Chapter XIII
Ashes To Ashes
"And one day, we shall all awake from this dream of mortality. We will walk in the footsteps of creation, with direction in our step, power in our hands and conviction it our hearts. Our eyes will see wonders, and our minds will understand unknowns."
R.D.M.
The battlefield of Tremerton
"Don't fret Jennifer, there will be no death for you..." The metal witch cooed in her most tempting voice, "When the ashes fall from this little mess, I will breath new life into you and welcome you into my family...No more will you be forced to endure the pain, sorrow, and remorse these meat creatures dwell in, only...Satisfaction."
"You'll have to deactivate me first!" Jenny, defiantly, yelled. She charged at the metal vixen, her feet pounding out large divots of moist dirt with each powerful step she took, trailing streams of water, shed from her body as she sped through the rain, towards her target. Vexes confidently smiled, not bothering to move even as Jenny reached striking distance. She didn't even hesitate when Jenny's left fist reached within a foot from her face plate. In the blink of an artificial eye, a small, multicolored rift appeared between Vexes's face and her assailant's fist. A coal gray metal hand extended out and stopped her attack, rippling the rain for a hundred yards around them. Jenny froze in shock for a split nanosecond as the rift opened wide, allowing DV-2's body to materialized fully in-front of her.
"Mawh Ha Ha Ha Haaaa!" Vexes cackled, "Did I mention that DV-2 is equipped with my transportation technology? Of course, I added a fail safe that only I can over ride." DV-2 snatched her hand towards his left, spinning Jenny around. With her back facing him, he planted his right foot squarely in the small of her back. Jenny slid forward across the wet ground for a short distance before managing to stop herself. She spun back around, her teeth clinched and fist balled, ready to try again but, noticed DV-2 was gone. Suddenly, DV-2 materialized behind her and threw his right arm around her neck and locked the arm in with his left, cinching in a tight chock hold. Jenny remained motionless, her optics never leaving Vexes. No need to over react when you don't breath, "This would be much simpler if you would power off. The reprogramming process is...relatively painless." Vexes informed calmly, "Well, less painful than the alternative..."
"And let you brainwash me like you did to Sheldon?" Jenny replied flatly, "No, thanks."
Vexes chuckled, "Scorn made an efficient commander and a...energetic partner." The mad Queen's smile deepened, showing a small portion of her fangs, "I've had various romps throughout my life cycle but, your friend however...He seemed to really enjoy the mechanics of my body." Vexes began walking towards Jennifer, "You really missed out all those years Jennifer...His is very good with his hands...And to think, he use to be so in love with you. That doesn't...Upset you, does it...Jennifer?" Vexes weaved her words well, forming a temptingly seductive insult only she, the master of words, could create.
"Ha ha ha..." Jenny softly chuckled in a low tone to herself, though Vexes heard her none the less. Jenny calmly reached up to her face a grasped a dangling piece of synthetic skin, hanging loosely from her earlier scuffles, and pulled it from her chin.
"Is something funny Jennifer?" Vexes questioned as she halted her advance. A silent moment passed while the piece of silicon flesh fell to the ground before Jennifer replied.
Vexes perked her optics in surprise, "I understand you now...You despise organics. You consider them inferior...Then, I came along. Your superior, birthed from the creatures you hate and built by the hands of your nemesis, Noreen Wakeman...How dare the worms create gods right? Everything you hate about them was suddenly personified. You had a focus for your anger but, you could not beat me, and with every defeat, your determination and hate grew." The anger in Vexes's eyes could be clearly read, "Look at you. You've even designed your body after me. Your obsessed with me...Admit it, the very idea of an emotional, free, rational thinking robot..." Vexes clenched her fists and scowled, "A robot you can't control...A robot so...Human. It scares the hell out of you, doesn't it? I scare the hell out of you..." The falling droplets sizzled on Vexes's chassis. A clear indication of her rising temper, "That's why you keep playing this game. Why your keeping me alive now. Because it's so important to you that I become like you. That I become...A machine." Vexes simply continued her cold stare, "You win...I wont hold back anymore. Your son doesn't stand a chance against me in his current state, and you know it." Jennifer could hear the scraps from Vexes's hands as she tightened her fists, "Call him off now so we can settle this, or I'll deactivate him." Vexes didn't budge. She folded her arms and revealed a nervous, halfhearted smile.
"A bold bluff..." Her cracked optic twitched almost imperceptibly, "Very well...Amuse me." Vexes called what she had determined to be Jennifer's bluff. As the words left the evil Queens mouth, DV-2 instantly vanished and reappeared in-front of Jenny. He rushed at her with a wild left handed blow that crackled with yellow energy. She easily sidestepped him and, in the blink of an eye, grabbed his arm as he passed. She stepped in behind him, twisting and shoving his arm into the small of his back. She received a painful shock from his defensive systems, causing her to lose her grip. DV-2 spun around while throwing a violent punch with his right hand. Jenny caught his fist, oil from her missing finger splattered across her face with the impact.
