CHAPTER IX

Shifting Tides

"It's been said, that there is nothing more dangerous than a cornered animal. I humbly disagree, there is nothing more dangerous than a sane person, sound in there convictions, with nothing to lose."

R.D.M.

Inside Axle's C.P.U.

"So...I take it you wont be deleting yourself?" Jennifer questioned. Her eyes closed as her virtual form drifted lazily through the endless, space like white void. Axle smiled to himself.

"...No, it seems we need each other more than we thought.." Axle replied. He stood on a piece of invisible data acting as a firm foothold.

"I'm...starting to feel a large energy signature. Your detection systems must be powering on." Jenny noted.

"Yeah, I sense it to...It's off the chart and judging by the trajectory, it's coming from your Moon." said Axle, "It's Vexes, I can feel it in my oil...This isn't going to be easy. You probable should head back to your own body." Axle suggested, though he really didn't want her to leave, "I need to finish booting up." Jennifer lost her happy expression.

"OK, but when this is over...You owe me a can of oil." Jenny suggested in her on special way of also demanding. Axle frowned a bit.

"Deal." He reluctantly replied, unsure of the near future.

"See you on the battle field." Jenny's body turned into blue light then dispersed in a cloud of binary. Axle also began to fade away as his systems booted up.

"Mother...I'm coming home..." He spoke as his form disappeared completely.

Tokyo Japan

"DO NOT LET THE METAL DEMONS WAIVER YOUR FOCUS!" A rather odd robot tried to steel his fellow troops nerve, "The Samurai of legend never feared an enemy and never faltered! Even in the face of death!" The self aware Samurai brand vacuum unsheathed it's sword, "Feel the strength of your ancestors! Harness the power of your Samurai past and destroy these foul beasts!" He turned from his battle ready division, aiming his weapon at the approaching enemy. In the distance, the thick dust clouds from the impacts slowly dissipated, dragged grain by grain away on the wind, peeling back the shroud and allowing the foe's to gaze more efficiently on one another. The full brunt of fear descended on the human army, along with the blood red eyes of the metal demons, scanning their vital signs, searching for a weakness. The Samurai vacuum sensed the rising tide of fear in his fellow troops, and with a well timed battle cry, "CHHHAAARRRGGGE!" The dam of fear burst and adrenalin overwhelmed self doubt. The will of greater good overwhelmed the individualized, self preservating programming inherent to all humans. As the distance between yin and yang waned, Vacu-san's eyes could see the dark cold face of his enemy illuminated by the arms fire filling the rest of his senses, and he see's the razor toothed smiles and he hears the ping of deflecting gun fire ricocheting off into the distance. Thick metallic clacks rang out as the Nightmares extended their talons. Steel met with steel in a explosion of red and white sparks as Vacu-san's sword slammed against the demon's thick hide. Fear, the emotion he trained so hard to control, slowly crept from the shadows of his C.P.U. Not even the ways of the Samurai could stop all the red splash's from hitting the ground around him. Before he could process the full brunt force of futility, a swift elbow shatter's his C.P.U. housing, deactivating the synthetic Samurai.

Nora's Lab

"Their back online!" Nora exclaimed. Jenny's optics returned to normal. Nora ran to her daughter and embraced her, while Jenny pulled at the various connections in the back of her C.P.U.

"Whoa, Mom. I'm fine..." Jenny returned the embrace, "So is Axle. We're going to take care of everything now." She smiled down at her frail human mother. Nora, despite the events taking place around the world and space, couldn't help but feel as though her daughter was right. Maybe it was the extra reassurance her now more mature face naturally produced but, her mind felt eased non the less.

"Jennifer...Things are dire. As I speak, war is raging across the Earth! Millions of lives are at stake...You must help them!" Nora more asked than commanded. The entire room looked on, waiting to here her intended course of action. Jennifer calculated all the information from various radio, television, and working satellite signals together and made her decision.

"Mom...I have to go to the Moon with Axle. We have to stop the source, we have to stop Vexes. If we don't, she's going to destroy the Moon. She's the one controlling everything." She softly pushed her Mother away to arms length and looked at her with a very serious and sad expression, "We have to cut the head off the snake. I know you don't want me to go face her but...It's the right thing to do. It's what I was built for..." She gave her mother a smile, "Besides, the rest of the XJ's can handle things here." With the sound of Axle activating and sitting up right in the background, Nora smiled back. She smiled at her daughter's mature approach to the situation, going far beyond what her original programming ever intended.

