then every organic thing left on the damned planet." He looked back out across the clouds, "I was purposely created to get to you. I was programmed to be attracted to you...To make you fall for me...To make you careless...To steal all your secrets...I'm just a useless shell, a tool for her plans. I should be shutdown before she can use me to harm the life of this planet..."

"Help us. You don't have to be that monster DV-2 anymore. You can chose to be better than your programming..." She knelled down and wrapped her arms softly around his neck, "I've spent my whole life doing it. I don't know how to control this new power and, chances are, Vexes is a lot stronger than me since your a prototype." Sharing their minds again made the connection stronger than ever, "I can't say weather or not what we feel is all just programming and circumstance, but I know what I feel. I thought it was love but it's something else...Like...Passion." She reasoned while resting the side of her face against his.

"It's all just part of her plan..." Axle replied, standing and breaking her embrace, "I can't let her use me anymore. I wont let her use me to hurt you!" He glanced over his shoulder at her, "I...I will always regret not getting a kiss from you...Goodbye." Axle looked back at he open sky and leaped off the edge. Jennifer panicked for a second then dove off the cliff after him. She caught him in her arms just before he hit the clouds. She flew them back to the island and tossed him to the ground.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" She shouted in anger, "Your just going to give up? Delete your self?" Axle starred at the ground as Jenny scolded him, "If your not even going to try then I'm not either." Her emotions began to fluctuate and the grass around her began to turn brown and wilt, "You can't run from your past, it will always be apart of you, but you can atone for your sins." She began to shake as she clenched her fists, "Your pathetic! I should just leave you here!"

Back in the lab

"What's all that racket?" Dale asked. Nora's equipment was going haywire.

"Oh no...It seems that, for some reason, she's losing her temper." She looked over at her daughter's body, her eyes were still glazed over by static, her face had a slighty angered expression and she was shaking, "This is not good. Her temperature is rising and she is putting off low levels of radiation. If she doesn't get a hold of herself, she could accidentally kill all of us." The group glanced around at each other nervously.

"I need a fucking drink..." Dale commented as he headed to Nora's kitchen. The faint sound of a cell phone ringing could be heard as he walked up the stairs.

Axle's C.P.U.

"Jenny you have to calm down!" Axle tried to calm her.

"NO! You make me sick! You know what? Go. Go ahead and jump off the cliff. We don't need you anyway!" She shoved him.

"Jenny, your body is going to start emitting heat and radiation if you don't calm down!" Axle exclaimed. The information shocked her, but she couldn't seem calm down, which only seemed to frustrate her further.

"How then, huh? Tell me now!" She shouted. Axle grabbed her by the arms and kissed her deeply. Her eyes opened wide in shock, then closed and she reciprocated the action. Immediately, her temper fell. She pulled away from him and looked him right in the eyes, her expression a a mixture of anger, longing, longing, and lust, "You son of a bitch..." She spat at him.

Back in the lab

"She's calming down. Radiation and temperature are dipping below dangerous levels but still high. Odd..." Nora examined the computer data closely, "The levels are higher than normal operating conditions and holding...I just wish I could see whats going on in there..." Mogg approached her from behind, leaning in over her right shoulder to observe the data for himself.

"Hhhhmmmm...Interesting. There seems to be a rhythmic fluctuation to her radiation level every 1.3679 seconds..." Mogg noted, "Almost imperceptible."

"Why would her energies be fluctuating? And why in such a specific pattern?" Nora and Mogg contemplated the possibilities. XJ-8 approached from behind. She read the data on the monitor, then looked over at her sister's body.

"Brown chicken brown cow!" She exclaimed. Everyone turned to XJ-8 to see why she was malfunctioning, until they saw Jennifer. Her body was rocking back and forth in tune with the energy fluctuations. Her mouth hung open slightly and her cheeks held a blue tint. Everyone immediately knew what was happening. Nora began rubbing her head with her hands.

"Uh, well, at least the energy levels are stable." Melody chimed in.

"COUGH...How about we check the status of DV-2? Perhaps he has begun to restart?" Mogg tried to divert Nora's mind away from what was happening.

"Yes...well, let's check." Her tone said everything. A progress bar appeared on her screen showing 42%. data indicated that progress was directly related to the rhythmic fluctuations. She took a long drag of her cigarette, "I need a fucking drink..." At that moment, they could hear yelling coming from upstairs. Dale came running down, nearly falling, before entering the lab

"I just got off the phone with Brad! Its all over the news...Guys, I don't how else to say this, the Moon...Its melting." The expression on his face told them the seriousness of the situation, "Hubble satellite images confirm it, hell walk outside! You can feel the heat. I can't even begin to speculate about the amount of power it would take to do this." He turned towards Melody, "M..." She knew what he meant without anymore words.