"Forgive me..." Jenny softly spoke while simultaneously beaming the message into his static filled C.P.U. She crushed her fingers into his hand for grip and, with moderate effort, freed it from his body in one swift motion. Half of his forearm went with it in a violent explosion of sparks and oil. DV-2 clasped the oil spewing metal stump with his damaged arm from their prier skirmish and fell to his knees, his body failing from rapid loss of oil pressure. Vexes, even before she processed what she was doing, opened a portal and appeared behind DV-2. Jenny, after noticing Vexes, quickly snatched up DV-2 by the throat, his back facing Vexes, "This is what you wanted right? To twist me into a monster?" Jenny Yelled through the lubricant in her optics, "Let's see how human YOU are!" She pulled back her right hand and slammed it into the center of DV-2's chest plate. A thunderous roar accompanied the distinct crunches and moans of heaving metal, emanating briefly from his chest cavity on impact. Chunks of metal paneling from DV-2's back pinged off of Vexes's armor, accompanied by droplets of oil splattering across her chest and face plate. The light in DV-2's optics slowly flickered as he twitched and began to loss strength. Jenny pulled her fist from the deep dent in his chest, directly above his power core, and released her grip, letting the lifeless robot fall with a heavy thud. The two rivals briefly scanned the husk lying at their feet. Through their eye's, they could clearly see the vivid glow of radiation from his power core slowly pulse, growing dimmer with each quiver until, finally, it blinked out completely and the containment field around it shattered. Jenny realized that she was breathing in and out very quickly and heavily, an action she had acquired from observing her human friends. Unnecessary she knew but, it did serve the purpose of emergency cooling and it helped her remain calm. The small trickle of oil from the deactivated machine mixed with the rainfall to create a vivid swath of rustic brown along the ground. Vexes slowly scraped away the oil from her face plate with her steel hands and scanned the liquid in her palm, "His oil is on your hands now! Are you satisfied?" Jennifer yelled at her, "The only thing left is for you and I to end this! FOR GOOD!" Vexes slowly shifted her gaze back to Jennifer. Jenny deployed her razor-rangs, her pigtails zipped at Vexes. She snapped from her daze and deflected the attacks as soon as they were within arms reach, one with her left hand the other with her right. Jenny followed up by cartwheeling at Vexes in her distraction, springing off of her hands with her final flip and into a kick. Vexes took to the air and let her attacker pass underneath her. Jenny was operating at 100% and saw her movement. She grabbed Vexes by her ankle as she passed and hurled her to the ground in-front of her. Jenny brought her knees up to her chest, using her momentum to carry her over Vexes. She stomped at Vexes's head with both feet as she passed above. Vexes faded away into the ground before the attack struck. Jenny's attack exploded the Earth in a huge display of debris. The witch appeared behind Jennifer who turned just in time to catch her wrist before her clawed hand could slash her metal spine in half. Vexes faded away before her eyes once again. Jenny grit her teeth in frustration. She was growing tired of this game.
"You can't keep this up forever! I am stronger! I am faster!" Vexes's voice bounced around the area. Jenny processed and saved each location, calculating the next most likely point of origin, "I will WIN! A new Hive will arise from the ashes of your planet!" Jenny stood her ground, ignoring the gloating, studying her movements.
"Keep on talking..." Jenny processed to herself.
"AND YOU WILL WATCH IT ALL BURN!" Vexes screamed.
She finally had all the information she needed, "TAKE THIS YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Jenny yelled. At a mind boggling pace, she open up the armor panels on her shoulder blades, fired her main propulsion engines and zipped along the ground as a blue streak. Just as she had calculated, a rift appeared in front of her and Vexes's form materialized. The witch had no time to react. Jenny struck her in the abdomen at mach six. Vexes's chassis yielded to the forces of the blow and crushed around Jenny's fist. The Earth erupted, birthing trees, roots and all, from it's surface for a mile. Vexes was shoved back into her portal and violently ejected from another one a short distance to Jenny's left. In an instant, Jennifer took to the air. Her left hand transformed into a long metal spike. She dove in from above at her enemy. Victory riding on the tip of her spear.
"ENOUGH!" Vexes screeched. In microseconds, she grabbed the point of Jennifer's spear before it struck and rolled to the right. The shaft snapped and Jennifer plowed into the ground where Vexes laid. Vexes hopped to her feet, still clutching half of Jennifer's spear. Jenny pushes herself to her hands and knees inside the crater, shaking off the static of impact inside the cloud of dust.