"I know dear. Just-just promise me that you'll come back in one piece?" Nora asked. Jennifer forced a smile but, it was a smile non the less.

"I promise I'll do my best." Jenny offered, not wanting to perpetrate a lie.

"You two better get goin', if your gonna save the freakin' world." Dale slurred through the bottom of an empty glass. Axle stood up, despite his tattered clothes, battle ready. His artificial eyes glanced at Jennifer, their fierce gaze signaled that to each other it was time.

"OK...Your sisters will be online shortly. I am certain that they will be efficient at protecting the Earth in your absences." Nora said.

"Don't worry sis' I got your back!" XJ-8 exclaimed.

Jenny smiled, "I wish I had time to see them all as they activated but I have to go...I love you goodbye mom!" Jenny took flight and exited through the holes in Nora's house after her final words to her mother. Nora glanced at Axle, who gave her a slight nod and disappeared as well.

"Well, nothing to do now but wait..." Dale pointed out. Nora just quietly smiled to herself.

"I love you too dear...More than anything." She thought.

"Eureka!" Mogg shouted from under a computer station, banging his head on the underside of the desk as he did. He crawled out from under the table rubbing his head, "I've finished rewiring your surveillance system to correspond to YK-9's frequency!" He took a seat at the computer he had been working on, "Now it should just be a matter of finding his signal...And we should be able to see through his eyes and gather data on his current status..." A few keystrokes granted them a rather grainy video stream, a few quick and hardy smacks against the monitor gave them crystal clear, live video stream through YK-9's optics on the surface of the Moon. The angle appeared to be perpendicular to the Moon's surface, with the mad Queen standing just a short distance away. Though, they could crisply see the oil dripping from the smiling witch's talons, not an utter of sound could be heard. It seems that truly, in space, no one can hear you scream. The fact made more clear by the sight of Melody on her knees before Vexes, clutching her abdomen. Judging by the her face, they all could tell she was in pain. Mogg grabbed his hair in frustration, "YK-9!"

"Power at 29%, multiple hull breaches...Temperature nearing melting point...He has entered self preservation mode and engaged critical data protection sequences. Sealing his essence off in an emergency hard drive...It can still be saved but, his energy supply will completely run out soon! If that happens-" Nora was cut off.

"His memory stacks...They'll be erased. He wont remember anything, he wont remember...Me..." Nora watched an emotion wash across Mogg's face. One that shifted her perception of her rival, somewhat.

"They'll get there in time. Jenny will save him." She laid a comforting hand on his hunched back. Mogg barely heard her as he watch the energy reading drop to 28%.

"I'm...I'm activated!" Everyone in the room turned towards the XJ's station, "What the hell is going on!" XJ-6 exclaimed.

"Oh! Man! I was having the best dream! All you guys where there!" XJ-5 commented.

"Wow...I was sure I would never be active again..." XJ-7 groaned.

"Just look at us!" XJ-4 extended her hand to a surprised XJ-6's monitor face and wiped a streak through the thick dust, "Weeeeeeerrrrr'er filthy!" XJ-3 glanced around her dust covered chassis. XJ-2 hiccuped, shooting Dale's whiskey bottle.

"Suna'va-" Dale protested in the background but, was interrupted by a heavily digitized baby cry from XJ-1.

"Sister Units!" XJ-8 exclaimed as she grabbed them all in a metal crushing hug.

"There is no time for pleasantries I'm afraid. You all must be outfitted with golden chips and dispatched immediately! The Earth is counting on you!" Nora spoke.

"And why should we help you? Your just going to shut us down again when this is all over!" XJ-6 folded her arms and turned her back to her creator. The other XJ's processed her words for a moment, then one by one, they lowered their heads and turned their backs as well.

"No one even cares we exist..." XJ-7 added. Nora took in a deep ragged breath and braced herself to speak.