"Right! I'm on it!" She replied while retracting her outer skin and uniform. She activated her flight system and disappeared through the hole in the roof of Nora's lab.

"Mogg, I'm rerouting YK-9 to the Moon until Melody arrives." Dale ordered. Mogg's expression turned sad.

"Yes, well that is the logical thing to do. He is the closes to the Moon." Mogg responded.

"Nora, whats the status?" Dale questioned. She glanced up at the progress bar.

"83% another minutes or so and they will be back on line." She replied.

"Damn it! We need them asap! Melody and YK-9 can't produce that much power together!" Dale said. Before another word could be spoken, Nora's random threat indicator went off. She quickly ran to the mechine and began hitting all manner of buttons on the device.

"Shit, things are about to get much worse. My detection grid is showing two hundred plus objects entering the atmosphere! They seem to be appearing in space around the Moon. They're heading to all parts of the Earth." Nora informed.

"I'll rig up a video feed of YK-9's visual systems on a spare computer." Mogg went to work right away on the video feed.

"Nora we need those two now!" Dale exclaimed.

Space

If space could carry sound, it would be filled with laughter and horrific screams. Vexes hurled massive chunks of molten Moon rock towards the Earths satellites while the XJ-Nightmares streaked through the atmosphere. Their coal black bodies tinted a lite blood red with the heat of re-entry. Cackling madly with their claws bared, ready to rend the flesh of the soft vertebrates below. A global plan of action had been created after the last invasion. Armies around the world gathered in their capital cities to protect their leaders in accordance with the global agreement. Sonic booms thundered across the Earth. Nervous battalions from every nations faced the clouds. They listened and nervously glanced around at each other, not sure if their ears were telling their brains the truth. The sounds of young girls laughing in the distance. Suddenly, the clouds burst apart and the childish laughter turned to viscous, maddening artificial vocal noises. Howls, screams, and laughter at an eardrum splitting decibel. The terrible androids plowed into the platoons mercilessly. Around the world, the dust clears from the craters of impact. Red eyes beamed through the dissipating dust. Malevolent, razor tooth smiles stretched across the cold, black faces of the robots. The cry heard around the world. The commanders gave the signals and the infantry units charged and began firing. The battle for the Earth had begun.

"The units are in place. Deploying Scorn." Smytus declared.

"And so the end begins." Vexes replied. Suddenly, a laser beam struck the Queen from behind, causing her to lean forward.

"Vexes! Impact detected! Are you damaged?" Smytus asked concerned. Vexes smiled.

"Quite alright. Just a little hiccup. I'll contact you when I'm done here." She killed the com link between her and Smytus and hailed YK-9, "Well, well, well. Kenny, right? Come to beg for your life?"

"No way man! I'm about to take you out!" Kenny replied while pounding his fists together and landing on the Moon. Vexes looked upon him with amusement, Scanning his chassis, noticing that the heat from the Moon was slowly turning him red.

"Bold words from such an out dated design. Don't get cocky just because you destroyed one little'ol satellite." She taughted.

"Enough talk! Your going down!" Kenny charged the iron maiden, transforming his hand into a battle ax. Vexes didn't even try to dodge the attack. She crossed her arms and smiled. He swung with all his might, the weapon struck her abdomen. A massive plum of fire blasted off the side of the Moon from the force. The ax shattered on impact and Vexes laughed.

"Why don't we cut to the chase? I know you're equipped with Mogg's version of Dr. Locust's power system. That fool actually thought he could recreate the Starbirth power system...Only Wakeman could ever complete such a feat..." Vexes dropped here arms to her sides, "I am curious...Active the power core. You don't stand a chance without it anyway and you know it..." Kenny clenched his fists, "Let's see just how well his technology compares to mine." If he could sweat, he would have been. She was right and he knew it. He activated his core. Purple energy exploded round him. Molten rock swirled around him. The nuclear energies engulfing the Moon was pushed away, leaving a small circle for him to stand in as his energy keep it from touching him, "Impressive, yet futile." With a swipe of her hand, she sent a wave of molten rock and red energy at him. Kenny threw his arms up in defense and allowed the attack to hit. On impact, he flung his arms back apart, dispersing the attack in all directions. He focused his optics at where she had been standing to see nothing. His detection systems went haywire telling him something was right above him. He quickly looked up to see a massive red beam of energy heading straight at him. It took everything he had to avoid the beam but, he was still caught in the resulting blast. The explosion could be seen from Earth. The shock wave cracked and dented his armor and flung him across the Moons surface, until he slid to a stop on the red hot rock, "Oh, my...That looked damaging...Are you all right?" Vexes cooed as she hovered high above.