"AAHHH!"Jenny screamed in pain after receiving a vicious kick to her metal ribs. The blow tossed her from the hole and a few meters away on her back. It wasn't the initial hit that caused her pain. The mad Queen had fired a deceptive byte of program from a small spike on her foot as she struck. The malicious code caused her pain receptors to briefly overload and scream in agony at her C.P.U.
"Change of plans I'm afraid Jennifer..." Vexes walked over to Jenny, "You know...I was just going to force you to kill Wakeman after your reprogramming, but..." Vexes tossed the pointed shard into the air. It spun and landed back in her palm with an audible clank. The point hanging out of the bottom of her fist, "The more I process about it, the more I believe it would be better if I made you watch while I SKIN HER ALIVE!" She yelled. Vexes quickly raised the spike above her head and thrust it downward, Jennifer rolled to her front and fired her rockets in an attempt to out maneuver the strike but, she wasn't quite fast enough. The foot long piece of metal struck the back of her right knee joint and exited through her knee cap.
"GGAHHHH!" Jenny screamed in pain again. The shock to her systems caused her to lose focus and her rockets disengaged. She slide to a stop on the ground in a trail of dust, clutching the destroyed knee.
"Still running your touch simulation program? How...Human." Vexes retorted flatly. Jennifer just sneered through her pain at the witch as her razor-rangs finally caught back up and reattached themselves to her C.P.U. housing, "It would be much more efficient if you deactivated such useless programs, but then...I wouldn't be able to ENJOY THIS!" Vexes took a few quick strides at Jennifer. Jenny, in a heroic display, yanked the spike from her leg and dropped it to the ground. She forced her shattered gears to heave herself upright. She caught Vexes's right fist with her left hand but, at the cost of a powerful blow to the abdomen. The blow caused Jennifer to double over and receive a firm knee to her forehead as she leaned forward. The blow pressed a quarter sized dent into her C.P.U. housing and the momentum flung her head back so quickly, that her feet left the ground, the back of her cranium connected with the Earth. Vexes moved with such speed that Jennifer seemed to be balancing on her head, as she strafed around from what was now Jennifer's back, to her front. A swift kick to the side of her face knocked out a few metal teeth and spun her right side up again. Vexes fired her eye lasers and cut off Jennifer's right pigtail. Jenny finally managed to clear her processor and focus. She produced a spare hand from her left arm to replace the one Vexes took. Just in time to block a kick, then a punch and another kick. In seconds, the two were exchanging blows and blocking each others attacks at a mind numbingly fast pace. The Earth trembled more and more as they traded close range blows with ever increasing speed. Vexes was beginning to winning the battle and, despite her best efforts, Jenny could not quite keep pace with her adversary. Her chassis dented in with each unblocked hit that slipped through her guard and the sporadic divots of impact became more frequent on the front of her body. She threw one last punch at the Queen but, the difference in their power was clearly made as the attack stopped dead in Vexes's palm, "It's over!" She yelled. She released Jennifer's hand and rotated counterclockwise, extending her right arm outward as she spun. With the back of her fist mere inches from Jennifer's faceplate, Vexes faded back into one of her portals, leaving Jennifer bewildered. Vexes appeared behind her. She capitalized on Jennifer's confusion and, in the span of microseconds, she pointed her arms straight out in-front, turning them so the back of her hands touched. She stiffened her sharp, pointed fingers and thrust them into a small seam in Jennifer's armor, were her shoulder met her torso. Once she penetrated deep enough for grip, she grasped the opposing edges of armor and pried them apart. Though the action took less than a second, it seemed to happen in slow motion to the victim and attacker. Jenny's body gave to the forces applied to it and the framework of her shoulder shattered. The various oil tubes, coolant hoses, and electrical circuits attached to the limb stretched to their limit and burst in a shower of fluid and sparks. Her artificial ball and socket joint heaved and bent, the metal grunted under the stress and pulled free with a loud pop. A large amount of oil splashed across the ground following the violent ejection of Jennifer's arm. The appendage struck and twitched on the ground behind her as Jenny staggered forward, trailing a steady stream of oil and coolant while she stumbled. Her emergency systems closed off all electrical, coolant and oil supplies to the damaged area as her main processor tried to cope with the shock. Jenny managed to catch herself in the midst of her stumbling and slowly turned to Vexes, "Your artificial pain receptors must be working overtime now..." Vexes salted the horrendous wound with her words, "Is it really worth all this pain to feel human?"