"I know you think no one cares about you and to an extent...You are right. I'll even admit that I could, at one point, have been counted amongst them..." Nora lowered her head, "When the time came that I had to decommission all of you...I could not bring myself to do it. Instead, I decided to create a virtual world that would keep your memory banks activated and preserved. I am truly sorry...You have every right to be angry with me." Nora looked upon them all, a seriousness in her eyes, "If you chose to help us, then I will give you my word, that you will remain activated when this ordeal is over." Nora tried to convince her daughters of her sincerity.

"You didn't even dust us off..." XJ-4 commented over her shoulder.

"I'm terribly sorry for what I've done to you." Nora responded.

"Sisters units...It is our duty as G.R.R.U. to protect the Earth. Mother has wronged us, but she has changed. She has promised us all new designs along with our freedom." XJ-8 shot her a glance, Nora gulped, "We can be a...processing...Family." Nora watched as the stead fast stature of her creations slowly relax.

"A new body would be OK I guess..." XJ-7 said.

"I want a Teflon coating to keep dirt from clinging to my body!" XJ-4 happily exclaimed. XJ-8 rotated her head to face her mother. Nora jut shook her head.

"Very well, Teflon it is. Now please, you must install the golden chips! You'll need all the help you can get..." Nora typed a command on her keyboard. A picture on the side wall hinged away, revealing a safe door, "All you have to do is open you breast plate and place the chip next to your power supply." She spoke while entering the safe combination. A golden glow illuminated the room as the door swung open, "They really are amazing pieces of technology..." One by one she handed a chip to her creations, "The chips will detect your power systems and connect with them." Once equipped, your transformation abilities will be greatly increased along, with your power output." The XJ's simultaneously opened their chests and placed the chips in, "According to the information we have, the enemy robots are modified after XJ-9. I don't need to tell you to be careful."

"Wow! My power system is increasing!" XJ-6 noted.

"Yeah, mine to! We'll clean their clocks for sure!" XJ-4 exclaimed.

"I'm sending all of you separate coordinates to the areas with the heaviest concentration of enemy units. XJ's 1 and 2 will remain here." Nora said, "You all must leave immediately." She type in another command on her keyboard.

"It would be best for them to stay behind." XJ-8 stated, "Coordinates received, goodbye Mother." XJ-8 launched through the hole in Nora's lab.

"You better not be lying to us Mother!" XJ-6 shouted.

"Can I have legs?" XJ-7 asked.

"I promise to sit down with each of you and discuss your new deigns." She gave them a smile. One by one, the XJ's shot off to their respective locations.

"So...Do you really think they can do it?" Dale questioned. Nora drew in a deep breath.

"I pray they can..."

Space

Jennifer set up a com link with Axle as soon as they left the atmosphere. The two could hardly believe their optic sensors when they scanned the Moon. A quarter of it's surface was burning a dull red. The energy Vexes was producing was slowly spreading across the surface, turning it into a molten wasteland. Jenny cringed a little as they flew past the shattered remains of the international space station. Zooming in, she could see a few bodies floating within the debris, "Heads up!" Axle warned, causing Jenny to snap her vision back forward. An SUV sized piece of the Moon was headed straight for her. With a quick process, she changed her left hand into a buzz-saw and sliced the thing in half, "My sensors are going haywire! There's Earth bound objects everywhere!" Axle exclaimed. Another inbound object caught her attention. Upon a closer scan, she could see a familiar figure inside the ball of fire streaking passed her.

"It can't be-!" Her thought process was cut off by another object slamming into her. She regained her focus and looked on in horror at the face that looked back at her, "N-No!" The coal black face and glowing red eyes starring back at her held a wealth of pure hate and were all to familiar. She could feel her temperature rise. The thing lunged at her again with it's talons aimed at her main oil tube. Jenny easily caught the hand and crushed it while gritting her teeth. A quick scan revealed it's central power supply location. She detached her buzz-saw and reformed her fist. Blue electricity sparked around her hand as she rammed it straight through the robots power core and simultaneously blew out the back of it's head with a blast of her eye lasers through it's optics, "That bitch is dead! How dare she copy my designs!" She shouted through the com link as she violently shook the deactivated robot off her arm.

"I'm detecting another 30 objects heading this way. If we fight them all we might not make it to the Moon in time!" Axle exclaimed. It was then he noticed Jenny's rising power level.