"Th-That all you got?" Kenny said as he rose to his feet. He charged energy into his body. Vexes just watched the scene play out. He thrust his hands out in front of him and released the energy as a beam at the evil Queen. She easily batted the attack away into space. Using the momentary distraction, he released a barrage of missiles at her, hidden behind the energy beam. Vexes didn't notice the sneak attack until the last second. Her mind processed the attack incredibly fast, batting away those closes and firing small beams from her eyes to destroy the others. She barley managed to destroy all, save for one. The missed missile explosion was powerful, hitting her square in the breast and pushing her further out into space. Kenny smiled to himself with the small victory. Vexes activated her flight stabilizing systems and stopped herself. She peered down at Kenny with a frown.

"Well...I seem to have slightly underestimated you..." Her tone clearly indicated a level of aggravation, "Now it's time to see what your really made of, better yet..." Her smile returned, "I'll show you what your made of!" She bared her claws and slashed the empty space in-front of her. A kaleidoscopic hole opened up in space and she disappeared into it. Kenny swallowed hard unnecessarily as he glanced, for a split second, at the Earth in the distance.

"Dad, I hope you got a plan..." Kenny thought to himself.

Back in the lab

Tension mounted as the group anxiously awaited for Jenny and Axle to reactivate. They were all on edge. Mogg kept the emotions forced out of his mind as he work hastily on the video connection. Nora nervously drummed her fingers on her desk, her eyes never leaving the progress bar on the computer screen. 95% displayed across the monitor. Dale regularly checked in with Brad on Melody's location and status. It was reported on the news that two hostile units had landed eighty miles outside of town with more objects detected entering the atmosphere. Nora abruptly stopped her drumming. Dale knew something was up as he looked at her, "After much deliberation...I've come to a decision. I'm going to reactivate the rest of the XJ's" She said.

"I thought you decommissioned them for good?" Mogg questioned.

"No. That's just what I told Skyway to keep them satisfied." Nora stated. Dale starred at her.

"I knew you had something up your sleeve." He grinned.

"Hooray! I can't wait to see my sister units again!" XJ-8 exclaimed.

"We're going to need all the help we can get. I have a stash of golden chips I procured from the damaged droids of the last war. They may not be enough but, they will increase their power out put and transformation abilities dramatically." She began entering commands into her computer. Everyone turned to a false wall at the back of her lab that slid open and revealed her remaining sleeping, mechanical children. One by one, lights in the shape of the models number and appropriate color lite up above their heads. The hum of activation could be heard as the start up procedure began.

High in the Earth's atmosphere

"I know Brad...I promise I'll be careful." Melody spoke through her com-link.

"I'm serious Mel! I..I don't wont to lose you too..." Brad's voice carried the weight concern.

"You kidding? I'm a super powerful robot girl! There's nothing to worry about." Melody said confidently, masking her fear and reassuring Brad, "I have to go I'm almost at the Moon. I don't wont anyone tracing the signal."

"OK...Mel? Promise me you'll be back." Brads voice trembled on the last words. Melody's face turned to a sadly blank stare. She took a split moment to calculate all the possible situations, and their out comes, before replying.

"I will Brad. I promise." She immediately disconnected the communication link. She could feel the intense heat emanating off the Moon. She slowed her self down and descended to the charred surface. A momentary scan revealed Kenny's location, "KENNY!" She yelled. He was staggering to his feet. His body was covered by claw marks and dents. His left arm hung loosely at the elbow, wires protruding from the joint. His energy level had fallen down to low to push away the intense heat. White hot metal droplets floated away from various parts of his body, his left optic lens hung from its socket. Melody flew to his side, "Oh my god Kenny!"

"H-hey Melody...Fancy see*zzzz* you hear..." He spat out.

"Where is she?" Melody asked with rage.

"Moving to fast...Some *zzzzzz* of teleportation..." Kenny warned, "She's to strong..."

"Conserve your energy. I'll handle it from here." As the words left her mouth, a colorful rip in space opened in-front of her. Vexes calmly stepped out wearing her smile.

"Why hello Melody! How's your father these days?"