"I...I don't need my left...Arm to beat you." Jenny replied as strongly as she could muster at the moment. Her mind still trying to decipher the overwhelming amount of pain data streaming in from her touch sensory nodes. Vexes swiftly kicked the severed appendage that lay at her feet. The limb hit Jenny in the shins. Jenny looked down upon the piece of herself in shock.
"Get it together XJ-9! You've lost!" Vexes raised her right hand out in-front, palm vertical to the ground, and aimed at Jennifer, "Now..."It's time to watch everyone you care about die!" An energy ball, 10ft in diameter, burst forth from her hand. The rain falling on them began evaporating as the massive amount of energy radiated enough heat to keep the droplets away. Jennifer processed, for the first time in a long time, fear for her life as the white ball approached, ripping large chunks of the ground free in it's wake. At the last possible second, the ball curved upwards into the air, only a few inches from Jennifer's face. Quickly snapping out of her reflective daze, Jenny spun to track the energies trajectory. A dotted line passed through the ball in her H.U.D and ended at a small dot floating in the sky that her systems indicated would be impacted. She zoomed in on the object. Her metal jaw hinged open as she read the the words along what she found was the hull of a large Skyway aircraft, "Johnson...MOM! NOOO!"
Aboard the U.S.S. Johnson
"Careful!" Nora sternly scolded her assistant, "You can't splice 480 AC voltage into the DC battery backup system you nimrod!" Her voice, thick with aggravation, "Do you want to burn up the emergency power supply lines as well?"
"If you would pay attention to what I'm doing instead of grumbling like a geyser!" The rotund man annoyingly replied while tightening an Allen screw, "You would see that I've fashioned a power converter out of her propulsion ignition coil!"
"We have a time limit, in case you have forgotten! If we don't get power to her main C.P.U. before the last of her energy depletes, then this whole endeavor becomes a pointless exercise in Electrical Engineering 101!" Nora continued her verbal assault while soldering a wire into place.
"Pointless! The only thing pointless here is this conversation!" Mogg rebutted, "If you'll allow me to finish, she will at least have a short amount of reserve power if the connection is severed!" Nora's goggles witched back to their normal red tint as she finished her work with the soldering iron. Expertly, she maneuvered her left hand into her lab coat pocket, pulled out a single cigarette and popped it into her mouth. She pressed the hot tip of her soldering iron to the end of her indulgence and carefully studied Mogg's work as she puffed out small clouds of noxious fumes.
"Satisfied?" Mogg asked, obviously annoyed.
"Yes..." She softly spoke after her detailed scan, "I...Apologize. I'm a...Little on edge." She said a bit more calm.
Mogg smiled a little, "I'll be somewhat more forgiving, if you pass one of those my way..." Nora grinned herself and tossed the MacBarrel pack to the man. Just as he pulled a cigarette free, the ship was struck with a tremendous force that caused it to list to the side. The sudden, jerky, shift flung the scientists into their work bench. The movement also threw XJ's 4 and 6 from their seat to the deck.
"SON OF A BITCH!" XJ-6 proclaimed from the floor, "What the hell is going on!" She also demanded while pushing herself to a standing position.
"Attention personal..." The intercom rang out as if to answer her question, "This is your Captain speaking, please remain calm. The turbulence we just experienced has passed. Our sensors indicate the event was the remnants of a shock-wave from the confirmed explosion of the robot designated as Smytron." The gang could here a wave a celebration echoing lightly through the ship, "Our scans also indicate that...What? What do you mean...Hang on..." The announcement fell silent for a moment. Nora, Mogg and the active XJ's looked at each other somewhat puzzled, "Brace for impact! Incoming energy projectile! E.T.A 22 seconds! Evasive actions!" The intercom went silent once more.
"Energy projectile?" Mogg yelled as he clutched his hair.
"Jenny she...Failed...That's the only explanation..."XJ-4 softly spoke. Sadness laden in every word. Nora silenced them all with a motion of her hand and with a second motion, brought them all to her side. She placed her right hand on XJ-6's left arm and her left hand on XJ-4's right.