"Oh yes we will!" She kicked her power output up to 50%. The blue electricity sparking around her arm expanded to her entire body and an orange aura surrounded her. With only seconds before the soulless beasts bared down on them, She calculated their projected path. She then moved her arms at an eye blurring speed, firing orange beams of energy from the palms of her hands. The XJ-Nightmares could not react quickly enough. The impact was enough to smash them into piece with the force and melt it's way through the remains, "According to their trajectory-!"

"I got it!" Axle said, reading her sensory information, "I see you have a lot better control this time." He smiled. Jenny smirked back.

"Yeah. If Vexes is on the Moon, then that must be where Smytus is." She stated as she rocketed onwards to her target, "If nothing else, I'll keep her busy while you deal with him. With her full attention on me, Melody can escape with Kenny."

"Solid plan. Smytus shouldn't be a problem. I'll meet back up with you when I'm done and we'll end this." Axle broke from there flight path and headed towards an asteroid only a few hundred miles from the Moon. He had to use quick maneuvers to avoid the many Moon rocks hurdling at him. As soon as he exited the debris field, he was bombarded by laser fire, "He's definitely in there." Axle bumped his power up to 20% and pulled back his right hand into a tight fist, preparing to strike with full force but, before he reached the camouflaged ship, he crashed into an invisible field, causing him to smash to a halt, "OK...Should have seen that..."

"HAHAHAHAHA! Welcome home DV-2!" A radio transmission erupted inside his mind, "We've been expecting you... " The voice was thick with malevolent satisfaction.

"Smytus! How did you get my frequency?" Axle demanded.

"Oh, I know everything about you DV-2...After all...I BUILT you! HAHAHAHAHA!" The words stung. Axle pounded his fist against the force field.

"Coward! Come out here and face me!" Axle demanded.

"I'm quiet comfortable in here..." Smytus prodded, "I do, however, have some friends that want to play!" Smytus opened the cargo-bay doors and released a battalion of XJ-Nightmare's, "Play nice my children!" Axle fired yellow lasers from his optics at robots as they closed in. The Nightmares dodged most, others were struck in various areas, blowing holes in their armor. The first one reached him, a round house kick to the head ripped it's jaw off. Unfazed, the evil machine turned back slowly and starred directly into Axle's optics as oil floated out of the exposed oil tubes. In his distraction, two more robots grabbed his arms and pulled them apart, trying to rip them off. The damaged bot in-front of him transformed it's right arm into a long spike.

"Yikes!" Axle cranked the power up to 30%. A light orange aura appeared around him. He slammed his arms together quickly, smashing the three robots together and destroying them, "WARNING: CONTAINMENT FIELD DAMAGED. DO NOT EXCEED 63%" The words flashed across his H.U.D., "Damn it! The repair's not going to hold...I can still take care of these things though." The remaining Nightmares closed in. A swift dodge followed by an elbow jammed one's head through it's shoulders and into it's chest cavity. Axle slammed his hand, open palmed through another chest, shoving it's oil pump out of the back of it's chassis. He spun to defend himself from the rest only to see them hovering some distance away, "What the hell are they doing?"

"Heh...heh...heh...My XJ-Nightmares can adapt to any fighting style and develop counter measure!" Smytus gloated. Axle glanced in his direction and noticed that the ship had backed away a few miles in the commotion.

"Adapt to my fighting style?" Before Axle could process Smytus's words any further, the remaining robots transformed their arms into Gatling guns and opened fire. Axle activated his energy shield just in time to stop the hail of red energy bullets, "That's what he meant. They know they can't win in hand to hand combat so their using coordinated long range attacks..." The shield around him began to crack, "Two can play that game..." He bumped his power up to 40%. The shield repaired itself. He processed all the different trajectories and opened a small hole in his shield. He fired an intense beam of energy from his optics. The beam struck one Nightmare and punched through it's armor, scoring a direct hit to it's power core. The robot exploded, the rest stopped firing. Axle used this opportunity to destroy two more before they scattered in all directions, "A lot like shooting fish in a barrel at this level." At his current power level, he was able to move far to fast for the Nightmares to calculate. In a few short seconds, the rest had been destroyed. Axle hovered amongst all the floating oil and robot parts when he finished, "All right Smytus, its over! Time to...To...Oh shit..." Axle looked in awe at what once was Smytus's ship. The massive space craft had transformed into a fifty foot robot. It appeared to look much like Smytus used to.

"BEHOLD! SMYTRON! THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS!" Smytus gloated through the radio frequency. Axle shook off the shock and slight fear at the sight of his new foe.

"The bigger they are the harder they fall!" He clenched his fists and opened his chest plate, Yellow electricity flashed around his chassis. A ball of energy formed by his power core while he charged energy into it.

"Fool." Smytus entered a command into his control center. Suddenly, all the pieces of the Nightmares magnetized and slammed into Axle, trapping him inside a dense metal ball, "We've planned this for a long time! There is nothing you can do to stop us!" Axle punched a hole through the tight ball of metal. He forced his head out to hear Smytus gloat one last time, "Woe to the fools that stand in our way..." With a touch of a button, Smytus detonated all of the XJ-Nightmares power cores at once. The light from the explosion was blinding, as the force of 3 Hydrogen bombs was unleashed on Axle.

At the Moon

"UGH!" Jenny strained a little while ripping the last Nightmare impeding her progress towards the Moon, in half. Suddenly, her systems detected an enormous spike of energy that eclipsed Axle's signature, "AXLE!"She glanced at the bright expanding light, far off to her left, then to the Moon. She zoomed in to it's surface to see Vexes holding Melody by the throat. The Queen looked right back into Jenny's optics, smiling. She quickly switched back to normal vision, "That bitch looks like me too! Sorry Axle, but Kenny and Melody need me!" Shot towards the Moon's surface, landing beside the nearly destroyed Kenny.

"Well, well, well...I thought you would never come!" Vexes joyfully smiled as she spoke. Jenny scanned Kenny's slowly melting body.

"He's hanging on but just barely." She placed an orange force field around him to shield him from the ever increasing heat, "All right Vexes. You have what you want, I'm here. Let Melody go!" Vexes smiled and tightened her grip around Melody's throat. Tense moments passed before she gave a reply.

"Gladly." Casually, she tossed her at Jenny's feet. Jenny scanned her and placed her in the shield with Kenny.

"Do you have enough energy to make it to Earth?" Jenny asked.

"Maybe...But I don't know about the landing..." Melody replied.

"Don't worry about it, conserve your strength for the landing then, I'll send you home." Jenny charged a small ball of orange energy in her right hand. She lifted the energy shield up with her left as she plotted a course to Earth. She placed her hand beside the sphere and detonated the energy ball, sending them rocketing from the Moon. Slowly she returned her gaze to Vexes, "Why did you let me save them?" Vexes smiled even wider, showing a few more razor sharp teeth.

"Save them? HA HA! What makes you think they'll be safe on Earth?" The witch cackled, "Commander Scorn will hunt them down! Even as we speak he is tracking down everyone you care about, one by one! HAHAHAHAHA!"

"THIS END NOW YOU BITCH!" Jennifer screamed, she charged Vexes. Landing a punch straight to her lower jaw that cracked the ground beneath their feet. The force sent Vexes hurtling backwards. Jenny quickly moved behind her in an attempt to strike her in the spine, against the momentum. Vexes spun around at the last moment. She smiled and grabbed Jenny by the face plate, using the momentum to force the back of Jenny's head into the Moon's surface and drag it for several hundred feet. She pulled Jenny from the ground and throw her into the atmosphere. Jenny quickly caught herself.

"Your right Jennifer. It will all end, but this time...Things will go my way!" Vexes asserted.

"I will find a way to stop you!" Jenny yelled while activating her Butterfly Cannon. The intense blue beam struck the Queen and pushed her deep into the Moon and erupted in a massive explosion. Jenny scanned the area to find her adversary. Suddenly, her proximity alarm went off, she whirled around to see Vexes behind her.