"Girls..." Nora began with a tone in her voice that her daughters had rarely heard, "We have 9 seconds..." She pulled them both close and hugged them firmly. The cigarette fell from her lips to the ground, "And in our last moments together...I want you to know...That you are loved..." The seconds, though in this moment they felt like hours, ticked by and the tears fell. They all felt the sudden shift in air temperature as the ball of energy struck the ship. The entire craft began to vibrate as it melted it's way through. The bay wall they were all standing by suddenly ripped away as the Johnson buckled in half. Paper work and random chunks of debris swirled around them as it was pulled through the tremendous opening in the hull. Nora clung to them, her children, despite the Hell raining down around them. Not quite praying, not quite wishing, but hoping, with all her heart, for that singular event, when the equations of science meet the face of God and the unexplainable takes place. A miracle. Eventually, the twisting steel and violent collapse of the Johnson proved to powerful and the strength of love was not powerful enough to hold the group together, "Save yourselves!" Nora ordered of her daughters as she and Mogg were pulled through the gaping maw in the ships hull and out into open air. XJ-4, not having enough energy to fly, raised her shields and awaited impact as she helplessly curled into the fetal position and fell. XJ-6, however, hotheadedly pursued her creator as she plummeted towards the ground, pushing out every once of power she had left but, before she could reach her, Nora suddenly stopped in mid air, as well as everything around her, including the wrecked aircraft. XJ-6 scanned her surroundings in full 360 degrees, looking for the source of the levitational phenomenon.
"Melody?" XJ-6 exclaimed in shock. Indeed, the bronze colored robot was hovering in the air at the epicenter of the ships collapse. XJ-6's scans revealed a wide reaching bio-magnetic field emanating from Melody's chest. A standard optical scan clearly brought to light the amount of stress the action was putting on the robot girl. Melody's face was contorted into one of a person exerting their, or very near their, physical limit. Melody firmly grit her teeth while she, as slowly as she could muster, brought the entire wreckage to the ground. The remnants of the once mighty aircraft struck with a still tremendous force, albeit much lessened by Melody. After confirming her mother's safety, XJ-6 immediately went to work, carrying out one of her prime objectives. A robot can not allow harm to befall a human due to it's inaction.
"Uhhh..." Nora moaned as she rubbed her forehead. She pushed her wobbling body up to it's feet and zipped her lab coat over her nose and mouth to block out the thick cloud of dust all around. "Melody!" Nora saw the the robot on her hands and knees and ran to her side, "My goodness! That was astounding! You saved..." The unfortunate sight of a mangled Skyway officer's body caught Nora's eye before she could finish her praise, "Err...Excellent work..." Melody breathed in and out heavily, expelling a large amount hot exhaust fumes with each exhale.
"Brad...Dale...Sensors offline...System rebooting...Can't find their...Heartbeats..." Melody heaved out through the oil in her mouth. Nora took note of the growing puddle of underneath her and the still leaking wound in her abdomen.
"The infirmary is more fortified than most of the ship." Nora reassured, "They are fine. We need to get you-"
"NO!" Melody interjected, "No! I'm fine...My sensors are coming back online." A scan confirmed her hopes, as well as her fears, "I can sense him now...His life signs are slightly below normal but, still healthy..."
"I can take you to them...We'll find other personnel and repair your damage..." Nora pleaded with her. She knew they needed to seek shelter among the debris before Vexes found them out in the open.
"No, I-I can't give up now..." Melody struggled to her feet. Her gears grinding to the point of making Nora cringe, do to the lack of lubrication, "So, many sacrifices...So, many lives lost...Plan...The plan..."
"Yes, I agree. We definitely need a plan..." Nora trialed off as her mind went to work. She grabbed Melody by the wrist and pulled her into the shadows of the ruined aircraft. Melody was awkwardly forced to stumble along behind her due to her wobbling joints and the sudden force of Nora's pull, "I hate to even conceive it but, we must consider the very real possibility that Jennifer...Has failed." The duo came to a halt underneath a over hanging piece of the ship's hull, "We will need to regroup with XJ's 6, 4, and all the officers they have saved. If we are lucky, XJ-8 also survived. Together, we can search the debris for supplies. If Mogg somehow managed to survive, we could go underground. Maybe we could upgrade all of your-"
"Nora? Ma'am?" Melody, much more politely, interrupted, "Please relax. My systems are all most fully rebooted. What I meant was, I already have a plan. It's a long shot but, if I can mange to set it in motion, then not even Vexes can stop it."
"Your going to face Vexes alone?" Nora asked, rather concerned and confused, "But...If Jennifer couldn't defeat her..." Nora left her sentence with those words, trying not to offend. Melody smiled.
"I know why your concerned and I take no offense. My power core was the first prototype of what we are facing now...The force that powers Vexes..." She placed her hand on the small woman's shoulder, "The Hive killed my father because of the information he knew about this technology and I recorded every bit of his work!" Melody informed while pointing to her C.P.U. housing, "I know the secret, the secret that cost Dr. Locust his life."
"I don't understand. You have a one in Thirty six million chance in surviving this encounter! The odds of you winning alone are astronomical!" Nora exclaimed.
"Mrs. Wakeman...Jennifer is still active." Nora's eye's grew wide at the revelation, "I can sense her power...It's weak, she is badly damaged." Nora shook off her surprise.