"I'm sorry Jennifer, but you are out of your league. Your systems are derived from a prototype. We perfected the Starbirth technology after DV-2 was created. He was equipped with a K5 class star, the best we could create at the time, and has a maximum output of a G7 star. With a little tweaking of the nuclear DNA, we were able to age the star to a much more powerful state in its life cycle..." Jennifer gulped as she processed the information, "A B8...I don't have to increase my power, It's always near its peak for me to use." Jenny grit her teeth and pushed out 75% power. Red hot rocks pulled away from the Moon's surface as far as the eye could see. The aura around her turned to a mixed shade of orange and yellow, "Oh! Is someone losing their temper?" The Moon shook and cracked, "Your putting out around a G7 now...With Wakeman's improvements, you could probably reach G2...At this rate I wont have to melt the Moon." Vexes noticed the damage happening around her. It was true, Jenny was losing control of her emotions and thus her power, once again. With great processing effort, she calmed herself and pulled her energy's back into her body. Satisfied with her control over 75%, Jenny smiled.

"Thanks...You gave me the perfect focal point for my anger...You." Jenny moved almost to fast for Vexes to see. She barely managed to catch Jenny's fist a mere inch from her face plate. She released her grip from Jenny's hand and spun her head around in an attempt to slice Jenny with her long pigtails. Jenny quickly hopped backwards out of the way and brought her arms together and formed a massive gun barrel. She fired a large energy ball at Vexes who swatted it away with her pigtails. The ball took the tip of her metal locks with it, Vexes frowned back at Jennifer.

"It seems I underestimated Nora Wakeman once again. A worthy mental opponent to the end, she obviously improved on the technology somewhat. Perhaps you will be a worthy opponent after all, activate your full power. I want to prove that I'm stronger than you once and for all!" Vexes demanded. Jenny realized she may not get this chance again and took it. The ground underneath her feet evaporated away into a deep crater. The sudden surge of 100% power shook her a little but, her control remained firm this time, "Now, let the battle begin!" Vexes disappeared into one of her dimensional rifts. Jenny felt the dust particles behind her shift. She spun around just in time to catch the tip of Vexes foot before it connected with her head. Jenny noticed a surprised look flash across Vexes's face then, a spike protruded from Vexes's foot and straight through Jenny's hand. Jenny ignored the damage and squeezed the mad Queens foot, cracking it. Vexes shot a quick blast from her foot boosters to break away Jenny's grip, the maneuver worked. She used the opportunity to open another rift and disappeared. Jenny froze, focusing all of her processing power into her many sensory functions. A shift in atmospheric pressure, a distortion in the nuclear energies around her, a slight waiver in the dust particles, all carefully scrutinized for what seemed like an eternity. The tense few seconds ended with sparks of hot metal. Jenny raised her arms above her head, just in time to stop a sword strike from above. She grabbed the blade of Vexes's transformed arm and swung her over her head and slammed her into the ground on her back. Jenny quickly transformed her arms into two massive machetes. Vexes activated her rockets and slid along the ground on her back to avoid being impaled as Jenny lunged the blades at her abdomen. Jenny then fired a steady beam from her optics after the Queen. Vexes fired a small blast from her hand, striking the beam and causing a small explosion. Vexes rolled backwards to her feet and slid to a stop, a snide smirk crossed her face plate. Jenny burst through the small dust cloud, dragging her machetes across the ground as she swiftly sprinted towards her nemesis. She thrust her left blade at the monarch's lower abdomen. Vexes side stepped the attack and landed a hard knee to Jenny's mid section, leaving a small indention in her stomach. Jenny spun away and slid to a halt about Twenty feet from Vexes, "I just received a very interesting message from Scorn. Confirmed deactivation of XJ-5. Would you like to see?" Vexes held out her right hand and created a three dimensional image from her palm. Jenny stared on in horror as a video file played out a horrific scene. Two massive hands appeared from out of the left and right side of the screen. XJ-5, perhaps for the best, could not create facial expressions. The hands grabbed her small pigtails and ripped them off. XJ-5 backed away and transformed the small satellite dish underneath her body into a rotating missile launcher and fired three quick shots. The explosions caused a bit of static on the video but otherwise the attacker was unharmed. A quick slash from the beasts forearm blade sliced her defenseless sister in half from top to bottom. Vexes closed her hand and ended the video, "So Jennifer...still fill like things will happen the way they use to?" Jenny shook violently as her oil tears began to flow. The blades of her machetes glowed white with heat and her voice trembled terribly over the radio frequency.