"Ah, well...What is your plan? What is the secret of the Starbirth technology?" Nora asked. Melody smiled as she removed her hand.
"An algorithm, embedded in the fusion regulation process. Father discovered that, by adding a specific code into the program, the process would increase exponentially to the point of the star's maximum capability. The increased power output of the core directly increases the power of the containment field since it's powered by the star. Meaning that, the star can not breach the field. The Hive used a variation of the algorithm to mature Vexes's power core into a B8 class, father kept the original and I have it. All a need to do is implant it into Jennifer's C.P.U. and it will take care of the rest."
"Couldn't you use the code yourself?" Nora asked.
"No. My containment field is sustained off of my original power system. Dr. Locust didn't build a new robot from scratch, he adapted the technology into me to save time. If I used it on myself, my core would exceed my containment field and explode." Melody explained.
"What if you can't get the code to her in time?" Nora questioned further.
"Plan B..." Melody responded as XJ-4 approached them with a few survivors on her shoulders. Melody helped to set the men down, "You all should get as far away as possible. I tied all the power cores I gathered around the planet together and placed them in orbit...If I fail...I will send a signal and bring them all down on Vexes. The explosion will be catastrophic..."
"An explosion like that on Earth..." XJ-4 said.
"I know but...If I fail..." Melody paused to prepare her words, "...Vexes will destroy the entire planet anyway and go on to destroy many more...It's a last resort but-"
"But a necessary one..." XJ-6 landed as Nora finished Melody's sentence.
"No way we're letting you go at this alone!" XJ-6 proudly exclaimed as she laid a crying XJ-1 and heavily damaged XJ-3 down on the ground. Nora immediately went to her side and began work on XJ-3.
"No, I'm afraid you would be more of a liability. Help me tend to the wounded and search for the others." Nora ordered.
"Melody..." A strangely familiar voice called out from the debris. The entire group turned to see a dirt and blood covered Brad stagger from wreckage. In a heartbeat, Melody rushed to his side, supporting his weight.
"Oh, Bradly! Your alive!" Melody tearfully exclaimed. She hugged him as tight as he could stand.
"Mel...Don't go Mel..." Brad whispered into her ear, "I heard you...Through the rubble...Followed your voice...You saved me..." Brad's knee's collapsed and Melody softly laid him down on his back, "I can't lose you now..." Melody's human simulation program caused her to sniff as an oily tear rolled down her metal face.
"I...I know..." Melody ran her hand through his red locks, "But, I have to...I have to because I can't live in a world without you..." She chocked on her words a bit as her hand went from his hair, down the side of his face and caressed his cheek, "I will gladly lay down my life for the slightest chance of you living..." She kissed him on lips passionately for a few moments before pulling away, "I have to go...I...I love you..." She didn't wait for a response. Instead, she raised to her feet, backed away slowly and rocketed into the air, leaving Brad with his arm extended to the sky. Nora made her way to Bradly's side and knelled down beside him while his strength waned and his hand fell to the ground.
"Bradly! Bradly, can you hear me!" Nora tried to keep him from slipping into complete unconsciousness. Brad, groggily, groaned, "Did Dale survive? Did you see Sheldon in the wreckage?"
"Sheldon...Seen him...Crawling somewhere..." Brad heaved out, "Dale...He...He's dead..." Shock washed across Nora's face. She managed to regain her composure, more for the sake of her children and Bradly than herself. She let her eyes follow the trail of smoke from Melody's departure high into the sky. She paused for a moment on the clouds and took a second to reflect.
"God, if you are up there, please...We need your help more than ever..." Nora silently thought to herself as she gazed up into the sky.
Tremerton
"Ahhhhh, what a beautiful sight." Vexes extended her arms out wide, as if to embrace the destruction she caused, while she savored the moment, "Watching all your hopes and dreams burst into flame, and the ashes falling down upon the very ground you tried so hard to protect..." Jennifer dropped to her knees. Her oil filed eyes drifted to the ground in-front of her. She no longer had the strength of will to hold her head up. She had failed, "I believe the human expression is irony." Jennifer barely heard the words. She continued to stare blankly at the dirt, "It really is to bad your creator isn't here to at least watch..." Vexes reconfigured her left hand into brutally designed heavy ax. She brought it to her eyes and momentarily admired her reflection in the deadly weapon's broad blade, "Oh, well...Details..." The witch didn't hesitate. She slammed the ax into Jennifer's right shoulder blade. The slash cut deep, but not completely through. Jennifer fell face first to the ground. A startling amount of oil poured from the wound yet, Jenny found it curious that she didn't care in the least about the many alarms sounding in her C.P.U. and alerts flashing on her H.U.D. Her arm dangled by mere slivers of red hot metal as she lay in a growing pool of her on oil yet, she felt no pain. She briefly reasoned that the attack had cleaved through her main support pillar and severed her sensory data cord that connected her body with her C.P.U. as the cause. Her failing systems caused her vision to flicker back and forth between static and a strange dark figure standing on the distant horizon. With each flicker, the figure closed the gap by an incredible amount without ever seeming to move, until it stood over her. She gazed up, trying to discern the details through the static. The shadow extended a hand down to her. Vexes watched her prey intently, taking note of Jennifer's twitching fingers and far away stare.