"No...This isn't going to be like the old days...This time...This time you wont walk away...This time I will deactivate you...I'll scatter your parts across the Sun! I'm going crush your C.P.U. in my bare hands!" Jenny swung her left arm upwards, ejecting the hot blade from her arm when it reached the perfect angle. The momentum carried the blade at supersonic speeds towards the evil Queen's head. Vexes easily side stepped her attack again and caught the blade as it passed less than an inch from her cheek.

"Nice try dear but, as I said be-" Vexes cut her sentence short, she felt a sudden sharp, crunch in her left calf armor. Shock vividly displayed across her face plate as she looked down to her leg. Jennifer's other white hot blade protruded through and through, Vexes snarled at the red hot metal drops and sizzling oil coming out of her leg as she deactivated the pain receptors around the area. She snapped the blade in her hand in half, "YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT!" She grabbed the blade in her leg and jerked it out with a shower of sparks and oil. Her repair systems kicked in as she threw the blade out into the dark void, stemming the flow of oil, "WHERE ARE YOU!" She hissed over the com link, hoping that Jennifer would respond and thus allow Vexes to triangulate her location. Radio silence. Vexes bared her teeth at the Moon and stars and let out a long, angered cry, "AAAAAHHHHHH!" She noticed, from the corner of her optics, that the dust on the Moon's surface was moving, as if it were being drawn towards a source off to her right. She looked in the direction of the moving dirt and saw a dim light within the burning section of the Moon. Upon closer scan, she could see Jennifer's form inside the light, smiling back at her. Vexes looked around herself, sensors indicated a drastic fluctuation in the radiation she herself had been producing. She switched her vision to a frequency that allowed her to see all the energies around her. It became apparent, very quickly, that Jennifer was pulling all the radiation burning the Moon's surface to herself. Vexes was a little surprised to see a massive energy vortex around Jennifer, that would be invisible to the naked eye, growing larger and pulling all the heat out of the Moon.

"As I said before, it wont be like last time, I will defeat you! No matter the cost!" Jenny threatened.

The Earth: Moscow

"...Uh...Who...who are you?" An extremely weak voice asked his savior.

"My assigned designation is XJ-8." The large violet hued and dented robot replied.

"XJ? *cough*...Your a Global Response*cough*Unit...Like Jenny Wakeman?" He asked through his coughs.

"She is my sister unit. I am an outdated model, predating her." She responded while scanning the wounded soldier's body. She noticed the blood stained name tag on his uniform that read, Sargent Sidorov, "I must ask you to re-frame from moving and speaking, unnecessary actions will only aggravate-"

"Outdated? I don't think so...*cough*...The way you jumped in front of those shots...Saved so many*cough*lives..." Sidorov stated as he glanced over at several mangled Nightmares.

"Sir, I must reiterate, your heart rate is elevating, causing major blood loss from the severed limb-" XJ-8 informed but, was cut off.

"NO! Your a hero!*cough*...And a hero deserves a proper name...Elena*cough*it-it means the light...That's what you are...My light in these dark times..."

"Hemorrhaging is causing hallucinations. I must cauterized the wound to prevent further blood loss. Prepare yourself, this will hurt..." She retracted her right hand into her arm and replaced it with a flat, round piece of metal. It quickly turned cherry red, "...A lot."

"This is why god gives us two legs ha...*cough*...ha...Go on then Elena..." Sidorov's eyes gave her the signal and she pressed the hot plate to his bloody stump. Sidorov gritted his teeth hard enough to make his face turn red and grunted in pain over the sizzling sound. Suddenly, he sit up from his laying down position, grabbed Elena by the head and kissed her. The action caused a surge of energy in her C.P.U. Before she could formulate a response of any kind, he passed out from the extreme amount of pain and fell back to the ground. XJ-8 pulled her hand away from the hissing wound. She noticed movement to her left as she replaced her hand. She stood and turned to see another young man whose uniform bore a red cross on it's shoulder.

"I know you have other obligations, I will tend to him from here." The young man knelled down beside Sidorov and checked his pulse, "He is weak but stable. Go. I saw what happened. I will inform Miss Wakeman of his condition when things cool down." The young man gave her a slight smile. Elena starred at the two men.