"W-where...am I *zzzz* going?" Jennifer softly asked the air around her. Vexes peaked her brow in confusion, but quickly filed her actions under damaged induced malfunction.
"Your mechanical systems must be shutting down from the loss of oil pressure." Vexes propped her foot up on Jennifer's back, "Without a pump to circulate coolant, your C.P.U. is probably over heating and malfunctioning...Tisk, tisk, tisk..." She gave her a mocking sympathetic smile, "It's a little disappointing to see you this way. You use to stand so proudly against me..." She raised the blade high above her head and let her sharp teeth show in their full glory, "Wherever your going, you'll be-heading there now!" Vexes could taste the satisfaction of a rightful victory, long denied from her, as the blade neared within a few centimeters of Jennifer's neck and, stopped dead, "WHAT?" Vexes angrily yelled at the invisible force opposing her. Her optics saw a thin purple line across her ax's blade, "YOU! You should be dead!" Vexes raised her weapon again, "I will not be denied! Not when I'm this close!" Down she forced the blade again and, once again, a thin purple line brought it to a halt. The Earth split open a few inches from the incredible force, following the path of the weapons edge, "You bitch! I watched you die through Smytus's eyes!"
"I think you got a screw loose witch!" A far off and foggy, yet familiar, voice called out. A purple cloud coalesced into a hazy, mostly transparent, humanoid form, "Cause I'm better than ever!" Vexes swung her ax at her new enemy. The blade passed through the abdomen of the ghostly figure, cleaving it into. The cloud reformed itself in seconds, "My turn!" A thick stream of the purple cloud quickly exploded out from the figure's chest and enveloped Vexes. The cloud pushed her into the air, carried her a few hundred yards away and slammed her into the ground. The figure then turned it's big bright eyes towards Jennifer, "I said this ain't over and we're going to kick this bitch's ass!" Jennifer's audio sensors recognized the speech pattern.
"Misty?" Jennifer asked weakly.
"Yeah, girl." Misty answered, "Now, get up! I can't do this alone!" Jennifer gave it her best effort but, could not get her one damaged arm to push herself up.
"I-I can't..." Jennifer said, "I'm too damaged..."
"You better get up you hunk of junk!" Misty angrily yelled, "Don't you know your family and the whole damn world is still counting on you to do this? I don't have much time left before my life force must return to the Omni-mist..." Her voice changed to a much friendlier tone, "Whatdaya say we team up? One last time?" Driven on by the reminder of what is at stake, Jennifer deactivated the many widgets in her H.U.D., flashing their sever warnings of physical damage, and forced her joints to work. She rolled to her back, then brought her legs up to her waist and quickly thrust them outward, the momentum pulled the top half of her body of the ground. She carefully timed and balanced her landing to remain up right. She struggled to keep her damaged knee from collapsing but, after a few adjustments, stood firm.
"It's Teen Team time!" Jennifer, a little more confidently, said as she stood by her old friend. Though her cloudy face could not display it, Jennifer knew that Misty was smiling.
"Oh, I am going to KILL THE FUCK OUT OF YOU!" Vexes decreed while rising to her feet. She stomped her foot into the ground, sending a wave of energy, traveling just under the soil, at Jennifer and Misty. The girls jumped out of the way as the ground where they stood exploded. Misty landed and Vexes was on her in an instance, Kicking, slashing and clawing at the purple haze. Each attack that passed through the cloud increased her anger a hundred fold. Misty solidified her hand and landed an uppercut that staggered the Queen backwards a few feet.
"Burns don't it?" Misty mocked her opponent. Jennifer landed behind the evil witch. She spun on her heels, flinging her limp arm around and connected with the side of Vexes face. Vexes slid across the ground and caught her footing.
"Come one Vexes! I can take you on with one arm behind my back!" Jenny snidely commented. Vexes rubbed a small trickle of oil from her steel lip with the back of her hand and spat out a jagged tooth.
"Your right Misty..." Vexes smiled her gaped smile as she flung the oil on her hand to the ground with a flick of her wrist. Jenny's optics saw the liquid begin to smoke and bubble, "It does burn." Instantly, the duo found themselves caught in a massive inferno. The top layer of ground evaporated away and a wave of molten Earth rushed at them. Misty threw herself in-front of Jenny and created a protective bubble of mist.
"I Can't keep this up forever!" Misty exclaimed over the roaring heat. Jenny saw a long tail of hazy purple trailing off from their shield. The splashes and splotches of her own oil strewn across her own chassis began to catch flame, indicating the amount of danger they were in even inside the shield. Jenny's sensors picked two odd things simultaneously. The first was a massive energy build up taking place within Vexes, a build up that, up until this point, Jenny really didn't think Vexes was capable of. The second was an incoming high speed projectile with a familiar energy signature, "What the hell robot girl? Calculate something already will ya?" Misty demanded as her shield began to fail.
"Brace yourself!" Jenny slid in-front of Misty and fell on one knee, directing her damaged arm at Vexes. She pushed out a bright blue, thick shell of energy that deflected a large amount of the heat. Jennifer's shoulder began to turn white hot and release small sparks and white drops as it began to melt. Misty knelled down behind her and placed her hands on Jenny's shoulders.
"Whatever your doing, I'm right behind you!" Misty focused her remaining energy, forming as best a shield as possible in-front of Jenny's. A sudden glint of light caught her eye. She looked into the sky, "Is that?"
"Yeah..." Jenny grunted out as she pushed with all her might against the onslaught of radiation. Misty saw that Melody was heading straight for Vexes and that Vexes's attention was fully trained on Jenny and herself.
"Is she?" Misty more mouthed than spoke as she watched Melody's descent.
"Yep..." Jenny strained out her response. Vexes raised her arms out in-front and channeled the tremendous power into her hands. Jenny anchored herself to the ground, preparing for the inevitable.
"Damn, this is going to be intense!" Misty commented as she followed Melody's decent. And braced herself.
"TIME TOO DIE!" Vexes screamed as her energies peaked. Her hands glowed a blindingly blueish white and the energy began to exit her palms when Melody slammed into her from above, driving them into the ground. There was a few microseconds of calm, like the still eye of a storm, that passed before the Earth trembled terribly and shattered all around them. The ground bulged and burst sending tons of heaving rock high into the air while white energy poured forth, overwhelming all senses and sensors. Jenny tried her best to remain focused but, her systems could not with stand the force of the explosion. She found her vision, once more, flickering from pitch black to visions of hell all around and, finally, darkness. When Jenny opened her optics, after what seemed like an eternity, she saw a world of darkness. She tried to move but couldn't. With great effort, she managed to push herself into an up right position, breaking the surface of cooked ground she was buried under. She scanned around, as far as she could see, the ground had been melted into a perfect, vast sheet of glass. She tried too move her remaining appendage but, found she no longer possessed it or her pigtails, "Misty?" she called out. No response. She awkwardly pulled her legs from the glass and stood up, "Oh, man...I'm*zzzz*totaled...I got to get repaired before I shut down for good..."
"Oh my...You seem to think that you've won." The voice sent chills down Jenny's spine. She turned around to see her deadliest enemy standing before her. Vexes's chassis was scarred and dented, not a bit of her paint job survived the blast, nor did her long, pointed pigtails, "This isn't a fairy tale...THIS IS REALITY!" Vexes angrily yelled. She pulled her left fist back and configured it into a short dagger but, before she could strike, the purple cloud returned, completely enveloping her, "GGGGAAAAAAHHHH! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Vexes shook violently in-front of Jenny, cursing and gnashing her teeth, trying to break free of a mysterious hold.
"Whatever the hell you came here to do Melody, you better do it now!" Misty pleaded as she struggled to hold the Queen at bay. Jennifer, mostly due to her energy depletion, the loss of oil and the critical amount of damage, stood frozen not knowing, for the first time in a long time, what to do. Melody landed beside Jenny and grabbed onto what remained of her shoulders, spinning her around to face her.
"Jenny! Look at me!" Jenny lifted her eyes to Melody's, "Do you trust me?" Melody franticly asked. Jennifer starred blankly back, "Do you trust me?" Jenny finally snapped out of her confusion.
"Ye...Yes." Jenny replied, unsure.
"Good..." An 8 inch long spike protruded from Melody's right hand, "By the way, if this doesn't work...I'm Sorry..." Jennifer tried to process what Melody meant by those words in that strange tone but, her thoughts were cut short as Melody rammed the spike's full length into the center of her forehead. Her eyes went blank as well as her expression. Melody pulled the spike out and stepped back a few feet. Jenny fell to the ground, her vision went blurry with one's and zero's as her C.P.U. shutdown and her mind went blank.