"O-ok." She replied shortly before taking off into the sky. Once she was a few miles away, she radioed her mother, "Mother. I have completed my mission in Moscow with relatively light damage. I regret to inform you that I received the signal that XJ-5...Has been deactivated. I was not able to leave my post...I am sorry."

"I know. I received the signal as well. You saved a staggering number of lives today. There will be time for morning...I received word from your other sisters that they were also successful. I've ordered them all to return home. My tracking systems indicate the robot responsible for XJ-5's deactivation is currently heading towards my location. Hurry XJ-8, The rest of the XJ's will arrive shortly." Nora informed.

"Yes mother...By the way...Call me Elena." Elena said

"Elena? That's Russian right? Where did that come from?" Nora asked.

"I will explain when this ordeal is over." Elena ended the link and produced two large jet engines from her back to further speed her journey home.

Nora's Lab

"He's over the Atlantic. ETA: Five minutes forty eight seconds." Mogg informed Nora and Dale, "Kenny's power systems are down to 13%! We wont have much time to save him before-"

"If we don't prepare for this new threat headed our way then we wont even get a chance to save him." Nora replied. The sound of a closing cell phone caught her attention. She glanced over at Dale.

"...That was Brad. I told him how to activate our secret weapon. It's a long shot, but hell...What do we have ta loose?" Dale answered Nora's mental question.

"Secret weapon? And when were you planning on telling us about this?" Nora asked.

"That's why it's called a secret weapon babe." Nora squinted her eyes at the inebriated man, "Top secret...She'll be here shortly."

"She?" Mogg asked from his seat at the monitor. Nora continued her cold stare at Dale.

"With a theoretical end of the world scenario taking place around us, I think it's time to spill the beans about your little team." She rather flatly stated, folding her arms. Dale took a seat.

"Fine..." Dale Began, "A while back, when Misty came back to Earth and took over XJ-"

"Jennifer." Nora coldly cut him off.

"...Jennifer's responsibilities..." He returned the stare, "Skyway created a small task force to monitor her actions in case she became a threat. When she defeated your daughter in open combat, Derrick Carbunckle got clearance to commission the task force into it's on division and thus, Skynet was born. I know what your thinking, Derrick had a love for old sci-fi moves. It's original intentions were to monitor alien activity on and near the Earth. After the Cluster invaded, we were granted access to all government and private U.S. Satellites and received funding to find...Unique individuals in order to form a covert team that could be deployed at any indication that your defense droids could not handle a situation."

"Or if Jennifer got out of line, correct? That's what must have first enticed you to join the team right Mogg?" Silence filled the room when Nora finished speaking, "I thought as much."

"Anyway...After we acquired Mogg, we tracked down Misty. She wouldn't join without a contracted form of payment. She agreed and has been in hiding, training for a day such as this. She has been receiving experimental nanobot injections and personal, one on one training with martial arts masters from various styles." Dale finished.

"Fantastic. You've given a powerful alien, whose allegiances are sketchy at best, even more power! I really hope, for all our sakes, that you made the right choice." Nora turned to her radio station and picked up the mic, "XJ-6, can you hear me?"

"Barely. My left audio receptor was damaged what is it?" XJ-6 asked back.

"Melody and Kenny are heading towards us and are in critical shape. I would like for you to meet them and bring them here. You can move much faster than they can in their current condition." Nora stated.

"Roger that mom." The radio went silent as Nora hung up the mic.

"What the hell!" Mogg exclaimed.

"What?" Nora questioned as she ran to Mogg.

"The new robot...Your computers picked a distortion in space around it then it-it just vanished! I'm cross referencing the energy signature to known energy patterns now..." Mogg typed incredibly fast on Nora's keyboard. A beeping sound indicated that a match had been found.

"Oh, no...It's a perfect match to Vexes's dimensional rifts!" Nora stated rather startled.

"Whats that mean?" Dale asked.

"It means it could appear anywhere on the Earth in a matter of seconds!" Nora informed. A sudden shift in the air around them stopped Dale from replying as his mouth hung open. Nora felt the blood in her veins run a few degrees colder. She heard the slight grinding sound of hinging, robotic joints. Slowly she turned around and gazed up at the towering monster in-front of her, "N-no!"

"Hello Nora. Nice to see you again." Scorn said.